I love the San Francisco Opera, but I'm always a little critical of them for not hiring better looking baritones. Other opera companies on the Left Coast seem to have no problem, most notably the Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Los Angeles Opera and, of course, the Sante Fe Opera (who remain in the barihunk stratosphere unchallenged).
Gabriele Viviani is an Italian baritone making his American debut in this production. He hails from Puccini's hometown of Lucca and regularly sings Marcello in La Boheme. So far, he has no real barihunk roles under his belt, but maybe he'll come back to SF Opera as Don Giovanni or Zurga in Pearl Fishers.
I saw the final dress rehearsal of SF Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor and my friends were all commenting about how cute tenor Andrew Bidlack was. It wasn't until I saw Lucia broadcast on the JumboTron at AT&T Park that I realized our Enrico was quite the barihunk. He does look like a little like a 70s rock star with his long, blonde hair, but who cares.
