Barihunk quartet in Madison Opera's "Carmen"

Corey Crider, Charles Eaton, Thomas Forde and Erik Larson

The Madison Opera will be performing Bizet's Carmen on November 3rd and 5th with a quartet of barihunks. The group is led be Corey Crider as Escamillo, along with Thomas Forde as Zuniga, Charles H. Eaton as Moralès and Erik Earl Larson as Dancäire.

They will be joined by Aleks Romano in the title role, hunkentenor Sean Panikkar as Don José and Cecilia Violetta López as Micaëla. Tickets are available online.

Thomas Forde from the first Barihunks Calendar

Three of the barihunks have appeared with the company before, with Corey Crider performing Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Thomas Forde in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera and Erik Earl Larson appearing in Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Charles H. Eaton is making his company debut and was recently interviewed on the company's blog. With all of these sexy men to choose from, one has to wonder why things don't end better for Carmen!

Longtime followers of this blog will recall that Thomas Forde appeared in our original Barihunks Calendar with two photos, both sporting one of our tee shirts. Forde, who lost 100 pounds on his journey from BariChunk to BariHunk, also counsels singers about fitness. Visit his website for more information.

Click HERE to listen to Thomas Forde sing "I'm a lonely man" from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah.

2018 Barihunks Calendar

Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Aaron Sørensen pitches Sparafucile on Midday Mississippi

Aaron Sørensen from the Barihunks calendar

Barihunk calendar model Aaron Sorensen appeared on Midday Mississippi on WLBT Channel 3 in Jackson along with soprano Rachel Arky. The duo were were pitching their "one night only" performance of Verdi's Rigoletto in which they perform the brother and sister duo of Sparafucile and Maddalena.

The rest of the cast includes barihunk Corey Crider, Hanna Brammer as Gilda, Cody Laun as the Duke of Mantua and Taylor Hightower as Monterone.

There is a single performance on April 22 at the Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson at 7:30 PM. You won't want to miss Sørensen's glorious Low F! Tickets are available online.

Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider together in South Pacific

Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider

We got some great photos of barihunks Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider together, who are performing in Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific at Ash Lawn Opera.

McDevitt is performing the role of the courageous Lt. Cable and Crider takes on the dashing leading man Emile de Becque. They're joined by Sharin Apostolou as Nelli Forbush, Daryl Freedman as Bloody Mary and Clayton Brown as Luther Billis. The production is directed by John de los Santos and conducted by Andy Anderson.

Timothy McDevitt in South Pacific

Tickets for the remaining shows on July 29 and 30 are available at the Paramount Theater website.

Crider will reprise his role with Opera Roanoke on October 7 and 9 at the Shaftman Performance Hall.Upcoming shows for McDevitt include Vasco Mendonca's The House Taken Over at the National Sawdust from October 7-9 and Thou Swell with the New York City Ballet, where he'll sing music by Richard Rodgers. 

Barihunk Trio in Ash Lawn's Summer Season

Andrew Garland sporting his Barihunk shirt and showing off his "bari-guns"

Mozart's Così fan tutte just opened a run at the Ash Lawn Opera featuring barihunk Andrew Garland. After an opening night show at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, it now heads to the Paramount Theater for performances on July 10, 13, and 15.

The cast also includes Kristopher Irmiter as Don Alfonso, Mireille Asselin as Despina, Cassandra Velasco as Dorabella, Melinda Whittington as Fiordiligi and Joshua Dennis as Ferrando.  The production is being directed by Andrea Dorf McGray and conducted by Steven Jarvi.

On July 16 and 17, Garland will be back in his native Massachusetts for recitals of music by Schumann, Obradors, Cole Porter and others at the Federated Church in Charlemont. He'll be joined by accompanist Estela Olevsky.

Timothy McDevitt

Barihunks Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider will be featured in their other production, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, which will run at the Paramount from July 23-30. McDevitt will perform the role of the courageous Lt. Cable and Crider takes on the dashing leading man Emile de Becque.

Matthew Morrison sings "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific:

They'll be joined by Sharin Apostolou as Nelli Forbush, Daryl Freedman as Bloody Mary and Clayton Brown as Luther Billis. The production will be directed by John de los Santos and conducted by Andy Anderson.

Tickets for both shows are available at the Paramount Theater website.

Watch Barihunk trio online in Salome from Detroit

Vartan Gabrielan, Jonathan Beyer and Corey Crider (L-R)

The barihunk trio of Corey Crider, Jonathan Beyer and Vartan Gabrielan will be in the cast of Richard Strauss' Salome with will be broadcast live over the internet. You can watch it on Livestream from Orchestra Hall in Detroit at 3 PM EST/Noon PST. The cast of the concert version of Salome also includes the remarkable Lise Lindstrom in the title role, Chris Merritt as Herod and Jane Henschel as Herodias.

Jonathan Beyer can next be seen at the Castleton Festival where he will sing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro from July 2-10. He'll be joined onstage by his real life husband Brandon Cedel as Figaro.

Reader Submission: Corey Crider

Corey Crider

Our latest Reader Submission is Corey Crider, who is singing Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte at Sarasota Opera through March 12th. On April 23rd, he opens a run as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in a cast that includes some of opera's finest young artists, including Zanda Svede in the title role, Janai Brugger as Micaela and Rafael Davila as Don Jose.

Corey Crider sings "Is not his word like a fire?" from Mendelsohn's Elijah

Crider is an alumnus of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and recently returned to the company as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. In the 2014-15 season Corey debuted the title role of Sweeney Todd with Madison Opera, sang Marcello in La bohème with Opera on the James, Scarpia in Tosca with the New Philharmonic, Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Naples, the Sacristan in Tosca with the Detroit Symphony, and Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love with Finger Lakes Opera.

Corey Crider sings "Urna fatale" from Verdi's La forza del destino:

Crider is a two-time national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, Corey took fourth prize in the Florida Grand Opera Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition.