Barihunk Bradley Travis singing Masetto opposite two fellow barihunks

Bradley Travis

We introduced Bradley Travis back in October when he won the Leonard Ingrams award. This Spring he'll be singing Masetto opposite fellow barihunk George von Bergen in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The company will begin this year's tour at the Hackney Empire on March 5th and perform through June 10th, when they wrap up at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. They will also be performing Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride and Donizetti's Pia de'Tolomei. The entire tour schedule is available online.

Shortly after the tour, Travis will join another barihunk, Jacques Imbrailo, for Don Giovanni with the Classical Opera Company at Cadogan Hall in London's Chelsea district. The June 17th performance will be the company's first production of Don Giovanni in their history.

Travis was born in Cheshire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He recently graduated from the Royal College of Music International Opera School (RCMIOS) where he won the Eric Joseph Shilling Award for Opera.

Bradley Travis sings Masetto's "Ho capito...":

Operatic roles performed include Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Don Iñigo Gomez in Ravel's L’heure espagnole, Lord Ellington in Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne, Ottone in Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea all for the RCMIOS. He has also appeared as Count Robinson in The Secret Marriage for British Youth Opera who presented him with the Basil A. Turner Award, Minos Arianna in Handel's Creta, Argenio Imeneo under Laurence Cummings for the London Handel Festival, Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola for Mananan Festival Opera and Lesbus in Handel's Agrippina for Iford Opera. 

He recently made his Opera North début singing Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and sang the Fireman in Šimon Voseček's Biedermann and the Arsonists at Independent Opera.

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Vittorio Prato, Malte Roesner & Cyril Rovery

 

George von Bergen in something old, something new

George von Bergen (Photo: James Bellorini)

We recently introduced British barihunk George von Bergen in an announcement about ENO's upcoming season, where he's singing Sharpless in Anthony Minghella's award-winning production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

If you want to catch him in something a bit more contemporary, you can hear him as the Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight at Opera Holland Park from June 6-19. The comic opera is based on a true story of a refugee trapped and living at a major international airport. He'll be joined by Kitty Whately as the Stewardess and tenor Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, both of whom he encounters in a physical way!

This will be the first professional performance of the piece in London and it will also feature fellow barihunk Nicholas Garrett, who we first introduced to readers back in 2010. The work was commissioned by Glyndebourne Opera and premiered on September 24, 1998. The first U.S. performance was at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis on June 8, 2003 in a production directed by Colin Graham.

If you want to catch von Bergen in something slightly less contemporary, you can hear him as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Project at West Green House on July 25 and 26. Additional cast and ticket information is available online.

Have an announcement or pictures for us? Contact us at barihunks@gmail.com

English National Opera rolling out a season of barihunks

Morgan Pearse and Barnaby Rea

The English National Opera has announced its new season and they have enough barihunks featured to start a small men's chorus.

Lovers of ginger barihunks won't want to miss Rossini's Barber of Seville, which features Aussie Morgan Pearse in the title role and Barnaby Rea as Don Basilio. Andrew Shore returns in this Jonathan Miller production in his signature role of Bartolo, while Kathryn Rudge sings Rosina and the gifted young tenor Eleazor Rodriguez takes on Count Almaviva. There will be ten performances beginning on September 28th.

Ashley Riches, Nicholas Masters and Duncan Rock

Beginning October 16th, ENO will feature a barihunk trio in fourteen performances of Puccini's La bohéme. Duncan Rock, who is easily one of the most popular barihunks on this site, will sing Marcello. He'll be joined by the Colline of Ashley Riches and Nicholas Masters as Schaunard. Zach Borichevsky will sing Rodolfo, Corinne Winters sings Mimi and Rhian Lois sings Musetta. The opera will be directed by Benedict Andrews. Fans of Duncan Rock in the US can catch his American debut in the title role of Don Giovanni, running from May 1-10 with the Boston Lyric Opera.

George von Bergen

ENO Harewood Young Artist George von Bergen will sing Sharpless in Anthony Minghella's award-winning production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The British singer studied at the University of Bristol, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio in London, before going on to win the Royal Overseas League singing competition. He has performed with the Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera and Garsington Opera, and made his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Sir Andrew Davis.

Other operas in the upcoming season include Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Bellini's Norma, Verdi's The Force of Destiny, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Glass' Akhnaten, Janacek's Jenufa and Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. 

If you can't wait until the new season, you can check out barihunk Leigh Melrose as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, which runs from May 20-June 3. Visit the ENO website for complete cast list and ticket information.