Gregory Gerbrandt and Cree Carrico team up for "Broadway to Boonville"

Gregory Gerbrandt in A Streetcar Named Desire (right)

Barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt will join the charismatic soprano Cree Carrico in “From Broadway to Boonville — With Love!” accompanied by Michael Sakir at the the Missouri River Festival of the Arts in Boonville, Missiouri. The town is located halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City.

The concert will be at Thespian Hall, which opened in 1855 and is the oldest continuously running theater west of the Allegheny Mountains. The festival is in its 44th year. Tickets are available online.

Some of the Broadway songs on the program include "If I Loved You" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, "An old Fashioned Wedding" from Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, "The Next 10 Minute from Anna Kendrick & Jeremy Jordan's The Last Five Years and
"All I Ask of You" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.

Cree Carrico and Gregory Gerbrandt

The three day festival is under the artistic direction of David Halen, concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony and Artistic Director of the Aspen Music Festival. 

The town is named after Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, who were the sons of the pioneer explorer Daniel Boone and who established their salt business near the community in the early 1800s, delivering their product from salt licks to St. Louis. Because of this, the town is sometimes known as Boone's Lick.

David Adam Moore to reprise sexy Stanley Kowalski

David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski (Photo @dabva)

The Teatro Colón has announced its 2019 season, which will include barihunk David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in what will be the South American premiere of the opera. Moore has had great success with the role at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Virginia Opera.

The opera is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams and has become a showcase for barihunks, including Gregory Gerbrandt, Dan Kempson, Rod Gilfry, Ryan McKinny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jordan Shanahan.

A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998 with Rod Gilfry as Stanley and its become one of the most popular contemporary American operas in the repertory. It has gone on to see performances in New Orleans, Kentucky, Carnegie Hall in New York San Diego, Washington D.C., San Francisco (Merola Opera), Cleveland, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Honolulu and Virginia Opera. It had it European premiere in Strasbourg in 2001 and its U.K. premiere in 2003, with subsequent performances throughout Europe and in Tokyo.

The Teatro Colón cast will also include Sarah Jane McMahon, Eric Fennell, and Victoria Livengood. Performances run from May 7-14, 2019

Gregory Gerbrandt to reprise his sexy Stanley Kowalski

Gregory Gerbrandt as Stanley with Opera Santa Barbara

Barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt will reprise his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's operatic version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. The American baritone sang the role two years ago and Opera Santa Barbara and now takes it north to Opera Idaho.

The company is presenting a cast that would be the envy of most major opera houses, with 2014 Metropolitan Opera Audition winner Julie Adams as Blanche, Met Audition finalist Casey Candebat as Mitch, Micaëla Oeste as Stella and Alasdair Neale conducting. Tickets are available online for both the April 6th and 8th performances.

A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998 with Rod Gilfry as Stanley and its become one of the most popular contemporary American operas in the repertory. It has gone on to see performances in New Orleans, Kentucky, San Diego, Washington D.C., San Francisco (Merola Opera), Cleveland, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Honolulu and Virginia Opera. It had it European premiere in Strasbourg in 2001 and its U.K. premiere in 2003, with subsequent performances throughout Europe and in Tokyo.

Sexy Stanley's: Rod Gilfry, Ryan McKinny, Dan Kempson and David Adam Moore

Gerbrandt is part of a veritable Who's Who of barihunks who have taken on the role of Stanley Kowalski made famous by Marlon Brando in the movie. They include Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Dan Kempson, Wes Mason, Ryan McKinny, David Adam Moore and Philip Cutlip.

Gerbrandt is waiting long to sing the role again, as he'll perform the opera with the Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont from June 1-9.  He'll be joined by soprano Cree Carrico as Stella, who is rapidly being recognized as one of the most compelling actresses in opera. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Barihunk quartet featured in N.C. premiere of Silent Night

Kyle Guglielmo, Gabriel Preisser, Brian Banion and Gregory Gerbrandt

Piedmont Opera will present the North Carolina premiere of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night beginning on October 27th. The opera will feature a quartet of barihunk, including Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Audebert, Gregory Gerbrandt as Lieutenant Gordon, Brian Banion’s as Lieutenant Horstmayer and Kyle Guglielmo as Ponchel. Tickets are available online.

 

The opera. with a libretto by Mark Campbell, recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. Enemies become brothers as they share Christmas and bury their dead.

 

Liam Bonner sings Lieutenant Audebert's aria:

 

The story was based on the screenplay by Christian Carion for the Oscar-nominated 2005 French film Joyeux Nöel, which dramatized actual events during WWI during the days before Christmas 1914.

The Minnesota Opera presented the world premiere of Silent Night in November 2011 with a cast that included barihunks Craig Irvin as Lieutenant Horstmayer, Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Gordon,  Mike Nyby as William Dale, Liam Bonner as Lieutenant Audebert, Troy Cook as Father Palmer, Joseph Beutel as the British Major, Ben Wager as the General and Andrew Wilkowske as Ponchel.
 

The 2018 Barihunks Calendar and Photo Book

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!

Pictures from Malte Roesner in Mansfield Park & the Barihunks Calendar

Malte Roesner and Milda Tubelytė in Mansfield Park

We finally have pictures of Barihunks calendar model Malte Roesner as Edmund Bertram from Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park, which opened on December 5th at the Staatstheater Braunschweig and has additional performances on January 2 and 10, and February 21 and 26. Tickets are available online.

The multi-talented Roesner also translated the libretto from English into German, which he also recently did with Jake Heggie's Holocaust themed opera For a Look or a Touch.

The 18-scene chamber opera is based on the 1814 novel by Jane Austen. It's the story of Fanny Price, a Cinderella-like heroine, who quietly negotiates her way through the moral perils of early nineteenth century high society, from landscape gardening and amateur theatricals to balls and arranged marriages, and wins the hand of the man she has loved all her life. Edmund Bertram is the lead character of the novel. He intends to be a clergyman is known for his kindness and generosity towards Fanny, distinguishing him from the rest of his family, who tend to exploit her good nature and mock her less privileged upbringing.

Malte Roesner, : Solen Mainguené and Milda Tubelytė in Mansfield Park

The opera will be heard in the United States on March 18, 19 and 20 at the Indianapolis Opera with barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt taking on the role of Edmund Bertram. Additional information is available online. 

Malte Roesner is prominently featured in our 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which is on sale for only two more weeks. Roesner's photos were shot in and around Montreuil-Bellay in the heart of France's Loire Valley this summer.

German barihunks Malte Roesner & Marco Vassalli from the 2016 Barihunks Calendar

All of the proceeds from the calendar are going to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (FAB), which will promote new music for low voices, assist artists financially and fund a baritone prize at a competition to be named in January. You can purchase a calendar HERE in time for the New Year. ORDER NOW and help support young artists and the future of opera.

Gregory Gerbrandt latest barihunk singing Stanley Kowalski

Gregory Gerbrandt: Photos by Pablo Cozzaglio and Andrea Johnston Photography ©

The lastest barihunk to take on Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire is Gregory Gerbrandt, who will sing the role with Opera Santa Barbara on April 24 and 26. In recent months we've seen Wes Mason take on the iconic role at Kentucky Opera, Ryan McKinny at the Los Angeles Opera and Dan Kempson with Townsend Opera and Fresno Grand Opera. 

Gerbrandt will have some help in creating an authentic New Orleans flavor, as his Mitch is New Orleans native Casey Candebat. Joining them in the cast are Beverly O'Regan Thiele as Blanche DuBois and Micaela Oeste as Stella. 

Dan Kempson, Wes Mason and Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski

The production will utilize the revised score prepared by Peter Grunberg for the Merola Opera, which reduces the score from a 70-piece orchestra to a 40-piece ensemble. Jose Maria Condemi, who directed the opera at Merola and Kentucky Opera, will direct the work again in Santa Barbara. Candebat also sang the role of Mitch at the Merola Opera. 

The production next travels to the Tulsa Opera where barihunk Jordan Shanahan will take on the role on March 4 and 6, 2016.

Happy Birthday, Gregory Gerbrandt!

Gregory Gerbrandt

August 19th is barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt's birthday, so it seems like a good time to check on his upscoming schedule, which runs from Broadway musical to opera. 

From October 2-26, he'll be performing in Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones' Broadway musical The Fantasticks at the Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee. He'll be performing the role of El Gallo who sings the hit tune, "Try to Remember." The role El Gallo was originally played by Jerry Orbach (of TV's Law & Order), who asks the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. A boy and the girl fall in love, grow apart, and finally find their way back to each other after realizing the truth in El Gallo's words that "without a hurt, the heart is hollow."

Jerry Orback sings Try to Remember from The Fantasticks:

Gerbrandt will then return to his native state of Colorado when he appears at the Arvada Center. He'll be playing the lead role of Stephen Kodaly in Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's Broadway musical She Loves Me. The musical was written by the same team that created Fiddler on the Roof. Performances run from November 25 - December 21 and tickets are available online.

Next year, Gerbrandt returns to opera as Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire joined by one of the most exciting tenor voices in opera, Casey Candebot, who is singing Mitch.  Performances are on April 24 and 26 and tickets are available online. We have a feeling that he's going to be one of the sexiest Stanley's to hit the stage in the history of the opera.

Before he dons his white tank top in Streetcar, he can be seen in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Opera Idaho on February 13 and 15, followed by Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on March 20 and 22 at Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Barihunk-laden Don Giovanni in bucolic setting

Gregory Gerbrandt and Nora Graham-Smith

Don Giovanni and his little black book are returning to Northern California, this time at the Hidden Valley Opera Ensemble. The burgeoning opera company is a little over 2 hours from San Francisco and just a half an hour from the beautiful resort of Monterey.

The title character will be sung by barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt, who has been a familiar singer on this site. Gerbrandt is returning to Hidden Valley Opera where he portrayed Jim in David Conte's The Gift of the Magi.  This is debut as Don Giovanni. Previous Mozart roles have included Count Almaviva in the Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in the Magic Flute and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. 

Gerbrandt earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied voice and opera with his late father, Dr. Carl Gerbrandt.

Ryan Bradford

New to this site is the Masetto, Ryan Bradford, who is a familiar face to Bay Area opera audiences. A first prize winner at the Chicago and San Francisco National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions, he was a memorable Guglielmo in both the San Francisco Conservatory’s production of Mozart's Così fan tutte and the teacher in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Opera Parallèle. He is a recipient of the Joan and David Traitel Vocal Scholarship. You can check out Bradford on YouTube singing Schumann's Wehmut.

Don Giovanni opens on September 12  and runs through September 22 at the 300 seat Hidden Valley Theater in Carmel Valley, California. Call (831) 659-3115 for tickets.

Gregory Gerbrandt in South American production of Bernstein's West Side Story

Gregory Gerbrandt/Wilson Fitzer, Gregory Gerbrandt and Andrew Maloney

American barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt is making his debut at the Nacional Teatro Sucre in Quito, Ecuador as Riff in the quintessential American Broadway musical, "West Side Story." Riff is the leader of the Jets, who suggests setting up a "rumble" with the rival gang The Sharks. Riff's big number in the show is "Cool," which he sings with his Jets buddies. West Side Story was Leonard Bernstein's modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and the role of Riff would parallel Mercutio in the original version.

When Gerbrandt returns to the U.S. in September, he'll perform Marcello in Puccini's  La bohéme at the Hidden Valley Opera Seminars with fellow barihunks Gabriel Preisser and Isaiah Musik Ayala.

Leonard Bernstein rehearses "Cool" with baritone Kurt Ollmann:

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Opera Barihunks Taking on Musical Theater

Matt Worth as Curly

There is a sudden upsurge of barihunks crossing over from opera to musical theater. We recently featured Tom Corbeil, who has been a critical success in "The Addams Family" musical national tour an Teddy Tahu Rhodes, who is touring in South Pacific in Australia.

The Central City Opera has filled their roster with barihunks for their upcoming production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma." Matthew Worth will star as Curly, joined by Curt Olds as Will Parker and Paul LaRosa as Jud. Performances run from June 30th through August 3rd, with two performances in Denver on August 5th and 7th.

Hugh Jackman sings "Oh, what a beautiful mornin'" from Oklahoma:

The company will also be presenting Puccini's "La boheme" and Britten's "Turn of the Screw." The three bohemian baritones are the enviable trio of Troy Cook (who has appeared Full Monty on this site), Ryan Speedo Green and Chris Carr. Visit the Central City Opera website for additional performance and ticket information.

Gregory Gerbrandt

A month later and about 3,200 miles to the south, Gregory Gerbrandt will be taking on Riff in Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" at the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. Performances run from July 26-29.

Visit Gerbrandt's website to hear his recent recording of Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. 

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Local Paper Heralds Return of Gregory Gerbrandt

Colorado native Gregory Gerbrandt is returning to his hometown of Greeley to star in two performances. The Greeley Tribune ran this feature on the emerging star in anticipation of his performance with the Greeley Chorale on April 3 and a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah and Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Got Me Flowers" at the Greeley Congregational Church on April 10.

Gerbrandt recently wowed audiences at the Hawaii Opera with his intense portrayal of Enrico in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." In July, his recording of Kamran Ince's "The Judgment of Midas" will be released on Naxos.

The singer comes from great musical stock, as his father led the University of Northern Colorado opera program for 21 years. 

Here is an amateur video of him singing "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific.



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Gregory Gerbrandt as Marcello

[Barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt and soprano Laura Pedersen]

 Barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt performed Marcello yesterday with the Natchez Music Festival in Mississippi. Unfortunately, this was the only performance of the opera, but we will keep an eye out for future performances by this sexy strawberry blonde.

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Three Barihunks in Boston Lyric's "Carmen"

[Top photo of Greg Gerbrandt; Bottom photo of Daniel Mobbs by Jeffrey Dunn for Boston Lyric Opera]

We love any opera with a barihunk, but three barihunks in one opera is bariheaven. That's just what Boston Lyric Opera has put together, with Daniel Mobbs as Escamillo, Andrew Garland as Dancaïro, and a favorite on this site, Gregory Gerbrandt as Morales.

In this production we think Carmen should dump Don Jose and run off to Valencia with Dancaïro, Morales and Escamillo. Now that's living like a true gypsy!

Click HERE for tickets and information.
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Birthday Barihunks

[Top photo: David Krohn; Bottom photo: Gregory Gerbrandt]

We'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to two of our emerging barihunks, Gregory Gerbrandt and David Krohn.

We've been touting Krohn as Matthew Worth's only real competition as Tarquinius in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia." The 25-year-old just finished a well-received run at the Aspen Music Festival as Tarquinius and is definitely a hunk to watch.

Gregory Gerbrandt just stole the show at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival singing the Count in the "Marriage of Figaro." His bio says that he also serves as a volunteer fireman, which sounds pretty hot.

One thing that we know for sure is that these birthday babes both look good in tee shirts.

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Two Red-Headed Barihunks: Ágúst Ólafsson and Gregory Gerbrandt

[Top photo of Ágúst Ólafsson; Bottom photo of Gregory Gerbrandt]

Perhaps the memory of opera’s most famous redhead, Beverly Sills, is going to live on in the world of barihunks. Gregory Gerbrandt and Ágúst Ólafsson are two thrilling young redheads who Ms. Sills would have loved.

Gerbrandt voice is probably too low to land a bunch of traditional barihunks roles, but he’s been acclaimed as a Marcello (see video), Silvio, Almaviva in Nozze and as a concert artist. He also is a volunteer firefighter, which makes it all the more likely that Bubbles would have loved him. Sills released an album called “Up in Central Park” with a Sigmund Romberg song entitled “The Fireman’s Bride.” The song was full of sexual innuendo: she “clings to the hose” and “lies flat on her hide,” because she is the “naughty Fireman’s bride.”

Our other carrot top is Ágúst Ólafsson, who is a regular with the Icelandic Opera. He studied with the great Jorma Hynninen and Sauli Tiilikainen at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. He went on to win second prize in the international Hugo Wolf Academy Lied competition. Ólafsson, like Gerbrandt has also scored a huge success in the crossover title role of Sweeney Todd (Does anyone else think these two look like brothers?). On the opera stage Ólafsson is becoming a bit of a Mozart specialist, so we expect to see more of him on this site.

For some reason, we've had a run on redheads lately. If you're a fan, you might want to check out our recent post of Ryan de Ryke, as well, at: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2009/02/red-headed-ryan-de-ryke.html.

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