Barihunk duo in Nice Côte d’Azur's Barber of Seville

Richard Rittelmann (left) and Mattia Olivieri (right)

Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur's production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia will feature the barihunk duo of Mattia Olivieri as Figaro and Richard Rittelmann as Fiorello. Also in the cast is Rossini specialist Daniele Zanfardino as Almaviva, Georgian mezzo Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Marco Vinco as Basilio. Performances will run from February 24-March 1 and tickets are available online.

Rittelmann who was part of our Barihunks Charity Calendar shoot in France this year, has also launched a new website (which includes a picture of him in his Barihunk t-shirt!). Upcoming performances include the Fauré Requiem in six French cities between March 16-29, Johann Strauss' Der Zigeunerbaron in Turin, Berlioz's Les Troyens in concert with Honorary Barihunk Joyce Di Donato and tenor Bryan Hymel (which will be recorded by Warner Classics) and Puccini's La bohème with San Francisco's Golden Gate Opera in May.

Upcoming performances include Marcello in Puccini's La bohème in São Paulo and Ping in Puccini's Turandot at the Bregenz Festival this summer.

David Pershall to make Met debut

David Pershall at The Met

David Pershall, who just wrapped up a successful run in the title role of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Florida Grand Opera, will now make his house debut in the role at the Metropolitan Opera. His Rosina will be Ginger Costa-Jackson and Almaviva will be sung by Taylor Stayton. He'll perform the role on December 29th and January 1st, alternating the role with fellow barihunk Elliot Madore, who will perform with Isabel Leonard and David Portillo.

He'll be staying at the Met for three months, where he will also perform Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and one performance of Lord Cecil in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda on February llth. In La bohème, Mimi will be sung by Maria Agresta, Musetta by Susanna Phillips, Rodolfo by Bryan Hymel and Marcello by Quinn Kelsey. The cast of Maria Stuarda includes Sondra Radvanvovsky and Elza van den Heever.

Pershall coming to New York from his new home base at the Vienna State Opera, where he has performed Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Sebastian in Adès' The Tempest. This summer he made his role debut as Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo with Opera Burg Gars.

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Duncan Rock, Iurii Samoilov & Craig Verm

 

Introducing barihunks David Pichlmaier & Wolfgang Schwaiger

David Pichlmaier as Figaro in Darmstadt (right)

Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia opened at the Staatstheater Darmstadt with two barihunks rotating the role of the barber Figaro. Both German David Pichlmaier and Austrian Wolfgang Schwaiger are new to the site.

David Pichlmaier was born in Munich and began singing with the Stuttgarter Hymnuschorknaben (Boys Choir) and the Collegium Iuvenum Stuttgart. After completing his studies in Stuttgart and Weimar he was joined the Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera. He has also won numerous international singing competitions.

His career has taken him to opera houses in Bremen, Leipzig, Karlsruhe, Bonn and Dusseldorf and festivals such as the Operetta Festival Berlin or the Festival d'Haute Alsace. Since the 2008-09 season he has been an ensemble member of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, where he has performed Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute,  Ottokar in Der Freishütz, Andrey in Boris Godunov, Orpée in Orpée aux Enfers, Peter in Hansel und Gretel, Schaunard in La bohème and critically acclaimed performances in the title roles in Berg's Wozzeck and Wolfgang Rihm Jakob Lenz.

Wolfgang Schwaiger and Sophie Rennert sing Dunque io son from Barber of Seville:

After a successful run in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, Wolfgang Schwaiger joined the Köln Opernstudio. He made his first performance on September 4th, as Madama Butterfly's uncle Yakuside at the Cologne Opera. On September 26th, he will sing the role of the King in Xavier Montsalvatge's children’s opera El gato con botas (Puss in Boots) and will also perform Papageno later this season on the main stage.
 

Wolfgang Schwaiger

Other roles at Opera Köln include Bognanovitch in Die Lustige Witwe, Count Dominik in Arabella and Moralés in Carmen. 

Performances of Il barbiere di Sivigila continue on October 2, 16, 21, 27, November 6 and 21, December 4, 12, 26, January 22 and February 5, 19. For tickets and additional cast information visit the Staatstheater Darmstadt website.

Vittorio Prato sporting Barihunk t-shirt on website

Vittorio Prato

We love that Vittorio Prato is proudly sporting his Barihunk t-shirt on his website's photo gallery. Few singers look better than the hunky Italian in or out of a t-shirt! Fans will be thrilled to know that he'll be back again this year in our annual charity calendar.

On September 2nd and 6th, he'll be appearing as Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera di Firenze. The cast includes Laura Verrecchia as Rosina, Alessio Verna as Don Basilio and Filippo Adami as Almaviva. You can listen to his Largo al factotum on his YouTube page. Tickets are available online. 

Vittorio Prato backstage and at the gym

In November, he heads to the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich to sing Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, which will be directed by the great mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. The cast includes Arthur Espiritu as Don Ramiro,  Jasmina Sakr as Clorinda,  Dorothea Spilger as Tisbe and  Diana Haller as Angelina.

In December, he returns to Italy where he'll sing Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Fabrizio Paesano singing Nemorino. Tickets are available online.

Video Wednesday: Vittorio Prato & Markus Werba

Delizioso! Vittorio Prato's new headshot

Here is Part 1 of the Italian TV show "Tutti all'Opera," which shows the making of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" from a backstage perspective at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The clip includes some rehearsal footage and a brief interview with Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato.



Tutti all'Opera - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

You can read about Vittorio Prato's upcoming schedule at our previous post about the singer.  There are also a few additional photos at that link.

The chorus doing to Markus Werba what the rest of us are imagining.

We love live footage from operas despite the shaky cameras. It truly captures singers in their natural element without sound engineers, microphones and editing. Here is Markus Werba and Irini Kyriakidou performing "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia:



Markus Werba is wrapping up a run as Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris opposite the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Werba next heads to the Teatro la Fenice where he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte."

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Italian Barihunk Barber at La Fenice

Mirco Palazzi

Teatro La Fenice in Venice is performing Rossini's comic masterpiece "Il barbiere di Siviglia" with a cast full of Italian barihunks. La Fenice is rotating casts and almost all of the low voice roles are filled by barihunks, including those that we don't generally associate with sexy singers, like Don Basilio and Bartolo. Figaro is being sung by Giorgio Caoduro, who has appeared frequently on this site, and Christian Senn will perform in the alternate cast. Don Basilio will be shared by Mirco Palazzi and Luca Dall'Amico, while Omar Montanari will be one of the Bartolos.

Luca Dall'Amico and Giorgio Caoduro

Tickets can be purchased on the La Fenice website, where you can also find additional cast and performance information. We also recommend that you visit Giorgio Caoduro's website, where you can find some wonderful sound clips, including the Barber's famous "Largo al factotum." Here is Mirco Palazzi singing Don Basilio's aria "La calunnia":



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Introducing Omar Montanari

Omar Montanari (Top Photo by Luca Nicosanti)

-->Italian baritone Omar was born in Riccione, Italy and studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. He was the winner of the 59^th Concorso Europeo per Giovani Cantanti Lirici “A. Belli” in Spoleto and made his professional debut as Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in Pesaro in 2000.

He has performed numerous role in Rossini operas including Trombonok and Don Alvaro in Il Viaggio a Reims, Don Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dandini in La Cenerentola and Haly and Taddeo in Italiana in Algeri, Don Pomponio in La Gazzetta and Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory.

He is currently performing in Mercadante's I due Figaro at the Ravenna Festival directed by Emilio Sagi. In September, he returns to Rossini in Fenice where he takes on Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

[Duet starts at 2:16]

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Luca Dell'Amico: Too sexy for his shirt

Luca Dall'Amico

When we saw this new photo of Italian barihunk Luca Dall'Amico we had to share it with our readers. It's too bad that his voice is suited for roles that rarely show off his physique. Luckily, we previously had the opportunity to show readers his sexy, shirtless Mustafa in Rossini's "L'italiani in algeri." His upcoming schedule is no exception.

He can next be seen this Fall at the Teatro la Fenice as Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's "La Traviata" opposite the Violetta of Patrizia Ciofi and as Don Basilio in Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia," which he has recorded on DVD. Here is the trailer:



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