Barihunk Quartet making Lyric Opera of Chicago debuts in Don Giovanni

Ildar Abdrazakov, Brendon Cedel and Davide Luciano

Four barihunks will be making their Lyric Opera of Chicago debuts in the upcoming production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which opens on November 14. Russian bass-barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will alternate the title role along with Davide Luciano, while Brandon Cedel sings Masetto. Finnish basso Mika Kares also makes his debut with the company as the Commendatore after an impressive performance in Mozart's Requiem earlier this year with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

They will be joined by Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Donna Anna, Ben Bliss as Don Ottavio, Amanda Majeski as Donna Elvira, Matthew Rose as Leporello and Ying Fang as Zerlina.

Mika Kares

Don Giovanni was the first opera that the company produced in early 1954 in an effort to gauge Chicago's support for a new opera company. Needless to say, it was quite a success, considering the cast included Nicola Rossi–Lemeni as Don Giovanni, John Brownlee as Leporello, Eleanor Steber as Donna Anna, Léopold Simoneau as Don Ottavio and Bidú Sayão as Zerlina. The debut season also included Maria Callas performing her signature role of Norma.

The current production will be the company's eleventh performance of the season. There will be nine performances from November 14 through 8. Tickets are available online. David Luciano will perform on December 3 and 8, while Ildar Abdrazakov sings on all other dates.

Ildar Abdrazakov to open La Scala season as Attila

Ildar Abdrazakov as Attila (left)

Bass-barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will open the 2018-19 La Scala opera season in Milan in the title role of Verdi's Attila. This will be the company's second opening night dedicated to the early works of the great Italian composer, following Giovanna d'Arco in 2015, starring Anna Netrebko and Carlos Álvarez. Attila will be conducted by Riccardo Chailly and directed by Davide Livermore in a new production.

The opera is based on the play Attila, King of the Huns by Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner, and it premiered on March 17, 1846 at the La Fenice in Venice. It is is the ninth of the Verdi's 28 operas, following Ernani and preceding Macbeth.

In 1812, Ludwig van Beethoven conceived the idea of writing an opera about Attila and approached August von Kotzebue to write the libretto. Obviously, it was never written, as Fidelio was his only full opera.

Ildar Abdrazakov and Quinn Kelsey sing the Attila/Ezio duet:

Verdi's opera is set in mid-5th century Rome and tells the story of Attila the Hun and his eventual downfall.

The opera includes a number of popular pieces for both baritones and basses, including Ezio's cabaletta "È gettata la mia sorte," which roused the Italian people around the the adoption of a liberal constitution by Ferdinand II. Atilla's best known aria is "Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima parea," where he awakes and tells Uldino of a dream in which an old man stopped him at the gates of Rome and warned him to turn back. The aria was made famous in recent times by the great American bass Samuel Ramey. The opera's prologue also includes one of the great duets for two low male voices, "Tardo per gli anni," where Ezio offers Attila the entire Roman empire if Italy can be left unharmed.

The opera opens on December 7th and additional information can be found online.  

Bass-Barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov in Semiramide broadcasts

Ildar Abdrazakov and Ryan Speedo Green in Semiramide

Bass-Barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will be performing King Assur in  Rossini’s Semiramide, which is presented being presented at the Met for the first time in 25 years. He'll be joined in the all-star car by Angela Meade in the title role, Elizabeth DeShong as Arsace, Javier Camarena as Idreno and Ryan Speedo Green as the High Priest Oroe.

The opera opens on  February 19th under the baton of Maurizio Benini and will be transmitted to 2,000 movie theaters in 73 countries as part of the Met’s Live in HD series on March 10th. The broadcast will be hosted by barihunk Christopher Maltman.

If you can't make it to The Met or to your local movie, you can catch the audio broadcast on February 19th and March 6th on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 75 or on the Met website's live stream.

Samuel Ramey sings Assur's scene and aria from Semiramide:

Ildar Abdrazakov was most recently seen on stage at the Met in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, reprising his performance from the production premiere in 2014. The Russian bass’s other credits with the Met include Escamillo in Carmen, Henry VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, the title character in Borodin’s Prince Igor, and Dosifei in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina.

Additional live performances of Semiramide are on February 24, 28; March 3, 6, 10 (mat), 14, 17. Visit the Met website for additional information and tickets.

Atilla and Mefistofele to get San Francisco airings; Some Sam Ramey history

Samuel Ramey and Ildar Abdrazakov

Lovers of low voices in the San Francisco Bay Are area in for a real treat this summer, as their local PBS station KQED has announced that both Verdi's Attila and Boito's Mefestofle will be aired.

Attila will feature a veritable feast of Verdi low voices, led by the legendary Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role, Quinn Kelsey as Ezio and Samuel Ramey as Pope Leo I. The 1846 masterpiece about the legendary warrior who is tormented by internal doubts will air on Thursday, August 3 on KQED Channel 9.

Verdi’s 1846 masterpiece about a legendary warrior who is tormented by internal doubts, will air on Thursday, August 3 on KQED 9 - See more at: https://sfopera.com/about-us/press-room/press-releases/KQED-Attila-Mefi/#sthash.LC1AnggY.dpuf

Boito’s Mefistofele will feature barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role accompanied by Ramón Vargas and Patricia Racette. The retelling of the Faust legend will be telecast on Thursday, August 24th. Adventurous opera goes can also see Abdrazakov as Attilla, as he will be singing the role in April at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Barihunk afficionados will recall that Samuel Ramey attained barihunk status before the word was even coined, when he sang Mefistofele at the San Francisco Opera in 1989 in a cast that included Daniel Harper as Wagner, Gabriela Benacková as Margherita and Dennis O'Neill as Faust. He secured his barihunk status as Attila in 1991 with the company, in a cast that included Elizabeth Connell as Odabella, Vladimir Chernov as Ezio, Philip Skinner as Pope Leo I and Craig Estep as Uldino.

LA Opera's Ghosts of Versailles wins 2 GRAMMY® Awards

Christopher Maltman as Beaumarchais

The Los Angeles Opera's critically-acclaimed recording of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles walked away with both GRAMMY® Awards that it was nominated for: "Best Opera Recording" and "Best Engineered Recording, Classical."

The cast includes two barihunks, led by Christopher Maltman’s Beaumarchais and Lucas Meachem as Figaro. The cast also includes Patricia Racette as Marie Antoinette, Renée Rapier, Guanqun Yu, Joshua Guerrero, Lucy Schaufer and conductor James Conlon and the LA Opera Chorus & Orchestra.

Also winning was classical music producer David Frost, whose many recording included Ildar Abdrazakov's recording of Shostakovich's Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti.  

Watch Ildar Abdrazakov as Méphistophélès from Salzburg

Ildar Abdrazakov as Méphistophélès

You can watch Ildar Abdrazakov as Méphistophélès from the Salzburg Festival on August 23, 2016 at 10 AM PST/1 PM EST on Medici.tv. The production also stars Piotr Beczala as Faust, Maria Agresta as Marguerite, Alexey Markov as Valentin, as  Tara Erraught as Siébel and Marie-Ange Todorovitch as Marthe. The new production is staged by Reinhard von der Thannen and conducted by Argentinian Alejo Pérez.

Barihunks Top 10 Best Dressed List

The World's 10 Best Dressed Barihunks

Our beloved friends at CBC Classical just came out with a list of the 10 best dressed classical musicians, which you can view online.

Imagine our horror when we noticed that not a single stylishly attired barihunk made the list. We were told by the CBC that Ildar Abdrazakov ALMOST made the list. We certainly don't take issue with any of the ten who did make the final cut, but we thought we'd ask our readers to come up with ten of the best dressed barihunks and took less than an hour to compile this list from social media. We couldn't have compiled a better list than our readers, so here they are with a few thoughts (in no particular order).

In the photo from left to right, clockwise from the top left.

• Ildar Abdrazakov - He's known to wear John Varvatos, Giorgio Armani and Diesel, and have his tuxedos made by Ermenegildo Zegna. That's style!
• Nathan Gunn - The Toronto Star once wrote that he'd look as comfortable on a "fashion runway as on a musical stage." We agree. 
• Thomas Hampson - He's set the standard for elegance in the world of opera for years. He looks like the James Bond of opera when he steps onto a recital stage. 
• Alessio Arduini - He's super hot shirtless, but equally as hot in formal wear. Now that' sexy. 
• Cameron McPhail - This sexy Canadian showed up in tux in Fashion magazine. If you have to wear clothes in chilly Canada, you might as well as look this good!
• Matthew Worth - We've seen him dressed as a soldier, a cowboy, a priest, in a tee shirt and in a tux and he's smoking hot in any outfit. 
• Leon Košavić first caught our eye when he walked onstage at an international singing competition. We love a guy who can sing in a white tie and tuxedo and no one pulls it off like him. 
• Peter Brathwaite - There is a reason that he was tapped as one of Dockers® Men of Style and appears on Men's Style Fashion. He look sexy dressed casually or formally (and everything in between). 
• Krešimir Stražanac - No one looks better with an open tux shirt and his gym-toned body teasing the buttons halfway down his shirt. 
• Jonathan Beyer - He's currently covering Thomas Hampson as Danilo in Chicago's Merry Widow. He's lost 50 pounds and looks Gold Coast, penthouse sexy in a tuxedo.

If you want to enjoy sexy men (slightly more undressed) for the entire year, then check out our 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar! On sale for just 3 more weeks. 

Vittorio Prato, Malte Roesner and Cyril Rovery

 

Vladimir Putin bestows Order of Alexander Nevsky on Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed the Order of Alexander Nevsky on über-barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky. The award is given for exceptional artistry over a period of 20 years or more.

Hvorostovsky has received an outpouring of worldwide love since he revealed earlier this year that he was receiving treatment in London for a brain tumor.

He will next appear on Ocotber 29th with mezzo Elīna Garanča in a concert at the Kremlin Palace, which will be repeated on November 2. On November 18th, he joins fellow barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov at the Bashkir Opera. He returns to the stage on December 19, when he appears in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera House in London.

He returns to the US stage on February 3rd as Count di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera. This is a reprise of the role he first performed after cancer treatment at The Met on September 25, 29 and October 3 of this year. 

DISCLOSURE: Barihunks deliberately stays out of political issues. We are well aware of the fact the Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are meeting today. This post is solely intended to honor Dmitri Hvorostovsky. 

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

 

Barihunk trio in Paris Opera's Barber of Seville

Alessio Arduini

Last month we posted about the Opéra national de Paris' barihunk quartet in Mozart's Don Giovanni, which featured Artur Ruciñski in the title role, Alessio Arduini as Leporello, Fernando Radó as Masetto and Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore.

Pietro Di Bianco as Thoas at the Paris Opera (left)

It fairly common to see barihunk trios and, occasionally quartets, in Don Giovanni, but Rossini's Barber of a Seville is a different matter. Leave it to the Opéra national de Paris to assemble three of opera's hottest barihunks for their all-star Barber of a Seville featuring Lawrence Brownlee as Almaviva and Pretty Yende as Rossini. They have brought back Alessio Arduini as Figaro, Ildar Abdrazakov as Basilio and Pietro Di Bianco as Fiorello to fill the low voice roles.

The production opens on February 2 and runs through March 4. Tickets are available online.

 Ildar Abdrazakov sings La Calunnia from the Barber of Seville:

Alessio Arduini's current schedule included two roles in Puccini's La bohème, as he takes on Marcello in La bohème in Vienna beginning November 7, 2015 and Schaunard at The Met beginning April 5, 2016. He will rotate Schaunard with two other barihunks, as Alexey Lavrov opens the opera on November 23 and David Pershall takes over on January 6.

Ildar Abdrazakov is currently at The Met singing Henry VIII in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. In December, he'll sing the title role in Verdi's Attila at the Marinsky Theater.

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

 

Barihunk duo in Paris Opera's Faust

Ildar Abdrazakov and Damien Pass

The Opéra national de Paris has put together a dream cast for their upcoming production of Gounod's Faust, which opens on March 2nd. It'll will be headed by two barihunks, Ildar Abdrazakov and Damien Pass, who are Méphistophélès and Valentin respectively. Two of the most amazing tenors in the business, Piotr Beczala and Michael Fabiano, will be alternating nights as Faust, while the thrilling soprano Krassimira Stoyanova takes on Marguerite.

Performances run through March 28th and tickets are available online.

After Faust, Abdrazakov heads to the Salzburg Easter Festival for two performances of the Verdi Requiem on March 31st and April 3. Pass will remain at the Bastille to sing the Hunter in Dvorak’s Rusalka from April 3-26 in a Robert Carsen production.

Watch Ildar Abdrazakov in Richard Tucker Gala

Ildar Abdrazakov

If you missed the broadcast of the Richard Tucker Gala on PBS a few days ago, you can still watch it online. Barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov is one of the featured performers, singing “Infelice!..e tuo credevi” from Verdi's Ernani, “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart's Don Giovanni with Ingeborg Gillebo and the sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Also featured on the broadcast is baritone Željko Lučić, soprano Pretty Yende, soprano Angela Meade and the thrilling tenor Michael Fabiano.

If you're in New York, make sure to check out Ildar Abdrazakov's upcoming recital. Clink on his image to the right to buy tickets.

Ildar Abdrazakov to Make American Solo Recital Debut

Ildar Abdrazakov

Ildar Abdrazakov, who you can see in the Live in HD broadcast of Bizet's Carmen tomorrow, will be making his American solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on Jan 29th. Joined by pianist Mzia Bakhtouridze, the Russian bass-barihunk will sing a program that includes Fauré, Liszt, Ravel, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky. Tickets are available online.

On February 5th, he'll give his second U.S. recital at Florida’s Palm Beach Opera in a gala event titled “Seduction of the Senses: A Gala Evening with Ildar Abdrazakov.” The event is co-hosted by Donald Trump and tickets are limited. Email Lisa at lhuertas@pbopera.org for more information.

Fans in Europe can catch him in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon at the Marseille Opera from November 8-16.

Make sure to order you 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar today. Enjoy 19 of operas hottest men. Click on the LULU button below to order your own copy.

Ildar Abdrazakov & Keith Miller in Met Broadcast

Keith Miller (left) and Ildar Abdrazakov

Two of opera's hottest barihunks, Ildar Abdrazakov and Keith Miller will be in Live in HD broadcast of Bizet's Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday, November 1st at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST. Abdrazakov will sing the bullfighter Escamillo and Miller will sing Lieutenant Zuniga.

Richard Eyre’s production will feature mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role of the ill-fated gypsy temptress and Aleksandrs Antonenko as the soldier Don José. 

There will be ab encore performances in the U.S. on Wednesday, November 5th and in Canada on November 29 and 30, and December 8th. Visit the Met website for tickets and a listing of theaters near you. 

 You can also enjoy Keith Miller in our 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar (bottom right), as he's featured for the second straight year. Click on the LULU button below to buy your copy today!

VANITY FAIR features Ildar Abdrazakov

Ildar Abdrazakov (Photograph by Jason Bell)

It's been a good month for Ildar Abdrazakov, who is getting a lot of great press coverage for being the featured star in the opening of the Metropolitan Opera - an honor usually reserves for sopranos and tenors. He was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal and now this segment appeared in Vanity Fair with a stunning photo by Jason Bell:

It could almost be the plot of an opera: a dark, dashing descendant of both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane appears and sweeps all before him. But in the case of Russian-born bass Ildar Abdrazakov—“I’m one-fourth Tatar and three-fourths Bashkirian,” he says with a smile—it happens to be true. A native of Ufa, the capital of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan (also known as Bashkiria), Abdrazakov, 37, has emerged in the past few years as one of the most sought-after young basses in the operatic world. He was pitch-perfect as the brooding prince in the Metropolitan Opera’s production last season of Borodin’s Prince Igor. But what Abdrazakov actually likes best is Italian opera: “I only started singing the Russian roles when I came west,” he says. His supple, burnished bass shines in the lyrical Rossini-to-Verdi canon, along with his comedic flair.

This season he’ll star in a new Met production of Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Richard Eyre, set in 1920s Seville. Abdrazakov made his debut as Figaro at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1998 and has since sung the part of Mozart’s beloved servant more than a hundred times. “There are many aspects of the role,” he says. “Comedy, drama, some lyric tones.” He keeps it fresh by always “finding something new, a small departure.” Abdrazakov loves working with the Met’s music director, James Levine, who will be conducting Figaro when it opens on September 22. “For him the acting is just as important as the music,” he says. “Even a hand gesture has to connect. It’s very organic—everything all together. He’s a genius.”

WSJ: "As Met's Fall Season Opens, Booming Basses Take Center Stage"

Ildar Abdrazakov (Julie Platner, The Wall Street Journal)

In opera, tenors are the men falling in love, singing their hearts out and basking in ovations after hitting the high notes.

But operatic basses, with low voices suited to kings, gods and villains, rarely get the girls—or popular attention. Which can lead to some friendly ribbing.

"Tenors always cry like babies," said Ildar Abdrazakov, a bass, who rolls his eyes at all the onstage whining from his artistic frenemies. "Wimps."

On Monday, Mr. Abdrazakov will hit a career milestone: He is the title character in the Metropolitan Opera's season opener, a new production of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro. "

At age 37, the Russian-born Mr. Abdrazakov's relative youth makes his ascent atypical, since the bass voice typically reaches maturity later in life. He has already anchored major productions at the Met, including Verdi's "Attila" and Borodin's "Prince Igor," and he is now marketable enough that he was featured in the Met's advertising for the 2014-15 season.

"Ildar is unusual because he has been singing leading roles for years," said the Met's general manager, Peter Gelb. "With Ildar, you have the new great bass."

There will be plenty of opportunities for comparison, with several other basement-rattling voices featured this season. For the first time since 1984, the Met is presenting a bass in concert: the 50-year-old René Pape, who sings on Sept. 28 in addition to appearing in "Macbeth" and "The Magic Flute." Then in March comes "Don Carlo," which will include two basses: Ferruccio Furlanetto and James Morris, both in their 60s.

[CONTINUE AT WALL STREET JOURNAL]

Pallesen and Abdrazakov performing in Richard Tucker Gala

Ildar Abdrazakov and Nicholas Pallesen

Barihunks Nicholas Pallesen and Ildar Abdrazakov will be part of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala n Sunday, October 12 at Avery Fisher Hall. Other performers include Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Marcello Giordani, Zeljko Lucić, and previous Tucker Award laureates Angela Meade, Isabel Leonard, and Stephen Costello. The singers will perform arias and ensembles led by Emmanuel Villaume, Music Director of the Dallas Opera.


Founded in 1975, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great Brooklyn-born tenor by nurturing the careers of talented young American opera singers. It also offers free performances in the New York metropolitan area and supports music education enrichment programs. Each year, the Foundation confers its most prestigious prize, the Richard Tucker Award, on an artist poised at the edge of a major international career. The award comes with a $50,000 cash prize as well as the ongoing support of the Tucker family and Foundation.

Tickets for this year’s event range from $40 to $600 and are on sale to the public through the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s website. Reservations for the gala dinner can be arranged by contacting the Tucker Foundation offices at (212) 757-2218.

Further information about the 2014 gala and the work of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation is available at www.richardtucker.org.

Barihunks team up for open air concert

Dmitri Hvorostovsky: One of the inspirations for Barihunks

Barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who was one of the original inspirations for creating this site seven years ago, seems to just get sexier with each passing year. His voice and breath control have also remained in perfect condition, even as he has ventured into slightly heavier repertory.

The Siberian singer has a few events coming up that fans should know about. On July 6th, he'll be singing in another one of his popular open air concerts at the Pavlovo Podvorie shopping and entertainment center in Moscow. We're hoping that this gets posted on YouTube like some of his other shows and we promise to keep you posted.

Ildar Abdrazakov

Slightly more intriguing is a concert with fellow barihunk lldar Abdrazakov that was just added to his calendar. The duo will join three other operatic heartthrobs for an outdoor concert at Munich’s Königsplatz on June 27, 2015.  Soprano Anna Netrebko, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and mezzo Elena Zhidkova will complete the quintet for a night of arias, duets, trios and opera scenes by Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky. Although it's a year away, we thought readers would want to purchase tickets now, as this will surely sell out faster than a Beyoncè concert. Click HERE for tickets.

Hvorostovsky will return to the opera stage at the Opéra National de Paris from September 8-24 as Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata.

Anna Netrebko & Dmitri Hvorostovsky perform at Moscow's Red Square:

Ildar Abdrazakov wraps up a run as Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth tonight at the Bavarian State Opera and now head to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden for the Mariinsky Theatre's staging of Verdi's Don Carlos. He will be singing Filippo II and performances are on July 3 and 5. Oddly, the website does not include additional cast information.

Upcoming broadcasts from the San Francisco Opera

Ildar Abdrazakov & Greer Grimsley

Mark your calendars, as the San Francisco Opera is broadcasting two performances featuring two of our favorite barihunks.

On Jan. 5, they will broadcast Boito's Mefistofele with Ildar Abdrazakov, Patricia Racette, and Ramón Vargas. On Feb. 2, you can hear Wagner's Flying Dutchman with Greer Grimsley, Lise Lindstrom, Ian Storey, Kristinn Sigmundsson and conducted by Patrick Summers. Tune in to KDFC.comhttp://www.kdfc.com, which is available online.

Later broadcast include Bellini's Norma on March 2 in a 1982 performance featuring Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Ezio Flagello.

Last season's performance of Verdi's Falstaff with Bryn Terfel on April 6th, followed by Lucas Meachem in Rossini's Barber of Seville on May 4th alongside the Rosina of Isabel Leonard.

On June 1st, they will feature the incredible Leonie Rysanek from a 1976 performance of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Karl Böhm.

It's exactly two weeks until Christmas, have you bought the best stocking stuffer ever? Order your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar today. You won't regret it!

Watch Ildar Abdrazakov online in the Verdi Requiem

Ildar Abdrazakov

The Verdi centenary continues online with video from the October 10th performance of his Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti. One of the featured singers in barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov, who is joined by mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, soprano Tatiana Serjan and tenor Mario Zeffiri.

The broadcast is also hosted by Samuel Ramey, who many consider the orginal barihunk. He still looks great at 71. Click HERE to watch it in its entirety.

You can see Abdrazakov with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of Valery Gergiev's tribute to Hector Berlioz. Abdrazakov will be singing in The Damnation of Faust on November 3 and 7, and in Romeo and Juliet on November 6 and 13. Click HERE for additional information or tickets.

U.S. audiences can next catch him from February 6-March 8 at the Metropolitan Opera in Borodin's Prince Igor.

Who gets the money for the Charity Calendar? 

This year we're looking for originality on Facebook and Twitter. We'll consider any idea that involves young artists, not just young artist programs...video projects...recital ideas...you name it.

Most LIKES on Facebook and most retweets on Twitter will increase your odds of winning.  (Use #Barihunks2014). Post your comments to our Facebook feed with who you should think is deserving of the a charitable contribution and why.

Barihunks on-the-air from LA Opera & Metropolitan Opera

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

Italian barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo will portray Escamillo in the Los Angeles Opera's season-opening production of Carmen on September 21st. The performance will be broadcast as part of "LA Opera on Air" on Classical KUSC 91.5 FM. The performance also features hunkentenor Brandon Jovanovich as Don José, Patricia Bardon as Carmen and South African soprano Pretty Yende in her LA Opera debut as Micaëla. Placido Domingo will conduct.

If you want to see Ildebrando D'Arcangelo live, there are additional performances on September 26, September 29, October 1, October 4 and October 6. The performance of September 28 will feature Dwayne Croft as Escamillo. Tickets are available online.

Mariusz Kwiecien

"The Met: Live in HD" series opens with Polish barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which also stars Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala. The October 5th transmission features a new production by Deborah Warner and will be conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Other Live in HD transmissions featuring barihunks are Shostakovich’s The Nose featuring Paulo Szot on October 26 and Ildar Abdrazakov in Borodin’s Prince Igor on March 1.

All 10 of the Met's high-definition productions will be shown live worldwide on Saturdays. Most operas begin at 12:55 p.m. EST/9:55 PST, but check the Met website to confirm starting times.