La Nuova Musica will be swapping barihunks in the role of Mercutio for their performance of Cavalli's La Calisto tonight at Wigmore Hall. James Newby will be filling in for Jonathan McGovern in a cast that also includes two of the sexiest countertenors in opera, Jake Arditti as Satirino and Tim Mead as Endomione. Bass-barihunk Edward Grint also appears as Silvano in a cast headed by early music specialist Lucy Crowe as Calisto. Tickets are available online.
Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto, first performed in Venice in 1651, blends comedy and tragedy with music of sensuous beauty and irresistible charm. The opera’s libretto is based on the ancient Greek myth of the nymph Callisto as related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.
At the age of 22, Newby was awarded Third Prize overall at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation
International Song Competition in 2015 and won the Richard
Tauber Prize for the the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder.
Previous winners of the prize include Jonathan
Lemalu and Simon Keenlyside.
James Newby sings Finzi's "Come away, come away death":
In September, Newby performed on the last night of the BBC Proms in a
concert that featured international operatic superstar Juan Diego
Flórez.
In the summer of 2016, Newby joined the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and is currently continuing his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Only a month left to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar.
La Nuova Musica will be swapping barihunks in the role of Mercutio for their performance of Cavalli's La Calisto tonight at Wigmore Hall. James Newby will be filling in for Jonathan McGovern in a cast that also includes two of the sexiest countertenors in opera, Jake Arditti as Satirino and Tim Mead as Endomione. Bass-barihunk Edward Grint also appears as Silvano in a cast headed by early music specialist Lucy Crowe as Calisto. Tickets are available online.
Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto, first performed in Venice in 1651, blends comedy and tragedy with music of sensuous beauty and irresistible charm. The opera’s libretto is based on the ancient Greek myth of the nymph Callisto as related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.
At the age of 22, Newby was awarded Third Prize overall at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation
International Song Competition in 2015 and won the Richard
Tauber Prize for the the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder.
Previous winners of the prize include Jonathan
Lemalu and Simon Keenlyside.
James Newby sings Finzi's "Come away, come away death":
In September, Newby performed on the last night of the BBC Proms in a
concert that featured international operatic superstar Juan Diego
Flórez.
In the summer of 2016, Newby joined the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and is currently continuing his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Only a month left to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar. Enjoy opera's hottest men year around!
La Nuova Musica will be swapping barihunks in the role of Mercutio for their performance of Cavalli's La Calisto tonight at Wigmore Hall. James Newby will be filling in for Jonathan McGovern in a cast that also includes two of the sexiest countertenors in opera, Jake Arditti as Satirino and Tim Mead as Endomione. Bass-barihunk Edward Grint also appears as Silvano in a cast headed by early music specialist Lucy Crowe as Calisto. Tickets are available online.
Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto, first performed in Venice in 1651, blends comedy and tragedy with music of sensuous beauty and irresistible charm. The opera’s libretto is based on the ancient Greek myth of the nymph Callisto as related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.
James Newby sings Finzi's "Come away, come away death":
At the age of 22, Newby was awarded Third Prize overall at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation
International Song Competition in 2015 and won the Richard
Tauber Prize for the the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder.
Previous winners of the prize include Jonathan
Lemalu and Simon Keenlyside.
In September, Newby performed on the last night of the BBC Proms in a
concert that featured international operatic superstar Juan Diego
Flórez.
In the summer of 2016, Newby joined the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and is currently continuing his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Only a month left to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar. Enjoy opera's hottest men year around!
Last week, we posted about the sexy production of Handel’s Agrippina from the Theater an der Wien featuring barihunk Damian Pass as Pallante and hunken-countertenor Jake Arditti as Nerone.
The production was live streamed on Sonostream, but is now available on YouTube or right here on Barihunks.
The new production from director Robert Carsen casts a satirical eye on Ancient Rome, with political and sexual machination as Agrippina schemes to place her son, Nerone (Nero), on the throne and the seductive Poppea juggles with three lovers. Handel, who many musicologists presume was gay, would undoubtedly have LOVED this production.
Damian Pass strips down in Agrippina
In addition to enough supernumerary beefcake to fill an issue of Men's Fitness, the cast also includes the stunning Danielle de Niese as Poppea, Patricia Bardon in the title role, Fillippo Mineccia as Ottone, Mika Kares as Claudio, Tom Verney as Narciso and Christoph Seidl as Lesbo.
We figured that it was worthwhile to share some of the pictures from the production.
Damian Pass, Patricia Bardon and the Men of Agrippina
In 1707-1708, Agrippina gave the young Handel his big chance to establish his reputation as an opera composer in Italy. The commission came from the famous Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo in Venice, which was funded by the influential Grimani family. The Venetians were extremely demanding when it came to music, but Handel succeeded in creating a wise, gripping and entertaining opera on the basis of the humorous libretto about lust for power and sexual desires in Ancient Rome. The success was overwhelming.
If you love sexy men (and women), then add the live stream of Handel’s Agrippina from the Theater an der Wien to your list of "must see" performances. The new production from director Robert Carsen casts a satirical eye on Ancient Rome, with political and sexual machination as Agrippina schemes to place her
son, Nerone (Nero), on the throne and the seductive Poppea juggles with
three lovers.
The cast includes barihunk Damian Pass as Pallante, hunken-countertenor Jake Arditti as Nerone, the stunning Danielle de Niese as Poppea, Patricia Bardon in the title role, Fillippo Mineccia as Ottone, Mika Kares as Claudio, Tom Verney as Narciso and Christoph Seidl as Lesbo. Thomas Hengelbrock conducts his Balthasar Neumann Ensemble.
Jake Arditti in Agrippina
The performance will live streamed on Sonostream.tv on March 29th at 7 PM CEST (2 PM EST, 11 AM PST). There is an additional performance remaining on March 31 and tickets are available online.
In 1707-1708, Agrippina gave the young Handel his big chance to establish his reputation as an opera composer in Italy. The commission came from the famous Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo in Venice, which was funded by the influential Grimani family. The Venetians were extremely demanding when it came to music, but Handel succeeded in creating a wise, gripping and entertaining opera on the basis of the humorous libretto about lust for power and sexual desires in Ancient Rome. The success was overwhelming.
A scene from Robert Carsen's Agrippina in Vienna
The story takes place in Rome, 54 A.D. where Agrippina is married to the Roman Emperor Claudio, who is currently away on a crusade. When the rumor surfaces that he has been killed in battle, she tries to make her son Nerone, the result of an earlier liaison with another man, emperor. It turns out, however, that Claudio is not dead, but was saved by Ottone, one of his generals. Out of gratitude, Claudio has made him his heir. Consequently, there are now two heirs. The situation is made even more complicated by the fact that Claudio, Nerone and Ottone are all in love with the same woman: Poppea. Who will win the woman and the throne? Agrippina schemes, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so. In the end, Ottone wins Poppea – for the time being – and Nerone is heir to the throne. But as we know from history and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea things are not going to remain this way for long.
Jan Capiński (Photo: Ash Mills)and Matt Buswell (Photo: Chris Christodoulou)
Once again Twitter provided us a path to our latest post when Jake Arditti responded to a tweet from Opera Danube introducing the men of their cast for their upcoming performance of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. He correctly predicted that we'd be onto them in no time. For the record, if we ever start a site dedicated to hunky countertenors Arditti will be our first post.
Performing in the cast are barihunks Jan Capiński and Matt Buswell, the latter who is new to the site. Opera Danube was founded in 2013 to provide emerging artists a showcase for their talents with full orchestra. As the name implies, their primary focus is operetta and in prior years they have performed Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus and Franz Lèhar's The Merry Widow. Performances of Orpheus will be on January 29, 30 and 31 at St. John's, Smith Square and additional cast and ticket information is available online.
The "Oracle of Arditti" speaks!
We introduced Jan Capiński a year ago when it was announced that he was singing Armando in Donizetti's The Siege of Calais with the English Touring Opera. The Polish native studied at the Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He went on to train at the ENO Opera Works professional development program and is a recipient of the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, as well as the Garsington Opera Simon Sandbach Award. He recently completed two tours of the U.K. with Mid Wales Opera and English Touring Opera as Moralès in Jonathan Miller's new production of Carmen. According to his website, Capiński stays in shape by white-water kayaking, stand-up-paddleboarding and hiking.
Offenbach's Can Can at Opera Danube's gala:
Bass-barihunk Matt Buswell trained at the Royal College of Music where he graduated with honours. Upcoming performances include performances with with the Brandenberg Choral Festival in Mozart's Requiem and Solemn Vespers. He has previously performed Cadmus and Somnus in Handel's Semele with the London Early Opera, Il Sonno in Handel's Arianna in Creta and Licaone in Handel's Giove in Argo at the Royal College of Music International Opera School & London Handel Festival, Wilfred in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard with Portsmouth Guildhall, Calmon in Jonathan Dove's The Little Green Swallow with the British Youth Opera and Figaro in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with the Mid-Wales Opera Young Artist Program. When not performing, he also teaches voice.
You can follow Jan Capiński on Twitter @jancapinski, Matt Buswell at @MattBuswell, Jake Arditti at @JakeArditti and Opera Danube at @OperaDanube.
