Barihunk Trio in New England premiere of Fellow Travelers; Coming to Arizona and Madison

Jesse Darden as Timothy Laughlin and Jesse Blumberg as Hawkins Fuller (Photo by Liza Voll)

The Boston Lyric Opera is presenting the New England premiere of Gregory Spears' Fellow Travelers from November 13-17. The cast will included the barihunk trio of Jesse Blumberg as Hawkins Fuller, David McFerrin as Senator Joe McCarthy and Simon Dyer in multiple roles. 

The remainder of the cast includes Jesse Darden as Timothy McLaughlin, Chelsea Basler as Mary Johnson, James Maddalena as Senator Charles Potter, Vincent Turregano as Tommy McIntyre, Brianna Robinson as Lucy and Michelle Trainor as Miss Lightfoot. Tickets are available online. 

Simon Dyer and David McFerrin

Fellow Travelers, which is set in Washington D.C. against the backdrop of the McCarthy-era "lavender scare," tells the story of Timothy “Skippy” Laughlin, an aspiring young journalist, and Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller, a handsome, profligate State Department official. A chance encounter with Hawk leads to Tim's first job in DC, and his first love affair. As his involvement deepens, Tim struggles to reconcile his political convictions, his religious beliefs, and his love for Fuller – an entanglement that will end in a stunning act of betrayal. The libretto is based on the novel by American novelist, essayist and critic Thomas Mallon.

Joseph Lattanzi as Hawkins Fuller and Jonas Hacker as "Skippy" McLaughlin

The opera is also being performed on the other side of the continent at the Arizona Opera with Joseph Lattanzi reprising the role of Hawkins Fuller, which he created at the Cincinnati Opera in 2016. The cast includes Marcus DeLoach as Senator Joe McCarthy, Thomas Cannon as Senator Charles Potter, Jonas Hacker as Timothy McLaughlin, Katherine Beck as Mary Johnson, Cadie Jordan as Lucy and Kaitlyn Johnson as Miss Lightfoot. Tickets are available online. 

The opera will also be performed next year at the Madison Opera with Ben Edquist as Hawkins Fuller, Sid Outlaw as Tommy McIntyre and Andy Acosta as Hawkins Fuller. 

 

Jesse Blumberg in world premiere of Edwin Huizinga's Annunciation

Jesse Blumberg and Opera Atelier

Barihunk and early music specialist Jesse Blumberg will be featured in Opera Atelier's double-bill of The Angel Speaks and the Canadian premiere of Annunciation, a new commission by Toronto-based composer and violinist Edwin Huizinga for period instruments. The concert will blend baroque music with contemporary music inspired by early music.

The Angel Speaks unites baroque music, contemporary music and dance, while Annunciation is a setting of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem of the same name for six soloists by Canadian composer Edwin Huizinga. Blumberg will be joined by soprano Mireille Asselin, soloists from the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and five dancers from the Atelier Ballet.

Performances are at the historic Royal Ontario Museum  on February 21, 2019 and tickets are available online. 

Jesse Blumberg peforms Monteverdi's Vespers:

Blumberg can be heard on February 20th, as part of the New York Festival of Song's Hyphenated Americans, featuring songs by first-generation American composers whose close links to their parents’ homelands can be heard through their compositions.  Tickets and additional information is available online.

Jesse Blumberg featured in Polish Independence Day concert in NY

Jesse Blumberg

The Oratorio Society of New York will celebrate Polish Independence with a November 11th concert featuring barihunk Jesse Blumberg, soprano Susanna Phillips and Polish mezzo-soprano Ewa Płonka. The concert will feature Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater and Górecki’s Euntes Ibant et Flebant.

November 11th commemorates the anniversary of the restoration of Poland's sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918 from the German, Austrian and Russian Empires. Following the partitions in the late 18th century, Poland ceased to exist for 123 years until the end of World War I, when the destruction of the neighbouring powers allowed the country to reemerge.

The concert is part of “100 for 100,” a worldwide musical commemoration of the Polish centenary in conjunction with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Edition (a music publishing house).

 Górecki’s Euntes Ibant et Flebant:

Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater was written during his late Nationalist period and is characterized by his use of Polish melodies and rhythms. Circumstances in the composer's personal life inspired the work. Upon the death of his niece, Alusia Bartoszewiczówna, in January 1925, the composer spent time consoling his sister in her loss, subsequently choosing to set the Stabat Mater text, with its profound reflection on the grieving mother.

Górecki’s Euntes Ibant et Flebant has text from the Book of Psalms and is written for unaccompanied choir. The composition is extremely interesting from the harmonic point of view, as it constitutes a sublimated synthesis of the major-minor system with the folk music modality. This procedure provides the work with an ''extraterrestrial'', meditative character, emphasized in addition by the strict psalmody appearing more or less in the middle of the piece. 

The concert also includes Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem, which looks back at recent wars and makes a plea for peace even as a new war threatens.

The concert will be held at Carnegie Hall at 8 p.m. and tickets are available online.

Barihunk quartet in Boston Lyric Opera's killer world premiere

Jesse Blumberg and Craig Colclough (Photo: Liza Voll)

The world premiere of Boston Lyric Opera's The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare may be about missing cadavers, but it's certainly not missing its fair share of barihunks. Jesse Blumberg and Craig Colclough portray the title characters Mr. Burke and Mr. Hare, while David McFerrin sings Ferguson and David Cushing is Donald, one of the unfortunate victims of the duo.

Set in 1820s Scotland – when the city’s famed schools of anatomy faced a severe shortage of fresh cadavers for their lectures – the opera follows William Burke, William Hare and their accomplices who discover a money-making opportunity by murdering disenfranchised citizens and selling their corpses to Dr. Robert Knox at his renowned medical academy.

David McFerrin and David Cushing

The chamber opera will be the first full-length piece in Boston Lyric Opera's New Works series. Performances will be staged at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, an historic building whose neoclassical Victorian style reflects the story’s 19th century time period, and whose circular interior recalls early operating theaters where observers watched medical procedures.

We also hear that Jesse Blumberg performs the climactic scene in nothing but skivvies. 

The cast also includes tenors William Burden and Michael Slattery, sopranos Marie McLaughlin, Michelle Trainor and Antonia Tamer, as well as mezzo-sopranos Emma Sorenson and Heather Gallagher. Performances are on November 8, 9 and 12 (matinee and evening) and tickets are available online.

Brad Baron from Barihunks Calendar and 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!

Barihunk Jesse Blumberg to revive Rosenmüller cantatas

Johann Rosenmüller and Jesse Blumberg

American barihunk Jesse Blumberg rejoins the baroque string ensemble ACRONYM on September 29th for their performance of "Valley of Tears: Bass Cantatas and Instrumental Sonatas of Johann Rosenmüller." The program will alternate large ensemble chamber sonatas published in Venice in 1670 with unpublished bass cantatas, which ACRONYM has transcribed for baritone from manuscripts recently rediscovered in Berlin.   

The cantata, Salve mi Jesu, Pater misericordiae, contains the words lachrimarum valle, or “valley of tears.” Mid-career, the German composer was forced to flee from Leipzig to Venice after being imprisoned for alleged "homosexual activity." He lived in Venice for many years, lavishing his musical gifts upon that city and teaching at the Ospedale della Pietà orphanage for girls. He was considered a significant figure in the super-competitive music world of Venice in the late seventeenth century.

Jesse Blumberg and ACRONYM perform Johann Rosenmüller:

In his later years, Rosenmüller returned to Germany with Duke Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, at whose court he served as choir master. He died in Wolfenbüttel on September 10, 1684, and was buried there.

Performances will be at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York and tickets are available online.

Jarrett Ott in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers; Original cast in Hawaii

Jarrett Ott

Barihunk Jarrett Ott will be taking on the role of Charlie in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers at Opera Memphis on April 1st and 8th.  He'll be joined by Cree Carrico as his sister Beatrice and Phyllis Pancella as their mother Madeline Mitchell. The role of Charlie has become a popular vehicle for barihunks, including Keith Phares, Matthew Worth and Jesse Blumberg.

Three Decembers tells the story of a famous stage actress – Madeline Mitchell – and her two adult children: Beatrice and Charlie. Both children resent their mother's long absences on the road and her lack of concern for the tragedies in their lives. Charlie believes his mother is distant because he is gay, even as his partner, Burt, is dying of AIDS. Meanwhile, Beatrice, trapped in an unhappy marriage, feels Madeline resents her enduring affection for their deceased father. As the story unfolds over the decades, long-simmering resentments surface, accusations are hurled, and family secrets revealed, leading ultimately to a hard-won peace and forgiveness for both the living and the dead.

On March 30th, Ott will appear at OUT at the Opera, a preview night for Opera Memphis at Playhouse on the Square from 7-10 PM. The event is intended to connect the opera company with the LGBT community. Tickets for the opera are available online.

Ott next performs Zurga in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers with the North Carolina Opera on April 28th and 30th.

Keith Phares in Three Decembers

A few thousand miles to the west, the Hawaii Opera Theater has assembled the three main cast members from the original 2008 production from the Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera. Barihunk Keith Phares sings Charlie, with Kristin Clayton as his sister Beatrice and the indefatigable Federica von Stade as Madeline.

There are shows remaining on March 29th and 31st, and April 1st.  Tickets are available online. Next up is Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann with Wayne Tigges as the Four Villains, who we just posted about as a last minute substitution in Los Angeles.

Barihunk duo in new opera at Boston Lyric Opera

Jesse Blumberg & David McFerrin

Barihunks Jesse Blumberg and David McFerrin will be featured in the world premiere of composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell’s The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare. The opera will be the first full-length piece in Boston Lyric Opera's New Works series.

Set in 1820s Scotland – when the city’s famed schools of anatomy faced a severe shortage of fresh cadavers for their lectures – the opera follows William Burke, William Hare and their accomplices who discover a money-making opportunity by murdering disenfranchised citizens and selling their corpses to Dr. Robert Knox at his renowned medical academy.

The opera will be staged at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, an historic building whose neoclassical Victorian style reflects the story’s 19th century time period, and whose circular interior recalls early operating theaters where observers watched medical procedures.

The cast also includes tenor William Burden and soprano Marie McLaughlin. 

The upcoming season will also include Puccini's Tosca, Kurt Weill's Three Penny Opera and Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Introducing Hungarian barihunk Attila Dobak

Attila Dobak in The Merry Widow (left) at Boston Lyric Opera

Jesse Blumberg and David McFerrin, two barihunks who we've frequently featured on this site, just performed in Lehar's The Merry Widow with the Boston Lyric Opera. Not featured in the credits was another barihunk, Attila Dobak, who was in a minor role, but has major barihunk chops.

Dobak was born in Budapest, Hungary and studied clarinet when he was seven and piano when he was twelve. He was inspired to study voice after watching the 3 Tenors Concert with Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. He started studying voice at age sixteen and eventually was accepted into the Béla Bartok Conservatory of Music in Budapest, where he majored in Classic Voice and Opera. He also has a Masters Degree in Marketing & Communications from Corvinus University in Budapest.

He went on to study at the Longy School of Music at Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Longy and Opera North (where he was a young artist), he performed Bartolo and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and Gideon March in Mark Adamo's Little Women.

In 2014, Dobak was invited to perform at the Miami Summer Music Festival by Michael Rossi, the conductor of the Washington National Opera, where he sang Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. He also appeared on NBC giving a solo opera performance with the Miami Summer Music Festival Orchestra.

He is currently based in Boston, where he is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera. In addition to The Merry Widow, he appeared in their production of Puccini's La boheme.

His goal in life is to become an opera/crossover singer and you can find examples of him singing opera on his YouTube page, as well as covers of Bruno Mars, Josh Groban and Broadway musicals.

One month until Chrismas! Have you bought your Barihunks calendar?

Malte Roesner (top), Gianluca Margheri (bottom left) and Eric Stokloßa/David Adam Moore (bottom right)

The 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar is now available for purchase. Now in its fifth edition, the calendar features eighteen of the hottest singers in opera and musical theater hailing from nine different countries.

For each of the last four years, the charity calendar has donated all of the profits to young artists, young artist programs and projects featuring baritones. Some of the previous beneficiaries have included the Portland Resident Young Artist Program, Seagle Music Colony, the production of the West Coast Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers featuring Jesse Blumberg, and a concert featuring bass-barihunk Aaron Sørensen and hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock.

Trisatn Hambleton, Seth Carrico & Patrick Egersborg

This year the proceeds will be used to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices. New York-based composer Clint Borzoni has already been commissioned to write two songs for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed by Marco Vassalli in January.

The singers this year include Cyril Rovery and Romain Dayez from France; Malte Roesner, Eric Stokloßa and Marco Vassalli from Germany; Iurii Samoilov from the Ukraine; Tristan Hambleton from England; Duncan Rock from Australia; Patrick Egersborg from Norway; Jason Forbach, John Paul Huckle, David Adam Moore, Seth Mease Carico and Edward Miskie from the United States; Gianluca Margheri and Vittorio Prato from Italy; and, Iosu Yeregui from Spain. All of the singers are baritones or lower voices, except for Eric Stokloßa, who is the first tenor featured in the calendar (in a photo with baritone David Adam Moore from Peter Eötvös' Paradise reloaded.

Four of the singers were photographed this Summer in the Loire Valley in an official Barihunks photo shoot. 

The Barihunks calendar is available at LULU.com.

Marco Vassalli

Fans of Marco Vassalli can purchase his fundraising calendar, which will help fund his long-awaited US debut in San Francisco this January. Click HERE to purchase the calendar or HERE to learn more about the concert. You can also find additional benefits at his Indiegogo campaign, including his CD of Italian songs or the chance to have a newly commissioned song that he's performing named in your honor. 

Barihunks galore at American Classical Orchestra

Tim McDevitt and Paul Max Tipton

Barihunks will play a prominent role in two upcoming shows with the American Classical Orchestra in New York City. Paul Max Tipton will sing the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. John Passion conducted by Thomas Crawford on Tuesday, November 3 at Alice Tully Hall. Members of the American Classical Orchestra Chorus will be featured in the solo arias, which includes barihunks Jesse Blumberg and Joseph Beutel, who will also have solo roles. They will be joined by tenor Rufus Muller as the Evangelist.

On February 23, they will perform Haydn's L'isola disabitata (Desert Island) with barihunk Timothy McDevitt, who will be joined by soloists Sherezade Panthaki, Sarah Brailey and Owen McIntosh. Regular readers may remember our post of the opera with shirtless photos of Tom Corbeil in the Mark Morris production, which remains one of our top fifty posts of all-time. The opera was first performed in 1779 and is an Enlightenment parable about the relationship between humanity's natural instincts and society.

Tickets for both shows are available online.

Jesse Blumberg

Fans of Jesse Blumberg can catch him in Norhtern California with the Mirror Visions Ensemble in San Francisco on October 9 and in Sacrmento on October 11. He'll be in New York on October 19th with the Tertulia Chamber Music ensemble to perform Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes. He'll be joined by soprano Kiera Duffy, mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano and tenor John Bellemer.

ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR TODAY!!! Click on the Lulu button below.  

 

Brooklyn Art Song Society sings with barihunks

(Clockwise from top L) Jesse Blumberg, Jorell Williams, John Moore and Jarrett Ott

The Brooklyn Art Song Society not only has our favorite acronym (BASS), but they also seem to book the hottest and most vocally gifted basses and baritones for their concerts. This year's roster includes many of our favorite singers, most of whom have appeared on this site.

The season kicks off on September 18th with Britannica at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. It will feature barihunk Jesse Blumberg along with soprano Sarah Brailey, mezzo Kate Maroney and tenor Nils Neubert in music by Dowland and Purcell.

On October 22, Jorell Williams will join soprano Justine Aronson and tenor Joseph Gaines for Ned Rorem's birthday celebration, which will include his King Midas and selected songs. Performances are at Bargemusic at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn.

On November 6, barihunks Jarrett Ott and John Moore join tenor  Dominic Armstrong at The Old Stone House in Brooklyn for In Memoriam: Songs of the Great War, which includes music by William Dennis Browne, George Butterworth, Gerald Finzi, Ivor Gurney and Ralph Vaughan Williams. On November 11th, Ott and Armstrong will travel to the National WW I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City to reprise their portion of the program.

Jarrett Ott sings Glen Roven's "After Great Pain"

On December 3rd, Sidney Outlaw will be part of a program with tenor Dominic Armstrong that includes Finzi's A Young Man’s Exhortation and Ralph Vaughn Williams' Songs of Travel.

The February 14th concert will bring back Jorell Williams along with soprano Kristina Bachrach and tenor Dominic Armstrong for songs based on Shakespeare. The program includes music by Hector Berlioz, Ernest Chausson, Gerald Finzi, Francis Poulenc, Roger Quilter, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, and Peter Warlock.

Additional concerts include Jarrett Ott performing Britten on March 17th, Steven Eddy in a program of love songs on April 2, Kyle Oliver singing Hugo Wolf on April 19th, Steven Eddy and Michael Kelly singing more Wolf on April 29th, and Tyler Duncan and soprano Martha Guth performing the Canadian Songbook on May 22 at The Old Stone House.

Visit the BASS website for a complete list of concerts and performers. Tickets are available online.

Jesse Blumberg in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers

Jesse Blumberg and Jennifer Black in Three Decembers at the Atlanta Opera

Barihunk Jesse Blumberg is the latest singer to take on the role of the gay son Charlie in Jake Heggie's chamber opera Three Decembers.

The opera deals with family secrets that are uncovered over the course of three Decembers, each a decade apart. Glamorous actress Madeline Mitchell and her two adult children struggle to reconcile the truth and lies about their lives and relationships.

Mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe sings the role of the mother Madeline Mitchell, which the composer wrote for the legendary Frederica von Stade, while Jennifer Black portrays the other sibling Beatrice. The piece will be performed in the intimate Alliance Theatre on May 29, May 30 and May 31.

Daniel Teadt sings Charlie's aria from Three Decembers:

Two other companies will be performing Three Decembers this season, with the Kentucky Opera's running from November 13-15 and Florentine Opera from March 11-20. 2016. Keith Phares will sing the role of Charlie at Florenine Opera, a role he has performed in San Francisco, Houston and Des Moines.

The Dallas Opera has announced the commission of Heggie's next opera, Great Scott, with a libretto by Terrence McNally, set for a premiere on October 30, 2015, starring Nathan Gunn. The production will then head to the revived San Diego Opera in May 2016.

Upcoming performances for Jesse Blumberg include excerpts from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with Voyces, Rosebmüller's Cantatas with ACRONYM, and Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah with the American Bach Soloists.

Ryan McKinny's sexy Flying Dutchman rehearsal photos

 

Ryan McKinny in Flying Dutchman rehearsals at Hawaii Opera Theater (far left and right) and Glimmerglass (center)

Back in June 2013 we ran some sexy photos from photographer Karli Cadel of barihunk Ryan McKinny in rehearsals for Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Glimmerglass Festival. It became one of our most popular posts and still gets an amazing amount of traffic almost two years later.

That amazing production from Glimmerglass has been transported 4,900 miles to the Hawaii Opera Theater with three of the main cast members repeating their roles, including Jay Hunter Morris as Erik, Melody Moore as Senta and McKinny as the Dutchman. Hawaii even added barihunk Paul Whelan as Daland.

Forunately, there are more rehearsal pictures of Ryan McKinny, so we had to share them with you.

Ryan McKinny in Flying Dutchman rehearsals at Hawaii Opera Theater

Performances run from February 13-17 and tickets are available online. If you were planning on a vacation to Hawaii, this would be the time to go.

Hawaii Opera Theater, or HOT as they're affectionately known, has more barihunks on their season lineup. Wes Mason will sing the role of Jonathan Reed in Jonathan Dove's Siren Song, running from March 20-28. Jesse Blumberg then joins the roster for a run as Anthony Hope in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd from April 24-28.

We're left muttering HOT is HOT!!!

Support a singer and attend your local Handel's Messiah

 

Handel's Messiah has become a full-time employment act for opera singers around the world. It's often much needed work for singers during the holidays, so we encourage you to attend a Messiah near you. We asked singers and orchestras to notify us of upcoming performances of the holiday classic and we've compiled this handy list for you. 

 

Friday, DECEMBER 5:
Jacksonville Symphony with Evan Boyer, bass, Twyla Robinson, soprano, Elise Quagliata, mezzo-soprano, Jason Slayden, tenor and Michael Butterman, conductor. Click HERE for tickets. 

Friday, DECEMBER 5:
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Richard Eaton Singers with Cameron McPhail, baritone,
Mireille Asselin, soprano, Lauren Segal, mezzo-soprano, Lawrence Wiliford, tenor and
Ragnar Bohlin, conductor. Click HERE for tickets.

Friday, DECEMBER 5 and Sunday, DECEMBER 7:
Atlanta Symphony with Gerard Sundberg, Jeanine De Bique, Kelley O’Connor and Thomas Glenn 
Click HERE for tickets.

Sunday, DECEMBER 7:
Chicago Symphony and the Apollo Chorus with Jonathan Beyer baritone, Kiri Deonarine soprano, Tracy Watson mezzo-soprano, Samuel Levine tenor  and conductor Stephen Alltop
Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 10-14:
The Phoenix Symphony & Chorus with Rod Gilfy, baritone, Celena Shafer, soprano, Carin Gilfry, mezzo-soprano, Norman Shankle, tenor and Tito Muñoz, conductor.   Click HERE for tickets. 

DECEMBER 12 & 13: 
Boston Baroque with Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, Sherezade Panthaki, soprano, Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo-soprano  and William Burden, tenor Click HERE for tickets:

DECEMBER 13 & 14:
Colorado Symphony & Chorus in Denver with Kyle Ketelsen, bass, Kiera Duffy, soprano Jamie van Eyck, alto and Sean Panikkar, tenor. Click HERE for tickets. 

DECEMBER 13:
The Bach Choir and Mozart Festival Orchestra in full 18th century costumes with Charles Rice baritone, Keri Fuge, soprano, Catherine Hopper, mezzo, Nico Darmanin, tenor  and Oliver Gooch conductor. Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 14:
Detroit Symphony Orchestra & the Michigan State University Chorale at the Seligman Performing Arts Center with Josh Hopkins, baritone, Dominique Labelle, soprano, Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor and Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor. Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 15:
Orfeo 55 and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Andrew Foster-Williams, bass, Susan Gritton  soprano, Sara Mingardo, alto and Benjamin Bernheim  tenor, Under the direction of Nathalie Stutzmann. Click HERE for tickets.  

DECEMBER 16-20:
New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall with James Westman, Baritone, Camilla Tilling, Soprano, Iestyn Davies, Countertenor and Michael Slattery, Tenor. Click HERE for tickets.          ,

DECEMBER 16-19:
American Bach Soloists at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco with Jesse Blumberg, baritone, Mary Wilson, soprano, Eric Jurenas, countertenor, Wesley Rogers, tenor and Jeffrey Thomas, conductor. Click HERE for tickets. 

DECEMBER 18-21:
Houston Symphony & Chorus with Derek Welton, bass-baritone, Anna Devin, soprano, Lawrence Zazzo, countertenor,  Barry Banks, tenor and Christopher Warren Green, conductor.  Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 18-21:
San Francisco Symphony & Chorus with Troy Cook, baritone, Yulia van Doren, soprano, Leah Wool, mezzo-soprano,  Nicholas Phan  tenor and Jane Glover, conductor. Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 19 & 20 SOLD OUT:
Belmont Ensemble of London and English Chamber Choir at St Martin in the Fields by candlelight with Philip Tebb, Bass, Elizabeth Weisberg, Soprano, Ciara Hendrick, Mezzo-Soprano, Peter Davoren Tenor and Peter G Dyson, Conductor.

DECEMBER 19-21:
Seattle Symphony & Chorale with Kevin Burdette, bass, Amanda Forsythe, soprano, Magdalena Wór, mezzo-soprano, Andrew Stenson, tenor  and Gary Thor Wedow, conductor. Click HERE for tickets. 

DECEMBER 20:
Valencia Orchestra and Coral Catedralicia with Josep Miquel Ramón, bass-baritone, Raquel Lojendio, soprano, Cristina Faus, mezzosoprano,  Agustín Prunell-Friend, tenor and  José María Moreno, conductor Click HERE for tickets. 

DECEMBER 21:
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari) with bass Christian Senn, Roberta Invernizzi, Romina Boscolo, Robin Tritschler and conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini. Click HERE for tickets.

DECEMBER 21:
Cincinnati Symphony and the May Festival Chorus with Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, Abigail Santos, soprano, Abigail Levis, mezzo soprano, Rufus Müller, tenor and James Bagwell, conductor. Click HERE for tickets.   

DECEMBER 21:
Philharmonischer Chor and the Berlin Batzdorfer Hofkapelle under the baton of Jörg-Peter Weigle with Markus Butter, Baritone, Sibylla Rubens, Soprano, Kai Wessel, Countertenor and Andreas Weller, Tenor. Click HERE for tickets. 

Michael Mayes, Jesse Blumberg to perform Jake Heggie's Three Decembers

Barihunk Michael Mayes who has been called the definitive Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking is taking on a new role from the composer. From September 27-October 4, he'll be singing the role of Charlie in Three Decembers at Urban Arias. Mayes will be joined by Janice Hall and Emily Pulley. Tickets are available online.

The chamber opera tells the story of family secrets that are uncovered over the course of three Decembers, each a decade apart. Glamorous actress Madeline Mitchell and her two adult children, Charlie and Bea, struggle to reconcile the truth and lies about their lives and relationships. The story is based on a short play by Terrance McNally with a libretto by Gene Scheer.

Kathyrn Bates and Jesse Blumberg in Ricky Ian Gordon's "Green Sneakers"

A number of barihunks have taken on the role of Charlie including Keith Phares in San Francisco and Houston, and Matt Worth in Chicago and Fort Worth. Keith Phares will be singing the role again on December 5, 6 and 7 at the Des Moines Metro Opera. Jesse Blumberg will sing the role with the Atlanta Opera on May 29, 30 and 31 of 2015.

The Dallas Opera has announced the commission of Heggie's next opera, Great Scott, with a libretto by Terrence McNally, set for a premiere on October 30, 2015. It will also star Michael Mayes.

Green Sneakers "Dream Team" reuniting in San Antonio

Cellist Kathryn Bates and Jesse Blumberg in Green Sneakers

One of our favorite collaborations in all of opera is coming to Opera Piccola of San Antonio. Barihunk Jesse Blumberg will be rejoining the acclaimed young director John de los Santos and the riveting Del Sol Quartet for a repeat of their powerful performance of Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers, which played for one night in San Francisco last year. We were at that performance and there wasn't a dry eye in the theater when the opera ended.

Opera Piccola will present two performances on May 10 and 12 in a double-bill with Gordon's Orpheus and Euridice. Tickets are available online.

Green Sneakers, which is broken into nineteen songs and runs about 80 minutes was written with Jesse Blumberg in mind. The piece is scored for baritone, string quartet, and empty chair, with a libretto by the composer. It premiered on July 15, 2008 in Vail, Colorado and has had a number of subsequent performances since, mostly with Blumberg.

Ricky Ian Gordon today wrote the mini-opera as a way of dealing with the loss of his lover Jeffrey Grossi to AIDS in 1996. In an interview with the Advocate Gordon said, "The world is so different now than it was when Jeffery died in 1996. Young people today missed seeing what it was really like at the height of the AIDS crisis so for them they think it’s OK because you just get to take a few pills all the time. Today, HIV is romanticized in a way because you get to be like that character in Rent, but young people need to know that there’s nothing romantic about it."

You can read the entire interview HERE. 

Director John de los Santos and composer Ricky Ian Gordon

Jesse Blumberg just wrapped up a successful run as Papageno in the famous Barrie Kosky/1927 production of Mozart's Magic Flute at the Minnesota Opera. Blumberg can next be heard performing Schubert's Winterreise at the Kerrytown Concert House on May 17th and Aeneas in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas at the Connecticut Early Music Festival on June 7 and 8.

De los Santos has just brought Bizet's Pearl Fishers to life at the Fort Worth Opera Festival, which has a final performance tonight. From July 16-19, the wunderkind director will work his magic with Rossini's L’Italiana in Algeri at the Seagle Music Colony.

Ricky Ian Gordon has been one of the busiest composers in the world, with premieres of his new operas A Coffin in Egypt and "27." A Coffin in Egypt can next be seen at Opera Philadelphia from June 6-15 and "27" will premiere on June 14 at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Doug Williams & Jesse Blumberg in Early Music Gala

Doug Williams

Two of the most talented and arguably sexiest barihunks performing today will appear together at the Boston Early Music Festival's gala performance on Sunday, December 1st. Jesse Blumberg and Douglas Williams will be joined by members of the company's ensemble in selections from seven operas that have been featured in their Chamber Opera Series since 2008.

Led by three-time Grammy-nominated Artistic Co-Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, the singers will perform excerpts from Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Monterverdi’s Orfeo, Blow's Venus and Adonis, and Charpentier's Actéon, La descente d'Orphée aux enfers, and La Couronne de Fleurs.

Jesse Blumberg as Ulysses with Opera Omnia

The Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series has become a favorite of early music devotees with its fully staged operas focused on rarely heard masterpieces at Boston’s Jordan Hall. Other performers includee soprano Amanda Forsythe, tenor Aaron Sheehan, mezzo Thea Lobo, tenor Jason McStoots, mezzo Danielle Reutter-Harrah, tenor Zachary Wilder and soprano Teresa Wakim. 

Performances are at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and tickets are available at 617-661-1812,  online. or at the box office located at 30 Gainsborough Street in Boston.

Douglas Williams can next be heard with the Houston Symphony in Handel's Messiah under the baton of Nicolas McGegan. Performances run from December 19-22 and tickets are available online. 

Upcoming performances for Jesse Blumberg include a December 3rd recital at Cary Hall in New York City celebrating the release of the AMR album Winter Songs, featuring vocal music of Robert Paterson. On December 8th, he'll be perfroming Finzi's In terra pax and selections from Handel's Messiah at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. On December 13 and 14, he returns to Bean Town for Handel's Messiah with the Boston Baroque at Jordan Hall.

Keith Miller: Mr. November

Time is running out to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order it today by clicking the Lulu button below. All proceeds go to benefit young artists. There isn't a better way to get into the spirit of holiday giving than to help out the next generation of opera singers.

Jesse Blumberg stunning as Ulysses

Jesse Blumberg in Opera Omnia's The Return of Ulysses

We were very excited when we learned that the innovative young opera company Opera Omnia had hired Jesse Blumberg for their production of Claudio Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses. He's become a favorite of ours, as well a favorite of composers like Ricky Ian Gordon and a number of leading opera companies. A thoughtful singer with great dramatic instincts and a beautiful voice, he's also a true barihunk in every sense of the word. For this role he had to sing shirtless for almost the entire first act and we heard that he stuck to a pretty strict workout regime. Of course, we had to get a picture to share with our readers.

The New York Times wrote of his performance, "And the vocal performances were in general excellent. Jesse Blumberg was compelling as Ulysses, throwing himself into the role physically as well as vocally."

Blumberg can next be seen on October 4th in the premiere of Paul Richards' Biennale with fellow barihunk Christopher Burchett in Philadelphia. Later that month he can be heard performing music of Emmanuel Chabrier with the Mirror Visions Ensemble in New York and Philadelphia. We're most excited about a performance in April next year with the Minnesota Opera when he'll be performing Papageno in the brilliant production of Mozart's The Magic Flute created by director Barrie Kosky and the British theatre group 1927. We saw this in Berlin and it is brilliant. Add it to your opera travel calendar today. More information is available online.

"Dream Team" reunites for Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers

Cellist Kathryn Bates Williams and baritone Jesse Blumberg

If you missed the amazing performance of Ricky Ian Gordon's one-man opera Green Sneakers in San Francisco, you'll have another chance to see it on May 10 & 11, 2012 at Opera Piccola of San Antonio.

The opera was written by Gordon for barihunk Jesse Blumberg, who will be reprising the role for these performances. The San Francisco performances were transformative for the piece when the sensational young director John de los Santos was brought in for the West Coast premiere of the opera. He creatively integrated the string quartet into the action, creating some of the most magical and emotionally compelling moments seen on an opera stage in years.    

Jesse Blumberg and the brilliant Del Sol Quartet

Opera Piccola of San Antonio was founded in 2012 by Mark A. Richter, with the intent of building a professional chamber opera for San Antonio. The company has produced Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Mollicone's Face on the Barroom Floor, Menotti's The Telephone and Donizetti's Don Pasquale.  Operas are performed in English and ticket prices are quite affordable.

The company will also be performing Menotti's The Medium, as well as a double-bill of Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne and Robert X. Rodriguez's La Curandera. Visit their website for additional information or tickets.  

Green Sneakers, which is broken into nineteen songs and runs about 80 minutes is scored for Baritone, String Quartet, and Empty Chair. It premiered on July 15, 2008 in Vail, Colorado and has had a number of subsequent performances since, mostly with Blumberg. 

Remarkably, the opera, which deals with AIDS,  didn't have its New York or San Francisco premiere until this year. Jesse Blumberg performed the piece at Lincoln Center on April 6th with the Voxare Quartet and on February 19th with the Del Sol Quartet in San Francisco.

Ricky Ian Gordon recently completed an opera of Giorgio Bassani's Garden of the Finzi Continis with librettist Michael Korie. He is wrapping up commissions for the Metropolitan Opera with playwright Lynn Nottage, as well as new operas for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Houston Grand Opera. Last year,  he completed a new operatic monologue for Renee Fleming, Harper's other monologue from Tony Kushner's "Angels In America." 

Jesse Blumberg in English language "The Return of Ulysses"

Jesse Blumberg and Hai-Ting Chinn (Is it just us, or is this one of the sexiest pictures of Jesse Blumberg ever?)

Opera Omnia is presenting their third opera,  Claudio Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses. As with all their operas, it will be performed in an English translation. The cast features barihunk Jesse Blumberg and mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn in the leading roles, with accompaniment by a period-instrument ensemble led by music director Avi Stein.

Opera Omnia, which was founded in 2008, concentrates on musical-dramatic works of the 17th century, performing them in English translations with modern stagings. Their mission is to expose new audiences to early opera masterworks. They have previously performed Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea and Cavalli’s Giasone in English translations at Le Poisson Rouge. The Return of Ulysses will be performed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Howard Gilman Performance Space with staging by Crystal Manich.

Jesse Blumberg & Laura Heimes perform Handel's Apollo & Dafne

Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses is the story of Ulysses’s return to Ithaca and reunion with his wife Penelope, who has remained faithful during his long absence. Also in the cast are Tammy Coil as Minerva, Joseph Gaines as Iro, Karim Sulayman as Eumete , Owen McIntosh as Telemachus, Joe Chappell as Neptune, Nicholas Tamagna as Peisander Richard Lippold as Antinous and Elaine Lachica as Love.

Performances run from September 10-12 and tickets are priced at the ridiculously low cost of $20.00 each. Go online and reserve your tickets today! You won't want to miss this.