Barihunks galore in Hamburg's Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy; Livestream of Don Giovanni from Rome

André Schuen and Kyle Ketelson in Don Giovanni (© Brinkhoff/Mögenburg)

The Hamburg State Opera kicked off its Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy of opera with the premiere of Don Giovanni on October 20th featuring the barihunk trilogy of Andrè Schuen in the title role, Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello and Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore. Additional performances are on October 23, 26, 29 and November 3, 6 and 9.

On October 22, they will add Così fan tutte to the rotation with barihunk John Chest as Guglielmo.  Additional performances will be on October 22, 27, 31 and November 2. The final opera will be Le Nozze di Figaro, which opens on November 1, with additional performances on November 5, 8 and 12. The cast features barihunks Christoph Pohl as the Count and Wilhelm Schwinghammer as Figaro.

Tickets for all three operas are available online.

Alessio Arduini as Don Giovanni in Rome

If you can't make it to an Hamburg or another opera house featuring Don Giovanni, you can watch a performance from the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma on Oct. 26, 2019 on OperaVision. The cast includes barihunk Alessio Arduini in the title role, along wtih Vito Priante, Emanuele Cordaro, Antonio Di Matteo, Juan Francisco Gatell, Maria Grazia Schiavo, Salome Jicia, and Marianne Croux. The livestream may not play in some countries.

Barihunk switcheroo at Boston Symphony Orchestra

Günther Groissböck (photo:Monika Rittershaus) & Wilhelm Schwinghammer (photo: Enrico Nawrath)

Bass-barihunk Wilhelm Schwinghammer will replace fellow bass-barihunk Günther Groissböck for the Sunday, August 28th performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under the baton of Andris Nelsons. The other singers are soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose and tenor Joseph Kaiser. Tickets are available online.

Groissböck had a bicycling accident and was unable to travel for the concert. Groissböck's upcoming performances include Heinrich der Vogler in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera, Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Bavarian State Opera and Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

This will be Schwinghammer's  Tanglewood and Boston Symphony debuts. Schwinghammer will return to  Germany to sing Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hamburg State Opera before returning in October for his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Fasolt in Wagner's Das Rheingold.

Wilhelm Schwinghammer in sexy Daphne in Hamburg

Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Hanna Schwarz and the Daphne ensemble

Bass-barihunk Wilhelm Schwinghammer is singing Peneios in director Christof Loy's sexy production of Richard Strauss' Daphne at the Staatsoper Hamburg. The production includes Agneta Eichenholz in the title role, Eric Cutler as Apollo, Peter Lodahl as Leukippos and the amazing Hanna Schwarz as Gaea. Performances are running tonight through June 23 and tickets are available online.

Schwinghammer recently made his first U.S. appearance since his 2013 King Mark in Tristan und Isolde at Washington National Opera, when he appeared as Sarastro with the Los Angeles Opera as Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in February and March 2016. He returns to the U.S. to make his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Fasolt in Wagner's Das Rheingold from October 1-22, in a cast that includes Eric Owens as Wotan.

Later this season, he returns to his home base at the Staatsoper Hamburg to sing Sarastro, Heinrich in Lohengrin, the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In 2017, he will perform the Nachtwächter in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Teatro La Scala Milano.

Wilhelm Schwinghammer: Latin Lover? Vibrating Hammer?

[Photo from the Hamburger Abendblatt]

Bass-Barihunk Wilhelm Schwinghammer was recently featured in the Hamburger Abendblatt. The first line of the article roughly translates, "With his thick black hair and dark eyes under thick brows, he could easily be mistaken for a Latin Lover." The article goes on to explain that the singer is actually Bavarian. He's also been featured on this site before in a post called "Hamburger Hunks." The hunky German studied at the Musikgymnasium der Regensburger Domspatzen before heading to the University of the Arts in Berlin. He has refined his craft in smaller roles at the Hamburg Staastsoper.

Schwinghammer recently gave a riveting performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. You can briefly hear him in this YouTube clip from Johann Gottlieb Naumann's "Aci e Galatea." Word out of Germany is that he is an extremely gifted Handel performer.

Just for laughs, Barihunks placed "Schwinghammer" in the Google Translator and it came out "Vibrating Hammer." With a name like that he might be mistaken for more than a Latin Lover.

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Hamburger Hunks

If you're looking for a good dose of barihunks, check out the Hamburgische Staatsoper where you'll find Wilhelm Schwinghammer and Alexander Tsymbalyuk, a.k.a. "The Hamburger Hunks."

Schwinghammer is a former choir boy who went on to study at the University of the Arts in Berlin. After singing primarily in choirs he gained acclaim singing with Philippe Herrewegehe and the Colegium Vocale and a performance of Handel's Saul under Rene Jacobs. After a successful stint in the International Opera Studio at the Hamburg Opera he was engaged as a regular member of the ensemble.

Alexander Tsymalyuk studied in Odessa with some of the most famous low voices of the opera stage including Kurt Moll and Paata Burchuladze. He was engaged in Hamburg after winning a number of vocal competitions.

Dream casting: The Hamburger Hunks in the Salzburg production of Don Giovanni. Wouldn't that be a lot of beefcake?