Barihunk Duo Touring Agrippina with Joyce DiDonato

Luca Pisaroni, Joyce DiDonato and Andrea Mastroni

Barihunk Luca Pisaroni and bass-barihunk Andrea Mastroni are hitting the road with "honorary barihunk" Joyce DiDonato in Handel's Agrippina.

Pisaroni is singing Claudio, Mastroni is taking on Pallante and DiDonato is singing the title role. Also in the cast are Elsa Benoit as Poppea, Franco Fagioli as Nerone, Xavier Sabata as Ottone, Carlo Vistoli as Narciso and Biago Pizzuti as Lesbo.

The opera opened yesterday at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and now heads to the Teatro Real in Madrid on May 16, The Liceu in Barcelona on May 18, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris on May 29, London's Barbican Centre on May 31 and the Turku Concert Hall on June 2.

Rising mezzo star Samantha Hankey will sing the title role on the final stop of the tour in Turku and countertneor Jakub Józef Orliński will take over as Narciso.

Barihunk Damien Pass sings and (strips for) the aria "La mia sorte":

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.

 Joyce DiDonato and a sexy dancer perform "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate":

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. 

Sexy Agrippina with Damian Pass to be live streamed from Vienna

Damian Pass as Pallante in Agrippina

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.

Colin Ramsey in Aztec "Magic Flute"; Introducing Zane Ransom Hill

Colin Ramsey as The Speaker (left) and modeling his Barihunk tee shirt (right)

We introduced barihunk Colin Ramsey to readers last year and then featured him during his Seattle Opera debut in Menotti's The Consul earlier this year.

He's currently back at the Opera NEO Summer Opera Festival and Workshop where he's performing The Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute. The production is being done in Aztec style with a costume that we just had to share with readers.

The opera is being performed in English on August 15 and 17 at Crill Performance Hall at the Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Tickets are available online.

Zane Ransom Hill

Also appearing with Opera NEO is Zane Ransom Hill, who is new to this site. He'll be singing Lesbo in Handel's Agrippina (as well as covering Papageno in The Magic Flute).  Agrippina will be performed on August 14 and 16 under the baton of early music specialist Nicholas Kraemer.

Zane Ransom Hill is a junior at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he is pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. In the Spring of 2011, he was chosen to be part of the exclusive Houston Grand Opera High School Voice Studio; a yearlong scholarship program of private weekly voice lessons, master classes, performance opportunities and vocal coaching from the Houston Grand Opera staff. 

Hill has performed in the choruses of Haydn's Il Mondo Della Luna and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus with the Oberlin Opera Theater, and was also accepted into the prestigious Oberlin in Italy program where he performed in the chorus of Puccini's La bohème. In 2013, he sang as part of the Lyrique en Mer Festival in Belle Île, France where he performed in the productions of both Bizet's Carmen and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

This summer, he has been selected as one of only twelve Schubert Fellows for SongFest 2014 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he will perform in a concert series collaborating with leading composers and recital artists.

Hottest cast in opera assembled in Omaha for Handel's Agrippina

Doug Williams (photo:Kevin McDermott)

Perhaps the best looking cast currently assembled for any opera performance worldwide is in Omaha. The Nebraska company is located about seven hours from the nearest major opera company in Chicago, but that hasn't stopped them from creating some major buzz in the opera world. The cast of their upcoming performances of Handel's Agrippina includes not only some of the best young baroque singers in the world today, but some of the best looking singers across the entire range of voices.

Agrippina, written in 1710,  is considered Handel's first operatic masterpiece and a surprising comic gem.  The Opera Omaha production premieres an original edition of the opera prepared by conductor and early music specialist Stephen Stubbs.

Agrippina cast: Hadleigh Adams, Peabody Southwell, Nathan Medley, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Jennifer Rivera, Zachary Wilder and Douglas Williams (left to right)

There are two bass-baritone roles in the opera, the larger role of Claudio the emperor and Pallante, one of two men that Agrippina pledges to marry. Both roles are being sung by two of the sexiest men in opera.

Claudio is sung by former model and rising superstar Hadleigh Adams. He established himself as a Handel singer to be reckoned with at the 2012 Merola Grand Finale when he performed “Somnus awake! ... Leave me loathsome light … More sweet is that name”  from Handel's Semele with Suzanne Rigden and Erin Johnson. Later that year, Adams wowed critics and audiences in another early music piece when he portrayed Pollux in Rameu's Castor & Pollux with Pinchgut Opera in Australia. He also showed off some seriously gym-toned arms [see below].

The role of Claudio includes the great bass aria "Vieni, oh cara."  

Hadleigh Adams in Castor & Pollux

Since his debut with the Boston Early Music Festival in 2003, Doug Williams has gone on to  establish himself as one of the most compelling low voices in early music. The Omaha production reunites him with conductor Stephen Stubbs, who led him in performances of Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria in Seattle with the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa.

His list of successful early music performances includes Purcell’s King Arthur with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato with Tafelmusik, Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Polyphemus in Handel's Acis and Galatea and Jesus in the recoring of Bach’s Johannes-Passion with the Yale Schola Cantorum.  He can also be heard on the recording of Lully’s Psyché with the Boston Early Music Festival, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording of 2008.   

 

The remainder of the cast includes the brilliant and gorgeous young mezzo Jennifer Rivera as Nerone, who is married to the prematurely retired barihunk Michael Rice. She'll be joined by Nathan Medley as Ottone,  Zachary Wilder as Narciso, Jamie-Rose Guarrine as Poppea and Peabody Southwell in the title role of Agrippina.

Performances are February 14 and 16 and tickets are available online.

Barihunks in Boston

David McFerrin (Far Left) and Christian van Horn (R) (Photos by Jeffrey Dunn for Boston Lyric Opera © 2011)

The Boston Lyric Opera's performance of Handel's "Agrippina" is opening on Friday, March 11 with barihunks Christian Van Horn and David McFerrin (and lots of countertenors). For additional cast and performance information visit the BLO website. 

David McFerrin: Rising Star

McFerrin has been featured on this site before as one of the alternating leads in the Seattle Opera's premiere of Daron Hagen's "Amelia" (the other lead was Nathan Gunn). He was also a standout in Steven Blier's "New York Festival of Song" singing some of the more provocative songs on the program. McFerrin was also a Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions finalist and we encourage anyone in the Boston area to check out this rising star.

Here is a clip of Christian Van Horn performing in Lucretia Borgia at the Bavarian State Opera.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Tweet

More Handel from Quirijn de Lang

We've posted a fair sampling of Quirijn de Lang singing Handel on this site and here's a selection from Agrippina. De Lang has the perfect look for these Handel roles and he's a very engaged singer and actor, as well.

He will be performing the role of Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" with the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands in November.

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Email us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Quirijn de Lang sings "Lusinghiera mia speranza" from Handel's Agrippina

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

EMAIL US AT barihunks@gmail.com