Introducing barihunk Shannon De Vine

Shannon De Vine

Meet barihunk Shannon De Vine, who will be singing Claudio in the revival of Franco Faccio's Amleto (Hamlet) with Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Baltimore Concert Opera. The opera has not been performed since 1871 and this will be its U.S. premiere.

De Vine earned his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School, where he performed the roles of Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Silvio in I Pagliacci. In 2007, he took 3rd Prize at the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Awards, was a semi-finalist in the Marseille International Voice Competition in France, the International Voice Competition of Francisco Vinas in Barcelona, finalist in the Opera National de Paris de la Bastille International Voice Competition, winner of the MacAllister Awards, the Rosa Ponselle International Voice Competition and winner of the Verdi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.

Last season, he was seen as Gerard in Giordano's Andrea Chenier with the Opera Orchestra of NY, Iago in Verdi's Otello at the Il Teatro Verdi and Ceccho del Vecchio in Wagner’s Rienzi at Avery Fisher Hall. He made his Houston Grand Opera debut as Morales in Bizet's Carmen, where he also sang Riolobo in Catan's Florencia en las Amazonas, Top in Copland’s The Tender Land and Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

Ivo Rizzi sings Claudio's aria from Faccio's Amleto:

In 1865, Verdi’s contemporary Franco Faccio wrote an opera about Shakespeare’s melancholic Danish prince, to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. Conceived as an anti-Verdi/pro-Wagner manifesto for the “music of the future,” Amleto was originally a critical and audience success, but setbacks at the 1871 La Scala revival propelled it into obscurity, where it languished for more than a century.

Since 2002, Maestro Anthony Barrese has painstakingly reconstructed the score of the opera based on historical documents and microfilm held by the Ricordi Archives. BCO will present the American premiere of this lost operatic treasure in collaboration with Opera Southwest, conducted by Maestro Barrese himself. Celebrated American tenor Alex Richardson will sing the title role, and soprano Abla Hamza will sing Hamlet’s doomed love Ophelia (Ofelia).

Performance in Baltimore are on October 2 and 5 and tickets are available online. Performances in Albuquerque are on October 26, 31 and November 2 and tickets are available online.

Wes Mason inspires a barihunk headline

We've been huge fans of Wes Mason since his breakout performance in Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls in 2010 at the Fort Worth Opera Festival.

He's currently appearing with the Syracuse Opera in their production of the Peter Brooks/Georges Bizet arrangement of The Tragedy of Carmen portraying Escamillo. We've known Wes Mason for three years now and we've learned that he can dominate both a room and a performance. So it was no surprise to us that both the local paper and the artistic director of the Syracuse Opera focused on this rising star. The headline screamed, "Bullfighters, Barihunks, and Bravado."

“There’s this thing in the opera world,” artistic director Douglas Kinney Frost told the Syracuse New Times. “Now, it’s more like a movement, but there’s this blog where they choose ‘barihunks.’ The idea is that he’s a sexy hunk of a guy and he’s a baritone. I’m very proud to have Escamillo as a barihunk. [Wes Mason] loves it. He’s very flattered. And he’s one of the originals.”

Performances run from October 11-20 and tickets are available online. 

If you can't catch Wes Mason in Syracuse, you'll have two chances to catch him in one of the sexiest roles in opera, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers). First up will be at the Baltimore Concert Opera from February 28 to March 2, and then from March 7-9 at the Delaware Opera.

(L-R) Christopher Temporelli, Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek and Wes Mason.

You can enjoy Wes Mason in your own copy of the 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. He's joined in December by Christopher Temporelli and Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek in our special three singer spread to warm up your holiday season. Click HERE to order your own copy or as a special gift to the opera lover in your life (or hunky guy lover).

David Krohn's Cameo on ABC Nightly News

David Krohn's latest debut: ABC Nightly News

Barihunk David Krohn made an unexpected appearance on ABC Nightly News when the earthquake hit Washington D.C. Krohn, who was at Union Station was stopped by ABC News' own hunk, David Muir, and asked to offer comment. Krohn appears at about 1:31 of the clip.



If you want to see the sexy singer for more than a few singers, you can see him as Dandini in Rossini's "La Cenerentola" with the Baltimore Concert Opera on December 2 & 4. Click HERE for ticket and performance information.

One question: Any chance that David Muir is a baritone?

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Michael Mayes' Hysterical "Noir" Film

Michael Mayes Preparing for Silvio - Seriously!

Barihunks is always eager to see the latest Michael Mayes video. They are some the funniest videos in the opera world. His latest shows him preparing for the role of "Silvio," the "other man" in I Pagliacci.

As fans of verismo know, operas like Pagliacci are all about life imitating art (or is it art imitating life!). So Michael Mayes went beyond the score in learning his role, which he will perform with the Baltimore Concert Opera.



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