Joyce DiDonato and Paulo Szot in New Year's Eve celebration

Joyce DiDonato and Paulo Szot

Honorary barihunk Joyce DiDonato and barihunk Paulo Szot will ring in 2017 with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in an “Enchanted Evening” of American classics. The duo will perfom selections from Old American Songs by Aaron Copland,  Rodgers & Hammerstein  "Soliloquy" from Carousel and selections from The Sound of Music, as well as music from Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady.

In 2008,  Szot won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Emile De Beque in the Broadway revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater.  In the current season, the Brazilian baritone sings Don Alfonso in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Paris Opéra and a solo recital in Madrid as a salute to Antônio Carlos Jobim. He also returns to Feinstein’s 54 Below in New York City for a series of solo performances, and creates the roles of Alexander Hamilton, Bill Clinton, and Dick Cheney in the World Premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s The New Prince at Dutch National Opera.

Less than 3 weeks left to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar.

 

Paulo Szot to sing Broadway hits at Feinstein’s/54 Below

Paulo Szot

Barihunk Paulo Szot is returning to Feinstein’s/54 Below for six performances from April 5-9 at 7pm and April 9 at 9:30pm. The Tony-winning star of South Pacific will perform romantic songs of the American Songbook, including Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Burton Lane, the Gershwins and Leonard Bernstein.

Tickets are available online. 

Paulo Szot talking about his Feinstein's/54 Below debut in 2013:

Szot just finished a run as Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at Opéra de Marseille and returns to the opera stage after his run at Feinstein’s/54 in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette at the Palacio das Artes in May. He returns to the Opéra National de Paris next season as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

Introducing Brazilian Barihunk Caio Monteiro

Caio Monteiro in Plätze. Dächer. Leute. Wege

Brazilian baritone Caio Monteiro is currently starring in the experimental opera/theater piece "Plätze. Dächer. Leute. Wege," which explores the interrelation of space, language and musical sound. The work at Theater Bielefeld is a collaboration between composer Gordon Kampe, visual artist Ivan Bazak and dramaturge Katharina Ortmann and deals with the utopian ideals of a city. 

Monteiro began his music studies at the Universidade Estadual before continuing at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and the Music Academy in Mannheim. Since the 2013-14 season he has been a permanent member of the Theater Bielefeld, where he has performed Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Alberich in the Ring Cycle, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly and Dandini in La Cenerentola.

Monteiro can be seen next month at Theater Bielefeld as Horatio in Thomas' Hamlet with Evgueniy Alexiev in the title role.

Reader Submission: Amadeu Tasca

Amadeu Tasca

We can't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than with our favorite feature, the Reader Submission. Our latest comes from a reader in Germany who introduced us to Amadeu Tasca, a baritone from Brazil who is currently a member of the cast at the Theater Trier in Germany.

Amadeu Tasca studied singing at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, where he received his master's degree in 2010 with honors. In 2010, he became a member of the ensemble at the Theater Heidelberg, where he sang Papageno in Mozart's the Magic Flute and Mars in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

He has also continued to perform in his native Brazil, where he has sung Belcore in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfuly, and Mercutio in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.

Since 2012 Amadeu Tasca has been part of the  ensemble of the Theater Trier in Germany. He has performed a number of roles with the company, including Dr. Falke in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, Germont in Verdi's La traviata and the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. In March, he will portray Graf von Eberbach in Lortzing's Der Wildschütz. Click here for additional information.

Paulo Szot at intimate 54 Below this week

Paulo Szot

Fans of Paulo Szot can catch him in an intimate setting this week,  as he continues his cabaret show of music theater standards at 54 Below. The star of South Pacific an of opera stages worldwide is joined by his musical director and pianist Matthew Aucoin, along with David Fink on double bass and David Ratajczak on drums.

Szot has put together a night of mostly Broadway favorites, including Gershwin's "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, "Were Thine That Special Face" from Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, "Old Devil Moon" from Finian's Rainbow, "What Kind of Fool Am I?" from Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, Bart Howard's "Fly Me to the Moon," and a medley that includes "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, "Money" from Cabaret, and the opening number from The Lion King. 

Performances are running through August 11 and tickets are available online or by calling (866) 468-7619.

Also, keep your eye out for his upcoming CD on GPRrecords called Brazil To Broadway where he will sing Brazilian Standards in English and Broadway Standards in Portuguese.

Barihunk Paulo Szot Live in Theaters Worldwide Tomorrow

Paulo Szot as Don Giovanni at the Dallas Opera

The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Massenet’s Manon will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world on Saturday, April 7 as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Barihunk Paulo Szot sings Manon’s cousin Lescaut in the performance.

Anna Netrebko will make her Met role debut as the tragic heroine Manon in the production directed by Laurent Pelly. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will conduct the opera for the first time at the Met, and tenor Piotr Beczala makes his role debut as the ardent Chevalier des Grieux. The Met: Live in HD presentation of Manon will be hosted by soprano Natalie Dessay.

Visit the Met's website for more information on The Met: Live in HD series, now seen in more than 1,700 movie theaters in 54 countries around the world..

Szot starred as Kovalyov in the 2010 Met premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose and returned last season as a sexy Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. He won a 2008 Tony Award for his portrayal of Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

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Classical Singer Coverboy: Paulo Szot

Paulo Szot

The "Barihunk as Coverboy" trend continues this month, as Paulo Szot is gracing the cover of Classical Singer magazine. Here is the article:

For some singers, the secret to a long and fruitful career is a one-track mind. It’s no surprise that more than a few stars—including Mary Costa and Joan Sutherland—have famously used the metaphor of being a horse with blinders on as a way of describing their forward drive and singular goals.

But the last half century has brought with it a staggering number of changes, particularly in how we receive and consume culture. The idea of being a singer who embraces duality between genres is perhaps not revolutionary—while Sutherland was taking the world by storm as Lucia and Norma, mezzo Risë Stevens was holding court both at the Met and on the Ed Sullivan Show—but the ability to embrace such a dichotomy has become much easier and fluid in the new millennium.

Exhibit A in that equation is baritone Paulo Szot, a singer who had gained momentum in the opera world starting with his professional debut in 1997 as Rossini’s Figaro in his native Brazil. It took a Tony-Award-winning Broadway debut in 2008 as Emile De Becque in South Pacific, however, to catapult Szot into the upper echelon of operatic stars. For Szot, such balance is just part of the game.

Born in São Paulo and raised in Ribeirão Pires, Szot was the son of two musically inclined Polish émigrés who settled in Brazil following World War II—an unlikely combination that the baritone nevertheless describes as “a very interesting mixture with many things in common . . . very interesting between the polonaises and Chopin and then bossa nova and Jobim.” Like his siblings, Szot was quickly indoctrinated into the music world, beginning his studies at age four on the piano, moving on to violin at eight, and never recalling a time in his childhood that wasn’t underscored by an LP or cassette tape of Polish folk music or Tchaikovsky.


[Read the entire article HERE.]

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Paulo Szot returning to Café Carlyle

Paulo Szot returns to Café Carlyle

Popular barihunk Paulo Szot is returning to the Café Carlyle after his hugely successful and highly acclaimed run last Fall. The Tony Award-winning singer has been booked for a two-week engagement from February 1-12, which includes a Valentine’s Day show on Sunday, February 13. He will be performing with the Bob Albanese Trio.


Visit the Café Carlyle website for times and pricing. The program has not been listed yet.

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Paulo Szot in Dallas Voice

Paulo Szot (Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice)

Paulo Szot has set thousands of hearts aflutter on both Broadway and on international opera stages. The LGBT newspaper Dallas Voice featured the barihunk in their recent issue. You can read the entire feature HERE.

In person, Szot himself is as compelling as his character, but disarmingly humble. And he’s not a womanizer at all — he and his partner have been together 10 years, sharing their home on the edge of the Brazilian rainforest with their four Weimaraners.

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D MAGAZINE: Opera Baritone Paulo Szot is Smoking Hot

Paulo Szot; Photo courtesy Dallas Opera

D Magazine, the source of everything happening in Dallas, has a wonderful piece on Paulo Szot that mentions this site and celebrates his hunkiness and sex appeal. The article keenly observes how opera has celebrated its divas in the past, but perhaps it time for the guys. Here is the article:

Opera has always had its gentlemen matinee idols and glamour-puss divas (Geraldine Farrar, Maria Jeritza, and, most spectacularly, Maria Callas after her slimming makeover) who have set hearts aflutter. But now there’s even a blog called Barihunks that features buff young singers able and willing to take off their shirts—or more.

Stay tuned, Dallas. Paulo Szot, one of the steamiest barihunks working, is coming to you at the Winspear Opera House, straight from his Tony award-winning performance as Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific at Lincoln Center.[Continue reading HERE].

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Paulo Szot at Cafe Carlyle

Paulo Szot; Richard Termine for The New York Times

Barihunk Paulo Szot is scaling things down and performing at the famed Cafe Carlyle in New York. He is performing music of his native Brazil, as well as some Broadway standards. Tickets range from $40-$100 and dinner is required.

Visit the Cafe Carlyle website for information. You can read the New York Times review of his performance HERE. Don't miss this opportunity to see one of the sexiest men in opera up close and personal.

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Szot and Gunn Talk Acting

[Photo of Nathan Gunn by Clive Barda]


BACKSTAGE magazine, which is a resource for actors, has written a fascinating article about opera singers and acting. Barihunks Paulo Szot and Nathan Gunn are featured prominently and they discuss their very different approaches to acting on the opera stage.

Here are two excerpts:

...Gunn attempts to make eye contact with his partner. This will sometimes help the other actor focus on the dramatic moment rather than on the quality of the sounds coming out of his or her mouth.

[Photo of Paulo Szot by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera]

[Szot] says his experimentation with musical theater has taught him to be more fearless as a performer: "There are things you learn about yourself and the character that you can only experience by doing a show eight times a week for a long time."

You can read the entire article HERE.


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Associated Press Feature on Paulo Szot

[Photo: Kathy Willens / AP]


On May 14, 1948, Ezio Pinza sang his last "Don Giovanni" with the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Cleveland and retired from the company. The next year, the Italian basso crossed over to Broadway, creating the role of Emile de Becque in the musical "South Pacific" and becoming forever identified with the song "Some Enchanted Evening."

Nearly 62 years later, Paulo Szot is retracing Pinza's steps — backward. After two years of playing de Becque to great acclaim (and, like Pinza, a Tony award) in a revival of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Szot is making his Met debut on March 5.

Talk about a role reversal.

[Read the complete article HERE]