Reader Submission: Bernhard Hansky

Bernard Hansky (Photo: Matthias Creutziger)

A reader alerted us to barihunk Bernhard Hansky, who hails from Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany near the Polish border.

He was joined the opera studio at the Semperoper in 2015 and the house’s solo ensemble for the 2017-18 season. His roles with the company have included Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata, Morales in Bizet's Carmen, Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Kilian in Weber's Der Freischütz.

He can next be seen with the company as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte beginning July 6th. He'll have eleven additional performances of the role through June 2020. He will also be performing Don Alvaro in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il viaggio a Reims from September-November 2019.

Other career highlights have included Don Giovanni at Volkstheater Rostock and the Estates Theatre in Prague, Falke in Die Fledermaus at Staatsoperette Dresden, and Dandini in La cenerentola at the National Opera Brno, the Opera Festival Lignano and at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad.

In 2008 he was awarded the Franz Grothe Foundation Award at Germany's Bundeswettbewerb Gesang.

Hansky has some barihunk pedigree, having studied with both Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Roman Trekel.

Evan Hughes steps in at Semperoper; Making role debut in NY

Evan Hughes as Somnus (Photos: Komische Oper and Leela Roos)

Barihunk Evan Hughes, who created quite a sensation as Somnus in Handel's Semele at the Komische Oper in Berlin last year, is stepping in to replace an ailing colleague at Dresden's Semperoper today.

Markus Marquardt had to withdraw as Leporello from the company's production of Don Giovanni, which features barihunk Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in the title role. He is expected to return for the remaining three performances on May 26 and June 16 and 20.

Hughes will be returning to his native country on July 18 and 20 to make his role debut as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. He'll be alternating the role in the acclaimed Barrie Kosky production with Rodion Pogossov, who performs on July 17 and 19. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Barihunk duo in Komische Oper's Don Giovanni

Evan Hughes as Leporello in Don Giovanni

Last night, bass-barihunk Evan Hughes made his Komische Oper debut as Leporello in Herbert Fritsch's colorful, whimsical and provocative production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. He'll be singing along side Günter Papendell, who is singing the title role. Performances with the barihunk duo run through June 4th when Philipp Meierhöfer takes over as Leporello.

Fritsch has drawn on the core of Don Juan story by bringing him to life as a malicious harlequin – a loser, audacious, side-splittingly funny and irresistible all at once.

Günter Papendell as Don Giovanni

Papendell, who has become a fan favorite at the Komische Oper, has been with the company since 2007 scored a huge success in this production last year. He can be see this season  as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Pollux in Rameau's Castor and Pollux, Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Jason in Cherubini's Medea and Fritz in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. You can watch his Onegin performance online for free by clicking HERE. 

Hughes is currently a fest member at the Semperoper Dresden where he can be seen as the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La Traviata, Masetto and Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Cesare Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte. 

John Chest alternating to very different roles

John Chest

American barihunk John Chest, who is a now a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, is singing two very different roles simultaneously in Dresden and Berlin through the end of the year. From December 6-21 he'll be in Dresden singing Nick Carraway opposite hunkentenor Peter Lodahl's Jay Gatsby in John Harbison's operatic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. On December 12 and 29, he'll be in Berlin singing Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte opposite Alexandra Hutton's Papageno.

It's hard to imagine two different roles that the wealthy stockbroker Nick Carraway and the awkward, comical birdcatcher Papageno, but he will sing them back-to-back on December 11 and 12. 

Next year he sings Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata in Berlin, as well as the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Angers Nantes Opéra and Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Romain Dayez, Jason Duika, Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner (L-R)

There is only one month left to purchase your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which you can order HERE. 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.

Barihunks Allicock and Hughes up for $100,000 prize!!!

Evan Hughes

Barihunks Aubrey Allicock and Evan Hughes are among 16 young musicians up for a $100,000 cash prize from Warner Music to be given annually to a promising musician between the age of 18 - 35. The Warner Music Prize was created to bolster rising musicians with notable talents or achievements.

This year's inaugural award will be presented to an artist presented by Carnegie Hall who has shown exemplary musicianship in their solo roles throughout the 2014-2015 concert season.

The winner will be announced in the Spring of 2015, after the candidates have been thoroughly evaluated by a juror panel comprised of accomplished classical musicians and key industry leaders. In addition to the cash prize, the winner of the 2015 Warner Music Prize will be showcased at the Warner Music Prize Gala on October 27, 2015 at Carnegie Hall. Money raised at the gala will benefit the Harmony Program and the Weill Music Institute, both of which aim to provide music education to underserved demographics.

Aubrey Allicock

Musicians under consideration will perform at Carnegie-Hall, with Aubrey Allicock scheduled for December 4th and Evan Hughes for March 8th. Other artists under consideration are sopranos Sarah Shafer and Jennifer Zetlan; mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton, Rachel Calloway, Cecelia Hall, Alisa Kolosova, and Peabody Southwell; tenor Dominic Armstrong; violinists Augustin Hadelich and Itamar Zorman; cellist Brook Speltz; double bassist Roman Patkoló; harpist Sivan Magen; and pianist Behzod Abduraimov.

Allicock just made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Mamoud in John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer starring fellow barihunk Paulo Szot. Performances run through November 15th and tickets are available online.

Evan Hughes is on the roster of the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany. His roles this season include Zoroastro in Handel's Orlando and Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Don Basilio in Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia, Pietro in Verdi's in Simon Boccanegra, Colline in Puccini's La bohème and Emma Becker in Peter Ronnefeld’s Nachtausgabe.

Don't forget to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so you can enjoy 19 of operas hottest men all year!

Reader Submission: Pavol Kubán

Pavol Kubán

Last year we got some amazing reader submissions and it remains the #1 way that new talent finds its way onto Barihunks. It only took one day into the new year for us to receive our first reader submission of 2013.

A fan in Germany spotted Slovakian barihunk Pavol Kubán making his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden playing Nibbio in Domenico Sarro’s 1724 two-part intermezzo "Dorina e Nibbio." The original story by Pietro Metastasio tells of the impresario Nibbio who wishes to make the vocally talented village girl Dorina the star of his latest production. During the rehearsals Dorina increasingly feels herself exploited and humiliated. The end result is a public scandal at the premiere.

Pavol Kubán (Nibbio) and Gala El Hadidi (Dorina)

Pavol Kubán won the 2009 second Price at the Ferruccio Tagliavini Singing Competition in Austria and the Special Prize of the Opera Studio at the Scuola Italiana dell'Opera in Bologna. In the same year he appeared as a soloist with the baritone Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Oratorium in Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and was on two U.S. tours. In 2010, he was a finalist at the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Vienna.  

Since 2010 Pavol Kuban studied at the Scuola Italiana dell'Opera in Bologna. In 2011, he joined the Opera Festival Itria in Martina Franca, Italy in two productions, "Il novello di Giasone" and "IIl convitato di pietra."

Additional performances of "Dorina e Nibbio" are on March 24, May 9, May 19 and June 30. Tickets are available online.