Vittorio Prato sporting Barihunk t-shirt on website

Vittorio Prato

We love that Vittorio Prato is proudly sporting his Barihunk t-shirt on his website's photo gallery. Few singers look better than the hunky Italian in or out of a t-shirt! Fans will be thrilled to know that he'll be back again this year in our annual charity calendar.

On September 2nd and 6th, he'll be appearing as Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera di Firenze. The cast includes Laura Verrecchia as Rosina, Alessio Verna as Don Basilio and Filippo Adami as Almaviva. You can listen to his Largo al factotum on his YouTube page. Tickets are available online. 

Vittorio Prato backstage and at the gym

In November, he heads to the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich to sing Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, which will be directed by the great mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. The cast includes Arthur Espiritu as Don Ramiro,  Jasmina Sakr as Clorinda,  Dorothea Spilger as Tisbe and  Diana Haller as Angelina.

In December, he returns to Italy where he'll sing Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Fabrizio Paesano singing Nemorino. Tickets are available online.

Vittorio Prato's busy year of Donizetti

Vittorio Prato working out and in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes

Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato just made his debut in Bad Kissingen, Germany as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (Der Liebestrank for our German readers).  Prato was a replacement for Fabio Capitanucci, who had a scheduling conflict with the Montpellier Festival. From all accounts Prato was a huge success and we have some rehearsal footage of him singing the village sergeant's aria "Come Paride vezzoso."

Post by Vittorio Prato.

Prato will be singing some obscure Donizetti this Fall at the Bergamo Music Festival when he sings Max in Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera. It's been a busy year for him singing Donizetti, having performed Doctor Malatesta in Munich and Verona.

Betly is a one act opera giacosa that was composed during the summer of 1836. It is a love story full of pastoral naïveté, whose humor is both gentle and pointed. There are a number of comic scenes for Max and his regiment, as they try to intimidate Betly, and turn the quaking Danielle into a hero for her. The text for Betly was adapted from a libretto by Eugene Scribe for an opera called La Chalet. 

Betly premiered on August 24, 1836 at the Teatro Nuovo of Naples. It was very well received, and remained popular until the middle of the century when its popularity died out. It has begun to regain favor in recent years and Donizetti intended it to be performed with another of his one-act operas, Il Campanello.

Schrott Shots

Hot Shrott

We just NEVER get tired of looking at Erwin "Hot" Schrott, so here are two more pictures from his recent performance of Le Nozze di Figaro in Vienna.

The Uruguayan bass-baritone now heads off to Valencia where he will perform Dulcamara in an updated production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. The performance opens on March 26 and runs through April 10. It's also an opportunity to hear the amazing Nemorino of tenor Ramon Vargas. 

Palacio de Artes in Valencia

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A New Class of Barihunks at Merola

[Ryan Kuster & Benjamin Covey; photos by Kristen Loken Anstey]

Once again, San Francisco's beloved Merola training program has provided opera lovers with a new class of barihunks. Two of them, Ryan Kuster and Dan Kempson, have previously appeared on the site. Dan Kempson appeared when he portrayed Tarquinius at Pittsburgh Opera in one of our favorite operas "The Rape of Lucretia." Ryan Kuster appeared on the site after a fan at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia brought him to our attention.

The two newcomers to the site are Benjamin Covey and Thomas Florio. Covey is another in our long line of Canadian barihunks, which includes Daniel Okulitch, Mike Nyby, John Relyea, Tyler Duncan, Gregory Dahl, Olivier LaQuerre, Phillip Addis and Aaron Agulay. This roster is one more reason why we love our neighbors to the north. Covey will be performing Belcore  in the upcoming Merola performance of Donizetti's "L’Elisir d’Amore."

Thomas Florio is a Virginia native who is another graduate of the prestigious opera training program at Indiana University, which also produced Barihunks favorite Randal Turner, as well as Christopher Schaldenbrand and Kyle Ketelsen. Florio will perform Dulcamara  in Merola's "L’Elisir d’Amore."

[Thomas Florio & Dan Kempson]

Fans in San Francisco can see all of the talented young Merola students in a series of upcoming concerts and operas. On Friday, July 16th, at 7:30 p.m. there will be a concert at the Herbst Theater, with tickets available by calling the box office at (415) 864-3330. The concert will be repeated for free on Sunday, July 25th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Yerba Buena Gardens. The concert will include excerpts from Handel's Rodelinda, Massenet's Werther, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Smetena's The Bartered Bride and Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The top photo shows Ryan Kuster in a recent master class singing "Here me, o Lord!" from Carlyle Floyd's Susannah. and Benjamin Covey singing "Hai gia vinta la cause" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

Other upcoming performances include L'Elisir d'Amore on August 6, 7 and 8 and the Merola Grand Finale on August 21st.

We also want to give a special shout out to Sidney Outlaw, who will be alternating the role of Dulcamara. Our insiders at Merola tell us that he is one of the most talented comic actors to come through the program in years.

Lee Poulis: "The Elixir of Love Those Shorts"

These photos are from a performance of the Elixir of Love at Theater Bonn, where barihunk Lee Poulis was performing as Belcore. Although we have no doubt that this talented young singer has a great career ahead of him, he can always work as a Calvin Klein underwear model if things don't work out.

Poulis is currently in Gelsenkirchen through June 27 playing Lord Mountjoy in Britten's "Gloriana." Although Poulis appears to be fully dressed in Gloriana, we did find this video still from the production. We're not quite sure who this is, but it seems tantalizing enough to add to this post and it's consistent with our underwear theme.

If legs aren't your thing, here are some shots of Lee Poulis in a suit and showing off his arms as Papageno (also from Bonn).

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Bolduc To Appear As Belcore

We featured Christopher Bolduc over a year ago as a barihunk whose career was about to take off. We're thrilled to see that he's been cast as Belcore in Ft. Worth Opera's production of 'L'elisir d'amore" during their summer season. We're still bullish on Bolduc and predict great things for this young singer. It's great that Ft. Worth is willing to put young singers on stage in roles like Belcore, rather than always casting the same handful of singers.

Belcore isn't usually considered a barihunk role, although Mariusz Kwiecien sexed up the role in Amsterdam, as seen on this site.



It looks like Ft. Forth is sticking with a more traditional performance than their Dutch counterparts, but we're still confident that Bolduc will look good and sound good. Here is a video of him from the Academy of Vocal Arts singing another non-barihunk role, Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff."



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Barihunk Caoduro to Replace Raimondi in L.A.; More Hunks on the Way

Good news for Barihunks fans on the West Coast. It was just announced that barihunk Giorgio Caoduro will replace the legendary Ruggero Raimondi in the Los Angeles Opera production of L'Elisir d'Amore. The adorable Caoduro will take on the role of Dr. Dulcamara.

L.A. Opera favorite and barihunk Nathan Gunn will play the role of Belcore. By the way, Gunn will be singing the Barber of Seville at the LA Opera in November and December of this year with Joyce di Donato and hunkentenor Juan Diego Florez. Gunn will be alternating the title role with fellow barihunk Lucas Meachem, whose cast also includes barihunk prospect Ryan McKinny as Don Basilio. [If we have one criticism of the otherwise wonderful LA Opera, it's that they have a penchant for casting barihunks in the unsexiest roles imaginable!].

RYAN MCKINNY



We love the legendary 67-year-old bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi, but we think that Caoduro is a casting improvement. He's an amazing comic actor who is just hitting his stride as a major operatic talent. The role of Dr. Dulcamara is perfectly suited to his talents. If you can get to L.A., this should be a "can't miss" performance.

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Emerging Barihunk Mike Nyby Featured in Newspaper

Emerging barihunk Mike Nyby is featured in the Hamilton Spectator.

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Mariusz Kwiecien IS the Elixir of Love

Here is a shot of the Hot Pole Mariusz Kwiecien in an updated production of the Elixir of Love. I believe that this production is from Amsterdam.