Introducing Bass-barihunk Carlo Checchi; Belcore at Festspiele Immling

Carlo Checchi

Italian bass-barihunk Carlo Checchi is new to our site and was brought to our attention by a reader, Checchi is performing Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore through August 13th at the Festspiele Immling in Germany. The cast also includes Sergio Foresti (who we should also feature) as Dulcamara, Elisa Cenni as Adina, Chuanliang Wang as Nemorino and Anastasia Churakova as Gianetta. Tickets and additional information is available online.

Cecchi, who also has a degree in computer engineering, studied voice at l'Istituto Musicale Pareggiato "Vittadini" di Pavia. He was the winner of the VI Concorso ArteInCanto Competition.

Carlo Checchi

He made his debut at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa as Apollo in Mozart's Apollo and Hyacinth. His past roles include Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Valle in Rome, as well as in opera houses in Lucca, Pisa and Livorno; Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflote at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman; and, Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana.

Sexy Elixir of Love in Brussels

Armando Noguera and Aris Agiris alternate as Belcore

La Monnaie in Brussels has adapted Damiano Michieletto's sexy version of Donizetti's The elixir of love that was produced at the Palau de les Arts Reina and Teatro Real to a setting at Cirque Royal in Belgian capital. The production, which we've covered extensively, also has set designs by Paolo Fantin and costumes by Silvia Aymonino (which are often limited to bathing suits).

Armando Noguera and Aris Agiris are alternating the role of Belcore, who has to change out of his pants and into swim trunks on stage (all done discreetly behind a beach towel).  Olga Peretyatko and Anne-Catherine Gille rotate as Adina, Dmitry Korchak and Antonio Poli alternate as Nemorino and Riccardo Novaro and Simon Orfila switch nights as Dr. Dulcamara.

The "villagers" in La Monnaie's Elixir of Love

In this production, Adina is a sexy landlady of a Mediterranean beach bar, the lovelorn Nemorino is  a deckchair attendant, Belcore is a coastguard captain, Dulcamara sells baggies and wonder drinks from a jeep and the villagers are now half-dressed sun-worshippers partying on the beach.

Performances run through September 18th and tickets are available online.

Marc Callahan in 1950s Elixir of Love; Britten up next

Marc Callahan and his admirers

Sexy American barihunk Marc Callahan just opened a six week run as Belcore in an English language version of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love at the Kings Head Theatre in London. Director Valentina Ceschi set the opera at a glamorous 1950s garden party at the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with a new English libretto by Verity Bargate Award-winner Thomas Eccleshare.

The opera has two casts, so check online for cast information and tickets. 

The former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist continued his studies in France and has excelled in French repertoire ranging from the French baroque's André Cardinal Destouches to Jacques Offenbach's whimsical operettas. In recent years, his career has been centered in the U.K.

After the English language Elixir, he takes on some true English opera as Sid in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at Opera North. Performances will run from May 15-25.

Sexy "Elixir of Love" in Graz

Andrè Schuen  (Foto © Werner Kmetitsch/Oper Graz)

Two years ago we received an email from Germany alerting us to the emerging young Tyrolean talent Andrè Schuen. Remarkably, we lost track of him until we were alerted a second time. This time it was for his sexy and shirtless performance of Belcore in Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love" ("Der Liebestrank" in German) at the Graz Opera in Austria.

Schuen is another in a long list of barihunks who have been winning vocal competitions, having taken first place in both the Walter-und-Charlotte-Hamel-Stiftung competition and the Mozarteum Internationale Sommerakademie competition. In Salzburg, he made a name for himself by conquering everything from Luigi Nono to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Andrè Schuen sings "Hai gia vinta la causa! from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro:

Graz's Elixir was co-produced with Valencia and Madrid and the sets look like a beach party on a Mediterranean beach resort, with giant cans of beer, bars, beach balls, lifeguards, cheerleaders,  shirtless boys, women in bikinis and a foam party. We still believe that opera can succeed in attracting younger audiences with old warhouses and this production is a prime example. From all accounts, the production has been enthusiastically received.

Margareta Klobucar as Adina with her sexy ensemble boys

Schuen will next appear in Graz as Ford in Verdi's Falstaff opening in January 2013 and Gasparone in Karl Millöcker's Der Fremde opening a month later. 

Next summer, Schuen will graduate to the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni from the role of Masetto, which he has performed in Graz. His Don Giovanni will premiere in Montpellier on June 6-16, 2013 and Versailles on June 23, 25 & 27, 2013.

Wilfried Zelinka as Dulcamara

Oberwölz native Wilfried Zelinka also cut a sexy figure as Dulcamara. A member of the ensemble at Graz, he's sung Bartolo in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," Masetto in Mozart's "Don Giovanni," Talbot in Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," Raimondo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," and Escamillo in Bizet's "Carmen." He will portray Pistola opposite Schuen in next year's "Falstaff."

Andrè Schuen

There are a number of performance of Elixir left in Graz, including an alternate cast, so check their website for dates and casts.

If you want to see 14 more singers as sexy as Andrè Schuen, buy our 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar and enjoy them all year:

The "Three Barihunks" appear at Richard Tucker Gala

Erwin Schrott, Sherill Milnes, Dmitri Hvorstovsky & Ildar Abrazakov (Dario Acosta Photography/Richard Tucker Music Foundation)

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation gala on November 11th turned into a veritable Barihunks Gala, with three of the hottest an most popular barihunks performing: Erwin Schrott, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ildar Abrazakov. The three singers even joined their legendary predecessor Sherill Milnes for a photo op.

The "Three Barihunks" (I see a DVD in their future), were featured along with many of today’s biggest names in opera,  including fellow baritones Gerald Finley and Quinn Kelsey, mezzo-sopranos Olga Borodina and Jamie Barton, tenors Marcello Giordani and Stephen Costello under the baton of maestro Patrick Summers and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The gala also honored soprano Ailyn Pérez, the 2012 Richard Tucker Award-winner.

The concert will be broadcast in the United States on December 13th as part of the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center series on PBS. The telecast will include a feature on Ailyn Pérez and performances by the featured guest singers.

The "Three Barihunks" will also be featured prominently on the Metropolitan Opera stage this season. Ildar Abdrazakov is singing the title roles in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni,
Dmitri Hvorostovsky stars in the new production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and later in its revival of Verdi's Don Carlo, and Erwin Schrott will sing Leporello to Abdrazakov’s Don Giovanni and Dulcamara in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore opposite his real-life partner, Anna Netrebko. 

Buy you Barihunks Charity Calendar today, so that you can mark December 13th as the date of the Richard Tucker gala telecast. Click below:

A Plethora of Barihunks in High Definition from The Met

Mariusz Kwiecien

The Met: Live in HD series kicks off on October 13 with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, starring barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien, Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani in a new production by Bartlett Sher. If you haven't seen Kwiecien in this role, jump on line NOW and buy your tickets. He practically owns this role in the world of opera right now.

 The Met's Live in HD features a plethora of barihunks this season in addition to Kwiecien including, Simon Keenlyside, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Joshua Hopkins, Rene Pape, Peter Mattei and Guido Loconsolo:

• The Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest  on November 10, starring Simon Keenlyside, conducted by the composer and directed by Robert Lepage. 
• A new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera on December 8, starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez and Stephanie Blythe. The opera will be directed by David Alden and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
• The Met premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda on January 19, starring Joshua Hopkins as Cecil and honorary barihunk diva Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
• A new production of Wagner’s Parsifal on March 2, starring barihunks Peter Mattei, and René Pape, who will be joined by tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Katarina Dalayman. The opera will be directed by François Girard and conducted by Daniele Gatti.
• A new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare on April 27, starring Guido Loconsolo as Achilla, David Daniels Giulio Cesare and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra. 

Guido Loconsolo sings "Verrà purtroppo il giorno" from Verdi's Un giorno di regno:

 Other offerings include:

• Verdi’s Otello on October 27, starring Johan Botha and Renée Fleming
• Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito on December 1, with Elīna Garanča, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Barbara Frittol
• Verdi’s Aida on December 15, starring Liudmyla Monastyrska, Olga Borodina, and Roberto Alagna
• Berlioz’s majestic Les Troyens on January 5, starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, and Marcello Giordani
• Verdi’s Rigoletto on February 16, starring Željko Lučić, Diana Damrau, and Piotr Beczala
• Zandonai’s rarely heard Francesca da Rimini on March 16, with Eva-Maria Westbroek and Giordani.

Reader Submission: Jonathan Estabrooks

Jonathan Estabrooks

We continue to receive reader submissions and are grateful for your continued enthusiasm in exposing us to new talent. We received two submissions from other singers in the last few weeks and here is the first, Canadian Jonathan Estabrooks. This submission came with the note, "I have a feeling that Jonathan would be flattered to be on the site." Well, we're more than happy to oblige.

Estabrooks is a Juilliard graduate and the winner of the prestigious 35th Oratorio Society of New York Vocal Competition. He appeared with the accompanist Steven Blier in his Festival of Song Spring Gala along with soprano Kelli O'Hara and tenor Joseph Kaiser. In late 2010, he was heard in the role of Belcore on a 20-city tour with the Jeunesses Musicale du Canada. He is also another in our long list of singers who have sung Tarquinius in Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia."



He has also performed for the Governor General, The Prime Minister of Canada, the US Ambassador to Canada, The Italian Ambassador to Canada and President Bill Clinton.

You can follow Estabrooks on YouTube with his feature "Jonathan Daily." Here is a sample episode:



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愛の妙薬 (Erwin Schrott) Pays Tribute to Japan

Schrott Check Out His Tee Shirt

Uruguayan barihunk Erwin Schrott is starring as Dr. Dulcamara in a new production of the The Elixir of Love, which opens tomorrow in Valencia. After seeing some football players (soccer to the American readers) wearing uniforms with their names in Japanese as a tribute to the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan, Schrott decided to ask the costume department to make him a special shirt to wear on stage. (Erwin, how about a photo from the front?).

Rehearsal Photos From Elixir in Valencia (Photos by Tato Baez)

Performances run through April 8 and you can find additional information on the Palau de les Arts website.

Here is Schrott performing as Dr. Dulcamara at the Macerata Opera Festival in 2008:



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Introducing Delyan Slavov

Bulgarian Beefcake: Delyan Slavov

When we received an email from one the world's greatest divas pitching Delyan Slavov, we were a little skeptical at first. However, after realizing that the email was authentic, we decided that we better check out this highly recommended Bulgarian bass and he didn't disappoint.

Slavov made his debut in the role of Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore with the Opera House of Bourgas in 2003, the same year he made his debut in the National Opera in Sofia as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni. He currently performs in all of the major Bulgarian opera houses and concert halls.

On March 11, he begins a run as Dr. Dulacamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the State Opera Plovdiv before tackling Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the State Opera Bourgas later in the month.

Here he is singing Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto with Daniela Karaivanova as Gilda and Boyka Vasileva as Maddalena from the State Opera Varna in Bulgaria. 



Even if you're not a famous retired diva, you can contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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