The English National Opera is presenting its first staging of Porgy and Bess in the company’s history opening on October 11th. Barihunk Nmon Ford will also be making his company debut as Crown. Also featured will be barihunk Donovan Singletary as Jake.
The cast will also include Eric Greene as Porgy, Nicole Cabell as Bess, Latonia Moore and Gweneth-Ann Rand alternating the role of Serena, Nadine Benjamin as Clara, and Frederick Ballentine as Sportin' Life.
The 1935 “folk opera” will be presented anew in a realistic and hard-hitting account of life in the African-American communities of the 20th century Deep South. Porgy and Bess tells the story of disabled beggar Porgy and his love for Bess as he tries to rescue her from the influence of her abusive lover Crown. With songs including “Summertime” and “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin” and “I Loves You Porgy”, material from the opera has been reinterpreted by jazz and popular singers for decades.
Performances run through November 14th and tickets and additional cast information is available online.
Paul Bunyan by Rick Meyerowitz and Matthew Durkan(photo: Pablo Strong)
The English National Opera (ENO) will mount their first-ever performance of Benjamin Britten’sPaul Bunyan at Wilton’s Music Hall in East London as part of their Studio Live series, which presents opera in more intimate environments.
Paul Bunyan, with its libretto by one of England’s greatest poets W.H. Auden, is a retelling of the great American folk tale featuring the titular giant. It is one of Britten’s most eclectic scores, with blues, folk and hymns incorporated into a story of civilization's destructive relationship to the ecology around it, and the dangers of the American Dream.
Matthew Durkan talks about his time at ENO:
Barihunk Matthew Durkan, a Harewood Young Artist at ENO, will sing the antagonistic foreman Hal Helson, while. Olivier Award-winning actor Simon Russell Beale will provide the offstage voice of Paul Bunyan. The rest of the cast includes tenor Elgan Llŷr Thomas as the bookkeeper Johnny Inkslinger, soprano Rowan Pierce as Tiny and tenor William Morgan sings Hot Biscuit Slim.
Durkan, a recent graduate of the National Opera Studio, was a winner of the 2014 Stuart Burrows International Voice Award and a finalist in the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Competition. His roles at ENO have also included Ormonte Partenope, Malcolm Fleet Marnie, Marullo Rigoletto, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fiorello The Barber of Seville and Yamadori Madam Butterfly.
Performances are on September 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
Coverboy Daniel Okulitch and performing The Last Savage
Canadian barihunk Daniel Okulitch is hitting the opera stage and the concert platform in London next month. On November 18th, he makes his debut with the English National Opera (ENO) as Mark Rutland in the highly anticipated world premiere of Nico Muhly's opera Marnie. Following his highly-acclaimed opera Two Boys in 2011, this is Muhly’s second world premiere for ENO. Okulitch will be joined by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and soprano Leslie Garrett.
With a libretto by Nicholas Wright, Marnie is based on the novel by Winston Graham and it examines the cost of freedom, the limitations of forgiveness and the impossibility of escaping the past. Set in 1950s London, the psychological thriller tells the story of a woman who has gone through life embezzling her employers, changing her identity, being forced into a loveless marriage by Okulitch's character, and eventually being forced to confront her past. Performances run from November 18-December 3 and tickets are available online.
Glen Roven and Daniel Okulitch sings "Listening to Jazz Now":
In the middle of his run of Marnie, Okulitch will hit the concert stage on November 22 with mezzo-sopranos Kim Criswell and Lucy Schaufer for an evening dedicated to New York-based composer Glen Roven. Okulitch, who has sung Roven's music in numerous concerts, will perform his Songs from the Underground and his setting of Goodnight Moon. Roven's Songs of the Underground is a 15-song cycle consisting of songs based on texts by Yeats, Shelley, Milton, Whitman, Auden, Wordsworth, and Dylan Thomas. The music moves between classical and musical theater forms depending on the text. Originally written for soprano Lauren Flanigan, Goodnight Moon is one of two settings by Roven based on the children's books (the other being Runaway Bunny). The recital will be at the 1901 Arts Club and tickets are available online. The concert also includes Two Song by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Saraband from Symphony No.2 and The Hillary Speeches.
Malte Roesner in 2018 Barihunk Photo Book
Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for
purchase HERE.
In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book
this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the
calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!
Morgan Pearse moved to the United States a year ago to become a Studio Artist wtih the Houston Grand Opera where his roles included Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. He also performed in the Jukebox Concert with the Wolf Trap Opera and Vocal Colors concert in Washington D.C. By all accounts, he impressed the U.S. opera world and will undoubtedly be a regular on American stages.
However, he's now moving back to the U.K. where he studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School. Fans won't have to wait long to hear him, as he's making his debut as Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville at the English National Opera on September 28 for a 10 performance run. The opera will also be broadcast by ENO Screen on October 19th at theatres throughout the U.K. and Ireland.
He'll be joined in the cast by ENO regular Andrew Shore as Bartolo, mezzo Kathryn Rudge in her role debut as Rosina, the amazing young tenor Eleazar Rodriguez making his company debut as Count Almaviva and fellow barihunk Barnaby Rea as Don Basilio. Last June, Pearse appeared at ENO as Pompeo in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini.
Additional performances at the London Coliseum are on September 28 and 30, October 3, 9, 15, 19, 24 and 30 and Nov 5 and 11. On November 4th, he'll appear as part of the Samling Young Artists concert at Wigmore Hall along with soprano Susanna Hurrell, tenor Nick Pritchard and bass-baritone Arshak Kuzikyan.
The English National Opera has announced its new season and they have enough barihunks featured to start a small men's chorus.
Lovers of ginger barihunks won't want to miss Rossini's Barber of Seville, which features Aussie Morgan Pearse in the title role and Barnaby Rea as Don Basilio. Andrew Shore returns in this Jonathan Miller production in his signature role of Bartolo, while Kathryn Rudge sings Rosina and the gifted young tenor Eleazor Rodriguez takes on Count Almaviva. There will be ten performances beginning on September 28th.
Ashley Riches, Nicholas Masters and Duncan Rock
Beginning October 16th, ENO will feature a barihunk trio in fourteen performances of Puccini's La bohéme. Duncan Rock, who is easily one of the most popular barihunks on this site, will sing Marcello. He'll be joined by the Colline of Ashley Riches and Nicholas Masters as Schaunard. Zach Borichevsky will sing Rodolfo, Corinne Winters sings Mimi and Rhian Lois sings Musetta. The opera will be directed by Benedict Andrews. Fans of Duncan Rock in the US can catch his American debut in the title role of Don Giovanni, running from May 1-10 with the Boston Lyric Opera.
George von Bergen
ENO Harewood Young Artist George von Bergen will sing Sharpless in Anthony Minghella's award-winning production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The British singer studied at the University of Bristol, the Royal Academy of
Music and the National Opera Studio in London, before going on to win the Royal
Overseas League singing competition. He has performed with the Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera and
Garsington Opera, and made his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony
Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Sir Andrew Davis.
Other operas in the upcoming season include Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Mozart's TheMagic Flute, Bellini's Norma, Verdi's The Force of Destiny, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Glass' Akhnaten, Janacek's Jenufa and Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.
If you can't wait until the new season, you can check out barihunk Leigh Melrose as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, which runs from May 20-June 3. Visit the ENO website for complete cast list and ticket information.
We somehow lost track of Jonathan McGovern after his critically-acclaimed performances as the avatar Jake in Nico Muhly's Two Boys at the English National Opera in 2011. At the time, he had just taken 2nd Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and was joining the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme.
He recently caught our attention again as Ulysses at the Iford Opera Festival production of Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses. Rian Evan said his "burnished baritone embraces both the heroism of Ulysses and the emotional torture of this culminating episode of his odyssey." It's amazing to think that this is the same guy who played the baby faced boy n Two Boys. He next takes on Sid in Puccini's La fanciulla del West at ENO in October and then sings the role of the captain in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Grand Théâtre de Genève with fellow barihunk Michael Nagy as Onegin.
Behind the scenes with Jonathan McGovern and Louise Alder:
Other engagements this season have included Polynices in Julian Anderson’s world premiere The Thebans at ENO, the role of Adam in a staged version of Haydn’s The Creation for
Vocal Futures at the Ambika P3 in London, the St John Passion with
Winchester Music Club, and a recording of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Le Reniement de Saint Pierre where he sang the role of Jesus.
Matthew Treviño will make his debut this weekend with the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee as Colline in Puccini's La bohème. The role is becoming a bit of a calling card for the Texas native, as he's performed it with Opera Carolina, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Fresno Grand Opera.
Treviño recently wrapped up a successful stint with the English National Opera where he performed Hobson in Britten's Peter Grimes and Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto.
Performances of La bohème are on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 11 at 2:30 PM. Tickets are available online.
Christopher Bolduc is finally making his Metropolitan Opera debut, after being a national semifinalist in both the 2007 and 2008 Metropolitan National Council Auditions. He'll be performing as Jake in Nico Muhly's Two Boys, which we've been following since its premiere at the English National
Opera in 2011. The much anticipated U.S. premiere, which happens six years after it was commissioned by the Met, takes place on Monday, October 21 at 8 PM.
The opera explores identity and desire in the shadowy
world of the Internet as a detective investigates the stabbing of one
teenage boy by another—and discovers a tangled web of online intrigue.
Loosely inspired by real events, the work even comes with a warning for Met audiences about graphic and sexual language.
Performances will run through November 14th and tickets are available online.
This revised version of the ENO production of Two Boys is the first composition to be performed at Met
stage since it inaugurated its commissioning program with Lincoln
Center Theater seven years ago. If you want to see the opera, you'll have to see it live, since General Manager Peter Gelb said the adult themes ruled out the opera
from inclusion in the company's HD theater simulcasts.
Keith Miller in the 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar
Appearing as Peter will be Barihunks calendar model Keith Miller. Other performers include mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as Detective Anne Strawson and tenor
Paul Appleby as Brian, a 16-year-old accused of stabbing Jake.
Don't forget that money from this year's Charity Calendar will be
determined from suggestions on our Facebook page or on Twitter using the
hashtag #Barihunks2014. Money can go to young artist programs or any
efforts involving young artists, including recording, recitals or
performances. You can purchase a calendar and help out young artists by
clicking HERE.
Duncan Rock as Morales and backstage photographing his temporary tattoos
When Calixto Bieito is directing an opera one can almost guarantee that it will be a sexually charged production. The current run of his Carmen at the English National Opera is no exception. The production is filled with sexual tension, sexual confidence, sexual power, sexual obsessiveness and sexy singers. It even has some male nudity and simulated fellatio to ensure that it's an echt Bieito production.
Leading the back is our 2013 Barihunk Charity Calendar sensation Duncan Rock as Morales. Joining him on stage as Escamillo is Leigh Melrose, who has been regularly featured on this site, as well.
The production opened on Wednesday, November 21st and runs through December 9th at the London Coliseum. Tickets and additional performance information is available online. Also playing at the ENO is Ralph Vaughan William's masterpiece The Pilgrim's Progress, which he was obsessed with for much of his life.
Rock, who created a sensation with his performance of Don Giovanni at Heaven in London is a graduate of the National Opera Studio. He also holds a Masters
Degree in Music and Opera from London’s Guildhall School of Music and
Drama where he received a full scholarship from the Independent Opera
foundation.
Duncan Rock in the 2013 Barihunks Calendar
After his run at ENO, Duncan Rock will join the Scottish Opera for a show of opera highlights that will visit Bathgate, Peebles, Hawick, Stranraer,
Tarbert, Bowmore, Killin, Castlebay, Balivanich, Torridon, Durness,
Inverness, Banchory, Birnam, Strathmiglo, Crawfordjohn & Rutherglen. He'll be joined by tenor heartthrob Nicky Spence, fellow baritone Gary Griffiths, mezzo Katie Grosset and soprano Eleanor Dennis. Tickets go on sale on November 26.
Duncan Rock appears in both our regular sized calendar and special oversized edition. All proceeds from the calendar go to support young artists and young artist programs. Buy your calendar today and enjoy Duncan Rock and thirteen other barihunks all year long.
After featuring the erotic and tasteful ad campaign of Opera Atelier in our last post, it seems appropriate to jump across the Pond and check out the Brits who have their panties in a twist over an ad campaign from the English National Opera for Mozart's Don Giovanni.
The London Evening Standard covered the controversy in their Friday edition with the headline, "ENO's Don Giovanni condom advert hits low note." In a nod to the growing influence of social media, the paper obtained most of their criticism from Twitter. They did provide one quote from a media professional, Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch-UK, who complained that the ad campaign added to the "hyper-sexualisation" of society.
Even the Los Angeles Times covered the controversy in their Culture Monster feature in the Arts & Culture section, as well as the Huffington Post.
A unidentified spokeswoman for ENO told the Evening Standard:
“Given the subject of the piece, the
marketing campaign for Rufus Norris’s production reflects the opera
itself.
“We wanted an eye-catching ad to promote the opera. We
came up with this idea which we think is brilliant, funny and captures
the idea of Don G in a witty way.”
Sexy ad campaigns require sexy singers like Erwin Schrott and Randal Turner
What struck us as odd, is that with an ad campaign based on
such a sexual theme, ENO didn't cast any barihunks in any of the three
roles where we often find some beefcake - the sexually charged Don
Giovanni, his sidekick Leporello or the young groom-to-be Masetto.
As much as we love ENO and their efforts to attract younger audiences, for us, it's still a bit of false advertisement.
Performances run from October 17-November 17 and cast and ticket information is available on the ENO website.
Scooping up a prize fund of £10,000, 28-year-old barihunk Duncan Rock has
become the first recipient of the Chilcott Award for young British opera
singers. The award is given to the British singer who shows most
promise and potential for an international singing career.
Named
after the late singer Susan Chilcott, the prize money is specifically
meant to further advanced learning and career development. Rock will be
spending his on having singing lessons with eminent performer Robert
Dean, as well as French and German language lessons.
Rock has previously appeared as Don Giovanni for the Welsh National Opera, alongside several roles at Glyndebourne
and Longborough Festival Opera. Duncan just opened a month long run as Papageno with the English National Opera where he is performing Papageno in The Magic Flute. He returns to ENO on November 21 for a run as Morales in Bizet's Carmen opposite the Escamillo of fellow barihunk Leigh Melrose.
The Susan Chilcott Scholarship, which offers the prize fund, was founded in 2005 in memory of the late singer, who died in 2003.
Aussie barihunk Duncan Rock generated international buzz when he recently appeared in "Don Giovanni: The Opera" at London's Heaven. The updated, gender bending version of the Mozart-Da Ponte classic rubbed some of the old-timers the wrong way, but young audiences ate it up.
Attitude, which bills itself as the U.K.'s largest LGBT magazine, recently did a feature on the ripped redhead with the great headline "Get Your Rock Off." We couldn't possibly improve on that! We also love that gave a nice shout out to Barihunks, writing:
Rock has featured heavily on the inspired website Barihunks (baritone hunks, obvs), which shows male opera singers in a state of undress. So what happened to opera's rep for the larger gentlemen? "A lot of the roles, particularly the ones for a young baritone voice, now require certain physical characteristics," Rock explains. "For certain roles, for dramatic credibility, people expect a certain look, but opera is an art form that is all about beautiful singing and that will never change."
Fortunately for Rock, his voice is as beautiful as his physique.
Check out a preview of the ENO's Billy Budd featuring Duncan Rock:
We first discovered Duncan Rock when he was in Britten's Billy Budd at Glyndebourne and he's back in the same opera at the English National Opera. Rock will be performing the role of Donald. Performance are running from June 12-July 12. He remains on the ENO roster for a run of Bizet's Carmen beginning in November where he takes on the role of Moralès. Visit the ENO website for tickets and additional information.
We've featured Audun Iversen before and were thrilled to see that he was named the "Artist of the Month" by the British magazine "Opera Now," (not the American podcast of the same name). Here is what they wrote:
Norwegian-born Audun Iversen is making himself quit at home in Britain these days. This spring saw the 34-year-old baritone make his Covent Garden debut as Albert in Werther opposite Rolando Villazon, and he'll be appearing as Marchello in La boheme and as Lescaut in Massenet's Manon at the same house this season.
Last season also saw Iversen on the road around the UK as Don Giovanni with Glyndebourne Touring, and he's back at the Glyndebourne Festival next summer as the Count in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro. Meanwhile, this autumn finds him at the English National Opera singing the title role in a new production of Eugene Onegin directed by Deborah Warner. 'I find Onegin an exciting character," he says. 'He's a blank canvas that directors and singers can paint in so many ways. So far, he's my favourite among the roles that I sing."
Audun Iversen and Elina Garanca sing "Là Ci Darem La Mano" from Don Giovanni:
Iversen has had several outings as Onegin, including a new production at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen in 2009 directed by Peter Konwitschny, and another on tour in Europe with the Bolshoi Opera last summer. His sonorous voice combines a rich lower register with a free top and a shimmering and flexible vibrato throughout. It's just perfect for Mozart, and it appears that he's already stepping into some big shoes: 'I was just dumbstruck when I was singing the Count in a revival of a vintage production of Mozart's Nozze di Figaro at Deutsche Oper in Berlin and finding the name-tag Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sewn into one of the overcoats I was wearing!'
Like his legendary predecessor, Audun treasures the Lieder repertoire. The voice, however, also holds the promise of more dramatic things to come, and the singer says that he is looking forward to tackling Verdi's mighty baritone roles. With his commanding stage presence and strong acting instincts, Verdi's overcoats are bound to fit him every bit as well as Mozarts when the moment comes.
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Audun Iversen can next be seen at the English National Opera performing Eugene Onegin from November 12 through December 3. Visit their website for tickets and additional performance information.
British barihunk Leigh Melrose has never received the attention that he deserves on this site. We featured a video of him singing a selection from Britten's "Billy Budd" at the end of a feature on Alexander Tsymbalyuk. He certainly can't be ignored anymore, as Melrose has landed a key role at English National Opera in Mieczysław Weinberg’s 1968 opera The Passenger.
The opera was banned in the Soviet Union and was first premiered last year at the Bregenz Festival. Weinberg, a Soviet composer of Jewish-Polish heritage who died in 1996, never saw a performance of this lost masterpiece in his lifetime.
The opera revolves around an encounter between two women – one a former Auschwitz guard and the other a former prisoner. Melrose plays Tadeusz, a camp inmate and violinist who defies the Commandant byordered by performing some meloncholy music by Bach rather than a frolicking waltz. Needless to say, things don't end well for Tadeusz.
We continue to find the performances at ENO as some of the most innovative and interesting in all of opera right now. We loved Nic Muhly's "Two Boys" and look forward to seeing The Passenger. The opera runs from September 19-October 25. Additional cast and performance information is available HERE. If you're looking for more traditional operatic fare, ENO will be performing the highly acclaimed Jonathan Miller production of Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love" at the same time.
You can read an entire feature on Leigh Melrose and The Passenger in the Islington Tribune by clicking HERE.
