Andrew Garland in recital of Jewish Composers

Andrew Garland as photographed by Matt Madison-Clark

Andrew Garland will be performing a recital of "Jewish Composers of the 19th & 20th Century" on Sunday, January 19 at 3pm. The recital is part of the Molly Blank Jewish Concert Series at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta which celebrates the Jewish contribution to music. The concert series is a partnership with the Atlanta Opera.

Garland's recital will include music from the German Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn, late-Romantic Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, and American composer Leonard Bernstein. Garland will be accompanied by a string quartet made up of members of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra.

You also may want to check out the review of Andrew Garland's CD "American Portraits" from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Journal, which is one of the best reviews we've ever read. You may recall that we named his CD one of our "Barihunks Best of 2013."

Accompanied by Donna Loewy on piano, Garland sings four song cycles, Stephen Paulus' "A Heartland Portrait,"  Tom Cipullo's "America1968" (dedicated to Garland and Loewy), Lori Laitmen's "Men with Small Heads" and Jake Heggie's  and "The Moon is a Mirror." You can order a copy at GPR Records.

Andrew Garland's Buff New Photos, his new CD and his upcoming Schaunard in Seattle

Andrew Garland

We recently posted a teaser about Andrew Garland's new CD "American Portraits," which we're thrilled to report has shot to the top of the Amazon classical music charts. We had the privilege of previewing the recording, so we were pretty certain that he had a hit on his hands.

Accompanied by Donna Loewy on piano, Garland sings four song cycles, Stephen Paulus' "A Heartland Portrait,"  Tom Cipullo's "America1968" (dedicated to Garland and Loewy), Lori Laitmen's "Men with Small Heads" and Jake Heggie's  and "The Moon is a Mirror."

Like tenors Peter Pears and Anthony Rolfe Johnson, who excelled in the music of British composers, Garland has seemed to master the American composers. He has previously performed works by Mark Adamo, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, Stephen Sondheim and Gian Carlo Menotti. Garland and Loewy previously collaborated on the masterful 2009 CD "American Folk Song Settings."

Order the CD HERE

You can next see Andrew Garland on stage at the Seattle Opera where he's singing Schaunard in a production of Puccini's La boheme with rotating barihunks as Marcello: Keith Phares and Michael Todd Simpson. Performances run from February 23 to March 10 and tickets are selling fast. You can reserve your seats online. We should also mention that the fabulous young tenor Michael Fabiano is alternating Rodolfo with Francesco Demuro.

Oh, and about those pictures. They are from a new photo shoot by the gifted photographer Matt Madison-Clark. By the way, if you're wondering about Garland's fitness regimen, it includes lots of bicycling and workouts at the gym. His colleague Michael Todd Simpson stays fit with a disciplined yoga regimen.

Photos from Erwin Schrott at 54 Below

Erwin Schrott at 54 Below Photo: Matt Madison-Clark

We covered Erwin Schrott's debut performance at New York City's nightclub 54 Below in a previous post, but now we have actual photos from the show. The evening of music from his award-winning CD "Rojotango" proved to be quite a hit, as there wasn't an empty seat in the house to see and hear the hunky Uruguayan barihunk. Schrott was accompanied by the Pablo Ziegler Quartet. 

Erwin Schrott and bass player Pedro Giraudo Photo: Matt Madison-Clark

54 Below, which has been hosting the best of Broadway, is now hosting the best from the world of Opera. It appears to have caught on and regular readers will recall that barihunks Ildar Abradzakov and Dmitry Hvorostovsky showed up along with Schrott for tenor Charles Castronovo's show.  Next up from the world of opera is soprano Patricia Racette, who performs for five nights opening on March 26th. Tickets are available online. 

Schrott can be seen tonight and Saturday at the Metropolitan Opera where is he is singing Dulcamara opposite the Belcore of fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Schrott's real life wife, Anna Netrebko, is Adina. Tickets are still available.

If you can't make the concerts, Racette and Castronovo, both have CD's available at GPR Records that include much of the music from their shows. Also, available is the new CD "American Portraits" from the gifted BARIHUNK tee shirt model Andrew Garland (look to your right). Keep your fingers crossed and maybe he'll be the next opera singer booked in to the club.

Saturday Barihunk Fest at Met and 54 Below

Keith Miller in Anna Bolena at the Met

The Saturday, December 8th matinee performance of the Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera kicks of the new HD broadcast season with a feast for the eyes. The broadcast features not one, but two, of our favorite barihunks: the "Siberian Hunky" Dmitri Hvorostovsky and former football player Keith Miller.  

Miller will sing Count Ribbing and Hvorostovsky takes on the role of Count Anckarström (Renato). Miller will also be interviewed by Kathleen Kim during the first intermission. To find you local theater click HERE. 

If you're a fan of Keith Miller, he is easy to follow online with a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account at @KeithMillerBass and a YouTube site. 

Tenor Charles Castronovo with the Three Barihunks: Erwin Schrott, Dmitri Hvorostovsky & Ildar Abrdazakov

We don't usually post about tenors, but when THREE barihunks show up for your performance at 54 Below we take notice. That's what happened Thursday night at the famous nightclub for a performance and celebration of his new CD Dolci Napoli. Of course, Abdrazakov and Schrott are both singing in Don Giovanni at the Met with Castronovo. Hvorostovsky is in the aforementioned Ballo.

Schrott, Hvorostovsky, Castronovo and Abdrazakov (Photo Credit: Charles Martin)

Erwin Schrott, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ildar Abrdazakov showed up to pay hommage to the man who would be a certifiable barihunk if his voice was a little lower. Fortunately, for those who missed the show, there's a second performance at midnight on Saturday. You can order his CD online.

Readers of Barihunks should use the code "menevent10" at 54 Below to receive a special $10.00 discount. 

Of course, if you like sexy men, you'll find plenty of them in our 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar. You'll also be helping out young singers, as every penny of profit goes to young artist programs:

  

Andrew Garland, Alex Esposito & Ryan Kuster Updates; Schrott Out in Dresden

Ryan Kuster (L), Andrew Garland (C) and Alex Esposito

Today is a miscellaneous Friday for us, which we're going to use to update you on four of our favorite barihunks. They also happen to be three of the most talented singers to be making their mark in the opera world today.

Our favorite redhead, Andrew Garland, recently finished recording "American Portraits" for GPR records, which is due out in 2012. He can next be heard in Handel's "Messiah" with the Boston Baroque on December 9 and 10.  Here he is singing "A Reverie" from the song cycle 'Battle Pieces' by Paul Phillips, which is based on poems by Herman Melville. The world premiere was on October 16, 2011 with the Pioneer Valley Symphony in Greenfield, Massachusetts.



We have deservedly dubbed Alex Esposito the greatest Leporello in the world today and it continues to be a major role on his schedule. His work as a Mozart specialist in general has been recognized by the most prestigious opera companies in the world, who keep engaging him for the master's leading roles. He's keeping a busy schedule singing his signature role as Don Giovanni's sidekick with a recent run at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and now taking it to the Vienna Staatsoper, which opens on December 11. He then switches Mozart roles, singing Papageno at La Scala in February and Guglielmo in Toulouse in May 2012. For a change of pace, here he is singing the aria "Accusata di furto" from  Gioachino Rossini's "La gazza ladra," which is best known for its overture. The performance is from a gala at the Deutsche Oper Berlinon November 5, 2011.



Fans of Ryan Kuster in San Francisco were treated to this amazing singer at the San Francisco Opera's "The Future is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert." The first-year Adler Fellow continues to generate a genuine buzz among opera cognoscenti and he didn't disappoint last night with a rousing and vocally eloquent performance of "Aprite un po' quegli' occhi" from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." He was then given the unenviable task of singing opposite Leah Crocetto, who many believe will be the next reigning Verdi soprano. The duo sang "Il padre tuo...Tu piniscimi" and literally brought down the house.

And speaking of duos...

If you think the Germans are upset at having to carry the load of the European debt crisis, you should have seen the reaction when the Semperoper Dresden announced that Anna Netrebko and barihunk hubby Erwin Schrott would not be performing in two New Year's Eve Concerts. Opera's most famoust couple were replaced by sopranos Angela Denoke and Ana Maria Labin.  The two concerts were sold out, but the ticket office is being besieged with refund requests. The change was made with little fanfare, as Netrebko and Schrott's names mysteriously disappeared from the website overnight.

We're going to announce our first two recipients for a charitable donation from our our 2012 Barihunks calendar in the next few days. We appreciate everyone's enthusiastic support for the calendar, but encourage those who haven't purchased one to do so now, so we can support additional programs. Also, it's not to late to write us at Barihunks@gmail.com and tell us why your young artist program is deserving of a donation from the calendar.

David Adam Moore: Damn DAM!

Super Sexy David Adam Moore

The blogosphere continues to be the best the source of classical music and opera news in the wake of arts sections being decimated in the newspaper industry. Our latest find was this amazing interview with David Adam Moore (aka DAM) on the blog Billevesées.

Moore will be performing Schubert's Winterreise on Sunday, September 26 at 2:30 PM at the Theater of the Performing Arts Center at Houston Community College.  Tickets can be purchased by calling (713) 718-5620.

DAM will be joined by Thomas Jaber on the piano for a multi-media production of the famous song cycle. According to the website, the use of video "aims to present Schubert's Winterreise as a visually rich dramatic monologue that will guide the audience intimately along the protagonist’s journey of love and loss in wintertime."

One thing is certain, anything involving David Adam Moore always proves to be interesting (and incredibly sexy!). 

Moore will also be recording Winterreise in composer Glen Roven's English translation. That recording will be released on the GPR label. Fans of the Emmy-award winning composer Glen Roven can also hear his songs performed by barihunk Randal Turner in San Francisco on December 6th. [Check out the box to the right for concert information and tickets.]

Barihunks will be in Seattle to see DAM in his upcoming performance in the "Barber of Seville," where he will be alternating the role of Figaro with fellow barihunk Jose Carbo. 

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Daniel Okulitch Reads Poetry

Daniel Okulitch is already becoming well known for his insightful portrayals on stage. Now one of this site's most popular barihunks has proven that he is a master of reading poetry, as well. To the delight of many of our readers, Okulitch is reading one of the few famous poems that references oral sex. The text is below and you can listen to his lush, FM radio baritone by clicking HERE.

The reading is part of a new CD that is receiving incredible critical acclaim. It is available at Amazon.com or by visiting the GPR Records site.

Self-Improvement
by Tony Hoagland

Just before she flew off like a swan
to her wealthy parents' summer home,
Bruce's college girlfriend asked him
to improve his expertise at oral sex,
and offered him some technical advice:

Use nothing but his tonguetip
to flick the light switch in his room
on and off a hundred times a day
until he grew fluent at the nuances
of force and latitude.

Imagine him at practice every evening,
more inspired than he ever was at algebra,
beads of sweat sprouting on his brow,
thinking, thirty-seven, thirty eight,
seeing, in the tunnel vision of his mind's eye,
the quadratic equation of her climax
yield to the logic
of his simple math.

Maybe he unscrewed
the bulb from his apartment ceiling
so that passersby would not believe
a giant firefly was pulsing
its electric abdomen in 13 B.

Maybe, as he stood
two inches from the wall,
in darkness, fogging the old plaster
with his breath, he visualized the future
as a mansion standing on the shore
that he was rowing to
with his tongue's exhausted oar.

Of course, the girlfriend dumped him:
met someone, après-ski, who,
using nothing but his nose
could identify the vintage of a Cabernet.

Sometimes we are asked
to get good at something we have
no talent for,
or we excel at something we will never
have the opportunity to prove.

Often we ask ourselves
to make absolute sense
out of what just happens,
and in this way, what we are practicing

is suffering,
which everybody practices,
but strangely few of us
grow graceful in.

The climaxes of suffering are complex,
costly, beautiful, but secret.
Bruce never played the light switch again.

So the avenues we walk down,
full of bodies wearing faces,
are full of hidden talent:
enough to make pianos moan,
sidewalks split,
streetlights deliriously flicker.

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