Barihunk quartet and hunkentenor featured at Grange Festival's Carmen

A quartet of barihunks are appearing in the Grange Festival's production of Carmen, which is currently running through July 8th. Two of them, Grigory Soloviov and Toby Girling, have appeared on the site, while Phillip Rhodes and Tiago Matos are new to the site. Joining this sexy quartet of low voices is hunkentenor Leonardo Capalbo. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Tiago Matos (left) and Phillip Rhodes (right)

Portuguese barihunk Tiago Matos, who is singing Le Dancäire,  was a member of the Atelier Lyrique at the Opéra national de Paris, where he performed Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Sivigila, Un Chevalier in Chaussson's Le Roi Arthus, and Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto. He will return to the Opéra national de Paris to perform a number of roles over the next few seasons.

New Zealand native Phillip Rhodes, who is singing Escamillo, was briefly mentioned on our site when he sang Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd with barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the title role. He recently peformed Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca and Pere Germont in Verdi's La traviata with Opera New Zealand. This Fall, he will sing the roles of Alfio in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Silvio and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Opera North.

Renee Fleming and Grigory Soloviov (left) and Toby Girling in Trouble in Tahiti (right)

Bass-Barihunk Grigory Soloviov is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and a former member of the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist’s Program. He has already performed with a number of major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatro La Fenice, Dallas Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opéra National de Lyon, Opéra de Tours and the Opéra De Montréal.

British barihunk Toby Girling is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and former member of the Glyndebourne Opera Festival Chorus. His most current and future engagements include Nicomedes in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules and Pallante in Handel's Agrippina with De Vlaamse Opera, Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore  at the Scottish Opera and Sam in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti with the Oper Leipzig tour in Bolzano, Italy.

Introducing British Barihunk and Model Matthew Thistleton

Matthew Thistleton

British barihunk Matthew Thistleton caught our eye as José Castro in the Grange Park Opera production of Puccini's La fanciulla del West that closed over the weekend. This season, he was also one of the monks in Verdi's Don Carlo that featured. Clive Bayley as Filippo II, David Stout as Rodrigo, Stefano Secco in the title role, Ruxandra Donose as Eboli and Virginia Tola as Elisabetta.  During the 2014 and 2015 summer seasons he was a member of the Grange Park Opera chorus in Britten's Peter Grimes, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Saint-Saens' Samson et Delilah (where he also sang the Second Philistine) and Puccini's La Boheme (where he covered Colline).

The Wilmslow native finished his Master’s at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) where he was the recipient of The Riga Heesom Award and was supported by the Laurison School Trust. He made his operatic debut in the RNCM’s production of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. He went on to sing in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera on Location as Snug the Joiner, scenes from Smetana's The Bartered Bride, Massenet's Cendrillon and Rossini's L’italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia.
 
After performing in the Italian Cultural Institute's Pinocchio as Geppetto Matthew has recently finished the 2016 season with Grange Park Opera where he performed as Castro in la Fanciulla Del West and as one of the six monks in Don Carlo.

He is also a model with Maverick Models. 

Reader Submission: British Barihunk Harry Thatcher

British barihunk Harry Thatcher

Reader Submission Harry Thatcher is a British baritone based in London. He is a Betty Brenner Scholar at The Royal College of Music. He is currently performing at the Grange Park Opera, where he is singing Bello in Puccini's La Facciulla del West and the Flemish Deputy in Verdi's Don Carlo. On June 7th, he'll also be giving a recital at the The Royal College of Music, performing music by Rossini, Schubert, Britten and Bolcom.

On the concert platform Harry has performed with the likes of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of Opera North in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Birmingham Symphony Hall. He has sung the bass solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and various Bach Cantatas.    

Operatic roles for The Royal College of Music International Opera School include the High Priest in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Florian in Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida and Frank in Johann Strauss' Die Flederamaus . Harry has covered the role of Death in Holst's Savitri for British Youth Opera

Simon Keenlyside to "cross over" to sing Fagin

Simon Keenlyside as Fagin

The ageless barihunk Simon Keenlyside is crossing over from opera to musical theater this summer as he takes on the master thief Fagin in Lionel Bart's Oliver!.

Performances will run from June 2-July 2 at the Grange Park Festival. Other than his 2014 CD Something’s Gotta Give, Keenlyside has rarely waded into musical theater. The CD includes "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver! The musical premiered in 1960 and became and instant hit, almost eclipsing Charles Dickens' original story of the workhouse orphan who falls into bad company.

The Festival will also present Verdi's Don Carlo with Clive Bayley, Stefano Secco, Virginia Tola, David Stout, Ruxandra Donose, Alastair Miles and Jihoon Kim; Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Claire Rutter, Lorenzo Decaro, Stephen Gadd, Alberto Sousa and Michael de Souza; and, Wagner's Tristan & Isolde with Bryan Register, Anja Kampe, Clive Bayley, Sara Fulgoni and Stephen Gadd.

On June 10th, they'll present a recital with the amazing tenor Javier Camarena. Tickets and additional information is available online.

After his run in Oliver!, Keenlyside heads to the Munich Opera Festival to perform Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata and Renato in the composer's Un Ballo in Maschera. 

You can also catch him in theaters in the MET Live in HD simulcasts on October 22nd when he sings the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni. He'll be joined by Rolando Villazon as Don Ottavio, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Malin Byström as Donna Elvira, Serena Malfi as Zerlina and Kwangchul Youn as The Commendatore.

Boheme's barihunk duo at Grange Park Opera

Nicholas Crawley and Quirijn de Lang

Grange Park Opera will have a Bohemian barihunk duo in their production of Puccini's La Bohéme that opens June 6 and runs through July 17th. Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang will sing Schaunard  opposite the Colline of British barihunk Nicholas Crawley.

Joining them in the cast are Susana Gaspar as Mimi, Gianluca Terranova as Rodolfo,  Kelebogile Pearl Besong as Musetta, Brett Polegato as Marcello and Nicholas Folwell as Benoit/Alcindoro.

Grange Park is also presenting Fiddler on the Roof with Bryn Terfel in the role of Reb Tevye, Eugene Onegin with Brett Polegato and Samson et Delila.  Tickets and additional production information are available online. Follow them on Twitter @grangeparkopera.

On October 18th, Nicholas Crawley makes his role debut as Bottom in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Klagenfurt Stadttheater.  In February 2016, he sings Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Nederlandse Reisoper.

Quirijn de Lang then heads off to sing Fred Graham/Petruchio in  Kiss Me Kate for Opera North from September 21-November 21. The production will be performed in Leeds, Newcastle, Salford Quays and Nottingham.

New Opera Baby Arrives

When Anna Netrebko and barihunk Erwin Schrott welcomed their baby Tiago Arua into the world it created international headlines. It seemed like only Madonna's baby created more buzz in the tabloids.

So Barihunks would like to congratulate Lindsey and Andrew Ashwin on the birth of their baby, Rosie. Rosie may not be getting the same headlines as Tiago Arua, but she's a beautiful new addition to the opera world.

Daddy Ashwin can next be seen as Sharpless at the Grange Park Opera on September 17 & 19. Both performances are already sold out, but you can get on a waiting list for tickets by emailing info@grangeparkopera.co.uk.

 

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