Hadleigh Adams globetrotting with Handel's Messiah

Hadleigh Adams

Bass-barihunk Hadleigh Adams is going to rack up some frequent flyer miles singing Handel's Messiah this holiday season. Fresh off a huge success as Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, he heads across the globe to his native New Zealand.

He will sing his first Messiah with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on December 7th in Wellington. He then hops back on a plane to his home base of San Francisco for three performances of Handel's holiday classic with the American Bach Soloists on December 11, 12 and 13. He then heads south to the Lone Star State for three more Messiah's with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on December 20. 21 and 22.

Composed in just 24 days in 1741, the Messiah received a lukewarm reception at its first London performance. However, over the years it has grown in popularity. Although Messiah is structured like an opera, it features no characters or dialogue.

He'll wrap up the year back in San Francisco for the American Bach Soloists New Years Eve concert. He'll be joined by mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit for arias and duets from Handel, Rameau, Vivaldi and Monteverdi.

Barihunk Paweł Konik makes role debut as Mercutio

Paweł Konik as Mercutio (left)

Barihunk Paweł Konik , who we introduced back in May when he was singing a staged version of Monteverdi's Madrigals at the Dutch National Opera, is now making his role debut as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Silesian Opera House in Bytom, Poland. Opening night is already sold out, but tickets are still available for October 29th!

In 1867, Charles Gounod followed up his successful adaptation of Goethe's Faust into an opera with an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Not wanting to mess with success, he turned to the same librettists that he used for Faust, Jules Barbier and Michel Carre. The duo remained relatively true to the original play by Shakespeare, although the librettists cut a few scenes that didn't deal directly with the two lovers. They also changed the ending, allowing Romeo just enough life to sing a duet before he dies and Juliet stabs herself.  

Konik is a member of the Opera Academy at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. 

You can hear him sing "C'est Vers Ton Amour..." from Massenet's Don Quichotte by clicking HERE.

On December 9 and 10, he'll be the baritone soloist in Handel's Messiah at the Annum Festival in Poland.  

The Limited Edition Barihunks 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!

Theo Hoffman in Hunky Handel's Messiah for Holidays; Eclectic Concert in L.A.

Jonathan Blalock, Theo Hoffman, Robert Moody & Daniel Moody (Counterclockwise top left)

The Winston-Salem Symphony has assembled a hunky Handel's Messiah for the holidays featuring barihunk Theo Hoffman, tenor Jonathan Blalock, countertenor Daniel Moody, conductor Robert Moody and soprano Margaret Carpenter-Haigh.

There will be performances on December 13 and 14 at the Centenary United Methodist Church. Tickets are available online.

On the opposite coast, Hoffman joins composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin for a concert on November 27th called "The Song: From Schubert to Springsteen," featuring music from Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Francis Poulenc, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Drake and Radiohead. The concert will take place after the performance of Philip Glass' Akhnaten and is free to attendees. Non-attendees can purchase tickets for $5.

Hoffman has joined the Los Anegles Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program for the 2016-17 season. He will sing a number of roles with the company, including Hermann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann (no relation), the Second Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome, First Editor in Bernstein's Wonderful Town and Il medico in Verdi's Macbeth with fellow barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Banquo.

Theo Hoffman sings Marc Blitzstein's "Stay in My Arms":

 
Hoffman completed his Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, where he was the winner of the 2015 Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital and was presented in recital at Alice Tully Hall. Additionally at Juilliard, he performed Bob in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Lunardo in Le donne curiose, and covered Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He made his professional debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Thierry in Dialogues des carmélites. 

Hoffman made his first public appearance on the Metropolitan Opera stage in March as a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after winning in the Eastern Region.

THE 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED CALENDAR IS NOW ON SALE!!! 

Chris Herbert & Philippe Sly available online from Trinity Wall Street

Christopher Dylan Herbert (photo: Laura Rose) and Philippe Sly

Trinity Wall Street in New York City continues to live stream some of the best music available on the web. The last few weeks were rich with music and two of our favorite barihunks performed, Christopher Dylan Herbert in Schubert's Winterreise and Philippe Sly in Handel's Messiah. Fortunately, both are available online or on our site.

We recently posted about Christopher Dylan Herbert's participatory version of Schubert's popular 1828 song cycle dubbed Winterize, which was performed with hats, scarves and mittens in New York's Central Park.

Herbert will be singing lead roles in Stewart Copeland and Robert Paterson's Dixon Place with the American Modern Ensemble on January 16-19. The piece is based on Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of the Amontillado and tickets are available online.

Handel's Messiah and Trinity have a long history, as the church presented one of the first performances of the work in North America in 1770.

Philippe Sly has a few more performances of sacred music coming up, with a Mozart Requiem with the Toronto Symphony later this month and a St. Matthew Passion with the Hamburg State Opera in April.

Cameron McPhail's beefy Rape of Lucretia

Cameron McPhail in The Rape of Lucretia at Yale

We recently included Cameron McPhail in a post about the nine baritones performing in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions at Merkin Hall in New York City on November 18 and 19. After the post went up, we were told about some sexy pictures of him as Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Yale during the 2011-12 season. 

Of course, we had to find them and provide a better introduction to this fast rising Canadian baritone, who holds both an Artist Diploma in Voice and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from The University of British Columbia. He spent the 2011-12 season completing his Masters of Music at the Yale Opera Studio where he studied with American bass Richard Cross.

A 2014 winner of the George London Foundation Competition, McPhail joined the Canadian Opera Company for the 2012-13 season as a member of the Ensemble Studio where he made his company debut as the Premiere Officer in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites. During the 2013-14 season he returned to Canadian Opera Company with mainstage appearances as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.

He just finished four performances of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Florida Orchestra under the baton of Danail Rachev. He returns to his native Canada on December 5th for Handel's Messiah with the Edmonton Symphony. On February 25, 2015, he'll create the role of Reverend Colgate in a world premiere concert staging of Gregory Vajda’s comic opera Georgia Bottoms with the Huntsville Symphony. The opera about the modern South, is based on the national best-seller by Alabama author Mark Childress.

If you want to enjoy 19 of opera's sexiest and most talented singers all year, make sure to order your own copy of the 2015 Barihunks Calendar by clicking below.

Kyle Ketelsen's Easter Messiah to be broadcast worldwide

Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès (right)

American barihunk Kyle Ketelsen will make his debut with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in a special Easter version of Handel's Messiah that his being broadcast worldwide.

The concert from Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah will be performed live on Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19 at 7:30 PM MDT. The Friday performance will be available live online and then for free on-demand until midnight on Monday, April 21st.

Ketelsen, who has become the preeminent Escamillo in the world, is not new to oratorios. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with Haydn’s Creation with the Oratorio Society of New York and repeated the work with Music of the Baroque in Chicago. His concert repertoire also includes the Verdi Requiem, Brahms' Deutsches Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Dvorák's Te Deum, the Bach St. Matthew and St. John Passions and the Mozart C-Minor Mass.

From June 20-28 he returns to the opera stage in his signature role of Escamillo at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. In September, he returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Leporello opposite the Don Giovanni of fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien.

Interview with Philippe Sly and upcoming Messiah

 

Philippe Sly

Philippe Sly will be performing Handel’s Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa under maestro Matthew Halls on December 17th and 18th at 7 PM. He'll be joined by soprano Sherezade Panthaki,  mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle and tenor Nicholas Phan. Tickets are available online. 

 

The Ottawa citizen ran an interview with this fast-rising star, which included the following question about being a barihunk:

You have been dubbed a “barihunk”. Embarrased? Embracing it?

People can say what they want (but) I have to admit, the blog has generated a lot of interest. Though there is the funny title, the blog does a good job of keeping tabs on current baritones and promoting new ones. Almost all of my baritone friends have appeared on the site.

We've had the pleasure of hearing Sly as a recitalist and on stage and the hype around him is justified. He is smart, gifted and commands the stage. To check out information about future performaces in Philadelphia, Quebec and elsewhere, check out his website.  

You can read the entire interview in the Ottawa Citizen online. 

We also want to add a comment about what Sly says about the site. We recently floated the idea to a few opera insiders and some of our favorite singers about shutting down the site on January 1, 2014. The unanimous response was that the site (even with its funny name) is still the prime source of information about baritones in the world of opera. Our goal continues to be twofold 1) to promote and assist the best baritone talent in the world, and 2) ensure that opera remains vibrant and interesting enough to compete with the wealth of entertainment options available to the public. 

We appreciate your readership. 

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Introducing Abdiel Gonzalez

Abdiel Gonzalez

We've decided to pass on our annual feature of posting a calendar of barihunks singing in Handel's Messiah around the world. Let's face it, if there's a Messiah, there's an 80% chance that it features a sexy baritone belting out "Why Do the Nations Rage."

However, as we head down to Los Angeles today for Mozart's Magic Flute at the L.A. Opera, we noticed that Puerto Rican baritone Abdiel González is performing the Messiah tonight and next Sunday with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall. Tickets for his two performances of the Messiah are available online.

We had heard about him previously from singers who attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, but somehow never got around to posting him. He was brought to attention a second time last March when he was performing in Stravinsky's Renard under Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

He has performed Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Julliette, Shrike in the West Coast Premiere of Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts, Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and a number of zarzuelas, including the title role in Luis Alonso, Paquiro in Goyescas and Don Pedro in El Barberillo de Lavapies.

On the concert stage he has perfomed as a soloist in Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Requiem and Mass in C Minor, and others.

He was a first place winner in both the San Diego District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Opera 100 Competition.

(Somewhat) Gratuitous Gianluca Margheri Post

Gianluca Margheri

We haven't featured the stunningly sexy Gianluca Margheri in awhile and we figured a few new photos of the photogenic singer was a great way to kick off the weekend. He just wrapped up a critically acclaimed run in Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Italy under the baton of James Conlon and featuring the exciting soprano Tatiana Serjan.

Gianluca Margheri

Gianluca Margheri was born in Florence, where he also studied at the Coservatorio Cherubini. He made his professional debut in 2004 at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa in Traviata, followed by Demetrius in Briten's "Midsummer Night's Dream."  In 2009 he won the first prize with at the international Opera Competition Toti dal Monte in Treviso.

Gianluca Margheri

He has performed in Don Giovanni, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Ernani, Macbeth, Le nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte and Joseph Haydn's La vera costanza. He can also be found on the recording of Handel's "Deidamia" and on the DVD of Respighi's "La bella dormente nel bosco."

You can follow him on Twitter at @GianlucaMargher.

Gianluca Margheri  sings "For Behold.. The People that walked" from Handel's Messiah:

Andrew Garland Returns to NY Festival of Song

Andrew Garland

We're unabashedly huge fans of Steven Blier's "New York Festival of Song" which is a guaranteed evening of great music and intellectual enlightenment. After his hugely successful "Manning the Gay Canon," Blier had turned his attention to women with a program aptly titled "Women."

The program features songs from John Musto, Ned Rorem, Benjamin Britten, Arnold Schoenberg, Thea Musgrave, Judy Collins and new works from Mark Adamo, Mohammed Fairouz, and Harold Meltzer. The songs explore the lives of women in their own words, as well as through the eyes of men.

Barihunk Andrew Garland will return to the Festival of Song and will be joined by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and soprano Corinne Winters. Garland will perform Carla Kihlstedt's  new piece "A Woman’s Body," which was inspired by Susan Sontag’s matter-­‐of-­‐fact list of observations about her own body. Kihlstedt asked some favorite women for their own lists, which make up the lyrics to the piece.

The performance will be at Merkin Concert Hall on December 4th at 8 PM. Tickets are available online.

After the Festival, Garland will perform Handel's Messiah with the Boston Baroque on December 7 and 8, and then with the Colorado Bach Ensemble on December 21 and 22.

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Peter Bording Shower Scene; Introducing Stephen Hegedus

Peter Bording

We haven't featured the sexy Dutch barihunk Peter Bording in awhile. We received an email alerting us that he has a sexy shower scene in Essen's holiday classic "Die Fledermaus." You can watch the clip HERE. The opera opens Sunday, December 18th and runs through New Years Eve. Bording then moves on to the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck where he'll be performing Franz Lehár's "Die Lustige Witwe."

We also received a reader submission about Stephen Hegedus, who is new to this site. They saw him perform in Handel's Messiah with the Seattle Symphony on Friday night, a performance that he will reprise on Sunday night. The Seattle Times wrote of his performance, "The bass-baritone soloist, Stephen Hegedus, sang with commanding lyricism." On December 21 and 22, Hegedus will perform the Messiah with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Both performances are sold out.

A graduate of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Stephen Hegedus’s  appearances in the 2010-2011 season included the title role of Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Hamilton), Albert in Massenet’s Werther (Opéra de Montréal) Zuniga in Carmen (Brott Festival) and the Marquis inLa Traviata (Vancouver Opera). On the concert stage he performed Handel’s Messiah with the Victoria Symphony and the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Bach’s Magnificat with the Orchestre Métropolitain du grand Montréal and Howard Blake’s The Bear with the Toronto Symphony.

Stephen Hegedus

 

He has performed with Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile, Pacific Opera Victoria, Les Violons du Roy, San Antonio Symphony, Houston Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the André-Turp Musical Society The Aldeburgh Connection, the Lamèque International Baroque Festival, La Sinfonia de Lanaudière, the Aldeburgh Festival and the International Bach Festival in Toronto.  

In April 2009, he made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Mass in B-minor with the Oratorio Society of New York and returned in 2010 singing Handel’s Messiah. Recently Stephen appeared as a finalist at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, The World Opera Competition, and was awarded 2nd Prize at the 32nd annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition hosted by the Oratorio Society of New York. Other awards include The Janet Stubbs Fellowship and The William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award, both from the University of Toronto. He is a grant holder of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers and of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Stephen Hegedus as Figaro

Stephen holds a Master’s of Music in Opera from the University of Toronto and has pursued further studies at the Banff Centre, the Britten-Pears Programme (Aldeburgh, England), The Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (Montreal), The International Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv) and the Centre for Opera in Sulmona, Italy. Upcoming engagements include appearances with the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera Victoria.

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ORDER TODAY AND HELP OUT YOUNG ARTISTS

There are only two weeks left to order your 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds will go to benefit the Portland Opera Studio and the Seagle Music Colony, two of the best young artist training programs in America. You can help out dozens of young artists by purchasing your calendar today. Click HERE and have your calendar before the new year. 

Boston Early Music Festival Serves Up Tall Order of Barihunks

Barihunks Michael Kelly & Douglas Williams (L); Douglas Williams behind tenor Aaron Sheehan (R) - 
photos by Kathy Wittman

If you like your barihunks like your redwood trees, which is tall and awe-inspiring, then head to the Boston Early Music Festival. The group is performing Charpentier's glorious Orphée with three statuesque barihunks, Michael Kelly at 6'2", Douglas Williams at 6'4" and Olivier Laquerre at 6'7". [By the way, we featured two post on who might be the world's tallest barihunk, which you can read HERE and HERE].

The opera tells the famous story of Orphée who decends into the underworld to rescue his beloved Euridice using his musical charms. La Couronne de Fleurs, based on a text by Molière, depicts a musical contest in tribute to Louis XIV as shepherds vie for a crown of flowers from the goddess Flora for the most beautiful and eloquent aria.  

There will be two performances of the opera at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston on Saturday evening, November 26th and Sunday afternoon, November 27th. The Boston Early Music Festival not only features singers who are easy on the eyes, but they produce some of the most wonderful baroque opera to listen to in the world. You can click HERE to watch one of our favorite singers, Jesse Blumberg, perform Polifierno in Agostino Steffani’s opera, Niobe, Regina di Tebe.



Douglas Williams is also part of our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. He's our July feature of "All-American Boys" along with Jonathan Boehr and Christopher Temporelli. You won't want to miss it! Shopping season is officially kicking off tomorrow so order your calendar today by clicking HERE. Please remember that all proceeds are going to benefit young artist programs.

Michael Kelly was supposed to be part of the calendar, but a reprinting error inadvertently left him out. We promise to feature plenty of this gifted young singer in 2012!. You can watch Kelly's recital from the Trinity Wall Street Church, which we featured earlier this year, by clicking HERE.

If you know of a barihunk singing in Handel's Messiah this year, please email us the information at Barihunks@gmail.com.

Jesse Blumberg to Sing Finzi in NYC; Handel's Messiah in SF

Jesse Blumberg

At Barihunks we like to expose readers to music that they may not be familiar with. So we were thrilled when we saw that Jesse Blumberg was singing Gerald Finzi's "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun" at the St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The piece is based on a deeply moving setting of Shakespeare’s verse from Cymbeline (Act IV, Scene 2) and isn't performed nearly enough.

Bryn Terfel singing Finzi's "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun"



Also on the November 10th program is "Dona nobis pacem" and "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus" by Finzi's friend and contemporary Ralph Vaughan Williams. Visit the St. Thomas website for additional information.

Jesse Blumberg will appear at Grace Cathedral with ABS

If you're on the opposite coast, you can hear Jesse Blumberg with the American Bach Soloists in San Francisco. He will be performing Handel's "Messiah" on December 15 and 16 at San Francisco's magnificent Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill and at the Mondavi Center in Sacramento on December 18.




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Johannes Weisser sings "Why do the Nations so furiously rage?" from Messiah

Johannes Weisser's Grieg Album

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Three More Messiahs

Michael Adair singing Handel in Germany

Michael Adair will be performing Handel's Messiah at the Evangelische Kirschengemeinde Erndtebruck with the Kantorei Siegen on December 18th. Ticket and performance information is on their website.

Paul Max Tipton coming to Carnegie Hall

Paul Max Tipton will join the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on December 19th for the holiday favorite Visit the Carnegie Hall website for tickets and information. Tyler Duncan, who just received rave reviews in San Francisco performing the piece with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, performs the following night with the Oratorio Society of New York and again the next two nights with the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra.

Tyler Duncan singing Messiah with three orchestras

Keep sending us your Messiah listings, as well as other tips, to Barihunks@gmail.com. We love hearing from you.

Daniel Okulitch in Phoenix Symphony Messiah

Daniel Okulitch in Dead Man Walking

Word has it that barihunk David Adam Moore has coined the phrase the "Full Okulitch" to refer to a male opera singer who performs in the nude. Of course, Okulitch revealed everything in the opera "The Fly" at the Los Angeles Opera and became an overnight sensation. Although not always going the "Full Okulitch," the Canadian baritone has shown more skin than most singers in opera, including roles in "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Dallas, "Don Giovanni" at New York City Opera and"Dead Man Walking" at the Ft. Worth Opera.

In his next performance, he'll be fully clothed in a tux singing Handel's Messiah with the Phoenix Symphony on December 18 and 19. The Phoenix Symphony is another unfortunate example of an arts organization that doesn't list its vocal soloists, so you would never know that a singer of Okulitch's stature is performing with them. Both performances are sold out, but you can periodically check for availability at the Phoenix Symphony website.

Daniel Okulitch

Okulitch's schedule in 2011 will include the title role in "Don Giovanni" with the Opera Theater of St. Louis and Abdul in Menotti's "The Last Savage" with the Santa Fe Opera.

You can contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com. Don't forget to send us your Messiah listings.

Christopher Richardson in Messiah

Aussie Barihunk Christopher Richardson

30-year-old Christopher Richardson has carved out a career down under specializing in baroque music. He will be performing Handel's Messiah at St. David's Cathedral in Hobart, Australia on December 17 & 18 with the Hobart Baroque Players & Chorus. Click HERE for ticket and concert information.

Send your Messiah listing to Barihunks@gmail.com

Markus Flaig in Messiah

Markus Flaig

We're getting a lot of email from Germany lately that is introducing us to new singers. The latest introduced us to Markus Flaig who is singing the Messiah at the Johanneskirche in Gießen. Like Philip Cutlip in the following post, Flaig has excelled in music spanning three centuries singing everything from Renaissance madrigals to Benjamin Britten. The performances will be with Camerata Frankfurt on December 11 & 12.

Send your Messiah listing to Barihunks@gmail.com

Philip Cutlip in Messiah

Philip Cutlip in Rape of Lucretia

Barihunk Philip Cutlip who recently scored a huge success with a 21st century masterpiece, Philip Glass' "Orphee," is going back three centuries in time and performing Handel's Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra. Performances begin on Wednesday, December 8, with additional performances on December 9, 10 and 11. Cutlip will be joined by soprano Klara Ek, countertenor Brian Asawa and tenor Thomas Cooley.

Click HERE for tickets and additional concert information.

Send your Messiah listing to Barihunks@gmail.com