Pietro Di Bianco as Thoas in Iphigenie en Tauride at the Opéra national de Paris (left)
Italian barihunk will make his long-overdue US debut on January 26th at the Minnesota Opera in Nino Rota’s The Italian Straw Hat. The 2014 Paris Opera Awards Competition winner has sung to great acclaim at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra national de Paris, Wexford Festival Opera and the Innsbrucker Festwochen.
In this absurdist farce by the composer of the music for The Godfather films, groom-to-be Fadinard gallops around Paris on his wedding day in search of a straw hat to replace the one his horse has inadvertently eaten. The bright and breezy score captures the increasingly ridiculous situation that rides on the edge of chaos. Di Pietro will sing the role of the jealous husband Beaupertuis, who suspects that his wife Anaida is having an affair.
The Straw Hat from Milan's La scala with Juan Diego Florez:
The opera premièred at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on April 21, 1955 and had its first US performance at the Santa Fe Opera in 1977.
Di Pietro wraps up today as Vincenzo Biscroma in Donizetti's Viva la Mamma! in Geneva. This season he will also appear as Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff at The Grange Festival and in Cesti's La Dori in Innsbruck.
Gianluca Margheri as The Minotaur(Image courtesy of Rai5)
You can now watch the complete performance of Italian barihunk Gianluca Margheri as the title character in composer Silvia
Colasanti's Il Minotauro (The Minotaur) recorded at the Spoleto Festival.
The
libretto was inspired by the story from Friedrich Dürrenmatt, in which
the Minotaur cannot at once appreciate both his world’s coherence and
its richness, either oversimplifying what he perceives or being baffled
by it.
Il Minotauro
is a lyric opera in 10 scenes where the myth is centered on the
terrifying monster transforming into a "human" drama reflected in the
mirrors of the labyrinth. In
addition to the three leading voices – Minotaur, Arianna and Teseo –
the Chorus of the Birds provides a modern version of the Greek chorus who comment on the action.
Upcoming performances for Margheri include Garibaldo in Handel's Rodelinda at the Gran Teatre Del Liceu from March 2-15 and The Stranger in Purcell's They Fairy Queen at the Hungarian State Opera from April 12-28.
Ernesto Petti(Photos courtesy of singer and Theater Basel)
Italian barihunk Ernesto Petti will take on the role of Lord Enrico Ashton at the Theater Basel beginning on October 19th. The staging will be led by the noted French director, actor and writer Olivier Py. Tickets and additional information is available online.
Petti answered a few questions about the performance for Theater Basel:
🎵What is the best part of the stage setting/best part of costume/best prop?
Petti: In my personal opinion the most beautiful scene is the beginning of the opera: The director re-enacts a famous painting from the late 19th century that depicts a medical examination of a woman, who is ill with hysteria, by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot in frontof a medical audience. And I’d like to compliment the costume department for the wonderful costumes.
🎵Why shouldn’t one miss this show?
Petti: This show is absolutely not to be missed. The reading of each character is quite profound and the initial point of the director’s interpretation is very interesting: He compares Lucia’s madness to Augustine’s hysteria - one of Charcot’s famous hysteria patients. The staging perfectly follows the magnificent musical interpretation of the conductor.
That’s why this will be a great show and the audience will love it!
🎵What do you do in your free time?
Petti: During my free time I love walking around the city, visiting open spaces like parks or rivers and I also like to do workouts in the gym. Until a few days ago I loved to relax by swimming in the Rhine!
Davide Luciano's shirtless Figaro in The Rossini Opera Festival's "TheBarber of Seville" pretty much stole the show for every reason imaginable. During his crowd-pleasing "Largo al factotum" he not only hit all the right comic and musical notes, but strutted around wearing only a pair of tight black pants. The crowd at the August 22nd closing performance at Pesaro's Adriatic Arena showered their approval with a nine minute round of wild applause at the curtain call. Later in the show he accompanied the Count Almaviva's "Se il mio nome" on guitar.
Davide Luciano as Figaro(Image: Pesaro Rossini Festival)
Since word spread pretty quickly in operatic circles about Davide Luciano's performance, we figured that we'd share a few images from the production.
Davide Luciano as Figaro(Image: Pesaro Rossini Festival)
Davide Luciano as Figaro(Image: Pesaro Rossini Festival)
If you missed Luciano's performance of the Barber, you'll have a number of chances to catch him in the next year. He'll sing it at the at the Dutch National Opera opening on November 10, then at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on December 30 and January 2, and finally at the Semperoper Dresden opening March 9, 2019.
Italian barihunk Gianluca Margheri just opened in the dual roles of the High Priest of Apollo and Apollo at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Gluck's Alceste. He has three remaining performances, which run through March 30th. Tickets and additional information is available online.
Christoph Willibald Gluck, who was largely self-taught as a composer, became known as one of opera's most historically signifigant reformers. His three "reform operas" were Orfeo ed Euridice, Alceste and Paride ed Elena, which eliminated many of the standard practices of the day, which Gluck felt impeded the drama.
''When I undertook to write the music for Alceste,'' Gluck wrote, ''I resolved to divest it entirely of all those abuses,
introduced into it either by the mistaken vanity of singers or by the
too great complaisance of composers, which have so long disfigured
Italian opera and made of the most splendid and most beautiful of
spectacles the most ridiculous and wearisome. I have striven to restrict
music to its true office of serving poetry by means of expression and
by following the situations of the story, without interrupting the
action or stifling it with useless superfluity of ornaments
...Simplicity, truth and naturalness are the great principles of beauty
in all artistic manifestations.''
Gianluca Margheri as Apollo
Alceste exists in two principal versions: the Italian original written for Vienna in 1767 and the French revision prepared for the Paris performances of 1776. The Teatro del Maggio Musicale is using the Italian version. In Greek legend Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, was the wife of Athnetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly. She was the only person willing to die in place of her husband, but was brought back from the Underworld by Hercules. Gluck's opera is based on the play by Euripides, with Alcestis saved by the god Apollo.
Gianluca Margheri backstage as Apollo
The story appears in varied forms, from Chaucer to Rilke and T. S. Eliot. Among the operatic versions of the legend are the tragedie en musique by Lully and Quinault, Alceste, ou Le triomphe d'Alcide (Alcestis, or The Triumph of Hercules) and the treatment of the myth by Wieland with the composer Anton Schweitzer, staged in Weimar in 1773. Alcestis herself is generally taken as the type of female virtue and conjugal love.
Margheri can next be heard as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in June and July.
Italian barihunk Alex Esposito will be featured in two Rossini anniversaries within 30 days of each other.
The first will be a (slightly premature) celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer's death with a performance of his Petite Messe Solennelle. The actual date of death of Rossini is November 13, 1868.
The first will be on February 19 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, followed by a performance on February 20 with the Berliner Philharmonie. Both casts include soprano Lauren Michelle, countertenor Bejun Mehta and tenor Francesco Demuro under the baton of Marc Minkowski.
Alex Esposito sings "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" from Petite Messe Solennelle:
Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, thirty years after the composer's official retirement and thirty-four years after his last opera. The piece was originally composed for twelve singers (four of them soloists), two pianos and harmonium, but he later created an orchestral version. That version was never performed in his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church.
The bass solo aria in the piece is "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" (For You alone are Holy) from the Gloria, which after a short introduction, marked adagio, leads to an extended section, marked Allegro moderato with contrasts in dynamics.
Esposito has also recorded Petite Messe Solennelle with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Alex Esposito sings "Cade dal ciglio" from Mosè in Egitto:
Esposito will then head to the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples for the 200th anniversary of Rossini's Mosè in Egitto, which premiered at the theater on March 5, 1818. He will perform the role of the Pharoah. There will be four performances between March 15-20 and the cast includes hunkentenor Enea Scala as Osiride and barihunk Mirco Palazzi as Mosè, for the March 17th performance. The Barihunks team will be in attendance! Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
The opera is loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites led by Moses. It opens as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host. Billed in 1818 as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during Lent.
Rossini slightly revised the opera in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria "Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day and which inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini.
Mirco Palazzi and Enea Scala
The opera has only had sporadic performances outside of Italy and France. In the U.K. it was performed for 142 years after its premiere in 1822, and then not revived again until 1994. The Welsh National Opera staged it again in 2014 in Cardiff and on tour. This is the production that will be seen in Naples next month.
In the U.S., Mosè in Egitto had not been heard in Chicago since 1865, but it was presented in that city by the Chicago Opera Theater in 2010 and subsequently by the New York City Opera in April 2013.
In 1827 Rossini revised the work with a new title, Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge for performances in his adopted home of Paris.
Jiří Brückler, Simone Alberghini & Adrian Sampetrean
Placido Domingo viewed the original 1787 score of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Prague and then proceeded to conduct the opera at the very theater at
which Mozart conducted the world premiere of his
famous
work. The performance on October 27th occurred exactly 230 years from the original performance. He will conduct one more performance on October 29th.
The original score is on loan from the Prague Conservatory and be on display at the Estates Theatre until Sunday, October 29th.
Placido Domingo with the original score of Don Giovanni
The title role of Don
Giovanni will be performed by Italian baritone Simone Alberghini, who hails from Pesaro, the same city as the Prague-based Italian operatic baritone Luigi Bassi who premiered the role. The opera was written with Bassi in mind, who did not like his aria "Finch'han dal vino," and asked Mozart to write another number where he could show off his vocal talents. Mozart wrote the duet with Zerlina "Là ci darem la mano" for Bassi, who is said to have forced five re-writes until he was satisfied.
In addition to Alberghini, the cast includes Adrian Sampetrean as Leporello, Jiří Brückler as Masetto, Jan Šťáva as the Commendatore, Irina Lungu as Donna Anna, Kateřina Kněžíková as Donna Elvira, Julia Novikova as Zerlina and Dmitry Korchak as Don Ottavio.
The performances will also be filmed by Czech Television, with a
documentary film of the project also in production.
Derek Chester and Marco Vassalli
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!
It is no secret that one of our favorite barihunks of all-time is Ettore Bastianini. We feature him whenever we have an excuse, but what's better than his birthday. Like the German tenor Fritz Wunderlich, we lost him long before his artistry was fully realized. Bastianini died of throat cancer at the age off 44, long before many baritones celebrate their greatest successes.
Bastianini was considered one of the finest Verdi and verismo voices of his day. He made his recital debut as a bass in Siena in 1945 and his stage debut later that year in Ravenna as Colline in Puccini's "La bohème." He later moved into the baritone range where he voice seemed better suited. His top notes thrilled audiences throughout his career for their ringing splendor.
He was a regular at La Scala between 1954-1963 and the Vienna State Opera between 1958-1964. In the United States, he performed regularly at Metropolitan Opera between 1954-1957 and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago between 1955-1958. His last performance was in 1965 at the Metropolitan Opera. ______________________________________________________________________________ Only 6 days left for singers to submit photos for our 2018 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Send HI RES photos to Barihunks@gmail.com
Franco Cerri taking some time off at Puccini Festival
Italian barihunk Franco Cerri is at the Festival Pucciniano at the composer's home base of Torre del Lago, where is singing in Tosca, La Rondine and La bohème. We had to share his latest picture from the beach, which made us wonder if both Tosca and Mimi chose the wrong guy.
Franco Cerri sings Scarpia's Te Deum from Tosca:
He sings Marcello in La bohème, Crébillon in La Rondine and Sciarrone in Tosca. He is working on Scarpia for a future performance and you can enjoy a preview in the video. If we were Tosca, we'd put down the knife and take our chances on the police chief!
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.
Omar Montanari, Juan Francisco Gatell and Simone Alberghini
Così fan tutte at Opera di Firenze
We introduced Italian barihunk Omar Montanari back in 2011. He specializes in comic roles, such as Dandini and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore, and is currently singing Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Opera di Firenze through October 27. The popular new production directed by Lorenzo Mariani was sold out on opening night. It updates the action and features lots of shirtless men, as you can see from the pictures above.
The cast also includes Anna Goryachova as Dorabella, Juan Francisco Gatell as Ferrando, barihunk Simone Alberghini as Guglielmo and Giulia Semenzato as Depsina.
Omar Montanari sings Strangers in the Night in Italian (Solo piu' che mai):
Upcoming peformances for Montanari include Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Rome and Venice, Taddeo in Rossini's L'italiana in Algieri and Dulcamara in Venice.
Another new production, directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg, will open in Wiesbaden on November 1st and feature American barihunk Christopher Bolduc as Guglielmo. The production is offering limited seating on a special rostrum at the back area of the stage, allowing audiences to get close to the action with the beautiful theater as the backdrop.
Christopher Bolduc and Silvia Hauer (Dorabella) in Wiesbaden
The cast includes Heather Engebretson as Fiodiligi, Silvia Hauer as Dorabella, Ioan Hotea as Ferrando, Gloria Rehm as Despina and Wolf Matthias Friedrich as Don Alfonso.
This season in Wiesbaden, Bolduc can also be seen as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.
Italian barihunk Mirco Palazzi is reprising the role of Assur in Rossini's Semiramide with Opéra de Marseille through October 27th with Jessica Pratt in the title role. He'll take up the role again in March 2016 with the thrilling soprano Leah Crocetto in the title role.
Semiramide was Rossini's final Italian opera before moving to Paris, where he went on to write Il viaggio a Reims, Le siège de Corinthe, Moïse et Pharaon, Le comte Ory and Guillaume Tell.
By the late 1800s, Semiramide had virtually disappeared from the repertoire. However, it was chosen in 1880 to inaugurate the Teatro Costanzi, new venue of the Rome Opera House, and appeared as part of the Cincinnati Opera Festival in 1882, which was attended by Oscar Wilde. The opera virtually disappeared after 1895, until a German language revival in Rostock in 1932 and a performance under the baton of Tullio Serafin at the Maggio Musicale in 1940.
Perhaps the most famous exponent of Assur in the last half century has been Samuel Ramey.
MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.
The Teatro Massimo di Palermo will be alternating casts in Puccini's La bohème, which opens on September 18th. The cast performing on September 19, 22, 25 and 27 will feature the Italian barihunk trio of Simone Alberghini as Marcello, Dario Russo as Colline and Italo Proferisce as Schaunard. Additional information is available online.
We introduced Simone Alberghini when he appeared as Don Giovanni in a production with and "18 and older" warning at the Perm Opera. The other singers are new to this site.
Dario Russo graduated with a degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures, focusing on Russian and German. After finishing his studies, he became a member of the Opera Studio Nederland of Amsterdam and was part of the Opera Workshop as the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova. Recent performances have included
Enrico in Anna Bolena in Catania, Count Walter in Luisa Miller at the Teatro di San Carlo.Demetrio in Rossini's Demetrio e Polibio at the Teatro San Carlo of
Naples, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Opera Basel, Raimondo in Lucia di
Lammermoor at the Teatro San Carlo of Napoli and Colline in Trieste. He next sings in Bari where he'll perform Colline with the Marcello of fellow barihunk Giorgio Caoduro.
Naples native Italo Proferisce studied piano and voice at the Conservatorio G. Martucci in Salermo and attended the Accademia di Alta Formazione del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He was a finalist or winner in numerous vocal competitions between 2009-2011. He made his debut as Don Perizonio in Cimarosa's L'impresario in angustie in Budrio in 2011. He performed as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and as the father in Fortunato's Falcone e Borsellino at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa, Marcello in La Bohème with Teatro Ammitato in Florence and Deputato Flamingo in Don Carlos with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
This has been a busy week for Reader Submissions and the latest is Italian barihunk Franco Cerri. He may be our first submission who is an opera singer, dancer AND jazz pianist.
Born in Genoa, Italy, Cerri began his studies with piano, drama and ballet dancing. While at the Conservatory, he studied singing with the great Italian baritone Silvano Carroli. In 2012, he won the Città di Alcamo International Singing Competition.
He made his professional debut as a bass, singing the Bonze in the Puccini's Madame Butterfly and the title role in Rossini's Mosè in Genoa. His debut as baritone was with the role of Marcello in Puccini's La boheme followed by the role of Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
He has performed Riccardoin Bellini's I Puritaniin Licata,MadamaButterflyand The BarberofSevilleat the ArenaAlpeAdriaofLignano, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Trentino Opera Festival and sang in Manzitti’s Les Invisibles at the Great Palazzo Ducale in Genoa.
On August 8th, he'll perform Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Festival Illica Castell'Arquato directed by the great Rolando Panerai, who sang both Belcore and Dulcamara during his career. On August 20th, he'll appear at the Puccini Festival in Torre del lago as Guccio in Gianni Schicchi.
Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato is at the Rome Opera singing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro opposite fellow barihunks Markus Werba and Thomas Tatzl, who are rotating the role. Prato has two performances remaining. On May 29th, he'll perform with Tatzl along with Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi as the Countess, Anna Kasyan as Sussanna and Raffaela Lupinacci as Cherubino. On June 3rd, he'll join Werba in a cast with Eleonara Buratto as the Countess, Rosa Feola as Susanna and Michaela Selinger as Cherubino. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
Prato also took some time out to pose in a barihunk tee shirt alongside one of Rome's 2,000 fountains. Prato is featured in this year's Viva, Italia! barihunk's calendar and we hope to have him back for our 2016 edition.
Prato next heads to Firenze where he will perform Figaro in the opera based on the first part of the Pierre Beaumarchais trilogy, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Le nozze di Figaro is based on the second part of the Beaumarchais trilogy. Prato will rotate the role with the rising young Korean baritone Julian Kim. Also in the cast is fellow Italian barihunk Luca Dall'Amico. Additional information is available online.
Barihunk Davide Luciano will be performing the role of Gernando in Niccolò Jommelli’s rarely performed L'isola disabitata (The Desert Island) at the Teatro di San Carlo from May 14-20. The opera was composed in 1761 with a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, which was also set by Haydn. The plot concerns Costanza, abandoned (or so she believes) by Gernando on a desert island, along with her sister, Silva. Gernando and his friend, Enrico, have in fact been taken captive by pirates. Gernando discovers an inscription in a rock which leads him to think Constanza is dead, but disaster is averted and a happy ending ensues.
Joining Luciano in the cast are
Raffaella Milanesi as Costanza. Alessandro Scotto Luzio as
Enrico, Silvia Frigato as Silvia and Antonella
Morea Rinaldo as Matilde Serao. Alessandrini, who has performed this opera
before, conducts. You can listen to Roberto Abbondanza sing Gernando's aria Non turbar quand'io mi lagno by clicking HERE.
Davide Luciano, was born in Benevento, Italy to a family of musicians. Before taking up singing, he played piano, percussion, bass and classical guitar. When he was 19 he began studying voice with the baritone Gioacchino Zarrelli. Five years later, he won his first competition and was awarded "Best New Artist" at the Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana. He subsequently made his debut as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Opera domani, followed by his debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro as Don Profondo in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il viaggio a Reims under the baton of Alberto Zedda. He won first prize and the audience prize at the Premio internazionale di canto lirico Santa Chiara in Naples.
Pietro di Bianco, Sam Roberts-Smith and Xiaohan Zhai
Baritones are once again dominating a major singing competition, as a third of the finalists at the prestigious Paris Opera Awards were from our favorite voice range. Pietro di Bianco, Sam Roberts-Smith and Xiaohan Zhai have all advanced to the final round and di Bianco walked away with the top prize for male singers. Soprano Daria Terekhova took the top prize for women.
In fact, all three of the top prizes plus the audience prize went to the low voices. Xiaohan Zhai took second place and Sam Roberts-Smith won both third place and the Special Jury Prize for the best performance. Marina Nachkebiya and Leonie Renaud took second and third place for the women. Di Bianco will receive €5000 ($6300 US) for taking the top prize, Zhai receives €3000 ($3800 US) and Roberts-Smith €1000 ($1250 US) for each of his prizes.
Pietro di Bianco, Michael Hewitt and Michael Scarcelle in the Barihunks Calendar
You can enjoy Pietro di Bianco for the entire month of February in our new Viva, Italia! Barihunks Calendar, which is available by clicking below.
After a spirited week-long competition for our Sexiest Barihunks Calendar Photo, we're are pleased to a announce TWO winners. The voting was so close between our two top contenders, Italian Ernesto Petti and American Kasey Yeargain, that we're announcing them as co-winners. Each will receive the $100 prize.
Petti who once wanted to be a professional water polo player, shared the
stage with Diana Damrau and Piotr Beczala in the controversial
performance of Verdi's La traviata last year at La Scala decked out in sexy, white
muscle tee shirt.
Ernesto Petti
Petti began his vocal studies in Naples when he was just18 years old. In 2010,he graduatedfrom the Academy ofTorre del Lago Puccini, where he studiedwith acclaimed tenorMarco Berti. He won firstprize at theFrancesco Albanese di Napoli competitionand won thesecondprize at the "Ravello Città della Musica" competition. He made his professional debut in 2009asEagroin the JohannChristian Bach editionofGluck'sOrfeo ed Euridiceat the FestivalValle d'Itria. He followed that up with a performance in Viardot's Cendrillon. In 2011, he returned to the Festival to sing The Officer in Ernst Krenek's tragic one-act opera DerDiktator, for which he receivedcritical acclaim.
He appeared in Puccini's hometown of Torre delLago as Harry in the composer'sLa Fanciulla del West, which celebrated the centenaryof his opera about the American West. He has also sang in Bizet's Carmenat the SanCarlo in Naples, Verdi's Macbethat the TeatroCoccia inNovara, Verdi's SimonBoccanegraat the TeatroMunicipale diPiacenzaandModena.
Yeargain during a workout
Kasey Yeargain came to our attention with his dramatic Bari-Chunk to Bari-Hunk transformation. Yeargain, who weighed in at around 300 pounds and lacked self-esteem, has become
a ripped and confident singer who moonlights as a personal trainer and
inspirational blogger on The Opera Bro. You
can read all about the inspiration for his weigh loss and his winning
"Tribute to Michelangelo's David" photo on his blog.
He is currently singing the role of Trevor Graydon III, the
wealthy head of Sincere Trust Insurance Company, in Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Poteet
Theater in Oklahoma City from November 7-December 14 and tickets are
available online.
You can purchase your own copy of the 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar featuring Ernesto Petti, Kasey Yeargain and 17 other sexy singers at LULU. Simply click on the button below.
Two of the sexiest men in opera are collaborating for "D'amor sospiro" (I breathe for love) on November 27th, at the Grand Hall in St.Petersburg. Hunkentenor Maxim Mironov and barihunk Vittorio Prato will be joined by soprano Eleanor Lyons for an evening of arias and duets accompanied by the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra.
Prato's solo pieces will include "Hai già vinta la causa" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore's aria "Come Paride vezzoso" from Donizetti's L'elisir d’amore, and Enrico's aria "Cruda, funesta smania" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The two men will join forces to sing Figaro and Count Almaviva's duet "All'idea di quel metallo" from the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Nemorino and Belcore's duet "La donna è un animale" from the opera L'elisir d’amore. Prato will team up with Lyons to perform Norina and Malatesta's duet "Pronta io son" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
Tickets are available online. Vittorio Prato will be featured in this year's 2015 Viva, Italia! Barihunks Charity Calendar, which will be on sale shortly.
Liudmyla
Monastyrska and Simon Keenlyside (left, photo: Clive Barda); Alex Esposito (right)
The Royal Opera House is taking three of the most popular barihunks in the works on a tour of Japan in September 2015. The company had a successful tour in 2010, the last time that they toured the island nation.
The company will perform Phyllida Lloyd's production of Verdi's Macbeth with
Simon Keenlyside in the title role alongside soprano Liudmyla
Monastyrska as Lady Macbeth, Greek tenor Dimitri Pittas as Macduff, and
American bass Raymond Aceto as Banquo.
Alex Esposito looking bari-hunky
Kasper Holten's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni will feature the Italian barihunk duo of Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in the title role and Alex Esposito as Leporello. They will be joined in the cast by mezzo-soprano (and honorary barihunk) Joyce DiDonato as Donna Elvira, tenor Rolando
Villazón as Don Ottavio, soprano Albina Shagimuratova as Donna
Anna, soprano Julia Lezhneva as Zerlina, and bass
Matthew Rose as Masetto.
Both productions will be conducted by ROH Music Director Antonio Pappano. Macbeth runs for four performances in Japan beginning September 12th, with Don Giovanni running for three performances beginning September 13th. Information about tickets and venues will be announced shortly.
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