Krešimir Stražanac heads BACH to church

Krešimir Stražanac

We originally introduced 31-year-old Croatian barihunk Krešimir Stražanac to readers after a picture of him that we posted of him working out went viral with our readers on Facebook.

Last season at the Zurich Opera, Stražanac sang Bello in Puccini's La fanciulla del West, the Second Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome, Fleville in Giordano's Andrea Chenier and Hermann in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann. This season he'll be keeping his beautiful voice in shape with lots of Johann Sebastian Bach at some amazing churches and cathedrals.

On March 7th, he'll be at the famed Herkulesaal Church in Munich singing the St. John's Passion with Concerto Köln and the Bayerischen Rundfunks Chorus and tenor Julian Prégardien as the Evangelist. The concert will be repeated the next night at the Partenkirchen in Garmisch.

Krešimir Stražanac sings Frank Martin, Schubert and Wolf:

On March 14th, he'll perform Bach's "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92" and "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’r Mensch und Gott, BWV 127" with the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne under  Reinhard Goebel.  

In April, he takes on St. John's Passion at the Strifskirche in Stuttgat before returning to Cologne in May for Bach's "Gott fahret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 128."

If you want to catch him in opera, you'll have to wait until August when he sings Aeneas in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Osor Summer Festival in his native Croatia.

Christopher Herbert singing Bach; European tour with New York Polyphony

Christopher Herbert

Bach lovers, rejoice and sing! You'll have two chances to hear Christopher Herbert sing music by your favorite composer, as he is the soloist in two upcoming performances of the baroque master's music.

On Monday, April 7th he'll perform Bach's Cantata BWV 32 ("Liebster Jesu, Mein Verlangen") with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Choir at Trinity Wall Street in New York City. Five days later on Saturday, April 12th he'll be the bass soloist in Bach's Saint Matthew Passion with the Canticum Novum Singers at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste near Central Park.

After one New York performance on Tuesday, April 15, Christopher Herbert reunites with New York Polyphony for a European tour to the Netherlands and Germany where they will focus on Franco-Flemish Renaissance polyphony dominated by the theme of mortality.

New York Polyphony sings Times go by Turns:

New York Polyphony’s CD Times go by Turns was nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. The album features masses by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, a three-voice mass setting by medieval English composer John Plummer, and three new works written for New York Polyphony by composers Gabriel Jackson, Andrew Smith, and the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.

Make sure to check out Christopher Herbert's new website (which includes the photo in the barihunk tee shirt shown above!).

Dominik Köninger Dresses Down for Bach

Dominik Köninger as Jesus ( Foto: Johanna Sterner)

We love our readers for a million reasons, but mostly for the great photos that they send to us. Our best material comes from our readers, like this picture of Dominik Köninger perfoming Jesus in director Tobias Kratzer's current production of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion (Johannespassionen) at the Värmland Opera in Karlstad, Sweden. The production also includes barihunk Johan Rydh as Pilatus and runs every Saturday until April 8th.

Dominik Köninger as Jesus (Foto: Johanna Sterner)

Köninger's career has taken off since he won First Prize at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition last year. On April 15-16, he joins conductor Christopher Hogwood, the Limburg Cathedral Boys Choir and the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra for performances of Mozart’s version of Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia.

This year, Köninger will join the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin in Berlin, where he will perform Guglielmo, Il Conte, Orfeo and Orest in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. In 2013, he makes his debut as Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at New National Theatre in Tokyo.

Dominik Köninger sings Mozart's "Hai gia vinta la causa":

Köninger also just released his first recording, a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana in the version for two pianos and percussion on SONY Classical. We've also learned about another proposed recording project that we'll post when have additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Celebrating J.S. Bach's Birthday

(Image from L.A. Chamber Orchestra)

The great master Johann Sebastian Bach was born on this day in 1685, so Barihunks would like to celebrate with some of our favorite singers performing his music.

Gerard Souzay, Christopher Maltman & Michael Adair

Gerard Souzay sings music from the Bach Magnificat:

Christopher Maltman sings from Cantata BWV 61, BWV 147 and the Magnificat:

Michael Adair sings St. John's Passion (FYI, he uses the monikor Barihunks on Twitter, not us):



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Bach's Boys

Today is the 325th birthday of the great baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach, so we thought that we'd celebrate with with some barihunks who have Bach on their calendars.

[JONATHAN HAYS]


Jonathan Hays was suggested to us by one of our readers and we believe he's a great addition to the site. He sings music from the 17th century up to the living composers of today. We highly recommend that you visit his website and watch the videos of him singing Jorge Martin's song cycle "The Glass Hammer." Readers in Los Angeles and New York may remember Hays for creating the role of Shadow Grendel in Eliot Goldenthal's "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival.

Hays will be joining the Dickinson Collegium for a free concert of Bach on April 18th at the First Lutheran Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

[TYLER DUNCAN]


One of the hottest names in baroque music circles is Tyler Duncan, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the foremost interpreters of early music in the world. Duncan possessing both a stunningly beautiful voice and an exotic appeal. He'll be performing Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Consensus Vocalis and Concerto d’Amsterdam from March 25 through April 2. He then appears with the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival for a performance of the cantata "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht" from April 16-18. Later this year, the Canadian singer will perform what promises to be a stunning Handel's Messiah in the San Francisco Bay Area with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Duncan will be joined by the amazing countertenor David Taylor and hunkentenor John McVeigh.

[THOMAS HAMPSON]


As an added treat, here is Thomas Hampson performing Bach's "Mein freund ist mein! Und ich bin sein" with boy soprano Alan Bergius and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt.



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