Rumor Mill: Kwiecien & Florez to Perfom "Pearl Fishers"

Juan Diego Florez & Mariusz Kwiecien sharing the stage?

The hottest rumor floating around the internet is that two of the hottest singers in opera are pairing up for opera's classic shirtless duet. If rumors are true, barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien will be teaming up with heartthrob tenor Juan Diego Florez for a run of Bizet's "Les pecheurs de perles" (The Pearl Fishers" at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria off the coast of Africa. The run is rumored to start on June 18, 2012 and appears on Florez's calendar as well as soprano Patrizia Ciofi's website, but with very few details.

We will be following this story with great interest.

UPDATE: The Pearl Fishers' cast at Las Palmas in June 2012 will be: Patricia Ciofi (Leila), Juan Diego Florez (Nadir), Vasily Ladyuk (Zurga)


The Pearl Fishers' cast at Teatro Real Madrid (concert version) in March 2013 will be : Patricia Ciofi (Leila), Juan Diego Florez (Nadir), Mariusz Kwiecien (Zurga)

Matthew Polenzani & Mariusz Kwiecien sing "Au fond du temple saint" 

from The Pearl Fishers: 

Since we've featured a tenor today, we have to admit that tenor Michael Fabiano looks pretty barihunk-ish as a sex-crazed Duke of Mantua at the Florida Grand Opera.

Nadine Sierra & Michael Fabiano

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Peter Mattei's Barber of Seville

Mattei, DiDonato and Florez

Perhaps the only downside of a site dedicated to baritones is that we sometimes need to find an excuse to showcase other great singers. We love Peter Mattei and we've featured him often on this site. He is certainly a great Onegin and Billy Budd, but we usually don't think of him as a Rossini specialist. So when we rewatched these 2006 clips of him with two of the greatest Rossini singers of our time, Joyce di Donato and Juan Diego Florez, we had to post them. From his solo Largo to his work duets and ensemble work, Mattei shows why he remains one of the most sought after baritones in the world while revealing his penchant for comedy. Met fans will recognize some of these clips from the Live from the Met telecasts. Beginning March 11, Mattei will be performing in Tchaikovksy's "Queen of Spades" at the Metropolitan Opera. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

It's a great way to start a 3-day weekend. When you're done with these clips, we suggest that you check out Joyce DiDonato's Yankee Diva blog, which is one of the best in all of opera.







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Semiramide Anniversary

Juan Diego Florez & Barihunk Ildebrando d'Arcangelo

Here is a video tribute in celebration of Rossini's underperformed and underappreciated Semiramide, which premiered on February 3, 1823. Here is barihunk Ildebrando d'Arcangelo joined by Juan Diego Florez and bass Julian Konstantinov.



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Barihunk and Hunkentenor together on CD

One of Barihunks most loyal readers sent these pictures of Mariusz Kwiecien who we both have a mad crush on (despite our relationship status!). The pictures reminded me that the grossly underrecoreded Hot Pole sings the duet "Venti scudi" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore with the adorable tenor Juan Diego Florez on the latter's new CD.

You can purchase it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bel-Canto-Spectacular/dp/B0014QNG9G/ref=pd_bxgy_m_h__img_a