Erwin Schrott's Don Giovanni to be screened worldwide

Erwin Schrott in Don Giovanni (Photo: Mark Douet, ROH)

Erwin Schrott is currently performing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in London, which runs through October 10th. If you can't make the performance, you're in luck, as it will be shown in theaters in 53 countries encompassing 1,000 movie houses. Screenings will be on October 6 and 13.

Schrott will be joined by barihunks Roberto Tagliavini as Leporello and Leon Košavić as Masetto, along with Malin Byström as Donna Anna, Daniel Behle as Don Ottavio, Christine Rice as Donna Elvira, Louise Alder as Zerlina and Peter Magoulas as the Commendatore. 

Roberto Tagliavini and Leon Košavić

Kasper Holten’s production casts Don Giovanni as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts. 

Schrott next heads to the Teatro Real in Madrid to perform Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore from October 29-November 12.  Tagliavini heads off to the Opéra de Lyon to sing de Silva in Verdi's Ernani opening on November 8th. Košavić will head to the Opera Vlaanderen to sing Herzog Alba in Schreker's rarely performed Der Schmied von Gent.

Watch Mariusz Kwiecien in complete Don Giovanni from London

Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni (Image: Royal Opera House)

You can watch barihunks Mariusz Kwiecien and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in a complete broadcast of Don Giovanni from the Royal Opera House in London until August 11, 2018 by clicking HERE.

Marc Minkowski conducts Kasper Holten's 2014 production, which features ink blot splatter across a set by award-winning designer Es Devlin with video designs by Luke Halls.

The cast also includes Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Pavol Breslik and Hrachuhi Bassenz.

Jacques Imbrailo to premiere new Danish opera Brødre

Jacques Imbrailo

Jacques Imbrailo will premiere composer Daníel Bjarnason's new opera Brødre (Brothers) at the Danish National Opera on August 16th. The opera is based on Susanne Bier’s film Brothers, which is part of the Musikhuset Aarhus’ Bier Trilogy, in which the acclaimed film trilogy by Susanne Bier is adapted into three different genres. Brothers will be performed as an opera, After the Wedding as musical theatre and Open Hearts as modern dance.

Bier not only directed the 2004 film version of Brothers, but she also co-wrote the screenplay for the opera adaptation with Anders Thomas Jensen. The opera will be directed by Kasper Holten.

The tale relates the story of two brothers who both fall in love with the same woman. While the elder brother is on military service in Afghanistan, leaving his family behind in Denmark, the younger brother – who has just came out of prison – ends up spending a lot of time with the family. When they are informed that the elder brother is missing in action, a love grows between the younger brother and the sister-in-law out of solitude and despair. And when the hero returns from war, everything changes.

Performances are on August 16, 18, 20 and 22.  Tickets are available online.

Bear-a-hunk Johan Reuter buffs up for Flying Dutchman

Johan Reuter hits the gym (and a faux magazine cover from the production)

Johan Reuter, who last appeared on this site shirtless in Carl Nielsen's Saul and David, has been buffing up for his performance as the Flying Dutchman at the Finnish National Opera. The opera opened this week and continues through December 30 with two cast. Reuter has sung the Dutchman in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Madrid and Copenhagen

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Der fliegende Holländer, Richard Wagner’s first masterpiece, is the story of the Dutchman, a captain cursed to sail the seas of the world forever; he is only allowed to make landfall once every seven years. This curse can only be broken by the love of a faithful woman.

The Finnish National Opera has enlisted director Kasper Holten for their production, which sets the opera in an urban environment and the tempestuous world of the international art trade. In this production, the Dutchman is a famous Dutch artist who travels the world. The sea, storms and ships are all evoked in the production, but never present.

Johan Reuter sings Die frist ist um from Der fliegende Holländer:

Barihunk (bear-a-hunk) Johan Reuter studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Academy of the Royal Theatre in his hometown of Copenhagen. Since 1996 he has been a soloist at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Last season, in addition to Saul and David,  he performed in Oscar nominee Atom Agoyan's production of Wagner's Die Walküre in Toronto and a new co-production of Alban Berg's Lulu by artist William Kentridge in Amsterdam and the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2017, Reuter will make two role debuts. On January 21, he debuts in a new production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at the Royal Danish Opera. In May, he'll make his role debut in Hans Werner Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers at the Theater an den Wien.

Our 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar is now on sale. Order your copy by clicking on the LULU button. 

Malte Roesner

David Shipley named Jette Parker Young Artist

David Shipley

British bass-barihunk David Shipley was one of five applicants out of 370, who were chosen to join the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Applicants from 59 countries competed for the coveted slots in a process that started back in August 2014. A shortlist of just twelve singers auditioned in the final round on the Royal Opera House’s main stage, in front of a panel including Royal Opera House Music Director Antonio Pappano and Director of Opera Kasper Holten.

The other four who were selected are a Russian soprano Vlada Borovko, Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds and Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim. 

As a Jette Parker Young Artist, from September 2015 Shipley will spend two years at the Royal Opera House, performing in a variety of main-stage productions, concerts and recitals; covering lead roles; and receiving world-class coaching in all opera disciplines including languages, stagecraft and role interpretation.

David Shipley is currently a scholar on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Janice Chapman. He previously studied at the Royal Academy of Music.

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The Royal Opera House has announced five additions to the Jette Parker programme, which trains young singers and pays them a salary for two years.
The five are a Russian soprano Vlada Borovko, Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds, Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim and a British bass David Shipley (pictured). They were picked from some 370 applicants from 59 countries.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/just-one-brit-among-five-covent-garden-trainees/#sthash.IhTduqVW.dpuf

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The Royal Opera House has announced five additions to the Jette Parker programme, which trains young singers and pays them a salary for two years.
The five are a Russian soprano Vlada Borovko, Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds, Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim and a British bass David Shipley (pictured). They were picked from some 370 applicants from 59 countries.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/just-one-brit-among-five-covent-garden-trainees/#sthash.IhTduqVW.dpuf

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The Royal Opera House has announced five additions to the Jette Parker programme, which trains young singers and pays them a salary for two years.
The five are a Russian soprano Vlada Borovko, Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds, Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim and a British bass David Shipley (pictured). They were picked from some 370 applicants from 59 countries.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/just-one-brit-among-five-covent-garden-trainees/#sthash.IhTduqVW.dpuf

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The Royal Opera House has announced five additions to the Jette Parker programme, which trains young singers and pays them a salary for two years.
The five are a Russian soprano Vlada Borovko, Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds, Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim and a British bass David Shipley (pictured). They were picked from some 370 applicants from 59 countries.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/just-one-brit-among-five-covent-garden-trainees/#sthash.IhTduqVW.dpuf

Barihunks and Mariusz Kwiecien together in The Telegraph

We're big fans of music critic Rupert Christiansen in The Telegraph, so we were thrilled when his profile on über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien included a link to our site and a mention in the headline. Christiansen goes on to write:

"...another erotic phenomenon in classical music has gone wild on the internet: the cult of “the barihunk”. Its pitch is that the more palpitating charm in opera emanates not from purveyors of high Cs but gym-buffed baritones with smouldering voices to match their six-pack abs."

We love being included in an article on Mariusz Kwiecien, since he was the original inspiration to create the site. Early discussions were actually about creating a Kwiecien fan site, but it seemed too limiting and casting a wider net seemed much more interesting.

Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni (photo: Bill Cooper)

Kwiecien has just opened at the Royal Opera House in Kasper Holten's amazing production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which we recently previewed. The cast also includes barihunks Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore.

The entire run is sold out through the final performance on February 24th. Don't fret if you missed buying tickets, as the February 12th performance will be broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.

Kwiecien will appear next at the Vienna State Opera in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin from March 7-14, before returning to the Metropolitan Opera from April 17-May 10 in Bellini's I Puritani.

Barihunks Samuel Johnson & Yuriy Yurchuk selected as Jette Parker Young Artists

Samuel Johnson

Barihunk Samuel Johnson, who we introduced to readers last summer, and Ukrainian bass-barihunk Yuriy Yurchuk, who is new to the site, are two of the five singers who will join the Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in September 2014. They'll be joined by Australian soprano Lauren Fagan, British bass James Platt, and Australian tenor Samuel Sakker.

The audition process for the selection of the Jette Parker Young Artists began last September. 66 artists were selected to sing in the first of three rounds with 25 progressing to the second round involving a one-to-one coaching session with David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Programme, plus a panel audition for John Fulljames, Associate Director of Opera, Peter Katona, Director of Casting and David Syrus, Head of Music for The Royal Opera, as well as English counter-tenor Andrew Watts and David Gowland.

Yuriy Yurchuk

A final shortlist of 12 singers auditioned on the main stage in front of a panel comprising Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, Kasper Holten, Director of Opera, Peter Katona, David Syrus, Andrew Watts, David Gowland and Siri Fischer Hansen, Administrator of the Programme.
The five new Young Artists will join the six who continue in the program into their second year next season: sopranos Anush Hovhannisyan and Kiandra Howarth, mezzo-sopranos Nadezhda Karyazina and Rachel Kelly, tenor Luis Gomes and stage director Greg Eldridge.

Yuriy Yurchuk sings Aleko's cavatina by Rachmaninov:

The Jette Parker Young Artists Programme supports the artistic development of young professional singers, conductors, directors and répétiteurs. The Young Artists are an international group of outstanding professionals at the start of their careers who have undertaken formal training and have already worked with professional companies. They are not students, but contracted, salaried employees of the Royal Opera House, who work for the company full-time over two years. The Young Artists work on productions for The Royal Opera, singing small roles, covering larger roles or joining the music or directing staff.

Barihunk trio in new ROH production of Don Giovanni; Worldwide Broadcast

Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Alex Esposito & Mariusz Kwiecien (L-R)

Perhaps the hottest opera ticket in Europe right now is Kasper Holten's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House. Most performances are either sold out or close to it with opening night still a month away.

The dream cast is led by a trio of our favorite barihunks, Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni, Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore. Holten shifts the emphasis from Don Giovanni’s sex life into a darker place, as this production presents Giovanni’s womanizing as an attempt to stave off his own mortality. Each woman he seduces represents a life he could have had.

If you can't make it to London, the February 12th performance will be broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.

There are only 48 hours left to buy your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order NOW by clicking below. We'll be announcing our newest recipients of our grants from the proceeds next week.

Queen Sonja Vocal Competition to be live streamed

Erik Anstine

The Queen Sonja Vocal Competition will be live streamed from Oslo on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Many of our favorite barihunks, including Dawid Kimberg, Joseph KyungTeak Lim, Erik Anstine and Brandon Cedel will be competing.

Over 200 singers from 45 countries applied this year for the 41 slots. There is a maximum of four singers from each participating nation, and twelve of the contestants are nominated from their collaborating opera academies: The Lindemann Young Artists Program, Metropolitan Opera, New York; The Jette Parker Young Artists Program, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London; The Opera Studio, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; Internationales Operastudio, Opernhaus Zürich, Zürich; Young Artists Program, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow; The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Brandon Cedel

The panel of judges includes many of the greatest names in opera, including soprano Carol Vaness, mezzo-soprano Dame Felicity Palmer, baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Kasper Holten. Although the final 41 is heavily weighted toward the sopranos, we are confident that one of the low voices will keep the baritone winning streak alive in international vocal competitions.

Watch the live stream HERE.

Watch Simon Keenlyside in Eugene Onegin (if you live in UK)

Simon Keenlyside and Krassimira Stoyanova

If you're in the U.K., you can watch a new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with the ageless barihunk Simon Keenlyside as Onegin and soprano Krassimira Stoyanova as Tatyana.  The opera from the Royal Opera House was broadcast yesterday under the baton of Robin Ticciati. The opera is introduced by Kasper Holten who makes his debut as stage director at the ROH. Because it's a BBC iPlayer telecast, it's only available in the United Kingdom. The broadcast is available until April 19th.

Regardless of where you are, you can always listen to the BBC radio online with their generous offering of opera.

Mariusz Kwiecien

Next up at the Royal Opera House is barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien as Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa in Verdi's Don Carlo. The cast also includes the riveting Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II and hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann as Don Carlo. Most performances are sold out or nearly sold out, so order your tickets online today.

JUAN finally out on DVD and Blu-Ray (but not in U.S.)

 Since its release in April 2011, we've been deluged with questions about Kasper Holten's movie "Juan" starring barihunk Christopher Maltman. It had an extremely limited release in U.S. theaters and had been slow to appear on DVD. We've mentioned sites like www.iwannawatch.net and others where you can watch the movie online. However, most require that you sign up, download certain software and many don't work on Macs.

We have some good news, in that a European release of the DVD and Blu-Ray disc has finally happened, but it's not cheap. We couldn't find a new copy for less the £39.99. Also, the discs won't play on U.S. DVD players, although you can configure most laptops to play them. But if you're in Europe, you're in luck. Hopefully, sales will be brisk enough to encourage a U.S. release.

If you can't wait for "Juan" you might be interested in Opera Australia's "Don Giovanni" with barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He shows a lot of skin, although not quite as much as the fully nude Maltman, but it's an extremely sexy portrayal of the rakish title character. You can order it by clicking on our Amazon link to the right (and we'll get a small commission!).

BARIHUNKS BEST OF 2011

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 - CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE

Christopher Johnstone: Model singer

We couldn't believe it when we saw Christopher Johnstone's new website this year. The Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music graduate defines himself as a "Singer, Actor, Model" and it's tough to argue with it. The lyric baritone has sung with the Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera San Diego, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Pops, Boston Pops and performing Poulenc’s Le bal masqué for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra with Maestro James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 (RUNNER UP) - NICHOLAS NELSON

Nicholas Nelson: Singer or Abercombie & Fitch model?

When we first saw these pictures, we thought they were from an Abercombie & Fitch catalogue. If there is any question left in anyone's mind that singers are taking better care of their bodies these days, these pictures should dispel those thoughts. Nelson is currently with the Portland Opera Studio, one of the beneficiaries of funds from our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar.

BEST STUDIO RECORDING - HENK NEVEN

Henk Neven: Best baritone studio CD of the year

Henk Neven was nominated for a presitigious Gramophone Award in the category of "Solo Vocal." Neven was nomintated for his recording of Carl Loewe's "Ballades" and Robert Schumann's Liederkreis with Hans Eijsackers on piano. It's an amazing recording that should belong in everyone's playlist.

BEST TREND - LIVING AMERICAN COMPOSERS

Daniel Okulitch, Randal Turner & David Adam Moore

The music of living American Composers was all the rage this year. Barihunks Randal Turner and Daniel Okulitch both released brilliant CDs based on the theme. The Five Burroughs Music Festival run by barihunk Jesse Blumberg featured music by living American composers, including performances from fellow barihunk David Adam Moore. The New York Festival of Song, under one of our favorites, Steven Blier, also continued to deliver some of the best new American music on the scene.



BEST NEWCOMERS - PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

We had a great post this year which asked the question: Can barihunks sing? If there was any question about it, two newcomers to the site Philippe Sly and Dominik Köninger quickly dispelled the myth. Sly blew away audiences during his brief tenure at the Merola Opera Program and went on to win the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.  He was identified early on as a favorite to win the competition and his version of Schubert's haunting Der Erlkönig drew comparisons to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and other great baritones.


In a year where baritones won almost every vocal competition, German barihunk Dominik Köninger took the top prize at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. His seamless phrasing and beauty of tone instantly became the talk of European impresarios and critics.

BEST NUDE SCENE - CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN IN "JUAN"

Christopher Maltman in Juan

Ever since we posted that Christopher Maltman appeared nude in Kasper Holten's abbreviated and updated film version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," our inbox was filled with queries asking us where they could see the film. Unfortunately, the film had VERY limited release in the U.S. and wasn't made available on DVD to North Americans. Fortunately, a fan of our site directed us to this LINK where the film can be viewed online for free. We suspect that they're getting a sudden uptick in traffic.

BEST AND WORST OPERAS OF THE YEAR
BEST - HYDROGEN JUKEBOX IN FT. WORTH
WORST - GRISELDA IN SANTA FE

Dan Kempson & Justin Hopkins

The Ft. Worth Opera Festival continues to establish itself as a mandatory summer stop for any serious opera fan. This year's production of Phillip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" was the surprise hit of the year. Directed by the Lawrence Edelson and featuring barihunks Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins (who often appeared only in boxers), the production made an excellent case for this opera entering the standard repertory.

Gronk working on the Griselda sets

If you were looking for a short night at the opera, then you should have been at the Santa Fe Opera's production of Vivaldi's "Griselda." Director Peter Sellars and artist Gronk created an incoherent updating of a baroque masterpiece that had people scrambling for the exits. After Act 1 Santa Fe was filled with opera goers at local bars asking, "What the hell was that?"

BEST AND WORST DIRECTORS
BEST: JOHN DE LOS SANTOS
WORST: MICHAEL GRANDAGE

John de los Santos and Michael Grandage

We return to Ft. Worth for our best young director, John de los Santos, who brought such vibrancy to Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" that it seemed like a brand new hit show. We've been featuring a video of his work in our sidebar, as we think that his work should be more widely known to opera fans. He will be working on his first Wagner opera this year, when he joins the creative team at the Dallas Opera for their "Tristan und Isolde."

We've always had great respect for Michael Grandage as an actor and for much of his theatrical work. However, he needs to stay away from the opera house. He is the antithesis of everything that this site stands for, which is making opera accessible and interesting to modern audiences, as well as making it sexy when appropriate. He took all of the sexual tension out of Britten's "Billy Budd" at Glyndebourne and then mounted what the Guardian called a "disastrously dull" Don Giovanni at the Met. Two operas that thrive on sexual tension were basically emasculated by Grandage.

BEST BARIHUNK FEAST - MINNESOTA OPERA'S "SILENT NIGHT"

Mike Nyby

Kevin Puts' opera "Silent Night" contains more sexy men than a World Cup soccer championship. There were four barihunks in the premiere at the Minnesota Opera who had appeared on this site before, including Mike Nyby, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager and Liam Bonner, as well as Andrew Wilkowske. The opera is based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion and recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

BEST BARIHUNK WEDDING - ZACH ALTMAN & DAN KEMPSON

Zach Altman & Dan Kempson

This isn't you're grandmother's world of opera anymore. Baritones aren't the villains anymore, they're getting married to each other. Two of the most popular barihunks on this site tied the knot this year, Zach Altman and Dan Kempson. We wish them well!

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD AWARD - NATHAN GUNN

Nathan Gunn as Tarquinius in Vienna

We're going to leave you with Nathan Gunn, whose popularity with Barihunks fans is off the charts. The 41-year-old singer still looks hotter than guys twenty years his junior. He returned to the role of Tarquinius in Vienna this year and still looked as sexy as when he sung the role in Philadelphia years ago. He's also about to return to the role of Billy Budd, which is often performed by guys 10-20 years younger. Gunn also promotes his fitness routine, which we think is good for opera and good for the singers.

HAVE A GREAT 2012!!!

Christopher Maltman's "Juan" available online

The sexy barihunk Christopher Maltman in Juan (top)

First of all, let us apologize for not posting for a few days, but we decided to enjoy the holidays and to take a break from posting. During those days, we received a number of emails about our Christopher Maltman post and most wanted to know when his film "Juan" would be available in the United States. We've been trying to get that answer for months, but with no success.

Fortunately, one of our most loyal readers alerted us to this LINK where you can watch the movie online for free. It will direct you to a number of sites where you can chose options to stream the movie online or to download it. Some sites are free and some will charge you, so chose carefully.

Juan, which is an abbreviated and updated version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is directed by Kasper Holten, who is the new Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Enjoy the movie and we'll return to our regular posting schedule tomorrow.

Also, thank you to everyone who purchased a Barihunks 2012 charity calendar. The proceeds will be going to the Portland Opera Studio and Seagle Music Colony in New York. Your support of our site is greatly appreciated. We pledge to continue to maintain a positive site in 2012 that promotes opera companies and singers. Any money that we make from calendars or other merchandise gets donated to support singers and singers. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Christopher Maltman in "From the House of the Dead"

Christopher Maltman in Juan (top); Vienna's "From the House of the Dead" (bottom)

We've gone way too long without a post about Christopher Maltman, who tantalized us last year with his nude scene in Kasper Holten's movie "Juan." Unfortunately, the movie was never distributed widely in the United States and only played at a few art movie theaters. The DVD is only available in Region 2 format, but we promise to keep you informed when it is available worldwide.



Maltman is currently appearing in one of our favorite operas, Janacek's "From the House of the Dead." For those who haven't seen the opera it's non-stop feast of men from curtain to curtain. Maltman is singing the role of Šiškov at the Vienna State Opera. Šiškov brings the opera to a harrowing end when he sings a tale of murdering his love. There are four performances remaining between December 14-30. Click HERE for additional information or to purchase tickets.


Maltman talks about the role on his management website:

You’re rehearsing Janácek’s From the House of the Dead at the Vienna Staatsoper – an interesting piece to get your head around…Absolutely – but an amazing piece too. Its difficulty lies in the fact that there’s no real dramatic narrative; there isn’t a linear story to follow. But there are these four central monologues which are effectively studies in human psychology, each one becoming progressively more complicated.

Shower scene from Janacek's opera

 

Where do you fit in?My character Šiškov sings the final monologue. He’s a pretty ordinary, unassuming guy who through a series of awful events ends up doing something terrible, and my motto for the whole piece has been ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. It’s really about what people can do in very difficult circumstances and how those circumstances ultimately affect them. There’s this bunch of men trapped together in this prison; I feel the prison is a metaphor for those places in which people come express their emotions. It’s just a metaphor life.
 
Particularly when life means you’re thrown together with a large group of people away from home for a long and intense period of work – precisely the predicament of the modern opera singer…Very much so, and the similarities continue in that you’re with a bunch of people you don’t know very well. People very often take that opportunity to lay down their life story – to tell others about who they are and what they are, which is exactly what lies behind all the characters in From the House of the Dead. They’re people justifying why they are in the situation that they are in – why they did the things that they did.
 
And like them you’re on your own, too – away from your family…Well technology makes that far easier; I’ve just been able to talk to my two sons using Skype. But it’s always difficult and you have to balance the practicalities of having a career against the difficulties of having a family. It’s impossible to get it completely right, but there is nothing else that I could do to be at the level I hopefully sing and act at. Nor is there anything else I would want to do. But to go back to the prison idea, I am slightly trapped by my own profession!
 
Prison is exactly where your various vivid incarnations of Don Giovanni should probably be sent – you’re shortly to revive him in Berlin. How will that feel after your role in Kasper Holten’s explosive movie version?There are some constants that you take with you from production to production. Before I sang my very first big Don Giovanni I had lunch with Tom [Sir Thomas] Allen. He’s such a treasure trove. I asked him, look, is there any other advice you’d give me before playing the role? He told me, above all, to make Don Giovanni dangerous: he has to be dangerous, however that danger is achieved. There are sovereign requirements for Don Giovanni and that sense of danger about him is paramount I think.
 
And you’ll be re-united with Daniel Barenboim…He’s a very demanding man, a man with a lot of opinion and a man with a very clear vision of how things should be musically. But I’ve always found that kind of conductor much easier to work with than somebody who really lets you guess what it is that they want. For Daniel it’s all about the music – a desire to get the music right in his own head – and I can always live with that. He’s probably one of the greatest musical talents of the last 100 years – just a phenomenally, phenomenally gifted man. If you don’t listen to that kind of person, I think there’s something wrong.

Have you bought your 2012 Barihunks calendar? Buy one now before it's too late. Click HERE.