Barihunk duo join SF Symphony for semi-staged Ravel opera

Kelly Markgraf and Michael Todd Simpson

Barihunks Michael Todd Simpson and Kelly Markgraf will join the San Francisco Symphony in a semi-staged performance of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells) on June 27 and 29–30 at Davies Symphony Hall. They'll be joined by an all-star cast including Isabel Leonard, Anna Christy, Nikki Einfeld, Marnie Breckenridge, Ginger Costa Jackson, Jennifer Johnson-Cano and Ben Jones under the baton of Martyn Brabbins.

The semi-staged production has previously been seen at the Opéra de Lyon in 2012 and 2016, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in 2013. Tickets for the San Francisco performances are available online.

In L’enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel captures the fanciful world of a young child. Set in a country house in Normandy, the story opens with a boy being scolded by his mother and left alone in his room. Rebellious and fractious, the boy causes mischief—ripping the wallpaper and tearing pages from his schoolbook, sweeping the teapot off the table, swinging from the pendulum of the grandfather clock, and even injuring his pet squirrel. The objects of his tantrum come to life and turn against him, admonishing him for his misdeeds. More accusations and frightful encounters follow when the boy runs out to the garden, until he finally learns his lesson—showing kindness to the injured squirrel—and the magic of the garden turns to moonlight enchantment.

“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” wins Grammy for best Opera Recording

Ed Parks as Steve Jobs (Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Opera)

“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” by composer Mason Bates walked away with the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. The recording featured two barihunks, Edward Parks and Kelly Markgraf, along with Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu and conductor Michael Christie with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

Daniel Kushner in his "Critic's Choice" review in Opera News wrote of the opera, that it "may well become a staple in the twenty-first century’s operatic canon...it’s the work’s subtle nuances in structure, text and the musical treatment of the characters that are most impactful—and may point to where the future of opera is headed."

Every nominee for Best Opera Recording this year featured a barihunk. The other nominees were:

• John Adams, Doctor Atomic, featuring barihunk Aubrey Allicock, Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock and Brindley Sherratt. 
• Jean-Baptiste Lully, Alceste, featuring barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Douglas Williams, Emiliano Gonzalez, Toro and Judith Van Wanroij. 
• Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, featuring Günther Groissböck, Elīna Garanča and Erin Morley. 
• Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto, featuring the late barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nadine Sierra.

There are two performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs coming up on the West Coast. The Seattle Opera will perform the piece from February 23 through March 9th with John Moore as Steve Jobs with Nicole Paiement conducting. The San Francisco Opera will present the opera from June 20 through July 3r with Edward Parks as Steve Jobs and Michael Christie conducting.

Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke to reprise "As One"

Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke (Photo: Brooklyn Academy of Music)

The real-life married couple of mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and barihunk Kelly Markgraf have made Laura Kaminsky's opera "As One" a bit of a calling card since premiering the work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014. The couple will perform the work for one night only on August 7th at the Chautauqua Opera. They will be joined by the Fry String Quartet, who premiered the work with them.

Markgraf has performed the work with Opera Colorado and the San Diego Opera, while Sasha Cooke performed it at the Hawaii Opera Theater. 

Kaminsky was inspired to write the opera after reading an article in the New York Times in 2008 about a New Jersey marriage in which one of the parties transitioned from male to female, transforming the couple from heterosexual to homosexual.

As One provides insights into both the personal and philosophical questions at the core of how personhood is defined, as well as into the compromised civil and humans rights of transgender individuals in the broader societal framework.

The opera can also be seen at the Cincinnati Opera with Matthew Worth and Amber Fasquelle on July 30th.    

Barihunk-fest at Minnesota Opera concert

Christian Zaremba, Rudy Nieto and Kelly Markgraf

The Minnesota Opera's upcoming Mixtape Concert will feature a veritable feast of barihunks (and hunkentenors) performing selections from opera, musical theater, jazz and pop. The concert is highlighting past and current members of the company's Resident Artist Program and will be held on April 8 at 2 p.m. at the Ordway Concert Hall.

The featured baritones and basses include Kelly Markgraf, Rudy Nieto, Christian Thurston, Matt Boehler, Benjamin Sieverding, Wm. Clay Thompson and Christian Zaremba. The tenor lineup is pretty impressive as well, featuring Andres Acosta, Chris Colmenero, Daniel Montenegro, James Valenti and David Walton!

The concert pays tribute to the 20th season of Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program and is “pay what you want” with a suggested donation of $20 per ticket. Tickets can be reserved online.

The unique, eclectic program includes  and features selections from Les Miserables, Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath, as well as music from Wagner, Puccini, Rossini and Richard Strauss. 

The Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program offers a full season of employment for talented artists beginning their professional careers. From late August through April, Resident Artists gain valuable experience in assignments ranging from ensemble, understudy, comprimario to leading roles in main stage performances.

Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf reprise transgender opera As One

Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf rehearsing As One

The real life husband and wife team of Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke will reprise their roles of "Hannah before" and "Hannah after" in Laura Kaminsky's As One at the Hawaii Opera. There will be four performances from January 11-16 at the Aloha Tower Pier 10 Cruise Ship Terminal in Honolulu. Tickets are available online.

The couple premiered the piece in 2014 at The Brooklyn Academy of Music and will perform it together again at the Chautauqua Opera on August 7th.

Two singers, a baritone and a mezzo-soprano, together portray the character Hannah.  The two singers embody a young boy who knows he is different but can't understand how or why. The 70-minute opera traces the life of young Hannah through her eventual gender reassignment. 
 
Kaminsky was inspired to write the opera after reading an article in the New York Times in 2008 about a New Jersey marriage in which one of the parties transitioned from male to female, transforming the couple from straight to gay. The opera is based on the life experience of noted filmmaker Kimberly Reed. 

After wrapping up As One, the couple travels to the drier climate of Arizona, where they will perform a concert version of Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, his one-act opera from the early ‘50s about life in suburban America. Performances are with the Tucson Symphony and run from February 2-4. 

Kelly Markgraf and San Francisco Symphony nominated for GRAMMY

Kelly Markgraf

The 15-time GRAMMY Award–winning San Francisco Symphony has been nominated for yet another award for their recording of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. The recording features barihunk Kelly Markgraf as Bernardo, Cheyenne Jackson as Tony and Alexandra Silber as Maria and was nominated for Best Musical Theater Album.

This is the first-ever complete concert performance of the entire score from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.

You can order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar today by clicking on the LULU button below. Enjoy 19 of the hottest men in opera all year around.

Kelly Margraf plays the villain in return home

Kelly Markgraf

Kelly Markgraf is returning to Madison Opera this season, a year after his successful debut with the company in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He'll be going from seducer to sinister, as he takes on the villainous Don Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio opening on Friday, November 21st with an additional performance on Sunday, November 23rd.

This will be Madison Opera's first fully staged performance of Beethoven's only opera in their 53-year history. He'll be joined by soprano Alexandra LoBianco as Leonore and tenor Clay Hilley as Florestan. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

The opera is being performed almost on the anniversary of its premiere in Vienna on November 20, 1805.

Markgraf as Don Pizarro

Markgraf grew up 100 miles away in Cedarburg, Wisconsin where he was captain of his high school soccer team. Markgraf currently resides in Houston, Texas with his wife, the amazing mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. When not singing, he runs a tea import business.

You can read an interview with Kelly Markgraf on the Madison Opera blog by clicking HERE.

You can follow him on Twitter @KellyMarkgraf.

 Have you bought your Barihunks calendar. 2015 is fast approaching, so order yours today. 

Transgender themed opera to open at BAM

Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke

The world permiere of Laura Kaminsky's opera "As One," which explores the revelatory and redemptive journey of a transgender individual, is opening on September 4th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Kaminsky was inspired to write the opera after reading an article in the New York Times in 2008 about a New Jersey marriage in which one of the parties transitioned from male to female, transforming the couple from heterosexual to homosexual. The opera has been cast with the real-life married couple of mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and barihunk Kelly Markgraf, as well as string quartet.

You can listen to three soundclips from the opera below. 

As One provides insights into both the personal and philosophical questions at the core of how personhood is defined, as well as into the compromised civil and humans rights of transgender individuals in the broader societal framework.

Performances at BAM run from September 4-7 and tickets are available online. 

People on the other side of the country can check out the opera in April 2015 at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University.  Cooke's role will be sung by mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert, but Kelly Markgraf will remain in the cast. The Fry Street Quartet will perform at both venues.

Lots of Beefcake in Cheesecake Country

Cheesecake and Beefcake in Wisconsin

For those of you outside of the United States, the state of Wisconsin is known for its cheese. The natives are sometimes disparagingly called "cheeseheads," although if you're a Green Bay Packers fan being a cheesehead is an honor. One thing is certain, you can get anything made with cheese in Wisconsin, we've even seen sausages stuffed with cheese and donuts topped with melted cheese.

But over the next few weeks the state may become known for its beef, more specifically its beefcake, than its cheesecake. Five barihunks who have appeared on this site will be singing Mozart at the state's two major opera companies.

Matt Boehler at NYCO in Powder Her Face

First up is Don Giovanni with Kelly Markgraf in the title role, Matt Boehler as Leporello and John Arnold as Masetto. Performances are on April 26 and 28 and tickets are available online. The production also includes two spectacular young sopranos, Elizabeth Caballero as Donna Anna and Caitlyn Lynch as Donna Elvira.

Readers of this site will recall that Markgraf sang Masetto in the sexy Don Giovanni at New York City Opera in 2009 that put the company back on the road to recovery after a severe financial crisis. Markgraf next heads to the Aspen Music Festival in July 2013 to sing Swallow in a semi-staged performance of Britten's Peter Grimes.

Matt Boehler also made headlines at the New York City Opera in Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face where he shared the stage with 22 naked men [Google it!]. On May 10th, Boehler creates the role of the celebrated French author, Voltaire, in a workshop of composer Scott Wheeler’s The Sorrows of Frederick.. The workshop is run under the auspices of the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Theater Center's Opera/Theater Commissions program. Tickets are available at the Met website.

John Arnold in Dead Man Walking

In January 2013, John Arnold made his debut with Madison Opera in Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei, singing the role of the younger Galileo. He recently performed Joseph de Roucher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking in Boston, part of three simultaneous productions of the modern masterpiece in North America. He'll be joining the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco this summer.


On May 10 and 12, cheeseheads can drive 80 minutes to the west where Florentine Opera will be performing Le nozze di Figaro with barihunks Craig Verm as Count Almaviva an Daniel Belcher as Figaro. Tickets are available online. If you're in the area, you can meet the artists on April 23 at the company's annual luncheon. Call 414-421-3005 for more information.

After Milwaukee, Daniel Belcher will head to the Central City Opera House to sing the other Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville. The run begins on June 29th and tickets are available online. You also won't want to miss the Almaviva of tenor Javier Abreu.

Craig Verm in Venus and Adonis at Florentine Opera (Photos by Kathy Wittman)

Readers may remember that Craig Verm created a vocal and visual sensation with his performance in John Blow's Venus and Adonis at Florentine Opera in 2011. We loved the photos so much that we used them in our 2012 Barihunks calendar. Of course, Verm was our coverboy for our 2013 calendar and remains one of the most popular singers on the site. On June 22, Verm heads to the Des Moines Metro Opera to perform Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes.

Multi-Barihunk Schubert-fest in New York City

John Brancy, Kelly Markgraf and Michael Kelly

When we woke up this morning and saw the announcement of New York's first performance of the complete songs of Franz Schubert, we thought that we had died and gone to heaven. It wasn't because of the thought of eight months of virtually non-stop Schubert, but it was the lineup of singers, which includes a dozen of our favorite barihunks.

The project is the brainchild of Lachlan Glen and Jonathan Ware who run Schubert & Company in the Big Apple. They've assemble fifty-three singers who have volunteered their services to perform all 603 songs at the Central Presbyterian Church the corner of 64th Street and Park Avenue.

The roster of barihunks consists of a virtual Who's Who of this site, including Tyler Simpson, Edward Parks, Kelly Markgraf, Michael Kelly, Jonathan Estabrooks, Jeong-Cheol Cha, Brandon Cedel, John Brancy, Jesse Blumberg, Julian Arsenault and others.

The duo is trying to raise the necessary funds for this project on Kickstarter and we encourage everyone to give even a few dollars/euros to makes this a reality.

Watch Kelly Markgraf LIVE or ONLINE

Kelly Markgraf

One of our favorite emerging barihunk stars is Kelly Markgraf, who was just part of the sold out two-night performance of Philharmonic 360 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. He was joined by barihunks Keith Miller and Ryan McKinny in one of the most talked about classical music performances in years.

If you missed the performance, you're in luck, as it will be webcast for free by medici.tv beginning July 6 at 2:00 PM EDT/11 AM PST for 90 days. You might recall the medici.tv also provided the same benefit to opera lovers by broadcasting the Operalia competition online. In addition to the three barihunks, who are performing the closing scene from Act 1 of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the webcast features the New York Philharmonic's Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting Karlheinz Stockhausen’s epic composition Gruppen.

Our favorite picture of Kelly Markgraf

We're visual people and will be watching on medici.tv, but if you can suffice with just the audio, the concert will be streamed on Q2 Music, WQXR’s online music station, on Tuesday, July 10 at 3:00 PM EST, Wednesday, July 11 at 7:00 PM EST, and Saturday, July 14 at 10:00 AM EDT and archived for 30 days.

Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke

For those who prefer to see Markgraf live, he'll be performing with his wife Sasha Cooke at the internationally acclaimed Music@Menlo series this month. The attractive couple is going to give Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko a run for their money with their "made-for-Marie Claire" looks and great singing. 

The couple will be part of the July 27 concert entitled "TRANSPORTED: Sonic Journeys."  “Transported” will explore music’s ability to enrapture listeners through vivid depictions of places near and far. Markgraf will perform Samuel Barber’s classic Dover Beach which are set to poet Matthew Arnold’s picturesque paean to the English shore. The program also features, Chen Yi’s "Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in, " Debussy’s "Images," Albéniz’s "Iberia Suite," Sibelius’s "Voces Intimae" and Gustav Mahler’s "Das himmlische Leben" from his 4th Symphony.

If you plan on going, order now, as tickets are already limited. Click HERE for tickets.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

NY Phil's "Don Giovanni" Hottest Ticket Around

Keith Miller

Good luck trying to get a ticket for the New York Philharmonic's concert next weekend at the Park Avenue Armory. It's sold out and today's article in the New York Times is only going to increase the demand. The concert is entitled "Philharmonic 360 – Spatial Music from Mozart’s Don Giovanni to Stockhausen’s Gruppen."

Most of the buzz is around German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Gruppen," which is played by three orchestras in a spatially separated configuration. However, we're excited about the scene from Don Giovanni, which includes three of the hottest barihunks around. Ryan McKinny will sing the title role with Keith Miller as Leporello and Kelly Markgraf as Masetto in the final scene of Act 1.

The concert will also include Boulez's "Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna" and Ives' "The Unanswered Question."

Kelly Markgraf

Ryan McKinny will be focusing on Wagner's Tristan und Isolde after wrapping up this project. He'll debut as Melot in Toronto and then debut Kurwenal in Houston. The Isolde in Houston will be the amazing Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme. On April 26 and 28 of 2013, Kelly Markgraf will graduate to the title role in Don Giovanni at the Madison Opera. We couldn't find Keith Miller's up-to-date schedule, but you can follow him on Twitter @KeithMillerBass.

Kelly Markgraf performs Brahms, Schumann & Telemann

Kelly Markgraf

Barihunk Kelly Markgraf will be joined by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and tenor Matthew Plenk for an evening of music dedicated to affairs of the heart. The program with the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center will feature music by Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, and Berg.

Markgraf will perform Schumann's Selected Lieder for Baritone and Piano and Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzer for Four Voices and Piano, Four Hands, Op. 52 (1868–69). Visit the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center website for tickets and additional information.

Daniel Teadt

Markgraf returns to New York City Opera this season after his huge success in Don Giovanni to perform the pivotal role of Pluto in Telemann's Orpheus opposite fellow barihunk Daniel Teadt in the title role.

Anya Matanovic and Kelly Markgraf sing the Act III opening duet from Le Nozze di Figaro
at a dress rehearsal with Kentucky Opera:

UPDATE: We have a feeling that Kelly Markgraf has a few friends out there. After our post we received a few emails letting us know about other performances that he's involved with. The first is Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" with the Hawaii Opera Theater (HOT - we love the acronym).  The American barihunk will be performing the role of Malatesta from Feb 10 through Valentine's Day. Click HERE for tickets or additional information.

Markgraf will also be performing Masetto opposite barihunks Keith Miller and Ryan McKinney with the New York Philharmonic on June 29 and 30. Click HERE for additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

In Praise of NY City Opera; Randal Turner Among Debuts

Rufus Wainwright & Randal Turner

We don't review singers or performances on this site and we try to stay positive, leaving the usual "opera queen" bitchiness to other sites. Our goal is to promote opera and opera singers. However, it was difficult for us over the last year to watch the criticism of New York City Opera and see the blogosphere, Facebook and Twitter full of venomous comments about the company that former Mayor Fiorella La Guardia called the "People's Opera."

We want to use the formal announcement of their new season as an opportunity to say a few words of long-overdue praise about New York City Opera. Like many opera companies, City Opera has faced some difficult financial challenges over the last year. Unlike many companies who cut performances by dropping anything that didn't sell like Butterfly, Boheme or Carmen, City Opera continued to take chances with repertory, singers and productions. They even took chances with the standard repertory and delivered a sexy "Don Giovanni" that was an artistic success in every way imaginable.

A lot of people were upset that City Opera decided to leave their home at Lincoln Center. The move out of Lincoln Center and into the Lynch Theater at John Jay College, El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio and the Brooklyn Academy of Music will save the company $4.5 million and bring opera back to the people, as La Guardia first imagined. It's not Lincoln Center that makes opera great, it's a company's creativity and dedication to great art that makes opera great.

The new City Opera season will feature more than twenty artist debuts, including the New York debut of Randal Turner, one of the most compelling and gifted performers in opera. As they have done throughout history with other notable debuts, they have trumped the more prestigious and better funded Metropolitan Opera in securing the Zurich-based American singer, who will be performing Philippe in Rufus Wainwright's U.S. debut of "Prima Donna."

Rod Gilfry, Daniel Teadt and Kelly Markgraf

There are a number of barihunk debuts other than Randal Turner that we're also excited about, including Rod Gilfry performing Don Alfonso in "Cosi fan tutte" and Daniel Teadt in the title role of Telemann’s "Orpheus." Cosi also includes the return of barihunk Philip Cutlip, who will be singing Guglielmo and "Orpheus" which will feature Kelly Markgraf at Pluto. Other debuts we're particularly excited about are soprano Amanda Majeski and tenor Taylor Stayton.

The 2011/12 spring season will open on Sunday, February 12 with La Traviata at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. "Prima Donna" will open on Sunday, February 19 also at BAM. For additional cast and performance information visit the NYCO website.

We're urging all of our readers to help City Opera survive and flourish by making an extra effort to attend their performances this year.


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Daniel Belcher wins Grammy Award

(Photo by Christian Steiner)

Barihunks would like to congratulate Daniel Belcher, who was part of the team that won a Grammy Award last night for Best Opera Recording.

Belcher appears on the recording of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s  L’amour de loin, produced by Martin Sauer.
    
The album features the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by conductor Kent Nagano, the former music director of the Los Angeles Opera. Joining Belcher in the cast is Jekaterina Lehina, and Marie-AngeTodorovitch.
 
L'amour de loin, Saariaho's first opera, composed to a libretto by Amin Maalouf, was premiered at the Salzburg Festival in August 2000. Peter Sellars directed the original production, as well as several later versions.

Belcher is currently in the middle of a run portraying Masetto opposite the Don Giovanni of fellow barihunk Kelly Markgraf at Opera Omaha.  There are two remaining performance on February 25 and 27. 


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Corn Fed Giovanni in Omaha

Kelly Markgraf shows why the Catalog Aria is believable

We love Don Giovanni because it seems to draw a trio of barihunks no matter where it's performed. Even in the breadbasket of America one can find a sexy Don followed around by an equally alluring sidekick Leporello. Omaha is bringing back fan favorite Kelly Markgraf to sing the lead role with a former Giovanni, Matthew Burns as his sidekick Leporello.

Veteran performer Daniel Belcher takes on the role of Masetto.

 

Matthew Burns (L) & Daniel Belcher (R)

Performances are on  Friday, February 25th at 7:30 pm and Sunday, February 27th at 2:00 pm. For additional information visit the Opera Omaha website.

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Kelly Markgraf's Stunning Schumann

Barihunk Kelly Markgraf received rave reviews for his Schumann recital which we recently posted about. You can read the entire review at the San Diego Union website. Here is the highlight:

"[I]n “Dichterliebe” baritone Kelly Markgraf and pianist Ken Noda offered a carefully calibrated rendering. These 16 songs, each a miniature world unto itself, offer no second chances. You just start to wrap your ears and mind around them and they are gone. Markgraf’s rich, assertive voice seemed to grow in warmth and flexibility as the cycle went on, while Noda seemed to channel Schumann’s unconscious intentions into his sensitive accompaniment."

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Another Hot Shot of Kelly Markgraf

Kudos to one of our readers who spotted this stunningly hot photo of Kelly Markgraf on Facebook.

You can hear Markgraf perform Schumann's Dichterlibe during the La Jolla Music Society's festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

Alert readers may recall an earlier appearance by the 31-year-old singer when he performed in New York City Opera's sexy production of Don Giovanni.

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Opera Omaha's "Marriage of Figaro" Triumphs With Two Barihunks

[Jason Hardy at New York City Opera]

When Jason Hardy performed shirtless in the recent production of New York City Opera's production of Don Giovanni, there was collective "WHOA!" in opera circles. As you can see from the photo, Hardy deservedly attained instant barihunk status with his steamy performance. Hardy was one of two barihunks in the recent production of "Marriage of Figaro" at Opera Omaha, where ticket sales were brisker than usual.

The Omaha World-Herald wrote of his performance:

Bass singer Jason Hardy was no less successful in the title role, singing with a voice like black velvet ––equally dark and soft. Yet his dark instrument was also remarkably flexible. For instance, the notes in his aria “Non più andrai,” Figaro’s playful first act song to Cherubino, were surprisingly light and playful.

The other barihunk was Kelly Markgraf, who has appeared on this site before and is raising eyebrows throughout the opera world for his beautiful singing and equally good looks. Markgraf was also in the New York City Opera's "Don Giovanni," so perhaps Hardy and Markgraf are starting a "Two Barihunks" tour. The World-Herald wrote of his performance:

Kelly Markgraf, as the Count, sang with a voice that was so beautiful and burnished that you almost forgot his character’s vengeful, prideful nature.

Read the entire review HERE.


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Jason Hardy Photos From Sexy NYCO Don Giovanni

Recently we posted some pictures from the very sexy and favorably reviewed production of Don Giovanni at New York City Opera. The cast included a veritable feast of barihunks, which included Daniel Okulitch, Kelly Markgraf and Jason Hardy. Daniel Okultich has been a regular on this site in various states of undress, and to a lesser extent so has Kelly Markgraf.

Jason Hardy is fairly new to this site and from the look of these pictures, he's been unfairly neglected. We also took the time to listen to his wonderful CD, which shows that his voice is as gorgeous as his body. We've created a handy link to Amazon if you'd like to enjoy it, as well.


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