Watch livestream of Günter Papendell in Barrie Kosky's new La bohème

Günter Papendell (photos courtesy Komische Oper)

You can watch German barihunk and audience favorite Günter Papendell as Marcello in Barrie Kosky's new production of Puccini's La bohème from the Komische Oper Berlin from January 27 through July 26. The livestream can be seen on OperaVision.

Kosky says that the opera is about death and the audience needs to shed a tear, but without sentimentalism. This production looks at how young people look at death. Kosky sees the opera through the daguerreotype, which was invented around the time that the story takes place. 

The remaining cast includes Nadja Mchantaf as Mimì, Gerard Schneider as Rodolfo,Philipp Meierhöfer as Colline, Vera-Lotte Böcker as Musetta, and Dániel Foki as Schaunard.

 Günter Papendell sings Tchaikovsky's "Nur wer die Liebe kennt":

If you want to see Papendell live as Marcello, he is performing the role on January 27 and 28, February 8, March 17, 22 and 30, and June 28 and 29. Tickets are available online, but many dates have limited availability.

Papendell's other roles at the Komische Oper include Doktor Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Graf Almaviva in Mozart's Die Hochzeit des Figaro, Fritz Kothner in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Fürst Jeletzki in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Sharpless  in Puccini's Madame Butterfly, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Odysseus in the Monteverdi triptych, Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, and Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux.  

Watch sexy Evan Hughes in Komische's "Semele"

Evan Hughes and Nicole Chevalier (left) and Nora Friedrichs (right)

American bass-barihunk had a breakout performance as the somnolent god Somnus in Handel's Semele at the Komische Oper in Berlin. He also elevated his status as an operatic sex symbol showing off both his luscious physique and resonant voice in his scene-stealing small role.

Fortunately, the opera is available online at OperaVision and is available for viewing HERE until November 11th. There are remaining live performances on May 26, June 3 and 15, and July 10. Tickets are available online.

Nora Friedrichs and Evan Hughes

The production got off to a rocky start when director Laura Scozzi fell ill shortly after rehearsals began, forcing the Komische Oper's intendant Barrie Kosky to take over the production. Kosky is one of opera's most original and entertaining directors, so the show went on, with the story being told in a flashback set in a burnt-out Baroque hall.

Evan Hughes and Nicole Chevalier (left) and Nora Friedrichs (right)

Semele was written in 1743 and tells the story of clashing gods and mortals, the folly of vanity, and the fatal consequences of forbidden passion.

The plot centers around the cautionary tale of the delectable Semele and the god Jupiter, who tempt fate with a dangerously imprudent love affair. The ambitious Semele craves immortality, but also holds a secret, while Juno, plots a fiery finish to the affair.

Uprorious "The Pearls of Cleopatra" returns to Berlin

Dominik Köninger and Dagmar Manzel

Director Barrie Kosky's hilarious and highly entertaing The Pearls of Cleopatra (Die Perlen der Cleopatra) by Oscar Straus is back at the Komische Oper in Berlin. The piece was on the shelves for more than eighty years before it was revived in 2016. The latest run features almost the identical cast, led by German barihunk Dominik Köninger, who sings the role of the Roman Officer and appears in a number of pretty sexy situations throughout the operetta.

Kosky has been reviving works by composers who fled the Nazis, which Strauss did in 1939 following the Nazi Anschluss. He fled to Paris and eventually to Hollywood. After the war, he returned to Europe, and settled at Bad Ischl, where he died.  Straus' best-known works are Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), and The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat). He may be best remembered for composing the theme song from the 1950 film La Ronde.

In the comedic The Pearls of Cleopatra, the queen longs for a ‘little Egyptian flirting’ to lift her mood. The permanent drought and the armies of the Roman Empire at the Egyptian borders have given her quite a headache. So she flirts with the Syrian prince Beladonis and takes Silvius, the Roman ambassador, as her new lover. International or intimate relations – the most beautiful queen of the world holds sway over the hearts of all men. Could the pearls be the secret to her power. 

The Pearls of Cleopatra features plenty of scantily clad, energetic performers on stage, adding to the lively Cabaret feel of the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic. The operetta opens on January 31st and runs through March 30th. Tickets are available online. Opening night is SOLD OUT.

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Introducing the Komische Opera's Samuli Taskinen

Samuli Taskinen

Finnish bass-barihunk Samuli Taskinen is appearing as Lord Krishna in the Komische Oper's run of Philip Glass' Satyagraha. He is new to our site, other than a brief mention when he was a finalist in the Lappeenranta National Singing Competition.

Samuli began his music studies at the piano at age five and eventually switching to the cello. In 2011, he was accepted into Sibelius Academy's Music education department, where his intention was to become a pop and jazz voice teacher. While at the Academy, he took some voice lessons and was hooked on singing.

Samuli Taskinen and two images from Satyagraha at the Komische

Joining him in the cast are Stefan Cifolelli as Gandhi, Karolina Gumos as Gandni's wife, Cathrin Lange as Miss Schlesen, Mirka Wagner as Mrs. Naidoo, Tom Erik Lie as Mr Kallenbach,  Tomasz Wija as an Indian Colleague and Timothy Oliver as Prince Arjuna, 

Performances of Satyagraha run through November 10th and tickets are available online.

Samuli will remain at the Komische, where he will sing two roles in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, an armored man in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Paolo Calvi in  Schreker's Die Gezeichneten.

Derek Chester & Marco Vassalli/Barihunks book and calendar

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!

Dominik Köninger's riveting Orpheus viewable online

Dominik Köninger

We've been following German barihunk Dominik Köninger at the Komische Opera ever since he joined their esnsemble after winning the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. His riveting performance in the Monteverdi/ Elena Kats-Chernin Orpheus in their Monterverdi Trilogy is currently available for viewing on the Opera Platform. Check him out singing and dancing in Act 2 and then giving a tour de force shirtless performance in Act 5.

Dominik Köninger in Orpheus

The production is by Barrie Kosky, who took the world by storm with his innovative production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper, which has gone on to be performed worldwide, including at the Los Angeles Opera and Minnesota Opera.

In Orpheus, Köninger is asked to sing, dance, act and even perform in water. It's evident why he's one of the most talked about young baritones in the business. He also made our Barihunks Best of 2016 list for a completely different performance, pulling off last year's best comedic turn as the Roman Officer in Oscar Straus' The Pearls of Cleopatra, which is also viewable on viewable on the OperaPlatform. Both Orpheus and Pearls are worth watching to appreciate the full range of Köninger's talent.

Dominik Köninger in Orpheus

Orpheus is part of a Monteverdi adapted by the Uzbek composer Elena Kats-Chernin, which also includes Odysseus and Poppea. Kat-Chermin has integrated jazz, klezmer, tango, and ragtime into the scores. Additional live performances of Orpheus are on June 23 and 26, and July 1, 3 and 9. Tickets are available online.

German Barihunk Dominik Köninger in campy Oscar Straus revival

German Barihunk Dominik Köninger

Director Barrie Kosky has done it again, with another highly original production of a long lost piece of musical theater. His highly entertaining The Pearls of Cleopatra (Die Perlen der Cleopatra) by Oscar Straus is destined to become one of the major hits in any opera house this year. The piece has been on the shelves for more than eighty year and is now viewable on the OperaPlatform. There are additional performances at the Komische Oper on December 15, 19 and 21.

German Barihunk Dominik Köninger and Dagmar Manzel

Kosky has been reviving works by composers who fled the Nazis, which Strauss did in 1939 following the Nazi Anschluss. He fled to Paris and eventually to Hollywood. After the war, he returned to Europe, and settled at Bad Ischl, where he died.  Straus' best-known works are Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), and The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat). He may be best remembered for composing the theme song from the 1950 film La Ronde.

Dancers and extras from The Pearls of Cleopatra

In the comedic The Pearls of Cleopatra, the queen longs for a ‘little Egyptian flirting’ to lift her mood. The permanent drought and the armies of the Roman Empire at the Egyptian borders have given her quite a headache. So she flirts with the Syrian prince Beladonis and takes Silvius, the Roman ambassador, as her new lover. International or intimate relations – the most beautiful queen of the world holds sway over the hearts of all men. Could the pearls be the secret to her power. 

German Barihunk Dominik Köninger

In this production, German barihunk Dominik Köninger sings the role of the Roman Officer, who is shown in a number of pretty sexy situations throughout the operetta. There are also plenty of scantily clad, energetic performers on stage, adding to the lively Cabaret feel of the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic.

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Tareq Nazmi to make Carnegie Hall debut

Tareq Nazmi

Kuwaiti born barihunk Tareq Nazmi will make his Carnegie Hall debut on October 24th performing in Mozart's Requiem in D Minor,” K. 626 and Bach’s Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 in a 1733 revision of the original, in E-flat Major, BWV 243a, which was written ten years earlier. He'll be backed by the KlangVerwaltung Orchestra and Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern Chorus and soloists soprano Susanne Bernhard, mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung and tenor Daniel Johannsen. Tickets are available online.

He also had two role debuts this year, Zaccaria in Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco in St. Gallen in April 2017 and Basilio in Gioachino Rossini’s Barber of Seville at Berlin’s Komische Oper in July 2017.

You can hear samples of his singing on his website, including Tuba mirum from Mozart's Requiem. Click HERE.

Tareq Nazmi has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera since the 2012-13 season where he's performed the Minister in Beethoven's Fidelio, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Silvano in Cavalli's La Calisto, Mitjucha in Mussogsky's Boris Godunov, First Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen, Truffaldin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Obrist in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten, and Astolfo in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.

Don't forget to order you 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar, which is now on sale by clicking HERE. 

Malte Roesner

Barihunk duo in Komische Oper's Don Giovanni

Evan Hughes as Leporello in Don Giovanni

Last night, bass-barihunk Evan Hughes made his Komische Oper debut as Leporello in Herbert Fritsch's colorful, whimsical and provocative production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. He'll be singing along side Günter Papendell, who is singing the title role. Performances with the barihunk duo run through June 4th when Philipp Meierhöfer takes over as Leporello.

Fritsch has drawn on the core of Don Juan story by bringing him to life as a malicious harlequin – a loser, audacious, side-splittingly funny and irresistible all at once.

Günter Papendell as Don Giovanni

Papendell, who has become a fan favorite at the Komische Oper, has been with the company since 2007 scored a huge success in this production last year. He can be see this season  as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Pollux in Rameau's Castor and Pollux, Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Jason in Cherubini's Medea and Fritz in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. You can watch his Onegin performance online for free by clicking HERE. 

Hughes is currently a fest member at the Semperoper Dresden where he can be seen as the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La Traviata, Masetto and Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Cesare Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte. 

Dominik Köninger catching birds and debuting baritone Hoffmann

Dominik Köninger as Papageno in the Barrie Kosky production

German barihunk Dominik Köninger is at the Edinburgh Festival reprising his highly-acclaimed Papageno in Barrie Kosky's magical production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, which has performances remaining on August 29 and 30.

The innovative Barrie Kosky production of Die Zauberflöte is a collaboration with the amazing British theater group “1927," who put together a production that mixes silent movies, Weimar era cabaret, David Lynch and a touch of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.

The oft-shirtless Dominik Köninger

If you can't catch Köninger as Papageno in the U.K., you'll have plenty of additional opportunities as he's singing the role in the same production at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein beginning on September 19th, then again in Barcelona next summer at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

We've been huge fans of Dominik Köninger since he won the 2011 Wigmore Hall Song Competition and have been enjoying his regular appearances at the Komische Oper Berlin, where he's sung in Monteverdi's Orpheus, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Pantalone in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, Oreste in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride and Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.  

 Dominik Köninger sings Hai gia vinta la causa from the Marriage of Figaro:

He returns to Berlin on September 11th to sing the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare with fellow barihunk Günter Papendell as Achilla. On October 2nd, he'll open in Barrie Kosky's new production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. For the first time in the opera's 132-year performance history, the role of Hoffmann will be sung by a baritone, which was Offenbach's original intention.

Barihunk duo in Komische's Giulio Cesare

Günter Papendell & Dominik Köninger (Photos: Iko Freese)

The barihunk duo of Dominik Köninger and Günter Papendell is back together at the Komische Oper in Berlin as Julius Caesar and Achille respectively in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto. We first featured them together in the company's Monterverdi Trilogy. The Komische ensemble members have also alternated the role of Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

There are two runs of Giulio Cesare in Egitto, the first which opened on May 31 and runs through July 4th. The two then return in their respective roles from September 11 through October 31.  The rest of the cast includes Valentina Farcas/Mirka Wagner as Cleopatra, Theresa Kronhalter as Sesto, Anna Bernacka as Tolomeo, Alexey Antonov as Curio and Ezgi Kutlu as Cornelia.

Köninger is singing a role that has historically been sung by a countertenor. In fact, two of the worlds greatest countertenors will take on the role in other German cities this season, as Andreas Scholl sings it in Frankfurt and David Hansen in Dresden.

Valentina Farcas & Dominik Köninger (Photos: Iko Freese)

This season,  Dominik Köninger can be seen as Agamemnon in Le Belle Hélène, the young Hoffmann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Papageno in The Magic Flute and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.

Günter Papendell can be seen as Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Pollux in Castor and Pollux and the tile characters in Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi and Eugene Onegin.

Günter Papendell in Calixto Bieto's Gianni Schicchi

Günter Papendell as Achille (left) and

We wouldn't normally think of pairing sexy German barihunk Günter Papendell with provocative director Calixto Bieto in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, but neither would we think of pairing the Puccini comedy with Bartok's bleak Bluebeard's Castle. Leave it to the Komische Oper in Berlin and Bieto to do just that.

Papendell, who've we've seen in various states of undress at the Komische, will play the role of the Schicchi.

The two operatic masterpieces both premiered in 1918, the same year that the Germans surrendered and ended WWI. The works could hardly be more different, and yet they are combined to form an operatic double bill - black Italian comedy meets Hungarian psycho-drama.

The Komische website states, "Little would appear to link Gianni Schicchi and Bluebeard’s Castle - except for their unadorned depiction of the human abyss. That master of melody Giacomo Puccini spices up his story of the family arguing about their inheritance at the deathbed of the patriarch with tearjerkers such as "O mio babbino caro". Béla Bartók penetrates into the depths in the complex landscape of the soul with his dense score. A grim mystery is hidden behind the seven forbidden doors in Count Bluebeard's Castle, and exposing this mystery will prove the downfall of one young woman."

Bluebeard's Castle and Gianni Schicchi at the Komische Oper

Gidon Saks will sing the role of Bluebeard in the Bartok opera. The operas are being performed without intermission, running approximately 2 1/2 hours. Performances run from March 1 through July 8.

This season Papendell can also be seen at the Komische as Don Giovanni, Escamillo, Achille in Handel's Giulio Cesare and Odysseus. In May, Gidon Saks heads across town to portray Nick Shadow in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Deutsche Oper.

Shirtless video of Dominik Köninger singing and dancing in Orpheus

Dominik Köninger

We've been huge fans of German barihunk Dominik Köninger ever since he wowed the judges at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. We always knew that he could sing, but now with this new video of him as Orpheus in Komische Oper's controversial Monterverdi Trilogy, we've learned he can dance, too! Check him out singing and dancing in Act 2 and then giving a tour de force shirtless performance in Act 5.

Dominik Köninger

The production is by Barrie Kosky, who took the world by storm with his innovative production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper, which was recently performed at the Los Angeles Opera and is now headed to the Minnesota Opera. There has seldom been a production where a singer was asked to sing, dance and perform this much and Köninger pulls it off brilliantly. It's evident from these videos why in the last few years he's become one of the most talked about and heralded young singers in the business.

Köninger starred in the marathon musical interpretation of Monteverdi's trilogy by the Uzbek composer Elena Kats-Chernin which was performed in a single day, running from 11a.m. until 11p.m. The trilogy included Orpheus, Odysseus and Poppea and feautured 200 artists on stage. The production definitely wasn't for purists as Kat-Chermin integrated jazz, klezmer, tango, and ragtime into the score.

Dominik Köninger sings a riveting rendition of "Machtvolle Gottheit" from Orpheus:

Köninger can currently be seen at the Komische Opera as Pantalone in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, which runs through February 19th. He then returns to his popular potrayal of Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, which he's alternating with Tom Erik Lie through May 4.

NEWS FLASH: L.A. Opera to present U.S. premiere of stunning "1927"/Barrie Kosky "Magic Flute"

Anyone who reads this site knows that we're completely enamored with the "Magic Flute" from the Komische Oper in Berlin directed by Barrie Kosky and designed by the innovative London theater group "1927." Inspired by the silent movies, this production makes Mozart's 222-year-old opera seem like a new hit musical. Loaded with stunning animation and digital effects this production is a "must see" for any opera aficionado.

Imagine our excitement when the Los Angeles Opera announced that it was shelving its 20-year-old Gerald Scarfe/Peter Hall production for the Komische Oper production.

The baritone roles will be filled by Russian Rodion Pogossov as Papageno, Canadian Phillip Addis as The Speaker and American Morris Robinson as Sarastro. The young lovers Tamino and Pamina will be sung by Lawrence Brownlee and Janai Brugger. The scene stealing role of the Queen of the Night is being sung by Erika Miklosa.

Sexy Günter Papendell returns as Don Giovanni in Berlin

Günter Papendell at the Komische Oper (center in Armida)

Günter Papendell, one of our favorite singers at the Komische Oper is returning to the stage in four performances of the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. We first were introduced to the sexy German barihunk when a colleague forwarded us a picture of a nude Papendell backstage [see photo above].

We've since followed him in a series of critical successes in edgy operas like Odysseus and Così fan tutte o sia La scuola degli amanti, as well as in more more standard roles like Malatesta, Count Almaviva and Prince Yeletsky. One thing we love about him is the frequency in which he is shirtless or in some revealing outfit. Of course, the Komische Opera is notorious for showing some skin, with opera fans still talking about director Calixto Bieto's production of Gluck's Armida, which set a new standard for nudity in opera.

Günter Papendell in Odysseus

Performances of Don Giovanni will run from April 13-May 12 and tickets are available online. Later this season at the Komische, Papendell will be appearing as Demetrius in Britten's A Midsummer,  Night's Dream, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, the title character in Rameau's Castor et Pollux and reprising his successful and sexy portrayal of Odysseus in the Claudio Monteverdi/ Elena Kats-Chernin trilogy of the same name.

Listen to Papendell in Franz Lachner's Requiem:

Daniel Okulitch gets villainous in Edmonton

Daniel Okulitch famous naked in "The Fly" and in Tales of Hoffmann

Canadian barihunk Daniel Okulitch has remained one of our most popular singers since we first posted him in . He's opening tonight as all four villains in Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann." Performances are running through February 7th and tickets are available online.

Samuel Ramey sings "Scintille, diamanti" from The Tales of Hoffmann:

Okulitch, who has made a name for himself as a great exponent of Mozart, will take on both baritone roles in Le nozze di Figaro after wrapping up in Edmonton. He heads to the Arizona Opera in April for three performances of the Figaro and three more at the Komische Oper in Berlin, before switching to the Count in the same opera at the Santa Fe Opera in June.

Benjamin Covey

Another emerging Canadian barihunk will be in the cast of The Tales of Hoffmann. Benjamin Covey, who received his master’s in opera at University of Toronto and honed his skills San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Program, returns to being a student (at least on stage) playing Hermann. Covey can next be seen at the Toronto Masque Theatre in "The Lessons of Love," an operatic double bill of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and the premiere of Alice Ping Yee Ho's The Lesson of Da Ji.

Martin Achrainer to star in "Le Grand Macabre"

Martin Achrainer

One of our favorite singers, Martin Achrainer, will be portraying Nekrozar in György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at the Neue Opera Wien. The opera will have four performances between October 2-7.

Le Grand Macabre is György Ligeti’s only opera and is based on the theater piece La Balade du Grand Macabre by Belgian author Michel de Ghelderode. Ligeti wrote the libretto with Michael Meschke setting the work in the near-apocalyptic Breughelland (a reference to Dutch painter Pieter Breughel). Although the opera has become popular in Europe, it took 26 years before it had its successful premiere in the United States at the San Francisco Opera.  That 2004 performance starred Willard White as Nekrozar and barihunk Joshua Bloom as the Black Politician. The New York Philharmonic performed the piece with Eric Owens as Nekrozarin 2010.

Martin Achrainer in Marriage of Figaro

Ligeti said of the work: “It’s an imagining of the end of the world, but very colorful, very bizarre, populated with medieval imps... It’s a Rabelaisian world, a world full of obscenities, sexual and scatological. People are constantly eating and drinking and leading a very chaotic life. It all happens in a sort of broken-down dictatorship where two opposing parties, both completely corrupt, pursue in reality the same crooked policies... It’s tragic and light-hearted at the same time…It’s not my intention to be provocative, though naturally I enjoy shocking people a bit.”

The music is a collage of sonorities with references to Beethoven’s “Eroica,” ragtime, industrial noises, jazz, and Viennese waltzes.

The next production of the opera will be at the Komische Oper in April 2013. 

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com. Also, entries for the 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar are due by August 31.

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

NEWS FLASH: Dominik Köninger Joins Komische Oper Berlin

Dominik Köninger: Suddenly a very hot ticket

We've been following the meteoric career of German barihunk Dominik Köninger since he started blowing away judges at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition last year. Although he's been performing on stages since 2004, when he made his operatic debut at the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele, his victory in London has made him a hot commodity with opera companies and major conductors.

Köninger sings Beethoven's 'Adelaide' and 
Korngold's "Du reine Frau aus Licht und Elfenbein" in the finals:

On April 15-16, he joins maestro 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.

He will also perform Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at the New National Theatre in Tokyo in a new production by Damiano Michieletto.

We also have some news that's so fresh it hasn't even appeared on the opera company's website. 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.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Günter Papendell Naked

The recent production of Gluck's Armida at the Komische Oper in Berlin had lots of nudity. We couldn't tell from the attached videos if barihunk Günter Papendell exposed his schwanse as Ubaldo, but we found a picture of him in a locker room that's a delightful tease.

Pependall is a regular on the Komische stage and is also singing Schaunard in La Bohème, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte this year. He already has a number of barihunk roles behind him, including Don Giovanni, Escamillo, and Zurga in Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles.

The baritone was born in Krefeld and completed his studies at the Music Academy of Munich in 2005.

Make sure to watch the videos if you want a good dose of operatic skin!

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Armide in the Raw

The reputation of directors working in German opera companies is beyond mockery. Their obsession with sex, fetishism and leather, and their penchant for shock value is a running joke in opera circles. I'm beginning to wonder what type of psychological damage WW II created on the German psyche.

Spanish director Calixto Bieito has taken it to another level with his production of Gluck's "Armide" at the Komische Oper in Berlin. I'm not quite sure what to make of this production, which is usually about vengeance, magic, love, fulfillment and abandonment.

Bieito has made it about sex, obsession and more sex. One German paper called it porno-opera. I'm not certain who is in these pictures, but I think that the naked guy is tenor Peter Lodahl. I've got to believe that one of those bare butts or danglers is a baritone, so these photos have earned a spot on Barihunks.

Enjoy.

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