Rene Pape uses his iPhone for encore

Rene Pape uses his iPhone for encore

Rene Pape's recital debut at La Scala was an eagerly anticipated event. He brought and all-German program to Milano, which delighted the crowd.

He decided to play to some Italian passions by singing Tosti’s "L’Ultima Can­zone" as an encore, but needed some help with the text. In a major sign that we've entered the digital age, he whipped out his iPhone and announced "text." He then proceeded to deliver a perfect version of the song in the backyard of Leo Nucci and Renato Bruson, who have made Tosti virtually a calling card at Italian recitals.

Renato Bruson sings "L'Ultima Canzone":

LA Times: "Ildebrando D'Arcangelo wants to be more than a pretty face"

From his Deutsche Grammophon website:

“Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is a complete knock-out as Leporello – charming, funny, sexy, but pointedly in touch with his emotions in ways that his master can never be. What a difference a native Italian speaker makes in the role.”

The Independent

The Los Angeles Times is featuring an article on Ildebrando D'Arcangelo that thoroughly covers his status as a reigning barihunk. Although the Italian singer denies that he's thought much about it, we think his recording company, agent and publicist have given it plenty of thought. On his IMG Artists website the three pull quotes have him variously described as a "hunk," having "presence" and "looks," and, finally, being "an unusually sexy Enrico."

Check out his publicity photos and website that we've included in this post.

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo: Trying hard to NOT look sexy

Here is the article from the L.A. Times written by David Ng:

When Ildebrando D'Arcangelo storms the stage in Mozart's "Così fan Tutte" at Los Angeles Opera, the bass-baritone singer projects a swaggering confidence and dangerous sex appeal that act like a powerful audience magnet. But please don't call him a bari-hunk.

The 41-year-old D'Arcangelo, who is one of six members of the "Così" ensemble cast, has garnered fans around the world as much for his voice as for his model looks — tall, dark and handsome in an earthy way.

Yet the singer appears uneasy with references to his status as a bari-hunk — the group of opera stars known for their pecs and neck size, as well as their deep, sonorous voices.

"To be honest, I'm uncomfortable," said D'Arcangelo when the subject came up during a recent interview. "I appreciate it if people say something about looking good. In opera, if you see a beautiful person, it helps. But for me, honestly, I never thought about it." [Read entire article HERE]

Fans in California can catch him in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" at the Los Angeles Opera through October 8th. He then switches Mozart roles, tackling Don Giovanni at La Scala from December 16-28 before heading off to Weisbaden, Germany for a New Year's Day concert.

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Is that a Magic Flute in your pocket?

The La Scala cast of Magic Flute; Alex Esposito

We recently featured a post about all of the Mozart on Alex Esposito's schedule. We've posted often about his definitive Leporello, but we've never featured a video of his Papageno. Fortunately, it was recorded by RAI 5 from La Scala during its recent run in April 2011.  Esposito's Papagena is Ailish Tynan.

Günther Groissböck

The cast also included barihunk Günther Groissböck as Sarastro. Here he is singing "In diesen heil'gen Hallen." You won't want to miss hearing his beautiful rolling bass. The Austrian bass is currently singing the role at the Vienna State Opera with the Papageno of fellow barihunk Markus Werba.



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Simon Bailey's Figaro

Simon Bailey is a new addition to the site and comes at the suggestion of a reader in Germany. He is currently performing as Figaro in "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Frankfurt Opera.

He was born in Lincoln, England and became a choral scholar at Clare College at Cambridge University. 

Bailey as Figaro in Frankfurt

Bailey has been part of the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera for the last eight seasons. In addition to Figaro, he will be entertaining Rheinland audiences in Charpentier’s Médée,  Vivaldi's Orlando furioso, Berlioz’ Méphistophélès and Don Inigo Gomez/Sarvaor in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole/de Falla’s La vida breve.

Bailey began his career as a member of La Scala’s Opera Studio and won first prize at the 2004 Musica Sacra competition in Rome.


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Erwin Schrott sings "Votre toast" at La Scala

This video is from the December 7, 2009 performance of Carmen at La Scala, which we've previously posted on this site because of the trio of barihunks in the production.

The aria starts around the 2:00 mark.

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Hot Schrott to Perform WIth Hot Trio of Barihunks

[Photos from www.erwin-schrott.com]




We haven't featured über-barihunk Erwin Schrott in awhile, so we thought we would check to see what's on his schedule. It looks like Milan's La Scala has him engaged through February 2010.

He'll be singing Carmen with hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann and fellow barihunk, Austrian Mathias Hausmann as Morales.

[Mathias Hausmann]


A month later, he'll be joining two other barihunks, Mirco Palazzi and Alex Esposito, in Don Giovanni, where he will sing the role of the title character. Alex Esposito has been featured on this site before and is known for his compelling stage performance. He'll be singing Leporello and Palazzi will perform Masetto.

Mathias Hausmann studied singing with Karl Ernst Hoffmann in Graz as well as with Ryland Davies at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School of the Royal College of Music in London.

Hausmann has been a member of the ensemble at the Volksoper in Vienna where he has become a fan favorite. His barihunk roles include Papageno and A Midsummer Night's Dream.




Thirty-one year old Mirco Palazzi studied singing in Pesaro with Robleto Merolla. He has performed in Naples, Parma, Ravenna, Stuttgart, Japan, Naples and at La Scala.

He can be heard on the Opera Rara recordings of Rossini’s Zelmira and Adelaide di Borgogna (live from the Edinburgh International Festival), Donizetti’s Pia de’ Tolomei and Il diluvio universale and highlights of Meyerbeer’s L’esule di Granata.

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Daniel Okulitch Pix From La Scala

Here are the long awaited pictures of Barihunks favorite Daniel Okulitch from the amazing production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala. We already posted pictures of über-hunk David Adam Moore, who portrayed Demetrius barefoot, in a sexy tee and his shorts. Unfortunately, Daniel Okulitch was given a few layers of gold lamme.

Okulitch will be headed to New York where he will be making his New York City Opera debut in Don Giovanni.

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FINALLY! Pix of David Adam Moore from La Scala

Many thanks to one of our loyal readers for providing the long-awaited pictures of David Adam Moore from the Robert Carsen/Matthew Bourne production of Britten's "Midsummer Night's Dream" at La Scala. These pictures affirm our suspicion that Moore would be the hottest Demetrius to ever grace the stage.

We're still looking for pictures of Daniel Okulitch as Theseus. Anyone?

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Reader Submissions: Schrott, Leibundgut and Moore

Some of our best pictures come from our readers. Your submissions are always appreciated and encouraged, because they make the site much more interesting. This week, a number of pictures were submitted that we want to share with you.

Here are two pictures of Erwin Schrott taken at the stage door in Salzburg by a fan. In one of them you can see a glimpse of his chest hair. Sexy! It's amazing how hot this guy can look after a performance. Ms. Nebrebko is one lucky woman.

Schrott's next performances are in Bari, Italy in Elixir of Love, then he's off to Vienna to portray his most famed role, Don Giovanni.

The black and white photo was discovered by a reader on www.theater.ch and it shows Michael Leibundgut in a sensuous pose that almost looks like a men's fragrance ad in Vanity Fair.

Leibundgut is in Bern singing Ballo and Midsummer Night's Dream (http://www.stadttheaterbern.ch).

The bottom photo was sent to us by a fellow barihunk (asking for anonymity), but alerting us to this smoking hot picture of David Adam Moore in Billy Budd at the New Israeli Opera.

On June 6th, Moore opens in A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala, in what may be one of the Top 10 operatic experiences in the world this year. The production is staged by Robert Carsen with choreography by Matthew Bourne. That alone would make this production worth it, but the dream cast includes David Daniels as Oberon, barihunk Daniel Okulitch as Theseus, Moore as Demetrius, the stunning Rosemary Joshua as Tytanie, Erin Wall as Helena and Matthew Rose as Bottom. You can find a picture of Matthew Rose in Midsummer from Glyndebourne at http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/green/green/home.nsf/0/BE1C7C604F90E47F8025742B00579C7D?OpenDocument. For more information visit: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/stagioni/2008_2009/opera-e-balletto/a_midsummer_night_s_dream.html

Keep the pictures coming!

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Attila is a Barihunk

[Top two photos of Abdrazakov from the Callao website; Ramey screencap from 1987 RAI broadcast]

The posting of Ildar Abdrazakov generated more mail than usual. It's becoming evident that many Barihunks readers like the big, beefy guys. Three readers chastised the site for never having posted Samuel Ramey, so here he is in two clips singing Attila in his prime. The second clip is the trailer for the current production in Peru with Abrazakov, but they use Ramey's 1991 performance from La Scala. Clearly, he deserved a place on this site.

Another reader directed us to the Peruvian website for the Festival Internacional De Opera Alejandro Granda del' Callao, which has some great stuff on it, including inteviews with Abdrazakov and other singers, video and lots of pictures. You can find it here: http://www.romanza.pe/.

Perhaps my favorite email was the one that read, "Ildar is super hot. More hunks, less twinks. Or rename your site baritwinks."

There will plenty more of both.

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A Midsummer Night's "Dreamy" Cast at La Scala

[Top photo Okulitch in The Fly; center photo, Okulitch in Dead man Walking; Bottom photo by David Gribbin of David Adam Moore]

If you don't have summer travel plans yet, you might want to consider booking a flight to Milan between June 6-17. The Teatro alla Scala will be performing Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with two barihunks, David Adam Moore and Daniel Okulitch. The rest of the cast is pretty impressive as well, with countertenor David Daniels, sopranos Rosemary Joshua and Erin Wall, and Andrew Davis in the pit.

You can visit the La Scala website at www.teatroallascala.org.

For those of you who missed it the first time, I'm reposting the picture of Daniel Okultich from The Fly. It was the most viewed picture on this site over the Christmas holidays, so most of you were being naughty, not nice.

Okulitch can next be seen in Vancouver singing Escamillo in Carmen. For more information, click here: http://www.vancouveropera.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=15. David Adam Moore is next performing Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at the Seattle Opera. For more information, click here: http://www.seattleopera.org/tickets/2008-2009/fishers/artists.aspx.

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A holiday treat: Ildebrando d'Arcangelo with Diana Damrau

I figured what would be a better holiday treat than the glorious Diana Damrau joining forces with barihunk Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in "din dinning" and "don donning" Christmas with their account of "Si a caso madama" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

May Santa bring you everything that you wished for.

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Muslim Magomayev dies

One the first singers to appear on Barihunks was Muslim Magomayev who I am sad to report passed away yesterday. Here is the ABC News report:

Singer Muslim Magomaev, a legendary crooner of the Soviet stage, died in Moscow on Saturday (local time) aged 66 after a long illness, his personal website and Russian news agencies reported.

Magomaev, who launched his career with an internship in Milan's famed La Scala opera theatre in 1963 and enjoyed great success in Paris's Olympia theatre, abandoned opera in favour of a more pop repertoire, becoming a legend of the Soviet Union's 1960s generation.

Born in Azerbaijan's capital Baku in 1942, Magomaev sang over 600 Russian and Neapolitan romances, classical arias and pop songs, and was himself author of over 20 songs and film soundtracks.

Named USSR People's Artist in 1973, Magomaev later founded Azerbaijan's state symphonic orchestra and headed it from 1975-1989.

"Muslim's death is one of the worst shocks for me, but his first appearance many years ago was also a shock - happy, sunny and wonderfully emotional, he immediately won over colleagues who admitted he was more talented," friend and fellow singer Lev Leshchenko said.

"Muslim was one and only, he gave people new hopes, and all of our country sang his songs - he was a great singer, a great artist," Mr Leshchenko told the Dni online newspaper.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered their condolences to Magomaev's widow, opera singer Tamara Sinyavskaya, with Russia's culture ministry comparing Magomaev to Frank Sinatra and Yves Montand in their statement.

Ninth round matches in Azerbaijan's football championship will begin with a minute of silence honouring Magomaev, website Azerisport.com reported.