The San Francisco Opera continues its popular Opera Pop-Up series with bass-barihunk Anthony Reed and director Aria Umezawa, who are teaming up for Operatronica. The latest offering is geared toward those who are curious about opera and like EDM music.
The duo will hit San Francisco's nightclub Mezzanine along with DJ troupe Loves Company, who will grind out some opera related late night beats. General admission is $20 and VIP access is available for $40. Tickets include a swag bag and a chance to meet the artists.
For those who want to hear Anthony Reed in a traditional opera, he's performing Orest's tutor in Richard Strauss' Elektra and Doctor Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata with the San Francisco Opera. Tickets are available online and performances run through September 26th.
Polish bass-barihunk Daniel Miroslaw will be appearing in two of the Glyndebourne Festival operas this season, beginning on June 12th when he takes over as Doctor Grenvil from Henry Waddington in Verdi's La traviata. The cast also includes Kristina Mkhitaryan as Violetta in her Glyndebourne debut, Zach
Borichevsky as Alfredo Germont and Igor Golovatenko as Giorgio
Germont. Miroslaw will also be performing on June 16 and 19.
You can see Glyndebourne's 2014 of La traviata with the thrilling tenor Michael Fabiano from June 8-15 by clicking HERE.
Daniel Miroslaw sings "It's just another Rumba":
On June 25, he takes the stage as Truffaldino in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with fellow barihunk Björn Bürger as Harlequin. The cast also includes the legendary baritone Sir Thomas Allen as the Music Master, soprano Lise Davidsen in the title role, tenor AJ Glueckert as Bacchus and Erin Morley as Zerbinetta. Performances run through July 27.
Miroslaw is a member of the Frankfurt Opera, where he's slated to sing a number of roles this season, including Eustazio in Handel's Rinaldo, Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore and Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto. In April 2018, he will be making his debut at the Municipal Theatre of Santiago singing a title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Folkoperan is the small opera company in Stockholm that performs opera in Swedish. Their current production of Verdi's La traviata features a lot of nudity...A LOT OF NUDITY. Fortunately, one of nude performers is barihunk Samuel Jarrick, who we've featured before in a state of semi-undress in the Mälmo Opera's production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (which also featured nudity).
Jesper Säll as Alfredo in La traviata (photo by Markus Gårder)
Folkoperan prides itself of pushing the boundaries of operatic convention and this production will certainly do that. Their concept with La traviata was to challenge both the work and the audience in the traditional concepts of male and female sexuality. The production features drag queens, body builders, models, children and, did we mention, lots of nudity.
The opera will be performed three times a week until November 29th. Tickets and additional performance information is available online.
*** A reminder that our nudity policy is that we only show pictures with nudity if it is from a staged production. This site does not contain gratuitous nudity.
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Austrian barihunk Martin Achrainer was recently featured on Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Austria's national public television station. He discusses his career and time at the Linz Landestheatre, where he has become a house favorite.
Watch the ORF feature on Martin Achrainer:
He returns to action at the Linz Landestheatre on September 19th, when he alternates the role of Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata with Till von Orlowsky. On September 20, he'll be singing very different music, as he will be the soloist in Hans Werner Henze's El Cimarrón – Der Weg ins Freie at the International Bruckner Festival in Linz. On October 10, he'll be one of the soloists in Bruckner's Missa solemnis with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz.
Our latest reader submission came from a baritone colleague, who sang with him in Austria and Italy. Meet Salerno native Ernesto Petti, who recently switched fachs from tenor to baritone.
Petti who once wanted to be a professional water polo player, shared the stage with Diana Damrau and Piotr Beczala in the controversial performance of Verdi's La traviata last year at La Scala (that prompted Beczala to exclaim that he'd never sing there again). The production was broadcast, allowing Petti to draw an unusual amount of positive attention in a small role, as he was decked out in sexy, white muscle tee shirt [see photo].
Petti began his vocal studies in Naples when he was just18 years old. In 2010,he graduatedfrom the Academy ofTorre del Lago Puccini, where he studiedwith acclaimed tenorMarco Berti. He won firstprize at theFrancesco Albanese di Napoli competitionand won thesecondprize at the "Ravello Città della Musica" competition. He made his professional debut in 2009asEagroin the JohannChristian Bach editionofGluck'sOrfeo ed Euridiceat the FestivalValle d'Itria. He followed that up with a performance in Viardot's Cendrillon. In 2011, he returned to the Festival to sing The Officer in Ernst Krenek's tragic one-act opera DerDiktator, for which he receivedcritical acclaim.
Ernesto Petti sings "Il balen del suo sorriso" from Il Trovatore:
He appeared in Puccini's hometown of Torre delLago as Harry in the composer'sLa Fanciulla del West, which celebrated the centenaryof his opera about the American West. He has also sang in Bizet's Carmenat the SanCarlo in Naples, Verdi's Macbethat the TeatroCoccia inNovara, Verdi's SimonBoccanegraat the TeatroMunicipale diPiacenzaandModena.
San Francisco's local classical music station KDFC held a contest called the "Star Spangled Sing-Off" with the winner performing the national anthem at the live simulcast of the San Francisco Opera's La Traviata at AT&T Park, home of baseball's San Francisco Giants. Over 80,000 listeners voted for the 74 contestants and the winner was Vanessa Bousay, a character created by classically-trained baritone Erik Chalfant.
Phyllis Curtin
Chalfant, who studied with the legendary operatic soprano Phyllis
Curtin, created the character of Vanessa Bousay as a tribute to the woman he dubs his "teacher, mentor and friend." He holds the Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Boston
University, School For The Arts. He is an alumnus of the Tanglewood
Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the Britten-Pears School For
Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England.
In San Francisco, Vanessa Bousay has appeared at Yoshi's, Martuni's Piano Lounge and a variety of fundraising galas. Her beloved charity is the Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners, benefitting the citizens of The Tenderloin. Chalfant refers to his character as "a talented songstress
... created by (a) proud San Franciscan."
The San Francisco Opera simulcast of Verdi's La Traviata from AT&T Park will be on Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 8:00 PM. You can sign up for tickets at www.sfopera.com/simulcast, or just show up at the game...um, opera. The cast of the opera also includes barihunk Hadleigh Adams as the Marquis d'Obigny. Performances at the War Memorial Opera House run through July 13 and tickets are available online.
The coveted Igor Gorin Memorial Award is being awarded to a barihunk for the second consecutive year, as Chris Carr will be the 2014 recipient. Last year's winner was Ryan Kuster. Mary Gorin created the Igor Gorin Memorial Award to honor her husband, the late Russian baritone Igor Gorin, by financially assisting talented young vocalists at the beginning of their careers.
Chris Carr is the baritone studio artist at Arizona Opera for the 2013-2014 season. Chris attended Simpson College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he studied with and continues to study with renowned tenor Vinson Cole. He was a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in both 2011 and 2012 and is a 2013 alumnus of the San Francisco Opera Center Merola Program. He will be using the award to support his next audition season as he attempts to move from young artist work to professional work.
Chris Carr will be performing Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata from February 28-March 9 and Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale with the Arizona Opera from April 12-27.
Ryan Kuster will perform Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen at the Virginia Opera from March 21 to April 13 and again with Opera Colorado from May 3-11.
Benjamin Covey, Gregory Dahl and Jonathan Estabrooks (PHOTO: Sam Garcia)
We don't usually think of La Traviata as an opera where we would find three barihunks that have appeared on our site. In fact, it's rare to find it in Verdi, although his Attila has surely given us plenty of barihunk duos, who also happen to have some pretty exciting music. But Opera Lyra in Ottawa assembled three Canadian barihunks in their production of the Verdi masterpiece: Benjamin Covey as the Marquis, Jonathan Estabrooks as the Baron Douphol and Gregory Dahl as Germont.
Gregory Dahl as Jokanaan in Salome w
As much as we love seeing three barihunks on stage together, the big news from this production is actually the return of Opera Lyra. Like many opera companies during the Great Recession, the Ottawa-based company struggled and cancelled performances, never quite sure if they could fully recover. This concert version of Traviata was a sure-fire way to get opera audiences back in the door. They will follow up with completely staged performances of Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, as well as a family performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
Traviata has one more performance tonight at 8 PM at Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.
We love seeing Jonathan Estabrooks back at Opera Lyra since we began covering him when he was first appearing with the company. He has kept busy since moving to New York City, where he just completed his first performance at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the Oratorio Society of New York in Paul Moravec's The Blizzard Voices.
Check out Jonathan Estabrook's "A Singer's Life":
Estabrooks will also team up with fellow Ottawan Larry Edelson at the American Lyric Theater in New York City. Edelson has cast Estabrooks as Alan Turing, the World Warr II computer genius who was persecuted for being gay.
Commissioned in honor of the Turing Centennial, The Turing Project
is a historical fantasia based on the life of the English scientist
Alan Turing. The opera explores Turing's extraordinary contributions to
mankind, his county's disavowal of him because he was gay, and the
mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. The opera imagines the
man inside the legend, the unique perspective he had on the universe,
the public and unashamed view he had of his own homosexuality, and the
impact he had upon the future of civilization.
Gregory Dahl will head to the Mannitoba Opera on April 13 for three performances as Amonasaro in Aida.
After seeing Daniel Cilli shirtless in West Edge Opera's "City of Sin," we realized that we've probably not featured him as regularly as we should. The singer emerged on the scene as a member of the Opera San Jose ensemble from 2006-2010, scoring critical acclaim in Eugene Onegin, Romeo and Juliet, Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro. He's now been in two productions with the innovative West Edge Opera, which used to be known as Berkeley Opera.
Cilli has a new SoundCloud page where you can listen to some clips. He also has some interesting upcoming engagements, starting with the Baron in La Traviata with the Livermore Valley Opera. Performances run from March 9-17 in Livermore, with a performance at the historic Napa Valley Opera House on March 13. It's believed to be the premiere of La traviata at the Napa Valley Opera House. Click HERE for additional performance information or tickets.
Daniel Cilli as Mercutio at Opera San Jose
On May 9 and 10, he'll appear with the Louisiana Philharmonic in the Fauré Requiem as part of their French Master series. There are performances in New Orleans and Covington and tickets are available online.
On June 7th he premieres the role of Carlo Gesualdo in Dante De Silva’s Gesualdo, Prince of Madness with San Francisco's Opera Parallèle.
We featured Todd Boyce in our sidebar yesterday as our daily video clip singing "Di Provenza" from Verdi's La traviata. We're big fans of his and loved hearing him debut this role. We've always been partial to younger Germont père's, as Violetta is a young courtesan and it fits the story more accurately.
Boyce is part of the Luzerner Theater ensemble where he'll also be singing Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, Eumete in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria and Niceros in Bruno Maderna's Satyricon.
His Germont père debuts tonight, so we thought we'd feature his sound clip of Di Provenza one more time. Tickets are available online.
The Ravenna Festival is kicking off on November 8th with a gala concert of music from Mozart and Verdi. The next day they will launch "Trilogia D'Autunno" (Autumn Trilogy) which will feature three of Verdi's most popular operas: La traviata, Il Trovatore and Rigoletto. Barihunk Luca Dall'Amico will be featured in both Rigoletto as Sparafucile and Ferrando in Il Trovatore. For all of you Hunkentenor fans, Bulent Bezduz will be singing Giorgio Germont in La traviata. The festival runs through November 18th and tickets are available online.
Daniel Giulianini
Thursday's gala concert will feature a barihunk who is new to us, Daniel Giulianini. The concert is affordable, as well, with tickets only ten Euros (five Euros for those under 26). The program includes the duet "La ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni, Germont's aria "Di Provenza" from La traviata, as well as the Violetta/Germont duet from the same opera.
Monica De Rosa McKay & Daniel Giulianini sing the Germont/Violetta duet:
Daniel Guilianini is a 23-year-old Italian baritone who studied with tenor William Matteuzzi. Guilianini was adopted from a Bulgarian orphanage by Italian parents at the age of six and started singing from a very early age. He attended the Forli Musical Lycée, where he studied classical singing, and for a short while the trombone. He apparently has a special fondness for singing Neapolitan songs.
He has won various regional competitions and in 2008 was runner up in Serata d'Onore, the national young opera singers' competition.
Buy your sexy 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking below. SUPPORT OPERA'S YOUNG ARTISTS.
We have a particular affection for the regional opera companies. They not only bring opera to people who may never have the opportunity to attend the Met or the San Francisco Opera, but they often produce some of the most innovative and exciting opera. Most singers who go on to great careers hone their craft at these companies and many will tell you that some of their best work was at a regional opera.
The Tacoma Opera sits in the shadow of the Seattle Opera with its internationally acclaimed performances of The Ring. Like all arts organizations they've faced their challenges, but they've revamped their company and are rolling out three fan favorites this season, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Verdi's La traviata and Peter Brooks' adaptation of the Bizet classic, La tragédie de Carmen.
Jose Rubio sings the Silvo-Nedda duet with Megan Hart:
The Tacoma Opera is partnering with the Tacoma
Symphony for two of the operas and giving more members of the Young
Artists program an opportunity to perform onstage with better known artists. Noel Koran, who took over the company in January, will also direct two of the operas. He's also cast fan favorite Jose Rubio as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, which should add some luster to the season. Rubio is a graduate of the Portland Opera Studio, which was one of last year's beneficiaries of the Barihunk Charity Calendar.
The Tacoma Young Artists will perform a fully staged version of La Tragédie de Carmen.
The season opens on November 2nd with Cosi fan tutte. Visit their website for additional performance information or to purchase tickets.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky continues to establish himself as one of the leading Verdi baritones of our age. It's a little odd to see someone who is aging as beautifully as Carey Grant or George Clooney begin playing fathers onstage, but that's exactly what he'll be doing in the Live in HD broadcast of Verdi's La traviata from the Met on Saturday, April 14th. His elegantly phrased Giorgio Germont will be transmitted to cinemas
worldwide with a U.S. encore transmission on May 2 and Canadian encores on May 26 and June 24. The event will also feature
exclusive backstage footage and interviews with cast members.
Live performances of La traviata run through May 2nd. He then begins his recital tour in Minsk on May 14.
Hvorostovsky sings "Di Provenza il mar, il suol" from La traviata:
John Boehr will be performing the Marquis D'Obigny in Verdi's "La Traviata" with the Syracuse Opera on October 21 and 23. Boehr returns to the company after performing in their "9 Operas in 90 Minutes" tour which visited five cities in upstate New York this summer. Boehr has previously performed with the Austin Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Fairbanks, and Minnesota Opera. Tickets and additional performance information are available at the Syracuse Opera website.
Craig Verm
On February 10 and 12, the company will perform Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" featuring barihunk Craig Verm.
One of the great things about young artist programs and smaller opera companies is that you can see emerging talent in roles that they would never perform on the big stage. One of the most sought after and talented of the young group of baritones is Jonathan Beyer, who has been blowing away everyone and anyone in sight in vocal competitions. (For the record: He was a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition. He was the 1st Place Winner at the Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists. He has also won the McCammon Competition, Sullivan Foundation Grant, the Irma M. Cooper Competition, Violetta DuPont Competition, Rochester's Classical Idol, New Jersey Verismo Competition, Philadelphia Orchestra's Greenfield Competition, Astral Artist Auditions, Pittsburgh Concert Society Auditions, SAI Competition, American Opera Society Competition, the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Competition, and the Bel Canto Foundation.)
Many people in the opera world are predicting superstardom for this singer and you should take advantage of any opportunity to hear him perform.
If you're in the New York/New Jersey area, you can preview him in a role that he won't be singing on any major stage for years to come. He will be Germont Pere in a production of Verdi's "La Traviata" with Opera at Florham at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. The production is semi-staged with a reduced orchestra, which will allow you to really hear this gifted performer. The performance is at 3 PM on Sunday, June 5 and you can click HERE for additional cast and production information.
You can hear a selection of audio clips at his website.
When we saw this new photo of Italian barihunk Luca Dall'Amico we had to share it with our readers. It's too bad that his voice is suited for roles that rarely show off his physique. Luckily, we previously had the opportunity to show readers his sexy, shirtless Mustafa in Rossini's "L'italiani in algeri." His upcoming schedule is no exception.
He can next be seen this Fall at the Teatro la Fenice as Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's "La Traviata" opposite the Violetta of Patrizia Ciofi and as Don Basilio in Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia," which he has recorded on DVD. Here is the trailer:
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com. If you haven't bought Randal Turner's new CD of American music, here is an easy way to purchase a copy or download your favorite tracks.
We ran a teaser back in March about Zachary Gordin's debut as Germont père in La Traviata with West Bay Opera. Fortunately, for anyone who wasn't able to be in California to see this bodybuilder/barihunk perform, we have video from the singer's YouTube site.
We also thought that it was important to run a few pictures of the former countertenor out of costume, since he's much hunkier before the makeup artists added 25 years to his muscular frame. It's also a good thing that the costume department didn't outfit him in something a little sexier, or we may have had the first Traviata where Violetta runs off to Paris with her lover's father.
