Florian Spiess' sexy selfie for Rameau's Les Indes galantes

Master of the selfie: Florian Spiess as Bellone (left) and in Fanciulla (right)

We introduced Austrian bass-barihunk Florian Spiess back in 2014 when he was performing in Handel's rarity Almira in Hamburg. He's returning to the 18th century again on Sunday, April 3rd as Bellone in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Indes galantes at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. We had to share his backstage selfie that he posted on Facebook and encourage readers to LIKE his fan page, where he frequently shares sexy selfies.

The ballet/opera is having a bit of revival in recent years and this premiere is a co-production with 
the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse and the Opera National de Bordeaux. Regular readers will remember our post about a rather risque production at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse that involved a bit of nudity and a shirtless Vittorio Prato. The Munich Opera Festival will present the opera this summer with barihunk Tareq Nazmi as Osman and Goran Juric as Bellone.

The piece will be directed and choreographed by Laura Scozzi who returns to Nürnberg After successful production of Mozart's The Magic Flute and  Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims. The opera will be conducted by French baroque specialist Paul Agnew. Tickets are available online.

Florian Spiess sings Colline's aria Vecchia zimarra from La Bohème:

Spiess' vocal training began at the Tyrolean Conservatory where he performed in Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods and as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He continued his studies at the Vienna Music University including one year on a German-Austrian Richard Wagner Foundation scholarship.

He was a member of the ensembles at the Landestheater Linz and Volkstheater Rostock, but joined the Hamburg State Opera during the 2013-14 season. In Hamburg, he has performed Colline in Puccini's La Bohème, Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Radames in Verdi's Aida, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Raymondo in Handel‘s Almira.

Vittorio Prato is risqué "Les Indes Galantes"

When we first saw these pictures, the naked body on the right was identified as baritone Nathan Berg. We've seen him perform and were confident that it wasn't him. A little further research revealed that he's a dancer in one of many nude scenes in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scene pictured above is supposed to represent the Garden of Eden, which featured jocks and rap stars as symbols of our decaying society.

A shirtless Vittorio Prato

The opera goes on to deal with a number of topics that Rameau clearly never had to grapple with musically in his day, including consumerism, cocaine, illegal immigration and Islamic attitudes towards women (sexy women in lingerie are covered in burkas). We don't review operas and we weren't there, so we'll let you decide how you feel about the updated production concept by director Laura Scozzi.

Of course, what really caught our eye was one of our favorite barihunks, Vittorio Prato, prancing around shirtless on the "beach." Prato plays the role of Osman in the first act, but doesn't appear elsewhere in the opera. Prato can next be seen in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and then in the title role of Handel's "Imeneo" at the Théathe des Champs Elysées in Paris under Christopher Hogwood.

Nudity abounds in Théâtre du Capitole's latest production

Performances run through May 15 and additional information can be found at the Théâtre du Capitole website.

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