Bass-barihunk Laurence Meikle in Meyerbeer rarity Margherita d'Anjou

Laurence Meikle

Laurence Meikle, who recently made the transition to bass, opened last night at the Festival della Valle d'Itria as Carlo Belmonte in Meyerbeer's rarely performed opera Margherita d'Anjou. Meikle began exploring the transition to bass in 2016 when he performed Mozart's Così fan tutte with Fabio Luisi at the Festival della Valle d'Itria.

Margherita d'Anjou marked Meyerbeer's debut and first real success at the Teatro alla Scala. The opera is loosely based on an actual historical themes about the English Wars of the Roses. The opera was the first by Meyerbeer to mix historical events and personages with fictional characters and situations, as his French grand operas Les Huguenots, Le prophète and L'Africaine were later to do.  It contains opulent virtuoso and broad choral passages, along with several ensembles for male voices, including a trio for bass voices. 

Laurence Meikle

The opera premiered at La Scala on November 14, 1820 and was subsequently performed throughout Europe in Italian, French and German. It received its US debut in New Orleans on  April 17, 1854. This is the first modern era production of the opera that is fully stage, There was a concert performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London in November 2002. A new critical edition of the score was published by Ricordi Berlin in 2015.

From October 29 to November 8, Meikle will return to the Teatro di San Carlo as Osmin in the Strehler production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He performed there earlier this year as Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata.

Laurence Meikle pulls an Opolais in Germany

Laurence Meikle in last night's La bohème in Wiemar (right)

Australian barihunk was a last minute replacement last night in Puccini's La bohème at the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar. The singer is no stranger to the opera having performed four roles: Marcello, Schaunard, Benoit and Alcindoro. What's amazing is that he's scheduled to sing Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto tonight at the Theater Nordhausen.

The story is reminiscent of soprano Kristine Opolais, who stepped into the Met's La bohème a night on April 5, 2014 a night after having performed Madama Butterfly. What makes Meikle's back-to-back performances so amazing is that it's not in the same opera house, but 90 minutes down the road.

When he's done with Rigoletto, he heads back to Wiemar to take on Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata beginning on January 24. 

Barihunk strip tease in The Merry Widow (in Germany, of course!)

Laurence Meikle and Marco Vassalli

A reader is Germany pointed out that the current production of Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) at the Theater Altenburg in Gera, Germany features two barihunks, one who is new to this site. The newcomer is the extremely sexy Marco Vassalli who performs the role of Graf Danilo. Laurence Meikle, who has appeared on this site a number of times, performs the role of Cascada.

What really caught our reader's eye was that the two singers perform a strip tease at the end of the show where they're left wearing nothing but a hat. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures, but we're looking and asking around! There is one performance remaining on November 16th and tickets are available online.

Marco Vassalli performs Lehar's Graf von Luxemburg:

Despite his name, Vassalli is a German baritone who studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany. From 2006 to 2012 he was a member of the ensemble at the Städtischen Bühnen Osnabrück. After his run in Die Lustige Witwe he heads to the Landestheater Flensburg to perform in Frank Wildhorn's Dracula.

Meikle will head to the Theater Nordhausen to perform Antonio in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Meikle graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2010 and has performed extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

Barihunk Chart Topper; Great Gatsby in SF; Andrew Garland for Valentine's Day: Meikle Takes Marcello to Italy

David McFerrin (Top L), David Adam Moore (Bottom L) & Jesse Blumberg (R)

A little over two weeks ago we mentioned the CD release party and concert for the Five Borough Music Festival's songbook of works by twenty composers. Each song was inspired by places, themes, and poetry from every corner of New York City. We're thrilled to announce that the CD has shot up the Classical Billboard charts to #12 ahead of the Metropolitan Opera and Sir Paul McCartney. Barihunks David Adam Moore, Jesse Blumberg and David McFerrin are all featured on the CD.

Composers include Lisa Bielawa, Tom Cipullo, Mohammed Fairouz, Ricky Ian Gordon, Daron Hagen, Gabriel Kahane, Jorge Martin, Russell Platt, Matt Schickele and more. Click HERE to buy your copy today.

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone involved!

Jason Detwiler & Susannah Biller (photo by Steve DiBartolomeo)

Last February, we featured Ensemble Parallèle’s production of Philip Glass' "Orphée" with barihunks Eugene Brancoveanu and Austin Kness. The innovative young company is back with another barihunk, Jason Detwiler, in their production of John Harbison’s "The Great Gatsby." The soprano is Susannah Biller Kness who, you guessed it, is married to barihunk Austin Kness.

The Great Gatsby will run from February 10-12 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco.  Jason Detwiler is performing the role of Nick Carraway.  Visit the Ensemble Parallèle website for additional cast and performance information.   

Andrew Garland: Our Favorite Valentine

Back in July we mentioned the New York Festival Of Song's upcoming season and we've been following each concert throughout the season. We're particularly excited  about the February 14th concert for Valentine's Day entitled "A MODERN PERSON’S GUIDE TO HOOKING UP AND BREAKING UP." The concert will examine the full range of modern love with affection and humor through songs of Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, The Bobs, Noël Coward, Jason Robert Brown, Ed Kleban, and others. Subjects range from voyeurism, S&M, and ménages à trois, to good old-fashioned heart-to-heart love. The concert also repeats on February 16 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall.

Most importantly, the concert includes our favorite Valentine's Day barihunk, Andrew Garland.  Click HERE to spent your Valentine's Day with the hottest redhead in opera.

Laurence Meikle

Laurence Meikle debuts as Marcello in Puccini’s "La Boheme" tonight at the Teatro Guiditta Pasta in Saronno, Italy. There will be an additional performance at the Teatro dell’Opera di Milano in Varese on February 4th.

Regular readers might remember Meikle from our "Hottest Aussie Barihunks" or our feature on his performance of Marcello at a Soho restaurant in London.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Our Hottest Aussie Barihunks

Laurence Meikle

We recently ran a pole asking readers who they thought was the hottest Aussie barihunk. Laurence Meikle and Sam Roberts-Smith led the pack. Here are some videos for you to enjoy.

First is a profile of Meikle as he prepares to sing for Queen Elizbeth and a clip of him performing La Boheme in English at the Soho Theater in London.





Here is Sam Roberts-Smith performing "O Carlos, ascolta" from Verdi's Don Carlo and a profile on him where he discusses his career and future plans. The first video is from the 2009 Australian Singing Competition Finals Concert in Perth, Australia.

Sam Roberts-Smith

Who is the hottest Aussie Barihunk?

The death of Dame Joan Sutherland reminded us that Australia has a long tradition of producing amazing operatic talent. Names like Joan Hammond, Frances Alda, Marjorie Lawrence, Nellie Melba and Yvonne Minton jump immediately to mind. Australia also produced one of the greatest baritones ever, John Brownlee, who you can hear here:



Our recent post of Sam Roberts-Smith also reminded us that we've featured some major barihunks from Down Under. Although we find them all hot, we're wondering who you think is the hottest hunk from Down Under. Check out the photos and vote in the box to your right.

Simon Lobelson

Hadleigh Adams

Joshua Bloom

Sam Roberts-Smith

Laurence Meikle

Grant Doyle

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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DAVID ADAM MOORE

David Adam Moore will perform in an opera workshop of Conrad Cumming's new American opera "The Golden Gate" this weekend in New York City. Click HERE for more information.
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DOUG CARPENTER


Doug Carpenter is beginning his run in Camelot at the Pasadena Playhouse, which has the following disclaimer: "Camelot is recommended for mature audiences due to adult content and themes." We heard that there is "tasteful nudity." Click HERE for ticket and performance information.
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LEE POULIS

Lee Poulis was named Bester Nachwuchsänger (Best Young Singer) by Die Welt's annual survey of German music critics.
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PALLE KNUDSEN

LAURENCE MEIKLE

Lastly, we think Laurence Meikle and Palle Knudsen, neither of whom have appeared on this site before, are both really sexy and deserve a posting.
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A CD For Baritone/Barihunk Lovers

[Duncan Rock with Dmitri Hvorostovsky]

[Laurence Meikle]


Imagine our great joy when we learned that the independent label Zoom had released a recording of Elgar's "The Fringes of the Fleet." This is a rarely performed piece based on poetry by Rudyard Kipling scored for four baritones and orchestra.

The folks at Zoom also managed to nab four attractive young barihunks, Duncan Rock, Laurence Meikle, Nicholas Lester and the supremely talented Roderick Williams. The work was a huge success when it premiered in 1917, but has been lost to time. Let's hope that some performance venue resurrects the work.

You can find the CD on the carousel to the right.

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