San Francisco Opera’s summer production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni just doubled its "sexiness factor" with the announcement that two barihunks will step in for Marco Vinco as Leporello. The Italian bass withdrew from the production due to health issues.
American bass-barihunk Erik Anstine will sing two performances and Uruguayan bass-barihunk Erwin Schrott will take over for the other six, which run from June 4 through June 30. Both singers are making their house debuts with the San Francisco Opera. Schrott's performances will be has last scheduled appearances in the United States for 2017.
The duo will join bass-barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, who is singing the title role, along with soprano Erin Wall as Donna Anna, soprano Ana María Martínez as Donna Elvira, tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Don Ottavio, soprano Sarah Shafer as Zerlina, Michael Sumuel as Masetto and Andrea Silvestrelli. Tickets are available online.
The June 30th performance will be part of the company's' annual Opera at the Ballpark, a free live simulcast of the opera at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The simulcast is free, but you must register online.
American bass-barihunk Kyle Ketelsen is the cover boy on the October 2016 edition of OPERA magazine.
The article points out that Ketelsen has sung all four low-voiced roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, but that Leporello has become his signature role. We've also called Ketelsen the "definitive Leporello" in previous posts. The magazine article quotes three famous Giovanni's on singing the title role next to Ketelsen's Leporello. Here's what they had to say:
Russel Braun said, "...there are so many ways in which he identifies with Leporello; his kind of patience, very useful onstage, gives strength to the character."
Rod Gilfy stated, "Kyle's Leporello was boyish, sprightly, troubled, playful; very modern...He's a rock-solid, handsome, athletic bass-baritone who sings beautifully; he could sing a myriad lyric bass and bass-baritone roles."
Kyle Ketelsen talks about singing Leporello:
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Finally, Simon Keenlyside added, "Kyle's voice is one of the most beautiful bass-baritone sounds around; he wields the instrument with consummate legato and artistry to match. On stage he is everything a colleague could want...When I know I have Kyle alongside me as Leporello, I know I will be in safe hands. Any Giovanni with a great Leporello alongside him will be so much more than he could ever have been on his own."
Kyle Ketelsen can next be seen at the Opernhaus Zürich in Gounod's Faust, which runs from September 20-October 7. The all-star cast includes Charles Castronovo in the title role, Anita Hartig as Marguerite, Lilly Jørstad as Siebel and Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès.
Bass-barihunk Erwin Schrott will kick off the the 64th Ljubljana Festival tonight in an open air concert in Congress Square joined by Argentine soprano Jaquelina Liveri.
The opera Don Giovanni
will feature prominently on the program, as it includes the Leporello's Catalog Aria, Donna Anna's Non mi dir and Don Giovanni and Zerlina's duet La ci darem la mano. Schrott will also perform Dulcamara’s aria from L’elisir d’amore "Udite, udite, o rustici," "Et toi, Palerme" from Verdi's I vespri siciliani, Mephistophele’s aria "Le veau d’or" from Faust, in addition to duets with Liveri.
Brandon Cedel (Photo:Opera News) and Alex Esposito
Don Giovanni is also up next on Schrott's calendar, as he performs the title role at the Opernfestspiele at the Bavarian State Opera with fellow barihunks Alex Esposito in his signature role Leporello and Brandon Cedel as Masetto. The all-star cast also includes Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio, Albina Shagimuratova as Donna Anna, Ain Anger as the Commendatore and Dorothea Röschmann as Donna Elvira. Performances are on July 23 and 25 and tickets are available online.
Daniel Okulitch with Samantha Gossard (left) and Joshua Bloom (right)Photo by Cory Weaver
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is opening its 58th season with Mozart’s Don Giovanni featuring
the barihunk trio of Daniel Okulitch in the title role, Joshua Bloom as
Leporello and Rhys Lloyd Talbot as Masetto. Performances are on
September 26 and 30 and October 2 and 4 at the Kauffman Center for the
Performing Arts. Tickets are available online.
The opera is being done in a film noir theme set in the mid-20th century featuring snap-brim fedoras, trench coats and dimly lit speakeasies. Seville has been replaced by the mean streets of the big city as dark shadows hide mistaken identities.
“Film noir is about seduction and about mystery, and the lead character, Don Giovanni, is about seduction and about mystery,” said Deborah Sandler, general director and CEO of the Lyric Opera. The opera is directed by Kristine McIntyre. “There’s a lot that happens in this opera that we don’t see. It’s kind of in the dark. It’s about hints. The darkness and the shadows of film noir seem to be a very good lens with which to see this opera.”
Lyric Opera of Kansas City's Don Giovanni Photo by Cory Weaver
Okulitch has sung the title role in Portland, Vancouver, Colón, Palm Beach, New York City Opera and will reprise it in Santa Fe next season with fellow barithunks Kostas Smoriginas as Leporello and Soloman Howard as the Commendatore.
After Don Giovanni, Bloom will portray The Pirate King in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in October at both Théâtre de Caen and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Okulitch will head to the Manitoba Opera where he will sing Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Talbot just completed the Young Artist program at Glimmerglass where he performed the Speaker/Second Priest in Mozart's The Magic Flute and the Apparition in Verdi's Macbeth.
Erwin Schrott's stage performances for the remainder of the year is nothing but Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. Tomorrow night he performs Don Giovanni in a concert version of the opera in the tent in Gstaad performed by the orchestra La Scintilla from the Zurich Opera under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado. The cast includes Véronique Gens and Regula Mühlemann.
On September 15ht, he opens at the Royal Opera House in London for seven performances as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with fellow barihunk Stéphane Degout as Count Almaviva. The cast includes Ellie Dehn as the Countess, Kate Lindsey as Cherubino and Ann Murray as Marcellina.
In October, he heads to the Wiener Staatsoper to portray Leporello in Don Giovanni with fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. The cast includes Andrea Carroll as Zerlina and Juliane Banse as Donna Elvira.
The trend continues into 2016, when he returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Don Giovanni in a barihunk-laden cast that includes Alex Esposito as Leporello and Brandon Cedel and Tareq Nazmi rotating as Masetto.
His only U.S. performance is scheduled for December 12th when he performs Rojotango, his show of tangos by Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler as well as Argentinean and Brazilian folk songs.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is opening its 58th season with Mozart’s Don Giovanni featuring the barihunk trio of Daniel Okulitch in the title role, Joshua Bloom as Leporello and Rhys Lloyd Talbot as Masetto. Performances are on September 26 and 30 and October 2 and 4 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available online.
The trio are also all alumni of the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, with Daniel Okulitch taking part in 2002, Joshua Bloom in 2001 and 2003, and Rhys Lloyd Talbot in 2013 and 2014. Elizabeth Caballero, their Donna Elvira, was in the program with both Okulitch and Bloom.
After Don Giovanni, Bloom will portray The Pirate King in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in October at both Théâtre de Caen and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Okulitch will head to the Manitoba Opera where he will sing Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Talbot just completed the Young Artist program at Glimmerglass where he performed the Speaker/Second Priest in Mozart's The Magic Flute and the Apparition in Verdi's Macbeth.
Canadian barihunk Benoit Pitre, who we introduced to readers back in July 2014, is currently singing his dream role of Don Giovanni in his home base of Berlin, Germany. The German adaptation of the piece is being performed at the Hauptstadtoper, with upcoming performances on March 6, April 26, May 28, June 11 and June 20.
Pitre informed us that he's been working out since Christmas to ensure that he did justice to the shirtless direction. Additional information is available online. He made his European debut as Don Giovanni's sidekick Leporello with the Komischen Kammeroper in Munich.
On March 20th, he'll perform Siméon in Debussy's L'enfant prodigue with Sakrale Oper in Berlin.
Miljenko Turk as Don Giovanni and Maciej Idziorek as Leporello(photo Dorit Gätjen)
A reader in Germany alerted us to MaciejIdziorek, a Polish born barihunk singing Leporello in the current run of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Volkstheater Rostock.
He started his career singing with the Children's Opera at the ViennaState Opera after moving to the Austrian capital as a child. He went on to complete his studies at the Vienna Conservatory. After graduation he sang at the Theater an der Wien, where he performed in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Offenbach's Les Contesd'Hoffmann, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi andI, Schickaneder. In 2012, he sang the title role in DirkD'Ase's tangoopera Azrael. SinceAugust 2014,hehas been been a member of the ensemble at the Volkstheater Rostock.
Performances of Don Giovanni run from December 27 through January 21. Tickets are available online. Upcoming roles for him include Sparbüchsenbill in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny) by Kurt Weill and Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.
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American barihunk Kyle Ketelsen will make his debut with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in a special Easter version of Handel's Messiah that his being broadcast worldwide.
The concert from Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah will be performed live on Friday, April
18 and Saturday, April 19 at 7:30 PM MDT. The Friday performance will be available live online and then for free on-demand until midnight on Monday, April 21st.
Ketelsen, who has become the preeminent Escamillo in the world, is not new to oratorios. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with Haydn’s
Creation with the Oratorio Society of New York and repeated the work
with Music of the Baroque in Chicago. His concert repertoire also includes the Verdi Requiem, Brahms' Deutsches Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Dvorák's Te Deum, the Bach St. Matthew and St. John Passions and the Mozart C-Minor Mass.
From June 20-28 he returns to the opera stage in his signature role of Escamillo at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. In September, he returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Leporello opposite the Don Giovanni of fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien.
We're not sure how Italian bass-barihunk Pietro di Bianco escaped our eagle eyes or slipped by our readers in Europe, but we're thrilled to add him to our site. With his runway model looks and voice to match, we have a feeling that he'll be a regular on this site.
He's currently getting ready to open as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra National de Paris in a cast that features fellow barihunk Damian Pass as Masetto. Performance run from March 22-29 and additional information is available online. He will reprise the role of Leporello on July 5 and 7 at the Anthéa Antipolis Théâtre d'Antibes.
Born in 1983, Pietro Di Bianco studied piano at the
Conservatoire Giuseppe Martucci of Salerno, where he graduated in 2004. He
studied chamber music at the Accademia nazionale de Santa Cecilia and won
several national competitions. He was hired as a piano accompanist at the music
conservatories in Salerno and Potenza.
He then took up singing at the conservatory in Aquila
and graduated in 2009. He worked with the great soprano Renata Scotto at the
opera in Santa Cecilia and with the legendary baritone Renato Bruson in Sienna.
He was a finalist at the 62nd Concours européen Associazione lirica
concertistica Italiana at the Teatro de Como. He is currently honing his skills with the Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaiwanska.
Pietro Di Bianco
Di Bianco performed concerts throughout Rome, while
also appearing at the Palau de la Música di Valencia as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Collatinus in Benjamin
Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Théâtre de l'Athénée, Fauré's Requiem
with the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Rome, Don Alvaro in
Rossini’s Il Viaggo in Reims at the
Teatro Rossini and the Pharaoh in Rossini’s Mose
in Egitto at the Teatro Municipal Giuseppe Verdi.
In October 2012, he joined the roster of the Atelier
Lyrique. Upcoming performances include Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Sofia Opera and Beaupertuis inNino
Rota’sIl
cappello di paglia di Firenze in Bari,Italy.
Justin Hopkins in Leporello and Opera in the Height's Don Giovanni artwork
Barihunks calendar model and rising star in the bass-baritone repertory Justin Hopkins just made his role debut as Leporello with Houston's Opera in the Heights. Although the role was originally double-cast, Hopkins is slated to sing all seven performances. The production has been moved to the mid-20th century with artwork from surreal artist René Magritte covering the sets.
This is certainly not Hopkins first foray into Mozart, as he's performed Bartolo and Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Verbier Festival, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with the Santa Fe Concert Association and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Pensacola Opera.
Music critic D.L. Groover in the Houston Post called his Leporello the "standout performance."
Remaining performances are on February 7, 8 and 9 and tickets are available online.
Lee Poulis, John de los Santos and Sean Pannikar
Hopkins is returning to the Fort Worth Opera Festival to perform Nourabad in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers in a production directed by the amazing young director John de los Santos. Barihunk Lee Poulis will sing Zurga and hunkentenor Sean Panikkar takes on Nadir, so this production promises lots of eye candy. Performances are on April 19, 27 and May 2 and tickets are available online.
If you haven't experienced the amazing opera that happening in Fort Worth, you should make travel plans now. They are also featuring Kevin Puts' Silent Night, Mozart's Così fan tutte and Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask's With Blood, With Ink.
Thomas Hampson and his son-in-law Luca Pisaroni are taking their "No Tenors Allowed" show to the Czach Republic and Slovakia. The duo will perform their popular show on Wednesday, December 4th in Bratislava and again on Monday, December 9th in Prague.
The program includes arias and duets from opera and Broadway. Pisaroni will perform Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Mephistopheles’ serenade from Gounod's Faust, "Sorgete… Duce di tanti eroi: from Rossini's Maometto II and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening. Hampson will perform Gabey’s song from Bernstein's On the Town, Iago's Credo from Verdi's Otello, "Vision fugitive" from Massenet's Hérodiade and "Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. They will also team up for duets from Verdi's Don Carlo, Bellini's I Puritani and Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
Hampson originally performed the "No Tenors Allowed" format with bass Samuel Ramey in the 1990's, which is available on Teldec.
Hampson's next operatic performance is in Verdi's La traviata at the Bavarian State Opera opposite Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo. The show opens on December 31st. Luca Pisaroni's next operatic performance is as Mozart's Figaro at the Vienna State Opera opening January 9th.
Time is running out to order your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Order yours today by clicking the Lulu button below. Get into the giving spirit now...and remember that every penny of profit goes to benefit young artists.
Last month we posted about Alex Esposito's recital at Wigmore Hall, which happened on February 5th. We now have some video, which was part of the Rosenblatt Recital series.
Alex Esposito sings Tosti's "Non t'amo più":
Alex Esposito - ROSSINI Cade dal ciglio (Mosè in Egitto)
Alex Esposito - ROSSINI Accusata di furto (La Gazza Ladra)
Esposito can next be seen performing his signature role of Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni a the Théâtre du capitole in Toulouse, France. The title role will be shared by barihunks Christopher Maltman and Kostas Smoriginas. Performances run from March 15-28 and tickets are available online.
Romain Dayez as Leporello (Photo by Pierre Yellal)
Belgian barihunk Romain Dayez has been on our list of singers to post for over a year. In fact, we tried to get him into this year's Barihunks calendar, but couldn't get a high resolution photo in time. When we saw this photo of him as Leporello from the Festival du Haut Limousin in France we decided that we just couldn't keep him from our readers any longer.
The photo that didn't make the Barihunks calendar
The 22-year-old, who hails from a family of artists, entered the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in Belgium in 2007 before continuing his music studies at the Conservatoire Supérieur National de Musique in Paris three years later. Much of his early career has been focused on oratorios and baroque repertoire. He seems to have a particular affinity for Mozart, having had success as Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera and Leporello in Don Giovanni. He has a particular passion for French chansons, which he has included in recitals at numerous festivals.
Long-term, he may have a future as an artistic administrator, as he's promoted music from the baroque, as founder of L'Olimpiade, to new music collaborations with groups like the Parisian rappers Milk Coffee & Sugar.
Romain Dayez with Milk Coffee & Sugar performing "Chanter Déchanter"
(at the 1:32, 2:45 & 4:03 marks):
He is currently performing the Phillippe Boesmans/Luc Bondy opera Reigen at the Salle d'art Lyrique at the Paris Conservatoire. On March 17th, he'll sing the role of Christ in Bach's St. Matthew's Passion at the Basiliek van Hulst in Holland. On March 30th, his group L'Olimpiade will perform music by Charpentier and Couperin at the Hôtel de Soubise.
Further down the road he will sing and direct a project about composers Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass with his Alliage Art Project. We will post more about that in the Fall.
We're unabashedly huge fans of Italian barihunk Alex Esposito, especially when singing Mozart. His calendar is full of Mozart again this year with his definitive Leporello in Don Giovanni up next at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Also in the cast is Seth Carico, one of our favorite American singers, who will be taking on Masetto. Performances are on January 17, 19, 24 and 30 and tickets are available online.
Other upcoming performances as Leporello include one at the Théâtre du capitole in Toulouse (with barihunks Christopher Maltman and Kostas Smoriginas alternating as Don Giovanni) opening on March 15. On May 3rd he'll reprise his Leporello at the Bayersche Staatsoper in Munich with Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni and Tareq Nazmi as Masetto.
Seth Carico from our 2012 Barihunks calendar
Carico, who is now part of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper, can be seen this year as Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, theSacristan in Puccini's Tosca, Count Ribbing in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Panthée in Berlioz' Les Troyens, Count Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto, Astolfo in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia andScriften in Dietsch's Das Geisterschiff.
Alex Esposito sings the catalogue aria from Don Giovanni:
Esposito will also be making his Rosenblatt Recitals debut at Wigmore Hall in London on February 5th. His program will include Leporello's catalogue aria, as well as "Vieni la mia vendetta" from Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni"from Bellini's La Sonnambula, "Cade dal ciglio il velo" from Rossini's Mosè in Egitto. He will also sing songs by Beethoven, Cesti, Carissimi and Tosti. Tickets are available on the Wigmore Hall website.
Mariusz Kwiecien as the title character of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”
Photo: Nick Heavican/Metropolitan Opera
On Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Opera launched their latest installment of the Live in HD broadcasts to hundreds of movie theaters across the United States with Donizetti's Anna Bolena.
There are five more broadcasts and two feature barihunk mega-star Mariusz Kwiecien, who will be seen in June 27th performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni and the July 18th performance of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. The Don Giovanni is a barihunk lovers dream cast, as it also includes Luca Pisaroni as Leporello and Aussie Joshua Bloom as Masetto. The Lucia performance will feature Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala as the ill-fated lovers.
Mariusz Kwiecien and Luca Pisaroni (Leporello) in the Met's Mozart's "Don Giovanni"
Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
Additional broadcasts include Anna Netrebko in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann on July 11th, hunkentenor Juan Diego Flórez in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory on June 20th and Renée Fleming in Der Rosenkavalier on July 25th.
All screenings will begin at 6:30 p.m. local time. You can click HERE to find the theater closest to you.
Fans of Kwiecien should be reminded that he'll be in Santa Fe performing Karol Szymanowski King Roger from July 21 through August 14th. Check out the Santa Fe Opera website to watch Kwiecien discuss the opera or to purchase tickets.
Three of the most beautiful performers in opera have teamed up for "3 Superstars in Berlin," an evening of music from opera and musicals. Barihunk Erwin Schrott is joining forces with his wife Anna Netrebko and hunkentenor Jonas Kaufman for a concert that will be shown in movie theaters worldwide on January 26 and February 3. The performance is being taped at the Berlin Waldbuhne, the city's gorgeous 23,000 seat outdoor theater set in the heart of a forest.
The trio will be peforming selections from Bernstein's "West Side Story," Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," Puccini's "Manon Lescaut," Gounod's "Faust," Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and tangos. You can click HERE for tickets and showtimes.
Erwin Schrott in Don Giovanni
Schrott returns to the opera stage on February 3rd at the Royal Opera House in London as Don Giovanni. His Leporello will be fellow barihunk Alex Esposito. Performances run through February 29th and tickets are available HERE.
Ryan Kuster (L), Andrew Garland (C) and Alex Esposito
Today is a miscellaneous Friday for us, which we're going to use to update you on four of our favorite barihunks. They also happen to be three of the most talented singers to be making their mark in the opera world today.
Our favorite redhead, Andrew Garland, recently finished recording "American Portraits" for GPR records, which is due out in 2012. He can next be heard in Handel's "Messiah" with the Boston Baroque on December 9 and 10. Here he is singing "A Reverie" from the song cycle 'Battle Pieces' by Paul Phillips, which is based on poems by Herman Melville. The world premiere was on October 16, 2011 with the Pioneer Valley Symphony in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
We have deservedly dubbed Alex Esposito the greatest Leporello in the world today and it continues to be a major role on his schedule. His work as a Mozart specialist in general has been recognized by the most prestigious opera companies in the world, who keep engaging him for the master's leading roles. He's keeping a busy schedule singing his signature role as Don Giovanni's sidekick with a recent run at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and now taking it to the Vienna Staatsoper, which opens on December 11. He then switches Mozart roles, singing Papageno at La Scala in February and Guglielmo in Toulouse in May 2012. For a change of pace, here he is singing the aria "Accusata di furto" from Gioachino Rossini's "La gazza ladra," which is best known for its overture. The performance is from a gala at the Deutsche Oper Berlinon November 5, 2011.
Fans of Ryan Kuster in San Francisco were treated to this amazing singer at the San Francisco Opera's "The Future is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert." The first-year Adler Fellow continues to generate a genuine buzz among opera cognoscenti and he didn't disappoint last night with a rousing and vocally eloquent performance of "Aprite un po' quegli' occhi" from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." He was then given the unenviable task of singing opposite Leah Crocetto, who many believe will be the next reigning Verdi soprano. The duo sang "Il padre tuo...Tu piniscimi" and literally brought down the house.
And speaking of duos...
If you think the Germans are upset at having to carry the load of the European debt crisis, you should have seen the reaction when the Semperoper Dresden announced that Anna Netrebko and barihunk hubby Erwin Schrott would not be performing in two New Year's Eve Concerts. Opera's most famoust couple were replaced by sopranos Angela Denoke and Ana Maria Labin. The two concerts were sold out, but the ticket office is being besieged with refund requests. The change was made with little fanfare, as Netrebko and Schrott's names mysteriously disappeared from the website overnight.
We're going to announce our first two recipients for a charitable donation from our our 2012 Barihunks calendar in the next few days. We appreciate everyone's enthusiastic support for the calendar, but encourage those who haven't purchased one to do so now, so we can support additional programs. Also, it's not to late to write us at Barihunks@gmail.com and tell us why your young artist program is deserving of a donation from the calendar.
We're still not over the loss of Aussie Sam Roberts-Smith, who crossed over into the realm of the tenor repertory. So we were thrilled when a reader brought another Aussie barihunk to our attention, Morgan Pearse. Our reader heard him perform in the Australia Singing Competition, which is sponsored by the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.
Pearse sang a rousing rendition of Leporello's "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni," which seemed to be an audience favorite. There is already chatter Down Under that he is the heir apparent to New Zealander Teddy Tahu Rhodes, with whom he shares movie star looks, golden locks and unlimited charisma.
Pearse is finishing his Masters at the Royal College of Music, where he is studying on a Joan Sutherland scholarship. After the Australia Singing Competition, Pearse headed back to London where he is covering the role of Splendiano in the Royal College of Music's production of Bizet’s Djamileh and participating in a master class with baritone Gerald Finley.
Pearse will be singing Handel's "Messiah" on December 13 and 18 at the Sydney Town Hall. You can click HERE for tickets and additional information.
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com
Don't forget that you can support young artists like Morgan Pearse by purchasing our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds go to benefit young artists. The calendar features the hottest singers from six countries. Click HERE to purchase your own calendar or make it the perfect holiday gift.
We're unabashedly huge fans of Alex Esposito, who has established himself as one of the leading Leporello's of the last generation. He also made a name for himself as Masetto in the DVD from Salzburg opposite the Don Giovanni of Christopher Maltman and the Leporello of Erwin Schrott, which stands as one of the greatest barihunk productions in opera history.
Alex Esposito: The world's reigning Leporello (with Ildebrando d'Arcangelo on left)
Esposito has generally established himself as one of the most sought after Mozart singers in the world, singing in all of Mozart's standard repertory operas. He recently appeared as Papageno at La Scala and Guglielmo in Toulouse and his schedule is filled with Mozart for the next two years. He can be seen in Munich, Valencia, Valencia and London as Leporello; Papageno in Munich, and; Figaro in Venice and Paris.
To view his complete schedule and see more photos visit his website.
