Watch Christopher Maltman in Met's updated Cosi fan tutte

Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso (Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera)

Christopher Maltman will be featured in the upcoming broadcast of Mozart's Così fan tutte from the Metropolitan Opera as part of its Great Performances Series on Sunday, July 29, 2018. The broadcast begins at 12 PM EDT/9 AM PST.

The Met version of Mozart’s comedy about the sexes is set in a carnival-esque, funhouse environment inspired by 1950s Coney Island—complete with bearded ladies, fire eaters, and a Ferris wheel. Maltman stars as Don Alfonso, while Broadway star Kelli O’Hara takes on the role of the scheming maid Despina in a rare appearance on an operatic stage.

Upcoming broadcast's include Verdi's Luisa Miller and Massenet's Cendrillon with Joyce DiDonato.

Mariusz Kwiecien Stars In Two Met HD Broadcasts

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.

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Hvorostovsky in HD

Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna

One of our great regrets at Barihunks is that there aren't more opportunities to post from Verdi's operas. Other than Attila there are very few Verdi roles that are naturally barihunk roles. We like the trend in many opera houses of casting younger singers as Germont père, which is more age appropriate, as Germont's father was probably in his 40s or 50s and not in his 70s like he's often portrayed. Also, we love the idea of a younger, sexy Iago, because we find opera "bad boys" kind of hot. 

It's nice to see singers some of the greatest barihunks tackling more Verdi roles. Simon Keenlyside and Dmitri Hvorstovsky seem to be leading the pack. Keenlyside has performances of Macbeth and Germont père coming up in London. Hvorostovksy has performances of Don Carlos in Tokyo and Ernani and Germont père at The Met.

Here is Keenlyside singing the aria "Pietà, rispetto, amore" from Verdi's Macbeth:

Anyone who can't attend his performance of the Count di Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore at The Met will now be able to watch it live in movie theaters on April 30 at 1pm EDT.10 AM PST. The performances are part of the The Met: Live in HD series and the cast includes Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick and Marcelo Álvarez.  Encore presentations will be given at movie theaters in the U.S. on May 18 and in Canada on June 4 and July 18. The April 30 performance will also be broadcast live on radio stations in the U.S. and abroad. Click HERE for information about performances in the U.S. and Canada. 

Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing Di Luna's cavatina "Il balen del suo sorriso":

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Watch Opera LIVE from the Teatro la Fenice

Luca Dall'Amico

What an amazing time we live in. In the past week we've seen broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House in London (in 3D!!!). Now opera lovers can enjoy live broadcasts from the Teatro la Fenice which begin on March 8th with Puccini's La Boheme. The cast includes Barihunks regular Luca Dall'Amico as Colline. Here is a clip of Dall'Amico from another production singing "Vecchia zimarra."

We recently read that more people saw Domingo in the single telecast from the Met than saw Caruso in his lifetime.  Telecasts and opera at the movie theater have also made opera a richer and more cinematic experience, which is something that we love to promote on Barihunks. The productions from Fenice are all directed by Renzo Cerbo, who is best known for his work in film. We would like to wish the Teatro la Fenice great success in this endeavor.



Future broadcast from the Teatro la Fenice include Lucia di Lammermoor, Das Rheingold, Barber of Seville, Il Trovatore and Le Nozze di Figaro. Check out the More2Screen website for additional information.

Peter Mattei's Barber of Seville

Mattei, DiDonato and Florez

Perhaps the only downside of a site dedicated to baritones is that we sometimes need to find an excuse to showcase other great singers. We love Peter Mattei and we've featured him often on this site. He is certainly a great Onegin and Billy Budd, but we usually don't think of him as a Rossini specialist. So when we rewatched these 2006 clips of him with two of the greatest Rossini singers of our time, Joyce di Donato and Juan Diego Florez, we had to post them. From his solo Largo to his work duets and ensemble work, Mattei shows why he remains one of the most sought after baritones in the world while revealing his penchant for comedy. Met fans will recognize some of these clips from the Live from the Met telecasts. Beginning March 11, Mattei will be performing in Tchaikovksy's "Queen of Spades" at the Metropolitan Opera. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

It's a great way to start a 3-day weekend. When you're done with these clips, we suggest that you check out Joyce DiDonato's Yankee Diva blog, which is one of the best in all of opera.







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Amazing Kwiecien-Del Carlo Duet

Mariusz Kwiecien 

It just doesn't get any better than this. Here is bass John Del Carlo with barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien singing the patter duet "Cheti, cheti immantinente" From Donizetti's "Don Pasquale.' the performance was part of the HD broadcast series from the Metropolitan Opera.

This clip will surely be remembered as one of the great moments in Met history.