Watch Christopher Maltman in his 3rd role debut in 46 days!

Christopher Maltman and a scene from Arabella in Vienna

Christopher Maltman is currently performing the role of Mandryka in Richard Strauss' Arabella, which will be live-streamed worldwide. The performance from the Wiener Staatsoper begins at 7 PM (2 PM EST/11 AM PST). He'll be joined in the cast by Kurt Rydl as Graf Waldner, Anna Gabler as Arabella, Chen Reiss as Zdenka and Benjamin Bruns as Matteo.

Arabella was the sixth and final collaboration between Strauss and his famous librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written during the collapse of the Weimar Republic and given its premiere in Dresden in the first months of the Third Reich. The story revolves around Arabella, a poor little rich girl, looking for the ideal man in Vienna during the declining years of the Austro-Hungarian empire. That man turns out to be Mandryka, but along the way one meets some pretty horrendous family members.

Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson in the finale to Arabella:

 
Tickets to view the performance can be purchased on the Wiener Staatsoper website. After this production, the company will live stream Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus and a full cycle of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Maltman has been on a whirlwind of late, making three role debuts in 46 days, which included thirteen performances in 3 cities, and sung in three different languages. It started on October 30th with Donizeti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House in London, and then Frankfurt in November for Verdi's Les Vêpres Sicilienne and finally Arabella in Vienna.

Jason Duika in 2018 Barihunks Photo Book

ONLY 16 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Watch the Live Stream on The Tempest with Adrian Eröd

Adrian Eröd as Prospero

Austrian barihunk Adrian Eröd returns to the role of Prospero in Thomas Adés' The Tempest, which he performed at the Frankfurt Opera in 2009/10. Prospero is the banished Duke of Milan who practices his otherworldly arts.The current production is at his home base of the Vienna State Opera and will be conducted by the composer with a cast that includes countertenor superstar David Daniels, Audrey Luna and Stephanie Houtzeel. Performances run from June 14-27.

Eröd has been one of the most popular baritones in Vienna since his debut in 2001 as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. He's gone on to sing a number of roles to great acclaim including Guglielmo, Conte Almaviva, Eisenstein, Albert in Werther and Olivier in Capriccio.

Adrian Eröd backstage as Prospero

You can watch the performance live on Wednesday June 24, 2015, 7 PM at the Vienna State Opera's live streaming site. The live stream costs € 14.00 (approximately15.71 USD - 10.14 GBP.

Shakespeare's story has inspired 50 operas including Fromental Halévy's La Tempesta, Zdeněk Fibich's Bouře, Frank Martin's Der Sturm and Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden. Incidental music based on The Tempest has been written by Arthur Sullivan, Ernest Chausson, Jean Sibelius, Malcolm Arnold, Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Bliss, Engelbert Humperdinck, Hector Berlioz, Willem Pijper and Henry Purcell

Carmen's barihunk trio being broadcast twice (with alternating Escamillos)

Carmen's barihunk trio: Valdis Jansons, Ricardo Crampton & John Paul Huckle

There will be two free, live streaming broadcast of Bizet's Carmen from the Teatro Carlo Felice, with alternating Escamillos. The first one is on Friday, May 8th at 8 PM CET/2 PM EST featuring Mattia Olivieri as Escamillo, John Paul Huckle as Zuniga and Ricardo Crampton as Morales. The second broadcast will be on Tuesday, May 12th at 3 PM CET/9 AM EST. In the second broadcast Valdis Jansons will sing Escamillo. Click HERE to watch the live stream.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi on May 8th and Anna Malavasi on May 12th. You can see the opera live until May 17th.

Mariusz Kwiecien's Król Roger to be broadcast

Mariusz Kwiecien (photo on left by Bill Cooper, photo on right Minjas Zugik)

Karol Szymanowski’s Król Roger  recently opened at the Royal Opera House and became the first Polish language opera performed at Covent Garden. The opera itself, which first premiered in 1926, has been a bit of rarity in in England, with only a modest production of the work having been performed at Sader's Wells over 40 years ago. The current production, directed by Kasper Holton, has additional performances from May 6-19.

The opera is about struggle between conservatism and sensuality, between Christian orthodoxy and pagan abandon, portrayed onstage by the church and the sexually tempting shepherd. Starring in his signature role of the King is über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien. The all-star cast also includes Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, Georgia Jarman as Roxana, Kim Begley as Edrisi and Alan Ewing as the Archbishop.

If you can't make it to this performance of Król Roger, it can be viewed from Saturday, May 16th on the Royal Opera House website or on YouTube. It will also be available on the newly launched Opera Europa Digital Platform that will showcase live streams and a range of behind-the-scenes footage from fifteen opera houses across Europe.

Gyula Orendt in live stream of Orfeo

Gyula Orendt in Orfeo

Gyula Orendt will headline a live stream performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in a co-production between Roundhouse Digital Productions and the Royal Opera House. The Roundhouse Theatre was a railway repair shed from 1847-1960 and now hosts performing arts productions.

The performance will be available on Wednesday, January 21st at 7.15pm GMT/10:15 AM PST/1:15. You can watch the performance at the Royal Opera House YouTube channel or on the BBC Arts website.

Joining Gyula Orendt in the cast is soprano Mary Bevan as Euridice, along with Jette Parker Young Artists James Platt as Charon and Rachel Kelly as Proserpina. Former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Michael Boyd directs in his operatic debut, with a production that features post-graduate students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and participants of East London Dance.

Gyula Orendt and Mary Bevan

Orfeo, which originally premiered on February 24, 1607 in Mantua, is considered the first great opera. Monteverdi incorporated existing musical forms, such as madrigals and the newly developed recitative and the result was considered revolutionary.

The eight performances are all sold out, so this may be your only chance to see the performance.

Watch Luca Pisaroni live from Vienna

Luca Pisaroni as Count Almaviva

The Vienna State Opera's live streaming opera service will be presenting Luca Pisaroni in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on February 25th at 5:30 PM CET/11:30 AM EST/8:30 AM PST). The service requires a log-in and the first seven days are free. On demand operas will cost €14.00 ($17.40) for a single opera with subscriptions available. The service also includes the option to view multilingual subtitles and to follow along with the score.

The cast also includes  Adam Plachetka as Figaro, Olga Bezsmertna as the Countess and Anita Hertig as Susanna.

The Vienna State Opera produces more than 40 live broadcasts annually, and is making nearly all of its 2014-15 season productions available in Ultra HD via the Internet, smart TVs and mobile devices. Click HERE to start watching now.

Pisaroni returns to the U.S. early in the new year, with a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in January with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. He then heads to the Met in February for a run as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Peter Mattei sings the title role.

Don't forget to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar before the busy shopping season begins.

Craig Verm in the 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar

Bevy of Barihunks in Broadcasts from Bavaria

Michael Nagy and Günther Groissböck

The Bavarian State Opera is continuing the popular live streaming of their performances which they debuted last year. This year's selection features some of our favorite barihunks in their free broadcasts which are available at STAATSOPER.TV.

Previous broadcasts have included Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, Verdi's La forza del destino and Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

Tareq Nazmi

On May 31st at 7 PM CET./1 PM EST they will present Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten with Michael Nagy as Stolzius and Tareq Nazmi as Obrist.

30-year-old Bass-Barihunk Tareq Nazmi, who is new to this site, was born in Kuwait and grew up in Munich. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher. He is a first prize of both the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation prize and the National Song Contest.

Since the 2012-23 season, Tareq Nazmi has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera where he has performed Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's Magic Flute, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Publio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

Goran Jurić

On June 28th at 6 PM CET./Noon EST they will present a new production of Rossini's Guillaume Tell (William Tell) with Günther Groissböck as Gesler. Groissböck has been extremely popular on our site, especially the pictures of him in the "Brokeback Onegin," as it's been dubbed by opera bloggers. The cast also includes Goran Jurić as Walter Furst.

31-year-old Croatian bass-barihunk Goran Jurić is also new to the site. He has been a member of the Bavarian State Opera ensemble since the 2011-12 season. He received his Master's degree in Opera Studies at the Academy of Music at the University of Zagreb, where is completing his second Master's degree in Phonetics and Italian Language and Literature.

At the Bavarian State Opera he has performed Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio, Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Il Re in Verdi's Aida, Capellio in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Banco in Verdi's Macbeth, Il Frate in Verdi's Don Carlos and Timur in Puccini's Turandot. He also performs regularly with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

On July 27th at 6 PM CET./Noon EST the company will present Claudio Monteverdi L'Orfeo with the amazing Christian Gerhaher and the stunningly talented Anna Bonitatibus.

HD Live Stream of Don Giovanni with Waltteri Torikka

Waltteri Torikka as Don Giovanni

The New Generation Opera Ensemble is experimenting with High-Definition streaming video of their current production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Helsinki Festival. The production features Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka in the title role, who we introduced to readers two years ago.

If you're not sure that you want to invest the €9,90 to watch the performance the site lets you watch the first ten minutes for free before deciding. There are two performances remaining on August 22 and 24 at 7 PM EEST (12 PM EST/9 AM PST). Click HERE to watch the live stream.

Waltteri Torikka and Timo Riihonen

New Generation Opera Ensemble is tinkering with new technologies with the goal of bringing opera to more people. Their advisory board includes some of the biggest Finnish names in classical music and opera, including Jorma Hynninen, Soile Isokoski, Markus Lehtinen, Karita Mattila, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, Aulis Sallinen and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Torikka won the Finnish national “Lappeenrannan laulukilpailut” song competition in 2010 and received the “HSBC Laureates” prize at the prestigious  Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2009. Torikka recently wrapped up a stint as an apprentice artist at the Finnish National Opera. You can follow the 27-year-old barihunk on Twitter at @WaltteriTorikka.