Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny is replacing Davide Luciano in the final three performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, who was scheduled to sing in performances between December 3-8. The company previously announced that barihunk Lucas Meachem would replace Ildar Abdrazakov in the November 14-30 performances.
Meachem has previously sung the role at the Semperoper Dresden, Cincinnati Opera and Santa Fe Opera, while McKinny recently debuted the role at the Houston Grand Opera. He will reprise the role with the Washington National Opera in February and March 2020.
McKinny joins a cast that includes Matthew Rose, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Amanda Majeski, Ying Fang, Brandon Cedel, Mika Kares, and Ben Bliss.
The Lyric Opera of Chicago production was recently featured on this site and you can read about it HERE.
Ildar Abdrazakov, Brendon Cedel and Davide Luciano
Four barihunks will be making their Lyric Opera of Chicago debuts in the upcoming production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which opens on November 14. Russian bass-barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will alternate the title role along with Davide Luciano, while Brandon Cedel sings Masetto. Finnish basso Mika Kares also makes his debut with the company as the Commendatore after an impressive performance in Mozart's Requiem earlier this year with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
They will be joined by Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Donna Anna, Ben Bliss as Don Ottavio, Amanda Majeski as Donna Elvira, Matthew Rose as Leporello and Ying Fang as Zerlina.
Mika Kares
Don Giovanni was the first opera that the company produced in early
1954 in an effort to gauge Chicago's support for a new opera company. Needless to say, it was quite a success, considering the cast included Nicola Rossi–Lemeni as Don Giovanni, John Brownlee as Leporello, Eleanor
Steber as Donna Anna, Léopold Simoneau as Don Ottavio and Bidú Sayão as
Zerlina. The debut season also included Maria Callas performing her signature role of Norma.
The current production will be the company's eleventh performance of the season. There will be nine performances from November 14 through 8. Tickets are available online. David Luciano will perform on December 3 and 8, while Ildar Abdrazakov sings on all other dates.
Roberto Tagliavini(Photos courtesy of Arena di Verona)
Italian bass-barihunk Roberto Tagliavini will make his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Verdi’s Il trovatore as Ferrando, which opens today and runs through December 9th.
He'll be joined by another singer making his house debut, the amazing Polish baritone Artur Ruciński, who is sing the Count di Luna. The rest of the all-star cast includes tenor Russell Thomas as Manrico, soprano Tamara Wilson as Leonora, and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the tortured gypsy Azucena,
Upcoming performances for Tagliavini include Pagano in Verdi's I Lombardi at Opera de la ABAO in January, Zaccaria in Verdi's Nabucco at the Bavarian State Opera and Basilio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia in Parma.
Another famous singer with the same last name, Ferruccio Tagliavini, who was one of the greatest tenors of his era, made his U.S. debut in Chicago as Rodolfo in 1946.
Mariusz Kwiecien, who was one of the inspirations for his site, will open as Zurga at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Sunday, November 19th. He'll be joined by tenor Matthew Polenzani as his friend Nadir, the booming bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Nourabad and soprano Marina Rebeka as Leïla.
Kwiecien last appeared in the role with the Met in January 2016, which also featured Polenzani, as well as German soprano Diana Damrau.
There will be seven performances running through December 10 and tickets are available online.
However, if you can't make it to Chicago (where it's cold and rainy right now), you can listen to the opening performance of The Pearl Fishers can be heard live on 98.7WFMT beginning at 1:45pm CST/11:45 AM PST/2:45 EST.
Upcoming performances for Kwiecien included Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Opera Krakowska in March, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Dallas and London, and Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in Munich.
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!
Mariusz Kwiecien as King Roger (left) and Don Giovanni
Few singers are more popular on this site than Polish barihunk Mariusz
Kwiecien. He was also one of the early inspirations for creating this site along
with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. He's developed a cult
following with opera fans around the world and today we're celebrating
his 45th birthday. Like Simon Keenlyside, Rod Gilfry and Thomas Hampson, he seems to
get better with every passing year. As regular readers of this site
know, we've dubbed him "The Hot Pole."
Kwiecien was born in Kraków, Poland in 1972, but has a long history with New York, beginning with his
participation in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and then
becoming one of the biggest box office draws at the Metropolitan Opera.
He made his debut with the company in 1999 as Kuligin in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová. During the 2011/12 Met season, he amazed everyone with his resilience
when he returned to take on the demanding
title role of Don Giovanni after injuring his back in rehearsals. The
performance was also broadcast live in HD worldwide. He is next slated to appear as Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from November 19-December 10. He returns to The Met on December 29th for a run as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro opposite Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role.
Mariusz Kwiecien sings "Deh, vieni alla finestra" from Don Giovanni:
Kwiecien is probably best known for his sensuous and sexually charged portrayal of Don Giovanni.
In this golden age of baritones, he's considered one of the two or
three best exponents of the role. He is slated to sing Don Giovanni as the Dallas Opera
from April 13-29, 2018 and then at the Royal Opera House in London from June
30-July 17, 2018
He's also made his mark in
Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, as Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Riccardo in Bellini's I puritani, Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Marcello in Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Szymanowski's King Roger.
Many of his performances have been preserved on DVD including his
stunning Eugene Onegin from the Bolshoi Opera and Met broadcasts of
Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. His recording of “Slavic Heroes” is arguably one of the best recordings of Eastern European arias on CD.
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!
Günther Groissböck(photo:Monika Rittershaus) & Wilhelm Schwinghammer(photo: Enrico Nawrath)
Bass-barihunk Wilhelm Schwinghammer will replace fellow bass-barihunk Günther Groissböck for the Sunday, August 28th performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under the baton of Andris Nelsons. The other singers are soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose and tenor Joseph Kaiser. Tickets are available online.
Groissböck had a bicycling accident and was unable to travel for the concert. Groissböck's upcoming performances include Heinrich der Vogler in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera, Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Bavarian State Opera and Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
This will be Schwinghammer's Tanglewood and Boston Symphony debuts. Schwinghammer will return to Germany to sing Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Hamburg State Opera before returning in October for his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Fasolt in Wagner's Das Rheingold.
Lyric Opera of Chicago opened their Diamond Anniversary season in style with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni directed by Robert Falls and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. The cast includes two of the most popular barihunks on this site, Mariusz Kwiecien as the Don and Kyle Ketelsen as his sidekick Leporello. The vocally resplendent cast also includes Marina Rebeka as Donna Anna, Ana María Martínez as Donna Elvira and Andriana Chuchman as Zerlina.
Lyric Opera of Chicago was quite generous in supplying pictures to the press, so we thought we'd share some of the best. The opera runs through October 29th and tickets are available online.
If you don't think fans of barihunks (small "b") love their singers, then check out the latest issue of the Seattle Gay Scene, which dedicates a whole article to the fact that Mariusz Kwiecien, who appears in the Seattle Opera's marketing materials does not actually appear in the Seattle Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni.
We have to admit that were impressed that writer Michael Strangeways actually knew that Mariusz Kwiecien was one of the inspirations for Barihunks (big "B'). In fact after two of us had seen the "Hot Pole" in separate productions of Don Giovanni (in Seattle and San Francisco), the seeds of this site were planted seven years ago. So, naturally, one would think that we'd be disappointed, too. But we're regulars at the Seattle Opera and have no doubt that they will deliver an amazing performance of Mozart's timeless classic.
Evan Boyer and Erik Anstine (in his BARIHUNK tee shirt)
In fact, they've cast two singers who have been featured on this site, Evan Boyer as Masetto and Erik Anstine as Leporello. Those two should adequately fill the requisite "minimum barihunk requirement" for Don Giovanni. French bass Nicolas Cavallier will sing the title role. Performances will run from October 18 through November 1 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.
Mariusz Kwiecien on the Lyric Opera of Chicago website
If Michael Strangeways, or anyone else, wants to see Mariusz Kwiecien as The Don, then should fly to the Windy City, where he's starring in their production alongside fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen's Leporello. The Lyric Opera of Chicago even has a feature online called "Rolling with the Don" where the singer talks about the role (and is referred to as a "barihunk"). Performances run through October 29th and tickets are available online. Oddly, Lyric's website does not list who is singing Masetto.
Evan Boyer will be part of an all-star operatic cast at a free outdoor concert at Chicago's Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Saturday, September 7, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is being presented by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. If you can't be there, the concert will be broadcast live on carried live on 98.7WFMT and wfmt.com, which is available online.
Boyer will be joined by conductor Ward Stare, soprano Ana María Martínez, soprano Albina Shagimuratova, hunkentenor James Valenti, as well as members of the Ryan Opera Center.
Music will include selections from Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Lohengrin, Verdi’s Otello, Verdi’s Il trovatore and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
If you love great baritone singing, make sure to tune in your radio or go online to WFMT, Chicago's public radio station. The next three Saturday's will feature a bevvy of our favorite singers including three in this week's broadcast of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. The opera will feature the ageless barihunk Thomas Hampson in the title role alongside the riveting Ferruccio Furlanetto as Fiesco and rising superstar Quinn Kelsey as Paolo. Amelia will be sung by Krassimira Stoyanova and Adorno by Frank Lopardo.
Hampson is currently starring in Verdi's La traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Craig Verm
The following week barihunk Craig Verm can be heard as Albert in Massenet's Werther, in a cast that includes tenor sensation Matthew Polenzani in the title role and Sophie Koch as Charlotte. Verm opens as Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes at the Des Moines Metro Opera on June 22nd.
On June 1st, Italian sex symbol Ildebrando D'Arcangelo takes on the very un-barihunk title role in Donizetti's Don Pasquale opposite the Norina of Marlis Petersen. D'Arcangelo is currently performing the role of Selim in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il turco in Italia at Barcelona's beautiful Gran Theatre del Liceu.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
Future broadcasts include Richard Strauss' Elektra, Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel, Puccini's La boheme, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, Verdi's Rigoletto and Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with an all-star cast featuring barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and soprano Renée Fleming.
We have no idea why we suddenly have so much barihunk news out of the American Midwest, but they seem to be descending among the cornfields like Schistocerca gregaria locusts. We recently posted about Michael Kelly and Dan Kempson performing in the area, now we've learned that David Adam Moore will be singing Schubert in Hesston, Kansas just 35 miles north of Wichita.
Moore, of course, has been a popular model in both our 2012 and 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar.
David Adam Moore will be joining accompanist Earl Buys on December 2 at 3 p.m. at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College
campus to present his multimedia seasonal concert of Franz Schubert’s song cycle Die Winterreise.
Die Winterreise
is a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, performed in Schubert’s
native German. Moore created a staging of Schubert’s masterwork with
video projection, including English surtitles, as a way to help the
audience visualize the very descriptive text.
David Adam Moore sings "Ego sum abbas" from Carmina Burana:
Moore is a graduate of the Oberlin (Ohio) College Conservatory of Music
and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. He was
a participant in the Seattle Young Artists program before hitting it big on the world's greatest opera stages in Don Giovanni, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Billy Budd and The Barber of Seville. We recently announced that Moore’s will star in Oklahoma! at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Moore will also conduct a master class with
voice students from Hesston College and Bethel College, Dec. 3 at
Hesston Mennonite Church. The class is free and open to the public. Single tickets for the David Adam Moore concert are available at the Hesston-Bethel Performing Arts Center website of by calling 620-327-8158 (Hesston
College) or 316-284-5205 (Bethel College).
David Adam Moore is the May feature in our new charity calendar along with rising star Michael Hewitt. But it at Lulu:
Christian Van Horn has a
leading man's energetic charm and dashing good looks — virtues that were
kept somewhat under wraps this past fall, when he was singing Raimondo
in Lucia di Lammermoor and Crespel in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Turandot's
Timur at San Francisco Opera. "When I show up for a job and go to have a
wig fitting, I can always spot mine — it's the gray one, and it usually
has a long, gray beard to go with it." Van Horn has a fair amount of
practice playing older men: during his two full seasons as a contract
artist at Bayerische Staatsoper, his seventeen roles included a run as
Edita Gruberova's father in Norma, an experience he says was
"kind of like singing with Angelina Jolie, because [Gruberova] is so
wildly famous there. The applause after the show would last for an hour
sometimes, and the crowds of people waiting for her outside the theater
were unbelievable."
[Read the entire feature at the Opera News website]
The Lyric Opera of Chicago has released its 2012-13 schedule and two of the sexiest men in all of opera have been cast. Teddy Tahu Rhodes will make his Lyric debut as Stanley in a semi-staged version Andre Previn's "Streetcar Named Desire." There will be four performances, which will be made available to subscribers first before being sold individually. Renee Fleming will sing the role of Blanche Dubois. There will also be a single students-only performance with an understudy cast.
Fans of Teddy Bare will have other opportunities to see him in 2012. In the United States, he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" at the Washington National Opera and will also return to the Metropolitan Opera. On the other side of the Equator, he will tackle his first Scarpia with the West Australian Opera and return in his signature role of Don Giovanni with both Opera Australia and Opera de Bordeaux.
Craig Verm as Aeneas
Craig Verm, who unquestionably has one of the nicest chests in opera, is one of the numerous barihunks cast next season. Verm, who has bared his torso as much as Teddy Bare, will be performing the unsexy role of Albert in Massenet's " Werther." However, with Verm playing Albert, we can certainly understand why Charlotte's mother wanted her to marry him and not the suicidal tenor.
For those who want to see Verm in some of his sexier fare, you'll have to travel to the Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile. He'll be performing in both Bizet's "Carmen" and the title role in Britten's "Billy Budd."
Ildebrando d'Arcangelo (L) & Bo Skovhus (R)
Although they've cast a good number of barihunks, none of them will be in roles that show off their non-vocal assets. For those of you who like "more mature" barihunks, Lyric is rolling out some of the hotter over-40 singers around in some Verdi and Wagner.
Craig Verm as Zurge and Sean Panikkar as Nadir in the famous Pearl Fishers duet:
Other barihunks appearing with Lyric next year include Bo Skovhus as Beckmesser in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg," Thomas Hampson as the title character in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the title role of Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" and Lucas Meachem as Marcello in Puccini's "La boheme." Visit the Lyric website for tickets and additional performance information.
We like the recent trend of Barihunks adorning the covers of major music magazines. Following Mariusz Kwiecien's appearance on the cover of Opera News and Christopher Maltman's appearance on Opera Now, we now have Luca Pisaroni as the latest coverboy. The Italian barihunk, who is appearing in the Met's "The Enchanted Island" through January 30th is on the cover of the January 2012 issue of Classical Singer magazine.
Here is the interview: Many singers view their career as a sprint to the finish line. Discordant with instrumentalists who can pick up the violin at age 3 and make their Lincoln Center debuts before they’re 10, and even fellow crooners in other genres who can go platinum before they’re able to legally drive a car, classical vocalists face a variety of developmental hurdles before the real work can begin.
Traditional training today leaves singers taking an average of one voice lesson a week and often being catapulted into roles—either by agents or opera companies—at preternaturally early ages, ages often included in (if not headlining) marketing copy. What follows is an inevitable, and often very public, burnout.
Bucking this trend, however, is bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. Born in 1975, Pisaroni is just beginning his rise to prominence in the United States. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut at 29 as Publio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, but gave a star turn in New York as Leporello in the company’s new production of Don Giovanni (and returns this month as Caliban in the world premiere of The Enchanted Island). Compared to many of his peers who have headlined multiple Met productions and sweep across Europe, it may seem to some as a delayed trajectory—but for Pisaroni it’s not the majority of a sprint, but rather the first few miles of the marathon.
“It takes a life to master your voice, and it takes really only a few bad repertoire choices to ruin your voice. And once it’s gone, it’s gone,” explains the Venezuelan-born Italian singer over ginger ale at a hotel lounge that faces the Met. Growing up in Busseto, a comune in Parma and the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi, Pisaroni developed an early passion for opera, admitting that he cannot remember his life without the art form. He listened obsessively to Boris Christoff singing the Verdi canon, from Don Carlos’ “Ella giammai m’amo” to Simon Boccanegra’s “Il lacerato spirito” to selections from the cabaletta-rich Attila. A few years later, at age 11, he saw his first opera—Aida. Around the same time, he destroyed a cassette tape of Pavarotti, singing over his recording of Tosca trademark “E lucevan le stelle” in tandem with the star tenor and checking to make sure his notes were high and long enough. [Continue reading HERE]
After his run at the Met, Pisaroni sticks to baroque music, as he rejoins cast member David Daniels in at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Argante in Handel's Rinaldo. Performances run from February 29-March 24. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
