Opéra de Montréal's new season includes barihunk duo in JFK

Daniel Okulitch as LBJ and Matt Worth as JFK

Opéra de Montréal just announced their new season, which will included David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's JFK, which premiered last Spring at the Fort Worth Opera. Much of the cast will remain the same, with barihunks Matthew Worth and Daniel Okulitch reprising their roles as JFK and LBJ. Worth shares both the good looks and New England charm of our 35th President, while Okulitch matches the Vice President's 6' 4" frame. Daniela Mack will return as Jacqueline Kennedy and John Mac Master will take on the role of Nikita Khruschev.

The opera delves into the final hours that President John F. Kennedy spent in Fort Worth, Texas immediately before his assassination in Dallas. The piece explores the inner life of the President and Mrs. Kennedy during their final moments together. The opera uses dreams to create an imaginary time and space, allowing the couple to revisit those who helped to shape their personal and political lives. Jack travels to the moon with his sister Rosemary, where he spars with political rivals, and relives his courtship of the demure Jacqueline. Jackie sings a duet with her future self, Jacqueline Onassis, who dresses her in her iconic pink Chanel suit, assuring her that she has a part to play in the day’s proceedings.

Performance will run from January 27-February 2, 2018. Other operas for their new season includ Puccini's Tosca, Gounod's Romeo & Juliette, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Sokolovic's Svadba.

Watch Matt Worth sing Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe

Matt Worth

First of all, we want to congratulate Matt Worth on his recent wedding and wish him and his bride a lifetime of happiness. 

We also wanted to share with our readers this video of him singing Robert Schumann's most famous song cycle, Dichterliebe, Op. 48, at this year's Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He is joined by accompanist Shai Wosner.

The whole closely integrated song cycle traces an inner narrative, from the initial awakening of love, through rapture, disillusion and despair to tender regret and a final bittersweet, ironic acceptance. Heinrich Heine’s verses are a distillation of the poet’s ultimately doomed love for two of his cousins in Hamburg. For Schumann real life was to provide a happier outcome. Dichterliebe can be heard as his most piercing recreation of the fluctuating, often anguished, emotions he had experienced during his long courtship of Clara Wieck (Schumann).

If you want to see Matt Worth live, make sure to make travel plans to Washington D.C. Worth will star as Starbuck in the highly anticipated East Coast premiere of Jake Heggie's epic Moby-Dick at the Kennedy Center with the Washington National Opera from February 22 - March 8, 2014. Queequeg by fellow barihunk Eric Greene. Tickets go on sale December 4, 2013 to the public and on November 25, 2013 to Kennedy Center members.

  

Who gets the money for the 2014 Charity Calendar?    

This year we're looking for originality on Facebook and Twitter. We'll consider any idea that involves young artists, not just young artist programs...video projects...recital ideas...you name it. 

Most LIKES on Facebook and most retweets on Twitter will increase your odds of winning.  (Use #Barihunks2014). Post your comments to our Facebook feed with who you should think is deserving of the a charitable contribution and why.

A "Rape of Lucretia" Photo Tribute

Heather Jewson & David Krohn in Aspen

Perhaps only Mozart's "Don Giovanni" has provided more material for Barihunks than Benjamin Britten's "Rape of Lucretia." The opera contains three roles that are often cast with barihunks - Junius, Collatinus and Tarquinius. Because the opera revolves around young soldiers it is usually cast with young, buff singers. Rather than bore readers with a lot of text, here is a photo tribute to one of the sexiest operas in the repertory.

Nathan Gunn in Vienna

Dan Kempson in Pittsburgh

The Rape of Lucretia revolves around a bet made between three Roman officers, Collatinus, Junius, and Prince Tarquinius, while they are at war with Greece. The three men bet on which of their wives will be faithful. As it turns out, only Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus remains true to her man. In a jealous rage, Prince Tarquinius rides back to Rome and rapes Lucretia. Overcome by shame, Lucretia commits suicide.

Robyn Rocklein & Seth Kershinik at Arizona Opera Theater

Benjamin Britten (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) composed The Rape of Lucretia, a two-act English tragic drama based on the play "Le Viol de Lucrèce" by André Obey. The opera was premiered at Glyndebourne on July 12, 1946. The setting is in Rome in 500 BC.

 

Phillip Addis in Victoria; Colin Clarke at ENO

Grant Doyle at ROH; Kiera Duffy & Philip Cutlip in Toledo

Christopher Maltman sings "Within this frail crucible of light," where Tarquinius pauses to collect his courage before doing the dreadful deed.

Matt Worth in Berkeley

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More "Hot Schrott" & "Top Gunn" from Vienna

Hot Shrott Shots: Onstage & Backstage in Vienna

 If you're a lover of barihunks, then you should be in Vienna. We've posted recently about Luca Pisaroni's critically acclaimed debut as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera. He is performing opposite the always hot and sexy Count of Erwin Schrott. Here are some additional photos of Schrott, who we didn't provide the same degree of coverage in our previous post. If Mae West were still alive she'd certainly be asking, "Is that a pistol in your pocket..." [Yes, the picture enlarges if you click on it].

Nathan proves he really is a "Top Gunn" in Vienna

Head down the Opernring and onto Friedrichstrasse to get to the Theater an der Wien where Nathan Gunn is in the best shape of his life as Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He made a woman faint in New York and we suspect that he's having the same effect on audiences in Austria. By the way, the lucky soprano is the gifted Angela Kirschschlager.

Matt Worth reprises his sexy Tarquinius in California

Fans of The Rape of Lucretia in Northern California will be delighted to know that Loren Maazel is bringing his highly acclaimed production to Berkeley on March 24 and 25 at Cal Performances. The production includes two of our favorite singers, who both appeared on our Barihunks Best of 2010 list. Matt Worth will take on the role of Tarquinius, while OperaNow blogger and hunk Michael Rice plays Collatinus. On the following two nights, Maazel will perform Albert Herring with barihunk Adrian Kramer.

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Matt Worth leads cavalcade of barihunks at Minnesota Opera

Tenor James Valenti, Barihunk Matt Worth & Cosi poster

Matt Worth, winner of our "Hottest Future Superstar of 2010" will be starring in Cosi fan tutte at the Minnesota Opera. He will portray Guglielmo in a production that features fellow barihunk Daniel Mobbs as Don Alfonso.

The Minnesota Opera has a great tradition of finding future superstars, as well as promoting new American opera. For lovers of hunkentenors, the company has aggressively marketed James Valenti, including a video of him in the shower, which went viral on the internet.

Of course, we care about the lower voices that are dominating the opera stages of the world and Minnesota Opera delivers. In addition to Cosi, the company will perform Kevin Puts' Silent Night with barihunks Liam Bonner and Troy Cook (who appeared on this site performing the "Full Okultich"), Werther with barihunk Gabriel Preisser, Lucia di Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly also with Gabriel Preisser. Now let's hope that the barihunks creep into their wonderful marketing efforts, as well. For more information about the season visit the Minnesota Opera website.

Although there are no sure bets in life, we feel pretty confident that Matt Worth is going to be one of the major baritone stars of the next twenty years. He is truly one of the most gifted young singers we've heard in years. You can listen to Matt Worth sing arias from Cosi and other operas by clicking HERE.

We apologize for the video quality, but here is a good example of young Gabriel Preisser's singing. He is beginning to create a buzz with composers and opera companies across the country who are already  championing his career.



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Gay Composers Featured in NY and SF

Blier & Blumberg's "Manning the Canon"

The always brilliant and informative Steven Blier  has put together a program of song entitled "Manning the Canon: Songs of Gay Life" with his New York Festival of Song. The genesis of the concert is fascinating, as Blier first conceived of the idea twenty-two years ago and it didn't come to life until he mentioned it to barihunk Jesse Blumberg.

Blumberg, who is a favorite of this site, also runs the Five Boroughs Music Festival, as well as performing as a singer. Blumberg and Blier decided to put together the program last year, but a family emergency forced the singer to cancel. Another favorite of this site, fellow barihunk Matthew Worth, stepped in and took over the program.

Jesse Blumberg & Matt Worth

Last night Blumberg, Blier and Worth reprised the program along with tenor Scott Murphree and bass Matt Boehler. The program inlcuded Marc Blitzstein’s “Purest Kind of a Guy," Christopher Berg’s "Is It Dirty?," Lutvak and Campbell's "Exit Right," Schubert's quartet for four male voices “Auflösung," Tchaikovsky’s “At the Ball," Poulenc’s “Montparnasse," Griffes’s “Evening Song,” John Wallowich’s  “Bruce.” Bolcom’s “Piano Walk” and “I’ll Be By,” Camille Saint Saëns’s “Si vous n’avez rien à me dire,”  Benjamin Britten’s “Night covers up the rigid land,” Manuel de Falla’s “Polo," Cy Coleman's "Tennis Duet,"  Chris DeBlasio’s “Walt Whitman in 1989,”Bernstein's “To What You Said,” and Cole Porter's "You're the Top."

There is one more performance of "Manning the Canon" on December 2 and tickets are available HERE. 

Here is an article from Capital New York about the concert, which also raises the (somewhat ridiculous) question of whether a straight singer like Blumberg can sing "gay music." The answer appears to be what we all should know already: Music is a universal language.

Blumberg is not new to gay themed music, as he premiered Ricky Ian Gordon's "Green Sneakers," which we featured on this site.

Barihunk Randal Turner Sporting Our Favorite Tee Shirt

Fans of Gordon's in the San Francisco Bay Area can hear the amazingly talented barihunk Randal Turner perform his "Four Poems by Dorothy Parker." Turner's program, which features America's greatest living composers, also features music by four gay composers, Glen Roven, Clint Borzoni, Jake Heggie and Gordon.

Borzoni, who studied with David Del Tredici and Lee Hoiby, has written a piece for Randal Turner that is based on Walt Whitman and is dedicated to the gay teens who have recently committed suicide. The program also features another piece written for Turner, Julia Schwartz's "Don Juan at 40" based on a from Histories of Desire by Ron Butlin.

Tickets for the Randal Turner concert are available HERE.