Matthew Morris in World Premiere Songs; Part of Barihunk Quartet in Don Giovanni

Matthew Morris

Matthew Morris will be joining the Brooklyn New Music Collective for  for an evening of song cycles, most of them performed for the first time ever. The concert will feature world premieres from James Kallembach, Glen Roven and Roger Stubblefield, plus songs from James Matheson and Steven Gerber. There will be a reception with wine after the show.

Glen Roven told us that his "Four Surreal Songs" were inspired by a visit to the Helly Nahmad Gallery where they were exhibiting a show of surrealist painters -- Jean Arp, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy and Max Ernst. The catalog featured poems by Paul Éluard in English translations, which Roven decided to set to music.

The October 16th performance will be at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn. Tickets are available online.

Also, don't forget about Morris' upcoming performance as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni with New York's newest and highly innnovative opera company, Venture Opera.

He'll be joined by Philip Cutlip in the title, Eric Downs as Leporellod and Christian Zaremba will sing the Commendatore. The perfect Barihunk Quartet!

Venture Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni casts the serial seducer as a Catholic priest who abuses his power to have his way with women. Taking place in one of the oldest surviving gothic-revival religious buildings in New York, the adaptation revolves around the theological question of the Act of Contrition.

Performances will be on November 6, 8 and 10 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in the heart of the Lower East Side. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

 

Baritone quartet in updated Don Giovanni

Baritone quartet in Venture Opera's Don Giovanni

Four of the hottest guys in opera are coming together to create a Barihunk Quartet in Mozart's Don Giovanni with New York's newest and highly innnovative opera company. Venture Opera was founded by Jonathon Thierer in 2014 and perform installation opera throughout New York City in venues that enhance their artistic vision.

Philip Cutlip will sing the title role and be accompanied by his sidekick Eric Downs as Leporello. Matthew Patrick Morris will sing Masetto and Christian Zaremba will sing the Commendatore. 

Philip Cutlip (left) and Matthew Morris (right)

Venture Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni casts the serial seducer as a Catholic priest who abuses his power to have his way with women. Taking place in one of the oldest surviving gothic-revival religious buildings in New York, the adaptation revolves around the theological question of the Act of Contrition.


Performances will be on November 6, 8 and 10 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in the heart of the Lower East Side. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Fire Island Opera performs Kurt Weill rarity

Guto Bittencourt (left) and Matthew Morris (right)

The Fire Island Opera Company is presenting the East Coast Premiere of Kurt Weill's first opera, The Protagonist. The piece stars a few singers familiar to this site, Liam Bonner, who sings the role of the Young Man; Matthew Morris, a former barihunks calendar model who sings one of the Schauspielers; and, Jeremy Galyon, who sings the innkeeper. Someone to keep an eye on in the production is model and singer-songwriter Guto Bittencourt, who is also one of the Schauspielers. 

The remainder of the cast includes tenor Samuel Levine in the title role, Maeve Höglund as the sister, tenor John Easterlin, as the Chief of Staff, as well as Jeremy Hirsch, Katrina Yaukey and Megan Marino as the remaining Schauspielers.

Liam Bonner

The opera is bases on a lurid subject drawn from a play by Georg Kaiser an is an example of the sensationalistic, psychologically oriented operas popular during the Weimar Republic. The story is about a theatrical troupe run by the Protagonist, an actor who is overly protective of his Sister. Unable to distinguish between illusion and reality, he kills her after she tells him she has a fiancé; at the close, he calls the murder his greatest theatrical performance. 

The Pines Pavilion on Fire Island has been transformed into a wild, dream world by Marfa-based installation artist, Charles Mary Kubricht, and project runway finalist and former Mark Morris dancer, choreographer/costume designer, Bradon McDonald.

The evening will culminate in a Kurt Weill inspired Haus music dance party!  [Hey, it's Fire Island].

The Sunday matinee production is preceded by a performance of Un Amour de Proust on The Pavilion's Lower Deck and followed by an Opera Pool Party on the Pool Deck! 

Performances are on August 23 and 24 and tickets are available online. 

Dan Kempson & Matthew Morris together in La bohème

Dan Kempson & Matthew Morris from previous Barihunks calendars

Two of the most popular guys to ever appear in our annual Barihunks Charity Calendar will be appearing together on stage together. Dan Kempson and Matthew Morris will be performing scenes from Puccini's La bohème with the Savannah Symphony at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts on January 31st.

Kempson will perform Marcello and Morris will take on Schaunard. The duo will be joined by Meechot Marrero as Mimi, Amy Shoremount-Obra as Musetta, Cooper Nolan as Rodolfo and Scott Russell as Colline. Tickets range from $16 to $70 and are available online.

Dan Kempson in Sweeney Todd

Upcoming performances for Kempson include a reprisal of his critically acclaimed performance in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with the Skylight Music Theater from March 14-30. He then takes on the role of Lieutenant Gordon in Kevin Puts' Silent Night at the Fort Worth Opera Festival. The cast also includes fellow barihunks Morgan Smith and Craig Irvin. Performances are on May 4 and 10 and tickets are available online.

We also suggest you check out Kempson's sound files on his website, which includes one of the most beautiful performances of Johanna from Sondheim's Sweeney Todd that we've ever heard.

Matthew Morris performing in Santa Fe (Photo by Barihunks)

Upcoming performances for Matthew Morris include Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem from February 19-23 with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. On April 10 and 12 he sings the complete role of Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème with the El Paso Opera. Tickets are available online.

Fire Island Opera Festival features sexy Matt Morris is Gluck rarity

Fire Island is known more for its circuit parties booming with house music, rather than presenting high culture, but that will all change this weekend.  The annual Fire Island Opera Festival will be presented on August 23-25 at the famous gay resort and will feature Christoph Willibald Gluck's rarely performed L’arbre Enchanté (“The Magic Tree”) and Lee Hoiby's Bon Appétit.

The festival kicks off with a VIP event on Friday, August 23 featuring a special gala performance of Bon Appétit, as well as a program of famous opera arias performed by the stars of the Fire Island Opera Festival.  Bon Appétit provides a witty take on one of chef Julia Childs, played by 2013 "BBC Cardiff Singer of the World" winner Jamie Barton. The evening will be hosted at an exclusive private home on the bay.

The real treat for lovers of all think barihunky will be L'Arbre Enchanté, which features Matthew Morris, who created a huge sensation in the Barihunks Calendar eating a sandwich in his boxers[see above]. Morris was also recently featured in Buzzfeed's "33 Opera Hunks Who Need To Serenade You Right Now." Word is that Morris will be showing a lot of skin...A LOT OF SKIN! This is Fire Island, after all.

The opera, which was last performed in 1775 for Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, with some equally lusty men we assume, also features David Pittsinger, David Garry, Will Ferguson, Amy Justman, Yiselle Blum and Emmett O'Hanlon.  L'Arbre Enchanté is the story of two men fighting for the love of a beautiful young man. The young man must choose between a  dashing, rich business man with a beach mansion or a hot, penniless, pool boy.

Saturday evening's performance of L'Arbre Enchanté, August 24, will be followed by a late-night dance party in true Fire Island style. Click HERE to buy tickets.

Performances will be at the newly rebuilt Pavilion on Fire Island Pines, converted into a beach opera house by Marfa-based installation artist Charles Mary Kubricht using only repurposed wood and materials from trees and structures destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. A portion of the proceeds from the inaugural Fire Island Opera Festival will benefit the Sea Shore Defense Fund.

BREAKING NEWS: Brandon Cedel wins Middle Atlantic Met Regional Auditions

Brandon Cedel

Eleven months after winning the 2012 George London Foundation Competition, Brandon Cedel has won the Middle Atlantic Metropolitan Opera Regional Council Auditions at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Cedel sang Henry Purcell's "Arise ye subterranean winds" from the Tempest and Aleko's Cavatina by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Also competing in tonight's competition was barihunk Matthew Morris. Both Morris and Cedel appeared in our 2012 calendar. 

Brandon Cedel can next be seen performing the role of William Dale in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Kevin Puts' "Silent Night." Performances run from February 8-17 and the cast includes barihunks Liam Bonner, Craig Irvin, Gabriel Preisser and Troy Cook. Tickets are available online.

Matthew Morris the latest hot Le Mari in Les Mamelles de Tiresias

Matthew Morris (center) with members of the Britten-Pears Young Artists Program

Once again, Poulenc's one-act opera-bouffe Les Mamelles de Tiresias is providing us great material for the site. This time it's 2012 Barihunks calendar model Matthew Morris in the pivotal role of Le Mari. He's performing the opera at the Aldeburgh Festival in a piano arrangement by Benjamin Britten and performed by the Britten-Pears Young Artists. Two of the greatest living accompanists, Malcolm Martineau and Roger Vignoles, are featured at the piano.

There is one remaining performance on Sunday, October 21 remaining and tickets are available HERE. 

Morris can next be seen at Le théâtre de Caen in France this November where he will be performing in a double bill of Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

Click HERE to listen to Morris sing "My Melancholy Baby."

Free Barihunk Concerts in Iowa & New York

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is probably best known for corn, Quaker Oats and for being the home of actor Ashton Kutcher and NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. It's also a surprisingly cultural city, with a thriving arts scene deeply rooted in Eastern European immigration. So we weren't surprised when we learned that two Iowa natives were coming to Mount Mercy University for a free concert.

On Sunday, April 29, at 3:30 p.m. soprano Katharine Goeldner will join emerging barihunk Chris Carr for the program "A Path to the Future: Music of Discovery" in the University Center Commons. The performance is free and open to the public. The duo will perform Gustav Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer and Rückert Lieder, and arias by Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Korngold, Barber, and more. The concert is the first musical performance held in Mount Mercy's new University Center.

Carr will be appearing next season with Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Yamadori in Butterfly and Pish-Tush in Mikado!

In October, he will take on the daunting baritone role in the Carmina Burana with the Kansas City Ballet.

Matthew Morris

We adore the multi-talented Matthew Morris, who seems destined for an amazing career. If you're near the bucolic Hudson River valley, don't miss the chance to see Morris in his graduate vocal recital on Saturday, April 21, 2012, 3:00 pm at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Tickets are free and can be obtained by calling (845) 758-7196.

Morris will be accompanied on the piano by Milena Gligic in a program that includes Charles Ives'
Down East, Charlie Rutlage and General William Booth Enters into Heaven; Franz Schubert's Fischerweise and Des Fischers Liebesglück; Peter Warlock's My Own Country; Claude Debussy's
Troi Ballades de François Villon; Tom Cipullo's "A Death in the Family" (from The Land of Nod); Irving Gifford Fine's "Lenny the Leopard" (from Childhood Fables for Grownups); and, Gabriel Fauré's En Sourdine.

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Matthew Morris & Betty Buckley Team Up to Battle Gay Teen Suicide

Benefit Poster & Matthew Morris

We love it when barihunks do community work and we have promoted Chris Herbert and Erwin Schrott for their recent efforts. Add barihunk Matthew Morris to the mix, as he will be joining Broadway legend Betty Buckley in a benefit for The Trevor Project. The gala will be on Monday, November 22nd at 8 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church at West 60th and Columbus in New York City.

“This concert is for those kids who feel that they have no one to talk to, no one who can understand, no one who cares," said Matthew Morris, who is also one of the producers of the event. "There are many people out there who care deeply. This night is about showing that care in a concrete way by gathering people from all walks of life: artists, members of the faith community, business people, straight people, gay people, men, women, old, and young who will show up and say, ‘You are not alone.'"

The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. The organization was founded in 1998 by three filmmakers whose film, “Trevor,” a comedy/drama about a gay teenager who attempts suicide, received the 1994 Academy Award® for Best Short Film (Live Action).

Along with the concert, a silent auction will offer items from Tom Ford, Hermes of Paris, and Zac Posen, as well as special items from Gary Beach, Christine Brewer, Chelsea Handler, Scott Nevins, Billy Porter, and other Broadway performers.

General Admission tickets are $25, and premium seats are $100. Tickets can be purchased in advance by visiting You are Not Alone.

Here is a clip of Morris performing "I think it's going to rain today." 



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It's HOT in Santa Fe And It's Not Just The Weather

Barihunks was partially inspired by the wonderful site Parterre Box, who entered the term into the English language. Parterre Box defined a barihunk as one who likely was an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, which has undeniably produced their fair share of good looking singers.

This year is no exception, as you can see from the three barihunks features below. Another current apprentice artist, Tom Corbeil, has been featured prominently on this site.

This is Tom Forde, who has a great face and physical presence for the stage. I would hope that anyone casting the Mozart "Big 3" (Cosi, Nozze, Giovanni) would think about casting this charming young barihunk. He would be ideal. Forde has also appeared here before.



Mike Nyby also caught our eye before. He is originally from Canada and grew up in New Jersey. I can see him becoming the next great Billy Budd, as he totally looks the part. He's also be an interesting Tarquinius, which would surely guarantee a repeat appearance on this site. You can hear him sing a wonderful Escamillo excerpt on his website with the talented Kirt Pavitt on piano.




Matthew Morris is new to this site and he is absolutely adorable. He is a natural on stage, having studied some dance and already has an impressive resume outside of opera, having been a dancer in the movie "The Producers" and a performing a cameo on TV's "Law & Order." If opera doesn't work out he could easily be a star on a soap opera or a leading man on Broadway.


We're glad that Santa Fe continues to be a launching pad for barihunks.

For ticket information click here.

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