Barihunks Hot Spot in Naples - Florida, not Italy

Wes Mason (L) in "Before Night Falls" & Naples, Florida at sunset

Normally when one thinks of opera in Naples, one thinks of the Teatro di San Carlo. That beautiful theater has seen its fair share of gorgeous barihunks over the years, including the legendary Ettore Bastianini.

However, the Naples with the best current crop of barihunk is in Southern Florida on the western edge of the Everglades. The city that usually attracts tourists who come for fishing, gator watching and ecotourism, is suddenly the new hotspot for barihunk lovers.

Jason Hardy (top) and Matthew Trevino (bottom)

Opera Naples will have two performances of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" on January 20 and 22 with a trio of barihunks. Matthew Trevino will sing the title role, Wes Mason will be Masetto and Jason Hardy will be Leporello. The photo of Hardy above is from the highly acclaimed Don Giovanni at New York City Opera in 2009. When we first ran the shirtless photos of Hardy, a soprano emailed us a note that said, "Wow. Who knew?" Regular readers of the site will recognize the shirtless photo of Wes Mason from his acclaimed performance of "Before Night Falls" with the Ft. Worth Opera, a role that he'll reprise with the Orchestra Miami later this year. Matthew Trevino just finished a successful tour of Ireland as Sarastro in the "Magic Flute" and in March will sing the King in Aida with the Arizona Opera.

We think this performance is worth a trip to Southern Florida, so grab your fishing pole and your swamp waders and order your tickets HERE. Who knows, you might run into one of the many famous residents of the town, including Donald Trump, Larry Bird, Mike Ditka or Bob Seger.

 

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Kwiecien, Kelly, Varnier, Trevino and a dose of Don Giovanni

Mariusz Kwiecien on Polish TV

For you legions of Mariusz Kwiecien fans, there are two videos of the Hot Pole on Polish television. One of the clips includes extensive performance footage and backstage shots. Even if you don't understand a lick of Polish, these are worth watching. (WARNING: We had a hard time getting the videos to work. Click on the STOP button and then hit PLAY). You can watch both videos at Dzień Dobry TVN. Kwiecien is currently in Poland singing Halka and Don Giovanni.

La Scala

A few of our readers have written in to inform us that the Don Giovanni from La Scala that we posted about yesterday will be broadcast today on Italian radio at RAI 3. The broadcast begins at 6 PM Milan time (Noon EST/9 AM PST).

Doppelgängers? Franz Liszt and Michael Kelly

The gifted young barihunk Michael Kelly will be joining sopranos Victoria Browers and Mary Mackenzie tonight at the WMP Concert Hall in New York City for a night of music by Franz Liszt. We couldn't help but notice a bit of a similarity between the striking composer and the equally eye-catching Michael Kelly. Liszt songs include "Was Liebe sei?," "Freudvoll und Leidvoll," "Die Lorelei",  and"Die Fischerstochter, " as well as music by Debussy, Wolf and Rachmaninoff. Visit the SongFusion website for additional information.

Jérôme Varnier

French barihunk Jérôme Varnier will be performing a recital on Thursday night at the Temple Saint Marcel in Paris, France. The program includes lieder by Mozart, Schubert, Ravel, Ibert as well as Argentinian music from de Ginastera, Buchardo and Aguirre. Visit the Musicatem website for additional information.

We have to give a shout out to one of our favorite low voices, Matthew Treviño, who received rave reviews for his performance as Sarastro. The role seldom gets singled out in a review, but Treviño majestic bass caught the attention of Terence Blain in the Irish Theater Magazine:

"But it was Texan bass Matthew Treviño who truly galvanised attention: his Sarastro was magnetically sung and acted, an eerily hermetic presence with an insinuatingly malevolent agenda (he manhandles Pamina creepily during one aria). Sarastro’s part goes very low musically, but Treviño’s bottom Fs were unpinched and beautifully supported, his sonorous, burnished tone and clear enunciation a source of constant pleasure."

 You can see Treviño in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. Copies are still available HERE. But now before they're either all gone or January 1, 2012 has rolled in. You won't want to miss one day of this sexy calendar.

Matthew Treviño: Devilishly Hot

One of our favorite things about running this site is showing the world that there is opera outside of New York. There is a wealth of talent working in "second tier" opera companies and often the performances are much more gratifying. Singers like Matthew Treviño bring an intensity and presence to the stage that may get lost in Renee Fleming's long shadow on the stage of The Met.

This devilishly good looking bass has charmed audiences in cities like Ft. Worth, Sacramento, Kansas City, Dallas, Detroit and Santa Barbara. As you can see from the photo on the bottom, Matthew Treviño can even make Colline in La Boheme look sexy. Of course, we prefer him as a soldier in Salome exposing some skin. We won't even make a joke about him playing Dick Deadeye in Kansas City!

Like many barihunks, he got his major break with the Fort Worth Opera, which has become ground zero for barihunkiness. Treviño went on to hone his skills at the prestigious Merola Opera Program where he first caught our eye.

The Texas native graduated from Baylor University and was a finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Foundation Competition, Dallas Opera Guild Competition, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, Shreveport Opera’s Singer of the Year Competition, and was the recipient of the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence at Baylor University.

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