Douglas Williams stars in Mascagni's Iris at Bardscape

Douglas Williams and Talise Trevigne in Iris

Bass-barihunk Douglas Williams portrays the villainous Kyoto in Mascagni's opera Iris with Bard Summerscape at the Fisher Center. He's joined by soprano Talise Trevigne as the vulnerable Iris, Matt Boehler (who has appeared on this site) as Il Cieco and tenor Gerard Schneider as the fickle Osaka.

Williams has previously collaborated with Iris director James Darrah on Agrippina for Opera Omaha, which we wrote about in 2014 for having the "Hottest Cast in Opera." He has also worked with Darrah on Jonathan Dove’s monodrama, The Other Euridice for Bay Chamber Concerts. On August 21, he'll perform Escamillo with the director at the Rockport Opera House in the Bizet/Brooks version of La tragédie de Carmen.

Composed by Puccini’s friend Pietro Mascagni, who composed the better known opera Cavalleria rusticana, Iris debuted in Rome in 1898, ushering in a wave of fin-de-siècle exotic opera. Mascagni’s dreamlike score provides the backdrop for Luigi Illica’s haunting libretto recounting the tragic story of Iris, an innocent young girl tricked into abandoning her elderly blind father and lured to a brothel in Tokyo’s notorious red-light district.

Remaining performances on July 27, 29 and 31. Tickets are available online.

On August 25, Williams will sing Scarlatti's La Gloria di Primavera with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and conductor Nicholas McGegan at Tanglewood. On September 17 and 18, he makes his Mozart debut as Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with the Milwaukee Symphony and conductor Edo de Waart. He'll be joined by fellow barihunk Gordon Bintner as Count Almaviva. Tickets are available online.

All-Star Don Giovanni in Baden-Baden with Schrott & Pisaroni

Erwin Schrott as Don Giovanni (left) and Faust (right)

It's no secret that we love Mozart's Don Giovanni, since it's not only one of the greatest operas ever written, but it seems to provide us with an endless supply of barihunks. The Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany has not only given us two of the most prominent barihunks in the world, but an all-star cast from top to bottom that would be the envy of any opera company in the world.

Erwin Schrott as Don Giovanni and Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, head a cast that includes Anna Netrebko as Donna Anna, Charles Castronovo as Don Ottavio, Jonathan Lemalu as Masetto and Malena Ernman as Donna Elvira. Performances will run from May 17-26 and tickets are available online.

Luca Pisaroni sings Leporello's Catalogue Aria. 

On June 1, Schrott will return to his Rojotango tour of Argentinian tangos and folk songs by Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Luca Pisaroni will be flying to the United States to join the Milwaukee Symphony in performances of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius on May 31 and June 1. Joining him will be mezzo Tamara Mumford and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey.