Stéphane Degout shows his bod for Claude

French barihunk Stéphane Degout, who we have seen nude before on the opera stage in Thomas' Hamlet, is now back in his birthday suit for Claude Debussy’s only complete opera Pelléas et Mélisande at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. The opera is returning to the company after a 40-year absence and is available as video on demand for those in Europe.

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence's resident director Katie Mitchell provided a literal interpretation of the dreamlike piece. The opera starts with Mélisande in a wedding dress where she falls asleep and the story is her dream and a reflection of her reality.  Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, with Barbara Hannigan and Mélisande and Laurent Naouri as Golaud completing the trio.

You can catch it live on July 13 and 17 and tickets are available online.

Degout will next be appearing as the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam and them as Olivier in Richard Strauss' Capriccio at La Monnaie in Brussels.

Samuel Jarrick naked in La traviata

Samuel Jarrick in La traviata at Folkoperan ***

Folkoperan is the small opera company in Stockholm that performs opera in Swedish. Their current production of Verdi's La traviata features a lot of nudity...A LOT OF NUDITY. Fortunately, one of nude performers is barihunk Samuel Jarrick, who we've featured before in a state of semi-undress in the Mälmo Opera's production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (which also featured nudity).

 Jesper Säll as Alfredo in La traviata (photo by Markus Gårder)

Folkoperan prides itself of pushing the boundaries of operatic convention and this production will certainly do that. Their concept with La traviata was to challenge both the work and the audience in the traditional concepts of male and female sexuality. The production features drag queens, body builders, models, children and, did we mention, lots of nudity.

The opera will be performed three times a week until November 29th. Tickets and additional performance information is available online.

*** A reminder that our nudity policy is that we only show pictures with nudity if it is from a staged production. This site does not contain gratuitous nudity. 

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NSFW: Stéphane Degout strips bare for Hamlet; Online broadcast until June 17th

Stéphane Degout in Hamlet from La Monnaie

Stéphane Degout in Hamlet from La Monnaie

The brilliant, dark and provocative performance of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet from La Monnaie will be available online until June 17, 2014. Conductor Marc Minkowski and Director Olivier Py have been combining forces in exploring the 19th-century French Grand opéra repertoire with great success. In 2011, they collaborated on a highly-acclaimed production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

Lenneke Ruiten's as Ophélie

Olivier Py has become well known for his generous display of male skin in his productions and Hamlet doesn't disappoint. There is an extensive scene that takes place in a bathtub with Stéphane Degout's Hamlet and his mother Gertrude, played by Jennifer Larmore. Even Lenneke Ruiten's Ophélie finds the perfect way to go mad - surrounded by four shirtless men in leather animal masks.

If you don't speak French or aren't familiar with the opera, you may want to download a copy of the libretto before watching, as the subtitles are in French. Click HERE to watch the performance. Because we know that you're going to fast forward to it anyway, the bathtub scene starts at 1:49.

Although the abundance of skin will certainly be a draw to many, the vocal performances are stunning, led by Stéphane Degout and Lenneke Ruiten.

Gianluca Margheri: Mr. April in the Barihunks Calendar

There is only one week left to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order it today!!! All proceed go to benefit young artists.

 

North Carolina Opera announces barihunky new season

A well-dressed Soloman Howard and an undressed Troy Cook in Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tirésias

North Carolina Opera has announced their new season and it includes some of our favorite singers. Anytime an opera company produces Puccini's La boheme, odds are that at least one of the three baritones will be a barihunk. The company has not announced their Schaunard, but we're thrilled that Troy Cook will appear as Marcello and Soloman Howard as Colline. Cook, you may recall is one of six singers who have appears on this site in the "full monty." Performances are on January 24 & 26, 2014.

Sidney Outlaw

Mozart's Così fan tutte will feature the ridiculously talented and brilliant Sydney Outlaw as Guglielmo. You can see the Brevard, North Carolina native in performances on October 3, 5 & 6, 2013. Fans in New York can catch him on November 4th at Carnegie Hall performing Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht & Mozart Requiem. He'll also be making his debut with the Atlanta Opera next year as Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Their final offering is Antonín Dvorák's magical opera Rusalka. Although this isn't a barihunk vehicle, it does include two rising soprano talents who you won't want to miss: future Wagnerian mega-star Heidi Melton and Joyce El-Khoury. There is one performance scheduled on March 14, 2014.

North Carolina Opera was formed in 2010 from the merger of Capital Opera Raleigh and The Opera Company of North Carolina. Visit their website for tickets and additional cast information.