Barihunk Role Announcements; Happy Birthday, Vincenzo Bellini

We've learned that Dmitri Hvorostovsky aka "The Siberian Hunky," will be singing Iago at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2015/16 season. We'll have more on this as the date approaches.

Since today is Vincenzo Bellini's birthday, here is Hvorostovsky singing a jaw-droppingly beautiful version of "Ah, per sempre io ti perdei" from "I Puritani."



The other big news regarding roles comes out of Santa Fe. Thomas Hampson and Mariusz Kwiecien will be bringing roles to the U.S. that that received critical acclaim in Europe. Hampson will be singing Scarpia in Puccini's "Tosca" and Kwiecien will be performing his sizzling hot portrayal of King Roger in Karol Szymanoski's opera of the same name. Visit the Santa Fe Opera website for additional cast and performance information.

Here is Hampson singing the Te Deum from Tosca in Zurich:



You can watch an entire performance of King Roger with "The Hot Pole" on YouTube. Here is the Part 1 of 10:



Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Don't forget to order your 2012 Barihunks calendar. Click HERE to order. All proceeds go to support young artists and young artist programs. It's a great gift and an easy way to support our next generation of baritones. You can read more about our calendar at this previous post.

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Verdi Backup SIngers

Guido Loconsolo from www.guidoloconsolo.com

We continue our Verdi series with two great roles for baritone that aren't one of the lead characters, but critical to the story, Iago in Otello and Ford in Falstaff.

One of the most popular baritone arias is Ford's "E'sogno o realtà," where a singer can display great emotion as the character becomes consumed with jealousy.

We'll start with Lee Poulis who we recently featured singing in Bernard Hermann's Wuthering Heights at the Minnesota Opera. He has the type of voice that is often cast for this role. Poulis shows how well the aria works for recitals and competitions. For comparison listen to the rich, darker baritone of Guido Loconsolo with orchestra.





Few secondary characters are more critical to the plot line that the evil and sinister Iago, who sets in motion everything that leads to Otello killing the innocent Desdemona. A great Iago can easily steal the show from the tenor and soprano, much like a great Azucena or Amneris can steal the show in Il Trovatore and Aida respectively. Let's start with two of the greatest versions ever, Leonard Warren and Ettore Bastianini. We'll follow that with the thrilling duet "S pel ciel" with Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes from the 1979 "Live from the Met" telecast.





Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Tweet

Celebrating Justino Diaz

Justino Diaz as Otello and an early head shot

One of our traditions that draws the most email is our "Historical Hunks" feature. People seem to have a lot of favorites from their past with Ettore Bastianini, Titta Ruffo and Theodore Uppman appearing to be the most popular with our readers. We also receive a good deal of correspondence regarding Justino Diaz, who almost stole the opera film "Otello" from Katia Ricciarelli and Placido Domingo with his searingly evil portrayal of Iago complete with his trademark rich and resonant low notes.

Diaz shot onto the international scene in 1963 when he won the Metropolitan Opera auditions. That same year he made his debut on the celebrated stage as Monterone in Rigoletto. He went on to sing on the major stages of the world, starred in films and inaugurated the new Lincoln Center in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with Leontyne Price (who celebrated her 84th birthday yesterday).

Diaz retired in 2003 to his native Puerto Rico and runs the Casals Festival and stages opera.

We can't think of a better way to celebrate this great artist than with a few clips of his artistry, beginning with his famous Iago, his Torreador song and a trio with Joan Sutherland.







Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Tweet

Celebrating Iago on Otello's Anniversary

Titta Ruffo

One of the unfortunate things about this site is that we don't find as many Verdi barihunks as we'd like. Some roles scream barihunk casting, particularly Attila and we've featured it regularly. Most of the roles range from the G below low C to the A♭ above middle C (G2 to A♭4), which includes singers like Ettore Bastianini and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. However, most barihunks seems to have a sweeter, lighter and slightly higher placed voice, so we tend to post a disproportionate amount of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Handel and baroque opera.

So on the occasion of the debut of Verdi's Otello on this date in 1887, we decided to celebrate the role of Iago, who we think should be regularly cast as a barihunk, as it adds such a wonderful dimension to the storyline.

Here are two of our favorite barihunks, Tito Ruffo singing the opera's famed duet with Enrico Caruso and Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing Iago's Credo.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Tweet

Dmitri Hvorostovsky Sings Verdi

In anticipation of Dmitri Hvorostovsky's upcoming portrayal of Rigoletto, we thought that we'd provide you with a sampling of some of his sumptuous Verdi singing. Here are excerpts from Don Carlo, Forza and Otello. For all of you tenor fans who keep clamoring for parity, we've added one clip with hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann. (We would like to take this time to remind readers that this site is dedicated to baritones, although we appreciate the outpouring of love for the higher voiced male singers).







The "Siberian Hunky" will be in London from October 11 through November 2 portraying the famous hunchback. Visit the Royal Opera House website for more information.

He then travels to Vienna from November 16-28 where he will perform at the famed Vienna State Opera.

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Email us at Barihunks@gmail.come

Giovanni Furlanetto Sings Rossini

[Photo from www.giovannifurlanetto.com]

Here is a magnificent rendition of the trio "Ti parli d'amore" from Rossini's "Otello" with barihunk Giovanni Fulanetto as Elmiro, tenor John Osborne as Otello and Olga Peretyatko as Desdemona. The performance was at the Opéra de Lausanne in February 2010.

[Furlanetto as Selim; Photo courtesy of Leipzig Opera]

Opera lovers who enjoy great acting should not miss any opportunity to see Giovanni Furlanetto, who has quickly established himself as a great actor, as well as a commanding vocal presence. Upcoming performances include Selim in "Il turco in Italia" in Leipzig, Don Basilio in "Il barbiere di Siviglia" in Toulouse, and Raimondo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" in Trieste. As an added enticement, the cast of Barber in Toulouse also features fellow barihunks Giorgio Caoduro as Figaro and Vittorio Prato as Fiorello.



Subscribe to Barihunks by Email

Email us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Hot as Hell in San Francisco

[From top to bottom: John Relyea, Austin Kness, Brian Mulligan, Marco Vratogna, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Greer Grimsley]

The San Francisco Opera announced its 2009-10 season today and hell is going to be really hot. They are performing Gounod's Faust with three barihunks on the stage in the same night! This may be a Barihunks first. The barihunk with the prettiest eyes in all of opera, John Relyea, will be singing Méphistophélès, Brian Mulligan will be singing the Valentin, and Austin Kness (who was a sexy Don Giovanni) will be singing Wagner.

Also burning up the stage in San Francisco will be Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Il Trovatore, Greer Grimsley in Salome and the devilishly hot Marco Vratogna as the evil Iago in Verdi's Otello.

San Francisco under David Gockley always has ravishingly beautiful sopranos, so it's nice to see some barihunks in his casts. We all know that they love hot guys in San Francisco, so the seats should be full and the opera glass rentals sold out.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email