Paul La Rosa stars in "grave" performance of Dido & Aeneas

Paul La Rosa as Aeneas

Barihunk Paul La Rosa will star as Aeneas in an adaptation of Henry Purcell's "Dido & Aeneas" at the historic catacombs at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. The performance is part of The Angel’s Share, a new series of opera and chamber music concerts presented by Death of Classical at the cemetery. The series takes its name from the distiller’s term for whiskey that evaporates while maturing in the barrel, thus going to the angels.

Paul La Rosa as Aeneas

La Rosa will be joined by the rising star Daniela Mack as Dido, along with Molly Quinn as Belinda, and Vanessa Cariddi as the Sorceress. The opera will be directed by tenor Alek Shrader, and will incorporate spoken dialogue from Christopher Marlowe’s play “Dido, Queen of Carthage." Shrader and Mack are one of many husband and wife teams currently singing on the opera stage. The couple participated with La Rosa in San Francisco's Merola Opera Program for young artists.

Performances are slated for June 4, 5, 7, and 8 and tickets are available online. The catacombs are normally not open to the public.

Paul La Rosa as Aeneas

Each performance will begin with a pre-concert reception with food, drinks, and a whiskey tasting overlooking the Manhattan skyline and the New York Harbor at sunset. At dusk, guests will then follow a candle-lit pathway down to the Catacombs for the performance.

We previously posted about The Angel’s Share performance of the Red Elf featuring bass-barihunk Andrew Bogard and hunkentenor Kyle Bielfield.

Paul La Rosa in tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires

Paul La Rosa rehearsing Maria de Buenos Aires in San Diego (Photo: Angel Mannion)

Barihunk Paul La Rosa will taking on the role of El Payador (the gaucho minstrel) in Astor Piazzolla's tango infused opera Maria de Buenos Aires. The San Diego Opera is presenting four performances of the increasingly popular piece between January 26-28, with a 7 PM and 10 PM curtain on the 27th. Tickets are available online.

The opera will be directed by John de los Santos, who has directed the piece throughout the country, and will direct it again with barihunk Luis Alejandro Orozco at the Fort Worth Opera Festival from April 27 and May 5. Paul La Rosa's tango partner will be soprano Aubrey Babcock.

The opera opens with Duende (the Narrator) who relates the story of Maria, a prostitute born in the slums “one day when God was drunk … with a curse in her voice.” Maria is seduced by the rhythms of the tango and soon becomes “the most sorcerous singer and lover” in Buenos Aires. However, her “fatal passion” arouses the wrath of robbers and brothel madams who shoot her to death, and bury her in an unmarked grave. In death, Maria is pulled into a dreamlike Hell where she encounters the choral circus of psychoanalysts who dissect her to the core. She makes a resurrection of sorts when the Duende summons her to return as a Shadow, give birth to a new Maria, and haunt the sordid streets of Buenos Aires which she once walked.

Director John de los Santos talks about Maria de Buenos Aires:

Unlike most who contributed to the origins and development of the tango, Piazzolla came from a different background. He was a classically trained, refined musician and composer. Piazzolla undoubtedly made tango available to a wider audience and helped extend its boundaries, both stylistically and geographically. For that, he was equally admired and criticized, but it is almost universally recognized that Piazzolla’s style lent tango worldwide cultural legitimacy, even in what is known as the realm of “classical” music.

Besides being an extraordinarily talented composer, he was also an exceptional bandoneon player. Piazzolla drew from classical and contemporary sources as well as from the deep roots of tango, creating a powerful synthesis that propelled it from being in some regards a thing of the past to a contemporary language, reinvigorating the style.

Luis Alejandro Orozco in Maria de Buenos Aires in New Orleans, Fort Worth

Luis Alejandro Orozco

Barihunk Luis Alejandro Orozco, who just performed his signature role of  Payador Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires with Mill City Summer Opera, will reprise the role with the New Orleans Opera's chamber series on September 9 and 10. The special performances will also include dinner and a post-performance tango dance party. 

The production will also feature soprano Catalina Cuervo, Milton Laayza in the role of Duende-Elf and Robert Lyall conducting musicians from the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. The piece, which is set in a theater-in-the-round, will be directed by Tomer Zvulun, the artistic Director of the Atlanta Opera.

Orozco will perform the piece again next Spring with the Fort Worth Opera with John de los Santos directing his unforgettable conception. Barihunk Paul La Rosa will be performing Payador with the director at San Diego Opera in January.

Barihunk duo in mariachi opera

Ricardo Rivera as Acalán

The Lyric Opera of Chicago just wrapped up a run of Jose “Pepe” Martinez’s mariachi opera El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, which included the barihunk duo of Paul La Rosa as Enrique and Ricardo Rivera as Acalán.

The opera will now travel to the revamped San Diego Opera on April 25 for a day/night doubleheader and then head to the Houston Grand Opera for performances on May 13, 16, and 17 at the Wortham Theater Center.  The duo will be joined by the internationally renowned ensemble Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, soprano Abigail Santos Villalobos and the gifted young tenor Daniel Montenegro.  

Paul La Rosa as Enrique

El Pasado is the second mariachi opera from the creative team of José "Pepe" Martínez and Leonard Foglia, who collaborated to create the international hit Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon.

The story takes place in Morelos, Mexico in 1910, where the son of a wealthy European landowner falls in love with a humble Mexican servant girl living on his family's hacienda. The story begins on the eve of the Mexican Revolution and blazes a riveting path through forbidden passion, the fight for freedom, and political destiny all the way to the modern-day United States.

West Coast tidalwave of barihunks coming

David Adam Moore in Chicago's Streetcar Named Desire

As opera companies announce their upcoming seasons, it appears that the West Coast might be the best destination to catch a few barihunks. When even Rigoletto is cast with a barihunk, one can expect a tidal wave of male pulchritude on opera stages up and down the coast from Seattle to San Diego.

We've already marked our calendars to see the seethingly sexy David Adam Moore in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at the San Diego Opera. The American baritone, fresh off his debut in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Lyric Opera of Chicago will be singing the role of Silvio. This is one production where we certainly can't blame Nedda for having an affair with Silvio.

San Diego Opera will feature other operas with major baritone roles, including the great Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role of Massenet's Don Quichotte. Malcolm McKenzie and the hilarious John Del Carlo will team up in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love. Aris Argiris will join tenor superstar Piotr Beczala in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera, which is sure to be a hot ticket. 

Dmitri Hvorstovsky & Ildar Abdrazakov (Dario Acosta Photography)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky will also return to the West Coast with recitals in Los Angeles on May 22, 2014 and San Francisco on May 25, 2014. The "Siberian Hunky" will perform romances on poems by Alexander Pushkin from Glinka, Borodin, Rachmaninov and Glier.

The recently buffed up Ildar Abdrazakov is featured prominently on the San Francisco Opera's beautiful 2013-14 marketing materials. He'll be kicking off the new season in the title role of Boito's Mephistopheles in an all-star cast that included Patricia Racette and Ramon Vargas. Performances run from September 6-October 2, 2013. Opera buffs will remember that the "Age of the Barihunks" unofficially kicked off with Samuel Ramey in the same opera in San Francisco in 1994.

Other prominent barihunks appearing with the San Francisco Opera are Nathan Gunn in Jerome Kern's Show Boat, Green Grimsley in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Audun Iversen making his local debut in Rossini's Barber of Seville.

Michael Todd Simpson shows off his baritone claw

Up north in Seattle, where they are three months away from Greer Grimsley heading the cast as Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, they've announced a season with a bevy of barihunks. Michael Todd Simpson, a notoriously sexy Escamillo, will be taking on a very different role when he portrays John Sorel in Menotti's The Consul. Also in that production will be barihunks Steven LaBrie and Joseph Lattanzi. 

Steven LaBrie (left) and Donovan Singletary (right) heating up Seattle

The aforementioned Rigoletto will be in Seattle, as Marco Vratogna portrays the title character. We've seen him in this role and it's a performance that is not to be missed. Also in the cast is fitness guru Donovan Singletary as Count Monterone. 

Other operas are Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment and Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. The Seattle Opera will also be hosting two special events next year. On August 7th the International Wagner Competition will take place and two nights later a concert celebrating the company's 50th anniversary and the tenure of outgoing general director Speight Jenkins. Features performers include Stephanie Blythe, Greer Grimsley, John Relyea and William Burden. 

Paul LaRosa (left) and Liam Bonner (right)

We don't feature the Los Angeles Opera as much as other companies because they cast fewer barihunks than most companies. They are almost making up for it in one performance of Britten's Billy Budd, which features Liam Bonner in the title role, Greer Grimsley as John Claggart, Paul LaRosa as the First Mate, Jonathan Michie as Donald and Samuel Ramey as Dansker. 

Of course, our biggest frustration with L.A. Opera has been their bad habit of casting tenors in baritone roles. They're doing it again this year, as tenor Plácido Domingo takes on one of the great baritone roles, Athanael in Massenet's Thaïs. Other operas include Glass' Einstein on the Beach, Donizett's Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozart's Magic Flute, Verdi's Falstaff and Bizet's Carmen (with a yet-to-be-announced Escamillo).

Adrian Kramer, Paul LaRosa & Matt Boehler in Chicago Opera Theater's "Moscow, Cheryomushki"

Adrian Kramer (Sasha) and Emily Fons (Masha)

We have a particular soft spot for many of the smaller opera companies and the Chicago Opera Theater has long been one of our favorite companies..Not only do they take greater risks, but they often feature barihunks in the early stages of their careers. We loved Matt Worth there in their productions of Owen Wingrave Three Decembes and now they have Adrian Kramer in an orginal take on Shostakovich called "Moscow, Cheryomushki." The cast also includes two other barihunks who have appeared on this site, Paul LaRosa as Boris and Matt Boehler as Drebednev.

The Chicago Opera Theater is producing its own unique twist to Shostakovich's musical satire that takes a political poke at the Soviet Union's chronic housing shortages. Renowned Shostakovich scholar Gerard McBurney produced a musical score that captures this operetta's lighter mood. The  new production marks the 21st Chicago premiere since the innovative Brian Dickie arrived in 1999 to run the company. The opera will be sung in English with English supertitles.

Adrian Kramer (Sasha) and Emily Fons (Masha)

If you're in Chicago, you can preview the music at an event at LOKaL tonight from 6-8pm. The cost is $25 ($35 at the door) and includes hors d'oeveres, the Moscow martini and music from the show. Performances of the opera run from April 14-25. Visit the COT website for additional details.

Paul LaRosa

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Hear the Ryan Opera Center Singers Online

Barihunk Paul La Rosa

Fans of this site know that our dedication to supporting young singers runs deep. We encourage readers to donate to young artist programs and our annual charity calendar benefits young artists. One of the best programs in the country is the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and now you can hear their amazing singers even if you're not anywhere near the Windy City.

The Ryan Opera Center is performing a Rising Stars Concert that will be broadcast in the Chicago area on 98.7 WFMT and streamed online at www.wfmt.com on Sunday, April 1st 4 p.m. CST. If you're in the Chicago area, the concert is on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m CST at the Ardis Krainik Theatre of the Civic Opera House, but tickets are only available to Lyric Opera donors of $75 and above. You can (and should) donate at the Lyric Opera website.

Members of the 2012 Ryan Opera Center

One of this site's most popular young artists, Paul La Rosa, will be featured in the concert along with fellow baritones and basses Joseph Lim, Paul Scholten, David Govertsen and Evan Boyer. Other singers include sopranos Emily Birsan, Kiri Deonarine, and Jennifer Jakob (sopranos); mezzos Emily Fons and Cecelia Hall; and tenors René Barbera, Bernard Holcomb, and James Kryshak. The singers will be performing works by Adams, Bellini, Berlioz, Bernstein, Bizet, Delibes, Donizetti, Gounod, Mozart, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Rossini, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi.

Participants in the program have performed principal and supporting roles during Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 57th season. They also served as understudies for major and minor roles throughout the season.

Another member of the program is Will Liverman who we recently predicted would win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Unfortunately, the judges disagreed, but he is destined for a major career.

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Death of Klinghoffer in St. Louis

Avirath Dodabele as young Omar and Paul LaRosa as Rambo

Our inbox has been filled with an unusually large amount of correspondence about the Opera Theatre of St. Louis' production of John Adams' "The Death of Klinghoffer." With our commitment to promoting contemporary opera we're kicking ourselves for not covering this production until late in the run. There is one performance left on Saturday, June 25. 

Many of the emails were about Christopher Mageira, who plays the Captain, and who has not appeared on this site before. However, the heavy panting came through in the emails about Paul LaRosa's performance as Rambo. Fortunately, the opera company posted this photo on their website. We've posted a number of pictures of LaRosa and his muscled physique since his days at the Merola Opera Program.

Christopher Magiera as the Captain

Christopher Magiera is currently a member of the Dresden Semperoper., where he is singing Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri and Robert in Iolanta. This summer, Magiera will make his Santa Fe Opera debut as Valentin in Faust where he will alternate the role with fellow American barihunk Matt Worth. 

Magiera has won many awards and competitions. Most recently he won the 2009 Sullivan Foundation Grand Prize, was a 2008 Grand National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, an International Finalist in Placido Domingo’s World Opera Competition Operalia, and won First Place in the 2008 Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition. He has also received awards from the Jensen Foundation, Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Florida Grand Competition, Maguerite McCammon Competition (Fort Worth Opera), Liederkranz Foundation, Bel Canto Foundation, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, San Antonio Opera Vocal Competition and the Annie Wentz Prize (Vocal Performance, Peabody Conservatory).

Here is the Chorus of Exiled Palestinians from the opera:

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More of Hunky Tom Corbeil at Gotham Chamber Opera

[Click image to enlarge]

The posting of our hot barihunks bench continues with the stunning Tom Corbeil and some more pictures from the Gotham Chamber Opera's production of Joseph Haydn’s "L’isola disabitata (Desert Island)." You can find the earlier post at http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=corbeil.

Corbeil is another in a long line of barihunks coming out of San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, like our previous barihunk Paul La Rosa.

I'm sure that all of us are grateful to the Gotham Chamber Opera for these pictures. If you're in the New York area make sure to support this company. The production continues through February 28. For more information click here: www.gothamchamberopera.org.

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Kelly Markgraf and Paul La Rosa

[Top two photos of Paul La Rosa in Klinghoffer and Krenek's "Heavyweight, or the Pride of the Nation" by Nan Melville of the NY Times; Bottom two photos of Kelly Markgraf pictures from his personal site]

The Julliard School was recently graced with two of the hottest young barihunks to emerge on the scene, Kelly Markgraf and Paul La Rosa. Markgraf played Mamoud and La Rosa was Rambo in John Adams’ masterpiece The Death of Klinghoffer.

Markgraf is a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at the Opera Theatre of Lucca. In 2005, he completed his studies at the Pensacola Opera’s 2005 Resident Artist Program.

In 2010, he’ll sing Escamillo to Kate Aldrich’s sexy Carmen at the Pittsburgh Opera. Both are known as intense actors, so this should be a steamy, sexy performance of Carmen.

Baritone Paul LaRosa is a native of Union, New Jersey and a member of the renowned Juilliard Opera Center in New York City. In 2007, he was part of the esteemed Merola Opera Program in San Francisco where he stole the show as Dandini in Rossini’s comic masterpiece La Cenerentola.

La Rosa has already performed in some classic Barihunk operas, including Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide, The Rake’s Progress, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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