Watch Christopher Maltman in Met's updated Cosi fan tutte

Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso (Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera)

Christopher Maltman will be featured in the upcoming broadcast of Mozart's Così fan tutte from the Metropolitan Opera as part of its Great Performances Series on Sunday, July 29, 2018. The broadcast begins at 12 PM EDT/9 AM PST.

The Met version of Mozart’s comedy about the sexes is set in a carnival-esque, funhouse environment inspired by 1950s Coney Island—complete with bearded ladies, fire eaters, and a Ferris wheel. Maltman stars as Don Alfonso, while Broadway star Kelli O’Hara takes on the role of the scheming maid Despina in a rare appearance on an operatic stage.

Upcoming broadcast's include Verdi's Luisa Miller and Massenet's Cendrillon with Joyce DiDonato.

Kristin Chenoweth & Paulo Szot in PBS broadcast

Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth will join barihunk Paulo Szot on the PBS broadcast of Star-Spangled Spectacular: Bicentennial of Our National Anthem on Saturday, September 13 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS. (Check local listings.) The concert is part of a weeklong celebration of the 200^th anniversary of our national anthem.

The duo will perform Leonard Bernstein's Make Our Garden Grow. The gala concert will also include performances by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves-Montgomery, country group Little Big Town, Pentatonix, R&B legend Smokey Robinson,  country crooner, Train, the U.S. Navy’s official chorus The Navy Band Sea Chanters and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Marin Alsop.

Paulo Szot rehearsing for the Star-Spangled Spectacular

The program will also include ceremonial activities at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, historical highlights and an extraordinary fireworks crescendo.

Two hundred years ago, Francis Scott Key, a Maryland-born attorney, was inspired to write the words to what would become the United States’ national anthem.  In 2012, Star-Spangled 200 and the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission began a multi-year commemoration of this legacy which will culminate with Star-Spangled Spectacular, a weeklong festival taking place on September 10–16, 2014. The festival will include tall ships, Navy gray hulls, a performance by the Blue Angels, landside festivities, and this special television program to honor the national anthem.

Silent Night to air on PBS

Liam Bonner in Silent Night

The barihunk-laden production of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night from the Minnesota Opera will be broadcast nationally on PBS on Friday, December 13 at 9pm ET (check local listings). The opera was the first commission of Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative, a landmark program designed to invigorate the operatic repertoire with an infusion of contemporary works.

The Minnesota Opera presented the world premiere of Silent Night in November 2011 with a cast that included barihunks Craig Irvin as Lieutenant Horstmayer, Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Gordon,  Mike Nyby as William Dale, Liam Bonner as Lieutenant Audebert, Troy Cook as Father Palmer, Joseph Beutel as the British Major, Ben Wager as the General and Andrew Wilkowske as Ponchel.

Silent Night is conducted by Minnesota Opera’s Music Director Michael Christie and staged by Academy Award-winning director Eric Simonson. The opera was recently honored with a regional Emmy nomination.

Quartet from Silent Night:

Silent Night was co-produced with Opera Philadelphia, who presented the work in February of this year. It now travels to the Fort Worth Opera Festival on May 4 and 10 with barihunks Dan Kempson, Craig Irvin and Morgan Smith.

The opera is based on the screenplay Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion and recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On WWI’s western front, Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they share Christmas and bury their dead.
 
You can listen to the entire opera online at composer Kevin Puts' website. 

Hot Szot on PBS

[ILLUSTRATION: MAURICE VELLEKOOP FOR THE NEW YORKER]

Set your recorders for Wednesday, August 18, 2010 when PBS will broadcast the highly acclaimed performance of South Pacific with Kelli O'Hara and barihunk Paolo Szot. Check your local PBS listing for times.

When this revival opened on April 3, 2008, Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times, "I know we're not supposed to expect perfection in this imperfect world, but I'm darned if I can find one serious flaw in this production."

The production went on to win five Drama Desk Awards and 11 Tony nominations, winning in seven of the categories. Paolo Szot who has alternated between opera and Broadway has undeniably been the star of this show. As we mentioned in a previous post Szot will be performing in Don Giovanni in Dallas opening in October.

This is one man that you don't want to wash right out of your hair and it promises to be some enchanted evening.

Here is a video of O'Hara and Szot performing "Some Enchanted Evening" on The View.

Szot on The View; Gunn on Kennedy Center Honors

Barihunks takes great pride in the fact that we discovered Paulo Szot long before Broadway. It is thrilling to see the enormous success that he's had in South Pacific. Word is that he left the show to return to opera in 2009. It is also refreshing to see how casually he "came out" and how it had no effect on his career. This is a guy who can cross over to Broadway with amazing ease.

New Yorker reviewer John Lahr perfectly captured Szot by describing him as having, "...a resounding, creamy bass voice and a warm masculine presence."

Speaking of barihunks who can cross over easily to Broadway musicals, Nathan Gunn will appear on "The Kennedy Center Honors" tonight on CBS. This year, they are honoring Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, George Jones, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

Gunn will be singing "Somewhere" from West Side Story with Kelli O'Hara as part of the tribute to Barbra Streisand.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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