Listen to Mariusz Kwiecien's Zurga live from Chicago

Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

Mariusz Kwiecien, who was one of the inspirations for his site, will open as Zurga at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Sunday, November 19th. He'll be joined by tenor Matthew Polenzani as his friend Nadir, the booming bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Nourabad and soprano Marina Rebeka as Leïla.

Kwiecien last appeared in the role with the Met in January 2016, which also featured Polenzani, as well as German soprano Diana Damrau. 

There will be seven performances running through December 10 and tickets are available online.

However, if you can't make it to Chicago (where it's cold and rainy right now), you can listen to the opening performance of The Pearl Fishers can be heard live on 98.7WFMT beginning at 1:45pm CST/11:45 AM PST/2:45 EST.

Upcoming performances for Kwiecien included Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Opera Krakowska in March, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Dallas and London, and Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in Munich. 

Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Listen to Jarrett Ott sing from Pearl Fishers on WUNC

Jarrett Ott

WUNC host Frank Stasio previewed the North Carolina Opera's upcoming performance of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers with barihunk Jarrett Ott and tenor John Bellemer on his National Public Radio broadcast. The two singers joined company general director Eric Mitchko for a discussion of the production and they then joined accompanist Sahar Nouri for a live studio performance of the famous duet.

You can listen to the interview, Zurga's aria and the famous tenor/baritone duet on WUNC's website. 

The remainder of the cast includes soprano Talise Trevigne as Leïla and Jordan Bisch as Nourabad. There are performances on Friday, April 28 at 8 p.m. and Saturday April 30 at 3 p.m. at Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are available online.

Watch Barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Mattia Olivieri at Berlin AIDS Gala

Mattia Olivieri & Edwin Crossley-Mercer at Berlin AIDS Gala

On November 5th, barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin's 22nd Grand Opera Gala in support of the AIDS Foundation. The event also features fellow barihunks Andrea Mastroni and Mattia Olivieri, as well as soprano Patrizia Ciofi, tenor Gregory Kunde and a host of other operatic luminaries.

Of course, we had to post our favorite barihunks for your viewing pleasure. If you speak German, you will enjoy the humorous introductions by legendary bandleader and singer Max Raabe.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer sings Mozart's "Madamina il catalogo è questo delle bello"

Michael Spyres & Edwin Crossley-Mercer sing Bizet's "Au fond du temple saint":

Mattia Olivieri sings Rossini's "Largo al factotum della città!":

Crossley-Mercer is so popular with our readers that we asked him to appear in our upcoming 2017 "Barihunks in Bed" calendar, which he graciously agreed to do. We hired a photographer in France to take a photo and made him our December feature, since his stunning prematurely gray hair evoked a perfect wintry night. You can purchase a copy ONLINE.

Glenn Seven Allen & Edwin Crossley-Mercer

Xavier Rivera in free San Francisco concert

Xavier Rivera: Pearl Fishers selfie

You can hear 2015 Barihunk calendar model Xavier Rivera for free on Friday, February 13th at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He'll be performing the Zurga-Laïla duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. The concert starts at 7:30 PM. 

The program will also include other artists in arias and duets from Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel,
Rachel Portman's The Little Prince. Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Massenet's Manon.

The Puerto Rican native recently appeared in San Juan in Puccini's La bohème and has performed in Mozart's Requiem with the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Coronation Mass in the San Francisco Master Chorale in San Josè and Castro Valley, California. 

Happy Birthday, Robert Merrill

The great Robert Merrill was born on June 4, 1917 and died on October 23, 2004. This is unquestionably one of his greatest recordings. We can't think of a better way to honor him.



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