Barihunk quartet featured in N.C. premiere of Silent Night

Kyle Guglielmo, Gabriel Preisser, Brian Banion and Gregory Gerbrandt

Piedmont Opera will present the North Carolina premiere of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night beginning on October 27th. The opera will feature a quartet of barihunk, including Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Audebert, Gregory Gerbrandt as Lieutenant Gordon, Brian Banion’s as Lieutenant Horstmayer and Kyle Guglielmo as Ponchel. Tickets are available online.

 

The opera. with a libretto by Mark Campbell, recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. Enemies become brothers as they share Christmas and bury their dead.

 

Liam Bonner sings Lieutenant Audebert's aria:

 

The story was based on the screenplay by Christian Carion for the Oscar-nominated 2005 French film Joyeux Nöel, which dramatized actual events during WWI during the days before Christmas 1914.

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.
 

The 2018 Barihunks Calendar and Photo Book

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!

Reader Submission: CrossFit barihunk Cody Monta'

Cody Monta'

Our latest reader submission is barihunk and CrossFit enthusiast Cody Monta'. He is currently a fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC.  He will be making his professional debut in the role of Marullo in Piedmont Opera’s production of Verdi's Rigoletto in Winston-Salem, NC on October 23, 25, 27, 2015. The cast includes tenor Rene Barbera as the Duke of Mantua. Barbera also graduated from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. Tickets are available online.

Cody Monta sings "Questo amor vergogna mia" from Puccini's Edgar:  

The Maryland native holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University. His 2015-16 season includes performing the role of Emilio in Nino Rota's Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in February 2016 and Escamillo in Peter Brook's La tragédie de Carmen in April 2016 at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. 

He recently appeared as Mr. Gideon March in Northwestern University Opera Theatre’s recent production of Little Women.  Last summer, Monta' attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a New Horizon’s fellow where he covered the role of James Vane (The Picture of Dorian Gray). He currently lives in Winston Salem, NC with his fiancée, Brandi and two dogs, Thriller and Vibrant.

Reader Submissions: Michael Redding & Aubrey Allicock

Michael Redding

There are few things we love more than our "Reader Submissions." We've been exposed to some of our favorite singers through our readers. We view our readers as our opera scouts who bring us the best talent from across the globe. A reader recently introduced us to two singers, Michael Redding and Aubrey Allicock.

Atlanta native Michael Redding received his Masters in Music from Indiana University after completing his undergraduate work at the North Carolina School of the Arts.  During his time at the School for the Arts he was also a  resident artist with the Piedmont Opera Outreach Program and later a member of the Young Artist Programs of the Utah Festival Opera and the Janiec Opera Company.

He has performed with the Sarasota Opera, Virginia Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Carolina, the Natchez Festival of Music and the New Orleans Opera. This season Redding debuts the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Piedmont Opera and he'll open the 2012-2013 season with the Berliner Philharmoniker in a concert-version of Porgy & Bess under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.

Aubrey Allicock

Aubrey Allicock received his Masters of Music from Indiana University and holds a Bachelors of Music from Grand Canyon University. While attending Indiana Universersity, Mr. Allicock studied and coached with renowned teachers who include Andreas Poulimenos, Sherrill Milnes and Carol Vaness.

Last season, Allicock joined the Metropolitan Opera roster where he covered the roles of Astarotte in Armida and Marullo in Rigoletto. In 2011, he made his role debut as Mamoud in John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer at the Opera Theater of St. Louis. As a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis he also performed the roles of Zaretsky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and covered the title role of Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Allicock has performed with the Wexford Festival Opera, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic and  the bass soloist role with the Concerts-Austria in Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Karlskirche. 

He returns to Opera Theater of St. Louis in 2012 as the Mad Hatter and Duck in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland. In 2012-13 he becomes an Artist Diploma candidate at Juilliard and returns to the Opera Theater of St. Louis.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com