Barihunk Trio in Dallas Opera's La boheme

Steven LaBrie

Today is über-barihunk Steven LaBrie's birthday, which reminded us that he's about to open in Dallas Opera's production of Puccini's La boheme with a barihunk trio that also includs Alexander Vinogradov and Jonathan Beyer. LaBrie will be singing Schaunard, Vinogradov takes on Colline and Beyer sings Marcello. Performances run from March 13-29 and tickets are available online.

After Dallas, Labrie heads off to Washington D.C. to sing the fiendishly difficult baritone part in Orff's Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center on April 12th. The performance celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University and features their symphony orchestra and chorus.  

Alexander Vinogradov and Jonathan Beyer

We originally featured Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov back in 2009. After this performance, he heads off to Geneva where he'll charm the Carmen of Sonia Ganassi from May 8-17th.

Jonathan Beyer will grab some scissors as he takes on Figaro in The Barber of Seville with the Opera Theater of Saint Louis form  May 23-June 27th. You can check out Beyer's la la la-ing his way through Largo al factotum on his website, along with many other great sound clips.

The Dallas Opera season wraps up with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. Tickets and additional cast information is available on the Dallas Opera website. 

Barihunks hit the road with English Touring Opera

Nicholas Lester (left) & Peter Brathwaite (photos from English Touring Opera)

The English Touring Opera is kicking off their new Spring season with some barihunks in key roles.

Peter Brathwaite, who has been a regular on this site and appeared in two of our charity calendars, will take on roles in two Donizetti rarities, Kaidamà in The Wild Man of the West Indies (Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo) and Incognito in The Siege of Calais. This will be the first staging of The Wild Man of the West Indies in Britain in the modern era.

The Siege of Calais tells the story of the sacrifices under siege of the citizens of Calais – and of the sacrifices of citizens everywhere, forced in extreme situations to decide what to give up for their country and their families.

Jan Capiński

Jan Capiński, who is new to this site will appear as Armando in The Siege of Calais. He recently completed his M.A. in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, graduating with distinction. He is currently training on English National Opera's Opera Works professional development program. Capiński was spotted by Scottish Opera while still a student and asked to cover the role of Pluto in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, before going on to perform the role twice with the main cast, marking his professional debut.

Click HERE to hear Jan Capiński sing Smirnov's aria from Walton's The Bear. You can also follow him on his blog or on Twitter @JanCapinski.

Nicholas Lester, who is also new to this site, will alternate the role of Marcello in Puccini's La bohème with Grant Doyle, who has appeared on this site numerous times.  He studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and at the National Opera Studio, London where his studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He has also appeared with the Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Nationale Reisopera and Opera Holland Park.

The tour opens in London at the Hackney Empire in March and travels through May to Truro, Norwich, Cheltenham, Suffolk, Leicester, Coventry, Exeter and Buxton. Visit their website for additional cast information and performance dates.

Introducing Frankfurt Opera's Iurii Samoilov

Iurii Samoilov as Masetto at Oper Frankfurt

We've been following Björn Bürger ever since we first posted him, as he was instantly a hit with our readers. When we were scouring his upcoming performances, we ran across Ukrainian Iurii Samoilov often sharing the same roles or operas with Bürger at the Frankfurt Opera.

Samoilov joined the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera this season after having been part of their Opera Studio since 2012. This season, he performs sings Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, the 2nd Knight of the Holy Grail in Wagne's Parsifal, Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni. His debut with the company was as the Embittered Gambler in Prokofiev's The Gambler.

 Iurii Samoilov sings Rachmaninov's Do not sing, my beauty:

Samoilov graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in 2011 and in 2009 he was the youngest singer to ever reach the finals at theNeue Stimmen Competition in Germany.

Last season, he also appeared in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the 2014 Rossini Opera Festival. From April 18-26, he'll be at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo to perform in Adolphe Adam's Le Toréador opposite fellow barihunk Andrea Concetti.

Björn Bürger

You can catch him as Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème at the Frankfurt Opera on March 19th, as well as alternating the roles of Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola with Björn Bürger later this season. 

Christopher Bolduc makes role debut as Marcello in Germany

Christopher Bolduc as Marcello in Wiesbaden

American barihunk Christopher Bolduc made his role debut as Marcello in Puccini's La boheme on Friday night at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, who is the new general director at the opera company, set the piece in a world of nostalgic fairy book charm, complete with a carousel.

Bolduc, who has impressed European audiences with performances at Oper Köln, Glyndebourne and Theater Basel is now on the permanent roster of the the opera in Wiesbaden where he's also wrapping up a run in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten today. He'll reprise his performance in that opera in May 2015. In between, he'll be singing Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and the King's Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. American audiences will remember Bolduc from his stunning portrayal of Jake in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys in his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2013. 

The current cast performs through October 30th with Matias Tosi taking over the role of Marcell beginning on November 14th.  Tickets and additional cast information are available online.