Watch Quirijn de Lang's Hamlet online

Quirijn de Lang as Hamlet (Image: OPERA2DAY)

Add Quirijn de Lang to the list of barihunks who have made their mark in the title role of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, which includes Thomas Weinhappel, Thomas Oliemans, Franco Pomponi, Stéphane Degout, Edward Nelson, Régis Mengus, Bo Skovhus, Simon Keenlyside and Liam Bonner.

You can watch the Dutch baritone's performance on OperaVision on September 13th. The broadcast will start at 7 PM CET/1 PM EST/10 AM PST.

The performance is with OPERA2DAY in Den Haag, a company founded to bring opera to new audiences by presenting old standards in contemporary settings. The opera has been reduced to 2 hours from the standard 3 1/2 running time by eliminating the ballet and streamlining the story, including an ending that combines the two existing versions of the opera.

The cast also includes Lucie Chartin as Ophélie, fellow barihunk Martijn Sanders as Claudius, Martina Prins as Gertrude, Jan Willem Schaafsma as Laërte  and Patrick Pranger as Horatio. The opera is a co-production with the New European Ensemble.

If you want to see de Lang live, he can be seen in Kurt Weill's Street Scene with Opera North from January through March in Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester and Nottingham. He will also be singing the Count in Mozart's​ The Marriage of Figaro with the company during the same period.

Watch Quirijn de Lang as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti on OperaVision

Quirijn de Lang as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti (Image courtesy Opera North)

You can watch Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti with Opera North on OperaVision from August 25-September 11. He will be joined by the Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta as the other half of the argumentative couple.

Bernstein wrote the libretto and music for Trouble in Tahiti and directed and conducted the premiere himself in June 1952 at the University of Brandeis, Massachusetts. Eager to make his one-act satirical opera seem as realistic as possible, Bernstein set it in the aftermath of World War II, a time when consumerism was spreading through society. His work had a number of autobiographical references and the male protagonist, Sam, shares his name with Bernstein’s father who left Russia to find the 'American Dream'.

The opera opens with a jingle performed by a musical trio who sing into the microphone of a recording studio. Bernstein wanted this trio to "never stop smiling". The jazz rhythms evoke the radio commercials of the time and the trio is reminiscent of an ancient Greek choir that satirically comments on the story.

Quirijn de Lang will be performing Danilo in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow with Opera North beginning on September 29th and running through November 17th.

Quirijn de Lang in updated and abridged Hamlet

Quirijn de Lang as Hamlet

OPERA2DAY in Den Haag in the Netherlands will present barihunk Quirijn de Lang as the title character in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet. The innovative company has reduced the 3 1/2 hour opera to just over 2 hours, by eliminating the ballet and streamlining the story, including an ending that combines the two existing versions of the opera.

The cast also includes Lucie Chartin as Ophélie, Martijn Sanders as Claudius, Martina Prins as Gertrude, Jan Willem Schaafsma as Laërte  and Patrick Pranger as Horatio. The opera is a co-production with the New European Ensemble. The opera will be performed in 20 different venues throughout the region between January 17th and April 11th. Tickets and locations are available online.

OPERA2DAY was founded to bring opera to new audiences by presenting old standards in contemporary settings.

Quirijn de Lang featured in one-act operas with Opera North

Wallis Giunta and Quirijn de Lang in Trouble in Tahiti

The U.K.'s Opera North is presenting a new series dubbed "Little Greats," which are six operas that run about an hour each and are presented as a double-bill. To entice new opera attendees, tickets start for as little as £10. The series will include Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, Janáček's Osud, Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury and will run from September 16 to October 21.

Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang will be featured in both L'enfant et les sortilèges as the Grandather Clock and Tom Cat and in Trouble in Tahiti as Sam, one half of a bickering married couple.

Quirijn de Lang

The operas will be performed in Leeds starting on September 16, Kingston starting on October 26, Nottingham starting on November 1, Newcastle starting on November 8 and Salford Quays starting on November 15. Ticket information is available online.

Quirijn de Lang can currently be seen as Selim in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia at the Garsington Opera through July 15. On July 29, he'll be featured in "A Night at the Opera," a concert with full orchestra with Opera North featuring soprano Jeni Bern.

Barihunk trio in Garsington Opera season

Roderick Williams (photo: Mark Douet) and Quirijn de Lang (photo: Johan Persson)

The 2016 Garsington Opera is well under way and will be running until July 17. They are presenting Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mozart’s Idomeneo, Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri and a production of Haydn’s The Creation. which incorporates dance. All three operas feature barihunks! The performances are at the Opera Pavilion on the gorgeous, rolling landscape of the Chiltern Hills, less than an hour from London.

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, directed by Michael Boyd, features British barihunk Roderick Williams making his role debut and festival debut as Onegin. He'll be joined by Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw asTatyana and Ukrainian tenor Oleksiy Palchykov as Lensky.

Nicholas Masters timelapse video of makeup prep for Idomeneo:

Mozart’s Idomeneo, directed by Tim Albery, features barihunk Nicholas Masters as Neptune, who will be joined by tenor Toby Spence in the title role and Rebecca von Lipinski as Elletra.

Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, directed by Olivier award-winner Will Tuckett, will feature Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang as Mustafa and Mary Bevan as his long-suffering wife Elvira.

Garsington Opera will also host a number of public screenings of Eugene Onegin in isolated coastal and rural communities, including in Skegness on July 2, Ramsgate from July 25 - 30, Bridgewater on August 20 and Grimsby on September 30.

Boheme's barihunk duo at Grange Park Opera

Nicholas Crawley and Quirijn de Lang

Grange Park Opera will have a Bohemian barihunk duo in their production of Puccini's La Bohéme that opens June 6 and runs through July 17th. Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang will sing Schaunard  opposite the Colline of British barihunk Nicholas Crawley.

Joining them in the cast are Susana Gaspar as Mimi, Gianluca Terranova as Rodolfo,  Kelebogile Pearl Besong as Musetta, Brett Polegato as Marcello and Nicholas Folwell as Benoit/Alcindoro.

Grange Park is also presenting Fiddler on the Roof with Bryn Terfel in the role of Reb Tevye, Eugene Onegin with Brett Polegato and Samson et Delila.  Tickets and additional production information are available online. Follow them on Twitter @grangeparkopera.

On October 18th, Nicholas Crawley makes his role debut as Bottom in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Klagenfurt Stadttheater.  In February 2016, he sings Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Nederlandse Reisoper.

Quirijn de Lang then heads off to sing Fred Graham/Petruchio in  Kiss Me Kate for Opera North from September 21-November 21. The production will be performed in Leeds, Newcastle, Salford Quays and Nottingham.

Wexford sells out for European premiere of Silent Night

Matt Worth

Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night got its long-awaited European debut today at the Wexford Opera Festival. Opening night was completely sold out and tickets are going fast for the remaining performances through November 2.

The cast is a mix of Europeans and Americans and is loaded with barihunks. Wexford has cast Matthew Worth as Lieutenant Audebart, Quirijn de Lang as the lovable Poncel, Ian Beadle as William Dale and Jamie Rock as Gueusselin.

Tickets are available online.

Commissioned by the Minnesota Opera and first performed in 2011, the opera was inspired by the 2005 film Joyeux Noël about the spontaneous Christmas truce between enemy combatants during the First World War. Its core message is that war is not sustainable when you come to know your enemy as a person.

Opening night of Silent Night at Wexford

On October 25th, composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell will present a talk about the work at 11 AM. The film Joyeux Noël will be screened in the Jerome Hynes Theatre in Wexford Opera House at 10:30 am on the days of the Silent Night performances. There is no charge but tickets must be booked through the Box Office.

The current production is presented with the support of the American Friends of Wexford Opera with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland.

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!! Don't forget to buy the sexy new Barihunks Charity Calendar: VIVA, ITALIA! It features 19 of the sexiest men from the world of opera. Click on the LULU button below to order your copy now.

Quirijn de Lang in scivvies as Demetrius

Quirijn de Lang as Demetrius and Andrew Glover as Lysander

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten's birth, Opera North is presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream in four cities. The sexy production stars Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang as Demetrius, who appears in various revealing outfits. 

The production is currently running at the Leeds Grand Theatre through October 24th. From November 6-8 is will be at The Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays, from November 12-15 it will be at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle and finally at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham from November 19-22. Tickets are available online. 

Britten's opera is set to a libretto adapted by the composer and his partner Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was premiered on 11 June 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival. 

Britten delineated the three tiers of characters, the rustics being given folk-like "simple" music, the lovers a more romantic sound-world and the fairies being represented in a very ethereal way. Almost all of the action now takes place in the woods around Athens, and the fairies inhabit a much more prominent place in the drama. The comic performance by the rustics of Pyramus and Thisbe at the final wedding takes on an added dimension as a parody of nineteenth century Italian opera. Thisbe's lament, accompanied by obbligato flute, is a parody of a Donizetti "mad scene".

Liam Bonner to star in neglected Chabrier opera

Liam Bonner

The last time we posted about Liam Bonner, he was part of what we called the "barihunk laden" cast of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera "Silent Night" at the Minnesota Opera. Bonner scored a critical success as Lieutenant Audebert in that world premiere performance. Prior to that, we featured him singing the beautiful song "Lost in the Stars" in our tribute to Kurt Weill. If you missed Silent Night, you're in luck, as Bonner will reprise his role with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in February 2013.

Bonner has broken out of the barihunk pack of Silent Night and will be singing the lead role of Henri de Valois in Emmanuel Chabrier’s neglected opera The King in Spite of Himself (Le roi malgré lui) at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Bonner returns to SummerScape after his successful 2010 performance in the American premiere of Kurt Weill’s Royal Palace.

Nicolas Rivenq sings "Cher pays" from Le Roi malgré lui from Lyons:

SummerScape is performing the first staged revival of the original 1887 version of the opera. The production will receive a contemporary treatment from director Thaddeus Strassberger. The opera will be performed on July 27 and 29, and August 1, 3 and 5 with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein. The company will also perform Saint-Saëns’s grand opera Henry VIII. Visit their website for additional performance information.

The King in Spite of Himself  is a comedy about the hapless 16th-century French noble who has been chosen by the Poles to be their king, despite various factions who are plotting against him. Henri is repelled by the weather, the food, and the fashion, and pines for his milieu in Anjou. Farce ensues when he tries to eschew the crown, but fate is sometimes easier to reluctantly accept than to escape.

The opera contains vocal fireworks, an exuberant chorus, lively dances and a clever orchestral score. For those of you who have seen Aida, La Boheme or Carmen once too often, this is a great chance to see an opera that was greatly admired by Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, but has fallen from the standard repertory. 

Liam Bonner & Quirijn de Lang

For those readers on the other side of the Pond, you can see Bonner as Henri de Valois in October at the Wexford Festival Opera. That performance also features popular barihunk Quirijn de Lang in the role of Laski. Visit their website for additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Barihunk Stuff You Don't Want to Miss

Jonathan Estabrooks

Our favorite vlogger Jonathan Estabrooks keeps a busy schedule. This Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. he'll be part of a concert that includes Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and a collection of opera arias and duets with soprano Emily Duncan-Brown. The concert is at the SWCC King Community Center in Richlands, Virginia and includes selections from Verdi, Puccini and Rossini.

Christopher Dylan Herbert in Central City

Just a reminder that you can hear Christopher Dylan Herbert live on WWFM singing Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata 56 "Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen." The concert is free, so if you're in New York go check out this talented member of New York Polyphony. The concert will performed on Monday, April 16 at 1pm EST at St. Paul's Chapel near Ground Zero. Broadcast time is 10 AM for those on the West Coast.

Herbert's ensemble New York Polyphony is currently performing on the East Coast as part of the Five Boroughs Music Festival's Gabrieli @ 400 and these concerts are not to be missed. On April 27 they perform at St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn, on April 28 they are at St. Ignatius of Antioch in New York City and then on April 29 they perform at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Quirijn de Lang sings Hugo Wolf

One of the most popular singers on this site is Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang, who appears to have quite an international fan club. He's just released a CD of songs by Hugo Wolf based on work by Ibsen & other poets. He is joined by soprano Mary Bevan and accompanist Sholto Kynoch. For lovers of Wolf lieder, the recording includes twelve previously unrecorded songs.  You can purchase the CD at Stone Records. 

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Top 10 Barihunks

We decided to check Google Analytics to see who you've looking at on Barihunks over the last 120 days. We discovered a few surprises, like perennial favorites Mariusz Kwiecien and Teddy Tahu Rhodes missing from the list. There were also a couple of young, emerging singers high on the list and they are both named Zach: Zach Altman and Zach Gordin. We were also surprised to see that Nathan Gunn dropped out of his usual perch among the top five. There was one consistent theme, readers like to see a little skin. Here's the Top 10 in order of page views:

1. Gabriel Bermudez

2. Quirijn de Lang

3. Daniel Okulitch

4. Zach Altman

5. Zach Gordin

6. Troy Cook

7. Nmon Ford

8. Nathan Gunn

9. Paulo Szot

10. Randal Turner

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More Handel from Quirijn de Lang

We've posted a fair sampling of Quirijn de Lang singing Handel on this site and here's a selection from Agrippina. De Lang has the perfect look for these Handel roles and he's a very engaged singer and actor, as well.

He will be performing the role of Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" with the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands in November.

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Quirijn de Lang sings "Lusinghiera mia speranza" from Handel's Agrippina

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Quirijn de Lang Caught With His Shirt On

We've featured Quirijn de Lang on this site three time before, but this is the first time with his shirt on! He's still sexy as the fully clothed Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola at Garsington Opera. The opera also features barihunk Joshua Bloom as Alidoro, so this production is a true feast for the eyes. For some reason pictures of Bloom are really difficult to find (is anyone at Askonas Holt listening?).

There are still two peformances left: http://www.garsingtonopera.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=32. If you want to see our previous post of de Lang, click here: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=quirijn.

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Quirijn de Lang

[Bottom photo from Lost Highway by Laurie Lewis]

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

barihunk

Quirijn de Lang

Barihunks readers will remember Quirijn de Lang from the steamy photos on this site from his portrayal as Escamillo in La Tragédie de Carmen. He is currently singing Count Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow.

I recently discovered his MySpace page where you can enjoy his singing while staring at these lovely pictures.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=403897582