David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski(Photo @dabva)
The Teatro Colón has announced its 2019 season, which will include barihunk David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in what will be the South American premiere of the opera. Moore has had great success with the role at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Virginia Opera.
The opera is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams and has become a showcase for barihunks, including Gregory Gerbrandt, Dan Kempson, Rod Gilfry, Ryan McKinny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jordan Shanahan.
A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered at the San Francisco Opera
in 1998 with Rod Gilfry as Stanley and its become one of the most
popular contemporary American operas in the repertory. It has gone on to
see performances in New Orleans, Kentucky, Carnegie Hall in New York San Diego, Washington D.C.,
San Francisco (Merola Opera), Cleveland, Chicago, Santa Barbara,
Honolulu and Virginia Opera. It had it European premiere in Strasbourg
in 2001 and its U.K. premiere in 2003, with subsequent performances
throughout Europe and in Tokyo.
The Teatro Colón cast will also include Sarah Jane McMahon, Eric Fennell, and Victoria Livengood. Performances run from May 7-14, 2019
The Los Angeles Opera will be presenting to concert-version performance of composer-in-residence Matthew Aucoin's opera Crossing at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. There will be performances on May 25 and 26, featuring barihunks Rod Gilfry as Walt Whitman and Devon Tines as the escaped slave Freddie Stowers.
The opera had its world premiere in May 25 at the Shubert Theatre in Boston with Gilfry and Tines in the cast. It has subsequently been performed at the National Opera Center in New York City and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
The opera was inspired by the diary that poet Walt Whitman kept as a nurse during the Civil War. Crossing explores how the individual
experiences of soldiers are remembered and told. As Whitman listens to
wounded veterans share their memories and messages, he forges a bond
with a soldier who forces him to examine his own role as writer and
poet.
What could we possibly say about Mozart that either hasn't been said or
you don't know already? Born on January 27, 1756, he was a child
prodigy, who wrote his first symphony when he was eight years old and
his first opera at age twelve. He went on to write some of the most
important masterpieces of the Classical era, including symphonies,
operas, string quartets and piano music. Of course, he has been an
endless source of material for Barihunks, especially his operas Don
Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte, which provide us with an ongoing stream of
sexy low voices.
We think the best way to celebrate his birthday is with some music from our favorite singers:
Aaron Sørensen sings Mozart's "Alcandro, lo confesso"
Erwin Schrott sings the Catalog aria:
Cesare Siepi sings "Per questa bella mano":
Rod Gilfry and Liliana Nikiteanu sing "La ci darem la mano"
Matthew Aucoin's opera Crossing is making its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from October 3-8. The ageless barihunk Rod Gilfry returns in the role of Walt Whitmen, whose Civil War diary that he kept while working as a nurse inspired the opera.
Crossingexplores how the individual experiences of soldiers are remembered and told. As Whitman listens to wounded veterans share their memories and messages, he forges a bond with a soldier who forces him to examine his own role as writer and poet. The opera, directed by Diane Paulus, begins with Walt Whitman's prologue, delivered while facing the audience in front a bunch of rickety hospital beds. Whitman sings, “What is it, then, between us?,” a key line from his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” While caring for the injured soldiers, Whitman is drawn to a haunted-looking soldier names John Wormley, who is sung by tenor Alexander Lewis. The opera deals with a number of "crossings," including between poet and reader, performer and audience, and the contradictory elements of Walt Whitman himself.
The cast also includes a spate of barihunks, including Davone Tines as a South Carolina slave, Hadleigh Adams, Michael Kelly as a soldier, Ben Lowe, Matthew Patrick Morris and Jorell Williams. Tickets are available online.
The opera heads to California for its West Coast premiere in May 2018 for a concert performance at the Los Angeles Opera, which also stars Rod Gilfry. The opera originally premiered in May 2015 at the Shubert Theater in Boston.
American bass-barihunk Kyle Ketelsen is the cover boy on the October 2016 edition of OPERA magazine.
The article points out that Ketelsen has sung all four low-voiced roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, but that Leporello has become his signature role. We've also called Ketelsen the "definitive Leporello" in previous posts. The magazine article quotes three famous Giovanni's on singing the title role next to Ketelsen's Leporello. Here's what they had to say:
Russel Braun said, "...there are so many ways in which he identifies with Leporello; his kind of patience, very useful onstage, gives strength to the character."
Rod Gilfy stated, "Kyle's Leporello was boyish, sprightly, troubled, playful; very modern...He's a rock-solid, handsome, athletic bass-baritone who sings beautifully; he could sing a myriad lyric bass and bass-baritone roles."
Kyle Ketelsen talks about singing Leporello:
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Finally, Simon Keenlyside added, "Kyle's voice is one of the most beautiful bass-baritone sounds around; he wields the instrument with consummate legato and artistry to match. On stage he is everything a colleague could want...When I know I have Kyle alongside me as Leporello, I know I will be in safe hands. Any Giovanni with a great Leporello alongside him will be so much more than he could ever have been on his own."
Kyle Ketelsen can next be seen at the Opernhaus Zürich in Gounod's Faust, which runs from September 20-October 7. The all-star cast includes Charles Castronovo in the title role, Anita Hartig as Marguerite, Lilly Jørstad as Siebel and Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès.
Dan Kempson and Carrie Hennessey in Townsend Opera's A Streetcar Named Desire
Whenever we run a shirtless picture of Dan Kempson, the traffic to our site doubles or triples. So we were thrilled to get this picture of the 2015 Grammy Award nominee from rehearsals for this weekend's run of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which opens for two performances at the Townsend Opera tonight in Modesto and then heads to the Fresno Grand Opera for a single performance on February 15th.
Although the role of Stanley Kowalski was originally sung by fellow barihunk Rod Gilfry, the role seems like it was written for Kempson. Blessed with one of the most beautiful baritone voices in opera, he also has the same smoldering sexual charisma that Marlon Brando brought to the movie role. In a stroke of genius casting, Townsend Opera in conjunction with the Fresno Grand Opera were the first to cast him in this role, affording people in Northern California to get the first glimpse of Kempson in a role that will certainly become a signature part for him in his rising career.
Scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire at Townsend Opera
Although Modesto and Fresno are 90 minutes and 3 1/2 hours away from the Bay Area, they are rapidly becoming a key part of the Northern California music scene. Founded in 1983, Townsend Opera has taken off under Artistic Director Matthew Buckman who launched the Opera Remix
Initiative, which is bringing the art form into the 21st century by experimenting with how it can blend the musical styles of today’s world.
Rod Gilfry (left)and Marlon Brando(right)
Fresno Grand Opera, which was founded in 1999, has attracted some of the biggest names in opera, including Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Renée Fleming. In another example of the changing economics of the opera world, the two companies have joined forces in sharing season and production costs, despite remaining separate entities with their own board of
directors.
The remainder of the cast includes Carrie Hennessey as Blanche DuBois, Kiera Duffy as Stella, James Callon as “Mitch,” Sharmay Musacchio as Eunice Hubbel and Robert Norman as Steve Hubbel. Tickets for the January 23 and 25 performances at Townsend Opera are available online, as are tickets for the February 15th performance in Fresno.
Carin & Rod Gilfry (left)and Adrian Rosas(far right)
NPR's popular show "This American Life," featuring Ira Glass, has put together one of their most ambitious projects ever, a production of two operas. The NPR team assembled barihunk Rod Gilfry, his daughter soprano Carin Gilfry, barihunk Adrian Rosas, composer Philip Glass and a collection of talented young singers and writers and created that fascinating double-bill.
The "Radio Drama Episode" begins with a piece by Philip Glass and Matt Aucoin that tells the true story of Carin Gilfry getting trapped in a hotel closet and her eventual escape. The second piece by Josh Bearman tells the story of letting go of his mother in the last days of her life.
Kentucky is playing a major role in the two upcoming performances of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. We realized the popularity of the piece when we posted pictures of the LA Opera's production featuring Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and Renee Fleming as Blanche DuBois. Of course, the shirtless pictures of Ryan McKinny probably helped drive the spike in views that we saw to the site.
Wes Mason (Photos: DonSoo Choi and Doug Wonder)
The first Blue Grass State connection is obvious, as the Kentucky Opera has announced two performances of the popular American opera on February 13 and 15 of next year. Stanley will be played by one of the most compelling young artists to hit the scene in recent years, Wes Mason. Mason, who is familiar to readers of this site (yes, that's him in the sidebar modeling for our official photographer), can command a stage like few others in the business. People are still talking about his tour de force performance as Reinaldo Arenas in the 2010 world premiere of Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls with the Fort Worth Opera.
This will be his debut in the role and we suspect that he'll give past Stanley's a run for their money in the beefcake department. In addition to before night falls, we've seen the pulchritudinous singer show some skin in Handels' Giulio Cesare at the Roanoke Opera and Bizet's La Tragédie de Carmen at the Syracuse Opera.
We'll have more news about the Kentucky Opera's upcoming season, which also includes Beethoven's Fidelio, Daron Hagen's Postcard from Morocco and Puccini's La fanciulla del West. Visit their website for additional information.
Thomas Gunther in Dead Man Walking
The other connection to Kentucky is Thomas Gunther, who studied at the University of Kentucky and lives in Lexington. He's no stranger to barihunk roles, having performed Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Le mari in Poulenc's Le Mamelles de Tirésias and Joseph DeRocher in Heggie's Dead Man Walking.
Gunther is part of the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, where the original work was premiered on September 19, 1998 with Renée Fleming and barihunk Rod Gilfry as Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. Remarkably, this is the first revival of the opera in San Francisco since its premiere.
The Merola production will use a version for reduced orchestra prepared by Peter Grunberg and conducted by Mark Morash. The staging will be by director José Maria Condemi. The opera will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, and 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 12.
Joshua Jeremiah lends some additional muscle to Anna Nicole cast
Tickets for the long-awaited US premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole at New York City Opera are going on sale today. The opera will open the company's 2013–14 season on September 17, with performances running through September 28. The co-production with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) launches the 2013 Next Wave Festival. Click HERE for tickets.
The opera is based on the flamboyant life and tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith, but also features two of our favorite barihunks. The tall and seemingly age-defying Rod Gilfry will play Anna Nicole’s lawyer, Howard Stern. Gilfry returns to NYCO after a critically acclaimed run as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte with the company in 2012. NYCO has already announced that he will return in 2014 in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
Rod Gilfry and James Barbour
Also returning to the company is Joshua Jeremiah, who worked for the company as covers for the roles of Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He also performed with NYCO in an all-Bernstein concert.
Joshua Jeremiah sings "Voilà donc la terrible cité!" from Massenet's Thais:
The opera Anna Nicole mixes comedy and tragedy with a score that draws on jazz, blues, musical theater and traditional operatic structures. The company has enlisted both Broadway stars and opera singers for the cast.
Those who love a nice "Broadway baritone" will be thrilled that James Barbour will play the role of Daddy Hogan. Barbour received the Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Awards nominations for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Sydney Carton in the Broadway musical version of A Tale of Two Cities. Other Broadway credits include Carousel, Jane Eyre (Drama League Award Nomination), Beauty And The Beast, Urinetown, Assassins, and Cyrano The Musical. This will be his New York City Opera debut.
If you like your singers tall - say about 6' 5" - you might want to head to the Nation's capital where barihunks Rod Gilfry and Michael Todd Simpson are going to alternate the role of Gaylord Ravenal at the Kennedy Center. Performances begin on May 4 for a three week run. Featured in the smaller role of Joe, is Soloman Howard, who has also been featured on this site. He'll be alternating the role with Morris Robinson. The Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein classic will be directed by Francesca Zambello.
The cast also includes Andriana Chuchman and Jennifer Holloway
sharing the role of Magnolia, Alyson Cambridge and Talise Trevigne as
Julie, and Angela Renée Simpson
and Gwendolyn Brown as Queenie.
Tickets are available online or by calling the Kennedy Center Box
Office at (800) 444-1324.
Soloman Howard
In addition to his illustrious opera career, Gilfry has made a major mark singing musicals. He has sung the title role in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, appeared as Captain von Trapp in the Théâtre du Châtelet production of The Sound of Music, Lancelot in Camelot at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and Emile de Becque in the U.S. National Tour of the Lincoln Center Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, a production that garnered 7 Tony Awards in 2008. In November, he be performing in Mark Anthony Turnage Anna Nicole at the New York City Opera.
Musicals are also not new to Michael Todd Simpson, who made his London debut at the Barbican performancing in Carousel with Opera North. He can next be seen performing Vaughan William’s A Sea Symphony with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra on April 13 and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on May 23, 24 and 25.
We don't review singers or performances on this site and we try to stay positive, leaving the usual "opera queen" bitchiness to other sites. Our goal is to promote opera and opera singers. However, it was difficult for us over the last year to watch the criticism of New York City Opera and see the blogosphere, Facebook and Twitter full of venomous comments about the company that former Mayor Fiorella La Guardia called the "People's Opera."
We want to use the formal announcement of their new season as an opportunity to say a few words of long-overdue praise about New York City Opera. Like many opera companies, City Opera has faced some difficult financial challenges over the last year. Unlike many companies who cut performances by dropping anything that didn't sell like Butterfly, Boheme or Carmen, City Opera continued to take chances with repertory, singers and productions. They even took chances with the standard repertory and delivered a sexy "Don Giovanni" that was an artistic success in every way imaginable.
A lot of people were upset that City Opera decided to leave their home at Lincoln Center. The move out of Lincoln Center and into the Lynch Theater at John Jay College, El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio and the Brooklyn Academy of Music will save the company $4.5 million and bring opera back to the people, as La Guardia first imagined. It's not Lincoln Center that makes opera great, it's a company's creativity and dedication to great art that makes opera great.
The new City Opera season will feature more than twenty artist debuts, including the New York debut of Randal Turner, one of the most compelling and gifted performers in opera. As they have done throughout history with other notable debuts, they have trumped the more prestigious and better funded Metropolitan Opera in securing the Zurich-based American singer, who will be performing Philippe in Rufus Wainwright's U.S. debut of "Prima Donna."
Rod Gilfry, Daniel Teadt and Kelly Markgraf
There are a number of barihunk debuts other than Randal Turner that we're also excited about, including Rod Gilfry performing Don Alfonso in "Cosi fan tutte" and Daniel Teadt in the title role of Telemann’s "Orpheus." Cosi also includes the return of barihunk Philip Cutlip, who will be singing Guglielmo and "Orpheus" which will feature Kelly Markgraf at Pluto. Other debuts we're particularly excited about are soprano Amanda Majeski and tenor Taylor Stayton.
The 2011/12 spring season will open on Sunday, February 12 with La Traviata at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. "Prima Donna" will open on Sunday, February 19 also at BAM. For additional cast and performance information visit the NYCO website.
We're urging all of our readers to help City Opera survive and flourish by making an extra effort to attend their performances this year.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky: The perfect barihunk package?
The wonderful Dutch opera site Place de l'Opera recently wondered if barihunks were just sexy guys who were getting jobs because of their looks and couldn't really sing. Basia Jaworski rated seven singers that have appeared on the site and ranked them for looks and singing ability.
In her article, Jaworski also points out that many roles in opera actually require a lot of charisma and sexuality to make the role work. She also points out that the site appeals to more than gay men, which if our email is any indication is more than accurate. About half our mail and photo submissions come from women. What is interesting is how some singers seem to appeal to women and others to men, while others seem to have a more universal appeal.
Also, we pride ourselves in posting singers who not only look good, but who can sing. This is why we tend to highlight singers who are winning vocal competitions and are being hand-selected by composers to premiere their works. After all, we like our barihunks to be the complete package.
Here are her rankings. Feel free to share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section:
Erwin Schrott: Looks 9, Singing 6
Bo Skovhus: Looks 9, Singing 9
Rod Gilfry: Looks 9, Singing 9
Simon Keenlyside: Looks 9, Singing 10
Dmitry Hvorostovsky: Looks 10, Singing 10
Mariusz Kwiecien: Looks 8, Singing 7
Nathan Gunn: Looks 8, Singing 8
You can read Basia Jaworski's complete article on the Place de l'Opera website.
Bo Skovhus sings Robert Schumann's "Stille Tränen"
We recently ran a feature on former football player Keith Miller who is the Escamillo in the Glimmerglass production of Bizet's "Carmen." Fans of this site will be thrilled to know that Wes Mason, who was named one or our "Hottest Future Superstars of 2010" (along with Matt Worth), is portraying Morales. There are fifteen performances between tonight's opening and August 23. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
Mason is also performing Mac and is the cover for fellow barihunk Rod Gilfry in "Annie Get Your Gun," who is portraying Frank Butler opposite the Annie of Deborah Voight. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
Wes Mason in Before Night Falls (L) and hanging out (R)
Regular readers will remember that Mason became an overnight sensation at the Ft. Worth Opera Festival in 2010 when he took on the lead role in "Before Night Falls."
Popular barihunk Rod Gilfry, a star of both opera and musical theater, is receiving a Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award from Arts Orange County. Gilfry received his bachelor's degree in music education from Cal State Fullerton.
All honorees will receive a "Spark of Imagination" bronze trophy sculpted by Orange County artist Christopher Schulz.
Tickets for the 12th annual awards will be available later during the summer. Emcees will be Jonelle Allen, the award-winning Broadway actress who's best known for her six seasons as Grace on the TV series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," and Richard Stein, executive director of Arts Orange County. For more information, call 714-556-5160 or visit artsoc.org.
Christoph Zadra as Agamemnon (Center & Right) in Vienna
There are certain operas that give us particular delight, as they are both musically rich and filled with roles for barihunks. Don Giovanni, The Pearl Fishers, Billy Budd, Carmen and The Rape of Lucretia come immediately to mind. When looking through our stats of our most popular posts, it dawned on us that singers who performed in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride were some of our most popular singers. Among those are Rod Gilfry, Stephane Degout, Nathan Gunn and our all-time most popular barihunk Gabriel Bermudez.
We couldn't resist posting Christoph Zadra, who is pictured above. He is 34-year-old Viennese actor who works primarily in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He was Agamemnon in the Vienna production of Iphigénie en Tauride with Stephane Degout and showed up in a number of the publicity shots (apparently for good reason).
Stephane Degout as Oreste in Vienna
Iphigénie en Tauride premiered in Paris in 1779 and was part of his reform movement that forever changed opera. Like Beethoven's Fidelio it is filled with a message of humanity and it became Gluck's greatest success during his lifetime. It's great to see it returning to the repertory of opera houses throughout the world, as it's an amazing piece of theater and filled with some of the most beautiful music ever written. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard and is based on Euripides great story. Like any great story, it is filled with emotion and conflict which creates moral dilemmas and turmoil for the characters.
Here is an extended scene with Rod Gilfry and tenor Deon van der Walt, which ends in the great baritone aria "Dieux protecteurs de ces affreux." You can watch the entire performance on YouTube at the site of carrangel2:
The story of the opera is pretty straightforward: Iphigenia has been saved from being sacrificed by her father. She now lives on the island of the Taurians and has the task of killing any foreigner that comes to the island seeking refuge. Her dreams are plagued by memories of the bloody destruction of her family. She does not know that her brother Orestes was able to escape the massacre. Years later she sees him and his friend Pylades who have been taken prisoner by the Taurians. But brother and sister fail to recognise each other. However, the unknown prisoner reminds Iphigenia of Orestes, so she decides to save him. Orestes, though, prefers to face death instead of Pylades. During the sacrifice, brother and sister recognise each other. Just as Thoas, the king of the Scythians, is about to kill Orestes, Pylades suddenly appears and murders the king. The people sing in praise of the coming peace and the end of the wars on Tauris.
Zadra & Degout in Vienna; Bermudez in Zurich
Clearly, readers of this site love Gabriel Bermudez in this role, as you've made him our most popular singer. Unfortunately, his YouTube site does not allow embedding, so we can't post the video of his singing "Dieux protecteurs de ces affreux," but you can watch it by clicking HERE.
Lately, the great tenor Placido Domingo has been taking up baritone roles, including Orestes in Iphigénie en Tauride. His performance at The Met was a huge success and now he's taken it to the Washington National Opera in Washington D.C., where we've learned that another one of our Über-popular singers, Randal Turner, is covering for the 70-year-old conductor/singer/impresario. Certainly, Turner would be about as perfect for this role as any singer around today. For those of you who still prefer a baritone in the role, we'll make sure to let readers know if Turner is scheduled to perform. Performances run from May 6-28 with a cast that includes the great soprano Patricia Racette as Iphigenie and barihunk Simone Alberghini as Thoas. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
Baritone Rod Gilfry has sent out an email updating everyone on the status of his mezzo soprano daughter Carin Gilfy and baritone Daniel Okulitch after their serious car accident. We thought that many of our readers who know these two gifted young singers might want an update. Here it is:
Our daughter Carin did have a car accident on Tuesday, April 5, but, thankfully, she is OK!
Word of her accident has been spreading like wildfire, so I am sending this huge, mass e-mailing to everyone to allay any fears and exaggerations.
On Tuesday night, she was driving her Plymouth Neon in Los Angeles, with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch in the passenger's seat.
An elderly man driving a Chevrolet Malibu ran a red light and collided with the passenger side at about a 45 degree angle.
Airbags deployed in both cars. Yes, they were wearing their seat belts. Carin suffered a hairline fracture of the right wrist, a dislocated right shoulder and a bruised right ankle. Her shoulder popped back in on its own and her wrist is in a cast. Daniel suffered a fractured cervical vertebrae, and is in a neck brace for a while. Both were discharged from the hospital within 24 hours. The car appears to be totaled. The man driving the other car did not appear to be injured.
So, we are grateful it was not more serious! It could have been so much worse!
Thank you for your prayers and worries and warm thoughts!
Daniel Okulitch (Photo by Anne Cusack - Los Angeles Times)
We learned tonight that Daniel Okulitch was involved in a very serious car accident in Los Angeles. It was serious enough that he had to be removed from the vehicle by a jaws of life. In the vehicle with him was mezzo soprano Carin Gilfry, daughter of barihunk Rod Gilfry. We wish them both a speedy recovery.
We took this news particularly hard, as Okulitch has played a major role in the success of this site. His performance in "The Fly" and willingness to own his sexiness and to celebrate it onstage has helped make opera attractive to a whole new generation. He is a gifted singer and performer and every day that he is off of the stage is a loss to opera.
Please keep him and Carin in your thoughts and pull for a full recovery for these two wonderful young artists.
Barihunk Rod Gilfry has been a regular on this site since it's inception. He was a major star in opera and is now making his mark as Emile De Becque in "South Pacific." He recently finished a highly acclaimed performance of the title role in Dalbavie's "Gesualdo" in Zurich opposite the Pietro of Gabriel Bermudez, who remains the most popular singer on this site of all time.
Santa Fe Apprentices Tom Corbeil, Tom Forde & Mike Nyby
Gilfry apparently has strong genes, as his daughter Carin Gilfry is now emerging on the scene as a force to be reckoned with. Not only did she grow up with a barihunk dad, but she was a participant in the Santa Fe Apprentice Artist program, which has produced a long roster of barihunks. Participants who apprenticed with Gilfry include Tom Corbeil, Mike Nyby and Tom Forde. The 2011 Santa Fe Opera schedule is out and includes Faust, La Boheme, Griselda, Wozzeck and The Last Savage.
Carin & Rod Gilfry
Fans of either Gilfry can see them perform together at the Chamber Music Sedona’s fifteenth annual "Holiday Gala Benefit - A Night at the Opera" on Sunday, December 12 at the Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa.
We feature a lot of Mozart on this site, so we were wondering which of his operas is your favorite. You can vote in the poll on the right and you can vote for more than one opera if you can't make up your mind. We've included some of our favorite clips for you to enjoy while you're voting. We've also included four of our favorite barihunks: Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Dmitri Hvorostovsy and Rod Gilfry.
Barihunk Rod Gilfry, who is currently singing the role of Emile de Becque in a touring cast of “South Pacific” is joining forces with soprano Deborah Voigt to perform "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Gilfry will play Annie Oakley’s love interest, Frank Butler.
Gilfry appears to have made a seemless transition from opera to Broadway following a long tradition of baritones that includes Ezio Pinza, Giorgio Tozzi and fellow barihunk Paulo Szot, who created a sensation in “South Pacific.”
“Annie Get Your Gun” is one of four productions scheduled for Glimmerglass. Recently appointed artistic director Francesca Zambello has decided to add an unamplified performance of a Broadway musical to future seasons, which in the past were strictly operatic.
Operas in the upcoming festival will include Carmen, Jeanine Kushner's A Blizzard in Marblehead Neck, John Musto's Later the Same Evening.
Glimmerglass' Young American Artists Program will also feature two barihunks that we've previously feature, Michael Krzankowski and Steven LaBrie.
Here is Rod Gilfry singing "My Heart Is So Full Of You" from The Most Happy Fella:
