Introducing Ilya Kutyukhin: Guglielmo in Glyndebourne's Cosi

Ilya Kutyukhin with Rachel Kelly and Kirsten MacKinnon

When we noticed Ilya Kutyukhin as Guglielmo in Glyndebourne's current run of Mozart's Così fan tutte, we couldn't believe that he'd never appeared on our site. The performances are his debut with the company.

Born in Pyatigorsk, Russia, Kutyukhin is currently a member of the Young Singers Project at The Salzburg Festival. From 2014 to June of this year, he was a member of the Young Artist Program at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. 

During the 2015-16 season, he made his Bolshoi Theatre debut as Moralès in Bizet's Carmen and subsequently appeared as Shchelkalov in Mussorsky's Boris Godunov.

He'll be touring Così fan tutte through November 30th, with stops in Lewes, Surrey, Norwich, Woking, Milton Keynes and Plymouth. He's joined in the cast by Bogdan Volkov as Ferrando, José Fardilha as Don Alfonso, Kirsten MacKinnon as Fiordiligi, Rachel Kelly as Dorabella and Ana Quintans as Despina. Tickets are available online.   

The 2018 Barihunks Calendar

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!

Google honors baritone Eduard Khil with doodle

Eduard Khil and his Google doodle

Google paid Russian baritone Eduard Khil the ultimate honor with creating a doodle for him on September 4th, which would have been his birthday. Khil was born in 1934 and died five years ago.

Despite having studied at the Leningrad Conservatory (now the Saint Petersburg Conservatory), having won numerous singing awards and going on to a career at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, he became most famous for singing “I Am Glad Because I Am Finally Returning Back Home.” The song was posted on YouTube in 2009 and became known as the “trololo,” due to Khil repeating the phrase “trololo.” The track became an internet sensation and appeared on several television programs including “Family Guy,” "The Colbert Report" and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Lottery Fever clip from Family Guy featuring the Trololo Song:

The Trololo video first appeared on February 21, 2010, the most prominent of those being the "Trololo" website trololololololololololo.com that helped push the video into popular awareness, receiving more than 3,000,000 hits in its first month.

After his singing career faded in the early 1990s, Khil re-entered private life and worked in a cafe in Paris, singing cabaret. For his 75th birthday in 2009, Khil was awarded the "Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th Class" by Russia and the next year he performed in the St. Petersburg Victory Day Parade. Upon his death from a stroke in 2012, condolences came from all corners of the world, including from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky adds two concerts to schedule

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Two new concerts have appeared on the website of Siberian barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who the Associated Press had recently reported was canceling all performances for the coming season due to “severe illness.”

First up will be a September 22nd recital at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania, which is already sold out. The concert features a collections of Russian songs, including music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Borodin and Anton Rubinstein. This will be followed by a September 26th recital with regular collaborator Ivari Ilja at the Moscow Conservatoire. No details are given on the website. His last program with him included music by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss, with a poignant encore of "Farewell, happiness."

Hvorostovsky was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015. He was due to play leading roles in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Otello and Rigoletto in Vienna this year and next, but canceled those engagements. He also withdrew from performances of the Met's production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, where he was replaced by fellow barihunks Peter Mattei and Mariusz Kwiecien. In April, he did make an appearance in Toronto with Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov.

Barihunk duo alternating Count Almaviva's at Bolshoi

Konstantin Shushakov (left) and Andrei Jilihovschi (right)

We have "Barihunk scouts" on three continents who keep us well apprised of singers and productions worldwide, but we rarely get messages from Russia even though we get a lot of traffic from the country. So we were pretty thrilled to receive a message from a fan in Moscow letting us know about the barihunk duo alternating Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Bolshoi Theater. 

We originally featured Konstantin Shushakov back in 2011 when he took 2nd place at Operalia, but Andrei Jilihovschi is new to us. 

Shushakov was born in Udmurtia, Russia and began his vocal studies at Izhevsk Music College before moving on to the Russian Academy of Theatrical Art. He has been a regular at the Bolshoi Theatre since 2011, where he's been critically acclaimed as Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. In the 2012-13 season he made his debut in the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Maribor Opera. Last season, he appeared as Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte at La Scala in Milan. 

Shushakov appears as the Count on September 16, 18 and 20. 

30-year-old Andrei Jilihovschi was born in Moldova and completed his studies in choral conducting at the Ştefan Neaga Music College in the capital city of Chisinau. During his time at school he also studied singing in the opera studio and then continued his studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatoire where he sang he title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

 

From 2010-2012, he was a soloist with the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg where he appeared as Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Schaunard in Puccini's La Boheme, Robert in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, the Prince in Asafiev’s Cinderella, Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Baron Douphol in Verdi's La Traviata and Dancairo in Bizet's Carmen.

In October 2012 he joined the Bolshoi Theatre Young Artist Program and become a member of the Bolshoi ensemble two years later. He will be singing Dancaïro in Bizet's Carmen with the company from September 4-9.  Next year, he makes his debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Robert in Tchaikovsky's Iolanata.

He appears as the Count on September 17 and 19.

Reader Submission: Model turned Barihunk Oleg Loza

Oleg Loza

Our latest Reader Submission is the Moscow bass-barihunk Oleg Loza. We hear numerous barihunks described as having "model looks," but Loza actually was a model at the Slava Zaitsev Model Agency. He modeled while completing his Master's Degree in Voice at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

Loza reminds many of his fellow compatriot Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who shares his flowing long hair that gives them both a pop star vibe. Like Hvorostovsky, he is a serious classical singer, who originally studied voice and choral conducting before pursuing a career as a singer. In 2009, he won the prestigious Feodor Chaliapin Singing Competition in Yalta.

Oleg Loza sings Valentin's aria from Gounod's Faust:

After graduating from the Conservatory in 2012, he made his professional debut as Norton in Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio at the Wiener Kammeroper in Austria. He followed that up with a run as Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at both the Wiener Kammeroper and Amsterdam's Het Companientheater.

Since that time, he's been a young artist with the Zürich Opera, where he has performed Usciere in Verdi's Rigoletto and Deputato in Verdi's Don Carlo. He is currently singing Happy in Puccini's La fanciulla del West, which runs through July 13th and will run again September 24-October 10.

Our best material comes from our readers, so send your submissions to Barihunks@gmail.com

Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia to make Marinsky debut

Anton Perminov and Vladimir Moroz

Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, an opera that is featured regularly on this site due to its heavy reliance on baritones, is being premiered this week at the Mariinsky Theatre in Russia. The opera is being staged as part of a mini-festival of operas and concerts marking Britten’s centenary year. The company is also producing his War Requiem, The Turn of the Screw, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and two nights of instrumental, choral and organ music.

Vladimir Moroz sings Yeletsky's aria from Tchaikovsky's "Pique Dame":

We're keeping our eyes on Vladimir Moroz and Anton Perminov, who are slated sing Tarquinius and Collatinus respectfully in The Rape of Lucretia. Moroz will also sing Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The mini-festival runs from November 12-19 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to US for Don Carlo and recitals

Siberian barihunk returns to New York from his European tour to sing Rodrigo in Nicholas Hytner’s production of Verdi's Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera.  He will be joined by the great Italian baritone Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II. The two men also sang together in the Met's Ernani and it's always a thrilling vocal display when they share the stage.  and throughout Russia this winter, Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to New York's  this month to star as  The cast also includes Ramón Vargas as Don Carlo, Barbara Frittoli as Elisabeth and Anna Smirnova as Eboli. For tickets and additional information and tickets visit the Met website.

As soon as Hvorostovsky wraps up Don Carlo he will head down the coast to the Nation's capital for a recital with the Washington Performing Arts Society on March 20th at the Kennedy Center. The program includes songs and arias by Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and others. He continues down the coast to Miami Beach for a slightly different program at the New World Center that includes Rachmaninov, Rossini, Wagner, Rubinstein and Verdi.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Upcoming Recitals & HD Broadcast

Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Un Ballo in Maschera

The "Siberian Hunky" Dmitri Hvorostovsky is taking a break from the stage until November while he wraps up his recital tour. He has tour special concerts coming up this month.  On July 8, he'll join the great bass Paata Burchuladze and soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya for a concert in Abakan, Russia. The program will include operatic fare by Rubenstein and Bizet, including Escamillo's signature aria "Votre toast" from Carmen. As part of his performance in the Khakassian capital, Dmitri will also sing songs by celebrated composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova, including her "Ti Moya Melodiya" and the touching "Kak Molodi Mi Bili."  (Translation of text at end of this post)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Pakhmutova's "Kak molody my byli": 

On July 20th, he'll open the 21st International Český Krumlov Music Festival with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. The concert will take place in the beautiful Brewery Garden of the historic Czech town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hvorostovsky will sing arias from Verdi's Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in addition to Wagner's "Abenstern" from Tannhäuser and Bellini's "Or dove fuggo io mai!" from I Puritani, among others. The gala comes to a close with Neapolitan songs.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Falvo's Neapolitan song "Dicitencello vuie":

If you're like most of us and you won't be in Russia this month, you can catch him on the December 8th Live in HD broadcast of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera from the Metropolitan Oper.

Kak Molodi Mi Bili

Look back,
unfamiliar passerby,
Your glance is incorruptibly familiar.
Maybe that is me, only younger?
We not always remember ourselves.
Nothing on this earth passes without a trace,
And the youth that went away is nevertheless immortal.

How young we were!
How young we were!
How sincerely we loved
How believed we in ourselves!

Others met us back then without laughs (put-downs)
All the flowers on the roads of this earth.
Our friends for their mistakes we forgave
Only changes (cheating) we could not forgive.
The first time we already have won
And only one thing from that we understand.
So others on this earth would not lose you,
Try to not lose yourself!

How young we were!
How young we were!
How sincerely we loved
How believed we in ourselves!

In the heavens, the sky lightings have gone (sunrise and sunset)
And in the heart, the thunder is calming.
To not forget our loved faces
To not forget our native eyes...

Dmitri Hvorostovsky Live Worldwide this Saturday

Dmitri Hvorostovsky continues to establish himself as one of the leading Verdi baritones of our age. It's a little odd to see someone who is aging as beautifully as Carey Grant or George Clooney begin playing fathers onstage, but that's exactly what he'll be doing in the Live in HD broadcast of Verdi's La traviata from the Met on Saturday, April 14th. His elegantly phrased Giorgio Germont will be transmitted to cinemas worldwide with a U.S. encore transmission on May 2 and Canadian encores on May 26 and June 24. The event will also feature exclusive backstage footage and interviews with cast members.

Live performances of La traviata run through May 2nd. He then begins his recital tour in Minsk on May 14.

Hvorostovsky sings "Di Provenza il mar, il suol" from La traviata:

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Reader Submission: Dmitry Zuev

Dmitry Zuev

We don't get many emails from Russia, so we perked up when we saw an email suggesting we check out the guy singing the title role in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre in Moscow.

Zuev was born in Russia and studied at the famous Moscow State Conservatory. His repertoire includes Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Gryaznoi in The Tsar's Bride (Rimsky-Korsakov), Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Marcello in La boheme (Puccini), the title role in Yevgeny Onegin (Tchaikovsky) and others. He has performed in Israel, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Estonia and Azerbaijan.

The next performance of Eugene Onegin is on Thursday, April 5th.

We'll keep an eye on this singer as his career progresses. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any video, but here is another famous Russian, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, singing Eugene Onegin.

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Konstantin Shushakov Garners 2nd Prize at Operalia; Gabriel Preisser Advances

Konstantin Shushakov

The baritone winning streak that we've been covering in international singing competitions suffered a minor setback at this year's Operalia competition. Russian baritone Konstantin Shushakov came in second place after being nudged out by American tenor René Barbera and South African soprano Pretty Yende.

"I was one of the two baritones who were allowed into the finals," Shushakov told Voice of Russia. "I was surprised to see how many tenors reached the finals. That was a real battle of tenors, you know. But all competitions after all are aimed to help singers get access to the world`s best opera stages. Very often those who received second or third prizes become even more successful than top-prize winners."

Barihunk Erwin Schrott is a past winner of the competition.

The annual competition, which was founded in 1993 by tenor Placido Domingo, was held last Sunday. The competition is held in a different city each year. During Sunday's ceremony, Domingo received the Russian Order of Friendship for his work in cultural exchange.

Here are some selections of Shushakov from other performances.





Meanwhile, across the globe at the Utah Festival Opera, Gabriel Preisser was redeeming baritones as he won the final round of the Lirico Concorso Competition and will now advance to the interantional finale in Italy. The Barihunks Team wishes him well.

Gabriel Preisser

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The L.A. Times Sunday Conversation: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Dmitri Hvorostovsky: Russian Music Ambassador

Irene Lacher of the Los Angeles Times has another one of her excellent features on opera in today's paper. She profiled the great Russian barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Our favorite gem from the interview is this exchange:

So how did you react when People magazine named you one of its 50 most beautiful people?

It was 1990. In 1990, I was a different man. I took everything for granted, and I thought that was quite reasonable. [Laughter.]

You can read the entire interview HERE. 

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Rodion Pogossov SIngs Papageno

Here is a video of Rodion Pogossov performing Papageno's heartfelt aria from Die Zauberflöte. The performance was with the Rosenblatt Recital Series in London on October 30th. 

Here is an interview with the Russian barihunk:

What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Life is not a sprint, but a long distance race.

Who do you admire? (It can be personal and/or professional)

My family, friends, well, I have a long list, I could write a book with all the names...

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

I would live in NYC, and when I'm older in New Zealand probably, to be close to nature.

What is your favourite TV show?

I don't know if it's a TV show, but I like the program "Inside the actor studio"

Is there an art form you don’t relate to?

Something where there is nothing to deal with a talent.

What other passions do you have aside from music?

Theatre, cinema, martial arts (just to watch), sport (sometimes also just to watch).

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

It's hard to fit your life into one song; may be in the symphony instead; but I would say Moon River perhaps.

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Rodion Pogossov Heading to Galway

Russian barihunk Rodion Pogossov who has won over audiences at The Met with performances of Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, is heading off to Galway, Ireland. The striking singer will perform in the 30th Gala Concert for Music at Galway on October 16th with soprano Evelina Dobraceva.

For more information visit the Town Hall Theatre website.

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Dmitri Vargin's Upcoming Papageno

Once again, a reader tip has brought a new barihunk to our attention. Dmitri Vargin is a 32-year-old baritone from Uzbekistan who is currently an artist-in-residence at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he will be performing Papageno in Die Zauberflöte in November. He will also perform in "Cosi fan tutte," "Manon," "Il trittico," and "Billy Budd" with the company. He first came to international attention in 2007 as a participant in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Here he is singing the beautiful duet from Thomas' "Hamlet" with soprano Irina Oknina.



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Kaufmann & Hvorostovsky Hamming It Up

We get an email a week asking us about the Hunkentenors site and why there aren't any new posts. The answer is that we don't have a clue, because we have nothing to do with the site. But to whet the appetites of all you tenor lovers while keeping true to our mission of celebrating baritones, here is the hottest tenor in the world, Jonas Kaufmann, singing with one of the most popular barihunks in the world, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

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All things Dmitri

One of the original barihunks on this site was Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who seems to gets sexier with each passing year. His voice remains one of the most beautiful instruments in all of opera and his latest CD, a 25-track masterpiece dedicated to Tchaikovsky songs, is a testament to his artistry.




The "Siberian Hunky," as we like to call him, has also launched a stunning website with sound clips, video and lots of gorgeous photos. The site also contains his full schedule of appearances, as well as quick links to Facebook and YouTube, where one will find dozens of additional video clips.



Hvorostovsky has also been making his mark crossing over into pop. Like Kiri Te Kanawa and Eileen Farrell before him, he is actually quite successful in making the transition. Barihunks fans on the East Coast can check out his pop concert on March 6, at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Hvorostovsky will team up with Russian pop composer Igor Krutoi in an evening of pop tunes written especially for the baritone. Check out the video for a preview.

Opera purists need not fear, because starting on March 20th the silver fox returns to the world of opera in a series of concerts with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. Hvorostovsky will appear with Radvanovsky at Washington’s Kennedy Center, Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall, Montreal's Place des Arts, and at Carnegie Hall.

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Don Giovanni Unmasked: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

In the clever film "Don Giovanni Unmasked," Dmitri Hvorostovsky pulls off a feat that could never be done on stage: he plays both Don Giovanni and his alter-ego Leporello. The film is difficult to find now, but YouTube has some great clips. For your convenience, we've posted three of the best on this site.

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky Sings Pique Dame in '89 and '03

The passage of time has done little to diminish barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky's sexy looks or gorgeous voice. Here he is singing the incredibly beautiful aria from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades fourteen years apart.

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The Ageless Siberian Hunky

I recently saw Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing the title role of the father in Simon Boccanegra. He may have been the most gorgeous father figure in opera that I've ever seen. As he begins to play more and more mature characters including Scarpia, Di Luna and the older Russian princes and tsars, it's amazing that he still looks so beautiful.

Here his is singing Prince Igor's aria.

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