Edward Laurenson to sing Tarquinius in San Francisco

Edward Laurenson

The last we featured New Zealand barihunk Edward Laurenson three years ago, he was off to London to commence his Masters in Music studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has now landed across the globe in California, where he's studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has now studied on three continents in three years!

On December 8th and December 10th, he'll be performing Tarquinius in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at the Conservatory. He'll be joined by fellow barihunk Jorge Ruvalcaba as Junius, Brandon Bell as Collatinus, Molly Boggess as Lucretia, Esther Tonea as the Female Chorus, Ricky Garcia as the Male Chorus, Jessie Barnett as Bianca, and Meagan Rao as Lucia. [Click on the dates for tickets].

The fully-staged production is part of the Conservatory's thematic programming surrounding the institution's centennial celebrations for the 2017-18 season, which is comprised of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire.

Jorge Ruvalcaba (left and center), Edward Laurenson and Brandon Bell

Laurenson was an Emerging Artist with The Dame Malvina Major Foundation, as well as Vocal National Young Performer of the Year at Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand, won the Lieder prize at the New Zealand Aria competition, won the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Award, the Australian Opera Awards Committee’s Sheila Prior Memorial Prize, the Phoebe Patrick Award and the David Harper Award.

Mexican baritone Jorge Ruvalcaba is new to this site. He was the winner of the Coppel Prize VIII in the  Concurso Internacional de Canto Sinaloa in 2016, the Edgar Mason Kneedler Memorial Prize Opera San Miguel 2015, won special prizes for best interpretation of Mozart and for the best interpretation of aria at the XIX Maritza Alemán Singing Contest. He has performed Marcello at Opera de Oazaca, the title role of Don Giovanni a the Escuela Superior de Música and Papageno at the Teatro Alameda.

ONLY 29 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER 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!

Xavier Rivera in free San Francisco concert

Xavier Rivera: Pearl Fishers selfie

You can hear 2015 Barihunk calendar model Xavier Rivera for free on Friday, February 13th at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He'll be performing the Zurga-Laïla duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. The concert starts at 7:30 PM. 

The program will also include other artists in arias and duets from Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel,
Rachel Portman's The Little Prince. Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Massenet's Manon.

The Puerto Rican native recently appeared in San Juan in Puccini's La bohème and has performed in Mozart's Requiem with the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Coronation Mass in the San Francisco Master Chorale in San Josè and Castro Valley, California. 

Don't waffle, go see Sergey Khalikulov's Don Giovanni

Sergey Khalikulov in Waffle Opera's Don Giovanni

As regular readers know, our main goal at Barihunks is to promote the art form and to promote singers. Waffle Operas is exactly what we're about. It's a brand new opera company founded by young artists with the purpose of promoting young artists.

Sergey Khalikulov, who received his B.A. from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, has been continuing his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where a group of young musicians played a key role in creating Waffle Opera. They actually serve waffles, as well as a dose of humor. Their joke is that even if the opera wasn't great, the waffles were incredible.

Audiences have one more chance to support Khalikulov and these young artists on November 1st. Tickets are available online.  

Another way to support young artists is to purchase our Barihunks Charity Calendar. This year, $850 is going directly to singers who participated in the calendar through an upcoming reader contest. Buy yours today by clicking the LULU button below. 

Sergey Khalikulov to star in new children's opera

Sergey Khalikulov

Sergey Khalikulov, who we recently introduced to readers, will be starring as the Father in the new children's opera My Head is Full of Colors. San Francisco's innovative young company Opera Parallèle will present the work free to the public on Saturday, November 1st at the Koret Auditorium at San Francisco's Main Public Library.

The opera, with music by Chris Pratorius and words by Nicole Paiement, is based on author Catherine Friend’s children’s book. Opera Parallèle has been committed to presenting operas with young performers, with an audience of children and families in mind. Khalikulov will be joined by soprano Carolyn Bacon in the story of a young girl who discovers her own meaning by engaging in the world around her is the kind of self-affirming discovery through artistic engagement.

Seating will be on a first come, first serve basis. 

Introducing Bass-Barihunk Sergey Khalikulov

Sergey Khalikulov

Meet Sergey Khalikulov, who will be singing the title role in the Waffle Opera's upcoming performances of Mozart's at the Creativity Theater in San Francisco. Waffle Opera is a brand new opera company founded by young artists with the purpose of promoting young artists. He'll be performing the role on October 24 and November 1 and alternating with Spencer Dodd, who performs on October 25 and November 2. Tickets are available online.  

Sergey Khalikulov attended the San Francisco School of the Arts in the vocal department
and participated in many of their musical productions. A dean’s honor roll graduate from the UCLA
Herb Alpert School of Music, he received his B.A. in music, studying voice with Vladimir Chernov.

At Opera UCLA he performed Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium, Antonio in Mozart’s
Le Nozze Di Figaro, Pallante in Handel’s Agrippina, and Hercules in the West Coast premieres of
Cavalli’s Giasone and the Immigration Officer in the West Coast premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Flight.

Sergey Khalikulov

He recently received his Master of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying voice with César Ulloa. Past SFCM productions include Betto in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, the Narrator/Mysterious Man  in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Kander and Ebb’s And the World Goes Round, Friedrich Bhaer in Adamo’s Little Women, Ariodate in Handel’s Serse, Man with the Cornet Case in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, and the title role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.

Recently, Sergey played Lt. Cable in Foothill Music Theater’s production of South Pacific. This year, Sergey is completing a Post Graduate Diploma at SFCM. Upcoming roles include, the title role in Don Giovanni, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, George in Sunday in the Park with George, Dulcamara in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, and Superintendent Budd in Britten's Albert Herring.

Barihunk-laden Don Giovanni in bucolic setting

Gregory Gerbrandt and Nora Graham-Smith

Don Giovanni and his little black book are returning to Northern California, this time at the Hidden Valley Opera Ensemble. The burgeoning opera company is a little over 2 hours from San Francisco and just a half an hour from the beautiful resort of Monterey.

The title character will be sung by barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt, who has been a familiar singer on this site. Gerbrandt is returning to Hidden Valley Opera where he portrayed Jim in David Conte's The Gift of the Magi.  This is debut as Don Giovanni. Previous Mozart roles have included Count Almaviva in the Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in the Magic Flute and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. 

Gerbrandt earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied voice and opera with his late father, Dr. Carl Gerbrandt.

Ryan Bradford

New to this site is the Masetto, Ryan Bradford, who is a familiar face to Bay Area opera audiences. A first prize winner at the Chicago and San Francisco National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions, he was a memorable Guglielmo in both the San Francisco Conservatory’s production of Mozart's Così fan tutte and the teacher in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Opera Parallèle. He is a recipient of the Joan and David Traitel Vocal Scholarship. You can check out Bradford on YouTube singing Schumann's Wehmut.

Don Giovanni opens on September 12  and runs through September 22 at the 300 seat Hidden Valley Theater in Carmel Valley, California. Call (831) 659-3115 for tickets.

Opera Returns to Baltimore with Barihunk Nozze; Daniel Mobbs joins SFCM Staff

Daniel Mobbs performing Figaro in Baltimore (Photo by Julius Ahn)

When the economic collapse happened in 2008-2009, few things suffered more than the arts. Opera companies, small theaters and orchestras across the country shuttered their doors. One of the unfortunate victims was the creative Baltimore Opera, where many young singers launched their carees. We are pleased to announce that opera has returned with the Lyric Opera of Baltimore, which will be presenting Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with barihunks Daniel Mobbs as Figaro and Marian Pop as the Count.

Opera in Baltimore has a long, rich history that dates back to the mid-18th century. Opera was initially influenced by the English and later by French refugees fleeing the Revolution. The first opera performed in Baltimore was John Gay's The Beggar's Opera in 1752. From 1883-1959, Baltimore was a regular stop for the Metropolitan Opera Tour and many of the biggest names in opera performed there.

Daniel Mobbs & Marian Pop bringing opera back to Baltimore (Photos by Julius Ahn)

Joining the two barihunks in Nozze will be Caitlin Lynch as the Countess, Janinah Burnett as Susanna and Kirsten Gunlogson as Cherubino. Performing in the pit will be the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joseph Rescigno. The production will be directed by Bernard Uzan in a production from  L’Opéra de Montréal. Click HERE for tickets and additional information.

In related news, opera students on the West Coast were thrilled to learn that Daniel Mobbs will be joining the voice faculty staff at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2012. Interested students should click HERE for additional information.

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