Deutsche Oper Berlin features barihunk duo in Meyerbeer rarity Dinorah

Seth Carico (photo: Simon Pauly) and Régis Mengus

The Deutsche Oper Berlin continues its foray into the operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer, who at his death in 1864 was one of the most performed composers in Europe. The company featured a new production of his Les Huguenots in 2016, which was followed by Le prophète the next year. On March 4 and 7 they will perform two concert performances of his rarely seen opera Dinorah, ou Le Pardon de Ploërmel. more commonly referred to as just Dinorah.

French barihunk Régis Mengus sings Hoël and American barihunk Seth Carico takes on the huntsman. They will be joined by Rocío Pérez in the title role, Philippe Talbot as Corentin,  Gideon Poppe as the Harvester, and Nicole Haslett and Karis Tucker as the shepherds.  Principal Guest Conductor Enrique Mazzola will lead both performances.

Tickets are available online. 

Jerry Hadley and Thomas Hampson in the Act 2 duet from Dinorah:

The story takes place near the rural town of Ploërmel and is based on two Breton tales by Émile Souvestre, "La Chasse aux trésors" and "Le Kacouss de l'Armor," both published separately in 1850.

Dinorah is betrothed to Hoël. Her cottage has been destroyed in a storm. Hoël, in order to rebuild it, goes into a region haunted by evil spirits searching for a hidden treasure. Dinorah thinking that she's been abandoned loses her reason and wanders through the mountains in search of Hoël accompanied by the sound of her goat's bell.

Nine baritones to perform Schubert's Winterreise in one night!!!

Joa Helgesson, Reuben Walker and Seth Carico

Advent is being celebrated in Berlin this year with 24 singers performing Schubert's Winterreise, with each performing a different song. Tenors, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos will all be represented, as well as 9 amazing baritones. They include 2018 Barihunks Calendar model Joa Helgesson, along with Julian Arsenault, Reuben Walker, Julien Ségol, Stephen Bronk, Seth Carico, Allen Boxer, Markus Brück and Jason Steigerwalt.

The performance is on December 17th at Puccini's Toaster in Berlin and tickets are available online.

Here is the entire song cycle with performers.

Gute Nacht - Joa Helgesson
Die Wetterfahne - Katrin Le Provost
Gefrorene Tränen - Julien Ségol
Erstarrung - Julie Wyma
Der Lindenbaum - Rachel Fenlon
Wasserflut - Tyler Clarke
Auf dem Flusse - Ziad Nehme
Rückblick - Vera-Lotte Böcker
Irrlicht - Sarah Ring
Rast - Davia Bouley
Frühlingstraum - Julian Arsenault
Einsamkeit - Laura Atkinson
Die Post - Reuben Walker
Der greise Kopf - Stephen Bronk
Die Krähe - Sylvia Klein-Bronk
Letzte Hoffnung - Marie-Audrey Schatz
Im Dorfe - Seth Carico
Der stürmische Morgen - Robert Watson
Täuschung - Caitlin Redding
Der Wegweiser - Allen Boxer
Das Wirtshaus - Markus Brück
Mut! - Sally Drutman
Die Nebensonnen - Mary Osborne
Der Leiermann - Jason Steigerwalt

Joa Helgesson and Derek Chester from 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book

ONLY 26 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 thin

John Chest simultaneously singing two English language operas in Germany

John Chest as Billy Budd in Berlin

American barihunk John Chest, who just finished a successful run as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Philadelphia, is back in his home base of Germany where he's pulling off an amazing feat of operatic stamina: He'll be singing two English language operas in Germany simultaneously!

Chest opened on May 26th in the title character of Britten's Billy Budd at the Deutsche Oper Berlin before heading off to the Semperoper Dresden to sing the role of the wealthy stockbroker Nick Carraway in John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby tonight, tomorrow and on June 1st. Hunkentenor Peter Lodahl is singing jay Gatsby and tickets are available online. He then heads back to Berlin for Billy Budd (where the Barihunks team will be in attendance!). To top it off, he also became a father for the first time this year along with his wife soprano Layla Claire.

Chest originally started working on Billy Budd back in 2008 as an apprentice artist and chorus member at the Santa Fe Opera. He made his role debut in 2014 in Berlin in a highly-acclaimed performance, which was the first performance of the piece at the Deutsche Oper. The current production features Gidon Saks as John Claggert, Richard Croft as Edward Vere, Simon Pauly as Donald and fellow barihunk Seth Carico as Mr. Redburn. Tickets are available online.

John Chest at Billy Budd and Gidon Saks as the evil John Claggert

After he wraps us Billy Budd, the jet-setting baritone heads off to the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Chest, where he'll represent the U.S. along with baritone Anthony Clark Evans. He'll be singing more American music, as he plans on performing Aaron Copland’s “Old America Songs.”

Other barihunks in the competition include bass Dominic Barberi representing England, bass Roberto Lorenzi representing Italy and calendar model Iurii Samoilov reprenting the Ukraine.

The Song Prize rounds will be broadcast in the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (June13 -16) with the song prize final live on Radio 3 In Concert (Friday, June 16) and on BBC Four presented by Petroc Trelawny and American soprano Angel Blue (Saturday, June 17).The four concerts at St David’s Hall, Cardiff will be broadcast on BBC Four (June13 - 16). The Grand Final will be broadcast live on both BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 on Sunday, June 18. 

Barihunks "Best of 2015"

It's time for our annual year-end wrap up with our "Best of 2015" feature where we highlight our favorite posts. Many of these were actually chosen by our readers, as we closely followed how much traffic each of our posts were receiving.

Jason Duika

 

Iosu Yeregui

BEST NEWCOMERS: Jason Duika was new to our site this year and his beach photos proved so popular that we invited him to appear in our 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, where he proved just as popular. He was a finalist last year in the James Toland Vocal Competition and is currently a young artist with the Palm Beach Opera where he will sing Dancairo, cover Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, sing the family performance and cover Dr. Malatesta in Donizettis Don Pasquale, sing Paquiro in Granados' Goyescas, and sing the Wigmaker in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos.

These are some photos of Iosu Yeregui that didn't make it into the calendar, as they were not of high enough resolution, so we thought we'd share them now. The singer was born in San Sebastian, where he studied contemporary dance, flute and humanities for business. On stage, he's performed Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Colas in Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and, most recently, Lodovico in Verdi's Otello with Opera de la ABAO in Bilbao, Spain.

Brandon Coleman

BEST READER SUBMISSION: Brandon Coleman was suggested to us by more than one reader and these pictures we haven't previously posted. Upcoming performances include Bartolo in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Kentucky Opera from May 20-24, 2016 and Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore with the Hawaii Opera Theatre.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky at The Met

BEST COMEBACK: Dmitri Hvorostovsky made a triumphant return to the stage on September 25th in the Met's Il Trovatore after being treated for brain cancer in London. The New York audience greeting him with rollicking applause. He was joined by Anna Netrebko as the heroine Leonora, Dolora Zajick as the gypsy Azucena, Yonghoon Lee as Manrico and Štefan Kocán as Ferrando. Unfortunately, we recently learned that he's returning to London for additional treatments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also bestowed the Order of Alexander Nevsky on Hvorostovsky, which is given for exceptional artistry over a period of 20 years or more.

 

Clint Borzoni & Michael Weyandt

BEST NEW SONG PERFORMANCE: We can't imagine a better new song in the lieder repertory than one about our favorite topic. Michael Weyandt premiered Clint Borzoni's "The Barihunk Song" at the National Opera Center in New York in March. The composer and blond barihunk also teamed up at operamission for "When Adonis Calls" with a libretto by John De Los Santos based on erotic poetry by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard.  Borzoni will premiering two new songs On January 22 and 24 with barihunk Marco Vassalli and Musica Marin written for String Quartet and Baritone.

Soloman Howard

HOTTEST PORTRAYAL OF A REAL PERSON: These pictures of bass-barihunk Soloman Howard's portrayal of boxing legend  Muhammad Ali proved extremely popular with our readers. He performed DJ Sparr's Approaching Ali with bothe the North Carolina Opera and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  He'll be performing Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in January with the North Carolina Opera and Fafner in Wagner's Das Rheingold with the Wshington National Opera in April/May 2016.

Brad Baron

BEST TWITTER DISCOVERY: We'd been following bass-barihunk Brad Baron on Twitter for some time, but when he hit the gym we realized it was time to add him to the site. He's currently pursuing his Masters of Music at LSU and is one of the most entertaining singers on Twitter. You can follow him @BaronAsInRed.

Dan Kempson in Streetcar Named Desire (with honorary barihunk Carrie Hennessey)

HOTTEST PHOTOS: Dan Kempson created a sensation with his performance of Stanley in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which was done in collaboration between the Fresno Grand Opera and Townsend Opera in Modesto. The opera played to enthusiastic crowds and his photos were the second most viewed on the site this year. Sadly, Kempson has announced his premature retirement from opera to pursue an advanced degree in opera/music administration. We wish him the best of luck. (Barihunks Liam Bonner and Jason Hardy have also announced their early retirements).

 

Zachary Luchetti

BEST SINGER BIO: One of our most popular posts of the entire year was Pennsylvania native Zachary Luchetti's spoof of singer biographies. His biography was not only the funniest singer bios that we'd ever read, but it perfectly lampooned the beefed up biographies that many performers post on their websites. A sample: "While he isn’t exactly sought after, he has amassed an impressive resume of over 70 roles in his short career."

Philipp Hochmair in "Der Ring: Siegfried/Götterdämmerung"

Christopher Maltman in Iphigénie en Tauride

HOTTEST NUDE SCENES: Philipp Hochmair's performance in "Der Ring: Siegfried/Götterdämmerung"isn't technically opera, as it was a theater piece based on The Ring with music by Wagner. But who could argue with Hochmair's full frontal assault in the role of Siegfried as the innocent forest child, which is true to the original story as the hero bathes in the blood of the freshly slain dragon to become invincible.

For a performance in an actual opera, one couldn't beat Christopher Maltman's full monty in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride at the Whitsun Festival at Salzburg. The British singer is no stranger to nudity, having appeared in the buff in the Kasper Holten's movie Juan and in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Salzburg.

Marco Vassalli & Malte Roesner

Marco Vassalli & Malte Roesner

BEST CALENDAR MODELS: Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner joined us in Montreuil-Bellay in the heart of France's Loire Valley for this year's Barihunk Calendar shoot and did the camera ever love these two German singers!

Roesner is the most featured calendar model this year, appearing on our cover, as well as in January, June and December. The singer has modeled in the past and was featured in an ad campaign for the opera company in Braunschweig. He's also one of the most intelligent singers who we've ever encountered and has translated librettos into German, including Jake Heggie's For a Look or a Touch and Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park.

Vassalli took so many sexy photos that we helped him put together a separate calendar, where $10 of each purchase will go to fund his upcoming US debut with Musica Marin on January 22 and 24. You can purchase your own copy HERE or buy tickets to his concert HERE. Vassalli is also well read and chose the poems for his upcoming program, which were set to music by composer Clint Borzoni. He selected Hilde Domin's Margere Kost and Hermann Hesse's Stufen.

Photos from Hadleigh Adams' new website.

BEST NEW WEBSITE: Few singers have had more enduring popularity on Barihunks than Hadleigh Adams and this year was no exception. Photos from his performances in the title role of Vivaldi's Bajazet with Pinchguy Opera, Orlando in RB Schlather provocative production at Whitebox in NYC and his biographical cabaret in San Francisco proved to be particularly popular. His website is available at http://www.hadleighadams.com.

He will be Falke in Cincinnati Opera's upcoming production of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

BEST COMPETITION WINNERS: Low male voices swept the 2015 Wigmore/Kohn International Song Competition as Milan Siljanov took 1st Prize, Samuel Hasselhorn took 2nd Prize and James Newby took 3rd Prize. Newby added to the sweep by also winning the Richard Tauber Prize given for the best interpretation of Schubert. His program included Finzi's Let us garlands bring and Schubert's An Sylvia?

Waltteri Torikka

BEST REALITY TV PERFORMANCE: Finnish barihunk Waltteri Torikka won MTV's singing competition Tähdet, Tähdet (Stars, Stars) garnering 58% of the vote and bringing the audience to its feet with his own hip swinging rendition of Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca.  His victory culminated a two month journey that included performances of Whitesnake's Still of Night, a country version of "Ring of Fire," the punk rock song "Hei hei mitä kuuluu," a Finnish tango, and even an Ozzy Osbourne-esque version of Scarpia from Tosca!

Torikka was subsequently voted as the "Sexiest Man in Finland" by the readers of the women's magazine Eeva (Eve).

The cast of La Fanciulla del West in Des Moines

BEST GROUP PHOTO: Michael Yeshion, who has photographed many of our calendar models, took these group photos at the Des Moines Metro Opera, during a break in rehearsals for their production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West). The barihunk rich cast included Alex Soare, Andrew Potter, Cesar Mendez Silvagnoli, Christopher Job, Geoffrey Penar, Joshua Jeremiah, Harry Greenleaf, Jonathan Harris, Trevor Martin, Tyler Alessi and Zach Owen.

Thomas Tatzl as Papageno

BEST PHOTO IN DRAG: Even with regietheater all the rage in European, it's tough to top Austrian barihunk Thomas Tatzl performing Papageno topless in a dress with a chorus of transsexual nuns! He's currently singing the role in Mozart's Die  Zauberflöte at the Theater Basel.
 

Keith Miller in Florencia en al Amazonas

BEST BLUE  BARIHUNK: Keith Miller's shirtless picture covered in blue body paint as Riolobo in Daniel Catán's Florencia en al Amazonas with the Nashville Opera was pretty hot. Director John Hoomes said the costume was "...inspired by the male costumes from Trinidad Carnival."

If you want to keep Barihunks up and running in 2016, you can support us by purchasing our Charity Calendar! It features 18 of the sexiest men in opera and all of the proceeds go to supporting young artists. ORDER TODAY by clicking HERE (you won't regret it!).

 

Seth Carico returns to hometown for "King and I"

Seth Carico in King & I

We've been following Seth Carico since his amazing turn as Victor in Jorge Martin's Before Night Falls at the Fort Worth Opera Festival. We followed him from his larger-than-life portrayal of the Castro-esque revolutionary leader to his fitness obsession and invitation to appear in our Barihunks calendar.

He eventually landed for a year at the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco before being snatched away by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has impressed audiences in Billy Budd, Les Troyens, Don Giovanni, Tosca, Die Zauberflöte, Otello, Rigoletto, Le nozze di Figaro, and Champert’s Hoffmann. 

Carico recently returned to his hometown of Signal Mountain, Tennessee to perform in the "King and I," where he started his career as one of the King's children in 1991. This time he'll be the king and perhaps surrounded by some children who dream of following in his footsteps. 

He was recently interviewed by Chattanooga's Chatter magazine about his career and his return to his hometown, which you can read in its entirety HERE. 

In the article he also talks about his obsession with fitness, stating:

"I’d say the biggest part of my life other than singing is fitness. It’s become a real obsession of mine. I was really unhealthy a few years ago. I was doing a show, and I felt really terrible and decided that something had to change. I had to get in shape. It was actually The King and I in Virginia that gave me my deadline to get in shape, because I knew I would be shirtless for that show. I lost 75 pounds, and I kept it off. Now it’s become an important part of who I am as a performer and who I am as a person."

On August 14th, he'll be appearing in Richard Strauss' Salome at the Proms in London under the baton of Donald Runnicles. He then returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he'll be performing Junius in Brittens' The Rape of Lucretia, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and The Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.

Reader Submission: Alexander Elliott

Alexander Elliott preparing for Pirates of Penzance

The Portland Opera Resident Young Artist Program was one of the first recipients of a Barihunks Grant from our annual calendar proceeds. So we were particularly delighted when our latest reader submission was one of the young artists performing Samuel in Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance with the company.

Alexander Elliott is a second year young artist who has performed in recital with the company, as well sung the Shoe Salesman in Dominick Argento's Postcard from Morocco. He was also their cover for Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.  Our reader also shared this great photo of Alexander Elliott get used to his sword for the show, which opens on May 9 and runs through May 17. Tickets are available online. The Pirate King is being sung by one of the most famous barihunks in the world, Daniel Okulitch.

Elliott was previously an apprentice artist with the Central City Opera, where he sang the role of Frank in Ned Rorem’s Our Town. This summer, he joins the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. They are performing Mozart's Don Giovanni and a reduced orchestral version of André Previn's Streetcar Named Desire.

Other career highlights have includes the Captain in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Périchaud in La Rondine with Des Moines Metro Opera as well as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with the Tulsa Opera opposite fellow barihunk Seth Carico.

You can hear audio of him at his website.

Berlin featuring the "other" Dutchman and Schrott as Attila

Seth Carico performing the "other" Dutchman

The Deutsche Oper Berlin has two exciting concert performances coming up in June. First up on June 4th is French composer Pierre-Louis Dietsch's “Le Vaisseau Fantôme” (The Ghost Ship), an opera based on the same story as Wagner's “The Flying Dutchman.” Dietsch's opera actually proceeded Wagner's by two months in 1842. 

Although the opera has some of the same characters and is based on the same story, the plot is a bit more dense even though it's 20 minutes shorter than Wagner's opera. However, the piece had its proponents, including Hector Berlioz.  We're excited because the opera has three baritone roles. Josef Wagner will sing Troïl, Nicolas Cavallier will sing Barlow and barihunk Seth Carico will sing Scriften.

Tickets and additional performance information are available online.

Erwin Schrott and Dalibor Jenis

Next up on June 19th and 22nd are concert performances of Verdi's Attila featuring Erwin Schrott in the title role and Dalibor Jenis as Ezio. Adding to the vocal excitement is the thrilling soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, who is singing the demanding role of Odabella. This performance is all the chatter amongst Verdi lovers and a "must see" for anyone who can get to Berlin.

We love the idea of an age appropriate Attila, who actually ruled from the age of 29 to his death at age 47. Schrott can be heard singing the aria "Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima" on his 2012 release of arias on Sony.

Jerome Hines sings Attila:

Florida Grand Opera's "Opera's Sexiest Men"

The Florida Grand Opera has been having a great time on Facebook and Twitter with the recent Marie Claire feature about the sexiest men in opera. They've now created they're own meme of "Opera's Sexiest Men."

We certainly won't take issue with ANY of the barihunks on their list, which includes Seth Carico, Mariusz Kwiecien, Nathan Gunn, Randal Turner, Gabriel Bermudez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Michael Mayes, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Keith Miller, all of whom have appeared on this site. They've even included some of our favorite tenors, like Jonathan Blalock, Alek Shrader Michael Fabiano and Eric Margiore.

Make sure to check out Florida Grand Opera's upcoming season, which includes Puccini's La boheme, Mozart's Magic Flute, Verdi's La traviata and Bellini's La sonnambula. Visit their website for additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Announcing our Second Beneficiary for our 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar: Seagle Music Colony

Seagle Barihunks: Christopher Temporelli, Seth Mease Carico and Wes Mason.

 

We’re pleased to announce our second recipient of a donation from the 2012 Barihunks calendar, the Seagle Music Colony at Schroon Lake in beautiful upstate New York. There are many reasons to support this great training program, but the fact that it was founded in 1915 by baritone Oscar Seagle, an early 20^th century singer, certainly helped us in our decision. It’s also run by Darren Woods, who runs one of the best opera festivals in the world, the Ft. Worth Opera Festival. If your summer festival schedule includes Ravinia, Tanglewood and/or Spoleto and you haven’t checked out Ft. Worth, then you haven’t experienced the best of American opera.

A number of barihunks have trained at Seagle, including Ned Hanlon, John Cabrali,  Joe Hagar, Anthony Reed, Nicholas Wardcan and FOUR of our calendar models, Wes Mason, Seth Carico, Christopher Temporelli and Dan Kempson.  Since it’s founding in 1915, numerous singers have gone on to have amazing careers in opera and on Broadway. Their mission statement is “To identify, train and develop gifted singers and to present quality opera and musical theatre performances to the public.” They’ve obviously been successful, as Seagle alumni have performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera and, of course, the Ft. Worth Opera.

Oscar Seagle made several concert tours in the United States and Europe, and recorded albums for Columbia, including the popular World War I hit "Dear Old Pal of Mine." He served from 1903-1914 as teaching associate in Europe with his teacher, the great Polish tenor Jean de Reszke. De Reszke was a star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as Queen Victoria's favorite singer.

Darren Woods has served as General Director at the Seagle Music Colony since 1996. In 2000, it was named "Best Summer Vocal Training Program in the United States" by Classical Singer Magazine. Seagle receives over 500 applicants each year and it has expanded from two productions and eight performances per summer to six full productions and over thirty-five performances. Our favorite young director, John de los Santos (whose video you can see at the right) is also a regular at Seagle. 

We’re delighted to have them join the Portland Opera studio as one of our beneficiaries this year. We encourage you to purchase a calendar and help support his amazing organization. If you’re feeling extra generous this holiday season, please visit them online to make a donation HERE or mail a check to Seagle Music Colony, 999 Charley Hill Road, PO Box 366 – Schroon Lake, NY 12870.

Randal Turner (top), Seagle participant Dan Kempson (bottom left) & David Adam Moore (bottom right)

  BUY YOUR 2012 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY BY CLICKING HERE!

Seth Carico Returns to U.S. for Recital

Seth Carico looking all sexy

Seth Carico will be returning from the Deutsche Oper in Berlin where he is performing in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and Puccini's "Tosca" to give a recital at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Carico will perform Ned Rorem's "War Scenes," Ibert's "Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte," and Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121." The performance is on Tuesday, November 8  at 7:00pm.

Carico can next be seen on stage in the U.S. at the Fort Worth Opera, where he created a sensation as Victor in Jorge Martín’s "Before Night Falls." Carico is returning to perform another contemporary role when he tackles Leonidas in Mark Adamo's "Lysistrata," which runs from May 26 to June 3.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com