Happy Birthday, Dmitri Hvorostovsky!!!

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

There have been few baritones as compelling on stage as Dmitri Hvorostovsky and only a few in history who have matched the sexy Siberian's box office draw. His name is synonymous with "legato" and perhaps only Montserrat Caballe or Zinka Milanov could sing with such glorious breath control and float silken sounds into the theater. Along with Mariusz Kwiecien, he was one of the original inspirations for the Barihunks blog that you're reading!

He was born on October 16, 1962 and his 55th birthday this year has added significance, as he battles a brain tumor, and has been the unfortunate victim of inaccurate Russian news accounts this month reporting that he had died. Hvorostovsky was diagnosed with the brain tumor in the summer of 2015 and received treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. He subsequently cancelled concerts in Kaliningrad, Minsk, the Georges Enesco Festival, Tanglewood and Vienna, as well as the Met's performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He made a brief return for a concert in Toronto and appeared at the Met Gala.

On October 12, 2015, Russian president Vladimir Putin awarded Hvorostovsky the Order of Alexander Nevsky, one of the country's highest honors.  Putin followed that honor up last month by presenting the singer with the prestigious Order of Merit for the Fatherland of the IV degree.

We still remember when Hvorostovsky won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1989 in a showdown with Bryn Terfel. The Siberian barihunk went on to win the competition and, of course, both men have gone on to sensational international careers. Hvorostovsky sangs two pieces from Verdi, Rodrigo's aria "O Carlo, ascolta" from Don Carlo and "Eri tu che macchiavi" from Un ballo in maschera, "Ja vas lyublyu" from Tchikovsky's Queen of Spades. The late, great soprano Elizabeth Soderström, who was one of the judges in 1989, famously marked a series of exclamation marks on her scorecard as she listened to Hvorostovsky sing. The music world was instantly abuzz with stories about a baritone who looked as beautiful as he sounded.

His career has taken him to all the world’s major opera houses and renowned international festivals, including Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Salzburg Festival, La Scala Milan, Vienna State Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera.

His extensive discography includes 30 recitals, numerous complete operas on CD and DVD, and the award-winning film "Don Giovanni Unmasked" where he performed the dual roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello. On November 10th, he released his first recording of Verdi's Rigoletto, where he sings the title role.

We are officially declaring October 16th forevermore as "Dmitri Hvorostovsky Day."

Malte Roesner from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar and Photo Book

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!

Hvorostovsky back in Met Ballo under James Levine

Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Met's Ballo (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to the Metropolitan opera as King Gustavo III's confidant Anckarström in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera with the Metropolitan Opera's Music Director James Levine on the podium. The all-star cast will also feature Piotr Beczala in his Met role debut as the ill-fated Gustavo, Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia, Dolora Zajick as the fortune-teller Ulrica, and Heidi Stober as the page Oscar.

Alexey Markov

The opera opens on April 23 and runs through May 9. The David Alden revival will mark the first time that James Levine has conducted the opera at the Met in nearly 20 years.  Russian baritone Alexey Markov, who sang Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata and Robert in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta earlier this season, will sing Anckarström in the May 6 and 9 performances.

Tickets and additional performance information is available online.

After wrapping up Ballo, Hvorostovsky leaves to perform concerts in St. Petersburg, Munich, Calistoga and Yountville, California.

Watch Dmitri Hvorostovsky in The Demon from Moscow

Dmitri Hvorostovsky onstage and backstage for The Demon

We have photos and we have the video!!!

Yes, we have this sexy backstage photo of über-barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky as he readied for his  role debut in Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera The Demon this week at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall  in Moscow. There is still one more performance on February 5th, but for those who can't jet off to Moscow, here is the video of the entire performance.

In the semi-staged performances Hvorostovsky sings the haunting and seductive title role under the baton of Mikhail Tatarnikov with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia accompanying. Also featured in the cast are soprano Asmik Grigorian, contralto Larisa Kostyuk, countertenor Vadim Volkov, tenor Vasily Efimov, and basses Alexander Tsymbalyuk and Dmitry Skorikov. Dmitry Bertman directs.

The setting of the Demon is somewhere between heaven, hell and earth – just as the demon himself is a fallen angel, an inwardly torn character, a negating power and adversary of the angel at the same time. Unable to love and still be humble, he falls in love with Tamara, who is about to marry Prince Gudal’s son, and kills the bridegroom. The bride escapes to a convent and is visited by the demon, who promises to renounce evil and pictures their future as eternity and boundless power. Tamara, yielding to temptation, is killed when he kisses her. In the struggle for her soul, the angel keeps the upper hand, for "he who loves belongs to paradise". For the demon, nothing has really changed: he carries on living in eternal damnation and loses his hope in the shape of Tamara, with whom he shared his solitude, his longing for love, his thirst for knowledge and the sadness resulting from it all.