A profile of Barihunks calendar model John Paul Huckle

John Paul Huckle: Mr. May 2015 in our Barihunks Charity Calendar (with Cyril Rovery & Jason Duika)

A welcome new addition to our Barihunks Charity Calendar this year is the American bass John Paul Huckle, hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is featured in the month of May with fellow barihunks Cyril Rovery and Jason Duika as guys who all have great chest voices (ok, great chests).

''I believe the Barihunks association to be a great tool for branching out and putting the lower voice first. So often it's all about the soprano or tenor. Barihunks puts us baritones and basses in the limelight for a change," said John Paul Huckle. "I am pleased to have taken  part of the ''Barihunks'' calendar as it is something that will eventually fund a competition for the baritone and bass voices and fund other projects as well featuring low males voices.''

Huckle has become a regular at the Teatro Carlo Felice where this season he has performed Cesare Angelotti in Tosca, Dansker in Billy Budd, Zuniga in Carmen and the Marchese d'Obigny in La traviata. He's currently singing Pietro in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in a cast that includes fellow barihunk Ricardo Crampton. In May, he'll sing Cirillo in Giordano's Fedora.  

John Paul Huckle sings Some Enchanted Evening:

The October 31st performance of Simon Boccanegra will be live-streamed from the Teatro Carlo Felice and available for viewing online at 3:10 PM . The opera will be conducted by Stefano Ranzani and feature Naoyuki Okada as Gabriele Adorno, Benedetta Torre as Amelia and Mansoo Kim in the title role.

Huckle studied at Boston University Opera before completing his Master of Music at the Indiana Univerisity where he studied with the legendary bass Giorgio Tozzi. At Indiana University he performed the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Pistola in Falstaff, Friar Laurence in Roméo et Juliette, Hobson in Peter Grimes, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro and the Count Des Grieux in Manon.

He went on to hone his skills at young artist programs at the Central City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera North, Brevard Music Center, and the Sarasota Opera. While at Sarasota Opera, he received the distinguished Leo Rogers Outstanding Apprentice award.

In 2007, he made his professional debut as Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto with the Cleveland Opera. Since the 2010-2011 season, he has been singing in major European houses including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Verdi in Pisa and the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner

 

Barihunks on the air from Lyric Opera of Chicago

Thomas Hampson

If you love great baritone singing, make sure to tune in your radio or go online to WFMT, Chicago's public radio station. The next three Saturday's will feature a bevvy of our favorite singers including three in this week's broadcast of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. The opera will feature the ageless barihunk Thomas Hampson in the title role alongside the riveting Ferruccio Furlanetto as Fiesco and rising superstar Quinn Kelsey as Paolo. Amelia will be sung by Krassimira Stoyanova and Adorno by Frank Lopardo.

Hampson is currently starring in Verdi's La traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper. 

Craig Verm

The following week barihunk Craig Verm can be heard as Albert in Massenet's Werther, in a cast that includes tenor sensation Matthew Polenzani in the title role and Sophie Koch as Charlotte. Verm opens as Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes at the Des Moines Metro Opera on June 22nd.

On June 1st, Italian sex symbol Ildebrando D'Arcangelo takes on the very un-barihunk title role in Donizetti's Don Pasquale opposite the Norina of Marlis Petersen. D'Arcangelo is currently performing the role of Selim in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il turco in Italia at Barcelona's beautiful Gran Theatre del Liceu.

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

Future broadcasts include Richard Strauss' Elektra, Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel, Puccini's La boheme, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, Verdi's Rigoletto and Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with an all-star cast featuring barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and soprano Renée Fleming. 

Hampson, Pisaroni, Colombara lead all-star performance and recording of Simon Boccanegra

Thomas Hampson (left) & Luca Pisaroni (right)

Luca Pisaroni will sing Paolo Albiani and Thomas Hampson will sing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in Vienna this weekend.  The concert performances of the opera will be recorded for future release on Decca.  If the twists and turns of this family plot aren't complicated enough on stage for you, Pisaroni is Hampson's son-in-law in real life. We're not sure if Hampson checks for poison when Pisaroni is over for dinner.

Carlo Colombara sings Fiesco's "Suona ogni labbro il mio nome" with Thomas Hampson:

The all-star cast also includes Kristine Opolais, Carlo Colombara and Joseph Calleja. The performances on April 13 and 17 with the Vienna Symphony will be conducted by Massimo Zanetti at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Tickets are available online.

Watch Thomas Hampson's latest Mahler performance; Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in Chicago

Thomas Hampson & Ferrucio Furlanetto

The ageless American barihunk Thomas Hampson launched the 2012-13 season of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande singing music by the composer with whom he is perhaps most closely associated: Gustav Mahler. The performance of "Das Lied von der Erde" is now available online and we figured it was a beautiful way to the start the week, so we posted it below.

Hampson and tenor Paul Groves performed the piece under Music and Artistic director Neeme Järvi, for two concerts in September in Geneva’s Victoria Hall.  

This unique and transcendent “song-symphony,” featuring texts of Chinese poetry translated into German, with additional texts by Mahler himself, explores nothing less than the meaning of life, from the innocent joys of youth to the inevitable parting from this world.  True to the work’s inspiration, Mahler infuses the orchestral sound with many evocative Eastern touches.  

Hampson recorded “Das Lied” in 1995 with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and again in 2007 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.

Hampson is currently performing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Lyric Opera of Chicago through November 9th. As and added treat, the Fiesco is the great Italian Verdi specialist Ferrucio Furlanetto and Paolo is the rising Verdi baritone star Quinn Kelsey. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky Coming to a Theatre Near You

Dmitri Hvorostovsky excels in Ernani

On February 2nd, Dmitri Hvorostovsky made his role debut as Don Carlo in Giuseppe Verdi's "Ernani" at the Metropolitan Opera. You can watch the "Siberian Hunky" baritone’s Ernani performances in a Live in HD cinema broadcast on February 25. There will be encore performances in the U.S. on March 14 and in Canada on March 31. Click here to purchase tickets for the Live in HD broadcast nearest to you.

Also, make sure to read this wonderful article from Opera News, which talks about his increasing focus on Verdi and his approach to his career. 

Trovatore at the Met (© Beth Bergman) & Posa in Don Carlo (© Johan Elbers 2012)

Verdi continues to be the focus of Hvorostovsky, as he heads to Vienna for a run as the title character in Simon Boccanegra from March 5-13. Marina Poplavskaya will perform Amelia and Ferruccio Furlanetto, who is de Silva in Ernani, will star as Fiesco. Limited tickets are available and can be purchased HERE. 

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