Tareq Nazmi to make Carnegie Hall debut

Tareq Nazmi

Kuwaiti born barihunk Tareq Nazmi will make his Carnegie Hall debut on October 24th performing in Mozart's Requiem in D Minor,” K. 626 and Bach’s Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 in a 1733 revision of the original, in E-flat Major, BWV 243a, which was written ten years earlier. He'll be backed by the KlangVerwaltung Orchestra and Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern Chorus and soloists soprano Susanne Bernhard, mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung and tenor Daniel Johannsen. Tickets are available online.

He also had two role debuts this year, Zaccaria in Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco in St. Gallen in April 2017 and Basilio in Gioachino Rossini’s Barber of Seville at Berlin’s Komische Oper in July 2017.

You can hear samples of his singing on his website, including Tuba mirum from Mozart's Requiem. Click HERE.

Tareq Nazmi has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera since the 2012-13 season where he's performed the Minister in Beethoven's Fidelio, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Silvano in Cavalli's La Calisto, Mitjucha in Mussogsky's Boris Godunov, First Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen, Truffaldin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Obrist in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten, and Astolfo in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.

Don't forget to order you 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar, which is now on sale by clicking HERE. 

Malte Roesner

Watch Barihunk "Passion" from Nürnberg

Krešimir Stražanac (left) and Tareq Nazmi (right)

Three barihunks teamed up for a stunning performance of Bach's St. John Passion, BWV 245 at the St. Lorenz Church in Nürnberg this week with Concerto Köln and the Bayerischen Rundfunks Choir. The cast also includes three amazing low voices (who also happen to be barihunks!):Tareq Nazmi as Christ, Krešimir Stražanac as Pilate and Andreas Burkhart as Peter.

The performance marked the opening of this year's International Organ Week in Nürnberg and was performed with the choir and soloists as part of the audience.

Fortunately, the performance was saved for posterity and is available for viewing online here.

Written for Good Friday in 1724, the passion was the centerpiece of Bach's year-long cycle of liturgical cantatas. His other passion setting is the more oft-performed St Matthew Passion. Perhaps the biggest joy of the St. John Passion is that, for all the ferocity and sorrow of the Good Friday story, it's a truly optimistic work, anticipating the resurrection with music suffused with light and hope. 

Andreas Burkhart (left), Tareq Nazmi (center) and Krešimir Stražanac (right)

Tareq Nazmi was born in Kuwait and grew up in Munich. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher. He won first prize at both the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation prize and the National Song Contest.  Since the 2012-23 season, Tareq Nazmi has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera where he has performed Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's Magic Flute, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Publio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

Krešimir Stražanac (left) and Tareq Nazmi (right)

Stražanac studied at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. He went on to win the International La Voce Competition of the Bavarian Radio for art song and the International Cantilena Competition in Bayreuth for opera/operetta. In September 2012, he won the International Hugo Wolf Competition in Hugo Wolf's birthplace in Gradec, Slovenia. Since the 2007-2008 season, he's been a member of the ensemble at the Opernhauses Zürich, where he's performed Ping in Turandot, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Fernando in Fidelio, Morales in Carmen and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly. In November 2012, he made his debut as Dr. David Livesay in the world premiere of Frank Schwemmer's Die Schatzinsel and in March 2013 in the role of Baron Tusenbach in Péter Eötvös' opera The Three Sisters.

Tareq Nazmi (left) and Krešimir Stražanac (right)

Born in Munich in 1984, the baritone Andreas Burkhart was a chorister with the Tölz Boys Choir, going on to study at the Bavarian Singakademie and from 2005 with Frieder Lang at the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Winner of a number of prizes, in 2011 he appeared at the Bonn Beethoven Festival in a recital of songs by Poulenc, Liszt, Schumann and Schubert. He is a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus.

Bevy of Barihunks in Broadcasts from Bavaria

Michael Nagy and Günther Groissböck

The Bavarian State Opera is continuing the popular live streaming of their performances which they debuted last year. This year's selection features some of our favorite barihunks in their free broadcasts which are available at STAATSOPER.TV.

Previous broadcasts have included Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, Verdi's La forza del destino and Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

Tareq Nazmi

On May 31st at 7 PM CET./1 PM EST they will present Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten with Michael Nagy as Stolzius and Tareq Nazmi as Obrist.

30-year-old Bass-Barihunk Tareq Nazmi, who is new to this site, was born in Kuwait and grew up in Munich. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher. He is a first prize of both the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation prize and the National Song Contest.

Since the 2012-23 season, Tareq Nazmi has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera where he has performed Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's Magic Flute, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Publio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

Goran Jurić

On June 28th at 6 PM CET./Noon EST they will present a new production of Rossini's Guillaume Tell (William Tell) with Günther Groissböck as Gesler. Groissböck has been extremely popular on our site, especially the pictures of him in the "Brokeback Onegin," as it's been dubbed by opera bloggers. The cast also includes Goran Jurić as Walter Furst.

31-year-old Croatian bass-barihunk Goran Jurić is also new to the site. He has been a member of the Bavarian State Opera ensemble since the 2011-12 season. He received his Master's degree in Opera Studies at the Academy of Music at the University of Zagreb, where is completing his second Master's degree in Phonetics and Italian Language and Literature.

At the Bavarian State Opera he has performed Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio, Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Il Re in Verdi's Aida, Capellio in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Banco in Verdi's Macbeth, Il Frate in Verdi's Don Carlos and Timur in Puccini's Turandot. He also performs regularly with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

On July 27th at 6 PM CET./Noon EST the company will present Claudio Monteverdi L'Orfeo with the amazing Christian Gerhaher and the stunningly talented Anna Bonitatibus.

Alex Esposito in London recital & Berlin "Don Giovanni"

Alex Esposito as Leporello in Berlin

We're unabashedly huge fans of Italian barihunk Alex Esposito, especially when singing Mozart. His calendar is full of Mozart again this year with his definitive Leporello in Don Giovanni up next at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Also in the cast is Seth Carico, one of our favorite American singers, who will be taking on Masetto. Performances are on January 17, 19, 24 and 30 and tickets are available online.

Other upcoming performances as Leporello include one at the Théâtre du capitole in Toulouse (with barihunks Christopher Maltman and Kostas Smoriginas alternating as Don Giovanni) opening on March 15. On May 3rd he'll reprise his Leporello at the Bayersche Staatsoper in Munich with Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni and Tareq Nazmi as Masetto. 

Seth Carico from our 2012 Barihunks calendar

Carico, who is now part of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper, can be seen this year as Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, the Sacristan in Puccini's Tosca, Count Ribbing in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Panthée in Berlioz' Les Troyens, Count Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto, Astolfo in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Scriften in Dietsch's Das Geisterschiff.

Alex Esposito sings the catalogue aria from Don Giovanni:

Esposito will also be making his Rosenblatt Recitals debut at Wigmore Hall in London on February 5th. His program will include Leporello's catalogue aria, as well as "Vieni la mia vendetta" from Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni" from Bellini's La Sonnambula, "Cade dal ciglio il velo" from Rossini's Mosè in Egitto. He will also sing songs by Beethoven, Cesti, Carissimi and Tosti. Tickets are available on the Wigmore Hall website.