Brooklyn Art Song Society sings with barihunks

(Clockwise from top L) Jesse Blumberg, Jorell Williams, John Moore and Jarrett Ott

The Brooklyn Art Song Society not only has our favorite acronym (BASS), but they also seem to book the hottest and most vocally gifted basses and baritones for their concerts. This year's roster includes many of our favorite singers, most of whom have appeared on this site.

The season kicks off on September 18th with Britannica at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. It will feature barihunk Jesse Blumberg along with soprano Sarah Brailey, mezzo Kate Maroney and tenor Nils Neubert in music by Dowland and Purcell.

On October 22, Jorell Williams will join soprano Justine Aronson and tenor Joseph Gaines for Ned Rorem's birthday celebration, which will include his King Midas and selected songs. Performances are at Bargemusic at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn.

On November 6, barihunks Jarrett Ott and John Moore join tenor  Dominic Armstrong at The Old Stone House in Brooklyn for In Memoriam: Songs of the Great War, which includes music by William Dennis Browne, George Butterworth, Gerald Finzi, Ivor Gurney and Ralph Vaughan Williams. On November 11th, Ott and Armstrong will travel to the National WW I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City to reprise their portion of the program.

Jarrett Ott sings Glen Roven's "After Great Pain"

On December 3rd, Sidney Outlaw will be part of a program with tenor Dominic Armstrong that includes Finzi's A Young Man’s Exhortation and Ralph Vaughn Williams' Songs of Travel.

The February 14th concert will bring back Jorell Williams along with soprano Kristina Bachrach and tenor Dominic Armstrong for songs based on Shakespeare. The program includes music by Hector Berlioz, Ernest Chausson, Gerald Finzi, Francis Poulenc, Roger Quilter, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, and Peter Warlock.

Additional concerts include Jarrett Ott performing Britten on March 17th, Steven Eddy in a program of love songs on April 2, Kyle Oliver singing Hugo Wolf on April 19th, Steven Eddy and Michael Kelly singing more Wolf on April 29th, and Tyler Duncan and soprano Martha Guth performing the Canadian Songbook on May 22 at The Old Stone House.

Visit the BASS website for a complete list of concerts and performers. Tickets are available online.

CBC's "The Sexiest Barihunks in Canada"

Mike Nyby (L) and Philip Kalmanovitch (R)

We've been featured and even interviewed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and they've mentioned us a number of times. But they've stepped it up a notch with their "The Sexiest Barihunks in Canada" feature.

The post features four barihunks hot enough to melt the ice caps north of the Yukon: Etienne Dupuis, Phillipe Sly, Phillip Addis and Brett Polegato. The singers are asked about their sexiest features, sexiest roles, workout routine and what they'd sing to woo a lover. It is definitely worth checking out and we appreciate the ongoing love from the CBC, who we adore more than a Molson at a hockey game.

We're pretty sure that limiting it to four singers was more about who they could successfully contact than creating a comprehensive list. We're pretty certain that Canada has the highest per capita ratio of barihunks in the world. We've featured close to two dozen Canadians on this site, including three in last year's calendar: Philip Kalmanovitch, Jonathan Estabrooks and Aaron Agulay. Estabrooks will be reappearing in the 2013 calendar.

Daniel Okulitch in The Last Savage

Two Canadians barihunks are having huge international careers, Daniel Okulitch and John Relyea. Relyea is a regular at the Met and other major opera houses, while Okulitch is a fan favorite in opera houses across the globe. His performance in a loin cloth in  Menotti's "The Last Savage" at the Sante Fe Opera still has opera cognoscenti buzzing with delight.

Elliot Madore is on the verge of breaking into the upper tier of singers. He has a redesigned website and has caught the attention of opera general managers everywhere. We recently received emails from opera executives in three countries praising this gifted young artist.

Other Canadians who we've featured include Mike Nyby, Stephen Hegedus, Olivier Laquerre, Tyler Duncan, Riley McMitchell, Peter Barrett, Gordon Bintner, Philip Kalmanovitch, Benjamin Covey and Michael Adair (who co-opted "Barihunk" for his Twitter name).

 John Relyea sings "Scintille, diamant" from The Tales of Hoffmann":

Barihunk Trifecta: Duncan, Werba & Sly together in St. John's Passion

Philippe Sly & Markus Werba

Fans of barihunks and Bach in Montréal were in luck this week when the internationally acclaimed Austrian barihunk Markus Werba teamed up with Canadian sensation and Met Auditions winner Philippe Sly for a riveting rendition of Bach's "St. John's passion." Our source in Montréal told us that Sly's voice filled the space with "a full, lush sound that radiated to the rafters." To top things off, Canadian barihunk Tyler Duncan was also in the cast.

We've followed Sly's career since he started creating a sensation during the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions Competition. Opera aficionados are already hailing him as the next great baritone sensation. We've had the pleasure of hearing him in recital and performance and the early praise is well-deserved. He will be featured in a solo recital on June 1, 2012 at the Shenkman Arts Cenre in Ottawa. We're telling you about it now, because tickets are bound to sell fast. You can visit the Shenkman website for tickets and concert information. 

We've posted Sly's rendition of Schubert's "Der Erlkönig" before, but we think it's worth posting again, as it rivals the greatest versions that have ever been performed (and he's in his early 20's!):



Markus Werba heads to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris this December to sing Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in a cast that features the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Click HERE for tickets or additional performance information.

Here is Werba as Papageno from a 2003 production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with a cast that also featured Piau:



Tyler Duncan can next be heard in an eclectic program of music inspired by water with The Jefferey Concerts in London, Ontario. Joined by soprano Martha Guth and Duncan's wife, accompanist Erika Switzer, the trio will perform works by Schubert, Fauré, Joni Mitchell and Stan Rogers. Visit their website for additional information.

Tyler Duncan

Duncan then heads off to Boston to join the Handel & Haydn Society for their annual dose of the Messiah.

Contact us at barihunks@gmail.com

If you're thinking about a holiday gift, don't forget to purchase our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds are going to benefit young artists, so buy your calendar now and support our future generation of singers.

Three More Messiahs

Michael Adair singing Handel in Germany

Michael Adair will be performing Handel's Messiah at the Evangelische Kirschengemeinde Erndtebruck with the Kantorei Siegen on December 18th. Ticket and performance information is on their website.

Paul Max Tipton coming to Carnegie Hall

Paul Max Tipton will join the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on December 19th for the holiday favorite Visit the Carnegie Hall website for tickets and information. Tyler Duncan, who just received rave reviews in San Francisco performing the piece with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, performs the following night with the Oratorio Society of New York and again the next two nights with the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra.

Tyler Duncan singing Messiah with three orchestras

Keep sending us your Messiah listings, as well as other tips, to Barihunks@gmail.com. We love hearing from you.

Upcoming Messiah's

Jesse Blumberg

• The University Musical Society Choral Union will perform the Messiah on December 4, 5 and 8 at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor with Jesse Blumberg. Visit the UMS website for details and tickets. 

Keith Phares

• TONIGHT Keith Phares performs the Messiah on Saturday, November 27 with the Kansas City Symphony at the Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence, Missouri. Visit the Kansas City Symphony website for details and tickets. 

Randal Turner

• The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs the Messiah on December 18 at Clowes Memorial Hall with Randal Turner. Visit their website for tickets and performance information. 

Tyler Duncan

• If you want to hear a Messiah the way Handel wrote it and performed it, then check out the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, which is featuring Tyler Duncan. Performances are December 3, 4, 5 and 7 throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit their website for performance and ticket information.

Bach's Boys

Today is the 325th birthday of the great baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach, so we thought that we'd celebrate with with some barihunks who have Bach on their calendars.

[JONATHAN HAYS]


Jonathan Hays was suggested to us by one of our readers and we believe he's a great addition to the site. He sings music from the 17th century up to the living composers of today. We highly recommend that you visit his website and watch the videos of him singing Jorge Martin's song cycle "The Glass Hammer." Readers in Los Angeles and New York may remember Hays for creating the role of Shadow Grendel in Eliot Goldenthal's "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival.

Hays will be joining the Dickinson Collegium for a free concert of Bach on April 18th at the First Lutheran Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

[TYLER DUNCAN]


One of the hottest names in baroque music circles is Tyler Duncan, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the foremost interpreters of early music in the world. Duncan possessing both a stunningly beautiful voice and an exotic appeal. He'll be performing Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Consensus Vocalis and Concerto d’Amsterdam from March 25 through April 2. He then appears with the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival for a performance of the cantata "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht" from April 16-18. Later this year, the Canadian singer will perform what promises to be a stunning Handel's Messiah in the San Francisco Bay Area with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Duncan will be joined by the amazing countertenor David Taylor and hunkentenor John McVeigh.

[THOMAS HAMPSON]


As an added treat, here is Thomas Hampson performing Bach's "Mein freund ist mein! Und ich bin sein" with boy soprano Alan Bergius and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt.



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