Thomas Weinhappel from Boy's Choir to Barihunks Calendar model
Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel is a new and welcome addition to our Barihunks calendar for 2018 (and he's also featured in our new Barihunks photo book). He provided us some stunning photos shot with a horse, which appear in the calendar and book.
Thomas Weinhappel feature on Austrian television:
He was also recently featured on Austrian television, tracing his career from the Vienna Boy's Choir to winning a prestigious European opera award for his portrayal in the title role of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet in Ostrava. The Thalia Award goes to the"Best Opera Singer" for a performance at a Czech opera company. Judges praised him for "...finding the detailed
meanings of words and music, and their allusions to express the complexity
of the character the young man crushed by dark family relations."
He is currently performing as the Prince in Paul Lincke's Frau Luna at the Niederösterreich Operettenfestival, which runs through October 29th. He returns to the role of Hamlet in Ostrava on November 4th.
Thomas Weinhappel and Sam Roberts-Smith from the Barihunks calendar
Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchaseHERE.
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 thatHERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!
Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel was suggested to us by a reader who saw him in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year. We thought that we had posted about him, but were surprised to learn that we've actually not featured him before. We've now been informed that he'll be singing Papageno at the 900-seat outdoor theater Burgarena in Reinsberg, Austria where opera has been performed since 2002. Performances are on August 20 and 21. The nearby castle was built around 1000 AD to prevent attack from the Slavs.
Weinhappel began his singing career with the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir at the age of eight. As alto soloist he traveled with the Choir to the United States, South America, Canada, Germany, England and Sweden. He graduated with honors in voice from the Vienna Conservatorium and subsequently graduated magna cum laude from the Conservatorium in Vienna.
Thomas Weinhappel and Elisabeth Pratscher
Upcoming roles include Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto with Oper Klosterneuburg starring Paolo Rumetz as Rigoletto and Daniela Fally as Gilda, Papageno with Stadttheater Baden from December 18-February 7, and the title role in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, which opens March 3, 2016.
You may recognize Weinhappel as the singer performing Schubert's Winterreise in Michael Haneke's award-winning film The Piano Teacher, which won three Palme d'Or Awards at the Cannes Film Festival.
He has appeared throughout Europe, including performances at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Baden State Theatre Bregenz, Neue Oper Wien, Vienna Burgtheater and Stadttheater Bern. His repertory includes the Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Papageno and Count Almavivia, as well as Count Danilo in Lehar's The Merry Widow and Master Ford in Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Nigl today and as a child soloist; As Don Giovanni in center
We recently asked readers to submit names of potential barihunks who haven't appeared on this site before. So far, we've received about 30 submissions, so our original idea of putting our reader submissions into one post flew out the door. A few of them jumped out at us, like Austrian baritone Georg Nigl, who originally made a name for himself as a child soloist with the Vienna Boys Choir. Readers may remember our popular post about Jacques Imbrailo that featured him as a child soloist.
Here is Nigl singing Mozart's "Laudate Dominum" with the Vienna Boys Choir from Japan in 1986.
Here is Nigl 23 years later singing Henry Purcell's "You twice tne hundred deities," Z.630 wth Luca Pianca on lute.
Nigl has a wide ranging repertory that features Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Mozart’s Papageno and Berg’s Wozzeck. Nigl's biography points out that they are all "human characters with an inherent brokenness."
He has sung at the Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Unter dem Linden Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, Festival Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Festwochen. He also has released a number of recordings on a variety of labels. He can next be seen at De Nederlandse Opera next month performing Wolfgang Rihm's "Dionysos."
We are still accepting submissions for barihunks who are new to this site. Please send your suggestions to Barihunks@gmail.com.
