Vittorio Prato to make role and house debut in Hamburg

Vittorio Prato (Photo from artist's website)

Vittorio Prato will make both his role debut and house debut when he steps on the stage this week at the Hamburg State Opera.

He'll be singing the role of Lescaut in Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut, led by the stunning soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role and tenor Jorge de León as Des Grieux. Performance are on March 21 and 29 and tickets are available online.

Puccini's libretto is an amalgam of text by five different librettists whom Puccini employed, including the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo, as well as Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica. The opera was composed between 1890 and 1893 and is based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. It was the composer's third opera and his first big success.

Barihunk duo in Beijing's "Don Giovanni"

Vittorio Prato

Two of Europe's hottest barihunks will be singing Don Giovanni and Masetto at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts. Italian Vittorio Prato will take on Mozart's title character alongside Austrian Thomas Tatzl's Masetto.

The theatre is rotating a European cast on November 27, 29 and December 1 with an all-Chinese cast on November 28 and 30. Tickets and additional cast information is available online. The Chinese cast includes the amazing bass-baritone Ao Li as Leporello, who won the 2014 Operalia competition and has become a fixture at the San Francisco Opera.

Ao Li performs at the Mt Fuji Vocal Competition:

The National Centre for the Performing Arts was founded in 2010 and features European and Chinese artists performing both Western and Chinese opera. Chinese operas have included  Guo Wenjing's Rickshaw Boy, Qing Yin's The Long March, Meng Weidong's FANG Zhimin, Lei Lei's The Jinsha River and Visitors from the Snow Mountain.

Vittorio Prato as sexy Guglielmo in Geneva

Alexandra Kadurina and Vittorio Prato

Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato shows off some skin as Guglielmo in German director David Bösch's new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The cast also includes Veronika Dzhioeva as Fiordiligi, Alexandra Kadurina as Dorabella, Steve Davislim as Ferrando, Monica Bacelli as Despina and Laurent Naouri as Don Alfonso.

Bösch's vision in this production is to bring out both the dark cynicism of Da Ponte’s cruel game of lime and Mozart’s luminous music of love. He figures that if "all women are like that," then "all men are too."  The moral of this production is that if love’s a game, the it’s worth learning how to play it.

There are performances remaining on May 10 12 and 14. Tickets are available online.  

Next up for Prato is Puccini's five-part Messa a Quattro voci con orchestra, or Messa di Gloria at La Monnaie with tenor Sergey Romanovsky. There is a single performance on June 14th. Tickets are available online.

Vittorio Prato and Anna Caterina Antonacci reunite in Liège

Vittorio Prato

Barihunks calendar model Vittorio Prato will rejoin the amazing soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci in a double-bill of Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segretto di Susanna and Poulenc's La Voix Humaine at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium. They previously performed the double-bill together at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg in 2013, which you can listen to in its entirety. Tickets are available online.

The one-act opera Il Segreto di Susanna is rarely performed, probably due to modern views about glorifying smoking. A newlywed husband suspects his younger wife of infidelity because he frequently smells tobacco on her clothes. She's reluctant to admit her unlady-like habit, and much havoc ensues, but when he catches her in the act, all is resolved, and they happily agree to smoke together. 

The second opera, La Voix Humaine, is a more frequently performed and popular solo vehicle for soprano. In this one-act opera, it is the husband who is unfaithful in the face of a wife who seems willing to compromise for the sake of the relationship.

After the run of Il Segretto di Susanna, Prato heads to Palermo to sing Sgt. Sulpice in Donizetti's La fille du régiment and the title role in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia in Bologna.

Vittorio Prato sporting Barihunk t-shirt on website

Vittorio Prato

We love that Vittorio Prato is proudly sporting his Barihunk t-shirt on his website's photo gallery. Few singers look better than the hunky Italian in or out of a t-shirt! Fans will be thrilled to know that he'll be back again this year in our annual charity calendar.

On September 2nd and 6th, he'll be appearing as Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera di Firenze. The cast includes Laura Verrecchia as Rosina, Alessio Verna as Don Basilio and Filippo Adami as Almaviva. You can listen to his Largo al factotum on his YouTube page. Tickets are available online. 

Vittorio Prato backstage and at the gym

In November, he heads to the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich to sing Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, which will be directed by the great mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. The cast includes Arthur Espiritu as Don Ramiro,  Jasmina Sakr as Clorinda,  Dorothea Spilger as Tisbe and  Diana Haller as Angelina.

In December, he returns to Italy where he'll sing Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Fabrizio Paesano singing Nemorino. Tickets are available online.

Vittorio Prato sports barihunk shirt in Rome

Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato is at the Rome Opera singing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro opposite fellow barihunks Markus Werba and Thomas Tatzl, who are rotating the role. Prato has two performances remaining. On May 29th, he'll perform with Tatzl along with Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi as the Countess, Anna Kasyan as Sussanna and Raffaela Lupinacci as Cherubino. On June 3rd, he'll join Werba in a cast with Eleonara Buratto as the Countess, Rosa Feola as Susanna and Michaela Selinger as Cherubino. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Prato also took some time out to pose in a barihunk tee shirt alongside one of Rome's 2,000 fountains. Prato is featured in this year's Viva, Italia! barihunk's calendar and we hope to have him back for our 2016 edition.

Vittorio Prato (Photo on right by © Yasuko Kageyama)

Prato next heads to Firenze where he will perform Figaro in the opera based on the first part of the Pierre Beaumarchais trilogy, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Le nozze di Figaro is based on the second part of the Beaumarchais trilogy. Prato will rotate the role with the rising young Korean baritone Julian Kim. Also in the cast is fellow Italian barihunk Luca Dall'Amico. Additional information is available online. 

Concert to feature hunkentenor Maxim Mironov and barihunk Vittorio Prato

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Vittorio Prato and Maxim Mironov

Two of the sexiest men in opera are collaborating for "D'amor sospiro" (I breathe for love) on November 27th, at the Grand Hall in St.Petersburg. Hunkentenor Maxim Mironov and barihunk Vittorio Prato will be joined by soprano Eleanor Lyons for an evening of arias and duets accompanied by the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra.

Prato's solo pieces will include "Hai già vinta la causa" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore's aria "Come Paride vezzoso" from Donizetti's L'elisir d’amore,  and Enrico's aria "Cruda, funesta smania" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The two men will join forces to sing Figaro and Count Almaviva's duet "All'idea di quel metallo" from the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Nemorino and Belcore's duet "La donna è un animale" from the opera L'elisir d’amore. Prato will team up with Lyons to perform Norina and Malatesta's duet "Pronta io son" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale.

Tickets are available online. 

Vittorio Prato will be featured in this year's 2015 Viva, Italia! Barihunks Charity Calendar, which will be on sale shortly.

Vittorio Prato's busy year of Donizetti

Vittorio Prato working out and in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes

Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato just made his debut in Bad Kissingen, Germany as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (Der Liebestrank for our German readers).  Prato was a replacement for Fabio Capitanucci, who had a scheduling conflict with the Montpellier Festival. From all accounts Prato was a huge success and we have some rehearsal footage of him singing the village sergeant's aria "Come Paride vezzoso."

Post by Vittorio Prato.

Prato will be singing some obscure Donizetti this Fall at the Bergamo Music Festival when he sings Max in Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera. It's been a busy year for him singing Donizetti, having performed Doctor Malatesta in Munich and Verona.

Betly is a one act opera giacosa that was composed during the summer of 1836. It is a love story full of pastoral naïveté, whose humor is both gentle and pointed. There are a number of comic scenes for Max and his regiment, as they try to intimidate Betly, and turn the quaking Danielle into a hero for her. The text for Betly was adapted from a libretto by Eugene Scribe for an opera called La Chalet. 

Betly premiered on August 24, 1836 at the Teatro Nuovo of Naples. It was very well received, and remained popular until the middle of the century when its popularity died out. It has begun to regain favor in recent years and Donizetti intended it to be performed with another of his one-act operas, Il Campanello.

Vittorio Prato to tour Handel's Imeneo in debut with Academy of Early Music in London, Paris and Madrid

Vittorio Prato

Vittorio Prato just teamed up with one of our favorite sopranos, Anna Caterina Antonacci, in performances of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto de Susanna at the Grand Theatre de Luxembourg and the Opéra Comique in Paris. From all accounts it was a critical and artistic success.

When we first started following Prato, he was singing a lot of early music, including the title role in Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Opéra de Lyon, Handel's Giulio Cesare in Genua, Rameau's Les Indes Galantes in Toulouse and numerous performances as Massimo in Handel's Ezio.

Vittorio Prato sings "Va dal furor portata" from Ezio (Begins at 1:20):

We were thrilled to learn that Prato is returning to early music in his debut with the Academy of Early Music under Christopher Hogwood. Prato will be singing the title role in Handel's Imeneo in an all-star cast that includes Lucy Crowe as Clomiri, David Daniels as Tirinto and Stephan Loges as Argenio. The opera will be performed at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris on May 22, at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid on May 26 and at London's Barbican Hall on May 29.

Vittorio Prato's sexy Count in "Le Nozze di Figaro"

Vittorio Prato as the Count

Vittorio Prato is one of our favorite Italian barihunks, not just for his Armani model looks, but for his compelling stage presence. He's another one of those European singers who mysteriously hasn't appeared on a U.S. roster. Readers might remember our NSFW* post featuring Prato in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.

He's wrapping up a run as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro today at the Teatro Communale in the Sardinian city of Sassari. This was Prato's debut at the theater in a production directed by Marco Spada. The final performance was today, but we had to share the sexy shirtless pictures with our readers.

Vittorio Prato showing of his guns

The singer now takes a different Count on the road, Count Gil in Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna. The opera will be performed as part of a double-bill with Poulenc's La Voix humaine at Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg on February 20th and 23rd and at the Opéra Comique in Paris from March 17-29. As an added bonus, the riveting soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci will star in both operas.

Il segreto di Susanna is a comedy that depicts the beginnings of women's liberation in the early 20th as Susanna demands the right to partake in something reserved only for men - smoking.

* Not safe for work

Don't forget to purchase you 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar, where you'll find 14 barihunks as sexy as Vittorio Prato. All proceeds go to benefit young artists and young artist programs. For the price of lunch, you can help the careers of our next generation of singers. CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW.

Vittorio Prato is risqué "Les Indes Galantes"

When we first saw these pictures, the naked body on the right was identified as baritone Nathan Berg. We've seen him perform and were confident that it wasn't him. A little further research revealed that he's a dancer in one of many nude scenes in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scene pictured above is supposed to represent the Garden of Eden, which featured jocks and rap stars as symbols of our decaying society.

A shirtless Vittorio Prato

The opera goes on to deal with a number of topics that Rameau clearly never had to grapple with musically in his day, including consumerism, cocaine, illegal immigration and Islamic attitudes towards women (sexy women in lingerie are covered in burkas). We don't review operas and we weren't there, so we'll let you decide how you feel about the updated production concept by director Laura Scozzi.

Of course, what really caught our eye was one of our favorite barihunks, Vittorio Prato, prancing around shirtless on the "beach." Prato plays the role of Osman in the first act, but doesn't appear elsewhere in the opera. Prato can next be seen in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and then in the title role of Handel's "Imeneo" at the Théathe des Champs Elysées in Paris under Christopher Hogwood.

Nudity abounds in Théâtre du Capitole's latest production

Performances run through May 15 and additional information can be found at the Théâtre du Capitole website.

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Video Wednesday: Vittorio Prato & Markus Werba

Delizioso! Vittorio Prato's new headshot

Here is Part 1 of the Italian TV show "Tutti all'Opera," which shows the making of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" from a backstage perspective at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The clip includes some rehearsal footage and a brief interview with Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato.



Tutti all'Opera - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

You can read about Vittorio Prato's upcoming schedule at our previous post about the singer.  There are also a few additional photos at that link.

The chorus doing to Markus Werba what the rest of us are imagining.

We love live footage from operas despite the shaky cameras. It truly captures singers in their natural element without sound engineers, microphones and editing. Here is Markus Werba and Irini Kyriakidou performing "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia:



Markus Werba is wrapping up a run as Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris opposite the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Werba next heads to the Teatro la Fenice where he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte."

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Vittorio Prato to perform Rameau with Rousset

Vittorio Prato: Hot, Hotter and hottest

We don't need much of an excuse to post something about Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato, so when we saw these recently posted clips from Massenet's "Werther" on YouTube, we figured it was time to see what he was up to.

Prato was born in Lecce, Italy and graduated in piano from the Conservatorio Tito Schipa in Lecce and in harpsichord from the Conservatorio Martini in Bologna. He voice with the great baritone Ivo Vinco and even worked with Luciano Pavarotti. In 2003, he won the Mattia Battistini International Competition and his singing career took off from there.

Vittorio Prato sings "Elle m'aime" from Werther with Rocio Ignacio as Sophie:



Vittorio Prato in Act 3 of Werther with Anna Bonitatibus:



We couldn't find Prato performing anywhere for the remainder of this year, but in May 2012, Prato can be seen as Osman in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The production also includes fellow barihunk Thomas Dolié as Adario and will be conducted by Christophe Rousset. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

Thomas Dolié

Don't forget to order your 2012 Barihunks calendar. Click HERE to order. All proceeds go to support young artists and young artist programs. It's a great gift and an easy way to support our next generation of baritones. You can read more about our calendar at this previous post.

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"Cheti, cheti immantinente" with Vittorio Prato and Simone Alaimo

Vittorio Prato backstage during Don Pasquale in Lecce

We recently posted barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien with John Del Carlo singing "Cheti,  cheti immantinente" from Don Pasquale and feel confident that it will go down in the annals of opera videos as one of the greatest moments ever filmed. So when we saw this video of barihunk Vittorio Prato with the great Simone Alaimo in Lecce performing the same duet, we thought it would be fun to post them together to show the stylistic differences. They are certainly both wonderful in their own special way.





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Giorgio Caoduro Triumphs in Opera Australia Debut; Barihunks Abound in Barber

Giorgio Caoduro at Opera Australia

Italian barihunk Giorgio Caoduro, who we last saw on this site shaking his booty, has just made a triumphant Australian debut in the Barber of Seville at Opera Australia. Caoduro performs again on Monday night and then turns of the role of the Barber to fellow barihunk Jose Carbo. You can find complete cast and performance information on the Opera Australia website.

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote the following:

In the title role, Giorgio Caoduro as Figaro established himself as a suave operator, a dapper factotum whose vocal skills match the enterprise of his character in the ability to adapt to any situation with flexibility and charm.

 Caoduro will continue singing his famous "Largo al factotum" in Talouse at the Théâtre du Capitole, alternating the role with yet another barihunk, Vittorio Prato. Performances run from March 18-27.

Jud Arthur

In Talouse and in Sydney, Caoduro will have a barihunk performing the role of Don Basilio. Performing in both casts at Opera Australia is former professional rugby player turned opera singer Jud Arthur. We've been told by our sources that the hunky bass has a promising future in opera. In Toulouse the role will be performed by the stunningly handsome Giovanni Furlanetto.

Vittorio Prato & Giovanni Furlanetto

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Vittorio Prato Profiled

Italian Barihunk Vittorio Prato

Vittorio Prato was recently featured in this Italian language profile on the online web magazine Leccedafare. He discusses how he lives for the moment and doesn't plan too far ahead, his love for Mozart, and how the great bass-baritone roles truly arrived with Donizetti and Verdi.

Regular readers of this site know that we're huge fans of this gifted young singer. He opens as Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale on Friday in the town of Lecce.

Here he is singing Monteverdi:



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Giovanni Furlanetto Sings Rossini

[Photo from www.giovannifurlanetto.com]

Here is a magnificent rendition of the trio "Ti parli d'amore" from Rossini's "Otello" with barihunk Giovanni Fulanetto as Elmiro, tenor John Osborne as Otello and Olga Peretyatko as Desdemona. The performance was at the Opéra de Lausanne in February 2010.

[Furlanetto as Selim; Photo courtesy of Leipzig Opera]

Opera lovers who enjoy great acting should not miss any opportunity to see Giovanni Furlanetto, who has quickly established himself as a great actor, as well as a commanding vocal presence. Upcoming performances include Selim in "Il turco in Italia" in Leipzig, Don Basilio in "Il barbiere di Siviglia" in Toulouse, and Raimondo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" in Trieste. As an added enticement, the cast of Barber in Toulouse also features fellow barihunks Giorgio Caoduro as Figaro and Vittorio Prato as Fiorello.



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Vittorio Prato with InCanto

The stunningly handsome barihunk Vittorio Prato has joined forces with tenor Cosimo Panozzo and Italian pop singer Benny Lamonica to form InCanto. Here they are performing Miserere at the "Festival Italia in Musica."

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New Photos of Vittorio Prato

The stunningly handsome Vittorio Prato is currently performing in Ennio Porrino's opera "I Shardana (Gli uomini dei Nuraghi)" at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. There are two performances remaining on Febraury 19 and 21.

UPDATE: We received a message that Prato is Dijon performing Belcore in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" rather than performing in "I Shardana" in Cagliari, despite what their website says.

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Vittorio Prato Sings Handel

The stunningly beautiful Vittorio Prato can also sing beautifully. Here he is performing Massimo's aria from Handel's "Ezio" with the Festival Radio France.

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