Hear bass-barihunk Bradley Smoak live on WFMT

Bradley Smoak (Photo by: Ken Howard left and Bill Strong right)

You can hear bass-barihunk Bradley Smoak and tenor Alec Carlson in a duo recital on WFMT-FM/Chicago on November 2nd at 8 PM CST.  The singers will perform works by Franz Liszt, Charles Ives, and Benjamin Britten as well as a duet inspired by the Marx Brothers’ film At the Circus. The Ryan Opera Center’s music director, Craig Terry, will join them on piano.

Smoak is currently a second-year member of the Ryan Opera Center in Chicago. He made his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2014 in Strauss' Capriccio. He has two upcoming shows with the company this year. He'll portray Apprentice #1 in a new production of Berg's Wozzeck,directed by David McVicar and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, which plays from November 1-21. The opera features Tomasz Konieczny in the title role, Angela Denoke as Marie and Stefan Vinke as the Drum Major.

On December 7th, he'll create the role of General Benjamin in the world premiere of Bel Canto, a newly commissioned work by Jimmy Lopez and Nilo Cruz. It features fellow barihunk Jacques Imbrailo as Messner, Danielle de Niese as Roxane Coss, J’nai Bridges as Carmen, Jeongcheol Cha as Hosokawa, William Burden as Ruben Iglesias, Anthony Roth Costanzo as Cesar, Takaoki Onishi as Father Arguedas and Andrw Stenson as Gen.

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

Dreamy Casting: Barihunks on the air

Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Don Giovanni

Thanks to a heads up from an alert reader, we've learned that Edwin Crossley-Mercer just performed his first Don Giovanni in Dijon, France. He was joined by fellow barihunk Damien Pass as Masetto. If you missed the performance, you're in luck, as it's temporarily available on Medici.tv. Click HERE to watch the entire performance.

Medici.tv has a number of current releases featuring barihunks, including Purcell's Dido and Æneas with Lucas Meachem, Gounod's Romeo and Juliet with François Le Roux, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with Stéphane Degout and Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise featuring both Henk Neven and Rod Gilfry.

Guido Loconsolo

On April 4th, Italian barihunk Guido Loconsolo makes his Met debut as the scheming Egyptian general Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare. He'll be part of a dream cast that includes David Daniels, Natalie Dessay, Alice Coote and the amazing Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo.

You can watch the April 27th matinee as part of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series which will be transmitted live around the world.

Guido Loconsolo previously sang the role of Achilla at Glyndebourne. Earlier this season, he sang the title role in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne, Publio in a new production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Bolshoi in Moscow, and Plutone in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Freiburg and Essen, Germany.

Simon Keenlyside

Fans of Simon Keenlyside will get plenty of chances to hear the ageless barihunk online. On April 6th, Radio France will broadcast his performance of Berg's Wozzeck from the Vienna, Staatsoper under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. On April 25, BBC 3 will rebroadcast his Macbeth opposite the riveting Lady Macbeth of Liudmyla Monastyrska from the Royal Opera House. This is a performance that is not to be missed! BBC 3 has also announced that they will be broadcasting Keenlyside's Eugene Onegin from the Royal Opera House. The date and time has not been announced, but we believe that it will be June 1st.

Morgan Smith

On Sunday, April 7th at 8:00 PM/PST San Francisco's KDFC will broadcast Jake Heggie's latest masterpiece Moby-Dick. The opera stars barihunk Morgan Smith along with Jay Hunter Morris, Stephen Costello, Jonathan Lemalu, Talise Trevigne, Matthew O'Neill and Robert Orth. The performance is a rebroadcast from last season.