Georg Kroneis (photo: Hausmeingott) and Peter Trautwein
Back in August 2017, we posted about the Classic Meets Fetish concert in Berlin, who annually assemble a small group of professional international musicians. The ensemble performs in black leather and other fetish outfits and raises money for local non-profits. Classic Meets Fetish will be performing in Antwerp, Belgium on February 23rd, as part of Leather & Fetish Pride Belgium.
Bernard Du Mortier
Part of the proceeds from the Antwerp concert will be donated to Antwerp’s Vreak Theatre to help them stage their new production about PrEP. The remainder will go to support the travel funds for their community ambassadors, including Mr Leather Belgium 2018, Mr Puppy Europe 2018, Mr Superhero Fetish 2018, and Mr Rubber Europe 2018.
The concert includes baritone Bernard Du Mortier singing selections from Handel, Haydn and Bizet, as well as Peter Trautwein singing Bizet, Franck and Verdi. Also on the program, is one of our favorite hunks, cellist Georg Kroneis, performing his own music, as well as music from Abel and Hume.
Tickets and additional information is available online.
Peter Trautwein and performers fro Classic Meets Fetish
Barihunk Peter Trautwein will perform at the 2017 Classic Meets Fetish concert on September 7th in Berlin, Germany. The concert is a charitable fundraiser for Berlin-based organizations who help those with HIV/AIDS. Last year, the concert raised money EU2000 each for the Berliner
Aidshilfe, which works with HIV prevention and testing, and the Hospiz
Tauwerk, who provide assistance to those dying of AIDS.
Cellist George Kroneis, who will perform again this year
The concert assembles a small group of professional international musicians, including singers and instrumentalists who will perform everything from Bach and Vivaldi to music from Star Wars. Trautwein will perform the Torreador's aria from Bizet's Carmen.
Other performers this year include organist Martin Carl, cellist Paul Leather, pianist Jack Parton, flutist Ash Hodge, pianist Greg Winn, cellist George Kroneis and recorder player Denis Chevalier.
Bass-barihunk Leszek Solarski will sing Rossini's La calunnia from Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the 2nd Annual Classic Meets Fetish concert on September 8th at Berlin Folsom Europe 2016. The concert assembles a small group of professional international musicians, including singers and instrumentalists. One of the performers this year is gay porn star Dirk Caber, who is also a classically trained tuba player and composer. VIP tickets are already sold out, but other levels are still available online.
Solarski studied voice at the Musikakademie in Krakow, Poland and the Hochschule für Musik. His first solo was a bass part in Krzysztof Penderecki's "Seven Gates of Jerusalem," which was released on CD by Dux-Verlag.
He has dedicated much of his career to contemporary opera, having performed in Peter Eötvös' Angels in America in Frankfurt, the premiere of Paul Leonard Schäffer's Eine Kapitulation at Bayreuth and the role of Jesus in Wolfgang Rihm's Jakob Lenz at the National Opera in Warsaw. In 2012-13 he was a member of the ensemble in Bad Hersfeld, Germany.
On April 23, Zachary Gordin reprised his successful performance of convicted killer Joseph De Rocher at the Shreveport Opera, which he performed the previous year at the Dayton Opera. We caught him to ask him about performing the role and got him to agree to share some amazingly hot pictures of him getting tattoed for the performance. He's not only got a killer body and amazing voice, but he proves himself to be smart, insightful and thoughful, as well.
Upcoming performances for Zachary Gordin include Orff's Carmina Burana on May 28th with Chora Nova in Berkeley and a recital of Schumann's Dichterliebe at St. Joseph's Basillica in Alameda, California.
Other upcoming performances of Dead Man Walking include David Adam Moore at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Daniel Okulitch at the Vancouver Opera.
1. What does it mean for this to be performed in the state where the alleged crime actually happened?
ZG:
Louisiana, and specifically Caddo Parish (where Shreveport is) has been
notorious for the death penalty, and executions. While there hasn’t
been an execution carried out in Louisiana since 2010 (and before that,
2002), there is definitely a strong history for capital punishment
there. What’s exciting as an opera singer, is that it’s almost
impossible for us to be part of telling a story with local, living
roots. There were people on both sides of this production being mounted
in Shreveport: lots of excitement to support it, as well as the flip
side… I heard a few remarks from local residents that there were people
boycotting the production because they took personal issue with Sister
Helen, and her political stance. It hadn’t crossed my mind, being from
the San Francisco Bay Area, that there would be some strong opposition.
You never encounter these personal, sometimes heated, stories when
you’re doing operas composed by Verdi, or Mozart, wether or not the
story/characters have a historical basis. That really increases the
weight and stakes of the production, and ultimately adds to the work’s
depth and power.
Zachary Gordin in Dead Man Walking (Photos by Clint McCommon)
2. What does this role mean to you and how has it changed for you with subsequent performances?
ZG:
It started out as a daunting journey, January of 2015, when I got the
eleventh-hour call from Dayton Opera to learn and perform it. Before
that I never considered it, partly because of the darkness of the
character, and partly because it’s incredibly intense for the voice.
There’s a lot of shouting/screaming, having to do push-ups and go right
into an aria, and so on… I read the story, looked over the score, and I
was hooked! I knew it would be a good fit, and wanted the challenge of a
character who had done some truly monstrous things. I had a month
before staging rehearsals began in Dayton to learn the opera, and had
the great opportunity to work with Jake Heggie to prepare it. A lot of
energy in the first production I did was spent on getting
it “right” - making sure I was faithful to the score (the music isn’t
easy! Huge thanks to Maestro Jerome Shannon for getting me through it),
and being as honest as I could about telling Joe’s story (with the help
of Gary Briggle, our stage Director). Even that whirlwind first time
left me with the sense that I was participating in something that was so
much bigger than me. That was deeply meaningful, and made the weight of
taking on that character a little lighter.
The
second time around, with the Shreveport Opera production, I knew the
music inside-out and didn’t have to think pitches/counting as much. The
amount of freedom THAT gives a singer is incredible. I knew “my Joe”
already, and was prepared for what that head space would feel like.
Everyone else in that cast was in the opera for the first time, so it
felt great to be able to encourage and support my cast mates having been
through it all and come out the other side changed for the better. It’s
always a deeply emotional, and spiritually penetrating experience to
work on this opera - no matter what role you’re in. Showing up for each
other, and being present in the stories of these characters really bonds
a cast. I’ve made some very dear friends through this process.
Gillian Lynn Cotter and Zachary Gordin in Dead Man Walking (Photos by Clint McCommon)
3. What is the core message of this opera for you.
ZG:
Love! There are so many aspects of love, and what love can make
manifest in people: the young love of the two victims, the love of their
parents who are experiencing such a tragic loss, the love of Joe’s
mother for a son who did some horrific things and will die, the love Joe
was seeking and not getting which drove him to the drugs/alcohol that
influenced him in his heinous act, the love of Sister Helen for Joe and
his soul, and God’s love for us all… There are big themes of
forgiveness, redemption, and the value of human life.
Zachary Gordin in Dead Man Walking (Photos by Clint McCommon)
4. Did you have a chance to meet the real Sister Prejean? How do you play off of that character when performing?
ZG:
Yes, several times. She’s one of those special people who raises the
temperature of whatever room she walks into. To talk with her, and hear
her stories first-hand is such a gift. A real, living, and down-to-earth
example of someone who is living their purpose. Knowing how her first
few meetings went with Patrick Sonnier gives a lot of info to use in the
body language, inflection, and feel of the scenes we do in the opera.
Again, in opera we almost NEVER get to talk to the source material. It
takes the mystery away, but it also raises the stakes of your
responsibility as an artist. I always want to be faithful to the story.
Zachary Gordin in Dead Man Walking (Photos by Clint McCommon)
5. What aspects of your own personality come out in your portrayal of Joseph de Rocher?
ZG:
The similarities in the story of Joe’s childhood and my own are a good
starting point. It was a rough start for both of us, and I can see how
with a series of different choices my path could look very similar to
his. There’s a lot of sympathy for him in that realization. Joe had to
cultivate a tough exterior in life, and in prison. For me, it was
growing up in the ghetto of Oakland that toughened me up. Joe loved
music, tried to stay groomed and presentable, what people thought of him
must have mattered… I can relate. The white supremacist element of this
character is probably the one thing I struggled with and gave up on.
I couldn’t really let that in - so I left it in the hands of my makeup
team to add that element. Keep in mind, Joseph De Rocher is based on a
combination of people, so there’s wiggle room for interpretation. Every
Joe I play will be slightly different based on the production. While
I’ve never raped or murdered anyone offstage, we’ve all done things we
wish we hadn’t… As an actor, or storyteller, we have to dig into the
pain and discomfort of the situations we’re presented with, and be
totally transparent about it. It’s a difficult edge to ride the wave of
emotion while having to function vocally/physically. Taking it over the
edge in rehearsals helps identify how far I can go as an actor without
making the singing suffer.
Zachary Gordin getting tattoed for Dead Man Walking
6. Do you like sporting tattoos? Do you find them sexy on others?
ZG:
I don’t have any of my own, but these experiences with Joe have made me
curious… It was fun being covered in “ink” (apart from their meaning)
and getting reactions to it, but then being able to remove it with a
team of two people and a pile of alcohol swabs (that was cold!). I think
tattoos are hot on the right people… I wouldn’t say it’s a fetish, but
they definitely catch my eye and draw me in. If I do go ahead and get
some, I’ll be sure to have BARIHUNKS post the pics! ;-)
We want to thank all of our readers for a successful year and to all of you who bought our 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Our goal on this site is to support young artists and to support the art form of opera. We sell tee shirts, CDs and calendars on this site and give every penny of profit to support baritones, who we feel have wrongfully lived in the shadow of tenors and sopranos for too long. We love that this site has brought baritones to the forefront of numerous discussions about opera. Our favorite comment of the year came from a composer who told us, "Thanks to your site, I'm now writing leading roles for baritones."
It's time to celebrate our our "Top 25 of 2012."
1. HOTTEST PHOTO: DOUGLAS WILLIAMS - DELETED AT ARTIST REQUEST
2. MOST POPULAR: DUNCAN ROCK
When we asked readers to email us with suggestions for our "Top 25" feature our inbox was filled with messages titled "Duncan Rock." The star of "Don Giovanni: The Opera" at London's Heaven nightclub, proved that he's not just a hot body by winning the £10,000 Chilcott Award given to a “major young artist with the potential to make an international impact.” He gets an outrageous number of hits on our site and we look forward to following his career in years to come.
3. HOTTEST NEWCOMER(S): VASIL GARVANLIEV, GORDON BINTNER & AUBREY ALLICOCK
Vasil Garvanliev
There are few singers who photograph better than Canadian Vasil Garvanliev, who
we discovered while he was singing at Opera Atelier. Of course, Opera
Atelier has become famous for their sexy, provocative marketing
campaigns that often features models in various states of undress. We've always maintained that with Garvanliev on the roster, they don't need to hire models. He made the role of Caspar in Weber's Der Freischütz sexy, which is an accomplishment in itself.
Aubrey Allicock
There are few premieres in 2013 that we're anticipating more than the world premiere of Champion
at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Aubrey Allicock
will star as bisexual boxer Emile Griffith in an opera written by jazz great Tereence Blanchard
with a libretto by playwright Michael Cristofer and co-starring mezzo
Denyce Graves. Allicock became an instant fan favorite at the Opera Theatre where he played Mamoud in The Death of Klinghoffer in 2011 and the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland
in 2012. We're pretty sure that Allicock is going to look pretty hot in any shirtless scenes playing Griffith.
Gordon Bintner
Canada seems to churn out hot, young talent at an almost incomprehensible rate. Gordon Bintner just finished his first year at the esteemed Merola Opera Program in San Francisco and charmed audiences with his Golden Voice and Golden Boy looks. He recently won $5,000 as the winner of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble
Studio Competition and another $1,500 for taking home the coveted People’s Choice Award. Bintner performed Non più andrai from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Sibilar gli angui d’Aletto from Handel's Rinaldo.
4. BEST OPERA(S): DER FREISCHÜTZ AT OPERA ATELIER AND L'ELISIR D'AMORE IN GRAZ
Graz's Elixir was co-produced with Valencia and Madrid and the sets look
like a beach party on a Mediterranean beach resort, with giant cans of
beer, bars, beach balls, lifeguards, cheerleaders, shirtless boys,
women in bikinis and a foam party. Best of all, it featured the Tyrolean barihunk Andrè Schuen who frolicked around shirtless much of the time. The innovative Graz production featured sets by Paolo Fantin and costumes by Silvia Aymonino, with energetic directing from Damiano Michieletto.
Vasil Garvanliev backstage
As with any Opera Atelier production, they managed to create a
sensuous production that brought Weber's often stodgily
performed piece to life. Robert Harris of the Toronto Globe & Mail wrote, "The point of the
Wolf’s Glen scene is to shock and amaze, and the sight of a dozen
seemingly naked bodies, rushing across the stage, waving banners,
writhing in torment, haunting Max (and us) certainly did the trick. But
did so in a way that never overwhelmed the production, instead
heightening its spooky, frightening ambiance."
5. BARIHUNK FEAST: ERWIN SCHROTT, DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY & ILDAR ABDRAZAKOV AT TENOR CHARLES CASTRONOVO'S CD RELEASE PARTY
Schrott, Hvorostovsky, Castronovo and Abdrazakov (Photo Credit: Charles Martin)
This year's barihunk feast occurred offstage when Erwin Schrott, Dmitry Hvorostovsky and a newly toned and buff Ildar Abdrazakov showed up to tenor Charles Castronovo's CD release party at 54 Below. Castronovo's CD "Dolci Napoli" is availableonline.
6. BEST READER SUBMISSION: BELTRAN IRABURU
Beltran Iraburu
We keep saying that our best posts come from readers and 2012 was a record year for submissions, but few could top the smoking hot 37-year-old
Spanish baritone Beltrán Iraburu. He earned his Master's degree in Musicology from the University of
Valladolid in Spain before studyng in Milan. He's performed throughout Spain with a number of opera companies, as
well as singing the complete set of Monteverdi's madrigals with La
Capilla Real de Madrid. He is currently living and working in Paris.
7. HOTTEST TEE SHIRT MODEL(S): ZACHARY GORDIN & DAN KEMPSON
Zachary Gordin
Few singers caused quite the sensation that Californian Zachary Gordin created sporting his BARIHUNK tee shirt. In fact, the photo landed him an offer to sing in Australia next year. The gym buff was probably the hottest Monterone in Rigoletto and Silvio in Pagliacci ever when he took on those roles at the Sacramento Opera this year. He'll be singing at San Francisco's Old First Church Concert Series in "Season of Love" on January 19th along with soprano Cathleen Candia.
Dan Kempson's chose to model his BARIHUNK tee shirt with his chest showing and he ended up making men and women swoon across the globe. Other than Duncan Rock, Kempson received the most gushing praise from readers for our "Top 25" feature. Kempson, another former Merola graduate, has the brains to match his voice and is destined for a long, successful career in this business. [Pictured at top of this post].
8. BEST FEATURE ON BARIHUNKS: MÄNNER MAGAZINE
"SHOW ME YOUR SIXPACK"
We continue to receive a generous amount of press, but nothing outdid the photo-filled spread in Germany's largest gay periodical, MÄNNER magazine. We weren't nuts about being called a fetish site, but who could argue with the intelligent article about sex and opera, as well as all those delicious photos? By the way, every photo is also featured in our calendar.
9. BEST "BARI-CHUNK TO BARI-HUNK" TRANSFORMATION: CHRIS CARR
Chris Carr: before and after Sparticus
Any singer who has ever encountered barichunk to barihunk Michael Mayes has probably been dragged into a gym against their will and came out a few weeks later ripped to the nines. Chris Carr shared his before and after photos and became an inspiration to other singers. We received this email from a soprano,"Just saw the Chris Carr photos. I'm skipping the bagel shop, hitting the gym and committing to losing 35 pounds." Chris also performed in a master class this year with our favorite diva Joyce DiDonato.
10. BEST BARIHUNK DRAG QUEENS: SETH CARICO & MICHAEL MAYES
Michael Mayes (L) and Seth Carico (R)
Michael Mayes doesn't just look good in muscle shirt and gym shorts, he wears a dress well, too. We couldn't stop laughing when we saw barihunks Michael
Mayes and Seth Mease Carico show up to a promotional event for Mark
Adamo's "Lysistrata" at the Fort Worth Opera Festival looking like a cross between a Ukranian
mezzo-soprano and a Wal-Mart shopper from Nacogdoches, Texas. Mayes and Carico are two of the greatest guys in the business and stunts like this is why they are beloved by their colleagues.
11. BEST SOLO CD: SIMON KEENLYSIDE'S "SONGS OF WAR"
Simon Keenlyside in The Tempest and his new CD "Songs of War"
We can't say it better than review Stephen Pritchard from The Observer, "Despite the title, most of the songs in this admirable collection are
anything but warlike. There is no place for patriotic bombast here;
instead, these polished miniatures yearn for a vanished pastoral England
and express nobly romantic notions of love, fidelity and the human
spirit. Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Gurney, Ireland, Warlock and
Somervell are all represented, but Simon Keenlyside and Malcolm
Martineau do not limit themselves to England's whimsical finest, finding
room for astringent examples from Ned Rorem and Kurt Weill as well.
It's a beautifully judged recording, exquisitely sung; poignant but
never sentimental."
12. BEST COMPLETE OPERA: DON GIOVANNI
Let's face it, without Mozart's Don Giovanni, we would have a lot more spare time on our hands at Barihunks. How often do we find three gorgeous barihunks cast together in this opera as Don Giovanni, Leporello and Masetto? This recording featured the rich bass-baritone of Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, with his crystal clear diction, warm tone and perfect comic timing. Ildebrando D’Arcangelo brings a darker sound that we often hear as Don Giovanni along with rhythmic precision and an Italianate sensuality AND sexuality that is lacking in many performances. The addition of Konstantin Wolff as Masetto is luxury casting in an already delightful recording that belong in any music collection.
13. BEST MOVIE RELEASE: KASPER HOLTEN'S "JUAN"
Christopher Maltman in JUAN
If you live in the U.K., you're in luck because Kasper Holten's truncated and updated version of Don Giovanni, Juan, was FINALLY released on DVD. Unfortunately, if you live in the U.S. the DVD has Region 2 encoding and won't play on most equipment. However, we figured out how to make it play on a Mac and we can now enjoy Christopher Maltman's bum along with everyone across The Pond.
14. BEST HOMEMADE VIDEO: "THE MOST WONDERFUL MEMES"
Another Canadian who we're unabashedly crazy about is our calendar's Mr. July Jonathan Estabrooks. He's one of the most creative and interesting performers around. He travels with his video camera and hosts "A Singer's Life" on YouTube (you really should subscribe). His video of "The Most Wonderful Memes" went quasi-viral, garnering over 14,000 views in its first eight days. We tried to start an online movement to get him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which was one of his goals. It hasn't happened yet, but we're not giving up. If anyone can make opera appealing to the next generation, it's Estabrooks. ELLEN, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE BOOK HIM!
15. OUR FAVORITE HUMANITARIAN HUNK: CHRISTOPHER HERBERT
Christopher Herbert: all-around good guy
Christopher Herbert just can't seem to pass up helping out a noble cause. He played a huge role with "Sing for Hope," whichwas "founded by opera singers with a desire to lift their voices for
social change, Sing for Hope mobilizes world-class artists – from
classical musicians to photographers to Broadway performers – who donate
time and talent in volunteer service programs that benefit schools,
hospitals and communities."
On November 10th, he pitched in again singing "Quoniam" from Bach's B Minor Mass with the "Music at Trinity Wall Street" series.The Hurricane Sandy relief concert benefited the
Mayor’s Fund to
Advance New York City, which is gathering donations to provide essential
living supplies to New Yorkers in need – including food, water,
blankets, baby supplies and other emergency items. You can still donate by visiting www.nyc.gov/fund.
16. BEST BARIHUNK DOCUMENTARY: PHILIPPE SLY "IN DREAMS, EN RÊVES, IN TRÄUMEN"
We were mesmerized by this 15-minute documentary about the making of Philippe Sly's first studio
album with renowned pianist Michael McMahon. The film was lovingly produced by his brother Mathieu Sly, who appears to be as gifted a filmmaker as his brother is a singer.
Another Canadian and another singer from the Merola Opera Program, Sly becomes a member of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at the San Francisco Opera where he will make his mainstage debut as Guglielmo in 'Così fan tutte' under music director Nicola Luisotti. He also will tour Canada in recital with the Debut Atlantic Series.
17. OUR FAVORITE WAGNERIAN: GREER GRIMSLEY
Greer Grimsley as Wotan
Fans of the late, great Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson used to say, "You just HAD to hear her live to believe that voice!" Well, the same can be said of the world's reigning Wotan, Greer Grimsley. An imposing man with an imposing voice, he will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on your eyes and your ears. People on both coasts are excited about
Grimsley's 2013 schedule as he showcases his heralded portrayal of
Wotan in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. On May 4th, he'll open in the Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera before returning to Seattle on August 4th to reprise the role. Seattle Opera's award-winning production is inspired by the natural
beauty of the Pacific Northwest and has been a sold-out success in 2001,
2005 and 2009. Order you tickets online. By the way, we're going to be there!
18. BEST HUNK OVER 60 (MAKE THAT 70!): SAMUEL RAMEY
Samuel Ramey as Attila
In March 2012, Samuel Ramey turned 70 and he's still singing! One of the most beloved singers in the business, he shows no sign of letting up. Although he's traded in barihunk roles like Attila and Don Giovanni for age appropriate roles like Pope Leo I in Attila, Basilio, Sarastro and Timur, he's still a hot ticket for opera lovers. He'll be singing Timur in Puccini's Turandotat the Met in January and the title character in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle in Omaha in April. Many of our readers consider him the original barihunk for his portrayal of Mefistofeles in Boito's opera, as well as his Attila.
19. HOTTEST UNDERWEAR MODEL: TIMOTHY MCDEVITT
Timothy McDevitt: Will Calvin Klein be calling?
Timothy McDevitt recently took some gorgeous photos with professional photographer Charles Quiles whose work is definitely worth checking out. We love it when professional photographers see opera singers as underwear models, because if THAT doesn't change the image of opera being a bunch of fat ladies with horns, nothing will. The increasingly buff singer has had a busy year since graduating.
He just wrapped up performing in Jonathan Dawe’s COSÌ FARAN TUTTI (They’ll All Do It!) a prequel to Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Highlights for McDevitt from earlier this year include Philip Glass' Les Enfants Terribles with the North Carolina Opera, Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts
with the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and
appearances at the Swiss Ball and Lotus Club in New York. 20. OUR FAVORITE DIVAS: JOYCE DIDONATO, SUSAN GRAHAM & ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
Joyce DiDonato
We get asked all to often if we only like baritones. The short answer is "NO." However, we do feel that baritones have been historically overlooked and under-appreciated. After decades of attending the opera, it dawned on us that the best eye candy on stage was almost always the baritone. With that said, there are three female singers who we practically worship for both their amazing voices and incredible presence on stage.
Joyce DiDonato is our "Honorary Barihunk" and her quote from Twitter graces our homepage. Nothing she does is anything short of spectacular. On her latest disc "Drama Queens," she sings Semiramide who conquers Asia and parts of Africa after her husbanddies, Mary Stuart who in a Catholic fervor plots to kill the English monarch, Fredegund who strangled her rival and succeeded her as queen and Cleopatra who reigned over Egypt for 21 years. She imbues every character with her luscious mezzo and great dramatic purpose. What's not to love?
Gorgeous, statuesque and blessed with unbelievable dramatic instincts, Susan Graham can dominate a stage regardless of who is singing opposite to her. Her Dido's in both the Berlioz and Purcell operas are unmatched in our time and arguably of any other time. One could also make a claim that her Iphigéniein Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride is probably unsurpassed in the history of opera. For an American, her French lieder has more luster and shine than any French singer we can think of.
Anna Catarina Antonacci
You only have to see her once on stage and you'll never forget Anna Catarina Antonacci. Undefinable as a mezzo or a soprano, she inhabits roles the way Maria Callas and Leonie Rysanek did a generation or two before her. Remarkably, she's earned this reputation while singing a heavy dose of baroque and bel canto operas, which are often not known for featuring great singing actresses.
21. OUR FAVORITE TENORS: NOAH STEWART, ED LYON & GLENN SEVEN ALLEN
Noah Stewart
If there's one question that we admittedly get tired of it's, "Why don't you feature tenors." Somehow the whole "bari" part of barihunks gets lost on some people. We also frequently get emails from tenors who say, "Somehow I'm going to get on your site." And occasionally we sneak one onto the site.
So who are our favorites?
Let's start with Noah Stewart, one of the nicest guys in the business and a MAJOR talent to be reckoned with. His debut recording NOAH made him the first black musician to top the U.K. classical charts. Another Merola graduate, he's gone on to become a fan favorite at the Michigan Opera Theater. He's prompted a few opera glasses to be raised with shirtless portrayals of Nadir in Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles and Radames in Verdi's Aida.
English tenor Ed Lyon
Let's face it Ed Lyon almost single-handedly tempted us to start blogging about Hunkentenors. We love him for being an out gay man and unafraid to pose without his shirt on. The British singer got his first big break when baroque specialist William Christie cast him in Handel's 'Hercules' at the Barbican. We particularly love him because he shares our view about where opera needs to go. He told Time Out magazine, "Telly and cinema have made a big impact on the way we view other forms.
The idea that opera is just fat people getting up to sing is a complete
fallacy. The days of park and bark are over - we don't just waddle up
and sing from where we're standing, we also have to act convincingly."
Glenn Seven Allen
OK, we confess! Glenn Seven Allen is one of those tenors who we were dying to find an excuse to post. We snuck him in our post about the aforementioned Tim McDevitt's performance in COSÌ FARAN TUTTI. Equally at home in opera or a Broadway stage, Allen originated the role of Giuseppe in Adam
Guettel's The Light in the Piazza, a role for which he was
responsible during the initial year of the show's Tony-winning
Broadway run.
22. & 23. WORST OPERA AND WORST DIRECTOR: DON GIOVANNI/MICHAEL GRANDAGE
Michael Grandage and his dull Don Giovanni
One of our tenets at Barihunks is to keep everything positive. We feel that singers work too hard and spend too much money and time training only to get torn apart on blogs. However, we admit that every so often we want to be bitchy and pithy like our respected counterparts at Parterre Box. We've decided to hold our tongues until our year end list, but we have some doozies to get off of our chests.
Our first gripe is so bad that we're not only combining two into one, but we're repeating a criticism from last year. Our biggest disappointment in 2011 was director Michael Grandage sucking the life and sexual tension out of Billy Budd at Glyndebourne. We respect his work as a director of straight theater like his work on Frost/Nixon, but we were hoping that he would stay away from opera.
Fear struck us when we learned that he was directing Don Giovanni at the Met this year. We hoped that Billy Budd was an anomaly, but the reviews quickly confirmed our worst fears. NY Times critic Anthony Tommasini wrote, "There is nothing particularly gripping about Mr Grandage's work here." The New York Observer called it "disastrously dull, a non-event," The Financial Times panned it as "essentially unimaginative," and the Associated Press summed it up as "disappointing, dull." With bright young talents like John De Los Santos and Damiano Michieletto, we're baffled why opera companies seem so tempted by Grandage and his habit of making opera an interminable experience.
24. OUR BIGGEST GRIPE: PLACIDO, LEAVE BARITONE ROLES TO BARITONES!!!
Placido Domingo as Rigoletto
We know that we're treading on sacred ground here, but we have a message for Placido Domingo. Can you PLEASE leave the baritone roles to baritones? Mr. Domingo, you will go down in history as one of the ten greatest tenors of all time. And that's the point, you'll you down in history as a tenor. We're sure it's a bit of ego, as you're already the most recorded singer in history and we're sure that you'd like to have the largest list of roles when you retire. However, other than I Due Foscariin Los Angeles, your baritone portrayals have brought nothing revelatory to any role. Singers have a tough enough time getting work without you poaching the baritone repertory. Admittedly, we're a bit bitter because we cancelled a trip to the Washington Opera because it is heresy to us to hear a tenor sing Orest in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. We love you, but stick to what you do best.
25. OUR FAVORITE THING: YOU
Opera obviously wouldn't exist without devoted fans like you. We encourage you to keep attending the opera and to give to the arts, even if it's only a few dollars or euros. We love our readers more than you can imagine. Your clever emails and "Reader Submissions" make it a pleasure to keep this blog going. We've thought about retiring this site more than once, but inevitably a new singer or a great performance comes along that inspires us to keep posting. (Sometimes it's a really hot photo!).
A special THANK YOU to all of you who bought a Barihunks calendar. This is a fun way for us to raise money, engage singers, show off some skin and support the arts. Many of you have begged us to do a "full monty" calendar. Although we easily know of a dozen singers who would participate, the calendar is bought by everyone from grandmothers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, artistic administrators, music schools and fans of sexy men. We can't tell you how many times we've seen one hanging up in an office and even the elderly saleslady at the Santa Fe Opera gift shop mentioned it to us.
You can show your appreciation to us by buying a calendar today and we'll keep the site alive AND continue to support your favorite singers!
