Barihunks seeking photo submissions for 2015 VIVA, ITALIA! Barihunks Charity Calendar

Xavier Edgardo in the 2014 Barihunks Calendar

It's time to start recruiting singers for our 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar. This year we have a theme - VIVA, ITALIA! - so we're looking for singers with and Italian pedigree or photos with an Italian theme (i.e. - drinking some Chianti while studying Verdi, enjoying a pizza while shirtless, you name it!!! Use your imagination).

Anthony Reed from the 2014 Barihunks Calendar

Zachary Gordin from the 2014 Barihunks Calendar

As always, every penny of our calendar sales will go to support young artists. Last year, our two largest grants went to pay for students to participate in master classes at Center Stage Opera in the Los Angeles area with barihunk Zachary Gordin, and an innovative concert featuring bass-barihunk Aaron Sørensen and hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock at a jazz club. We also bought music for singers, paid for some voice lessons and bought a tuxedo for an impoverished singer making his U.S. concert debut.

As important it is for people to buy the calendars, we have nothing to sell if singers don't participate. Submissions should be sent to Barihunks@gmail.com.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Simon Keenlyside

Simon Keenlyside

On August 3rd, we're celebrating the 55th birthday of the seemingly ageless Simon Keenlyside, who continues to thrill audiences 27 years after his professional debut. 

Keenlyside began his singing career as a chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge. A keen ecologist, he returned to Cambridge to read Zoology, singing on a choral scholarship, and went on to study singing with John Cameron at the Royal Northern College of Music.

His career has taken him to the world’s major opera houses, singing repertory including Oreste in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, Hamlet, Ford in Verdi's Falstaff) Pelléas and Billy Budd.

A lover of German Lieder, Keenlyside also performs widely in recital, including regular appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall. His discography includes CDs of opera, operetta duets and Lieder and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Vaughan Williams. Many of his performances with The Royal Opera are available on DVD.

Simon Keenlyside sings Richard Strauss' Cäcilie:

He can next be seen on August 20th at the Edinburgh International Festival with accompanist Malcolm Martineau. The program includes Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad, a touching evocation of a vanishing pastoral England, and Vaughan Williams's Songs of Travel, which explore the innermost thoughts and longings for home of soldiers on the front line. The recital also includes works by Ireland, Somervell, Eisler, Gurney, Finzi, Schumann and Wolf. The concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 at 11am GMT/4am EST. 

Keenlyside lives on a farm in West Wales with his wife, Royal Ballet Principal Zenaida Yanowsky, and their children. His interests outside opera include planting trees, reading poetry and listening to a wide range of music including flamenco.

Reader Submission: Italian Barihunk Ernesto Petti

Ernesto Petti: Water Polo to Opera

Our latest reader submission came from a baritone colleague, who sang with him in Austria and Italy. Meet Salerno native Ernesto Petti, who recently switched fachs from tenor to baritone.

Petti who once wanted to be a professional water polo player, shared the stage with Diana Damrau and Piotr Beczala in the controversial performance of Verdi's La traviata last year at La Scala (that prompted Beczala to exclaim that he'd never sing there again). The production was broadcast, allowing Petti to draw an unusual amount of positive attention in a small role, as he was decked out in sexy, white muscle tee shirt [see photo].

Petti began his vocal studies in Naples when he was just 18 years old. In 2010, he graduated from the Academy of Torre del Lago Puccini, where he studied with acclaimed tenor Marco Berti.
He won first prize at the Francesco Albanese di Napoli competition and won the second prize at the "Ravello Città della Musica" competition.
 
He made his professional debut in 2009 as Eagro in the Johann Christian Bach edition of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Festival Valle d'Itria. He followed that up with a performance in Viardot's Cendrillon. In 2011, he returned to the Festival to sing The Officer in Ernst Krenek's tragic one-act opera Der Diktator, for which he received critical acclaim.

Ernesto Petti sings "Il balen del suo sorriso" from Il Trovatore: 

 
He appeared in Puccini's hometown of Torre del Lago as Harry in the composer's La Fanciulla del West, which celebrated the centenary of his opera about the American West. 
 
He has also sang in Bizet's Carmen at the San Carlo in Naples, Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and Modena.

Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek featured in Bleep magazine

Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek in Bleep magazine

Christiaan Smith Kotlarek, who is our Mr. December in the Barihunks charity calendar, is featured in the latest issue of Bleep magazine (he's on page 31). Bleep describes itself as, "The internationally-read online creative culture magazine about people who are creating the future of art."

He's currently appearing as Dancaïre in Carmen with the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. There is a performance tonight and on Sunday, August 3. In the Fall, he returns to New York to perform in his own solo cabaret night with Live Band featuring songs of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and others. We'll have more details as the performance nears. 

Keith Miller in sexy production of Florencia en el Amazonas

Traditional Trinidal Carnival costume (left) and Keith Miller (right)

Keith Miller, who is our Mr. November in the 2014 Barihunks calendar, will be showing off his amazing physique as Riolobo in a new production of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas at the Nashville Opera.

The opera will be directed by John Hoomes, who we asked about the production. He told us:

"As opposed to some productions of the work, our production with focus more of the magic-realistic, sensual, fever-dream aspects of the piece, with extensive dreamlike immersive HD video, and a living, writhing, singing river...As Riolobo, [Keith Miller] will sing the role of the steersman of the steamship, and he will also appear as a manifestation of a mystic Amazon River god.  His river god costume will be inspired by the male costumes from Trinidad Carnival."

Hoomes suggested that we do an online search to see what the Trinidad Carnival costumes look like and were we ever pleasantly surprised. We can't imagine a singer in all of opera who would look better in a Carnival costume.

In 1996, Florencia en al Amazonas was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by a major American opera house. It premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, and was subsequently performed at the Los Angeles Opera and the Seattle Opera. Daniel Catán died in 2011 at age 62, shortly after the premiere of his last opera, Il Postino, based on the popular Italian film. At the time of his death, he was at work on a new piece, Meet John Doe, inspired by Frank Capra’s classic film of the same title.

Andrew Garland sings Riolobo's invocation from Florencia en al Amazonas:

The two-act opera Florencia en al Amazonas is set on the steamboat El Dorado in 1910, where the famous opera singer Florencia is traveling down the Amazon to perform in Manaus. Florencia desires to encounter her lost love, a butterfly hunter who entered the jungle and never returned. The dramas aboard the steamboat weave love, conflict, loss, a violent storm, and ultimately a cholera epidemic that keeps the passengers quarantined and Florencia’s dream apparently dashed.

The Nashville Opera will present the opera on Friday, January 23, Sunday, January 25 and Tuesday, January 27, 2015. Single tickets are available online.

New video of Ola Eliasson's Don Giovanni

Sara Widén as Zerlina and Ola Eliasson as Don Giovanni

We recently posted about Ola Eliasson reprising his sexy and critically-acclaimed performance in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Kungliga Operan (Royal Opera House) in Stockhölm, Sweden. There is now footage available from that production of him singing Deh, vieni alla finestra, as well as the duet La ci darem la mano with soprano Sarah Widèn. You'll notice that he accompanies himself on the mandolin, which is no surprise, as he studied guitar, percussion, French Horn and piano, as well as voice.

Eliasson has established himself as a major interpreter of Mozart, having sung Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Papageno in Der Zauberflöte. However, he's recently become recognized for his roles in Wagner, including Alberich in Das Rheingold at Dalhalla and Amfortas in Parsifal in Stockhölm. 

Ola Eliasson sings Mozart's Deh, vieni alla finestra from Don Giovanni:

Sarah Widèn and Ola Eliasson sing La ci darem la mano:

Performances of Don Giovanni will run from October 17 through November 15. Tickets are available online.  Before his run as Don Giovanni he'll be alternating the role of the Count Almaviva with Tommi Hakala in Le nozze di Figaro at the Helsinki Opera Opera beginning on September 2nd. Tickets are available online. 

Introducing barihunk and zumba instructor Emmanuel Franco

Emmanuel Franco

Mexican-American barihunk Emmanuel Franco caught our attention as one of the three baritones competing in the finals of the 50th International Vocal Competition in 's-Hertogenbosch, Holland.

The Mexican born singer studied dance at the Gloria Campobello Dance Academy in Tijuana, Mexico before embarking on his vocal studies. He keeps in shape teaching zumba, a Latin-inspired, calorie-burning dance fitness-routine.

He received his Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is now a member of the Dutch National Opera Academy (DNOA) in Amsterdam. He was a member of the Domingo Embil Mexican Young Artist Program, twice earning the Placido Domingo Scholarship. He was winner of the Young Revelation and Best Male Voice prizes at the XXV edition of Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition in Mexico City.

On, Saturday,  August 2nd, he begins a tour of Korngold's operetta Die Stumme Serenade with the Dutch National Opera Academy and the NJO Orchestra Festival, with performances at the Luxor Theatre in Arnhem, The Netherlands and the Admirals Palast in Berlin, Germany. Performances run through August 10th and additional cast and performance information is available online.

Emmanuel Franco sings Mozart's "Hai gia vinta la causa":

The 30-year-old singer has performed throughout Mexico, the United States and Europe where
he has sang Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in his Cosi fan Tutte with the Dutch National Opera Academy, Tarquinius and Junius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with the Opera Studio Nederland, and Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with West Bay Opera and the Livermore Valley Opera in California.

Dancing since he was a child, Franco stays fit with his passion for zumba. While living in Mexico, he  got involved in ballet, contemporary dance, flamenco and ballroom dancing. While a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he founded a zumba class in a nearby gym. After  graduation, he was certified as zumba instructor before moving to The Netherlands, where he has become a popular instructor (who even sings occasionally during class).

The vocal competition in 's-Hertogenbosch takes place from September 4-14, with singers performing pieces from opera/oratorio and lieder. The other baritones participating in the finals are Manos Gia from Germany and Henning Von Schulman from Sweden. Tickets are available online.