David Adam Moore returns to Atlanta Opera as Eugene Onegin

David Adam Moore in A Streetcar Named Desire (Photo: David Beloff)

American barihunk David Adam Moore returns to the Atlanta Opera on March 2nd in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He previously sang Schubert's Winterreise with the company in a  production designed by GLMMR with costumes by Moore's partner Vita Tzykun.

He last sang the role of Onegin with the Arizona Opera in 2015. The Atlanta cast includes tenor William Burden as Lensky, Raquel González as Tatyana and Megan Marino as Olga. There are additional performances on March 5, 8 and 10 and tickets are available online.

David Adam Moore highlights from Winterreise:

Tchaikovsky based his opera on Alexander Pushkin's s novel, which was written in verse and is considered a classic of Russian literature. The idea of setting the story to music was suggested to the composer by the great Russian mezzo-soprano Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya. Tchaikovsky arranged much of the verse himself into the libretto with help from his friend Konstantin Shilovsky.

Moore will also be making his Teatro Colòn debut in May 2019 singing one of greatest roles,  Stanley Kowalski in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. 

Gregory Gerbrandt to reprise his sexy Stanley Kowalski

Gregory Gerbrandt as Stanley with Opera Santa Barbara

Barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt will reprise his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's operatic version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. The American baritone sang the role two years ago and Opera Santa Barbara and now takes it north to Opera Idaho.

The company is presenting a cast that would be the envy of most major opera houses, with 2014 Metropolitan Opera Audition winner Julie Adams as Blanche, Met Audition finalist Casey Candebat as Mitch, Micaëla Oeste as Stella and Alasdair Neale conducting. Tickets are available online for both the April 6th and 8th performances.

A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998 with Rod Gilfry as Stanley and its become one of the most popular contemporary American operas in the repertory. It has gone on to see performances in New Orleans, Kentucky, San Diego, Washington D.C., San Francisco (Merola Opera), Cleveland, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Honolulu and Virginia Opera. It had it European premiere in Strasbourg in 2001 and its U.K. premiere in 2003, with subsequent performances throughout Europe and in Tokyo.

Sexy Stanley's: Rod Gilfry, Ryan McKinny, Dan Kempson and David Adam Moore

Gerbrandt is part of a veritable Who's Who of barihunks who have taken on the role of Stanley Kowalski made famous by Marlon Brando in the movie. They include Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Dan Kempson, Wes Mason, Ryan McKinny, David Adam Moore and Philip Cutlip.

Gerbrandt is waiting long to sing the role again, as he'll perform the opera with the Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont from June 1-9.  He'll be joined by soprano Cree Carrico as Stella, who is rapidly being recognized as one of the most compelling actresses in opera. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Ryan McKinny reprises sexy Stanley Kowalski at HOT

Ryan McKinny (photo Ronen Zilberman)

The Hawai‘i Opera Theatre (HOT) opened Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire tonight, which will also be performed on January 29, and 31st at the NBC Concert Hall in downtown Honolulu. The cast is led be barihunk Ryan McKinny in the role of Stanley Kowalski, which was made famous by Marlon Brando in the 1951 movie version. McKinny performed the role with the Los Angeles Opera to great acclaim in 2014.

He'll be joined by soprano Jill Gardner  as Blanche DuBois and Victoria Livengood as Eunice Hubbell. Tickets are available online.

Ryan McKinny (photo Ronen Zilberman)

The production will be directed by Brad Dalton who mounted the London premiere of the opera with the composer.  He also directed the piece at Carnegie Hall, Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The production comes from New Orleans where the story takes place. Mark Morash will conduct.

Next up for McKinny is another American opera classic, John Adams' Nixon in China with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on March 3 and 5. He then returns to his specialty as a Wagnerian, singing Gunther in Götterdammerung at the Houston Grand Opera and Amfortas in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival.

Watch Dan Kempson discuss singing "iconic" Stanley Kowalski role in Streetcar

Dan Kempson in A Streetcar Named Desire with Townsend Opera

Today's matinee marks the third an final day of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which was done in collaboration between the Fresno Grand Opera and Townsend Opera in Modesto. The opera played to enthusiastic crowds in Modesto and gushing reviews.

The cast includes Dan Kempson as Stanley Kowalski, Carrie Hennessey as Blanche DuBois,  Kiera Duffy as Stella, James Callon as “Mitch,”  Sharmay Musacchio as Eunice Hubbel and Robert Norman as Steve Hubbel. In a stroke of genius casting, the two companies were the first to cast Kempson as Stanley Kowalski, affording people in Northern California to get the first glimpse of him in the role. 

Dan Kempson in A Streetcar Named Desire with Townsend Opera

The Townsend Opera has just posted a two-part video where Dan Kempson discusses his career, as well as preparing for the role of Stanley Kowalski, first played by Marlon Brando in the 1951 movie of the same name. You can watch Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Tickets for the February15th matinee performance are available online. 

Kempson can next be seen from March 13-29 in the world premiere of Somtow Sucharitkul's The Snow Dragon with the Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee. The opera centers on the relationship between Dora Marx, a jaded children’s counselor who has lost her sense of direction, and Billy Binder, a physically abused foster boy whose rage is so powerful it has opened a doorway into another world called the Fallen Country. Kempson plays the evil Ringmaster, who Billy must defeat to overcome his problems.

Smoldering Dan Kempson in Townsend Opera's Streetcar

Dan Kempson and Carrie Hennessey in Townsend Opera's A Streetcar Named Desire

Whenever we run a shirtless picture of Dan Kempson, the traffic to our site doubles or triples. So we were thrilled to get this picture of the 2015 Grammy Award nominee from rehearsals for this weekend's run of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which opens for two performances at the Townsend Opera tonight in Modesto and then heads to the Fresno Grand Opera for a single performance on February 15th.

Although the role of Stanley Kowalski was originally sung by fellow barihunk Rod Gilfry, the role seems like it was written for Kempson. Blessed with one of the most beautiful baritone voices in opera, he also has the same smoldering sexual charisma that Marlon Brando brought to the movie role.  In a stroke of genius casting, Townsend Opera in conjunction with the Fresno Grand Opera were the first to cast him in this role, affording people in Northern California to get the first glimpse of Kempson in a role that will certainly become a signature part for him in his rising career.

Scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire at Townsend Opera

Although Modesto and Fresno are 90 minutes and 3 1/2 hours away from the Bay Area, they are rapidly becoming a key part of the Northern California music scene.  Founded in 1983, Townsend Opera has taken off under Artistic Director Matthew Buckman who launched the Opera Remix Initiative, which is bringing the art form into the 21st century by experimenting with how it can blend the musical styles of today’s world.

Rod Gilfry (left) and Marlon Brando (right)

Fresno Grand Opera, which was founded in 1999, has attracted some of the biggest names in opera, including Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Renée Fleming.  In another example of the changing economics of the opera world, the two companies have joined forces in sharing season and production costs, despite remaining separate entities with their own board of directors.

The remainder of the cast includes Carrie Hennessey as Blanche DuBois,  Kiera Duffy as Stella, James Callon as “Mitch,”  Sharmay Musacchio as Eunice Hubbel and Robert Norman as Steve Hubbel. Tickets for the January 23 and 25 performances at Townsend Opera are available online, as are tickets for the February 15th performance in Fresno.

Dan Kempson & Sidney Outlaw nominated for Grammy Award

Dan Kempson and Naxos' L'Orestie d'Eschyle

Darius Milhaud's trilogy L'Orestie d'Eschyle on the Naxos label has been nominated for Best Opera Recording by the GRAMMY Awards. The recording features two singing who have appeared regularly on this site, Dan Kempson in the critical role of Orestes and Sidney Outlaw sang Apollo. The recording features the University of Michigan Choirs and Symphony Orchestra and required 350 musicians.

Part of the great French musical tradition and a member of Les Six, Darius Milhaud was an important avant-garde figure in early 20th-century Paris. The Oresteia of Aeschylus trilogy arose from his lifelong interest in Greek mythology and drama, inspired by the expressive, syncopated rhythms of Paul Claudel’s poetic texts. The trilogy consists of Agamemnon, Op. 14, Les choephores, Op. 24 and Les eumenides, Op. 41.

Sidney Outlaw

In addition to innovative rhythmic elements, the trilogy exhibits complex harmonic techniques, particularly polytonality, which Milhaud believed gave him more varied ways of expressing sweetness in addition to violence.

The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast will be held on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015.

Dan Kempson will be singing the role of Stanley in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire for Townsend Opera on February 15 and with Fresno Grand Opera on February 15.  Sidney Outlaw will perform Handel's Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York City at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, December 20th.

Make sure to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar and enjoy 19 of operas hottest me throughout the year.

Happy Birthday, Gregory Gerbrandt!

Gregory Gerbrandt

August 19th is barihunk Gregory Gerbrandt's birthday, so it seems like a good time to check on his upscoming schedule, which runs from Broadway musical to opera. 

From October 2-26, he'll be performing in Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones' Broadway musical The Fantasticks at the Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee. He'll be performing the role of El Gallo who sings the hit tune, "Try to Remember." The role El Gallo was originally played by Jerry Orbach (of TV's Law & Order), who asks the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. A boy and the girl fall in love, grow apart, and finally find their way back to each other after realizing the truth in El Gallo's words that "without a hurt, the heart is hollow."

Jerry Orback sings Try to Remember from The Fantasticks:

Gerbrandt will then return to his native state of Colorado when he appears at the Arvada Center. He'll be playing the lead role of Stephen Kodaly in Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's Broadway musical She Loves Me. The musical was written by the same team that created Fiddler on the Roof. Performances run from November 25 - December 21 and tickets are available online.

Next year, Gerbrandt returns to opera as Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire joined by one of the most exciting tenor voices in opera, Casey Candebot, who is singing Mitch.  Performances are on April 24 and 26 and tickets are available online. We have a feeling that he's going to be one of the sexiest Stanley's to hit the stage in the history of the opera.

Before he dons his white tank top in Streetcar, he can be seen in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Opera Idaho on February 13 and 15, followed by Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on March 20 and 22 at Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Virginia.

"Hey, S--T--E--L--L--A ! ! !...A Streetcar runs through Kentucky"

Wes Mason (photo: Michael Cinquino)

Kentucky is playing a major role in the two upcoming performances of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. We realized the popularity of the piece when we posted pictures of the LA Opera's production featuring Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and Renee Fleming as Blanche DuBois. Of course, the shirtless pictures of Ryan McKinny probably helped drive the spike in views that we saw to the site.

Wes Mason (Photos: DonSoo Choi and Doug Wonder)

The first Blue Grass State connection is obvious, as the Kentucky Opera has announced two performances of the popular American opera on February 13 and 15 of next year. Stanley will be played by one of the most compelling young artists to hit the scene in recent years, Wes Mason. Mason, who is familiar to readers of this site (yes, that's him in the sidebar modeling for our official photographer), can command a stage like few others in the business. People are still talking about his tour de force performance as Reinaldo Arenas in the 2010 world premiere of Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls with the Fort Worth Opera.

This will be his debut in the role and we suspect that he'll give past Stanley's a run for their money in the beefcake department. In addition to before night falls, we've seen the pulchritudinous singer show some skin in Handels' Giulio Cesare at the Roanoke Opera and Bizet's La Tragédie de Carmen at the Syracuse Opera.

We'll have more news about the Kentucky Opera's upcoming season, which also includes Beethoven's Fidelio, Daron Hagen's Postcard from Morocco and Puccini's La fanciulla del West. Visit their website for additional information.

Thomas Gunther in Dead Man Walking

The other connection to Kentucky is Thomas Gunther, who studied at the University of Kentucky and lives in Lexington. He's no stranger to barihunk roles, having performed Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Le mari in Poulenc's Le Mamelles de Tirésias and Joseph DeRocher in Heggie's Dead Man Walking.

Gunther is part of the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, where the original work was premiered on September 19, 1998 with Renée Fleming and barihunk Rod Gilfry as Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. Remarkably, this is the first revival of the opera in San Francisco since its premiere.

The Merola production will use a version for reduced orchestra prepared by Peter Grunberg and conducted by Mark Morash. The staging will be by director José Maria Condemi. The opera will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, and 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 12.

More Sexy Photos from LA Opera's "A Streetcar Named Desire"

LA Opera Production of Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Stacey Tappan as Stella. Photo by Robert Milliard

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny and Stacey Tappen

Renée Fleming and Ryan McKinny

As a follow-up to our previous post about the Los Angeles Opera's beautifully sung and sexy performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, here are some stunning photos from the production.

The opera featured bass-barithunk Ryan McKinny as the hotheaded Stanley Kowalski, soprano Renée Fleming as Blanche, Stacey Tappan as Stella, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch.

Sometimes words aren't needed, so enjoy the pictures.

Ryan McKinny's ripped Stanley Kowalski at L.A. Opera

Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)

The Los Angeles Opera has been marketing their upcoming performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire around mega-star Renée Fleming as Blanche DuBois. Fleming, who is a major exponent of American opera, and for whom the role was written when the opera premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998, certainly deserves to be the star attraction.

We, of course, were curious to see if the long tradition of casting a gym-toned barihunk as Stanley Kowalski was being upheld. The original Stanley was the Rod Gilfry in his vocal and physical prime. The role has subsequently been sung by a veritable Who's Who of barihunks, including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, David Adam Moore and Philip Cutlip. The L.A. Opera didn't disappoint, as they cast Ryan McKinny in the role, who like a bottle of 1982 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion just gets better and better with age.

Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and Stacey Tappen as Stella (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)

McKinny became a household name in the world of opera after performing the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. Not only was McKinny's Dutchman vocally stunning, but it was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic history. The photos on our site went viral and almost doubled the traffic to our site.

In addition to Fleming and McKinny, the all-star cast also includes  Stacey Tappan as Stella and Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch. Performances are on Sunday, May 18th at 5 PM and May 21 and 24 at 7:30 PM. Tickets for all three performances are available online.

You can read an interview with Ryan McKinny on the LA Opera blog.