Watch Michael Adams in Geneva's Alcina

Michael Adams sporting his barihunk tee shirt and as Melisso in Alcina

American barihunk Michael Adams, who is now a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he'll be appearing in Verdi's Rigoletto and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

He just wrapped up singing Melisso in a new production of Handel's Alcina at the Grand Théâtre de Genève with an all-star cast that included Nicole Cabell in the title role,  Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani as Oronte,  Monica Bacelli as Ruggiero, Siobhan Stagg as Morgana and Kristina Hammarström as Bradamante. The performance was taped and is available online HERE.     

Adams joined the Deutsche Oper after completing two years as a Resident Arts at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he performed Valentin in Gounod's Faust, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Lescaut in Massenet's Manon, Tomsky in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Taddeo in Rossini's L’italiana in Algeri, and the Marquis in Verdi's La traviata.

He took 1st Prize at the 2015 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, and the Mario Lanza Competition and was a Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions semi-finalist.

Featured Barihunks dominate St. Gallen's Don Giovanni

Thomas Oliemans

A loyal reader who is catching some opera in Switzerland next week alerted us to the Don Giovanni in St. Gallen, which features four singers who have appeared on this site. Of course, there are two casts, so one won't find them all on stage at once. Performances will be running throughout the remainder of the calendar year, so there is plenty of time to make your travel plans and catch both casts.

Rotating as the title character are Danish barihunk Palle Knudsen and Dutch barihunk Thomas Oliemans, who was first brought to our attention by the very same reader. Oliemans released a recording of Schubert's Schwanengesang in 2011 with Malcolm Martineau that is not to be missed.

Matt Boehler sings Leporello's Catalog aria:

Alternating as Leporello are Swedish baritone Gabriel Suovanen, who is new to this site, and American Matt Boehler, who we featured when he made his New York City Opera debut as the Hotel Manager in Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face. Boehler is now part of the regular ensemble at St. Gallen. Upcoming performances include Daland in Wagner's Der fliegende Hollander, Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto and Der Pfarrer in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen.

Jordan Shanahan, as seen in the Barihunks charity calendar

Alternating as Masetto are American baritones Jordan Shanahan and David Maze. Shanahan, you may recall was featured in our Barihunks calendar in photos taken from Jake Heggies' Dead Man Walking. Shanahan is also part of the ensemble at St. Gallen where he will be featured as Harlekin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, Harasta in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen and Fritz in Korngold's Die tote Stadt.

Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani

For those of you who like a little tenor eye candy, as well, check out the Don Ottavio of Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani. If the owners of the Hunkentenors site ever decide to resurrect their site, Giustiniani should be their next post. The guy can sing, too.