Barihunk-fest at Minnesota Opera concert

Christian Zaremba, Rudy Nieto and Kelly Markgraf

The Minnesota Opera's upcoming Mixtape Concert will feature a veritable feast of barihunks (and hunkentenors) performing selections from opera, musical theater, jazz and pop. The concert is highlighting past and current members of the company's Resident Artist Program and will be held on April 8 at 2 p.m. at the Ordway Concert Hall.

The featured baritones and basses include Kelly Markgraf, Rudy Nieto, Christian Thurston, Matt Boehler, Benjamin Sieverding, Wm. Clay Thompson and Christian Zaremba. The tenor lineup is pretty impressive as well, featuring Andres Acosta, Chris Colmenero, Daniel Montenegro, James Valenti and David Walton!

The concert pays tribute to the 20th season of Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program and is “pay what you want” with a suggested donation of $20 per ticket. Tickets can be reserved online.

The unique, eclectic program includes  and features selections from Les Miserables, Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath, as well as music from Wagner, Puccini, Rossini and Richard Strauss. 

The Minnesota Opera’s Resident Artist Program offers a full season of employment for talented artists beginning their professional careers. From late August through April, Resident Artists gain valuable experience in assignments ranging from ensemble, understudy, comprimario to leading roles in main stage performances.

Barihunk duo in mariachi opera

Ricardo Rivera as Acalán

The Lyric Opera of Chicago just wrapped up a run of Jose “Pepe” Martinez’s mariachi opera El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, which included the barihunk duo of Paul La Rosa as Enrique and Ricardo Rivera as Acalán.

The opera will now travel to the revamped San Diego Opera on April 25 for a day/night doubleheader and then head to the Houston Grand Opera for performances on May 13, 16, and 17 at the Wortham Theater Center.  The duo will be joined by the internationally renowned ensemble Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, soprano Abigail Santos Villalobos and the gifted young tenor Daniel Montenegro.  

Paul La Rosa as Enrique

El Pasado is the second mariachi opera from the creative team of José "Pepe" Martínez and Leonard Foglia, who collaborated to create the international hit Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon.

The story takes place in Morelos, Mexico in 1910, where the son of a wealthy European landowner falls in love with a humble Mexican servant girl living on his family's hacienda. The story begins on the eve of the Mexican Revolution and blazes a riveting path through forbidden passion, the fight for freedom, and political destiny all the way to the modern-day United States.

Tulsa Opera showcasing barihunks for Valentine's Day (and some hunkentenors!)

Kasey Yeargain (left in tee shirt) with Stefan Barner;Backstage for Romeo & Juliet (right)

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day, but with a classic love story like Romeo & Juliet (although we hope your romance ends better). The Tulsa Opera is presenting the Gounod classic on this weekend for lovers, with performances bookending the holiday on February 13 and 15.

Barichunk to barihunk Kasey Yeargain continues to be a fan favorite with the company and he takes on the role of Paris, Juliet's other suitor and the favorite of Romeo's dad. This summer he'll be singing Jud Fry in Rodgers and Hammerstein' Oklahoma! with the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma from June 23rd - June 27th.

Also in the cast are hunkentenor, Daniel Montenegro as Romeo and Stefan Barner as Tybalt. 

Jeremy Milner

Also in the cast of Romeo & Juliet is Tulsa native Jeremy Milner, who is new to this site. The bass-barihunk recently débuted the role of Hagen in Götterdämmerung with the Grand Théâtre de Genève and performed in Shostakovich's The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera.

He'll be appearing in Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia from April 24 to May 3. He's become a regular with the company, having performed performed Colline in La bohème, Zuniga in Carmen, Minotauros in Henze’s Phaedra, Lodovico in Otello, Grenvil in La traviata, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Le fauteuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Thomas Hampson on two new recordings of interest

We don't review recordings, DVDs or performances, as our goal is simply to promote the barihunks that we love. But there are two new recordings that might be of interest to readers and they both feature Thomas Hampson.

Back in April, we posted about Luca Pisaroni singing Paolo Albiani to Thomas Hampson's portryal of the Doge Simon Boccanegra in Vienna. Also in the cast is fellow barihunk Carlo Colombara as the Genoese nobleman Fiesco. The Decca recording was made from live concert performances in Vienna. If the twists and turns of this family plot aren't complicated enough on stage for you, Pisaroni is Hampson's son-in-law in real life.

At the complete other end of the spectrum is a new crossover album called Great Voices Sing John Denver, featuring some of the biggest names in opera. The album is of interest to our readers that they've included some of the most popular barihunks in the business, including Rod Gilfry, René Pape, Thomas Hampson and Nathan Gunn.

The album also features Plácido Domingo, Daniel Montenegro, Denyce Graves, Patricia Racette, Shenyang, Danielle de Niese and Dolora Zajick, Matthew Polenzani and Placido Domingo, Jr. 89-year-old Milt Okun, who produced all of John Denver’s recordings and won 16 Grammy awards in his career,  produced the CD. We particularly enjoyed Rod Gilfry singing This Old Guitar.