Barihunk quartet in Madison Opera's "Carmen"

Corey Crider, Charles Eaton, Thomas Forde and Erik Larson

The Madison Opera will be performing Bizet's Carmen on November 3rd and 5th with a quartet of barihunks. The group is led be Corey Crider as Escamillo, along with Thomas Forde as Zuniga, Charles H. Eaton as Moralès and Erik Earl Larson as Dancäire.

They will be joined by Aleks Romano in the title role, hunkentenor Sean Panikkar as Don José and Cecilia Violetta López as Micaëla. Tickets are available online.

Thomas Forde from the first Barihunks Calendar

Three of the barihunks have appeared with the company before, with Corey Crider performing Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Thomas Forde in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera and Erik Earl Larson appearing in Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Charles H. Eaton is making his company debut and was recently interviewed on the company's blog. With all of these sexy men to choose from, one has to wonder why things don't end better for Carmen!

Longtime followers of this blog will recall that Thomas Forde appeared in our original Barihunks Calendar with two photos, both sporting one of our tee shirts. Forde, who lost 100 pounds on his journey from BariChunk to BariHunk, also counsels singers about fitness. Visit his website for more information.

Click HERE to listen to Thomas Forde sing "I'm a lonely man" from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah.

2018 Barihunks Calendar

Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Baritones (secret) winners at Gerda Lissner Competition

Sean Michael Plumb, Josh Quinn, Anthony Schneider and Erik Larson.

What if you held a song competition and no one knew about it? That seems to be the case with this year's Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. They held a competition last week and haven't posted the results, nor sent out a press release. We have an inquiry pending with them to find out the results and will update this post, as over $200,000 in prizes were handed out for lied, opera and a special Wagner division.

Fortunately, thanks to social media we've learned that barihunk Sean Michael Plumb won one of the top prizes, Josh Quinn took Third Prize and Anthony Schneider and Erik Larson both won Encouragement Awards.

Last year baritones won a number of prizes, including Reginald Smith Jr. who won the Gerda Lissner Foundation Top Prize and first prize honorees Michael Adams, Jared Bybee, Patrick Guetti, Sol Jin and John Viscardi.

ORDER YOUR BARIHUNKS CALENDAR TODAY AND SUPPORT THE CREATION OF A FOUNDATION SUPPORTING LOW VOICES AND RELATED PROJECTS!

 

Emerging artist Erik Larson launches website, fan page

Some artists are just a sheer joy to follow on social media and Erik Larson, a young Midwestern, All-American boy, is one of them. We first were introduced to him when he tweeted that he had "Hulked out of his pants" and posted a mildly revealing photo (which prompted someone on Facebook to report us for "inappropriate content"). We even featured him in our Barihunks Best of 2013 feature for "Best “Breakout” performance – Erik E. Larsen pants busting."

Larson has no created his own website, which has nominal content right now, but he promises to update it. He also created his own Facebook fan page and we encourage readers to go LIKE it. 

Erik Larson makes role debut at Billy Bigelow

Erik Larson as Billy Bigelow

We first met Erik Larson busting out of his pants two years ago and we instantly fell so in love with the Midwestern barihunk. Now he's singing "So In Love" for the first time ever as Billy Bigelow in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical Carousel. It's is role debut and it played for two nights at the Middleton Players Theatre in Wisconsin. He'll also sing the beautiful Soliloquy, which is one of the most famous baritone arias from a Broadway musical 

Gordon McRae sings Soliloquy from Carousel:

Known as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s favorite of all their collaborations, Carousel tells the beautiful and heartwrenching story of a young woman who falls in love with a roustabout carnival barker. Carousel is based on Ferenc Molnár's Hungarian-language drama, Liliom, which premiered in Budapest in 1909. Except for the ending, the plots of Liliom and Carousel are very similar.

Famous interpreters of Billy Bigelow have included John Raitt, Gordon MacRae, Stephen Douglass, Robert Goulet, Nathan Gunn, Bruce Yarnell, Michael Hayden, Howard Keel and Patrick Wilson.

Michael Mayes returns to signature role in Dead Man Walking

Michael Mayes in Dead Man Walking

February 25, 2012 was a life-changing day for barihunk Michael Mayes. It's the day that he first took the stage as Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at the Tulsa Opera. His performance as the accused killer was so riveting that word shot around the opera world about his intense performance. Most importantly, composer Jake Heggie was also impressed by Mayes. He recently told Colorado Public Radio, "I've seen Mike Mayes sing Joe a few times and I can tell you nobody in the entire world has ever done it better or with more authority."

I've seen Mike Mayes sing Joe a few times and I can tell you nobody in the entire world has ever done it better or with more authority. - See more at: http://www.cpr.org/news/story/five-questions-dead-man-walking-composer-jake-heggie#sthash.1emJ4cfn.dpuf

I've seen Mike Mayes sing Joe a few times and I can tell you nobody in the entire world has ever done it better or with more authority. - See more at: http://www.cpr.org/news/story/five-questions-dead-man-walking-composer-jake-heggie#sthash.1emJ4cfn.dpuf

I've seen Mike Mayes sing Joe a few times and I can tell you nobody in the entire world has ever done it better or with more authority. - See more at: http://www.cpr.org/news/story/five-questions-dead-man-walking-composer-jake-heggie#sthash.1emJ4cfn.dpuf

Our readers also took notice, as the photo that we ran of Mayes after he'd buffed up for the role instantly became one of our most viewed pictures. The role itself takes enormous physical stamina and baritones have been known to go to great lengths to get in shape, as the opera includes an aria that's sung while doing pushups. Etienne Dupuis went so far as hiring two trainers when he sang the role at the Opera de Montreal.

Mayes is now back singing what's become his signature role at both the Madison Opera and Central City Opera. The production will be performed in Madison on April 25 and 27, and then in Central City from July 5-25.

Michael Mayes with Erik Larson (and Pete)

Mayes first appeared in the opera not as the main character, but as a motorcycle cop at the Fort Worth Opera Festival in the 2008-09 season. We couldn't help but wonder if the Madison cast has a future de Rocher in it, as Erik Larsen has been cast in the role of the motorcycle cop. Larson made waves when he busted out of his pants and posted it on Twitter (which we, of course, reposted on Barihunks).

After his two runs of Dead Man Walking, Mayes continues with his commitment to contemporary opera. He'll be performing in Ethan Gans-Morse's The Canticle of the Black Madonna, a new opera premiering in Portland, Oregon on September 5, 2014. Set in coastal Louisiana amidst the devastation of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill, it tells the story of a fictional soldier returning from Afghanistan to his wife. Together, they face the challenges of his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and her struggles to maintain the family business.