Watch livestream of Günter Papendell in Barrie Kosky's new La bohème

Günter Papendell (photos courtesy Komische Oper)

You can watch German barihunk and audience favorite Günter Papendell as Marcello in Barrie Kosky's new production of Puccini's La bohème from the Komische Oper Berlin from January 27 through July 26. The livestream can be seen on OperaVision.

Kosky says that the opera is about death and the audience needs to shed a tear, but without sentimentalism. This production looks at how young people look at death. Kosky sees the opera through the daguerreotype, which was invented around the time that the story takes place. 

The remaining cast includes Nadja Mchantaf as Mimì, Gerard Schneider as Rodolfo,Philipp Meierhöfer as Colline, Vera-Lotte Böcker as Musetta, and Dániel Foki as Schaunard.

 Günter Papendell sings Tchaikovsky's "Nur wer die Liebe kennt":

If you want to see Papendell live as Marcello, he is performing the role on January 27 and 28, February 8, March 17, 22 and 30, and June 28 and 29. Tickets are available online, but many dates have limited availability.

Papendell's other roles at the Komische Oper include Doktor Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Graf Almaviva in Mozart's Die Hochzeit des Figaro, Fritz Kothner in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Fürst Jeletzki in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Sharpless  in Puccini's Madame Butterfly, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Odysseus in the Monteverdi triptych, Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, and Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux.  

Barihunks rotating Don Giovanni in Munich

Mathias Hausmann (left) and Günter Papendell (right)

Barihunks Günter Papendell and Mathias Hausmann are rotating the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, Germany through July 12th. The production is being guided by the Viennese actor and director Herbert Föttinger, who is mostly associtate with the Theater in der Josefstadt. His concept is to look at Don Giovanni as a conglomerate of freedom, anarchy, seduction and sex; one who women desire and men desire to be.

Papendell will be joined by Levente Páll as Leporello, Christoph Filler as Masetto, Sergii Magera as the Commendatore, as well as Jennifer O'Loughlin as Donna Anna, Lucian Krasznec as Don Ottavio, Camille Schnoor as Donna Elvira and Sophie Mitterhuber as Zerlina. Papendell, can still be seen at his home base at the Komische Oper, where he's simultaneously performing Jason in Reimann's Medea on July 2 and 15. He'll be perfoming Don Giovanni in Munich on June 27 and July 6, 8, 9 and 12.

Günter Papendell in Don Giovanni in Munich

Mathias Hausmann will be singing Don Giovanni on June 26 and July 1, 2, 5 and 8. He'll be joined by Matija Meić as Leporello, Christoph Filler as Masetto, Christoph Seidl as the Commendatore, as well as Sophia Brommer as Donna Anna, Szabolcs Brickner as Don Ottavio, Nadja Stefanoff as Donna Elvira and Mária Celeng as Zerlina. On July 16, he'll perform in Händel's Alexander's Feast with the company. This Fall, he heads to the Oper Leipzig where he'll take on the role of Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo. 

Barihunk duo in Komische Oper's Don Giovanni

Evan Hughes as Leporello in Don Giovanni

Last night, bass-barihunk Evan Hughes made his Komische Oper debut as Leporello in Herbert Fritsch's colorful, whimsical and provocative production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. He'll be singing along side Günter Papendell, who is singing the title role. Performances with the barihunk duo run through June 4th when Philipp Meierhöfer takes over as Leporello.

Fritsch has drawn on the core of Don Juan story by bringing him to life as a malicious harlequin – a loser, audacious, side-splittingly funny and irresistible all at once.

Günter Papendell as Don Giovanni

Papendell, who has become a fan favorite at the Komische Oper, has been with the company since 2007 scored a huge success in this production last year. He can be see this season  as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Pollux in Rameau's Castor and Pollux, Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Jason in Cherubini's Medea and Fritz in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. You can watch his Onegin performance online for free by clicking HERE. 

Hughes is currently a fest member at the Semperoper Dresden where he can be seen as the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La Traviata, Masetto and Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Cesare Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte. 

Barihunk duo in Komische's Giulio Cesare

Günter Papendell & Dominik Köninger (Photos: Iko Freese)

The barihunk duo of Dominik Köninger and Günter Papendell is back together at the Komische Oper in Berlin as Julius Caesar and Achille respectively in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto. We first featured them together in the company's Monterverdi Trilogy. The Komische ensemble members have also alternated the role of Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

There are two runs of Giulio Cesare in Egitto, the first which opened on May 31 and runs through July 4th. The two then return in their respective roles from September 11 through October 31.  The rest of the cast includes Valentina Farcas/Mirka Wagner as Cleopatra, Theresa Kronhalter as Sesto, Anna Bernacka as Tolomeo, Alexey Antonov as Curio and Ezgi Kutlu as Cornelia.

Köninger is singing a role that has historically been sung by a countertenor. In fact, two of the worlds greatest countertenors will take on the role in other German cities this season, as Andreas Scholl sings it in Frankfurt and David Hansen in Dresden.

Valentina Farcas & Dominik Köninger (Photos: Iko Freese)

This season,  Dominik Köninger can be seen as Agamemnon in Le Belle Hélène, the young Hoffmann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Papageno in The Magic Flute and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.

Günter Papendell can be seen as Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Pollux in Castor and Pollux and the tile characters in Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi and Eugene Onegin.

Günter Papendell back in Berlin's colorful Don Giovanni

German barihunk Günter Papendell seems to live on the stage of he Komische Oper in Berlin in a tank top or shirtless (and we're not complaining!). He's returning to the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni on November 30th in the colorful, whimsical and provocative production by Herbert Fritsch. You might recall we posted about him the last time he sang the role in Berlin, so you may have guessed that it's a favorite performance of ours.

Günter Papendell at the Komische Oper in Berlin

Papendell has been with the Komische Oper since 2007, appearing as Marcello in La Bohème, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Kothner in Meistersinger, Jeletzky in Pique Dame, Förster in Schlaues Füchslein, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Odysseus in the Monteverdi trilogy, Demetrius in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pollux in Castor et Pollux by Rameau, Mary in Die Soldaten by Zimmermann and Marquis Posa in Don Carlo.

Next year, Papendell sings the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare and a return as Odysseus in the Monteverdi trilogy. 

Doug Carpenter & Richard Alexandre Rittelmann

Make sure to order 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking on the LULU button below.

Sexy Günter Papendell returns as Don Giovanni in Berlin

Günter Papendell at the Komische Oper (center in Armida)

Günter Papendell, one of our favorite singers at the Komische Oper is returning to the stage in four performances of the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. We first were introduced to the sexy German barihunk when a colleague forwarded us a picture of a nude Papendell backstage [see photo above].

We've since followed him in a series of critical successes in edgy operas like Odysseus and Così fan tutte o sia La scuola degli amanti, as well as in more more standard roles like Malatesta, Count Almaviva and Prince Yeletsky. One thing we love about him is the frequency in which he is shirtless or in some revealing outfit. Of course, the Komische Opera is notorious for showing some skin, with opera fans still talking about director Calixto Bieto's production of Gluck's Armida, which set a new standard for nudity in opera.

Günter Papendell in Odysseus

Performances of Don Giovanni will run from April 13-May 12 and tickets are available online. Later this season at the Komische, Papendell will be appearing as Demetrius in Britten's A Midsummer,  Night's Dream, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, the title character in Rameau's Castor et Pollux and reprising his successful and sexy portrayal of Odysseus in the Claudio Monteverdi/ Elena Kats-Chernin trilogy of the same name.

Listen to Papendell in Franz Lachner's Requiem:

Dominik Köninger and Günter Papendell star in Berlin's Monteverdi Trilogy

Dominik Köninger at the Komische Oper in Berlin

We've been singing Dominik Köninger's praises ever since he wowed the judges at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. He's now been engaged to sing the lead of Orpheus in Komische Oper's controversial Monterverdi Trilogy.


The new musical interpretation by the Uzbek composer Elena Kats-Chernin is being performed in a single day, running from 11a.m. until 11p.m, as well individual performances of the three operas: Orpheus, Odysseus and Poppea. The work feautures around 200 artists on stage and (how can we say this delicately) is not for purists. Kat-Chermin has integrated jazz, klezmer, tango, and ragtime into the score.

Dominik Köninger

Köninger can also be seen this season at the Komische Oper as Ottakar in Der Freischütz, Schaunard in Puccini's La Bohème and Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute. His Papageno is his next appearance, which will be on Sunday, November 25. Tickets are available online.

Günter Papendell nude backstage and as Odysseus

Also in the trilogy is Günter Papendell as Odysseus. The young barihunk is also alternating Ottakar in Calixto Bieito's Der Freischütz with Köninger.  The next performance is on November 23 and tickets are still available online. The next performance of Odysseus is not until Saturday, July 6, 2013.

The oft-shirtless Günter Papendell

Other operas at the Komische Oper include Verdi's La traviata, Handel's Xerxes, John Cages' Europera and Taner Akyol's children's opera Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

Want to see more HOT MEN? They're available all year in our 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar:

Günter Papendell Naked

The recent production of Gluck's Armida at the Komische Oper in Berlin had lots of nudity. We couldn't tell from the attached videos if barihunk Günter Papendell exposed his schwanse as Ubaldo, but we found a picture of him in a locker room that's a delightful tease.

Pependall is a regular on the Komische stage and is also singing Schaunard in La Bohème, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte this year. He already has a number of barihunk roles behind him, including Don Giovanni, Escamillo, and Zurga in Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles.

The baritone was born in Krefeld and completed his studies at the Music Academy of Munich in 2005.

Make sure to watch the videos if you want a good dose of operatic skin!

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