Barihunk Trio in Dresden Don Giovanni

Evan Hughes (photo Leela Rose) and with Guido Loconsolo in Don Giovanni

The Semperoper Dresden just opened Mozart's Don Giovanni with the barihunk trio of Lucas Meachem as the Don, Guido Loconsolo as Leporello and Evan Hughes as Masetto. The production runs through July 3rd and the cast includes Maria Bengtsson as Donna Anna, Aga Mikolaj as Donna Elvira, Peter Sonn as Don Ottavio, Christina Bock as Elvira and Michael Eder as the Commendatore. Tickets are available online.

Guido Loconsolo sings the Catalog Aria from Don Giovanni:

Lucas Meachem can next be seen at the San Francisco Opera as Dr Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Chorèbe in Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Dallas Opera.

Evan Hughes is now a member of the ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden and can be seen in upcoming performances as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Cesare Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte.

Guido Loconsolo can next be seen as Publio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at the Teatro Real de Madrid. He also appears on an new CD of Don Giovanni on Sony Classics with Andrei Bondarenko in the title role.

Watch the Glyndebourne Don Giovanni online

Gerald Finley and Luca Pisaroni at Glyndebourne

You will be able to watch the acclaimed 2010 production of Mozart's Don Giovanni from Glyndebourne online. It features three of the greatest low voices around today, Gerald Finley in the title role, Luca Pisaroni as Masetto and Guido Loconsolo as Masetto. Also not to be missed in this production is the Don Ottavio of William Burden and the Donna Anna of Kate Royal.

The video will go live HERE at 3pm London time (10 AM EST/7 AM PST) on July 6 and remain online until Sunday, July 13.

Critic Rupert Christiansen, writing about Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni and Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, wrote: "Suavely ruthless, Finley was both steely monster and molten charmer, singing with a firmness, clarity and stylistic elegance that I can’t easily imagine surpassed. Pisaroni made a delightfully goofy but treacherous Leporello, both his master’s alter ego and his rival." 

Dreamy Casting: Barihunks on the air

Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Don Giovanni

Thanks to a heads up from an alert reader, we've learned that Edwin Crossley-Mercer just performed his first Don Giovanni in Dijon, France. He was joined by fellow barihunk Damien Pass as Masetto. If you missed the performance, you're in luck, as it's temporarily available on Medici.tv. Click HERE to watch the entire performance.

Medici.tv has a number of current releases featuring barihunks, including Purcell's Dido and Æneas with Lucas Meachem, Gounod's Romeo and Juliet with François Le Roux, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with Stéphane Degout and Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise featuring both Henk Neven and Rod Gilfry.

Guido Loconsolo

On April 4th, Italian barihunk Guido Loconsolo makes his Met debut as the scheming Egyptian general Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare. He'll be part of a dream cast that includes David Daniels, Natalie Dessay, Alice Coote and the amazing Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo.

You can watch the April 27th matinee as part of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series which will be transmitted live around the world.

Guido Loconsolo previously sang the role of Achilla at Glyndebourne. Earlier this season, he sang the title role in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne, Publio in a new production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Bolshoi in Moscow, and Plutone in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Freiburg and Essen, Germany.

Simon Keenlyside

Fans of Simon Keenlyside will get plenty of chances to hear the ageless barihunk online. On April 6th, Radio France will broadcast his performance of Berg's Wozzeck from the Vienna, Staatsoper under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. On April 25, BBC 3 will rebroadcast his Macbeth opposite the riveting Lady Macbeth of Liudmyla Monastyrska from the Royal Opera House. This is a performance that is not to be missed! BBC 3 has also announced that they will be broadcasting Keenlyside's Eugene Onegin from the Royal Opera House. The date and time has not been announced, but we believe that it will be June 1st.

Morgan Smith

On Sunday, April 7th at 8:00 PM/PST San Francisco's KDFC will broadcast Jake Heggie's latest masterpiece Moby-Dick. The opera stars barihunk Morgan Smith along with Jay Hunter Morris, Stephen Costello, Jonathan Lemalu, Talise Trevigne, Matthew O'Neill and Robert Orth. The performance is a rebroadcast from last season.

A Plethora of Barihunks in High Definition from The Met

Mariusz Kwiecien

The Met: Live in HD series kicks off on October 13 with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, starring barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien, Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani in a new production by Bartlett Sher. If you haven't seen Kwiecien in this role, jump on line NOW and buy your tickets. He practically owns this role in the world of opera right now.

 The Met's Live in HD features a plethora of barihunks this season in addition to Kwiecien including, Simon Keenlyside, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Joshua Hopkins, Rene Pape, Peter Mattei and Guido Loconsolo:

• The Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest  on November 10, starring Simon Keenlyside, conducted by the composer and directed by Robert Lepage. 
• A new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera on December 8, starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez and Stephanie Blythe. The opera will be directed by David Alden and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
• The Met premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda on January 19, starring Joshua Hopkins as Cecil and honorary barihunk diva Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
• A new production of Wagner’s Parsifal on March 2, starring barihunks Peter Mattei, and René Pape, who will be joined by tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Katarina Dalayman. The opera will be directed by François Girard and conducted by Daniele Gatti.
• A new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare on April 27, starring Guido Loconsolo as Achilla, David Daniels Giulio Cesare and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra. 

Guido Loconsolo sings "Verrà purtroppo il giorno" from Verdi's Un giorno di regno:

 Other offerings include:

• Verdi’s Otello on October 27, starring Johan Botha and Renée Fleming
• Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito on December 1, with Elīna Garanča, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Barbara Frittol
• Verdi’s Aida on December 15, starring Liudmyla Monastyrska, Olga Borodina, and Roberto Alagna
• Berlioz’s majestic Les Troyens on January 5, starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, and Marcello Giordani
• Verdi’s Rigoletto on February 16, starring Željko Lučić, Diana Damrau, and Piotr Beczala
• Zandonai’s rarely heard Francesca da Rimini on March 16, with Eva-Maria Westbroek and Giordani.

Verdi Backup SIngers

Guido Loconsolo from www.guidoloconsolo.com

We continue our Verdi series with two great roles for baritone that aren't one of the lead characters, but critical to the story, Iago in Otello and Ford in Falstaff.

One of the most popular baritone arias is Ford's "E'sogno o realtà," where a singer can display great emotion as the character becomes consumed with jealousy.

We'll start with Lee Poulis who we recently featured singing in Bernard Hermann's Wuthering Heights at the Minnesota Opera. He has the type of voice that is often cast for this role. Poulis shows how well the aria works for recitals and competitions. For comparison listen to the rich, darker baritone of Guido Loconsolo with orchestra.





Few secondary characters are more critical to the plot line that the evil and sinister Iago, who sets in motion everything that leads to Otello killing the innocent Desdemona. A great Iago can easily steal the show from the tenor and soprano, much like a great Azucena or Amneris can steal the show in Il Trovatore and Aida respectively. Let's start with two of the greatest versions ever, Leonard Warren and Ettore Bastianini. We'll follow that with the thrilling duet "S pel ciel" with Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes from the 1979 "Live from the Met" telecast.





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Guido Loconsolo in La Boheme

Guido Loconsolo

We can't imagine a better way to start the week that with sexy Italian barihunk Guido Loconsolo singing his highly acclaimed portrayal of Marcello in La Boheme. He also has that amazing Italian style that defines fashion at its best.

For those hoping to see Loconsolo live, he has a couple of Belcore's on his schedule. First at Opera de Lille opposite the hunkentenor Bülent Bezdüz. He then flies off to Berlin where he will reprise the role at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin opposite two more hunky Nemorino's: Pavel Brelik and Leonardo Capalbo.

Hanno Müller-Brachmann

For those of you who will be in Berlin, barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann will be featured in two Mozart operas during that time, Cosi fan tutte and The Magic Flute.

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