Barihunk duo in DNO's "bare" Tannhäuser

Tannhauser at the Dutch National Opera

The barihunk duo of  Björn Bürger as Wolfram and Kay Stieferman as Biterolf are part of director Christof Loy’s first Wagner opera presentation for the Dutch National Opera, an updated Tannhäuser.

The production features some male nudity, but since this is Amsterdam, there weren't the howls of protest that might have greeted the opera in other cities. Since story is about the knight Tannhäuser, who is torn between carnal thoughts of Venus and the socially acceptable love for Elisabeth, Loy added scenes in a men's club and included orgies.

The remaining cast includes Ekaterina Gubanova as the alluring Venus, Stephen Milling  as Landgrave Hermann, Svetlana Aksenova as Elisabeth and Daniel Kirch in the title role.

 Björn Bürger as Wolfram w/ Daniel Kirch as Tannhäuser and Svetlana Aksenova as Elisabeth (Photo © Monika Rittershaus) & Kay Stieferman (Photo © Jörn Kipping)

Performance continue on April 14, 18, 21, 24 & 28, and May 1st. Tickets are available online.

British audiences can enjoy Björn Bürger this summer when he takes on Papageno at the Glyndebourne Festival. Kay Stieferman has a full calendar of Wagner ahead of him, including Ein Steuerman in Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuther Festspiele, Alberich in Oper Leipzig's Ring Cycle and Klingsor in the company's Parsifal.

Celebrating 150 years of Tristan und Isolde

René Pape as King Mark and Ryan McKinny as Kurnewal

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Richard Wagner's masterpiece Tristan und Isolde. The opera premiered on June 10, 1865  at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich.  

We were planning on doing a more comprehensive post, but due to time restraints, recommend that you listen to today's feature on WQXR. 

One of our favorite performances in recent years was Ryan McKinny role debut as Kurwenal in Christof Loy’s production at the Houston Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season featuring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme as the lovers.
 
A couple performances featuring barihunks that we're looking forward to include René Pape singing König Marke in Munich from July 8-12, Kay Stiefermann as Ein Steuermann in Bayreuth from July 25-Aug 23 and Tommi Hakala as Kurnewal in Helsinki from May 14-28, 2016.

Introducing German barihunk Kay Stiefermann

Kay Stiefermann (center as King Roger)

We ran across Kay Stiefermann when looking at picture's for the upcoming production of Karol Szymanowski's King Roger at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. The current production features Mikolaj Zalasinski, who we featured nude in the early days of our site. Stiefermann takes on the role for the company on May 9th.

The German born Stiefermann, who turns 43 on March 19th, sutdied at the  Hochschule für Musik in Cologne with the great bass Kurt Moll. His repertoire includes many of the greatest Mozart roles including Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Don Alfonso and Count Almaviva. Other roles include the title character in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Danilo in Lehar's The Merry Widow, Eisenstein in Struass' Die Fledermaus and Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème. 

In recent years, German he's focused on more German roles, including the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Amfortas in Parsifal, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Simone in Korngold's Eine florentinische Tragödie, Gyges in Zemlinsky's König Kandaules, Johanaan in Strauss' Salome, Mandryka in Arabella and Don Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio. Later this year he takes on Klingsor in Parsifal at the Teatro Colón with fellow barihunk Ryan McKinny as Amfortas.

He has performed at many of the world's greatest opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera,  Komische Oper,  Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Teatro Regio Torino, Vienna Volksoper, Opéra National du Rhin, and the Nederlandse Opera.

Who Would YOU Like To See On Barihunks

Barihunks receives a lot of mail suggesting new "talent" for the site. Here are some of the hottest barihunks who arrived in our In Box. We want to know who you'd like to see more of. Use the handy poll to the right and feel free to vote for anyone who you find hot.

DOUG CARPENTER


NORMAN GARRETT


MORGAN MOODY


KAY STIEFERMANN


JOCHEN KUPFER

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