Daphne's three barihunks available for free viewing online

We recently posted about Richard Strauss' Daphne at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels featuring three singers who have appeared on this site: Matt Boehler, Justin Hopkins and Kris Belligh.  The opera, which is running through September 30th, features an all-star cast led by Sally Matthews as Daphne, Eric Cutler as Apollo, Peter Lodahl and Leukippos and Iain Paterson as Peneios.

La Monnaie will have the performance available on their website for free from October 1st through the 21st.

Matt Boehler in Don Giovanni

Upcoming roles for Justin Hopkins include the sold out world premiere of Repast: An Oratorio Homage to Booker Wright in Oxford, Mississippi, the role of Publio in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito with Opera in the Heights, and Britten's War Requiem with the Dayton Philharmonic.

Upcoming performance for Matt Boehler include Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio with the Madison Opera and Bertrand in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta at the Metropolitan Opera.

Listen to Stéphane Degout from Edinburgh

Stéphane Degout

French barihunk Stéphane Degout and British pianist Simon Lepper teamed up at the Edinburgh Festival to perform a recital of Gallic songs and miniature operas. You can listen to the entire recital HERE for the next seven days. The program is as follows.

Schubert: Der Zwerg D771
Loewe: Edward 1
Schumann: Belsatzar Op 57
Lizst: Die drei Zigeuner
Weill: Die Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen
Wolf: Der Feuerreiter
Debussy Images
Faure: Automne in B minor Op 18 No 3
Faure: L'Horizon Chimérique Op 118
Liszt: Three Petrarch Sonnets

Degout will be in recital in Brussels on September 12th at La Monnaie. He'll be performing the Mörike-Lieder of Wolf and lieder by Richard Strauss. Tickets are available online.

You can see him on stage again from October 16-29, when he takes on Oreste in the revival of Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide at the Theater an der Wien opposite the stunning  Iphigénie of Véronique Gens. Tickets and additional information are available online.

Barihunk shepherd boys frolick in Monnaie Daphne

Kris Belligh's photo that we cropped off and the always stunning Justin Hopkins

We couldn't help but notice that amongst the four shepherds in Richard Strauss' Daphne at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels are a bass who has appeared on this site in his boxers (Matt Boehler), a Barihunks calendar model who has also appeared on this site in his boxers (Justin Hopkins), and a singer who we inadvertently cropped off of a photo featuring another barihunk (Kris Belligh).

The opera features an all-star cast led by the glorious Sally Matthews as Daphne, Eric Cutler as Apollo, Peter Lodahl and Leukippos and Iain Paterson as Peneios. The opera will run from September 9-30 and tickets are available online.

Kris Belligh

We're a little embarrassed that we cropped off Kris Belligh in a photo introducing Toby Girling to the site during his run in Zatopek! That's an oversight that we rarely make!

The Belgian barihunk studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before continuing his studies at the Opera Course at the Royal Scottish Academy. He was part of the barihunk trio in Zatopek! that included both Toby Girling and Peter Brathwaite with the Liverpool Philharmonic, which was featured on the BBC 3 as part of the Olympic Games in London.

In addition to Daphne, he appeared in Verdi's La traviata at Monnaie in a production directed by Andrea Breth, who invited the singer to take part in the production of Prokofiev's The Gambler at the Netherlands Opera.

Upcoming roles for Justin Hopkins include the sold out world premiere of Repast: An Oratorio Homage to Booker Wright in Oxford, Mississippi, the role of Publio in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito with Opera in the Heights, and Britten's War Requiem with the Dayton Philharmonic. (We also hope to get him back in the calendar this year!).

Franco Pomponi's revealing Hamlet

Franco Pomponi & Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo

Readers may recall the post about Stéphane Degout's nude scene in the title role of Olivier Py’s production of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at La Monnaie in Brussels. He rotated the role with fellow barihunk Franco Pomponi and we managed to find the photo above, but nothing as revealing as our Degout shots. The production also featured barihunks Jérôme Varnier as the ghost and Henk Neven as Horatio.

Director Olivier Py has never been shy about featuring male nudity, whether in operas like Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet or Alban Berg's Lulu, or theater productions like Die Sonne at Volksbühne Berlin. His Hamlet featuring Stéphane Degout in the buff created quite a buzz at both the Theater an der Wien and La Monnaie in Brussels. You can watch the entire opera below:



Pomponi opens today in John Adams' A Flowering Tree at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, which runs through May 13. The piece is inspired by a southern Indian folk tale and describes the trials and tribulations of a young couple subjected to a series of rituals and trials designed to demonstrate the power of love. Tickets are available online.

NSFW: Stéphane Degout strips bare for Hamlet; Online broadcast until June 17th

Stéphane Degout in Hamlet from La Monnaie

Stéphane Degout in Hamlet from La Monnaie

The brilliant, dark and provocative performance of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet from La Monnaie will be available online until June 17, 2014. Conductor Marc Minkowski and Director Olivier Py have been combining forces in exploring the 19th-century French Grand opéra repertoire with great success. In 2011, they collaborated on a highly-acclaimed production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

Lenneke Ruiten's as Ophélie

Olivier Py has become well known for his generous display of male skin in his productions and Hamlet doesn't disappoint. There is an extensive scene that takes place in a bathtub with Stéphane Degout's Hamlet and his mother Gertrude, played by Jennifer Larmore. Even Lenneke Ruiten's Ophélie finds the perfect way to go mad - surrounded by four shirtless men in leather animal masks.

If you don't speak French or aren't familiar with the opera, you may want to download a copy of the libretto before watching, as the subtitles are in French. Click HERE to watch the performance. Because we know that you're going to fast forward to it anyway, the bathtub scene starts at 1:49.

Although the abundance of skin will certainly be a draw to many, the vocal performances are stunning, led by Stéphane Degout and Lenneke Ruiten.

Gianluca Margheri: Mr. April in the Barihunks Calendar

There is only one week left to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order it today!!! All proceed go to benefit young artists.

 

"Nude Hamlet" headed to La Monnaie (and available online and TV)

Franco Pomponi rehearsing Hamlet at La Monnaie

Back in Apil we told you that the "nude Hamlet" from Theater an der Wien was headed to La Monnaie in Brussels. Well, it has arrived and it still has FOUR barihunks in the cast, although you'll have to attend two nights to see all four of them, as Stéphane Degout and Franco Pomponi are alternating the role of Hamlet. Joining them for all the performances are Henk Neven as Horatio and Jérôme Varnier as the spectre. This is Neven's debut at Horatio.

Stéphane Degout as Hamlet in Vienna

Stéphane Degout created quite a stir with his nude scene in Vienna and we expect that the matinee idol-looking Franco Pomponi will cause a few opera glasses to be raised for better viewing.

Hamlet is a five acts grand opera by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier. It as based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The work was premiered at the Paris Opéra March 9, 1868. Among the noted singers in the original cast were Jean-Baptiste Faure as Hamlet and Christine Nilsson as Ophelia.

The production at La Monnaie is directed by Olivier Py and is running from December 3-22. Tickets are available online. 

Jérôme Varnier as the spectre and Henk Neven as Horatio

If you can't make it to Brussels, don't be dismayed as La Monnaie broadcasts all of its productions for free on the internet. This production of Hamlet will be available from Tuesday, December 31, 2013  through Monday, January 20, 2014.

It will also be available on television on December 17 at Mezzo TV.

If you love beautiful opera singers, make sure to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Remember that all proceeds to go to benefit young artists. Help keep opera alive and thriving and buy yours today by clicking on the Lulu button below.

Celebrating the anniversary of La clemenza di Tito

Alex Esposito as Publius

Today is the anniversary of the premiere of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito and we thought it deserved a mention, since we give a disproportionate amount of attention to the Big 3 - Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte. The opera doesn't really have much music for a baritone to show off. In fact, there is only one aria, "Tardi s'avede," which belongs to Publius and was written for a lyric bass.

Nonetheless, we found this beautiful version of the aria sung by bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni, which is worth sharing. In the aria, Publius feels sorry for his Emperor and tries to get Tito to wake up to the fact that his best friend, Sesto, had tried to assassinate him.

The opera premiered on September 6, 1791 and was written as a commission to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor as King of Bohemia. The opera remained popular after Mozart's death and in 1806 became his first opera to be performed in London. It wasn't performed in the United States until 1952, when it was presented at Tanglewood in English.

There are a couple of all-star productions of the opera this year, led by barihunk Alex Esposito taking on Publius at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in October. The cast also includes Kurt Streit as Tito, Véronique Gens as Vitellia and Anna Bonitatibus as Sesto.

In November and December, the opera will be performed at the Paris Opera with Bálint Szabó as Publius and Saimir Pirgu as Tito.

Four Barihunks in "Nude Hamlet" at La Monnaie

Stéphane Degout in Hamlet at Theater an der Wien

Director Olivier Py has never been shy about featuring male nudity, whether in operas like Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet or Alban Berg's Lulu, or theater productions like Die Sonne at Volksbühne Berlin. His Hamlet featuring Stéphane Degout in the buff created quite a buzz last Spring at the Theater an der Wien. The production is now coming to the La Monnaie in Brussels starring Stéphane Degout again. He will be alternating the role with fellow barihunk Franco Pomponi.

We were also intrigued to see two of our favorite barihunks in smaller roles, Jérôme Varnier and Henk Neven. If you like shirtless guys...and lots of them...you may want to order your tickets when they go on sale October 10. Although there are thirteen performances, tickets are expected to be extremely scarce. Tickets will be available for as little as € 12.

Complete operas from La Monnaie online; Hunkentenor goes all barihunk

Charles Castronovo and Justin Hopkins

We get asked a lot about live opera broadcasts and streaming video. We probably should post more about it and encourage anyone with information about broadcasts to send it to us at Barihunks@gmail.com.

We recently learned that La Monnaie in Brussels broadcasts their productions online for a month after the performance ends. We were thrilled to find out that we could watch Barihunks calendar model Justin Hopkins in his debut from the theatre in Donizetti's Lucretia Borgia as Astolfo along with fellow barihunk Paul Gay as Don Alfonso. If you like your tenors sexy, as well, you'll be thrilled to know that Charles Castronovo is The Lucretia Borgia broadcast is available online until April.

La Monnaie's sexy ad campaign for Romeo et Juliette

Next up is Mernier's La Dispute with Stéphane Degout as the Prince and Guillaume Andrieux as Mesrin. Andrieux created quite a buzz when he recently debuted on our site rehearsing in a muscle shirt. However, the opera that we're really looking forward to is Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande which is cast with three barihunks, Stéphane Degout as Pelléas, Paul Gay as Golaud and the steamy Jérôme Varnier as Arkel. You can see more of Jérôme Varnier when the streaming video begins next week for Gounod's Romeo et Juliette where he portrays Frère Laurent.

One of our tenor crushes: Glenn Seven Allen (in Streetcar on right with Jacquelynne Fontaine)

Sometimes we shy away from it, but the truth is that we have some tenor crushes. In our "Best of 2012" feature we owned up to crushes on Ed Lyon, Noah Stewart and Glenn Seven Allen. Regular readers will probably know that today's post isn't the first time that we've snuck Charles Castronovo onto the site either.

We were pretty excited to learn that Glenn Seven Allen crossed over into baritone/barihunk territory as Carl Magnus in Sondheim's A Little Night Music with the Indiana Repertory Theater. The singer also recently made his Carnegie Hall debut in Marschner's Der Vampyr with the American Symphony. Although he was distinctly back in tenor territory, he was joined by barihunk Justin Hopkins.

Guillaume Andrieux & Stéphane Degout in premiere of La Dispute

Albane Carrère & Guillaume Andrieux

The last time that we featured French barihunk Stéphane Degout on this site, he was baring it all for a performance as Hamlet at the Theater an der Wien. Now he's in Brussels for composer Benoît Mernier’s second opera La Dispute, which was commissioned by the Théâtre de la Monnaie. The opera is based on the comedic play by the French dramatist Marivaux and explores the inconsistencies of love and wondering if they stem from men or women. Upon its premiere in 1744, the play was considered a funny, erotic and cruel masterpiece by critics, but received poorly by the public.

Degout is joined in the cast by a barihunk new to this site, French singer Guillaume Andrieux as Mesrin.

Stéphane Degout

The opera's plot centers around the burning philosophical issue of infidelity and a diabolical experiment that brings together four youngsters raised in isolation from the world. Before our eyes, they discover love and their first betrayals. For this work, the Belgian composer collaborated closely with the librettists Ursel Herrmann and Joël Lauwers. This gave him the opportunity to again grapple with the awakening of desire which was a theme in his first opera Frühlings Erwachen from 2007.

Performances run from March 5-19 and tickets are available online.

Stéphane Degout Strips Hamlet Bare

Add Stéphane Degout to the growing list of barihunks who have appeared nude on stage. The amazing French singer bares all in the Theater an der Wien's production of Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet." His dispair and self-mutilation manifests itself in stunning scene in Act 3 when he is bathed by Gertrude.

The production is by Olivier Py who transformed the stage into a cavern of human debauchery and misery.

Degout last appeared on this site when he appeared in a dreamy cast of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with fellow barihunk Jérôme Varnier. The two are reunited in this production, as Varnier appears the ghost. Stéphane Degout has become the leading lyric baritone in the French style since Francois Le Roux and Gerard Souzay, both of whom have appeared on this site.

The always intense and musically incisive Christine Schäfer portrays Ophelia, Phillip Ens is Claudius and Frédéric Antoun is Laërtein in this co-production with the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Now let's hope that someone brings it to the United States.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com