Sexy La Fanciulla del West in Des Moines

From left to right: Harry Greenleaf, Andrew Potter, Alex Soare, Geoffrey Penar (seated) Joshua Jeremiah, Christopher Job, Tyler Alessi, Zach Owen, Cesar Mendez Silvagnoli (seated), Trevor Martin and Jonathan Harris

One of our favorite opera companies is the Des Moines Metro, which always delivers great repertory, high musical standards, amazing young singers and a liberal helping of barihunks. This season was no exception, as their production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) including some of the hottest talent in opera (both vocally and physically).

Barihunks photographer Michael Yeshion

Fortunately, one of our Barihunks calendar photographers, Michael Yeshion, was working at the company as the fight director. He managed to snap some pix of the guys in costume and shirtless. He's promised us some more pictures, which we're looking forward to receiving. He also shot some pictures for this year's calendar.

Seven baritones/basses in Met Semi-Finals

Zach Owen, Jared Bybee and Michael Adams

Seven of the seventeen winners of the Metropolitan Opera regional competitions were baritones or basses, many of whom are familiar to our readers. Those who advanced will perform in the semi-finals on March 15th in a closed competition before judges. The winners will then advance to the Grand Finals Concert on March 22nd and perform two arias with conductor Fabio Luisi and the Met Orchestra.

The seven low male voices in the semi-finals are Michael Adams, baritone (Gulf Coast Region: Fort Worth, Texas); Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone (Western Region: Mobile, Alabama); David Leigh, bass (Eastern Region: New York, New York); Zachary Owen, bass-baritone (Midwest Region: Stillman Valley, Illinois); Reginald Smith, Jr., baritone (Southeast Region: Atlanta, Georgia); Matthew Turner, bass (Mid-South Region: Jackson, Kentucky) and Jared Bybee, baritone (Middle Atlantic Region: Modesto, California)

The Grand Finals Concert, which is held in the Met auditorium and open to the public, will be hosted by soprano Angela Meade, who herself first came to prominence in 2007 as a winner of the National Council Auditions. Meade will also sing an aria with the orchestra while the judges are deliberating. At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000.

Other semi-finalists include mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank, soprano Sarah Cambidge, soprano Marina Costa-Jackson, tenor William Davenport, mezzo-soprano  Allegra De Vita, tenor Joseph Dennis, soprano Kathryn Henry, mezzo-soprano Anne Maguire, mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun,  and mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez.

Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert begin at $25 and may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

Barihunk Feast in Kentucky Opera's "Girl of the Golden West"

Franco Pomponi in Hamlet (left) and Joseph Flaxman in Cosi (right)

Forget about the "Girl" of the Golden West, "them thar hills" are filled with some hot guys! Puccini isn't exactly known for his great barihunk roles, although we do see the occasionally hot Scarpia, which makes us wonder if Tosca isn't choosing the wrong guy (who doesn't like a Bad Boy once in awhile?).

The one exception is his opera La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), which features ten roles for baritone, bass-baritone or bass. Since they're all ambitious young miners, it's the perfect opera for some barihunk casting and the Kentucky Opera doesn't disappoint. Franco Pomponi is cast as Jack Rance, the main baritone role, and Joe Flaxman sings the appropriately named Handsome (a.k.a Bello). Both singers have appeared on this site. Add to that Michael Preacely as Sonora, Zach Owen as Ashby, Jeffrey Gates as Happy and Brent Michael Smith as Jim Larkens and you have a feast of low voices.

Brent Michael Smith (photos by Courtney Charles)

We're not quite sure how Brent Michael Smith has escape the eyes of our barihunk scouts, but we're more that pleased to add him to the bass-barihunk family. 

Smith is a recent graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and a Studio Artist at the Kentucky Opera. He was an Apprentice Artist at the Central City Opera this year where he sang Antonio in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and covered Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. In 2012, Smith  took the top prize at both the Grand Rapids Opera Competition and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition: Great Lakes Region. In addition to Jim Larkens, he will perform the roles of the Marquis/Doctor in Verdi's La Traviata and Harry Hopkins in Daron Hagen’s A Woman in Morocco.

Flaxman is also a Studio Artist with the Kentucky Opera this season. He will perform Teddy Forsythe in A Woman in Morocco and the Baron in La Traviata.

You can read an interview with Zach Owen HERE.

Performances of La fanciulla del West are on November 14 and 16. For additional cast information and tickets, visit their website.

If you want to enjoy 19 more barihunks, make sure to buy our new 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar. It's available by clicking on the LULU button below and every penny goes to support young artists.