Wilhelm Schwinghammer in sexy Daphne in Hamburg

Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Hanna Schwarz and the Daphne ensemble

Bass-barihunk Wilhelm Schwinghammer is singing Peneios in director Christof Loy's sexy production of Richard Strauss' Daphne at the Staatsoper Hamburg. The production includes Agneta Eichenholz in the title role, Eric Cutler as Apollo, Peter Lodahl as Leukippos and the amazing Hanna Schwarz as Gaea. Performances are running tonight through June 23 and tickets are available online.

Schwinghammer recently made his first U.S. appearance since his 2013 King Mark in Tristan und Isolde at Washington National Opera, when he appeared as Sarastro with the Los Angeles Opera as Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in February and March 2016. He returns to the U.S. to make his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Fasolt in Wagner's Das Rheingold from October 1-22, in a cast that includes Eric Owens as Wotan.

Later this season, he returns to his home base at the Staatsoper Hamburg to sing Sarastro, Heinrich in Lohengrin, the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In 2017, he will perform the Nachtwächter in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Teatro La Scala Milano.

Christopher Maltman takes on Don Giovanni and Wotan

Christopher Maltman

Barihunk Christopher Maltman will be making his Ravinia operatic debut in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The performance will be at the Martin Theatre with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Conlon. Performances will be on Thursday, August 14 and Saturday, August 16.

The cast includes Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna, David Bižic as Leporello, Kristinn Sigmundsson as the Commendatore, Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio, Aga Mikolaj as Donna Elvira, Ailyn Pérez as Zerlina and Yohan Yi as Masetto.

Visit the Ravinia website for more information or to purchase tickets.

Next up for Maltman will be a somewhat surprising foray into the music of Richard Wagner, as he takes on Wotan in Das Rheingold in Seoul, Korea. The performance will be the kickoff of conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the Seoul Philharmonic's concert version of the Ring of the Nibelungen. The performance is on September 26 and includes fellow barihunk Alexander Tsymbalyuk as Fafner, as well as Michelle DeYoung as Fricka, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as Erda,  Malin Christensson as Woglinde & Freia, and Yuri Vorobiev as Fasolt.

Ryan McKinny returns to Los Angeles as Stanley Kowalski

Ryan McKinny

If there was any doubt left that Ryan McKinny has emerged as a major talent it was erased with the announcement that he'll sing Stanley Kowalski opposite megastar Renée Fleming in Andrè Previn's Streetcar Named Desire at the Los Angeles Opera. It also cements his budding reputation as a major barihunk, adding the notoriously sexy Stanley to his growing list of barihunk roles that includes Hercules, Escamillo and Jochanaan.

McKinny truly emerged last summer as the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. McKinny's Dutchman was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic history and it worked masterfully. Regular readers know that we consider Zambello the "Queen Mother" of barihunks for her early and enthusiastic concept of casting baritones as not just villains and angry fathers, but as genuine sex symbols.

Ryan McKinny as the Dutchman

Streetcar Named Desire is being performed in a semi-staged concert production under the baton of Patrick Summers. The cast also includes the riveting tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Blanche’s guileless suitor Mitch and the wonderful soprano Stacey Tappan as Stella. Performances are on May 18, 21 and 24 and tickets are available online.

It's nice to see Ryan McKinny return to the LA Opera, as it's the company that provided him many opportunities early in his career. He debuted there in 2008 as Montano in Verdis's Otello, and subsequently appeared as the Servant in Ullmann's The Broken Jug, Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's La Traviata, Don Basilio in Rossini's Barber of Seville and Leone in Handel's Tamerlano.

He can currently be seen in two productions at the Houston Grand Opera. He's currenlty singing Donner in Wagner's Das Rheingold, also conducted by Patrick Summers, which runs from April 11-26 and then he switches to Escamillo in Bizet's  Carmen from April-May 10. McKinny is a former participant with the Houston Grand Opera Studio. (We should also mention that you don't want to miss Stefan Margita as Loge in Rheingold. His is the definitive performance!).

Das Rheingold

Rene Pape: A rare barihunk Wotan

Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" premiered on this day in 1869 at Munich's National Theater. The opera is the first of the four operas that make up "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Ring Cycle). It was originally written as an introductory piece to the Ring, but is now considered one of the four operas that make up the cycle.

The cast of the premiere included August Kindermann as Wotan, Heinrich Vogl as Loge, Emma Seehofer as Erda, Sophie Stehle as Fricka, and Karl Fischer as Alberich. Wagner wanted this opera to be premiered as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The entire Ring Cycle was first performed on August 13, 1876 at the Bayreuther Festspielhaus.

George London

George London singing "Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge" from Das Rheingold: 



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