BREAKING NEWS: McCammon Winners Announced

Andrew Garland & Norman Garrett

The winners of the 2012 McCammon Voice Competition have just been announced and two of the award winners were barihunks who have been featured on our site. Congratulations to Norman Garrett who won 3rd Prize and to Andrew Garland who won the coveted Audience Favorite Award.

Since its debut in 1985, the McCammon Voice Competition has grown into one of the world's most important operatic events. Every two years, the contest showcases the most compelling young singers of our time. After several rounds of reviews and eliminations, the McCammon finalists engage in two days of intense competition. Many of the winners are catapulted onto major opera stages.

Previous barihunk winners include Jonathan Beyer and Donovan Singletary. Both men are appearing at the upcoming Ft. Worth Opera Festival in Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro."

Donovan Singletary

Andrew Garland can next be seen as Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Annapolis Opera.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Ft. Opera Star Michael Mayes Featured in 360 West

Michael Mayes in 360 West magazine

When we recently featured Michael Mayes and his self-described transformation from Bari-Chunk to Bari-Hunk, it almost doubled our internet traffic for a week. Michael Mayes is one of our favorite people in opera. His Texapolitan Opera podcast is one of the most entertaining sites in all of classical music. He's also known as a great colleague, who works hard and is supportive of others. He's also become a fan favorite at the Ft. Worth Opera Festival, where he will return this season to sing Kinesias in Mark Adamo's comedy Lysistrata.

We've been unabashed in our support of the Ft. Worth Opera Festival, which we believe is a mandatory stop on any opera lover's list of festivals. This year they're also performing Jake Heggie's Three Decembers, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Puccini's Tosca. We encourage you to check out their website and learn more about this company.

Mayes is one of the feature stories in the May 2012 issue of 360 West magazine, where he talks about the special place that the Festival holds in his heart. It's an absolute must read and can be accessed HERE beginning on page 104.

Ted Federle sings Kinesias' aria from Adamo's "Lysistrata"in the 2007 non-professional premiere of the opera at the Seagle Music Colony:

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

BREAKING NEWS: Justin Hopkins wins 2nd Place in Lotte Lenya Competition

Justin Hopkins

Barihunk Justin Hopkins, who first impressed us in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with the Fort Worth Opera Festival, has won second prize in the prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition. He shared 2nd place with tenor Jacob Keith Watson. Eastman School of Music master’s degree student Matthew Grills, who was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions last month, was awarded 1st place.
The Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors, ages 19 to 30, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs within a dramatic context. It was founded in 1998 by foundation President Kim H. Kowalke, who is the Richard L. Turner Professor in Humanities at the University of Rochester and professor of musicology at the Eastman School.

 Justin Hopkins sings "The Impossible Dream":

Justin Hopkins burst onto the international opera scene in 2010, performing the combined roles of Il Servo, Il Medico and Heraldo in Macbeth with Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in a production that was awarded "Production of the Year" by Opernwelt.  In the same season he performed the roles of Colline in La Boheme with the Verbier Festival Academy and Cappadocian in Richard Strauss' Salome under the direction of Valery Gergiev with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. 

Hopkins was a semi-finalist in the Competizione dell' Opera at The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow as well as a finalist in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Hopkins began singing at the age of eight with the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Men's Chorale.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Fort Worth Opera's Plethora of Pulchritude

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It's not often that we feature Tosca and it's not that we don't love the opera. It's just that Scarpia hasn't been the quintessential barihunk role. Fort Worth Opera performed Tosca with the dashing Michael Chioldi in 2005, which brought a whole different tension to the rape scene. For a moment, one wondered, "Well, maybe Scarpia wouldn't be such a bad hook-up." Of course, then Puccini's music said otherwise. Fort Worth is bringing Chioldi back to reprise his successful portrayal of the evil police chief.

But who really caught our eye was Angelotti, who will be sung by the gifted young baritone Tom Forde, who we first discovered as a Santa Fe Apprentice Young Artist and who we featured in our charity calendar. Forde has taken his fitness routine as serious as his singing...and it shows. Forde, who has always had a great face for the stage - expressive, with big features - now has the body to match.

We are kind of wondering if Tosca will dump Mario and run off with Angelotti.

Donovan Singletary

Forde, will have a little of barihunk competition at the Fort Worth Opera Festival, as Donovan Singletary is returning to take on Figaro in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" opposite fellow barihunk Jonathan Beyer, who is singing Count Almaviva. Singletary, a rising vocal talent who excelled in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in New York, also happens to have one of the greatest bodies in opera.

We hate to rewrite Mozart, but if we were the Countess, we'd turn the tables on the philandering Count and run off into the garden with Figaro.

Seth Mease Carico (L) & Michael Mayes (R)

If you haven't hadn't enough beefcake after Tosca and Figaro, make sure to grab a ticket for Mark Adamo's comic, yet racy Lysistrata. Another singer who has recently hit the gym, Michael Mayes, will be performing Kinesias. His new abs went viral on the internet when we posted his picture performing in Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking" at the Tulsa Opera.

Patrons who last saw Seth Mease Carico in Fort Worth's "Before Night Falls" may not recognize the singer, who has a body and new look that makes him look more like Adam Levine than Leonard Warren. Carico and Mayes are both great singers AND actors, which makes us think that Lysistrata could be the surprise hit of the festival. Few opera companies perform non-standard repertory as well as Fort Worth. Last season, Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" played to enthusiastic, sold out houses. In fact, we named it our "Best Opera of 2011" in our annual year end feature.

Matt Worth

Last on the agenda, is Jake Heggie's amazingly moving opera "Three Decembers," which will feature one of our favorite singers, Matthew Worth.

Worth sang the role of Charlie with the Chicago Opera Theater in 2010 to great critical acclaim. Mark Thomas Ketterson wrote in Opera News, "Matthew Worth's warmly youthful baritone is intrinsically appealing, and he shaded Charlie's music with intelligence and great sensitivity."

Jake Heggie talks about his opera: 

The Fort Worth Opera Festival should be a stop on any opera lover's travel calendar. This year's festival runs from May 12-June 3 and tickets can be purchased online.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Michael Mayes Hits The Gym for "Dead Man Walking"

Another Barihunk-laden Season at Minnesota Opera

Tenor James Valenti: Minnesota Opera, marketing hot men and not just barihunks

We love the Minnesota Opera for numerous reasons, including their commitment to new works, their innovative programming, their dedication to young artists, their high quality of artistry, their great marketing campaigns (that often feature sexy baritones AND tenors) and, of course, their constant stream of barihunks on their roster.  

Next season will mark the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Opera and the 2012-13 season is once again packed with barihunks. The company will present four operas that are new to their repertory, including the world premiere of the operatic version of "Doubt."

John Relyea (L) & Jason Howard (R)

Opening the season from September 22-30 will be one of Verdi's most underrated works, the biblical epic "Nabucco."   The story of oppressed and exiled Jews and the king responsible for most of their troubles will feature Jason Howard in the title role and John Relyea as Zaccharia. We recently featured Relyea in another great early Verdi opera, Attila.

Kyle Ketelsen returns, but without the horns

Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" runs from November 10-18 with Minnesota Opera favorite Kyle Ketelsen as Enrico.  Regular readers will recall that Kyle Ketelson stole the show in their 2009 production as a devilishly sexy Mephistopheles in "Faust."

No "Doubt" that Matt Worth is hot

On January 26, 2013, the Minnesota Opera will continue its dedication to new operas by presenting an operatic version of "Doubt" by composer Douglas J. Cuomo. The story, which has been seen on Broadway and made into a movie with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, revolves around scandalous allegations and tensions at a Catholic elementary school.

Matthew Worth was recently featured on this site for his current run in Philip Glass' Orphée at Virginia Opera. He recently sang a successful run as Guglielmo in Mozart's "Così fan tutte" with Minnesota Opera. He'll be making his Fort Worth Opera debut this summer as Charlie in Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers." Performances run from May 13-June 2 and tickets and additional information can be found on the Ft. Worth Opera website.

Other operas next season include Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet" and Puccini's "Turandot." You can call 612-333-6669 or visit their website for tickets and additional cast information.  Tickets go on sale on July 23.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

BARIHUNKS BEST OF 2011

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 - CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE

Christopher Johnstone: Model singer

We couldn't believe it when we saw Christopher Johnstone's new website this year. The Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music graduate defines himself as a "Singer, Actor, Model" and it's tough to argue with it. The lyric baritone has sung with the Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera San Diego, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Pops, Boston Pops and performing Poulenc’s Le bal masqué for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra with Maestro James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 (RUNNER UP) - NICHOLAS NELSON

Nicholas Nelson: Singer or Abercombie & Fitch model?

When we first saw these pictures, we thought they were from an Abercombie & Fitch catalogue. If there is any question left in anyone's mind that singers are taking better care of their bodies these days, these pictures should dispel those thoughts. Nelson is currently with the Portland Opera Studio, one of the beneficiaries of funds from our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar.

BEST STUDIO RECORDING - HENK NEVEN

Henk Neven: Best baritone studio CD of the year

Henk Neven was nominated for a presitigious Gramophone Award in the category of "Solo Vocal." Neven was nomintated for his recording of Carl Loewe's "Ballades" and Robert Schumann's Liederkreis with Hans Eijsackers on piano. It's an amazing recording that should belong in everyone's playlist.

BEST TREND - LIVING AMERICAN COMPOSERS

Daniel Okulitch, Randal Turner & David Adam Moore

The music of living American Composers was all the rage this year. Barihunks Randal Turner and Daniel Okulitch both released brilliant CDs based on the theme. The Five Burroughs Music Festival run by barihunk Jesse Blumberg featured music by living American composers, including performances from fellow barihunk David Adam Moore. The New York Festival of Song, under one of our favorites, Steven Blier, also continued to deliver some of the best new American music on the scene.



BEST NEWCOMERS - PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

We had a great post this year which asked the question: Can barihunks sing? If there was any question about it, two newcomers to the site Philippe Sly and Dominik Köninger quickly dispelled the myth. Sly blew away audiences during his brief tenure at the Merola Opera Program and went on to win the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.  He was identified early on as a favorite to win the competition and his version of Schubert's haunting Der Erlkönig drew comparisons to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and other great baritones.


In a year where baritones won almost every vocal competition, German barihunk Dominik Köninger took the top prize at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. His seamless phrasing and beauty of tone instantly became the talk of European impresarios and critics.

BEST NUDE SCENE - CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN IN "JUAN"

Christopher Maltman in Juan

Ever since we posted that Christopher Maltman appeared nude in Kasper Holten's abbreviated and updated film version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," our inbox was filled with queries asking us where they could see the film. Unfortunately, the film had VERY limited release in the U.S. and wasn't made available on DVD to North Americans. Fortunately, a fan of our site directed us to this LINK where the film can be viewed online for free. We suspect that they're getting a sudden uptick in traffic.

BEST AND WORST OPERAS OF THE YEAR
BEST - HYDROGEN JUKEBOX IN FT. WORTH
WORST - GRISELDA IN SANTA FE

Dan Kempson & Justin Hopkins

The Ft. Worth Opera Festival continues to establish itself as a mandatory summer stop for any serious opera fan. This year's production of Phillip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" was the surprise hit of the year. Directed by the Lawrence Edelson and featuring barihunks Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins (who often appeared only in boxers), the production made an excellent case for this opera entering the standard repertory.

Gronk working on the Griselda sets

If you were looking for a short night at the opera, then you should have been at the Santa Fe Opera's production of Vivaldi's "Griselda." Director Peter Sellars and artist Gronk created an incoherent updating of a baroque masterpiece that had people scrambling for the exits. After Act 1 Santa Fe was filled with opera goers at local bars asking, "What the hell was that?"

BEST AND WORST DIRECTORS
BEST: JOHN DE LOS SANTOS
WORST: MICHAEL GRANDAGE

John de los Santos and Michael Grandage

We return to Ft. Worth for our best young director, John de los Santos, who brought such vibrancy to Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" that it seemed like a brand new hit show. We've been featuring a video of his work in our sidebar, as we think that his work should be more widely known to opera fans. He will be working on his first Wagner opera this year, when he joins the creative team at the Dallas Opera for their "Tristan und Isolde."

We've always had great respect for Michael Grandage as an actor and for much of his theatrical work. However, he needs to stay away from the opera house. He is the antithesis of everything that this site stands for, which is making opera accessible and interesting to modern audiences, as well as making it sexy when appropriate. He took all of the sexual tension out of Britten's "Billy Budd" at Glyndebourne and then mounted what the Guardian called a "disastrously dull" Don Giovanni at the Met. Two operas that thrive on sexual tension were basically emasculated by Grandage.

BEST BARIHUNK FEAST - MINNESOTA OPERA'S "SILENT NIGHT"

Mike Nyby

Kevin Puts' opera "Silent Night" contains more sexy men than a World Cup soccer championship. There were four barihunks in the premiere at the Minnesota Opera who had appeared on this site before, including Mike Nyby, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager and Liam Bonner, as well as Andrew Wilkowske. The opera is based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion and recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

BEST BARIHUNK WEDDING - ZACH ALTMAN & DAN KEMPSON

Zach Altman & Dan Kempson

This isn't you're grandmother's world of opera anymore. Baritones aren't the villains anymore, they're getting married to each other. Two of the most popular barihunks on this site tied the knot this year, Zach Altman and Dan Kempson. We wish them well!

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD AWARD - NATHAN GUNN

Nathan Gunn as Tarquinius in Vienna

We're going to leave you with Nathan Gunn, whose popularity with Barihunks fans is off the charts. The 41-year-old singer still looks hotter than guys twenty years his junior. He returned to the role of Tarquinius in Vienna this year and still looked as sexy as when he sung the role in Philadelphia years ago. He's also about to return to the role of Billy Budd, which is often performed by guys 10-20 years younger. Gunn also promotes his fitness routine, which we think is good for opera and good for the singers.

HAVE A GREAT 2012!!!

Seth Carico Returns to U.S. for Recital

Seth Carico looking all sexy

Seth Carico will be returning from the Deutsche Oper in Berlin where he is performing in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and Puccini's "Tosca" to give a recital at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Carico will perform Ned Rorem's "War Scenes," Ibert's "Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte," and Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121." The performance is on Tuesday, November 8  at 7:00pm.

Carico can next be seen on stage in the U.S. at the Fort Worth Opera, where he created a sensation as Victor in Jorge Martín’s "Before Night Falls." Carico is returning to perform another contemporary role when he tackles Leonidas in Mark Adamo's "Lysistrata," which runs from May 26 to June 3.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Seth Carico: Lean and Clean-shaven

Seth Carico: Fear the Beard

The last time that we featured Seth Carico he had created the Fidel Castro-esque character in Jorge Martin's "Before Night Falls" at the Ft. Worth Opera Festival. Carico brilliantly captured the vile character and completely embodied the part.


So we barely recognized him when we saw these pictures from the Ash Lawn Opera's production of the "King & I." Carico reminds us of William Shatner's commercial where he claims to be the "Master of Disguises," as his transformation is truly stunning. He even lost considerable weight a la Tom Hanks in "Cast Away."

Seth Carico in The King & I

Carico received critical praise for his role in "Before Night Falls" and the plaudits have continued  with his new appearance.

Clare Aukofer in The Daily Press wrote:

There is a nuanced chemistry between Elizabeth Andrews Roberts as Anna and Seth Mease Carico as the king. Both are undeniably talented; Roberts’ pure, rich soprano and solid acting bring to light all the shades of the character and do full justice to the well-loved songs.

Carico sneaks up on you; if you saw last year’s shows, you might not reconcile his regal presence to the clever servant he played in last year’s production of Don Giovanni or to the funny sidekick in Brigadoon. He is masterful as the king, with a voice so rich you could sink into it, complemented by superb acting. The two together are electric.

Two performances of the "King & I" remain on August 6th and 7th. For ticket and additional production information click HERE. 

Since his success in Ft. Worth, Carico has been part of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he as performed  Zuniga in Carmen, Sacristan in Tosca, and Panthée in Les Troyens. This Fall he returns to the famed German theater to perform in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and Puccini's "Tosca."

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Reader Submission: John Cabrali

John Cabrali

We're beginning to think that our "reader submission" suggestion was our best idea ever. We can barely keep up with the onslaught of emails and the barihunks are coming out of the woodworks. John Cabrali is our latest addition and who can resist his Hollywood looks?

The Miami native has appeared with the Seagle Music Colony as the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola. He is currently a master's candidate at Florida International University, where he has performed the roles of Pandolfe in Massenet's Cendrillon, Buonafede in Haydn's Il mondo della luna, and performed as the bass soloist in Händel's Messiah. He is also a 2011 participant in the Martina Arroyo Foundation program.

John Cabrali

Cabrali holds his bachelor's degree from New World School of the Arts, where he appeared as Don Alfonso om Cosi Fan Tutte, the Chief of Police in Amelia al Ballo, and Matthew in La Divina. His future engagements include Figaro (cover) in Le nozze di Figaro, Sciarrone in Tosca, and Bion in Lysistrata with Fort Worth Opera.

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Justin Hopkins: The Impossible Dream

Justin Hopkins

American bass-baritone Justin Hopkins burst onto the international opera scene in 2010, performing the combined roles of Il Servo, Il Medico and Heraldo in Macbeth with Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.  He was praised as having "created something very beautiful with the role" and the production was awarded "Production of the Year" by Opernwelt.  In the same season Hopkins performed the roles of Colline in La Boheme with the Verbier Festival Academy and Cappadocian in Salome under the direction of Valery Gergiev with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.

During the 2010-2011 season, he will perform Frère Laurent Romeo et Juliette with Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with Fort Worth Opera.

Here is a handheld video of Hopkins singing "The Impossible Dream" at a performance of "Heeere's Tony" at the Act II Playhouse last week.



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Dan Kempson: Britten & Glass

Dan Kempson: Sexy with our without a shirt

Our recent post of a shirtless Dan Kempson enjoying some ice cream has proved quite popular. Here's a video of him talking about his participation in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia" during Pittsburgh Opera's 2009-2010 season.



We just learned that Kempson will be at Ft. Worth Opera's upcoming season in Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox." Performances will run from May 24 to June 5, 2011. Visit the Ft. Worth Opera website for more information.

Hydrogen Jukebox is the result of a collaboration between Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass. It premiered in 1990 at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC. The original production had six members in its cast, each one representative of an American archetype. The idea was to present a portrait of America, from Ginsberg and Glass's point of view, from the 1950s to the late 1980s.

Fort Worth Opera's version of Hydrogen Jukebox will vary from its original production. It will be performed in a very small space and we are exploring ways of integrating the audience into the piece, if not physically, then mentally and emotionally. It will also include imagery of "journey" – both the journey of the poet as well as the country. It will not be a literal setting of a journey as an arc of the entire piece; rather, there will be re-occurrences of journey and/or travel as a common theme among the poems.



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Before Night Falls

Before Night Falls

The recording of Ft. Worth Opera's world premiere of "Before Night Falls" will be available in October 2010. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

Wes Mason in Before Night Falls

Also, fans of the opera's star barihunk Wes Mason can see some new sexy photos on his Facebook fan page. Unfortunately, we can't reprint them due to copyright restrictions. You can also view the extensive coverage of Before Night Falls that appeared on Barihunks by clicking HERE.

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Wes Mason

Here is the best shot that we've seen from Before Night Falls at the Ft. Worth Opera. There is still one performance scheduled for Sunday, June 6th.
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Wes Mason: Overnight Sensation

We've been eagerly following the build up to the world premiere of "Before Night Falls" at the Ft. Worth Opera summer festival. Clearly, all eyes were on barihunk Wes Mason, the charismatic and talented young singer cast in the lead role. It's rare that a young singer with few major roles under his belt is tasked with such a demanding role at such an early stage of his career.

But credit General Director Darren Woods for having faith in Mason. In the videos we posted early one could see the enormous talent and growth of this young artist. From all accounts, Mason was a huge success. If conversations and emails that we've had with people in the opera world are any indication, we're going to be seeing a lot more of Wes Mason.

Here are some snippets from the first wave of reviews:

Onstage and singing much of the time, Wes Mason portrays Arenas with movie-star looks, a handsome baritone and strikingly clear diction. Scott Cantrell - Dallas Morning News

Wes Mason totally mastered an extraordinarily demanding role. Reinaldo Arenas, the central character, is on stage throughout the opera and sings in virtually every scene. This is a marathon for him, and he nailed it totally tonight. Blogger Leonard Link


Wes Mason as Arenas – who was rarely not onstage for two-and-half-hours — and Seth Mease Carico as a Fidel Castro type scored points, especially dramatically. Blogger Olin Chism

Wes Mason rises to the challenge of portraying Arenas, although you cannot help but wonder at the wisdom of entrusting such a punishing role to a young singer. He has a remarkable fresh lyric baritone voice, which one hopes he will be able to keep. Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones

Read the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram review HERE.
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Ft. Worth's Delectable Duo Garners Raves

[Michael Todd Simpson & Tom Corbeil, Photo; Ft. Worth Opera]


There has been a buzz about Ft. Worth Opera's Don Giovanni ever since the cast was announced. Admittedly, much of it had to do with the amazing soprano Susanna Phillips tackling the role of Donna Anna. But when opera fanatics learned that barihunk Michael Todd Simpson was being paired with the Leporello of Tom Corbeil, this literally became the hottest opera ticket around.

From all accounts, the performances and eye candy have lived up to the advance hype.

The Ft. Worth Express wrote:

Baritone Michael Todd Simpson...has probably exceeded expectations and is already a memorable Don Giovanni. His voice is strong and flexible, and his portrayal had the subtle nuances normally associated with a veteran performer.

Leporello –– handsomely sung by baritone Tom Corbeil –– was a contemporary here rather than an old retainer. The dynamic pointed up the class frictions touched on in the libretto and helped make Leporello’s impersonation of the lady-killing Don Giovanni more believable.

The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram wrote:

Michael Todd Simpson was a superb Giovanni, dashing with a sinister edge. As his servant Leporello, Tom Corbeil sang the famous "Catalogue Aria" with a fine, burly bass, woodwinds chattering like mocking laughter in the background.

[Michael Todd Simpson, Holli Harrison and Tom Corbeil. Photo by Ellen Appel]


Perhaps our favorite review came from D Magazine:

The pairing of Michael Todd Simpson in the title role with Thomas Corbeil as his faithful, ever-complaining manservant Leporella was a masterstroke on several levels. Both lean and tall, with long brunette hair, they created a visual pairing that continually emphasized their embodiment of opposite aspects of humanity. While in any decent production of Don Giovanni the tension of master and servant between these two is one of the central aspects, the physical similarities between these two singing actors emphasized Mozart and Da Ponte’s subtle dig at the rotting class structure that pervaded Europe . The ability of both to move with impressive agility across the stage added to their effectiveness as a team, and the powerful beauty of both of their voices further enhanced the magic of their performance. Along with the bounding energy the two brought to their roles, director Richard Kagey introduced numerous small but significant elements—Giovanni casually wiping the blood off of a dagger on his shirt, for instance, or Leporello’s rebuffed attempt to join Giovanni at the table for a meal—that constantly reminded the audience that Giovanni, sexy aristocrat though he may be, is still a compulsive thug of the worst sort.

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Bolduc To Appear As Belcore

We featured Christopher Bolduc over a year ago as a barihunk whose career was about to take off. We're thrilled to see that he's been cast as Belcore in Ft. Worth Opera's production of 'L'elisir d'amore" during their summer season. We're still bullish on Bolduc and predict great things for this young singer. It's great that Ft. Worth is willing to put young singers on stage in roles like Belcore, rather than always casting the same handful of singers.

Belcore isn't usually considered a barihunk role, although Mariusz Kwiecien sexed up the role in Amsterdam, as seen on this site.



It looks like Ft. Forth is sticking with a more traditional performance than their Dutch counterparts, but we're still confident that Bolduc will look good and sound good. Here is a video of him from the Academy of Vocal Arts singing another non-barihunk role, Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff."



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"Before Night Falls" in 4 Minutes

The opening of the world premiere of "Before Night Falls" is rapidly approaching. The buzz in the theater and opera world is that this is one of the "10 Must See" events of 2010. We've been promoting the opera because the lead is searingly sexy Wes Mason. Performances are on May 29 and May 6 at the Ft. Worth Opera.

Here is a synopsis of the story and a video which sums up the opera in four minutes.

As Reinaldo Arenas lies dying of AIDS in New York City, he remembers his home in Cuba as Fidel Castro takes power. A counter-revolutionary and homosexual, he is prosecuted by the state for having his manuscripts published outside Cuba. After a period of imprisonment and torture, Reinaldo's friend Lazaro receives permission to leave the country, but Reinaldo must find a way to escape to America. After learning he has a fatal disease, Reinaldo rushes to finish his memoirs and Lazaro stays by his side until the end.

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Wes Mason on "Before Night Falls"

We've previously posted some videos of barihunk Wes Mason talking about his upcoming role as the famous author Reinaldo Arenas in the world premiere of the opera "Before Night Falls." Here is the latest video in what has become a fascinating series in watching this young singer prepare for the role of a lifetime. The opera opens on May 29 and repeats on June 6. For more information check out the Ft. Worth Opera website at www.fwopera.org.



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Michael Todd Simpson Discusses "Don Giovanni"

Our beloved Ft. Worth Opera is presenting the lean, sexy "Don Giovanni" of barihunk Michael Todd Simpson beginning May 22 and running through June 4. We'll certainly be posting more about their summer season, which includes some of the hottest barihunks around. In the meantime, here is Michael Todd Simpson talking about his upcoming role.



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