Reader Submission: Bernhard Hansky

Bernard Hansky (Photo: Matthias Creutziger)

A reader alerted us to barihunk Bernhard Hansky, who hails from Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany near the Polish border.

He was joined the opera studio at the Semperoper in 2015 and the house’s solo ensemble for the 2017-18 season. His roles with the company have included Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata, Morales in Bizet's Carmen, Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Kilian in Weber's Der Freischütz.

He can next be seen with the company as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte beginning July 6th. He'll have eleven additional performances of the role through June 2020. He will also be performing Don Alvaro in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il viaggio a Reims from September-November 2019.

Other career highlights have included Don Giovanni at Volkstheater Rostock and the Estates Theatre in Prague, Falke in Die Fledermaus at Staatsoperette Dresden, and Dandini in La cenerentola at the National Opera Brno, the Opera Festival Lignano and at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad.

In 2008 he was awarded the Franz Grothe Foundation Award at Germany's Bundeswettbewerb Gesang.

Hansky has some barihunk pedigree, having studied with both Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Roman Trekel.

Georg Festl featured in title role of Saint François d’Assise

Georg Festl as Saint François (Photo: © Stephan Ernst)

Georg Festl created quite a stir with our readers when we introduced him with a shirtless picture back in July.

He's now performing the title role in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d’Assise at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, which runs through October 28th. The cast includes fellow barihunks Julian Orlishausen as Frère Léon and Johannes Seokhoon Moon as Frère Bernard, along with Katharina Persicke as the Angel, Mickael Spadaccini as the Leper, David Lee as Frère Massée, Michael Pegher as Frére Elie and Werner Volker-Meyer as Frére Sylvestre. Tickets are available online.

This was Messiaen's only opera and it took him eight years to complete. It premiered at the Paris Opera in 1983 and reflects his devout Catholicism.  In searching for a subject, Messiaen pondered dramatizing either Christ's Passion or his Resurrection. Feeling unworthy of either subject, he eventually chose to dramatize the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, which paralleled Christ's chastity, humility, poverty, and suffering. Messiaen also wrote the libretto, consulting Franciscan sources, reading biographies by Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure, as well as Francis' own prayers (including Canticle of the Sun). He also cited passages from the Fioretti, Considerations on the Stigmata and the Bible.  

Georg Festl as Saint François (Photo: © Stephan Ernst)

Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.  He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship.

From 2015-2017, he sang at the Theater Augsburg, where he performed in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules, Verdi's Macbeth, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Die Csárdásfürstin, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Tosca and the children's opera Ritter Odilo und der strenge Herr Winter by Mareike Zimmermann.

Benjamin Appl to replace Piotr Beczala

Tenor Piotr Beczala had to cancel his August 25th Schubertiade Schwarzenberg recital due to laryngitis. Barihunk Benjamin Appl has been tapped to replace him and will perform a program of Schubert, Schumann and Grieg. Accompanist Helmut Deutsch, who was scheduled to play piano for Beczala, will perform with Appl. Tickets are available online.

Appl has other upcoming recitals on September 9th in Köln and on September 21 in Bad Kohlgrub. He then heads to Tokyo to perform Orff's Carmina Burana with soprano Olga Peretyatko and countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić.

On September 7th, Appl will release his solo album of Bach with Concerto Köln for Sony Classical. The album includes music from the St. Matthew Passion, as well as lesser known pieces selected by Appl.

Marco Vassalli returns to U.S.to reprise acclaimed American debut program

Marco Vassalli's Barihunk photo shoot in France

German barihunk Marco Vassalli will be back in the United States to reprise his stunning U.S. debut with Musica Marin two years ago. In 2016, he premiered two works by composer-in-residence Clint Borzoni based on German poetry.

The first song is based on Hermann Hesse's Stufen and the second text Margere Kost is by the contemporary poet Hilde Domin. These are the first German language texts set by Borzoni. The premiere was so popular two years ago that a second performance had to be added. Demand has been so high that Vassalli has agreed to repeat the performance along with Samuel Barber's Dover Beach, which he also performed in his U.S. debut.

Marco Vassalli sings Clint Borzoni's "Stufen" with over 16k views on YouTube!

Marco Vassalli sings Clint Borzoni's "Magere Kost" with over 8k views on YouTube!

This year, Musica Marin is presenting their first festival setting and it will kick off on September 21st with Vassalli performing on a yacht on San Francisco Bay with food and wine prepared by “Best of the Bay” Chef Mark Furr. On the following day, Vassalli will repeat his performance of the Barber and Borzoni piece, all of which are set for string quartet and baritone, along with Johannes Brahms' String Sextet No. 2 in G Major Op. 36.

The Musica Marin International Chamber Music Festival performs masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire in various settings in the San Francisco Bay Area along with gourmet food and wines from Napa and Sonoma counties.

Tickets and additional information is available online. 

Reader Submission: German bass-barihunk Georg Festl

Georg Festl

German bass-barihunk Georg Festl, who is part of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, was suggested to us by one of our readers.

This season he has performed the lead role in Messiaen‘s Saint François d’Assise, Papageno/Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Tom in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Pietro in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. On November 15th, he will begin a run as Frank in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, which runs through December 9th.

Georg Festl als Figaro @ Staatstheater Darmstadt from Georg Festl on Vimeo.

From 2015-2017, he sang at the Theater Augsburg, where he performed in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules, Verdi's Macbeth, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Die Csárdásfürstin, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Tosca and the children's opera Ritter Odilo und der strenge Herr Winter by Mareike Zimmermann.

Georg Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.

He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship.

German Barihunk Dominik Köninger: Interview and live broadcast

Dominik Köninger (foreground) and Günter Papendell (Photo: Monika Rittershaus)

Classical music writer Catherine Kustanczy, a.k.a. The Opera Queen, interviewed barihunk Dominik Köninger and asked him about being on Barihunks. He responded, "This is really flattering, I have to say.  I was and am always flattered when I read things about me. Those guys are ripped!" You can read the entire interview HERE.

You can also watch him in a live stream of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande from the Komische Oper on OperaVision.eu on Sunday, October 15th at 6:00 PM CET/1 PM EST/10 AM PST. If you can't watch it live, the performance will be available until April 14th. Köninger will sing Pelleas and fellow barihunk Günter Papendell will sing Golaud.

Zachary Gordin and Gianluca Margheri

Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Barihunk Eddie Nelson to perform at historic Maybeck Studio

Maybeck Studio in Berkeley and Eddie Nelson

Barihunk Eddie Nelson will perform at the historic Bernard Maybeck Studio in a special fundraiser for the West Edge Opera. He'll be joined by accompanist Ronny Michael Greenberg, both of whom have close associations with the San Francisco, having participated in the Merola Opera Program and the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Program.

The performance will be Sunday, May 21st at 3 p.m. with light refreshments, champagne and wine being served. The concert will include music by Duparc mélodies and excerpts from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, in which Nelson will sing the title role at West Edge Opera's Summer Festival. 

The historic Maybeck Studio for the Performing Arts was built in 1914 by Bernard Maybeck, the architect of San Francisco's iconic Palace of Fine Arts. Joseph R. Nixon commissioned the building as a live-in studio for his daughter Milda’s piano teacher, Alma Schmidt Kennedy. The studio boasts beautiful acoustics and a long history of hosting world-class performances and recordings. Performances have been hosted there for over 100 years. The house includes two of Maybeck's favorite architectual devices, the Gothic tracery "S" patterns along the balcony and the Japanese-like split eaves on the gables.

Admission to this event is available with a donation of $175 per person, of which $145 is tax deductible. Click HERE to reserve a seat.

Malte Roesner, who appears with the West Edge Summer Festival

In addition to Edward Nelson's Hamlet, the West Edge Opera Summer season will also include the U.S. debut of German bass-barihunk Malte Roesner in Soler's The Chastity Tree.
This is Spanish composer Vicente Martín y Soler's most famous work and is also known by its original title L'arbore di Diana.

Librettist Lorenzo da Ponte created a story from a legend that tells the tale of how Diana, the Greek god of chastity, falls in love with the shepherd Endymion. The plot —halfway between pastoral literature and erotic comedy also praises the political openness of the Archduke Joseph II of Austria.


Tickets and additional information on the West Edge Opera Summer Festival are available online. Roesner is also scheduled to sing a concert of music by Soler and his contemporaries featuring soprano Aurora Perry and tenor Samuel Levine. Details will be announced shortly.

Introducing barihunks David Pichlmaier & Wolfgang Schwaiger

David Pichlmaier as Figaro in Darmstadt (right)

Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia opened at the Staatstheater Darmstadt with two barihunks rotating the role of the barber Figaro. Both German David Pichlmaier and Austrian Wolfgang Schwaiger are new to the site.

David Pichlmaier was born in Munich and began singing with the Stuttgarter Hymnuschorknaben (Boys Choir) and the Collegium Iuvenum Stuttgart. After completing his studies in Stuttgart and Weimar he was joined the Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera. He has also won numerous international singing competitions.

His career has taken him to opera houses in Bremen, Leipzig, Karlsruhe, Bonn and Dusseldorf and festivals such as the Operetta Festival Berlin or the Festival d'Haute Alsace. Since the 2008-09 season he has been an ensemble member of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, where he has performed Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute,  Ottokar in Der Freishütz, Andrey in Boris Godunov, Orpée in Orpée aux Enfers, Peter in Hansel und Gretel, Schaunard in La bohème and critically acclaimed performances in the title roles in Berg's Wozzeck and Wolfgang Rihm Jakob Lenz.

Wolfgang Schwaiger and Sophie Rennert sing Dunque io son from Barber of Seville:

After a successful run in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, Wolfgang Schwaiger joined the Köln Opernstudio. He made his first performance on September 4th, as Madama Butterfly's uncle Yakuside at the Cologne Opera. On September 26th, he will sing the role of the King in Xavier Montsalvatge's children’s opera El gato con botas (Puss in Boots) and will also perform Papageno later this season on the main stage.
 

Wolfgang Schwaiger

Other roles at Opera Köln include Bognanovitch in Die Lustige Witwe, Count Dominik in Arabella and Moralés in Carmen. 

Performances of Il barbiere di Sivigila continue on October 2, 16, 21, 27, November 6 and 21, December 4, 12, 26, January 22 and February 5, 19. For tickets and additional cast information visit the Staatstheater Darmstadt website.

Benjamin Appl named ECHO Rising Star

Benjamin Appl

German barihunk Benjamin Appl was just named one of the European Concert Hall Organization's (ECHO) six outstanding young artists to become its Rising Stars. The selected Rising Stars receive professional development support and perform a concert tour across the halls of the ECHO network The ECHO Rising Stars series was founded in 1995 and has shaped the musical careers of many of today’s world class artists.

The aim of the Rising Stars series is to bring young and exceptional young artists to new international audiences. The selected artists are offered unparalleled performance opportunities to present musical programs of their choosing in the major concert halls of Europe. A new element for the 2015/2016 season is that each artist also has a new work commissioned for them as part of the series.  Composer Nico Muhly has been chosen to create a piece for Appl.

Other artists chosen this year are pianist Cathy Krier, cellist Harriet Krijgh, Quatour Zaïde, harrpist Remy van Kesteren and Trio Catch.

Bjorn Bürger and Edwin Crossley-Mercer share Papageno in Paris

Bjorn Bürger

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

Two of the hottest barihunks in all of opera will be performing the role of Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Paris Opera.  Edwin Crossley-Mercer will sing the first half of the run from April 17-May 14, with Bjorn Bürger taking over from May 26-June 28th. The production is directed by Robert Carsen.

In April, Bürger will be singing Dandini in Rossini's La cenerentola at the Frankfurt Opera, where he will return after his Papageno to take on another Mozart role - Masetto in Don Giovanni. Crossley-Mercer will stay at the Paris Opera where he takes on Brander in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust later this year.

Björn Bürger to sing title role in Owen Wingrave

Björn Bürger

German barihunk Björn Bürger, who we introduced to readers in August when he was competing in the Mirjam Helin Competition, will be singing the title role in Britten's Owen Wingrave at the Frankfurt Opera from January 10-30. The role was previously sung at the opera by fellow barihunk Michael Nagy. He's currently wrapping up two more performances as Harlequin in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with the company.

Bürger has been a member of the Frankfurt Opera Ensemble since 2013, where he's also sung Bengtson in Reimann's Die Gespenstersonate, Astolfo in Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He'll be adding Marcello in Puccini's La boheme to the list in February. In 2015, he will debut as Don Giovanni at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo.

Michael Nagy as Owen Wingrave in Frankfurt

In 2012, Bürger took First Prize at the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang 2012 (National Singing Competition) in Berlin and a year later the top prizes at the 'Emmerich-Smola Competition' and the Anneliese-Rothenberger Competition.

Owen Wingrave, which premiered in 1970, tells the story of a committed pacifist born into a renowned military family.  Despite strong disapproval over his beliefs and desperate to maintain the love of his would-be bride, Owen Wingrave is determined to prove his inner strength – even if it leads to his own demise.

Britten was a deeply committed pacifist, which traces back to his early life, particularly during his years at Gresham’s, his public school in Holt, Norfolk. He was know as a sensitive young boy who abhorred violence and bullying. World War I had cast a huge shadow over Britten’s generation and it was felt nowhere more keenly than at Gresham’s.  Britten was born a year before the onset of WWI  where the U.K. and its colonies saw 887,711 killed in action between 1914 and 1918. 100 boys from Gresham’s alone lost their lives.  His school formed one of the first branches of the League of Nations Union, which was designed to foster peace and prevent future conflict. The school also banned corporal punishment.

Britten's most famous pacifist composition is his War Requiem.

There is still time to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar before the New Year. Just click on the LULU button below.

Reader submission: Simon Schnorr in sexy operetta

Simon Schnorr in Don Giovanni

A reader in Germany alerted us to a very sexy production of Benatzky's Im Weissen Rössl at the Salzburger Landestheater. They described the production as filled with "Verlockende Männer" (seductive men) and a "sexy Bariton" named Simon Schnorr, who was playing Dr. Otto Siedler.

Well, that caught our attention. 

The Tyrolean set operetta isn't normally known for being particularly sexy, although it may appeal to a few lederhosen fetishists. However, this production serves up a good number of men wearing only white lederhosen, scenes with men in one-piece swimwear, shirtless dancers and a scene involving some dropped trousers. Sometimes German regie theatre has its benefits.

Two scenes from Benatzky's Im Weissen Rössl

Munich native Simon Schnorr was a member of the famed Tölzer Knabenchor in his youth, allowing him to perform as a chorister and alto soloist in many of the major European opera houses and concert halls. He pursued his vocal training with scholarships from the MIGROS-Kulturstiftung in Zürich and from the Richard Wagner Association in Karlsruhe. He went on to win the International Schubert Song Competition in Osaka, the Franz-Völker prize in Neu-Isenburg and the Gustav-Scheck price in Freiburg.

In 2008, Schnorr made his debut at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe playing the role of Morales in Bizet's Carmen and subsequently became a full time member of their Opera Studio. During that time he performed Ping in Puccini's Turandot, Donner in Wagner's Rheingold, the Sergeant in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Dumas in Giordano's Andrea Chenier and Viconte Valvert in Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac. To great acclaim, he took over the role the Traveler in Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice on short notice.

Since the 2009-2010 season Simon Schnorr has been a permanent member of the Salzburger Landestheater where he debuted as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Other roles with the company include Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Guglielmo, Eisenstein, Dandini, Belcore, Eugene Onegin and roles in Gluck's La Rencontre imprevue and Krenek's Jonny spielt auf.

Two scenes from Benatzky's Im Weissen Rössl

In 2012, he performed Giacomo II alongside the famed actor John Malkovich in the music theater project "The Giacomo Variations" and toured Canada with the show in 2013. The piece is based on the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova and features arias from Mozart's operas. He was also hailed by the press for his interpretation of the baritone part in Frank Martin's In terra pax at the Europäischen Kulturtagen (European Culture Days).

Performances of Benatzky's Im Weissen Rössl run through April 9 and tickets are available online. Schnorr will also appear with tenor Franz Supper at the Salzburger Landestheatre's New Year's Eve concert where they'll perform music by Johann Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.


If you can't make it to Austria, you can watch him on the Salzburg Festival's DVD of Alban Berg's Lulu. 

There are less than three weeks left to purchase your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar, featuring the sexiest men in all of opera. Order yours today by clicking below. All proceeds from this year's calendar is going directly to singers.  

Günter Papendell back in Berlin's colorful Don Giovanni

German barihunk Günter Papendell seems to live on the stage of he Komische Oper in Berlin in a tank top or shirtless (and we're not complaining!). He's returning to the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni on November 30th in the colorful, whimsical and provocative production by Herbert Fritsch. You might recall we posted about him the last time he sang the role in Berlin, so you may have guessed that it's a favorite performance of ours.

Günter Papendell at the Komische Oper in Berlin

Papendell has been with the Komische Oper since 2007, appearing as Marcello in La Bohème, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Kothner in Meistersinger, Jeletzky in Pique Dame, Förster in Schlaues Füchslein, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Odysseus in the Monteverdi trilogy, Demetrius in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pollux in Castor et Pollux by Rameau, Mary in Die Soldaten by Zimmermann and Marquis Posa in Don Carlo.

Next year, Papendell sings the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare and a return as Odysseus in the Monteverdi trilogy. 

Doug Carpenter & Richard Alexandre Rittelmann

Make sure to order 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking on the LULU button below.

Introducing two barihunks in Antheil double-bill

Theater Lübeck and Kong Seok Choi

Two young artists, who are both new to this site, will be featured in a double-bill of operas by George Antheil at the Theater Lübeck. Korean bass-barihunk Kong Seok Choi and German bass-barihunk Christian Henneberg will be featured in The Brothers and Venus in Africa, running from June 5-19. 

Kong Seok Choi studied singing at the Yonsei University, the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. He was a winner or finalist in numerous international vocal competitions, including the Richard Lewis Singing Competition, Blyth-Buesst Singing Competition London and the Giordano International Singing Competition.

He has performed as a Priest and as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute in Seoul, King René in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartolo and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in London. He is a member of the Opernelitestudios des Theater Lübeck. He performs the role of the ex-soldier Ran in The Brothers and the Innkeeper in Venus in Africa.

Christian Henneberg

28-year-old Christian Henneberg studied at the Saxon State School of Music and with his father Matthias Henneberg. He performed with the children's choir of the Dresden State Opera where he also appeared as the young Gottfried in Wagner's Lohengrin. He also studied oboe and piano.

As a member of the choir of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, he has toured the Bodensee Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Handel Festival in Halle and to Brazil.

In 2010, he furthered his studies at the Folkwang University in Essen with the noted bass Jan-Hendrik Rootering. As an ensemble member at the Dortmund Opera he has performed the Prince in Kurt Schwertsik's Eisberg nach Sizilien, Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville and three roles in the German premiere of Marc-Anthony Turnage's Anna -Nicole. He performs the male lead of Charles in Venus in Africa.

The Brothers is one of three one-act operas that Antheil composed in 1954. The opera is the retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, set not long after World War II in a middle-class American kitchen. Venus in Africa, is one of Antheil's later operas. It's a comedy about the visit of two young lovers (Charles and Yvonne) to Tunisia where Charles asks an ancient statue of Venus to teach him about love.

Sebastian Geyer in rare version of Orpheus myth

Sebastian Geyer in The Elixir of Love

German barihunk Sebastian Geyer, who we first introduced to readers back in 2010, is starring in Telemann’s rarely performed opera "Orpheus oder Die Wunderbare Bestängigkeit Der Liebe" (Orpheus or The Wonderful Constancy of Love). The production opened last night at the Oper Frankfurt and runs through June 8th. Tickets and additional information are available online. 

The opera tells of the destructive power of love from Eurydice's point of view. The myth of Orpheus is one of the best loved stories in literary and operatic history, at its center the power of music and love between Orpheus and Eurydice. In Telemann's version,  Orasia the Queen of Trace, who is in love with Orpheus plays a larger role than in versions by other composers. There also is no happy ending, as the composer/librettist ban all three main characters to the underworld.

Telemann’s Orpheus has often been dismissed as a pastiche because it included some well known passages from Handel and Lully operas. But the opera was a brave experiment that broke musical and dramaturgical boundaries. Telemann combined his own, strongly protestant, cantata forms with the sensuality of Italian opera and the courtly glamor of France. 

Sebastian Geyer in Orpheus at the Frankfurt Oper

Sebastian Geyer has become a leading baritone at the Oper Frankfurt, where he has sung Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Dr. Falke in Strauß' Die Fledermaus and the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare. He also has appeared on the company's recording of Richard Wagner's Die Feen.

On September 5th, he'll switch to Puccini as he sings Schaunard with the company in La bohème. He then travels to Wuppertal to sing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in a cast that includes fellow barihunk Damien Pass as Masetto. 

Barihunk strip tease in The Merry Widow (in Germany, of course!)

Laurence Meikle and Marco Vassalli

A reader is Germany pointed out that the current production of Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) at the Theater Altenburg in Gera, Germany features two barihunks, one who is new to this site. The newcomer is the extremely sexy Marco Vassalli who performs the role of Graf Danilo. Laurence Meikle, who has appeared on this site a number of times, performs the role of Cascada.

What really caught our reader's eye was that the two singers perform a strip tease at the end of the show where they're left wearing nothing but a hat. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures, but we're looking and asking around! There is one performance remaining on November 16th and tickets are available online.

Marco Vassalli performs Lehar's Graf von Luxemburg:

Despite his name, Vassalli is a German baritone who studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany. From 2006 to 2012 he was a member of the ensemble at the Städtischen Bühnen Osnabrück. After his run in Die Lustige Witwe he heads to the Landestheater Flensburg to perform in Frank Wildhorn's Dracula.

Meikle will head to the Theater Nordhausen to perform Antonio in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Meikle graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2010 and has performed extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.