Barihunk Quartet takes home GRAMMY Award

John Brancy, Gabriel Preisser, Andrew Craig Brown and John Dooley (clockwise)

The barihunk quartet of John Brancy, Gabriel Preisser, Andrew Craig Brown and John Dooley took home the "Best Opera Recording" GRAMMY award last night for their recording of Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Released on the BMOPsound label, the recording features the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in collaboration with Odyssey Opera and Boston Children's Chorus under the baton of Gil Rose. The cast also includes hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock, Krista River, Edwin Vega, Elizabeth Futral, Tynan Davis, Andrey Nemzer and Gail Novak Mosites.

For those unfamiliar with story, Brancy's Mr. Fox is virtually moribund after having his tail shot off by money-loving farmers, only to become happy again after outwitting his enemies.

Every nominee in this category featured at least one barihunk. Other nominees were George Benjamin's Lessons In Love & Violence with barihunk Stéphane Degout, Alban Berg's Wozzeck with barihunk Christopher Maltman, Charpentier's Les Plaisirs de Versailles with barihunk Jesse Blumberg and Richard Wagner's Lohengrin with barihunk Tomasz Konieczny.

“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” wins Grammy for best Opera Recording

Ed Parks as Steve Jobs (Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Opera)

“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” by composer Mason Bates walked away with the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. The recording featured two barihunks, Edward Parks and Kelly Markgraf, along with Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu and conductor Michael Christie with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

Daniel Kushner in his "Critic's Choice" review in Opera News wrote of the opera, that it "may well become a staple in the twenty-first century’s operatic canon...it’s the work’s subtle nuances in structure, text and the musical treatment of the characters that are most impactful—and may point to where the future of opera is headed."

Every nominee for Best Opera Recording this year featured a barihunk. The other nominees were:

• John Adams, Doctor Atomic, featuring barihunk Aubrey Allicock, Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock and Brindley Sherratt. 
• Jean-Baptiste Lully, Alceste, featuring barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Douglas Williams, Emiliano Gonzalez, Toro and Judith Van Wanroij. 
• Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, featuring Günther Groissböck, Elīna Garanča and Erin Morley. 
• Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto, featuring the late barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nadine Sierra.

There are two performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs coming up on the West Coast. The Seattle Opera will perform the piece from February 23 through March 9th with John Moore as Steve Jobs with Nicole Paiement conducting. The San Francisco Opera will present the opera from June 20 through July 3r with Edward Parks as Steve Jobs and Michael Christie conducting.

Simon Keenlyside knighted by Prince Charles

Simon Keenlyside (photos: Clarence House)

British barihunk Simon Keenlyside was knighted by HRH The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on February 7, 2019 for his "services to music.'

After the ceremony, he commented,  "I like the fact that the arts in some way are included. It's a wonderful present and I am thrilled to have it."

The 59-year-old singer made his debut as Lescaut in Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1987.  The following year, he performed Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Hamburg State Opera. In 1989, he joined the roster of Scottish Opera, where he remained until 1994, performing a wide range of repertory from operetta to Puccini, Britten and Richard Strauss.

He won a Grammy Award for his recording of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and in 2011 was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year.
 
Also knighted at the ceremony was Nobel Prize-winning author Kazou Ishiguro, who wrote "Remains Of The Day," "Never Let Me Go" and "An Artist Of The Floating World."

GRAMMY nominee Edwin Crossley-Mercer sings holiday music

Edwin Crossley-Mercer from the 2018 Barihunks calendar (photo: JF l'Oiseleur des Longchamps)

2018 Barihunk Calendar model Edwin Crossley-Mercer will be performing at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on December 22nd along with soprano Marina Monzó and Dmitry Korchak. Joined by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and The Little Singers of Tokyo chorus, they will perform holiday favorites, along with some greatest hits from opera. Tickets are available online. 

On January 28th, he will find out if the album "Mademoiselle: Première Audience - Unknown Music Of Nadia Boulanger," which he perform on, will win the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium. He also recently released a recording of Lully's Alceste with Christophe Rousset and the Les Talens Lyriques. Early in 2018, he will be releasing two CD's, one with songs to texts by Oscar Wilde and another to texts by Cody Franchetti. The 80-minute Wilde song set will be premiered this summer in Paris.

If you want to catch him live in an opera, he'll be performing Leporello at the Municipal de Santiago in April with Levent Bakirci in the title role and bass-barihunk Solomon Howard as the Commendatore. In the summer, he heads to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich for Haydn's Orlando Paladino. 

Jason Duika from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar

 ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER 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.

Christopher Herbert singing Bach; European tour with New York Polyphony

Christopher Herbert

Bach lovers, rejoice and sing! You'll have two chances to hear Christopher Herbert sing music by your favorite composer, as he is the soloist in two upcoming performances of the baroque master's music.

On Monday, April 7th he'll perform Bach's Cantata BWV 32 ("Liebster Jesu, Mein Verlangen") with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Choir at Trinity Wall Street in New York City. Five days later on Saturday, April 12th he'll be the bass soloist in Bach's Saint Matthew Passion with the Canticum Novum Singers at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste near Central Park.

After one New York performance on Tuesday, April 15, Christopher Herbert reunites with New York Polyphony for a European tour to the Netherlands and Germany where they will focus on Franco-Flemish Renaissance polyphony dominated by the theme of mortality.

New York Polyphony sings Times go by Turns:

New York Polyphony’s CD Times go by Turns was nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. The album features masses by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, a three-voice mass setting by medieval English composer John Plummer, and three new works written for New York Polyphony by composers Gabriel Jackson, Andrew Smith, and the late Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.

Make sure to check out Christopher Herbert's new website (which includes the photo in the barihunk tee shirt shown above!).

Free Masterclass with Chris Carr and Joyce DiDonato

If you're in the Kansas City area on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, you can hear emerging barihunk Chris Carr for free. He'll be performing a masterclass with world-renowned mezzo Joyce DiDonato and the Kansas City Symphony at 7 p.m.

DiDonato recently won a Grammy for best classical vocal solo for her album “Diva Divo.” She will give her first Kauffman Center performance at 8 p.m. March 23-24 and at 2 p.m. March 25 with the Kansas City Symphony.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/17/3493204/songs-link-womens-passion.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/17/3493204/songs-link-womens-passion.html#storylink=cpy

The masterclass features three Kansas City-area vocal students, including University of Missouri/Kansas City student Chris Carr, who studies with famed tenor Vinson Cole. Carr was a Lyric Opera of Kansas City Artist Apprentice in the 2011–12 season. Carr will perform "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville.

Listen to Chris Carr performing the Tanzlied from Korngold's 

Die Tote Stadt at a Des Moines Opera masterclass:

   

Here's a more recent recording of Chris Carr singing Largo al factotum:

The event is free, but register HERE to ensure seating.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com 

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Opera "Elmer Gantry" wins two Grammy Awards

Keith Phares & Jenny Rivera in Elmer Gantry

The recording of the Milwaukee-based Florentine Opera Company's production of Robert Aldridge's "Elmer Gantry" won two of the three Grammy Awards for which it was nominated.

Composer Robert Aldridge won for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" for the opera, while the Naxos recording won for classical music's "Best Engineered Album." The recording also was also nominated for "Classical Producer of the Year." The recording features barihunk Keith Phares, who has virtually owned the role. He has performed the work at Montclair State University, Nashville Opera and Florentine Opera.

Keith Phares & Jenny Rivera sing the love duet from Elmer Gantry:

Here is the complete list of classical music Grammy Award winners:

Choral Performance: “Light & Gold,” Eric Whitacre
Classical Contemporary Composition: “Elmer Gantry,” Robert Aldridge & Herschel Garfein
Producer of the Year, Classical: Judith Sherman
Orchestral Performance: “Brahms: Symphony No. 4,” Gustavo Dudamel
Opera Recording: “Adams: Doctor Atomic,” Alan Gilbert, conductor
Best Small Ensemble Performance: Mackey: Lonely Motel - Music From Slide
Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Schwantner: Concerto For Percussion & Orchestra Nashville Symphony.
Best Classical Vocal Solo: Diva Divo - Joyce DiDonato

Daniel Belcher wins Grammy Award

(Photo by Christian Steiner)

Barihunks would like to congratulate Daniel Belcher, who was part of the team that won a Grammy Award last night for Best Opera Recording.

Belcher appears on the recording of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s  L’amour de loin, produced by Martin Sauer.
    
The album features the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by conductor Kent Nagano, the former music director of the Los Angeles Opera. Joining Belcher in the cast is Jekaterina Lehina, and Marie-AngeTodorovitch.
 
L'amour de loin, Saariaho's first opera, composed to a libretto by Amin Maalouf, was premiered at the Salzburg Festival in August 2000. Peter Sellars directed the original production, as well as several later versions.

Belcher is currently in the middle of a run portraying Masetto opposite the Don Giovanni of fellow barihunk Kelly Markgraf at Opera Omaha.  There are two remaining performance on February 25 and 27. 


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Nathan Gunn's "Billy Budd" Wins Grammy

At tonight's Grammy Awards Nathan Gunn's recording of Britten's "Billy Budd" won for "Best Opera Recording." Gunn performs the opera with the London Symphony conducted by Daniel Harding. The recording also features Neal Davies, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose and Gidon Saks.

Barihunks would like to congratulate Nathan Gunn, who is consistently one of the most popular singers on this site.

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