Happy Birthday, Andrew Lloyd Webber

Ramin Karimloo poses nude for Testicular Cancer Ad

We're going to continue the birthday celebrations, even if it's a long trip from Bach to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Also, posting Ramin Karimloo as the singer honoring Webber is a bit of a stretch, but one that we think is worth it (because it's an excuse to re-post his picture). He has been called a "high baritone" in the press, even though he sounds like a tenor to us. All of that aside, we would like to wish Sir Andrew all the best on his 63rd birthday.

Here is Ramin Karimloo singing in the new official video of "Til I Hear You Sing" from "Love Never Dies":



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"Teddy Bare" Down Under

Teddy Tahu Rhodes - Baritone Bad Boy - Streeetcar,Don Giovanni etc from EXERO HDTV on Vimeo.

Opera Australia has just announced that "Teddy Bare," aka Teddy Tahu Rhodes, will be returning to the company as Escamillo in their production of Carmen. Rhodes will perform on January 15, 18,24 and February 1 and then turn over his Torreador's outfit to Shane Lowrencev.

The video is an extended interview with Rhodes, who talks about his singing career, his admiration for Dame Kiri te Kanawa, his worst experience on stage (which involved a horse), American vs. European audiences, and why he's glad that composers like Jake Heggie are writing new operas.

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Garland Talks Giovanni

[Photo: Mirshak Artist Management]

Barihunk Andrew Garland was featured in New Jersey's Star-Ledger talking about his debut performing the title role in Don Giovanni. Here is Garland talking about how different he is from the rakish Don in real life.

“In real life, I am the polar opposite of Don Giovanni,” Garland says of the legendary seducer whose exploits Mozart set to music. “I think of myself as being considerate, sometimes to a fault. I’ve only dated one woman my whole life and now I’m married to her.”

You can read the entire article at the Star-Ledger website.

Readers may remember Garland from two popular posts on this site. The first a feature with barihunks showing some skin that featured Garland in the shower.

The other post was a more serious post with Garland singing Lee Hoiby's heartrending version of "Last Letter Home from Iraq." If you haven't watched this video click on the link, as it is one of the most popular music links that we've posted and for good reason.

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Luca Dall'Amico: A shirtless Mustafa

One doesn't think of Mustafa in Rossini's "L'Italiana in algeri" as a barihunk role. It's usually sung by a bariChunk well into his career and more known for his character acting than his abs and pecs. But when Italian barihunk Luca Dall'Amico is cast in the role one can't blame the director for asking him to sing the role shirtless. The only complication might be that Isabella might decide to stay with Mustafa rather than boarding the ship back home.

And who would blame her?

32-year old Luca Dall’Amico was born in Vicenza, Italy and made his operatic début in 2003 at the Verona Arena. His career has been primarily centered in Spain in Italy. He can next be seen on March 10 in Verona perfoming in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette."

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Happy Birthday Chris Herbert!

[Chris on the left, with an unusually grumpy looking Jesse Blumberg]

A great excuse to post some pictures of one of our most adorable barihunks.

If you want to see Chris live, he'll be performing a recital of Wolf and Poulenc with Thomas Bagwell. at Mannes Goldmark Hall, Mannes Building, 150 West 85th Street in New York City on January 24th at 1:30 PM.

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Nathan Gunn in Phillie's "Pearl Fishers"

It looks like the Philadelphia Phillies aren't the only thing that's hot in the City of Brotherly Love. The Opera Company of Philadelphia now has their own YouTube site and the most popular video is of barihunk Nathan Gunn and hunkentenor William Burden singing the famous duet from Pearl Fishers. For some reason the folks at Opera Phillie didn't add embedding codes so you'll have to click HERE to view the video. This photo is a hint of what's in store for you.

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Where Chest Voice Comes From

BRIAN LEERHUBER

ERIC T DUBIN

At Barihunks we're not interested in academic arguments involving glottal cycles, laryngeal cartilage and anything else involving where the voice comes from. John Chest (his real name), got us thinking about barihunks with great chests, not great chest voices. Many of the more established singers with great chests were featured in our recent hottest Billy Budd contest.

There are two younger singers who we think have great chests: Eric T. Dubin and Brian Leerhuber. We'll leave the chest voice question to the vocal experts.

Eric Dubin was suggested to us via email by somebody with a very funny email nom de plume. He's a graduate of The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, whose graduates seem to send us more suggestions than anyone else. [Keep them coming!]

He's already performed in the Barihunk standard, Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, and we hope that he showed off his chest (and chest voice).

Brian Leerhuber has been on our list of potential barihunks forever and we've just been waiting for the opportunity to post him shirtless. The problem has been that he's been cast in some pretty unsexy roles, an obvious waste of his non-singing talents. Can you get any unsexier than Robert E. Lee, Schaunard, Dandini and Marco in Gianni Schicchi?

We're really, really, really hoping that someone at a major opera house sees this and says, "That's the guy we need to cast shirtless opposite Angela Gheorgiu." If anyone at San Francisco Opera is reading this, keep casting him but spice it up from Marcello and a Civil War general!

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Nathan Gunn in Pearl Fishers

Here is your chance to enjoy three minutes of a shirtless Nathan Gunn and a nice shot of him from the rear. This video shows why he has remained one of our three most popular barihunks since the site was started.

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Randal Turner Showing Some Skin

[Top photo from Rossini's Mose; Bottom photo from Streetcar Named Desire]

In the first act of Don Giovanni, Leporello sings about his master's conquests as a seducer.

My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.

In Italy, six hundred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one;
But in Spain already one thousand and three.

In recent years, sexy portrayals of the Don have made this sexual conquest list a lot more believable. Barihunks like Christopher Maltman, Mariusz Kwiecien Simon Keenlyside Erwin Schrott and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo have electrified audiences with their sexy portrayals. As hot as they are, I can't think of a sexier Don than Randal Turner in this performance from Pisa.

Not many baritones could get away showing this much skin and some MTV moves, as well. Poor Leporello never has a chance with this Don wooing the girls.

It's still amazing to me that no label has snapped up the super sexy Randal Turner and put him on DVD. He is clearly in the class of the aforementioned barihunks both vocally and in hotness. Check out more pictures at his website at www.randalturner.com where you can also listen to some stunning audio and view more videos.

Don't miss it!

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Barihunk Chris Herbert Places in French Song Competition

Chris Herbert, one of our favorite singers at Barihunks, recently was awarded a special merit award at the Grand Concours de Chant competition in Austin, Texas. Herbert will be featured in a recital in Paris this November along with the other winners, Jeffrey Hill, Matthew Hayward and Benjamin Sieverding.

Also, Chris Herbert received twice as many votes on the online voting poll for best singer. Thanks to all of you who voted!

We would like to congratulate all of the winners, but we know who is going to look the hottest in a tux.

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The Current Leaders for "Hottest Barihunk"

Here are the current leaders for Hottest Barihunk. From left to right: Nathan Gunn, Erwin Schrott and David Adam Moore.

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David Adam Moore Strips Down to His Skivvies

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

David Adam Moore is the future of opera. He's hot, he can sing, he can act and he's willing to take opera in new directions. If opera is going to survive into the 21st century, then people like DAM will be leading the way.

He just wrapped up a successful run as Zurga in the Pearl Fishers in Seattle and is now headed to Pittsburgh to sing Marcello in La Boheme. In late Spring, he'll be at La Scala singing a certifiable Barihunks opera, Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a Robert Carsen production. This ought to be a special night of theater.

Enough words, check out the video as one of the hottest barihunks in the world strips down to his underwear!

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Hunky Hercules

[Photos courtesy of Ruth Walz, Netherlands Opera]

There is something about the story of Ercole (Hercules) that just seems like it was made for Barihunks. Unfortunately, Vivaldi's version, Ercole su'l Termodonte, was written for a tenor. The performances from Italy are already legendary because of hunkentenor Zachary Stains protracted periods of full-frontal nudity. (It's on video). We have no objection to hunky Zachary, but there are just so many more barihunks who could do this role justice!

Now the Netherlands Opera has produced Cavalli's version, Ercole amante, and it looks like a riot. It may be the one production that I regret missing this year and I hope that Cavalli's version joins the Vivaldi version on DVD. Don't miss the teaser video that I posted, as it is quite entertaining.

Barihunk Luca Pisaroni plays Hercules to its campiest extreme. The review from Opera Today, described the performance brilliantly:

I had never personally imagined mythical Hercules as a WWF Wrestler-cum-Caveman but damn if Dutch National Opera's staging of Francesco Cavalli's Ercole Amante didn't almost persuade me it could be so.

For shortly into their thoroughly entertaining mounting of this 17th Century rarity, our leading bass-baritone morphed from a Louis Quatorze persona into a quasi-cartoonish hero by strapping on muscled legs, arms and torso (think: comic Ninja Warrior padded outfits), stringy blond wig, and knee high black platform boots. Oh, yeah, and brandished a Flintstone style club.

Luca Pisaroni gave a consistently animated impersonation as Ercole (Hercules), narcissistically mugging, and grimacing orgasmically enough that he may have a future in porn should his skyrocketing international opera career stall. He clearly relished the goof on contemporary hero worship, and all the while sang most mellifluously and, when required, forcefully.

Maybe Jake Heggie and Terence McNally can team up for a modern version of Hercules. Then again, Heggie is working on an opera called "Moby Dick," which depending on the subject matter could be a lot more interesting. If it's not about the whale, Barihunks suggests casting Mariusz "The Hot Pole" Kwiecien. See our
"Guess the crotch" feature: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2008/05/guess-crotch.html

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The Last 30 Days: Our Three Most Viewed Barihunks

[Photos from top to bottom: Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Chris Herbert and Randal Turner]

I just checked my Google Analytics and FeedBurner stats. It's always fun to see what readers are enjoying and once again Teddy Tahu Rhodes is off the charts. He received 20 times more hits than our next closest barihunk. Also, perennial favorites Erwin Schrott and Nathan Gunn fell out of the top three, which is always a bit of a surprise.

Chris Herbert was the second most viewed barihunk and his photo shows why. Chris is as smart as he is sexy and he's destined to be a great lieder singer a la the other Christopher, the divine Mr. Maltman.

Joining the top three is Randal Turner, who is as sweet as he his cute. I'm glad that readers are viewing his posts. You can enjoy his beautiful singing at http://randalturner.com/.

For anyone reading barihunks who has a blog or website, please add a link to your site. It is greatly appreciated. The #1 site sending visitors to Barihunks is La Cieca's Parterre Box, which should be in your favorites list. View the site at: http://parterre.com/

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VOTE for Christopher Herbert and Win Opera Tickets

OK, the Presidential election is over and the good guy won. We all learned about the importance of voting since the Bush-Gore debacle in 2000. We're probably all a little sick of politics after two years of non-stop campaigning, so why not turn to opera.

Now we can vote online for one of our most popular barihunks, Christopher Herbert, who is competing in the "Grand Concours de Chant 2009." The competition is to determine the next great singer of the French baritone repertoire. The competition is a tribute to the magnificent French baritone Gerard Souzay.

If you sign up and vote online you have the chance to win two tickets to the opera house of your choice. You must vote by February 28, 2009 at http://favacontest.com/vote.php. You also have to vote for three contestants and they've added wonderful sound clips. An international panel of judges will determine the winner, but the tie-breaker will be the public vote.

If Christopher Herbert wins, Barihunks will have to post more pictures. How's that for an incentive?

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David Adam Moore's Bare-Chested Pearl

[Photos by Rozarii Lynch]

This is the long-awaited week that David Adam Moore begins his run in the Pearl Fishers as Zurga opposite hunkentenor Brian Stucki's Nadir at the Seattle Opera. The two hunks will be performing on January 11, 18 and 23. Tickets are available at http://www.seattleopera.org/tickets/production.aspx?productionID=61

From the looks of the rehearsal pictures, this is worth a trip to Seattle.

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Christopher Herbert sings Barber's "Dover Beach"

The adorable Christopher Herbert sings one of Samuel Barber's masterpieces. I think Samuel Barber would have enjoyed this performance. To see the previous post of Herbert "half-naked" click on http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=herbert.

Herbert grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music and Near Eastern Languages and Civilization. He has performed at Tanglewood, Central City Opera and with the Mark Morris Dance Company. Needless to say he has appeared in numerous Barihunk operas including Pearl Fishers, Don Giovanni (Masetto) and the Magic Flute.

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