Veritable feast of barihunks in San Francisco Opera's Billy Budd

John Chest as Billy Budd at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Photo: Marcus Lieberenz)

In celebration of Herman Melville's bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd, the San Francisco Opera will present Benjamin Britten's operatic version from September 7-22.

This will be only the fourth time that the opera has been performed in the company's history. It was last performed during the 2004-05 season with barihunks Nathan Gunn as Billy Budd, Philip Skinner as Mr. Ratcliff, Mel Ulrich as Donald, Daniel Okulitch as the Gunner's mate, Lucas Meachem as the Novice's Friend, Troy Cook as Mr. Flint and Joshua Bloom as the First Mate.   

Nathan Gunn  as Billy Budd at the SF Opera (Photo: Merkle)

The all-male cast of 75 principle artists and choristers, will be led by barihunk John Chest in the title role. Chest returns to San Francisco, where he was a member of the Merola Opera Program. Chest has performed the role twice with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2014 and 2017.

The cast also include a veritable feast of barihunks and bass-barihunks, including Christian van Horn as the evil John Claggart, Hadleigh Adams as Arthur Jones, Christian Pursell as Lieutenant Ratcliffe, Wayne Tigges as Mr. Flint, John Brancy as Donald, Edward Nelson as Bosun, Sidney Outlaw as First Mate, Kenneth Overton as Second Mate, Eugene Villanueva as the Novice's Friend and Philip Skinner as Dansker. The critical role of Captain Vere will be sung by tenor William Burden.   

The production will be by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage, who unveiled this staging at the 2010 Glyndebourne Festival and revived it at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music  in 2014. 

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Richard Tucker Foundation awards barihunk John Chest career grant

John Chest

Barihunk John Chest is on a roll, having recently been named as the U.S. representative at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in June 2017 and closing the Opera Philadelphia season opposite his wife Layla Claire in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. To top that off, he was just awarded a $10,000 2017 Richard Tucker Career Grant along with bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee and baritone Anthony Clark Evans.

The top prize of $50,000 went to soprano Nadine Sierra. Winners of the $5,000 Sara Tucker Award went to countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Alexander McKissick, bass-baritone Christian Pursell, bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Jack Swanson, and soprano Vanessa Vasquez.

Barihunk John Chest to represent U.S. at Cardiff; 3 other barihunks competiting

John Chest

Barihunk John Chest, who is currently based at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, will represent the United States at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in June. Other barihunks in the competition include bass Dominic Barberi representing England, bass Roberto Lorenzi representing Italy and calendar model Iurii Samoilov reprenting the Ukraine.

Dominic Barberi

The winner of the main prize will receive £15,000 and the Cardiff Trophy, while the Song Prize, awarded to the best singer of Lieder and art song, carries a £7,000 prize and trophy. The judges for the main competition this year are Cardiff Chairman David Pountney, mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry, soprano Sumi Jo, baritone Thomas Quasthoff and conductor Anu Tali.

Roberto Lorenzi

A number of operas most famous low voices were winners at Cardiff, most famously Dmitri Hvorostovsky who won the main prize in 1989 and Bryn Terfel who won the Song Prize that same year. Other winners have included Tommi Hakala who won the main prize in 2003, Christopher Maltman who won the Song Prize in 1997, Paul Whelan who won the Song Prize in 1993 and Jacques Imbrailo who won the coveted Audience Prize in 2007.

Iurii Samoilov

The Song Prize rounds will be broadcast in the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert (June13 -16) with the song prize final live on Radio 3 In Concert (Friday, June 16) and on BBC Four presented by Petroc Trelawny and American soprano Angel Blue (Saturday, June 17).The four concerts at St David’s Hall, Cardiff will be broadcast on BBC Four (June13 - 16). The Grand Final will be broadcast live on both BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 on Sunday, June 18.

First pictures from eagerly awaited Edward II in Berlin

Agneta Eichenholz, Jarrett Ott, Michael Nagy and Ladislav Elgr (© Monika Rittershaus)

Back in May, we posted about barihunk Michael Nagy would perform the title role in Swiss composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini  new opera about Edward II at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The production opens on February and we have some photos from the rehearsals, which are going on now.

The opera will have five performances between February 19-March 9, hunkentenor Ladislav Elgr singing the role of his alleged lover Piers de Gaveston and barihunk Jarrett Ott as the Angel.

Two scenes from Edward II (© Monika Rittershaus)

The libretto by Thomas Jonigk focuses entirely on the role of the outsider Edward II and looks at society’s attitude towards homosexuals both then and now. Whether the close bond between Edward and Gaveston in the early 14th century was sexual in nature remains a contested issue, but among art circles Edward II has long been an icon of the gay movement. Gaveston was decapitated for being gay and King Edward II was executed in 1327 by having a red hot roasting spit shoved into his anus.

Michael Nagy in Edward II (© Monika Rittershaus)

The subject matter inspired Christopher Marlowe’s bloody 1593 play about the self-assertive strivings of the hapless English king, the 1923 version by Bertolt Brecht of the same name and Derek Jarman’s 1992 famous film adaptation “Edward II.” 

Scartazzini most recent operatic work was The Sandman, which premiered in 2012 at the Theater Basel with Christof Loy directing. Tickets for Edward II are on sale now online.

Blond barihunk duo in Don Giovanni

Bastian Thomas Kohl

Bastian Thomas Kohl, who we introduced to readers back in September, will be performing Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni along with fellow barihunk John Chest at the Nantes-Angers Opera from March 4-May 8. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Kohl, began his musical career at the age of four and received his formal training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig and in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst.

His international career began at the age of nineteen as a member of the Opernchor Leipzig appearing frequently with Gewandhausorchester under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. Kohl, who has been a member of the ensemble at the Opernhaus Zürich since the 2014-15 season, will be performing Der König in Schiphorst's Die Gánsemagd, an Armored Man in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Narumov in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades.

John Chest

Upcoming performances for John Chest include the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Valentin in Gounod's Faust at the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse with fellow barihunk Alex Esposito as Méphistophélès. He is a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The Angers-Nantes Opéra was created in January 2003 through the merger of the opera companies of Angers and of Nantes.  The company uses a variety of performance spaces in the two cities, and across the region, but the main spaces are the 728-seat Grand Théâtre in Angers, and the 784-seat Théâtre Graslin in Nantes.

John Chest alternating to very different roles

John Chest

American barihunk John Chest, who is a now a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, is singing two very different roles simultaneously in Dresden and Berlin through the end of the year. From December 6-21 he'll be in Dresden singing Nick Carraway opposite hunkentenor Peter Lodahl's Jay Gatsby in John Harbison's operatic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. On December 12 and 29, he'll be in Berlin singing Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte opposite Alexandra Hutton's Papageno.

It's hard to imagine two different roles that the wealthy stockbroker Nick Carraway and the awkward, comical birdcatcher Papageno, but he will sing them back-to-back on December 11 and 12. 

Next year he sings Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata in Berlin, as well as the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Angers Nantes Opéra and Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Romain Dayez, Jason Duika, Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner (L-R)

There is only one month left to purchase your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which you can order HERE. This year the proceeds will be used to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices. New York-based composer Clint Borzoni has already been commissioned to write two songs for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed by Marco Vassalli in January.

John Chest to debut as Billy Budd in Berlin

John Chest as Billy Budd

Anyone who has ever seen or heard barihunk John Chest, with his golden locks and golden voice, immediately thinks of him as the perfect Billy Budd. Fortunately, conductor Donald Runnicles had a chance to hear and see Chest while they were both in San Francisco. The two are being reunited at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for five performances of Benjamin Britten's masterpiece running from May 22th-June 6th. Tickets are available online.

John Chest is a recent graduate of the Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he sang over eighty performances including Fiorello in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Schaunard in Puccini's La Bohème with Anja Harteros, Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Lovec in Dvorak's Rusalka, Petrucci in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia with Edita Gruberova, Bizet's Carmen with Jonas Kaufmann.

Chest is now part of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has sung Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Il Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Albert in Massenet's Werther.  In November, he'll return to the U.S. to perform Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème at the Washington National Opera with fellow barihunks Joshua Bloom as Colline and Steven LaBrie as Schaunard. 

Barihunks Featured in MÄNNER Magazine

Barihunks will be featured in the upcoming January 2013 issue of MÄNNER magazine, Germany's leading LGBT lifestyle periodical. The feature is called "Zeig mir deinen sixpack!" (Show me your sixpack).

The feature provides a look how opera and sexuality are naturally linked, as well as the gay obsession with the art form. The feature is only available in German, but there are two pages of delicious photos to enjoy. Featured in photos are John Chest, Dan Kempson, Zach Altman, Justin Hopkins, Xavier Edgardo, Zachary Gordin, Randal Turner, Jonathan Estabrooks and Duncan Rock.

Also mentioned in the article is our beloved fellow opera site Parterre.com, who we are eternally grateful to for being an early inspiration to create Barihunks. The article also ties in Lucas Kazan's operatically inspired adult movie "The School for Lovers," which features character names that might be vaguely familiar to opera lovers: Ferrando, Guglielmo, Alfonso, Dorino and Fiorino. [NSFW link to The School for Lovers].

The magazine is available for download through iTunes for your iPad and iPhone, so you can carry these operatic beauties around with you everywhere. The issue will be available on December 18th. Of course, you can also hang them on your wall year around with our calendar:

John Chest's Munich Recital and Upcoming Billy Budd Debut in Berlin

John Chest

We haven't posted about American baritone John Chest in awhile. He's another of the long list of barihunks who have been cleaning up at vocal competitions, having won the Arleen Auger Prize in the 2012 Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition. Previously, he also won the prestigious Stella Maris International Vocal Competition.

We first saw Chest when he was with the Merola Opera Program, where he brought down the house with his shirtless Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte . He is a recent graduate of the Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he sang over eighty performances including Fiorello Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Schaunard La Bohème, Lovec Rusalka, Petrucci Lucrezia Borgia, Carmen with Jonas Kaufmann, La Bohème with Anja Harteros, and Lucrezia Borgia with Edita Gruberova.

If you're in the Munich area, you may want to catch his recital on Friday, November 16 at the Historischer Reitstadel. He'll be performing works by Samuel Barber, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf with accompanist Marcelo Amaral. Call 09181/255-125 for tickets.

Many of his future engagements are in Europe, including Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Bari, a recital at the Wigmore Hall and revivals of La finta giardiniera in Morocco and in Luxembourg.

Actor Terence Stamp as the blond Billy Budd from the movie

In the 2013/14 season he will take up a Fest contract with Deutsche Oper Berlin, the highlight of which will be his debut in the title role of Britten's  Billy Budd in a new production by David Alden. Many people watching Chest's career have said that this role was practically written for him, as it perfectly suits his voice and appearance. Details have not been posted yet, but you can subscribe to the Deutsche Oper's free newsletter HERE for updates.

You can listen to Chest sing Pierrot's Tanzlied from Korngold's Die tote Stadt by clicking HERE.

Have you bought your 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which benefits young singers like John Chest? Click on the button below to help the next generation of singers:

John Chest Wows Audience and Judges

Dreamy John Chest

John Chest was clearly the audience favorite a the 2010 Stella Maris International Vocal Competition and almost walked away with the judges top prize, as well. The blonde barihunk walked away with the €15,000 audience favorite prize money and a test contract with Deutsche Grammophon. 

Chest sang a broad range of music throughout the competition, topping it off with a stunning rendition of "Look, through the port" from Britten's "Billy Budd." He also performed "Dunque io son" from the Barber with fellow Merola participant Daniella Mack, Rigoletto in the quartet from Verdi's opera, "Auf dem flusse" from Schubert's "Winterreise," "Lord God of Abraham" from Mendelssohn's "Elijah," the Pierrot-Lied from Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt" and the famous Largo from Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia."

Singers in the competition must be nominated by one of the top opera eight opera companies in the world. Chest was nominated by the Bavarian State Opera and his partner in the Barber duet, Daniella Mack, was nominated by the San Francisco Opera, where Chest was part of the prestigious Merola Opera Program. 

Our source at the competition wrote, "Chest looked every bit as good as he sounded. This guy has true star quality."

John Chest: Future Billy Budd?

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Remember to email us your listing of Handel's Messiah at Barihunks@gmail.com

Barihunks Showing Some Skin

At Barihunks we celebrate the beautiful men who grace our operatic stages. There is nothing sexier than Erwin Schrott or Mariusz Kwiecien ripping his shirt off in "Don Giovanni." Or who can blame Carmen for dumping Don Jose when Kyle Ketelsen struts out on the state as Escamillo. There are few things on the stage hotter than Matthew Worth in "Rape of Lucretia," Simon Keenlyside or Nathan Gunn in Billy Budd, or Daniel Okulitch baring everything in "The Fly." So we decided to showcase a bunch of the hottest barihunks around in one post.

One thing that we've noticed about our readers is that they like to see a little skin once in awhile. So here are some of the dreamiest barihunks showing off their goods onstage and offstage.

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TOM CORBEIL IN Haydn’s "L’isola disabitata AND LAURENT ALVARO IN "The Fly"

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TOM FORDE, SIMON KEENLYSIDE & MICHAEL RICE

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JONATHAN KIMPLE & PAUL LAROSA

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CALE OLSON ON THE L/R & JOHN CHEST (CENTER)

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ANDREW GARLAND & ANDREA CONCETTI

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Separated at Birth: John Chest & Brad Pitt

Someone at the opera said that John Chest looked like Brad Pitt.

What do you think?

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Emerging Barihunk: John Chest

Emerging barihunk John Chest was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. He's the latest in a long line of barihunks to land at the esteemed Merola Opera program in San Francisco.

Chest is only two years removed from finishing his Bachelors in Voice Performance at Bob Jones University. He ended up in Chicago where he studied with the former baritone David Holloway at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Holloway may have played a role in the talented baritone ending up as part of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. While in Santa Fe he began working on what will undoubtedly become his signature role, Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd." Of course, he may end fighting for that title with Mike Nyby, a current Santa Fe Apprentice who has been featured on this site.

Chest first came to our attention when we received an email from a fellow performer at the Chicago Opera Theater, where he covered Owen Wingrave for the equally hot Matthew Worth.

Chest's first role with Merola was Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan Tutte, where he stole the show and appeared shirtless. When he wraps up in San Francisco, he'll head to Munich and join the Opernstudio at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

We're trying not to end this post with cheap jokes, like "We want more Chest" or "This baritone always sings with Chest voice." Obviously, we failed.

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