America's hottest barihunks to sing in "Counter-Inaugural Concert"

David Adam Moore, Kyle Ketelsen, Nathan Gunn, Sidney Outlaw, Andrew Garland & Michael Kelly (clockwise)

Those of you who follow Barihunks know that we steer clear of politics and stick to opera. However, when an amazing collection of barihunks is assembled to sing at a Counter-Inaugural concert, we have to post about it. Composer Glen Roven has set two of Hillary Clinton's speeches to music for the concert.

Some of operas greatest deep-voiced men will be performing, including David Adam Moore, Kyle Ketelsen, Nathan Gunn, Sidney Outlaw, Daniel Sumegi, Lester Lynch, Andrew Garland and Michael Kelly. They will be joined by Isabel Leonard, Patricia Racette, Lawrence Brownlee, Matthew Polenzani, Carin Gilfy, Laquita Mitchell, Glenn Seven Allen, Dominic Armstrong, Jonathan Blalock and others.

Hunkentenors Jonathan Blalock and Glenn Seven Allen

The concert film will be streamed from National Sawdust on January 20, 2017, in conjunction with the presidential inauguration ceremony.  The two speeches that have been set to music are Mrs. Clinton's first announcement of her candidacy on January 7, 2007, and her presidential concession speech on November 9, 2017. 

Glen Roven has some history with the Clintons, having conducted the concerts at the Lincoln Memorial at both of Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration ceremonies. He was slated to conduct had Hillary Clinton won.

You can watch the concert online on January 20th beginning at noon EST/9 AM PST by clicking HERE. The concert film is directed by James Gray, Warren Elgort, and Larry Robbins.

Theo Hoffman in Hunky Handel's Messiah for Holidays; Eclectic Concert in L.A.

Jonathan Blalock, Theo Hoffman, Robert Moody & Daniel Moody (Counterclockwise top left)

The Winston-Salem Symphony has assembled a hunky Handel's Messiah for the holidays featuring barihunk Theo Hoffman, tenor Jonathan Blalock, countertenor Daniel Moody, conductor Robert Moody and soprano Margaret Carpenter-Haigh.

There will be performances on December 13 and 14 at the Centenary United Methodist Church. Tickets are available online.

On the opposite coast, Hoffman joins composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin for a concert on November 27th called "The Song: From Schubert to Springsteen," featuring music from Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Francis Poulenc, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Drake and Radiohead. The concert will take place after the performance of Philip Glass' Akhnaten and is free to attendees. Non-attendees can purchase tickets for $5.

Hoffman has joined the Los Anegles Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program for the 2016-17 season. He will sing a number of roles with the company, including Hermann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann (no relation), the Second Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome, First Editor in Bernstein's Wonderful Town and Il medico in Verdi's Macbeth with fellow barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Banquo.

Theo Hoffman sings Marc Blitzstein's "Stay in My Arms":

 
Hoffman completed his Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, where he was the winner of the 2015 Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital and was presented in recital at Alice Tully Hall. Additionally at Juilliard, he performed Bob in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Lunardo in Le donne curiose, and covered Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He made his professional debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Thierry in Dialogues des carmélites. 

Hoffman made his first public appearance on the Metropolitan Opera stage in March as a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after winning in the Eastern Region.

THE 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED CALENDAR IS NOW ON SALE!!! 

Jarrett Ott takes on Dandini in Syracuse before making European debut in Edward II

Jarrett Ott giving us some puppy eyes

Barihunk Jarrett Ott will be singing Dandini in Syracuse Opera's upcoming production of Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) on October 28 and 30. He first performed the role with the Curtis Opera Theatre while a student. He'll be joined in the cast by hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock as Don Ramiro, Corrie Stallings as Angelina, Peter Strummer as Don Magnifico and Adelaide Boedecker as Clorinda. Tickets are available online.

Last October, Opera News named him one of the 25 rising stars of opera, calling his voice "polished and immaculately produced."

On November 7, Ott will perform excerpts from Jake Heggie's new opera It's a Wonderful Life at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum  in New York City.

In 2017, he will make his major European opera debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin singing the role of the Angel in the world premiere of Andrea Scartazzini's Edward II, directed by Christoph Loy. The title role will be sung by fellow barihunk Michael Nagy and will also feature hunkentenor Ladislav Elgr singing the role of his alleged lover Piers de Gaveston.

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.

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.” 
 
Performances run from February 19-March 9 and tickets are available online.

Barihunk Hadleigh Adams featured in Opera News

Hadleigh Adams in Opera News (photo by Dario Acosta)

Barihunk Hadleigh Adams, who will open on July 31 as The Duke in Thomas Adès' "Powder Her Face," is the August feature in Opera News' Sound Bites. The performance in Oakland's historic train station with West Edge Opera has proven so popular with ticket buyers, that the innovative company has just added a fourth performance. The production also includes hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock.

We will be posting a more extensive piece on the production next week. Tickets are available online.

David Adam Moore as sexy Pasha in Des Moines

 

David Adam Moore as the Pasha in Des Moines

The Des Moines Metro Opera is a stop that we're going to have to add to our tour schedule. Every season seems to be loaded with an ample supply of Midwest, grain-fed barihunks and hunkentenors. This year is no exception. Much of the credit has to go to Michael Mayes, who showed up in 2012 to sing the lead in Mozart's Don Giovanni and decided to get all of the baritones and tenors in shape. Singers were emailing telling us that Mayes was had them on a military regiment of gym training. 

Singers showing up in Des Moines seem to subconsciously realize that they better hit the gym and get their bodies in good as shape as their voices. Last year was no exception, as David Adam Moore set the standard with his ripped Joseph de Rocher in Heggie's Dead Man Walking. 

Jonathan Blalock: Even the tenors are getting bari-hunky in Des Moines

He's back this year in the non-singing role of the Pasha in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio and he's bringing the sexy back to farm country. The cast includes two other singers familiar to this site, Matt Boehler as Osmin and hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock as Pedrillo. Blalock has been hitting the gym with barihunk Brent Michael Smith, who is singing Billy Jackrabbit in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West. And wait until you see the guys in that show! We promise that we have plenty of pictures forthcoming. 

David Adam Moore and Amanda Woodbury

Performances are on June 26 and 28, and July, 3, 11 and 19 and additional information is available online. 

Barihunk trio in Fantastic Mr. Fox in San Antonio

John Brancy: Fox and foxy

Opera San Antonio rolled out its initial season with Tobias Picker's chamber opera Fantastic Mr. Fox. Of course, what would make more sense than casting your fox with a foxy barihunk?  John Brancy takes on the title role in an impressive cast that also includes mezzo Renee Rapier as Mrs. Fox, tenor Theo Lebow as Mr. Porcupine, countertenor Andrey Nemzer as Agnes the Digger, Jonathan Blalock as Mr. Mole, Tynan Davis as Rita the Rat, soprano Elizabeth Futral as Miss Hedgehog, baritone Andrew Craig Brown as Boggis, tenor Edwin Vega as Bunce and baritone Gabriel Preisser as the gun-happy Bean. Andrew Craig Brown and Gabriel Preisser have both been featured on this site.

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.

The new company has a hit on their hands, as the entire run at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater is completely sold out. Rumor has it that other companies are already looking at picking up the production.

Five years in the making, Opera San Antonio has produced its first fully staged opera after earlier organizing recitals and partnering with the San Antonio Symphony for a semi-staged production of  Dvorák’s Rusalka. Next up for the company, which is being led by Tobias Picker, is Richard Strauss’ Salome, a far cry from the children's story Fantastic Mr. Fox.

You can listen to an interview with John Brancy on Texas Public Radio by clicking HERE. 

Gabriel Preisser has a busy schedule coming up. to be a busy couple months. On October 5 and 6, he heads to Philadelphia for a recital with Lyric Fest of German lieder. He then sings Escamillo with Florida Opera Theatre in Orlando on October 17 and 19, and then again in Duluth, Minnesota with the Lyric Opera of the North on November 15. On November 23, he'll sing Orff's Carmina Burana at the new Dr Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando.

Barihunky season at innovative West Edge Opera

Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and barihunks Kenneth Kellogg and Efraín Solis

The innovative West Edge Opera in Berkeley, California is once again challenging audiences with a performance of Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox in an alternative space. The opera will take place in the foyer of the Ed Roberts Campus, which is an internationally recognized center dedicated to disability rights and universal access.

The cast includes some eye candy, as well, with hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and barihunks Kenneth Kellogg and Efraín Solis. The female side of the cast is rounded out by Sara Duchovnay, Molly Mahoney and Nicole Takesono. Performances are on July 27, August 2 and August 8, and tickets are available online.

The interior of the Ed Roberts Campus and V. Savoy McIlwain

Philip Glass' opera set to the poetry of counter-culture poet Allen Ginsberg. The text deals with a variety of topics from the 1950's through the 1980's ranging from the sexual revolution, eastern philosophy, drugs, the environment, the threat of nuclear destruction, Iran-Contra scandal and meditation. The six vocal parts were thought to represent six archetypal American characters- a waitress, a policeman, a businessman, a cheerleader, a priest, and a mechanic.

Unlike other Glass operas that deal with social issues, Hydrogen Jukebox is sung in English. In other operas, he has used languages unfamiliar to most opera-goers, including Sanskrit for Satyagraha, ancient Egyptian for Akhnaten, Latin for the CIVIL warS, or just numbers and syllables in Einstein on the Beach.

The rest of the West Edge Opera season includes Puccini's La bohème and Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair, cast with an abundance of barihunks. La bohème features casting appropriate to a venue dedicated disability rights, as blind barihunk Brandon Keith Biggs will sing Colline in a cast that also includes Jordan Eldredge as Schaunard and V. Savoy McIlwain as Marcello. Biggs sight impairment is due to having Leber's Congenital Amaurosis, a rare inherited eye disease that appears at birth or in the first few months of life, and affects around 1 in 80,000 of the population. Performances are on July 26, August 1st and 10th. Tickets are available online.

Jake Heggie, who is one of the world's premiere composers for the baritone voice, rounds out the season with his The End of the Affair, based  on Graham Greene’s novel. It will feature Keith Phares in the key role of Maurice Bendrix. Performances are on August 3, 7 and 9 and tickets are available online.

Rare Hunkentenor-Bass/Barihunk concert in East Bay

Jonathan Blalock and Aaron Sørensen

One of the recipients of our proceeds from the Barihunks calendar was the team of hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and Bass-Barihunk Aaron Sørensen, who came up with the novel idea for a concert with this rarely seen vocal combination.

The duo will perform music by George Gershwin, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jake Heggie, Glen Roven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gioacchino Rossini. The performance will be at Duende on Wed., May 21 at 7 PM  in the heart of Oakland's burgeoning arts district, The Uptown. Duende has become a popular destination for aficionados of alternative jazz and they've been eager to expand their musical offerings to include classical music. This will debut what we all hope is a regular feature on their calendar. A stones throw away from Duende is the restored Fox Theater, which features some of the biggest names in the music industry.  Tickets for the Blalock/Sørensen recital are available online.

This recital will also be the West Coast debut for two of the most talked about young artists in opera. Jonathan Blalock received rave notices from the New York Times and Alex Ross in the New Yorker for his riveting performance in Gregory Spears' Paul's Case, which featured barihunk Keith Phares. Aaron Sørensen is the bass voice that the opera world continuously clamors for and he recently appeared as the French General in Fort Worth Opera's production of Kevin Puts' Silent Night.

Efrain Solis in an ad for West Edge Opera

Blalock will be returning to the East Bay this summer in West Edge Opera's production of Philip Glass's Hydrogen Jukebox, featuring barihunk Efrain Solis and bass-barihunk Kenneth Kellogg. You can watch a preview of their exciting and innovative upcoming season above and get more information on their website. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you'll want to add their summer festival to calendar.

Sexy pictures of barihunk Christopher Burchett in "Buried Alive"

Christopher Burchett (prone) with Jennifer Feinstein, Jonathan Blalock and Caroline Worra

One of our few regrets in putting together the Barihunks calendar is that we occasionally run out of room to include each and every singer. Such was the case with barihunk Christopher Burchett, but fortunately we have a bunch of pictures from his appearance in composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long's Buried Alive, which opens today and will be performed again on March 30th at the Fargo Moorhead Opera.

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

Buried Alive was written specifically for Burchett, and he has been with the project since the first workshops with the American Lyric Theater in 2010. The opera is part of a partnership between the Fargo Moorhead Opera and American Lyric Theater for the Poe Project Double Bill, which will be the first operatic world premieres in Fargo.

American Lyric Theater asked composer/librettist teams to create contemporary opera thrillers inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. The operas are not simply adaptations of Poe stories. The composer/librettist teams were asked, “What might Poe write if he were alive today?”

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

Buried Alive draws on themes of anxiety and mortality from Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” as a painter’s nightmares of death start to become real. The opera is directed by Lawrence Edelson, the producing artistic director of the American Lyric Theater.

The second opera is composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort's Embedded. The opera is wittily inspired by Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” as a TV news anchor finds herself on the other side of the headlines. The opera is directed by Sam Helfrich, whose recent work includes productions for Glimmerglass Festival, Virginia Opera, and the Spoleto Festival/USA

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

In addition to Burchett, the operas feature a cast of five more of the country’s leading singers, who take on different roles in each opera: soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Sara Gartland, mezzo soprano Jennifer Feinstein, tenor Jonathan Blalock and bass Nathan Stark.

For tickets or additional information, visit the Fargo Moorhead Opera website.

Christopher Burchett in North Dakota's first opera premieres

Christopher Burchett in Soldier Songs

Barihunk Christopher Burchett, who showed off that he look pretty hot in a pair of skivvies in David T. Little's Soldier Songs, is about to make history in Fargo, North Dakota. On March 28th and 30th at the Fargo Moorhead Opera, he'll be part of the Poe Project Double Bill, which is comprised of two one-act operas, Buried Alive and Embedded, which were commissioned by American Lyric Theater as part of Edgar Alan Poe centennial back in 2009. These will be the first opera premiere ever presented in the state.

Composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long's Buried Alive draws on themes of anxiety and mortality from Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” as a painter’s nightmares of death start to become real. It will be directed by Larry Edelson.

Composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort's Embedded was inspired by Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”  The libretto revolves around a TV news anchor who finds herself on the other side of the headlines. It will be directed by Sam Helfrich.

Aaron Sorensen & Jonathan Blalock

Burchett will be joined in both operas by soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Sara Gartland, mezzo soprano Jennifer Feinstein, bass Nathan Stark and tenor Jonathan Blalock, who was recently awarded a Barihunks Calendar Grant along with bass Aaron Sorensen to make a joint West Coast recital debut in 2014.

Tickets for the world premiere production of the Poe Project may be purchased online.

Fargo-Moorhead Opera was founded in 1968 and and is the only full-season opera company from Omaha to Winnipeg and Minneapolis to Billings. The company tours regularly throughout North Dakota and rural Minnesota as a part of its commitment to bring opera to communities that have never before experienced live opera.

Matthew Worth debuts new website: Moby-Dick on the horizon

As we mentioned in a previous post, barihunk Matthew Worth will be making his debut with the Washington National Opera as Starbuck in Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick. Worth will take on the role that fellow barihunk Morgan Smith performed in the premiere and which is featured on DVD. That performance was named "Best Opera on DVD" in our "Best of 2013" feature last month.

Matthew Worth

We can't wait to hear the sublimely gifted Worth take on the critical role of Captain Ahab's first mate Starbuck, the family man who tries desperately to dissuade Ahab from his single-minded, suicidal pursuit of Moby-Dick. The role includes more beautiful baritone music from Jake Heggie in the aria "Captain Ahab? I must Speak with you."

Matthew Worth performs Schumann's Dichterliebe (complete):

In anticipation of this major debut, the Connecticut native has launched a new website, which features a generous supply of photos and two videos. You can check out the site HERE.

In addition to two upcoming recitals, he will return to the Pittsburgh Opera in April as title character in Philip Glass' Orphée, a role that he received critical acclaim performing at the Virginia Opera last year. He was joined in that production by fellow barihunk Christopher Temporelli and one of our Barihunks Calendar grantees for 2013, tenor Jonathan Blalock.

Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock & Bass-Barihunk Aaron Sorensen receive latest Barihunks Calendar Grant

Aaron Sorensen and Jonathan Blalock

Our latest grantees from the proceeds of our 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar may be a surprise to some people. We had a lot of interesting requests for the second grant, but none struck us as original as a concert featuring a tenor and a bass! That's what hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and bass-barihunk Aaron Sorensen suggested and we loved the idea immediately.

We can't think of many times that we've ever seen that combination in a concert hall and we wanted to help make it happen. Although a place and time has not been set of this date, the discussion around the program is quite intriguing. We also believe that the recital will be paired with some other big announcements related to the two singers. Both singers are clearly on the cusp of major careers and theaters are taking notice.

Blalock as Lazaro in Before Night Falls, Photo by Ellen Appel.

Blalock recently premiered the role of Paul in Greg Spear's critically acclaimed opera Paul's Case with Urban Arias. He is reprising the role from January 8-13 with the Prototype Festival in New York. Barihunk Keith Phares is also reprising the role of Paul's father. The opera is based on the famous short story by Willa Cather. He first caught our eye with two stunning performances at the Fort Worth Opera Festival, appearing shirtless in both Jorge Martin's Before Night Falls and Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox. Last season, he was one of the many gifted young artists at the Santa Fe Opera.

We also first spotted Aaron Sorensen at the Fort Worth Opera where he appeared as Benoit and Alcindoro in La Boheme, as well as a hilarious turn as the Wigmaker in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Sorensen is a true bass, which is a rarity in opera these days. We have a feeling that we'll be watching this amazing talent grow into a great Verdi/Wagner bass as his career advances.

The Nebraska native honed his craft at Yale Opera Program and has gone on to sing Masetto in
Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Father Trulove in Stravinky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Wolf Trap Opera, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Tosca, and The
Rake’s Progress with Des Moines Metro Opera.

He'll be returning to the Fort Worth Opera Festival next season as the French General in Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night.

Barihunks Lunch in Fort Worth

Wes Mason, Michael Mayes and Jonathan Boehr

It's no secret that we're huge fans of the Fort Worth Opera Festival, which has become one of the best summer opera festivals in America, if not the world. Under the inspired leadership of general director Darren Woods, the once fledgling company has become a required stop for serious opera lovers. The company is known for its combination of old standards and works by new composers. The new works often become the hit of the festival, as is the case this year with Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied starring Michael Mayes. Woods is also notorious for finding gifted young opera singers before other companies "discover" them, so it's a wonderful opportunity to catch the next wave of great singers.

Wes Mason, Michael Mayes and Jonathan Boehr goof off; Anthony Reed flexes his guns

 

Aaron Sorensen, Michael Adams, Steven Eddy, Wes Mason, Michael Mayes, Jonathan Boehr & Anthony Reed

As is often the case when one of the Barihunks bloggers flies into town, a lunch with the hottest low voices tends to break out. Singers are all given a Barihunk tee-shirt and other gifts, which have ranged from coffee mugs to iPods. This year singers were given gift cards of varying value depending on their ability to answer Barihunks trivia questions. Jonathan Boehr was the winner of the $100 gift card and three CDs featuring baritones. Wes Mason was too busy having fun and missed answering a question where he was part of the answer. Wes also entertained the group with some of his amazing impersonations, which included Christopher Walken, Marlon Brando, Thomas Hampson and tenor Jonathan Blalock [see photo at bottom of the feed].

Jonathan Boehr, winner of 1st prize in the Barihunk Trivia Contest

Michael Adams sporting Michael Mayes' glasses and look

All of the singers shown above are appearing with the Fort Worth Opera Festival this year. Wes Mason is Marcello in La bohème, Michael Mayes is Capt. Jim Thompson in Glory Denied, Steven Eddy is Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Michael Adams is the Custom House Sergeant in La bohème and the Corporal in Daughter of the Regiment, Aaron Sorensen is Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème, Jonathan Boehr is Schaunard in La bohème, and Anthony Reed is Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos. Tickets and additional information are available online.

Wes Mason channeling tenor Jonathan Blalock's famous Southern smile

Keith Phares in world premiere of Paul's Case!

Barihunk Keith Phares (with beard) and Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock

Over the years we've made no secret that we occassionally have hunkentenor crushes. We understand that baritones don't always have a monopoly on hunkiness, so we like to sneak on a tenor once in awhile. Jonathan Blalock is a singer with outstanding musicianship and male model looks, so what's not to love? When we learned he was performing with barihunk Keith Phares, we knew that a post was in order.


The two singers are performing in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ Paul’s Case! at UrbanArias at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia. The opera is based on the famous short story by Willa Cather. Blalock plays the lead role of Paul, the son of an businessman in early 20th-century Pittsburgh, who is played by Keith Phares. Paul, who is tired of his dreary existence steals money from his job and runs off to New York City to taste freedom and enjoy a life of luxury.

There are three remaining performances this weekend and tickets are available at 888.841.2787 or online.

Upcoming performance for Keith Phares include the premiere of Eric Sawyer's The Garden of Martyrs, the title role in Elmer Gantry with Tulsa Opera and Marcello in La bohème with Manitoba Opera. Jonathan Blalock can next be seen debuting Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Nevada Opera on May 17 and 19.

Opera news from around the world

Tom Corbeil in opera and as Lurch

Today is one of those days when we have a bunch of miscellaneous items to posts. First up is the Michigan Opera Theater, which we have a special affection for since they managed to survive an economic calamity in Detroit to open their forty-second season. During a time when many opera companies were shutting their doors, MOT managed to raise money and trim some costs to keep opera alive in the Motor City.

They also manage to put out casts which are always of interest to us at Barihunks. They are kicking off this season with Rossini's Barber of Seville. In the small, but important role of Basilio, is Tom Corbeil who returns to opera after a successful run as Lurch in the Addams Family Musical (he's been replaced by Zachary James). Roddion Pogossov and Eugene Chan will share the role of the Barber. There are two other singers that we should highlight, who you want to miss: Elizabeth DeShong as Rosina and Eleazor Rodriguez as Almaviva.

Tickets are available by calling 313-237-SING or online at the MOT website. The opening night performance will be broadcast on WRCJ 90.9 FM on October 13 beginning at 7 PM CST.

"Teddy Bare" and his co-star are in the tabloids again

We're really not an opera gossip site, there are too many great ones out there for us to compete with and we like staying focused on promoting barihunks. However, we can't stop following the Teddy Tahu Rhodes/Lisa McCune romance that's playing out in the Australian tabloids during their tour of South Pacific. It almost seems like the couple is seeking out the publicity, as they keep engaging in very public displays of affection.

You can read the latest story in the Herald-Sun.

Philip Kalmanovitch shirtless as the Don and with Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock

We keep trying to wrap up the 2013 Barihunks Calendar, but seem to get distracted by pictures of the 2012 models. Here is Philip Kalmanovitch from a 2011 IVAI production of Mozart's Don Giovanni with hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock, another one of our favorite people in opera.

Perhaps this is a good time to clear up any misunderstanding about Hunkentenors. We get a lot of mail asking us why we don't post more on Hunkentenors. The simple answer is it's not our site. We focus on baritones, although we do give the occasional shout out to a few irresistible tenors like Blalock, Noah Stewart, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flores.

Sébastien Lemoine

We post about a lot of singers and many are top of mind because the singers, their agents, their publicists or opera marketing departments make sure that we know about their every move. Other singers we chose to follow because you've shown an interest in their careers or they are particular favorites of ours. Every so often, we see someone appear in our analytics under "searches" that reminds us about our reader's interest in a singer. Recently, Sébastien Lemoine appeared near the top of our searches after a long absence from the site.

The former aviator and all-around jock, wrapped up performances in April of Bernstein's Wonderful Town and now is scheduled to perform  scenes from Don Giovanni in Macon, France on November 18th. The performance is part of the Les Symphonies d’Automne Festival and tickets are available online.

For those of you who were searching for Lemoine, thanks for keeping him on our radar!

Florida Grand Opera's "Opera's Sexiest Men"

The Florida Grand Opera has been having a great time on Facebook and Twitter with the recent Marie Claire feature about the sexiest men in opera. They've now created they're own meme of "Opera's Sexiest Men."

We certainly won't take issue with ANY of the barihunks on their list, which includes Seth Carico, Mariusz Kwiecien, Nathan Gunn, Randal Turner, Gabriel Bermudez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Michael Mayes, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Keith Miller, all of whom have appeared on this site. They've even included some of our favorite tenors, like Jonathan Blalock, Alek Shrader Michael Fabiano and Eric Margiore.

Make sure to check out Florida Grand Opera's upcoming season, which includes Puccini's La boheme, Mozart's Magic Flute, Verdi's La traviata and Bellini's La sonnambula. Visit their website for additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Happy Birthday, Philip Glass; Matthew Worth Excels in Glass' Orphee at Virginia Opera

Philip Glass, Martina Arroyo, Joyce DiDonato and Gerald Finley at 2009 Opera News awards. [Photo by Dario Acost]

Was there any doubt that we'd be celebrating the 75th birthday today of the great American composer Philip Glass? We regularly feature his work on this site, including the recent production of "Les Enfants Terribles" with barihunk Timothy McDevitt and soprano Jessica Cates showing off their bodies after training at the gym for the ballet/opera; Barihunks Matthew Worth and Christopher Temporelli in Orphée at the Virginia Opera (more on that below); Lots of coverage of Hydrogen Jukebox at the Ft. Worth Opera including some great shirtless pictures of barihunks Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins; Lots of video of his operas, including the ability to watch Kepler in its entirety with Austrian barihunk Martin Achrainer.

Profile (born Jan. 31, 1937, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) American composer of innovative instrumental, vocal, and operatic music.  Glass studied flute as a boy and enrolled at age 15 at the University of Chicago, where he studied mathematics and philosophy and graduated in 1956. 

Philip Glass is a prolific and widely-respected American composer of innovative,  vocal and operatic music. He work consistently uses repetitive structures and is often minimalistic. Glass studied math and philosophy before pursuing music at the Julliard School. His opera Satyagraha (1980) tells the story of Mahatma Gandhi's life. The Metropolitan Opera commissioned The Voyage in 1992.

Barihunk Philip Cutlip recorded Orphee

His interest in atonal music drew him on to study composition at the Juilliard School of Music (M.S., 1962) in New York City and then to Paris to study under Nadia Boulanger. His acquaintance there with the Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar decisively affected Glass's compositional style, and he temporarily jettisoned such traditional formal qualities as harmony, tempo, and melody in his music. Instead he began creating ensemble pieces in a monotonous and repetitive style; these works consisted of a series of syncopated rhythms ingeniously contracted or extended within a stable diatonic structure. Such minimalist music, played by a small ensemble using electronically amplified keyboard and wind instruments, earned Glass a small but enthusiastic following in New York City by the late 1960s.

Glass's opera Einstein on the Beach (1976), composed in collaboration with Robert Wilson, earned him broader acclaim; this work showed a renewed interest in classical Western harmonic elements, though his interest in startling rhythmic and melodic changes remained the work's most dramatic feature. Glass's opera Satyagraha (1980) was a more authentically “operatic” portrayal of incidents from the early life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. In this work, the dronelike repetition of symmetrical sequences of chords attained a haunting and hypnotic power well attuned to the religio-spiritual themes of the libretto, adapted from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavadgt. The opera The Voyage (1992) had mixed reviews, but the fact that it had been commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Opera (to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas) confirmed Glass's growing acceptance by the classical-music establishment.

[Excerpted from  © Encyclopædia Britannica]

Matthew Worth (L) as Orphée at Virginia Opera; Jeffrey Lentz (R) as Heurtebise (Preston Gannaway,The Virginian-Pilot)

One of the best Glass productions that is currently running is Orphée at the Virginia Opera with American barihunks Matthew Worth and Christopher Temporelli (and the very adorable tenor Jonathan Blalock, who also appeared in the aforementioned Hydrogen Jukebox). Here is what the Virginian-Pilot had to say:

The large cast had no weaknesses. First among equals was Matthew Worth as Orphée, using a powerful and rich baritone to great effect as the tormented poet who struggles to find meaning in his life and art. His performance conveyed both the strengths and weaknesses of the character, and did so in a sympathetic manner that carried the audience along on Orphée’s journey.

Remaining Norfolk performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 623-1223 or 866-673-7282; www.vaopera.org

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Barihunks Matthew Worth, Christopher Temporelli in Virginia Opera's "Orphée"

Matthew Worth as Orphée

We've been big proponents of Philip Glass' operas, so we were thrilled to see that the Virginia Opera will be staging his opera Orphée this month. We've posted about this opera in the past featuring barihunks Eugene Brancoveanu in San Francisco, Philip Cutlip in Portland and Martin Achrainer in Linz, Austria.

Martin Achrainer as Orphée in Linz

Not to be outdone in the barihunk department, the Virginia Opera has cast Matthew Worth in the title role. We've featured Worth in a number of his roles on this site, including a somewhat related role in "Orpheus in the Underworld" at Central City Opera. Virginia Opera fans will also remember him for his 2010 appearance as Don Giovanni, which created a bit of a sensation.

Of course, we think his sexiest role to date is as Tarquinius in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia," but that discussion is for another post.

Christopher Temporelli as seen in the 2012 Barihunks Calendar

We're excited about the Virginia Opera's production because even the small role of the Judge features one of our calendar models, Christopher Temporelli. We should also add that tenor Jonathan Blalock who plays Cégeste is a bit of eye candy himself. We've seen the opera and can certainly recommend it as wonderful theater, but if you need a nudge, then seeing Worth, Temporelli and Blalock on stage together should be sufficient motivation.

Performances run from January 28 through February 12 and will be performed in Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax, Virginia. For additional cast and performance information visit the Virginia Opera website.

On an unrelated note, it's come to our attention that you can listen to barihunk Luca Pisaroni in "The Enchanted Island" from the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday, January 17th at 8 EST/5 PST by clicking on this LINK.

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Photos from Hydrogen Jukebox

In our post about Fort Worth Opera's winning season, we teased readers about there being some skin in Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox." Enough teasing, here are some photos from the production:

Dan Kempson (L), Kempson, Jonathan Blalock & Justin Hopkins (C), Justin Hopkins (R)

Barihunk Justin Hopkins, hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and barihunk Dan Kempson

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