Barihunk Duo Touring Agrippina with Joyce DiDonato

Luca Pisaroni, Joyce DiDonato and Andrea Mastroni

Barihunk Luca Pisaroni and bass-barihunk Andrea Mastroni are hitting the road with "honorary barihunk" Joyce DiDonato in Handel's Agrippina.

Pisaroni is singing Claudio, Mastroni is taking on Pallante and DiDonato is singing the title role. Also in the cast are Elsa Benoit as Poppea, Franco Fagioli as Nerone, Xavier Sabata as Ottone, Carlo Vistoli as Narciso and Biago Pizzuti as Lesbo.

The opera opened yesterday at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and now heads to the Teatro Real in Madrid on May 16, The Liceu in Barcelona on May 18, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris on May 29, London's Barbican Centre on May 31 and the Turku Concert Hall on June 2.

Rising mezzo star Samantha Hankey will sing the title role on the final stop of the tour in Turku and countertneor Jakub Józef Orliński will take over as Narciso.

Barihunk Damien Pass sings and (strips for) the aria "La mia sorte":

In 1707-1708, Agrippina gave the young Handel his big chance to establish his reputation as an opera composer in Italy. The commission came from the famous Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo in Venice, which was funded by the influential Grimani family. The Venetians were extremely demanding when it came to music, but Handel succeeded in creating a wise, gripping and entertaining opera on the basis of the humorous libretto about lust for power and sexual desires in Ancient Rome. The success was overwhelming.

 Joyce DiDonato and a sexy dancer perform "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate":

The story takes place in Rome, 54 A.D. where Agrippina is married to the Roman Emperor Claudio, who is currently away on a crusade. When the rumor surfaces that he has been killed in battle, she tries to make her son Nerone, the result of an earlier liaison with another man, emperor. It turns out, however, that Claudio is not dead, but was saved by Ottone, one of his generals. Out of gratitude, Claudio has made him his heir. Consequently, there are now two heirs. The situation is made even more complicated by the fact that Claudio, Nerone and Ottone are all in love with the same woman: Poppea. Who will win the woman and the throne? Agrippina schemes, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so. In the end, Ottone wins Poppea – for the time being – and Nerone is heir to the throne. But as we know from history and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea things are not going to remain this way for long. 

Joyce DiDonato teams up with Ildebrando D'Arcangelo for Semiramide

Honorary Barihunk Joyce DiDonato and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

Perhaps the hottest opera ticket in Europe for the remainder of 2017 is the run of Rossini's Semiramide at the Royal Opera House in London. The all-star international cast is led by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role, bass-barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Assur, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Idreno and mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona as Arsace. There probably isn't a better quartet of Rossini specialists in the world today and they'll be performing the entire run from November 19-December 16.

D’Arcangelo made his Royal Opera 21 years ago as Colline in Puccini's La bohème, and since performed a number of roles with the company, including Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Selim in Rossini's Il turco in Italia, and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. This season, he is also performing Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth and reprising his Leporello with the company.

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Edita Gruberova in the duet from Semiramide:

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo sings Assur's aria from Semiramide:

The opera is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. After composing the opera, Rossini moved to Paris and wrote mostly opera in French, except for his comedy Il viaggio a Reims. It is considered one of the last operas to include the baroque tradition with highly decorative singing and vocal pyrotechnics.

The opera was premiered at La Fenice in Venice in 1823 and found its way to London a year later The U.S. premiere was at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans on May 1, 1837. By the late 1800s, the opera had virtually disappeared from the repertoire. However, it was chosen in 1880 to inaugurate the Teatro Costanzi in Rome and appeared as part of the Cincinnati Opera Festival 1882, which was attended by Oscar Wilde. The Metropolitan Opera revived Semiramide in 1892, 1894 with Nellie Melba, and again in 1895.

Although the overture is one of several of Rossini's to be widely recorded, the opera is only occasionally performed in modern times. Presentations at La Scala in Milan in December 1962 with Joan Sutherland and Giulietta Simionato required the re-assembly of the entire score from the Rossini autograph, since no other texts were known to exist.

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo appears on two recordings of the opera, one with Edita Gruberova and Juan Diego Flórez, and the other with Ángeles Blancas and Daniela Barcellona.

Barihunks Calendar cover boy Jason Duika

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!

Alex Esposito and Joyce DiDonato in Live Stream of Semiramide

Alex Esposito and Joyce DiDonato

Rossini's Semiramide will be live streamed from the Bavarian State Opera on Sunday, February 26th at 5 p.m CET/11 AM EST/8 AM PST. The production stars Honorary Barihunk Joyce DiDonato and barihunk  Alex Esposito along Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee. The broadcast will be available HERE.

The new production by David Alden sets the action in a modern, generic Middle Eastern dictatorship, rather than in ancient Babylon.  Both Alex Esposito and Joyce DiDonato are making their role debuts, as Semiramide and Assur respectively. The role of Semiramide was written for Rossini's mistress Isabella Colbran, an alto with great extension. In recent years the role has been sung primarily by sopranos including Joan Sutherland, Angela Meade, Laura Aikin, Elena Mosuc. Leah Crocetto, Montserrat Caballé, June Anderson and Edita Gruberová, Perhaps the most famous Assur of our generation was Sam Ramey, who recorded the role and performed it on stage.

The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria.

In the opera, Queen Semiramide is haunted by the ghosts of her past. Together with her lover Assur, she once murdered her husband King Nino; a deed which ever since has weighed heavily upon her. With her marriage to Arsace, she hopes her soul will at last find solace. Her love, however, is misplaced. Arsace not only loves another, he is also, as is later revealed, the son Semiramide and Nino believed to be dead. He is faced with a decision: should he avenge the death of his father – and thus become his mother's killer?

Joyce DiDonato and Paulo Szot in New Year's Eve celebration

Joyce DiDonato and Paulo Szot

Honorary barihunk Joyce DiDonato and barihunk Paulo Szot will ring in 2017 with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in an “Enchanted Evening” of American classics. The duo will perfom selections from Old American Songs by Aaron Copland,  Rodgers & Hammerstein  "Soliloquy" from Carousel and selections from The Sound of Music, as well as music from Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady.

In 2008,  Szot won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Emile De Beque in the Broadway revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater.  In the current season, the Brazilian baritone sings Don Alfonso in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Paris Opéra and a solo recital in Madrid as a salute to Antônio Carlos Jobim. He also returns to Feinstein’s 54 Below in New York City for a series of solo performances, and creates the roles of Alexander Hamilton, Bill Clinton, and Dick Cheney in the World Premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s The New Prince at Dutch National Opera.

Less than 3 weeks left to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar.

 

Honorary Barihunk Joyce DiDonato sings out against hate

Honorary Barihunk Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato is one of only three non-baritones to be bestowed "Honorary Barihunk" status and for good reason. The latest is her recent performance at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in honor of Mark Carson, a gay man who was killed nearby in a senseless hate crime.

The idea of a murder happening blocks away from the Stonewall Inn is incomprehensible to me," DiDonato says. "It shouldn't happen anywhere. It tells me that we're not done talking, and we are not done working for people to comprehend what equality is about and why it is important."

Joyce DiDonato performing at the Stonewall Inn on NPR:

The mezzo-soprano sang "When I am Laid in Earth" from Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, which includes the line "Remember me, but ah! forget my fate."

This isn't the first time that the singer has taken a very public and very musical stand on the issue. In 2013, she performed "Over the Rainbow" at the Proms in London devoting it to LGBT voices silenced by Russia's anti-gay laws. At the Santa Fe Opera, she dedicated a performance to a gay New Mexican teen who committed suicide after being bullied.

By the way, the first four letters of Joyce's last name spell DIDO. 

Royal Opera takes barihunks on Japanese road show

Liudmyla Monastyrska and Simon Keenlyside (left, photo: Clive Barda); Alex Esposito (right)

 The Royal Opera House is taking three of the most popular barihunks in the works on a tour of Japan in September 2015. The company had a successful tour in 2010, the last time that they toured the island nation.

The company will perform Phyllida Lloyd's production of Verdi's Macbeth with Simon Keenlyside in the title role alongside soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska as Lady Macbeth, Greek tenor Dimitri Pittas as Macduff, and American bass Raymond Aceto as Banquo.  

Alex Esposito looking bari-hunky

Kasper Holten's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni will feature the Italian barihunk duo of Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in the title role and Alex Esposito as Leporello. They will be joined in the cast by mezzo-soprano (and honorary barihunk) Joyce DiDonato as Donna Elvira, tenor Rolando Villazón as Don Ottavio, soprano Albina Shagimuratova as Donna Anna, soprano Julia Lezhneva as Zerlina, and bass Matthew Rose as Masetto. 

Both productions will be conducted by ROH Music Director Antonio Pappano.  Macbeth runs for four performances in Japan beginning September 12th, with Don Giovanni running for three performances beginning September 13th. Information about tickets and venues will be announced shortly.

Barihunks Simon Keenlyside and Chris Herbert nominated for Grammy Awards

Simon Keenlyside (L) and Christopher Dylan Herbert (R)

In case you missed the Grammy Award nominations on Friday or managed to overlook the Opera/Classical/Choral categories in all of the clutter around Jay Z with his nine nominations or Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pharrell and Justin Timberlake with their seven nominations a piece, we have some nominations of interest.  

In the "Best Opera Recording" category, barihunk Simon Keenlyside was part of the cast on Thomas Adès' The Tempest recorded at the Metropolitan Opera, which also includes mezzo Isabel Leonard, soprano Audrey Luna and tenor Alan Oke.   

Also nominated was a recording of Britten's The Rape Of Lucretia, an opera that we feature regularly due to great barihunk casting opportunities.  This performance is conducted by Oliver Knussen and features tenor Ian Bostridge, baritone Peter Coleman-Wright and sopranos Susan Gritton and Angelika Kirchschlager. 

 

New York Polyphony, which features barihunk Chris Herbert as part of its quartet was nominated for "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" for their glorious CD Times Go By Turns. If you don't own this, buy it today. 

 

Also nominated was our Honorary Barihunk and MezzoSexual diva Joyce DiDonato for "Best Classical Vocal Solo" for Drama Queens featuring ll Complesso Barocco under Alan Curtis.

The Recording Academy announced the nominations Friday during a concert at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The 56th Grammy Awards will be held on Jan. 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Click HERE for a complete list of nominations. 

Have you ordered your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Time is running out. Please remember that every penny of profit goes to help out young artists!

 

Theo Hoffman leads "Julliard Trio of Barihunks" in Upcoming Events

Theo Hoffman as Almaviva

Theo Hoffman, who we introduced to readers in August of this year, will be performing Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze do Figaro at Julliard. At the time of the orginal post we didn't have the dates, which are from November 4-10. Joining him in the cast is Jake Alan Nelson as Figaro. Tickets are limited, so call Juilliard Vocal Arts for tickets at (212) 799-5000.

Julliard's "Trio of Barihunks": Szymek Komasa, Theo Hoffman & Jake Alan Nelson

We also didn't have the date for his recital, which we now know will be on December 3 in Alice Tully Hall. The performance will be part of the Juilliard Songfest Britten centennial with accompanist Brian Zeger and fellow barihunk Szymek Komasa, who we first introduced readers in 2011 when he was competing in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. We also posted about him earlier this month when he was spotted by someone attending a master class where he was working with Joyce DiDonato.

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.

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BREAKING NEWS: Brandon Cedel wins George London Competition

Brandon Cedel & Jonathan Beyer as seen in the Barihunks calendar

Brandon Cedel, who appears in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar with his partner fellow barihunk Jonathan Beyer, has won the 2012 George London Foundation Competition. Jonathan Beyer won the competition last year with his rendition of  “News has a kind of mystery” from John Adams’s “Nixon in China.” Cedel won this year's competition singing a piece written 150 years earlier, "Vi ravviso o luoghi ameni" from La Sonnambula.

Beyer shot to fame after winning a series of vocal competitions, which we covered on our site. Cedel seems to be following the same path, as he also won the The Canstatter Foundation prize at the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition last month.

Past winners of the George London competition have included mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Matthew Polenzani.

 Cedel can next be seen performing the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Granada Theater with Opera Santa Barbara.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Stephane Degout Takes NY by Storm

Stephane Degout

Perhaps the surprise hit at the Metropolitan Opera this year has been Rossini's "Le Comte Ory," which has received universal acclaim. It would be tough to beat a cast that included Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato and Diana Damrau, especially when you add Rossini's music to the mix. We've received a bunch of email about the Raimbaud in the production, French barihunk Stephane Degout. 


It's a mystery even to us why we haven't posted him before, as he perfectly fits our criteria of sexy and talented. Degout came to the opera world's attention in 1999 as Papageno at the Festival Aix-en-Provence. He has performed all over at Europe's leading opera houses, including Vienna, Paris, Salzburg and London in roles ranging from Orfeo to Pelleas. He has three performance of Le Comte Ory remaining, including tonight, and April 18 and 21. He appeared earlier at the Met this season in Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande." You can hear a clip of him singing the Act 4 duet with Magdalena Kožená HERE. 


After the Met, he will be returning to his native France to perform the title character in Hamlet with the Opéra national du Rhin from June 9-28. 


He has released his first CD entitled 'Mélodies', which is dedicated to the French repertoire.

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John Relyea's Aria From "La Cenerentola"

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Joyce DiDonato Blogs About Mariusz Kwiecien

If you don't read mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato's blog "Yankee Diva," you're missing one of the most entertaining opera blogs around. The talented diva just wrapped up a run in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Le Nozze di Figaro" which we featured prominently on this site. The Yankee Diva was lucky to be surrounded by two of our favorite barihunks, Kyle Ketelsen and Mariusz Kwiecien.

She posted the photo featured above with the following caption:

Hamming it up with the incomparable Mariusz Kwiecien, who is sheer perfection as the Count, and is a divine colleague in every way.

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Simon Keenlyside: "Marrying music and theater"

I don't think that I could say it better than Joyce DiDonato, who at the end of this clip says, "That right there is a lesson in marrying music and theater."

One doesn't see anything from Pagliacci on this site too often. Partially because it's hardly a barihunks opera and, frankly, I've never liked the opera. But Simon Keenlyside can make anything exciting. Someone recently emailed me enthralled with Keenlyside's "animal magnetism." This is a guy who can dominate a stage like the great singing actors of our time, Leonie Rysanek, Bryn Terfel, Maria Callas or Raina Kabaiwanska.

He also happens to be the hottest barihunk over 40. Period. Wouldn't he make a hot James Bond? Maybe Jake Heggie can write the opera.

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