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. 

Luca Pisaroni named Brand Ambassador for Via Luca

Luca Pisaroni (photo:Catherine Pisaroni)

Italian bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni has been named the Brand Ambassador for Via Luca, a leading distributor of high-end authentic Italian men's fashion.

The company's website states, "The partnership between Via Luca and Luca Pisaroni could not be a better fit, considering not only the same name “LUCA” but more importantly the origin of both being proud of having an Italian heritage."

Under the terms of the deal, Luca Pisaroni will wear garments exclusively from the brands sold on Via Luca wear custom Italian textile suits during his performances. He will also help promote the Made in Italy initiative and the family traditions of many of the company's brands, which include the knitwear brand Alessandro Simoni, Bruli sportswear, Equipage trousers, Marfin grooming products, Laboratorio Del Carmine shirts, and Zamparini shoes.

Pisaroni can next be seen on March 25th at Carnegie Hall, where he will sing Argante in Handel's Rinaldo. The English Concert under Harry Bicket will lead an all-star cast that also includes Iestyn Davies as Rinaldo, Jane Archibald as Armida, Joélle Harvey as Almirena, Sasha Cooke as Goffredo and the amazing countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński as Eustazio. Tickets are available online.

Barihunk duo in Rossini Festival's Le siège de Corinthe

Luca Pisaroni, Nino Machaidze and Iurii Samoilov

The barihunk duo of bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni in Mahomet II and Iurii Samoilov as Omar in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe. They are joined by John Irvin as Cléomène, Nino Machaidze as Pamyra, Sergey Romanovsky as Néoclès, Carlo Cigni as Hiéros, Xabier Anduaga as Adraste and Cecilia Molinari as Ismène. Performances are on August 10, 13, 16 and 19 and tickets are available online.

The opera premiered at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra on October 9, 1826 and was a partial rewrite of the composer's 1820 Italian opera, Maometto II, with exactly the same story and characters. The original version premiered in Naples on December 3, 1820.

The opera commemorates the siege and ultimate destruction of the town of Missolonghi in 1826 by Turkish during the ongoing Greek War of Independence (1821-1829). The reference to Corinth is an example of allegory, although Sultan Mehmed II had indeed besieged the city in the 1450s. This same incident, condemned throughout Western Europe for its cruelty, also inspired a prominent painting by Eugène Delacroix (Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi), and was mentioned in the writings of Victor Hugo. Lord Byron's 1816 poem The Siege of Corinth has little, if any, connection with the opera.

Luca Pisaroni sings "Sorgete... Duce di tanti eroi" from Maometto II:

On August 15, Pisaroni will also perform a recital of music by Schubert, Liszt and Rossini with Giulio Zappa at the piano. Tickets are available online. He returns to the US in December as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera. He rotates the role with fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien.

Iurii Samoilov returns to his home base at Oper Frankfurt in October as Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes. He remains with the company this season to perform Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosí fan tutte, Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto and Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Barihunks performing in quincentenary of Reformation

Marco Vassalli (left) and Malte Roesner (right)

Germany will have musical celebrations of Martin Luther's Reformation, which occurred 600 years ago this year. 

One of our favorites will have its world premiere at an open air concert in Tecklenburg in September with additional performances at the Stadtkirche Westerkappeln on October 14th and 15th, and then in Seligenstadt and Aschaffenburg. The concerts will feature barihunks Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner in a new piece written by composer Thomas Gabriel and librettist Eugen Eckert called "Bruder Martin" (Brother Martin). The two singers will be part of a four soloists backed by orchestra and a massive chorus, which will tell the life story of Martin Luther in an oratorio-style piece. 

Leipzig is in the midst of a month long celebration of the Reformation featuring a number of barihunks. On June 12, Felix Schwandtke will perform music by Johann Rosenmüller at the Nicolaikirsche,  Jochen Kupfer will perform Mendelssohn's Paulus at the Thomaskirsche on June 15th,  and on June 18th, Luca Pisaroni will perform Bach's Mass in B-minor at the Thomaskirsche. The entire program is available here.

Felix Schwandtke

On June 17th, barihunk Roman Trekel will perform the debut of composer Daniel Pacitti and librettist Christian Meißner's new work "Luther Oratorio" under the baton of Helmuth Rilling at the Berliner Dom. 

The Reformation happened when Martin Luther rejected several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his 95 Theses of 1517. Luther taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible to the laity, an event that had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.  

Hampson and Pisaroni back for "No Tenors Allowed"

Thomas Hampson and his son-in-law Luca Pisaroni are taking their "No Tenors Allowed" show to the Wiener Konzerthaus in Austria on April 3rd. The duo has performed the concert worldwide, including in the Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey, Germany and France. Tickets are available online.

The program includes arias and duets from opera and Broadway. Pisaroni will perform Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Non più andrai from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, "Sorgete… Duce di tanti eroi: from Rossini's Maometto II and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening. Hampson will perform Gabey’s song from Bernstein's On the Town, Perfidi!...Pietà, rispetto, amore from Verdi's Macbeth, Komm, Zigány from Gräfin Mariza and "Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. They will also team up for duets from Mozart's Don Giovanni and a medley of Broadway hits. 

Hampson originally performed the "No Tenors Allowed" format with bass Samuel Ramey in the 1990's, which is available on Teldec.

Barihunks dominate Grammy® nominees for "BEST OPERA RECORDING"

Luca Pisaroni, Mariusz Kwiecien and Lucas Meachem

The odds are pretty good that a barihunk will be placing a Grammy award on his shelf, since every recording that was nominated features at least one. The Grammy® Awards will be held on February 12, 2017 at 8:00 PM PST.

The nominees are:

John Corigliano: The Ghosts Of Versailles from the Los Angeles Opera conducted by James Conlon, featuring barihunks Christopher Maltman and Lucas Meachem along with Patricia Racette, Lucy Schaufer and Guanqun Yu.

George Freidrich Handel: Giulio Cesare with Il Giardino Armonico under the baton of Giovanni Antonini, featuring bass Ruben Drole,  Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Andreas Scholl and Anne-Sofie von Otter.

Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain from the Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya with barihunks Nathan Gunn and Kevin Burdette, joined by Isabel Leonard, Jay Hunter Morris and the Santa Fe Opera apprentice artists.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro performed by the Chamber Orchestra Of Europe and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, featuring barihunks Thomas Hampson and Luca Pisaroni, joined by Christiane Karg and Sonya Yoncheva.

Karol Szymanowski: Król Roger at the Royal Opera House conducted by Antonio Pappano, featuring barihunk Mariusz Kwiecień, Saimir Pirgu and Georgia Jarman.

ENJOY BARIHUNK YEAR AROUND WITH OUR 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED CALENDAR. ORDER TODAY AT LULU.

Luca Pisaroni makes Canadian Opera debut as Maometto II

Luca Pisaroni and Leah Crocetto in Rossini's Maometto II in Santa Fe (Photo: Ken Howard)

Italian bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni will be making his debut with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto from April 29 to May 14 in the title role of Rossini's Maometto II.  He had a huge success in this David Alden-directed production at the Santa Fe Opera in 2012 with Leah Crocetto as Anna, who will be joining him in these performances. They will be joined by tenor Bruce Sledge as Erisso  and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong as Calbo.

The Venetian love story contains some of the Italian composers greatest music, but has somehow never entered the standard repertory, even in its reworked version Le siège de Corinthe. The only U.S. performance in recent years in addition to Santa Fe was the 1988 production at the San Francisco Opera, which was produced as a showcase for Simone Alaimo and June Anderson. Other performances internationally have included a 2008 performance in Pesaro, Italy with Michele Pertusi and a 2014 production in Rome with bass-barihunk Mirco Palazzi.

Luca Pisaroni sings Maometto's aria "All'invito generoso" in Santa Fe:

The best known pieces of music from the opera are sung by the mezzo character Calbo "Non temer: d'un basso affetto," the soprano Anna's "Giusto Cielo, in tal periglio," the duet between Maometto and Anna "Anna... tu piangi" and Maometto's thrilling aria "All'invito generoso."

Pisaroni next heads to Los Angeles to perform the Mozart Requiem under LA Philharmonic Gusavo Dudamel's baton on May 19, 20, 21 and 22.  He'll be joined by soprano Lucy Crowe, tenor Paul Appleby and mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu. Tickets are available online.

Luca Pisaroni & Mariusz Kwiecien to appear together in benefit concert

Luca Pisaroni & Mariusz Kwiecien

Two of the most acclaimed barihunks in opera will be headlining a benefit concert for Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS on Saturday, February 27, 2016 in New York City. They will be joined by soprano Amanda Majeski and tenor Matthew Polenzani as part of the Michael Palm Series.

The series, which is in its twelfth season, features intimate house concerts starring the biggest names in opera, classical music and jazz, all of whom generously agree to donate their  time and talent in support of Classical Action.

Michael Palm, who died in 1998, was an originator of these private benefit house concerts, hosting several of them himself at his penthouse apartment 37 floors above Loncoln Center.

Tickets and additional information is available online. 

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

Philippe Sly and Luca Pisaroni on the big screen (the really, really big screen)

Luca Pisaroni signing baseballs in San Francisco

On July 3rd, the San Francisco Opera is continuing its annual tradition to simulcast opera to AT&T Park, home of the World Champion San Francisco Giants. The production is headlines by two barihunks, Philippe Sly as Figaro and Luca Pisaroni as Count Almaviva. Sly makes his role debut in this production and Pisaroni returns to reprise his successful performances from 2010.

This is the San Francisco Opera’s 13th simulcast and it will be  transmitted live from the stage of the War Memorial Opera House to AT&T Park’s high-definition scoreboard. The performance will begin at 7:30 PM and it is recommended that people register for tickets online.

San Francisco Opera's exciting summer season kicks off this weekend

Philippe Sly and Luca Pisaroni

The San Francisco Opera kicks off one of its most exciting summer season's this weekend in decade. First up is Hector Berlioz's epic 5 1/2 hour masterpiece Les Troyens with Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandra. She is perhaps the most exciting singing actress in opera since Leonie Rysanek.

The opera has not been performed in San Francisco in 47 years, where the U.S. stage premiere took place two years earlier in 1956 with Regine Crespin and Jon Vickers. The five-act opera is set to Virgil’s classical poem The Aeneid and is performed in two parts: “The Capture of Troy,” the Greek siege of ancient Troy including the famed Trojan Horse, and “The Trojans at Carthage,” the escape of the Trojans to the North African Mediterranean city of Carthage.

Christian Van Horn as Narbal (left)

Bass-Barihunk Christian Van Horn takes on the role of the queen's adviser Narbal, in an all-star cast that also includes Susan Graham as Dido, Bryan Hymel as Aeneas and Sasha Cooke as Anna.  The production is the largest physical production ever to be presented as the War Memorial Opera House, requiring 134 artists on stage and 95 musicians in the orchestra pit and backstage. The production first opened in 2012 at London’s the Royal Opera and later at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. Following the San Francisco Opera performances, the production will be seen at the Vienna State Opera. Performances run from June 7–July 1 and tickets are available online.

Two of the most beloved and gifted barihunks in the world head the cast of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, with Philippe Sly as Figaro and Luca Pisaroni as the lecherous Count. They'll be joined by Nadine Sierra as his Countess, Lisette Oropesa as Susanna, Kate Lindsey/Angela Brower as Cherubino, John Del Carlo as Bartolo and Catherine Cook as Marcellina. Performances run from June 14-July 5.

Christian Van Horn with fellow barihunk Andrè Schuen and hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann

Van Horn also appears as the Field Marshall in the world premiere of Italian composer Marco Tutino’s Two Women (La Ciociara), with a libretto by the composer and Fabio Ceresa. Anna Caterina Antonacci is also back as the mother Cesira. Her daughter will be played by Sarah Shafer. It is the first time in the history of San Francisco Opera that an Italian composer has been commissioned to write a new opera for the company.

The opera is based on 20th-century Italian author Alberto Moravia’s novel of the same name. Moravia’s critically-acclaimed 1958 work was adapted in 1960 by noted Italian film producer Carlo Ponti into a film directed by Vittorio De Sica starring Sophia Loren. Loren won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Actress for the performance—the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign language film. Performances run from June 13-30.

Van Horn next appears as Zaccaria in Verdi's Nabucco at the Seattle Opera from August 8-22.

Philippe Sly in documentary about Jonathan Dove composition

Philippe Sly

Barihunk Philippe Sly is prominently featured in a one hour documentary filmed during the rehearsal period and performance of the world premiere of British composer Jonathan Dove's "Who Wrote the Book of Love." The piece was written for bass-baritone and string quartet with Phillippe Sly in mind as the soloist. 

Who Wrote the Book of Love? is a 45-minute cycle with words by British playwright and librettist Alasdair Middleton. The text explores the path of love and passion.

The first performance of the piece took place in March 2014 in a London gallery and Philippe's brother Mathieu Sly camera filmed the whole creative process, including some private moments.
Sly calls the piece the most beautiful composition that the composer has written for him. Dove also wrote Three Tennyson Songs for the singer.


Sly will perform Figaro in the San Francisco Opera's Summer Season production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, which runs from June 14-July 5. He'll be joined by the Count of Luca Pisaroni.

Watch Luca Pisaroni live from Vienna

Luca Pisaroni as Count Almaviva

The Vienna State Opera's live streaming opera service will be presenting Luca Pisaroni in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on February 25th at 5:30 PM CET/11:30 AM EST/8:30 AM PST). The service requires a log-in and the first seven days are free. On demand operas will cost €14.00 ($17.40) for a single opera with subscriptions available. The service also includes the option to view multilingual subtitles and to follow along with the score.

The cast also includes  Adam Plachetka as Figaro, Olga Bezsmertna as the Countess and Anita Hertig as Susanna.

The Vienna State Opera produces more than 40 live broadcasts annually, and is making nearly all of its 2014-15 season productions available in Ultra HD via the Internet, smart TVs and mobile devices. Click HERE to start watching now.

Pisaroni returns to the U.S. early in the new year, with a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in January with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. He then heads to the Met in February for a run as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Peter Mattei sings the title role.

Don't forget to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar before the busy shopping season begins.

Craig Verm in the 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar

Introducing Davide Luciano; Starring in Teatro Real's Marriage of Figaro

Davide Luciano preparing for Le nozze di Figaro

We thought that you might enjoy seeing how Davide Luciano is preparing for his upcoming role as Figaro in Teatro Real's production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. The opera is kicking off their new season on September 15th and includes two casts. Other upcoming operas include Donizetti's La fille du Régiment, a double-bill of Goyescas and Gianni Schicchi, and Britten's Death in Venice.

Davide Luciano will be paired with the Count Almaviva of Andrey Bondarenko, while the other cast features barihunk Luca Pisaroni as Almaviva and Andreas Wolf as Figaro.

Davide Luciano, was born in Benevento, Italy to a family of musicians. Before taking up singing, he played piano, percussion, bass and classical guitar. When he was 19 he began studying voice with the baritone Gioacchino Zarrelli.

Davide Luciano

Five  years later, he won his first competition and was awarded "Best New Artist" at the Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana. He subsequently made ​​his debut as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Opera domani, followed by his debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro as Don Profondo in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il viaggio a Reims under the baton of Alberto Zedda. He won first prize and the audience prize at the Premio internazionale di canto lirico Santa Chiara in Naples. 


After singing Figaro, he heads to Sāo Paolo, Brazil to sing Silvio in Pagliacci. He then returns to his home base at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he will perform Nottingham in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, Ping in Puccini's Turandot, Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Barihunk Trio in Salzburg Don Giovanni

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Luca Pisaroni

The Salzburg Festival has assembled three of the most popular barihunks for their production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is singing the title role, Luca Pisaroni is his sidekick Leporello and Alessio Arduini is Masetto. Fans of a pulchritudinous men will be pleased to know that Don Giovanni and Masetto both show off their upper torsos liberally in Sven-Eric Bechtolf's production. 

There are six performances remaining between July 30 and August 18, but two of the shows are already completely sold out. If you plan on attending, go to the Festival website and order your tickets today.

If you can't make a live performance, the production is being recorded by ServusTV in cooperation with UNITEL CLASSICA and will be broadcast as live on Sunday, August 3 at 7:30 PM. If you live in Europe, you can download the ServusTV app to your iPad.

If you're in the United States, you can catch Alessio Arduini at the Metropolitan Opera in Puccini's La bohème as Schaunard this November with Kristine Opolais as Mimi. Luca Pisaroni's next U.S. performance in a complete opera is also at the Met in their Don Giovanni, which runs in February and March 2015. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's next U.S. stage appearance is also in Don Giovanni, but on the other coast, when he sings the title role at the revived San Diego Opera. 

Watch the Glyndebourne Don Giovanni online

Gerald Finley and Luca Pisaroni at Glyndebourne

You will be able to watch the acclaimed 2010 production of Mozart's Don Giovanni from Glyndebourne online. It features three of the greatest low voices around today, Gerald Finley in the title role, Luca Pisaroni as Masetto and Guido Loconsolo as Masetto. Also not to be missed in this production is the Don Ottavio of William Burden and the Donna Anna of Kate Royal.

The video will go live HERE at 3pm London time (10 AM EST/7 AM PST) on July 6 and remain online until Sunday, July 13.

Critic Rupert Christiansen, writing about Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni and Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, wrote: "Suavely ruthless, Finley was both steely monster and molten charmer, singing with a firmness, clarity and stylistic elegance that I can’t easily imagine surpassed. Pisaroni made a delightfully goofy but treacherous Leporello, both his master’s alter ego and his rival." 

Barihunk Festival at Salzburg Festival

Add Günther Groissböck and Alessio Arduini

The 2014 Salzburg Festival will run from July 18-August and will feature barihunks in almost all of their productions, including many of the biggest names in opera.

The Festival will be paying tribute to Richard Strauss' 150th  birthday by performing Der Rosenkavalier. The opera will feature barihunk Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs in his role debut (which he will reprise at the Met). The cast also includes Krassimira Stoyanova as the Marschallin and Sophie Koch as Octavian.

The Festival will continue their Mozart/da Ponte cycle introduced in 2013 with a new production of Don Giovanni directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf. The cast includes a trio of barihunks led by Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the title role, Luca Pisaroni as his sidekick Leporello and the dashing Italian baritone Alessio Arduini as Masetto.

René Pape will be featured in a concert performance of music from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde featuring the prelude, Act 2 and Isolde’s transfiguration featuring Waltraud Meier.

Austrian barihunk Markus Werba will sing Roland opposite the Florinda of Dorothea Röschmann in Schubert's rarely performed Fierabras. The libretto combines two episodes from the cycle of legends associated with the Frankish leader Charlemagne and is set against the background of the skirmishes between Christians and Muslims.

Jean-Sébastien Bou and Markus Werba

Baroque specialist Jean-Sébastien Bou will star in the premiere of librettist Barbara Honigmann and composer Marc-André Dalbavie's Charlotte Salomon, which is dedicated to Gerard Mortier. Directed by Luc Bondy, Charlotte Salomon is based on the work of a Jewish artist who died at age 26 in the gas chamber at Auschwitz. Saloman fled to southern France following the Kristallnacht pogrom in Berlin where she joined her grandparents. Her grandmother threw herself to her death from an upstairs window, which was the same way that her mother had died when the girl was nine.

Other productions include Anna Netrebko as Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore, which includes Plácido Domingo in the baritone role of the Count di Luna, Rossini's La Cenerentola with Cecilia Bartoli and a children's performance of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail featuring Salzburg young artists.

All in all, the Festival will feature over 250 performances including opera, theater and concerts. Tickets and additional performance information is available online.

Barihunks dominate 2014 International Opera Awards

Stéphane Degout and Duncan Rock

The nominations for the 2014 International Opera Awards have been announced and barihunks are dominated many of the categories. The awards ceremony features nineteen categories, including Best New Production, Best Chorus, Best Conductor, Best CD, Best DVD, Best Rediscovered Work and even Best Philanthropist. The awards are the work of British opera patron Harry Hyman and the the British magazine Opera.

The Best Male Singer category is dominated by barihunks Stéphane Degout, Peter Mattei, Luca Pisaroni and Ludovic Tézier, pitting some of the sexiest and most vocally gifted performers against each other.

Barihunks calendar model Duncan Rock has been nominated as Best Young Singer for the second consecutive year.

Christopher Maltman in ENO's 2001 production of Rape of Lucretia

In the Best DVD Category Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick conducted by Patrick Summers and featuring Morgan Smith leads the pack. The DVD was featured in our Best of 2013 feature in December as the best performance on disc. Also nominated was Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with conductor Stefan and featuring Jacques Imbrailo and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia conducted by Paul Daniel and featuring the barihunk duo of Christopher Maltman and Leigh Melrose.

The Opera Awards will take place on Monday 7th April at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London. You can check out the entire list of nominees and categories at the Opera Awards website.

Annual "Christmas in Vienna" concert to be broadcast LIVE!!!

Tenor Joel Prieto, Baritone Luca Pisaroni and tenor Pavol Breslik

The annual "Christmas in Vienna" concert will be broadcast live this year with an all-star quartet led by barihunk Luca Pisaroni. He'll be joined by Puerto Rican hunkentenor Joel Prieto, soprano Ursula Langmayr, mezzo Angela Kirschschlager and the famed Vienna Boys Choir.

The broadcast will start on ORF2 at 10:45 PM Vienna time (4:45 EST/1:45 PST) and can be accessed HERE.

Pisaroni will stay in Vienna to perform Beethoven's majestic 9th Symphony under Louis Langrée with hunkentenor Pavol Breslik, Susan Gritton and Serena Malfi. Performances are on December 30 and 31 and tickets are available online.

Time is running out for you to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. We'll be announcing our latest grantee soon. Every penny of profit from the sale of these calendars goes to benefit young artists, so get in the holiday spirit and order one below.

Hampson & Pisaroni reprise "No Tenors Allowed"

Thomas Hampson & Luca Pisaroni

Thomas Hampson and his son-in-law Luca Pisaroni are taking their "No Tenors Allowed" show to the Czach Republic and Slovakia. The duo will perform their popular show on Wednesday, December 4th in Bratislava and again on Monday, December 9th in Prague.

The program includes arias and duets from opera and Broadway. Pisaroni will perform Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Mephistopheles’ serenade from Gounod's Faust, "Sorgete… Duce di tanti eroi: from Rossini's Maometto II and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening. Hampson will perform Gabey’s song from Bernstein's On the Town, Iago's Credo from Verdi's Otello, "Vision fugitive" from Massenet's Hérodiade and "Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. They will also team up for duets from Verdi's Don Carlo, Bellini's I Puritani and Donizetti's Don Pasquale.

Hampson originally performed the "No Tenors Allowed" format with bass Samuel Ramey in the 1990's, which is available on Teldec.

Hampson's next operatic performance is in Verdi's La traviata at the Bavarian State Opera opposite Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo. The show opens on December 31st. Luca Pisaroni's next operatic performance is as Mozart's Figaro at the Vienna State Opera opening January 9th.

Time is running out to order your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Order yours today by clicking the Lulu button below. Get into the giving spirit now...and remember that every penny of profit goes to benefit young artists.

Luca Pisaroni: It's a dogs life on the road

Luca Pisaroni, Lenny & Tristan: Backstage and out for a walk

Anyone who follows Italian bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni on social media knows three things about him: he has a devoted and supportive wife - web designer Catherine, he loves performing opera and he's rarely without his beloved dogs, Tristan and Lenny.

He was recently featured in the GBTimes, a Finnish-based media site that serves as a gateway between the East and West.

Luca Pisaroni, Lenny & Tristan

In the interview, he reveals that he's a lot like his blonde, long-haired dachshund Tristan. "Tristan, just like me, always needs to be in control of the situation, needs to know exactly what's going on, and is a little bit less relaxed,” says Pisaroni.

You can read the entire interview HERE. Also, make sure to follow Pisaroni on Twitter @lucapisaroni and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lucapisaroni. Also, you don't want to miss the personal Facebook fan page of Lenny and Tristan at https://www.facebook.com/lenny.tristan.