Barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien continues to cancel performances, with the latest being as Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He will be replaced by fellow barihunk Luca Micheletti, who will be making his company debut in the June 29th performance. This is Kwiecien's second cancellation with the company. Germán E. Alcántara and ByeongMin Gil are also replacing previously announced singers as Flemish deputies.
Micheletti will join a cast that includes Michael Fabiano in the title role, Hibla Gerzmava as Elisabeta, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Filippo II, and Elina Garanca as Princess Eboli. The performances scheduled for July 13, 16, 19 will include Plácido Domingo as Rodrigo. Ticket and cast information is available online.
Luca Micheletti sings "Credo" from Verdi's Otello:
This is the latest in a series of cancellations for Kwiecien, including three with the Dallas Opera, withdrawing from the The Met's Pearl Fishers and as the Count inLe Nozze di Figaro, Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and the Count in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera.
Repeated
attempts to get a get a comment from his US and European agents have
gone unanswered. There is also no information on his website. We wish him a speedy and healthy recovery to the opera
stage.
Mariusz Kwiecien in Pearl Fishers and Don Giovanni
Barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien continues to cancel performances, including a third cancellation with the Dallas Opera. The company announced that he has withdrawn as Rodrigo in their upcoming production of Verdi’s Don Carlo. He will be replaced by fellow barihunk Lucas Meachem. Kwiecien withdrew from the title role in their production of Mozart's Don Giovanni in April 2018 and Bizet's Pearl Fishers in January. Kwiecien is scheduled to sing Rodrigo at Covent Garden this summer.
Meachem will join an all-star cast in Dallas that includes Jamie Barton,
Leah Crocetto, Robert Watson, Morris Robinson, Andrea Silvestrelli and
David Leigh. Performances run from March 20-28 and tickets are available
online. Tickets are available online.
Kwiecien's notable recent cancellations also include withdrawing from the The Met's Pearl Fishers and as the Count inLe Nozze di Figaro, Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and the Count in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera.
Repeated attempts to get a get a comment from his US and European agents have gone unanswered. We wish him a speedy and healthy recovery to the opera stage.
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that Alexander Birch Elliott
will sing the remaining performances of “Les Pêcheurs de Perles,” replacing fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga. The Polish singer was struggling to make it past the first act, prompting Elliott to step in for at least two performances, the first night being his Met debut.
There are three performances of the opera remaining on November 28, December 1st and 8th. Pretty Yende is
set to sing all of them except for the December 8th showcase when Amanda Woodbury wil sing. Javier Camarena will appear as Nadir for
all of the shows.
Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni (Image: Royal Opera House)
You can watch barihunks Mariusz Kwiecien and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in a complete broadcast of Don Giovanni from the Royal Opera House in London until August 11, 2018 by clicking HERE.
Marc Minkowski conducts Kasper Holten's 2014 production, which features ink blot splatter across a set by award-winning
designer Es Devlin with video designs by Luke Halls.
The cast also includes Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Pavol Breslik and Hrachuhi Bassenz.
Craig Verm as Don Giovanni at Dallas Opera (Photo: Karen Almond)
Craig Verm, who was slated to sing Masetto in the current run of Mozart's classic opera Don Giovanni at the Dallas Opera, stepped in for an ailing Mariusz Kwiecien to make his role debut as the title character. Verm was replaced by fellow barihunk Andre Courville as Masetto and fellow barihunk, Kyle Ketelsen, sang Leporello.
Kyle Ketelsen and Craig Verm (Photo: Karen Almond)
The all-star cast also included Morris Robinson as the Commendatore, David Portillo as Don Ottavio, Laura Claycomb as Donna Anna, Katie van Kooten as Donna Elvira and Virginie Verrez as Zerlina. Performances run through April 29th.
Mariusz Kwiecien, who was one of the inspirations for his site, will open as Zurga at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Sunday, November 19th. He'll be joined by tenor Matthew Polenzani as his friend Nadir, the booming bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Nourabad and soprano Marina Rebeka as Leïla.
Kwiecien last appeared in the role with the Met in January 2016, which also featured Polenzani, as well as German soprano Diana Damrau.
There will be seven performances running through December 10 and tickets are available online.
However, if you can't make it to Chicago (where it's cold and rainy right now), you can listen to the opening performance of The Pearl Fishers can be heard live on 98.7WFMT beginning at 1:45pm CST/11:45 AM PST/2:45 EST.
Upcoming performances for Kwiecien included Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Opera Krakowska in March, the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Dallas and London, and Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in Munich.
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!
Mariusz Kwiecien as King Roger (left) and Don Giovanni
Few singers are more popular on this site than Polish barihunk Mariusz
Kwiecien. He was also one of the early inspirations for creating this site along
with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. He's developed a cult
following with opera fans around the world and today we're celebrating
his 45th birthday. Like Simon Keenlyside, Rod Gilfry and Thomas Hampson, he seems to
get better with every passing year. As regular readers of this site
know, we've dubbed him "The Hot Pole."
Kwiecien was born in Kraków, Poland in 1972, but has a long history with New York, beginning with his
participation in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and then
becoming one of the biggest box office draws at the Metropolitan Opera.
He made his debut with the company in 1999 as Kuligin in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová. During the 2011/12 Met season, he amazed everyone with his resilience
when he returned to take on the demanding
title role of Don Giovanni after injuring his back in rehearsals. The
performance was also broadcast live in HD worldwide. He is next slated to appear as Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from November 19-December 10. He returns to The Met on December 29th for a run as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro opposite Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role.
Mariusz Kwiecien sings "Deh, vieni alla finestra" from Don Giovanni:
Kwiecien is probably best known for his sensuous and sexually charged portrayal of Don Giovanni.
In this golden age of baritones, he's considered one of the two or
three best exponents of the role. He is slated to sing Don Giovanni as the Dallas Opera
from April 13-29, 2018 and then at the Royal Opera House in London from June
30-July 17, 2018
He's also made his mark in
Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, as Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Riccardo in Bellini's I puritani, Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Marcello in Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Szymanowski's King Roger.
Many of his performances have been preserved on DVD including his
stunning Eugene Onegin from the Bolshoi Opera and Met broadcasts of
Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. His recording of “Slavic Heroes” is arguably one of the best recordings of Eastern European arias on CD.
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!
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 Versaillesfrom 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.
We figured that since it's Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), and most people are sitting down for a big sumptuous feast, that it was a great opportunity to look at some of the best scenes in opera involving food. Giuseppe Verdi was known for using food as a plot device in many of his operas, which makes sense as eating and drinking is such a key part of everyday life and certainly can help define a character.
A number of operas and operettas feature drinking songs as part of their plot, including Bizet's Carmen, Berliozs La Damnation de Faust, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's La traviata, Smetena's The Bartered Bride, Verdi's Otello, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Rombergs The Student Prince and, of course, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
Here are look at some of our favorite operas features food and drink (and it's by no means an exhaustive list!)
The performance that inspired Barihunks: Mariusz Kwiecien in SF Opera's Don Giovanni
The creation of the Barihunks blog was inspired after seeing Mariusz Kwiecien shirtless on a dinner table at the San Francisco Opera in Mozart's Don Giovanni. The cast also included fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni as Masetto and hunkentenor Charles Castronovo as Don Ottavio. A true FEAST for the eyes. Don Giovanni appears to have an appetite for everything sumptuous and tasty in life: wine, women and food. Leporello even gets in the action, as he pours out a fine Marzemino wine from northern Italy for Don Giovanni, then nibbles at a piece of pheasant ("Versa il vino! Eccellente Marzimino!").
In Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring thechildren sing with glee in Act 2 about the May Day feast: "Jelly!...Pink blancmange!...Seedy cake! Seedy cake! (with icing on)...Treacle tart!... Sausagey rolls!...Trifle in a great big bowl!...Chicken and ham!...Cheesy straws!...Marzipan!" Asked to make a speech, Albert is tongue-tied and becomes an object of pity at the feast in his honor, but after draining his lemonade glass (satirically underlined with a Tristan chord, alluding to the love potion in that opera) and having a fit of hiccups he manages a few "hip-hip, hurrahs."
Simon Keenlyside sings Hamlet's Drinking Song:
In Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet the title character sings the famous drinking song Ò vin dissipe la tristesse. In the scene, Hamlet meets up with a troupe of actors who will perform a play for the court. With them, he sings a drinking song in which he calls for wine and laughter to dispel his sadness.
One of the most famous drinking songs is Esacamillo's Votre toast from Bizet's Carmen. In the scene, the toréador enters a tavern and sings an ode to bullfighting, the roaring crowds and the glory that comes with victory.
In Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore the townspeople turn out for a prenuptial feast in anticipation of Adina and Belcore's wedding. In the scene, Dulcamara, who is selling the love elixir (which is actually wine) sings, “Weddings are all very nice. But what I like best about them is the pleasant sight of the banquet.”
Is there a more lavish and musically satisfying scene involving food and drink that Act 2 of Puccini’s La bohème set in the Cafe Momus in Paris? In the scene, Schaunard calls for Rhine wine, roast venison, custard and dressed lobster for his fellow Bohemians at the Café Momus. The scene is rich with Parisian street food: oranges, dates, hot chestnuts, nougat, whipped cream, candies, fruit tarts, coconut milk, carrots, trout and plums from Tours.
In Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel the title characters almost become the feast,
as the witch tries to fatten them up to become the meal itself.
James Maddelena as Richard Nixon
In more modern times, the most famous dinner scene is probably at the end of Act 1 of John Adams' Nixon in China. In the scene, President Nixon sings, “The world watches and listens, we must seize the hour” as he toasts his host Prime Minister Chou En-Lai before a banquet. According to the Nixon Foundationm the official menu included “spongy bamboo shoots and egg-white consommé, shark’s fin in three shreds, fried and stewed prawns, mushrooms and mustard green and steamed chicken with coconut, almond junket, pastries, fruits.”
As mentioned early, no composer featured food and drink more prominently than Giuseppe Verdi. Few people have never heard the famous duet with chorus Libiamone' lieti calici from La traviata. The lively song in Act 1 encourages the drinking of wine or other alcoholic beverages, which make "kisses warmer."
One can hardly think of food without thinking of Falstaff, who is one of the great operatic eaters and drinkers. His bill at the Garter Inn, as he recounts at the opera’s opening, is for 6 chickens, 3 turkeys, 2 pheasants, 1 anchovy and 30 bottles of sherry.
Thomas Hampson and Paoletta Marrocu in the banquet scene in Macbeth:
In Act 2 of Macbeth, Verdi calls for a “sumptuously prepared feast” for the banquet scene in which Banquo’s ghost appears to the title character. Lady Macbeth sings a drinking song before this dramatic moment, in which she encourages the guests to drink as much as possible. Not a bad idea considering what happens next!
In Verdi’s lesser known early opera Un giorno di regno, the composer uses appetite as a dramatic device to create tension, as people await for a banquet that never takes place.
Enjoy a FEAST FOR THE EYES with your very own 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED calendar. Now on sale!!
Polish barihunk Łukasz Karauda is performing the role of Bartley in Ralph Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea at the Wexford Festival. The opera opens today and is sold out. There are additional performances on October 31st, November 3th and 6th.
Riders to the Sea is one of Ralph Vaughan Williams' greatest masterpieces, but it has often struggled to find a home in the repertory because of its brevity
Composed in 1927 but not premiered until December 1937, Riders to the Sea
is based almost verbatim on J.M. Synge’s early twentiethcentury drama
of the same name. Music of eerie, elegiac beauty illuminates the theme
of elemental and watery death as experienced by the Aran Islanders, west
of Galway.
The central role is that of Maurya, who by the end loses her
husband and six sons to the sea, experiencing a kind of cathartic
release when her last son’s death leaves her with nothing more to fear.
Realising that the sea can hurt her no longer, Maurya concludes, ‘No man
at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied’. All this is
evoked by Vaughan Williams in music that captures the flinty harshness
of the islands and fierce marine brutality. But the theme of mankind
against nature –taken to extremes in his Sinfonia Antarctica – always
brought out the best in the composer.
Karauda sings the role of Bartley, the youngest of Maurya's six sons, who becomes the sole support of the
household after her other sons are lost at sea. He earns income by riding horses into the sea to the steamer
anchored far offshore, so that they can be sold at the mainland fair.
Preoccupied with practical exigencies, he ignores his mother’s request
that he not go to sea. He
nevertheless asks God’s blessing on the family and rides off on the red
mare, leading the pony.
His mother foretells his death and omits the
giving of a blessing to him, an omission considered bad luck. When his
mother subsequently stands on the path trying in vain to say the
blessing, he gives her his blessing. Bartley is knocked into the sea by his pony, becoming the sixth and final son of Maurya's to die at sea.
Łukasz Karauda is new to this site. He graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and is a recipient of a Bryn Terfel Foundation award. He was also tutored by fellow Polish barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien.
He won the first prize in the 5th Kurpinski Polish National Voice Competition in Wloszakowice, Poland and the ‘Most Promising Singer’ at the 2015 London Welsh ‘Young Welsh Singer of the Year’ competition.
At the Royal Welsh College of Music he sang the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and the title role in their production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, as well as Steward in Dove's Flight, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, Dancaïre and Morales, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen at the St Magnus Festival in Scotland.
Polish barihunks Marcin Hutek and Daniel Mirosław are just two of a bevy of barihunks performing in the 9th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition, which will take place from May 9-14 in Warsaw. Phase I will be held with piano on May 9 and 10, Phase II with piano on May 11 and 12, and the Grand Finale with orchestra on May 14. Stage I will feature 87 singers chosen by the selection panel and they will sing two pieces (an operatic aria from the 18th–19th century and a Polish song from the 19th–20th century in the original or a translation).
The competition will be transmitted live online HERE. You can read about some of the competitors below. The Phase I broadcast begins at 10 AM CEST, Warsaw time (1 AM PST/4 AM EST).
You can listen to Marcin Hutek HERE and Daniel Miroslaw HERE. Below is a sampling of the baritones and basses competing this year. Previous prize winners include barihunk Mariusz Kwiecień, Aleksandra Kurzak, Wioletta Chodowicz, Urszula Kryger, Małgorzata Walewska and Marcin Bronikowski.
Hubert Zapiór
Hubert Zapiór is scheduled to sings Mozart, Chopin, Donizetti, Britten, Piotr Czajkowski and Moniuszko. He was born in 1993 and studied at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. A prize-winner of national and international singing competitions, including 3rd prize at the 8th Leyla Gencer Voice Competition in Istanbul. A participant in the Young Talents Development Programme at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw. He has performed the title role of Don Giovanni (Mozart) at the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic and the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and at the latter company has appeared in a number of shows in the Youth Stage project as well as being Count Almaviva in a student production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. You can listen to him HERE.
Iurii Samoilov
Iurii Samoilov, who has appeared on this site and in our charity calendar, is scheduled to sing Bellini, Mozart, Britten Glière, Mieczyslaw Karłowicz, Massenet and Szymanowski. He was born in 1988 and graduated from the National Academy of Music of Ukraine in Kiev (2011). He has taken part in projects for young artists at the Salzburg Festival and the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. A member of the opera studio at the Frankfurt Opera since 2012, where his roles include Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and the title part of Julius Caesar in the opera by Handel as well as parts in operas for children (the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni). In 2015 he debuted in Basel as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. His concert repertoire has taken him to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and London’s Royal Albert Hall, among other venues.
Petro Ostapenko
Petro Ostapenko is scheduled to sing Verdi, Moniuszko, Bellini, Orff, Dezsö Zador, Władysław Źeleński and Piotr Czajkowski. He was born in 1988 and studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine from 2008-2013. In 2010 he became a soloist at the National Operetta Theatre in Kiev, where he debuted in the role of Freddy in Loewe’s My Fair Lady and Maurice in Kálmán’s Das Veilchen vom Montmartre. A participant in the Ion Dacian Operetta Festival in Bucharest. In 2013 he was a participant in the opera studio of Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and in the 2014/15 season performed there in La Cenerentola (Dandini) and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Officer) by Rossini.
Krzysztof Baczyk
Krzysztof Baczyk is scheduled to sing music from Henryk Czyż, Rachmaninov, Bellini, Stravinsky, Borodin, Weber and Tadeusz Szeligowski. He was born in 1990 and graduated from the Academy of Music in Poznań. He has been working regularly with Poznań’s Teatr Wielki since 2011, where his roles include Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro. He also performs at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A prize-winner and finalist of vocal competitions, including the Andrzej Hiolski Competition in Kudowa-Zdrój (2014). A participant in the Young Talents Development Programme at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera and the Opera Creation Workshops at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, part of the European Network of Opera Academies.
Thomas Faulkner
Thomas Faulkner is scheduled to sing music by Mozart, Weinberg, Richard Strauss, Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov, Moniuszko and Handel. He was born in 1983 and graduated from Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music. He is a member of the Opera Studio at Oper Frankfurt, where he has performed among others the roles of the Police Inspector in Der Rosenkavalier and the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss and the Old Passenger in Weinberg’s The Passenger. He has also performed at the Scottish Opera (Banquo in Verdi’s Macbeth), the Wexford Festival Opera (Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute) and in productions of the British Youth Opera (Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale). He is also in demand as a concert soloist.
Andrezej Filończyk
Andrezej Filończyk is scheduled to sing Bellini, Mieczyslaw Karłowicz, Piotr Czajkowski, Weinberger, Verdi and Moniuszko. He was born in 1994 and studies at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. Since 2014 he has been a participant in the Young Talents Development Programme at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. A prize-winner of many vocal competitions, including the International Vocal Competition in Petrovice (1st prize) and the Music Without Borders International Vocal Competition in Druskininkai (2nd prize). In 2015 he debuted at Poznań’s Teatr Wielki in the role of Tonio in I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo, and also performed the title role of Eugene Onegin in the opera by Tchaikovsky. He also works with the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, where he has sung the role of the Commissioner in Madama Butterfly by Puccini.
Łukasz Hajduczenia
Łukasz Hajduczenia is scheduled to sing Handel, Moniuszko, Rossini, Korngold and Piotr Czajkowski was born in 1985 and in 2010 graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (with Laura Sarti) and at the opera faculty of London Associated Studios. A prize-winner of many vocal competitions, including the Ada Sari International Vocal Art Competition in Nowy Sącz. His repertoire includes a number of leading opera parts; he also performs a wide range of oratorio, chamber and contemporary music. He recently recorded a CD with a cycle of songs by Dariusz Przybylski (DUX).
Piotr Halicki
Piotr Halicki is scheduled to sing Bellini, Chopin, Mozart, Britten, Rachmaninov, Piotr Czajkowski, and Moniuszko. He worn in 1985 and studied at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in 2007-2012. In 2012 he started working with the Teatr Wielki in Łódź, making his debut in the role of Scarpia in Tosca by Puccini, and the next year – with the Warsaw Chamber Opera (debuting as Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart). A prize-winner of Polish and international vocal competitions. His opera repertoire includes the part of Jontek (Moniuszko’s Halka), Marcello (Puccini’s La Bohème) and Demetrius (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Barihunks made it into the Wall Street Journal's review of the Metropolitan Opera's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers) starring Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, Diana Damrau as Leïla, Nicolas Testé as Nourabad and Matthew Polenzani as Nadir. They wrote:
The Pearl Fishers” contains plenty of spectacle. There are roiling
waves and ominous, inky skies, and, briefly, the bared torso of Mr.
Kwiecien, a dashing baritone who has been dubbed an “über-barihunk” by
the opera blog Barihunks.
You know, when I was 25, nobody asked
me take my shirt off,” the singer said, adding that he was relieved to
be done with the stress of opening night. “Now I am almost 45, and
people ask me to do it.
Mariusz Kwiecien & Matthew Polenzani sing"Au fond du temple saint":
Before the 2015–16 season, Les Pêcheurs de Perles had only received four performances at the Met. Three of them, in 1916, starred Enrico Caruso and Giuseppe De Luca. The opera will be broadcast to theaters across the country on January 16th and performances run through February 4th. Tickets are available online.
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.
Mariusz Kwiecien and Anna Netrebko in Eugene Onegin rehearsals
Good luck trying to get tickets for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Munich Summer Opera Festival. The show features and all-star cast led by barihunks Mariusz Kwiecien as Onegin and Günther Groissböck as Gremin, Anna Netrebko as Tatiana and hunkentenor Pavol Breslik as Lensky. Tickets for both the July 26 and 29 shows are completely sold out.
Fans of Günther Groissböck in Munich need not be dismayed if they can't get tickets, as he'll be back next season in Lohengrin, Der Rosenkavalier and La Juive.
Mariusz Kwiecien(photo on left by Bill Cooper, photo on right Minjas Zugik)
Karol Szymanowski’s Król Roger recently opened at the Royal Opera House and became the first Polish language opera performed at Covent Garden. The opera itself, which first premiered in 1926, has been a bit of rarity in in England, with only a modest production of the work having been performed at Sader's Wells over 40 years ago. The current production, directed by Kasper Holton, has additional performances from May 6-19.
The opera is about struggle between conservatism and sensuality, between Christian orthodoxy and pagan abandon, portrayed onstage by the church and the sexually tempting shepherd. Starring in his signature role of the King is über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien. The all-star cast also includes Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, Georgia Jarman as Roxana, Kim Begley as Edrisi and Alan Ewing as the Archbishop.
If you can't make it to this performance of Król Roger, it can be viewed from Saturday, May 16th on the Royal Opera House website or on YouTube. It will also be available on the newly launched Opera Europa Digital Platform that will showcase live streams and a range of behind-the-scenes footage from fifteen opera houses across Europe.
There is a lot of buzz coming out of San Francisco, where the opera just announced their new season and they are embarking on a worldwide search for a new General Director to replace the legendary David Gockley. The frontrunner is rumored to be director Francesca Zambello, who regular readers know coined the phrase "Barihunk" and is revered by the operators of this site.
As for the newly announced 2015–16 season, it is loaded with barihunks! The big news is Greer Grimsley in the San Francisco premiere of David McVicar’s production of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,
co-starring hunkentenor Brandon Jovanovich
and rising Wagnerian sensation Rachel Willis-Sørensen. Performances will run from November 18–December 6, 2015.
Tongues are atwitter about the US debut of opera bad boy Calixto Bieito, whose provocative version of Bizet's Carmen is being presented to the occasionally stodgy War Memorial audience with Zachary Nelson as Escamillo. The opera is infamous for a scene involving oral sex behind a car. Nelson will rotate the role with Michael Sumuel.
Mariusz Kwiecien and René Pape
If our email box is any indication, our readers seem to be most excited about the prospect of seeing two of the greatest barihunks in the world sharing the stage for Verdi's Don Carlo. Polish über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecień will sing Rodrigo and bass-barihunk René Pape as Philip II. They will be joined by the amazing tenor Michael Fabiano making his role debut as Don Carlo, soprano Krassimira Stoyanova as Elisabetta and Nadia Krasteva is Princess Eboli. Performances are June 12-29, 2016.
Also on the docket will be Thomas Hampson in Verdi's Luisa Miller; the barihunk trio of Elliot Madore, Gerald Finley and Wayne Tigges in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd; rising superstar Philippe Sly as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute; Lucas Meachem in Rossini's The Barber of Seville; and, Nicolas Testé as Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
Other operas being performed are Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa and the American premiere of The Fall of the House of Usher—a double bill presentation of Gordon Getty’s Usher House and Robert Orledge’s reconstruction of Claude Debussy’s La Chute de la Maison Usher.
Subscriptions are on sale beginning January 12, 2015 and single tickets will go on sale beginning June 29, 2015.
Lyric Opera of Chicago opened their Diamond Anniversary season in style with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni directed by Robert Falls and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. The cast includes two of the most popular barihunks on this site, Mariusz Kwiecien as the Don and Kyle Ketelsen as his sidekick Leporello. The vocally resplendent cast also includes Marina Rebeka as Donna Anna, Ana María Martínez as Donna Elvira and Andriana Chuchman as Zerlina.
Lyric Opera of Chicago was quite generous in supplying pictures to the press, so we thought we'd share some of the best. The opera runs through October 29th and tickets are available online.
If you don't think fans of barihunks (small "b") love their singers, then check out the latest issue of the Seattle Gay Scene, which dedicates a whole article to the fact that Mariusz Kwiecien, who appears in the Seattle Opera's marketing materials does not actually appear in the Seattle Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni.
We have to admit that were impressed that writer Michael Strangeways actually knew that Mariusz Kwiecien was one of the inspirations for Barihunks (big "B'). In fact after two of us had seen the "Hot Pole" in separate productions of Don Giovanni (in Seattle and San Francisco), the seeds of this site were planted seven years ago. So, naturally, one would think that we'd be disappointed, too. But we're regulars at the Seattle Opera and have no doubt that they will deliver an amazing performance of Mozart's timeless classic.
Evan Boyer and Erik Anstine (in his BARIHUNK tee shirt)
In fact, they've cast two singers who have been featured on this site, Evan Boyer as Masetto and Erik Anstine as Leporello. Those two should adequately fill the requisite "minimum barihunk requirement" for Don Giovanni. French bass Nicolas Cavallier will sing the title role. Performances will run from October 18 through November 1 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.
Mariusz Kwiecien on the Lyric Opera of Chicago website
If Michael Strangeways, or anyone else, wants to see Mariusz Kwiecien as The Don, then should fly to the Windy City, where he's starring in their production alongside fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen's Leporello. The Lyric Opera of Chicago even has a feature online called "Rolling with the Don" where the singer talks about the role (and is referred to as a "barihunk"). Performances run through October 29th and tickets are available online. Oddly, Lyric's website does not list who is singing Masetto.
Kraków may not be one of the
world's great opera centers, but it's Mariusz Kwiecien's home town and a
true gem among Central European cities. Kwiecien loves going back to
perform there. Its pull on him has been so strong that he recently
bought a home on its outskirts among the forests and fields that lead to
the scenic Tatra mountains.
"Performing in Kraków is fantastic," he says. "You know, when I made my debut there, it was six years after
my debut at the Metropolitan Opera. So when I came back to Kraków, I
came as a small star. And I was very excited, more nervous even than
when I sang at the Met. When I come to Kraków to sing now, I know it
will be sold out within an hour after the tickets go on sale, because
our opera house is rather small, around 700 seats only. I always try to
do three or four performances, and my colleagues at the opera house are
always fantastic. And it's wonderful to sing opera in Poland with an
all-Polish cast! Everywhere else I go, I have to speak many languages at
once — Russian, English, Italian, German — and when I come to Kraków, I
just have my wonderful Polish friends to sing with."
Barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien will be featured in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual "Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park" concert on Saturday, September 6 at 7:30 pm. The free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion will feature previews of Lyric's upcoming 2014-15 season.
Kwiecien will be featured in one of his signature roles, that of the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He will join sopranos Marina Rebeka and Ana María Martínez, and bass Andrea
Silvestrelli in the final scene from the opera. For those of you unfamiliar with the history of this Barihunks site, it was inspired by a performance of Kwiecien as Don Giovanni.
The program will also feature Wagner's overture to Tannhäuser, the Act One finale of Puccini's Tosca featuring baritone Mark Delavan and tenor John Irvin, the entire third act of Verdi's Rigoletto, and the chorus "Patria oppressa" from Verdi's Macbeth.
If you can't make the concert, you can listen to a live broadcast live on 98.7 WFMT or online at wfmt.com.
Performances of Don Giovanni run from September 27 to October 29. Kwiecien will return to the Metropolitan Opera from December 4-20 as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
