Alternating barihunks in La Favorite at Liceu

Mattia Olivieri as Alphhonse XI (Photo © Bofill)

Barihunks Markus Werba and Mattia Olivieri are alternating the role of Alphonse XI in the original French language version of Donizetti's La Favorite at the Liceu Opera House in Barcelona. The French version differs in various melodic parts than the more commonly performed Italian version La Favorita, and also has a revised finale by the composer.  

Mattia Olivieri, Stephen Costello and Eve-Maud Hubeaux, trio from La Favorite:

Mattia Olivieri performs the revised ending of La Favorite:

 La Favorite, which premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on December 2, 1840 is one of the most important works in Donizetti’s French period. The opera is the second work in the genre composed after Les Martyrs and before Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal, and was a huge success with Paris audiences. 

Markus Werba as Alphhonse XI (Photo © Bofill)

The story revolves around a love triangle involving the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, his mistress ('the favorite') Leonora, and her lover Fernando. The story unfolds against the background of the Moorish invasions of Spain and power struggles between church and state.

You can click HERE to watch Mattia Olivieri performing the same role at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in April of this year on OperaVision.

Werba performs the role on July 22 and Olivieri on July 24. Tickets are available online.

Watch Mattia Olivieri in La Favorite

Mattia Olivieri as Alphonse XI (right)

You can watch Italian barihunk Mattia Olivieri as Alphonse XI in Donizetti's La Favorite from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, which was taped earlier this year. Click HERE to watch it on OperaVision. The performance is of the French version rather than the more commonly performed Italian version La Favorita, which differs in various melodic parts and has a revised finale.

La Favorite, which premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on December 2, 1840 is one of the most important works in Donizetti’s French period. The opera is the second work in the genre composed after Les Martyrs and before Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal, and was a huge success with Paris audiences. 

The story revolves around a love triangle involving the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, his mistress ('the favorite') Leonora, and her lover Fernando. The story unfolds against the background of the Moorish invasions of Spain and power struggles between church and state.

Olivieri will return to the role in July, when he alternates the role with fellow barihunk Markus Werba at the Liceu Opera House in Barcelona. Additional information is available online.

Watch Barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Mattia Olivieri at Berlin AIDS Gala

Mattia Olivieri & Edwin Crossley-Mercer at Berlin AIDS Gala

On November 5th, barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin's 22nd Grand Opera Gala in support of the AIDS Foundation. The event also features fellow barihunks Andrea Mastroni and Mattia Olivieri, as well as soprano Patrizia Ciofi, tenor Gregory Kunde and a host of other operatic luminaries.

Of course, we had to post our favorite barihunks for your viewing pleasure. If you speak German, you will enjoy the humorous introductions by legendary bandleader and singer Max Raabe.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer sings Mozart's "Madamina il catalogo è questo delle bello"

Michael Spyres & Edwin Crossley-Mercer sing Bizet's "Au fond du temple saint":

Mattia Olivieri sings Rossini's "Largo al factotum della città!":

Crossley-Mercer is so popular with our readers that we asked him to appear in our upcoming 2017 "Barihunks in Bed" calendar, which he graciously agreed to do. We hired a photographer in France to take a photo and made him our December feature, since his stunning prematurely gray hair evoked a perfect wintry night. You can purchase a copy ONLINE.

Glenn Seven Allen & Edwin Crossley-Mercer

Celebrating Rossini's birthday with a Barihunk duo

Mattia Olivieri and Richard Rittelmann

It seems appropriate on Rossini's birthday that we post these pictures of the barihunk duo of Mattia Olivieri as Figaro and Richard Rittelmann as Fiorello in Opéra Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Nice Côte d’Azur.

The cast also includes Rossini specialist Daniele Zanfardino as Almaviva, Georgian mezzo Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Marco Vinco as Basilio. There is one performance remaining on March 1st.

Mattia Olivieri and Richard Rittelmann in The Barber of Seville

Upcoming performances for Olivieri include Marcello in Puccini's La bohème in São Paulo, a June recital in Bari, Italy and Ping in Puccini's Turandot at the Bregenz Festival this summer.

Rittelmann will be performing the Fauré in six French cities between March 16-29, Johann Strauss' Der Zigeunerbaron in Turin, Berlioz's Les Troyens in concert with Honorary Barihunk Joyce Di Donato and tenor Bryan Hymel (which will be recorded by Warner Classics) and Puccini's La bohème with San Francisco's Golden Gate Opera in May.

Mattia Olivieri as Figaro

Rossini was born on February 29, 1792. Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini was the most popular opera composer in history. He is best known for The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, William Tell, Moïse et Pharaon (Moses), Semiramide, Il viaggio a Reims, Il turco in Italia, Tancredi, Maometto II (Le siège de Corinthe) and Le comte Ory. His overtures are frequently played by symphony orchestras.

Barihunk duo in Nice Côte d’Azur's Barber of Seville

Richard Rittelmann (left) and Mattia Olivieri (right)

Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur's production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia will feature the barihunk duo of Mattia Olivieri as Figaro and Richard Rittelmann as Fiorello. Also in the cast is Rossini specialist Daniele Zanfardino as Almaviva, Georgian mezzo Ketevan Kemoklidze as Rosina and Marco Vinco as Basilio. Performances will run from February 24-March 1 and tickets are available online.

Rittelmann who was part of our Barihunks Charity Calendar shoot in France this year, has also launched a new website (which includes a picture of him in his Barihunk t-shirt!). Upcoming performances include the Fauré Requiem in six French cities between March 16-29, Johann Strauss' Der Zigeunerbaron in Turin, Berlioz's Les Troyens in concert with Honorary Barihunk Joyce Di Donato and tenor Bryan Hymel (which will be recorded by Warner Classics) and Puccini's La bohème with San Francisco's Golden Gate Opera in May.

Upcoming performances include Marcello in Puccini's La bohème in São Paulo and Ping in Puccini's Turandot at the Bregenz Festival this summer.

Carmen's barihunk trio being broadcast twice (with alternating Escamillos)

Carmen's barihunk trio: Valdis Jansons, Ricardo Crampton & John Paul Huckle

There will be two free, live streaming broadcast of Bizet's Carmen from the Teatro Carlo Felice, with alternating Escamillos. The first one is on Friday, May 8th at 8 PM CET/2 PM EST featuring Mattia Olivieri as Escamillo, John Paul Huckle as Zuniga and Ricardo Crampton as Morales. The second broadcast will be on Tuesday, May 12th at 3 PM CET/9 AM EST. In the second broadcast Valdis Jansons will sing Escamillo. Click HERE to watch the live stream.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi on May 8th and Anna Malavasi on May 12th. You can see the opera live until May 17th.

Barihunk trio in Billy Budd and Carmen at Teatro Carlo Felice

Billy Budd at Teatro Carlo Felice with barihunks Ricardo Crampton, John Paul Huckle and Valdis Jansons       (Photo on left ©MarcelloOrselli)

We managed to get the three barihunks appearing in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd at the Teatro Carlo Felice to pose for a backstage photo before a recent performance. Valdis Jansons is rotating the title role with Phillip Addis, while Ricardo Crampton performs the role of A Novice and John Paul Huckle sings Dansker for the entire run.

The production directed by Davide Livermore has been praised for turning the stage into a ship and lowering and rising the sets to create a sense of navigation. There is one remaining performance left on April 23. You can also watch a video of Phillip Addis discussing the role of Billy Budd.

If you can't make it to Billy Budd, you can still catch the barihunk trio in the Teatro Carlo Felice's upcoming production of Carmen, where Jansons will sing Escamillo, Huckle performs Zuniga and Crampton takes on Morales. Jansons will be rotating the matador's role with another barihunk, Mattia Olivieri, who proved quite popular with our readers when we first posted about him. He was even featured in our Best of 2014 post as one of our hottest newcomers to the site.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi and Anna Malavasi. The opera opens on May 8th and runs through May 17.

Introducing Italian Barihunk® Mattia Olivieri

Mattia Olivieri: Don Giovanni (left), rehearsing Belcore (right)

Italian barihunk Mattia Olivieri will be starring as Nardo in Mozart's La finta giardiniera at Glyndebourne from October 5-23. The production then goes on tour to Woking, Canterbury, Norwich, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Dublin & Stoke-on-Trent.

Mozart wrote  La finta giardiniera when he was just 18 years old for the Salvatortheater in Munich. Mozart based the opera on Goldoni's play Pamela nubile and it was only his second comic opera. The story follows seven characters in search of love, involving disguise, and recognition of both identities and emotions - trying to discover what is real and what is finta (fake). You can listen to an earlier performance of the opera on BBC 3 starring Gyula Orendt as Nardo and the amazing tenor Joel Prieto as Count Belfiore. It will be available until October 22.

Mattia Olivieri as Ping at the Arena di Verona:

30-year-old Mattia Olivieri was born in Sassuolo, Italy and studied at the G.B. Martini Music Conservatory in Bologna and at the G.B. Pergolesi Music Conservatory in Fermo. He made his operatic debut in 2008 as the Imperial Commissioner in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Fiorello in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Tuscan Lyric Festival. He also toured Italy as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte as part of a nationwide opera education project.

In 2012, he sang Dulcamara in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore at the Sarzana Opera Festival and Don Prudenzio in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims with the Rossini Academy in Pesaro. This year he's sung the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Palermo and Ping in Puccini's Turandot at the Arena di Verona.

After the tour of La finta giardiniera, he sings more Mozart as he takes on Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte in Nice. In August 2015, he makes his debut at La Scala in Milan as Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme followed by Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.