Iurii Samoilov's busy Spring with the Frankfurt Opera

Iurii Samoilov showing off his barihunk credentials

Iurii Samoilov post the picture on the left after the closing of his run as Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at the Frankfurt Opera. He takes the stage again in two days as one of the Knights of the Holy Grail in the final night of Wagner's Parsifal with the company.

On May 10th, he takes over the role of Dandini from fellow barihunk Bjorn Bürger in Rossini's La Cenerentola. The production runs until May 23. After singing Tracolin in Adams' Le Torreador in Palermo and Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, he returns to the company on June 5th. He'll be alternating the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni with Bjorn Bürger in Christof Loy's production.

Iurii Samoilov sings Verdi's "Nell'orror di notte oscura"

Samoilov joined the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera this season after having been part of their Opera Studio since 2012. His debut with the company was as the Embittered Gambler in Prokofiev's The Gambler.

Samoilov graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in 2011 and in 2009 he was the youngest singer to ever reach the finals at the Neue Stimmen Competition in Germany.

Lauri Vasar strips down for Il Prigoniero

Lauri Vasar in Il Prigoniero

One of our alert readers pointed out the barihunk Lauri Vasar is reprising the role of the Prisoner in Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero at Opéra de Lyon. The 7-part, 50-minute opera is being presented with Schoenberg's one-act opera Erwartung. This is the fourth time that we've featured the Estonian barihunk and his outfit of choice always seems to be his underwear, which is fine with us.

Il Prigioniero was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on December 1, 1949. The work is based on the short story La torture par l'espérance ("Torture by Hope") from the collection Nouveaux contes cruels by the French writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and from La Légende d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak by Charles de Coster. Some of the musical material is based on Dallapiccola's 1938 choral work Canti di prigionia.

Perfomances will run through April 13th. Visit the Opéra de Lyon website for additional information.

Lauri Vasar in Il Prigoniero

Vasar will now switch to the German repertory as Olivier in Richard Strauss' Capriccio. He then switches to Wagner, taking on Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Staatsoper Hamburg in May and Amfortas in Parsifal at the Palace of Arts in Budapest. Somehow we think that he'll be more fully clothed for this series of performances.

You can listen to his Wolfram on his website, as well as view additional pictures from other productions of Il Prigoniero.

Erik Anstine spotted skiing in the Alps in a Barihunk tee shirt

Eric Anstine

Check out who was seen in the Swiss Alps sporting his Barihunk tee shirt! None other that former Los Angeles Opera Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program and Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program participant Erik Anstine. The bass-barihunk in now on the roster of the Opernhaus Zürich where he was cast this season as  Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Biterolf in Tannhäuser, the Second Solier in Salome, Anfisa in the premiere of Eötvös’ Drei Schwestern, and Hausknecht/Wächter in a new production of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtensk.

He opens tomorrow as one of the Knights of the Holy Grail in Wagner's Parsifal in a cast that includes Angela Denoke as Kundry, Evgeny Nikitin as Amfortas, Stuart Skelton as Parsifal and Jan-Hendrik Rootering as Gurnemanz. Performances run through April 1st and tickets are available online.

Eric Anstine

In the upcoming season, he can be seen as Masetto in Zurich's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni with fellow barihunk Peter Mattei in the title role, Ruben Drole as Leporello, and hunkentenor Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio. He'll also be joining two other barihunks in a new production of Gounod's Faust. Anstine will be singing the role of Wagner alongside Elliot Madore and Kyle Ketelson. We can't wait to get a backstage picture of that trio!

Next season he can also be seen alongside the great mezzo Cecilia Bartoli in a Christof Loy production of Handel's Alcina.  Check out the entire 2013/2014 season at the Opernhaus Zürich website.

Reader submission: Tom Krause

Tom Krause as Don Giovanni

Our latest reader submission is the Finnish baritone Tom Krause, who was a leading baritones for four decades across the globe. He originally planned on becoming a psychiatrist, and received his medical degree from Helsinki University. However, he opted for a career in opera, beginning his studies in Helsinki, and later at the Vienna Music Academy and in Berlin.

Since his debut in Berlin in 1957, Tom Krause has established himself as a leading baritone with a vast repertoire, ranging from Bach to Messiaen. He was with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for three years and was a member of the Hamburg State Opera for decades beginning in 1962, where he performed in a number of world premieres. He went on to perform in most of the major houses in Europe, including La Scala, Vienna, London, Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam and Rome. He performed leading roles in The Marriage of Figaro, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, La Concrentola, Parisfal, Elektra, Cosi fan Tutte, The Queen of Spades, Katya Kabanova, and Saint Francois d’Assise.

In 1963, he made his American debut in America at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1967 as Count Almaviva.

Tom Krause appears on numerous recordings of both opera and lieder, including works by Brahms, Schumann, Moussorgksy, Schubert and Sibelius).

He is currently teaching in Hamburg and is member of numerous Voice Competitions through the world.