Erwin Schrott's Don Giovanni to be screened worldwide

Erwin Schrott in Don Giovanni (Photo: Mark Douet, ROH)

Erwin Schrott is currently performing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in London, which runs through October 10th. If you can't make the performance, you're in luck, as it will be shown in theaters in 53 countries encompassing 1,000 movie houses. Screenings will be on October 6 and 13.

Schrott will be joined by barihunks Roberto Tagliavini as Leporello and Leon Košavić as Masetto, along with Malin Byström as Donna Anna, Daniel Behle as Don Ottavio, Christine Rice as Donna Elvira, Louise Alder as Zerlina and Peter Magoulas as the Commendatore. 

Roberto Tagliavini and Leon Košavić

Kasper Holten’s production casts Don Giovanni as an artist who thrives on an audience enticed by his creative gifts. 

Schrott next heads to the Teatro Real in Madrid to perform Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore from October 29-November 12.  Tagliavini heads off to the Opéra de Lyon to sing de Silva in Verdi's Ernani opening on November 8th. Košavić will head to the Opera Vlaanderen to sing Herzog Alba in Schreker's rarely performed Der Schmied von Gent.

Watch Mariusz Kwiecien in complete Don Giovanni from London

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.

Barihunk Trio in George Benjamin's new opera about Edward II

Stéphane Degout prepares for Lessons in Love and Violence

The Royal Opera will present the world premiere of George Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence from May 10-26 at the Royal Opera House's mainstage in London. Benjamin's second opera is a co-production with six other opera houses and includes the team behind his highly successful Written on Skin.

Written on Skin has become the second most performed new opera in the 21st century. 

The cast for Lessons in Love and Violence will feature French barihunk Stéphane Degout as the King, Hungarian-Romanian barihunk Gyula Orendt as his lover Gaveston and Icelandic barihunk Andri Björn Róbertsson as a Madman. The remainder of the cast includes Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan as Isabel, British tenor Peter Hoare Mortimer and British tenor Samuel Boden as the Young King.

The project began two years ago, when the Royal Opera House commissioned George Benjamin and librettist Martin Crimp to write a new work, following the huge success of Written on Skin, a medieval-set story in which the creation of an illuminated manuscript leads to adultery, murder and cannibalism.

Lessons in Love and Violence is a re-imagining of the life of Edward II and his doomed relationship with Piers Gaveston, the first Earl of Cornwall, and is presented as seven lessons seen through the eyes of the monarch’s two children. This is the second opera to be written in recent years based on the same topic, as Swiss composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini premiered his new opera about Edward II at the Deutsche Oper Berlin last year.

Lessons in Love and Violence will be performed at the Dutch National Opera in June 2018, Hamburg State Opera in April 2019 and at Opéra de Lyon in May 2019.

Royal Opera to present Dmitri Hvorostovsky tribute

On Sunday, March 18th,  The Royal Opera in London will present a memorial concert in honor of Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died on November 22, 2017.

The concert will feature many of his friends and colleagues and will be conducted by Antonio Pappano with the Royal Opera Chorus. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, March 12th and will be limited to four per person. A cast list has not been posted as of this date.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky made his Royal Opera debut as Riccardo in I puritani in 1992 and appeared in nearly every season from 2001 to 2015. His roles included the great Verdi baritone roles such as Rigoletto, Count di Luna in Il trovatore and Giorgio Germont i La traviata, as well as Valentin in Faust and Tchaikovsky’s dashing Eugene Onegin (the role in which he made his final appearances with the Company in 2015.)

Hvorostovsky considered The Royal Opera his home company, and was much-loved for his glorious voice, big heart and generosity of spirit. He died at his home in London with his wife Florence by his side.

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!