César San Martín in Granados rarity Goyescas

César San Martín

Spanish barihunk César San Martín is performing Ozias in Enrique Granados' rarely performed Goyescas under the baton of Placido Domingo. The opera is being performed as part of a double-bill with Puccini's Gianni Schicchi.

The opera premiered on January 28, 1916 at the Metropolitan Opera after its scheduled debut at the Paris Opéra was prevented by World War I. Goyescas was the first opera to be performed at the Met in Spanish and was paired with Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Goyescas is based on a series of six paintings from Francisco Goya’s early career, inspired by the stereotypical young men and women of the majismo movement. These majos and majas are known for their bohemian attitude and soft spot for finery. The opening scene is directly based on his 1791 painting "El Pelele," painted for Charles IV of Spain to hang in his textile mill, although the painting implies a satire of the monarch’s popularity.

César San Martín made his professional debut in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Real in 2008. He has performed numerous zarzuela roles with the company, as well as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale.

Performances run from June 30-July 12 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.  

Listen to César San Martín sing Masino's aria from La Vera Costanza HERE. 

Thomas Tatzl to star in new opera based on Lorca play

Thomas Tatzl

Austrian barihunk Thomas Tatzl will star in composer Mauricio Sotelo's new opera El Público, commissioned  by the last Gerard Mortier for the Teatro Real in Madrid. The work was adapted by Andrés Ibáñez from a 1930 piece by Federico García Lorca, which he wrote in Cuba after the transcendent trip he made to New York, in the midst of a profound emotional crisis and creative spirit.

The play, which Lorca gave to his friend Martínez Nadal on the condition that he destroy it upon his death, was premiered in Milan in 1968. Librettist Andrés Ibáñez wrote this about keeping the two essential themes of the work:

“...homosexuality and contemporary theatre. They both come united in a central theme that relates to the appearance or the mask. A mask of “love that cannot be named”, and in the end a mask that reveals itself as the essence of the human being. (...) Obscenity, cruelty, and irreverence are basic elements of Lorca’s poetic language. They have not been emphasised nor avoided. The text explores sexual desire with an honesty and complexity that defies the more or less moralist well-meaning simplifications.”

Thomas Tatzl, who we briefly featured back in 2012, studied voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He was a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, and has also performed at the Salzburger Festspiele, Maggio Musicale Firenze, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaat, the Music Society Steiermark and the “Amici della Musica” in Padua.

The opera runs from February 24-March 13 and it will be recorded on DVD with international distribution, as well as broadcast on television and on the web.

Duncan Rock making two major debuts

Duncan Rock

Fans of Duncan Rock in the U.K. will get their last chance to see him perform this year, when he joins soprano Anna Devin, tenor Joshua Mills and mezzo Kathryn Rudge for Mozart's Requiem tonight at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

He then heads off to Madrid to take on two roles in Willy Decker's production of Britten's Death in Venice at the Teatro Real. This will be his debut with the company. An additional highlight of this show will be Anthony Roth Costanzo singing the voice of Apollo. Performances run from December 4-23 and tickets are available online. 

Duncan Rock as Don Giovanni

Fans in the U.S. are eagerly anticipating his American stage debut when he's featured at the Boston Lyric Opera in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni next season. Performances will run from May 1-10, 2015 and tickets are now on sale at the BLO website. The remainder of BLO's upcoming season includes Verdi’s La Traviata, Frank Martin’s The Love Potion and Janáček’s Kátya Kabanová.

A little bit of trivia about Duncan Rock, that readers may not know, is that he started his musical career playing the bagpipes.

If want to enjoy an entire year of nineteen of opera's sexiest men, order you 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar today by clicking on the LULU button below.

"Brokeback Mountain" to be broadcast February 7th

Daniel Okulitch in Brokeback Mountain

In response to our most asked question of the last few week, we're are thrilled to announce that Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain will be broadcast live from Madrid’s Teatro Real on Friday, February 7 at 2 PM EST/11 AM PST.

You can tune in to Medici.TV to watch the production.