Fabio Lesuisse sings in Dido & Aeneas (and models for ad)

Barihunk Fabio Lesuisse and mezzo Rina Hirayama (Photo: Theater Aachen)

Germany's Theater Aachen near the Belgian border managed to get our attention with their gorgeous poster for Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. The shirtless model happens to be Belgian barihunk Fabio Lesuisse, who is making his role debut as Aeneas in the opera. The work will premiere on June 23, with additional shows on June 29 and July 5. The company is partnering with the School for Music and Dance in Cologne for this production. (Frustratingly, the Theater Aachen website does not list cast members for the show, but you can find them at the School for Music and Dance in Cologne website). Tickets are available online.

Purcell's Dido & Aeneas is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, Dido & Aeneas is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works.

Belgian barihunk Fabio Lesuisse is a graduate of the Cologne University of Music and First Prize winner at the 2015 Bach Competition in Barcelona, Spain.

He is currently a guest artist at the Theater Aachen in Germany, where this season he has also performed Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Junior in Bernstein's A Quiet Place.

He has performed the title role in T.J. Hermann's Hamlet at the Theater Dortmund, as well as numerous roles at Oper Bonn, including Morales in Bizet's Carmen, Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes, Marco in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure Espagnole.

Introducing Belgian barihunk Fabio Lesuisse

Fabio Lesuisse (photos: Theater Aachen)

Belgian barihunk Fabio Lesuisse, who will turn 27 on February 17th, is our newest addition to Barihunks. He is a graduate of the Cologne University of Music and First Prize winner at the 2015 Bach Competition in Barcelona, Spain. 

He is currently a guest artist at the Theater Aachen in Germany, where he singing Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Junior in Bernstein's A Quiet Place, which is part of a double-bill with Trouble in Tahiti.

He has performed the title role in T.J. Hermann's Hamlet at the Theater Dortmund, as well as numerous roles at Oper Bonn, including Morales in Bizet's Carmen, Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes, Marco in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure Espagnole.

Performances of A Quiet Place continue on February 16, 24 and 27, as well as March 10 and April 11. Performances of Roméo et Juliette are on February 17, March 9 and 24, as well as April 4, 13 and 22.

Upcoming performances include Killian in Weber's Der Freischütz, which opens on March 3rd and Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, opening this summer.

Aachen to revive Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain

Christian Tschelebiew and Mark Omvlee

Charles Wuorinen's operatic adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, based on the 1997 Annie Proulx's story of a cowboy love affair that became an Oscar-winning film is set for a revival on December 7th at Theater Aachen in Germany. German bass-barihunk Christian Tschelebiew will play the role of Ennis Del Mar, which was portrayed by Heath Ledger in the 2005 movie adaptation and Dutch tenor Mark Omvlee will will play the Jake Gyllenhaal role of Jack Twist. In the smaller role of Bill Jones is Stefan Hagendorn, who we've featured on this site twice before.

Brokeback Mountain was originally commissioned for a 2013 premiere by Gerard Mortier while he was at the embattled New York City Opera. When he became the head of the Teatro Real, Mortier decided to revive the work and present it there in 2014. Annie Proulx wrote the libretto.

Christian Tschelebiew and Mark Omvlee

Christian Tschelebiew trained at Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik Stuttgart. He has been a resident artist in Mainz, Augsburg, Erfurt und Gießen and at the Komishce Oper Berlin. He has also been a regular at the Bayreuth Festival where he has performed in Parsifal and Lohengrin.

In the world premiere, Ennis Del Mar was performed by Daniel Okulitch and Jack Twist by Tom Randle.

Performances in Aachen will run through January 22 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.

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Benjamin Werth joins the Aachen gang

Benjamin Werth in West Side Story

American barihunk Benjamin Werth, who has made his career in Europe in recent years, is making his debut with the opera at Theater Aachen in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Werth is singing Riff, the gang leader of the Jets who suggests the rumble with the Sharks.

Since 2009, Werth has been part of the ensemble of the Landestheater Coburg where he sang Orest in Gluck's Iphigenie auf Tauris, Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Renato in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera, Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville, Zurga in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. This won't be his first foray into Broadway musicals, as he performed Sam in George Gershwin's Crazy for You in 2011.

Jochen Kool

An additional bonus in this production is the physical dancing of Jochen Kool, who portrays fellow Jets gang member A-Rab. 

Performance begin on Friday, November 21st and run through the Spring of 2015. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

The 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar is available in plenty of time for the holidays. Order yours today!