Luca Pisaroni featured in Opera Now

Luca Pisaroni (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Luca Pisaroni is featured in the new issue of Opera Now. The magazine has recently featured barihunks Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Christopher Maltman on the cover. This month Pisaroni didn't make the cover, as that went to the equally hunky tenor Juan Diego Florez. If you're an opera fan and don't read Opera Now,  you're missing a world of great opera writing, reviews and photos. We never miss and issue and travel with the iPad version of the magazine. Barihunks readers can get a free introductory offer by clicking on the link to the right and entering the code BAR12.

Here's a teaser from the article entitled "Leader of the Pack," which refers to Pisaroni's love of dogs and being a social animal:

Luca Pisaroni is shaping up to be one of the most successful baritones of his generation. He talks to Louise Flind about his growing recognition in major opera houses around the world, and how his trusty dogs help to keep him grounded.

There may be a handful of opera singers as tall, dark and handsome as Luca Pisaroni, but few are as adorable, funny and ambitious. He and his American wife Cate (petite, blonde and foxy, if you're asking) were at Glyndebourne last summer where Pisaroni stole the show in Robert Carsen's new production of Handel's Rinaldo. 

[Read the entire article by accessing your free trial offer].

Pisaroni can next be seen on April 29th in Heidelberg, Germany where he will be performing a gala concert with his father-and-law and fellow barihunk Thomas Hampson. The two singers will perform  arias and duets by Verdi, Rossini and Mozart. In May, he performs Figaro opposite the Count of barihunk Simon Keenlyside in Munich. In June, he performs the same role opposite Gerald Finley in Vienna.

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Dream(y) Cast for Pelléas et Mélisande at Bastille

Stéphane Degout & Jérôme Varnier

"Music begins when words are powerless to express; music is perfect for the inexpressible; I would like it to seem to come out of the shadows and, at times, to go back, always discreet."- Debussy imaging "Pelléas et Mélisande"

If you're heading to Paris anytime on or after February 28th, you're in luck. The Opéra de la Bastille has assembled a dream cast for both opera lovers and devotees of barihunks. Heading the cast is French barihunk Stéphane Degout, who is singing Pelléas opposite the Mélisande of Elena Tsallagova. That alone should be reason to buy a ticket, but the casting is magnificent in every role. The great mezzo Anne Sofie Von Otter is singing Geneviève, while the seductively sexy French barihunk Jérôme Varnier portrays Le Berger.


The sets and stage direction is by Robert Wilson and Philippe Jordan conducts the opera for the first time.

Stéphane Degout and Natalie Dessay in Act 2 of "Pelléas et Mélisande":

Elena Tsallagova sings Shéhérazade by Ravel:

After Pelléas, Degout and Varnier both head to Vienna to perform Thomas' "Hamlet." Degout will take on the title role, while Varnier is cast as Le Spectre.

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More "Hot Schrott" & "Top Gunn" from Vienna

Hot Shrott Shots: Onstage & Backstage in Vienna

 If you're a lover of barihunks, then you should be in Vienna. We've posted recently about Luca Pisaroni's critically acclaimed debut as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera. He is performing opposite the always hot and sexy Count of Erwin Schrott. Here are some additional photos of Schrott, who we didn't provide the same degree of coverage in our previous post. If Mae West were still alive she'd certainly be asking, "Is that a pistol in your pocket..." [Yes, the picture enlarges if you click on it].

Nathan proves he really is a "Top Gunn" in Vienna

Head down the Opernring and onto Friedrichstrasse to get to the Theater an der Wien where Nathan Gunn is in the best shape of his life as Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He made a woman faint in New York and we suspect that he's having the same effect on audiences in Austria. By the way, the lucky soprano is the gifted Angela Kirschschlager.

Matt Worth reprises his sexy Tarquinius in California

Fans of The Rape of Lucretia in Northern California will be delighted to know that Loren Maazel is bringing his highly acclaimed production to Berkeley on March 24 and 25 at Cal Performances. The production includes two of our favorite singers, who both appeared on our Barihunks Best of 2010 list. Matt Worth will take on the role of Tarquinius, while OperaNow blogger and hunk Michael Rice plays Collatinus. On the following two nights, Maazel will perform Albert Herring with barihunk Adrian Kramer.

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Send Us Your Listing of Handel's Messiah

George Frederick Handel

We would like to do a posting of upcoming Messiah's featuring barihunks. Send us your listing to Barihunks@gmail.com.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky Sings Verdi

In anticipation of Dmitri Hvorostovsky's upcoming portrayal of Rigoletto, we thought that we'd provide you with a sampling of some of his sumptuous Verdi singing. Here are excerpts from Don Carlo, Forza and Otello. For all of you tenor fans who keep clamoring for parity, we've added one clip with hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann. (We would like to take this time to remind readers that this site is dedicated to baritones, although we appreciate the outpouring of love for the higher voiced male singers).







The "Siberian Hunky" will be in London from October 11 through November 2 portraying the famous hunchback. Visit the Royal Opera House website for more information.

He then travels to Vienna from November 16-28 where he will perform at the famed Vienna State Opera.

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Mariusz Kwiecien: "Ah, per sempre io ti perdei"

[Photo by Axel Zeininger - courtesy of Vienna State Opera]


A great way to end the weekend: Barihunks favorite Mariusz Kwiecien singing the beautiful aria "Ah, per sempre io ti perdei" from Bellini's I Puritani. This video is from April 2010 in Vienna.



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Mariusz Kwiecien: Hot In Any Role

[Photo by Axel Zeininger - courtesy of Vienna State Opera]


Bel Canto opera isn't usually a hot bed for barihunks, but Mariusz Kwiecien can look sexy singing almost anything. Here he is as Riccardo in Bellini's "I Puritani" in Vienna. Kwiecien was scheduled to travel from the Austrian capitol to New York City where he was slated to sing Escamillo at the Met. However, according to our friend La Cieca, Kwiecien has canceled today's performance and is being replaced by the incredible Dwayne Croft.



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Hot Shrott Heats It Up In Vienna

Masetto lunging at his master's banana!




Hot Schrott showing off what's hot!




Hot Shrott showing off his best Justin Timberlake impersonation


Erwin Schrott has been alternating the roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello. In an interview he stated that Leporello has the better music. We're not sure why he opted for the title role in last month's Don Giovanni in Vienna. We probably know why he didn't take on the role of Masetto who had to perform fellatio on a banana. Barihunk candidate Markus Butter didn't seem to mind and took a bit more into his mouth than the direction probably called for!

The Leporello, for the record, was Hanno Müller- Brachmann, a regular on this site and one of our favorite singers (not that we focus a lot on voices).

Hot Schrott Backstage


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"Hot Schrott" and "Not Hot"

The divine La Cieca over at Parterre Box alerted
us to their latest post about Erwin Schrott, which included these pictures and the following blurb:

Hot hot hot Erwin Schrott is obviously not not not allowing fatherhood and impending marriage to distract him from quality gym time. More photos of the Schrott gun show (as seen recently in the Vienna Volksoper Theater an der Wien production of Don Giovanni) after the jump.

There is no doubt that Hot Schrott looks as good as ever in these photos. But then we noticed this picture and blurb from the same production on another opera site that we won't mention since they don't link to Barihunks!

Erwin Schrott as Don Giovanni and Hanno Mueller Brachmann as Leporello in "Don Giovanni" @ Theater an der Wien, conducted by Riccardo Frizza and directed by Keith Warner.

In this photo, Hot Schrott looks likes he's in a remake of "Back to the Future" with fellow barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann. The picture below from a Spanish newspaper only reaffirms the movie reference.


I guess this whole production was about how to make Shrott hot and Schrott not hot all in one night. Since this site is about promoting hunkiness in opera, here is one final picture of Schrott and Müller-Brachmann together looking quite adorable.


Don't forget to vote in our hottest Billy Budd contest to the right of this post. We still have 48 hours to go, although Simon Keenlyside seems to be breaking away from the pack.

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D'Arcangelo as Escamillo

Here's a shot of Ildebrando d'Arcangelo as Escamillo in the Vienna State Opera's current production of Carmen. This should get us to the weekend when there will be plenty of previously unposted barihunks featured.

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