Barihunk sextet in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" touring Italy

Dario Shikhmiri, Rocco Cavalluzzi, Federico Benetti and Paolo Ingrasciotta (l-r)

Our heads almost exploded when we saw the cast list for Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Teatro Amilcare Ponchielli Cremona, as it features a record number of six barihunks and bass-barihunks in one production. Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears are undoubtedly smiling down on this production from heaven. The eye candy cast includes  Zachary Altman as Bottom, Nicholas Masters as Quince, Dario Shikhmiri as Starveling, Rocco Cavalluzzi as Snug, Federico Benetti as Theseus and Paolo Ingrasciotta as Demetrius.

Zachary Altman and Nicholas Masters

The final four on that list have not even appeared on Barihunks before. There are only two performances of the show, which runs on October 7 and 9. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Nicholas Masters sings Bottom's aria from A Midsummer Night's Dream:

The production is a co-production with the Teatro Sociale di Como/Aslico, Fondazione Teatro Grande di Brescia and  the Fondazione Teatro Fraschini di Pavia. Most of the cast will perform at the Teatro Municipale Valli di Reggio Emilia on November 18 and 20. There are also performances on November 4 and 6 in Brescia and in Pavia on October 28 and 30, but no cast lists are available or posted. The websites for Zachary Altman and Nicholas Masters show them performing in all of the productions.

West Edge Opera season off to thrilling start

Dan Kempson

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you will want to check out the West Edge Opera's current festival which got underway last week. Not only are the first two shows that have opened (Lulu and As One) all the talk of the local opera community, but all three operas feature barihunks.

We managed to get this picture of barihunk Dan Kempson from Act 1 of Laura Kaminsky's As One where he shares the role of Hannah with the thrilling mezzo-soprano Brenda Patterson. The piece is being performed at The Oakland Metro, a punk rock venue reflective of Oakland’s gritty art scene and the ideal space for such a provocative piece. Kempson is shirtless within 5 minutes of the first bar of music.

Kaminsky was inspired to write As One after reading an article in the New York Times in 2008 about a New Jersey marriage in which one of the parties transitioned from male to female, transforming the couple from straight to gay. The opera is based on the life experience of noted filmmaker Kimberly Reed. There are two performances remaining on July 31 and August 8th.

Alban Berg’s Lulu will be performed in the abandoned and decaying 1912 Beaux-Arts train station at 16th Street in Oakland where the movies Funny Lady and RENT were filmed. It opened to rave reviews and has additional performances on August 2 and 8. It features barihunk Zack Altman as the Athlete.

The final opera is Monteverdi’s, Ulysses, which will be staged at the American Steel Studios, a former pipe factory turned six acre art studio that’s now home to steel fabricators, sculptors, vertical aerial and trapeze performers, glass artists, and more. The opera stars Nikolas Nackley in the title role and barihunk Aaron Sørensen as Neptune. It opens on August 1 with additional performances on August 7 and 9.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Aaron Sørensen joins cast of Ulysses

Aaron Sørensen

We've just learned that Barihunks calendar model Aaron Sørensen will be joining the cast of  Monteverdi’s Ulysses at West Edge Opera in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's replacing Christopher Filipowicz in the roles of Antinoo and Neptune.

The opera will be staged at the American Steel Studios, a former pipe factory turned six acre art studio that’s now home to steel fabricators, sculptors, vertical aerial and trapeze performers, glass artists, and more. The opera stars Nikolas Nackley in the title role and performances are on August 1, 7 and 9.

The company is also presenting Laura Kaminsky's As One with popular barihunk Dan Kempson opposite soprano Brenda Patterson, as well as Alban Berg’s Lulu with Zachary Altman. 

Tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

For those who missed it in Baltimore and Houston, Sørensen will reprise his acclaimed Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Huntsville Symphony on January 23rd.

Zachary Altman shirtless again in Basel

Zachary Altman in The Rape of Lucretia in Basel

We're beginning to wonder whether the costume department should only be paid half of the wages when working with Zachary Altman, as no one seems to have make him a shirt or jacket (which we're certainly OK with!). We've recently posted about him shirtless as Don Giovanni in San Jose and shirtless in Daphne in Basel.

Director Ulrike Jühe decided to keep the trend going in Basel, as she has Altman shirtless as Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. Of course, considering the subject matter, having a shirtless Tarquinius makes directorial sense. We've featured countless shirtless barihunks as Tarquinius, including Duncan Rock, David Krohn, Christopher Maltman, Matthew Worth, David Krohn, Grzegorz Pazik, Nathan Gunn, Scott Beasley, Philip Cutlip, Michael Krzankowski  and Phillip Addis.

Zachary Altman shirtless in Don Giovanni and Daphne

The opera opened last night with Basel's studio artists and runs through April 25th. The cast also includes Jose Coca Loza as Collatinus, Jason Cox as Junius, Aidan Ferguson as Lucretia, Maria Carla Pino Cury as Lucia, Kang Wang as the Male Chorus and Meike Hartman as the Female Chorus. Tickets and additional information is available online.

Michael Kelly & Zach Altman in Monteverdi Rarity

Michael Kelly & Zach Altman

Gotham Chamber Opera begins its 2012-2013 season with GOTHAM @ LPR: ORIENTALE, a collaboration with Company XIV and MAYA, featuring the artists of Gotham Chamber Opera. The program will include Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, along with music by Rameau, Lully, Szymanowski, Delibes, Schumann, Bizet, John Hadfield, and traditional Armenian music.

Michael Kelly and Zach Altman, two barihunks who have been featured regularly on this site, will perform along with soprano Maeve Höglund and Jennifer Rivera (wife of barihunk and OperaNow! podcaster Michael Rice).

The show will be performed on Monday, October 1st and Wednesday, October 3rd at 8pm (doors open at 7pm) at (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, NYC. Tickets are $15-$25 and are available online at www.lepoissonrouge.com. 

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (SV 153) is an operatic scena for three voices by Claudio Monteverdi, although many dispute how the piece should be classified. The piece has a libretto drawn from Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme Liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered", Canto XII, 52-62, 64-68), a Romance set against the backdrop of the First Crusade. Il Combattimento was first produced in 1624 but not printed until 1638, when it appeared with several other pieces in Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals (written over a period of many years).

In Il Combattimento the orchestra and voices form two separate entities. The strings are divided into four independent parts instead of the usual five – an innovation that was not generally adopted by European composers until the 18th century.

Il combattimento contains one of the earliest known uses of pizzicato in baroque music, in which the players are instructed to set down their bows and use two fingers of their right hand to pluck the strings. It also contains one of the earliest uses of the string tremolo, in which a particular note is reiterated as a means of generating excitement. This latter device was so revolutionary that Monteverdi had considerable difficulty getting the players of his day to perform it correctly. These innovations, like the fourfold division of the strings, were not taken up by Monteverdi’s contemporaries or immediate successors.

Zach Altman just wrapped up a run as Zurga in Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" at Opera San Jose, where he is one of the resident artists. He will open as Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" on November 10th.

On October 6th, Michael Kelly will be appearing at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City in "Hommage a Debussy" - a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great French composer. On October 21st, he'll perform Durufle's glorious Requiem at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. before heading off for three performances of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Kansas City Symphony in November.

CONTACT US AT BARIHUNKS@Gmail.com

Dan Kempson/Zach Altman wedding; Randal Turner benefit for Chinese Orphans; Barihunk MeetUp in NY - All featured in calendar

We have a lot of wonderful news involving five of the singers featured in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. As the holidays approach, make sure to buy your copy now. All proceeds are going to benefit young artist programs. We're still taking submissions from young artist programs who would like to be considered for a donation. Email us a brief description of why you should be the beneficiary.

Barihunk Grooms: Zachary Altman (L) & Dan Kempson (R)

Two of our favorite young artists have announced that they're getting married on Saturday, November 26th. Zachary Altman and Dan Kempson have consistently been two of the most popular barihunks on our site. Altman's shirtless pictures often appear in our "10 most visited" posts along with those of more internationally-established stars. Not to be outdone, Kempson created a sensation with his pictures from Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" at the Ft. Worth Opera. His performance also drew raves from the critics. By the way, today is Altman's birthday and he's our special shirtless feature in the sidebar.

The two singers are featured together in our 2012 Barihunks calendar with another singing couple, Jonathan Beyer and Brandon Cedel. Barihunks would like to wish Zach and Dan all the best on their wedding day.

Randal Turner: buff and benevolent

We are total suckers for singers who give back to the community, which is why we have a special place in our hearts for singers like Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Christopher Herbert and Erwin Schrott. The three singers are constantly performing benefits and giving back to their communities in various ways. We can't think of a better way to "lend ones voice" to a cause than with beautiful singing.

You can help this Chinese orphan

We were thrilled to learn that another one of our favorite singers and calendar models was involved in a great cause on the other side of the globe. Randal Turner is currently in China performing the Barber of Seville under the baton of the great Lorin Maazel, which you can read about HERE. He's taking time out of his schedule to perform a benefit concert for the Tianjin International Committee for Chinese Orphans (ICCO) on Tuesday, November 29th. Turner will be joined by soprano Georgina Chakos and accompanist Steve Griffiths.

The ICCO is a volunteer organization that cares for houses Chinese orphans with disabilities. The ICCO has a U.S. site for donations and is a 501(c)(3). You can click HERE to make a much-needed donation during this holiday season. If you make a donation, please email Neil Charpentier at NeilMary@juno.com and let him know that you read about it here.

David Adam Moore & Justin Hopkins recording "The Golden Gate"

Lastly, two more of our calendar models, David Adam Moore and Justin Hopkins, unexpectedly ran into each other at a recording session for Conrad Cummings' opera "The Golden Gate." We were lucky enough to get a picture.

The opera is in two acts with a libretto from the novel-in-verse by Vikram Seth, adapted by the composer. It was originally part of the American Opera Projects and received a staged workshop production at the Rose Studio at Lincoln Center in New York City in January 2010. The performance featured David Adam Moore and was covered on this site, as well as reviewed in the New York Times. By the way, Hopkins also was a huge success in the aforementioned "Hydrogen Jukebox" performance in Ft. Worth with Dan Kempson. 

You won't want to miss the pictures of any of the above singers in our calendar. They are HOT and we've been receiving amazing feedback about all of them. Most importantly, we want to thank our readers who have bought calendars for giving the gift of music through your purchase. Any money that we make on this site goes directly towards music education for young singers, whether its from our calendar, tee shirts or other apparel. If you don't purchase a calendar, we'd like to encourage you to send a check to your favorite young artist program this holiday season. If you have a website ( or know someone who does) or if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, please help us spread the word about this project by sharing this link: http://my.qoop.com/store/Barihunks-Store-6685588246852296.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com