BARIHUNKS ®

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Vienna Goes Gaga for Luca Pisaroni

Luca Pisaroni has charmed the Austrians and become the toast of Vienna during his debut run at the Vienna State Opera. Pisaroni is performing as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro through February 26. The media has focused on Pisaroni despite a cast that includes fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott as Count Almaviva and Dorothea Roschmann as the Countess.

Luca Pisaroni with his wife Catherine & Tristan (Photo courtesy of Kurier)

Here are two wonderful German language profiles on the Italian barihunk. The first is from the Austrian newspaper the Kurier and you can read it HERE.

Luca Pisaroni & Tristan (Photo courtesy of Der Standard)

This second piece appealed in the Austrian national paper Der Standard and you can read it HERE.

Erwin Schrott: Sharing the barihunk limelight in Vienna

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Nathan Gunn Returns to Tarquinius

Nathan Gunn as Tarquinius in Philadelphia

The role of Tarquinius in in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia is usually cast with young barihunks, so it's impressive that the 40-year-old Nathan Gunn has been able to keep it in his repertory and still look great. He revisits the role from February 17-27 at the Theater an der Wien. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.

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Peter Barrett Steps in for Kwiecien; Makes Met Debut

Peter Barrett

Peter Barrett made his Metropolitan Opera debut on Valentine's Day singing the role of Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, replacing Mariusz Kwiecien, who was ill.

Barrett, a Canadian baritone and prize winner at the Montreal International Competition, has appeared with the Canadian Opera in Toronto, Vancouver Opera, and the Wexford Festival in Ireland.

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Maltman Nude in new Don Giovanni Adaptation

Maltman bares all for art

British singer Christopher Maltman is the latest barihunk to bare all for high art. The talented and intense Maltman will appear in Kasper Holten's updated 90-minute adaptation of Don Giovanni. Distribution is scheduled for April 7, 20011 and we hear that it's the sexiest opera themed movie ever made.

We had a difficult time embedding the trailer into this post, but you can watch it HERE. We'll keep you posted on events related the opening.

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Daniel Belcher wins Grammy Award


(Photo by Christian Steiner)

Barihunks would like to congratulate Daniel Belcher, who was part of the team that won a Grammy Award last night for Best Opera Recording.

Belcher appears on the recording of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin, produced by Martin Sauer.

The album features the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by conductor Kent Nagano, the former music director of the Los Angeles Opera. Joining Belcher in the cast is Jekaterina Lehina, and Marie-AngeTodorovitch.

L'amour de loin, Saariaho's first opera, composed to a libretto by Amin Maalouf, was premiered at the Salzburg Festival in August 2000. Peter Sellars directed the original production, as well as several later versions.

Belcher is currently in the middle of a run portraying Masetto opposite the Don Giovanni of fellow barihunk Kelly Markgraf at Opera Omaha. There are two remaining performance on February 25 and 27.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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Christopher Bolduc wants to be your Valentine

Who could argue with this?

Christopher Bolduc's Facebook Post from today

Christopher Bolduc

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Ryan Kuster Profiled; Joins Barihunks in Met Auditions

Ryan Kuster: Backstage and Onstage

Ryan Kuster was recently featured in his hometown paper, the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, in anticipation of his appearance at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. You can read the entire article HERE.

The Met auditions have a long tradition of launching major operatic careers. Past winners include Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Grace Bumbry, Teresa Stratas, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman and Federica von Stade. For those unfamiliar with the competition, we highly recommend watching the documentary The Audition.

Kuster will compete in a closed audition on March 6th for a chance to compete in the Grand Finals Concert on March 13, which will be hosted by mezzo Joyce DiDonato. The first round includes twenty-two young artists, which is dominated by nine baritones. Two that we'll have our eye on besides Kuster are Nicholas Masters, who we featured on this site a year ago, and Canadian Philippe Sly.

Sly, who we heard was a riveting Nick Shadow in Opera McGill's production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress will be joining the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco this year.

Nicholas Masters & Philippe Sly