Introducing Abdiel Gonzalez

Abdiel Gonzalez

We've decided to pass on our annual feature of posting a calendar of barihunks singing in Handel's Messiah around the world. Let's face it, if there's a Messiah, there's an 80% chance that it features a sexy baritone belting out "Why Do the Nations Rage."

However, as we head down to Los Angeles today for Mozart's Magic Flute at the L.A. Opera, we noticed that Puerto Rican baritone Abdiel González is performing the Messiah tonight and next Sunday with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall. Tickets for his two performances of the Messiah are available online.

We had heard about him previously from singers who attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, but somehow never got around to posting him. He was brought to attention a second time last March when he was performing in Stravinsky's Renard under Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

He has performed Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Julliette, Shrike in the West Coast Premiere of Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts, Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and a number of zarzuelas, including the title role in Luis Alonso, Paquiro in Goyescas and Don Pedro in El Barberillo de Lavapies.

On the concert stage he has perfomed as a soloist in Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Requiem and Mass in C Minor, and others.

He was a first place winner in both the San Diego District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Opera 100 Competition.

Upcoming broadcasts from the San Francisco Opera

Ildar Abdrazakov & Greer Grimsley

Mark your calendars, as the San Francisco Opera is broadcasting two performances featuring two of our favorite barihunks.

On Jan. 5, they will broadcast Boito's Mefistofele with Ildar Abdrazakov, Patricia Racette, and Ramón Vargas. On Feb. 2, you can hear Wagner's Flying Dutchman with Greer Grimsley, Lise Lindstrom, Ian Storey, Kristinn Sigmundsson and conducted by Patrick Summers. Tune in to KDFC.comhttp://www.kdfc.com, which is available online.

Later broadcast include Bellini's Norma on March 2 in a 1982 performance featuring Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Ezio Flagello.

Last season's performance of Verdi's Falstaff with Bryn Terfel on April 6th, followed by Lucas Meachem in Rossini's Barber of Seville on May 4th alongside the Rosina of Isabel Leonard.

On June 1st, they will feature the incredible Leonie Rysanek from a 1976 performance of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Karl Böhm.

It's exactly two weeks until Christmas, have you bought the best stocking stuffer ever? Order your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar today. You won't regret it!

Enjoy Tobias Greenhalgh for free on the waterfront

James Valenti & Tobias Greenhalgh

Two of the most beautiful faces in opera will be on stage together this Saturday, December 14th, when the Palm Beach Opera presents its first ever free Opera @ the Waterfront concert.  Hunkentenor James Valenti (who we've snuck on this site a few times) and PBO young artist Tobias Greenhalgh will be part of this afternoon concert at the Meyer Amphitheatre on the Intercoastal Waterway.

The event is free and open to the public. It is recommended that you bring all of the essentials for a picnic in the park. There are also $100 VIP tickets available, which include reserved seating refreshments and parking. The concerts begins at 12:30 PM at 104 Datura Street in West Palm Beach.

 

Barihunk Tobias Greenhalgh is currently a member of the Palm Beach Opera Young Artist Program. This season, Greenhalgh will be performing the role of Leo Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera Twenty-Seven starring Stephanie Blythe at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The opera tells the story of Gertrude Stein’s life in Paris between World War I and World War II at her famous home at 27 Rue de Fleurus.

 

Greenhalgh is a recent graduate of Juilliard, where he earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Vocal Performance. He and fellow barihunk John Brancy are co-creators of “Operation Superpower,” a superhero opera for kids, which was recently featured on a PBS Newshour special on entrepreneurship in the classical arts.

Justin Hopkins on tour with Boston Pops + Philly Concert

Justin Hopkins as he appeared in the Barihunks Charity Calendar

Justin Hopkins, one of our favorite Charity Calendar models, is on tour with the Boston Pops under conductor Keith Lockhart for their Holiday Pops concert. He is performing “Mary, Did You Know?,”  “Christmas Is A-Comin',” as well as Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

The famed Boston Pops is also performing some of their most famous holiday songs, including "Sleigh Ride." The audience will also be invited to join in a traditional Holiday Sing-a-long.

Don't tell the kids, but we hear that Santa Claus has been making a surprise appearance on stage. 

There are three remaining performances:

• December 13th at the Providence Performing Arts Center Providence, Rhode Island
• December 14th at the Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester, New Hampshire 
• December 15th at the Lowell Auditorium Lowell, Massachusetts 

Visit the Boston Pops website for tickets and additional information. 

If you can's make the Boston Pops concerts, you can still catch this amazing bass-barihunk performing jazz, holiday and Broadway standards at the Act II Playhouse in Ambler, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia native has previously appeared at the theater in Tony Braithwaite's Heeere's Tony and Oh What Fun!

Make sure to buy the 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking HERE.
 

Barihunks Simon Keenlyside and Chris Herbert nominated for Grammy Awards

Simon Keenlyside (L) and Christopher Dylan Herbert (R)

In case you missed the Grammy Award nominations on Friday or managed to overlook the Opera/Classical/Choral categories in all of the clutter around Jay Z with his nine nominations or Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pharrell and Justin Timberlake with their seven nominations a piece, we have some nominations of interest.  

In the "Best Opera Recording" category, barihunk Simon Keenlyside was part of the cast on Thomas Adès' The Tempest recorded at the Metropolitan Opera, which also includes mezzo Isabel Leonard, soprano Audrey Luna and tenor Alan Oke.   

Also nominated was a recording of Britten's The Rape Of Lucretia, an opera that we feature regularly due to great barihunk casting opportunities.  This performance is conducted by Oliver Knussen and features tenor Ian Bostridge, baritone Peter Coleman-Wright and sopranos Susan Gritton and Angelika Kirchschlager. 

 

New York Polyphony, which features barihunk Chris Herbert as part of its quartet was nominated for "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" for their glorious CD Times Go By Turns. If you don't own this, buy it today. 

 

Also nominated was our Honorary Barihunk and MezzoSexual diva Joyce DiDonato for "Best Classical Vocal Solo" for Drama Queens featuring ll Complesso Barocco under Alan Curtis.

The Recording Academy announced the nominations Friday during a concert at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The 56th Grammy Awards will be held on Jan. 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Click HERE for a complete list of nominations. 

Have you ordered your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Time is running out. Please remember that every penny of profit goes to help out young artists!

 

Barihunks join in countertenor hunkiness in Pinchgut's Giasone (broadcast tonight)

David Greco as Oreste, David Hansen as Giasone & Nick Dinopoulos as Ercole (Photo: Keith Saunders)

Perhaps the sexiest opera performance in the world right now is the Australian premiere of Cavalli's 17th century classic Giasone at Pinchgut Opera. We posted this sexy promo video on our Facebook page last week featuring countertenor David Hansen, but we've been waiting for some barihunk photos. Although David Hansen is the center of the opera and the brilliant marketing campaign, the opera also features David Greco as Oreste and Nick Dinopoulos as Ercole, the latter who has appeared on this site before.

The sexy Argonauts and Alexandra Oomens as Alinda (Photo: Keith Saunders)

The updated production has created quite a buzz, as Hansen performs naked onstage, singing the post-coital aria "Delizie e contenti" in the bathtub. The opera was also cut from its 4-hour length to about 2 1/2 hours. Dinopoulos plays the Leporello-esque role of attendant to Giasone.

The opera will be broadcast tonight at 7 PM Australian time (3 AM EST/Midnight PST) on ABC Classic FM. There are two performance left, on December 8 & 9 at City Recital Hall in Sydney.

Pinchgut has a great history of producing sexy versions of updated operas. Readers may recall barihunk Hadleigh Adams' performance as Pollux with the company in Rameau's Castor & Pollux.

Barihunks star in Hippie-inspired Carmen at Opera Zuid

Martijn Sanders (right two photos as Escamillo in Carmen)

Our site is disproportionately popular in the Netherlands and we have a loyal and devoted following there. A reader in Maastricht recently introduced us to the innovative Dutch company, Opera Zuid. The touring opera company has developed a reputation for its technical and theatrical innovation. 

They recently brought in the acclaimed Dutch theater performers Leopold Witte and Geert Lageveen to re-imagine Bizet's Carmen in a more modern setting.  The duo updated the story about love and jealousy to the 1960s counterculture,  where the Gypsies are hippies, the tobacco factory girls are smoking cannabis and there are clashes with the police. The Sixties theme of "Make Love Not War!" permeates the production.  

Rubèn Plantinga

The production also features two barihunks, one who is new to the site and one who we haven't featured in way too long. We first introduced Dutch barihunk Martijn Sanders to readers in 2007, which was back in the nascent days of our site. We went on to feature him as Don Giovanni later that year and again as Escamillo in 2011. He takes on the role of Escamillo in this production. Morales will be performed by Rubèn Plantinga, who we are introducing to readers for the first time.

Sanders studied at the Utrecht conservatory, before continuing his studies in Vienna.  He went on to join the young artist program at the  Amsterdam Operastudio. After winning the first prize at the Nico Dostal singing competition, he made his debut as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute during the Vienna Mozart week in the Theater Schönbrunn and as Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Rheinsberg festival. In November 2010, Sanders performed the baritone solo in Rachmaninov's The Bells at the ‘Prince Claus” concert in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Rubèn Plantinga singing Schumann's "Ich will meine Seele tauchen" at a masterclass:

23-year-old Rubèn Plantinga, who is new to this site, sings the role of Morales.  He first hit the stage at the age of 12 in Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical “The Sound of Music” produced by Dutch media tycoon Joop van den Ende. In 2010 and 2011, he sang with the "Bach Choir of the Netherlands,” where he made his debut as a soloist in 2012 in a Dutch translation of Bach’s St. Matthew's Passion. His work brought him to the attention of Opera Zuid, where he has sung the role of Sciarrone in Puccini’s Tosca.

Plantinga is continuing his studies at the Classical Musictheater at Fontys Hogeschool in Tilburg and is part of the young artist program at the Dutch National Opera. 

Performances of Carmen will be on tour in Venlo, Den Haag, Eindhoven, Hasselt and Sittard through December 14th 

There are only three weeks left to purchase your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. We are 40 calendars short of our goal to fully fund two projects featuring young artists, so order yours today...and spread the word.