Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock & Bass-Barihunk Aaron Sorensen receive latest Barihunks Calendar Grant

Aaron Sorensen and Jonathan Blalock

Our latest grantees from the proceeds of our 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar may be a surprise to some people. We had a lot of interesting requests for the second grant, but none struck us as original as a concert featuring a tenor and a bass! That's what hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock and bass-barihunk Aaron Sorensen suggested and we loved the idea immediately.

We can't think of many times that we've ever seen that combination in a concert hall and we wanted to help make it happen. Although a place and time has not been set of this date, the discussion around the program is quite intriguing. We also believe that the recital will be paired with some other big announcements related to the two singers. Both singers are clearly on the cusp of major careers and theaters are taking notice.

Blalock as Lazaro in Before Night Falls, Photo by Ellen Appel.

Blalock recently premiered the role of Paul in Greg Spear's critically acclaimed opera Paul's Case with Urban Arias. He is reprising the role from January 8-13 with the Prototype Festival in New York. Barihunk Keith Phares is also reprising the role of Paul's father. The opera is based on the famous short story by Willa Cather. He first caught our eye with two stunning performances at the Fort Worth Opera Festival, appearing shirtless in both Jorge Martin's Before Night Falls and Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox. Last season, he was one of the many gifted young artists at the Santa Fe Opera.

We also first spotted Aaron Sorensen at the Fort Worth Opera where he appeared as Benoit and Alcindoro in La Boheme, as well as a hilarious turn as the Wigmaker in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Sorensen is a true bass, which is a rarity in opera these days. We have a feeling that we'll be watching this amazing talent grow into a great Verdi/Wagner bass as his career advances.

The Nebraska native honed his craft at Yale Opera Program and has gone on to sing Masetto in
Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Father Trulove in Stravinky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Wolf Trap Opera, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen and Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Tosca, and The
Rake’s Progress with Des Moines Metro Opera.

He'll be returning to the Fort Worth Opera Festival next season as the French General in Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night.

Reader Submission: Ricardo Crampton

Riccardo Crampton

Our last post prompted a reader in Buenos Aires to suggest that 30-year-old Argentinian Ricardo Crampton should be our latest "Reader Submission." We couldn't agree more!

Crampton's interest in opera began when he was 12-years-old and he began mimicking Luciano Pavarotti.  He studied voice at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Opera Studio in Teatro Argentino of the La Plata.

In 2010, he was a finalist at the Opera National de Paris de la Bastille International Voice Competition. He made his professional debut in a production of Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, where he still performs. He has also performed a number of other roles with the compnay, including Handel's Julius Caesar, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Rossini's Viaggio a Reims and Amadeo Vives' zarzuela Doña Francisquita.

He has also performed in Massenet's Werther and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi a the Teatro Colón, Verdi's Falstaff, Bizet's Carmen, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro Avenida and also performs in Italy now. As you can see from the photo above, he is currently working on Puccini's La boheme. We'll have more on that in a future post. 

Reader Submission: Amadeu Tasca

Amadeu Tasca

We can't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than with our favorite feature, the Reader Submission. Our latest comes from a reader in Germany who introduced us to Amadeu Tasca, a baritone from Brazil who is currently a member of the cast at the Theater Trier in Germany.

Amadeu Tasca studied singing at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, where he received his master's degree in 2010 with honors. In 2010, he became a member of the ensemble at the Theater Heidelberg, where he sang Papageno in Mozart's the Magic Flute and Mars in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

He has also continued to perform in his native Brazil, where he has sung Belcore in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfuly, and Mercutio in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.

Since 2012 Amadeu Tasca has been part of the  ensemble of the Theater Trier in Germany. He has performed a number of roles with the company, including Dr. Falke in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, Germont in Verdi's La traviata and the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. In March, he will portray Graf von Eberbach in Lortzing's Der Wildschütz. Click here for additional information.

Duncan Rock as Tarquinius on BBC3

Allan Clayton (Male Chorus), Duncan Rock (Tarquinius), Claudia Huckle (Lucretia), Kate Valentine (Female Chorus)

In our "Best of 2013" feature earlier this month we named Duncan Rock's performance in Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia" at the Glyndebourne Festival as one of the best live performances of the year.  Critic Edward Bhesania in The Stage wrote, "Duncan Rock is a bold, rich-toned and physically beefy Tarquinius." We couldn't have agreed more, as he delivered a perfect combination of great singing and barihunk sexiness.

Duncan Rock as Tarquinius

A broadcast of the performance is now available on BBC3 radio by clicking HERE. We hope that a video will be available someday.

Barihunk trio in new ROH production of Don Giovanni; Worldwide Broadcast

Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Alex Esposito & Mariusz Kwiecien (L-R)

Perhaps the hottest opera ticket in Europe right now is Kasper Holten's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House. Most performances are either sold out or close to it with opening night still a month away.

The dream cast is led by a trio of our favorite barihunks, Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni, Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore. Holten shifts the emphasis from Don Giovanni’s sex life into a darker place, as this production presents Giovanni’s womanizing as an attempt to stave off his own mortality. Each woman he seduces represents a life he could have had.

If you can't make it to London, the February 12th performance will be broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.

There are only 48 hours left to buy your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order NOW by clicking below. We'll be announcing our newest recipients of our grants from the proceeds next week.

John Brancy portrays Apollo in Charpentier's Orphée

John Brancy shows off some Apollo-esque guns

The ascendant Gotham Chamber Opera will present the New York stage premiere of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers in partnership with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra. Apollo, the god of beauty and the sun, will be performed by barihunk John Brancy. Joining him in the cast will be Daniel Curran as Orphée, Jeff Beruan as Pluton, and Jamilyn Manning-White as Eurydice.
 
Charpentier’s 1686 opera retells the story of Orpheus who, upon learning of Eurydice’s sudden death, descends to Hades in order to convince Pluto to allow her to return with him to earth. The story of selfless love and the power of music to overcome death is being staged by Andrew Eggert at St. Paul’s Chapel near the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Costume designs are by Vita Tzykun, who happens to be the partner of barihunk David Adam Moore.

John Brancy's winning performance at the 2013 Marilyn Horne Song Competition:    

Tickets and additional information is available online.

Charpentier (1643-1704) was one the most important French composers of his generation and a premiere composer of French oratorios. His work is marked by its lyricism, skilled polyphony, and sensitive use of harmonic resources. In addition to his oratorios and sixteen operas, Charpentier composed 12 masses, elaborate motets with chorus, a Te Deum, a Magnificat and other works.



In 2014, Brancy can be seen as Harlequin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with Pacific Opera Victoria and Sonora in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Oper Frankfurt.

Damian Pass on Radio France podcast

Damian Pass

You can catch Aussie barihunk Damian Pass on the newest podcast on Radio France. He is performing Schumann's Belsazar Balthazar, Duparc's La vie antérieure and Handel's "O voi dell errebo" from La Resurrezione. Click here to play (you'll need to scroll down to find him).

If you want to catch him live, he'll be performing Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Athénée Theatre in Paris with the emsemble Le Balcon from January 14 – 19. He then appears as Masetto in two productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni. First at the MC93 Theatre in Bobigny from March 22 – 31 and then from May 20 – 27 at the Opera of Toulon.