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.
Erwin Schrott (left and far right); Fernando Rado (center)
Two of the hottest barihunks ever to step on stage for Mozart's Don Giovanni are wrapping up a 10 day run at the Opera de Monte-Carlo today. Argentinian Fernando Javier Radó and Uruguayan Erwin
Schrott, who sing Masetto and the title role respectively sang in a traditional production, but with some major international fire power.
The
all-star cast also included Sonya Yoncheva. the hottest soprano
sensation in the world right now, as Donna Elvira. Patrizia Ciofi sang
Donna Anna, tenor Maxim Mironov took on the role of Don Ottavio and
the charming Adrian Sampetrean rounded out the low male voices as Leporello.
For those who couldn't attend the performance, you're in luck as the production was taped and is available ONLINE HERE.
Danish bass-barihunk will be sharing the run of Henrik in Nielsen's Maskerade at the Danish Royal Opera with Henning von Schulman. Also in the cast as the tutor is Palle Knudsen, who has been featured on this site.
Simon Duus is currently finishing his last
year at the soloist class at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. He's recently performed Colline in
Puccini's La boheme at Danish National Opera, Vaughan Williams' "Songs of Travel"
with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, a New Year's concert with the Danish Radio
Symphony Orchestra and Haydn's Cäcelia Mass in Heidelberg.
Simon Duus sings Lascia amor from Handel's Orlando
In 2011, Duus graduated from The Opera Academy at
The Royal Opera in Copenhagen where he honed his skills in many great
Mozart roles. His performance as Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera was broadcast live on Arte TV.
He is the recipient of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation Scholarship and was the only opera singer to receive a talent prize
at the annual Reumert Awards for his interpretation as Seneca in
the København Musikteater's production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. He has also performed Schubert's Winterreise and Schwanengesang, as well as many cantatas and oratorios.
Performances of Maskerade continue from April 8 through May 21 and tickets and additional cast information is available online.
He has been referred to as the original barihunk by
some, for leading the way in sexy portrayals of the low voice repertory.
His video of Boito's Mefistofele
from the San Francisco Opera has become a cult classic with opera
aficionados. He continued his sexy shirtless portrayals as Attila
that were not only sexy, but set the vocal standard to this day.
His amazing vocal
flexibility and range has allowed his to sing roles ranging from Argante
in Handel’s Rinaldo to the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle. His
repertoire includes the florid pasages of Handel, the bel canto roles
of Bellini and Donizetti, the great baritone roles of Verdi and Puccini,
great American operas and even many of the great Russian and French
bass roles.
If he sang nothing else, he would be famous for his interpretation of Boito’s Mefistofele,which
has included seventy performances in the Robert Carsen production of
the opera specifically created for him. In fact, devilish roles have
dominated his stage performances, including Berlioz's devil in La damnation de Faust; the sinister Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; and the tour de force of all four villains in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
In 1992, Ramey sang all of Offenbach’s villains for the Metropolitan
Opera’s opening night, prompting one critic to write, “[It was] the
best interpretation of the four villains I can remember in the last 25
years. This is the stuff of which operatic legends are made.” In 1996
Mr. Ramey presented a sold-out concert at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall
titled A Date with the Devil in which he sang fourteen arias
representing the core of this repertoire, and he continues to tour this
program throughout the world.
Samuel Ramey holds the distinction of being the most recorded bass in
history. His more than eighty recordings include complete operas,
recordings of arias, symphonic works, solo recital programs, and popular
crossover albums on every major label. His recordings have garnered
nearly every major award including three Grammy Awards, Gran Prix du
Disc Awards, and “Best of the Year” citations from journals including Stereo Review and Opera News. His exposure on television and video is no less impressive, with video recordings of the Metropolitan Opera’s Carmen, Bluebeard’s Castle, Semiramide, Nabucco, and the compilation “The Met Celebrates Verdi;” San Francisco Opera’s Mefistofele; The Rake’s Progress from the Glyndebourne Festival; Attila from La Scala; and the Salzburg Festival’s Don Giovanni. Ramey is seen frequently on television in appearances with “Live
from the Met” and “Live from Lincoln Center” as well as other
productions taped for PBS.
Following his phenomenal success in opera, concert, and recordings,
Samuel Ramey’s sold-out Carnegie Hall recital in 1987 added a fourth
dimension to his spectacular career. His returns to New York’s Carnegie
Hall for solo recitals in February 1995 and November 1998 were the
culmination of extensive, critically-acclaimed North American tours
which had taken Mr. Ramey from Alaska to Alabama, with appearances on
America's finest vocal series. His European recital career is equally
notable, with sold-out appearances in all the music capitals.
A native of Colby, Kansas, Samuel Ramey was active in music
throughout high school and college. In 1995 he was named “Kansan of the
Year,” and in 1998 the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the rank
of Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters.
He is still actively performing, although in less demanding roles. Timur in Puccini's Turandot in August and the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's Don Carlos, both with the Wichita Grand Opera in his native Kansas. In recent seasons he's also performed Timur at the Met, Olin Blitch in Floyd's Susannah in Toledo and Priam in Berlioz's Les troyens at La Scala.
We're usually pretty clear about our mission at Barihunks, which is to promote baritones (down to bass) who take great care of their voices as well as their bodies. Generally, that has meant operatic baritones, but occasionally those lines get blurred. Take the cases of Ramin Karimloo, Doug Carpenter and Seph Stanek, three of the most popular singers to have appeared on this site. All three were trained as operatic baritones, but both have crossed over into other genres.
Paulo Szot, Seph Stanke and Doug Carpenter
Ramin Karimloo has gone on to be one of the most heralded singers to perform Jean Valjean in Les Mirerables and the title character in Phantom of the Opera. Seph Stanek, who studied classical voice at Furman University and the L'Accademia dell'Arte, went on to have a career as part of the crossover group Figaro, sang on tour with the Twelve Tenors and even starred in Naked Boys Singing! Then there's the case of Paulo Szot, one of opera's biggest stars, who is probably best known for singing Emile De Beque in South Pacific, taking home a Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award the Outer Critic’s Circle Award and the Theater World Award.
That brings us to Jan-Philipp Rekeszus and Nicky Wuchinger, two German singers with operatic pedigree who are making their mark in operetta and musical theater. Wuchinger was a finalist in the Lotte Lenya Competition when fellow barihunk Doug Carpenter took away the top prize. Carpenter has also successfully "crossed over" starring in the national tour of Dirty Dancing.
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Rekeszus and Wuchinger are mentioned in a new article by Kevin Clarke entitled "Eyes Wide Open: A New Generation of Operetta Superstars?." He even refers to Rekeszus as a barihunk, although upon listening to the two singers we'd be compelled to call them bari-tenors, much like Karimloo. Clark imagines Rekeszus as ideal for Wiener Blut or The Merry Widow, and points out the Wuchinger was hired to sing in Eduard Künneke’s operetta Der Vetter aus Dingsda.
Wuchinger and Rekeszus bothe studied voice at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Wuchinger went on to embark on a successful career singing in Cats, The Who's Tommy, Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray. Rekeszus has made his mark performing in Hair and Bye, Bye, Birdie.
We'd love your thoughts on us featuring crossover artists on the site. However, if our statistics are any indication, we think that we know the answer, as posts about Karimloo, Stanek and Carpenter remain some of the most trafficked on the site. Feel free to email us at Barihunks@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
The Boulder Opera Company, which sits at the foot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Colorado, has updated Handel's Orlando to the American Wild West.
In their re-imagining of the story the deputy Sheriff Orlando is desperately in love with
Angelica, who is in turn in love with a cowboy, Medoro. In this hopeless
situation, Orlando is driven to madness from which only the mystic traveler Zoroastro can
save him. Zoroastro is being sung by bass-barihunk Andrew Potter, who we introduced to readers (with a shirtless selfie) last September when he was singing in Mozart's The Magic Flute with Opera NEO.
Performances are on April 4 and 5 and tickets are available online.
Barihunks Calendar model Timothy McDevitt is having a busy season singing, as well as taking a little time for an amazing photo shoot with Alex Schaefer.
McDevitt will be performing this Saturday in Vail, Colorado at a benefit for the Edwards Interfaith Chapel and Community Center, which is used by over twenty organizations and seven denominations for services. The show will include everything from Verdi to Broadway. Tickets are available by calling 970-390-7741.
Timothy McDevitt photographed by Alex Schaefer
On Sunday, May 3rd, McDevitt will be performing the Bernstein Mass with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Nezit-Seguin. Kevin Newbury will direct the massive production, which deploys a battalion of
musical forces, including two orchestras, a rock
band, a marching band, a cast of Broadway vocalists, and multiple
choirs.
Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein conceived this sacred work as a
Mass for John F. Kennedy, in conjunction with the dedication of the
Kennedy Center in 1971. While he employed many of the elements of a
traditional Mass, Bernstein also drew upon his Broadway experience, as
well as other religious and popular genres.
Back in February he made his Off Broadway debut in Lady be Good alongside the legendary Tommy Tune with NY City Center Encores. He'll be recording a cast album of the show in May. That same month he debuted Marie Incontrea’s new song cycle “Do Not Harm” with the Moirae Ensemble.
