10th Anniversary "Barihunks in Bed" calendar now on sale!

Malte Roesner on the cover of "Barihunks in Bed" (photo by Jack Michaels)

Our 10th Anniversary calendar is now on sale, which features "Barihunks in Bed." It features 26 of opera's sexiest men (25 barihunks and one hunkentenor) from Germany, the United States, France, Belgium, Turkey, Catalonia, the Netherlands, Italy and Israel. 

You can click HERE to order your copy today. 

2017 will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Barihunks. Our mission has been to attract people to opera and, most importantly, to raise money to support young artists and to commission new music for low voices. We have also advocated positivity in online discussions about singers and this magical art form that we all love.

Barihunks (and hunkentenor) in erotic Boys of Paradise

Promo photo for Boys of Paradise and barihunk Jack Holton (right)

The opera ensemble workshOPERA in partnership with Tête à Tête will present six performances of composer Vahan Salorian's Boys of Paradise from October 15-21. The contemporary retelling of the phoenix myth, you are invited to join the party for a neurotic, erotic, psychotic, operatic experience. The opera features barihunks Jack Holton and Sam Carl, along with hunkentenor Guy Elliott (@GuyPlus).

Based on personal experience, Boys of Paradise tells the story of a trio of friends - Twink, Cub and Fag Hag, who experience the dizzying heights of fictional club Paradaezia. As Twink is led astray through a maze of drink, drugs and darkrooms, the audience gets an insight into the chem-sex partying endemic that has evolved in London’s gay scene of the past years.

The work is interactive with the audience as the cast is dispersed among the crowd. Tickets are available online.

Sam Carl (left) and promo for Boys of Paradise

Barihunk Jack Holton grew up in Medway, Kent, and is currently in his fourth year of undergraduate study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2015, he originated the role of Vulture in Boys of Paradise, which he reprised in July at the Tête à Tête opera festival. At Guildhall, he is currently performing as Mômolo in Le donne curiose, and earlier this year played Marquis de la Force in a reduced version of Dialogues des Carmélites. Also an experienced choral singer, he was a choral scholar at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Chelmsford Cathedral before starting his formal training,

Sam Carl is the Artistic Director of Music of the Spheres Consort. He studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow University and is continuing his vocal studies in New York City. He recently performed the role of Schlendrian in The Coffee Opera, three immersive café performances of which combined music by Bach with music by contemporary composer James Oldham. He has sung the roles of Luca in Walton’s The Bear with Melos Sinfonia and Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with John Butt. This summer, he is going to be performing the role of Ormondo in Rossini’s L’inganno Felice on a tour of Umbria with Raucous Rossini. At the Edinburgh Fringe he will be playing the role of Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Barihunk John Moore in Breaking the Waves (with mature audience warning)

Barihunk John Moore and Kiera Duffy

Opera Philadelphia premiered Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's Breaking the Waves, which includes the barihunk duo of John Moore as the main protagonist Jan Nyman and Zachary James as Terry. Mazzoli is a graduate of Opera Philadelphia’s Composer in Residence program. The opera has a "for mature audiences" warning as both leads appear nude.

The opera is based on the Oscar-nominated 1996 film by Lars von Trier. The libretto tells the story of Bess McNeill (sung by Kiera Duffy), a religious young woman with a deep love for her husband Jan, a handsome oil rig worker. When Jan becomes paralyzed in an off-shore accident, her marital vows are put to the test as he encourages her to seek other lovers and return to his bedside to tell him of her sexual activities. He insists that the stories will feel like they are making love together and keep him alive. Bess’s increasing selflessness leads to a finale of divine grace, but at great cost.

There is one remaining performance on October 1st and tickets are available online. The cast also includes the rising tenor sensation David Portillo, Eve Gigliotti, Marcus DeLoach and Patricia Schuman.

Tobias Greenhalgh to appear in Ricky Ian Gordon's "27"

Tobias Greenhalgh

American barihunk Tobias Greenhalgh will appear in Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek's "27" with MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) on October 20 and 21. As a Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Greenhalgh created the roles of Leo Stein and Man Ray in the world premiere of the opera. 

"27" explores the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who hosted regular salon evenings at their Paris home at 27 Rue de Fleurus, with such guests as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway. Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, "27" received its world premiere in June 2014. 

The production was specially adapted by the composer for MasterVoices as a semi-staged production under the direction of James Robinson. Gordon expanded portions of the opera originally sung by a small male ensemble and re-scored them for the full MasterVoices chorus.The cast also features mezzo Stephanie Blythe as Gertrude Stein, Heidi Stober as Alice B. Toklas, Theo Lebow, Tobias Greenhalgh, and Daniel Brevik.

 Tobias Greenhalgh sings Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Let Beauty Awake"  

"27" explores the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who hosted regular salon evenings at their Paris home at 27 Rue de Fleurus, with such guests as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway. Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, 27 received its world premiere in June 2014. For the New York Premiere, Ricky Ian Gordon has specially added new sections for the MasterVoices chorus. 

Tickets are available online at NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix® at 212-581-1212.

Upcoming engagements for Greenhalgh include Orff's Carmina Burana with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, Tom Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon's Grapes of Wrath with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus at the Franz Lehàr Festival at Bad Ischl, Ned Keene in Peter Grimes and Littore/Tribune in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Theater an der Wien, Escamillo in Carmen, The Father in Hansel and Gretel at the Wiener Kammeroper, and Morales in Carmen with Palm Beach Opera.

Joseph Lattanzi in live stream of The Copper Queen

Joseph Lattanzi

The Arizona Opera will be live streaming today's sold out performance of composer Clint Borzoni's The Copper Queen, which won the company's Arizona Sparks competition for new works in a runaway. The piece was also featured on the front page of the Arizona Republic's arts section last weekend.

The opera's libretto, written by director John de los Santos and based on a true story, revolves around the ghost of a prostitute haunting a historic hotel in Bisbee, Arizona.

The performance will feature barihunk Joseph Lattanzi as Peter Ackerman, who is fresh of a heralded performance as Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears’ gay themed opera Fellow Travelers at Cincinnati Opera. This season at Arizona Opera, Lattanzi will also perform the Gamekeeper in Dvořák's Rusalka, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Clint Borzoni's "Stufen" with barihunk Marco Vassalli:

The opera also features Lacy Sauter as the prostitute Julia Lowell, Alyssa Martin as Addison Moore, barihunk turned hunkentenor Chris Carr as Teddy Billings, Loren Battieste as Sugar Dog and Zachary Owen as Mr Floyd and Daddy Lowell.  You can hear Alyssa Martin sing "Waiting for a Whisper" from the opera on Soundcloud, as well as Sarah Tucker sing "Still Pretty."

The live stream will begin at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST at the company's Facebook page. 

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.

Rafael Fingerlos tours with Nederlandse Reisoper

Rafael Fingerlos as Harlekin (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Austrian barihunk Rafael Fingerlos is touring as Harlekin with the Nederlandse Reisoper in their production of Richard Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxos. The production is directed by Laurence Dale with stunning costumes by Gary McCann and features Soojin Moon as Ariadne, Jennifer France as Zerbinetta, Martin Momrich as Bacchus and Karin Strobos as the Composer.

Performances are remaining on September 20 and 22 in Zwolle, 24th in Arnhem, 27th in Maastricht, 29th in Breda and October 1st in Den Haag, 6 and 8 in Amsterdam. Tickets are available online.

Trailer for Ariadne auf Naxos at the Nederlandse Reisoper:

Fingerlos will become a fest ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera beginning with their 2016/17 season. His first role will be Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia on November 12 opposite the Rosina of Isabel Leonard and Almaviva of Pavel Kolgatin. Performances run through December 20.