Brathwaite takes his Passion to Sweden Barihunks Peter Brathwaite (Photo: Maria Scard) Peter Brathwaite, who has regularly appeared in our Barihunks Charity Calendar, is reprising his performance as Christus in a performance of Bach's St John Passion for Ensemble Arden in Varberg, Sweden. He sang the role last April with the Wren Players as the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital in London. Tickets to the March 29th performance are available online. Brathwaite was one of our Reader Submissions in 2011 and we've watched his career flourish. He recorded and toured with the ensemble Amore! and debuted the role of Mimoun in the world première of Emily Howard’s Zátopek. Peter studied at the Royal College of Music as well as in Belgium and is the recipient of a major award from the Peter Moore’s Foundation and Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells. He has been performing in opera mainly in Belgium, France, Italy and the United Kingdom and appears regularly in recital and on the concert platform. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

A barihunk trio in Opera Lyra's La Traviata Barihunks Benjamin Covey, Gregory Dahl and Jonathan Estabrooks (PHOTO: Sam Garcia) We don't usually think of La Traviata as an opera where we would find three barihunks that have appeared on our site. In fact, it's rare to find it in Verdi, although his Attila has surely given us plenty of barihunk duos, who also happen to have some pretty exciting music. But Opera Lyra in Ottawa assembled three Canadian barihunks in their production of the Verdi masterpiece: Benjamin Covey as the Marquis, Jonathan Estabrooks as the Baron Douphol and Gregory Dahl as Germont. Gregory Dahl as Jokanaan in Salome w As much as we love seeing three barihunks on stage together, the big news from this production is actually the return of Opera Lyra. Like many opera companies during the Great Recession, the Ottawa-based company struggled and cancelled performances, never quite sure if they could fully recover. This concert version of Traviata was a sure-fire way to get opera audiences back in the door. They will follow up with completely staged performances of Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, as well as a family performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. Traviata has one more performance tonight at 8 PM at Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Tickets are available online. We love seeing Jonathan Estabrooks back at Opera Lyra since we began covering him when he was first appearing with the company. He has kept busy since moving to New York City, where he just completed his first performance at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the Oratorio Society of New York in Paul Moravec's The Blizzard Voices. Check out Jonathan Estabrook's "A Singer's Life": Estabrooks will also team up with fellow Ottawan Larry Edelson at the American Lyric Theater in New York City. Edelson has cast Estabrooks as  Alan Turing, the World Warr II computer genius who was persecuted for being gay. Commissioned in honor of the Turing Centennial, The Turing Project is a historical fantasia based on the life of the English scientist Alan Turing. The opera explores Turing's extraordinary contributions to mankind, his county's disavowal of him because he was gay, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. The opera imagines the man inside the legend, the unique perspective he had on the universe, the public and unashamed view he had of his own homosexuality, and the impact he had upon the future of civilization. Gregory Dahl will head to the Mannitoba Opera on April 13 for three performances as Amonasaro in Aida. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Erik Anstine spotted skiing in the Alps in... Barihunks Eric Anstine Check out who was seen in the Swiss Alps sporting his Barihunk tee shirt! None other that former Los Angeles Opera Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program and Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program participant Erik Anstine. The bass-barihunk in now on the roster of the Opernhaus Zürich where he was cast his seasonas  Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Biterolf in Tannhäuser, the Second Solier in Salome, Anfisa in the premiere of Eötvös’ Drei Schwestern, and Hausknecht/Wächter in a new production of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtensk. He opens tomorrow as one of the Knights of the Holy Grail in Wagner's Parsifal in a cast that includes Angela Denoke as Kundry, Evgeny Nikitin as Amfortas, Stuart Skelton as Parsifal and Jan-Hendrik Rootering as Gurnemanz. Performances run through April 1st and tickets are available online. Eric Anstine In the upcoming season, he can be seen as Masetto in Zurich's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni with fellow barihunk Peter Mattei in the title role, Ruben Drole as Leporello, and hunkentenor Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio. He'll also be joining two other barihunks in a new production of Gounod's Faust. Anstine will be singing the role of Wagner alongside Elliot Madore and Kyle Ketelson. We can't wait to get a backstage picture of that trio! Next season he can also be seen alongside the great mezzo Cecilia Bartoli in a Christof Loy production of Handel's Alcina.  Check out the entire 2013/2014 season at the Opernhaus Zürich website. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Complete operas from La Monnaie online; Hu... Barihunks Charles Castronovo and Justin Hopkins We get asked a lot about live opera broadcasts and streaming video. We probably should post more about it and encourage anyone with information about broadcasts to send it to us at Barihunks@gmail.com. We recently learned that La Monnaie in Brussels broadcasts their productions online for a month after the performance ends. We were thrilled to find out that we could watch Barihunks calendar model Justin Hopkins in his debut from the theatre in Donizetti's Lucretia Borgia as Astolfo along with fellow barihunk Paul Gay as Don Alfonso. If you like your tenors sexy, as well, you'll be thrilled to know that Charles Castronovo is The Lucretia Borgia broadcast is available online until April. La Monnaie's sexy ad campaign for Romeo et Juliette Next up is Mernier's La Dispute with Stéphane Degout as the Prince and Guillaume Andrieux as Mesrin. Andrieux created quite a buzz when he recently debuted on our site rehearsing in a muscle shirt. However, the opera that we're really looking forward to is Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande which is cast with three barihunks, Stéphane Degout as Pelléas, Paul Gay as Golaud and the steamy Jérôme Varnier as Arkel. You can see more of Jérôme Varnier when the streaming video begins next week for Gounod's Romeo et Juliette where he portrays Frère Laurent. One of our tenor crushes: Glenn Seven Allen (in Streetcar on right with Jacquelynne Fontaine) Sometimes we shy away from it, but the truth is that we have some tenor crushes. In our "Best of 2012" feature we owned up to crushes on Ed Lyon, Noah Stewart and Glenn Seven Allen. Regular readers will probably know that today's post isn't the first time that we've snuck Charles Castronovo onto the site either. We were pretty excited to learn that Glenn Seven Allen crossed over into baritone/barihunk territory as Carl Magnus in Sondheim's A Little Night Music with the Indiana Repertory Theater. The singer also recently made his Carnegie Hall debut in Marschner's Der Vampyr with the American Symphony. Although he was distinctly back in tenor territory, he was joined by barihunk Justin Hopkins. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Craig Verm up to bat in Reno and West Virg... Barihunks Craig Verm in uniform for "Casey at the Bat" We may have to start following accompanist Karen Roethlisberger Verm's career more closely. She appears to be the accompanist of choice for barihunks. Yesterday we posted about her upcoming recital with Daniel Teadt in Pittsburgh, only to learn that on Thursday she'll be accompanying her barihunk husband Craig Verm in a program of Quilter, Finzi, Britten, and Grainger. The free recital will be at Elbin Auditorium on the West Liberty University campus at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 21. The school is located near Wheeling, West Virginia. Verm is currently with the Reno Philharmonic performing William Schuman's cantata "Casey at the Bat." It opened last night and there is one additional performance on Tuesday, March 19 at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available online. We're not sure how the Pittsburgh Pirates fan will feel about him sporting a uniform from the rival San Francisco Giants, but folks in Northern California and Nevada will undoubtedly love it. We think he looks good enough in that uniform to try out for their back up middle infielder spot. On off days, he could sing the National Anthem. Upcoming operatic appearances include Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Florentine Opera in May, Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes with Des Moines Metro Opera in June as well as Mercutio in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette also with the Des Moines Metro Opera in June. Verm, who has appeared in our last two charity calendars,  earned his Master of Arts in Music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and was a 2006 national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

A Barihunk connected recital with Daniel T... Barihunks Daniel Teadt On Saturday, March 23rd, barihunk Daniel Teadt will perform a free program of Benjamin Britten, Hugo Wolf, Samuel Barber and Gerald Finzi. He will be accompanied by pianist Karen Roethlisberger Verm, who happens to be the wife of barihunk Craig Verm. She also took the pictures of Craig Verm that graced our calendar's cover this year. The concert starts at 2 pm at the Kresge Theater at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Teadt has sung major roles in opera houses throughout the United States and Europe including Pittsburgh Opera, Arizona Opera, Aix-en-Provençe Festival in Luxembourg, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Tacoma Opera, Central City Opera, Tri-Cities Opera and Pittsburgh Opera Theater. He has been on the roster of the New York City Opera for several seasons and toured nationally with the San Francisco Opera.  Teadt is currently a voice instructor at Washington & Jefferson College and Clarion University. He also runs a private voice studio in Pittsburgh.  2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

More Acclaim for Michael Mayes in Dead Man... Barihunks Michael Mayes in Eugene Opera's Dead Man Walking (Photo: Cliff Coles) Michael Mayes continues to wow both audiences and critics with his frightening, yet beautifully sung, portrayal of Joseph DeRocher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Tonight he wrapped up the reprisal of the role that made opera afficionados take note after his performance in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The latest critic to by wowed is Marilyn Farwell from The Register-Guard, who wrote: As the killer Joseph DeRocher, baritone Michael Mayes has become what the composer himself calls the “definitive” interpreter of this role. His imposing physicality and menacing demeanor were frightening. And he sang the role impeccably. Two scenes highlighted his vocal and dramatic gifts: a beautifully rendered memory of being by a river with a woman on a hot Louisiana night, and his stunning solo scene in his cell, pacing with the anger and fear of a caged animal. Mayes now heads to the Fort Worth Opera Festival where he will portray Colonel Floyd James (Jim) Thompson, America’s longest-held prisoner of war. The opera by Tom Cipullo looks back on Thompson's years as a captive in Vietnam and features Mayes in the title role. Tickets and additional information about the Fort Worth Opera Festival are available on their website.Mayes opens 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

READER SUBMISSION: Evan Hughes Barihunks Evan Hughes (Photo: Matthu Placek) This is our third straight post of our beloved "Reader Submissions." The latest is California native Evan Hughes, who is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development program. The UCLA graduate attended the Curtis Institute of Music and was a regional winner and a national Semi-Finalist in the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was the grand prize in the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Hughes recently performed Aronte in Gluck’s Armide presented by the Met in collaboration with the Juilliard School; he also performed Don Basilio in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy with Lorin Maazel and reprised the role in the summer at the Castleton Festival, where he also sang the bass solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, both projects being conducted by Mr. Maazel. Evan Hughes (Photo: Matthu Placek) Hughes started the season as Don Alfonso in a production of Mozart's Così Fan Tutte directed by Stephen Wadsworth and conducted by Alan Gilbert at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center. Later this season he will make his Metropolitan Opera debut as Crebillon in Puccini's La Rondine. A champion of contemporary music, Hughes appeared in Elliott Carter’s Syringa with the Met Chamber Ensemble at Zankel Hall (Carnegie) and the Tanglewood Music Festival, conducted both times by James Levine, and more recently he premiered Carter’s Three Explorations at Alice Tully Hall with the Axiom Ensemble and Jeffrey Milarsky. Another milestone in the bass-baritone’s exploration of Elliott Carter’s music was On Conversing with Paradise as part of a festival of cultural exchange entitled Ascending Dragon in Los Angeles, Hanoi and in other parts of Vietnam. 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Reader Submission: Benjamin Werth Barihunks Benjamin Werth Ohio native Benjamin Werth is our latest reader submission and it comes from Germany. Werth who honed his skills in regional companies throughout the United States, has been based at the Landestheatre Coburg about an hour from Bayreuth, Germany for the last three years. His recent roles there include the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Argante in Handel's Rinaldo and Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Previous roles included Orestes in Gluck's Iphigenia in Tauris, Zurga in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers and Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville.  Werth studied at Ohio State University, the Manhattan School of Music in New York and the Opera Institute at Boston University. He participated in the Young Artists Program at the Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Central City Opera. He was a finalist in the 2008 New England Regionals of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. Benjamin Werth In 2008 he made ??his debut as Escamillo ("Carmen") at the Ash Lawn Opera. In Boston he appeared as Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville,  Laurent  in Pickers Therese Raquin, Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.  In Des Moines he sang Donizetti's Don Pasquale. His performances of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in Coburg open on March 24 and tickets are available online. 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Reader Submission: Laurent Arcaro Barihunks Laurent Arcaro: Headshot and Don Giovanni We love the fans of our site. You have become our eyes and ears around the world and have exposed us to some amazing talent and some damn hot men. The latest submission is Frenchman Laurent Arcaro. He was recommended to us by a fan who saw him sing Don Giovanni in Marseilles just over a year ago. Laurent Arcaro Arcaro studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, Musikhochschule opera studio in Mannheim, Germany and the Conservatoire de Toulouse. He's gone on to sing in a number of houses throughout Germany and France. This summer, he will make his debut at the Opéra de Metz as Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola. He also appeared in the 2010 movie "Heart Zero" with his wife Nathalie Vignes. The movie is about a spouse who is haunted by the death of her French broker husband during the 9/11 tragedy. 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story