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Barihunks duo in sold out Onegin in Munich

July 25, 2015, 9:09 pm
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Mariusz Kwiecien and Anna Netrebko in Eugene Onegin rehearsals
Good luck trying to get tickets for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Munich Summer Opera Festival. The show features and all-star cast led by barihunks Mariusz Kwiecien as Onegin and Günther Groissböck as Gremin, Anna Netrebko as Tatiana and hunkentenor Pavol Breslik as Lensky. Tickets for both the July 26 and 29 shows are completely sold out.

Fans of Günther Groissböck in Munich need not be dismayed if they can't get tickets, as he'll be back next season in Lohengrin, Der Rosenkavalier and La Juive.

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Barihunk Ed Parks featured in Indiana Gazette

July 26, 2015, 10:34 am
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Ed Parks

American barihunk Ed Parks, who was the highest ranking baritone at the recent Operalia competition, was recently featured in the Indiana Gazette. Here is the article:

Baritone Parks puts on world class performance by CHAUNCEY ROSS

For Ed Parks, the day he was invited to the prestigious Operalia singing competition in London is more memorable than the day he pocketed a $10,000 prize in the contest.

Parks, the Indiana-raised opera singer, with the Metropolitan Opera of New York and Carnegie Hall on his credit list, took third place in the international competition held last weekend in London.
A renowned baritone, Parks was the top American in the 23rd annual Operalia, a program founded by Plácido Domingo.

Two tenors, Ioan Hotea, of Romania, and Darren Pene Pati, of New Zealand, placed first and second in the men’s division, making Parks, in the eyes of many, the best baritone.
In. The. World.

Parks would be the first to put some perspective on that thinking.

“It’s the best in the world under (age) 32. And there’s a lot that goes into it,” Parks said. “And there are a lot of singers that probably couldn’t even audition because of having summer programs or summer festival work.

“But of the singers that I heard — and I didn’t hear everybody through all the rounds — these are very high-quality singers.”

CONTINUE READING ARTICLE HERE. 

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Reader Submission: David Pershall

July 27, 2015, 7:27 am
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David Pershall
A reader spotted David Pershall making his role debut as Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo at Oper Burg Gars in Vienna and asked if we'd featured him before. Although we briefly mentioned him winning the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, we had actually never featured him before despite having seen him perform scenes from Don Pasquale, Les pêcheurs de perles, and Die Fledermaus in San Francisco.

He is a graduate of the Merola Opera program at San Francisco Opera and the Virginia Opera Resident Artist program. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Baylor University, as well as a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music. In addition to winning the Jensen
Competition, he has won the the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition, the New Jersey Verismo Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition,  the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, the Hugo Kauder Competition for Voice, the Presser Music Foundation Award, and the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence.


Pershall joined the Vienna State Opera this season where his performances include Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Sebastian in The Tempest. He has perviously appeared at Sarasota Opera as Count di Luna in ll Trovatore, Vero Beach Opera as Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Virginia Opera as Papageno in The Magic Flute, Amarillo Opera as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor which was broadcast on PBS, El Paso Opera as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Virginia Opera as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, and with the Norwegian National Opera as Schaunard in La Bohème.

He has partnered with the Beethoven Easter Festival and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra to produce three live performance albums in which he headlined as Don Pedro in Maria Padilla, Manfredo in L’Amore dei Tre Re, and Orestes in Iphigénie en Tauride. 


Performances of Don Carlo run through August 8th and tickets and additional cast information is available online. Next season he will make his Metropolitan Opera debut in the title rôle of The Barber of Seville followed by performances of Schaunard in La Bohème and Lord Cecil in Maria Stuarda. He'll be rotating Figaro with fellow barihunk Elliot Madore. Peshall's castmates include Ginger Costa-Jackson as Rosina and Taylor Stayton as Count Almaviva. Visit the Metropolitan Opera's website for additional information. 

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Reader Submission: Franco Cerri

July 27, 2015, 8:24 pm
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Franco Cerri
This has been a busy week for Reader Submissions and the latest is Italian barihunk Franco Cerri. He may be our first submission who is an opera singer, dancer AND jazz pianist.

Born in Genoa, Italy, Cerri  began his studies with piano, drama and ballet dancing. While at the Conservatory, he studied singing with the great Italian baritone Silvano Carroli. In 2012, he won the Città di Alcamo International Singing Competition. 

He made his professional debut as a bass, singing the Bonze in the Puccini's Madame Butterfly and the title role in Rossini's Mosè in Genoa. His debut as baritone was with the role of Marcello in Puccini's La boheme followed by the role of Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.



He has performed Riccardoin Bellini's I Puritaniin Licata,MadamaButterflyand The BarberofSevilleat the ArenaAlpeAdriaofLignano, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Trentino Opera Festival and sang in Manzitti’s Les Invisibles at the Great Palazzo Ducale in Genoa.

On August 8th, he'll perform Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Festival Illica Castell'Arquato directed by the great Rolando Panerai, who sang both Belcore and Dulcamara during his career. On August 20th, he'll appear at the Puccini Festival in Torre del lago as Guccio in Gianni Schicchi.

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West Edge Opera season off to thrilling start

July 27, 2015, 8:50 pm
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Dan Kempson
If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you will want to check out the West Edge Opera's current festival which got underway last week. Not only are the first two shows that have opened (Lulu and As One) all the talk of the local opera community, but all three operas feature barihunks.

We managed to get this picture of barihunk Dan Kempson from Act 1 of Laura Kaminsky's As One where he shares the role of Hannah with the thrilling mezzo-soprano Brenda Patterson. The piece is being performed at The Oakland Metro, a punk rock venue reflective of Oakland’s gritty art scene and the ideal space for such a provocative piece. Kempson is shirtless within 5 minutes of the first bar of music.

Kaminsky was inspired to write As One after reading an article in the New York Times in 2008 about a New Jersey marriage in which one of the parties transitioned from male to female, transforming the couple from straight to gay. The opera is based on the life experience of noted filmmaker Kimberly Reed. There are two performances remaining on July 31 and August 8th.

Alban Berg’s Lulu will be performed in the abandoned and decaying 1912 Beaux-Arts train station at 16th Street in Oakland where the movies Funny Lady and RENT were filmed. It opened to rave reviews and has additional performances on August 2 and 8. It features barihunk Zack Altman as the Athlete.

The final opera is Monteverdi’s, Ulysses, which will be staged at the American Steel Studios, a former pipe factory turned six acre art studio that’s now home to steel fabricators, sculptors, vertical aerial and trapeze performers, glass artists, and more. The opera stars Nikolas Nackley in the title role and barihunk Aaron Sørensen as Neptune. It opens on August 1 with additional performances on August 7 and 9.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

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Andrew Garland to present Schubertiade

July 28, 2015, 10:43 pm
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Andrew Garland

Andrew Garland has been one of our favorite lieder/song recitalists ever since we heard his amazing CD of American composers, which is still available for sale.  The CD features music of Tom Cipullo, Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman and Stephen Paulus and remains one of the best recording of American songs.

On August 7th, Garland will turn his attention to German language lieder in a Schubertiade at the Spire Center for the Performing Arts in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Garland will perform selections from both Winterreise and Die Schöne Müllerin, as well as selected songs. World's End Trio with guest musicians will also perform the Trout Quintet.

You can catch him on the operatic stage beginning on October 2nd when he performs Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème with the Boston Lyric Opera. The cast includes the real-life barihunk couple of Jonathan Beyer as Marcello and Brandan Cedel as Colline.

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Gavan Ring takes 2nd Prize at Concorso Lirico Internazionale

August 1, 2015, 2:37 pm
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Gavan Ring performing in Portofino
Irish barihunk Gavan Ring, who we introduced to readers back in October 2014, took 2nd Prize at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale Vocal Competition in Portofino, which concluded last night.  Two Russian sopranos, Maria Nazarova and Karina Kheruntc, took 1st and 3rd Prize respectively. Ring was awarded €4000.

The finalists were narrowed down from a field of 120 singers from 28 countries and had 10 minutes in the final round to sing the aria of their choice. The jury was headed by Dominique Meyer, the director of the Vienna State Opera. The top three winners will be invited to audition for the
Vienna State Opera.

Gavan Ring at the 2013 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Competition:

Gavan Ring can next be seen as Bill Bobstay in Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore at the Edinburgh International Festival opening on August 23 and Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at Opera North opening on October 7th. On November 8th, he'll perform a song recital with accompanist Simon Lepper as part of the Dublin Song Series at Hugh Lane Gallery.

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Benjamin Appl named ECHO Rising Star

August 1, 2015, 11:56 pm
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Benjamin Appl
German barihunk Benjamin Appl was just named one of the European Concert Hall Organization's (ECHO) six outstanding young artists to become its Rising Stars. The selected Rising Stars receive professional development support and perform a concert tour across the halls of the ECHO network The ECHO Rising Stars series was founded in 1995 and has shaped the musical careers of many of today’s world class artists.


The aim of the Rising Stars series is to bring young and exceptional young artists to new international audiences. The selected artists are offered unparalleled performance opportunities to present musical programs of their choosing in the major concert halls of Europe. A new element for the 2015/2016 season is that each artist also has a new work commissioned for them as part of the series.  Composer Nico Muhly has been chosen to create a piece for Appl.

Other artists chosen this year are pianist Cathy Krier, cellist Harriet Krijgh, Quatour Zaïde, harrpist Remy van Kesteren and Trio Catch.

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Barihunk duo in Lully's Armide in Innsbruck

August 2, 2015, 8:50 am
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Pietro di Bianco & Thomas Lavoie
The barihunks duo of Pietro di Bianco and Thomas Lavoie will appear at this year's Innsbruck Festival of Early Music in Lully's rarely performed Armide. Di Bianco, who was awarded the top prize for men at the Paris Opera Competition last year, will sing the role of Armide's wicked uncle Hidraot, while Lavoie takes on the dual assignment of Aronte and Ubalde.

Lully's Armide premiered at the Paris Opera on February 15, 1685 and was revived numerous times by the company during the 17th century. The opera is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character — not the crusader Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love.

Pietro di Bianco sings "De noirs pressentiments" from Iphigénie en Tauride:

The story takes place during the First Crusade, when Armide ensnares her enemy the Christian knight Renaud with her magic spells. At the moment she raises her dagger to kill him, she finds herself falling in love with him. She casts a spell to make him love her in return. Upon returning to her castle, she cannot bear that Renaud's love is only the work of enchantment. She calls on the Goddess of Hate to restore her hatred for Renaud, but fails to escape from her feelings of love for him. The Goddess condemns Armide to eternal love. Before Armide can return to Renaud, two of his fellow soldiers reach Renaud and break Armide's spell. Renaud manages to escape from Armide, who is left enraged, despairing, and hopeless.

Performances are on August 22, 24 and 26. Tickets, cast information and additional festival shows are available online.

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Morgan Pearse moving back to U.K.; Role debut as Figaro

August 3, 2015, 7:17 pm
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Morgan Pearse
Morgan Pearse moved to the United States a year ago to become a Studio Artist wtih the Houston Grand Opera where his roles included Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Anthony  in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. He also performed in the Jukebox Concert with the Wolf Trap Opera and Vocal Colors concert in Washington D.C. By all accounts, he impressed the U.S. opera world and will undoubtedly be a regular on American stages.

However, he's now moving back to the U.K. where he studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School. Fans won't have to wait long to hear him, as he's making his debut as Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville at the English National Opera on September 28 for a 10 performance run. The opera will also be broadcast by ENO Screen on October 19th at theatres throughout the U.K. and Ireland.

He'll be joined in the cast by ENO regular Andrew Shore as Bartolo, mezzo Kathryn Rudge in her role debut as Rosina,  the amazing young tenor Eleazar Rodriguez making his company debut as Count Almaviva and fellow barihunk Barnaby Rea as Don Basilio. Last June, Pearse appeared at ENO as Pompeo in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini.

Additional performances at the London Coliseum are on September 28 and 30, October  3, 9, 15, 19, 24 and 30 and Nov 5 and 11. On November 4th, he'll appear as part of the Samling Young Artists concert at Wigmore Hall along with soprano Susanna Hurrell, tenor Nick Pritchard and bass-baritone Arshak Kuzikyan.




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Reader Submission: Håvard Stensvold

August 3, 2015, 10:11 pm
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Our latest reader submission is Norwegian barihunk Håvard Stensvold who made his debut at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen as Masetto in Don Giovanni in 1997. He has gone on to sing Masetto, Don Giovanni and the Commendatore in Mozart's Don Giovanni.  He's made his mark in other Mozart roles, as well, including Papageno in the Magic Flute, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. He sings primarily in Scandinavia, although he's performed in Belgium, Austria and Spain.

He started performing  as a boy soprano with the Norwegian boys choir Sølvguttene. He went on to study at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory, where one of his instructors was the famed baritone Håkan Hagegård.
 
Håvard Stensvold  sings "Ho capito" from Don Giovanni:
 
He's also made his mark in contemporary opera, singing the lead roleBo Berg inKnutVaage's Khairos at Norske Opera, Kjell Habbestad's The Maid Of Norwayin Bergen, Nielsen's The Little Mermaid, Cecilie Ore's Dead Beat Escapement at Norske Opera, The Soldier in the world premiere of Palmar Johansen's Madonna Furiosa, and one of the leading roles in the world premiere of Anitra Tumsevica’s opera Red.

He also appears as Zebul on the CD of Handel's Jephtha under Fabio Biondi, as well as three recording with with pianistTorEspenAspaas, WinterHolidays, Schubert's Winterreise and a Brahms lieder recital.

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Waltteri Torikka named "Sexiest Man in Finland"

August 5, 2015, 6:44 am
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Waltteri Torikka: Finland's Sexiest Man
Waltteri Torikka has had quite a year. First he wins MTVs talent show Tähdet tähdet, which we covered extensively on this site and now he's been named "Finland's Sexiest Man" by the readers of the women's maagazine Eeva (Eve). Since winning the show, he's been dubbed the "Ricky Martin of Finland" and finds people staring at him on the street.

Torikka beat out Finnish actor Tommi Korpela and hockey player Pekka Rinne for the title. Readers who voted for Torikka offered all kinds of interesting reasons including comments about his "supple thighs" and "regal stature."

Waltteri Torikka offered this Finnish serenade to readers who voted him Sexiest Man:

Torikka will be performing Sibelius'Kullervo at the BBC Proms in London on August 28 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Next summer, he'll appear as Don Giovanni at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

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Introducing Zachary Luchetti (and his very funny bio)

August 9, 2015, 6:54 am
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Zachary Luchetti
We get a lot of Reader Submissions at this site and we love them. They tend to range from the "What were they thinking?" to "Why isn't this guy a professional model?" Every so often, one catches your attention for a very different reason, as is the case with Pennsylvania native Zachary Luchetti. His biography is not only the funniest singer bios that we've ever read, but it perfectly lampoons the beefed up biographies that many performers post on their websites. 

Luchetti is about to open as Wagner in the Berks Opera Company's production of Gounod's Faust starring Jeremy Galyon as Mephistopheles and hunkentenor James Valenti in the title role. In partnership with the Caron Treatment Centers, this production was conceptualized to address the issue of addiction. The performance depicts the cycle of addiction and rehabilitation with supertitles that are faithful to the language of the modern drug culture. Performances are on August 14 and 16 at the Miller Center for the Arts in Reading, PA and tickets are available online.

Zachary Luchetti in Pirates of Penzance (left)
Here is Luchetti's unedited bio:

Zachary Luchetti, baritone, is an Appalachian trained singer. He has cut his teeth on the regional scene from the flats of southern Ohio, through the Laurel Highlands, to the almost Pocono Mountains of Berks County, PA, with the majority of his work being done in Pittsburgh, the area’s Parisian cultural equivalent. A barihunk of once uncommon beauty, he used to possess an almost flat stomach and rather strong jaw line. However, in 2011 one of his best friends became pregnant with her first child, and he ate through the pregnancy with her. Now the aforementioned features have lost most of their sharpness, yielding to a more softened distinction.

A gifted and versatile performer, Mr. Luchetti’s performances are usually reviewed using one word superlatives ranging from “arresting” to “impressive” to “fine” (Reading Eagle). The self-observed go-to-guy on the regional D-List circuit, he makes no pretense about his status in the business. While he isn’t exactly sought after, he has amassed an impressive resume of over 70 roles in his short career, notably including Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Amonasro in Aida and the Big Bad Wolf in DePue’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, for which he was once on local radio. Although he maintains a day job, Mr. Luchetti still makes enough money singing for all of the contract work to eat up his tax refund when he enters his many 1099-Misc forms into Turbo Tax®.

Currently he is considering semi-retirement so that he can focus on a job that will yield enough net income to allow him to go out with friends when they call, take a vacation to a place not within a day’s driving distance and start a savings account without worrying about dipping below the minimum balance most banks require. When he is not singing, Mr. Luchetti relaxes by sitting in a lawn chair on the sidewalk outside his street level one bedroom apartment. There he enjoys blasting Whitney Houston ballads through the only window in his residence and sipping whatever almost decent discount wine he came across on the last chance wall at the liquor store, all the while waiting for the typical late afternoon bar fights to erupt at the local watering hole adjacent to his location where someone was allegedly shanked a couple years ago. 

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Reader Submission: Dean Murphy

August 10, 2015, 10:34 am
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Dean Murphy in Tender Land (center)
Our latest reader submission is Massachusetts native Dean Murphy, who is performing Top in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land at Opera North in Lebanon, New Hampshire. There is one remaining performance on August 15th and ticket and cast information is available online.

Murphy graduated in 2014 from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.  At Hartt, he performed Tobias in Thomas Pasatieri's The Hotel Casablanca, Frank in Strauss'Die Fledermaus, and Frank Maurrant in Weill's Street Scene.

In May 2014, Dean made his Connecticut Lyric Opera debut as Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In June 2013, he made his debut with Hartford Opera Theater as Gideon March/Mr. Dashwood in Mark Adamo's Little Women. In November 2013, he sang Brighella in Antonio Salieri's The Little Harlequinade with Connecticut Concert Opera, where he is a Resident Artist. Dean was a participant in Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance Young Artist Program, where he covered the role of Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.


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Reader Submission: Andrei Venczel

August 12, 2015, 8:42 pm
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Andrei Venczel
We'll admit that 30-year old Romanian Andrei Venczel isn't the usual candidate for Barihunks. He bills himself as a baritone/countertenor and we're not quite sure how serious he is about pursuing a professional career...but, oh, that BODY. We took one look at his pictures and figured he was worth bending the rules for.

He currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark where he's been studying with Danish soprano Nina Bols Lundgren. His interest in singing began with Romanian folk music from Banat region.

Andrei Venczel
Venczel, who also has a degree in Child Psychology, has performed throughout his native Romania, Hungary, Germany and Denmark. He has specialized in medieval and baroque music, as well as  lieder and Romanian folk music. He's also a gifted pianist who won second prize at the Carl Filtsch International Festival-Competition for Pianists and Composers.

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Last chance to watch Duncan Rock's shirtless Tarquinius

August 15, 2015, 7:58 am
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Duncan Rock in The Rape of Lucretia
This is your last chance to watch the broadcast of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, as it ends at midnight GST on August 16th. The opera stars über-barihunk Duncan Rock as Tarquinius, who sings are ravishing "Within this frail crucible of light." He also gets a chance to show off his amazing gym-toned body! Richard Fairman in the Financial Times described Duncan Rock's Tarquinius as "Schwarzenegger-like."

Duncan Rock in The Rape of Lucretia
The Rape of Lucretia was first performed at Glyndebourne in 1946. It tells the story of Lucretia, who is raped by the tyrant Tarquinius Superbus, ruler of Rome. Unable to live with the shame, Lucretia  commits suicide. The action of the opera is commented on throughout by a Male and Female Chorus who occupy another dimension, at times narrating the story and at times voicing the thoughts of the different characters.

The opera was not particularly well received by audiences or critics at the time, but the chamber opera has grown in popularity in recent years, with Glyndebourne bringing it back just two years after they performed it for the Benjamin Britten centenary in 2013.  The broadcast also stars Kate Royal as the Female Chorus, Allan Clayton as the Male Chorus, Matthew Rose as Collatinus, Michael Sumuel as Junius, Christine Rice as Lucretia, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as Bianca and Louise Alder as Lucia.

Duncan Rock in The Rape of Lucretia
Duncan Rock can next be seen at the English National Opera singing Marcello in Puccini's La bohème from October 16-November 10. He's returning to the U.S. in April to sing Billy Bigelow in Carousel at the Houston Grand Opera with Stephanie Blythe as Nettie Fowler and Andrea Caroll as Julie.

Did you know that Duncan Rock started his musical career playing the bagpipes, and that he also played basketball as well as the bass?

The final Glyndebourne stream on the Telegraph website for 2015 will be the new production of Donizetti's Poliuto beginning on Sunday, August 16th with tenor Michael Fabiano (and it's not to be missed!). 

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Barihunks Comprise one-third of Queen Sonia finalists

August 15, 2015, 12:41 pm
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(Clockwise from top left) Leon Košavić, Alexey Lavrov, Andri Björn Róbertsson & Yuriy Yurchuk
When the 12 finalists take the stage at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, Norway on Sunday, August 16th, one-third of the competitors will be barihunks. Yuriy Yurchuk, Leon Košavić, Alexey Lavrov and Andri Björn Róbertsson will be joining soprano Florie Valiquette, tenor Joshua Owen Mills, soprano Anna Rajah, soprano Elsa Dreisig, mezzo Yulia Mazurova, soprano Lise Davidsen, soprano Annika Gerhards and tenor Petr Nekoranec.

The twelve finalists were chosen from 41 contenders. Each of the semifinalists will sing four works from opera and lieder given with piano accompaniment.

Barihunk Audun Iversen, who won the competition in 2007, will also give a recital with mezzo Ingeborg Schübeler Gillebo on Wednesday August 19th. will take place on Friday, August 21 with 5 finalists who will perform with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on the Main Stage of the Oslo Opera House. The concert will be broadcast live by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

Yuriy Yurchuk
Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk is a member of Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. In the 2015-16 season he will appear on Royal Opera stage as Blazes in Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca, Baron Douphal in Verdi's La traviata and Johann in Massenet's Werther. In 2008. Yurchuk was a Salsa dance champion in his native Ukraine.

Leon Košavić
Leon Košavić began his vocal education at the age of twelveand continued with his studies at The Academy of Music in Zagreb. In 2011 he made his professional debut at The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Papageno where he later performed as Moralés. This year,  Kosavic was named Young Musician of the Year by The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and the Emmerich Smola Award. In October, he will be performing Dr. Malatesta in Donizeetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.

Alexey Lavrov
Russian native Alexey Lavrov studied voice at the Republican Art College and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. A recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Lavrov made his Met company debut in the 2012-13 season as the Herald in Verdi's Otello and the Flemish Deputy in Verdi's Don Carlo and has since appeared as there as Count Dominik in Strauss'Arabella, the Huntsman in Dvorak's Rusalka and Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. He won 1st Prize at the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2010 Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition.

Andri Björn Róbertsson
Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson was born in Reykjavík and studied languages at Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík. He studied voice at The Reykjavík Academy of Singing and Vocal Artsand then the Royal Academy of Music in London. For the last year, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio in Zürich where he performed the Sprecher and Second Priest in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Der König in Iris Ter Schiphorst's Die Gänsemagd and Brabantische Edle in Wagner's Lohengrin. On September 30 and October 2, he performs the Fifth Jew and Cappadocier In Richard Strauss'Salome with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

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Making Dreams Come True: Introducing Joel Balzun

August 15, 2015, 4:14 pm
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Canadian barihunk Joel Balzun
We noticed this Twitter exchange and couldn't resist posting it. After all, we're not about making dreams come true, than what is our purpose?

Calgary-based Cowtown Opera wrote, "All the best to our #Barihunk @jdeebizzle on his recital tonight in #yyc!" To which Canadian baritone Joel Balzun replied, "@CowtownOpera I've finally achieved my dream of being called a #barihunk - thank you. #lifegoals #operaproblems"

Balzun has performed Fiorello in their production of The Barber of Cowtown, which set Rossini's classic opera in the Wild, Wild, West. Other companies that he's appeared with include his 2011 professional debut with the California International Theatre Festival, Calgary Concert Opera Company, La Mirada Vocal Arts, the Rochester Oratorio Society and performing the Four Villains in Offenbach's Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Napa Music Festival. He made his Kennedy Center debut singing excerpts from Puccini's Turandot, representing the Eastman School of Music as a part of the Conservatory Project. At Eastman he performed Sid in Britten's Albert Herring.

Joel Balzun (photo: Alexander Timmons)
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition from Biola University and recently graduated with a Master's degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music. As a composer, he was named a finalist at the 2014 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, won the Grand Prize and Young Composers Prize in the National Broadcast Orchestra’s Galaxie Rising Star Composers’ Competition, and won the Dallas Wind Symphony’s 9th annual “Call for Fanfares.”

Joel Balzun is officially a barihunk!

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3 Barihunks in Final 5 of Queen Sonja Competition

August 16, 2015, 2:08 pm
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Alexey Lavrov, Leon Košavić and Yuriy Yurchuk (L-R)
Barihunks Alexey Lavrov, Leon Košavić and Yuriy Yurchuk have advanced to the final round of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition along with sopranos Elsa Dreisig and Lise Davidsen.


The final will take place in The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage, Friday 21 August at 19:00. Her Majesty Queen Sonja will be present and award the prizes after the concert. The concert will be broadcast live on Norwegian television and radio.

You can watch today's concert below. We've listed the programs for the three baritones who advanced: 



Alexey Lavrov:
Piano: Ecaterina Deleu: Gounod: Roméo et Juliette-Mercutio: Mab, la reine des mensonges Rachmaninov: He has taken everything from me Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin -Onegin: Vy mne pisali Schumann: Geständnis

Yuriy Yurchuk:
Piano: David Gowland: Verdi: Falstaff-Ford: È sogno o realtà Bellini: I Puritani-Riccardo: Ah! per sempre Sviridov: The Virgin in the City Cardillo: Core Ngrato

Leon Košavić:
Piano: Erling Ragnar Eriksen: Bach: Matthäuspassion-Bass: Mache dich mein Herze rein Tosti: Non t'amo più Feldman: Yamshik, ne goni loshadei

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Listen to Benjamin Appl on BBC

August 17, 2015, 6:45 am
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Benjamin Appl
The young German barihunk Benjamin Appl, who was the last student of the late Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, is rapidly emerging as one of the most sought after lieder singers in the world. Last month, he was named one of the European Concert Hall Organization's (ECHO) six outstanding young artists to become its Rising Stars and will have a piece commissioned for him by composer Nico Muhly.

Appl is also a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and they just recorded him singing Beethoven songs, which is available online until Sunday, August 22. He joins the world renowned accomanist Graham Johnson in performing the composer's Gesang aus der Ferne, WoO137 and Der Kuss, Op 128. The remainder of the program includes Beethoven's Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio, Op. 129; CPE Bach's Sonata in A minor, Wq 62/21; and, Adolf von Henselt's Duo for Horn and Piano Op.14.

Benjamin Appl sings Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte:

On September 1st, he makes his debut at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in Brahms' Triumphlied with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the baton of Marin Alsop. The concert also included Cardiff winner Jamie Barton singing Brahms' Alto Rhapsody. On September 5, he returns to the Proms for Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with Keith Lockhardt and the BBC Concert Orchestra or Chorus.

On October 6th, he'll part of the closing concert at the 40th Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, Austria, joining Angelika Kirchschlager, Mojca Erdmann, Juliane Banse, David Steffans, Graham Johnson and fellow barihunk Andrè Schuen.

Fans in Ireland will be thrilled to know that he'll be touring the country in November, with performances in Skibbereen, Clifden, Dublin, Tipperary, Cork, Dun Laoghaire and Down. The program will include lieder by Mendelssohn, Poulenc and Schubert, arias from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Magic Flute, and from Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.

You can now follow Appl at his Facebook Fan Page and on Twitter.

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