No one saw this one coming: The Aussies invaded England in the midst of the Queen's "Diamond Jubilee" and put on quite a show. Aussie barihunks Grant Doyle and Joshua Bloom took the stage at the Garsington Opera at Wormsley estate and had the crowd thinking about things other than British Royalty and Navy flyovers.
Grant Doyle sings "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen" from Korngold's "Die tote Stadt":
There are still six performances remaining between now and July 2nd. Check out the Garsington Opera website for more information. Also on the docket at Garsington is Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with barihunk Richard Latham, Vivaldi's "L'Olimiade," and Offenbach's "La Perichole."
Papageno won't be Richard Latham's first encounter with feathers
If you haven't been to Garsington and experienced opera in the lush English countryside, we highly recommend adding it to your travel itinerary.
Australian barihunk is singing Guglielmo in Opera Australia's visually stunning run of Mozart's Così fan tutte. Dundas who has played Masetto opposite the famously shirtless and ripped "Teddy Bare" a.k.a. Teddy Tahu Rhodes, appears to be the next generation of sexy barihunk from Down Under.
Dundas has been performing throughout Australia and New Zealand since 2005. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist program at Opera Australia. In 2010 his roles included Doctor/Inquisitor/Judge/Stanislaus in Candide, the appropriately named character Handsome in La Fanciulla del West, Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ceprano in Rigoletto. In 2011 his roles include Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Pish Tush in The Mikado, Cascada in Merry Widow and Masetto in Don Giovanni.
Other recent engagements have included Papageno The Magic Flute for Victorian Opera, the bass solos in Brahms Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and his debut with Sydney Sinfonia in a Discovery series concert at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.
Dundas's 2012 roles include Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Yamadori in Madama Butterfly for Opera Australia and the Title role in Opera Australia's tour of Don Giovanni.
Watch a trailer of the production:
Performances of Così fan tutte are running through March 26. Get additional performance information or ticket on the Opera Australia website. In July 2012, Dundas will be reprising another Mozart role when he performs Don Giovanni in Michael Gow’s new production for Opera Australia.
When we last featured Aussie barihunk Damien Pass in 2007, he had recently graduated from Oberlin, had won and Encouragement Award from the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition and was starting to get small roles in places like Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera North and the Music Academy of the West. Somehow we lost track of him until we received an email recently asking why he wasn't included in our poll of sexiest Aussie barihunks.
We're pleased to announce that we found him in France, where he's been singing smaller roles at the Paris Opera. He's performed Don Inigo (L’heure Espagnole, Ravel), Frank Maurrant (Street Scene, Weill), Lucas (Les Troqueurs, Dauvergne), and the Marquese (Mirandolina, Martinů) with the Atelier Lyrique at the Paris Opera.
Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "At the River":
In September 2001, Pass made his Parisian recital debut with the Fesival les journées romantiques with a program that included Aaron Copland, Franz Liszt, Cole Porter, Franz Schubert and Henri Duparc.
He's also made his mark outside of France, singing the title role in Handel’s Saul with the Britten-Pears Orchestra conducted by Richard Egarr in Aldeburgh.
Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "Long Time Ago":
Pass will next be seen March 15th at the Palais Garnier in a program of Massenet with the Paris Opera Orchestra. A week later he'll be part of a concert of music by Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf et Richard Wagner at the Goethe Institute in Paris. We'll try to keep better tabs on this promising young talent in the future.
We've stopped posting a few barihunks in the past for a variety of reasons, usually it's retirement or that they've suddenly discovered deep-dish pizza with extra cheese while traveling on the road. But this is the first time that we can recall that one of the singers on our site has become a tenor.
We learned yesterday that one of the hottest future stars in opere, in looks and talent, was changing fachs. The news is somewhat surprising because the Aussie has been winning singing competitions as a baritone and has been impressing audiences at Opera Australia, where he is in the young artist program. One thing we know for sure is that this gifted and focused singer will succeed in any fach. We also have to believe that there a few sopranos who will look forward to singing with a lithe, 6' 6" tenor with movie star looks.
Barihunks would like to wish Sam Roberts-Smith great success and we hope that Hunkentenors gets revived so that we can follow him on that site.
October 17, 2011 at 1:00 PM, American barihunk Chris Herbert will perform in St. Paul's Chapel at the Trinity Wall Street Church in New York (talk about another great way to occupy Wall Street!). He will be a soloist in Bach's Cantata BWV 76, "Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes" with the Trinity Choir and Baroque Orchestra.
Here's a performance of the piece from Vienna in 1951:
Christopher Herbert performs concerts and opera throughout the United States and Europe, principally with his ensemble, New York Polyphony. He played a prominent part of "Sing for Hope's" 2010 and 2011 Pop-Up Pianos throughout New York. Check out the New York Polyphony website for upcoming concerts in your area. They are not to be missed!
Riley McMitchell
On November 11th, which is Canadian "Remembrance Day," barihunk Riley McMitchell will be performing the "Mass No. 2 in G major, D.167" by Franz Schubert. The performance will begin at 8 PM at the Canadian Memorial United Church at 15th and Burrard in Vancouver, B.C.
Coming soon to Barihunks: Havard Stensvold
Here is a highlight of Schubert's Mass in G major, which includes the bass Havard Stensvold, who we can assure you will be seen on Barihunks soon!
If you can't get enough of Joshua Bloom in the Met's "Don Giovanni," you're in luck. On Monday, November 28th at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City, the Aussie barihunk will perform Schwanengesang by Franz Schubert, as well as songs by Tom Lehrer and Poulen'c "Le Bestiaire."
Joshua Bloom was a member of the Merola Program and an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera. In 2005 he sang Garibaldo in "Rodelinda" for the San Francisco Opera, in 2006 he made his role debut as Nick Shadow in "The Rake’s Progress" for Opera Australia under Richard Hickox and appeared in "Die Zauberflöte" and "Salome" for Santa Fe Opera. For Opera Australia he has sung Dandini, Escamillo and Mozart's Figaro and Leporello. He made his Chicago Opera Theater debut in "Béatrice et Bénédict". Engagements include Masetto ("Don Giovanni") and Truffaldino ("Ariadne auf Naxos") for the Metropolitan Opera, Alidoro and Leporello for Garsington Opera Festival, and Rodolfo ("La Sonnambula") and Figaro for Opera Australia.
Here is the great Thomas Allen singing "Le Bestiaire":
