David Adam Moore as he appeared in the Barihunks Calendar
We've always found Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" a somewhat sexy piece of music with its songs about the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust. With that in mind, having sexy barihunk David Adam Moore sing the baritone part seems like dream casting. Moore will be performing a fully-staged version of Carmina Burana, as well as Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with the New Orleans Opera opening tonight.
This is the first time that the New Orleans Opera is producing Carmina Burana and they are going all out. They will be joined by the New Orleans Ballet Theatre along with the combined choral forces of the New Orleans Opera Chorus, Loyola University Chorus and the New Orleans Vocal Arts Chorale in what promises to be a spectacular show. There will be a second performance on Sunday, April 29, so if you're anywhere in the area, click HERE for a ticket.
Bernd Weikl sings Estuans Interius from Carmina Burana:
Moore will play the "other man" in Pagliacci opposite the Russian-born, American-raised soprano Inna Dukach. Here is an interview with Moore conducted by New Orleans Opera Executive Director Timothy Todd Simmons. You can hear about his "other career" in the visual arts, his country music roots and his upcoming recording of "Soldier Songs," which we've featured on the site:
David McFerrin (Top L), David Adam Moore (Bottom L) & Jesse Blumberg (R)
A little over two weeks ago we mentioned the CD release party and concert for the Five Borough Music Festival's songbook of works by twenty composers. Each song was inspired by places, themes, and poetry from every corner of New York City. We're thrilled to announce that the CD has shot up the Classical Billboard charts to #12 ahead of the Metropolitan Opera and Sir Paul McCartney. Barihunks David Adam Moore, Jesse Blumberg and David McFerrin are all featured on the CD.
Composers include Lisa Bielawa, Tom Cipullo, Mohammed Fairouz, Ricky Ian Gordon, Daron Hagen, Gabriel Kahane, Jorge Martin, Russell Platt, Matt Schickele and more. Click HERE to buy your copy today.
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone involved!
Jason Detwiler & Susannah Biller (photo by Steve DiBartolomeo)
Last February, we featured Ensemble Parallèle’s production of Philip Glass' "Orphée" with barihunks Eugene Brancoveanu and Austin Kness. The innovative young company is back with another barihunk, Jason Detwiler, in their production of John Harbison’s "The Great Gatsby." The soprano is Susannah Biller Kness who, you guessed it, is married to barihunk Austin Kness.
The Great Gatsby will run from February 10-12 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco. Jason Detwiler is performing the role of Nick Carraway. Visit the Ensemble Parallèle website for additional cast and performance information.
Andrew Garland: Our Favorite Valentine
Back in July we mentioned the New York Festival Of Song's upcoming season and we've been following each concert throughout the season. We're particularly excited about the February 14th concert for Valentine's Day entitled "A MODERN PERSON’S GUIDE TO HOOKING UP AND BREAKING UP." The concert will examine the full range of modern love with affection and humor through songs of Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, The Bobs, Noël Coward, Jason Robert Brown, Ed Kleban, and others. Subjects range from voyeurism, S&M, and ménages à trois, to good old-fashioned heart-to-heart love. The concert also repeats on February 16 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall.
Most importantly, the concert includes our favorite Valentine's Day barihunk, Andrew Garland. Click HERE to spent your Valentine's Day with the hottest redhead in opera.
Laurence Meikle
Laurence Meikle debuts as Marcello in Puccini’s "La Boheme" tonight at the Teatro Guiditta Pasta in Saronno, Italy. There will be an additional performance at the Teatro dell’Opera di Milano in Varese on February 4th.
Regular readers might remember Meikle from our "Hottest Aussie Barihunks" or our feature on his performance of Marcello at a Soho restaurant in London.
Some days we open our inbox and a theme just seems to appear. Today it was barihunks who are performing Papageno or Sarastro in Mozart's "Magic Flute."
The Opera Theatre Company in Ireland is touring the opera to a number of venues. The Sarastro is one of our favorite barihunks, Matthew Trevino, who also happens to in our Barihunks charity calendar in September. The opening night performance on Friday, November 25 is already sold out, but there are still tickets remaining for the remaing 19 performances, which run through December 10.
The Papageno is Owen Gilhooly and the production is performed in an English translation. Visit the Opera Theatre Company website for additional information or to purcharse tickets.
David Adam Moore (Papageno) and Jamie-Rose Guarrine (Papagena) (Photo by Mark Matson)
Another barihunk featured prominently in our calendar (and showing some skin) is the always entertaining David Adam Moore. Moore is a performer who always brings something extra to a performance, whether singing Mozart, Rossini or contemporary opera. He just wrapped up a run as Papageno with the Austin Lyric Opera. If you're in Texas and are kicking yourself with your cowboy boots for missing him, you're in luck. Moore is returning in April to perform Timur in Puccini's "Turandot" opposite yet another calendar model, Craig Verm,who shows off his amazing chest in our May feature along with Douglas Carpenter, Justin Hopkins and Dan Kempson (you won't want to miss it!).
By the way, you won't want to miss the AMAZING Turandot of Lise Lindstrom, who practically owns this role right now and performed the role to great acclaim at the Met. It's impressive that a smaller company like Austin Lyric Opera has managed to engage her. Buy your tickets now at their website, as this production will undoubtedly be sold out.
Gyula Orendt
We hadn't heard of Gyula Orendt until a reader brought him to our attention. The Transylvania-born singer studied at Franz Liszt University in Budapest. Orendt won numerous awards at the Viñas vocal competition in Barcelona in January 2010, including those for Oratorio/Lied, Mozart singing and Dalton-Baldwin prize. The baritone is a member of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera House this seasons where he will perform Papageno, among other roles. Next year, he will also perform the Gamekeeper in Dvorak's "Rusalka" at the Royal Opera in London.
Lastly, we had to share the following picture from the Minnesota Opera. As we previously posted, the world premiere of Kevin Puts' "Silent Night" was full of amazing baritones and, better yet, barihunks. One of the things that we like about operas based on war stories, is that they inevitably have a lot of beefcake to enjoy and "Silent Night" is no exception.
Top Photo: Troy Cook, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager, Michael Nyby and Craig Irvin
Of course, "Silent Night" has also been a critical success and has instantly become a welcome addition to the repertory. We highly recommend that you read the reviews from the Minneapolis Examiner and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Regular readers of this site will also know that Troy Cook is one of only a handful of singers to appear on this site in the Full Monty. Cooks revealing debut on this site last summer was from a performance of Poulenc's "Les mamelles de Tirésias" and it continues to be a popular post with readers.
Please remember that all proceeds from our Barihunks calendar is going to benefit young artist programs that produce singers like Matthew Trevino, Troy Cook, Gabriel Preisser, Mike Nyby, David Adam Moore and others. Holiday shopping season officially begins this week, so click HERE and order your calendar today. Join us in making this a special holiday for young artists and you can enjoy looking at them ALL YEAR.
Your input, suggestions and occasional corrections are always welcome at Barihunks@gmail.com
We have a lot of wonderful news involving five of the singers featured in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. As the holidays approach, make sure to buy your copy now. All proceeds are going to benefit young artist programs. We're still taking submissions from young artist programs who would like to be considered for a donation. Email us a brief description of why you should be the beneficiary.
Barihunk Grooms: Zachary Altman (L) & Dan Kempson (R)
Two of our favorite young artists have announced that they're getting married on Saturday, November 26th. Zachary Altman and Dan Kempson have consistently been two of the most popular barihunks on our site. Altman's shirtless pictures often appear in our "10 most visited" posts along with those of more internationally-established stars. Not to be outdone, Kempson created a sensation with his pictures from Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" at the Ft. Worth Opera. His performance also drew raves from the critics. By the way, today is Altman's birthday and he's our special shirtless feature in the sidebar.
The two singers are featured together in our 2012 Barihunks calendar with another singing couple, Jonathan Beyer and Brandon Cedel. Barihunks would like to wish Zach and Dan all the best on their wedding day.
Randal Turner: buff and benevolent
We are total suckers for singers who give back to the community, which is why we have a special place in our hearts for singers like Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Christopher Herbert and Erwin Schrott. The three singers are constantly performing benefits and giving back to their communities in various ways. We can't think of a better way to "lend ones voice" to a cause than with beautiful singing.
You can help this Chinese orphan
We were thrilled to learn that another one of our favorite singers and calendar models was involved in a great cause on the other side of the globe. Randal Turner is currently in China performing the Barber of Seville under the baton of the great Lorin Maazel, which you can read about HERE. He's taking time out of his schedule to perform a benefit concert for the Tianjin International Committee for Chinese Orphans (ICCO) on Tuesday, November 29th. Turner will be joined by soprano Georgina Chakos and accompanist Steve Griffiths.
The ICCO is a volunteer organization that cares for houses Chinese orphans with disabilities. The ICCO has a U.S. site for donations and is a 501(c)(3). You can click HERE to make a much-needed donation during this holiday season. If you make a donation, please email Neil Charpentier at NeilMary@juno.com and let him know that you read about it here.
David Adam Moore & Justin Hopkins recording "The Golden Gate"
Lastly, two more of our calendar models, David Adam Moore and Justin Hopkins, unexpectedly ran into each other at a recording session for Conrad Cummings' opera "The Golden Gate." We were lucky enough to get a picture.
The opera is in two acts with a libretto from the novel-in-verse by Vikram Seth, adapted by the composer. It was originally part of the American Opera Projects and received a staged workshop production at the Rose Studio at Lincoln Center in New York City in January 2010. The performance featured David Adam Moore and was covered on this site, as well as reviewed in the New York Times. By the way, Hopkins also was a huge success in the aforementioned "Hydrogen Jukebox" performance in Ft. Worth with Dan Kempson.
You won't want to miss the pictures of any of the above singers in our calendar. They are HOT and we've been receiving amazing feedback about all of them. Most importantly, we want to thank our readers who have bought calendars for giving the gift of music through your purchase. Any money that we make on this site goes directly towards music education for young singers, whether its from our calendar, tee shirts or other apparel. If you don't purchase a calendar, we'd like to encourage you to send a check to your favorite young artist program this holiday season. If you have a website ( or know someone who does) or if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, please help us spread the word about this project by sharing this link: http://my.qoop.com/store/Barihunks-Store-6685588246852296.
Christopher Johnstone: Singer, Actor, Model (and hot!)
We get a lot of messages asking us to look at someone's new website, but we've seldom encountered one as sexy as barihunk Christopher Johnstone's new site.
The graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music defines himself as a "Singer, Actor, Model" on his website and he's certainly hard to peg. The lyric baritone has sung with the Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera San Diego, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Pops, Boston Pops and performing Poulenc’s Le bal masqué for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra with Maestro James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.
As you can see from the video he's also crossed over into musicals. But like many singers who we've featured on this site, including Hadleigh Adams and Matt Morris, their careers have also reached into television and even modeling. Johnstone has been seen on TLC’s “Personal Justice” and he has a recurring roles on “All My Children.” If you visit his website, you can also see more examples of his modeling for David Barton Gym and DETAILS magazine.
We also want to remind readers that the Five Boroughs Music Festival is kicking off its season on Thursday, October 6th with barihunk David Adam Moore, so make sure to order your tickets. Barihunk and artistic director Jesse Blumberg has commissioned twenty songs with themes related to Gotham from twenty of the world's leading contemporary composers. The festival première is at the Galapagos Art Space and tickets can be purchased on their website.
Five Boroughs Music Festival kicks off in Brooklyn with David Adam Moore
We're particularly excited about Glen Roven's "F from DUMBO," since many attendees may be taking the F TO DUMBO to the recital. The clever new song will be sung by David Adam Moore, making it all the more irresistible. You can sample Roven's music in the sidebar to the right with barihunk Randal Turner singing "When you are old."
Festival founder Jesse Blumberg (L) & David Adam Moore (R)
We are huge fans of barihunk Jesse Blumberg, not just for his glorious singing and good looks, but as an impressario. Blumberg is the founder of the Five Boroughs Music Festival which is bringing interesting and entertaining music to all five boroughs in New York City.
The Festival's new season will kick off with the "Five Borough Songbook" featuring another one of our favorites, barihunk David Adam Moore, who will be joined by tenor Alex Richardson, soprano Martha Guth and mezzo Blythe Gaissart. They will be performing new songs from some of the best composers in the world today. Readers of this site will know that we're huge proponents of (good) new music and this performance promises and abundance of great music. Many of the composers have had their music prominently featured on this site, including Glen Roven, Jorge Martin, Ricky Ian Gordon and Daron Hagen.
The 20 songs will be premiered at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn on October 6, 2011. Click HERE for tickets and performance information.
Michael Kelly (L), Duncan Rock (Both C) & Dominik Koeninger (R)
Fans of Jesse Blumberg will be thrilled to learn that he is currently at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition in London, England. The competition is dedicated to the art of lied and requires singers to perform in at least three languages. Blumberg will be performing with accompanist Jonathan Ware on September 5 and tickets can be purchased HERE. Other barihunks in this year's competition include Michael Kelly (whose entire recital we recently featured online), Andrew Ashwin, Duncan Rock, Jonathan McGovern and Dominik Koeninger.
For the next two weeks we will be accepting submissions for our first Barihunks charity calendar, which will benefit young artist programs. Send High Res photos and a brief bio to Barihunks@gmail.com
David Adam Moore is reprising his performance of David T. Little's "Soldier Songs," which he performed in New York City in 2009. The performances will be at the International Festival of Art & Ideas in New Haven on June 23, 24 and 25.
David Adam Moore in the NYC production of Soldier Songs
This theatrically staged song cycle blends theater, opera, rock-infused-concert music, and projected animations, performed by the amplified octet Newspeak and Moore. With music and libretto written by David T. Little and conducted by Todd Reynolds, the piece adapts interviews with veterans of five wars. "Soldier Songs" reflects on war and the soldiers whose lives were changed by it.
Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
Here is an interview from Connecticut Style with David Adam Moore and David T. Little:
David Adam Moore: Bearded to play Vincent van Gogh
Barihunk David Adam Moore will be performing in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands' new opera "Vincent" at Indiana University. The opera explores all of the aspects of painter Vincent van Gogh's personality that ultimately drove him to madness. We kind of like the idea of a baritone getting to go mad rather than a soprano for a change. The libretto is by the gifted writer J.D. McClatchey.
David Adam Moore rehearsing Vincent
Tonight's opening performance and tomorrow's performance will be streamed live and you can click HERE to watch them at 8 PM EST/5 PM PST. Moore, who is alternating the lead role with Christopher Burchett, will only be seen on the broadcast of April 8. He also performs the role on April 16, but that will not be broadcast. Here is a preview video.
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com
David Adam Moore Backstage
UPDATE: Yesterday we reported that Daniel Okulitch was involved in a serious car accident. Although he suffered some major injuries, we are being told that he is expected to have a full and complete recovery.
