Attitude magazine: "Get Your Rock Off"

Duncan Rock featured in Attitude

Aussie barihunk Duncan Rock generated international buzz when he recently appeared in "Don Giovanni: The Opera" at London's Heaven. The updated, gender bending version of the Mozart-Da Ponte classic rubbed some of the old-timers the wrong way, but young audiences ate it up.

Attitude, which bills itself as the U.K.'s largest LGBT magazine, recently did a feature on the ripped redhead with the great headline "Get Your Rock Off." We couldn't possibly improve on that! We also love that gave a nice shout out to Barihunks, writing:

Rock has featured heavily on the inspired website Barihunks (baritone hunks, obvs), which shows male opera singers in a state of undress. So what happened to opera's rep for the larger gentlemen? "A lot of the roles, particularly the ones for a young baritone voice, now require certain physical characteristics," Rock explains. "For certain roles, for dramatic credibility, people expect a certain look, but opera is an art form that is all about beautiful singing and that will never change."

Fortunately for Rock, his voice is as beautiful as his physique.

Check out a preview of the ENO's Billy Budd featuring Duncan Rock:

We first discovered Duncan Rock when he was in Britten's Billy Budd at Glyndebourne and he's back in the same opera at the English National Opera. Rock will be performing the role of Donald. Performance are running from June 12-July 12. He remains on the ENO roster for a run of Bizet's Carmen beginning in November where he takes on the role of Moralès. Visit the ENO website for tickets and additional information.

Duncan Rock: Master-OF-Arms

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Guardian's Stuart Jeffries asks: "Don Giovanni – hero or villain?"

Randal Turner as Don Giovanni

In the Don Giovanni that has just opened in Paris, the eponymous hero has become an irredeemable sex pest of a businessman. Too much power and sex has corroded his soul. Perhaps you work with him. Perhaps you are him. At the end, in his nocturnal office, Giovanni is stabbed through the heart by the co-worker he sexually assaulted in act one, thrown through a window by a crowd of downtrodden cleaners, at least one of whom he tried to grope, and then accompanied to hell by the rotting corpse of the CEO he murdered at the outset. Twenty-first century moral? Don't stay late at the office.

Markus Werba as Don Giovanni

The desperate Don's comeuppance, though, strikes me as unfair. As Kierkegaard noted in Either/Or, Don Giovanni is the opera's erotically animating presence. "His passion resonates everywhere; it resonates in and supports the Commendatore's earnestness, Elvira's wrath, Anna's hate, Ottavio's pomposity, Zerlina's anxiety, Mazetto's indignation, Leporello's confusion. As the hero in the opera, Don Giovanni is the denominator of the piece." Take him away and you're left with the bourgeois moralising of the opera's epilogue – an epilogue that any director worth their salt would cut were it not for Mozart's music.

Duncan Rock & Richard Crichton talk to Gaydar's Neil Sexton and Debbie Ryan

In Carlos Saura's 2009 film Io, Don Giovanni about the life of Mozart's librettist Da Ponte, the hero becomes a projection of the librettist's desire. In Claus Guth's 2008 succès de scandale in Salzburg, the mortally wounded heroin user – Giovanni – is imagined as the creation of the desires of all three women (Zerlina, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira) he usually spends the opera mistreating. Women want him, men want to be like him. In Guth's treatment, the usually pious Donna Anna kills herself because she can't have him. No matter that he killed her dad. [Read entire article HERE]

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Hot New Promo Pictures of Duncan Rock as Don Giovanni

Duncan Rock: A Don Giovanni that makes the Catalogue aria believable

We recently posted about barihunk Duncan Rock being cast in "Don Giovanni: The Opera" at Heaven in London, England.

The opera opens on April 15 and has created a lot of buzz, which you can read about in our previous post. Part of the chatter was that Google Ads had declined the company's advertising because it was too provocative. The production has created lively debates about whether performances like this are good for opera, or not. The opera is not for "purists," but for those who want a fun, frolicking, sexy night of entertainment with the music of Mozart, then you may want to jump online and get tickets.

Behind the scenes rehearsal shot

When we saw the promotional photos for the performance with Duncan Rock, we had to share them with readers. In this production, there is some role switching and the Don pursues men as well as women. One thing is certain, after seeing these pictures, Leporello's "Catalogue Aria" where he sings of his master's conquests will suddenly become quite believable.

Here's the original text in English translation. We suspect that there will some adjustments.

My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.

In Italy, six hundred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one;
But in Spain already one thousand and three.

Among these are peasant girls,
Maidservants, city girls,
Countesses, baronesses,
Marchionesses, princesses,
Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age.

With blondes it is his habit
To praise their kindness;
In brunettes, their faithfulness;
In the white-haired, their sweetness.

In winter he likes fat ones.
In summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.

He seduces the old ones
For the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favourite
Is the young beginner.

It doesn't matter if she's rich,
Ugly or beautiful;
If she wears a skirt,
You know what he does.

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A "Don Giovanni" So Sexy It Was Banned By Google Ads

Duncan Rock (L & R) and Opera Poster Banned by Google Ads

If you think opera hasn't caught up with movies, films and the theater in terms of raw sex appeal, then you haven't heard about "Don Giovanni: The Opera." The production, which will open at London's famous nightclub Heaven on April 15 is a modern retelling of Mozart's classic tale of sexual pursuit set in the heyday of the Eighties club scene and inspired by New York's legendary Studio 54.  "Don Giovanni" is still a lecherous playboy and licentious nightclub owner, who pursues men as well as women.  In this production the sopranos become tenors and baritones become mezzos (except for the Don).

  

This production was originally seen on the Main Stage at Trafalgar Square for London Pride in 2009 and was huge success. After the run at Heaven, the opera will be shown at the 2012 World Pride celebration. 

Barihunk Duncan Rock (photo by Daniel Swerdlow)

The production is already causing waves in London three months before their opening. First, Google Ads rejected the producers ad [see top photo], because it was deemed too racy. Then they snagged one of the hottest young talents in England (in terms of looks AND voice), the sexy strawberry blonde Duncan Rock. Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster. 

Duncan Rock sings Billy’s aria from Britten, Billy Budd:

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Duncan Rock Debuts as Giovanni; Shirtless in Heggie Piece

Duncan Rock in Jake Heggie's “For a Look or a Touch”

Barihunk Duncan Rock had a busy couple of days in November. On November 18th, he was asked to step in at the last minute in the Welsh National Opera's production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni." The next night he opened at the King's Head Theatre in London in the critical role of Manfred in Jake Heggie's “For a Look or a Touch.”

Heggie's powerful chamber opera is the tale of two gay lovers, both prisoners in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The text is based on the journal of the late Manfred Lewin, interviews with his lover Gad Beck and other survivors who were featured in the film "Paragraph 175." Heggie has created a mesmerizing and haunting depiction of the loss and persecution of the gay victims of the Holocaust. We were fortunate enough to get these amazing pictures of Duncan Rock as Manfred. 


We've featured this before, but it's worth sharing again. Here is the amazingly talented Morgan Smith singing "Golden Years" from "For a Look or a Touch":

Time is running out to purchase our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. Please help us support young artists by purchasing your calendar today. Click HERE to order you copy and enjoy the world's hottest and most talented singers all year long.

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Five Borough Songbook to Kick Off Festival; Wigmore Competition Underway

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

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