Des Moines Metro Opera singers hit the gym

Des Moines Metro Opera singers hit the gym
(L-R) Alexander Elliot, Marco Cammarota, Ian Richardson, Gabriel Nochlin-Gargari and Michael Mayes

Our recent post about the quartet of barihunks at the Merola Opera Program generated a lot of interest, which made us realize that you like your singers delivered to you in bunches. So we couldn't resist this group photo of five singers from the Des Moines Metro Opera company hitting the gym. Alexander Elliot, Ian Richardson and Michael Mayes (front center) are all baritones, while Marco Cammarota and Gabriel Nochlin-Gargari are tenors. We have to admit, it's nice to see that tenors are hitting the gym, too. We've heard Nochlin-Gargari used to be a gymnast, so fitness is nothing new to this emerging character tenor.

Michael Mayes working out for "Dead Man Walking" in Tulsa

Michael Mayes will be the lead in Mozart's Don Giovanni, which opens on June 22 and runs through July 15. His Masetto will be Edward Hanlon, who was a 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Semi-Finalist. Also, don't forget to tune in to Michael Mayes' hilarious Texapolitan Opera Roadshow podcast, which is some of the most entertaining stuff about opera on the web. We highly recommend Episode 21 with tenor Chad Johnson, which was taped last year in Des Moines and remains some of the funniest stuff around. PERIOD.

Alexander Elliot

Alexander Elliot, who is an apprentice artist, will be covering John Moore in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

Edward Hanlon in La boheme at Seagle Music Colony

Ian Richardson will be covering Hanlon as Masetto and starring in the Des Moines Metro Opera apprentice artist scenes. There are four remaining performances of the scenes on June 27 and 30, and July 5 and 11. Many of the scenes are directed by John De Los Santos, who we named as our Best Director in our "2011 Best of Barihunks" feature for his work on Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado at the Fort Worth Opera Festival. He will also be choreographing Don Giovanni and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Check out his work below.

In addition to Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, the Des Moines Metro Opera season will feature Puccini's La Rondine. Tickets for all of the operas and apprentice scenes are available on their website. If you're anywhere nearby (and we know it's a quick trip from Omaha, Minneapolis and Chicago), you should check out this opera company, which continues to present some of the best young talent around.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

BARIHUNKS BEST OF 2011

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 - CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE

Christopher Johnstone: Model singer

We couldn't believe it when we saw Christopher Johnstone's new website this year. The Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music graduate defines himself as a "Singer, Actor, Model" and it's tough to argue with it. 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.

HOTTEST BARIHUNK PHOTO OF 2011 (RUNNER UP) - NICHOLAS NELSON

Nicholas Nelson: Singer or Abercombie & Fitch model?

When we first saw these pictures, we thought they were from an Abercombie & Fitch catalogue. If there is any question left in anyone's mind that singers are taking better care of their bodies these days, these pictures should dispel those thoughts. Nelson is currently with the Portland Opera Studio, one of the beneficiaries of funds from our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar.

BEST STUDIO RECORDING - HENK NEVEN

Henk Neven: Best baritone studio CD of the year

Henk Neven was nominated for a presitigious Gramophone Award in the category of "Solo Vocal." Neven was nomintated for his recording of Carl Loewe's "Ballades" and Robert Schumann's Liederkreis with Hans Eijsackers on piano. It's an amazing recording that should belong in everyone's playlist.

BEST TREND - LIVING AMERICAN COMPOSERS

Daniel Okulitch, Randal Turner & David Adam Moore

The music of living American Composers was all the rage this year. Barihunks Randal Turner and Daniel Okulitch both released brilliant CDs based on the theme. The Five Burroughs Music Festival run by barihunk Jesse Blumberg featured music by living American composers, including performances from fellow barihunk David Adam Moore. The New York Festival of Song, under one of our favorites, Steven Blier, also continued to deliver some of the best new American music on the scene.



BEST NEWCOMERS - PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

PHILIPPE SLY and DOMINIK KöNINGER

We had a great post this year which asked the question: Can barihunks sing? If there was any question about it, two newcomers to the site Philippe Sly and Dominik Köninger quickly dispelled the myth. Sly blew away audiences during his brief tenure at the Merola Opera Program and went on to win the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.  He was identified early on as a favorite to win the competition and his version of Schubert's haunting Der Erlkönig drew comparisons to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and other great baritones.


In a year where baritones won almost every vocal competition, German barihunk Dominik Köninger took the top prize at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. His seamless phrasing and beauty of tone instantly became the talk of European impresarios and critics.

BEST NUDE SCENE - CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN IN "JUAN"

Christopher Maltman in Juan

Ever since we posted that Christopher Maltman appeared nude in Kasper Holten's abbreviated and updated film version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," our inbox was filled with queries asking us where they could see the film. Unfortunately, the film had VERY limited release in the U.S. and wasn't made available on DVD to North Americans. Fortunately, a fan of our site directed us to this LINK where the film can be viewed online for free. We suspect that they're getting a sudden uptick in traffic.

BEST AND WORST OPERAS OF THE YEAR
BEST - HYDROGEN JUKEBOX IN FT. WORTH
WORST - GRISELDA IN SANTA FE

Dan Kempson & Justin Hopkins

The Ft. Worth Opera Festival continues to establish itself as a mandatory summer stop for any serious opera fan. This year's production of Phillip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" was the surprise hit of the year. Directed by the Lawrence Edelson and featuring barihunks Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins (who often appeared only in boxers), the production made an excellent case for this opera entering the standard repertory.

Gronk working on the Griselda sets

If you were looking for a short night at the opera, then you should have been at the Santa Fe Opera's production of Vivaldi's "Griselda." Director Peter Sellars and artist Gronk created an incoherent updating of a baroque masterpiece that had people scrambling for the exits. After Act 1 Santa Fe was filled with opera goers at local bars asking, "What the hell was that?"

BEST AND WORST DIRECTORS
BEST: JOHN DE LOS SANTOS
WORST: MICHAEL GRANDAGE

John de los Santos and Michael Grandage

We return to Ft. Worth for our best young director, John de los Santos, who brought such vibrancy to Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" that it seemed like a brand new hit show. We've been featuring a video of his work in our sidebar, as we think that his work should be more widely known to opera fans. He will be working on his first Wagner opera this year, when he joins the creative team at the Dallas Opera for their "Tristan und Isolde."

We've always had great respect for Michael Grandage as an actor and for much of his theatrical work. However, he needs to stay away from the opera house. He is the antithesis of everything that this site stands for, which is making opera accessible and interesting to modern audiences, as well as making it sexy when appropriate. He took all of the sexual tension out of Britten's "Billy Budd" at Glyndebourne and then mounted what the Guardian called a "disastrously dull" Don Giovanni at the Met. Two operas that thrive on sexual tension were basically emasculated by Grandage.

BEST BARIHUNK FEAST - MINNESOTA OPERA'S "SILENT NIGHT"

Mike Nyby

Kevin Puts' opera "Silent Night" contains more sexy men than a World Cup soccer championship. There were four barihunks in the premiere at the Minnesota Opera who had appeared on this site before, including Mike Nyby, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager and Liam Bonner, as well as Andrew Wilkowske. The opera is based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion and recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

BEST BARIHUNK WEDDING - ZACH ALTMAN & DAN KEMPSON

Zach Altman & Dan Kempson

This isn't you're grandmother's world of opera anymore. Baritones aren't the villains anymore, they're getting married to each other. Two of the most popular barihunks on this site tied the knot this year, Zach Altman and Dan Kempson. We wish them well!

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD AWARD - NATHAN GUNN

Nathan Gunn as Tarquinius in Vienna

We're going to leave you with Nathan Gunn, whose popularity with Barihunks fans is off the charts. The 41-year-old singer still looks hotter than guys twenty years his junior. He returned to the role of Tarquinius in Vienna this year and still looked as sexy as when he sung the role in Philadelphia years ago. He's also about to return to the role of Billy Budd, which is often performed by guys 10-20 years younger. Gunn also promotes his fitness routine, which we think is good for opera and good for the singers.

HAVE A GREAT 2012!!!

Announcing our Second Beneficiary for our 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar: Seagle Music Colony

Seagle Barihunks: Christopher Temporelli, Seth Mease Carico and Wes Mason.

 

We’re pleased to announce our second recipient of a donation from the 2012 Barihunks calendar, the Seagle Music Colony at Schroon Lake in beautiful upstate New York. There are many reasons to support this great training program, but the fact that it was founded in 1915 by baritone Oscar Seagle, an early 20^th century singer, certainly helped us in our decision. It’s also run by Darren Woods, who runs one of the best opera festivals in the world, the Ft. Worth Opera Festival. If your summer festival schedule includes Ravinia, Tanglewood and/or Spoleto and you haven’t checked out Ft. Worth, then you haven’t experienced the best of American opera.

A number of barihunks have trained at Seagle, including Ned Hanlon, John Cabrali,  Joe Hagar, Anthony Reed, Nicholas Wardcan and FOUR of our calendar models, Wes Mason, Seth Carico, Christopher Temporelli and Dan Kempson.  Since it’s founding in 1915, numerous singers have gone on to have amazing careers in opera and on Broadway. Their mission statement is “To identify, train and develop gifted singers and to present quality opera and musical theatre performances to the public.” They’ve obviously been successful, as Seagle alumni have performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera and, of course, the Ft. Worth Opera.

Oscar Seagle made several concert tours in the United States and Europe, and recorded albums for Columbia, including the popular World War I hit "Dear Old Pal of Mine." He served from 1903-1914 as teaching associate in Europe with his teacher, the great Polish tenor Jean de Reszke. De Reszke was a star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as Queen Victoria's favorite singer.

Darren Woods has served as General Director at the Seagle Music Colony since 1996. In 2000, it was named "Best Summer Vocal Training Program in the United States" by Classical Singer Magazine. Seagle receives over 500 applicants each year and it has expanded from two productions and eight performances per summer to six full productions and over thirty-five performances. Our favorite young director, John de los Santos (whose video you can see at the right) is also a regular at Seagle. 

We’re delighted to have them join the Portland Opera studio as one of our beneficiaries this year. We encourage you to purchase a calendar and help support his amazing organization. If you’re feeling extra generous this holiday season, please visit them online to make a donation HERE or mail a check to Seagle Music Colony, 999 Charley Hill Road, PO Box 366 – Schroon Lake, NY 12870.

Randal Turner (top), Seagle participant Dan Kempson (bottom left) & David Adam Moore (bottom right)

  BUY YOUR 2012 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY BY CLICKING HERE!

Another Winning Season in Ft. Worth

Malcolm MacKenzie in Trovatore; Dan Kempson & Justin Hopkins in Hydrogen Jukebox

The Ft. Worth Opera Festival continues to establish itself as a major force among summer opera festivals internationally. The company continues to showcase some of the best emerging talent in the business today, as well as mixing standard repertory with operas that both challenge audiences and appeal to a new generation of opera goer.

Among the "second tier" of opera companies, Ft. Worth practically stands alone in terms of both innovation and quality of performance. Next season is no exception, when they will feature two standard repertory operas, Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" and Puccini's "Tosca," with two contemporary operas, Mark Adamo's "Lysistrata" and Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers."

This year's surprise hit is Philip Glass "Hydrogen Jukebox," which has been completely sold out for weeks. It also happens to feature two emerging barihunks, Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins. The show also features them baring a bit of skin, so warn your grandma. It's no secret that we're huge Glass fans on this site where you can watch his opera "Kepler" in its entirety, so we're thrilled that Glass is being performed deep in the heart of Texas.

Emerging Barihunk Jesse Enderle and Director John de los Santos

This year's Fort Worth Opera Festival is also featuring a critically acclaimed production of Verdi's "Il Trovatore" with baritone Malcolm MacKenzie. Also on the program is an updated version of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado" directed by our favorite young director/choreographer John de los Santos, who choreographed last year's hit "Before Night Falls." Fans of countertenors will be delighted with the production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare," which features two countertenors and a male soprano. Despite the high male voices, barihunk fans will be delighted to know that Achillas will sung by the stunning and gifted young singer Donovan Singletary, who was a standout in the Lindeman Young Artists program.

Donovan Singletary

Here is Singletary performing some Rachmaninov songs:



The festival runs through June 5. Check out the Ft. Worth Opera website for performance times and additional cast information.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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