HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THOMAS HAMPSON

Birthday boy, Thomas Hampson

Today we're honoring one of the most heralded singers in all of opera. He also happens to be one of the most popular and enduring barihunks in the world. He has kept both his voice and his matinee idol good looks in tact at the age of 57. In fact, he's survived long enough to perform with his fellow barihunk and son-in-law Luca Pisaroni.

Hampson has performed a broad range of music, from Handel and Gluck to contemporary operas. In between, he's managed to sing all of the major leading Mozart roles, while also establishing himself as a Verdi and Wagner singer of the highest order. Last season, he created the role of Rick Rescorla in the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’s Heart of a Soldier at the San Francisco Opera. He's currently performing Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" at the Zurich Opera.

Beyond maintaining his status as one of the most sought after singers in the world, he is equally in demand as a lieder singer. His commitment to the artform prompted him to create Hampsong in 2003, which is dedicated to the worldwide understanding of the art of song. Last year he hosted and co-produced "Song of America," a 13-part radio series that explores the history of American culture through song. Below you can listen to Hampson talk about the art of song on WNYC.

We asked fellow barihunk and vlogger Jonathan Estabrooks to submit a video tribute to Hampson, since the young Canadian embodies much of what Hampson has brought to opera and lieder.

We also received a message from Krassen Karagiozov, who said:

"I wish you a continuos success on the operatic and concert stages worldwide for many  more years to come. I wish you a lot of health and a lot of happiness in your personal life.  I'm big admirer of your talent and career and I hope I have the privilege to meet you one day in person."  

Have a fantastic celebration among family and friends!  

Krassen Karagiozov

"I would like to wish you a happy birthday in Bulgarian since I'm Bulgarian: 

Chestit Rojden Den i za mnogo godini! Nazdrave!!!  

The entire Barihunks family would like to wish Thomas Hampson a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thank him for bringing us decades of great music (and looking great doing it!).

Fans in the United States can next see him as Scarpia in Tosca at the Santa Fe Opera.

Listen to the "Three Barihunks" from Montreal; Barihunks Sly and Brancy take 1st & 3rd

Sidney Outlaw, Philippe Sly and John Brancy

As a follow up to our post on Sunday about the Concours vocal competition in Montreal, we'd like to let readers know that the performances by the three barihunks who advanced to the finals are now available online. In fact, Sidney Outlaw, Philippe Sly and John Brancy perform one after another, providing an amazing opportunity to compare these three amazing artists.

We admit to being biased towards lower voices, but these three men are truly some of the best opera singers emerging on the scene today. The depth of their artistry and the quality of their voices is remarkable, especially considering that the youngest, Phillippe Sly and John Brancy, are just 23!

The winners will be officially revealed on Friday, but we've heard that Sly took away the top prize, shortly after having won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The three top singers will appear in the Winners’ Gala Concert this Friday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Maison symphonique de Montréal. Under the direction of Alain Trudel, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal will accompany the winners. Tickets are available at 514 842-2112. The winners are:

FIRST PRIZE – $30,000

PHILIPPE SLY, BASS-BARITONE, CANADA

Added to the First Prize is the Career development programme, valued at $20,000.

SECOND PRIZE – $15,000

OLGA KINDLER, SOPRANO, SWITZERLAND

THIRD PRIZE – $10,000

JOHN BRANCY, BARITONE, UNITED STATES

For the finals, John Brancy kicked it off with Wagner's "O su mein holder Abendstern" from Tannhäuser,  Tchaikovsky's "Postoite na odno mgnovenye!" from Pique Dame, Mendelssohn's "Es ist genug" from Elijah and Rossini's "Largo al factotum" from the Barber of Seville. Phillipe Sly then follows with Stravinsky's "Come, master" from the Rake's Progress, Handel's "Invida sorte avara" from Ariodante, Mozart's "Hai già vinta la causa!" from Marriage of Figaro and Bach's "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein" fo from the St. Matthew Passion. Sidney Outlaw finishes up this amazing run of baritone music with Mendelssohn's "Draw near ye people....Lord God of Abraham" from Eljah, Handel's "Sibilar gli angui d'Aletto" from Rinaldo, Korngold's Tanzlied from Die tote stadt and Verdi's "Death of Rodrigo" from Don Carlo.  

Click here to listen to the performance. The barihunk run starts at about the 27 minute mark and is worth the listen.

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Ildar Abdrazakov reprises successful Attila

Ildar Abdrazakov in a Met promo photo

We first posted Ildar Abdrazakov as Attila in Verdi's, when he was singing the role in Peru before taking the role to The Met. The post drew an enormous amount of interest and continues to receive a huge number of hits.

The Russian bass in back as the Hun leader in a Pier Luigi Pizzi production at the Teatro dell'Opera Roma under the baton of maestro Riccardo Muti. Also in the cast is fellow barihunk Luca Dall’Amico in the role of Leone. Performances run from May 25 through June 5th.

Luca Dall’Amico with a former Attila, Samuel Ramey

After wrapping up in Rome, Abdrazakov will perform the role in a concert version at the Mikkeli Music Festival under maestro Valery Gergiev. The performance on July 5th at the Mikkeli’s Wooden Church will be only the third performance of the early Verdi masterpiece in Finland.

Ildar Abdrazakov and Claudio Sgura perform “Tardo per gli anni” from Attila:

The San Francisco Opera will also be performing Atilla this summer from June 12-July 1 with a much older Attila than is normally cast in the dramatically intense Ferruccio Furlanetto. The 63-year-old Furlanetto is about 15 years older than Attila was at his death. The cast will include another  great Attila of the past, Samuel Ramey, in the critical but small role of Pope Leo I.

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Highlights from Thomas Hampson/Luca Pisaroni Concert

Luca Pisaroni (L) & Thomas Hampson (R)

We recently posted about the much anticipated concert in Heidelberg, Germany featuring Luca Pisaroni and Thomas Hampson. As regular readers will know, not only are these two men some of the most popular barihunks in the world, but they are a father-in-law/son-in-law tandem. They also happen to be two of the greatest singers in the world today.

Luca Pisaroni (L) & Thomas Hampson (R)

For those of you who missed the broadcast, here are the duets from the concerts. We've also added Luca Pisaroni singing "Sorgete... Duce di tanti eroi"  from Rossini's Mamoetto II, which he will be singing at the Santa Fe Opera this summer. A performance that is not to be missed.  You can watch the entire concert at teresa59's YouTube site.

Thomas Hampson, Luca Pisaroni - Il rival salvar... Suoni la tromba (I puritani)

Thomas Hampson, Luca Pisaroni - Restate (Don Carlo)

Thomas Hampson, Luca Pisaroni - Cheti, cheti immantinente (Don Pasquale)

Thomas Hampson, Luca Pisaroni - Uldino...Tardo per gl'anni (Attila)

Luca Pisaroni - Sorgete... Duce di tanti eroi (Mamoetto II)

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Early Verdi with Giorgio Caoduro (and some upcoming Attila performances)

Giorgio Caoduro (with Ortrud) and Stefan Kocan

We're huge fans of early Verdi operas at Barihunks, but we don't get nearly enough opportunities to post about them. Recently there have been a number of companies performing Attila, which often features multiple barihunks in the cast. Fortunately, the trend seems to be continuing in 2012.

In May, barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will take on the title role in Rome in a production by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conducted by Riccardo Muti. Barihunk Luca Dall’Amico will perform the role of Leone. The San Francisco Opera performs it this summer with one of the greatest Attila's ever, Samuel Ramey, in the smaller role of Leone. The great baritone duet will be sung by Ferruccio Furlanetto and Quinn Kelsey, who portray Attila and Ezio respectively. In September, the opera opens in Santiago with barihunk Stefan Kocan in the title role. 

One of the operas that rarely gets performed is La battaglia di Legnano, which has amazing moments of inspiration, Verdian patriotic fervor, a love triangle and some great baritone music (even though the best known piece is the tenor aria "La pia materna mano"). Verdi, in fact, was a baritone and loved writing great roles in that range.

We were thrilled when a reader sent us a video of barihunk Giorgio Caoduro singing the great baritone aria and cabaletta "Se al nuovo di pugnando...Ah scellerate alme d'inferno"" from a recent performance of La battaglia di Legnano at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste.



Caoduro can next be seen at the Opéra de Lyon where he is donning his matadors outfit for Escamillo. He can next be seen in the United States in March 2013 at the Washington National Opera singing Lescaut opposite the Manon Lescaut of Patricia Racette. 

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John Relyea: Attila the BariHUN

Two Great Attilas, Sam Ramey from opera (L) and Gerard Butler (R) from film. John Relyea (C)

We have a lot of favorite operas that aren't in the standard repertory and Verdi's "Attila" is at the top of the list. As our poll to the right shows, Verdi wrote the best music for bass and there aren't many juicier roles than Attila. Not only that, but the opera has another great baritone role, Ezio, which includes a duet with Attila. If you like crazy sopranos, few can match the crazed Odabella, who makes Lucia di Lammermoor and Ophelia look downright stable.

If you're in the Washington D.C. area tonight you might want to head over to the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University for John Relyea's debut in the title role. You can click HERE for tickets. If you're on the West Coast, you can catch Relyea's first staged performance of Attila at the Seattle Opera with barihunk Marco Vratogna as Ezio. If you don't know the opera, we recommend that you listen to Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins talk about the opera by clicking HERE. Performances will run from January 14-28. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.

One of the greatest Verdi recordings ever is of tenor Beniamino Gigli, soprano Elisabeth Rethberg and bass Ezio Pinza singing the trio "Te Sol Quest' Anima" from Attila. If you have experienced this, it's a must hear:





 
Later this season, Relyea will portray the Four Villains in Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman" at both the Bayerische Staatsoper and with the Canadian Opera Company. In the Spring of 2012, he will be at the Met as Leporello in "Don Giovanni" opposite Gerald Finley.

Don't forget to submit your barihunk charity calendar submissions to us at Barihunks@gmail.com. All proceeds will go to benefit young artist programs. We need all submissions by the end of next week.

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Celebrating Lithuanian Statehood Day

Vytautas Juozapaitis & Kostas Smoriginas

We have celebrated national holidays for both Canada and the United States on this site. After all, the two countries have provided us with an endless stream of talented and sexy barihunks. One of our readers asked why we don't celebrate Lithuanian Statehood Day. Frankly, we didn't know about it, but we're happy to remind readers about the two Lithuanian singers who have appeared on this site, Kostas Smoriginas and Vytautas Juozapaitis.

For others who are unfamiliar with the holiday, Statehood Day is an annual public holiday in Lithuania celebrated on July 6th to commemorate the coronation of Mindaugas as the first and only King of Lithuania in 1253. The exact day of this event is disputable and was chosen according to the hypothesis of Edvardas Gudavičius, formulated in 1989. The day has officially been celebrated since 1991.

Vytautas Juozapaitis is popular on both television and the opera house in Lithuania. He is a former winner of the Lithuanian National Prize and performs regularly at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and Kaunas State Musical Theatre. He is also a professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Here is Vytautas Juozapaitis singing Rodrigo's death scene "Son Io, mio Carlo...Io morro, ma lieto in core" from Giuseppe Verdi's "Don Carlo.":



Kostas Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy from an early age. After moving to London in 2005 and representing his country in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, he spent two years at the Royal College of Music before joining the Jette Parker young artist programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, at the beginning of the 2007/08 Season. He is currently appearing in La Traviata at Aix-en-Provence. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.

Here is Kostas Smoriginas singing "Denn Wir Haben Hie Keine Bleibende Statt" from Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem":



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Reader Submission: Gustavo Feulien

Gustavo Feulien

Baritone Gustavo Feulien made his operatic debut as Don Giovanni in his native Argentina, where he also performed Germont in “La Traviata” and Figaro in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Haly in “L’Italiana in Algieri,” and Il Marito in “Amelia al ball.” He performed leading roles in “Traviata” and “Rigoletto” in concerts throughout Argentina as part of the Teatro Colón, making his debut in “Carmina Burana.” Montserrat Caballé chose him to perform at her Voices Concert in Spain. He has also sung Di Luna in “Il Trovatore” and Marullo in “Rigoletto.”

A first-prize winner at the Il Trovatore International Competition in Argentina, he was also a semifinalist in the Hans Gabor Belvedere International and the Francisco Viñas competitions, and a finalist in Caballé's International Vocal Competition. Feulien completed music courses at the Julian Aguirre Conservatory and continued his studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We were hoping to post a video, but the YouTube site featuring Feulien has video sharing disabled.  You can click HERE to watch him sing "Eri tu" from Verdi's "Un Ball in maschera."

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Keenlyside's Macbeth in Theaters Worldwide on Monday, June 13th

Keenlyside as Macbeth

Phyllida Lloyd’s production of Verdi's Macbeth from the Royal Opera House is being broadcast in movie theaters worldwide on Monday, June 13th. Click HERE for performance times in your area. The production uses Verdi’s 1865 revision, especially noted for Lady Macbeth’s great aria ‘La luce langue’ and the wonderful Act IV opening chorus, and brings out the dark motivations of the Macbeths and the light of justice for those they wrong.

Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastryrska play the Scottish nobleman and his villainously ambitious wife, who spurs her husband to murder for the sake of his career, and American bass-baritone Raymond Aceto takes the role of Banquo, murder victim and symbol of conscience.

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The Don Carlo(s) Duet

Jorma Hynninen

We're in a Verdi mode this week and in our weekly poll Rodrigo in Don Carlo jumped out to an early lead as your favorite baritone role. We decided we'd start the week with the famous duet "Dio che nell'alma infondere" where Don Carlo and Rodrigo pledge themselves to the cause of liberty and an eternal friendship.

Jonas Kaufmann & Dmitri Hvorostovsky:



Francisco Araiza & Thomas Hampson:



Jonas Kaufmann & Simon Keenlyside



Franco Corelli & Robert Merrill:



Stuart Neill & Dalibor Jenis



Neil Rosenshein & Jorma Hynninen



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