Vittorio Prato is risqué "Les Indes Galantes"

When we first saw these pictures, the naked body on the right was identified as baritone Nathan Berg. We've seen him perform and were confident that it wasn't him. A little further research revealed that he's a dancer in one of many nude scenes in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scene pictured above is supposed to represent the Garden of Eden, which featured jocks and rap stars as symbols of our decaying society.

A shirtless Vittorio Prato

The opera goes on to deal with a number of topics that Rameau clearly never had to grapple with musically in his day, including consumerism, cocaine, illegal immigration and Islamic attitudes towards women (sexy women in lingerie are covered in burkas). We don't review operas and we weren't there, so we'll let you decide how you feel about the updated production concept by director Laura Scozzi.

Of course, what really caught our eye was one of our favorite barihunks, Vittorio Prato, prancing around shirtless on the "beach." Prato plays the role of Osman in the first act, but doesn't appear elsewhere in the opera. Prato can next be seen in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and then in the title role of Handel's "Imeneo" at the Théathe des Champs Elysées in Paris under Christopher Hogwood.

Nudity abounds in Théâtre du Capitole's latest production

Performances run through May 15 and additional information can be found at the Théâtre du Capitole website.

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Video Wednesday: Vittorio Prato & Markus Werba

Delizioso! Vittorio Prato's new headshot

Here is Part 1 of the Italian TV show "Tutti all'Opera," which shows the making of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" from a backstage perspective at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The clip includes some rehearsal footage and a brief interview with Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato.



Tutti all'Opera - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

You can read about Vittorio Prato's upcoming schedule at our previous post about the singer.  There are also a few additional photos at that link.

The chorus doing to Markus Werba what the rest of us are imagining.

We love live footage from operas despite the shaky cameras. It truly captures singers in their natural element without sound engineers, microphones and editing. Here is Markus Werba and Irini Kyriakidou performing "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia:



Markus Werba is wrapping up a run as Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris opposite the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Werba next heads to the Teatro la Fenice where he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte."

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Vittorio Prato to perform Rameau with Rousset

Vittorio Prato: Hot, Hotter and hottest

We don't need much of an excuse to post something about Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato, so when we saw these recently posted clips from Massenet's "Werther" on YouTube, we figured it was time to see what he was up to.

Prato was born in Lecce, Italy and graduated in piano from the Conservatorio Tito Schipa in Lecce and in harpsichord from the Conservatorio Martini in Bologna. He voice with the great baritone Ivo Vinco and even worked with Luciano Pavarotti. In 2003, he won the Mattia Battistini International Competition and his singing career took off from there.

Vittorio Prato sings "Elle m'aime" from Werther with Rocio Ignacio as Sophie:



Vittorio Prato in Act 3 of Werther with Anna Bonitatibus:



We couldn't find Prato performing anywhere for the remainder of this year, but in May 2012, Prato can be seen as Osman in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The production also includes fellow barihunk Thomas Dolié as Adario and will be conducted by Christophe Rousset. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

Thomas Dolié

Don't forget to order your 2012 Barihunks calendar. Click HERE to order. All proceeds go to support young artists and young artist programs. It's a great gift and an easy way to support our next generation of baritones. You can read more about our calendar at this previous post.

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"Cheti, cheti immantinente" with Vittorio Prato and Simone Alaimo

Vittorio Prato backstage during Don Pasquale in Lecce

We recently posted barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien with John Del Carlo singing "Cheti,  cheti immantinente" from Don Pasquale and feel confident that it will go down in the annals of opera videos as one of the greatest moments ever filmed. So when we saw this video of barihunk Vittorio Prato with the great Simone Alaimo in Lecce performing the same duet, we thought it would be fun to post them together to show the stylistic differences. They are certainly both wonderful in their own special way.





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