Showing posts with label wes mason. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wes mason. Show all posts

Scott Conner wins Loren L. Zachary Competition

Scott Conner
Baritones and basses continue to dominate vocal competitions, as bass Scott Conner took away the top prize at the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition over the weekend. Earlier this year, Conner won the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition. A District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Conner has been a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and was named a Gold Winner in Voice by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA).

He is an Artist in Residence at the Academy of Vocal Arts where he has performed the title role in Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème, La Roche in Capriccio, Oroveso in Norma, First Man in the world premiere of Scarlet Letter. the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann, the title role in Verdi's Oberto, and Dulcamara in L'elsir d'amore.

Two other barihunks walked away with top prizes, as Eugene Brancoveanu and Wes Mason also won prizes. Brandon Cedel, who was an early favorite to win the competition, had to withdraw due to illness. Other winners this year included, mezzo Olivia Vote, soprano Chloe Moore, soprano Anush Avetisyan, tenor Viktor Antipenko, tenor Benjamin Bliss and soprano Anna-Lisa Hackett.

Scott Conner sings "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Don Giovanni:

A number of barihunks have walked away with top prizes at the Loren L. Zachary competition in past years, including Zachary Nelson and Brandon Cedel in 2011, Donovan Singletary and Jonathan Beter in 2010, Kelly Markgraf in 2009 and Matt Trevino in 2007.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Wes Mason to sing Pelleas at AVA

Wes Mason as seen in the 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar. From the Ft. Worth Opera's "Before Night Falls"

Barihunk Wes Mason will perform Pelléas opposite soprano Chloé Moore's Mélisande in a performance of the Academy of Vocal Arts’ upcoming production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande running from February 25th through March 1st.  

Wes Mason and Chloé Moore discuss and perform an excerpt from Pelléas et Mélisande:


For the past seven seasons, The Academy of Vocal Arts has offered as part of its season, a fully staged opera with piano accompaniment in order to showcase AVA’s talented artists in roles they might not otherwise have an opportunity to perform. Often, these are operas that require large orchestras that would not fit into AVA’s small theater. Music director Luke Housner will be the pianist.

Bass Patrick Guetti sings the role of Arkel:


 Zachary Nelson (Golaud) and soprano Sydney Mancasola (Mélisande) sing Act l scene:


There are multiple casts, but Wes Mason will perform Pelléas for the performance on Tuesday, February 28 at 7:30 PM. Patrick Guetti will be performing Arkel in all of the performances. Zachary Nelson will perform Golaud on February 25th and 28th, as well as March 1st. Tickets range from $10-$60 and are available at www.avaopera.org or 215 735-1685.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Barihunks Hot Spot in Naples - Florida, not Italy

Wes Mason (L) in "Before Night Falls" & Naples, Florida at sunset
Normally when one thinks of opera in Naples, one thinks of the Teatro di San Carlo. That beautiful theater has seen its fair share of gorgeous barihunks over the years, including the legendary Ettore Bastianini.

However, the Naples with the best current crop of barihunk is in Southern Florida on the western edge of the Everglades. The city that usually attracts tourists who come for fishing, gator watching and ecotourism, is suddenly the new hotspot for barihunk lovers.

Jason Hardy (top) and Matthew Trevino (bottom)

Opera Naples will have two performances of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" on January 20 and 22 with a trio of barihunks. Matthew Trevino will sing the title role, Wes Mason will be Masetto and Jason Hardy will be Leporello. The photo of Hardy above is from the highly acclaimed Don Giovanni at New York City Opera in 2009. When we first ran the shirtless photos of Hardy, a soprano emailed us a note that said, "Wow. Who knew?" Regular readers of the site will recognize the shirtless photo of Wes Mason from his acclaimed performance of "Before Night Falls" with the Ft. Worth Opera, a role that he'll reprise with the Orchestra Miami later this year. Matthew Trevino just finished a successful tour of Ireland as Sarastro in the "Magic Flute" and in March will sing the King in Aida with the Arizona Opera.

We think this performance is worth a trip to Southern Florida, so grab your fishing pole and your swamp waders and order your tickets HERE. Who knows, you might run into one of the many famous residents of the town, including Donald Trump, Larry Bird, Mike Ditka or Bob Seger.
 

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

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 20th 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!


Support Young Artists with the 2012 Barihunks Calendar

Actual Cover of Barihunks 2012 Calendar

People visit Barihunks for a variety of reasons, mostly to see some hot baritones showing off their vocal and physical gifts. However, the emails that matter most to us are the ones where we've learned that we've made a difference in a young artist's life. We often hear about singers being cast after someone saw and/or heard them on the site. Our favorite email of all-time was this, "Thanks to your site, my mom thinks I'm a big star in opera. Best of all, she doesn't complain about the all the money she's spent on my career anymore."

We strive to keep this site positive and about promoting both opera and careers. If you've written a bitchy post, you've probably noticed that it's been removed. We believe singers work too hard and make too many sacrifices to be attacked on a blog. Many singers know that we frequently show up to support them live in theaters throughout the world.


The most frequent request that we receive is for a Barihunks calendar and we've finally relented and put one together for 2012. We've collected lots of beautiful photos from the 33 of the hottest men in opera for your enjoyment. Many of the singers took the time to have exclusive photos taken just for the calendar.


Consistent with our desire to support young artists, all proceeds from the Barihunks 2012 calendar will go to support either young artist programs or young artists directly.  The only hitch is we haven't decided who will be the beneficiary. We'd like to hear from you. If you know of a training program that deserves our support, please write us at Barihunks@gmail.com and let us know why in 100 words or less. Click on the calendar image to the right to purchase a calendar now.

Wes Mason

Singers featured in our calendar include Aaron Agulay, Zach Altman, Dan Kempson, Jonathan Beyer, Brandon Cedel, Christopher Herbert, Christopher Temporelli, Craig Verm, David Adam Moore, David Krohn, Douglas Carpenter, Douglas Williams, Erik Anstine, Justin Hopkins, Jonathan Boehr, Jonathan Estabrooks, Michael Mayes, Michael Rice, Jordan Shanahan, Joseph Lattanzi, Matthew Trevino, Matthew Morris, Michael Kelly, Milos Galaz, Nick Parker-Pendree, Peter Brathwaite, Philip Kalmanovitch, Randal Turner, Remo Tobiaz, Seth Carico, Tom Forde, Wes Mason and Zachary Gordin. If you see any of these singers on a program, please buy a ticket and support their artistry.

Michael Mayes: Texapolitan Opera Show

We'd also like to thank all of the artists, agents, photographers and opera companies who graciously granted us rights to the images. In appreciation of the photographers, we are going to feature them and their sites throughout the year. Please support them, as well. Here are the photographers who contributed their work: Ellen Appel, J. David Levy, Bryan Estabrooks, Dirty Sugar PhotographyChris Macke, Rozarii Lynch, Pierre-Etienne Bergeron, Gabriel Henningson, Taren Frazier, Kathy Whitman, Leah Brizard, Ron T. Ennis, Chris Miles, Moses Jones, Bill McClaren, Geoff Silver, Chisolm Photography, Nacho Guerrero and Ron Lindsay.

This calendar will make a great holiday gift!

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

AVA's Mock "Vanity Fair" Photo Shoot

The Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia featured a wonderful mock version of Vanity Fair's photo of sexy opera singers that included barihunks Mariusz Kwiecien, Nathan Gunn and Erwin Schrott. AVA low voices include Scott Conner and Wes Mason, who has been a regular on this site.

From left to right: Mariusz Kwiecien, Polish baritone; Maija Kovalevska, Latvian soprano; Rolando Villazón, Mexican tenor; Nathan Gunn, American baritone; Danielle de Niese, Australian-born soprano; Erwin Schrott, Uruguayan bass; Anna Netrebko, Russian soprano. Photograph by Wayne Maser; styled by Sarajane Hoare.
Just a few of the exciting artists AVA audiences can look forward to hearing this year.  (l-r) Alexandra Maximova, Scott Conner, Maria Aleida, Nelson Ebo, Wes Mason, John Viscardi, and Chrystal Williams (Photo by Paul Sirochman)
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com





Barihunk Switch at Glimmerglass


Michael Todd Simpson as Escamillo

Michael Todd Simpson has been asked to step in for fellow barihunk Keith Miller as Escamillo in the current run of Bizet's "Carmen" at Glimmerglass. Simpson recently sang the role at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China. 

Simpson takes over on July 15 for Miller who decided to withdraw from the production. Performances run through August 23 in the Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown, New York. Visit www.glimmerglass.org for tickets and information. 

We recently blogged about another barihunk in the production, the Morales of barihunk Wes Mason.


Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com








Wes Mason at Glimmerglass

Wes Mason: Morales at Glimmerglass

We recently ran a feature on former football player Keith Miller who is the Escamillo in the Glimmerglass production of Bizet's "Carmen." Fans of this site will be thrilled to know that Wes Mason, who was named one or our "Hottest Future Superstars of 2010" (along with Matt Worth), is portraying Morales. There are fifteen performances between tonight's opening and August 23. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.


Mason is also performing Mac and is the cover for fellow barihunk Rod Gilfry in "Annie Get Your Gun," who is portraying Frank Butler opposite the Annie of Deborah Voight. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.

Wes Mason in Before Night Falls (L) and hanging out (R)
Regular readers will remember that Mason became an overnight sensation at the Ft. Worth Opera Festival in 2010 when he took on the lead role in "Before Night Falls."

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com