Boehrihunk Cub: John Boehr

Up-and-coming baritone John Boehr is certainly a muscle cub.  Sometimes seen with a beard, sometimes without, he's the sort of guy you want on your side in a fight.


A graduate of the young artist programs at Minnesota Opera and Santa Fe Opera, John has also sung with Austin Lyric Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, and New York City Opera.  He is a graduate of Baylor University (what is in the water in Texas?)


He can be seen this summer at Glimmerglass Opera as Joe Harland in the professional premiere of John Musto's Later the Same Evening.  We look forward to hearing great things from this wonderful young hunk.

Roberto Alagna

Bearihunks hopes our faithful readers had a wonderful Valentine's Day (better than ours, spent in front of the television watching America's Funniest Home Videos reruns).  To celebrate its passing, we would like to share this video of perpetual cub Roberto Alagna with fellow Bearihunk Bryn Terfel singing that most un-bearihunk duet, "Au fond du temple saint" (apparently Sri Lankan Pearl Fishers don't have chest hair).

We prefer our Bearihunks on the exhibitionist side, and Alagna never disappoints.  He seems to expose his chest in almost every show he does.  Perhaps he stormed off during that La Scala Aida because  the breastplate didn't allow for many chest hairs to wave in the Egyptian wind?  

We do get some midriff though, don't we?

Pavarotti certainly undid his shirt in the MET production of Pagliacci at the top of this post, did he?  We'll leave you with some pleasant images of this French Firecracker:

Classic Bearihunk: Franco Corelli

We here at Bearihunks wanted to wish our readers a happy Valentine's Day weekend with this special photo of a very special, wonderful, and naturally-chested singer.  We are very fortunate to have such a long list of recordings and videos of this wonderful artist: Franco Corelli (1921-2003).

BeariHUNK: Gabriel Bermudez

When discussing beautiful, hairy-chested men in the world of opera, one must mention baritone Gabriel Bermudez.

This singer possesses a beautiful baritone voice, electrifying stage presence, and shockingly full and furry pectorals (and our readers certainly can't stop talking about him!).  He has a full cadre of YouTube videos, although we can't embed them here.  Head on over and enjoy drowning in his masculinity!

Bermudez, in the shower, NSFW, not drowning

Grizzly Bearihunk: Placido Domingo

A special subspecies of Bearihunk is the Grizzly Bearihunk, the elder statesmen of the Bearihunk tribe.  This is often an aging opera star who, regardless of previous hairlessness, has grown more hirsute as the years go on.  Domingo, with his white beard, is technically a Polar Bearihunk, a genus of the Grizzlies.

When Domingo first splashed onto the opera scene in the 1960s, he was certainly a hunkentenor of the first order.

A full, wavy head of hair, strongly muscled arms that he was unafraid to show underneath his breastplates: here was a handsome man who, with his clear, beautiful, and virile voice, deserved the fame that still surrounds him.


And, unlike most Grizzly Bearihunks, he is still performing, singing this year at the Metropolitan Opera, Theatre du Chatelet, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and conducting at Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, and the MET.

Bearihunk Cub: Charles Castronovo

We want to include Bearihunks of all kinds in this blog, and who better to start with than tenor Charles Castronovo? A graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera, Castronovo is a wonderful candidate for our first cub.  Stubbly, hairy-chested - some may argue he's more of an otter, but his youthful good looks stick him as a cub in our book.

This exciting young tenor has already made a huge splash in major houses singing such roles as Nadir (Paris Opera), Fenton (Pittsburgh Opera), Nemorino (Vienna Staatsoper), and Alfredo (Royal Opera Covent Garden).  In the Fall of  2010, he created the role of Mario in Daniel Catan's new opera Il Postino at Los Angeles Opera.

As Nadir in The Pearl Fishers

He is currently in Texas, where he stars as the title role in Dallas Opera's Romeo and Juliette, opening on February 11th.  

Bryn Terfel

Bryn Terfel is the superstar of all modern opera bears.  Just LOOK at him.  He's sung everything form Handel to Wagner in all of the world's biggest houses, released dozens of CDs, and sung with some of the world's best pop stars.  Even when he was young and still singing mostly Mozart, his beautifully bearded face and burly chest brought heaving sighs to the lips of audiences everywhere.

This spring, he will sing Wotan in Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera, getting to sing one of the greatest arias in the literature: "Wotan's Farewell."  We at BearihunksTM are incredibly excited for what should be a fantastic (and long) evening.