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Rolando Villazón
Rolando Villazón is
internationally recognized as one of the leading lyric tenors of our day and has been acclaimed
for performances at leading theatres across the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Opera
National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de
Nice, Berlin State Opera, New York City Opera and many others.
Rolando Villazón was born in 1972
in Mexico City, Mexico. At the age of 11, he joined the Espacios academy for the performing
arts, where he studied music, acting, contemporary dance and ballet. In 1990 Villazón met
baritone Arturo Nieto who introduced him to the world of opera and became his voice teacher.
Two years later, he entered the National Conservatory of Music to continue his vocal
preparation with Enrique Jaso. There, he sang Dorvil from La Scala di Seta, Florville
from Il Signor Bruschino, and Alessandro from Il Re
Pastore. After winning two national contests in
Mexico City and Guanajuato, Villazón became a student of baritone Gabriel Mijares, with whom he
continued his studies before launching an international career.
In 1998 he became a member of the
Pittsburgh Opera's Young Artists Program where he appeared in productions of
I Capuleti Ed I Montecchi, Lucia di
Lammermoor and Samuel Barber's
Vanessa, the latter
directed by the legendary Regina Resnik. He subsequently entered the Merola Opera Program of
the San Francisco Opera where he performed the role of Alfredo in La Traviata and also
participated in master classes with Joan Sutherland. Rolando Villazón won the second prize in
Placido Domingo's 1999 Operalia competition as well as the first prize for Zarzuela and the
Prize of the Public.
He made his European debut as Des
Grieux (Manon) at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and immediately after came his first
appearance in France, appearing as Rodolfo for the Opéra de Lyon in December of 1999, the role
of his subsequent debut in Rome. He made then his debut at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste
in La Traviata and was then invited to replace an ailing colleague in the same work at
the Opera Bastille in Paris. These performances in May 2000 brought the artist to international
attention.
Among his engagements for the
season 2005-06 are La
Boheme at the Opéra de Paris,
Il Combattimento di Tancredi e
Clorinda at the Opéra de Lille,
Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, his debut in the title role of
Werther at the Opéra de Nice, Eugene Onegin at the
Covent Garden, Elisir
D'Amore in Berlin, Romeo et Juliette and Rigoletto in Vienna. He
will also sing his first Verdi's Requiem at St. Denis Festival, Lucia de Lammermoor at
Orange Festival and gala concerts in Tokyo, Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt, Zurich, Moscow,
Paris, Toulouse, Monte Carlo, Orange among others.
Rolando Villazón has won numerous
major awards. In February 2003 he received the French honour Les Victoires de la Musique in the
category "Foreign Discovery of the Year". His first solo recording featuring Italian arias was
awarded the ECHO Classics 2004 prize. The following year he won the same prize in the "Singer
of the Year 2005" category. Along his nomination for the prestigious Gramophone "Artist of the
Year" and "Record of the Year" awards, he won "Best Recital Recording 2005" as well as the
annual Opernwelt magazine's "Singer of the Year" award. This second solo recording featuring
French arias earned him a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Classical Vocal
Performance".
Rolando Villazón can also be
heard in Wagner's Der fliegende
Holländer under Daniel Barenboim for Teldec and
in Tristan und Isolde with Placido Domingo and under Antonio Papano for
EMI.
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