Rolando Villazon
A Biographical Timeline

“. . . he’s got the most glorious tenor voice, the best around: creamy, smooth and tender, a great ‘sob’ quality (essential for those moments of unhappiness tenors are destined to sing), and tre-mendous breath control, which gives great long lines of music . . . His voice is superbly musi-cal . . .”
Classic FM (London), June 2008

Rolando Villazón was born in Mexico City in 1972. In 1983 he entered the Espacios Academy for the Performing Arts, where he studied music, acting, contemporary dance and ballet. In 1990 he met baritone Arturo Nieto who introduced him to opera and became his singing teacher. Two years later he entered the National Conservatory of Music to continue his vocal studies with En-rique Jaso; after winning two national competitions, he became a student of baritone Gabriel Mi-jares. In 1998 he joined San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program, participating in masterclasses with Joan Sutherland and performing Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. He subse-quently became a member of Pittsburgh Opera’s Young Artists’ Program and appeared in Bel-lini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. Since then Rolando Villazón has become internationally recognized as one of the leading lyric tenors of our day and has been enthusiastically acclaimed for his performances at leading music venues all over the world.

1999
Wins Audience Prize, Zarzuela Prize and second prize overall in Plácido Domingo’s Op-eralia Competition. European debut in Genoa as Massenet’s des Grieux in Manon, fol-lowed by appearances in Lyon as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème
2000 Debuts include Rome and the Bavarian State Opera (Ro¬dolfo), the Berlin State Opera (Macduff in a new pro¬duc¬tion of Verdi’s Macbeth) and the Paris Opéra Bastille ¬(Alfredo)

2001
Debuts at the Berlin Deutsche Oper, Los Angeles Opera and Opéra de Montpellier (all as Alfredo)

2002
Engagements include Rinuccio (Puccini, Gianni Schicchi) in Los Angeles and Gounod’s Faust at the Paris Opéra Bastille

2003
Rodolfo at Glyndebourne, Alfredo at the Berlin and Bavarian State Operas and in his Metropolitan debut, Faust (Gounod) at the Bavarian State Opera. Awarded Les Victoires de la Musique Classique in the category “Foreign Discovery of the Year”

2004
Covent Garden debut as Offenbach’s Hoffmann and his first Don Carlo (Verdi) at the Netherlands Opera (conducted by Chailly); San Francisco Opera debut as Alfredo; Don José in Carmen at the Berlin State Opera (conducted by Barenboim); his first solo re-cording, featuring opera arias by Cilea, Donizetti, Mascagni, Puccini and Verdi, receives wide critical acclaim, including the Diapason d’or 2004, “Best of the Year” citations from Opera News and The New York Times and the German Echo Award 2004 in the category “Arias and Duets”

2005
At the Salzburg Festival he sings Alfredo opposite Anna ¬Netrebko in a new production of La Traviata recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon. Released in autumn, the recording is received to extraordinary acclaim, winning an Echo Award as “Best-Selling Album”, two Platinum Discs and a Grammy® nomination in 2006. Other engagements this year include Gounod’s Roméo in Los Angeles; the Duke (Rigoletto) at Covent Garden and the Met; Nemorino in Barcelona; Hoffmann in Vienna; plus concerts in Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées) and Tokyo (Opera City). Villazón is named “Singer of the Year” at the Echo Awards 2005. Signs an ¬exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon that takes effect in June 2006

2006
Opera appearances include Nemorino (under Gustavo ¬Dudamel) and Don José (under Daniel Barenboim) in Ber¬lin, Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Covent ¬Garden, the Duke and Rodolfo at the Met, des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Los Ange-les (both with Anna Ne¬trebko, Plácido Domingo conducting) and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Orange Festival. Recitals and concerts include perfor¬mances in Moscow, London and Vienna (with Anna Netrebko) and New York, Paris, Monte Carlo, Madrid and at the Faenol Festival (with Bryn Terfel and Angela ¬Gheorghiu). A special highlight is the spectacularly suc¬cessful open-air concert with Anna Netrebko and Plácido Domingo at Berlin’s Waldbühne which is attended by more than 20,000 spec¬tators, telecast to millions of viewers all over the world and released on DVD, attaining Gold status in Germany and Austria and an Echo Award in 2007. Further releases: the highly successful Salzburg production of La Traviata on DVD (Victoires de la Musique Classique 2007, “DVD of the Year”; Prix Toscanini – Aca¬démie du disque lyrique 2007)

2007
Sings in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, La Bohème at the Vienna State Opera, Manon in Berlin and in Barcelona. Concert performances of La Bohème in Munich are recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, the recording providing also the sound-track to a ¬cinema/TV film (released in 2008). Concerts and recitals in Europe including appearances with Anna Netrebko at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, at New York’s Lincoln Center and also on a German tour in the summer. Release of the album Duets with Anna Netrebko and the Dresden Staatskapelle under Nicola Luisotti

2008
Performances of Massenet’s Werther and Manon and of La Bohème at the Vienna State Opera, Eugene Onegin and the Verdi Requiem in Berlin, Don Carlo and Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Covent Garden and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Salzburg Festival (recorded live for Deutsche Grammophon). Rolando Villazón is joined by Anna Netre-bko and Plácido Domingo for a concert in Vienna’s Schloss Schönbrunn; further concerts and recitals in Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Release of his debut solo album for Deutsche Grammophon, Cielo e mar – a selection of Italian opera arias; audio release of the complete La Bohème with Anna Netrebko and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bertrand de Billy. DVD release of Massenet’s Manon with Anna Netrebko and the Staats¬kapelle Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim

2009
His busy schedule includes performances of Verdi’s Requiem in Rome, with Anna Ne-trebko in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Opéra Bastille and Lucia di Lammer¬moor at the Met (to be recorded for DVD for Deutsche Gram¬mophon), Mas¬senet’s Werther in Paris (to be recorded by Deutsche Gram¬mo¬phon), the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera and in Baden-Baden, both with Elina Garanca, and Tchai¬kovsky’s Iolanthe in Baden-Baden with Netrebko (to be recorded for DVD for DG). He will pre¬miere Il postino by the Mexican composer Daniel Catán at the Los Angeles Opera (with Plácido Domingo). Recitals and concerts in Lon¬don, Paris and Madrid (the latter together with Domingo), on tour with the Gabrieli Players under Paul McCreesh performing Handel arias in Berlin, Hamburg, ¬Amsterdam and Paris, as well as at the Salzburg Festival 2009. Releases include an album of Handel arias and his 2008 Salzburg Festival record¬ing of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette on DVD/Blu-ray Disc

12/2008