Tenor
Through his uniquely compelling performances with leading opera houses and orchestras around the world, Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself as one of the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars and as one of the leading tenors of our day. Heralded as “the most charming of today’s divos” (The Times) with “a wonderfully virile voice…grandezza, elegance and power” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Rolando Villazón is among the most versatile artists of today, maintaining successful careers as a stage director, novelist, and TV personality next to his on-stage career.
Rolando Villazón is one of the most sought-after performers of his generation and is a regular guest on the most renowned stages such as the State Operas in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera New York as well as the Salzburg Festival. He frequently collaborates with leading orchestras and conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on concert stages all over the world.
He made his directing debut in 2010 in Lyon and has since directed productions for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna Volksoper and for Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. An exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, Rolando Villazón has recorded over 20 CDs and DVDs which have received numerous prizes. He is also a Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, acts as ambassador for the Red Noses Clown Doctors International charity, and is a member of the Collège de Pataphysique Paris. In 2013, Rolando Villazón’s debut novel “Malabares” was published in Spain. German and French translations of the novel have been published in 2014. His second novel “Paladas de sombra contra la oscuridad” (“Lebenskünstler”) was published in Germany in April 2017.
In early 2017, Rolando Villazón was appointed ambassador of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation and in July 2017, he was named artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week from 2019 onwards.
