Rolando Villazón
Emilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón ( born February 22, 1972 in Mexico City) is a Mexican- French opera singer (tenor ) with Austrian ancestors. In 2007 he received French citizenship. Particular He caused a sensation in 2005 with his role as Alfredo Germont at the side of Anna Netrebko in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata at the Salzburg Festival. Since 2010 he is a cultural ambassador of Mexico.
Biography
Rolando Villazón was born in Mexico City. Since he attended in his childhood the Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt, he speaks good German. At the age of eleven he went to the Academia de Artes Espacios, where he took classes in music, drama, ballet and modern dance.
The baritone Arturo Nieto 1990 aroused his interest in opera singing and was also his first singing teacher. Villazón began his vocal training at the National Conservatory of Music with Enrique Jaso and won two Mexican national singing competitions. Then the baritone Gabriel Mijares took the young tenor under his wing and put him on the way to an international career.
In 1998, Rolando Villazón at the prestigious Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, where he participated in master classes with Joan Sutherland among others. The Young Artists Program of the Pittsburgh Opera was the nearest mainline station, with successful appearances in Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti ei Montecchi, Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Samuel Barber's Vanessa. 1999 Villazón took second place in Plácido Domingo's Operalia singing contest and was additionally awarded Operalia price for zarzuela and the Operalia Audience Award.
The start of his international career had Rolando Villazón in 1999 with his European debut in Genoa as Des Grieux in Jules Massenet's Manon, immediately followed by successful performances at some of the great opera houses of the world such as, among others, the Opéra Bastille Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera Unter den Linden Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the New York Met and the Los Angeles Opera. He sang such roles as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème, Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata, Roméo in Gounod 's Roméo et Juliette and Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
A major success had Villazón with his interpretation of Nemorino at the side of Anna Netrebko as Adina in opera L' elisir d' amore by Gaetano Donizetti at the Vienna State Opera in April 2005. He became world famous with his passionate but fiery - interpretation of Alfredo in La Traviata with Anna Netrebko at the Salzburger Festspiele in August 2005.
Since mid-2006, Rolando Villazón had several times to cancel for health reasons appearances. On August 15, 2007 Villazón announced that he would retire a few months to warp back to his usual vitality. In January 2008 his comeback took place at the Vienna State Opera in Werther. But his big comeback he was planning a concert on June 27, 2008 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, which he gave on the occasion of the final of the European Football Championship 2008, along with Plácido Domingo and Anna Netrebko.
With Anna Netrebko he turned, directed by Robert Dorn helmet in Vienna a film adaptation of La Bohème, with the song was already recorded in a concert performance of 2007 in Munich. This was shown in cinemas in Europe from October 2008 and published in March 2009 on DVD. In August 2008 he joined again at the Salzburg Festival, this time as Romeo at the side of Nino Machaidze in Roméo et Juliette.
In October 2008, Villazón sang Lenski in the Berlin production of Eugene Onegin, directed by Achim Freyer. A little later he was hailed at the Covent Garden Opera as a poet Hoffmann in Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann euphoric. In December 2008, he returned as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Vienna State Opera back.
Late January and early February 2009, sang Villazón despite a cold next to Anna Netrebko the role of Edgardo in the series of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This, however, he had a few ideas - and after he had to deal with problems during a performance - but then cancel. In March 2009, however, he showed up in Paris as Werther again at the height of his powers. In April 2009, Villazón canceled all further appearances in 2009 because he had to undergo because of a cyst on the vocal cords surgery. In November 2009, he announced on his website that he intended to occur again in 2010.
Mid-March 2010, he returned to the stage. In summer 2010, Villazón gave several concerts in his home country and was three weeks for the road movie My Mexico off the camera. On October 2, 2010 Villazón made his successful debut at La Scala as Nemorino.
Trivia
- He Austrian ancestors named Roth, who emigrated to Mexico.
- Villazón is married and has two sons, with whom he lives in Neuilly -sur -Seine, a suburb of Paris.
- Villazón likes to draw cartoons, this can be attributed to his website to find many productions accompanying drawings.
- Villazón once wanted to become a priest and was even a few months in the mountains in a monastery.
- Especially of classical music fans who do not like him, he is because of his resemblance to the TV character known as "Mr. Bean called ".
Discography
Until June 2007, he was still committed to the record company EMI, then moved to the German Grammophon.
- 2002 The Flying Dutchman ( with Falk Struck man; CD)
- 2002 Romeo y Julieta (3 CDs)
- 2003 La Vita de Homero (CD)
- 2004 Italian Opera Arias (CD)
- 2004 Berlioz: La Révolution Grecque (2 CDs)
- 2004 Classic from Italy ( an aria from Tosca ) ( CD)
- 2005 French Opera Arias (CD)
- 2005 Merry Christmas ( CD)
- 2005 Don Carlos ( DVD)
- 2005 L' Elisir d'Amore (DVD)
- 2005 La Traviata (CD and DVD)
- 2005 Tristan and Isolde (CD)
- 2006 Opera Recital (CD)
- 2006 World Year 2006-32 National Anthems ( sings Mexican National Anthem ) ( CD)
- 2006 La Boheme ( Bregenz Festival 2002) ( DVD)
- 2006 Monteverdi: Combattimento (CD)
- 2007 Gitano ( Zarzuela Arias ) ( CD)
- 2007 Duets ( duets with Anna Netrebko ) ( CD)
- 2007 Viva Villazón (2 CDs)
- 2007 La Traviata ( with Renee Fleming from the MET ) (DVD)
- 2007 Manon ( Natalie Dessay with Barcelona 2007) ( DVD)
- 2008 Cielo e mar (CD)
- 2008 La Boheme ( with Anna Netrebko ) (2 CDs)
- 2008 pManon ( with Anna Netrebko, Berlin 2007 ) (DVD)
- 2009 La Boheme (Opera movie with Anna Netrebko ) (DVD)
- 2009 Georg Friedrich Händel - Arias (CD ) ( DE # 17)
- 2009 Verdi: Messa da Requiem ( live recording, with Anja Harteros, Sonia Ganassi, René Pape, 2CDs )
- 2010 Tenor ( CD, UK only )
- 2010 Mexico! (CD)
- 2012 Don Giovanni ( with Diana Damrau, Ildebrando D' Arcangelo and others)
Documentation
- Rolando Villazón in 2006 - a Mexican dream
- Rolando Villazón 2010: My Mexico ( a road movie by Peter Schönhofer )
Article / TV
- My life is beyond my dreams in star
- Interview in ARTE maestro
- " Tenor Rolando Villazón Fully Pressed like a lemon " Jürgen Kesting in the FAZ