Rolando Villazón

Touted early on as a potential heir to Plácido Domingo, Rolando Villazón arrived in the opening years of the twenty-first century through rapid engagements at leading opera houses on several continents. After overcoming a vocal-cord cyst in 2009, he established himself among the foremost figures in the operatic world.

Born on 22 February 1972 in Fuentes de Satellite, Mexico, Villazón first encountered operatic singing through Domingo’s Perhaps Love album made with John Denver. Domingo later became his mentor, and critics have repeatedly likened Villazón’s timbre to that of his celebrated predecessor. Rather than a childhood calling, his vocal aptitude developed from a broad artistic schooling that included theater, ballet, and modern dance alongside music at the Espacios academy. At eighteen, voice instructor Arturo Nieto opened the door to opera for him. He then entered Mexico’s National Conservatory of Music, where his teachers were Enrique Jaso and Gabriel Mijares, and he soon captured first prizes in domestic vocal contests. Still uncertain about committing fully to the stage, he supported himself as a history and music teacher until his girlfriend Lucia issued an ultimatum: she would not marry him unless he followed his operatic ambition.

While serving as stage manager for a production at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, Villazón was noticed by Columbia Artists Management’s Bruce Zemsky, who correctly identified him as a singer and arranged an audition. The encounter led to representation by the agency. In 1998 he completed his training at the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, studying with Joan Sutherland. His European debut followed in 1999 in Genoa, where he sang des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon. Over the ensuing five years he performed across major European and American theaters.

Villazón reached the Metropolitan Opera in autumn 2003 as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. A career peak came in 2005 when he repeated the role opposite Anna Netrebko in a widely praised Salzburg Festival staging. Although he concentrates on Romantic repertory, he has also sung extensively in Baroque works by Monteverdi, Handel, and Vivaldi.

His earliest recording credit was the Steersman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. Opera News critic Matthew Gurewitsch observed that “Villazón comes through in spades, flinging out his song in a blaze of openhearted romance that subsides disarmingly into sleepiness and dreams.” His first solo album, Italian Opera Arias, appeared in early 2004; The Times of London declared him “the real thing, a tenor with star potential and striking individuality.” The 2007 release Duets, recorded with Netrebko, achieved international bestseller status, and that same year he acquired French citizenship.

A 2009 operation to remove a cyst on his vocal cords interrupted his schedule, yet he returned to the stage in 2010. Since then he has focused on Mozart tenor parts while also issuing the 2010 collection ¡México!, devoted to Mexican popular standards. Participation in a Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording of Handel’s Messiah broadened his American audience. Beginning in 2013 with Così fan tutte, he has led a comprehensive new cycle of Mozart operas for Deutsche Grammophon; the 2019 installment of Die Zauberflöte placed him in the comic baritone role of Papageno rather than the tenor lead Tamino.