Feb 15, 2012
Rolando to debut as Cosi fan tutte's Ferrando in Baden-Baden this July, to be recorded for CD release
Rolando continues his love affair with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart this season, making his debut as Cosi fan tutte’s Ferrando at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus this July. After making his acclaimed role debut as Don Ottavio last year, he returns to the historic German town for the Baden-Baden Gala concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Rolando joins a stellar cast that includes Miah Persson, Angela Brower, Mojca Erdmann and Matthias Goerne. Deutsche Grammophon will capture the performances on disc for CD release as part of a large-scale Mozart cycle recording project starring Rolando and Yannick alongside some of the finest performing artists of our time. Rolando has made a long-term commitment to Mozart’s music and will add a number of roles to his repertoire over the coming years.
Click here to learn more about these performances and to purchase tickets.
Feb 6, 2012
Rolando returns to the Vienna Staatsoper with L’elisir d’amore’s Nemorino
As part of the four Nemorinos the Mexican tenor will sing this season, Rolando takes the stage at the Vienna Staatsoper on February 18 and 21 for two performances of Donizetti’s delightful operatic comedy L’elisir d’amore. Guillermo Garcia Calvo leads the cast in a production by Otto Schenk. Rolando will bring Nemorino to Berlin’s Staatsoper im Schillertheater for performances on March 2, 8, and 15 and finally in May to Baden-Baden, where the Mexican tenor will both direct and star in performances on May 28 and 31 and June 3.
Click here to watch a video preview and to purchase tickets.
Feb 2, 2012
Werther, a live recording of Rolando’s acclaimed Royal Opera performance, to be released internationally February 17 on Deutsche Grammophon
February 17 sees the international release of Werther, a live recording by Deutsche Grammophon of Rolando Villazón’s highly acclaimed portrayal of Massenet’s tragic hero in May 2011 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Starring Rolando in the title role and Sophie Koch as his unattainable love, Charlotte, this performance led by Antonio Pappano is Rolando’s first complete opera recording since 2008.
Werther captures Rolando at his finest. Inspired by Rolando’s Covent Garden performances, the Guardian writes: "his artistry is as astonishing as ever, fusing sound, sense and gesture in an uncompromising quest for veracity." Inhabiting a character the artist himself describes as “a troubled soul seeking answers, moved to act by his intense inner world,” Villazón was “nothing short of magnificent . . . The raw emotion in his singing was quite wondrous,” wrote the Express, while the Telegraph was “reminded why this Mexican tenor caused such a sensation when he appeared on the scene seven years ago.”
The Independent declared, “in a role which is indubitably a perfect fit for him,” Rolando’s “vocal elegance and old-fashioned manner are both deeply touching and entirely in character with Werther, the poetic dreamer. ‘Sun, flood me with your radiance,’ he sings, the voice opening to its embrace, the sound melting away to rapturous effect. There is a childlike wonder to his singing which works like a charm here, but one should never underestimate the vocal skill which enables him to achieve those affecting dynamic nuances, those subito piano effects achieved on the portamento. Or indeed the big-hearted intensity of feeling which finds release in the top C of act two’s thrilling climax.”
Learn more about the album here.
