BIOGRAPHY
Through his uniquely compelling performances, Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself among the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars and as one of the leading artistic voices of our day. Celebrated and loved by critics and audiences alike, Villazón’s versatility is unique: in addition to his 25 years in an elite international performance career, he is also a stage director, novelist, artistic director and television/radio presenter.
In the 2025-26 season, Rolando Villazón returns to the Vienna State Opera for his house debut as Pelléas in Marco Arturo Marelli’s production of Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Alain Altinoglu. The tenor then takes his portrayal of Eisenstein in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus to the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich for performances conducted by Zubin Mehta. Villazón makes his directing debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, staging a new production of La sonnambula with Nadine Sierra in the title role. He further directs a new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Salzburg Mozart Week Festival and returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin to direct a new production of L’Italiana in Algeri with Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role.
On the concert stage, Villazón celebrates Mozart’s 270th anniversary with a nine-city European tour alongside PRJCT Amsterdam and Maarten Engeltjes, bringing a programme of beloved Mozart arias to Zürich, Vienna, Munich, and Hamburg, among others. The tenor also reunites with lautten compagney BERLIN to present their programme Viaggio dell’anima in Fürth, Linz, and Iserlohn. Later in the season, Villazón appears with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and François Leleux in his inaugural season as music director and headlines a Zarzuela Gala directed by Christoph Loy at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. A highly sought-after recitalist, he can be heard with harpist Xavier de Maistre in Münster and Schloss Elmau, and in piano recitals in across Germany.
Born in Mexico City, he began his musical studies at the National Conservatory of his native country before becoming a member of the junior programs at the Pittsburgh Opera and San Francisco Opera. Rolando Villazón quickly made a name for himself on the international music scene after winning several prizes at Plácido Domingo’s “Operalia” competition in 1999 (including the Zarzuela Prize and the Audience Prize). This was followed in the same year by his European debut as Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Genoa and debuts as Alfredo in La traviata at the Opéra de Paris and as Macduff in Macbeth at the Staatsoper Berlin. Since then, Rolando Villazón has been a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Vienna State Oprera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Salzburg Festival, working with leading orchestras and renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Antonio Pappano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has performed at venues including London’s Barbican Hall, the Philharmonie in Paris, Berlin and Cologne, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2011, Rolando Villazón made his debut as a stage director with an acclaimed production of Massenet’s Werther with the Opéra Lyon and has since directed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, the Vienna Volksoper, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées and most recently at the 2022 Salzburg Festival.
In 2007, Rolando Villazón became an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon and since then has sold over 2 million albums worldwide with a catalogue including over 20 CDs and DVDs which have received numerous prizes. His most recent album entitled Orfeo son io, recorded with Christina Pluhar and the acclaimed ensemble L’Arpeggiata, features music by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, is set for release in Fall 2025. He was awarded the title of Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest honors in the field of art and literature in France, his permanent residence. Rolando Villazón is an ambassador for RED NOSES Clowndoctors International and a member of the Collège de Pataphysique de Paris. His first novel “Malabares” was published in 2013, followed by “Lebenskünstler” in 2017 and “Amadeus auf dem Fahrrad” in 2020, which was on Der Spiegel magazine’s bestseller list for several weeks. Rolando Villazón presented his own series “Stars of Tomorrow” on Arte, hosted on Radio Classique in France and can be heard daily on Klassik Radio with “Rolando furioso”.
In 2017, he was appointed ambassador of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. He is currently the artistic director of the foundation.
August 2025