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Ramón Vargas

Ramón Vargas is one of the leading tenors of our time and one of the most sought-after worldwide. Born in Mexico City, he studied at the Cardenal Miranda Institute of his hometown, with Antonio Lopez and Ricardo Sanchez. In 1982, after winning the Carlo Morelli National Vocal Competition, he made his debut in Haydn's Lo Speziale, in Monterrey, Mexico. His breakthrough came in 1983, when the Mexican conductor Eduardo Mata hired him to sing Fenton in Falstaff, and then Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Upon winning the Enrico Caruso Tenor Competition in Milan, in 1986, he moved to Austria, where he completed his vocal studies at the school of the Vienna State Opera, under the guidance of Leo Müller. After deciding to become a freelancer in 1990, he met in Milan the renowned teacher Rodolfo Celletti, who became his vocal coach.

His international debut took place in 1992, when the Metropolitan Opera asked him to sing Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor opposite June Anderson, substituting for Luciano Pavarotti. This was soon followed by a debut on the stage of La Scala, in 1993, where he sung Fenton in Strehler's new production celebrating the centenary of Falstaff, conducted by Riccardo Muti. He now regularly performs at all the major opera houses all over the world to great acclaim: Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires (La Favorita), London's Royal Opera House (Un Ballo in Maschera, La Bohème, Rigoletto, La Traviata), Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Falstaff, Rigoletto, La Traviata), Metropolitan Opera (Attila, La Bohème, The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, The Elixir of Love, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier), Teatro Real in Madrid (Werther), Opéra National de Paris (Rigoletto, La Traviata), San Francisco Opera (Un Ballo in Maschera, The Elixir of Love, Lucia di Lammermoor), Vienna State Opera (La Bohème, The Elixir of Love, Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux), Arena di Verona (The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto), and others.

Mr. Vargas made his LA Opera debut in 1996 as Nemorino in The Elixir of Love. He returned to perform the title role of Werther in 1998 and reprised his portrayal of Nemorino in 1999.
He was awarded the Lauri Volpi Award for the Best Opera Singer of the 1993 Italian season, and in 1995 Italian critics were unanimous in decorating him with the Gino Tani Award for the Arts. In 2000, British Opera Now declared Ramón Vargas Artist of the Year. Each year, since 1999, Austrian Festpiele magazine has given him the first place among the best tenors in the world. In 2001, he received the ECHO Klassik - Singer of the Year Award from the German Phono Academy.

His most recent performances include the leading tenor roles in Jérusalem at Festival Verdi del Teatro Regio di Parma; Don Carlo at the Vienna State Opera and Zürich Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Hamburg State Opera; Simon Boccanegra at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Vienna State Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in
Barcelona; Lucia di Lammermoor at Ópera de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; The Tales of Hoffmann at Opéra National de Paris; and Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera.

Future projects include La Clemenza di Tito at Opéra National de Paris; I Masnadieri at Opéra de Monte-Carlo; Don Giovanni at Grand-Théâtre de Genève; Un Ballo in Maschera and Die Fledermaus at the Vienna State Opera; and Un Ballo in Maschera at the Hamburg State Opera, GrandThéâtre de Genève and Teatro Real de Madrid.