Rolando Villazón presented with Merola Distinguished Alumni Award

Tenor Rolando Villazón Honored at August 8 Merola Master Class

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 11, 2023) – During the August 8 Merola master class featuring Merola Artist in Residence and Merola Opera Program alumnus Rolando Villazón (Merola 1998), the celebrated tenor, was presented with the organization’s highest honor: the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award.

During an onstage presentation with the audience present, Merola Opera Program Board of Directors President Barbara Bruser Clark said, “In 1998, the Merola Opera Program welcomed a brilliant tenor from the outskirts of Mexico City. Those of us who heard Rolando Villazón that summer were never in doubt that great things were to come. And indeed, great things did come.” Merola Opera Program Executive Director Jean Kellogg added, “Rolando is not only a superlative artist, he is also a brilliant mentor. We are thrilled to have him here this summer to share his expertise with the Merolini.” At the close of the presentation, Merola Opera Program Board of Directors Chairman Patrick Wilken said: “Rolando has enriched, and continues to enrich the world of opera, and we could not be prouder to count him among our alumni. So, in recognition of his immense contributions to the art form—on myriad levels—we are honored to present the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award to Rolando Villazón.”

Rolando Villazón performed the role of Alfredo in La traviata when he participated in the Merola training program in 1998. He returned as Artist in Residence twenty-five years later to work with the young artists in the 2023 program.

The Merola Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes past Merola Opera Program participants who have gone on to forge exceptional careers in the art form and was inaugurated in 1995 when the first Award was presented to soprano Carol Vaness (Merola 1976). Subsequent recipients of the Award include sopranos Patricia Racette (Merola 1988), Ruth Ann Swenson (Merola 1981/82), and Deborah Voigt (Merola 1985); mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham (Merola 1987) and Dolora Zajick (Merola 1983); baritone Thomas Hampson (Merola 1980); and conductor Patrick Summers (Merola 1986/87).

About Rolando Villazón

Through his uniquely compelling performances on the world’s most important stages, Rolando Villazón (Merola 1998) has firmly established himself as one of the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars. Heralded as “the most charming of today’s divos” (The Times) with “a wonderfully virile voice…grandezza, elegance and power” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Rolando Villazón maintains successful careers as a stage director, novelist, artistic director, and radio and TV personality next to his on-stage career. He has appeared at the State Operas of Berlin, Munich and Vienna, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival, London’s Barbican Hall, the Philharmonic Halls in Paris, Berlin and Cologne, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, and New York’s Carnegie Hall, among others. In 2011 he made his directing debut at Lyon Opera and since then has directed for 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, the 2022 Salzburg Festival, where his production of Il barbiere di Siviglia with an all-star cast led by Cecilia Bartoli received widespread critical and public acclaim.

Rolando Villazón is currently the Artistic Director of Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, reappointed for a second 5-year term until 2028. Since 2019, Villazón has been responsible for the renowned Mozartwoche festival as Artistic Director, and in the summer of 2021, he took over the entire Artistic Direction of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation. Until 2028, Rolando Villazón will organize the Mozartwoche festival – the world’s most important Mozart festival – the concert season and international activities such as the Mozartwoche On Tour he founded, which has taken the three pillars of the foundation’s work (concerts, museum, and science) all across the globe.

Contact: Tracy Grant (tgrant@merola.org)

 
PHOTOS: Downloadable high-res photos are available here: https://kristenlokenphotography.pixieset.com/merola2023season/villazonmasterclass/.

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The Merola Opera Program is widely regarded as the foremost opera training program for aspiring singers, pianist/coaches, and stage directors. Merola nurtures the opera stars of tomorrow through master classes and private coachings with opera’s most accomplished singers, conductors, and directors. Participants also receive training in operatic repertoire, languages, diction, acting, stage movement, and professional development. Offered free of charge to all participants, the Merola Opera Program is unique in the industry in many ways. It was the first young artist program to provide financial support to developing artists for five years following their participation, offering aid for essential career development expenses including coaching, language classes, and audition travel. Since Carrie-Ann Matheson and Markus Beam formed the new Merola artistic team in 2021, the program has redoubled its efforts to provide exciting new curricula and added focus on preparing the burgeoning artists for extramusical aspects of a performance career. Learn more at www.merola.org.