Full 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 over 25 years in an elite international performing career since his international debut in 1999, he is also a successful stage director, novelist, artistic director and television/radio presenter.
In the 2026-27 season, Rolando Villazón returns to the Vienna State Opera in the title role of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Tom Morris’ production, conducted by Stefan Gottfried. Later in the season, Villazón makes his role debut as Ponchel in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, and reprises his celebrated portrayal of Papageno in the Met’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. With Theater St. Gallen, he appears in the title role of a new production of Les contes d’Hoffmann.
Rolando Villazón’s concert season highlights his extraordinary versatility. He presents recitals with harpist Xavier de Maistre at Konzerthaus Wien, Tonhalle Zürich, Kölner Philharmonie, and in Bern and Budapest. Villazón reunites with L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar for Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi at the Staatsoper Berlin during the opera’s Baroque Days before bringing their acclaimed programme Orfeo son io to Hamburg, München, Stuttgart and Berlin. Other concert highlights include solo concerts with PRCJT Amsterdam at the Festival der Nationen, with Janoska Ensemble at the Herbstgold Festival, a gala concert with Bruckner Orchester Linz and piano recitals across Europe. In his 9th season as artistic director of Salzburg’s International Mozarteum Foundation and Mozartweek festival, Villazón presents curated festival and season programmes featuring some of the world’s most acclaimed artists.
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. 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 Opera, 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, at the 2022 Salzburg Festival, 2026 Mozart Week, and most recently the Metropolitan Opera.
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, was released in 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 has been Artistic Director of the foundation since 2018.
