One of the leading tenors of our time and one of the most sought-after worldwide, Ramón Vargas was born in Mexico City. In 1982 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 Verdi’s Falstaff, and then Don Ottavio in Mozart’s 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 Wiener Staatsoper, under the guidance of Leo Müller, then in Milan with the renowned vocal coach Rodolfo Celletti.

Ramón Vargas’ international debut took place in 1992, when the New York Metropolitan Opera asked him to sing Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor opposite June Anderson, substituting 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 regularly performs at all the world leading opera houses, such as Royal Opera House London, Staatsoper Berlin, Opéra National de Paris, Liceu de Barcelona and many others.

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. In 2001, he received the ECHO Klassik – Singer of the Year Award from the German Phono Academy.

His latest performances include Luisa Miller at Staatsoper Hamburg, Don Carlo at Vienna State Opera, La Gioconda at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Un ballo in maschera at Teatro Real de Madrid, Roberto Devereux at Los Angeles Opera, Les contes d’Hoffman at Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires.

Photo credit: Lou Valérie Dubuis