RAÚL MELO – tenor
Metropolitan Opera Tenor Raúl Melo is a celebrated performer in the US, Europe and Asia. He has performed the principal tenor roles with Berlin's Deutsche Oper and State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart's State Opera, Zurich State Opera, Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Frankfurt Opera, and Dresden State Opera to name a few. In the United States with The Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Cleveland Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Connecticut Opera among others. Mr. Melo won the prize of "Best Lyric Tenor" in the 1992 Alfredo Kraus Competition.
Recent seasons include covers at the Met of Le Damnation du Faust, Hamlet, Don Carlos, and La Traviata while singing Rigoletto for Fresno Opera, concerts for El Paso Opera and the tenor lead in Wolf-Ferrari’s The Jewels of the Madonna with Teatro Gratticielo at Lincoln Center .He sang the title role of Faust with Arizona Opera in addition to covering Manon and Traviata at the Met in 2012. He ended his 2012 season in concert with the Chicago Symphony under Riccardo Muti at the Cook County Detention Center before singing Pollione to Angela Meade’s Norma at the Astoria Music Festival in Oregon. 2012-13 saw him singing Don Jose in Carmen with Coeur d’Alene Opera and Cavarodossi in Tosca with Opera Carolina. He returned to the Met in 2013 to cover La Rondine before going to Washington Opera for Manon Lescaut and Pollione. He began his 13-14 season singing the Beethoven Ninth with the New York Philharmonic, followed by leading tenor role of The King in Alfano’s rarely performed Sakuntala with Teatro Gratticielo and his first Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West for Eugene Opera.
In 2008-09 season he sang Manrico in Il Trovatore with El Paso Opera before returning to the Met to sing Madama Butterfly and cover Rigoletto, La Rondine and Le Damnation de Faust. He also continued his relationship with New York City Opera, singing their New York parks concerts and also their concert performance of Massenet’s rarely performed La Navarraise. Last season he returned to City Opera to sing Tosca in addition to being at the Met for Romeo, Pinkerton and Rodolfo. He made his Spoleto Festival USA debut as the Navigator in Anthony Davis’ Amistad in addition to being the tenor soloist in the Beethoven Ninth. He also sang the Verdi Requiem at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.
In 2005-2006 Mr. Melo made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Duke in Rigoletto, returned to Palm Beach Opera to sing Tosca, sang Madama Butterfly at the New Orleans Opera and performed a gala Puccini concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo conducted by Nello Santi. He returned to the Met roster for Madama Butterfly and Rigoletto. He also sang Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the New York City Opera, Faust in Kalamazoo and La Boheme in Tokyo.
He first joined the Met in 2004 covering for Arrigo in I Vespri Siciliani and Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera. He also sang his first Rodolfo in Luisa Miller for his Dallas Opera debut. Other performances included Rodolfo in La Bohème in Palermo and Alfredo in La Traviata in Oslo.
During the 2003-2004 season Mr. Melo sang Faust in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust conducted by Keith Lockhart with the Utah Symphony Orchestra; he returned to the Palm Beach Opera for Alfredo in La Traviata opposite June Anderson. He made his debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as Rodolfo in La Bohème, and was the Duke in Rigoletto with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna on tour to Korea. Other performances include the internationally televised "Happy Birthday Giuseppe Verdi" concert in Parma Italy, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Monterey Symphony Orchestra and his return to the Connecticut Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto.
During the 2002/2003 season Mr. Melo performed the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème with the Shanghai International Arts Festival, with the Chattanooga Opera and with the Macau (China) International Music Festival where he also sang Rossini’s Stabat Mater. He made his Italian debut as Don José in Carmen in Salerno at the Teatro Verdi; with Nashville Opera he was Alfredo in La Traviata and with Connecticut Opera he was Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. His concert engagements included opera galas with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Grand Rapids and Monterey Symphonies, and the Verdi Requiem with both the Virginia and South Bend Symphonies. In the summer of 2003, he appeared as Rodolfo in La Bohème with the Bardavon Hudson Valley Philharmonic and as Calaf in Turandot with the Lancaster Festival.
In addition to his most frequently performed roles, the Duke in Rigoletto and Rodolfo in La Bohème Mr. Melo has also performed the principal tenor roles in Faust, Carmen, Norma, Madama Butterfly and Tosca, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera and Macbeth, Die Fledermaus, Lakmé, L'Elisir d’Amore, The Merry Widow and the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier. In addition, Mr. Melo has concertized extensively in the US and abroad in opera galas, sacred and symphonic works.