Named “a born bel canto tenor” by the New York Times, Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang’s next season sees exciting debuts including the historic premiere of Daniel Catan’s ‘Florencia en el Amazonas’ at the Metropolitan Opera in New York which will be also featured Live in HD streaming in cinemas around the world. Additional engagements include Verdi’s Requiem with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by music director Gustavo Dudamel, his debut as the title role in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet with Arizona Opera, La Rondine with Washington Concert Opera and La Traviata with Irish National Opera.

This season he made his house debut with Hong Kong Opera as Alfredo in Traviata, as well as his house debuts at Ópera de Oviedo as the title role in Ernani and his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Teatro de la Maestranza is Seville.

The 2021 – 2022 season saw Mr. Chang’s house debut with Palm Beach Opera as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore conducted by music director David Stern, and an appearance as a featured performer on the Bolshoi Theater’s 2022 gala alongside René Pape, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Eva Maria Westbroek, and Marco Armiliato. Orchestral engagements included Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Washington National Cathedral, and Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 with San Francisco Symphony conducted by Daniel Stewart and with San Diego Symphony conducted by music director Rafael Payare.

Operatic highlights include multiple performances at the Metropolitan Opera including as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier opposite Renée Fleming, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Fourth Squire in Parsifal. Additional operatic highlights include Rodolfo in La bohème conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and Ismaele in Nabucco at Los Angeles Opera, Rodolfo in La bohéme and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Santa Fe Opera, and Alfredo in La Traviata with Washington National Opera, Atlanta Opera, Oper Frankfurt, and North Carolina Opera. Mr. Chang made his house and role debuts as the title role in Massenet’s Werther with Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, his house debut at Norwegian National Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto, and at Arizona Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème. Highlights at Oper Frankfurt include performances as Lenski in Yevgeny Onegin, the Italian Singer in Capriccio, Cassio in Otello, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier, the Duke in Rigoletto, the title role in Roberto Devereux, and Rodolfo in La Bohème.

Orchestral highlights include Mr. Chang’s Hollywood Bowl debut as Cassio in Otello with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier with the National Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Guatemala, Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Centroamericana in Nicaragua, a concert in Puerto Rico honoring Giuseppe Verdi with Teatro de la Opera, his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne in Rennes, France, and as a guest soloist with the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra.  Mr. Chang made his Carnegie Hall debut in a concert with the Musical Olympus Foundation, and then returned to appear in recital as part of the Marilyn Horne Song Foundation.

Honors and awards include First Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and audience favorite at the 2014 Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition, Top Prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation competition, a Festival Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot career grant in 2013, a 2012 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award grant for promising Young Classical Artists, and the 2011 overall First Prize, Plácido Domingo Prize, and ‘Amigos de Sabadell’ Prize in the Francisco Viñas Competition at the Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona. He has also received awards from the Concurso de Canto Lírico de Trujillo, Perú, and the Asociación Artista del Año and Asociación Dante Alighieri in Guatemala.

Mr. Chang is founder and director of Querido Arte Opera de Guatemala, the first opera company in Guatemala, a Center for the Development of the Arts (Centro de Perfeccionamiento para las Artes), and a youth orchestra and chorus program, creating a platform for the development and promotion for the arts and supporting hundreds of young musicians and emerging artists to reach their dreams. In recognition of this work, he was appointed with the ‘Medalla del Quetzal’ and ‘Cambio de la Rosa de la Paz’ by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of his country, making him ambassador of peace and culture in Guatemala. 

He was a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera and holds an Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies program at the Juilliard School.

Photos by Dario Acosta© and Cristian Monterroso©