Jorge de León

Jorge de León (born November 1, 1970 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife ) is a Spanish opera singer who specializes in spinto and heroic tenor . He is one of the most successful singers of his time and has appeared on important stages, at the Vienna State Opera , La Scala in Milan , the Arena di Verona and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In his home country he was hired by all the major opera houses, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, among others in Las Palmas, Málaga, Menorca, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Tenerife and Valladolid. He has also appeared in numerous zarzuelas .

life and work

Jorge de León studied at the conservatory in his hometown (with Isabel Garcia Soto), then in Italy (with Giuseppe Valdengo ) and again in Spain (with Alfonso Leoz ). In 2004 he won the premio José Carreras as best tenor - in the framework of the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition and Concorso Vocale Internazionale di Musica Sacra. He achieved his first successes on the opera stage with Verdi, Alfano and Bizet - in Nice, Madrid and Seville. In 2010 he stepped in as Andrea Chenier in Madrid and was highly praised. Also in 2010 he made his debut as Don José in the Arena of Verona , and the following year in the same role in Naples and Palermo. 2012 was the year of his breakthrough to the top of the world: at the Vienna State Opera he introduced himself as Pinkerton, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Radames and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Calaf. In Vienna he was subsequently seen and heard as Macduff, Radames and Mario Cavaradossi. He often worked with the conductor Zubin Mehta , occasionally with Lorin Maazel . In 2017 he made his debut as Radames at the Metropolitan Opera . He was also engaged in Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, China and several times in Japan.