José Manuel Montero, tenor

 

He worked in Germany in the Bayerische Staatsoper of Munich with conductors R. Abbado (Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen), M. Boder (Ubu rex, The Castle) and P. Schneider; in Leipzig he played Rodolfo, Weimar Belmonte; Lübeck, Rodolfo, and Gelsenkirchen, Rodolfo, Narraboth (Salomé) and Arturo (Lucia), where received the Public’s Prize as the best singer of the 1997-8 season. In Wuppertal he played  Alfredo, Macduff, the Italian Singer (Der Rosenkavalier) and Beppe, and in Hannover Don Ottavio, Tom Rakewell (Rake’s Progress), Pinkerton, Tibalt, Belmont nd Tamino. He also worked in the Gärtnerplatztheater and the Prinzregententheater in Munich, in the theatres of Regensburg, Oldenburg, Ingolstadt and Germering, and in various summer festivals; as well as in the Opera House in Budapest, in the Opera of Toulon (Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto), in the Kolarak Saal in Belgrade (An die Freude, Carmina Burana) and at La Filature in Mulhouse, Alsace (in Mendelssohn’s Elias). He  sang the role of Ferrando in Cosí with Enrique Mazzola at the Montepulciano Festival, Gafforio in Paisiello’s Il Re Teodoro in the Festival of Radio France at Montpellier (Koering and Mazzola) and the role of Narete in Vivaldi’s La Fida Ninfa with the Ensemble Matheus at the XXV Festival de Musique Barroque à Ambronnay with Spinosi. 

In Madrid he sang in the Teatro Real with Placido Domingo, and in the Teatro de la Zarzuela (Miguel in La del Soto del Parral) under the direction of Miguel Roa, to great acclaim from both the public and the critics. He appeared in the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, in the Gran Teatro in Cordoba (Il Duca in Rigoletto), in the Teatro Principal and Auditorium of Palma in Mallorca (Fernando in Goyescas), in the Teatro Calderón in Valladolid (Fernando in Doña Francisquita), in the Teatro Villamarta in Jerez (Il Duca in Rigoletto), and in the Auditorium of La Coruña under the direction of conductor V.P.Pérez where he sang Shostakovich’s Forest Song.

Montero was acclaimed by the critics as the successor of Gayarre for his interpretation of Diego Marsilla in the new production of the opera Los Amantes de Teruel in the Teatro Palacio Valdés in Avilés, with subsequent performances in Gijón, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander, Malaga, Salamanca and Palma de Mallorca.

He was Clem in Benjamin Britten’s opera  The Little Sweep at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Dupont in the zarzuela Black el Payaso at the Teatro Español in Madrid and  the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao. He sang the role of Ottavio in Giuditta  by Lèhar at the Operetten Metropole  in Baden bei Wien, and the role of Altoum in Turandot at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao.

Jose Manuel Montero’s oratorical repertoire includes works such as Haydn’s The Creation, Frank Martin’s Golgotha, Mendelssohn’s Elias, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and An die Freude.  Recently his work in this genre has included  the  Requiem and Mass in C minor by Mozart, Bach’s St John Passion,  Mahler’s  Song of the Earth and Orff’s Carmina Burana . Song cycles have also featured in his activities, like Schubert’s  Die Winterreise, Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis op 39, Brahms’s Magelone, Mahler’s Des knaben Wunderhorn,  Krenek’s Reisebuch or Janácek’s Diary of one who vanished.

Montero remains extremely busy and very much in demand. In 2010-12 he has performed the role of  Kochkarev in Mussorgsky’s opera The Wedding at the Teatro Real, in Madrid,  and at the festivals of Segovia and Salamanca; the role of Clem in The Little Sweep at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao and Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo; the role of Jan in The Diary of One who Vanished by Janácek at the Teatro Real, Sevilla and Bilbao; the role of Paris in the operetta La Belle Heléne by Offenbach in Germany, as well as Erik and Der Steuermann in two productions of Wagner’s  The Flying Dutchman in Spain and Germany and Alfredo in La Traviata.  He has recorded Die Winterreise with Juan Antonio Álvarez Parejo, and performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis (Op. 39) in Madrid. This season he has appeared extensively in Madrid, playing Enrique in the zarzuela El Estreno de una Artista at the Teatro de la Zarzuela and Teatro Campoamor, Gustavo in the zarzuela Los Gavilanes at the Auditorio Nacional, and works by Liszt and Mahler at the Festival ‘Clásicos en Verano’.

In his latest season Jose Montero performed in Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 at the Auditorio Nacional  in Madrid, taking the role of Lumir in Sarka by Janácek at the Teatro de la Maestranza, in Sevilla, the role of Erik in The Flying Dutchman in Germany and the role of Guido in Zemlinsky’s opera Eine Florentinische Tragödie  at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

In recent months he sang the role of Erik again, and the role of Don José in Carmen from Bizet at the Teatro Romano de Mérida, the role of Le prince charmant in Cendrillon, from P. Viardot, in Madrid and the Festival de Santander, the zarzuela Black el Payaso at the Teatro de la Zarzuelal in Madrid  and at the Festival de Granada, the role of Narraboth in Salome, from R. Strauss, at the LX Festival de Mérida, and the cycle Die schöne Magelone, from J. Brahms, at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao.

This year he will be singing at the Teatro Sao Carlo in Lisboa, Palais de la musique et des congrés in Strassbourg, Auditorio de Zaragoza, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla.

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