Rolando Villazón & Xavier De Maistre
Biography Rolando Villazón & Xavier De Maistre
Rolando Villazón
Through his uniquely compelling performances with leading opera houses and orchestras around the world, Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself as one of the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars and as one of the leading tenors of our day. Heralded as “the most charming of today’s divos” (The Times) with “a wonderfully virile voice…grandezza, elegance and power” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Rolando Villazón is among the most versatile artists of today, maintaining successful careers as a stage director, novelist, and TV personality next to his on-stage career.
Rolando Villazón is one of the most sought-after performers of his generation and is a regular guest on the most renowned stages such as the State Operas in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera New York as well as the Salzburg Festival. He frequently collaborates with leading orchestras and conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on concert stages all over the world. He made his directing debut in 2010 in Lyon and has since directed productions for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna Volksoper and for Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf.
Rolando Villazón starts his 2019/20 season with directing his production L’elisir d’amore at the Oper Leipzig, as well as a new production of Bellini’s I puritani at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. For concerts and recitals, he travels all over Europe, Russia and the USA, where he sings Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin in New York (Carnegie Hall) and in Philadelphia (Verizon Hall). With Christina Pluhar and the Ensemble L’Arpeggiata he takes Monteverdi‘s L’Orfeo on tour for performances in Vienna, Graz, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig, Düsseldorf and Munich. The tenor also sings the role of Lenski in Eugen Onegin at the Semperoper Dresden as well as the title role in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the State Opera Hamburg. The second Mozartwoche of Rolando Villazón’s artistic direction takes place in January 2020.
An exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, Rolando Villazón has recorded over 20 CDs and DVDs and has sold worldwide over 2 million albums which have received numerous prizes. He is also a Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, acts as ambassador for the Red Noses Clown Doctors International charity, and is a member of the Collège de Pataphysique Paris. In 2013, Rolando Villazón’s debut novel “Malabares” was published in Spain. German and French translations of the novel have been published in 2014. His second novel “Paladas de sombra contra la oscuridad” (“Lebenskünstler”) was published in Germany in April 2017 and his third novel will be published in summer 2020. In early 2017, Rolando Villazón was appointed ambassador of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation and in July 2017, he was named artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week from 2019 onwards.
Xavier de Maistre
belongs to an elite category of soloists who are redefining what is possible with their instrument. Aside from commissions from composers such as Kaija Saariaho, he performs works like Smetana’s “Ma Vlast“ with breathtaking precision, presenting masterful arrangements of works that are usually played by an entire orchestra. The interpretation of these works, that few harpists before him have even considered playing, has contributed to his reputation as one of the most creative and extraordinary musicians of his generation.
Xavier de Maistre has appeared with major orchestras under the direction of such eminent con-ductors as Bertrand de Billy, Lionel Bringuier, Daniele Gatti, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Daniel Harding, Kristjan Järvi, Philippe Jordan, Riccardo Muti, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle and Yuri Temirkanov. He performs at many leading international festivals, including Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, Budapest Spring Festival and Mostly Mozart in New York. He collaborates with such chamber music partners as Diana Damrau, Daniel Müller-Schott and Baiba Skride.
The 2017/2018 season started for de Maistre entirely under the auspices of contemporary music. In September he played three national premieres of “Trans”, Kaija Saariaho’s new harp concerto, with the Frankfurt and Swedish Radio Symphonies and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Further season highlights include concerts with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Turku Philharmonic, Münchener Kammerorchester, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Moscow Virtuosi, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and China Philharmonic Orchestra. A recital tour in Germany with the Spanish-Mexican flamenco legend Lucero Tena (castanets) brings him to venues such as the Stuttgarter Liederhalle, the Elbphilharmonie, the Boulezsaal Berlin, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the NDR Hannover.
De Maistre has an exclusive recording contract with Sony Music. Releases have included music by Haydn, Rodrigo, Ginastera and Debussy – the latter for which he was awarded the Echo Klassik Award 2009 as “Instrumentalist of the Year”. In 2012 his album “Notte Veneziana” entered the top ten in the classical music charts. His most recent releases include a DVD with Diana Damrau and a CD recording of Mozart piano concertos arranged for harp. In 2015 “Moldau – The Romantic Album”, a recital CD featuring Slavonic repertoire received high critical acclaim. „La Harpe Reine“ with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie was released in October 2016 (harmonia mundi). A new solo CD with Spanish repertoire will be available in spring 2018 (Sony).
Xavier de Maistre was born in Toulon and began studying harp aged nine. He studied in Paris and in 1998 he was awarded first prize at the International Harp Competition in Bloomington, Indiana, immediately becoming the first French musician to join the ranks of the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2001 Xavier de Maistre has taught at the Hamburg Academy of Music. He also gives regular masterclasses at New York’s Juilliard School of Music, Tokyo’s Toho University and London’s Trinity College of Music.
