Luis Ledesma Biography

Pagliacci Cast

Luis Ledesma (Tonio)

Luis Ledesma has established himself as a singer with powerful, yet refined vocal and theatrical gifts. His career already includes appearances in several international opera houses around the world, including Teatro alla Scala (Luisa Fernanda), the Liceu in Barcelona (Alphonse in La favorite, Riccardo in I puritani and Marcello in La boheme), Klangbogen Festival in Vienna (Leoncavallo's La boheme), Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Escamillo in Carmen), Semperoper in Dresden (Marcello in La boheme), Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia), Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Marcello in La boheme), Macau Festival (Sharpless in Madama Butterfly), and Graz Oper (Escamillo in Carmen).

In the United States, Mr. Ledesma has sung with many companies, including Houston Grand Opera and Portland Opera (Escamillo in Carmen), Indiana and Connecticut Opera (Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni), Opera Pacific (La boheme and Carmen), Palm Beach Opera (Scarpia in Tosca), Opera Carolina (Tonio in I pagliacci), Memphis Opera (Scarpia in Tosca and the High Priest in Samson and Dalila), Minnesota Opera and New York City Opera.

Recent engagements in the 2006-2007 season include Scarpia (Tosca) for Palm Beach Opera followed by tours with Andrea Bocelli (and soprano Ana Maria Martinez) which included Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. He then made his debut in Bellas Artes in his native Mexico City in the role of Marcello (La boheme). The season continued in Graz Oper as Escamillo in the critically acclaimed new production of Carmen by Stefan Herheim followed by his debut as Tonio (I pagliacci) for Opera Carolina and a return to Opera Pacific as Escamillo (Carmen). The season finishes with concerts for Washington Opera conducted by Placido Domingo and as the cover for Lado Ataneli in their production of Macbeth. Mr. Ledesma will then travel to Lugano where he will record Leoncavallo songs with orchestra under the baton of Maestro Maeszaros.

In the 2007-2008 season upcoming engagements include Marcello (La boheme) with Madison Opera, Gerard in Andrea Chenier for Mobile Opera, Scarpia (Tosca) for San Antonio Opera and Escamillo (Carmen) for Austin Opera (inaugurating their new opera house).

Recent past engagements also include Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) for the Macau Festival and highly acclaimed performances of Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in a new production for Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Frequently engaged by theaters throughout Germany, Mr. Ledesma performed several roles for Koeln Oper which included Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Germont (La traviata), Belcore (L'elisir d'amore), Silvio (I pagliacci) and Dandini (La cenerentola). He has sung the role of Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) for Las Palmas de Mallorca and the roles of Valentin (Faust) and Amonasro (Aida) for the Shaker Mountain Festival. Other performances include Escamillo for the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Don Pasquale and L'etoile du nord for the Wexford Festival, and Ramiro (L'heure espagnol) in a new production for the Kammeroper in Vienna.

Additionally as a concert artist, Mr. Ledesma has performed a variety of orchestral repertoire, including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mozart's Coronation Mass, Faure Requiem and Orff's Carmina Burana. Most recently he sang Carmina Burana with the Louisville Orchestra and a series of Christmas concerts in Hannover with the NDR Radiophilarmonie.