Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives
David Portillo
Texas tenor David Portillo has established a reputation as an accomplished vocalist with “honeyed, perfectly focused singing” (Chicago Tribune). The 2012-2013 season brings David’s return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as David inDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the premiere ofJean-Jacques Rousseau with Grand Theatre Geneve in Switzerland, his role and house debut as Percy in Anna Bolena with Minnesota Opera, and Tonio in The Daughter of Regiment at Fort Worth Opera Festival followed by Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Central City Opera. The upcoming 2013-2014 season and beyond brings Gonzalve in L’heure Espagnole with the Seito-Kinen Festival in Japan, Ralph in HMS Pinafore with Arizona Opera, Narciso in Il Turco in Italia with both Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and Opera Angers –Nantes, a reprise of his Almaviva for his Palm Beach Opera debut, his return to Opera Company of Philadelphia as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in The Dialogues of the Carmelites, and in 2015 David will make his Washington National Opera debut.
David is also an alumnus of both the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and Wolf Trap Opera in Washington, D.C. where his performances were met with public and critical acclaim. Other roles to his credit include Albert Herring, Alfredo in La Traviata, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene and the Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites.
A versatile recitalist, David has appeared with Steven Blier and also performed a Schwabacher Debut Recital under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera Center. In response, the San Francisco Chronicle found that “His tenor rang out clearly and brightly, his diction was exemplary, and he moved with easy assurance from the 17th century to the 20th and through realms in between.”
David is the recipient of numerous prizes for his artistry, including a 2009 Shoshana Foundation Grant, 2009 American Opera Society of Chicago Award, 2009 Sullivan Foundation Encouragement Award, 2008 Winner of the Men’s Prize of the Union League of Chicago Young Adult’s Music Competition, and 2009 Winner of the Bel Canto Scholarship Foundation Competition. He is also a two-time recipient of a Shouse Career Development Grant from the Wolf Trap Foundation
