Leon de la guardia

león

de la guardia

heldentenor

“I am a Chilean-Italian tenor who is gradually making a name for himself as a specialist in Wagner. I come from a small town in Chile called Villa Alemana (German Village). I consider the name of the place where I grew up as a small prophecy of what is now my repertoire. In it, my past merges with, what I hope will be, a long and prosperous future

León De la Guardia

about me

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León de la Guardia is an Italian-chilean Heldentenor. León was born in Viña del Mar, Chile, and currently lives in Vienna. He began his singing studies at the Conservatorio de Musica Isidor Handler in Viña del Mar. Early on in his studies, he decided to travel to Europe to pursue further education. Upon his arrival in Barcelona he joined the Cor Jove del Palau de la Musica Catalana and began taking private lessons.

After that, he focussed his studies on the Italian and French repertoire as a lyric Tenor, which gave him the opportunity to make his professional debut in Spain as Don José in Carmen. While on this path he performed roles such as Rodolfo, Pinkerton and Luigi in Puccini’s La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Tabarro, Ismael in Verdi’s Nabucco, Arvino in I lombardi, as well as Alfredo in La Traviata and Macduff in Macbeth, among others. He performed at renowned concert halls across Europe such as the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, the Arena di Verona and the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy. He made his North American debut with a concert at Sun Valley Opera and, a few months later, at Opera Kelowna, Canada, with the role of Rodolfo from Puccini’s La Bohème.

During this period, León obtained three scholarships that led to masterclasses with renowned singers such as Jaume Aragall, Carlos Álvarez, Isabel Rey, Juan Oncina, Gianni Maffeo, Angelo Loforese, Nicola Martinucci, Gianfranco Cécchele and Salvatore Fisichella. It was during this journey that he found his regular singing teachers who have been fundamental to his career. They are: Jonas Kauffmann’s celebrated teacher Michael Rhodes in Trier, Antonio Carangelo and Laura Briolli, with whom he is currently perfecting his craft in Italy.

León recently decided to change course and specialize in the Wagnerian repertoire, a shift which revealed this singer’s strong and authentic Heldentenor nature. Since then, he has been working with Jendrik Springer, Wiener Staatsoper’s Director of Studies and Christian Thieleman’s assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. In 2021 and 2022 León obtained two scholarships to support his new Wagner path: the “Ramon Vinay Scholarship” from the Wagner Foundation in Chile, as well as the “FIA Scholarship” from Ibanez Atkinson Foundation. Today, León has three key Wagnerian roles fully prepared: Siegmund from Die Walküre, Loge from Das Rheingold, Parsifal from Parsifal, and Siegfried from Siegfried. León also receive support of the prestigious gallerist and philanthropist Patricia Ready.

In March-April 2022 Debuts with pieces by Richard Wagner in a project at the University of Karlsruhe, He sang the lead male role in the final year project "Wider das Verlöschen" of the Musical Theater Direction course.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Mösch describes his participation as follows: “The color of the voice, the vocal guidance, his empathy with Wagner's complex characters and the creative and artistic inner power in general, show León de la Guardia as a great hope in this field. It is to be hoped that in the near future he will be able to play roles like Siegmund or Parsifal on stage and that he can continue his successful career.”

Leon de la Guardia has made his Wagnerian debut in Germany, with Siegmund in Die Walküre, under the baton of renowned German conductor Marcus Bosch with with great success, being the second Chilean tenor in history to sang this role in Germany.

Currently, León is preparing for the role of Der Kaiser in Richard Strauss's opera, Frau Ohne Schatten, scheduled to be performed as his debut at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin in May 2024.

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