Ricardo Bernal (born March 30, 1970, in Mexico City) is a Mexican lyric tenor.
Biography
Bernal started his vocal training at the age of 16 years at the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico under the direction of the soprano Irma Gonzalez and later by the professor in lyric singing, Enrique Jaso. He became a member of the Merola Opera Program in the San Francisco Opera House (USA) and the Opernstudio of Zurich (Switzerland). He also was trained by the mezzo-soprano Viorica Cortez in singing repertoire.
At 18 years old, he made his debut as "Beppe" in the opera I Pagliacci at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. At the beginning of his career, the fact of having easy top notes led him to successfully undertake Rossini's repertoire. However, later his voice developed an ample tessitura which enabled him to sing roles as a strong lyric tenor.
He was the winner of several contests including "Pacific voices" (San Francisco), "Kaffe Peters" (Viena), "Operalia" (Mexico) and Francisco Alonso (Madrid).
In 1996, he became the first soloist of the group of professional singers in Zurich and, the following year at the Teatre of Bonn and Trier until 2000 when he, at the same time, was invited to sing in famous theatres located in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Baden-Baden, interpreting many diverse roles.
Presently, he is continuously performing in leading opera theaters in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Panama and Mexico.
He also has sung at Covent Garden, Copenhagen Opera House, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Filarmonico (Verona), Teatro di San Carlo (Naples), Teatro Politeama (Palermo), Teatro Massimo Bellini (Catania), San Francisco Opera House, Washington Opera, Opéra de Marseille and Montpellier among others. In Spain, he has sung in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Valladolid, Teatro Español of Madrid, Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall of Bilbao, the Liceu of Barcelona, and the Madrid Teatro Real.
He has sung next to well-known singers such as Mariella Devia, Sonia Ganassi, Dolora Zajick, Isabel Rey, Inva Mula, Patrizia Ciofi, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Juan Pons, Justino Díaz, Carlos Álvarez and Carlos Chausson. He has performed under the baton of directors such as Nello Santi, Pinchas Steinberg, Fabio Luisi, Pier Luigi Pizzi and Jean-Louis Pichon.
Repertoire
Opera
Giacomo Puccini
La bohème – Rodolfo
Gianni Schicchi – Rinuccio
Madame Butterfly – Pinkerton
Vincenzo Bellini
I Capuleti e i Montecchi – Tebaldo
I puritani – Arturo
Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto – Duque de Mantua
La traviata – Rodolfo
Un ballo in maschera – Riccardo
Gaetano Donizetti
L'elisir d'amore – Nemorino
Lucia di Lammermoor – Sir Edgardo de Ravenswood
Maria Stuarda– Leicester
Gioachino Rossini
Otello – Otello
William Tell – Arnold
Manuel Penella
El gato montés – Rafael Ruiz
Don Gil de Alcalá – Don Gil de Alcalá
Emilio Arrieta
Marina – Jorge
Richard Strauss
Der Rosenkavalier – Cantante italiano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Magic Flute – Tamino
Don Giovanni – Don Ottavio
Operetta
Federico Moreno Torroba
Luisa Fernanda – Aníbal
Amadeo Vives
Doña Francisquita – Fernando
Pablo Sorozábal
La Tabernera del Puerto – Leandro
La Eterna Canción – Montilla
Discography
Carmina Burana by C. Orff (Mexico) Matilde di Shabran by G. Rossini (Germany) Gala Latina: Pópera (Spain) Goyescas by Granados (France)
External links
from the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
from the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
from the opera Werther by Jules Massenet
The tenor Ricardo Bernal triumphs in the Hall of Mirrors at the Liceo of Barcelona Ricardo Bernal Operabase