Guest Artists

Concerts

2016 Christmas Concert Guest Artist

Rolando Villazón was the featured guest artist and narrator for the 2016 Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square Christmas concerts. "Rolando is one of the great singers of our time," said music director Mack Wilberg. "Pairing his talent with that of the Choir and Orchestra resulted in yet another majestic collaboration just as it did in our earlier work together on  Messiah."

Recordings

• 2017 O Come, Little Children Christmas, CD and DVD featured artist
• 2016 Messiah Recording Tenor Soloist
  
  

Rolando Villazón was the tenor soloist in the hallmark recording of Messiah with the Choir and the Orchestra released in March, 2016. Speaking of the soloists in that recording, Mack Wilberg said, "We were very fortunate in engaging some of the great singers of our time. We had an international cast of singers, not unlike Handel's day when his own various performances of Messiah featured some of the greatest singers of his day from continental Europe." Villazon, born in Mexico, works all over the world and currently makes his home in France.

Music & the Spoken Word Broadcasts

• Broadcast #4552 (Dec 2017)

Additional Information

Through his uniquely compelling performances with leading opera houses and orchestras around the world, tenor Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself as one of the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars, and a leading tenor of our day. Heralded as “the most charming of today’s divos” (The Times) and “a great singer and brilliant entertainer, at once extremely funny and deeply profound” (Crescendo), Villazón is among the most versatile artists alive today, maintaining successful careers as a stage director, novelist, and TV personality next to his on-stage career.

Villazón is a regular guest at renowned opera houses and festivals around the world, including the Berlin, Munich, and Vienna Staatsoper, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and the Salzburg Festival. He has appeared with leading orchestras and conductors on concert stages all over the world, and frequently appears in recital with other leading artists, including Daniel Barenboim.

An exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, Villazón has recorded more than 20 CDs and DVDs. He is a Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, acts as an ambassador for the Red Noses Clowndoctors International charity, and is a member of the Collège de Pataphysique Paris. His first novel, Malabares, was published in 2013 in Spanish, French, and German.

Visit Rolando Villazón’s website for more artist information. 

Articles

7 Things You Should Know About the Tabernacle Choir's 2016 Christmas Guest, Rolando Villazón

Messiah—Complete Oratorio

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square recording of Handel’s Messiah relies on historical research and Baroque musical tradition to create a landmark Messiah for our time. The Complete Oratorio version contains every movement on two compact discs and comes with a DVD with over 40 minutes of bonus content. An added feature is a code for a free high definition 320k mp3 or FLAC digital download.

Messiah Soloist Interview Video

To get to know Rolando Villazón better, watch this video with interviews of the four soloists from the 2016 Messiah recording.  The video showcases Rolando's wonderful sense of humor and a delightful way of telling stories, both of which were also on display during the 2016 Christmas concerts.