He was born in Mexico City and studied at the Instituto Cardenal Miranda, with Antonio López and Ricardo Sánchez. After winning the Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition, he made his debut in Haydn's opera Lo Speziale in Monterrey, Mexico. His professional career began when Mexican conductor Eduardo Mata hired him to sing the role of Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff, and later Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. After winning the Enrico Caruso Tenor Competition in Milan in 1986, he moved to Austria, where he completed his vocal studies at the Young Artist Program of the Wiener Staatsoper, with his mentor Leo Müller. In 1988 he made his European debut at the Lucerne Theater as Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
In 1990, he met in Milan the prestigious maestro Rodolfo Celletti, who became his singing teacher. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1992, replacing Luciano Pavarotti in Lucia di Lammermoor with June Anderson. Shortly after, he made his stage debut at the Teatro alla Scala in 1993, where he sang Fenton in a new production by Giorgio Strehler celebrating the centenary of Falstaff, musically directed by Riccardo Muti.
Currently, he regularly performs at the world's leading opera houses such as: Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (La Favorita, Les contes d’Hoffmann), at the Royal Opera House in London (Un Ballo in Maschera, La Bohème, Rigoletto, La traviata), Teatro Alla Scala (Falstaff, Rigoletto, La Traviata), Metropolitan Opera of New York, performing 19 different roles and more than 220 performances (Attila, La bohème, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier, among others), Teatro Real (Werther, Un Ballo in Maschera), Opéra National de Paris (Rigoletto, La Traviata, Lucia Miller, Idomeneo and Titus), San Francisco Opera (Un Ballo in Maschera, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor), Wiener Staatsoper (La bohème, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, Don Carlos, Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Arena di Verona (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto), and many others.
In addition to his operatic career, he is also an excellent concert singer, with a wide repertoire that includes Italian classical songs, German romantic lieder and songs by French, Mexican and Spanish composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1998 he gave a memorable recital at La Scala and his interpretations of Mexican folk songs have been enthusiastically received in concerts throughout Europe and Mexico.
Throughout his career he has received numerous awards, such as the Lauri Volpi for the best opera singer (1993), the Gino Tani Prize for the Arts (1995) from the Italian critics, the award as one of the best tenors in the world from the Austrian magazine Festspiele (1999), the British Opera Now magazine's Artist of the Year Award (2000), the ECHO Klassik - Singer of the Year Award (2001) awarded by the German Academy of Singing, the Puccini Prize of the Puccini Foundation (2005), the Rodolfo Celletti Award (2017) at Martina Franca and the Opera News New York Award (2018), among many others.
Ramón Vargas' multi-awarded discography includes Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Scala di Seta, Tancredi, Maometto II, Il Turco in Italia; Donizetti's La Favorite; Bellini's Zaira, I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Massenet's Werther; Goyescas by Granados; Falstaff and Alzira by Verdi, I Masnadieri at the Monte-Carlo Opera, Don Giovanni at the Grand-Théâtre de Genève; Un Ballo in Maschera at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Grand-Théâtre de Genève and Teatro Real.
His performances in recent seasons include titles such as Roberto Devereux (Los Angeles Opera), Un Ballo in Maschera (Teatro Real, Grand-Théâtre de Genève, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), Les contes d'Hoffmann (Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires and Teatre Principal de Palma), Don Carlo (Los Angeles and Wiener Staatsoper), I masnadieri (Opera de Montecarlo), La Bohéme (Staatsoper Berlin), Don Giovanni (Grand-Théâtre de Genève), La clemenza di Tito (Paris Opera), Jerusalem (Teatro Regio di Parma), Simon Boccanegra (Paris Opera, Hamburgische Staatsoper and Monte-Carlo Opera), Tosca (Greek National Opera, Teatro Cervantes in Málaga and Naples), La Gioconda (Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse), Luisa Miller (Hamburgische Staatsoper), I lombardi alla prima crociata (Opéra Royal de Wallonie) and Das lied von der erde (Alicante).
His recent performances and upcoming engagements include La Bohème at ADDA, Carmen in Graz with Elina Garanca and a tour of Norma in Japan.
Date Last Edited: October 2023 Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
2021-2022 Performances
LA GIOCONDA 24 September 2021 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse 26 September 2021 15:00 Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse 28 September 2021 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse 01 October 2021 20:00 Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse 03 October 2021 15:00 Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse
DAS LIED VON DER ERDE WITH MUSIQUE DES LUMIÈRES 07 October 2021 20:00 Salle Paderewski, Lausanne 10 October 2021 17:00 Espace La Velle - Ancienne Eglise, Le Noirmont
OTOÑO LÍRICO 2021 PASIÓN GALA 16 October 2021 20:00 Teatro Afundación, Vigo
TOSCA 26 November 2021 20:00 Teatro Cervantes, Málaga 28 November 2021 19:00 Teatro Cervantes, Málaga
LUISA MILLER 16 February 2022 19:30 Staatsoper Hamburg 19 February 2022 19:30 Staatsoper Hamburg 23 February 2022 19:30 Staatsoper Hamburg
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA 26 April 2022 20:00 Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 28 April 2022 20:00 Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 30 April 2022 20:00 Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
CONCERT WITH THE GYÖR PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 3 May 2022 19.30 Olimpic Sport Park, Győr, Hungary
LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN 8 June 2022 20:00 Teatre Principal de Palma 10 June 2022 20:00 Teatre Principal de Palma 12 June 2022 20:00 Teatre Principal de Palma
TOSCA 28 July 2022 21:00 Athens Epidaurus Festival Greek National Opera 30 July 2022 21:00 Athens Epidaurus Festival Greek National Opera