Ramón Vargas

As the twentieth century came to a close, one name in the running for major operatic star of the twenty-first was Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas.

The director of the Los Angeles Opera Company, which engaged him to sing the title role in Massenet's Werther, predicted that he would be "the next Pavarotti." He has a similar, silky lyrical voice, apparently friendly personality, and has worn a beard trimmed in the same manner as the famous tenor from Modena.

He has also appeared in Los Angeles as Nemorino, sang in Lucia di Lammermoor at San Francisco in the 1999-2000 season, and at the Metropolitan Opera in the same work in 1992.

He has sung in Verdi's Falstaff, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, Lensky in Yevgeny Onegin, Hoffmann in Tales of Hoffmann, and Rodolfo in La Bohême. Appearances at opera companies not already mentioned include La Scala, the Vienna Staatsoper, Opèra de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Covent Garden, and the Arena di Verona.

He sings in recordings of Werther, I Capuleti ed I Montecchi, Tancredi, and Falstaff.