David Portillo
About this Artist
American tenor David Portillo, winner of the 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence by the Sphinx Organization and praised by Opera News for “high notes with ease, singing with a luxuriant warm glow that seduced the ear as he bounded about the stage with abandon”, has established himself as a leading classical singer of his generation.
In the 2025/26 season, David Portillo will sing Jupiter in Semele, a new production at Dutch National Opera by Claus Guth, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm. He will also sing Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with Seattle Opera, the title role in Idomeneo with Boston Baroque, and, in concert, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mozart’s Requiem with Manfred Honeck and the San Francisco Symphony, as well as with Jane Glover and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Finally, he will perform in a series of recitals with the Sag Harbor Song Festival on Long Island, New York, and tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert as Hyllus in Hercules.
In the 2024/25 season, David Portillo sang Tamino in The Magic Flute holiday presentation at the Metropolitan Opera; the roles of Natura, Pain, and Furia in La Calisto at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Dr. Richardson in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at Houston Grand Opera; Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival; Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict with Irish National Opera; Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano with Haymarket Opera in Chicago; and, in concert, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Antonio Symphony and Septimius in Handel’s Theodora with Dame Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque.
Past seasons in opera include the Metropolitan Opera (Tamino, Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer, Count Almaviva, Eduardo in The Exterminating Angel, Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow, Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Jacquino in Fidelio); Lyric Opera of Chicago (David in Die Meistersinger, Arbace in Idomeneo, Trin in La fanciulla del West, Andres in Wozzeck); Houston Grand Opera (Tamino, Count Almaviva); Dallas Opera (Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Don Ottavio); Opera Australia (Ferrando in Così fan tutte); Washington National Opera (Tamino, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola); Santa Fe Opera (Don Ottavio, Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Jonathan Harker in The Lord of Cries); Opera Philadelphia (Don Ottavio, Dr. Richardson in Breaking the Waves); Glyndebourne Festival (Tamino, David in Die Meistersinger); Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Don Ottavio, Ferrando); Washington Concert Opera (Pirro in Ermione); Pittsburgh Opera (Tamino, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Count Almaviva); Austin Opera (Nadir in The Pearl Fishers); Minnesota Opera (title role in Albert Herring, Tonio in La fille du régiment); San Diego Opera (Don Ramiro); Arizona Opera (Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Tonio); Palm Beach Opera (Count Almaviva, Ernesto in Don Pasquale); Calgary Opera (Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore); Boston Lyric Opera (Hades in Eurydice); Detroit Opera (Dr. Richardson); and Bard Festival (Henry in Der schweigsame Frau).
David Portillo has also made important European appearances in recent seasons, including the Wiener Staatsoper (Count Almaviva); Theater an der Wien (Septimius in Theodora); Oper Frankfurt (Tamino); Bayerische Staatsoper (Pasquale in Orlando Paladino); Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain (Lurcanio in Ariodante); The English Concert (Lurcanio); Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Pedrillo, Lurcanio); Salzburg Festival (Don Gaspar in Donizetti’s La favorite); Opera Angers-Nantes (Narciso); Opéra de Lille (Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (Ferdinand in The Tempest); Hyōgo Performing Arts Center in Kyoto (Don Ottavio); and the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan (Gonzalve in L’heure espagnole).
With orchestra, David Portillo has appeared as the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; with the Los Angeles Master Chorale for Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Grant Gershon; a solo orchestral program of Italian repertoire with the San Antonio Symphony and Sebastian Lang-Lessing; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and Mozart arias with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; the title role in Jephtha with Music of the Baroque and Dame Jane Glover; Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Minnesota Orchestra; Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall; Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Phoenix Symphony and Colorado Music Festival; and Haydn’s The Creation with the Colorado Music Festival.
In Handel’s Messiah, he has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, U.S. Naval Academy, and Richmond Symphony. He has also appeared as the tenor soloist in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and as Jacquino in a world tour of Fidelio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, and collaborator Deaf West.
An accomplished recitalist, David Portillo has collaborated with pianist Craig Terry for appearances with Vocal Arts DC, Harris Theater in Chicago, and the Cleveland Art Song Festival.
An alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera in Vienna, Virginia, Mr. Portillo grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and resides in Zürich, Switzerland.