Charles Castronovo

Charles Castronovo Biography

Charles Castronovo (born June 19, 1975), is an American tenor. Official web site: http://charlescastronovo.com/ He is in demand internationally as an opera singer. Castronovo was born to a Sicilian father and an Ecuadorian mother in Queens, New York but grew up in Southern California. He attended California State University, Fullerton for undergraduate studies in classical voice. During his time at the university, his talent came to the attention of William Vendice, the chorusmaster of the Los Angeles Opera, who promptly hired him as a chorister. Career He began his professional career as a resident artist with the Los Angeles Opera. In the summer of 1998 he was a participant in San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola opera program, and later joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. After garnering much experience at the Metropolitan Opera, a series of significant role debuts soon followed such as "Don Ottavio" (Don Giovanni), "Ernesto" (Don Pasquale), "Fenton" (Falstaff), "Ferrando" in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, "Tamino" (Die Zauberflöte) and "Alfredo" in Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. He has sung at many of the world's leading opera houses such as: The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Staatsoper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Salzburg Festival and Santa Fe Opera. The 2006-07 season marked a series of role debuts such as "Rodolfo" in La Bohème, "Nadir" (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), the "Duke" in Verdi's Rigoletto, and "Mylio" in Édouard Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys. The 2007-08 season marked the role debut of "Tom Rakewell" (The Rake's Progress) at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and a return to Los Angeles Opera singing the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. During the 2008-09 season, Castronovo debuts at the Washington National Opera, and performs his first Edgardo in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. In June 2009, Castronovo returned to San Francisco Opera as Alfredo opposite Anna Netrebko in Verdi's La Traviata. In the Fall of 2010, Castronovo debuted the role of Mario Ruoppolo in the world premiere of Daniel Catán's Il Postino at the Los Angeles Opera, along with Plácido Domingo, which was repeated in June 2011 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, again with Plácido Domingo. In the Summer of 2011, Castronovo made his debut with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, appearing with French soprano, Natalie Dessay in Verdi's La Traviata. The 2011/12 season marks Castronovo's debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago singing the role of Tamino. In August 2011 he appeared at The Royal Albert Hall with The John Wilson Orchestra in the now celebrated series of Proms, dedicated to the great Hollywood Musicals. In June 2012, Castronovo will debut the role of Nero in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea with Teatro Real. Recent musical projects include performances of traditional Neapolitan songs, with a small ensemble of guitar, accordion, percussion and bass.