From the very beginning of his glittering career, Rolando Villazón has shown himself to be an outstanding Verdi interpreter.
Although he has not sung the part of Macduff in Macbeth since the early days of his career and has so far only appeared twice in the role of Don Carlo (in Amsterdam under Chailly and in London under Pappano), and although he has yet to take on the role of Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, he does sing the tenor part in the Requiem on a regular basis, and has given several notable performances of this work, including in Berlin under Barenboim and Rome under Pappano (the latter was recorded for EMI Classics).
His dark-toned and passionate voice, fiery temperament and individual style of singing (which manages to be both virile and refined at the same time) make him an ideal interpreter of Verdi’s heroes – both the regular heroes and the more troubled ones. It’s safe to assume that for a long time to come, “Viva Verdi!” will trigger the response “Viva Villazón!”