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Joan Martín-Royo Biography

Born in Barcelona, Joan Martín-Royo studied piano, violin, bassoon and composition at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and also gained a degree in History of Art from the University of Barcelona. He underwent his vocal studies with soprano Mercè Puntí and has also received masterclasses from Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Söderström, Thomas Quasthoff and Lorraine Nubar. He has also worked on vocal technique with bass-baritone Carlos Chausson and on vocal coaching with pianist Marco Evangelisti.

At the present time he works on vocal technique with Didier Laclau-Barrère and on acting and body language with Arnaud Décarsin.

He has received awards at several prestigious singing contests including the Third Male Prize, the Mozart Prize and the Plácido Domingo Award at the 2003 Francisco Viñas Competition. He was also Preisträger from the 2002 Sommerakademie at Salzburg’s Mozarteum (as best Lieder singer).

His operatic repertoire focuses especially on Mozart and Rossini: Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (Liceu Barcelona / Champs-Elysées, Paris), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia / Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Liceu Barcelona), Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Liceu Barcelona / Ópera de Oviedo / Teatro Municipal, Santiago), Masetto in Don Giovanni (Opéra de Monte Carlo), Dandini in La Cenerentola (Glyndebourne), Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Reims (La Monnaie, Brussels), Macrobio in La Pietra del Paragone (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris / Teatro Regio di Parma,) Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées) and Don Parmenione in L’occasione fa il ladro (Teatre Lliure, Barcelona).

Other roles include Rodomonte in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino (Châtelet, Paris), Colombo in Carnicer’s Cristoforo Colombo (Teatro de la Maestranza, Sevilla), Albert in Werther (Ópera de Las Palmas / Festival Mozart A Coruña), Lescaut in Manon (Liceu), Marcello in La Bohème (Komische Oper Berlin), Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (Liceu Barcelona / Opera di Roma), Ned Keene in Peter Grimes (Santiago, Chile), Don Quijote in De Falla’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro (Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels / Liceu Barcelona / Halle aux Grains, Toulouse / Palau de les Arts, Valencia / Auditori de Barcelona), Mr. Astley in Prokofiev’s The Gambler (Liceu Barcelona), Don Mariano in Chapí’s Curro Vargas (Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid) and Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette (Teatro Real, Madrid / concert version conducted by Michel Plasson).

Mr. Martín-Royo is also very interested in performing Contemporary Opera; highlights include creating the roles of surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in Xavier Benguerel’s Yo, Dalí (Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid / Teatro Liceu, Barcelona), Walt Whitman in García Demestres’ WOW! (Festival Castell de Peralada, Girona), Pedrosa in Mariana en sombras by G. Demestres (Auditorio de Granada), Mercader in Salvador Brotons’ El mercader de somnis (Winterthur Auditorium, Barcelona)… He has also sung the world première of García Demestres’ oratorio Contes, tirallongues, jocs i colors and the European première of Daniel Schnyder’s The revelation of St. John (both at the Auditori de Barcelona). He has recently performed the role of Horemhab (in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten) in the new Lucinda Childs production for Opéra de Nice-Côte d’Azur.

On the concert platform he has enjoyed appearances with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Al Ayre Español, La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy, Ensemble Matheus, Orchestre du Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, National Orchestra of Spain, Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and the Hungarian Radio Orchestra. Some of his engagements include his US début singing Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra / Rinaldo Alessandrini (at the Kennedy Center, Washington), Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht in Mallorca / Víctor Pablo Pérez, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Orchestra of Cannes Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azure / Philippe Bender, Christus in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Al Ayre Español / Eduardo López Banzo, Pilatus and the bass arias in Bach’s St John Passion with Real Filarmonía de Galicia / Frans Brüggen and the Fauré’s Requiem at Festival de Músiques Religioses i del Món de Girona / John Rutter. He has also performed Bach’s Lutheran Masses (Concertgebouw Amsterdam), Mozart’s Requiem, Krönungs-Messe and Vesperae solennes de confessore (Palau de la Música, Barcelona / Salle Philarmonique de Liège), Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Auditori de Girona), Wolf-Ferrari’s Talitha Kumi! (Auditorio Príncipe Felipe, Oviedo), Pablo Casals’ El Pessebre (Opéra de Montpellier / Auditori de Barcelona / Liceu de Barcelona) and De Falla’s L’Atlàntida (National Auditorium, Madrid).

A keen recitalist, Martín-Royo has collaborated with distinguished accompanists such as Helmut Deutsch, Dalton Baldwin, Norman Shetler, Roger Vignoles, Pierre Réach and Rubén Fernández Aguirre performing Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Beethoven, Loewe, Mendelssohn, Ibert, Ravel, Duparc, Poulenc, Hahn, Granados, Pedrell, Montsalvatge and Guinjoan in the Schubertiades in Vilabertran and Barcelona, at the Leigthon House Museum (London), Grosser Saal and Wiener Saal (Mozarteum, Salzburg), Palau de la Música (Barcelona), Fundación Juan March (Madrid), Festival Piano Pic (France)…

He has recorded Ànima (a disc of opera arias with the Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu / Josep Vicent), García Demestres’ operas Mariana en sombras and Aprima’t en 3 dies and has been one of the fifteen Spanish singers invited to take part in the recording series of Antón García Abril’s complete set of Lieder and Melodies. He has also recorded Schubert’s Winterreise (alongside pianist Pierre Réach) and Wolf-Ferrari’s Talitha Kumi (under the baton of Friedrich Haider).

His most remarkable DVD releases include La pietra del paragone (for Naïve) and the BBC’s cartoon production of Janácek’s The cunning little vixen (performing the role of the Forester under Kent Nagano in the Spanish and Catalan versions).

He has recently sung Papageno in Die Zauberflöte under the Ivor Bolton (Teatro Real, Madrid), Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri (Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse; Antonino Fogliani, conductor / Laura Scozzi, producer), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Opera de Oviedo; Benjamin Bayl, conductor / Guy Joosten, producer), Albert in Werther (Liceu de Barcelona; Alain Altinoglu, conductor / Willy Decker, producer), Malatesta in Don Pasquale (Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla; Corrado Rovaris, conductor / Laurent Pelly, producer), Dandini in La Cenerentola (Santiago, Chile; José Miguel Pérez-Sierra, conductor / Jérôme Savary, producer), Schaunard in La Bohème  Teatro Real, Madrid; Paolo Carignani, conductor / Richard Jones, producer), Albert in Werther (Palma de Mallorca; Cristóbal Soler, conductor / Graham Vick, producer), Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri (Festival de El Escorial and in the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián; Paolo Arrivabeni, conductor / Joan-Antón Rechi, producer) and Ping in Turandot in the Teatro Real (new production by Robert Wilson conducted by Nicola Luisotti; available on DVD and Blu-Ray). We also have to remark his first collaboration with conductor Gustavo Dudamel performing Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” in Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

He has performed the role of Papageno in the Barrie Kosky Die Zauberflöte production in Perth and Adelaide (Australia), in Aukland (New Zealand), in Teatro Real (Madrid) and at the Opera di Roma.

Some of his future engagements include: the Count (in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro) in Teatro Real and Opéra de Metz; Papageno in Liceu Opera Barcelona (under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel) and Schaunard (La Bohème) in Madrid (Teatro Real).