DAVID PORTILLO

UPCOMING WCO APPEARANCE

Mozart’s Idomeneo (5/9/26)

American tenor David Portillo, winner of the 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence by the Sphinx Organization, has established himself as a leading classical singer of his generation.

In the 2025/26 season, Mr. Portillo sings Jupiter in Semele, a new production at Dutch National Opera by Claus Guth, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm; 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, and with Jane Glover and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also performs in a series of recitals with the Sag Harbor Song Festival on Long Island.

Mr. Portillo has appeared in multiple leading roles in major theaters worldwide. Career highlights include Tamino (The Magic Flute) at the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Glyndebourne Festival; David (Die Meistersinger) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival and Opéra de Lille; Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Wiener Staatsoper; Lurcanio (Ariodante) at the Palau des les Arts Reina Sofia and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at the Hyōgo Performing Arts Center, Kyoto.

Highlights of Mr. Portillo’s concert career include Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Los Angeles Master Chorale for Mozart’s Requiem with Grant Gershon; an orchestral program of Italian repertoire with the San Antonio Symphony and Sebastian Lang-Lessing; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; the title role in Jephtha with Music of the Baroque and Dame Jane Glover; the Minnesota Orchestra for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; and the New York Choral Society for Tippett’s A Child of our Time at Carnegie Hall.

An alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, 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.