Mexican-American bass-baritone, Richard Ollarsaba, praised by The Washington Post for his “meltingly smooth bass-baritone” and for “evoking a young Ruggero Raimondi in looks and manner”, represented the USA in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, was a member of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago for three seasons, and a grand finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
This season he makes his company debuts with Nashville Opera and Hawaii Opera Theatre as Escamillo in Carmen, and role debuts as Riolobo in Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas with North Carolina Opera and as Miguel de Cervantes/Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha with Piedmont Opera. He will make his returns to the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera in the title role of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and New Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve concerts.
Previous season credits include the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Hong Kong, Arizona Opera, Opera Carolina, and Opera Grand Rapids, in Le nozze di Figaro as Count Almaviva with Portland Opera, Piedmont Opera, Knoxville Opera, and Virginia Opera, as Figaro with New Zealand Opera and Minnesota Opera, and as Escamillo in Carmen with the Glimmerglass Festival, Portland Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kentucky Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Columbus, North Carolina Opera, Tulsa Opera, Annapolis Opera, and the Barharbor Music Festival. Season 22/23, he debuted with Chicago Opera Theater as Fred Clayton and Judge Harrison in the world-premiere opera The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing by Justine Chen and David Simpatico
In addition to performances on the operatic stage, Mr. Ollarsaba appears regularly in concert and recital. He has been a featured soloist with LyricFest, the bass soloist with the Mainly Mozart Festival in a rare performance of Mozart’s Thamos, König in Ägypten, a repeat featured soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra notably in performances of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and Handel’s Messiah. Other soloist credits include Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Master Chorale of South Florida, Messiah with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Palm Beach Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, Bach’s St. John’s Passion with the Madison Bach Musicians, Dvorak’s Te Deum with Apollo Chorus of Chicago, Bernstein’s Songfest at the Ravinia Festival, Stravinsky’s Les Noces under the baton of Charles Dutoit at the Tanglewood Music Center, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy in his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood – that concert was telecast nationally on PBS as a gala celebration of the venerable festival’s 75th anniversary.
A native of Tempe, Arizona, Richard Ollarsaba received his Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and his Master of Music and post-graduate certificate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition to the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, he trained at Minnesota Opera, Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, and Wolf Trap Opera.
