BIOGRAPHY

Baritone Fernando Araujo was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he began studying piano at the age of seven, composition at the age of eleven and sang his first role in an opera with twelve years old — the Third Spirit in Mozart´s The Magic Flute. He studied Voice and Piano at Indiana University, Bloomington, and at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg. He began his musical path as a pianist accompanying the masterclasses of legendary soprano Virginia Zeani and soprano Barbara Bonney in song recitals. As a singer he attended the opera studios of the Verbier Festival and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, where he was chosen to sing in the final concert in in Kitara Hall, Sapporo, under the baton of Maestro Fabio Luisi.

Highlights of his career include Escamillo at the Lithuanian National Opera (staging Arnaud Bernard, Conductor Robertas Servenikas), Papageno at the Munich Philharmonie (staging Ludwig Baumann, Conductor Cornelia von Kerssenbrock), Marcello at the Samsung Hall in Manila (staging Anton Juan), Schaunard at the Gut Immling International Opera Festival (with the Munich Symphony Orchestra directed by Georg Schmöhe), Mozart´s Figaro with the Mozart Opera Institute (staging of Eike Gramss, Conductor Josef Wallnig), Rigoletto, Germont and Amonasro at the Festival Winds of Baikal (conductor Ilmar Lapinsch), the title role in Puccini´s Gianni Schicchi and the concert 'Remembering Franco Zeffirelli' at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre and most recently, the title role in Verdi´s Rigoletto in Salzburg.

Also active on the concert stage, he interpreted Frank Martin´s Jedermann Monologe in the Orchesterhaus, Salzburg under the baton of Maestro Hans Graf and the baritone solo in Bernstein´s Songfest under the direction of Maestro Dennis Russell Davies.

Equally at home in contemporary music, he created the role of Dante in the joint world premieres of Inferno by Christopher Preissing and Paradiso by Robert Kyr at the DeBartolo Center for the Performing arts, Notre Dame, Indiana, under the Patronage of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, NY, and the title role in the premiere of Hamlet of Ingo Kolonerics and Jeppe Jacobsen at the Skive Opera Festival, Denmark.

He sang the baritone solo in Carl Orff´s Carmina Burana with the Philharmonie Salzburg in the Felsenreitschule and with the Bad Reichenhaller Philharmonie in the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg. He had the honor to sing together with Ruggero Raimondi in a benefit concert at the Auditório Nacional de Música in Madrid and to participate in the recital of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in the Verbier Festival.

Fernando is soloist of the Philharmonie Salzburg, of the Salzburger Konzertgesellschaft, Artistic Director of the Mozart Dinner Concert Salzburg, Co-Founder of the Amadeus International Culture Committee, Senior Lecturer in the Opera Department of the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, and Curator of the Cooperations between the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre with the Mozarteum University and the Philharmonie Salzburg.

Upcoming engagements include Beethoven´s Ninth Symphony and the role of Papageno with the Philharmonie Salzburg conducted by Elisabeth Fuchs and the title role in Rigoletto at the Schloss Amerang International Opera Festival. Fernando is delighted to return to perm in his beloved role of Marcello in Puccini´s La bohème.