Tenor Rolando Sanz is quickly gaining recognition for his “sensitive” and “luminous” portrayals of the romantic, lyric tenor repertoire. While he specializes in such standard roles as Rodolfo, Tamino, Nemorino, Alfredo, Pinkerton and the Duca di Mantua, Rolando has also debuted many opera premieres including: Peter Doyle in Miss Lonelyhearts and covering Stiva in Anna Karenina. Most recently, he made his Carnegie Hall debut singing the role of Kostik in the world premiere of Prokofiev’s lost opera Dalëkie Morja (Distant Seas) for which Opera News reported “Rolando Sanz unfurled a warm, strong, highly promising tenor as would-be ocean explorer Kostik.”

In the 2008-2009 season, Rolando debuted with Palm Beach Opera as Rodolfo in La boheme and Flavio in Norma, as well as covering Duca di Mantua in Rigoletto. Recent engagements include debuts with Syracuse Opera as Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Baltimore Concert Opera in A Flight of Verdi as well as a debut at The Music Center at Strathmore performing the Tenor Soloist in Les Noces. Upcoming engagements include debuts with Baltimore Opera, Annapolis Opera and Opera Costa Rica. Mr. Sanz will also return to Carnegie Hall to debut a world premiere song cycle by renowned composer Ezra Laderman and former US poet-laureate Robert Pinsky.

The 2007-2008 season included a debut with Opera Idaho as Nemorino in L’elisir d’Amore and a return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to sing Nathaniel in The Tales of Hoffmann under Stephen Lord as well as to cover Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. He was also a finalist for the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Other previous engagements include Alfredo in La traviata, conducted by Julius Rudel and L’Aumônier in Dialogues des Carmélites under the baton of James Conlon with the Aspen Music Festival. In 2005, Rolando was a resident artist at the Music Academy of the West under the tutelage of Marilyn Horne and Warren Jones. He also made his hometown of Washington, DC debut as Le Prince Charmant in Summer Opera Theatre Company’s production of Massenet’s Cendrillon.

Mr. Sanz has also distinguished himself as a gifted concert performer and recitalist. He recently sang his first Beethoven Ninth Symphony with the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles and Handel’s Messiah with the New Jersey Philharmonic. Rolando was also featured as tenor soloist in Stravinsky’s Les Noces with the Yale Camerata as well as at the Aspen Music Fesitval under the baton of Michael Stern. He made his Yale Philharmonia debut as the winner of the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition, performing Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Additional soloist engagements include the Mozart C-minor Mass and Requiem, Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio, Randall Thompson's Nativity according to St. Luke, Honegger’s Le Roi David and Handel Ode to St. Cecilia, as well as the Washington, DC premiere of the Donizetti Requiem. 

Rolando has been a prize winner in numerous international competitions including the Florida Grand Opera/Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Aspen Music Festival Vocal Concerto Competition, and the XIII International Voice Competition in Trujillo, Peru. Most recently, he was awarded First Place at the Florida Suncoast Opera Guild Competition, the Grand Prize as well as the Conductor Award and the Audience Choice Award at the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, and First Prize at the Marie E. Crump Vocal Competition. He has appeared as a resident artist with the Songfest program, collaborating with such esteemed artists as Martin Katz, Graham Johnson and composer John Harbison. Mr. Sanz also served as assistant conductor for Long Beach Opera’s production of Die Schweigsame Frau under Andreas Mitisek.

Rolando is a graduate of the Yale University School of Music.