Extoled by critics as giving "sensitive, beautiful, emotionally powerful" portrayals with "unerring vocal control", Ricardo Rivera will be an Apprentice Artist with Sante Fe Opera in 2013 where he will sing Thomas Martin and Hotel Manager in the world premiere of 'Oscar' and cover Germont in 'La traviata.'
In the 2012-2013 season, operatic performances include Mathieu in a return to the Opera Orchestra of NY in 'Andrea Chenier' and debuts as Sharpless in 'Madama Butterfly' with the Opera Company of Middlebury, Ashby in 'La fanciulla del west' with Knoxville Opera, and Corifeo in Jorge Lidermann's 20th-century opera 'Antigona Furiosa' with the GRAMMY award winning chamber music ensembles eighth blackbird and Pacfica Quartet.
In the 2011-2012 season, Ricardo made his Opera Orchestra of NY debut in the role of Orsini in Wagner's 'Rienzi' under the baton of Eve Queler in Avery Fisher Hall. In March, he performed in the Semi-Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, held on the Metropolitan Opera Stage. He also performed the title role in 'Don Giovanni' under the baton of Joseph Colaneri at his alma mater, Mannes College the New School for Music.
Additionally, Ricardo performed Le chat in 'L'enfant et les sortilèges' and Spinelloccio in 'Gianni Schicchi' under the baton of Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival.
Ricardo is a recent graduate of Mannes College the New School for Music where he performed Ford in 'Falstaff', the title role in 'Don Giovanni', Don Alfonso in 'Cosi fan tutte', and Aeneas in 'Dido & Aeneas'. At Mannes he was mentored by Met Opera Conductor Joseph Colaneri and renowed American Mezzo-Soprano Regina Resnik. Additionally, Ricardo is former young artist with Chautauqua Opera where he covered Enrico in 'Lucia di Lammermoor' and Lescaut in 'Manon Lescaut' and with Opera North where he sang Moralès in 'Carmen' and Fiorello/L'ufficiale in 'Il barbiere di Siviglia'.
21st-Century operatic roles which have been composed for and have been performed by Ricardo include leading roles in Robert Cuckson's 'A night of pity', Christopher Park's 'Phaedra & Hippolytus', and Alexander Berezowsky's 'The nine billion names of God" with eighth blackbird and Pacifica Quartet.
Regarding Ricardo's performance of Sophia Gubaidulina's 'Perception' with eighth blackbird and Pacifica Quartet, The Chicago Tribune declared him "amazingly precise of musical and verbal gesture". 20th- and 21st-Century music Ricardo has performed include Steven Stucky's 'Four poems of A.R. Ammons' with the Flux Quartet, the world premiere of Reinaldo Moya's 'Solilquio en las Olas' with the Arts Symphony Orchestra, and the world premiere of Aaron Dai's 'Con Furia' with the Chelsea Symphony. Additionally, he has performed the music of Stockhausen, Cage, Xenakis, and Aperghis as part of the Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance at Mannes. A video of the performance of the Aperghis can be found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiD9Gq_RMGE
Ricardo was a National Semi-Finalist in the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (MONC) and is a recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant. He has also won 3rd Prize in the Gerda Lissner Competition, 1st Prize and Audience Prize in the NY Lyric Opera Competition, 4th Prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, and awards from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Opera Index, and Career Bridges.