Xavier Prado is a Chilean-born tenor who has received numerous accolades for his exceptional singing. An “Accademia Rossiniana Alberto Zedda 2023” alumnus, he was the first prize winner of the 2024 Concorso Internazionale Piero Cappuccilli, a finalist and grant winner at the 2023 Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition, finalist at the 2023 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, and has won numerous other awards including Second Prize at the 40th anniversary Palm Springs Opera Guild 2023 Vocal Competition as well as the Audience Choice Award and Third Prize at the 2023 edition of the same competition. He has also been recognized as a finalist at the 2023 and 2024 Pasadena Vocal Competition where he also received the audience choice award, and as a finalist and Robinson/Tyrrell award winner at both the 2023 and 2024 Mary Jacobs Singer of the Year Competition. In 2019-20, he won the Beverly Hills National Auditions.
Mr. Prado's performances have been internationally praised and described as possessing "truly stunning acting and vocals”, as a tenor who “marque par la vigueur d’une voix bien posée” [marked by the vigor of a well-posed voice], and one who “has an epic voice, is handsome, and has an endearing stage presence”. He made his film debut in 2018 with the lead role in an American television miniseries and performed the role of Ruodi in Guillaume Tell with Opera Southwest, which was broadcast across the United States. He has starred in leading roles in various new works and world premiers including Don Quixote in the opera Dulcinea XL by Juan Colomer, performed in 2019 with the Los Angeles Grand Ensemble under the direction of maestro Ignazio Terrasi and the title role in the opera Zorro by Hector Armienta with Opera Santa Barbara in 2024.
As a Studio Artist in Sarasota Opera during their 2016-17 season, Xavier performed dozens of concerts and lead role covers such as Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale along with performing the role of Le Premier Commissaire in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites. At Opera San Jose he sang roles in Le Nozze di Figaro and Streetcar Named Desire, in addition to the role of Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri.
Mr. Prado is a pupil of the eminent Italian operatic bass, Carlo Colombara. Additionally, he has received valuable mentoring from other world-renowned artists such as Ernesto Palacio, Juan Diego Flórez, Luca Canonici, Rubén Sánchez-Vieco, Rosetta Cucchi, Giulio Zappa, and others.
Mr. Prado has performed as a soloist in a wide range of repertoire with various other opera companies and orchestras worldwide including the Rossini Opera Festival in Italy, Palms Springs Opera Guild, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Buffs, California Philharmonic, The Lyric Opera of Orange County, Golden State Pops Orchestra, the Santiago Canyon Symphony, Pocket Opera, The Rousse Philharmonic in Bulgaria, Livermore Valley Opera, Santa Barbara Choral Society, Cameretta of Los Angeles, Mission Opera, Opera San Jose, The Valley Opera and Performing Arts, The Huntington Beach Symphony, Antelope Valley Symphony and Master Chorale, Sarasota Opera, Ridgecrest Opera Guild, Pacific Palisades Symphony, Opera en Castellano, Barskaya Independent Opera Company, and the Pacific Lyric Association.
In 2020, through the Consortium of Music Presenters of Southern California, he presented a recital series throughout Southern California. His last public appearance in 2020 was in March, as the tenor soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at The Soraya Hall with the CSUN Symphony and a grand union of chorales. In late 2021 he made his return to the post-pandemic opera stage in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as Count Almaviva with the Huntington Beach Symphony & in the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kaschey The Deathless with Barskaya Independent Opera Company and the title role in Gounod's Faust with Huntington Beach Symphony.
Other recent performances include Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with IOC, Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette in several productions, including those by Mission Opera, Valley Opera and Performing Arts, and the Lyric Opera of Orange County, Rodolfo in La Boheme with VOPA, and his participation in the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy, in the opera Il Viaggio a Reims singing Zefirnino, this past Summer of 2023. Upcoming engagements include the world debut of Again, and Again, and Again by Conrad Cummings with Opera Las Vegas singing Clèment, Rodolfo in La Bohème at Teatro Masini in Faenza, Italy, and Teatro Rossini in Lugo, Italy, and a return to the role of Zorro (Diego de la Vega) with Opera San Jose in 2025.
Press Quotes