About Me
Ernesto TresPalacios – BaritoneThe Cuban-American baritone Ernesto TresPalacios was born in Miami, and began his musical education at the age of 15. Between the ages of 15-18 he sang the lead roles in several musicals, notably Tony in West Side Story by Bernstein, but subsequently decided to focus on the classical repertoire. At 18 he was awarded a grant to study at Miami-Dade College and Florida State University, where he studied French, German and Italian, languages he now speaks fluently. With his teachers Yvonne Cianella and Timothy Hoekman he developed a wide repertoire of French, German and Russian song.In 1995, the distinguished soprano Adriana Maliponte invited him to Milan as her only student, where he worked intensively on the Italian bel canto repertoire. It was during this period that the soprano Katia Ricciarelli invited him to perform with her in a televised concert at Lake Garda (The Magic Flute, La Fille du Régiment). He went on to attend her academy of singing at Rivoltella del Garda, and to study with the tenor Ugo Benelli.In 1998 he moved to New York and met his fellow student from Florida State University, the pianist Christopher Cooley, who became his recital partner, and with whom he was a prizewinner in the IBLA competition in Sicily. In New York he studied with the bass Spiro Malas, and made his debut with the New York Repertory Company in Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni.Ernesto TresPalacios relocated to Paris in 2001 and performed with a number of orchestras in repertoire which included Handel’s Messiah, Stabat Mater by Haydn, Dominus Regnavit by Mondonville, Les Vêpres du Confesseur by Mozart and the Miserere by Donizetti.He made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in Hercules by Handel with the Opera Fuoco Orchestra conducted by David Stern, with whom he also recorded the role of Apollo in Semele, (released in 2004). At the Opéra de Lille he sang excerpts from Faust by Gounod in concert, La Damnation de Faust by Berlioz and Liebeslieder Walzer by Brahms. In 2004 he made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris as Clem in The Little Sweep by Britten, a role he revived there in 2005. In April 2005 he was invited by the Miami Bach Society to revive the music of Cuban baroque composer Esteban Salas. Most recently he sang the role of Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera conducted by David Stern on tour in Europe.Ernesto TresPalacios has been studying Scandinavian repertoire and Swedish, and has begun to work with Jan Eyron (Nicolai Gedda’s pianist), with whom he will perform in Stockholm.He is currently based in Paris.
