Jose Montañez
Biography
Born and raised in Mexico City, he studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Singing at the National Conservatory of Music and is about to finish a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance at Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA, under Alejandra Sandoval, soprano.
He has devoted almost all his career to singing opera, lied, french song, mexican music and lieder. He has sung in national and international venues, such as: Museo de San Carlos, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Sala Vasconcelos, Palacio Nacional and Alcázar-Castillo de Chapultepec, in Mexico; several museums in Spain (Madrid and Torrevieja) with the National Ballet, Rialto Center for the Arts and Florence Kopleff Recital Hall in Atlanta, USA; and with “GSU - University Singers” in Istanbul, Turkey.
He has been a part of music programs from different states in Mexico, such as “Opera Festival - Oaxaca”, “Opera Studio - Querétaro”, and “Opera Festival- Linus Lerner”, as well as Music on Site in Kansas, USA. He has collaborated with such eminent conductors and stage directors as Tamara Dworetz, Rolando Salazar, Brian Osborne, JJ Hudson, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Linus Lerner and Germán Tort, and voice teachers and coaches as Carlos Aransay, Charles Oppenheim, and Andrés Sarre.
He sang his debut role as “Nadir” in “Les pêcheurs de perles” (Bizet), followed by “Felipe”, in “Aura” (Mexican opera by Mario Lavista) with the Marine Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico. He also sang the title role in the opera “Dido and Aeneas” (Purcell) with the GSU strings in 2022, and a year later he performed as George Gibbs in "Our Town” (Ned Rorem) with the GSU Orchestra, both in Atlanta. He also sang the tenor solo from Handel’s Messiah at Emory Presbyterian Church, with orchestra and choir.
His last performances in 2024 include the “Sailor” role from Dido and Aeneas, this time with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, “Remendado” in Bizet’s Carmen, and the tenor solo in Mozart’s Requiem, with orchestra and choir as well, which will be singing again at Holy Trinity Parish in April, 2024.
Currently, he is part of the Atlanta Opera Chorus, with two productions so far (Rigoletto and Boheme), he has been a Voice Teaching Artist at Atlanta Music Project - AMP, since September 2023; and he looks forward to singing “Basilio” in “Marriage of Figaro” at the Estates Theater, in Prague, Czech Republic, this summer.
Source: Prague Summer Nights Young Artists Music Festival (6/2024)