Praised for his “resonant, full-voiced basso” by Opera News, Puerto Rican bass Ricardo Lugo is a versatile international artist in demand on the operatic and concert scene. Having made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Un Barnabotto in La Gioconda, Mr. Lugo has since been involved in multiple productions with the company including Shostakovich’s The Nose, Pelléas et Mélisande, Otello, Tannhäuser, Tosca, Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Ariadne auf Naxos, Khovanshchina, Billy Budd, La fanciulla del West, Adriana Lecouvreur, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Gambler, Die Zauberflöte and Salome. In recent seasons, Mr. Lugo has joined Detroit Opera as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Timur in Turandot, Alfieri in Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, Don Fernando in Fidelio, and the French General in Silent Night. Additionally, he has sung Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Memphis, Mr. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor with Boston Midsummer Opera, the Sacristan in Tosca and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with Sarasota Opera, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with the Princeton Festival, Wachtmeister/Der Holsteiner in Richard Strauss’ Friedenstag with the America Symphony Orchestra, Timur in Turandot with Virginia Opera, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with Vancouver Opera, and Sacristan in Tosca with Arizona Opera.
Mr. Lugo begins his 2022-2023 season in a return to Virginia Opera as Hunding in Die Walküre. He then brings his celebrated Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro to Pittsburgh Opera and reprises his Simone in Gianni Schicchi at Hawaii Opera Theater. During the 2021-2022 season, Mr. Lugo joined Virginia Opera as Fafner in Das Rheingold and as Alcindoro in La boheme. He also bowed as Colline with Culturarte (Puerto Rico) and with Nashville Opera as Fasolt in Das Rheingold. The 2020-2021 season’s engagements included Oroveso in Norma with Musica Viva Hong Kong.
With the San Francisco Opera he has appeared as Reinmar von Zweter in Tannhäuser, the Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte as well as Sarastro in their adapted Magic Flute for families, and covered Banquo in Macbeth. He made his Washington National Opera debut singing Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, conducted by Maestro Plácido Domingo, and performed Annibale Pistacchio in Donizetti’s Il Campanello di Notte with Santa Fe Opera’s new One Hour Opera Performances. As an apprentice artist with The Santa Fe Opera, he was featured as the King in Massenet’s Cendrillon with Joyce DiDonato and Richard Stilwell, directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Kenneth Montgomery and as the First Soldier in Strauss’ Salome, conducted by John Fiore.
Mr. Lugo performs regularly with all the opera companies of his native Puerto Rico. With the Opera de Puerto Rico, he has performed Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte; Dr. Grenvil in La traviata; Colline in La bohème; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia; and Angelotti in Tosca. For Teatro de la Opera, he added the roles of Pietro in Simon Boccanegra; Masetto in Don Giovanni; Tom in Un ballo in maschera; Crespel in Les Contes d’Hoffman; Frere Laurent in Roméo et Juliette; the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte; Ludovico in Otello; and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. He has also taken part in CulturArte, where he performed the roles of Dr. Grenvil in La traviata, opposite Carol Vaness and Plácido Domingo; and Ludovico in Otello opposite June Anderson and Placido Domingo, both conducted by Eugene Kohn.
On the concert platform Ricardo has sung Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Requiem, St. John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, and Berlioz’ Romeo et Juliette with such orchestras as New Mexico Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony and the Santa Fe Symphony. He has also appeared with the acclaimed Opera Orchestra of New York as Jacopo Loredano in I due Foscari conducted by Eve Queler. Lugo made his New York Recital Debut on February 2006 at the Liederkranz Foundation. Additionally, he was featured as Jose Tripaldi in the acclaimed production of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, directed by Peter Sellars, during Lincoln Center’s Festival entitled “The Passion of Osvaldo Golijov”.