Profile

Tenor

Noel Espiritu Velasco

Noel Espiritu VelascoHailed as "one of the Philippines' national treasures," tenor Noel Espiritu Velasco was winner of the Pavarotti International Voice Competition, the Metropolitan Opera District Auditions and the Liederkrantz Foundation Wagnerian Competition. He was also Grand Finalist of the San Francisco Opera Auditions and the Belvedere International Competition for Opera Singers (Vienna), singing in the Competition's Gala Concerts from Budapest and Vienna over European television. He also won the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition and received the Cultural Center of the Philippines Career Award as well as several grants from the Young Artists Foundation of the Philippines. A graduate of the University of the Philippines and the Curtis Institute of Music, he was Artist-in-Residence and Principal Tenor with Sarah Caldwell and the Opera Company of Boston for eight seasons. Beyond opera, Velasco has sung over 300 recitals and concerts worldwide over a period of 25 years. A critic wrote: "Noel Espiritu Velasco - while possessing a dedication and uniqueness of musical temperament all his own - belongs to that group of performers who make their work a matter of artistry instead of routine, of serious interpreters who concern themselves with the inner living essence rather than the outer manifestations only of their art, of singers who are arresting and fulfilling because they exude the charm, the power and the meaningfulness of the music they perform.