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BIOGRAPHY |
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Recent successes this season include Àngel Òdena’s acclaimed debut as BARNABA in La Gioconda at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, as KALLENBACH in Philip Glass’ Satyagraha at the Opéra de Nice or AMONASRO in Aida at the Oviedo Opera. He also was JUAN JOSÉ in la Tabernera del Puerto at the Teatro de la Zarzuela and at the National Opera of Lima
Born in Tarragona, the baritone holds a degree in Geography and History. He started studying singing and piano in his native town with Mercè Obiol and Dolors Aldea, and completed his studies at the Accademia Lirica in Mantua with Katia Ricciarelli and later with Eduardo Giménez.
The Spanish baritone has regular guest performances at numerous international opera houses such as the Met New York, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Teatro Real, the Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla, the Hamburgische Staatsoper, the Staatsoper Berlin, beim Maggio Fiorentino,the Teatro Reggio Torino, the Teatro La Fenice, Théâtre de Champs Elysées, the Theâtre Capitole de Toulouse, the Arena di Verona, the Teatro San Carlo in Napels, in Palermo, Bologna, Miami, Athens, Nice, Orange, Limoges, Lausanne or Amsterdam.
His vast repertoire includes roles in Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Il tabarro, La bohème, Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlo, Aida, Il trovatore, La traviata, Attila, Otello, Macbeth, Nabucco, Falstaff, Simon Boccanegra, and Rigoletto, L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Roberto Devereux, La favorita, Don Pasquale, Il duca d’Alba, Werther or Carmen, just to name a few…
In 1994 he made his debut as MARCELLO in La Bohème at the Teatro Petruzelli in Bar. This marked the beginning of a career that now includes performances at more than fifty opera houses.
Àngel's voice is particularly well-suited to verismo and Verdi operas. His extensive operatic repertoire includes Italian roles such as FIGARO in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Lisbon, Hamburg, Peralada, Valencia), DANDINI in La Cenerentola (Hamburg, Palma de Mallorca), DON ALVARO in Il Viaggio a Reims (Gran Teatre del Liceu, recorded on DVD), BELCORE in l'Elisir d'Amore (Jerez, Hamburg and Barcelona), Anna Bolena (Hamburg, with Edita Gruberova), Maria Stuarda (Barcelona, also with Gruberova), DON PASQUALE (Palma de Mallorca), ENRICO in Lucia di Lammermoor (Barcelona, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Lausanne), IL DUCA D’ALBA (Oviedo) and NOTTINGHAM in Roberto Devereux (Madrid - Teatro Real). GERMONT (Liceu, Teatro Real, San Sebastián, El Escorial, Tarragona, Madrid, Teatro de La Zarzuela under the direction of Alberto Zedda),CONTE DI LUNA (Metropolitan Opera House of New York, Barcelona), AMONASRO in Aida (Liceu, Teatro Real and Oviedo), MACBETH (Córdoba and Lisboa), ATTILA (Bilbao), NABUCCO (Teatro San Carlos de Lisboa) and RIGOLETTO (Liceu and San Carlo Naples), Turandot in Hamburg and at the reopening of the Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, SHARPLESS in Madama Butterfly (Hamburg, Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla, Madrid, Lausanne, Maggio Fiorentino, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Opéra de Nice and Barcelona-Liceu), MARCELLO (Bari, Barcelona and Naples, conducted by Nello Santi), GUGLIELMO in Le Villi (Barcelona, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Oviedo), MICHELE in Il Tabarro (Liceu), LESCAUT (German Opera Berlin and Las Palmas) and SCARPIA in Tosca (Maestranza Sevilla and Oviedo), ALFIO/TONIO in Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Liceu, Teatro Real – released on DVD –, Helsinki, Sao Carlos Lisbon, Linz, Málaga, Lleida, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). His classical operatic roles include Mozart's PAPAGENO in The Magic Flute (Barcelona), DON GIOVANNI (La Coruña), COMTE CAPULET in Roméo et Juliette (Sabadell),ALBERT in Werther (Teatro Real de Madrid, ABAO Bilbao), ATHANDEL in Thaïs (Oviedo and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), and one of his favorite roles, ESCAMILLO in Carmen(Arena di Verona under the musical direction of Placido Domingo, in Palermo, Toulouse, Cap Roig, San Sebastian, Orange, Málaga, Jerez, and Barcelona).
His German repertoire includes roles such as OREST in Elektra (Toulouse and Seville), TELRAMUND in Lohengrin (Turin, Barcelona, Bilbao, La Coruña, and Salamanca), ALBERICH in Rheingold (Madrid), WOLFRAM in Tannhäuser (Oviedo), and KURWENAL in Tristan und Isolde (Las Palmas). Angel also sang in operas such as Wolf Ferrari's Il Segreto di Susanna (released on CD) and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (Valencia, Bilbao, and Peralada). He has also released a CD recording of A. Garcia Abril's La Integral de Canciones para canto y piano.
Moreover, Àngel Òdena is one of the world's finest Zarzuela interpreters and has contributed to a number of lyrical compositions by Spanish composers.
Future engagements include ALFIO/TONIO in Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci at the Finnish National Opera, IL CONTE DI LUNA in Il Trovatore in Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, AMONASRO in Aida, NABUCCO and El Gato Montés in Oviedo, SHARPLESS in Madamma Butterfly in Valencia and ESCAMILLO in Carmen in Beijing.
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| REVIEWS |
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| Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona – La Gioconda – BARNABA |
| The celebrated Àngel Òdena sang the same role and showed that he is a stage animal with extraordinary power and projection in his voice; his Barnaba will go down in history. |
Lohengrin
www.lohengrin.cat |
| The Tarragona baritone Àngel Òdena was a charismatic Barnaba, with a thunderous sound and unshakeable vocal confidence, who combined the villainous character with the rudeness the role demanded. With more than twenty operatic works performed at the Liceu and almost thirty years after his debut at the Teatro de las Ramblas, he is one of the historic Catalan singers in the annals of the Liceu. |
Platea Magazine
Platea Magazine |
| Besides Muehle, the male cast was augmented by two bass voices. On the one hand, a simply masterful Ángel Òdena, magnificent in O monumento and wholeheartedly dedicated to a textbook example of evil. The baritone from Tarragona displayed professionalism and ease in all aspects... |
ARA
es.ara.cat |
| Palau de les Arts – Madama Butterfly – SHARPLESS |
| Spanish baritone Angel Ódena played Sharpless, the American consul, with a voluminous, dark and potent voice. During his entrance line, “sbuffa, inciampica,” he emitted a perfect high G and maintained the uncomfortable tessitura of the role, which constantly resides around a high F, never an easy zone for a baritone to be singing all night. As with most Puccini baritone roles – with the exception of Gianni Schicci – there are no solo arias and the baritone is relegated to supporting lines for the soprano or tenor. Ódena sang with measure and portrayed a noble character moved and worried by the fragility of Butterfly against the indifference and fickleness of Pinkerton. |
OperaWire
operawire.com |
| Camp de Mart Festival Tarragona – La Bohème – MARCELLO |
| Àngel Òdenas Marcello contributed significantly to the success with his great professionalism, powerful voice and stage presence, earning much applause. |
Opera Actual
www.operaactual.com |
| Teatro de la Zarzuela – La Taberna del Puerto – JUAN DE EGUIA |
| Àngel Òdena’s Juan de Eguía relied on his experience, avoided excessive ornamentation and shed any brilliance to better embody the sombre character of Marola’s father; the baritone gained musicality and phrasing as the third act unfolded and his demons finally took control. |
Opera Actual
www.operaactual.com |
| In this production, Ángel Ódena once again demonstrated his perfect mastery in the role of Juan de Eguía, delivering a flawless portrayal of the corsair who arrives in the fishing village with his daughter to search for his last treasure before retiring. The baritone from Tarragona retained his rich, warm tone. His singing was characterized more by eloquence and vehemence than by subtlety. |
Codalario
www.codalario.com |
| Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona – La Traviata – GERMONT |
| Àngel Òdena was excellent from the beginning and his Giorgio Germont was exemplary. The awaited "Di Provenza il mar il suol" received long and well-deserved applause. |
Opera Online
www.opera-online.com |
| Opera di Oviedo – Nabucco – NABUCCO |
| ...we also enjoyed Àngel Òdena's Nabucco, with great vocal presence and excellent stage presence, which portrayed both sides of the role: ruthless in his entrance and pious at the end. |
Platea Magazine
www.plateamagazine.com |
| Opéra de Nice - Madama Butterfly - SHARPLESS |
| The baritone Àngel Òdena portrays a Sharpless of palpable humanity, with velvet vocal balm, intermediary between the cultures, father and kindred spirits. A singing serenity, accompanies his every performance. |
Olyrix
www.olyrix.com |
| Teatro Villamarta Jerez – Madama Butterfly – SHARPLESS |
| Catalanian baritone Àngel Òdena, who has already gained experience in the role of Sharpless, was the cast’s best singer. He made proof of a round, attractive and homogenous timbre and an accurate, measured phrasing, which was particularly brilliant in the long scene with Cio-Cio-San in the second act. His noble singing, appropriate to the role, also showed in the duet with Pinkerton in the first act (Dovunque al mondo) and „Io son che alle sue pene“. |
lavozdelsur.es
www.lavozdelsur.es |
| Baritone Àngel Òdena in the role of consul Sharpless proved vocal power and dramatic skills, which is highly estimated in a role in which one has to be able to give a perfect expression of various situations and moods during the entire performance. Zhe Jerez audience rewarded him with a warm applause. |
Diario de Jerez
www.diariodejerez.es |
| Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla – Tosca - SCARPIA |
| Àngel Òdena, with his usual honesty and professionalism, gave a Scarpia that was well sung, expressed and acted from beginning to end. His is not a voice of special personality or overwhelming presence, but he makes up for it with his great commitment and a musical and a theatrical characterisation of the highest level. |
Platea Magazine
www.plateamagazine.com |
| ...expressive, vehement, strong-voiced Scarpia by Ángel Ódena. |
Platea Magazine
www.plateamagazine.com |
| Àngel Òdena was simply superb. Formidable his incarnation of the blessed satyr. His Scarpia is a luxury. An imposing voice and a performance focused on detail, not histrionic, human, one of those that are epoch-making. Hopefully, we will see him again soon in here, as it has been a long time since we have enjoyed his singing. Awe-inspiring "Te Deum", accompanied by a Maestranza Choir in a state of grace, placed on the heights of the theatre, a brilliant idea, achieving a very powerful phantasmagorical effect. |
El Palco de mi prima
www.facebook.com/elpalcodemiprima |
| Àngel Òdena is an exceptional bass-baritone. The unique well-placed voice is loud enough to leap the distant pit and has an astonishing clarity of diction and an equally attractive singing line. |
Sveilla ABC
www.sevilla.abc.es |
| Àngel Òdena corroborated his profile as a competent baritone, capable of saving any of the characters entrusted to him with good note and a lot of character, both in singing and acting, achieving a sufficiently perverse Scarpia and shining with his broad and flexible voice, capable of nuancing his interventions to the maximum. |
elCorreo
www.elcorreoweb.es |
| Opera de Oviedo - Viva la jota - MELCHOR |
| Àngel Òdena was fabulous incarnating the malevolent Melchor, origin of Dolores’ evils, and presented his astonishing singing qualities and dramatic abilities. |
Scherzo
www.scherzo.es |
| ...and Melchor, the "cruel and violent" macho, brought to life with an outstanding stage presence and voice by Àngel Òdena. |
La Nueva España
www.lne.es |
| Àngel Òdena was fabulous as Melchor. The Tarragona baritone is ideal for these antagonist roles that favor his somewhat darkened timbre, and his imposing projection, not without admirable musicality, as could be appreciated during the famous jota. |
La Nueva España
www.lne.es |
| Opera de Bilbao – Falstaff - FORD |
| Excellent Ford by Àngel Òdena, portraying a very jealous and hyperactive husband. He has a good technique, a homogeneous voice as solid as granite and no problems with projection. His jealousy aria in the second act was very impressive. |
| El Diario |
| Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Tristan und Isolde - KURWENAL |
| Splendid Àngel Òdena's Kurwenal, sonorous and vibrant, with an excellently placed voice and an innate sense of the score and the character. |
| Diario La Província, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |
| Arena di Vernona – Carmen - ESCAMILLO |
| Escamillo, convincingly and elegantly sung by Àngel Òdena with an impeccable vocal line and remarkable stage presence. |
| Alessandro Cammarano. Operaclick. |
| Àngel Òdena’s tone is warm in both low and high registers. He always sings with beautiful phrasing and profound sentiment. |
| BluArt |
| Opéra de Toulouse – Carmen – ESCAMILLO |
| A perfectly portrayed Escamillo, sung with a robust and homogeneous voice, that effortlessly copes with this role. |
| Forum Opera |
| Àngel Òdena’s Escamillo was very convincing. |
| Le Quotidien |
| Opéra de Orange – Carmen – ESCAMILLO |
| A brilliant Escamillo, excellently performed by the Spanish baritone Àngel Òdena. |
| L'Humanité |
| Àngel Òdena's Escamillo, was sung with a strong and velvet timbre. |
| Bernard Georges L' Herault du Jour |
| Miami Grand Opera – Luisa Fernanda – VIDAL |
| The Spanish baritone Òdena completely stole the show …there is no adequate adjective to describe this man’s voice. It fills every crevice of the room with vocal resonance. Beyond that, his acting performance was equally magnetic. Where he conveyed passionate love, it was as though sunbeams radiated around his body. Where his character was defeated, it seemed a hole sunk into the stage around his feet. We had never thought we’d say this about a man in knee-high boots, but the guy was downright sexy. We would have happily sat for two hours listening to his voice alone. |
| New York Times |
| Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Manon Lescaut - LESCAUT |
| Àngel Òdena performed a superb Lescaut, effortlessly singing the difficult passages. |
| Cayetano Sánchez, Ópera Actual |
| Opera de Oviedo - Le Villi |
| Àngel Òdena always sings passionately with round sound. He richly portrays his character. Effortlessly, he could be heard above the brass and woods. |
| Diana Díaz, La Nueva España |
| Opéra de Lausanne - Madama Butterfly – SHARPLESS |
| Àngel Òdena was an absolutely breath-taking Sharpless, appealing in flexibility and generosity. |
| Bernard Halter, 24 Heures |
| Opera de Oviedo – Un ballo in Maschera – RENATO |
| As for its volume, vocal projection, passion and a will to triumph Angel Òdena was definitively the winner. He is one of Spain’s rising stars and his performances in Oviedo are of the highest quality. |
| Cosme Marina, La Nueva España |
| With his exceptionally large and round voice, he sings his role with absolute ease and with emotional lyricism in the third act. |
| Ramón Avello, El Comercio |
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