Mexican-American bass-baritone, Richard Ollarsaba, praised by the Washington Post for his “meltingly smooth bass-baritone” and for “evoking a young Ruggero Raimondi in looks and manner,” represented the USA in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, was a member of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago for three seasons and a grand finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
This season he will reprise the roles of Escamillo in Carmen with Opera Columbus, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Portland Opera and Piedmont Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni with Inland Northwestern Opera and Arizona Opera. He will also make his role debut as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Pensacola Opera.
Season 2022/23 highlights include debuts with the Glimmerglass Festival, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Portland Opera as Escamillo in Carmen, a debut with Chicago Opera Theater in the world-premiere opera The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing by Justine Chen and David Simpatico, and as Bass Soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Master Chorale of South Florida.
A native of Tempe, Arizona, Ollarsaba holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
