Praised for his “noble vocal colour” (Wiener Zeitung) and his “smooth, golden tenor” (Der Standard), Julian Henao excels in a repertoire including works by Bizet, Debussy, Donizetti, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Salieri, Tchaikovsky and Verdi.
As a member of the Young Ensemble at the Theater an der Wien, he sang roles including Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande, Ernesto Don Pasquale, Toniolo in Gassmann’s Gli uccellatori, Pilade Oreste, Ferrando Così fan tutte, Christgeist Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, Lucio / Gondoliere in Rossini’s Otello, Bandiera in Salieri’s La scuola de’i gelosi, Harlekin / Soldier in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Malcolm Macbeth.
Recent engagements have included Pilade Oreste at the Halle Handel Festival, Mengone Lo speziale at the Teatro Barocco, Stift Altenburg, Don Ottavio Don Govanni for Vienna Festival Opera, Tamino Die Zauberflöte in Oberursel and Phillippsburg, The Son / The Journalist Les mamelles de Tirésias and Torquemada L’heure espagnole at the Wiener Kammeroper, Count Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia and Conte Alberto L’occasione fa il ladro at the Tiroler Festspiele, Erl, Pilade Ermione for his debut at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, Rodrigo / Egoldo Matilde di Shabran at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival and Tenor Soloist Die Backchen (The Bacchae) at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
Conductors with whom he has worked include Bertrand de Billy, Rubén Dubrovsky, Patrick Hahn, Andreas Leisner, Antonello Manacorda, Alessandro De Marchi, José Miguel Pérez-Sierra and Toby Purser.
Julian Henao first studied singing with Prof. Bernardo Sánchez and Maestro Detlef Scholz at the Universidad de Antioquia and the Academia Bernardo Sanchez in his native Colombia, making his stage debut as Saboyano Luisa Fernanda at the Medellin Opera House. He continued his vocal studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Edith Lienbacher and Regine Köbler and continues his studies with Jésus León.
Current engagements include the Don Ottavio Don Govanni for Vienna Festival Opera, the revival of Die Backchen at the Burgtheater, Vienna, a recital for The Chopin Society, Warsaw, concerts for the Ainburger Haydn Gesellschaft and the Passauer Herbstsaiten and studying with Ernesto Palacio at the Accademia Rossiniana “Alberto Zedda” of the Rossini Festival, Pesaro.
His recordings include Matilde di Shabran from the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, now available on Naxos CD.
Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.
