Biography

Celso Albelo, tenor

As an exponent of such genuine romantic bel canto, he is one of the most in demand tenors at the world’s leading theatres. He has sung more than 30 operatic and zarzuela characters, as well as a wide range of oratorios and symphonies, a repertoire that he is expanding by incorporating various roles such as the Verdi characters Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera), Macduff (Macbeth), and Manrico (Il Trovatore)—which join Alfredo (La Traviata) and the Duca (Rigoletto), which he has performed for years—as well as Chevalier Des Grieux (Massenet’s Manon), Rodolfo (Puccini’s La Bohème), and Pinkerton (Puccini’s Madama Butterfly).

Celso Albelo was born in Santa Cruz in Tenerife and trained at the Conservatoire in his home town with Isabel García Soto until he moved to Madrid to continue studying with Tom Krause and Manuel Cid at the Escuela Superior de Canto Reina Sofía before being accepted at the Busseto Academy (Italy), where he perfected his art with the great Carlo Bergonzi.

His international career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses in the world, from the New York Metropolitan to La Scala in Milan, as well as the Vienna Staatsoper, the Berlin Deutsche Oper, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Royal Opera House in London, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Paris Opéra National, the Neapolitan Teatro San Carlo, the Fenice in Venice and the Massimo in Palermo, among many others in Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, China, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Monte-Carlo and Chile.

For the 2025-2026 season, among other engagements, he will notably perform in a bel canto concert and in Il Pirata at the Bellini International Context in Catania; the title role of Werther by Massenet at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb; his return to the Ópera de Oviedo as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto; to the ABAO Bilbao Opera season with Werther; to the Amics de s’Òpera de Maó season as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera; and to the Teatro Real in Madrid to sing the role of Manrico in Verdi’s Il Trovatore.

The 2024-2025 season included his participation in the opening of the Ópera de A Coruña season as Rodolfo in La Bohème; Jorge in Marina, by Arrieta, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; IL Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Sorozábal’s La Tabernera del Puerto at the Teatro de la Zarzuela and at the Royal Opera Festival in Kraków: and a recital at Festival Lírico Ópera Benicàssim.

Outstanding engagements in the 2023-2024 season, among other commitments, are his participation in the opening of the 75th-anniversary season at the Oviedo Opera, where he makes his debut in the role of Chevalier des Grieux in Manon by Massenet; his debut at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile as Ernesto in Don Pasquale; his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; his debut at Festival  Ljubljana with the Messe de Requiem, by Saint-Saëns; his debut at the Theatro Municipal in Sao Paulo with his first Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, as well as his return at the Abao Bilbao Opera as Rodolfo in La Bohème.

In the 2022-2023 season, he performed in Doña Francisquita in the 30th Zarzuela Season of the Canary Islands. He also appeared in Anna Bolena at the Opéra de Lausanne, La Traviata at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Opéra de Montecarlo; he also made his debut as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. At the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid he starred in the concert “Una Serenata Española“; (where he presented his album of the same title recorded with the UCM Orquesta de Pulso y Púa); he had a hugely successful debut as Manrico in Verdi’s Il Trovatore in the ABAO Bilbao Opera season, four days before taking on the challenging role of Arturo in Bellini’s I Puritani at the Ópera de Maó (Menorca), captivating audiences with two of the most difficult tenor roles in almost opposite styles.

His career was launched in 2006 with the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto (Verdi) in Busseto, the cradle of Verdi operas. He has also sung a large amount of his repertoire in festivals such as the Sferisterio in Macerata, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the Terme di Caracalla Festival in Rome, the Castell de Peralada Festival in Spain, the Solothurn Classics Open Air Festival, Savonlinna Festival, the London Proms and at Baden-Baden Festspielehaus.

In Spain he is regularly invited to sing in cities such as Bilbao, Santa Cruz in Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, A Coruña, Seville, Oviedo, Valencia and Mahón.

Very much loved and respected in the Far East, one of his tours of Japan in a Bologna Teatro Comunale production was awarded a prize by the magazine Ongakunotomo. He has also been named Honorary Artistic Consultant alongside artists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter and Vladimir Ashkenazy by the Guangzhou Opera in Canton, China.

He has collaborated with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding, Daniel Oren, Alberto Zedda, Nello Santi, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Carlo Rizzi, Evelino Pidò, Riccardo Frizza, Josep Pons o Gianluigi Gelmetti.

He has been awarded the 2008 Ópera Actual Prize, the Oscar della Lirica at the International Opera Awards at the Arena di Verona (in 2010 and 2012), the Teatro Campoamor Opera Prize for Best Newcomer (2010) and Best Singer of the Season (2012), the Giuseppe Lugo Prize in Italy (2013), the Codalario Magazine Prize (2014) and the Taburiente Award (2017). In 2013 he was decorated with the Canary Island Golden Medal by the Island Government, in 2015 he was named Sabandeño de Oro, in
2016 Favourite Son by the La Laguna Council (Canary Islands) and in 2024, he received the Teide de Oro Award from Radio Club Tenerife for his brilliant career.