Through his uniquely compelling performances, Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself as one of the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars and as one of the leading artistic voices of our day. Celebrated and loved by critics and audiences alike, Villazón's versatility is unique: in addition to his stage career, he is also a stage director, novelist, artistic director and presenter on television and radio.

Born in Mexico City, he began his musical studies at the National Conservatory of his native country before becoming a member of the junior programs at the Pittsburgh Opera and San Francisco Opera. Rolando Villazón quickly made a name for himself on the international music scene after winning several prizes at Plácido Domingo's "Operalia" competition in 1999 (including the Zarzuela Prize and the Audience Prize). This was followed in the same year by his European debut as Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon in Genoa and debuts as Alfredo in La Traviata at the Opéra de Paris and as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth at the Staatsoper Berlin. Since then, Rolando Villazón has been a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, Munich and Vienna, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Salzburg Festival, working with leading orchestras and renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Antonio Pappano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has performed at venues including London's Barbican Hall, the Philharmonie in Paris, Berlin and Cologne, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and New York's Carnegie Hall. In 2011, Rolando Villazón made his debut as a stage director with an acclaimed production of Massenet’s Werther with the Opéra Lyon and has since directed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, the Vienna Volksoper, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées and most recently at the 2022 Salzburg Festival, where his production of Il barbiere di Siviglia with a star cast under the direction of Cecilia Bartoli was acclaimed by critics and audiences.

In 2007, Rolando Villazón became an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon and since then has sold over 2 million albums worldwide with a catalogue including over 20 CDs and DVDs which have received numerous prizes. He was also awarded the title of Chévalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest honors in the field of art and literature in France, his permanent residence. Rolando Villazón is an ambassador for RED NOSES Clowndoctors International and a member of the Collège de Pataphysique de Paris. His first novel "Malabares" was published in 2013, followed by "Lebenskünstler" in 2017 and "Amadeus auf dem Fahrrad" in 2020, which was on Der Spiegel magazine's bestseller list for several weeks. Rolando Villazón presented his own series "Stars of Tomorrow" on Arte, hosted on Radio Classique in France and can be heard daily on Klassik Radio with "Rolando furioso". In 2017, he was appointed ambassador of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. He is currently the artistic director of the foundation.

In the 2024-25 season, Rolando Villazón makes his debut as the title character in Mozart’s Idomeneo in performances of David McVicar’s production at Staatsoper Berlin, conducted by Alessandro de Marchi. He brings his acclaimed portrayal of Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo in Nikolaus Habjan’s production to the 2025 Salzburg Mozart Week and takes on the role of Gabriel Eisenstein in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus for the first time at Theater St. Gallen. In April, Rolando Villazón celebrates the 250^th anniversary of Mozart’s Il re pastore by singing one of his most acclaimed roles, Alessandro, in a single concert performance at the place of the opera’s premiere in Salzburg. On the concert stage, Rolando Villazón and lautten compagney BERLIN present their new concert programme Viaggio dell’anima at Merano Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Dresden Musikfestspiele, and in Salzburg, Gütersloh, Weingarten, Neuruppin, and Schaffhausen amongst others. Villazón and mezzo soprano Kate Lindsey present their acclaimed programme Amore e Follia at the Tonhalle Zürich, Vienna Konzerthaus, in Prague Smetana Hall, and at the Festival der Nationen in Bad Wörishofen. The tenor returns to his home country for concerts in Mexico City, Torreon and Guadalajara and can be heard in solo recitals at Musikverein Graz, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, and in Sofia, amongst others. Rolando Villazón and harpist Xavier de Maistre present their celebrated Serenata Latina in various cities including Düsseldorf, Bremen, Six Fours, São Paolo and Shanghai. Rolando Villazón reprises double-duty as both host and performer for the iconic AIDS-Gala at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper and continues to host a daily show on Germany’s KlassikRadio.

As the Artistic Director of the International Mozarteum Foundation, he continues to curate the programmes for both season concerts and the internationally acclaimed Mozart Week Festival each January in Salzburg and takes the festival on tour to Colombia.

“Xavier de Maistre is a virtuoso of the highest order, profoundly musical and capable of realising a remarkable range of nuance.” (Gramophone)

Xavier de Maistre is one of today's leading harpists and a profoundly creative musician. As a fierce champion of his instrument, he has broadened the harp repertoire, commissioning new work from composers. He also creates transcriptions of important instrumental repertoire.

Xavier starts his 2024/25 season as an artist-in-residence of Sinfonieorchester Basel, by opening their season under Ivor Bolton and performing multiple concerts throughout the whole season. Other season's highlights include performances with Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by TAN Dun, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Nathalie Stutzmann, Korean National Symphony with David Reiland, and China National Symphony Orchestra. His Serenata Latina duo with Rolando Villazon leads him to major venues and festivals including Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Die Glocke in Bremen, Heidelberger Frühling, Teatro Cultura Artistica in Sao Paulo and Shanghai Grand Theatre, and his highly creative solo recital programme to prestigious series of Stanford Live in the USA and Meisterkonzert of Zentrum Paul Klee in Switzerland.

He is regularly invited by first-class orchestras across the globe: Chicago, Montréal, City of Birmingham, Swedish and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras; Los Angeles, London, St Petersburg, Oslo and China Philharmonic Orchestras; Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo; working with conductors including Sir André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Philippe Jordan, Bertrand de Billy, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Daniel Harding, Susanna Mälkki and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

As a recital soloist, he has been a guest at many top festivals, including Rheingau, Salzburger Festspielen, Wiener Festwochen, Verbier, Budapest Spring, Würzburg Mozartfest and Mostly Mozart in New York. He is passionate about chamber music and regularly puts together original recital projects, including numerous collaborations with highly versatile artists like tenor Rolando Villazón, flamenco and castanet legend Lucero Tena, Diana Damrau, Arabella Steinbacher, Daniel Müller-Schott, Baiba Skride, Antoine Tamestit, Mojca Erdmann or Magali Mosnier.

Xavier has been an exclusive Sony Music artist since 2008, when he recorded his first album, Nuit d’Etoiles, dedicated to Debussy. Further releases include Hommage à Haydn (2009), Aranjuez (2010), Notte Veneziana (2012), Moldau (2015), and La Harpe Reine (2016) with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie. His album Christmas Harp (October 2021) features paraphrases and fantasies of famous Christmas carols. He recorded a highly acclaimed Serenata Latina album with Rolando Villazon (Deutsche Gramophone) in 2020. In autumn 2022, his latest CD dedicated to Russian music was released, featuring Reinhold Glière's famous harp concerto and Alexander Mosolov's forgotten concerto, accompanied by WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln under the baton of Nathalie Stutzmann.

Born in Toulon, Xavier studied the harp with Vassilia Briano at his local conservatoire, before perfecting his technique with Catherine Michel and Jacqueline Borot in Paris. He also studied in Sciences-Po Paris and then at the London School of Economics. In 1998 he was awarded First Prize (and two interpretation prizes) at the prestigious USA International Harp Competition (Bloomington) and became the first French musician to be admitted at the Wiener Philharmoniker that same year.

He has taught at Musikhochschule in Hamburg since 2001. He plays on a Lyon & Healy instrument.