Puerto Rican Bass, Ricardo Lugo, returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the 2008-09 Season in productions of Macbeth, La Gioconda, Adriana Lecouvreur, and Salome.  He will also appear as Timur in Puccini’s Turandot with DiCapo Opera Theater.  Mr. Lugo’s concert engagements include Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem with the Mexico State Symphony and the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

Engagements in Mr. Lugo’s 2007-08 Season included Prokofiev’s The Gambler at the Met, and his debut with the San Francisco Opera, singing Reinmar von Zweter in Tannhäuser; engaged there for their productions of Die Zauberflöteand Macbeth.  Other engagements included his debut with the Opera Orchestra of New York as Jacopo Loredano in I due Foscari conducted by Eve Queler, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera de Puerto Rico and a concert appearance with New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2006-07 Season, Mr. Lugo made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Un Barnabotto in La Gioconda, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, and his Washington National Opera debut, singing Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, conducted by Maestro Plácido Domingo.  Other notable engagements included Sparafucile in Rigoletto for Opera Southwest; Geronte in Manon Lescaut for DiCapo Opera; Dr. Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore for Festival Paiz in Guatamala; and Roucher and Dumas in Andrea Chenier for Cultuarte de Puerto Rico.

In Summer 2007, Ricardo Lugoperformed Annibale Pistacchio in Donizetti’s Il Campanello di Notte with Santa Fe Opera’s new One Hour Opera Performances.  Mr. Lugo was an apprentice artist in The Santa Fe Opera’s 2006 and 2005 Festival Seasons, featured as the King in a new production of Massenet’s Cendrillon, with Joyce DiDonato and Richard Stilwell directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Kenneth Montgomery; and as the First Soldier in Strauss’ Salome, conducted by John Fiore.

During the 2005-2006 Season, Mr. Lugo appeared with the Opera de Puerto Rico as Ramfis in Aïda; conducted by Teo Alcántara.  Also, he was featured as Jose Tripaldi in the acclaimed production of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, directed by Peter Sellars, during Lincoln Center’s Festival entitled” The Passion of Osvaldo Golijov”.  Other engagements include Happy in La fanciulla del West with Tampa Opera; Ramfis with the Mosaico Cultural in Guatemala; a return to the Opera de Puerto Rico as Colline in La Bohème.  Mr. Lugo made his New York Recital Debut on February 2006 at the Liederkranz Foundation.

Ricardo Lugo performs regularly with all the opera companies of his native Puerto Rico. With the Opera de Puerto Rico, he has performed Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte; Dr. Grenvil in La traviata; Colline in La Bohème; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia; and Angelotti in Tosca.  For Teatro de la Opera, he added the roles of Pietro in Simon Boccanegra; Masetto in Don Giovanni; Tom in Un ballo in maschera; Crespel in Les Contes d’Hoffman; Frere Laurent in Romeo et Juliette; the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte; Ludovico in Otello;and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro.  He has also taken part in CulturArte, where he performed the roles of Dr. Grenvil in La traviata, opposite Carol Vaness and Plácido Domingo;and Ludovico in Otelloopposite June Anderson and Placido Domingo, both conducted by Eugene Kohn.

Mr. Lugo is a recipient of an Opera Index Award, a Liederkranz Foundation Award and a finalist in the regional auditions of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New Orleans.  He is also a recipient of the Justino Diaz Scholarship given at the Metropolitan Opera Auditions-District of Puerto Rico.

Mr. Lugo studied at The Julliard School where he was a student of Daniel Ferro and Steven Smith; and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.