A prominent figure in Colombia’s lyrical scene, Alejandro Roca’s enthusiasm and interest in the vocal repertoire has led him to promote and participate in the most important projects in the field over the last decade. His rigorous work of many years as a pianist and vocal coach in countries like Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, United States, China, Singapore, Philippines and Australia has been the backbone that has shaped his current musical vision.

Over the last three years, Roca has been at the helm of some of the country’s leading orchestras conducting a wide breadth of productions, among which are the zarzuelas Cecilia Valdés (Roig) in 2017, with the Colombian National Symphony and the Cali Philharmonic Orchestra; and Black el payaso (Sorozábal) in 2015, also with the Colombian National Symphony. In 2016 and 2017 he conducted the national premieres of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Bernstein’s Candide, respectively, with the Bogotá youth Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he also presented Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio in 2016, together with the Opera de Colombia. With this company, alongside the Bogota Symphonic Orchestra (FOSBO), he conducted Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Der Schauspieldirektor in 2015. Additionally, I due Figaro (Mercadante) in 2016 and El gato con botas (Montsalvatge) in 2017 together with the Symphony Orchestra of the Universidad Central.

These projects, in addition to his collaboration throughout the years with renowned conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Hilary Griffiths, Patrick Fournillier, Miguel Roa and Luiz Fernando Malheiro, among others, add more than fifty fully prepared projects to Roca’s extensive repertoire, which spans across opera and zarzuela.

Alejandro Roca has been the Head Vocal Coach and Director of the Opera Workshop at Universidad Central (Colombia) since 2007 and he is frequently invited to partake in relevant academic projects. During 2011 and 2012, he was the Academic Director for the Educational Program of the Cartagena International Music Festival and since 2006, he has been part of the faculty for the Scuola Italia Summer Opera Program for Young Singers in Sant’Angelo in Vado (Italy) as Musical director and coach. Likewise, he has imparted master classes at Indiana University and in The University of Michigan (US), at the Nayang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) and in the most prestigious universities of Colombia.

In 2018, the Colombian conductor will once again lead the Colombian National Symphony in the zarzuela Los Gavilanes. Also, he will be a guest artist at the Almagro International Classical Theatre Festival (Spain) alongside the soprano, Betty Garcés, and he will participate in the recording of composer Pedro Ramirez’s most recent work, together with the QArte Quartet and the Metropolitan Opera artist Valeriano Lanchas.

(May 2018)