Ray Chenez

Ray Chenez was featured in the October 2015 issue of Opera News as one of 25 rising stars of opera, which stated “Ray Chenez’s countertenor is bold and assertive but also warm-toned and luxurious. He has a naturally electric presence, and his diction is precise no matter how high he sings.” Winner of the prestigious 2014 George London Award, Ray Chenez is rapidly establishing a major international career in opera. He has been called “luxury casting” by the New York Times, having “excellent connection to text, superb vocal control and spotless diction” by Opera News, and having a “dramatic soprano voice which oozes potential” by Opera Britannia.

He made his European debut in in the 2014-15 season in the role of Marzia in Leonardo Vinci’s Catone in Utica alongside Max Emanuel Cencic and Franco Fagioli at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, and the Bergen International Festival with Riccardo Minasi and Il Pomo d’Oro. In the 2015-16 season he returns to the Opéra Royal de Versailles and makes his debut at the Opéra national de Lorraine in the roles of Nutrice and Amore in a new production of Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo under the baton of Raphaël Pichon, resprises the role of Marzia in Vinci’s Catone in Utica at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Romania and the Theater an der Wien; makes his debut with Opera Omaha as Athamas in Handel’s Semele under the baton of Stephen Stubbs; and sings the virtuosic role of Achille in Luigi Cherubini’s Ifigenia in Aulide at the Internationale Gluck-Opern-Festspiele in Würzburg. In concert, he makes his Carnegie Hall debut and his debut with Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined in a solo program including Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus.

In the 2014-15 season he made his debut in Lincoln Center as the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and reprised the role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Nickel City Opera, a role he received rave reviews for in his Canadian debut with Pacific Opera Victoria during the 2013-2014 season – CBC Radio stated he “captured the audience’s heart,” the Times Colonist reported “What Chenez does in a mezzo’s register is technically amazing and often affecting, and his Cherubino is at once hilarious and sympathetic,” and CVV Magazine hailed him for his “stunning countertenor and lanky gesticulations.”

Ray Chenez was born in the town of Lockport, NY (USA), and completed his vocal studies at the State University of New York at Fredonia and Florida State University. He is a winner of the George London Award, Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, and many other competitions. As a studio artist with Opera Santa Barbara in California, he covered the title role in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. In addition to his work on the opera stage, he has also performed the concert repertoire of Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, and Bernstein.

More information on http://www.raychenez.com/