Joel Prieto was born in Madrid; his mother is Puerto Rican and his father
Spanish. At the age of four, he moved to Puerto Rico and currently lives
between Berlin and Paris.
A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he moved to Europe to study
first at the Atelier Lyrique of the Opera National de Paris and then at
the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival. He was a member of the
ensemble of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin from 2006 to 2008 and established
himself internationally after flanking Placido Domingo in the zarzuela Luisa
Fernanda at the Theater an der Wien in 2008.
Joel Prieto won several awards in the 2008 edition of Placido Domingo's
Operalia Contest: First Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and Culturarte Prize, thus
jumping onto the international circuit. In addition, he has received the
"Voices of the year" award as the best male voice of 2013 awarded by the
Association of Lyrical Singers of Spain.
He has performed in some of the most prestigious opera and concert venues
around the world such as: Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Covent Garden Royal
Opera House and Wigmore Hall in London, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre
del Liceu in Barcelona, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Opera
de Oviedo, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Staatsoper Unter den Linden
and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Semperoper in Dresden, Bayerische Staatsoper
in Munich, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles
Opera, Opera National de Paris and Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Theatre
du Capitol in Toulouse, Opera de Monte-Carlo in Monaco, La Monnaie de Munt
in Brussels, Theater an der Wien and Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Teatro
dell'Opera di Roma, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw,
Great National Theater of China in Beijing, NHK Hall in Tokyo, Opera de
Puerto Rico, and Teatro Municipal of Santiago in Chile among others.
As well as in the most important festivals: Salzburg Festival, Santa Fe
Opera Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Edinburgh International Festival,
Festival dei due Mondi Spoleto, Bad Kissingen Summer Festival, Festival
Casals, Festival of Spanish Lyric Theater, Festival d'Aix-en- Provence,
and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York.
The tenor has participated in many highly relevant productions recorded
on DVD and streamed on live broadcasts throughout his career,
collaborating with directors such as Zubin Mehta, Fabio Luisi, Yannick
Nezet-Seguin, Trevor Pinnock, Robin Ticciati, Daniele Gatti, Roberto
Abbado , Ivor Bolton, Ottavio Dantone, Daniele Callegari, Bruno
Campanella, Adam Fischer and stage directors such as Sir David McVicar,
Robert Carsen, Claus Guth, Christof Loy, Emilio Sagi, Barrie Kosky,
Francisco Negran, Stephen Lawless, Daniel Satler, Harry Kupfer , Frederic
Wake-Walker and Hans Neuenfels, among others.
Joel began his career singing the main roles of the Mozartian and bel
canto repertoire, now establishing himself as a lyric tenor with roles
such as Romeo, Edgardo, Nemorino, Lensky, Alfredo, Faust, Don Jose, and
Rodolfo, among others.
Joel Prieto's recent seasons include debuts at the Los Angeles Opera, the
Santa Fe Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Aix-en Provence Festival
and the Orchestre National de Lyon, as well as returns to the Theatre du
Capitole de Toulouse, the Berlin Staatsoper and the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
He regularly collaborates with the Centro de Bellas Artes of Puerto Rico,
the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the Casals Festival and the San Juan
Bautista Choir. In terms of concerts and recitals, Joel travelled to
Moscow for his Russian debut at the Dom Muzyki Chamber Hall, collaborating
with pianist Semjon Skigin.
He also sang his first Mozart's Requiem with the Houston
Symphony conducted by new music director Andres Orozco-Estrada. He has
sung Fenton at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Gran Teatre del
Liceu, Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse; Don Ottavio at the Salzburg
Festival and Houston Grand Opera; Ferrando at the Bayerische Staatsoper
and Aix-en-Provence Festival, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia,
Washington National Opera, Grand Theatre de Luxembourg and Palm Beach
Opera; Tamino at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Staatsoper Berlin;
Tebaldo in Romeo et Juliette at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in
concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Ernesto at the Teatro
dell'Opera in Rome; Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the
Opera Puerto Rico.
On stage, Joel performed Mozart's Mass in C minor at the
Salzburg Festival, Haydn's Stabat Mater at the Mozarteum in
Salzburg, Haydn's Creation at the Teatro de la Maestranza in
Seville and the Evangelist in Herzogenberg's Die Geburt Christi at
the Wolhusen Monastery in Switzerland. He also took part in a charity
evening for Pakistan with Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, Anna Prohaska and
Piotr Bezcala, in the gala of the Bergen Nasjonale Opera with Barbara
Frittoli in Norway and in the gala of the Bad Kissingen Music Festival.
Joel has performed recitals at Wigmore Hall with pianist Ian Burnside and
in the Rosenblatt Recital Series, to great acclaim.
Recent engagements include Don Giovanni in Oviedo; Die
Zaubeflote in Turin, Buenos Aires and Nice; L'Elisir d'amore in
Bilbao; Cosi fan tutte in Valladolid and Tokyo; Salome in
Rome; Il Pipistrello in Cagliari; Don Pasquale
in Lausanne and Falstaff in Valladolid.
Future engagements include: Otello in Strasbourg and Mulhouse; Die
Lustige Witwe in Beijing and Carmen in Antwerpen and Bruges.
July 2025