Héctor Guedes, Baritone, began his operatic training at the Opera Studio Buenos Aires, following a career as a psychologist and an actor. His teachers include Miss Margaretha Kenney, Mr. Josef Metternich and Mr. Arthur Levy in New York.
He made his international debut as Figaro (Rossini) in Barcelona as a result of being a prize winner at the Viñas Competition in 1985. That same year he was also a finalist in the 2nd LUCIANO PAVAROTTI International Voice Competition in Philadelphia. His opera appearances and concerts have taken Mr. Guedes through Europe, North and South America, as well as Asia including among others: the Fenice in Venice, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the opera houses and concert halls in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Munich (Nationaltheater and Festspiele), Wien, Glasgow, Dublin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Toulouse, Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Vancouver, Houston Symphony, Tokyo, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Biennale in Munich. He has performed under the baton of such noted conductors as Jeffrey Tate, Christoph Eschenbach, Gabriele Ferro, Gerard Schwarz, Paul Daniel, W. Scheidt, E. Whallon, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Antonio Ros Marba, Mario Perusso, E. Ricci, etc.
Mr. Guedes has developed a diversified career, encompassing a large variety of roles, ranging from the traditional to the contemporary. Some of his most successful interpretations among the first ones are: Don Giovanni, Figaro (Rossini), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Germont, Rigoletto, Renato, Conte di Luna, Iago, Marcello, Valentin, Escamillo, etc. He has recently added two Wagnerian roles to his repertoire: Alberich and Telramund. His contemporary music appearences include world premieres of “Leyla and Medjnun” (D.Glanert), Jorge Liderman’s “Antigona”; “Ein Brudermord” and “Schlachthof 5” (both written by Hans Jürgen von Bose), “Solaris” (Michael Obst), Toshio Hosokawa’s “Lear”; Astor Piazzola’s “Maria de Buenos Aires”; György Ligeti´s “Le Grand Macabre” (Nekrotzar); Luca Lombardi´s “Dmitri” (Schostakovich), Manfred Trojahn´s “Enrico” (Enrico) and Goya in Nigel Osborne´s “Terrible Mouth”, which Mr. Guedes performed at The Theater an der Wien to great success.
In the past few seasons Mr. Guedes has performed Maria de Buenos Aires in Rome at the Summer Festival at the Villa Adriana at Tivoli; Janacek’s: Jenufa with Hildegard Behrens in Toulouse; toured with the Swiss String Quartet I Salonisti throughout Europe and Asia; made his debuts both as Alberich in “The Ring” and as the Director of “Rigoletto” in Dachau. He then continued his busy schedule throughout Germany and France, performing roles in “Macbeth,” “Salome,” “The Tales of Hoffmann,” and in “Die Meistersinger.” In 2006-07, Mr. Guedes revived Alberich under the direction of Gustav Kuhn at the Tiroler Festspiele. He began the season by directing “Don Giovanni” at the Dachau Festival; performed both Cavalleria (Alfio) und Pagliacci (Tonio); returned to the Gasteig in Munich for Henze’s “El Cimarrón; and later traveled to the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where he sang “Candide” under the direction of Maestro Jeffrey Tate. He concluded the season with the roles of Prometheus in “Die Vögel von Brauenfels” and Der Sprecher in “Die Zauberflöte” in Toulouse.
Mr. Guedes continues his new role as a Director at the Festival in Dachau with Bizet’s “Carmen.” Other highlights of the year include two operas by Janacek: “Jenufa” in Monte Carlo and ”Aus einem Totenhaus” in Palermo; “Wozzeck” at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, again under the direction of Maestro Tate; ”Elektra” in Venice; and returns to Toulouse to sing “Salome.” Equally at home on the concert stage, Mr. Guedes performed a solo recital at the Gasteig in Munich.
This season, 2012/13, he returns to his native Argentina, where he sings Alberich in The Ring, Telramund in Lohengrin, and Claggart in Billy Budd. In June 2013 Mr. Guides once again directs and performs at the Gasteig, where he has created a collage of operatic works revolving around Orpheus, from Monteverdi to Offenbach. He returns to Buenos Aires in 2014 to premiere with Rupprecht in The Fiery Angel.
Mr. Guedes appears on several CD recordings: as Tito in “Maria de Buenos Aires” (Astor Piazzola), songs by Igor Stravinsky, the title role in Hans von Bose´s “Ein Brudermord” and his new album of Operatic Arias. Mr. Guedes currently lives in Munich.
Curzon Artists Management 