Gaston Rivero


Gaston Rivero is an Uruguayan-US American operatic tenor from Argentina.

Life and education

Rivero was born in Montevideo, and raised in Buenos Aires. His grandfather Ramón Olivera was a violinist at the Sodre Theater in Montevideo, Uruguay, and his father Carlos Rivero was a tenor at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Rivero was interested in soccer as a teenager, and showed talent in singing at the age of 14. At age 19 he appeared in a concert with music by Jacques Offenbach at the Auditorio Del Pilar in Buenos Aires.
He worked as an assistant in a law firm and studied in the evenings at the National Conservatory of Music Carlos Lopez Buchardo. After applying for a position in the Teatro Colón choir three times without success, he moved to New York City with a scholarship in 2001. He participated in numerous competitions, winning stipends and monetary prizes that enabled him to continue his education in New York, where conductor became his teacher and mentor. He studied at the music conservatory of Westchester and the Renata Scotto Opera Academy in New York.

Career

Rivero made his concert debut at Carnegie Hall in December 2002, and joined the cast of Baz Luhrmann's production of La bohème on Broadway as understudy for the role of Rodolfo in the same year, resulting in his Broadway theatre debut in 2003. Rivero's opera debut followed in 2004 in Ponchielli's La Gioconda with the Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler. He made his European debut in 2005, performing the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. Rivero sang the roles of Doge and Gondolier in Rossini's Otello at Carnegie Hall with the OONY conducted by Queler in 2007, alongside Bruce Ford as Otello, and Kenneth Tarver as Roderigo.
In 2013, Rivero stepped in to appear as Manrico in Verdi's Il trovatore alongside Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, and Marina Prudenskaya, conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera, released on video by Deutsche Grammophon in 2014. Rivero made his debut in the title role of Verdi's Otello in 2019 at the Aalto Musiktheater Essen, with Tijl Faveyts in the role of Lodovico. In 2020 Rivero appeared in an abridged version of Il trovatore at the Leipzig Opera, which was performed without a live audience and live streamed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2021 till 2024 Rivero was a lecturer in the summer program Lotte Lehmann Akademie in Perleberg, Germany. In 2024, Rivero made his debut at the Staatstheater Darmstadt in the title role of Otello, alongside Megan Marie Hart, who made her role debut as Desdemona, and Aris Argiris who made his European debut as Iago. Darmstadt's Generalmusikdirektor Daniel Cohen conducted, the director was. While reviewers praised the singers and orchestra, they reacted negatively to Dittrich's staging.

Performance

Rivero performed at many opera houses and with companies internationally:

Recordings

Video

Audio

  • Various: Gaston Rivero Tenor. One Soul Records 2003

Awards