Achilles
Machado
Biography
Born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, he began his musical studies at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory. He studied singing with Professor William Alvarado at the Simón Bolívar Higher Conservatory of Music. In Spain, he studied with Maestro Alfredo Kraus at the Reina Sofía School of Music, on a scholarship from the Bank of Spain and the Mozarteum Foundation of Venezuela.
He debuted in Caracas in 1996 with L'elisir d'amore, and in Europe at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with Macbeth that same year. Since then, his career has been constantly evolving, with notable performances in the most important theaters: Teatro São Carlo in Lisbon, L'Arena di Verona, Teatro Regio di Parma, Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Washington Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich Opera, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera House, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, among many others.
He has received awards from various opera societies and the specialized press, most notably the Parma Opera Society Award for his Verdi interpretations. He has won major opera competitions such as the Francisco Viñas Competition in Spain, Cardiff Singers of the World in the United Kingdom, and the world-renowned Operalia competition, founded by the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, in 1997.
Throughout his career, he has worked with Maestros such as Plácido Domingo, Jesús Lopez Cobos, Ricardo Chailly, Mistlav Rostropovich, Daniel Oren, Leopold Hagger, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Friedrich Hayder, Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, Myung-Whun Chung, Alain Guingal, Marco Armiliato, Renato Palumbo, Bertrand de Billy, Sir Mark Elder, David Machado, Alfredo Rugeles, Lu Jia, Gustavo Dudamel, Eve Queler, Diego Matheuz, Roberto Abbado, Massimo Zanetti, Riccardo Muti, Gianluigi Gelmetti and Zubin Mehta.
His repertoire consists mainly of French and Italian opera, but at the same time his interest has turned towards chamber music, oratorio and recital.
It boasts a growing number of recordings, including titles ranging from bel canto to popular music: Bellini's Norma with soprano Edita Gruberova and Maestro Friedrich Hayder, Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore with Erwin Schrott and Valeria Sposito at Lo Sferisterio di Macerata, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto at the Arena di Verona with Inva Mula and Leo Nucci, Verdi's Requiem with Maestro Gerd Albrecht and the Czech Philharmonic Brno, and Von Suppè's Requiem conducted by Maestro Michel Corboz. He has recorded Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Maestro Ricardo Chailly in Amsterdam's Main Hall, Le Villi for Radio France with the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Marco Guidarini conducting, La Bohème at the Teatro Real in Madrid with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Jesús López Cobos conducting, Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann in the ABAO season under Alain Guingal's direction and stage direction by Giancarlo Del Mónaco, and with the Madrid Community Orchestra the opera Henry Clifford by Isaac Albeniz. Among the most recently recorded titles, highlights include Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the Teatro Regio in Parma, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti, and I Masnadieri at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, conducted by Nicola Luisotti; a new edition of Puccini's La Bohème, conducted by Riccardo Chailly at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia; his participation as a tenor in the new CD of Verdi arias for baritone by Maestro Plácido Domingo; and in 2018, the recording of Manuel de Falla's La Vida Breve with Maestro Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic.
He has recently performed in operas such as Carmen, I Masnadieri, Simone Boccanegra, and Tosca in Vienna, Zurich, and Leipzig, respectively, as well as Verdi's Requiem under the direction of Maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in Copenhagen, Michele Mariotti's Requiem in Moscow and Bologna, and I Due Foscari under the direction of Riccardo Muti in Rome. He has also participated in zarzuela galas in Germany with Maestro Karel Mark Chichon. In the last three years, he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow with Verdi's Don Carlo and at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg under the direction of Maestro Valery Gergiev with Bizet's Carmen. He has also debuted in roles such as Manrico in Verdi's Il Trovatore, Romeo in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Turiddu in Cavaleria Rusticana, and Radamès in Verdi's Aida.
Among his recent engagements, he has sung in operas such as La Forza del Destino in various Swiss theaters, participated in productions including Don Carlo in Genoa, Werther in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Il Trovatore at the Oviedo Opera House, and made his debut as Radamès in Verdi's Aida and his stage debut in La Ciociara by Marco Tutino at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. His immediate engagements include a return to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in the role of Don Carlo, a series of concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a tour of various opera houses in Asia as Riccardo in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera.