Mr. Rodescu will offer a master class for participating Russian Opera Workshop singers. Julian Rodescu is an Artistic Director of Astral Artists and serves on the voice faculty at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Full Biography

JULIAN RODESCU has recently received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Sparafucile in Rigoletto, with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. "Theatrically, he inspired simultaneous fascination and repulsion while singing with the kind of bass-note buzz that made you wonder why he's not starring in Boris Godunov" wrote David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr. Rodescu also returned to Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 2006, where he was the Commendatore in Azio Corghi’s “Il Dissoluto Assolto,” having also performed its World Premiere in Lisbon.

In March of 2004, Julian Rodescu earned rave reviews for his debut performances at London’s Covent Garden. He got similar raves for Fafner in Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Dresden and Bilbao. The Dresden Ring Cycle, conducted by Semyon Bychkov and directed by Willy Decker, was completed in 2004. His debuts in Madrid (in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mstensk), Naples, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv brought more praise. Mr. Rodescu has recorded for EMI, RCA, Erato and Albany Records. Mr. Rodescu made his La Scala debut in 1991 as Titurel in Parsifal, with Riccardo Muti conducting. He was invited back to sing Fafner in Siegfried in 1997, also with Maestro Muti. He has also appearaed in Florence’s Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Over the last few years, Mr. Rodescu has performed at the Maggio Musicale with conductors Zubin Mehta and Semyon Bychkov, and directors Jonathan Miller and Lev Dodin.

Among important orchestral appearances, Mr. Rodescu performed Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia and at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony in Boston, Carnegie Hall and at Tanglewood, and took part in the world premiere performances of Shostakovich’s Rayok with Maestro Rostropovich and the National Symphony in Washington, DC and Carnegie Hall. In 1999 he sang and recorded Zemlinsky’s Der Traumgorge with James Conlon and the Köln Gurzenich-Orchester.

Mr. Rodescu was appointed Artistic Director of Astral Artists in 2009. He has been active as a voice teacher in the Philadelphia area, as well as internationally, and is on the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He has given master classes at the Curtis Institute, Temple University, Bucknell University, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, at the Teatro Réal in Madrid and in Florence, Italy. Mr. Rodescu is co-founder and Artistic Director of the annual Florence Voice Seminar. He has also taught a number of professional singers who have sung major roles with opera companies in Philadelphia, New York, Munich, Florence, Milan, Wexford and many more. He is also a judge on the panels of the Marian Anderson Competition, the Greenfield Competition of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Astral Artistic Services Annual Auditions and in 2005 for the Naumburg International Voice Competition.

Mr. Rodescu received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in New York. His principal teacher has been Giorgio Tozzi. Other teachers and coaches have included Daniel Ferro, Beverley Peck Johnson, Hans Hotter, William Glazier, Richard Trimbourne, Martin Isepp, Luigi Ricci, Valery Ryvkin, among others.