bio
American-born, Cuban and Colombian tenor, Anthony León, is a young up-and-comer who is quickly developing an international performing career. During the 2022/2023 season, Anthony was contracted as a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. Anthony’s newest engagements at LA Opera include singing Roderigo in Verdi’s Otello, Pelléas in Impressions de Pelléas, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Spoletta in Tosca, and Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor. He will return to Los Angeles Opera to open the 2023/2024 season performing the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in September.
Beyond Los Angeles, during the summer of 2023, Anthony made debuts both at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Salzburg Festival singing the roles of the Teapot, Frog, and Mathematician in Das Kind und die Zauberdinge (L’enfant et les sortilèges). He has also recently sung Remendado in Carmen at Santa Fe Opera and has been on tour performing the roles of Giove and Amphinome in Monteverdi’s opera, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with the ensemble I Gemelli. On tour, Anthony performed at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, France; Arsenal Theater in Metz, France; and Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland. A recorded album is in the works and is set to be released in September of 2023.
In the fall of 2021, Anthony also presented the role of Count Almaviva in Opera Theatre St. Louis’ production of The Barber of Seville. During the summer of 2021, Anthony was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, covering the role of Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition to these contracts, Anthony has recently performed in other leading roles such as Le Chevalier in Dialogue des Carmélites, Agenore in Il re pastore, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Tamino in The Magic Flute, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance.
In addition to the opera stage, Anthony is a recitalist, concert performer and guest artist. He has recently performed a recital for the Opera League of Los Angeles and as the tenor soloist in works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with Dayton Opera, Haydn’s The Creation with New England Conservatory, and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with the Redlands Symphony. Having a passion for all types of music, he has also performed with great artists in collaboration within the classical music genre and beyond. Most recently, performing the music of John Denver with Lee Holdridge, Jim Curry, and the La Mirada Symphony.
In addition to being an operatic tenor, Anthony is also a saxophonist and a composer who has also composed original works and has premiered his pieces in different mediums, including the concert stage and television. Most notably, he performed and premiered his piece for tenor and wind ensemble entitled “Tus ojos,” using poetry by his grandfather, Luis Alfonso Bolívar, at Carnegie Hall with the La Sierra University Wind Ensemble.
Most recent honors include being named a Grand Finals National Winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and winning First Prize and the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize at Operalia, 2022. He has also received a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation. Other accolades include being featured in Opera News magazine, being named “Best up-and-comer” in the Inland Empire Magazine’s “Best of the Best 2019” list, and being awarded the Wendy Shattuck ‘75 Presidential Scholarship for Vocal Studies, among other prestigious awards.
Anthony holds a Bachelor of Music from La Sierra University and a Master of Music degree concentrating in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, studying under the tutelage of Bradley Williams.