|
The Mexican tenor and pianist, Miguel Ángel Ortega Bañales, discovered a strong passion for music in the choral and vocal acapella setting at the age of 20 and since then decided to dedicate every possible effort to developing honest artistry and musical quality on and off the stage. One of his most notable interventions as a soloist occurred during the Carlos Chavez Orchestra’s 2016 Spring Concert Season in Mexico City. In the course of this season he had the privilege of performing several productions of J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion (BWV 245) as the Evangelist, as well as a single performance of L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Miguel Ángel Ortega Bañales was in Mexico Arts Appreciation Educator at Colegio Ramiro Kolbe (August 2011-May 2012); and sang tenor at Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical · Apprenticeship in Mexico City (August 2014-July 2016).
Miguel Ángel Ortega Bañales then moved to the USA and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance from Berea College (2016-2020), during which he held a position as vocal TA and served as a piano collaborator for the music department and the accompanist for the institution’s Women Chorus (January 2017-August 2020). His technical studies in voice were guided by Mark R. Calkins, head of voice of the Department of Music at Berea College. Distinguished once with the 1st Prize in the adult intermediate category during the 2017 NATS Kentucky regional auditions, after receiving 2nd place the previous edition (2016). In May 2018, he was awarded the Audience Choice Award as well as an Encouragement Award in the 7th Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition of the Kentucky Bach Choir in Lexington. Currently he is a second-year graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder studying with Matthew Chellis, where he has received a Teaching Assistantship appointment to earn a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy as well as Choral Conducting (since 2020; expected graduation: 2023). Since August 2020, he is Assistant Conductor at Eklund Opera, University of Colorado Boulder. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado. |
