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The Catalan/Spanish baritone, Elías Benito Arranz, pursued his advanced vocal and postgraduate studies at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London, the Opera Studio of La Monnaie - CMRE in Brussels under the guidance of José Van Dam, and in Valencia, where he graduated from Spain’s first Master’s Degree in Operatic Performance (2014). In September 2022, he was honoured with the title of Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in recognition of his artistic achievements.
A versatile and expressive artist, Elías Arranz has appeared at many of Spain’s leading venues, including the Gran Teatre del Liceu (2014), Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid (2015), Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, Teatro Principal in Vitoria and Santiago de Compostela, the Auditorio Nacional, Auditori de Barcelona, Palau Euskalduna, Auditorio Kursaal in Donostia-San Sebastián (2012), Teatre Victoria Eugenia in San Sebastián, the Auditorio de Zaragoza, the Palau de la Música de València and the Palau de la Música Catalana, among others. Internationally, he has performed at prestigious venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Philharmonie de Paris, Prinzregententheater in Munich, Palais des Beaux-Arts and La Monnaie Opera in Brussels, the Stadttheater Ingolstadt, the Halle and Göttingen Händel Festivals, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico (October 2016), the Festival Radio France–Montpellier, the Festival de Beaune, the Opera on the Avalon Festival (2014), the Île-de-France Festival, the International Theatre Festival of Mérida (July 2014), the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, the Granada Music Festival (July 2016), the Bilbao Philharmonic Society, and the Música Sur Chamber Music Festival.
Elías Arranz has already made his debut in Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris, as Lesbo in G.F. Handel's Agrippina with Ann Hallenberg, Vivica Genaux, Carlos Mena and “Al Ayre Español” conducted by Eduardo López Banzo. In spring 2018, he performed for the first time at Halle Händelfestspiele, as Marte in Il Parnasso in festa with Lautten Compagney Berlin and Wolfgang Katschner. In 2020, he made his debut at Wiener Konzerthaus as Atlante in the world’s première in modern times of Hidalgo’s Las Fortunas de Andrómeda y Perseo. Before Covid crisis he also performed Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at the magnificent Gaudi’s Palau Güell in Barcelona. The opening of 2019-2020 season included the haendelian roles of Melisso and Argante in Switzerland, George Frideric Handel's Messiah in Auditori de Barcelona and Girona, as well as Papageno in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Gran Teatre del Liceu. Also in 2019, he was back to Halle Händelfestspiele, and made his debut as Sulpice in Donizetti's La fille du Régiment (Andorra Lírica) and Germont in Verdi's Traviata (Como). Engagements for 2020-2021 season included the role of Daedalus from Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze in the new production of Gran Teatre del Liceu directed by Paco Azorín, a European Tour as Melisso in G.F. Handel's Alcina, or W.A. Mozart's Requiem with Camera Musicae Orchestra and Salvador Mas, among other projects.
In recent seasons, Elías Arranz has taken part in two world premieres: he created the role of José Badiola in Saturraran (music by Juan Carlos Pérez, libretto by Kirmen Uribe) at the Teatro Arriaga, and performed in Schwebstoff by Moritz Gagern in Berlin. He also took part in the modern revival of Antonio Caldara's Atenaide, singing the role of Probo. His operatic repertoire further includes Leporello in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Alfio in Leoncavallo's Cavalleria rusticana, both performed at the Teatre de Sarrià in Barcelona.
Other performed operatic roles Elías Arranz has performed include Marcello in G. Puccini's La bohème (Canada/Spain), Belcore in G. Donizetti L'Elisir d'amore (Italy, Spain), Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen (Prinzregententheater, München), Conte d'Almaviva in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Germany/Spain), or Uberto in Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La serva padrona (Festival de l’Été Mosan, Belgium).
On the concert platform, Elías Arranz is increasingly in demand. He has sung J.S. Bach's main oratorios under conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Juan José Mena or Klaas Stok, among others. He has performed as a soloist in concert halls and festivals in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, USA, Spain, France and Mexico with repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to world premieres by living composers. His concert and oratorio work includes tours in the Netherlands with arias from J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, and a Spanish tour performing George Frideric Handel's Messiah at major venues such as the Auditorio Nacional, Auditorio Manuel de Falla, Teatro Arriaga and Teatro Victoria Eugenia, collaborating with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Forma Antiqva and Bilbao Sinfonietta. In the field of art song, he has interpreted Schubert’s Winterreise at the Medina del Campo Festival (Valladolid) alongside pianist Rubén Fernández-Aguirre, and Robert Schumann's Myrthen with Daniel Blanch at the Peralada Festival.
During the 2024-2025 season, highlights included his solo debut with ORCAM (Madrid Symphony Orchestra) at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid under Josep Vila, his portrayal of the Professor in Teufel im Lift at the Neuköllner Oper Berlin, and his return to the Gran Teatre del Liceu to perform Daedalus in J. Dove’s The Monster in the Maze. In the current season (2025-2026), Elías Arranz will perform the title role in Felix Mendelssohn's Paulus and Christus in J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245, both in Berlin. He will also appear as the bass soloist in G.F. Handel's Messiah at the Händelhalle with the Staatskapelle Halle. In Catalonia, he joins the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès (OSV) for W.A. Mozart's Requiem at the Palau de la Música Catalana, and the Banda Municipal de Barcelona in an opera-themed program at the Auditori de Barcelona. |
