Ion
Hotea

Born in 1990 in Baia Mare, Romania, Ioan Hotea in 2015 won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in London, awarded with the First Prize in the Opera and Zarzuela categories.

His first steps in the field of arts were indeed in visual arts: while studying Fine Arts at the Art High School in his hometown he discovered classical music and opera and he was urged to start studying Classical Singing. The unexpected transition would bring many national prizes in the following years, including 1st prize at the National Olympiad of Classical Music, a prize that guaranteed his admission to the National University of Music Bucharest, where he graduated in 2012. The first major role at Bucharest State Opera was Nemorino from “L’elisir d’amore”, at the age of 22. In the following period, he adds three more large-scale roles to his repertoire: Conte d’Almaviva in “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, Don Ottavio in “Don Giovanni”, Alfredo in “La traviata”.

In 2013 he had the international debut in “Amelia al ballo” by Gian Carlo Menotti at Opéra de Monte-Carlo. The same year he performed alongside Edita Gruberova in Donizetti’s Three Queens concert at Theater an der Wien. Since then his international career brought him in the major opera houses of the world: in 2014 he debuted at Opéra National de Paris as Tebaldo in “I Capuleti e i Montecchi”, in 2016 he debuted at Opernhaus Zurich as Ernesto in “Don Pasquale” staged by Grischa Asagaroff and conducted by Enrique Mazzola, in the season 2016/2017 he debuted at Royal Opera Covent Garden London with Nemorino, in the season 2017/2018 he debuted at Vienna State Opera in “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, in 2020 he had his debut at Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Ferrando in “Così fan tutte”, in 2021 he had his debut at Staatsoper Hamburg as Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s “Manon”, in 2021 he debuted at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor”, in 2022 he debuted at Grand Théâtre de Genève as Prince Léopold in Halévy’s “La Juive” conducted by Marc Minkowski and at Semperoper Dresden as Ferrando in “Così fan tutte” conducted by Omer Meir Wellber.

From 2015 Ioan Hotea was also a member of the ensemble at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, where he performed almost all the leading roles of his repertoire, including the title role in “Werther”, Giuseppe Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem”, Tamino in “Die Zauberflöte”, Rinuccio in “Gianni Schicchi”. He also sang Duca di Mantova in “Rigoletto”, Don Ottavio and Ferrando at the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden.

Among his latest performances are “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” at Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires; “Falstaff” at Polish National Opera in Warsaw; “Rigoletto” in Leipzig and in Essen; “Nabucco” (role debut as Ismaele) at Theater Bonn; “Gianni Schicchi” at ABAO Bilbao; “La traviata” at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf; “Rigoletto” at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Messiaen’s “Saint François d’Assise” in Hamburg; “Lucia di Lammermoor” at Staatsoper Hamburg; “La Juive” at Teatro Regio in Turin.

His Forthcoming Projects are “Rigoletto” at Cologne Opera and at Oper im Steinbruch; “La bohème” in Bonn; “Gianni Schicchi” in Dortmund; Gounod’s “Faust” in Tel Aviv.