Biography — Jesús Vicente Murillo

“Jesús Vicente Murillo was utterly lovable, with an expansive sound and easy stage presence”

— Jennifer Goltz (Opera News, June 2020)

Praised by Opera News as “utterly loveable, with an expansive sound and easy stage presence,” bass-baritone, Jesús Vicente Murillo has been performing opera, musical theater, concerts and art song across North America since making his debut with Michigan Opera Theatre as The Android in The Very Last Green Thing at the age of eighteen.

In the 2024-25 season, Murillo performs the role of Il Principe di Bouillon in Pittsburgh Opera’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Voltaire/Pangloss in Opera Tampa’s Candide, Erster Soldadt in Salome with National Sawdust, and returns to Opera San José to play Schaunard in La Bohème and Sergeant José Maria Gomez in Héctor Armienta’s Zorro. Concert engagements include Winterreise with the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Verdi’s Requiem with The Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, Hollywood Spectacular with Symphony San Jose, and a recital series at the historic Filoli Gardens in collaboration with Opera San Jose.

Last season, Murillo made his house debut with Portland Opera, where he “exhibited energy and style with a robust baritone” (Northwest Reverb) in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro. He also joined the North Dakota State University Chamber Music Festival to sing the role of Father Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, and made house debuts at Anchorage Opera as the Commentator in Scalia/Ginsburg, Nashville Opera as Papageno in The Magic Flute, and the Helena Symphony as Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, and sang as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Concerts at St. Ignatius (NYC).

Murillo made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2022-23 season as Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo. His other recent roles have included César Chávez in the orchestra preview of Nicolas Benavides and Marella Martin Koch’s new work Dolores with West Edge Opera, Don Fernando in Fidelio with Opera Middlebury, and Figaro in ¡Figaro! (90210) with Chautauqua Opera. He played a “self-assured, assertive” Doctor Bartolo with a “vigorous, rich bass-baritone” (San Diego Story) in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Neo, a role he previously covered at Santa Fe Opera.

He has also sung the roles of Guillermo Kahlo/Rockefeller/E.G. Robinson/Petate Vendor in Frida, The Professor/Used Car Salesman in the world-premiere of Lisa Despain’s That Hell-Bound Train, the title role in Iannis Xenakis’s KassandraI, Leporello and Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Betto in Gianni Schicchi/Buoso’s Ghost. He has performed with companies including Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, El Paso Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Baltimore Concert Opera, Bare Opera, the Chamber Cartel of Atlanta, and has made numerous appearances with Opera Saratoga, Opera Louisiane, Charlottesville Opera, Caramoor and Opera in Williamsburg. In 2019 Murillo completed a two-year residency with Utah Opera where he sang over 450 performances with the company.

Murillo received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Music in Opera and Voice Performance from McGill University in Montréal, Québec. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Roles:

Dr. Pangloss/Voltaire

Sergeant Gomez

Schaunard

Prince de Bouillon

Father Trulove

Commentator

Alfio

Papageno

Various

Figaro

Bartolo

Commentator

Cesar Chavez

Don Fernando

Flemish Deputy

Zuniga

Il Prince di Bouillon

Papageno

Guillermo Kahlo

Leporello

Dr. Bartolo

Betto di Signa

Dr. Bartolo*

Masetto

Figaro

Dr. Bartolo*

Louis Godey

Papageno*

Second Armored Priest

Businessman/Hunter

The Captain/Crook/Judge

Gregorio

Frank*

Ser Amantio di Nicolao

Captain Gardiner

Spanish Sailor

Belcore

Il Conte Ceprano*

Monterone*

Ali Hakim*

L’Inconnu

José Castro

Bob Noxious

Don Magnifico

Zweiter Gefangener*

Tom/John

Simone Donati

Dr. Dulcamara

Friedrich Bhaer

Mr. Dashwood

Don Magnifico*

Simone Donati

Dr. Bartolo

Fourth Washington Dandy

Il Registrario Ufficiale

Alex

Yakuside*

Jacob*

L’Horloge/Le Chat

Giuseppe Palmieri

Dr. Bartolo

Kálman Zsupán

Giorgio

Mr. Jackson

Jenkins

Musiklehrer

Maffeo Polo

Colline

Masetto

King Balthazar

Marco Donati

Bill Calhoun

King Hildebrand

Sir Marmaduke

The Android

*=Covered Role

Soloist

Schlendrian

Soloist

Vox Cristi

Soloist

Director

Assistant Director

Director

Assistant Conductor

Conductor/Educator

Conductor/Educator (Substitute)

Opera:

Candide

Zorro

La Bohème

Adriana Lecouvreur

The Rake’s Progress

Scalia/Ginsburg

Cavalleria Rusticana

Die Zauberflöte

New Works Collaborative

Le Nozze di Figaro

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Scalia/Ginsburg

Dolores

Fidelio

Don Carlo

Carmen

Adriana Lecouvreur

#MagicFlute

Frida

Don Giovanni

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Gianni Schicchi/Buoso’s Ghost

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Don Giovanni

¡Figaro! (90210)

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

No Ladies in the Lady’s Book**

Die Zauberflöte

The Little Prince

Candide

Romeo et Juliette

Die Fledermaus

Gianni Schicchi

Moby Dick

Freeze Frame: The Elixir of Love

Rigoletto

Oklahoma!

Cyrano

La Fanciulla del West

The Final Battle for Love

La Cenerentola

Fidelio

The Face on the Barroom Floor

Gianni Schicchi

L'Elisir d'Amore

Little Women

La Cenerentola

Gianni Schicchi

Le Nozze di Figaro

The Ballad of Baby Doe

Madama Butterfly

Alice and Alex in Operaland

Madama Butterfly

The Ballad of Baby Doe

L'Enfant et les Sortileges

The Gondoliers

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

The Gypsy Baron

The Gondoliers

Silk Stockings

Lady, Be Good!

Ariadne auf Naxos

The Red Silk Thread

La Boheme

Don Giovanni

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Gianni Schicchi

Kiss Me, Kate

Princess Ida

The Sorcerer

The Very Last Green Thing

**=World Premier

Concerts:

Hollywood Spectacular

Verdi’s Requiem

Concerts at Filoli

Winterreise

Verdi’s Requiem

Faure’s Requiem

Basses and Beer

Bach’s Coffee Cantata

Bach’s Mass in B Minor

Handel’s Messiah

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion

Michelangelolieder & Don Quichotte

Bach’s Magnificat

Directing:

Winterreise

Die Fledermaus

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Sparks in the Park

Conducting:

The Pearl Fishers

7th-12th Grade Choir

7th-12th Grade Orchestra & Band

Company:

Opera Tampa

Opera San Jose

Pittsburgh Opera Festival

North Dakota State University

Anchorage Opera

Helena Symphony Orchestra

Nashville Opera

Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Portland Opera

Opera NEO

Opera Ithaca

West Edge Opera

Opera Company of Middlebury

The Metropolitan Opera

Opera Theatre Saint Louis

Opera Baltimore

Opera Theatre Saint Louis

Detroit Opera

Fargo-Moorhead Opera

Detroit Opera

Santa Fe Opera

Bare Opera

Chautauqua Opera

Utah Opera

Charlottesville Opera

Detroit Opera

Thompson Street Opera

Opera Louisiane

Caramoor

Fargo-Moorhead Opera

Opera McGill

Opera Saratoga

Opera McGill

Chautauqua Opera

Univ. of Michigan Opera

UMGASS

Univ. of Michigan Opera

The Ohio Light Opera

Univ. of Michigan Opera

Arbor Opera Theater

Seagle Music Colony

Main Street Opera Theater

Univ. of Michigan Opera

Seagle Music Colony

UMGASS

Detroit Opera

Symphony San Jose

Pittsburgh Concert Chorale

Filoli Historic Gardens

Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Concerts at St. Ignatius (NYC)

St. Martin-in-the-Fields (PA)

Penn Square Music Festival

Mid-Ohio Opera

The Cathedral of the Madeleine

Utah Symphony

Salt Lake Choral Artists

Opera Saratoga

Chautauqua Opera

Dexter Community Orchestra

Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Utah Opera

Winston Churchill High School

Opera in Williamsburg

Germantown Friends School