Danish tenor Valdemar Villadsen graduated from the soloist class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has since established himself as an in-demand tenor throughout Europe, and in season 2024/25 will appear in venues such as Staatsoper Berlin – Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Styriarte Festival in Graz, and the Berliner Philharmonie.
Previous engagements have brought him to the Royal Opera House La Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, Wiesbaden State Opera, Kiel Opera House, Teatro Principal de Burgos, and concert halls such as the Royal Albert Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and festivals such as the Bergen International Festival, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Heinrich Schütz Musikfest, Rossini Festival, Open Air Opera Berlin, Festival de Música Antigua, Copenhagen Opera Festival, and Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden. He has performed acclaimed solo recitals in Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Berlin and Basel.
His opera roles include Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lindoro in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, Don Ramiro in Rossinis La Cenerentola, Gualtiero in Bellini’s Il pirata, Castor in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, title role in Rameau’s Pigmalion, Glaucus in Leclair’s Scylla et Glaucus, Apollo in Cavalli’s Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne, Seth in Franz Danksagmüller’s Nova – Imperfecting Perfection, Blake in Bernard Fouccroulle’s Cassandra, Asger in Signe Lykke’s Nordkraft, Adam in Svend Nielsen’s Chains and Officer in Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten.
Villadsen is a sought-after concert and oratorio singer, and he has particularly made a name for himself as a Bach Evangelist. He has appeared in Bach’s Passions in Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Iceland, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. He is also sought-after for the demanding tenor part in Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Villadsen has worked with conductors such as Giancarlo Andretta, Julius Rudel, Christian Vásquez, Fabio Luisi, Alessandro Amoretti, Christina Pluhar, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Paul Hillier, Václav Luks, Michael Hofstetter, Andrew Lawrence-King, Carlos Mena, Javier Illan, Benjamin Bayl, Michael Hell, Sirrka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch, David Riddell, Mark Tatlow, Christian Kluxen, Matthew Toogood, Stefan Parkman, Johannes Gustavsson, Kazushi Ono, Peter Spissky, Florian Helgath, Johannes Wildner and Zsolt Hamar, and with opera directors such as Vasily Barkhatov, Lucinda Childs, Elisabeth Linton, and Sir David McVicar.
Season 2024/25 includes one of the leading roles in Bernard Foccroulle’s new opera Cassandra at Staatsoper Berlin – Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Styriarte Festival in Graz, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with The Danish Sinfonietta, Die Jahreszeiten-Oper (Vivaldi-Pasticcio) at the Styriarte Festival in Graz, Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion in Paris, Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion in Denmark and Germany, the Rossini Gala Concert in Zaragoza, a French baroque concert in the Berliner Philharmonie, as well as a series of solo concerts at several music festivals and concert venues throughout Europe.
Villadsen recently released his first single Valdemar Villadsen & Friends, featuring Renaissance music, on the Italian record label Halidon Music. A full solo album is expected to be released in 2025.
Villadsen is also an accomplished stage director. He has directed plays, cabaret shows and opera productions at venues such as the Hamburger Kammeroper, InnovationArt Theatre in Berlin and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
Valdemar Villadsen currently resides in Berlin.