Richard Ollarsaba

A third-year member at the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, bass-baritone RICHARD OLLARSABA, a native of Tempe, Arizona, earned a postgraduate certificate and master of music degree through the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. During his time in Winston-Salem he also appeared with Piedmont Opera as Ferrando in Il trovatore (Also North Carolina Opera), Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Reverend Hale in The Crucible. A grand finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ollarsaba is a former participant in the young-aritst programs at Tanglewood (75th anniversary gala, PBS telecast) and Music Academy of the West. As a 2012.13 resident artist at Minnesota Opera, he was featured in Nabucco, Anna Bolena and Turandot. He returned there in 2014.15 as Escamillo in Carmen (a role he portrayed previously at Tulsa Opera). The bass-baritone has performed in Lyric productions of Otello (debut), Madama Butterfly, Parsifal, La traviata, Don Giovanni (stepping in to sing the title role), Capriccio, Anna Bolena, Tosca, and The Passenger.