Pablo Willey-Bustos, tenor holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music. Highlights of concert appearances include Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia, conducted by Ton Koopman at Carnegie Hall, the Evangelist for Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Voices Ensemble, the title roles in Handel’s Joshua and Judas Maccabaeus, as well as Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Fort Street Presbyterian Chorale, the title role in Carissimi’s Jephte with Crescendo Ensemble and Handel’s Messiah with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
Under the auspices of the Eastman School of Music, he has been a featured guest soloist with pianist Beryl Garver, singing a program titled, "To Julia: Songs by and about women," featuring works by Hensel, Strozzi and Quilter. Most recently he performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe with pianist Érico Freire Bezerra.
Operatic engagements include Alfred in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, the Witch in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflote with the Opera Theatre of Weston, VT. Other roles include, Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Narciso, in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Little Bat Mclean, in Floyd’s Susannah.
His discography includes The Lutheran Masses and Advent Cantatas of J. S. Bach with the Publick Musick Baroque Orchestra and Chorus (Musica Omnia).
In the summer of 2024 Pablo will make his debut at the Leipzig International Bach Festival, performing as both an ensemble member and soloist with the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra, led by Dr. David Chin. The concert tour will feature performances in three significant cities associated with Bach: Eisenach, Arnstadt, and Leipzig. The group will present selections of cantatas and motets, including BWVs 92, 118, 125, and 229.
Pablo is currently the instructor of English and Italian lyric diction at the Eastman School of Music and Nazareth University. In the Summer of 2020, he was invited to create a course on Spanish lyric diction for Summer@Eastman, which garnered wonderful reviews. The online platform allowed students from diverse corners of the world to partake in this learning experience. Pablo's expertise in Spanish lyric diction culminated in a significant collaboration with renowned diction expert Cheri Montgomery, working as the senior editor for her acclaimed Spanish Lyric Diction Workbook (STM Publishers).
Building on the success of the Spanish Lyric Diction course and encouraged by his students, he subsequently crafted a complementary course titled La Canción Lírica, a survey of Spanish language art song repertoire. Through his research for this course, Pablo encountered the work of Dr. Patricia Caicedo, a luminary in Latin American and Iberian art song, and the director of the Barcelona Festival of Song. Their collaboration not only enriched the course but also led to his participation in the festival in 2022. This experience further deepened his passion for Spanish language repertoire and broadened his expertise to encompass Portuguese and Catalan art song and lead to the collaboration with Dr. Caicedo in her latest project Twenty-four songs and arias in Spanish from XV-XXI. "I especially appreciate the support of my dear friend, the talented tenor Pablo Willey-Bustos, a former participant of the Barcelona Festival of Song ... he performed the phonetic transcription of the songs and translated the poems into English. Having his support was crucial, not only for his academic contribution but also for knowing that a new generation of singers connected to the Barcelona Festival of Song is committed to preserving and promoting this repertoire." Pablo eagerly anticipates his solo recital appearance during the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona Festival of Song in the summer of 2024. He will be performing a program showcasing Chilean art song and poetry, including a world premiere of songs by Catalan composer Anna Cazurra set to lyrics by Chilean poet Jorge Nef.
Beyond his own performances, Pablo is also an enthusiastic educator, encouraging his students at Nazareth University and the Eastman Community Music School to embrace Spanish language repertoire as an integral part of their musical studies. Pablo is actively crafting his own Spanish Lyric Diction textbook, with the hope that this contribution will help those interested to better understand Spanish Lyric Diction and embrace Spanish language repertoire.
He currently resides in Rochester, NY, where he is also the Music Director at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester.
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