The Spanish mezzosoprano Maria José Montiel’s acclaimed performance of the lead role in Carmen at her debut in Italy caused an international sensation, being praised for her marvellous tone, her subtle acting skills and her stage presence. Thanks to this personal triumph she has been invited to sing the role at theatres in Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Japan. This achievement, combined with her connection to Riccardo Chailly, with whom she usually collaborates, marks the flourishing of a new era in her career, with remarkable successes such as those obtained with her performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Concert Halls of Vienna Frankfurt, Milan and Budapest, as well as the NHK Hall in Tokyo and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

She was born in Madrid, where she graduated in vocal performance at the Royal Conservatoire, specializing with Pedro Lavirgen and Ana María Iriarte, before moving to Vienna to further her training with Sena Jurinac and O. Miljakovic. She studied Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, where she also gained a postgraduate diploma in the History and Science of Music.

María José Montiel has had a prolific and long-lasting career, having sung in the most prestigious concert halls and theatres in the world, such as Carnegie Hall in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, the Musikverein, Konzerthaus and Staatsoper in Vienna, the NAC Ottawa, Music Hall Cincinnati, the Doelen in Rotterdam, Budapest Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Malibran in Venice, Pisa Opera House, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Bregenz Festival, La Fenice in Venice, the Trieste Teatro Verdi, NHK Hall in Tokyo, Staatsoper Bern, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall and Opera House, La Monnaie in Brussels, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Paris Opéra National, Teatro Real and the National Auditorium in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu and Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Palau de la Música y Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and practically all the opera houses and concert halls in Spain.

As well as being considered one of the greatest singers of Carmen of the current time, her repertoire also includes the operas Aida (Amneris), Les contes d’Hoffmann (Giulietta), La Favorita, La clemenza di Tito (Sesto), Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte (Dorabella), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina) and Luisa Miller (Federica), which she has performed in Bologna, Venice, Pisa, Livorno, Lucca, Trieste, Parma, Strasburg, Cologne, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Barcelona and Madrid.

As well as collaborating repeatedly with Riccardo Chailly and Placido Domingo, she has worked with other top conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Pinchas Steinberg, Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez, Daniel Oren, Garcia Navarro, Xian Zhang, Wayne Marshall, Adam Fisher, Horst Stein, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Spivakov, José Luis Lopez Cobos, John Paul Decker, Garcia Asensio, José Collado, Lawrence Foster, Odon Alonso, Janos Kovacs, Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate, Maurizio Benini and Jacques Delacôte, among many others.

A lover of the concert repertoire, she has been invited to give concerts by the Philharmonic Orchestras of Vienna, Buenos Aires, Helsinki and Tokyo, the Symphony Orchestras of Montreal and Cincinnati, the “Moscow Virtuosos”, the National Orchestra of France, the N.A.C. of Ottawa, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Arturo Toscanini Foundation, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and the Milan Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra, while in Spain she habitually collaborates with the National Orchestra of Spain, the RTVE Symphonic, the Murcia Symphonic, the Orchestra of Valencia and almost all the orchestras in Spain, embracing a wide repertoire. Her outstanding pieces, fundamental to the mezzo range are Les nuits d’été (Berlioz), Mahler’s Second and Eighth Symphonies, Scenes from Faust (Berlioz), Requiem (Verdi), Gloria (Vivaldi), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Stabat Mater and Misa Solemne (Rossini), Schéhérazade (Ravel), Alto Rhapsody by Brahms, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Mahler), etc. She gives special consideration to Spanish composers, having participated in the revival of the opera Pepita Jiménez (Albeniz), in the absolute premiere of Merlin (Albeniz) and in first performances of works by contemporary composers such as Ojos verdes de Luna, by Tomas Marco and Eufonía, by Xavier Montsalvatge, as well as pieces by Cruz de Castro, Peris, Bernaola, Barce and a large portion of the Anton Garcia Abril vocal repertoire.

At the re-opening of the Teatro Real in Madrid, she sang the lead role in Manuel de Falla’s opera La vida breve, alongside the tenor Jaime Aragall and directed by Francisco Nieva. She also performed in Usandizaga’s Las Golondrinas alongside Vicente Sardinero and directed by José Carlos Plaza at the same theatre, where she also participated in the SGAE Centenery Gala with Montserrat Caballé and Alfredo Kraus and in the Gala to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. She has given recitals all over the world with Placido Domingo, also at the re-opening of the Teatro Avenida in Buenos Aires, and she performed alongside him in the zarzuela Luisa Fernanda in the premiere of the Spanish genre at La Scala in Milan, before then going on tour with this master work by Moreno Torroba to the Washington National Opera, Teatro Real de Madrid, Los Angeles Opera and the Theatre an der Wien (Vienna).

A great specialist in the Lied repertoire, and Spanish and French song, she has given over a hundred recitals, mostly alongside Miguel Zanetti, and many of which have been recorded on CD. Her recordings number a total of 17 discs, for labels such as Dial, BIS, RTVE, Ensayo, Fundación Autor, Deutsche Gramophon and Stradivarius. Her CD of lieder from Brazil, Modinha, with Luiz de Moura was a finalist in the Grammy Awards and her DVD Madrileña bonita went gold.

Mezzosoprano María José Montiel has won the prize for best female singer in the 2011 Teatro Campoamor Opera Award Ceremony, where the most important awards of this kind in Spain are handed over every year in Oviedo. The singer has been awarded the prize for her Carmen in the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, in October 2010, being the first Spanish singer to have been given a prize in this category in the history of the awards.

She has been awarded the Lucrecia Arana award, the SGAE Federico Romero prize, the RNE Ojo Crítico award, the CEOE prize and the Spanish Coca-Cola Foundation award for best singer for “the quality of her voice, her expressive temperament and versatility of repertoire”. In 2007 the Community of Madrid awarded her with the Culture Prize in the Music section.