Ron Ulen has sung over 2700 performances at prestigious concert venues around the world, encompassing more than 140 operatic roles, including leading roles in 5 world premieres. This program at the Forbes Center will include works of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.
He began his career with the National Opera Company, singing hundreds of performances with them as well as with various opera companies throughout the United States. Ulen made his European debut in "Il Trovatore" at the renowned Opernhaus in Zürich. He has sung the title roles in Verdi's "Falstaff", Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", Bartok's "Bluebeard’s Castle", Zar Peter I., in Lortzing's "Zar und Zimmermann" as well as Sharpless in Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and Tarquinius in Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia". Further roles include Germont in Verdi's "La Traviata", Belcore in "L´Elisir d´Amore", Figaro and Conte Almaviva in "Le Nozze di Figaro", Valentin in "Faust" and Conte di Luna in "Il Trovatore".
Guest appearances have taken him to stages and concert halls in New York, Vienna, Rome, Miami, Beijing, Washington, D.C., Hamburg, Chicago, Munich, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Venice, and numerous others as soloist in Brahms "Requiem", in Orff's "Carmina Burana", Händel's "Messiah", Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and Beethoven's 9th Symphony, to name a few.
Additional roles are Marcello in Puccini’s "La Boheme", Paisiello’s "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" as Figaro, Phillip II in “Don Carlos” and Renato in "Un Ballo in Maschera". He has sung the Four Villains in "The Tales of Hoffmann" as well as Miller in "Luisa Miller", Amonasro in “Aida”, Enrico in “Lucia di Lammermoor”, Don Carlo in “La Forza del Destino”. He has enjoyed great success in the title role in several productions of Verdi’s “Nabucco”. Recent additions to his vast repertoire include Horace Tabor in “The Ballad of Baby Doe”, Tonio in “I Pagliacci”, Scarpia in “Tosca” and the title role in Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale”.
While currently a professor, Artist Teacher of Voice and Coordinator of Vocal Studies in the School of Music at Texas State University and Professor of International Studies, he continues to maintain an active performance schedule as well as presenting masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout the United States, Asia and Europe.
His current and former students are represented on the rosters of elite level European and American opera houses and he has been invited to conduct masterclasses at numerous universities, conservatories, young artist programs and summer opera programs worldwide.
He is also in demand as an adjudicator for voice and opera competitions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, including National Opera, Classical Singer, NATSAA, and the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. In addition, he has been honored with several awards from the National Opera Association for his work in opera.
