Charles Castronovo

Charles Castronovo (born June 19, 1975) is an American operatic tenor. Castronovo was born to a Sicilian father and an Ecuadorian mother in Queens, New York, but grew up in Southern California. He attended California State University, Fullerton, for undergraduate studies in classical voice. During his time at the university, his talent came to the attention of William Vendice, the chorusmaster of the Los Angeles Opera, who promptly hired him as a chorister.

He began his professional career as a resident artist with the Los Angeles Opera. In the summer of 1998 he was a participant in San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola Opera Program, and later joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. After garnering much experience at the Metropolitan Opera, a series of significant role debuts soon followed such as Don Ottavio (Mozart's Don Giovanni), Ernesto (Donizetti's Don Pasquale), Fenton (Verdi's Falstaff), Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Tamino (Mozart's Die Zauberflöte) and Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata.

He has sung at many of the world's leading opera houses such as: the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Salzburg Festival and Santa Fe Opera.

The 2006/07 season marked a series of role debuts such as Rodolfo in La bohème, Nadir (Les pêcheurs de perles), the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Mylio in Édouard Lalo's Le roi d'Ys. The 2007/08 season marked the role debut of Tom Rakewell (The Rake's Progress) at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and a return to Los Angeles Opera singing the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.