Pablo Willey-Bustos
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).
Pablo currently serves as the instructor of English and Italian lyric diction at both 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 Brazilian Portuguese and Catalan art song.
Pablo eagerly anticipates his guest recital appearance at the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona Festival of Song during the summer of 2024. He has curated a program that showcases Chilean art song, along with compositions by Ana Cazurra and Patricia Caicedo. 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.
Reviews for Spanish Lyric diction: “Even though I have experience with Spanish diction I learned much more! I grew in my comfort level with the language and with different dialects and diction for Latin American countries.” — 2021 Spanish Lyric Diction student.
Review for Canción Lírica: “Pablo was great, very well informed and did a really good job conveying his passion for the material. I learned a ton about the repertoire and feel like I have a clear direction for learning more.” — 2022 Canción Lírica student.
He currently resides in Rochester, NY, where he is also the Music Director at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester.