Gustavo Hernández García, tenor, began his singing career through the Young Musicians Program of UC Berkeley, where he studied with renowned baritone David Tigner.  Before completing his first year of voice lessons, Mr. Hernández sang the tenor solos in Handel’s Messiah with the University of Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hernández’s forays into Oratorio and Concert repertoire as a soloist include Mendehlsson’s Elijah, The Messiah, The Mozart Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Mozart Vespers, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast and others.

Mr. Hernández attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied under soprano Nikki Li Hartliep, receiving his B.M. in 2005.  During his time at SFCM, Mr. Hernández won first prize in the senior vocal category for the Pacific Musical Society and was cast to sing in the film Jackson, written and directed by J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege).

Hernández received his M.M. in Vocal Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music under baritone Peter Lightfoot. While attending USC, Mr. Hernández participated in the west coast premiere of Miss Lonelyhearts, sang for tenor Anthony Dean Griffey during a voice master class, serenaded Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú during her visit to USC, and sang abroad on scholarship at the International Lyric Academy of Rome at Viterbo, featured as a soloist in recital and secondary roles in fully staged operas.

Mr. Hernández has been a featured soloist for numerous organizations and opera companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Oakland Youth Chorus, through which he performed for former president Bill Clinton.

In Los Angeles and Southern California, Mr. Hernández has been a featured soloist with a number of opera companies and symphony orchestras. Most recently he has performed with the Southeast Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony and the California Philharmonic Symphony, through which Mr. Hernández made his soloist debut at Walt Disney Music Hall.  Hernández was recently invited to sing for LAO as a guest artist for An Evening of Zarzuela and a concert of songs by Agustin Lara (Granada) and Andrea Morricone (Cinema Paradiso), accompanied by Maestro Morricone himself.

Hernández has sung lead operatic tenor roles in Carmen, La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor Amahl and the Night Visitors and Norma.  As an ensemble member, Mr. Hernández has sung with the San Francisco Opera Chorus in Götterdämmerung and the Los Angeles Opera in Der fliegende Höllander, and for the Los Angeles Opera Educational and Outreach Department (Figaro 90210, Judas Maccabeus).