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The Spanish counter-tenor and conductor, Ricard Bordas, graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London and in 1999 was honored with the appointment of "Associate" by the Royal Academy of Music. He studied orchestral conducting with George Hurst and Colin Meters, choral conducting with Patrick Russill and Pierre Cao, and singing with Charles Brett and Paul Esswood.
Since the age of 17, Ricard Bordas has conducted various choirs and chamber groups in Spain and Britain, and at 19 he served as assistant conductor to Simon Johnson with the National Catalan choir Orfeo Català of Barcelona preparing major oratorio works including J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243), Haydn's Creation, Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, Johannes Brahms' Requiem, Igor Stravinsky's Les noces, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Mozart's Requiem, touring extensively in Europe.
Since arriving in the USA, Ricard Bordas has conducted Georges Bizet’s Carmen with the Asheville Lyric Opera, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and several oratorios including Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary, Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria and Magnificat, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Charpentier's Misse de Minuit, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, and many other major choral works.
Ricard Bordas is the Artistic Director of, and sings with, Barcino Baroque, a vocal-instrumental group specializing in the Baroque Repertoire with emphasis on the Spanish and South American repertoire. Barcino Baroque recently performed in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia. In 1996, Mr. Bordas founded the Camerata Hispánica of London, a vocal-instrumental early music group which made its début at the London Händel Festival. They have since recorded several programs for BBC Radio3. Their recording of Cererols Missa Defunctorum was selected as best program by BBC's Pick of the Week. Mr Bordas has also conducted the Royal Academy of Music Choir and Baroque Orchestra.
As one of the leading counter-tenors of his generation, Ricard Bordas has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, René Jacobs, Christophe Rousset, Harry Christophers, Joshua Rifkin, and Philippe Herreweghe, and has performed at La Scala in Milan, Netherlands Opera, Opera de Lausanne, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, and in numerous festivals in cities such as Boston, the Proms, Innsbruck, Dresden, Herne, Halle (Saale), Schwetzingen, Beaune, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Barcelona, and Granada.
Ricard Bordas has recorded for the labels DHS, Verany, and Discantus. His latest CD, singing the roles of Bacchus and Homme Affligé in the opera Psyché, by Lully, was released in the Summer of 2008 and has been nominated for the 2009 Grammy awards for the best opera.
Ricard Bordas has taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at Trinity College of Music in London, the Barcelona Conservatory, and the College of Charleston. He is currently Choirmaster at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, artist-in-residence at Charleston Southern University, and teaches voice at the Summer International Baroque Institute at Longy in Cambridge.
Ricard Bordas is married to soprano Margaret Kelly-Cook and has a five-year-old son,
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