Opera Singer. A tenor best known for heavier roles, he sang on many of the world's leading stages. Born Jesus Quinones Ledesma, he was raised in the San Juan suburbs and manifested his talent early; after graduating from high school at 16 he journeyed to Italy where he spent several years studying with the noted baritone Apollo Granforte. Ledesma made his 1955 professional bow at Milan's Teatro Nuevo in Pietro Mascagni's "Lodoletta" then after a number of performances in France, Italy, and Spain returned home to Puerto Rico in 1956 and was soon heard in both San Juan and New York as well as in Venezuela and Havana, Cuba. In 1958 he started his own radio show entitled "Musical Filigree", a venture which over the years he expanded into a successful musical production company. During his career Ledesma specialized in such 'dramatic' parts as Radames of Verdi's "Aida", the tragic clown Canio in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", Manrico from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", Luigi of Puccini's "Il Tabarro", Turiddu from Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", and Verdi's jealous Moor "Otello", though he did sometimes sing lighter fare such as the comic dimwit Nemorino of Doizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore". Widely traveled over the next decades, he relocated to New York in 1979 and continued performing on both sides of the Atlantic, headlining at Carnegie Hall and drawing good reviews with Nevada Opera, Reno, and the San Francisco Opera. Often mentoring younger singers, he retired from the stage in 2005 and lived out his days in northern Florida. At his death he could be heard on a number of 'live' recordings.
Opera Singer. A tenor best known for heavier roles, he sang on many of the world's leading stages. Born Jesus Quinones Ledesma, he was raised in the San Juan suburbs and manifested his talent early; after graduating from high school at 16 he journeyed to Italy where he spent several years studying with the noted baritone Apollo Granforte. Ledesma made his 1955 professional bow at Milan's Teatro Nuevo in Pietro Mascagni's "Lodoletta" then after a number of performances in France, Italy, and Spain returned home to Puerto Rico in 1956 and was soon heard in both San Juan and New York as well as in Venezuela and Havana, Cuba. In 1958 he started his own radio show entitled "Musical Filigree", a venture which over the years he expanded into a successful musical production company. During his career Ledesma specialized in such 'dramatic' parts as Radames of Verdi's "Aida", the tragic clown Canio in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", Manrico from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", Luigi of Puccini's "Il Tabarro", Turiddu from Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", and Verdi's jealous Moor "Otello", though he did sometimes sing lighter fare such as the comic dimwit Nemorino of Doizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore". Widely traveled over the next decades, he relocated to New York in 1979 and continued performing on both sides of the Atlantic, headlining at Carnegie Hall and drawing good reviews with Nevada Opera, Reno, and the San Francisco Opera. Often mentoring younger singers, he retired from the stage in 2005 and lived out his days in northern Florida. At his death he could be heard on a number of 'live' recordings.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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