“Tenor Sahel Salam, a first-year student from Texas, revealed a warm, plangent voice that maintained rich color throughout. It resonated, promising a good future in French and Italian lyric roles. His C-sharp above high C in his opening aria was exciting in the performance I saw, and his famous aria, “Ange si pur” (better-known as “Spirto gentil” in Italian) was stylish as it rose to a high C.”
BIOGRAPHY
As a 2023 National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and 2023 Winner of the Mario Lanza Competition, Sahel Salam enters his second year as a Cafritz Young Artist of Washington National Opera.
Sahel has recently performed with WNO as Pang in its new production of Turandot, as well as Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette. In addition, he sang as Lord Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor (Cincinnati Opera), as Ernesto in Don Pasquale (Academy of Vocal Arts), and as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (Merola Opera Program). Mr. Salam is an alumnus of Merola Opera Program, Glyndebourne Festival Opera as a Jerwood Young Artist, and The Music Academy of the West.
In Santa Fe Opera’s 2024 summer season, Sahel covered Alfredo Germont in La Traviata, The Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, and Eli in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ The Righteous.
This 2024-25 season, Mr. Salam returns to WNO where he will perform as Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio and as Sher Khan in Kamala Sankaram’s Jungle Book.
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Sahel has prepared the following roles:
Jaquino Fidelio Beethoven
Lord Arturo Bucklaw Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti
Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood Lucia di Lammermoor Donizetti
Ernesto Don Pasquale Donizetti
Fernand La Favorite Donizetti
Roméo Roméo et Juliette Gounod
Vincent Mireille Gounod
Tamino Die Zauberflöte Mozart
Rodolfo La Bohème Puccini
Der Italian Tenor Der Rosenkavalier Strauss
Alfredo Germont La Traviata Verdi
Duca di Mantova Rigoletto Verdi
