José Coca Loza

Now based in Zurich, Bolivian bass José Coca Loza began the 2021/22 season singing the bass arias in a fully staged production of the St Matthew Passion at the Basel Theatre. In April 2022 he sang the role of Jesus in the St John Passion with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española in Madrid’s Teatro Monumental and appeared in Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio Il giardino di rose with La Ritirata in Cuenca. Following his return to the Salzburg Whitsun Festival as Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia) he will make his Vienna State Opera debut as Alidoro (La Cenerentola) under Gianluca Capuano as part of a series of guest performances by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Recent highlights of his career have included appearances as the bass soloist in Robert Wilson’s production of Handel’s Messiah (in Mozart’s adaptation) under Marc Minkowski at the Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Grand Théâtre de Genève, a programme of works by Vivaldi and Handel with the Venice Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, a gala concert with Ensemble Matheus under Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Caronte (L’Orfeo) alongside Rolando Villazón with L’Arpeggiata under Christina Pluhar, his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Lesbo (Agrippina) alongside Joyce DiDonato under Maxim Emelyanychev, Astolfo in Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Haly (L’italiana in Algeri) under Spinosi at the 2018 Salzburg Festival and at the Opéra Royal in Versailles, Alidoro on tour with Cecilia Bartoli at the Lucerne Festival, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Clistene in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade with the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Mustafà (L’italiana in Algeri) with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada under Giancarlo Andretta, Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Festival de Música de Canarias on Tenerife and in Las Palmas and Mozart’s Requiem with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and The Hague Philharmonic.

On completing his studies at the Music Conservatory in Basel, José Coca Loza joined the Opera Studio of the Basel Theatre, where his roles included Melisso (Alcina), the Old Servant (Elektra) and the Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata). He has been a pupil of Silvana Bazzoni since 2014.