Now based in Zurich, the Bolivian bass José Coca Loza studied at the Basel Academy of Music and was a member of the Opera Studio of the Theater Basel, where his roles included Melisso (Alcina), the Old Servant (Elektra) and the Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata). Since then he has performed at many leading European opera houses.
In summer 2025 he sung Silvano / Fury in Cavalli’s La Calisto at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In 2024 he performed the title role of Porpora’s Polifemo at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and with Le Concert d’Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm at the Opéra national du Rhin. In 2023 he performed Achilla (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) with Les Musiciens du Prince — Monaco under Gianluca Capuano at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In 2022 he returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Melisso (Alcina) and to the Salzburg Whitsun Festival as Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Alidoro (La Cenerentola) as part of a guest appearance there by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
Previous highlights have included appearances in Robert Wilson’s production of Handel’s Messiah under Marc Minkowski at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, 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) at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, Alidoro on tour with Cecilia Bartoli, Clistene in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Festival de Música de Canarias on Tenerife and in Las Palmas.
On the concert platform his appearances include Mozart’s Requiem with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and The Hague Philharmonic, Bach’s St John Passion with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española in Madrid and Scarlatti’s oratorio Il giardino di rose with La Ritirata in Cuenca, recently released on CD.
