Born in Mexico‚ Rafael Rojas studied at the University of Guadalajara‚ the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Recent and current projects include Dick Johnson La Fanciulla del West (Opera National de Paris and Opera North)‚ Duca Rigoletto (Komische Oper Berlin)‚ Calaf Turandot and Messa di Gloria (Bregenz Festival)‚ Gustavo _Un Ballo in Maschera_‚ Calaf‚ Andrea Chénier‚ Pinkerton Madama Butterfly and Cavaradossi Tosca (Opera North)‚ title role Otello (Basel; Hungarian State Opera‚ and Kalamazoo Symphony‚ USA)‚ Pollione _Norma_‚ Pinkerton _Madama Butterfly_‚ Don Jose Carmen and Cavaradossi (Stuttgart)‚ Pollione‚ Andrea Chénier and Rodolfo Luisa Miller (Kassel)‚ Radames Aida and Gustavo (Mannheim)‚ Duca (New Zealand Opera)‚ Radames‚ Gustavo and Cavaradossi (Staatstheater Hannover)‚ Calaf (Lisbon‚ Theater Magdeburg and Wiesbaden)‚ Manrico Il Trovatore and Pollione (Croatian National Theatre‚ Zagreb)‚ Cavaradossi (Den Jyske Opera‚ Denmark).

Earlier engagements include Otello‚ Calaf _Turandot_‚ Turiddu Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio I Pagliacci (Saarbrücken)‚ a staged version by Phyllida Lloyd of Verdi’s Requiem (English National Opera)‚ Dick Johnson (Opera Zuid)‚ Cavaradossi‚ Duke and Ruggero La rondine (Opera North)‚ Don José‚ Cavaradossi and Calaf (Welsh National Opera)‚ Radames Aida (Savonlinna) and Don Carlo (Italian version) in Leipzig‚ Canio and Cavaradossi (New Zealand Opera) Ismaele (Deutsche Oper‚ Berlin)‚ Gustavo (Graz)‚ Gustavo and Manrico (Opera Holland Park) and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the RLPO.

Rojas has appeared in concert with the Halle Orchestra and Kent Nagano‚ and has sung under the batons of Mariss Jansons with the Pittsburgh Symphony‚ and David Shallon with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

In 1995 Rafael Rojas took part in the Placido Domingo Competition where he was awarded the prestigious Domingo prize‚ followed by a personal invitation to sing El Gato Montes at the Washington Opera. Roles in this period include Alfredo‚ Nemorino and Rodolfo for Seattle Opera; Pinkerton at Glimmerglass‚ New York City and New Israeli Operas; Werther‚ Alfredo and Pinkerton for Boston Lyric Opera and Macduff and Ismaele Nabucco for Houston Grand Opera. His European début was made at the 1999 Bregenz Festival as Gustavo‚ conducted by Marcello Viotti. He returned to Bregenz as Rodolfo‚ a role he repeated for Opera Australia and Semperoper Dresden.