De la Mora started singing early on in a folkloric music ensemble. In 1978, he started studying voice: mostly in
Mexico City, then additionally in New York, Tel Aviv and at the North Carolina University. He made his debut at the Palacio de
Bellas Artes in his native Mexico City, as Borsa in 1986.
At the same theater as well as working his way through the Mexican provinces (Guadalajara, Monterry, Puebla, Saltillo, Guanajato),
he had quick success as Pinkerton, Cavaradossi, Alfredo and Roméo, and made his US debut in 1987 in San Francisco
(again as Roméo). He returned to San Francisco one year later as Rodolfo.
In 1989, he was in Europe for the first time, singing Alfredo in Köln and at the Vienna Staatsoper (where he would never
return) and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Alfredo (his signature part) was also what he sang at his Scala debut in 1990 (one and a
half performances as a substitute for ailing Roberto Alagna, de la Mora
would never return). In the early 1990s, he also appeared at Covent Garden and the Opéra Bastille. At the New York Met,
he sang ten performances between 1993 and 2007. But basically, he spent his career in San Diego, Santa Fé, Miami, at the
Liceu in Barcelona, in Bonn, Montpellier, Philadelphia, Mexico City and Baltimore, at the New York City Opera, in Sydney,
Montréal, Caracas, Bogotá, Venice, Marseille, Stockholm or Cincinnati. In the 2010s, he went back to Mexican
folklore.
Repertory beyond the roles already mentioned: Percy (Anna Bolena), Gounod's Faust, Gérald, Edgardo, Roberto
Devereux, Macduff, Duca, Massenet's des Grieux, Werther.
I heard him as Alfredo in 1989, and was not impressed. The voice was not well-placed and pretty unsteady.
Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 2, reference 3
Picture source: de la Mora's website
