Fernando Araujo was born in São Paulo, Brazil, where he began piano lessons at the age of seven and composition studies at the age of eleven. At the age of twelve, he sang the role of the Third Boy in Mozart's The Magic Flute with Ópera Minaz. He studied piano and voice at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where his teachers were Menahem Pressler and Hans Leygraf (piano), György Sebök (chamber music), KS James King, KS Lilian Sukis, Carlos Montanè and Boris Bakow (singing), Breda Zakontik and Wolfgang Holzmair (song and oratorio).
At Indiana University, he was director of studies for the class of legendary soprano and vocal coach Virginia Zeani. He played at the “Kammersängerin” title award ceremony for Grace Bumbry at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna, accompanied Diana Damrau at her Mahler CD presentation at the Salzburg Festival and his former teacher, tenor Carlos Montanè, at recitals.
Fernando Araujo had the honour of accompanying soprano Barbara Bonney at her recitals at the Cultural Centre in Bangkok, at the Verbier Festival, at the Autumn Theatre in San Francisco (where he replaced Maestro André Previn at short notice) and at the Darmstadt Opera on the occasion of her career anniversary. At the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, he accompanied Isabel Rey and Ruggero Raimondi at a charity concert, where he also had the honour of singing a duet with Raimondi.
He has also played for masterclasses given by Maurizio Arena, Maria Chiara, Martina Arroyo, Enza Ferrari, KS Christa Ludwig, Teresa Kubiac, Claudia Pinza, Bruno Pola, Bruno Rigacci, KS Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Margaret Singer, KS Patricia Wise and Rolando Villazón. Among other things, he was vocal coach for the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Barbara Bonney, Marjana Lipovsek and Michael Schade, for the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera (EPCASO) in Oderzo, Italy, for the Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar, vocal accompanist for Elina Garanča's Future Voices and for the Mozart Competition.
He was appointed director of studies by the Austrian Ministry of Culture for the Mongolian premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the State Opera in Ulaanbaatar.
He has been active on stage as a singer since his early youth. In Madison, Wisconsin, he was a soloist with the Madison Savoyards and in high school musicals, and sang the Star Spangled Banner at numerous baseball and football games. He has taken part in masterclasses with KS Herbert Brauer, Gemma Bertagnolli, Michèle Crider, Mario Diaz, Joan Dornemann, Irina Gavrilovici, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Alfio Grasso, Medea Iassonidi, KS Angelika Kirschlager, KS Olivera Miljakovic, Rio Novello, Damon Nestor Ploumis, Bruno Rigacci, Roberto Servile, Neyde Thomas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Giorgio Tozzi and Virginia Zeani.
He was a scholarship holder in the programmes for young singers at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Verbier Festival and the “Don Giovanni Singing Competition” of the Fondazione Arena di Verona/UNESCO under the patronage of Gianfranco De Bosio.
Today, Fernando Araujo is an internationally sought-after baritone and continues his vocal training under the guidance of his mentor, Horiana Branisteanu.
Highlights of his career include collaborations as a soloist with conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Dennis Russell Davies, Hans Graf, Nayer Nagui and others; Escamillo at the Lithuanian National Opera (directed by Arnaud Bernard, conducted by Robertas Šervenikas), Papageno at the Munich Philharmonic (with the Immling Festival, directed by Ludwig Baumann, musical direction Cornelia von Kerssenbrock) and at Opera Classica Europa (directed by Michael Vaccaro, with the Smetana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter and with the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach conducted by Markus Huber); Rigoletto at the “Festival Winds of Baikal” in Russia (conductor Ilmar Lapinsch); Dante in the world premiere of “Inferno & Paradiso” by Christopher Preissing and Robert Kyr at the DeBartolo Centre for the Performing Arts in Notre Dame, Indiana (director Anton Juan, musical director Carmen Tellez); Germont, Silvio and Belcore at the Amerang Castle Opera Festival (conductors Marco Moresco and Patrick Murray); Gianni Schicchi and Marcello at the Perm Opera & Ballet Theatre (staged by Philipp Himmelmann, conductor Artem Abashev); Braz in Marcos Portugal's “Le Donne Cambiate” (1797) and Polyphemus in Handel's “Acis and Galatea” at the “Teatro de Vila Real”, Portugal (musical director Ricardo Bernardes, director Nicolás Isasi);
Arteneo in Salieri's “Axur” with Opera Incognita at All Saints Church in Munich; the title role in Rossini's “The Barber of Seville” with the Würth Philharmonic Orchestra in the Carmen Würth Hall, concerts at the National Theatres in Bucharest and Timisoara, Romania, and with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra at the National Opera in Damascus, Syria.
He has appeared as a guest in many productions by the opera department of the Mozarteum University: as Marcello in Puccini's “La Bohème” (directed by Hermann Keckeis, conducted by Gernot Sahler), Escamillo in “Carmen” (directed by Alexander von Pfeil, musical direction Gernot Sahler) and Alberto Serra in Manfred Trojahn's “Die Limonen aus Sizilien” (directed by Mascha Pörzgen, musical direction Kai Röhrig). With the Mozart Opera Institute, he sang the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro (directed by Eike Gramss, musical direction Josef Wallnig).
He also sang the baritone solo in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at the Großes Festspielhaus (with the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Klaus Stein), at the Felsenreitschule (with the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elisabeth Fuchs) and recently at the Großes Festspielhaus in Bregenz.
Also active in the field of oratorio, he sings regularly in the historic churches of Salzburg under the baton of János Czifra, Bernhard Gfrerer, Hans-Josef Knaust and cathedral music director Andrea Fournier.
His most recent successes include the roles of the broom maker in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel and Brother Lescaut in Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Immling Festival (musical direction Cornelia von Kerssenbrock, staging Ludwig Baumann) as well as an opera gala together with the internationally acclaimed soprano Elena Moșuc in Himmelspforten, Würzburg.
As a vocal coach in the opera department of the Mozarteum University, he has supervised many productions and successful final exams. His graduates include prize winners of international singing competitions who are active at leading opera houses and festivals.
Fernando Araujo is artistic director of the Mozart Dinner Concert, soloist with the Salzburg Concert Society, the Salzburg Philharmonic and the Children's Festival, and co-founder of the Amadeus International Culture Committee. At the Grandi Voci Singing Competition under the patronage of KS Grace Bumbry, he won the audience award and the Verdi Prize.
Fernando Araujo is also committed to socially relevant cultural projects:
In 2022, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Brazil's independence, he was commissioned to organise the soirée “Leopoldina, aus Liebe zu Brasilien” (Leopoldina, for the love of Brazil) as a collaboration between the Brazilian Embassy in Vienna and the Mozarteum University, with special participation by Ulrike Arp, Michèle Crider, Mario Diaz, Don Juan Archiv, Peter Kellner, Herbert Lindsberger, Cecilio Perera, and others.
In 2025, for peace in Israel and Palestine and in collaboration with the Salzburg Global Seminar, he participated as a soloist in “Itzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination” under the artistic direction of Amos Gitai.