Is considered to be one of the most important tenors of our time. He is a fixed member of the Zurich opera house since 1977 and Kammersänger of the Vienna state opera since 1988. Known as one of the world's top ranking Mozart and Rossini singers he developed from 1983 on to a leading tenor of the italian lirico spinto, french and heavy german repertory (singing Lohengrin in Venice in 1990, equally acclaimed by public and press). The mexican-born tenor is also a very well known concert and lieder singer.
He has performed in the opera houses of Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, London, Milan, Rome, Parma, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Buenos Aires and in Japan and is a regular guest at many European festivals, such as Salzburg (where he debuted in 1980 under Herbert von Karajan), Bayreuth, Aix-en -Provence, Edinburgh and Hohenems. He received the Mario del Monaco-Prize "Otello d'Oro", the Mozart Medal  of the University of Mexico City and the Best Performers Award "Golden Mercur".
For his over 45 recordings appearing on such labels as PHILIPS, DGG, EMI, BMG/RCA, SONY/CBS, TELDEC, ATLANTIS and ORFEO (for example "The Magic Flute" under von Karajan, "Faust" under Sir Colin Davis, "Das Lied von der Erde" under Carlo Maria Giulini, "Die schöne Müllerin" as well as aria and Lied recordings) he has been awarded with the Orphee d'Or and the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis.
He also can be seen on CD-Video such as the Abbado/Ponnelle "La Cenerentola" or the Böhm/Everding "The Abduction from the Seraglio". An illustrated monograph  called "Francisco Araiza. Voices of the World" was published by Atlantis Musikbuchverlag (german/english/spanish) and a TV special about this most versatile tenor was filmed by the german television ZDF in 1990.