A winner of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, tenor Carlos Enrique Santelli is a recent graduate of Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, where he covered Nadir in The Pearl Fishers. In the 2021–22 season, Carlos reprised the role of Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Finger Lakes Opera. He also sang the roles of Lorenzo in William Bolcom’s Lucrezia with Opera Louisiane and Valcour in the rarely performed The Anonymous Lover with Minnesota Opera, before joining Houston Grand Opera for their productions of Turandot and Roméo et Juliette as Pong and Tybalt, respectively.

In the 2020–21 season, Carlos made his San Diego Opera debut as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. In the 2019–20 season, he returned to Dayton Opera as Ramiro in La Cenerentola. On the concert stage, he performed a joint recital with his wife, mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon.

Recent projects with LA Opera include performances in Salome, conducted by James Conlon, and Wonderful Town, conducted by Grant Gershon. Additionally, Carlos appeared as a guest soloist in a special gala celebrating the 10-year anniversary of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Further collaborations on the West Coast include numerous projects with LA Opera Artist-in-Residence Matthew Aucoin.

In the summers of 2016 and 2017, Carlos was a member of Santa Fe Opera’s distinguished Apprentice Program for Singers where he worked with such noted conductors as Harry Bicket, Emmanuel Villaume, and Corrado Rovaris. The summer of 2017 was a particularly notable season for Carlos as he made his principal role debut with the company as Arturo in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Carlos’s concert engagements have included appearances as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah (Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra), and Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass (Rochester Symphony Orchestra) and Requiem (University of Michigan and Yale Alumni Glee Club).

Carlos received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where he had the distinction of holding a Jessye Norman Graduate Fellowship. He is a native of Orlando, Florida.