Emerging tenor Diego Valdez from sunny El Paso, TX, is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.  He has been recognized as an “accomplished young voice” (Eli Jacobsen | Parterre Box)  with a knack for quick learning on “few days’ notice and [singing] with proficiency” (Eric Mayers | Opera News) as he made his way around the world this past year. After rounding out the 2022 season with concert work, performing the Evangelist in Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with I Cantori di Carmel, he will start off 2023 by reprising the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Light Opera of New Jersey in the acclaimed production by Stefanos Koroneos with Teatro Grattacielo and Camerata Bardi International Academy. It was this production that led to his successful European debut in Syros, Greece which allowed him to make his debut at the Rhodes International Festival earlier in 2022. He studies with soprano Elisabeth Stevens, with whom he co-creates through Sing! Intensive (Formerly Quarantine Sing!) and was a former 2021-2022 young artist with Camera Bardi International Academy.

Diego’s fruitful 2022 season has brought him around the world and across the US, with a variety of style in the classical music genre. Most recently, he serenaded audiences in Santa Fe, NM in Opera West’s I Pagliacci as Beppe/Harlequino following his European performances in Don Giovanni in Rhodes and Syros . His New York performances stretched his repertoire from the baroque, as the title character in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’plisse in Patria with Dell’arte Opera Ensemble, to his appearances as Gregorio, Un Famiglio di Romeo and cover of Il Cantatore in the rarely-performed verismo opera Giulietta e Romeo by Zandonai with Teatro Grattacielo. Furthering the exploration, he was able to perform the role of Javier in Torroba’s beloved Zarzuela, Luisa Fernanda in his hometown as a guest artist with Opera UTEP. The momentum of his Fall/Winter 2021 season brought him to the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice as Fritz in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz with Teatro Grattacielo and covering the role in their main production at LaMama in NYC, covering Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Opera in Williamsburg, and singing with New Amsterdam Opera as Manfredo in Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani. Coming out of 2020/2021 he appeared in the winter session of Quarantine Sing! as the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah, as well as a Spanish-language masterclass with Dr. Maya Hoover and pianist Jose Melendez through The Art Song Preservation Society of New York. 

Diego has been a young artist singing chorus and concerts of scenes and song with Opera North, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with International Lyric Academy, as well as being a guest artist with Drake Opera as Fenton in Falstaff. While abroad in Montreal, he took on romantic tenor roles such as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, as well as the conflicted Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. He’s stepped in to crossover roles like that of Anthony in Light Opera of Montreal's production of Sweeney Todd, and ventured into the music of living composers when he was a part of the first Opera.Ca Summit (now the Association for Opera in Canada), premiering part of a new work by James Garner as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. Earlier in his training, he sang roles such as Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro and Mr. Erlanson in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, as well Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.

Diego holds a Master's degree in Opera and Voice Performance degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he studied under tenor John Mac Master, and was the recipient of the Shapiro Opera Scholarship and Graduate Excellence Fellowship. He started his formal vocal training with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas under soprano Molly Fillmore, where he had the opportunity in his final year of participating in a masterclass with renowned tenor Stephen Costello. During his training as a young artist, he has also been able to be a part of masterclasses with singing artists such as Karen Slack and Barrington Lee, as well as acclaimed conductors and pianists like Tony Manoli and Michael McMahon.