Carlos Enrique Santelli, Tenor
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 2019-2020 season, Mr. Santelli makes his San Diego Opera debut as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, returns to Dayton opera as Ramiro in La cenerentola and sings his first performances of Tonio in La fille du regiment with Opera Orlando. On the concert stage, he performs Handel’s Messiah with the Boise Philharmonic, as well as a joint recital with his wife, mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon. Last season, Mr. Santelli made his Dayton Opera debut as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and performed as tenor soloist in Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Sacramento Choral Society.
Recent projects with LA Opera include performances in Salome, conducted by James Conlon, and Wonderful Town, conducted by Grant Gershon. Additionally, Mr. Santelli 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’s Artist-in-Residence Matthew Aucoin.
For the past two summers, Mr. Santelli was a member of Santa Fe Opera’s distinguished Apprentice Artist Program 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 Mr. Santelli as he made his principal role debut with the company as Arturo in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor. His scene work there included Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore and Arnold in Guillaume Tell.
Carlos Enrique Santelli’s concert engagements have included appearances as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah (with the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra), Mozart’s Coronation Mass (with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra), and Mozart’s Requiem (with the University of Michigan/Yale Alumni Glee Club).
Mr. Santelli received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his Master of Music from the University of Michigan. It was at the latter institution that he had the distinction of holding a Jessye Norman Graduate Fellowship. He is a native of Orlando, Florida.
Ashley Dixon, Mezzo-Soprano
Ashley Dixon, mezzo-soprano, grand finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is in her second year of the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship program. Last season, she covered the role of Sara, Duchess of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux and made her main stage debut in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life as the alto soloist in the angel quartet.
In the summer of 2017 Ms. Dixon sang the role of Popova in William Walton’s The Bear with the Merola Opera Program. There she also covered the title role in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and ended her summer season on the War Memorial Opera House stage singing an aria from Massent’s Cendrillon. Ms. Dixon’s 16-17 season included her debut with Michigan Opera Theater in Copland’s The Tender Land as Mrs. Splinters. In concert, Ms. Dixon appeared on the Hill Auditorium stage as mezzo-soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and with the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club in Schubert’s Ständchen. She also sang the title role in a concert performance of Pucell’s Dido and