March 28, 2025
The Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the appointment of Carlos Santelli as a new voice faculty member, starting in the Fall of 2025. Santelli, a distinguished opera singer, is known for his impressive career, which includes winning the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and being a graduate of the prestigious Los Angeles Opera’s Young Artist Program. He has performed with renowned opera companies such as San Diego Opera, Dayton Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Minnesota Opera.
When one envisions a resume with Carlos’s credentials, they might imagine someone raised in the heart of opera country like Vienna, Berlin, or Paris. However, the reality is far more unexpected—Carlos hails from Orlando, Florida. When most people think of live music in Orlando, they picture something more Disney-esque, not opera. Carlos himself jokes that he’s the “black sheep of the family” because he never worked at Disney, even though his siblings all worked there during the summers and his father spent 35 years with the company. Despite resisting working at Disney, some of Carlos’s earliest singing experiences came from performing in community choirs for Disney employees’ children.
After high school, Carlos moved north to earn his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and then his Master of Music at the University of Michigan. Upon completing his studies, he moved to Los Angeles to join the L.A. Opera as a vocal apprentice, which led to numerous roles and opportunities.
Carlos Santelli performing with Opera San Jose
One of the most memorable moments (both good and bad) in Carlos’s career was performing as Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with San Diego Opera. He recalls, “We had to perform outside in a parking lot and maintain a distance of 12 feet from each other. It was a lot of fun but definitely strange.” While the pandemic was challenging for opera in general, it gave Carlos the opportunity to discover his passion for teaching and return to school to pursue a doctorate.
When I asked him why he decided to apply to the Butler School of Music, he explained that the school’s reputation is well-known and respected, and that he had been familiar with it for a long time. “It’s kind of always been a dream job, and I can’t believe I actually get to do it,” he shared. “There’s a lot happening at Butler in opera, which is my specialty.” He’s worked with Butler faculty such as Donnie Ray Albert in Houston, and collaborated with Tamar Sanikidze. “It really feels like coming home, since there are so many familiar faces.” Carlos is also excited to collaborate with Liliana Guerrero on some of her vocology research. His goals for his new position are focused not on grand visions of program-wide change, but on fostering the success of individual students. “I love seeing students succeed and I love working with talented students,” he said.
Carlos Santelli performs on stage
Carlos is married, and his spouse is also looking forward to making Austin their home. “She’s very excited. She’s from Georgia, but we’ve lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Memphis, and Baton Rouge,” Carlos said. Hopefully, the endless moving of an up-and-coming opera singer will stop in Austin. “She’s a singer as well and is really excited about the Austin arts scene.”
Carlos comes from a family of teachers, and some of his earliest memories in Orlando include watching his grandmother, a vocal teacher who lived across the street, as she taught lessons. “I used to watch her teach and was always too shy to sing myself, but I always knew that was something I wanted to do.”