Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Latino American director, David Radamés Toro, applies his backgrounds in music and mime to create innovative opera productions with a focus on cultural relevance, diverse representation, and a modern opera experience to engage with new and returning audiences.

Whether through abstraction or realism, from baroque to the modern era, his productions have been recognized for their sincerity and imagination. In response to his recent production of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, the Star Tribune lauded it as “one of the most exciting and deeply involving productions that Minnesota Opera has presented this Century.” His production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight was praised as showing “that Flight has a beating heart, and something to say.” The San Diego Tribune called his adaption of Cavalli’s La Calisto “a well-sung and cleverly staged production.” And his The Marriage of Figaro at Tri-cities was hailed as “Fresh and delightful…I learned something new about [The Marriage of Figaro] watching that show.”

An admirer of modern era opera, Toro has had the privilege of directing 21st century works such as Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (Minnesota Opera), Dead Man Walking (Opera Idaho), Three Way (Fargo Morehead Opera), Glory Denied (Opera Fayetteville) and Flight (Minnesota Opera), as well as, assisting on the World Premieres of Today It Rains (Opera Parallèle, 2019), Dinner at Eight (Minnesota Opera), and The Shining (Minnesota Opera). In addition to directing new works, Toro aspires to contribute to the American canon through collaborations with designers, composers, and playwrights in creating operas focused on Latino and Latino American experience, history, folklore, and communities.

Along with directing, David Radamés Toro teaches classes and workshops in acting for the opera stage and physical theatre, as well as coaches singers in interpretation and audition preparation. His workshops in Gestural Mechanics are influenced by his own training in Meisner technique, Suzuki/Viewpoints, and classical mime with the goal of empowering singers to effectively combine musical expression and movement. He has taught movement and acting to singers at Minnesota Opera, Opera Neo, Tri-Cities Opera, The University of Texas - Austin, Arizona State University, and Opera Steamboat.

David Radamés Toro holds degrees from The University of Texas (DMA), The Ohio State University (MM/MA), and The University of Colorado at Boulder (BM).