José Luis Maldonado

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Hailed by Opera News as a “seemingly unlimited baritone,” International vocalist Josè Luis Maldonado, from Los Angeles, California attended Cal State Fullerton (BM), and Manhattan School of Music (MM); He recieved his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at Michigan State University under the tutelage of Dr. Mark Rucker  in 2025.  He is a career grant recipient from the Opera Buffs Inc. and Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient from the Shoshana Foundation. Maldonado’s  roles include Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola),  Escamillo (Carmen) ,  and the  title roles of Falstaff (Falstaff) and Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni). He made his Long Beach Opera debut in Anthony Davis’ Pullitzer Prize winning Central Park Five. In 2022,  he covered  Sir Bryn Terfel as Sir John Falstaff in Falstaff at the Aspen Music Festival. He reprised Falstaff in March 2023 at Michigan State, winning the American Prize for Opera, and returned to Aspen to sing Father Arguedas in the opera Bel Canto, by Jimmy López. Maldonado was a finalist in the inaugural Duncan Williams Competition, a collaborative effort by Manhattan School of Music and New York City Opera,  and was  a District winner for the Metropolitan Opera Competition, Audience Prize winner in the Opera Ithaca Competition, and a finalist in the Tenor Vinas Competition in Spain. Maldonado finished a tour with OperaMaya in Cancún, Mexico last  summer. In Aspen he performed a Zarzuela concert with world-renowned Metropolitan Opera Star Ana Maria Martinez, and took lessons with legendary sopranos, Carol Vaness and Renee Fleming.

Maldonado just debuted the role of Don Giovanni in Michigan, before returning to Los  Angeles and debuting with Lyric Opera of Orange County in Falstaff and the Father in Hansel y Gretel.

He then made his Pacific Opera Project (POP) debut as the Gamekeeper in Dvorak's Rusalka. Maldonado made his  Lincoln Center debut as Escamillo in Carmencita, an Argentinian adaptation in Spanish of Bizet’s Carmen and  performed May 2025 in Carnegie Hall's Nuestras Voces Festival.

Dr. José Luis Maldonado made his title role debut in Rigoletto with Indianapolis Opera and Tonio in Pagliacci with Opera Birmingham. 

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