Born in Bogotá, Colombia, tenor Carlos Cárdenas received his bachelor’s degree in music education from Universidad Pedagogica Nacional in 2014. He attended University of Notre Dame’s Sacred Music Program, where he studied with soprano Kiera Duffy. Mr. Cárdenas received third place in the 2012 National Singing Competition of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá, as well as the 2016 Cartagena Music Festival Scholarship. In 2017, Mr. Cárdenas received an encouragement award and was a finalist in the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder Competition in New York City, as well as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Encouragement Award for the Illinois district. Mr. Cárdenas performed Tamino last spring in University of Notre Dame’s production of Die Zauberflöte. Carlos was also a fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival during the summer of 2017. The Colombian tenor will play the role of Basilio this summer in the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California under the baton of James Conlon, and the role of Gustavo in the Spanish Zarzuela “Los Gavilanes” in Teatro Colon in Bogota, Colombia, under the baton of maestro Alejandro Roca. Mr. Cárdenas will join the Artist Diploma program in College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati next Fall.