Dr. Luis Orozco

Dr. Luis Orozco
Director Of The SJSU Opera Theater
luis.a.orozco@sjsu.edu

A Juárez Mexico native, Baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco, is currently the Director of Opera at San Jose State University, where he has created The Irene Dalis Student Internship in collaboration with Opera San Jose in which students get to take part in their productions in cover and bit roles as well as opera chorus work. This work is invaluable as a tool to expose San Jose State University students to a professional seIng. Orozco will stage direct Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in the fall of 2026 with San Jose State University. Previous directing credits include, Turn of the Screw, the university premiere of Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator, La voix humaine, and Stephen Sondheim’s Company.

Orozco’s singing 2026-2027 season will include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with El Paso Opera, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Pensacola Opera, and Lassiter in Riders of the Purple Sage with Opera Santa Barbara.

Orozco’s 2025-2026 season begins with Bizet’s Carmen with Gulf Shore Opera, as well as the baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the San Luis Obispo Symphony. The season will also include the role of Silvio in Pagliacci with Opera San Jose, and the role of Moncada in Zorro with Pacific Opera Project.

Previous seasons included Byron Au Young’s Stuck Elevator in the role of Marco with Hawaii Opera Theater which he premiered with Nashville Opera. He reprised the role again with in a new production with Knoxville Opera, where he also sang Marcello in their production of La bohème. Orozco also sang the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio, University of Wisconsin Madison, and at with the Schola Cantorum at Cal State East Bay, Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opera Omaha, returned to Nashville Opera for one of his signature roles, Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas, and appeared with Madison Opera as Maximilian in Candide. Orozco also returned to The Metropolitan Opera as a Flemish Deputy in Don Carlos. He also joined Nashville Opera, singing Marcello in La bohème, Gulfshore Opera as the title role in Don Giovanni, and Wichita Grand Opera as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Orozco made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2021-2022 season, singing the Prime Minister in their English version of Cendrillon. He also curated and sang in a Hispanic Heritage Concert with Fort Worth Opera, followed by his debut with Virginia Opera as Marcello in La bohème. He then returned to Opéra de Lyon to remount Maria de Buenos Aires on their mainstage, singing El Payador, joined Intermountain Opera as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, and appeared with Minnesota Opera in a gala concert.

Recently Mr. Orozco made his Swiss debut as Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas with Theater St. Gallen, performed Escamillo in Carmen with Pensacola Opera, and joined the Nuits de Fourvière Festival to sing El Payador in collaboration with Opéra de Lyon, appeared in recital with Opera Saratoga, and collaborated with More Than Musical to create a filmed production of La bohème, singing Marcello. In the summer of 2021, he joined Opera Maine as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and the St. Croix Valley Opera for their Opera on the River concert.

Appearing regularly with symphonies and in recital, his recent concert engagements include the Carmina Burana with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and he has toured across Russia in a concert honoring Leonard Bernstein.

Previous seasons have included performances of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Florentine Opera and Syracuse Opera; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Santa Barbara; Escamillo in Carmen with Detroit Opera (formerly Michigan Opera Theater), and Syracuse Opera; Zurga in Pearl Fishers with Opera in Williamsburg; Mercutio in Roméo et Juliet with Lyric Opera Baltamore, Opera Grand Rapids, and Austin Lyric Opera; Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Santa Barbara; Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas with Washington National Opera, San Diego Opera, Pensacola Opera, and Arizona Opera; Hannah before in As One with Anchorage Opera and Urban Arias; Silvio in Pagliacci with Opera Roanoke; Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Santa Barbara; Perichaud in La Rondine with Opera Theater of St. Louis; the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Naples and Opera Western Reserve, and Marcello in La bohéme with Kentucky Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, and Anchorage Opera. Luis Orozco is known as the leading interpreter in the United States for the role of El Payador in Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires, a role which he has performed at Florida Grand Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Arizona Opera, Nashville Opera, Fort Worth Opera, New Orleans Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Anchorage Opera. Overseas, Orozco has performed the role of Papageno in Mozart’s Magic Flute with The Seoul International Opera Festival in South Korea, and the title role in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino with the CCM Spoleto Festival. Orozco was a part of the Kennedy Center World Stages Festival in the premiere staged reading of Fallujah by composer Tobin Stokes in 2013.