David Lomelí became the first Latino in US history to occupy a top artistic position at a Level 1 opera company when he was named the Director of Artistic Administration at The Dallas Opera in 2018. In September 2019, he joined the team at the historic Bavarian State Opera in Munich where he took part in casting more than 30 new productions and 50 revival productions for the 2021-2025 seasons, becoming the first Hispanic to hold the position of Head of Casting in a top 5 company in the world. In April 2021, he joined the Santa Fe Opera in a newly created position as Chief Artistic Officer, overseeing the company’s artistic output. After a full calendar year with the company and managing the 2021 and 2022 festival, Santa Fe Opera won “Festival of the Year” at the International Opera Awards in November 2022. During his time with The Dallas Opera, Lomelí was involved in the commissioning and producing of five world premieres and facilitated the debuts of major International and US stars. He is most proud of his work with The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors (HIWC), where he and his team recruited over 400 conductors and 50 administrators with applications spanning more than 30 countries. During the pandemic, Lomelí and his team created the TDO Network for The Dallas Opera, which generated millions of views on the company’s social media channels.
Before joining TDO, Mr. Lomelí performed as a world-renoned tenor with many top leading companies. He is a recipient of the National Youth Prize in the Arts, presented by the Mexican government, and won first prize in both categories of opera and zarzuela in Plácido Domingo’s 2006 Operalia. Mr. Lomeli is an alumnus of some of the most prestigious training programs for opera artists, including the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, as well as the International Society of Mexican Art and Values in Mexico City.
