Karlos Piñero-Mercado
Karlos Piñero-Mercado
Puerto Rican tenor Karlos Piñero-Mercado (he/they) is extremely excited to be a young artist with Chicago Opera Theater for the 2022-2023 season. Karlos is a Chicago-based performer and new music enthusiast. They have had the privilege of working with new music composers like Nico Gutierrez and premiered the song cycle A Journey in Tattered Shoes which touches on the social justice and mental health issues of healing as a survivor of sexual assault. Karlos is passionate about performing the overlooked music of Latinx composers, especially the music of Puerto Rico, and bringing it to the mainstream audience. They are part of the newly formed quartet, Liederspiel Society, that allows them to explore the works of marginalized people, works that highlight social justice issues, as well as the underrepresented works by well known and obscure composers.
Karlos was recently seen on the Chicago stage singing as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Evanston Chamber Opera, The Composer at 70 - a concert of works by Francis Lynch and, prior to the COVID lockdown, in the chorus for the premiere of Freedom Ride by Dan Shore with Chicago Opera Theater. Other recent performances include: Rodolfo in a concert performance of Puccini's La Bohème, Howell and Whiteside in Lynch’s For those in Peril, La théière in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges, Cornelius in Lynch’s Joseph’s Gift, The Lover in Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball, Eisenstein in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Dr. Cajus in Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Brother in Weill’s The 7 Deadly Sins. They have also had the pleasure to be the tenor soloist in concert works, including Stainer's Crucifixion, Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai, Schubert's Mass No. 4 in C major, Handel's Messiah and more.
Karlos is an alumni of the national music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. They received their Bachelor of Music from University of Central Florida and their Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, studying under countertenor Mark Crayton.