:: VOCALS ::
Carla Canales has been praised by Opera Magazine for possessing a voice that “grabs the heart-strings with its dramatic force and musicality.” In 2014, she became the first singer ever to win the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence, an honor bestowed upon her by Justice Sotomayor at the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2015, she also became the first singer to be named by Foreign Policy Magazine to its prestigious annual listing of the year’s100 Leading Global Thinkers for her work using music to bridge cultural barriers. In 2017 she received the prestigious University of Michigan Bicentennial Alumni Award. Most recently, Ms Canales was named one of Musical America’s 30 Movers and Shapers of 2018
As a classical singer, Ms. Canales has performed at opera houses and concert venues around the world. Much in demand for her portrayals of Bizet’s Carmen, Ms Canales has sung the title role over eighty times in twelve countries, most recently with the Shanghai Opera. According to Opera News, “Mexican mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov, a well-practiced, sexy Carmen, dominated the show”. Other operatic performances in China include role of Giulietta in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann as well as the title role in the legendary Royal Opera House production of Carmen, both at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
A Mexican citizen, she has appeared frequently in Latin America, with performances in Mexico’s Centro National de las Artes, Chile’s Teatro del Lago, and several engagements with the Sinfonica de Yucatan, including the title role in Carmen, Dalilah in Samson et Dalilah, and Ber-lioz’s Les Nuits d’Ete. She was the featured guest artist in the UNAM Anniversary Concert “Voices of Mexico” which was nationally televised throughout Mexico and released as a com-mercial recording.
As a concert soloist she has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Avery Fisher Hall with the National Chorale, Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall and at the Kennedy Center, and in concert at Alice Tully Hall. She has also been a soloist with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra (Carmen), the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven 9 and Mahler 2), and has appeared twice as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra (Mahler Das Knabenwunerhorn and songs by Tan Dun).
An avid recitalist, Ms Canales has performed solo recitals at the National Gallery of Art, Guang-zhou Opera, NCPA, Forbidden City Concert Hall, and most recently at the Kennedy Center in 2018. She has performed on the nationally televised Hispanic Heritage Awards, was the guest artist for Vice President Biden's Hispanic Heritage Month Reception, and also at the National Endowment for the Art's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Ms Canales has been the first singer to be selected for the Hermitage Artist Residency, from 2016-18. .