José Miguel Santelices is a Chilean tenor, stage director, educator, and arts entrepreneur whose work bridges performance, pedagogy, and cultural leadership. A dynamic performer and increasingly sought-after tenor, he is known for his versatile, powerful voice, and growing national and international presence. His roles include Rodolfo (La Bohème), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Gherardo (Gianni Schicchi), Beppe (Pagliacci), Spoletta (Tosca), 2nd Trio Member (Trouble in Tahiti), King Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Jacob Marley and Bob Cratchit (A Christmas Carol), and Adolfo Pirelli (Sweeney Todd), among others. He has performed with companies including Opera Tampa, Lyrical Opera Theater, and Spanish Lyric Theatre, with appearances at the Moab Music Festival, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake Vocal Fest, Latino Cultural Center of Dallas, Mexican Cultural Institute of San Antonio, Costa Rica International Arts Festival, and Montefeltro Festival in Italy. In 2025, he joined the Grammy® Award-winning Los Angeles Master Chorale, described by the Los Angeles Times as “the finest-by-far major chorus in America.”

As an educator, Santelices is the founder and director of VOCES Academy of the Arts in Dallas, Texas. His teaching blends science-informed technique with expressive freedom, helping students build confident, healthy technique and develop their unique voices. His students have won competitions, earned scholarships, and been accepted into top music programs. He has taught applied voice, vocal health, and opera literature at the collegiate level, and served as a Teaching Artist Fellow with OPERA San Antonio and the Classical Music Institute, expanding access to high-level vocal training through outreach and mentorship. As a stage director, Santelices produced and directed Falla’s El retablo de maese Pedro, and has staged scenes from works by Bernstein, Weill, Britten, and others throughout his career.

He is also the creator of Arias of the Vine, a performance series that pairs classical repertoire with curated wine tastings. Premiered in Lodi, California, the series offers immersive, storytelling-driven concert experiences that reimagine how audiences engage with vocal music. In 2025, José Miguel was featured as a singer and speaker in Voices Beyond Boundaries, a national recital initiative spotlighting works by LGBTQ+ composers, with a focus on contemporary music and inclusive narratives.

Santelices is the founder and president of the Santelices Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to arts education, preserving Hispanic heritage, and fostering international collaboration. He also serves as general and artistic director of its flagship initiative, the Colchagua Vocal Institute—a boutique winter training intensive launching January 2026 in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. The program brings together singers and pianists from across the Americas for nine days of immersive study, career mentorship, wellness support, and cultural engagement in a retreat-style setting.

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance with a related field in Opera Production and Direction from the University of Utah, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of South Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a minor in German from St. Lawrence University. Dr. Santelices is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), MTNA, and TMTA.