In honor of October Arts Month the Pikes Peak Opera League presents Baritone Armando Contreras for the annual Fall Fest, 'A Night in Italy!' Plus, guests will enjoy a delicious Italian buffet with wine.

About Armando Contreras: Praised for "the easy caramel syrup of his voice" (Opera Today), Mexican-American baritone Armando Contreras is quickly becoming a standout in the world of opera. In 2021, Contreras was part of the world premiere of Aleksandra Vrebalov and Deborah Breevort's The Knock, singing the lead role Lt. Roberto Gonzales with The Glimmerglass Festival. Other highlights of his current season include making his debut with Salt Marsh Opera as Morales in Carmen, reprising the role of Diego Rivera in Frida and the Bravest Girl in the World with Central City Opera, joining Opera Steamboat in The Three Feathers as The King/Rat and making his Denver Philharmonic debut in L'elisier d'amore as Belcore. This summer, Contreras will return to The Glimmerglass Festival to sing a lead role in the world premiere of Rossini pastiche, Tenor Overboard, and cover Morales in Carmen. In 2022-23, Contreras will sing Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Council in Trial by Jury with Salt March Opera. He will also make his company debut with Cincinnati Opera in the near future.

Equally comfortable in concert repertoire, he has performed as the bass soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Missouri Oratorio Society and Orff's Carmina Burana with the Kansas City Ballet. He also appeared as Papageno in a concert featuring operatic selections by Mozart with The Cleveland Orchestra, a concert he will again perform with the Colorado Symphony in 2022.

Contreras has had extensive training including at The Glimmerglass Festival as a Young Artist, Des Moines Metro Opera as an Apprentice Artist, Lyric Opera of Kansas City as a Young Artist and Central City as a Studio Artist. Accolades from the vocal competition circuit include his receiving the Top Prize after completion of the Central City Young Artist Program, being named a finalist in the 2020 Kyrenia Opera Vocal Competition and participating in the 2019 Dorothy Lincoln Smith Voice Competition where he was the Regional Winner.

A strong proponent of education, Contreras holds a Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master's degree in the same major from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Event sponsors: Gold Hill Mesa, Tiemens Private Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, and Dr. Susan Rae Jensen & Tom Trainer