Eric Botto

Praised for his “robust” voice, Mexican American tenor Eric Botto is best known for his vocal and dramatic versatility onstage, triumphing in romantic leads as Rodolfo (La bohème), Alfredo (La traviata), Roméo (Roméo et Juliette), Gennaro (Lucrezia Borgia), and Nadir (Les pêcheurs de perles). Eric has graced the stages of esteemed companies including Chautauqua Opera, Central City Opera, Opera San Antonio, New Amsterdam Opera, First Coast Opera, and others throughout the country and overseas. Kicking off the 2024/25 season Eric makes house and role debut with Opera Southwest in their production of Carlo Coccia’s bel canto opera: Matilde, ossia una fatala supposizione, directed by Martha Collins and conducted by Maestro Anthony Barrese.

Following Matilde Eric makes his role, house, and city debut in Los Angeles with Pacific Opera Project portraying the role of Il Conte di Belprato in their production of Don Bucefalo, directed by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw and conducted by Kyle Naig. Rounding out 2024 in his own hometown Eric makes his house debut with Opera in the Heights in their production of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince under the baton of Maestro Eiki Isomura and direction by Josh Shaw. And in May of 2025, Eric will make his highly anticipated house and role debut of Tony with Indianapolis Opera in an original production of West Side Story under the direction of Scott Perry and conducted by Maestro Alfred Savia.

Eric returned to Chautauqua Opera this past summer portraying the role of David in Nicolás Lell Benavides and Marella Martin Koch’s Pepito to close out Love and Longing by the Lake: a triple-bill production of chamber operas that included two site-specific world premieres. Eric had the privilege of performing with the Chautauqua Symphony in their Entanglements and Epiphanies Concert singing selections from Manon, Les pêcheurs de perles, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Company, all under the baton of Maestro Stuart Chafetz. Eric also experienced two prior summers at Chautauqua where he made debuts as Spoletta (Tosca) and as both the cover of John Adams and the role of Andrew Johnson (The Mother of Us All). In the summer of 2020, Eric appeared as a featured soloist in the world premiere of Chautauqua Opera’s In Our Silence; a song cycle composed by Frances Pollock and text by Jerre Dye which focused on each of the young artists’ experiences during COVID-19 isolation.

Eric received accolades from various competitions in recent years, including 1st place in both the Arizona & Birmingham Chapters of the Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Voice Awards Competition, 1st place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (West Central Region), 2nd place in Lyra New York’s International Vocal Competition, the Career Advancement Award from Pikes Peak Opera League, and was a finalist in the nationally-recognized Lotte Lenya Competition, hosted by the Kurt Weill Foundation. Eric holds an Artist Diploma at the University of Colorado and music degrees from Colorado State University and the University of Mobile.