Oliver Camacho

Oliver Camacho is a Monteverdi-Schubert tenor and historically informed podcaster who has miraculously evaded being canceled since 2006. Until 2020, he hustled for singing gigs that required a facile glottis and the occasional stage directing job for companies that had no budget for sets or lights. Oliver credits his passion for music to his Chicago Public Schools education, and his disastrous personal finances to the Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University (including the Bank One agents who handed him a credit card application at freshman orientation).

Some of his most polarizing work was done for OperaNow! Podcast. OBS is deciding if it is finally time to cancel him once and for all. As of this writing, Oliver is still a presenter on Classical WFMT in Chicago. As producer/host of the program Listening to Singers, he leverages his position to score interviews with esteemed guests who would never sink to be interviewed by a podcaster.

I love opera because:

Occasionally, it affirms a truth that can’t otherwise be expressed. Often, it artfully illustrates the human condition. And sometimes the baritone takes his shirt off.

Favorite singer: Marilyn Horne. Her phrasing and registration choices are ingrained in my ear.

Favorite shows: Così fan tutte, Cenerentola, and Figaro. I like a forgiveness moment.

Sports allegiances: Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff (replacing Roger Federer and Serena Williams)

Story that should be an opera: The stabbing of Monica Seles at the Hamburg Open and the Brandon Teena story (basis for film Boys Don’t Cry).

Craziest opera moment: I stage managed a Baroque opera where the singer in the title role did not learn the part. There was much scrambling by the director to cut the score down to accommodate what they had prepared.