VICTOR CARDAMONE

tenor

Victor Cardamone is a high lyric tenor hailing from the northeast outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For over a decade, he has garnered much attention and critical acclaim, and continues to do so.

Highlights of Cardamone’s current season include being named a 2026 Manetti Shrem Opera Prize Winner ($10,000) at Festival Napa Valley, being featured on a Three Tenors concert for Pittsburgh Festival Opera with Gregory Kunde and John Osborn, and being named a Grand Finals Winner ($10,000) of the second annual Luciano Pavarotti Foundation International Voice Competition, hosted by Opera Naples. His portrayal of Tamino in both Die Zauberflöte and The Magic Flute points to his “well-characterized” acting and “very fine” singing, having sung the role at Opera Naples in 2025, conducted by Ramón Tebar, and Livermore Valley Opera in 2024.

He “thrilled” audiences during his time as a member of the prestigious, world-renowned Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera with his “gorgeous and sizable” voice, which just so happens to also have “good facility in fioritura.” His “penetrating heroic quality and chiaroscuro” could be heard when he sang Rodolfo in their abridged, outdoor, regional production of La Bohème for 2 consecutive seasons - he reprised the role in its entirety with Western Plains Opera in 2024. Other highlights during his time in the Bay Area include covering Steve Wozniak in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, singing Die Erscheinung eines Jünglings and covering Der Bucklige in the David Hockney production of Die Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles, covering Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, and covering Triquet in the Robert Carsen production of Eugene Onégin.

Another Mozart lead that has brought him high praise for his dramatic capabilities is Don Ottavio, which he sang mid-pandemic at Opera Columbus in 2021 and covered at San Francisco Opera in 2022. One of his all-time favorite career highlights was singing all three tenor roles (La théière/Le petit vieillard/La rainette) in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Other major role/cover credits include Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (upcoming at Opera Naples in 2027, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore at Opera Naples in 2026, and Shanty in Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio at Cincinnati Opera in 2024. Mr. Cardamone has also appeared as Jeník in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Larry Renault in Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte. An advocate and champion of new music, he has lent his voice to a number of significant projects over the past few years. As a member of Opera Fusion: New Works, he was part of the first workshops and studio recordings for The Hours(co-commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra), Blind Injustice(sponsored by the Ohio Innocence Project), and Eurydice (co-commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and LA Opera).

Cardamone is no stranger to the concert stage. He makes his long-awaited Beethoven 9debut in 2027 with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. He has twice sung the tenor solos in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, the most high-profile performance of which was with The May Festival in 2026. He finally had the opportunity to sing the tenor solo in his absolute favorite concert work ever, Carmina Burana, with Maine’s Portland Symphony Orchestra in 2025. He hopes to sing many more performances throughout his career all across the globe. Another pre-pandemic 2020 highlight was singing in the solo ensemble of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His Handel’s Messiah over the years has been praised for its “perfect pitch and tone quality” and “alacritous ornamentations,” with his most high-profile performances being with the Charleston Symphony in 2018. Other major concert credits include Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht (with the Charleston Symphony in 2021, Bach’s Johannes-Passion and Magnificat, Carissimi’s Jephte, and Haydn’s The Creation.

Mr. Cardamone was a Quarterfinalist in the 63rd Concurs Internacional de Cant Tenor Viñas. He was a two-time Quarterfinalist in the Tbilisi Opera Crown, an international voice competition that takes place in the country of Georgia every 2 years. He was a Finalist and Winner of the Prize of the Audience ($1,000) in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition in 2025, after being a Semifinalist in 2019. He was a Tier I Finalist and recipient of the Bonnie Bell Encouragement Award ($2,000) in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in 2023. He is a proud recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant ($8,000) from the Shoshana Foundation in 2022. He was a four-time Corbett Competition award winner, receiving the Andrew White Memorial Award ($10,000) in 2021, the Corbett Opera Award ($5,000) in 2020, The Corbett Award in 2019 (top prize, $15,000), and the Seybold-Russell Award ($10,000) in 2018. He was also a four-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was the sole recipient of the Central Region Encouragement Award ($1,000) in the 2017-2018 season.

Mr. Cardamone holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Youngstown State University, both an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies and his Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Cincinnati Conservatory. He completed additional training at the Merola Opera Program and Wolf Trap Opera.

Driven by a voracious artistic appetite, Victor draws from many musical traditions when using the voice that God gave him. He grew up steeped in the sounds of the Baptist church, among a family of deacons, missionaries, and pastors. He views performing as a way of serving his community, while paying forward the love and support he has received. When not singing or studying scores, Victor can be found making something delicious in the kitchen and chilling with his favorite feline, a black cat named Bill.