Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, tenor Joachim Luis was last seen on stage in March 2023 in West Edge Opera’s Snapshot Concert. In April 2019 he made his Chicago Opera Theater debut as Tashtego in Moby Dick. Past roles include: Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Don Basilio/Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro), Morales/Remendado (Carmen), Prince Ramiro (Cenerentola), Frederick (Pirates of Penzance), Ralph Rackstraw (HMS Pinafore), Jack (Into the Woods), and Big Deal (West Side Story). Midwest/Chicago premiers include: Don Filipo in the Tagalog opera Noli me tangere; Zhang Junrui in the Mandarin operetta Romance of the Western Chamber; and Kanako Hilo/ Prince Lilo-Taro (cover) in Abraham’s Flower of Hawaii.
On the concert stage, solo credits include: Stabat Mater (Rossini), Liebeslieder Waltzes (Brahms), Carmina Burana (Orff), Mozart’s Requiem, Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saëns), Hodie (Vaughan Williams), Der Stern von Bethlehem (Rheinberger), and Messiah (Handel). A sought after choral singer, Joachim has performed and soloed with numerous Chicago groups: Bella Voce, Chicago Choral Artists, William Ferris Chorale, Chicago Bach Ensemble, Cantate, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Vocality, and Hot Commodity.
As an arranger, Joachim received his first professional orchestral credit for the Floating Opera Company’s production of Don Giovanni in February 2016. His choral a cappella arrangements have been sung by Constellation Men’s Ensemble and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.
Joachim is a big advocate of introducing and making opera accessible to all. He has sung concerts both here and in Europe with the San Francisco, Hamburg and Chicago chapters of Opera on Tap, a non-profit organization that performs opera concerts in non-traditional venues such as bars, cafes, restaurants, and movie theaters; and is a former Co-Managing Divo of Opera on Tap Chicago, where he restarted the chapter in 2014. He has also performed educational outreach programs with Main Street Opera (Chicago), Opera on Tap SF, Livermore Valley Opera, West Bay Opera, and will be joining the SF Opera’s outreach this fall 2024.
Joachim is an Extra Chorister with the SF Opera and a Regular Tenor in the SF Symphony Chorus. He received a Bachelor of Music Education from San Francisco State University in 2007, and a Master of Music in Classical Voice at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2009.
