Justino Díaz

Operatic

Bass-baritone
Honoree

The 44th Kennedy Center Honors

Born January 29, 1940 and a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Justino Díaz started performing at the age of eight and attended the University of Puerto Rico and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. His operatic debut was in 1957 as Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone. Díaz made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1963 in Verdi’s Rigoletto as Monterone. There he went on to sing in 400 performances, across 21 seasons, in 39 roles. In 1966, he inaugurated the new Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City together with Leontyne Price in Antony and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber. In 1971, he inaugurated the Kennedy Center Opera House, where he performed the leading male role in Ginastera’s Beatrix Cenci—following Center’s opening night of Bernstein’s Mass.

Among the opera companies in which Díaz has performed are: La Scala; Paris Opera; The Vienna Staatsoper; Salzburg Festival; Spoleto Festival; Rome Opera; The Royal Opera in London; the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; the Zarzuela Theater of Madrid; and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Throughout his career, Díaz sang with leading symphony orchestras around the world under the direction of the most celebrated conductors.

Díaz has made many recordings of opera and oratorios. In 1986, Díaz played the role of Iago opposite Plácido Domingo in Franco Zeffirelli’s film adaptation of Otello. Previously he starred in the role of Escamillo in the film version of Carmen, conducted and directed by Herbert von Karajan.

Justino Díaz is married to Ilsa Rodriguez. He has two daughters by a previous marriage; Helen Hayes Award-winning stage and screen actress Natascia Díaz and composer and singer Katya Díaz.

Recent Kennedy Center history: Justino Díaz originated the role of Francesco in the September 10, 1971 world premiere of Ginastera’s Beatrix Cenci, performed for the then Opera Society of Washington (now Washington National Opera), which inaugurated the Kennedy Center Opera House. Additionally, Díaz has appeared in a number of Washington National Opera productions over the years, most recently Otello and Il Trovatore (2000). He has also made several appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra most recently in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24 with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting (1991).

Kennedy Center Honors Tribute Segment Credits:

Carmen costumes designed by Tanya McCallin.

Costumes used for the Carmen segment are part of a Co-Production of San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera, originally created by Opera Australia based on the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Norwegian National Opera co-production.

Matthew Polenzani and Denyce Graves appear courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera.