Internationally acclaimed voice instructor César Ulloa served for many years as Chair of the Voice Department at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he taught since 2006 and received the Sarlo Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was also a longtime voice instructor for the San Francisco Opera Center Merola and Adler programs, and was honoured with the Exemplary Service Award from the Merola Opera Program in 2025. He has led young artist programs as vocal instructor for the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Program, Atelier Lyrique de L’Opera de Montreal, SIVAM in Mexico City, and International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, China and Italy. His students perform at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera House, La Scala, Paris Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, and others, and have won major competitions including Operalia, Richard Tucker, Elizabeth Connell, Neue Stimmen, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
As a professional tenor, Ulloa performed more than fifty roles during a fifteen-year career and was on the roster of such prestigious opera houses, including New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, L’Opera de Monte-Carlo, and appeared with major orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic. He worked with renowned conductors including Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, James Levine, and Richard Bonynge.
Born in Havana, Cuba, Ulloa emigrated to Spain in 1960 and later moved to the United States, where he studied voice at Southern Methodist University, tenor Thomas Hayward and later in New York with Franco Corelli.