Ahead of Madama Butterfly, the Mexican-born tenor shares why he’s happy to be working here with Opera Australia.

When and why did you start singing?

In Mexico where I was born we have a huge musical background – from when we are two or three years old we are absorbing all that music – but I’m the first one in my whole family to study it. When I was in primary school, the music teacher heard me and asked to talk with my parents. He said it looked like I had potential to develop, and he offered to give me my first singing lessons. I was around seven or eight years old, and I had my first vocal training until the voice was broken. After that I continued my regular life with high school, but just before entering university I went to the music school in Mexico and later I got the chance to go to the Young Artists’ Programme in Los Angeles. It’s from there that I started to grow.

Diego Torre, Opera AustraliaDiego Torre as Canio in Opera Australia’s Pagliacci. Photo © Keith Saunders

So who were your favourite tenors?

I...