Olymar Salinas, tenor, was born in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. He began his musical training as a violinist at the age of eight and started voice lessons at fifteen with his mother, soprano Rosa Salinas. In 2017, he met conductor, vocal coach, and pianist Rogelio Riojas-Nolasco, who has since become his principal mentor.

In 2018, he received the Youth Revelation Prize at the Carlo Morelli Singing Competition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, performing with the Bellas Artes Symphony Orchestra. The following year, he was accepted into the Bellas Artes Opera Studio. He later continued his development at the Opera Studio of Coahuila and subsequently at Operísima México in San Miguel de Allende, under the musical and artistic direction of Maestro Riojas-Nolasco.

His operatic roles have included Rodolfo in La Bohème (Torreón), Tito in La clemenza di Tito at the Mozart Opera Studio in Vienna, Alfredo Germont and Gastone in La traviata, the Duke of Mantua and Borsa in Rigoletto, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte – all with Operísima México – as well as the First Knight of the Grail in Wagner’s Parsifal at the Teatro del Bicentenario in León. He has also appeared as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in San Miguel de Allende.

As a concert soloist, he performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Esperanza Azteca Orchestra at the Teatro del Bicentenario in León.

Olymar Salinas received the Melico Salazar Prize for Best Tenor at the ORFEO Latin American Vocal Competition in Costa Rica in both 2022 and 2024. In February 2024, he won the Mexico District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and advanced to the regional rounds in Denver, Colorado.

In early 2025, he sang the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in January, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen in February, and Faust in Gounod’s Faust in March, all with Operísima México in San Miguel de Allende under the musical direction of Maestro Riojas-Nolasco.

Most recently, in June 2025, he won First Prize in both the Zarzuela and Opera (Male Voice) categories at the Carlo Morelli Singing Competition, held in the main hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, performing with the Bellas Artes Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Srba Dinic.