"Diana’s voice, her ability to shift the room by allowing her research to inform her choices of sound, song selection, and phrasing is simply remarkable. For me personally, even on YouTube - her Quiero Volver: A Xicanx Ritual Opera trailer recalibrates my mood. This is true of so many of the women of color artists before her, like Bessie Smith for example – who was said to have been able to conjure with her voice." -Sharon Bridgforth

Doctora Xingona's ancestors bloom in her/their voice. Her/their songs roar an otherworldly fire against oppression, exalt queer love and liberation, and create a gripping atmosphere for healing. Doctora Xingona’s poetic songs live in-between, where borders are a myth. An expansive multimedia artist and educator, Doctora Xingona's music, poetry, performances, films, and gatherings center transcendence, kinship, and the co-liberation and nourishment of queer and trans artists of color.

Doctora Xingona is the composer and filmmaker behind the award-winning Quiero Volver: A Xicanx Ritual Opera, a multimedia performance altar for queer and trans BIPOC artists to convene and manifest futures. This performance, awarded by the New England Foundation for the Arts and multiple Massachusetts Cultural Councils, has been described by the press as an "acoustically stunning performance meant to honor women, nonbinary, and genderqueer artists of color." Quiero Volver has raised over $10,000 to support immigrant justice initiatives, and currently benefits the BridgeSong Fund: Emergency Relief for Western MA Women, Nonbinary, Trans, and Genderqueer Artists of Color, co-founded by Doctora Xingona at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen, MA.

Alvarez's journey as a songwriter and opera composer began with her award-winning poetry, which centers genderqueer muse, Bruja Juana. In 2008, Alvarez completed her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College, where her poetry collection, Consultations with Bruja Juana, was conceived. Consultations was published by Toadlily Press in 2009, and two of Alvarez’s poems also appear in The Best of Toadlily Press (2011). Poet Sean Nevin said of Consultations, "Diana Alvarez writes the truth through a tincture of magic and prayer, and both the spirits and the living are cupping their ears to listen."

Dr. Alvarez earned her PhD in Electronic Arts Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she was mentored by groundbreaking composer Pauline Oliveros. Alvarez's dissertation research is titled Bridge Artistx: Gatherings of Women, Non-Binary, and Genderqueer Artists of Color. At Rensselaer, Alvarez composed her opera, and blended testimonio methods and video portraiture to document the lives and work of women, nonbinary, and genderqueer artists of color. Alvarez's video art continues to expand. In 2018, Alvarez was commissioned to create a documentary for the world premiere of Sharon Bridgforth’s performance installation, dat Black Mermaid Man Lady at allgo, a statewide queer people of color organization in Austin, Texas. In addition to her documentary commissions for Bridgforth, Alvarez has directed her own music videos, as well as a music video for internationally recognized singer-songwriter and jazz musician, Pamela Means.

Doctora Xingona Diana Alvarez has been awarded grants from New England Foundation for the Arts, Iguana Music Fund/Club Passim, Easthampton City Arts, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and Mass MoCA, Massachusetts Assembly/ArtPlace America. Alvarez is the recipient of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize from the Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA) and the Malcolm S. Morse Graduate Research Enhancement Award in Honor of Pauline Oliveros from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Alvarez has also been an artist-in-residence at Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada.

Doctora Xingona is an invited performer, guest lecturer, workshop facilitator, and keynote speaker at venues and schools across the US and worldwide, including Festival Internaciónal Cervantino, MX, Philadelphia Folk Festival, PA, Banff Centre for the Arts, Folk Alliance International, and many more.

Doctora Xingona's debut album, Ser Artista--a roaring, genderqueer, extraterrestrial, Xicanx collection of songs produced by Seth Glier--was released in December 2021.