Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

A versatile musician acknowledged for his passionate and commanding leadership from the podium, the exciting American conductor Andrew Bisantz is building an impressive roster of credits at leading national orchestras and opera companies throughout the country. As the Music Director at Eugene Opera, Bisantz has been responsible for the emergence of the company as one of the most noted and important performing arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest. In Eugene, he has conducted Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Faust, La bohème, The Mikado, Carmen, Nixon in China, Pirates of Penzance, Dead Man Walking, Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, La fanciulla del West, L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Eugene Onegin, and La traviata. This season, Bisantz will continue his post at Eugene Opera and will conduct Madama Butterfly at Opera Tampa. Last season, Bisantz conducted Tosca with Tri-Cities Opera and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant at American Lyric Theater. Upcoming engagements include New York Stories for Florida Grand Opera and Madama Butterfly for Opera Tampa.

In recent seasons, Bisantz conducted Opera Saratoga’s production of The Consul, a concert entitled “Mozart’s Operatic Favorites” with Buffalo Philharmonic, Albert Herring at McGill University, Le Nozze di Figaro for Florida Grand Opera, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant for American Lyric Theater, La fille du regiment with Opera Saratoga, Dialogues des Carmelites with Savannah Voice Festival, as well as his company’s productions of As One and H.M.S. Pinafore, La fanciulla del West with Virginia Opera, Macbeth for Opera Tampa, Don Giovanni with Northwestern University, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Eugene Opera. Notable engagements from the past few seasons include returns to Florida Grand Opera for Rigoletto, Menotti’s The Consul, and Die Zauberflöte; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at McGill University; Rigoletto at Opera Coeur d’Alene and Tri-Cities Opera; Verdi’s La traviata for Virginia Opera; Le nozze di Figaro at Opera San José; La faniciulla del West at Opera Omaha; and Don Giovanni at Savannah Voice Festival and in his début with Wolf Trap Opera. He also conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra under the famed Hatch Shell and sold-out performances of Rhapsody in Blue with Buffalo Philharmonic.

He made his European début conducting concerts with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto in Porto, Portugal and returned conducting a concert of Bomtempo’s Requiem with the OSP and the Coro Casa da Música. He also recently débuted at the Brevard Music Center, conducting Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore for the Janiec Opera Company.

For his début with Boston Lyric Opera leading The Turn of the Screw, The Boston Globe selected it as one of the ten top Boston classical music events of 2010, and The Boston Musical Intelligencer noted that “Conductor Andrew Bisantz led the small group of instrumentalists with skill and an impeccable ear for balance…in those instances when the players were the focal point, especially the interludes that fall between each scene, the musicianship was effective and inspired.” He subsequently returned for productions of Tosca and Madama Butterfly.

Bisantz previously served as Associate Conductor of Florida Grand Opera (FGO). He made his FGO main stage début conducting Bizet’s Carmen for the company’s historic final performances at Miami-Dade County Auditorium. With FGO, he also conducted Suor Angelica, Pagliacci, La Cenerentola, La bohème, Don Giovanni, and Manon Lescaut. At FGO General Director Robert Heuer’s 25th Anniversary Gala, Maestro Bisantz led the FGO Orchestra in performance with notable artists such as Elizabeth Futral, Katharine Goeldner, Kyle Pfortmiller, and David Pomeroy.

Additional positions held include Assistant Conductor at Glimmerglass Opera, where he conducted Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience and Massenet’s Le portrait de Manon; Apprentice Conductor and Associate Producer of the Buffalo Philharmonic National Public Radio broadcasts; Music Director of the Florida International University Opera Theatre; and faculty member of VOICExperience, a summer voice program created by legendary baritone Sherrill Milnes and soprano Maria Zouves.

Bisantz earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Fredonia State College, where he studied piano with Robert Jordan and conducting with Grant Cooper. He completed his Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with legendary conductors such as Carl Topilow, Louis Lane, and current Music Director of New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Alan Gilbert.