The Barber of Seville

“Impressive coloratura soprano” (The New York Times) Elizabeth Sutphen has garnered praise for her sparkling voice and her ability to “soar deftly through stratospheric trills and arpeggios” (Financial Times). Praised as “Exquisite” by The Guardian, Sutphen looks forward to the 2022/23 Season, which includes a return to the role of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburger Landestheater, and a company debut with Detroit Opera as Atalante in Handel’s Xerxes. The 2021/22 Season included Sutphen's Palm Beach Opera debut as Valencienne in The Merry Widow and her debut with the Atlanta Opera as Chrisann Brennan in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Mason Bates and Mark Campbell. Sutphen has performed leading roles in houses around the world, including Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with the Glyndebourne Festival, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with both the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Oper Frankfurt, and Faustina in Tarik O’Regan and John Caird’s The Phoenix with the Houston Grand Opera. Most recently, Sutphen was praised by Schmopera for her “impeccable comedic delivery” and “ability to sing flawlessly…with dexterity and finesse” for her Des Moines Metro Opera debut as the delightfully zany La Folie in Rameau’s Platée.

The beginning of Sutphen’s 2019/20 Season saw Sutphen's debuts as Gilda in Rigoletto with the Houston Grand Opera, as the Rossini heroine Lisetta in La gazzetta with Oper Frankfurt, and as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with the Tiroler Festspiele. Sutphen’s 2019/20 Season was also slated to include her debut as the charming Philine in Thomas’s Mignon with Oper Frankfurt, her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Singer 1/Witness 1/Woman 1 in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, her debut with The Dallas Opera as il voce dal cielo in Don Carlo under the baton of Maestro Emmanuel Villaume and directed by the late, unparalleled Edward Berkeley, and the cover of Cleopatra in Rossini’s Giulio Cesare with The Metropolitan Opera, all sadly cancelled due to COVID-19.

Just before the pandemic began in 2020, Sutphen had the distinct honor of presenting a very special solo recital with the Dallas Opera’s Scultping Sounds – joined by her dear friend and collaborator John Arida. Sutphen has enjoyed many memorable moments on the concert and orchestral stage, including her debut with the Orchestre Nationale de Lille in a several week run of an all-Bernstein program, her debut with the Vienna Boy Choir singing as the soprano soloist in Carmina Austriaca, her debut with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra singing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and her debut with The Saint Louis Symphony as the featured soloist in their 2019 New Year’s Gala. Sutphen was slated to return to The Saint Louis Symphony to perform the role of The Blessed Virgin in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher in their 2020 Season, but the concert was cancelled due to COVID-19. Sutphen joined Juilliard 415 singing Telemann’s Die Tageszeiten under the baton of Nicholas McGegan before touring with the ensemble to Vancouver and Berkeley, California, where they performed the piece with the Philharmonia Baroque. Sutphen has performed Queen of the Night in concert with The Albany Symphony and New York’s Little Orchestra Society. Sutphen made her Messiah debut with the Milwaukee Symphony in 2015, and looks forward to reprising its soprano solos in 2021 with the San Antonio Symphony.

Sutphen joined the renowned International Opern Studio with Oper Frankfurt in 2016 where she was lauded as “astonishing and mature member” (Frankfurter Neue Presse), and has enjoyed returning to their roster as a guest every season since her graduation from the studio in 2018. Roles at Oper Frankfurt have included both Romilda and Atalanta in Handel’s Xerxes (which can be seen on DVD and Blu-ray through Unitel), Tiny Bunyan in Britten’s Paul Bunyan under the direction of Brigitte Fassbender, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, The Blessed Virgin in Honegger’s Jean D’arc au Bûcher, Lisetta in Rossini’s La Gazzetta, and Lisa in La Sonnambula.

On screen, Sutphen was asked to be one of the inaugural video creators during the pandemic for The Dallas Opera’s TDO Network. Sutphen's opera themed comedy show, which she created, wrote, directed and starred in, “Late Nite With Liz,” included interviews, monologues, and skits that went viral – and which were the most-viewed content on the TDO Network.

Sutphen is a graduate of The Juilliard School (Bachelor of Music, 2012, Master of Music, 2014) as well as a proud alumna of The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Gerdine Young Artist 2014, 2015/ Richard Gaddess Festival Artist 2016), The Internationale Meistersinger Akadamie (2015), and the Solti Accademia (2016). Sutphen has enjoyed successes on many competition stages including receiving a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation, 2nd Prize in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, an Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, and 2nd Prize from the FAVA Grand Concours Competition. Sutphen was a Finalist in The Dallas Opera Competition, and a semi-finalist at Operalia in Lisbon, Portugal. Sutphen represented Oper Frankfurt in the prestigious Stella Maris Competition where she won Second Place, and was awarded the Novick Career Grant from the Juilliard School.

Argentinian tenor Santiago Ballerini is recognized as one of the leading tenors in the Bel Canto repertoire, having performed at many of the major opera houses throughout North and South America from Opera Nacional de Chile, Teatro Colón, Canadian Opera Company, as well as a long side leading international orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra in DC, Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal, and more. On the concert platform, the tenor performed Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. under Gianandrea Noseda, and began the 2020/21 Season in concert with the Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. Last season, Ballerini debuted the role of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with the Atlanta Opera, as well as his first Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with Opera San Antonio, a role he reprised in concert with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the Spring of 2022. The tenor began the 2021/22 Season with his first Contino Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera at Teatro Colón, and later made his role and house debut as Alzaga in The Magic Opal at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

This season, Ballerini’s engagements include La Traviata at Opera Nacional de Chile, Roméo and Juliette at Opera Naples, and Rigoletto with the Pacific Symphony. Ballerini reprised the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale for his triumphant debut at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona this September 2022. This season marks a series of exciting roles and theatre debuts for the young tenor. Following his debut in Barcelona, Ballerini debuted the role of Romeo in Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette. This winter 2023, Ballerini reprises the role of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at Teatro Regio di Torino. Ballerini will reprise the role of the Duke in Rigoletto this spring in concert with Pacific Symphony followed by his role and house debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Cincinnati Opera. This summer 2023, Ballerini debuts as the title role of Gaetano Donizetti’s tragedia lirica – Poliuto with Teatro Nuovo in New York City.

Before starting his professional singing career, Ballerini was a pianist for nine years and studied Music Therapy at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, specializing in addiction treatment. Ballerini was a semifinalist in the Francisco Vinas Competition at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Argentine Finalist at the Neue Stimmen Competition in Dresden, Germany. Ballerini also won First Prize at the Festivals Musicales Competition, American Society Competition and San Juan Opera Competition. In 2014, Ballerini was named Argentina’s “Upcoming Opera Singer” by the Congress of Argentina and the Argentine Association of Critics and received a scholarship to study with Sherrill Milnes. In January of 2016, Ballerini was awarded the Grand Prize at the Laguna Magica International Vocal Competition in Chile, receiving invitations to sing Cassio in Otello with the Teatro Argentino and to sing with the Tenerife Opera.

In the 2019/20 Season, Ballerini made his debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Ballerini began the season with his return to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Ernesto in Don Pasquale, after which he returned to the Atlanta Opera as Count Almaviva. In the 2018/19 Season, Ballerini debuted at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Nemorino, a role which he later sang for his debut with Opéra de Toulon. Ballerini then returned to the United States for his debut with Opera Saratoga as Tonio in La fille du regiment and to sing concerts in New York, Savannah and Atlanta. Ballerini also appeared at the Teatro Colon, singing Mozart’s Requiem. In the 2017/18 Season, Ballerini made his European debut as Gualtiero in Il pirata at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, after which he appeared for the first time in Bilbao as Ernesto in Don Pasquale and debuted as Tonio at the Atlanta Opera. Ballerini also returned to the Teatro Colon as Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri, appeared at the Teatro Nuovo’s inaugural festival at SUNY Purchase’s Performing Arts Center as Argiro in Tancredi, and sang a concert of arias at the Dallas Opera.

In the 2016/17 Season, Ballerini sang Il Tenor Italiano in Der Rosenkavalier at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Teatro Argentino, and Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Atlanta Opera. Ballerini also covered the roles of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In July of 2017, Ballerini returned to the Caramoor Festival in New York to sing Gualtiero in Bellini’s Il pirata opposite Angela Meade. In the 2015/16 Season, he made his acclaimed United States debut at the Caramoor Festival as Fernand in La Favorite and sang the role of Tybalt in The Atlanta Opera’s production of Roméo and Juliette. After singing the role of Conte di Libenskof in Il Viaggio a Reims at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the tenor returned to the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires to sing Jünge Graf in Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten.

Other highlights from previous seasons include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love at the Teatro Solis in Montevideo alongside baritone Erwin Schrott, and performances at the Teatro Colon as the title role in Luigi Nono’s Prometeo and Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo. Ballerini also sang Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Argentino; Belmonte in Die entführung aus dem Serail, Lord Perci in Anna Bolena, Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Teatro Avenida; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Romeo and Tybalt in Roméo and Juliette and Jaquino in Fidelio at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Teatro Libertador in Cordoba; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Colsubsidio Theatre’s re-opening in Bogotá, Colombia.

Baritone Alexander Birch Elliott, a native of Florence, South Carolina, is a graduate of Florida State University and the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. In the 2023/24 Season, Elliott will return to The Metropolitan Opera as Papageno in The Magic Flute. Recent and career highlights include a role and house debut as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Los Angeles Opera; Leandro in Sergei Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Des Moines Metro Opera; Schaunard in La Bohème with the Metropolitan Opera; Zurga in The Pearl Fishers with both the Met and Houston Grand Opera; Marcello in La Bohème with San Diego Opera; and the title role in Eugene Onegin at Opera Omaha.

Andrew Gilstrap is quickly rising to be one of the premiere bass-baritones of his generation, known for his dramatic interpretations and musical sophistication. He is an alumnus of the respective studios/apprentice programs of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Des Moines Metro Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. Career highlights include the roles of Leporello in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera, Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro and Il padre di Nencio in L’infedeltà delusa with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Immigration Officer in Flight with Minnesota Opera, and Sourin in Pique Dame with Des Moines Metro Opera. This year, he performed the roles of Horace Derwent in The Shining and Masetto in Don Giovanni with The Atlanta Opera. Gilstrap will make multiple concert debuts this season, namely in Frankenstein with The Atlanta Opera, Messiah with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra. He will also appear in Atlanta Opera’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this season in the role of Starveling. Gilstrap holds degrees from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he studied with Timothy Jones. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2016 and a Master of Music in 2018. In his spare time, Gilstrap enjoys cooking and baking for his family and long walks with his Yorkie mix, Westley.

Praised for her captivating stage presence, “full bodied" (Indie Opera) and "nuanced voice” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook is quickly establishing a name for herself in repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Mazzoli. During the 2021 Season, Cook made her company debuts with Painted Sky Opera performing Hannah After in the Oklahoma Premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s As One, Opera Saratoga performing Antonia in Man of La Mancha, and Virginia Opera performing Wellgunde in Das Rheingold. Cook was most recently seen performing Edwin the Avatar/Eddie in the film version of Frances Pollock’s Earth to Kenzie.

Other notable stage credits include Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Scalia-Ginsburg), Blanche de la Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Mélisande (Impressions de Pelléas), and Tisbe (La Cenerentola). Cook has appeared with Opera Philadelphia, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Naples, Opera Iowa, Opera Company of Middlebury, Opera Louisiane, Guérilla Opera, Odyssey Opera, Seagle Festival, and the Louisiana Opera Outreach Program, and has performed as a soloist in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Cook was also a featured soloist in Boston Symphony Hall at a gala hosted by Alan Cumming.

As a contemporary repertoire advocate, Cook premiered Evan Mack's Roscoe, and was most recently seen workshopping the role of LeAnn in Missy Mazzoli's upcoming opera: The Listeners, with Opera Philadelphia. Cook was also featured in a collaborative project with Guerilla Opera, where she premiered excerpts from The Desert, Lazy Citizen, War is a Racket, and Malice in the Palace. Other notable projects include the workshop and premiere recording of The Leopard (Dellaira) as the role of Angelica with American Opera Projects, the premiere recording of The Wake World (Hertzberg) with Opera Philadelphia, a recording of Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Wuorinen) with Boston Modern Orchestra Projects, and a pre-workshop of Permadeath (Visconti) as Aphrodite in association with Friends of Madame White Snake. Prior to the pandemic, Cook was also scheduled to perform Elder #2 in the New York Premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sky on Swings with Opera Saratoga.

Cook will close out 2021 with the World Premiere of Molly Joyce’s Our Way of Being Small in the World with Fresh Squeezed Opera in NYC, followed by a recording with Opera Philadelphia of Daniel Belquer’s piece Religare Resonare, composed specifically for use with Vibrotextile wearable technology by Music: Not Impossible Labs. In the 2022 Season, Cook returned to Virginia Opera to perform Cherubino in their mainstage production of The Marriage of Figaro.

Mauricio Perusquia, baritone, holds an MM in Opera Performance from Arizona State University and a BM in Voice Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso. He recently performed the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at FIO Mondo across the region of Le Marche in Italy. Mauricio performs with the Arizona Opera Arlyn M. Brewster OperaTunity Program, bringing music to schools in the Phoenix area. He has also participated in the Curbside Opera initiative as a Resident Artist with El Paso Opera. He has engaged in many new Opera works such as Arizona Opera’s Silent Night and the New Works reading of the jazz interactive opera, Marie Begins, as well as concert works such as Cipher by Daniel Bernard Roumain. He has also engaged in many standard repertoire roles such as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and Marquis in La Traviata.

Mexican-born conductor Roberto Kalb is the newly appointed music director of Detroit Opera. Kalb makes multiple debuts in the 2022/23 Season, including with the San Francisco Opera, Compañía Nacional de Ópera at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, San Diego Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. The 2021/22 Season marked a debut with the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, as well as return collaborations with Wolf Trap Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra for La Traviata, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, for the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings.

In 2019, Kalb concluded his five season tenure as resident conductor and head of music at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis with a critically acclaimed run of Rigoletto in collaboration with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, which Opera News lauded: “The orchestra sounded sublime under the baton of Roberto Kalb, whose buoyant conducting simultaneously led and followed the singers.”

Additional highlights include productions at the Michigan Opera Theatre, Florida Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Maine, as well as performances with the Orquesta Carlos Chavez in Mexico City, and the Orquestra Sinfonica da USP in São Paulo. Kalb also worked as cover / assistant conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

Kalb is one of the recipients of the 2021 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards and holds degrees from the University of Michigan, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Kalb is married to soprano, Mane Galoyan.