Don Giovanni

Stage Director Tara Faircloth’s work has been seen in opera houses around the nation. Critics hailed Faircloth's recent directorial debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago: a “wickedly funny, elegantly sung, cleverly directed production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.” In recent seasons, Faircloth created new productions of The Little Prince (Utah Opera), Ariadne auf Naxos (Wolf Trap Opera), Il re pastore (Merola Opera), Agrippina (Ars Lyrica Houston), and The Coronation of Poppea (Boston Baroque).

The 2021/22 Season found Faircloth working on several new productions, including Emmeline with Tulsa Opera, La Traviata at Opera Santa Barbara and The Merry Wives of Windsor with The Juilliard School, as well as a program with Ars Lyrica Houston entitled “Eternity and the Underworld” which paired Jonathan Dove’s The Other Euridice and Bach’s Ich habe genug. In addition, Faircloth revisited her old favorite The Barber of Seville in a debut at The Dallas Opera.

Faircloth has a thriving career in regional houses such as Utah Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Atlanta Opera (The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, etc.). The baroque repertoire is of special interest to Faircloth, who made her directorial debut with Ars Lyrica Houston’s production of Cain: Il primo omicidio in 2003 and has since designed and directed a number of shows for the company including Charpentier’s Actéon and La descente d’Orphée aux enfers. Faircloth created productions of Dido and Aeneas for Ars Lyrica at the Festival di Musica Barroca in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and for Mercury Baroque in collaboration with the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.

Recent seasons for Faircloth have included new productions of Il re pastore with Merola Opera, Agrippina with Ars Lyrica Houston, The Little Prince with Utah Opera, The Coronation of Poppea with Boston Baroque, Eugene Onegin with Arizona Opera, and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Boston University. Additionally, Faircloth has directed new productions of Madame Butterfly with Wolf Trap Opera, L’enfant et les sortileges with Utah Symphony & Opera, Don Giovanni with Arizona Opera, and a reconfiguration of her 2014 Wolf Trap Carmen for Arizona Opera.

Faircloth has worked extensively on the directing staff of such companies as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Central City Opera, and Dallas Opera, and as such, has worked on some of the most complicated operas in the repertoire, assisting international directors and preparing cover casts of some of the best performers in our industry. Passionate about dramatic training for young singers, Faircloth is the Drama Instructor for the Houston Grand Opera Studio and HGO's Young Artists’ Vocal Academy and has served as a guest coach at Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Des Moines Metro Opera, University of Michigan, and Rice University. Faircloth splits her time between Austin and Houston, Texas, where she enjoys restoring her 1935 Craftsman Bungalow.

American baritone Morgan Smith is one of the most sought after performers of modern operatic repertoire in the world. Known for his riveting dramatic portrayals and the power and beauty of his voice, Mr. Smith has been entrusted to create 12 roles in world premieres, including Starbuck in Jake Heggie's widely acclaimed Moby-Dick. Mr. Smith has also earned universal praise for performances in traditional repertoire, notably Marcello (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen), title role of Don Giovanni, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Count Alamaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) and Four Villains (The Tales of Hoffmann).

Baritone Morgan Smith begins the 2017-18 season at Lyric Opera of Kansas City in his title role debut of Eugene Onegin, then returns to the role of Joseph De Rocher Dead Man Walking at Kentucky Opera. He returns to Kansas City to collaborate once more with Maestro Matthew Halls for Handel’s Messiah with the Kansas City Symphony. Mr. Smith is excited to debut Scarpia in Tosca with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra next spring.

Mr. Smith began last season as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Kentucky Opera; he traveled to reprise his critically acclaimed Starbuck at Dallas Opera, and then headed overseas to Oper Leipzig to sing the role of Marcello in La bohème. Performances of a Fauré Requiem with San Antonio Symphony followed. A highlight of the season was the world premiere of Craig Bohmler's Riders of the Purple Sage with Arizona Opera last February. Mr. Smith then joined the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra singing Marcello before heading north to Opera on the Avalon to sing Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. He then had the great pleasure of reuniting with Maestro Matthew Halls in July 2017 at the Oregon Bach Festival, performing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

Recent successes include Don Giovanni with Arizona Opera, Austin Opera, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Opéra de Montréal. He received rave reviews at Los Angeles Opera in 2015 and Dallas in 2016 when he revived his celebrated portrayal of Starbuck in Moby-Dick. Mr. Smith made his debut as the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann at Madison Opera and was praised as bringing "variety and flair" to all four characters.

Other successes include Escamillo in Carmen at Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Fort Worth Opera; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Seattle Symphony, and Marcello at San Diego Opera. He joined the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus at Davies Hall to revive the role of Manfred in Jake Heggie’s poignant For a Look or a Touch (another role he created). Mr. Smith starred as Aaron in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star at Cincinnati Opera, for which he won outstanding reviews. He sang Adam Brant in Mourning Becomes Electra at Florida Grand Opera; Tadeusz in The Passenger in the US premiere of David Pountney’s production at both Houston Grand Opera and Lincoln Center Festival; and Fritz in Die tote Stadt at Dallas Opera. Mr. Smith was honored to sing the role of Lieutenant Audebert in Silent Night in Fort Worth Opera’s presentation of Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize winning opera. .

Morgan Smith made his European guest artist debut at the Berliner Staatsoper in 2011, performing Marcello in La bohème. Fully fluent in German, Mr. Smith joined Oper Leipzig in 2009 as a resident artist. Over the following four years he sang Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Billy in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Leandre in The Love for Three Oranges, Whitelaw Savory in One Touch of Venus, Marcello in La bohème, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

A graduate of Columbia College and Mannes College of Music in New York City, Morgan became a Seattle Opera young artist (1999-2000) and in 2001 there made his professional debut as Donald in Billy Budd. A great favorite in Seattle, Mr. Smith has performed roles in 12 other productions since that debut -- including Don Giovanni (title role), Silvio in I Pagliacci, Riccardo in I Puritani, and Peter Niles in Mourning Becomes Electra.

Renowned in contemporary repertoire, Morgan Smith created the role of Ted Steinert in Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot in the world premiere at Fort Worth Opera and on the recording (Albany Records); he created the role of Jim Crowley in Jack Perla's American Dream at Seattle Opera, sang the world premiere of Richard Cummings' Aspects of Hippolytus with Hartford Symphony, and created the title role in the Tony Kushner/Maurice Sendak adaptation of Hans Krasa's children's opera, Brundibar (recorded by NAXOS).

Trained as a cellist from a very young age, Mr. Smith brings an instrumentalist's level of musicality and interpretive sensitivity to his performances on the concert stage. Mr. Smith made his Dallas Symphony debut in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and debuted with the San Antonio Symphony for the North American premiere of Vier Präludien und Ernste Gesänge, Detlef Glanert's orchestral adaptation of the beloved cycle by Brahms. Other concert repertoire includes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; the Requiems of Brahms, Fauré, Mozart and Duruflé; the Mass in C Minor of Mozart and Mass in G Minor of Vaughan Williams; Bach’s B Minor Mass, numerous Cantatas, and Weihnachts Oratorium; Handel's Messiah and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; and Haydn's The Creation and Lord Nelson Mass.

Conductors who have joined him on the podium include Jaap van Zweden, Donald Runnicles, Itzhak Perlman, James Conlon, Ulf Schirmer, Christopher Allen, Robert Spano, Markus Stenz, Jacques LaCombe, Andreas Stöhr, Gerard Schwarz, Matthew Halls, Patrick Summers, Eduardo Mueller, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Joseph Colaneri, George Manahan, Ramón Tebar, Jack Everly, William Lacey, Joseph Mechavich, and Ken Masur.

The Philadelphia Inquirer hails Melinda Whittington as "especially marvelous in handling the rapturous jail scene music” in recent performances of Marguerite in Faust. In the 2016/17 season, she returns to Arizona Opera for the title role in Rusalka in addition to joining Utah Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Greensboro Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Eugene Onegin.

Last season, she made debuts with Arizona Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Ash Lawn Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Kentucky Opera as the Contessa in The Marriage of Figaro. She also joined the Charlotte Symphony for excerpts of Roméo et Juliette, was presented by Opera Birmingham in a solo recital, and joined the Ocean City Pops in concert.

Ms. Whittington is a former Resident Artist of the Academy of Vocal Arts, at which she sang Marguerite in Faust and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She sang Marie Antoinette in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Micaëla in Carmen during her two summers at Wolf Trap Opera. Also while a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, she presented a recital in collaboration with the Phillips Collection, pairing art songs and popular songs with art from the museum. Her other previous performances include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Green Mountain Opera Festival and Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Carolina. Her operatic repertoire also includes Violetta in La traviata, the title role in Alcina, Mimì in La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and Marie in The Bartered Bride. She recently joined Opera Philadelphia for an exciting evening of new opera with Opera Philadelphia and their composers in residence, Lembit Beecher and Missy Mazzoli. On the concert stage, she has sung Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Sinfonia and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Back Bay Chorale.

She is the 2016 third place winner in Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, 2015 first place winner of the Opera Birmingham competition, a 2013 semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, winner of the Charlotte Opera Guild Competition, and an encouragement award winner in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. She is a former participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program in association with San Francisco Opera at which she performed scenes as the title role in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Barber’s Vanessa, and Bizet’s The Fair Maid of Perth. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim for performances of both new and standard repertoire; lauded by The New York Times for her “rich-toned mezzo-soprano” voice and by Opera News as a “matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.”

In summer 2023, Cano performs Mozart’s Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Bravo! Vail Festival Chorus under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and can be heard in concert with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Soceity and Music from Angel Fire. Her 2023/24 Season highlights include performances as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Houston Grand Opera; appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and National Symphonies; the Philadelphia premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler with the FLUX Quartet. Next summer, she inaugurates the role of Michele in the World Premiere of Gregory Spears’s The Righteous with Santa Fe Opera.

Cano undertakes a balance of orchestral, opera and chamber music performances each season. She has collaborated on numerous projects with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in both the US and Europe. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic in both New York and Vail; Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck; Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti; and Atlanta Symphony under Nathalie Stutzman.

Highlights of Cano’s operatic career have included performing the roles of Donna Elvira, Carmen, and Offred with the Boston Lyric Opera; The Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen with the Cleveland Orchestra; the Mother, Dragonfly, and the Squirrel in L'enfant et les sortilèges with the San Francisco Symphony; performances of El Niño with John Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra; Carmen with the New Orleans Opera; and Orphée with the Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has appeared in more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera since her debut in the 2009/10 Season, most recently in the roles of Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel, and Meg Page. Cano debuted the role of Virginia Woolf in the World Premiere of Kevin Puts's The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra about which The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “Every word was clear both in content and intention, and her mezzo-soprano tone was deeply alluring.”

Other recent roles have included Mother Marie in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites with Houston Grand Opera; Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle with Roanoke Opera; Donna Elvira with the Atlanta Opera; and Celeste in the World Premiere of Gregory Spears's Castor and Patience with Cincinnati Opera.

A native of St. Louis, Cano earned degrees from Rice University and Webster University, where she was honored as a distinguished alumna and commencement speaker in May 2017. Her debut recital recording with pianist Christopher Cano, “Unaffected: Live from the Savannah Voice Festival,” was recorded live and unedited. She sings as a soloist on a live recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony and in Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She also recorded Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble.

Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Among her honors are Winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant and a George London Award.

“Dramatic intelligence and imagination suffused every note of Ms. Johnson Cano’s performance. Endowed with an attention-grabbing dark mezzo, its depths bracing like strong coffee, she seems to thrive in the role of a storyteller.” — The New York Times

Andrew Stenson is quickly building a reputation as one of the United States’ most exciting young tenors, with a brilliant tone, artistic intellect, and superb portrayals of a variety of roles. He is the first prize winner in both the 2015 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition and 2016 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition. He is also the recipient of a 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation.

Mr. Stenson’s 2016-2017 season includes appearances with the Glyndebourne Festival as Ernesto in Don Pasquale, as Tamino in The Magic Flute with Seattle Opera, Frederic in Pirates of Penzance with Palm Beach Opera, the title role of Candide with Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville with the Santa Cruz Symphony. He also appears in concert with the Kansas City Symphony for the Mozart Requiem.

During the 2015/16 season, Andrew Stenson made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut, singing Gen in the world premiere of Bel Canto. He also debuted with Arizona Opera as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and with Fort Worth Operaas Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. In concert, he sang the Messiah with the Cincinnati Symphony and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Rochester Philharmonic.

In the 2014/15 season, the tenor finished as a member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Amongst his assignments, he performed Beppe in Pagliacci, in a new production conducted by Fabio Luisi. In the summer he returned to the Glimmerglass Festival, as the title role in Candide.

Andrew Stenson was a 2^nd year member of the Lindemann Program during the 2013/14 season. He performed Demetrius in The Enchanted Island at the Metropolitan Opera, and also made a return to Seattle Opera as Tonio in La fille du régiment, and his role debut as Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio with Utah Opera. Additionally, Mr. Stenson appeared on the concert stage with the Seattle Symphony and Nashville Symphony, for Handel’s Messiah, and sang Mozart’s Requiem with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In June 2014, he made his Washington National Opera debut as Danny Chen in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier.

The summer of 2012 found him with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program for Argento’s Postcard from Morocco. During the 2012/13 season, Mr. Stenson joined the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. His assignments at the Metropolitan Opera that season included Esquire #3 in the company’s new production of Parsifal. The season also found his debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, for Handel’s Messiah, and with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, as Brighella in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos.

Mr. Stenson began the 2011/12 season with the Seattle Opera as Le Remendado in the mainstage production of Carmen. Continuing the season, he performed Orphée in Orphée et Euridice, replacing an indisposed colleague on short nice, and performed both the title role in Werther and Ernesto in Don Pasquale in the company’s Young Artist Productions. Also in 2011/12, Mr. Stenson made his Metropolitan Opera as a Rameau Quartet Member in The Enchanted Island, and made his role debut as Cassio in Knoxville Opera’s production of Otello. The summer of 2012 found him with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program for Argento’s Postcard from Morocco.

The tenor joined the Seattle Opera as a member of its Young Artist Program for the 2010-2011 season, where his roles included Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor on the mainstage, and Don Ottavio in the Young Artist production of Don Giovanni. In the summer of 2011, he returned to the Glimmerglass Festival, performing Jimmy O’Keefe in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening.

In previous seasons, the tenor appeared as Martin in The Tender Land with Glimmerglass Opera. Mr. Stenson was a Young Artist with the Santa Fe Opera in 2009, where he covered Head Man in The Letter and received the D. Gramm Memorial Award. He was a Regional Finalist in the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Mr. Stenson is the 2015 recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation (Lindemann Program), a Major Award Winner from Opera Index (2015), Second Prize winner from the Queen Sonja International Vocal Competition (2013), and Second Prize winner from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation (2015).

Andrew Stenson completed his Master’s Degree in Music at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Luther College.

Hailed by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times as “vocally robust” and “lyrically malevolent”, American Bass-Baritone Joseph Barron was a winner of the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Awards. In the 2013-2014 season, Mr. Barron will debut with The Metropolitan Opera in Shostakovich’s The Nose, and will return to Opera Philadelphia as Leporello in Don Giovanni and Pittsburgh Opera as the Speaker in The Magic Flute and the Prophet/Larry King in Dark Sisters. Recently, Mr. Barron debuted at the San Francisco Opera in Mark Adamo’s world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

In the 2012-13 season, Mr. Barron appeared as Monterone in Rigoletto, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Geronimo in Il matrimonio segreto, The Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and Alidoro in La cenerentola with the Pittsburgh Opera. Other recent appearances include Ramfis in Aida at Glimmerglass Festival, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and La Fenice, Montano in Otello with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro with Glimmerglass Opera.

Other roles Mr. Barron has performed recently include Count Rodolfo in La sonnambula, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, Wilhelm Reischmann in Elegy for Young Lovers, Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women, Erste Handwerksbursche in Wozzeck, Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Gaudenzio in Il signor Bruschino, and Don Prudenzio in Il viaggio a Reims.

Mr. Barron has also garnered top prizes from the Sullivan Foundation Awards, Opera Index Vocal Competition, Lucia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Vocal Competition. He received his Master of Music at the Curtis Institute of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Praised by Opera Today for “pure, clear tones” and lauded by the Arizona Republic for “purity and vivacious charm,” young soprano Sarah Tucker is demanding attention for her captivating vocal timbre and engaging stage presence. Tucker was a National Semifinalist in the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and recently completed her second year as a member of the Arizona Opera Studio. She was recently heard as Nelly Nettleton in Arizona Opera’s innovative, multi-lingual production of Arizona Lady, in which she not only sang, but also “danced like a flapper” (Opera Today).

The 2019/20 Season included several company debuts: as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Pensacola Opera, Mimi in La bohème with Gulfshore Opera, and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Opera in the Heights. This season, she returns to Gulfshore Opera for a reprise of her Mimi in La bohème.

The 2018/19 Season for Tucker included debuts with The Dallas Opera as Frasquita in Carmen, San Diego Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, and Intermountain Opera Bozeman as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. In the 2017/18 Season, Tucker made her Opera Philadelphia debut where she reprised First Memory in Lembit Beecher’s War Stories, a role which she first premiered with Gotham Chamber Opera in New York City. Additionally, she sang Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Connecticut and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. The 2016/17 Season brought her debut with Utah Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, her return to Texas State University as a guest soloist in Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and covering the title role in The Golden Cockerel at Santa Fe Opera. Her 2015/16 Season included several more role debuts with Arizona Opera including Micaëla in Carmen, Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni as well as her San Francisco Opera debut as Jano in Jenufa.

Passionate about uncommon works as well as traditional operatic repertoire, Tucker collaborated with conductor Scott Terrell in Lexington Philharmonic’s 2015 Holiday Series, which included the rarely performed “Song of the Angel” by John Tavener. The piece’s haunting duet for soprano and solo violin requires great musical and vocal versatility, which was “stunningly realized by Tucker” (Tedrin Blair Lindsay, Contributing Music Critic, www.kentucky.com). She was also the star of a cutting-edge workshop of composer Clint Borzoni’s The Copper Queen in which she performed the role of Julia Lowell as part of Arizona Opera’s “Arizona Spark” initiative.

Other recent appearances include Norina in Don Pasquale with the Crested Butte Music Festival, and the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with both Lexington Philharmonic and the Christ Cathedral (Crystal Cathedral) in Orange County, CA. Additional past credits include the roles of Contessa Ceprano and Paggio in Rigoletto, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Arizona Opera, for which she received high acclaim. In 2014, Tucker performed Suor Dolcina in Suor Angelica and Contessa Ceprano in Rigoletto with the Crested Butte Music Festival, and the role of Tina in Flight with Opera Fayetteville.

In addition to her success in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Tucker has received numerous awards in several nationwide vocal competitions. She was a finalist in the Fritz & Levinia Jensen Foundation Voice Competition, in the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition she was a finalist and winner of the Encouragement Award, and she competed in the semifinals of the Dallas Opera Guild and Fort Worth Opera McCammon Vocal Competitions. Tucker is a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati College‐Conservatory of Music (CCM).

Bass-Baritone Ryan Kuster gained vast attention on the west coast for his accolades in San Francisco, where he recently completed a two-year residency and over 80 performances with the prestigious Adler Fellowship at San Francisco Opera. His performance as Escamillo in their production of Carmen was called “pure bravado.” The Classical Voice said of his performance as Masetto in Don Giovanni, “Handsome Ryan Kuster sang beautifully, and acted so convincingly that it was hard to believe he’s an Adler Fellow.”

This season, North State Symphony will feature Mr. Kuster in a concert with orchestra of his signature repertoire. He will then sing the title role in Don Giovanni at Opera Memphis, Escamillo in Carmen at Opera Grand Rapids and Knoxville Opera, Angelotti in Toscawith Orlando Philharmonic, Alidoro in La Cenerentola at Opera Saratoga, and makes a triumphant return to Dallas Opera in late 2015.

In recent seasons, Kuster made his symphonic début with the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing the role of Masetto in their highly acclaimed production of Don Giovanni, directed by Christopher Alden, with costumes by Rodarte, and led by Mo. Dudamel.  He then returned to Wolf Trap Opera to début the title role of Don Giovanni and made his National Symphony début performing Beethoven’sNinth Symphony. Additionally, Ryan sang Alidoro in Nashville Opera’s production of La Cenerentola; sang Masetto in Don Giovanniwith Cincinnati Opera; appeared in Dallas Opera’s production of Turandot; performed Angelotti in Tosca with Madison Opera and Pacific Symphony; Colline in La bohème with Arizona Opera; Escamillo in Carmen with both Opera Colorado (company début) and Virginia Opera; and two roles at Bard SummerScape Opera: Lysiart in Weber’s seldom performed Euryanthe and Brutamonte in Schubert’s hidden gem Fierrabras.

Previous engagements also include Rambaldo in La rondine with Oberlin in Italy; Pantalone in Le donne curiose with Wolf Trap Opera Company; Samin Trouble in Tahiti with Opera Santa Barbara; covering Samuel Ramey in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle at the Chicago Opera Theater; The Parson, Badger and Woodpecker in The Cunning Little Vixen, Doctor Grenvil in La traviata and Carl Olsen in Street Scene with Chautauqua Opera; Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Betto in both Gianni Schicchi and Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost with Opera New Jersey; and Ferrando in Il trovatore, Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette at Opera North.

On the concert stage, Mr. Kuster performed the bass solos in the Fauré Requiem with the Bucks County Symphony, the MozartRequiem with the Neumann College Choir, the bass solos in the Messiah with the Tindley Temple Choir, the title role of Händel’s oratorio Saul with the Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium, andAdam in Haydn’s The Creation with the Boston University Symphonic Chorus. He also appeared as a featured soloist with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Ocean City Pops, New Jersey Master Chorale, and Concert Operetta Theater of Philadelphia.

Mr. Kuster recently sang on the Metropolitan Opera stage as a National Council Semi-Finalist.  He received a 3rd place prize in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and received a Grant from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition. He also was given the Encouragement Award in the Philadelphia region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Harmon Award from Chautauqua Opera.

His strong relationship with San Francisco Opera began when he joined the Merola Program, where he appeared as Garibaldo inRodelinda, Don Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Dr. Cajus in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor in the Schwabacher Scenes Program.  Mr. Kuster earned an Artist Diploma at the Academy of Vocal Arts where he performed the roles of the Governor in the world première of Margaret Garwood’s The Scarlet Letter, Schaunard in La bohème, Enrico in Anna Bolena, Oroveso in Norma, the title role in Don Pasquale, Doctor Grenvil in La traviata, Dikoj in Kát’a Kabanová, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte.

Mr. Kuster also holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University where he performed the roles of A Man with a Cornet Case in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, Benoit in La bohème, Garrido in Massenet’s La Navarraise, and Amantio DiNicolao in Gianni Schicchi. Mr. Kuster earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College.