Roméo & Juliette

Jules Barbier, one of the most important librettists of the 19th century, began his career with the production of his intermède, L'Ombre de Molière, at the Comédie-Française (1847). In the years that followed, Barbier worked with Labiche, Decourcelle and Battu but, between 1849 and 1872, his main collaborator was Michel Carré, with whom he produced plays, comedies, vaudevilles, and opera librettos. The prolific Barbier-Carré duo was responsible for many of the most famous works on the French opera stage. For Gounod, they wrote the librettos for the Médecin malgré lui (1858), Faust (1859), Philémon et Baucis (1860), La Reine de Saba (1862), and Roméo and Juliette (1867); for Meyerbeer, Le Pardon de Ploërmel (1859); and for Ambroise Thomas, Psyché (1857), Mignon (1866), Hamlet (1868), and Françoise de Rimini (1882).

After Carré’s death, Barbier worked with Léo Delibes (the ballet Sylvia, 1876) and with Offenbach (The Tales of Hoffmann, 1881). Barbier translated lieder by Schumann and wrote several librettos in collaboration with his son Pierre, including Daphnis et Chloé for Henri Maréchal (1899) and Le Tasse for Eugène d’Harcourt (1903). Barbier’s librettos adapted various world-famous literary masterpieces (Corneille, Shakespeare, Goethe) for the opera stage. Although these models were, by necessity, simplified, they were not changed beyond recognition and lived up to the expectations of composers and audiences alike in the French Second Empire and the early years of the Third Republic. After the fire at the second Salle Favart, Barbier was appointed acting director of the Opéra-Comique (May-December 1887).

From Bru Zane Mediabase

American tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, whom Opera News described as having a "beautiful lyric tenor voice” pairs passionate performance with a full, sweet sound. In the 2022/23 Season, Chin-Loy will perform Tamino in The Magic Flute with the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan as well as at Arizona Opera, Don José in Carmen with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center, Old Head 2 and Charlie in the world premiere of Factotum with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Acis in Acis and Galatea with Eugene Opera, and join the roster of The Metropolitan Opera to cover the role of Arbace in Idomeneo. In concert, Chin-Loy joins the North Carolina Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem, and the Boise Philharmonic for a performance of Hailstork’s I Will Life Mine Eyes as well as a residency with the College of Idaho.

Chin-Loy opened the 2021/22 Season in his solo debut at The Metropolitan Opera in Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up In My Bones. Chin-Loy returned to Arizona Opera for his second and final season as a Marion Roose Pullin Resident Artist where he performed Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music and Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Benny Paret Jr. in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Champion. In concert, Chin-Loy performed and recorded Taneyev’s At the Reading of a Psalm with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall.

In the 2020/21 Season, Chin-Loy sang a series of concerts with Arizona Opera as a member of the Studio, and joined the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Twin Stars, a piece by Daniel Bernard Roumain about the shooting of Philando Castile. Chin-Loy also appeared in William Grant Still's Highway 1 as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre Saint Louis. In the 2019/20 Season, Chin-Loy joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as Mingo (Cover) in Porgy and Bess and the New York Festival of Song as a part of the Vocal Rising Stars series at Caramoor.

Chin-Loy 's favorite roles include Idomeneo in Idomeneo: afterWARds (Pittsburgh Opera), director David Paul's retelling of Mozart's masterpiece with the composer's original music, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Indiana University), and Younger Thompson in Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied (Pittsburgh Opera, Penn Square Music Festival). Chin-Loy was happy to make his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel's Messiah in the 2018/19 Season.

Chin-Loy is a graduate of Indiana University, where he received a Performer Diploma, and holds degrees from Mannes College and Yale University. At Mannes, Chin-Loy performed the roles of Laurie in Mark Adamo's Little Women and Bill in the New York premiere of Jonathan Dove's Flight with Mannes Opera, and received the Michael Sisca Opera Award, the school's top prize for an opera singer. Chin-Loy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University, where his studies concentrated on Music Theory and Musicology. While at Yale, Chin-Loy was also a frequent performer with the Yale Baroque Opera Project, with which he performed major roles in La Calisto, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and Scipione affricano. Chin-Loy is a 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Semifinalist.

Noted by The New York Times as a "dashing lyric tenor," Indiana native Ganson Salmon has gained recognition for his "powerful and nuanced" performances in New York City and abroad (Opera News). Most recently, he appeared as Rodolfo in La Bohème with First Coast Opera in St. Augustine, Florida, and as Prince Karl Franz in Romberg’s The Student Prince with Regina Opera.

In 2022, Ganson returned to Tel Aviv, Israel to sing Don José in Carmen with Tel Aviv Summer Opera, where he also jumped in as Rodolfo in La Bohéme. He returned to Ball State University as a guest artist to perform as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. In summer 2021, he was a fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute and a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In his hometown in 2020, Ganson debuted as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly with Indianapolis Opera.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ganson spent two seasons with Sarasota Opera, where he jumped in to make his role debut as Roméo in Roméo & Juliette, covered the Duke in Rigoletto, and performed Pong in Turandot, and First Armored Man/Second Priest in The Magic Flute.

In the 2018/19 Season, he performed Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with the Tel Aviv Summer Opera, and Rodolfo in La Bohème with both Pittsburgh Festival Opera and the Algonquin Arts Theatre in New Jersey. He also returned to Indiana for performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Ball State Symphony Orchestra.

Ganson received his Master’s in Music from Mannes School of Music, where he performed as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress, Roderick Usher in Philip Glass' The Fall of the House of Usher, and Anatol in Vanessa. While at Mannes, he also performed Schumann's Dichterliebe at the Consulate of Germany in New York City.

Yazid Gray has been described as "a vocal chameleon" (Seen and Heard International) with "a baritone voice of fine quality and warmth" (onStage Pittsburgh). In 2022/23, Gray debuted with Intermountain Opera Bozeman as Homecoming Soldier in The Falling and the Rising, Madison Opera as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, and the New Mexico Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. In summer of 2023, Gray joined the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis singing the role of Luddud, covering Zodzetrick, Simon, and Parson Alltalk in Treemonisha, and covering Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. He then joined Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra as a soloist singing Letters from Lincoln by Michael Daugherty. In the 2023/24 Season, Gray returns to Madison Opera as Ophémon in Joseph Bologne's The Anonymous Lover. He then makes his Arizona Opera debut at Mercutio in Roméo & Juliette.

Gray recently finished a summer with The Glimmerglass Festival as a young artist where he sang Le Dancaire in Carmen, Baloo in the World Premiere of The Jungle Book (Sankaram/Rourke), and covered the role of Cedric/Matteo in the World Premiere of Tenor Overboard (Rossini/Ludwig). He is a former Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera where he performed The Woodcutter/The Outlaw in the World Premiere of In a Grove (Cerrone/Fleischmann), Le Dancaire in Carmen, Policeman #3 in Blue, and Second Priest in The Magic Flute in the 2021/22 Season.

In the summer of 2021, Gray performed with Chautauqua Opera as an apprentice artist where he appeared as the baritone soloist in As the Così Crumbles: A Company Developed Piece. In Pittsburgh Opera's 2020/21 Season he performed in all four main stage productions which included Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Soldier in David T. Little’s Soldier Songs, Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, and Athamas in Semele. During the summer of 2020, Gray participated as a featured young artist in Chautauqua Opera's digital season and in 2019, he made his debut with the company singing Fiorello in The Barber of Seville.

In the 2018/19 Season, Gray sang the role of Bello in La fanciulla del West with Maryland Lyric Opera. He then went on to join Opera Santa Barbara as a member of their Chrisman Studio Artist program, where he performed the roles of Schaunard in La Bohème, Zaretski in Eugene Onegin, Le Podestat in Le docteur Miracle, and Thomas Putnam in The Crucible.

Gray made his professional debut in the summer of 2018 as Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera Maine. Also comfortable on the musical theater stage, Gray has performed roles such as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime, Jim Conley in Parade, Hunter Bell in [title of show], and Al in The Most Happy Fella.

Yazid received his Bachelor of Music in Voice from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN and is a graduate of University of Michigan - School of Music where he received his Master of Music in Voice. His academic credits include Oliver Jordan in the Michigan premiere of Dinner at Eight (Bolcolm/Campbell), Mercutio in Roméo & Juliette, and Demetrius in A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Peter Barber is an American bass-baritone and graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts. He is currently a member of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio, where he has performed Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Capulet in Roméo & Juliette, and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Before returning for a 2nd year with Arizona Opera, Barber joined the Renée Fleming Studio at the Aspen Music Festival, performing the bass role in Matthew Aucoin’s World Premiere of Music for New Bodies, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, all while having the great opportunity to work one-on-one with Renée Fleming throughout the summer.

Prior to joining the Arizona Opera Studio, Barber spent a 2nd summer at the Music Academy of the West, performing Colline in La Bohème under the baton of Daniela Candillari. While at AVA, Barber performed numerous roles, including; the title role in Don Giovanni, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Gremin in Eugene Onegin. In the summer season of 2022, he joined the Apprentice Program at The Santa Fe Opera, covering Fiorello in The Barber of Seville. In October of 2021, he made his professional role and company debut with Salt Marsh Opera, performing Escamillo in Carmen. Some of Barber’s other role highlights include: Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Stobrod/Blindman in Cold Mountain, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, and both Don Alfonso and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

Outside of the opera world, Peter has grown a substantial audience on YouTube, surpassing 190,000 subscribers via videos with in-depth musical analysis of contemporary music, as well as creating non-operatic musical covers. He is also one of the founding members of an award-winning musical group called The Bass Gang, which was formed during the pandemic, and consists of four bass singers that collaborate virtually from all over the world. They have released three EPs, as well as numerous singles, amassing over 15 million views/streams between YouTube and Spotify alone.

A rich, buttery voice. A wide emotional scope and actor’s grace. A stage presence that captivates the hearts of audiences. These accolades and more have followed baritone Andrew Stuckey, whose opera and concert performances are widely acclaimed for their visceral power and rich beauty. His exploration of the character’s complex persona, reviewers noted, was displayed winningly in arias whose vocal agility ranged from pensive whispers to despairing outbursts. Stuckey’s interpretation of Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Syracuse Opera and the Connecticut Grand Opera brought praise for his “unusual sensitivity.”

Stuckey’s many and varied roles speak to his accomplished voice and broad appeal. He sang the title role of Rigoletto with Opera on the James. He had the honor of working with the late maestro Lorin Maazel as Michele in Il tabarro, Sonora in La fanciulla del West and Iago in Otello. As the black-hearted Iago in Opera Roanoke’s stellar production, the Roanoke Times deemed Stuckey’s portrayal “not to be missed.” With the Festival Lyrique-en-mer in France he debuted, with great success, the title role in the comic opera Falstaff, following up with Germont in La Traviata, a role he has perfected with several opera companies, including Santa Fe Opera, Opera Delaware and Opera New Jersey.

Stuckey has put his unique stamp on many varied roles including Tonio in I Pagliacci, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and the High Priest in Samson et Dalila. He has interpreted these and other leading roles for opera houses throughout the United States, including the Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the opera houses of Santa Fe, Baltimore, Palm Beach, Portland, Augusta, Tulsa, Kansas City, St. Louis and Sarasota.

In addition to his prodigious talent as a singer, Stuckey is a consummate professional who has proven himself well able to meet the rigors of the stage. As an understudy in a Lyric Opera Company of Chicago production of Madama Butterfly, he once stepped in to take the role of Sharpless with just four hours’ notice. Also, last minute, he was recruited to sing Acts 3 and 4 of Mephistopheles in the opening night of Gounod’s Faust with the Kansas City Lyric Opera.

No stranger to concert work, Stuckey has had the privilege of performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Dvorak’s Te Deum, Britten’s War Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mozart’s Requiem, among other beloved classics of the concert repertoire.

He was chosen by the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its two-year apprentice program, out of a field of more than 1,200 performers to audition. Prior to that, he was a resident artist for the Portland Opera and apprenticed twice with the Santa Fe Opera. Over the years, he has received many prestigious prizes, awards and grants, including the Sara Tucker study grant, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation grant and The Union League grant. He won first prize in both the Florida Grand Opera’s Young Patronesses of the Opera competition and the Palm Beach Opera competition. He was also a National Semi-Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

In the pursuit of excellence, Stuckey credits the enormous influence of renowned singers, teachers, directors, conductors, and coaches who have guided his career. He has had the pleasure of working professionally with many respected opera singers, including Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, Renata Scotto, Mirella Freni, Susan Graham, Frank Lopardo, Marcello Alvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. He credits much of his success to his vocal coaches and voice teachers Daniel Beckwith, Eric Weimer, Craig Rutenberg, Richard Boldin, Donna Brunsma, Phil Morehead, Jerry Langenkamp, John Stephens and Marlena Malas.

Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano, Danielle Corella, is a 7th generation Arizona native. Most recently she performed in the Arizona Opera Arlyn M. Brewster OperaTunity Program production of Beauty and the Beast as Belle. She regularly performed in the Southern California area. Corella debuted with Opera Santa Barbara as Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin. As an Education Artist at Long Beach Opera, she performed in Monkey See, Monkey Do and The Playground King. In 2018, she performed in the west coast premiere of Le Vin herbé with Long Beach Opera. Corella joined the Arizona Opera Chorus in 2022. In the 2023/24 Season, she will be performing the role of Gertrude in Charles Gounod’s Roméo & Juliette. Corella has studied voice at DePaul University, has her Master of Music from University of Southern California, and Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College. She lives in Prescott with her husband and one year-old daughter.

A native of Puerto Rico, tenor Carlos Feliciano has sung with Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Théâtre Municipale Castres in France, Oslo Symphony, St. Petersburg Opera, and Western Plains Opera, to name a few. Opera credits include the title role in Gounod’s Faust, Pluto in Orphée aux Enfers, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto, Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, Fenton in Fallstaff, and Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Stephanie Rhodes Russell is an alum of the Dallas Opera’s Institute for Women Conductors, the Houston Grand Opera Studio and San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program. She was a Conducting Fellow with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2021, where she appeared regularly with the ensemble leading education, family, and community concerts while serving as cover conductor for the symphonic subscription series. She is also the recipient of a 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, designed to aid outstanding young conductors in developing their talents and careers.

The 2024/25 Season brings a number of significant returns for Maestro Rhodes Russell: Hänsel und Gretel with Utah Opera, Aida with Arizona Opera, and Washington National Opera for the orchestrated World Premiere of Jungle Book by Kamala Sankaram (composer) and Kelley Rourke (librettist). She also makes her orchestral debut with the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera conducting works by Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

During the 2023/24 Season, the conductor made debuts with Washington National Opera, leading Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, and Arizona Opera, adding Gounod’s Roméo & Juliette to her repertoire. With Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, she conducted performances of Tchaikovsky’s masterwork Eugene Onegin.

Rhodes Russell’s 2022/23 Season included company debuts with Austin Opera (The Barber of Seville), Utah Opera (La fille du régiment), and Cincinnati Opera (The Knock), as well as returns to Madison Opera (The Marriage of Figaro) and Wolf Trap Opera (Don Giovanni).

The previous season included leading performances of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with Wolf Trap Opera, her debut with Opera Orlando conducting Verdi’s La traviata, and a collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago, leading a workshop of Git Here (Daniel Bernard Roumain/Anna Deavere Smith) and Four Portraits (Caroline Shaw/Jocelyn Clark). She initially planned to serve as Music Director for Opera Philadelphia’s production of Henze’s El Cimarrón during the season, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to the effects of COVID-19.

Stephanie Rhodes Russell’s 2020/21 Season included scheduled returns to the Dallas Opera to conduct Bizet’s Dr. Miracle, a concert of opera excerpts at the NorthPark Center, and the highly anticipated Lawrence Brownlee: Songs for Dallas concert in the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Additionally, she conducted a filmed production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the Temple University Opera Program, and in the summer of 2021 she joined Madison Opera for their annual Opera in the Park program.

Rhodes Russell frequently draws on her Russian specialty, and during the summer of 2020, conducted excerpts of Tchaikovksy’s Eugene Onegin for Wolf Trap Opera, a change from the scheduled full production due to COVID-19. A Fulbright award recipient in Russia, she lived in Moscow specializing in Russian repertoire and pronunciation for non-native singers while working as a guest coach at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. She was thereafter commissioned by The Dallas Opera to transliterate Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and has taught workshops on Russian diction for singers at young artist programs and universities across the United States. Immediately following her 2020 performances with Wolf Trap Opera, she returned to Fort Worth to lead the Symphony Orchestra in the Concerts in the Garden 4th of July performances.

Following her work on the San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle, she was appointed the 2019 Associate Conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival, where she served as assistant to Music Director Donald Runnicles and led the GTMF orchestra in the Hartley Family Concert. Additionally, she performed as a pianist in the festival’s renowned Chamber Music Concert Series.

Other recent engagements include concerts with the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, performances of Handel’s Alcina at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, an engagement with Washington National Opera’s forum for new works, the American Opera Initiative, and The Magic Flute and Dido and Aeneas with the Miami Music Festival. Highlights as an Assistant Conductor include work on two Wagner Ring Cycles with conductors Philippe Auguin and Donald Runnicles and productions of Iolanta, Eugene Onegin, and Queen of Spades with Emmanuel Villaume and Carlo Rizzi. She has served on the music staff of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, The Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Washington National Opera, amongst others, and her extensive operatic experience in the roles of assistant conductor, prompter, chorusmaster, rehearsal pianist, and diction coach, brings a comprehensive understanding to her work.

Beginning in autumn 2022, Stephanie Rhodes Russell will be Associate Professor and Music Director of Opera at the University of North Texas. This position intersects with her strong interest in educating the next generation of artists, which also led her to found the non-profit Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative (Women’s ALI). The organization’s aim is to educate and empower young female artists, training them to become future community leaders by equipping them with both leadership skills and business acumen. She holds degrees in Collaborative Piano and Piano Performance from the University of Michigan and Utah State University, respectively, and completed a doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Utah.

Barry Steele has created designs for opera, dance, and music productions in 56 countries for three decades. Notable engagements include San Francisco Opera Center, Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Ballet Stars of Moscow, Carnegie Hall and New York City Opera. New operas such as Vincent, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat as well as rarities like The Fall of the House of Usher, and La Voix Humaine complement Steele’s considerable list of standard opera repertory gained from designing over one hundred productions as Resident Lighting Designer for Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and New Jersey Opera.

Jennifer Seigle is a movement artist whose career has taken her around the country as a director, choreographer, guest artist, movement coach, and master teacher. Jennifer served as Stage Director for Arizona Opera’s 2024 OperaTunity production of Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Her prior work includes choreography for Amahl and the Night Visitors at Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts, a season as company choreographer for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and two seasons as Dance Director for the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre. Jennifer is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and is currently the Director of Dance at Mesa Community College.