Shining Brow

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet and professor of poetry, as well as an editor, critic, playwright, lyricist and translator.

Born in 1951 in Portadown, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland, to Patrick Muldoon, a farm labourer and market gardener, and Brigid Regan, a schoolteacher, Paul Muldoon was brought up near a village called The Moy on the border of Counties Armagh and Tyrone. He is the oldest of three children. After studying at Queen’s University, Belfast, he published his first book, New Weather (Faber) in 1973, at the age of 21. From 1973 he worked as a producer for the BBC in Belfast until, in the mid-1980’s, he gave up his job to become a freelance writer and moved to the United States with his second wife, the American novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz. He now lives in New York City and Sharon Springs, New York. He is the father of two children.

Muldoon is the author of twelve major collections of poetry, including One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (2015), Maggot (2010), Horse Latitudes (2006), Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), Hay (1998), The Annals of Chile (1994), Madoc: A Mystery (1990), Meeting the British (1987), Quoof (1983), Why Brownlee Left (1980), Mules (1977) and New Weather (1973). He has also published innumerable smaller collections, works of criticism, opera libretti, books for children, song lyrics and radio and television drama. His poetry has been translated into twenty languages.

Muldoon served as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1999 to 2004 and as poetry editor of The New Yorker from 2007 to 2017. He has taught at Princeton University since 1987 and currently occupies the Howard G.B. Clark ’21 chair in the Humanities. In addition to being much in demand as a reader and lecturer, he occasionally appears with a spoken word music group, Rogue Oliphant. With his wife, American novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, he adapted James Joyce's "The Dead" as an immersive, site-specific play, "The Dead, 1904," which was produced by the Irish Repertory Theatre and Dot Dot Productions, LLC, for seven-week runs in 2016 and 2017.

Paul Muldoon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has received an American Academy of Arts and Letters award in literature, the 1972 Eric Gregory Award, the 1994 T. S. Eliot Prize, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the 2004 Shakespeare Prize, the 2006 European Prize for Poetry, the 2015 Pigott Poetry Prize, the 2017 Spirit of Ireland Award from the Irish Arts Center (NYC), the 2017 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and the 2018 Seamus Heaney Award for Arts & Letters. He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from ten universities.

Paul Muldoon has been described by The Times Literary Supplement as "the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War." Roger Rosenblatt, writing in The New York Times Book Review, described Paul Muldoon as "one of the great poets of the past hundred years, who can be everything in his poems - word-playful, lyrical, hilarious, melancholy. And angry. Only Yeats before him could write with such measured fury."

Known both for his bold and inventive productions and for his acute musical instincts, Chas Rader-Shieber has established himself as one of the most innovative opera directors of his generation. Reviewing his staging of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen Toronto’s Classical 96.3 FM praised Rader-Shieber’s “daring and visionary approach to staging” and declared him “a force to be reckoned with in the opera world.” Rader-Shieber’s repertoire encompasses a broad range of works from Monteverdi to Benjamin Britten, but he has made a particular specialty of Baroque opera.

In the 2018/2019 season Rader-Shieber returns to Pinchgut Opera to direct Hasse’s Artaserse, as well as Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. He also makes a return to Portland Opera for La finta giardiniera. Last season included debuts with Kentucky Opera for Ariadne auf Naxos and returns to Des Moines Metro Opera for Rusalka and Portland Opera for Gluck’s Orfeo.

Rader-Shieber’s 2016/2017 season included a debut with Pittsburgh Opera for La Traviata and a return to Des Moines Metro Opera for Gluck’s Orfeo. Previously, he continued his association with the Curtis Insitute of Music, directing Capriccio. On the international stage, Rader-Shieber directed Faust with the Macau Festival, and made a return to Pinchgut Opera in Australia for their production of L’amant jaloux.

During the 2014/2015 season, Rader-Shieber debuted with Boston Lyric Opera for a new production of La Traviata, Des Moines Metro Opera for Die Entführung as dem Serail, and Indiana University directing Alcina. He also returned to Portland Opera for Die Fledermaus, and also Curtis Institute of Music for Ariadne auf Naxos.

During the 2013/2014 season, he returned to Sydney, Australia with Pinchgut Opera for Giasone (Cavalli), and revived his acclaimed production of Orlando for Hobart Baroque, which was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Direction of an Opera in Australia. He also debuted with Utah Opera for Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and joined Wolf Trap Opera for Giulio Cesare.

Rader-Shieber began the 2012/2013 season with The Magic Flute at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he has directed over 26 operas. Other notable recent productions with Curtis include: Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers; Idomeneo and Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. The 2012/2013 season also found Rader-Shieber debuting with Portland Opera directing Handel’s Rinaldo.

Of his production of Handel’s Orlando at the New York City Opera in 2004, The New York Times stated that Rader-Shieber had given audiences a production “at once contemporary, fanciful and true to the original.” In addition to Orlando, Rader-Shieber’s work at the New York City Operahas included a critically acclaimed production of Handel’s Flavio in 2003. The 2011/12 season included a debut with the Staatstheater Darmstadt for Léhar’s Die lustige Witwe. In the 2010/2011 season, Rader-Shieber’s engagements included La clemenza di Tito for Vancouver Opera, as well as Don Giovanni with Music Academy of the West.

Rader-Shieber opened the 2009/2010 season directing his production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail with San Francsico Opera and followed by a revival of his Tamerlano for Los Angeles Opera. He concluded the season directing Antony and Cleopatra for the Curtis Institute of Music and Handel’s Tolomeo for Glimmerglass Opera.

In the 2008/2009 season, Rader-Shieber made his debut in Australia presenting Charpentier’s David et Jonathas for Pinchgut Opera. He presented a new production Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Lyric Opera of Chicago and directed Il Viaggio a Reims at Curtis. He finished the season with a new production of Il re pastore for Opera Theatre of St. Louis and directed his production of Don Giovanni for Santa Fe Opera. During the 2007/2008 season Rader-Shieber directed Una Cosa Rara for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Handel’s Tamerlano at Washington National Opera, Bolcom’s A Wedding for Music Academy of the West, as well as direction and production of Aindamar by Osvaldo Golijov with Curtis Opera Theater.

In 2006/2007, Rader-Shieber brought his Don Giovanni to Opera Pacific and also made his return to New York City Opera directing Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, which he also directed at Minnesota Opera. Rounding out his season were engagements to direct L’Ormindo at Pittsburgh Opera, The Cunning Little Vixen at Houston Grand Opera and Bellini’s I Puritani at Opera Theater of St. Louis.

Among his many other Handel credits, he directed lavish and modern stagings of Semele for the Arizona Opera and the Skylight Opera Theatre, Alcina at the Curtis Institute of Music, Giulio Cesare at the Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Edmonton Operas, and Tamerlano at the Spoleto Festival USA. He has also directed other Baroque operas, including Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Pittsburgh Opera Center and the Curtis Institute, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Curtis Institute.

Rader-Shieber has also become well known for his interpretations of Mozart operas. Among others, he has directed The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte at companies including Opera Pacific, Opera de Montreal, Santa Fe Opera and the Juilliard Opera Center. The Toronto Globe and Mail said of his La clemenza di Tito: “Rader-Shieber is a talent to watch, given his brilliant, economical illumination of Metastasio’s text, which focused on character revelation like a psychological thriller.”

Rader-Shieber’s work also includes repertoire ranging from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Skylight Opera Theatre, to Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Music Academy of the West, and the operas of Britten, Giancarlo Menotti and Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music. Rader-Shieber has served as Artistic Director of the Skylight Opera Theatre, and on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Music Academy of the West.

Nathan Troup maintains a body of work spanning standard operatic repertoire, new work premieres, uniquely curated site-specific projects, and distinct collaborations with multidisciplinary artists. He made his international directorial debut in October 2017 at Ireland’s Wexford Festival with his acclaimed production of Rossini’s La scala di seta described as “neatly dramatised” (Opera Today UK) and “especially well-crafted” (OperaWire). 2018/19 season highlights include Eugene Onegin for Intermountain Opera Bozeman, Hydrogen Jukebox for the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Bon Appétit! starring Joyce Castle for Des Moines Metro Opera. Future projects include the premiere of Eurydice with LA Opera and The Firebrand of Florence at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Career highlights include collaborations with Jessica Lang Dance on Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater for Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival and The Wanderer for BAM’s NextWave Festival; Missy Mazzoli’s new opera Proving Up, serving as associate director on James Darrah’s production for the inaugural Opera Omaha ONE Festival and stage director for the New York premiere presented by the Miller Theater; Lee Mingwei’s Sonic Blossom for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Ragnar Kjartansson’s Songfor the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Troup’s work has garnered Best of Boston accolades (2009, 2014) and he was named Boston Lyric Opera’s Emerging Artist for the 2015-16; 2016-17 seasons. Other notable engagements include Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Castleton Festival, and Des Moines Metro Opera.. Troup currently serves on the faculties of Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Boston University and has spent the past decade as outreach artist with Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble’s award-winning Outreach Program (“Outstanding Merit and Contribution” by Early Music America), accessing classical music to neglected and incarcerated youth. nathantroup.com.

Recognized for his “impressive singing … well-supported tone and supple phrasing,” (Baltimore Sun) baritone Rob McGinness‘ recent venue debuts include Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. This season Rob joins Arizona Opera as a member of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio, performing multiple roles including Schaunard in La Bohème, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos and the lead role in Shining Brow, Darren Hagen’s opera about Frank Lloyd Wright. Other highlights this season include Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra.

Often featured portraying opera’s “bad boy,” Rob’s operatic credits include the title roles in Eugene Onegin and Don Giovanni, as well as Marcello in La Bohème. Rob has made a specialty in Russian repertoire, performing leading roles in Rimski-Krosakov’s Tsar’s Bride, Mozart and Salieri, Snow Maiden, Sadko as well as Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. Other famous roles include Enrico in Lucia, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, a performance lauded for a “bright baritone and winning jitteriness” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

As a featured soloist, Rob performed Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, the Duruflé Requiem with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the Brahms Requiem with Portsmouth Pro Musica. Other concert credits include Carmina Burana with Columbia Pro Cantare and Brahms’s Requiem with The Washington Chorus, where Rob’s performance was lauded by the Washington Post for his “warm baritone.”

Committed to promoting and performing new works, Rob regularly premieres new roles, including Ed Wall in Frances Pollock’s award-winning opera Stinney, and Saul Hodkin/Price in The Ghost Train by Paul Crabtree. Rob’s own compositions include vocal, theatrical and orchestral pieces premiered at IngenuityFest, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, and by the Windham Orchestra in Vermont.

Rob holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Peabody Institute, and was a young artist with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Teatro Nuovo, and Bel Canto at Caramoor. His awards include first place in the Sylvia Greene Vocal Competition, second place in the Piccola Opera Competition, and the Patricia A. Edwards Award in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition. 

Praised by Opera News for “brandishing a beautiful, evenly produced, nicely ripe sound,” Michael Adams makes role and company debuts as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles at the Grand Teatro del Liceu, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Knoxville Opera, and Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat at The Glimmerglass Festival in the 2018/19 season. He also returns to Washington National Opera as Lieutenant Audebert in Puts’ Silent Night. Future seasons include returns to Seattle Opera and Washington National Opera in role debuts. Last season he joined Seattle Opera for the first time as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He also debuted with Utah Opera as Marcello in La Bohème and returned later in the season for his first performances of Silvio in Pagliacci and Betto in Gianni Schicchi. He returned to Washington National Opera to reprise Melisso in Alcina and for the Pilot in Portman’s The Little Prince, the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Masetto in Don Giovanni, and on the concert stage, the Fort Worth Symphony for an all-Bernstein concert under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. 

The baritone made company debuts and subsequent returns with the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Melisso in Alcina and Marcello in La Bohème and Des Moines Metro Opera as Lescaut in Manon followed by Ping in Turandot and Donald in Billy Budd. He recently joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin for a season, singing a number of roles including Ping in Turandot, the Marquis in La Traviata, Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, in addition to covering Neluso in L’Africaine. He is a former member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist of Washington National Opera at which he sang the title role of Don Giovanni directed by Francesca Zambello, Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and the Motorcycle Cop and Prison Guard #1 in Dead Man Walking.

Adams completed two years as a Resident Artist at the acclaimed Academy of Vocal Arts, where his performances included Valentin in Faust, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Lescaut in Manon, Tomsky in Pique Dame, Schaunard in La Bohème, Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri, and the Marquis in La Traviata. He is a former Resident Artist of the Santa Fe Opera, having joined the company for its productions of Rigoletto, The Daughter of the Regiment, and the world premiere of Higdon’s Cold Mountain. His previous performances include the Lackey in Ariadne auf Naxos, Corporal in The Daughter of the Regiment, as well the covers of Conte Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Bion in Adamo’s Lysistrata with Fort Worth Opera; Presto in Les mamelles de Tirésias as well as scenes of the title role of Don Giovanni and Escamillo in Carmen with Wolf Trap Opera while a member of its studio program; and the title roles of both Eugene Onegin and Don Giovanni and the First Gangster in Kiss Me, Kate at the Seagle Music Colony. He has previously joined the Fort Worth Symphony for Bach’s Cantata No. 29 and Handel’s Te Deum.

He was a 2015 winner of first place in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, and the Mario Lanza Competition; the namesake award from the Nelson Eddy Foundation; third place in the Giulio Gari Foundation International Vocal Competition, and fifth place in the Loren L. Zachary Competition, an encouragement award winner of the Opera Index Competition. Additionally, he was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions semi-finalist in 2015.

Adams holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University, where he sang his first performances of Don Giovanni, and has also been a member of the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center.

This season, Katherine Beck returns to Arizona Opera as well as makes her Saint Louis Symphony debut as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and returns to the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She recently sang Rosina in The Barber of Seville (Florentine Opera), Isabella in L’inganno felice (Opera Festival of Chicago), Karolka in Jenůfa (Santa Fe Opera), Angelina in La Cenerentola (Opera Buffs), and a recital at her alma mater, SUNY Purchase. She is a previous member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center where she sang Wellgunde in Twilight: Gods and excerpts of Carmen in concert at Grant Park. Previous performances at Arizona Opera include Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, and Mary Johnson in Fellow Travelers.