Silent Night
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Kevin PutsComposer |
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Critically acclaimed for a richly colored, harmonic, and freshly melodic musical voice that has also been described as “emotional, compelling, and relevant,” his works, which include two operas, four symphonies, and several concertos, have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout the world.
Silent Night was premiered by Minnesota Opera in November 2011, and marked his debut in the genre of opera and vocal works. Commissioned by Minnesota Opera with a libretto by Mark Campbell, the full-length opera is based on the 2005 film Joyeux Noel. Heralded as “breathtaking” and “a stunning emotional experience”, Silent Night has since been produced and performed at Opera Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, the Wexford Opera Festival, Calgary Opera, Opera de Montreal, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, with upcoming productions at Atlanta Opera, Opera Santa Jose, and Michigan Opera Theatre.
Acclaimed as “thrilling” and “not to be missed,” Mr. Puts' second opera, an adaptation of Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate, also commissioned by Minnesota Opera with a libretto by Mark Campbell, had its world premiere in March 2015. March 2015 also saw the world premiere of Mr. Puts’ song cycle Of All The Moons, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and performed by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, which The New York Times called “a showcase for his craftsmanship.”
His newest orchestral work, The City, was premiered in Baltimore and New York in April 2016. Co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in honor of its 100th anniversary and by Carnegie Hall in honor of its 125th anniversary, the New York Times called it “captivating from the start” and The Baltimore Sun writes that Mr. Puts “never disappoints in terms of orchestral coloring…distinctive lyrical style…and passages of intense melodic fire.”
November 2016 will see international opera star Rénee Fleming and the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia performing the world premiere in New York City of a new work based on the personal letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and commissioned by the Eastman School of Music. In September 2017, Mr. Puts will premiere his first chamber opera, an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd’s gothic novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree, which has been commissioned by Opera Philadelphia with libretto by Mark Campbell.
In August 2015, Seascapes, the first entire recording of Mr. Puts’ chamber works, was released by BCMF records through Naxos. Featuring a star-studded list of performers, it features among other works the premier recording of Seven Seascapes, commissioned by the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.
In 2013, Mr. Puts’ Flute Concerto received its world premiere at the Cabrillo Festival with Adam Walker, Principal Flute of the London Symphony. Called “brilliant” and “a significant addition to the flute concerto repertoire,” it will soon be available on a new recording of Puts’s works performed by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Marin Alsop to be released on the Naxos label in 2016 and which will also include a recording of Puts' Symphony No. 2.
Also in 2013, Mr. Puts’ soaring choral works To Touch The Sky and If I Were A Swan were performed by the á capella ensemble Conspirare. A recording was released on the Harmonia Mundi label, which also includes a performance of his Symphony No. 4: From Mission San Juan, performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. 2013 also saw the world premiere of Mr. Puts’s chamber work How Wild The Sea by the Miro Quartet, an “intensely emotional” work for string quartet and chamber orchestra, which was commissioned jointly by the University of Texas at Austin, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, City Music Cleveland, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic. This premiere followed an earlier heralded and widely performed commission for the Miro Quartet, Credo, which was commissioned by Chamber Music Monterey Bay.
His other critically acclaimed works include Arcana, which was commissioned and premiered in 2009 by the string sextet Concertante; Trio-Sinfonia, commissioned by Music Accord and premiered in 2007 by the Eroica Trio; Four Airs, commissioned by the Music from Angel Fire Festival in 2004; Three Nocturnes, commissioned and premiered by the Verdehr Trio in 2004; Chorus of Lights, Mr. Puts’ first work for winds, commissioned by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble in 2003; and Einstein on Mercer Street, commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and premiered by bass-baritone Timothy Jones with Kevin Noe conducting in summer 2002.
In April 2008, Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra premiered Night, a piano concerto commissioned through the LACO's Sound Investment program. Mr. Puts has since performed the work himself as soloist during the summer of 2010 with Marin Alsop conducting the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. His Clarinet Concerto, received its premiere in 2009 with the clarinetist Bil Jackson and the Colorado Symphony conducted by Jeffrey Kahane. As the Composer-in-Residence for the Fort Worth Symphony, Mr. Puts composed a violin concerto for its concertmaster, Michael Shih, which was premiered in April 2007 with Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting and later recorded by the orchestra. In 2007, as the American Composer-in-Residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, his Two Mountain Scenes was premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Later that summer, his Symphony No. 4: From Mission San Juan was premiered at the Cabrillo Festival.
Mr. Puts' 2005-2006 season included the premieres of three major orchestral works: Percussion Concerto for Orange County's Pacific Symphony and the Utah Symphony, premiered and performed by Dame Evelyn Glennie; Sinfonia Concertante for five solo instruments and orchestra for the Minnesota Orchestra; and a cello concerto, Vision, which was commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and performed by Yo-Yo Ma in honor of David Zinman's 70th birthday. In 2004, Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony commissioned River's Rush in honor of the opening celebration of the orchestra's 125th anniversary season. Mr. Puts’ Symphony No. 3: Vespertine was commissioned though the Meet the Composer "Magnum Opus" project and premiered by the Marin Symphony Orchestra in May 2004.
His earlier commissions include This Noble Company, which was commissioned and premiered by the Atlanta Symphony in 2003, and Falling Dream, which was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra/BMI Foundation and premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2002 with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composers Orchestra at its 25th Anniversary Concert. Mr. Puts’ Symphony No. 2, commissioned as a result of his winning the Barlow International Orchestra Competition, was premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Jarvi in 2002 and later performed by the Utah Symphony conducted by Keith Lockhart. In 2001, Millennium Canons, commissioned by the Institute for American Music, was premiered by The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart, and has subsequently received multiple performances across the U.S. and around the world. Other important early commissions came from the New York Youth Symphony, which premiered his Concerto for Everyone at Carnegie Hall in 1999; the Vermont Symphony and Ensemble Kobe (Japan), which co-commissioned Marimba Concerto featuring Makoto Nakura; and the National Symphony Orchestra, which commissioned the Fanfare Continuo for brass and organ.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Mr. Puts has received numerous honors and awards for composition. These include the 2015 Arts and Letters Award and the 2003 Benjamin H. Danks Award for Excellence in Orchestral Composition, both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Delaware Symphony Orchestra's 2015 Alfred I. duPont Composer's Award; the 2013 Eddie Medora King Award for Composition by the Butler School of Music of the University of Texas at Austin; a 2001 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship; a 2001-2002 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome; and the 1999 Barlow International Prize for Orchestral Music. In 1996, Mr. Puts was also named Composer-in-Residence of both Young Concert Artists and the California Symphony. While an undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Puts was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the BMI 2001 Carlos Surinach Fund Commission; BMI's 1998 William Schuman Prize; and several grants from BMI and ASCAP.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Puts received both his Bachelor's Degree and his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Eastman School of Music, and his Master's Degree from Yale University. From 1999 to 2005, he taught composition at The University of Texas at Austin. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Composition Faculty at the Peabody Institute, and currently is the Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute.
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Mark CampbellLibrettist |
Mark Campbell’s work as a librettist is at the forefront of this country’s contemporary opera scene. The more than twenty librettos he has written—including the five new operas he premiered in 2017—demonstrate a versatility in subject matter, style, and tone, an adeptness at creating successful work for both large and intimate venues. The names of his collaborators comprise a roster of the most eminent composers in classical music, and include three Pulitzer Prize winners.
Mark’s best-known work is Silent Night, which received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music and is one of the most frequently performed operas in recent history. After its premiere at Minnesota Opera, the work was broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances and continues to be produced by many opera companies around the country. His other successful operas include The Manchurian Candidate, The Inspector, Approaching Ali, and A Letter to East 11th Street., The Shining, Later the Same Evening, Volpone, Bastianello/Lucrezia, and As One (recently produced by Chicago Fringe Opera).
Mark has received many other prestigious prizes for his work, including a Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Recording, the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Drama Desk nominations, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pelliciotti Award, and a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.
Mark is also an advocate for contemporary American opera and serves as a mentor for future generations of writers through such organizations as American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theatre, the University of Colorado's New Opera Workshop, Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative and Opera Philadelphia's Composer-in-Residence Program.
Mark’s premieres in 2017 were: Elizabeth Cree for Opera Philadelphia (Kevin Puts, composer), Dinner at Eight for Minnesota Opera (William Bolcom, composer), Some Light Emerges for Houston Grand Opera (Laura Kaminsky, composer; Kimberly Reed, co-librettist), The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare for Boston Lyric Opera (Julian Grant, composer) and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs for Santa Fe Opera (Mason Bates, composer).
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Joseph MechavichConductor |
Regarded as a conductor of authority and warmth, Joseph Mechavich is known for his exceptional artistry and infectious energy which he brings to every performance as well as the personal and career-defining relationships he has forged with a number of opera companies and orchestras.
Of his Roméo et Juliette at Florida Grand Opera, the Palm Beach Artspaper extolled “One of the best things about this production is the conducting of Joseph Mechavich, who led the proceedings superbly. Tempos were beautifully judged, and the orchestra played wonderfully for him. You rarely hear this score with the kind of big-boned force with which Gounod wrote it, but Mechavich let it rip, with first rate results.”
Maestro Mechavich presided over Jake Heggie’s highly acclaimed opera, Moby-Dick, for both San Diego Opera and Calgary Opera as well as productions of The Barber of Seville for The Washington National Opera, Porgy and Bess for Deutsche Oper Berlin and Roméo et Juliette for Florida Grand Opera. Engagements for the 2013/2014 season included La Bohème for Kentucky Opera, L’Incoronazione di Poppea for New England Conservatory of Music, Tosca for Dayton Opera, La Traviata for The Florentine Opera and Madama Butterfly for Calgary Opera. Additional upcoming engagements for the 2014-15 season and beyond include a return to Calgary Opera for their production of Silent Night, Fidelio and A Street Car Named Desire for Kentucky Opera, a recording and performances of Wuthering Heights with Florentine Opera, Nixon in China for San Diego Opera and The Magic Flute for Opera Colorado.…
Critical acclaim abounds for Maestro Mechavich: “…Mechavich wrapped the whole performance in a kind of musically magic aura that resulted in one of the very best all-round productions ever…” Opera News (Elixir of Love, Dayton Opera); “…Mechavich was in emotional sync with Gounod’s rich swelling melodies…” Sun-Sentinel (Roméo et Juliette, Florida Grand Opera). In past seasons he has conducted highly recognized productions for Calgary Opera, Utah Opera, The Aspen Music Festival, Tulsa Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Oberlin Opera Theatre, Opera Saratoga and Virginia Opera.
On the concert stage, Maestro Mechavich has appeared with the Florida Orchestra, The Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Virginia Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra. He has collaborated on ballet productions with the Orlando Ballet, Nutmeg Ballet (CT) and Sarasota Ballet.
In 2010, Maestro Mechavich was named Principal Conductor of Kentucky Opera. Previously, he held the position of Principal Conductor for Opera Birmingham from 2004-2010, Director of Music for Orlando Opera from 1998-2000 and Cover Conductor for The Santa Fe Opera from 2004-2007. A native of Long Lake, Minnesota, he studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music.
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Michael ShellDirector |
Michael Shell's "visionary" and "masterful storytelling" (Opera News) is steadily leading him to be one of the most sought after directors in the United States. His "thoughtful and detailed score study" (Opera Today) is shown in character development and relationships onstage as well as the complete visual world he creates.
Shell has directed productions for Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera San Jose, Opera Tampa, Opera North, Virginia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He made his international directing debut at the Wexford Festival Opera in 2010 with a production of Winners, by American composer Richard Wargo and returned the next fall to direct Double Trouble – Trouble in Tahiti & The Telephone. He has written and directed three cabarets, including All About Love and The Glamorous Life - A group therapy session for Opera Singers, both for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Shell holds a BM and MM in Music/Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was a Corbett Scholar at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as well as studying Acting and Scene Study on a school awarded scholarship at the internationally renowned H.B. Studios in NYC. He has been a guest faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Florida State University and Webster University,St. Louis, teaching Opera Workshop and directing Undergraduate Opera Workshop performances. In addition he has been guest director at The A.J.Fletcher Opera Institute, Oklahoma University and is a frequent guest director at Indiana University.
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Julie AdamsAnna Sørensen |
A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant, soprano Julie Adams has been praised by The New York Times for possessing a voice that is “rich, full and slightly earthy in an expressive way.” The 2019/20 Season sees Adams returning to Arizona Opera as Mimì in La bohème after her 2018/19 house debut with Arizona Opera as Anna Sorensen in Silent Night by Kevin Puts. In the 2018/19 Season Adams made her house debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Mimì in La bohème, and was featured in recital under the auspices of the George London Foundation. Orchestral engagements included Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 with the Phoenix Symphony conducted by Tito Muñoz, and a concert version of West Side Story with the Oakland Symphony.
The 2017/18 Season saw Adams return to San Francisco Opera as a guest artist in Francesca Zambello’s production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, singing Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre. Additional engagements included her house and role debut as Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at Michigan Opera Theatre, conducted by Stephen Lord and her house debut at Opera Idaho as Blanche in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire.
Highlights at San Francisco Opera include Mimì conducted by Carlo Montanaro, First Lady in the Jun Kanako production of The Magic Flute, Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Kristina in Makropulos Case, Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara, and covering both Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role in Jenůfa.
Additional operatic highlights include appearances as Mimì in La bohème and Anna Sørensen in Silent Night with Opera San Jose, her role debut as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire as part of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, Lia in Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat and Rose in Street Scene with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Additional roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Blanche in The Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. On the recital stage Adams was featured as part of the Schwabacher Debut Recital series with John Churchwell, which the San Francisco Chronicle praised her “combination of plush tone and seeming effortless vocal power.”
Orchestral performances include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and a chamber concert with San Francisco Opera musicians as part of SF Opera Lab’s Chamberworks Concerts, with repertoire including Morgen! by Strauss, Previn’s Vocalise, Eternamente by Ponchielli, and Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle. Haydn’s Mass in C Major with Oakland East Bay Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with Ventura College Orchestra, and a set of five Joseph Marx Lieder with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra.
A native of Burbank, California, Adams holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was awarded the Phyllis C Wattis Memorial Scholarship.
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Andrew BidlackNikolaus Sprink |
Featured by Opera News as one of their 'top 24 brilliant young artists" (October 2015), tenor Andrew Bidlack begins the 2018/19 Season at Lyric Opera of Kansas City in his role debut as Tony (West Side Story) before traveling to Atlanta Opera to reprise the role. At Calgary Opera he recreates the role of Rob Hall (Everest) and at Arizona Opera he appears as Nikolaus Sprink (Silent Night). The role of Greenhorn (Moby Dick) takes the artist to Chicago Opera Theatre.
Last season at Lyric Opera of Kansas City the artist revived the role of Rob Hall (Everest), a debut he originally made at Dallas Opera in 2015. He appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Beppe (I Pagliacci) reviving the great success he had in the role in a previous season. At Opera Santa Barbara he appeared as Almaviva (The Barber of Seville) followed by Arcadio (Florencia en el Amazonas) at Florida Grand Opera. The artist ended the season at Des Moines Metro Opera in the role of Bill (Flight) in highly lauded performances.
Past roles include Lensky (Eugene Onegin) and Greenhorn/Ishmael (c) (Moby-Dick) at Dallas Opera. He developed the role of Christopher Morcom in (The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turning) (by Justine Chen and David Simpatico) for American Lyric Theatre, and at Madison Opera sang the role of Tamino (The Magic Flute). At Saratoga Opera he sange in the title role of Getry's rarely heard opera Zemire et Azor.
Recent highlights include his European and UK debut in the challenging rold of Private John Ball in Welsh National Opera's world premier by composer Iain Bell, In Parenthesis, directed by David Pountney and conducted by Carlo Rizzi with performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; and his Metropolitan Opera of New York debut as Beppe and the Lamplighter (cover Edmondo) Manon Lescaut for which he won critical accolades. At Arizona Opera he made his role debut as Arcadio.
Andrew Bidlack is a frequent interpreter of contemporary music; he created the roles of Irving Tashman in Ricky Ian Gordon's Morning Star at Cincinnati Opera and that of Rob Hall in Joby Talbot's Everest at Dallas Opera. He workshopped Greenhorn/Ishmael in the developmental production of Moby Dick at San Francisco Opera while he was an Adler Fellow; he inaugurated Tancredi The Inspector (John Musto) at Wolf Trap. As a Merolini, he created the role of Charles Carter in Thomas Pasatieri's The Hotel Casablanca. Making his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago, he appeared at Carnegie Hall as The Young Collector in their production of A Streetcar Named Desire with Renée Fleming, a role he also sang in Chicago, and in the role of Sandy (The Lighthouse) at Dallas Opera for the inception of their Chamber Opera Series.
With a large number of Rossini/Mozart and bel canto roles also to his credit, Andrew has appeared as Tamino, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Almaviva and Ferrando (c) (Cosi fan tutte) at Florida Grand Opera; Rodrigo (Otello) at Opera Southwest; Almaviva and Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) at Opera Omaha; Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at San Francisco Opera; Bastien (Bastien et Bastienne) at Des Moines Metro Opera, Nemorino (L'elisir d'amore) at Empire State Lyric Theater; Tonio (La Fille du Regiment) at Palm Beach Opera and for PORTopera.
A graduate of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Adler Fellowship, Mr. Bidlack made his house debut in The Little Prince and went on to appear as Odoardo (Ariodante), Count Albert (Die Tote Stadt), Simpleton (Boris Godunov), Gastone (La Traviata), and Ruiz (Il trovatore) amoung other roles.
Other significant appearances include his debut as Baron Lummer (Intermezzo) at New York City Opera, Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) for Intermountain Opera Bozeman, and Almerich (Iolanta) at Dallas Opera where he also appeared as Count Albert. His performances as Prince Karl Franz (Student Prince) and Anatol (Vanessa) at Utah Festival Opera were met with great enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike. Other roles include Rodolfo (La Bohème), the title role (Candide), Snout (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Emilio Partenope and Tom Rakewell (The Rake's Pogress).
International engagements include his South American debut as Oronte (Alcina) at Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, Damon (Acis and Galatea) at the Macau International Music Festival, and his appearance as a Guest (The Saint of Bleecker Street) at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, which was recorded and release under the Chandos label.
Concert performances include the tenor solos in Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's Creation and Mozart's Requiem; his Carnegie Hall debut singing the solos in Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and the tenor soloist in Carmina Burana with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andreas Delfs. HIs recital appearance alongside soprano Ava Pine at the Dallas Museum of Art was well-received by public and critics alike.
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Joseph LattanziLt. Audebert |
A 2017 recipient of a top prize from the Sullivan Foundation, Joseph Lattanzi established himself as a singer to watch with his portrayal of Hawkins Fuller in the world premiere of Greg Spears’ Fellow Travelers with Cincinnati Opera, followed by further performances for his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago, in New York at the PROTOTYPE Festival, and with Arizona Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Praise for Lattanzi's performances included The New York Times saying “Joseph Lattanzi was splendid as Hawk, his buttery baritone luxuriant and robust.” and Opera News described him as a “confident, handsome presence, and a resonant baritone suggesting wells of feeling that the character might prefer to leave untapped.” In the 2022/23 Season, Lattanzi once again joined The Metropolitan Opera for their productions of Peter Grimes and Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk before returning to the role he created in Fellow Travelers with Virginia Opera. Lattanzi also made a debut with the Sacramento Choral Society as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana.
In the 2021/22 Season, Lattanzi continued his relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, covering the role of Orpheus in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice and joining their production of Madame Butterfly. Additionally, Lattanzi returned to his hometown in the title role in The Barber of Seville with the Atlanta Opera, where he was praised for his “stellar” voice and his “top notch” acting by the Atlanta Arts Review. Lattanzi capped off the season debuting the role of Escamillo in Utah Festival Opera’s production of Carmen.
Recent career highlights include his return to Cincinnati Opera as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Silvio in Pagliacci with Atlanta Opera, Dandini in La cenerentola with Virginia Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni with the Jacksonville Symphony. A regular at The Metropolitan Opera since the 2018/19 Season, Lattanzi has been on the roster for productions of Der Rosenkavalier, Kat’a Kabanvova, Marnie, Madame Butterfly, and The Barber of Seville. Lattanzi has also maintained a strong relationship with Arizona Opera, where he was a member of the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio from 2015 until 2017. During Lattanzi's time with the company, he was heard in the title role of Don Giovanni, as Dandini, Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas, and was featured in the company’s Sapphire Celebration with Frederica von Stade. Additional performances included Moralès and Dancaïre in Carmen, Yamadori in Madame Butterfly, and as the Gamekeeper in Rusalka. Lattanzi also appears regularly with Seattle Opera, most recently as the Steward in their filmed production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight.
On the concert stage, Lattanzi was heard in a celebration of the music of Leonard Bernstein with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and in the coast of West Side Story at Grand Tetons Music Festival under the baton of Donald Runnicles. Lattanzi has appeared with Jake Heggie in OPERA America’s Creators in Concert series, previewing Fellow Travelers at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, and in Carmina Burana with the Reno Philharmonic and at the Christ (Crystal) Cathedral, and with the Chicago Sinfonietta.
The Georgia native has studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). In addition to two summers at the Merola Opera Program, Lattanzi has participated in programs at the Brevard Music Center and the Chautauqua Institute Voice Program.
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Kyle AlbertsonLt. Horstmayer |
Bass-baritone Kyle Albertson is renowned not only for his versatile voice, confidence, and style, but also for his ability to bring a character to life on stage. Recently, he has been making a foray into the works of Wagner, with a house début at Lyric Opera of Chicago for their production of Das Rheingold, plus role and house débuts as Donner in Minnesota Opera’s first production of Das Rheingold, in which he also covered Wotan. This season, Mr. Albertson will cover Wotan in San Francisco Opera’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Mr. Albertson will also sing Porthos in Les Trois Mousquetaires with Phoenicia Festival, JP Morgan in the world première of Tesla with SoBe Arts, DeGuiche in Cyrano with Opera Carolina, and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with Opera Parallel at SFJazz.
Last season saw Mr. Albertson performing the roles of Lieutenant Horstmayer in Silent Night with Opera San José, Magnifico in La Cenerentola with El Paso Opera, and DeGuiche in Cyrano with Michigan Opera Theatre as well as a large number of débuts, including a role début of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Northern Lights Music Festival. Of his recent role début as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Fort Worth Opera, The Dallas Morning News raved: “With a drop-dead gorgeous bass-baritone, Kyle Albertson is younger than the usual Dr. Bartolo, but he’s no less delightful an object of mockery. When he turns on his falsetto to demonstrate an aria from his youth, he sounds like the famously out-of-tune Florence Foster Jenkins.”
Additional recent operatic engagements include performances with The Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni and for productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Dialogues des carmélites, The Merry Widow, and two productions of Manon; with Houston Grand Opera he performed the role of Sacristan in Tosca and Mr. Rodriguez in Past the Checkpoints; with Atlanta Opera, the Sergeant of Police in Pirates of Penzance; a Dallas Opera début as Zuniga in Carmen; Lyndon B. Johnson in the workshop of David T. Little’s opera JFK with Fort Worth Opera; a role début as the title role of Sweeney Todd with Syracuse Opera; the role of Rucker Lattimore in Cold Sassy Tree with Sugar Creek Opera Festival; and the roles of the Prison Warden in Dead Man Walking, Hobson in Peter Grimes, and the Duke in Roméo et Juliette all with Des Moines Metro Opera.
A sought-after concert artist, a few recent highlights of his concert career include a solo in Bruckner’s Te Deum with Houston Symphony; the bass solo in Verdi’s Requiem with The Händel Society of Dartmouth; Händel’s Messiah with Boise Philharmonic; Papageno in Boston Youth Symphony’s concert performance of Die Zauberflöte at Symphony Hall; a Carnegie Hall début in Rutter’s Mass of the Children and excerpts from Messiah; and a concert version of Der Rosenkavalier with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony.
Earlier in his career, he made his début as Lescaut in Manon Lescaut with Opera Grand Rapids; his début with Austin Lyric Opera as Count Monterone in Rigoletto; and appeared with Glimmerglass Opera as Gus O’Neill in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening, in productions of Cherubini’s opéra comique Médée, and in the world première of A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck. Mr. Albertson enjoys a strong relationship with Chicago Opera Theater, having performed Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China, lauded by The Chicago Sun Times and The Chicago Tribune for his “watchful” and “effective” portrayal.
As an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera for two seasons, he appeared in productions of Les contes d’Hoffmann, La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Gluck’s Alceste, and the world première of Paul Moravec’s The Letter. Mr. Albertson is a graduate of the Resident Artist Program at Minnesota Opera. During his time there, he performed in Un ballo in maschera, L’italiana in Algeri, Roméo et Juliette, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Le nozze di Figaro, La donna del lago, and Lakmé, to which critics hailed “Kyle Albertson made an imposing Nilakantha, bringing life to a character that is barely two-dimensional.” With the Merola Opera Program, Mr. Albertson sang the role of Geronimo in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto and as a member of the Aspen Opera Theater Center, Mr. Albertson performed Escamillo in Carmen, Besso in Giasone, Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Count Monterone in Rigoletto.
Mr. Albertson won Second Place in The Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, was a Finalist in the George London Foundation Competition, a Finalist in the Marcello Giordani Competition, a Finalist in the Liederkranz Competition, and a National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He holds a Master of Music degree from DePaul University where he studied with world renowned mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Iowa where he studied with David Smalley. He is currently in the studio of Dr. Steven King.
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Ricardo RiveraLt. Gordon |
In the spring of 2015, baritone Ricardo Rivera — who was a semi-finalist in the Met Opera National Council Auditions and is the recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant— made major debuts at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and San Diego Opera in the first performances of El pasado nunca se termina, directed by Broadway and opera director Leonard Foglia, in the leading role of Acalán which he will perform in 2019 with Fort Worth Opera
In the 2018/2019 season, Ricardo will perform as Lt. Gordon in Silent Night with Arizona Opera, as Acalán in El pasado nunca se termina with Fort Worth Opera, and as Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni in New York at the renowned Bay Street Theater.
Engagements from the past two seasons include performances as Hérode in Hérodiade with Washington Concert Opera with Michael Fabiano and Joyce El-Khoury; as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and as Lt. Audebert in Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night with Opera San José; as Escamillo in Carmen with Musica Viva Hong Kong and Heartbeat Opera; as Schaunard in La Bohème with Musica Viva Hong Kong; as El payador in María de Buenos Aires with Des Moines Metro Opera; and as Germont in La Traviata with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra
Operatic performance highlights, of recent past seasons, include: Orsini in Rienzi and Mathieu in Andrea Chenier with the Opera Orchestra of NY in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall; Moralès and Escamillo (cover) in Stephen Wadsworth's new production of Carmen, Thomas Martin and the Hotel Managers in the world premiere of Theodore Morrison's Oscar, and Germont (cover) in La Traviata at Santa Fe Opera; Marcello in La Bohème and Escamillo in Carmen with El Paso Opera; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Opera Company of Middlebury; Thomas Martin and the Hotel Managers in Oscar with Opera Philadelphia; Le chat in L’enfant et les sortilèges and Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi at the Castleton Festival with the late conductor Lorin Maazel; Moralès in Carmen and Fiorello/L'Ufficiale in The Barber of Seville with Opera North; Ashby in La fanciulla del West with Knoxville Opera; the baritone soloist in both Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Fauré’s Requiem with the Pioneer Valley Symphony; Uncle John in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Sugar Creek Opera; and Corifeo in Jorge Liderman's opera Antigona Furiosa in Chicago with Contempo and members of the multi-Grammy Award-winning ensemble eighth blackbird.
Concert performance highlights include his Alice Tully Hall debut in an Eve Queler and Friends Concert with Eve Queler at the piano and his Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center debut in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Gala with Eve Queler conducting the Opera Orchestra of NY. Concert performance highlights of standard repertoire include the baritone solos in: Ein deutsches Requiem with both The New York Choral Society and The Westchester Chorale Society; Carmina Burana with Monmouth Civic Chorus; and Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” at the White Mountains Music Festival.
Ricardo is a graduate of Mannes College the New School for Music where his B.M. M.M. and PDPL were conferred. As a Mannes Opera Young Artist, he performed the title role in Don Giovanni, Ford in Falstaff, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas. At Mannes, he was mentored by Met Opera conductor and Music Director at The Glimmerglass Festival, Joseph Colaneri, and the great, late American mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik.
Ricardo was an apprentice singer with Santa Fe Opera, a young artist with Opera North, and an Eva and Marc Stern Fellow at SongFest where he coached with Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, and composer Lori Laitman on her music. As an apprentice artist at Chautauqua Opera, he covered Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor; performed the Sergeant and covered Lescaut in Manon Lescaut; and performed in two concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
In a review of Ricardo’s performance in Sophia Gubaidulina's Perception with multi-Grammy Award–winning ensembles eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet, the Chicago Tribune declared him "amazingly precise of musical and verbal gesture." In continuation of his commitment to the vitality of contemporary music, Ricardo performed Steven Stucky's Four poems of A.R. Ammons with the FLUX Quartet, the world premiere of Reinaldo Moya's Soliquio en las olas with the Arts Symphony Orchestra, and the world premiere of Aaron Dai's Con furia with the Chelsea Symphony. 21st-century operatic roles which have been composed for and have been performed by Ricardo include leading roles in Robert Cuckson's A Night of Pity and Horace: a Portrait, Christopher Park's Phaedra and Hippolytus, Alexander Berezowsky's The Nine Billion Names of God, and Andrew McManus's Killing the Goat.
Ricardo won 1st Prize in the Eastern Region of the 2012 Met Opera National Council Auditions (MONC) which led him to the semi-finals of that competition. He received two awards upon graduating from Mannes College: the Richard F. Gold Career Grant in 2008 and the Michael Sisca Memorial Opera Award in 2012. He was awarded 3rd Prize in the Gerda Lissner Competition, a Career Grant from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, 1st and Audience Prizes in the NY Lyric Opera Competition, and Encouragement Awards from the Opera Index, Career Bridges, and Connecticut Opera Guild Competitions.
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Bille BruleyJonathan Dale |
Praised by the Huffington Post for his “ringing high notes,” Texas-born tenor Bille Bruley has garnered attention for his strength and versatility in operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary.
Bille’s 21/22 season is highlighted by role/house debuts in Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Steve Wozniak) with Austin Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and The Atlanta Opera. He will also return to Arizona Opera for Così fan tutte (Ferrando).
Recently he joined the roster of Lyric Opera of Chicago Dead Man Walking to cover Father Grenville and Howard Boucher and returned to Arizona Opera for Shining Brow (Louis Sullivan) and Riders of the Purple Sage (Bern Venters). Highlights from previous seasons include Britten’s War Requiem with the Tulsa Symphony, a program of Mozart arias with the Phoenix Symphony, and a return to The Santa Fe Opera, where he created the role of Benjamin in the world premiere of Poul Ruders’ The Thirteenth Child.
Bille Bruley hails from Montgomery, Texas and is a graduate of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and Baylor University.
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Corey BixKronprinz |
Opera News has praised Corey Bix for his “clear sense of drama and self-possession, exhibiting sturdy, unwavering control, flinty resonance and confident high notes.” Bix is quickly becoming known for his stirring portrayals of dramatic tenor repertoire on both opera and concert stages across the globe. In the 2022/23 Season, Bix joins The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Der Rosenkavalier and brings his celebrated Bacchus to Arizona Opera in Ariadne auf Naxos. The 2021/22 Season saw him at Folks Operetta as Francois in Korngold’s rarely performed Die Kathrin, at Nashville Opera as Loge in Das Rheingold, and at San Francisco as Florestan (cover) in Fidelio.
Bix’s 2019/20 Season featured his role debut as Canio in I Pagliacci with El Paso Opera. In the 2018/19 Season, he made his role debut as Lohengrin with Opera Southwest, sang Judge Danforth in The Crucible with Opera Santa Barbara, the Kronprinz in Silent Night with Arizona Opera, covered the Hauptmann in Wozzeck at The Metropolitan Opera, sang the Hauptmann in Wozzeck and the Governor in Candide with Des Moines Metro Opera, and joined Opéra national de Paris for their production of Les Troyens.
Following Bix’s triumphant role debut as Énée in Les Troyens with San Francisco Opera, he returned to the company for Augustin Moser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and for their production of Jenůfa. Bix has sung Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Washington National Opera, Vienna Volksoper, Fort Worth Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and The Glimmerglass Festival. Other notable engagements for Mr. Bix include Énée and Helenus in Les Troyens with Lyric Opera of Chicago; Max in Der Freischütz with Virginia Opera; his European debut and return to Greek National Opera as the Prince in Rusalka and the title role of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex; Erik in Der fliegende Holländer with Los Angeles Opera, Virginia Opera, Hungarian National Opera, and Arizona Opera; Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten with Oper Graz; Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Theater Kiel; Flotow’s Alessandro Stradella with the Stadttheater Giesen; Heinrich in Tannhäuser. He has sung both Florestan in Fidelio and Lennie in Of Mice and Men with Utah Opera, Austin Opera and Tulsa Opera, Sir Edgar Aubry in Der Vampyr with New Orleans Opera, Aegisth in Elektra with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Alfred in Die Fledermaus with Anchorage Opera. He sang the First Senator and covered Albiano in Die Gezeichneten under the baton of James Conlon at Los Angeles Opera and sang Don Jose in Carmen with the Aspen Opera Theater with Julius Rudel conducting.
On the concert stage, Bix has joined the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, The Cleveland Symphony for their production of Daphne, the American Symphony Orchestra for Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 3, Pharaoh in Dessau’s Hagadah shel Pessach and as Phoebus de Chateuoers in Schmidt’s Notre Dame, the Cathedral Choral Society for Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., and Palm Beach Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem. He has sung excerpts of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Bard Music Festival, excerpts from Die Walküre and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the Wagner Society of Washington D.C., the 4th Jew in Salome with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and presented recitals for the George London Foundation, the Wagner Society of New York, and at his alma mater, Simpson College.
Corey Bix is the 2008 winner of the Robert Lauch Memorial Grant from the Wagner Society of New York and the 2007 winner of the George London/Kirsten Flagstad Award for a singer with potential for a Wagnerian career, as well as the foundation’s prestigious Vienna Prize. Additionally, he has won awards in the New England and Southeast regions of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is a former member of the apprentice programs of the Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera, and earned a Master of Music from New England Conservatory and his Bachelor of Music from Simpson College.
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Jarrett PorterFather Palmer |
Praised for his “imposing baritone” and “supple vibrant baritone that he deploys with unaffected lyricism and manifest honesty” by Opera News, American baritone Jarrett Porter is quickly making a name for himself with a fearless talent and commanding intellect. Porter is currently a member of the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at The Juilliard School.
In the 2020/21 Season, Jarrett makes his professional debut at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Neil Armstrong in the world premiere of Steve Mackey’s Moon Tea, and as the Adjudicator in the world premiere of Damien Sneed’s The Tongue & The Lash. He joins Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumart, Germany where he will make appearances on Bavaria Radiofunk, as well as with the Nürnburg Symphony. At Juilliard, he appears in their Liederabend series, with New York Festival of Song@Juilliard, and as Polyphemus in Händel’s Acis & Galatea with Juilliard415.
In the 2021/22 Season he looks forward to making his professional debut at Arizona Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He will return to Opera Theater of Saint Louis to create the role of Oliver Sacks in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, based on the memoir of the same name.
Porter’s 2019/20 Season included his principal debut at Tulsa Opera as Dancaïre in Carmen. At the Santa Fe Opera in his second year as an Apprentice, he sang the Sergeant in La boheme, covered Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, appeared in scenes as the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and joined Renée Fleming and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra under the baton of Harry Bicket as a soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.
In the 2018/19 Season he finished his second and final year as a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist at Arizona Opera, where he performed as Antonio and the cover of Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Father Palmer in Silent Night, and Baron Douphol in La traviata. In the 2017/18 Season at Arizona Opera, he was seen as the title role in Patrick Morganelli’s Hercules vs. Vampires, Maximilian in Candide, Sciarrone in Tosca, and Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He joined Santa Fe Opera in 2018 as a member of the company’s Apprentice Program, singing Der Perückenmacher in Ariadne auf Naxos, and covering Maximilian in Candide. Role engagements elsewhere have included the title role of Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, Le Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Le portrait de Manon, Sid in Albert Herring, Harry Easter in Weill’s Street Scene, and Morales in Carmen. Other programs include Opera Saratoga (2016) and The Glimmerglass Festival (2017), as well as Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy (2014).
As a sought after recitalist, Porter has held fellowships at the Ravinia Stean’s Music Institute at The Ravinia Festival, and at SongFest at the Hidden Valley Music Festival under the mentorship of Sir Thomas Allen and Graham Johnson. Accompanied by narration from Allen and Johnson, he made his National Public Radio debut with selections from Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, and in the spring of 2018 joined pianist Taylor Hutchinson in recital to present Winterreise in Katzin Hall at Arizona State University.
Awards include: winner of The Sullivan Foundation (2019), winner of the 2019 St. Louis District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the Lisa and Bernie Kalvelage Award at the 2018 Holt Competition, the 2017 Grand Prize Winner of the Pacific Music Society Competition, the Ellie Silver Award Winner at the 2017 Holt Competition, and the First Prize of the inaugural Esther C. Weill Competition. A native of coastal New Jersey, he holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music (2015) and a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2017), where he was a James Schwabacher Fellow. He can be seen in the June 2020 issue of Opera News, where he was the magazine’s Soundbite. A student of Darrell Babidge, Porter resides on the Upper East Side in New York City.
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Tim MurrayWilliam Dale |
Lauded for his “...consistent, attractive baritone” (Opera News) and “...firm, flexible baritone” (The New York Times), Wisconsin-born baritone Tim Murray is a recent graduate of the Resident Artist Program with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. During his time there, Mr. Murray covered the title roles in Eugene Onegin and The Barber of Seville and performed Zaretsky/The Captain in Eugene Onegin, Guy Cotter in Everest, and Marullo in Rigoletto. Mr. Murray’s 2016/17 season included a return to the Oratorio Society of New York to cover the baritone soloist in Britten’s War Requiem, Silvio in I pagliacci with Cedar Rapids Opera, Dandini in Cinderella with ARE Opera, NYC, and Moralés in Carmen and Ananias in Britten’s The Burning Fiery Furnace with Central City Opera as a member of the Apprentice Artist program.
Recently, Tim made his New Jersey Symphony debut as the baritone soloist in Berlioz’s Lélio under the baton of Jacques Lacombe and his debut with the Oratorio Society of New York as Pater Ecstaticus in Mahler’s 8th Symphony. While a student at Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Murray performed Le Vicomte de Valmont in The Dangerous Liaisons - the opera based on the notorious book and film. Tim is thrilled to have recorded the role for the first complete album of this opera with Albany Records. He has also performed Leporello (Don Giovanni) and Le Meurtrier (Bloch’s Macbeth) at Manhattan School of Music, Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Twin Cities Fringe Opera, and the baritone soloist (Fauré Requiem), Leporello (Don Giovanni), and Peter Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the University of Minnesota. Tim also had the pleasure of working with Minnesota Opera during his undergraduate studies as both a member of the chorus (Die Zauberflöte, Manon Lescaut, Hamlet) and as a performer for their elementary school outreach program; an opportunity in which performance is paired with interactive teaching to bring opera into elementary schools throughout rural Minnesota.
Mr. Murray won first prize in the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition and is a recipient of the Edgar Foster Daniels Scholarship for Voice. He is also a 2018 District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
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Chad SloanPonchel |
American baritone Chad Sloan is recognized as much for his warm, elegant vocalism as he is for deft interpretations of diverse characters. In the 2012-2013, Chad performed Carmina Burana with Columbia Pro Cantare, Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with Louisville Choral Arts Society, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer at Twickenham Music Festival, Britten’s War Requiem at Lawrence Conservatory and as baritone soloist in performances of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. He also debuted with Opera Memphis in Lee Hoiby’s This is the Rill Speaking. Performances for the 2013-2014 season include Carmina Burana with Fox Valley Symphony, Adario in Rameau’s Les Sauvages with Bourbon Baroque, joining the Louisville Orchestra for Portrait of Robert Schumann and an appearance with Eighth Blackbird.
In the 2011-2012 season, Mr. Sloan reprised his Prosdocimo in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia with Tacoma Opera, performed with the Lexington Philharmonic in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem,Anchorage Opera as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music and joined Dayton Opera and the Bar Harbor Music Festival as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette. He also covered the title role of Willy Wonka inThe Golden Ticket with Atlanta Opera and the role of Pluto in Telemann’s Orpheus for the New York City Opera. In the previous season, he returned to Kentucky Opera to debut his Belcore in Elexir of Love, to Utah Opera for John Brooke in Little Women and debuted with the Bar Harbor Music Festival as Figaro in The Barber of Seville.
A frequent collaborator of composer Ben Moore, he recently premiered his new song cycle, Ode to a Nightingale, in New York. Other recent performances include his portrayal of Herman in Moore’s new opera Enemies, A Love Story for Kentucky Opera, Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Atlanta Ballet, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro for Tacoma Opera, and Clyde Griffiths in the West Coast Premiere of An American Tragedy by Tobias Picker.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Sloan is an active recitalist who recently performed a program responding to an installation of French Impressionism at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York. He has performed in concert with Steven Blier at Wolf Trap Opera in a program entitled The Pursuit of Love, and recently offered the world premiere of Kenji Bunch’s Dream Songs at Carnegie Hall.
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Brandon MoralesBritish Major |
Brandon Morales, Bass-Baritone and graduate of the Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist Program, has performed with opera companies all over the US - stretching from the Pacific northwest’s Portland Opera to Virginia Opera on the East coast. Morales has recently completed two years with Virginia Opera’s Heardon Foundation Emerging Artist’s Program with highlights including Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jose Castro/Billy Jackrabbit in La Fanciulla del West, and the Mother in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.
A graduate of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, he has been highly active in the Ohio area performing with Dayton Opera, NANO Works, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Queen City Chamber Opera, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Cincinnati Opera, participated in Toledo Opera’s Resident Artist program, and performed the roles of Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin and the Dutchman in Die Fliegende Holländer in concert with the Wagner Society of Cincinnati, where he is a part of their blooming Wagner studio. A native of San Antonio, TX, Morales currently enjoys the vagabond life of performing, but misses his faithful cat, Elsie.
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Nathan StarkFrench General |
Praised by the Washington Post as having a voice of "unearthly power," The Houston Press as being a "blow away singer," and the San Jose Mercury News as a "natural comic actor," American bass, Nathan Stark, has performed on operatic, concert and recital stages throughout the United States, Europe and China.
Hailing from Hughson, California, Mr. Stark has performed with opera houses throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Dayton Opera, Atlanta Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Virginia Opera and Arizona Opera, to name a few. Some of his noted operatic roles have included Mustafà in L'Italiana in Algeri, both Don Basilio and Don Bartolo in il Barbiere di Siviglia, both Leporello and il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, both Monterone and Sparafucile in Rigoletto, both Zuniga & Escamillo in Carmen, Colline in La Boheme, Banco in Macbeth and Bottom in A Midsummer's Night Dream. Equally comfortable on concert stage, he has performed concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, Canton Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Holland Symphony Orchestra and the Modesto Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2017-18 season, Mr. Stark makes company debuts as Banco in Verid's Macbeth with Opera San Antonio, Don Basilio in Rossini's il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Santa Barbara, The Judge in An American Solider with Opera Saint Louis, Colline in Puccini's La Boheme with Opera Orlando, Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio with Boston Baroque, and returns to Opera San Jose for the United States premiere of Alma Deutscher's Cinderella. On the concert stage, he will also be performing the bass solos for the Verdi Requiem with the Dayton Philharmonic,Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Greenville Symphony.
Mr. Stark has given recitals throughout the United States and Germany, concerts at the Great Wall of China, the U.S. Colombian Embassy, U.S. French Embassy, the U.S. Austrian Embassy and the Washington National Cathedral. In 2005 he was chosen to be the featured soloist forthe nationally televised opening ceremonies of the Air Force One exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Library for former First Ladies, Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan, members of the United States Senate and Congress, and for, then President of the United States, George W. Bush
Mr. Stark has been a recipient of several vocal awards including the 2010 Fort Worth Opera Marguerite McCammon Competition, the Opera Columbus Vocal Competition, the Brentwood Artist of Tomorrow Competition, the Sun Valley Opera Competition, the Westwood Vocal Competition, the Burbank Aria Competition, first place winner of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Corbett Scholarship Opera Competition, the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal Competition, the Pasadena Opera Guild Competition, the Opera Buffs Competition, first place winner of the Classical Singers Association Vocal Competition in Los Angeles, and was the 2006 district winner of the Metropolitan Opera Vocal Competition, San Diego District.
He holds degrees in vocal & opera performance from California State University, Long Beach (B.M. & M.M.) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (A.D.) His voice teachers have included Dr. Lewis Woodward, Dr. Cherrie Llewellyn, Ms. Shigemi Matsumoto, Ms. Marilyn Horne and Mr. Kenneth Shaw.
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Katherine BeckMadeleine Audebert |
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.