Studio Cabaret
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Peter Barberbass-baritone |
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.
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Sam Krausztenor |
Sam Krausz is quickly gaining notice as a young tenor with “shining security” (Opera Today). Most recently engaged as a young artist at Des Moines Metro Opera and Wolf Trap Opera, Krausz’s professional work includes performing the Fourth Jew in Strauss’s Salome (DMMO), and covering Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (WTO). Competition credits include a 2023 Regional Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, as well as the 2023 national semi-finals of the Lotte Lenya Competition. After his undergraduate work at CCM, graduate roles at Northwestern University include Tamino (The Magic Flute), Oronte (Alcina), and David (Jake Heggie’s If I Were You).
Originally from St Louis, MO, Krausz aspires to be a champion of acoustic storytelling throughout his career. His most recent young artist credits include the Fourth Jew in Strauss’s Salome with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Apollo in Händel’s Semele at Wolf Trap Opera, where he also covered the role of Don Ottavio in their Filene Center production of Don Giovanni. Krausz made his concert debut singing Mozart’s Requiem in 2022 with the Berkshire Lyric Chorus and Orchestra, and he has also appeared before the Apollo Chorus of Chicago and the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble. Competition credits include a 2023 Central Region Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, participation in the semi-finals of the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition, and the finals of the National Opera Association Argento Competition. He was trained at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (BM) and Northwestern University (MM), where his graduate roles included Tamino (The Magic Flute), Oronte (Alcina), and David (Jake Heggie’s If I Were You). A pianist from a young age, Krausz has become a sought-after vocal coach for young singers while living in the Cincinnati area, even co-directing one of the nation’s only high school opera scenes programs.
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Sedona Liberomezzo-soprano |
Mezzo-soprano Sedona Libero is known for the authenticity, playfulness, and passion that she brings to the operatic stage. Libero made her professional debut with the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in 2018 as Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, and, subsequently, made her professional symphonic debut as the Alto Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. In the Summer of 2024, she performed as a Studio Artist with Teatro Nuovo, covering Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. She has also appeared as a Young Artist with Opera Southwest as Ernestina in Rossini’s L’occasion fa il ladro, and as an Emerging Artist at the Seagle Festival where she performed as Rosie Chaney in Kevin Puts and Mark Campell’s The Manchurian Candidate, and as Carmen in Marius Constant’s adaptation of Bizet’s opera, La tragédie de Carmen. She has performed locally in Arizona as a Teaching Artist with Arizona Opera’s OperaTunity tour, and has been a regular guest artist with Chandler Opera Company, which included her first appearance as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Libero completed her graduate training at University of Michigan and baccalaureate work at Northern Arizona University.
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Emma Marhefkasoprano |
Emma Marhefka, soprano, has country-wide performance credits including Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) Opera Tampa, Younger Alyce (Glory Denied) Knoxville Opera and Opera Roanoke, and Frasquita (Carmen) Des Moines Metro Opera. She has been a young artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Santa Fe Opera as cover for Adina (The Elixir of Love). While at CCM, Marhefka sang Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Mary Johnson (Fellow Travelers), The Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen), and Sandrina (La Finta Giardiniera). She has been a regionalist for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a 2023 finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.
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Yichen Xuebaritone |
Yichen Xue is a baritone from Anshan, China. In 2023, he was the recipient of Opera Index Competition’s Emerging Artist Award and, subsequently in 2024, received a Career Bridges grant. Xue was also a 2024 finalist and grant winner in the renowned Gerda Lissner Competition. Xue graduated from the Manhattan School of Music and received his Master’s degree from Hunter College, where he was a student of Ron Raines. In summer of 2024, he joins Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist, followed by a residency with Arizona Opera as a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist where he will make his company debut as Schaunard in La Bohème.
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Ava Linvogpiano |
Ava Linvog is a sought-after collaborator known for her sensitive, dynamic playing and for bringing warmth and candor to the rehearsal room. Linvog works as a repetiteur across the country, appearing regularly with Opera Omaha, North Carolina Opera, and the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center. In 2022, she was an apprentice artist with Sarasota Opera. In her hometown of Seattle, Linvog worked with Lowbrow Opera Collective to premiere the new opera Adulting and performed with Northwest Opera in Schools etc., bringing opera to schools throughout the Puget Sound. The 2024/25 Season will see Linvog join the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio at Arizona Opera, in addition to returning to Opera Omaha (Don Giovanni) and North Carolina Opera (Ernani, The Marriage of Figaro).
Currently based in New York City, Linvog is in demand as a vocal coach and recitalist. Recent performances include Awakening, a recital sponsored by City Lyric Opera which featured three world premieres in a program combining art song, chamber works, and spoken poetry to explore the meaning of freedom. Linvog was featured alongside soprano Jazmine Saunders in the young artist showcase of Eastman School of Music at WQXR’s Greene Space in Manhattan, sponsored by the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Glyndebourne America also engaged Linvog at their annual fundraising event, where she performed arias and art songs by Rachmaninoff and Strauss with soprano Alexandra Kzeski.
Linvog completed her graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied under Andrew Harley, Timothy Long, and Russell Miller. Throughout her time at Eastman she held an assistantship with Eastman Opera Theatre, playing a diverse range of repertoire including Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, Cavalli’s La Calisto, and Puts’ Elizabeth Cree. Upon graduating, she received the Jean Barr Award for excellence in accompanying. Linvog holds a Bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, where she studied music and mathematics. At Vassar she studied piano under Todd Crow and Thomas Sauer, and assisted Dr. Kathryn Libin in musicological studies at the Lobkowicz Collections.
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Katherine Kozakpiano |
Pianist, coach and chorus director Katherine Kozak has enjoyed affiliations with numerous companies throughout the United States. Her most long-standing relationship is with The Glimmerglass Festival, where she is the current Chorus Director, and in 2024 recently completed her 13th summer season. Kozak's work with the chorus can be heard on Château du Versailles Spectacles 2021 CD/DVD release of The Ghosts of Versailles, for which she also performed on celesta and piano.
A deft and vivacious chorus master, Kozak notably garnered much acclaim with the Florida Grand Opera Chorus, with whom, up until the pandemic, she prepared approximately 20 productions. Under her direction, they were critiqued as “astutely balanced and exuberant”, “[having sung] with power and majesty”, “outstanding” and “vocally flawless”.
Kozak has a repertoire of over 80 complete operatic and musical theatre scores, and has operated in nearly every music staff role. She has functioned as head coach, rehearsal pianist, recitalist, supertitle caller, recitative accompanist, assistant conductor and administrator, and this wide range of abilities has brought her to The Dallas Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Colorado, and Central City Opera, among others. Notable conductors she has assisted include Richard Bonynge, Joseph Colaneri, John Demain and George Manahan.
In addition to her involvement in highly-regarded Young Artist programs, she has also helped develop singers at the university level. Appointments have included Associate Coach at The Juilliard School, and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Miami (FL).
Kozak holds the Master of Music in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the University of Illinois, where she was a student of John Wustman. She has enjoyed collaborating with singers since the young age of 11, when she began accompanying and touring with the Singing Angels, based in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
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Madeleine SnowStage Director & Choreographer |
Madeleine Snow is a director and creative collaborator who is passionate about reimagining ways for contemporary audiences to engage with classical music. She has enjoyed directing site-specific performances and collaborating with composers including Ricky Ian Gordon and Ben Moore. She directed the World Premiere of Joshua Hershfield’s critically acclaimed rock musical Rise and won second place of the 2023 American Prize in Directing for her inventive production of La Calisto with Eastman Opera Theatre. A 2024 Festival Artist at Central City Opera, Snow has recently worked as a director at PAC NYC, Palm Beach Opera, Boulder Opera, Loveland Opera Theatre, Rochester Philharmonic, Boston Youth Symphony, and Harvard College Opera.
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Rachel FieldsLighting Designer |
Rachel Fields is excited to join Arizona Opera for the first time. A lighting designer, assistant, and programmer from Colorado, Fields has worked in theater and opera with companies such as The REV Theatre Co., The Glimmerglass Festival, and Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. Recent design credits include Inventing Van Gogh (Breckenridge Backstage), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Candlelight Dinner Playhouse), and Love and War (The Pavilion at Glimmerglass). She holds a BFA in Technical Theatre with an emphasis in Lighting Design from the University of Colorado Boulder.
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Dillon GirgentiLighting, Video, & Effects Supervisor |