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| Described
as an “eloquent and decisive” conductor by the Wall
Street Journal and praised for his “uncommonly expressive
and detailed” performances by the Miami Herald, Steven
Jarvi (Conductor, The Barber of Seville) is the Music Director
of Winter Opera Saint Louis and the Associate Conductor of the Kansas
City Symphony where he leads over 25 performances a year. Jarvi
previously served as the Conducting Fellow with Michael Tilson Thomas
and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach and as an Associate Conductor
for the New York City Opera. A former Tanglewood Fellow, Jarvi studied
with James Levine and Kurt Masur and was also the first conductor
ever invited to be a member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist
Program at the Washington National Opera, a position he was personally
selected for by Plácido Domingo. Upcoming engagements include
the Rochester Philharmonic and a Virginia Opera production of Philip
Glass’ Orphée. |
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| David
Paul (Director, The Barber of Seville) has worked extensively
on operatic and theatrical stages throughout the United States and
abroad. Recent directing credits include Cosi fan tutte for Westminster
Choir College, Le nozze di Figaro at the Washington National Opera,
featuring the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists, and William Walton’s
The Bear for the Tel Aviv Summer Opera Festival. He returns to the
Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC this summer to direct Julius
Caesar, having previously adapted and directed Hamlet with the company’s
Acting Fellows and served on the company’s artistic staff.
Paul is a member of the faculty at the Juilliard School in New York,
where he serves as Dramatic Advisor and acting teacher for the Masters
program in voice, as well as the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann
Young Artist Development Program and the International Vocal Arts
Institute in Israel. A native of Hamburg, Germany, he was graduated
summa cum laude from Columbia University and is an alumnus of the
Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. |
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| In
the 2010-11 season, Liam Bonner (Figaro, The Barber
of Seville) sings Pelléas in Pelléas and Mélisande
with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and returns to the Metropolitan
Opera for the same title as well as for Le Comte Ory. He also sings
Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles (New Orleans Opera) and Ned
Keene in Peter Grimes (Houston Grand Opera). Previous performances
include Hamlet (Washington National Opera), Morales in Carmen, Horatio
in Hamlet (Metropolitan Opera), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte
(English National Opera); Belcore in L’elisir d’amore,
Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Claudio in Béatrice
et Bénédict, Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Redburn
in Billy Budd (Houston Grand Opera); Malatesta in Don Pasquale (Opera
New Jersey); Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Wolf Trap Opera);
and Count in Le nozze di Figaro (Berkshire Opera). He has also recently
sung Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Carnegie Mellon
Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall). |
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| Karin
Mushegain (Rosina, The Barber of Seville) is captivating
audiences with her dynamic vocal sound. This season’s engagements
include her return to New York’s Gotham Chamber Opera to sing
El Gato in Xavier Montsalvatge’s El gato con botas and to
perform the
Minskwoman in Flight at Austin Lyric Opera. In the 2009/10 season,
she performed Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Opera Memphis
and
Angelina in La Cenerentola at Opera Idaho. While at Glimmerglass
Opera during the summer of 2009, Mushegain sang Tisbe in Rossini’s
La Cenerentola, and cover-performances of the Secretary in Menotti’s
The Consul and Angelina in La Cenerentola. Mushegain made her debut
with Los Angeles Opera in 2008 as the Novice in William Friedkin’s
production of Suor Angelica. This was followed by performances of
Flora in La Traviata and Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola
at Florida
Grand Opera. In 2007, Ms. Mushegain collaborated with Ricky Ian
Gordon as a soloist in a concert titled “Bright Eyed Joy”
at the Hawaii
Performing Arts Festival. The same year, she performed Maddalena
in Rigoletto with Opera Western Reserve. Since making her company
and professional debut in 2006 at the Pittsburgh Opera as Dryade
in
Ariadne auf Naxos, Ms. Mushegain has returned there several times.
|
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| Winner
of the distinguished George London Award, tenor Arthur Espiritu
(Count Almaviva, The Barber of Seville) has performed
numerous roles throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.
In Europe he has performed with the Accademia of Teatro alla
Scala, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Opera Fuoco, Theatre St. Gallen
in Switzerland and Théâtre Champs-Élysées
in Paris, France. In
the US, Espiritu has been seen on the stages of Pittsburgh Opera,
Connecticut Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera North, and has sung
in concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Louisiana
Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Jefferson Performing Arts Society.
He was also chosen to participate in the distinguished summer series
of
the Marlboro Music Festival. Recent and upcoming debuts for
Espiritu include the Israeli Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, the Learners
Chorus in Hong Kong, Gotham Chamber Opera, and the Oulu
Sinfonia of Finland.
|
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| Bass,
Brian Kontes (Basilio, The Barber of Seville) recently
made his
Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2009–2010 season in Shostakovich’s
The Nose and also debuted as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni
(New York City Opera). This season he appeared in La fanciulla del
West (Metropolitan Opera), debuted as Colline in La bohème
(Opera
Hong Kong), and returned to Carnegie Hall with Opera Orchestra of
New York as Remigo in Massenet’s rarely-heard opera, La Navarraise.
Recently, Kontes has appeared as Alexis in Barber’s Antony
and
Cleopatra (New York City Opera at Carnegie Hall), Zuniga in Carmen
(New Orleans Opera), and in Rossini’s Stabat Mater (New York
Choral
Society). Other recent engagements include Leporello in Don Giovanni
(Seattle Opera), Alessio in La sonnambula (Opera Orchestra of New
York), Palemon in Thaïs (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Dr. Grenvil
in La traviata (Opera Colorado), and Don Fernando in concert
performances of Fidelio (Charlotte Symphony). Kontes was the
grand prize winner of the George London Foundation Competition
and studied at Curtis Institute of Music with Marlena Malas, during
which time he sang at Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has also
participated in the Young Artist Programs of the Opera Theater of
St.
Louis and Chautauqua Opera. |
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| Andrew
Adelsberger (Bartolo, The Barber of Seville), bass-baritone,
has performed with Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival as Mat
of the Mint/The Beggar’s Opera and Spinelloccio/Gianni Schicchi
and with Chautauqua Opera as Mr. Kofner/The Consul, and the Sacristan/Tosca.
He holds a Master of Music from the Maryland Opera Studio, where
he performed the role of Don Alfonso/Così fan tutte and created
the role of Gus O’Neil in the world premiere of John Musto’s
Later the Same Evening. Other roles include Antonio/Le nozze di
Figaro, Sacristan/ Tosca (Annapolis Opera), Bartolo/Il barbiere
di Siviglia, Nardo/ La Finta Giardiniera, Elviro/Xerxes (Maryland
Opera Studio), Don Magnifico (cover)/La Cenerentola (Opera New Jersey),
Betto/Gianni Schicchi, Dulcamara/L’elisir d’amore (Bel
Cantanti Opera), Colline/ La Bohème (Chesapeake Concert Opera).
Adelsberger studies with\ François Loup. Adelsberger also
covers the King in The King and I this season at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Soprano,
Megan Weston (Berta, The Barber of Seville/Tuptim,
The King and I) recently premiered and recorded the role of Anne
in Harold
Farberman’s Diamond Street for Albany Records, performed Masha
in
Ben Moore’s Enemies, A Love Story with the Center for Contemporary
Opera in New York, sang Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Glens
Falls Symphony, performed Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with
Lyric Opera San Diego, and appeared at the St. Amand de Vergt
Festival in France. She first gained attention in her San Diego
Opera
debut as Lightfoot McClendon in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy
Tree, and
achieved further notice as Lisa in La sonnambula with the Caramoor
International Music Festival, and as Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann
with Tulsa Opera. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in Mozart’s
Coronation Mass, and has sung with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s,
New Haven Symphony, Cape Cod Symphony, and San Diego Symphony in
such repertoire as Carmina Burana, Messiah, St. Matthew Passion,
and the Verdi Requiem. Weston has received major awards from such
esteemed organizations as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Metropolitan
Opera Western Regional Auditions, and the Zachary Competition. |
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| In
2007, young Ukranian baritone, Oleksandr Pushniak
(Fiorello, The
Barber of Seville), was a semi-finalist in Plácido Domingo’s
‘Operalia’
competition held in Paris, and became a prize winner of the ‘European
Song Contest’ in the Styriarte Music Festival in Austria.
In March
2008, Pushniak joined the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.
During this period with Washington National Opera he performed
in several productions. The 2008-2009 season included: Dottore
Grenvil (La Traviata, Verdi); Petrucci (Lucrezia Borgia, Donizetti);
Mandarin (Turandot, Puccini). In the 2009-2010 season, Pushniak
also
performed Fiorello (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini); Antonio (Le
nozze
di Figaro, Mozart); Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart – Young
Artist
Performance); Falstaff (Falstaff, Verdi – Young Artist Performance),
as well as concert performances with the Young Artist Program. At
the National Music Academy of Ukraine, Pushniak performed a
number of operatic roles: Wagner (Faust, Gounod); Bartolo (The
Marriage of Figaro, Mozart); Dulcamara (Elixir of Love, Donizetti);
Marco (Gianni Schicchi, Puccini), as well as roles in several Ukrainian
operas e.g., Vyborny from Natalka Poltavka of M.Lysenko, Karas from
Zaporozhets’ za Dunaem of S. Gulak-Artemovsky. Pushniak enjoyed
success at the Castleton Festival during the summer of 2010, singing
the role of Simone in Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Maestro Maazel
and directed by William Kerley. Pushniak is currently working as
a
soloist in the Braunschweig Staatstheater in Germany. Pushniak also
covers Bartolo in The Barber of Seville and performs Bartolo in
“The
Barber of C’ville” this season at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Maestro
Jon Kalbfleisch (Conductor, The King and I) enjoys
a wide-ranging musical life as a conductor, pianist, award-winning
music director, freelance musician and organist. Kalbfleisch received
a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Cameron University,
and
a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Southern Methodist
University in Dallas. While in Dallas, Kalbfleisch was Assistant
Conductor of the SMU Symphony and Music Director of the Perspective
Chamber Ensemble, pianist for the Dallas Ballet, and accompanist
for the Dallas Opera. In Oklahoma, after four years as its music
director and conductor, he guided the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra
to newfound heights in both artistic success and community outreach.
Since relocating to the Washington, DC area, Kalbfleisch has been
a
twenty-time nominee and five-time recipient of the Helen Hayes Award
for Outstanding Musical Direction. As resident music director of
the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre, he has conducted over
1,000 performances of some thirty musicals. Nationally, Kalbfleisch
was Associate Conductor for the touring company of Les Misérables
that included a stop on Broadway. As a pianist, he can be heard
on the 2009 Grammy-nominated recording of Bernstein’s MASS
with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. |
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| Baayork
Lee (Director, The King and I) was the original Princess
Ying in The King and I on Broadway and created the role of Connie
in A Chorus Line. As Michael Bennett’s assistant choreographer
on A Chorus Line, she has directed many national and international
companies. Her directing credits include The King and I and Bombay
Dreams (National tours), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella
(NYC Opera), Barnum (Australia), Carmen Jones (Kennedy Center),
Porgy and Bess and Jesus Christ Superstar (European tours), Gypsy
and A New Brain. She has choreographed shows including Mack and
Mabel (Shaw Festival);Cocoanuts, Camelot, Damn Yankees, Helen Hayes
nomination for Animal Crackers and South Pacific (all at Arena Stage);
and Goya, Sly and The Merry Widow (Washington National Opera). She
received the 2003 Asian Woman Warrior Award for Lifetime Achievement
from Columbia College, as well as the Asian/Pacific American Heritage
Association Achievement in Arts Award. Her new company, National
Asian Artists Project (NAAP), naaproject.org, promotes Asian performers
in theatre across the country. |
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| Since
age seven, Susan Kikuchi (Associate Director/Choreographer,
The King and I) has been involved in over twenty productions of
The King and I as director, performer, dancer and re-creator of
the choreography. In 2009, Kikuchi staged the choreography of The
King and I for a new production at the Royal Albert Hall in London,
England starring Daniel Dae Kim. Broadway credits: The King and
I, Pacific Overtures, Flower Drum Song, South Pacific, Jerome Robbins’
Broadway. Kikuchi received her B.A. from the University of Rochester
and has taught on the faculties of The Ailey School and the Martha
Graham School. Kikuchi was a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company
and has served
as the Director of the Martha Graham Ensemble and the Martha Graham
School. She is the Artistic Director of the New Dance Drama Educational
Projects, which performed its premier season in Italy at Pietrasanta
in Danza International Festival 2010. |
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| Hailed
by Opera News as “powerful in both voice and presence,”
bassbaritone Seth Mease Carico (King, The King
and I) is distinguishing himself internationally as an important
young singer. His recent European credits include Zuniga in Carmen,
Sacristan in Tosca, and Panthée in Les Troyens with Deutsche
Oper Berlin, and Roberto in I Vespri Siciliani and Marquis in La
Traviata with Teatro Regio Torino. In 2010, in addition to debuting
with Ash Lawn Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni and Jeff in Brigadoon,
he created the role of Victor in the world premiere of Jorge Martín’s
Before Night Falls with Fort Worth Opera, released on Albany Records.
Other featured roles include Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Olin
Blitch in Susannah, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Harašta in
The Cunning Little Vixen, and Monterone in Rigoletto, and he has
appeared with companies including Michigan Opera Theatre, Chautauqua
Opera, Nashville Opera, Florentine Opera, and Opera Idaho. |
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| Acclaimed
by The Washington Post for her “round, ringing high notes”
and “lovely range of color,” Elizabeth Andrews
Roberts (Anna, The
King and I) is a graduate of Washington National Opera’s distinguished
Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. During her tenure at WNO,
she performed as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Kate Pinkerton in
Madama Butterfly, Page in Rigoletto, Jano in Jenufa, and Fourth
Maidservant in Elektra. Operatically, this season began with a return
to Lake George Opera as the Prima Donna in Donizetti’s Viva
la Mamma, then joining Opera in the Heights as Stella, Olympia,
Antonia, and Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann and Rosalinde
in Die Fledermaus. An active concert artist, this season includes
a Rutter Magnificat with the Shrewsbury Chorale and Haydn’s
Creation with the Garden State Philharmonic. Recent operatic highlights
include her debut at the Opéra de Monte Carlo as Donna Anna
in Don Giovanni, Violetta in La Traviata at Lake George Opera, Miss
Wordsworth in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring at Opera North,
Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Center City Opera, and Fiordiligi
in Così fan tutte and La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro both
at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Roberts
holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music.
|
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| Megan
Weston (Tup Tim)
See
bio above |
|
| Brandy
Lynn Hawkins (Lady Thiang, The King and I) departed on
high ground as a recent graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young
Artist Program at Washington National Opera in Washington, DC. At
the culmination of her tenure, she was awarded The Richard F. Gold
Shoshana Foundation Award for her outstanding achievements with
WNO. Hawkins has traveled to Beijing and Milan to perform with
Plácido Domingo and other Young Artists at the Reignwood
Theatre
and La Scala. This past summer, Hawkins returned to The Santa Fe
Opera as a second year apprentice artist covering and singing Suzuki
in Madama Butterfly which marked her debut with the company. Her
concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Prokofiev’s
Alexander Nevsky, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and the Duruflé
Requiem. Hawkins can be heard on the premiere recording of The
Hotel Casablanca, by composer Thomas Pasatieri on Albany Records.
This season Hawkins made her role debut with Kentucky Opera as Lola
in Cavalleria Rusticana. She joins Palm Beach Opera as an associate
artist through March 2011. In spring of 2011, she covered the title
role of Médée at Chicago Opera Theater and sings Gypsy
in Janácek’s
The Diary of One Who Disappeared. She will perform the title role
of
Carmen with Kentucky Opera in the fall of 2011. Hawkins received
her B.M. of Music from Loyola University and her M.M. in Vocal
Performance from the University of Kentucky. Hawkins also covers
Rosina in The Barber of Seville and performs Rosina in “The
Barber of
C’ville” this season at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| With
over 50 roles in his repertoire, Corey Trahan (Lun
Tha, The King
and I) is an active performer in opera, oratorio, music theatre,
operetta
and recital venues. Trahan’s 2010/11 season includes performances
of
Spoletta in Tosca at the Fort Worth Opera, Mr. Erlanson in A Little
Night Music at St. Petersburg Opera, the role of Giordano Bruno
in the
new opera Bliss by Joseph Illick and as a featured soloist in Jacques
Brelis Alive and Well and Living in Paris, both with the Santa Fe
Concert
Association, and as the tenor soloist in Bach’s Cantata N.
104 in New
York City. In the 2009/10 season, Trahan performed at Fort Worth
Opera in the world premiere of Before Night Falls, Opera Birmingham
as Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Natchez Festival of Music
as
Matt in The Fantasticks and was a guest vocalist in two productions
for Louisiana Delta Ballet/Monroe Symphony Orchestra. He also made
debuts with Santa Fe Concert Association as Kaspar in Amahl and
the Night Visitors, at Ash Lawn Opera Festival as Mordred in Camelot
and Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, and reprised the roles of
Dr.
Blind/Ivan/Frosch in Die Fledermaus for Salt Marsh Opera. Trahan
performed a 2009 recital tour entitled Strike Up the Band! featuring
works written by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving
Berlin and Richard Rodgers, and the same year a Holiday Concert
Tour,
both funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. |
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| Artistic
Team |
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| Margie
Jervis (Scenic Designer, The Barber of Seville/The King
and I) is a unique scenic designer with a career spanning 30 years
of art making. Her training began at the Rhode Island School of
Design in Fine Arts in Sculpture. Her theatrical experience grew
as a scenic artist for the Seattle Repertory Theater and the Seattle
Opera. She went on to be the head of the Scenic Art Department at
Seattle Opera. Returning to the east coast in 1999, Jervis was commissioned
by the Washington National Opera to design the sets and largescale
puppets for Thunder of Horses and in 2004 for Enchantment of Dreams.
She was also Associate Designer to Tom Lynch for Seattle Opera’s
Ring Cycle, and Design Assistant and Scenic Artist for projects
for the Washington National Opera. Drawn to their focus on art for
a multigenerational audience, in 2009, Jervis joined the Creative
Cauldron’s theatrical
production team, in her hometown of Falls Church, Virginia. She
is currently in her second season as Scenic Designer and as a Teaching
Artist for their Arts Programs for children. In 2010 she was awarded
a Strauss Fellowship Grant from the Arts Council of Fairfax County. |
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| Stephanie
Cluggish (Costume Coordinator, The Barber of Seville) has
worked in theatre and opera all over the US, working in costumes
with such companies as Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and acting
as the resident assistant designer at the Shakespeare Theatre Company
in Washington, DC. Recent design credits include Henry V (KMU Productions,
NYC); Hamlet (dir. David Paul); Hansel and Gretel (Boston Lyric
Opera/ Opera New England); Top Girls (Emerson College). Cluggish
has recently relocated to Chicago, IL in the MFA Stage Design program
at Northwestern University. |
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| Nuria
Carrasco (Costume Designer, The King and I) has worked
extensively for more than a decade with internationally acclaimed
directors and renowned institutions such as Cairo Opera House, Timisoara
National Opera House and Warsaw Opera House. Her international work
as costume designer has taken her to countries such as China, England,
Italy, Switzerland, Poland, France, South Africa, Australia, Qatar,
Egypt, and Lebanon. She designed costumes for a cast of more than
800 people for Opera Aída, under the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt,
in collaboration with The Cairo Opera House, and worked
as lead designer for Opera AVICENNA, commissioned by both the Emir
and the Emira of Qatar and broadcast live on TV for an audience
of 300 million. Other selected works include: Nights of the Moon
(Artistic Advisor: Nicholas Joël. Scenography: Ezio Frigerio.
Caracalla Dance Theatre. Qatar Foundation) Madame Butterfly (Pretoria,
South Africa.
Visual Dir: Paolo Micciché. Projections: Patrick Watkinson.)
Carmen (Expo Lisboa ‘98), El huesped del sevillano (Madrid.
Cervantes Festival. Musical Dir: Ignacio Pilone) Chateau Margaux
(Madrid. San Isidro Festival). Originally from Madrid, Carrasco
resides in Miami where she combines her international work as costume
designer and recent commissions as production designer for TV and
film, with her career as a visual artist. Assistant to Costume Designer:
Nathaly Bacilio,
Second Assistant to costume designer: Leticia Rios. |
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| Laura
R. Krause (Production Stage Manager) is originally from
Albany, NY, but currently resides in McLean, VA. She has been a
member of the stage management staff of the Washington National
Opera for twelve years and spent recent summers stage-managing for
Wolf Trap Opera, the Bard SummerScape Festival and as Production
Stage Manager for
Berkshire Opera in western Massachusetts. Other companies she has
worked for include Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston,
Florida Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre
of St. Louis, and Palm Beach Opera. |
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| Richard
Gammon (Assistant Director, The Barber of Seville/The King
and I) is a Filipino-American stage director based in New York City.
Productions include Hand of Bridge, Gallantry, Hin und zurück,
La Divina, and Jake Heggie’s Again with the Wolf Trap Opera
Studio (Directing Fellow 2009), Much Ado About Nothing (Globe Players)
for the 50th Anniversary Season of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival,
Gianni Schicchi (dell’Arte Opera, NYC), and the world premieres
of two of Jorge Sosa’s operas The Lake (Artsounds, Kansas
City) and Tonatzínas well as a staging of Sosa’s electronic
opera The Calling (Union Station, Kansas City). Gammon has worked
for companies such as Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis,
Michigan Opera Theatre, Fort Worth Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas
City, Virginia Opera, Opera North, and PORTopera. Education includes
New England Conservatory of Music (B.M. Vocal Performance) and University
of Missouri-Kansas City (Artist Diploma). Gammon directs “Barber
of C’ville”, “Opera Buffa on the Mountain!”,
and “Opera Under the Stars.”
|

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| Cassey
Kivnick (Assistant Choreographer, The King and I) has worked
as a lighting designer, stage manager, and performer. Credits include:
Assistant to Baayork Lee (Broadway revival, A Chorus Line), Assistant
Director (New Dance Drama Festival, Italy), Assistant to the Choreographer
(King and I–U.S., China, and England), Stage Manager (La Mama),
Lighting Designer (Thang Dao Dance Company). |
|
| Ohio
native, Shelby Rhoades (Principal Coach/Accompanist)
is currently in demand as a recitalist and coach/accompanist in
the New York City area. She has been an Associate Coach at The Juilliard
School since 2008. Rhoades was also a coach fellow for the Aspen
Music Festival Opera Theater during the summers of 2003-08. Other
engagements have included music staff for Seattle Opera/Young Artists
Program, coach/accompanist for Tacoma Opera, musical director for
Pacific Lutheran University Opera Theater, musical director for
the Seattle regional production of Opera America, and music staff
for the Annas Bay Music Festival, WA. In spring 2007, she assisted
in musical preparation for the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s
For a Look or a Touch. Rhoades has worked with maestros Julius Rudel,
George Manahan, Gary Thor Wedow, and Anne Manson. She has also worked
with renowned singers such as Jane Eaglen, Vinson Cole, and Lawrence
Brownlee. Rhoades holds degrees in piano, accompanying, and vocal
performance and has served as faculty for the University of Washington
- Seattle, Pacific Lutheran University, Albion College, and
Anderson University. |
|
| Pianist,
Michael Fennelly (Rehearsal Pianist/Cover Conductor)
has toured the world with an array of dynamic programs. He released
his debut solo recording, The Legend of Faust, on One Soul Records
and is currently recording his new album Bravura. This year, the US
State Department has invited Fennelly to tour the major cities of
Japan playing Rhapsody in Blue and other American music. He was the
United States winner of the Horowitz Competition, and has been invited
to perform in Moscow Conservatory’s International Chopin Symposium,
New York’s Schoenberg Music Festival, Italy’s Wilhelm
Kempff Beethoven Seminar, and in master classes under John O’Connor,
Richard Goode, and Abbey Simon. Fennelly was a pupil of Dr. Nelita
True at the Eastman School of Music. He then studied at the Manhattan
School of Music, where he received the school’s special prize
for chamber music and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree.
As staff pianist for the Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Opera,
he has worked with Renata Scotto, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido
Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, and Itzhak Perlman. |

|
| Young
Artists |
|
| In
the 2010/11 season, Timothy Birt (The Barber of
Seville) returns to South Texas Lyric Opera to perform Rodolfo in
La Bohème. He debuts at Sparkling City Light Opera as Don
Ramiro in La Cenerentola. In the spring he returns to Opera in the
Heights to sing Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and in the
summer he appears with San Antonio Opera as Ralph Rachstraw in H.M.S.
Pinafore. In 2009, Birt debuted with South Texas Lyric Opera as
the Duke in Rigoletto and also performed Des Grieux in Manon there
to great critical acclaim. He sang at Teatro Grattacielo in New
York City in Wolf-Ferrari’s I Gioielli della Madonna and in
Calgi, Italy he sang Dr. Cajus in Falstaff for Professional Advantage.
In 2008, he appeared with San Antonio Opera as El Remendado in Carmen,
as well as making a successful debut with the Opera Theater of Lakeland
as Conte Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In February 2010,
he made his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor soloist in Dewi Sant
by Arwel Hughes. Birt covers Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville
and performs Count Almaviva in “The Barber of C’ville”
this season at Ash Lawn Opera. |
 |
| Anthony
Caputo (Ensemble, The Barber of Seville/The King and I)
is a native of New York and has just completed his graduate work
at SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music where he studied
under the tutelage of Jacque Trussel. Highlights from Caputo’s
time at Purchase include: Balthazar and Melchior-Amahl and The Night
Visitors (Menotti),
Antonio- Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Mercurio- L’Incoronazione
di Poppea (Monteverdi), Prince Ferdinand- The Tempset (Hoiby) East
Coast Premiere, Father Francis-Confession (Lucas) World Premiere,
Papageno- Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Le Directeur- Les Mamelles
de Tiresias (Poulenc), Escamillo- Carmen (Bizet). In winter 2008,
Albany records recorded The Tempest by Lee Hoiby, on which Caputo
sang the principal role of Prince Ferdinand. In conjunction with
the release of the opera, in the spring of 2009, Caputo made his
New York City debut of the same role at Symphony Space in a condensed
version of the opera. He also performed in a “Salon Series”
promoting the recording at Opera America later that year. The performances
of The Tempest were televised on NBC as well. Caputo was described
in Opera News as, “Sounded beautiful” and “Professional”.
Most recently, Caputo was a featured singer in a master class given
by Samuel Ramey, spring 2010. Caputo performs in ensembles for both
productions this summer at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Albanian
soprano, Elona Çeno (Ensemble, The King
and I) first attracted attention here in the U.S.A. as a National
Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council auditions
in 2005 following the completion of her M.M. at the Mannes School
of Music. Since that time, she has earned an Artist Diploma at the
Yale University School of Music while appearing as a soloist in
concerts with the Hartford Symphony (Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 9 and Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieras), Yale Symphony
Orchestra (Fauré Requiem), numerous recitals, plus staged
productions at Yale of L’Enfant Prodique (Lia), Cosi fan
tutte (Fiordiligi), La Bohème (Mimi), Die lustige Witwe (Valencienne)
and Suor Angelica (Angelica). As a graduate student at Mannes, she
appeared as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. In her native Albania,
Çeno was a soloist with the National Theater of Opera and
Ballet where she appeared in productions of Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino),
Il Matrimonio Segreto (Elizetta). Çeno is also the recipient
of awards from the MacAllister Competition, Career Bridges (The
Schuyler Foundation), Arleen Auger Memorial Fund, and the Gerda
Lissner Foundation. Çeno covers the role of Lady Thiang and
sings in the ensemble for The King and I this summer at Ash Lawn
Opera. |
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| Mexican
soprano, Aída De la Cruz (Ensemble, The
King and I) studied at the Conservatorio de Música in her
hometown of Chihuahua, Chih, and she earned her voice degree from
Oakland University in Rochester, MI. In 2007, she was privileged
to receive the Hollingsworth Grant to be a part of the AIMS Summer
Voice program in Graz, Austria, where she was a finalist in the
Meistersinger competition. In 2004, she was a guest artist for the
official visit of the former president of Mexico. From 2003-2005,
she was a part of the Michigan Opera Theatre Summer Voice Program.
Since then she has been a regular singer with the choruses at Michigan
Opera Theatre, where she participated in the world premiere of David
DiChiera’s Cyrano, and Fort Worth Opera, where she participated
in the world premiere of Jorge Martín’s Before Night
Falls. De la Cruz currently lives in Berlin, Germany, where she
is studying privately with members of the staff at Deutsche Oper
Berlin. De la Cruz sings in the ensemble of The King and I this
summer at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Aurelio
Domínguez’s (Ensemble, The Barber of Seville/The
King and I) operatic appearances include the Duke in Verdi’s
Rigoletto, Don Carlo, Nemorino, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus
in the Underworld, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in La
Bohème, Tonio in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment,
and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Tamino
in Magic Flute, and Colonel Fairfax in The Yeoman of the Guard.
Domínguez was also a Virginia Opera’s Spectrum Program
Young Artist in which he had the opportunity to cover both Rodolfo
and Tonio in its productions of La Bohème and The Daughter
of the Regiment. He has also performed and recorded in Italy and
in Washington, DC with the choir of the National Shrine where he
is also a regular guest soloist. Domínguez covers the role
of Lun Tha in The King and I and sings in the ensemble for both
productions this summer at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Drew
Duncan (Ensemble, The Barber of Seville/The King and I),
originally from Milford, IA, recently covered the role of 2nd Noble
in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Lyric Opera of Chicago and returned
to Opera for the Young for their 2011 tour of Pirates of Penzance.
This winter
he debuted at Dubuque Symphony Orchestra as Goro in Puccini’s
Madama Butterfly. Last season, Duncan debuted at Des Moines Metro
Opera as Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro. Other recent engagements
include joining Sarasota Opera for their Apprentice
Artist program, performing with Empire State Lyric Opera as Gabriel
von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, working with composers Lindsey
Baker and Amanda Jacobs as they workshop their new one act opera,
Lily. In 2009, he was involved in the inaugural season of Lorin
Maazel’s Castleton Festival, covering Peter Quint and Prologue
in The Turn of the Screw and playing Harry Paddington in The Beggars
Opera. This past April, Duncan sang with Chicago Opera Theater covering
Demo in Cavalli’s Giasone and in the chorus in Rossini’s
Mosè in Egitto. Previously with Chicago Opera Theater, Duncan
covered the roles of Tito in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito,
Sir Philip Wingrave/Narrator in Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave,
chorus in Don Giovanni, Béatrice et Bénédict,
and the mid-west premiere of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree.
Duncan received his bachelor’s degree from Simpson College
in Indianola, IA. Duncan performs in the ensembles for both productions
this summer at Ash Lawn Opera.
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| Danya
Katok (Ensemble, The King and I) is a vibrant soprano whose
shimmering vocal quality, keen musicianship, and compelling stage
presence have led her to burst onto the contemporary classical music
scene. She has debuted with the Boston POPS in An Evening of Cole
Porter and Boston Symphony Orchestra in Die Entfühurung aus
dem Serail. She makes her New York City Opera debut in April 2011
reprising the role of Max in Where the Wild Things Are. Other upcoming
engagements include Soprano Soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No.
4 with New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble and Judy in Lee Hoiby’s
This Is the Rill Speaking with Chelsea Opera. Her recent credits
include the title role in Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood,
Governess in The Turn of the Screw, and Adele in Die Fledermaus.
She received her Master of Music in 2009 from Peabody Conservatory
where she studied with Ah Hong. She is currently finishing her first
year in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at CUNY’s Graduate
Center in the studio of Rita Shane. Katok covers the role of Anna
and sings in the ensemble in The King and I this summer at Ash Lawn
Opera. |
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Adam
Meza (Ensemble, The Barber of Seville) has performed the
roles of Figaro (The Barber of Seville), Des Bretigny (Manon), Morales
(Carmen) with Opera San José; Guglielmo (Così fan tutte)
with North Bay Opera; Marcello (La Bohème) with Livermore Valley
Opera; Tartuffe (Tartuffe) with the Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre;
Vicomte Cascada
(The Merry Widow) with West Bay Opera; Prince Yeletsky (The Queen
of Spades) with Pocket Opera; and Handsome (La fanciulla del West)
with Cinnabar Opera. With the San Francisco Conservatory of Music,
he sang the roles of Ipparco (L’Egisto), Demetrius (A Midsummer
Night’s Dream), Count (Le nozze di Figaro), the King in Massenet’s
Cinderella
and the Father (Hansel and Gretel). Meza received his Bachelor’s
and Master’s degrees in music from the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music where he also received Departmental Honors for Outstanding
Achievement in Opera. Other awards received include the Emily Winestock
Memorial Award and Marty Sosin Music Achievement Award from Santa
Monica College. Meza sings the role of Figaro in “The Barber
of C’ville” and performs in the ensemble of The Barber
of Seville this summer at Ash Lawn Opera.
Soprano,
Celine Mogielnicki (Ensemble, The King and I) finds
herself equally at home on the opera stage, concert hall, and in
contemporary music. In the summer of 2010, she sang the role of
Mary in Der Ferne Klang at Bard Summerscape with the American Symphony
Orchestra. Before that, she sang Leonard/Premiere Bohemienne in
the Bard Summerscape production of Les Huguenots with the ASO under
Leon Botstein. Mogielnicki created the role of Sir Elton John’s
Trainer in David Little’s Vinkensport for Bard’s Graduate
Vocal Arts Program. As part of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Mogielnicki
performed Miss Jessel
in scenes from Britten’s Turn of the Screw and covered the
title role of Alcina. She also recreated the role of Eurinda in
the North American premiere of Cavalli’s La Doriclea with
the Juilliard Opera Workshop. Other operatic performances include
the Juilliard Opera Center production of Le Comte Ory, where she
covered the role of Alice, Gertrude Stein in Virgil Thomson’s
Mother of us All with the Juilliard Opera Workshop, Offenbach’s
Orfée aux Enfers with the Juilliard Opera Center, and the
second spirit in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the Juilliard
Opera Workshop, where she also covered Pamina. Mogielnicki received
her B.M. from the Juilliard School and her M.M. from Bard College
under the tutelage of Dawn Upshaw. Mogielnicki performs in the ensemble
of The King and I this summer at Ash Lawn Opera and covers the roles
of Berta in The Barber of Seville and Tuptim in The King and I. |


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| Zack
Rabin
(Ensemble, The Barber of Seville/The King and I) has performed the
title characters in Don Pasquale, and Le nozze di Figaro, Dulcamara
in L’elisir d’amore, both Leporello and Masetto in Don
Giovanni, and Friar Lawrence in Roméo et Juliette for his
Carnegie Hall debut with New York Lyric Opera. During the 2010 season,
Rabin performed with the Natchez Festival of Music, Sarasota Opera,
Opera on Tap, and Opera New Jersey. He is currently an Apprentice
Artist at Sarasota Opera. Rabin has performed in the world premieres
of Wildflowers, Picture Perfect, and Scourge of Hyacinths in a program
of new American one-act operas with The Remarkable Theater Brigade
at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Other credits include Fiddler
on the Roof, Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing, Man of La Mancha,
A Little Night Music, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Rabin has studied and performed internationally
at the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in Tel Aviv, Israel,
the Lyrique en Mer Festival in Belle-Isle, France, the International
Institute of Vocal Arts (IIVA) in Chiari, Italy, and the Bel Canto
Scuola d’Italia in Florence, Italy. He also received extensive
training at V.O.I.C.Experience with legendary baritone Sherrill
Milnes, and continues to study with Mark Schnaible. Rabin performs
the role of Don Basilio in “The Barber of C’ville”
and sings in the ensemble of both productions this summer at Ash
Lawn Opera. |
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| Iowa-native
Dan Richardson (Ensemble, The Barber of Seville/The
King and I) recently made his main stage début with Des Moines
Metro Opera in Le nozze di Figaro and Macbeth. He also appeared at
DMMO as Kilian in Der Freischütz, Angelotti in Tosca, and Sir
Walter Raleigh in Britten’s Gloriana. He has performed with
Sarasota Opera and Chamber Opera Chicago, and recently sang the role
of Don Bartolo in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s “Opera
in the Neighborhoods” production of Rossini’s The Barber
of Seville. He makes his company début with Opera Omaha Spring
2011 as Prince Yamadori in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Operatic
roles include Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Dr. John Milholland/Rep.
Garner in Michael Patterson’s A Dream Fulfilled: The Saga of
George Washington Carver, Balthazar (Amahl and the Night Visitors),
Simone (Gianni Schicchi), Rev. John Hale (The Crucible), Sorin (The
Seagull), Snug (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Sir Walter Raleigh,
A Blind Ballad Singer and the Recorder of Norwich (Gloriana). Richardson
is an alumnus of Simpson College where he studied with Dr. Robert
Larsen. Richardson sings in the ensemble for both productions this
summer at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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| Hailing
from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek (Ensemble,
The Barber of Seville/The King and I) is a lyric baritone full of
passion and energy in his first year at Boston University’s
Opera Institute, where he studies with Dr. Jerrold Pope. He holds
a Master of Music degree in Voice from Indiana University-Bloomington,
where he studied with Timothy Noble and played Papageno in Mozart’s
Die Zauberflöte for director Tomer Zvulun and conductor Mark
Gibson. His physical talent was highlighted in The Most Happy Fella
when he played Clem and was a featured dancer under choreographer
Joshua Bergasse. He also worked closely with Professor Carol Vaness
as part of her opera workshop, performing scenes from Ariadne auf
Naxos, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Eugene Onegin. Smith-Kotlarek
completed his undergraduate studies to receive a B.M.
Voice Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where
he studied classical singing with Paul Rowe and jazz with Richard
Davis. In Madison Opera’s production of Copland’s The
Tender Land, he performed the roles of Mr. Jenks and Dancer for
Director
Doug Scholz Carlson and conductor John DeMain. Smith-Kotlarek was
an apprentice artist with La Musica Lirica in Italy, and with the
Des Moines Metro Opera. Smith-Kotlarek covers Fiorello in The Barber
of Seville, and sings in the ensemble for both productions this
summer at Ash Lawn Opera. |
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