Southeastern Festival of Song

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SOPRANO
1. Jennifer Aylmer
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - The Great Escape
  1. - American soprano Jennifer Aylmer has quickly developed a sterling reputation for her beautiful voice, compelling stage portrayals, and sensitive musicianship. The New York Times has hailed her for her, “awesome accuracy,” while The Chicago Sun-Times has recommended that listeners, “bask in the aural delight of Aylmer’s dazzling shifts from regal command to cool insouciance and fatally attractive seduction.” Ms. Aylmer began her 2006-2007 season with her return to both New York City Opera as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and the Metropolitan Opera as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Her season continued with Rosasharn in The Grapes of Wrath at Utah Opera, her debuts with the Phoenix Symphony as Gretel in concert performance of Hansel und Gretel, under the direction of Michael Christie, and with San Diego Symphony in Mozart’s Exultate, Jubilate, Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, under the direction of Jahja Ling as well as a series of recitals in Boston with Baritone Randall Scarlata. Upcoming engagements include the title role in Rodelinda with Portland Opera and as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel for her Atlanta Opera debut, a role she will also cover for the Metropolitan Opera.
    - Ms. Aylmer made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in the 2005-2006 season as Bella in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. The season also saw her as soloist with Prism Concerts in New York in Judas Maccabeus, and with the New York Festival of Song in a reprise of the popular “Fats and Fields” program. She then made her debuts with Utah Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and as Rose Maurrant in Street Scene with Opera Theater of St. Louis, before concluding her season with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Rochester Philharmonic, an all- Mozart concert with Pacific Symphony, and Fauré’s Requiem, with Utah Symphony and Opera.
    - Career highlights in the opera arena include leading roles in Handel’s Orlando, Don Pasquale, Le nozze di Figaro, Der Rosenkavalier, Handel’s Flavio, Falstaff, and The Turn of the Screw with such companies as New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Orlando Opera, the Aspen Festival, Kentucky Opera, and Berkshire Opera. With Austin Lyric Opera she has performed both Gilda in Rigoletto and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. As a member of the Houston Grand Opera studio she created the role of Amy in the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s Little Women. Equally accomplished in oratorio, concert, and an especially sought-after recitalist Ms. Aylmer has been a featured soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the New York Festival of Song, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Beijing Music Festival She sang Eurydice in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, opposite Ewa Podles, and during the summer of 2005 made her San Francisco debut singing Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles with Michael Tilson Thomas. Jennifer Aylmer made her New York recital debut as the 2001 recipient of the Alice Tully Hall Vocal Arts Debut Recital from the Juilliard School and has been presented across the country by the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
    - A native of Long Island Ms. Aylmer is a graduate of Eastman School of Music and alumnus of the Julliard Opera Center. Her many honors and awards include a Career Grant from the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the National Society of Arts and Letters and the Catherine Filene Shouse Career Grant from the Wolf Trap Opera Company. She has also received notable prizes from the Palm Beach Opera Competition, Opera Index, and the Oratorio Society of New York Competition.
2. Amy Bils
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Petite Messe Solennelle
  1. - Soprano Amy Bils was recently featured in nationwide television broadcasts of The Birth of Christ filmed this past summer in Dublin, Ireland. She recently made her New York debut playing the lead role in Jerome Kern’s Oh, Lady! Lady!! with Musicals Tonight. She has been actively performing on opera and musical theater stages including Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, and Tacoma Opera, as well as singing solo works with symphony orchestras including the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tacoma Symphony. She has also presented song recitals at the Governor’s Chamber Music Festival, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and Gallery Concerts. Earning rave reviews, Ms. Bils appeared for several months as La Diva in Seattle’s acclaimed production of Teatro ZinZanni, hailed as “This city’s hottest ticket!” by the New York Times. Favorite roles include Cunegonde in Candide, Magnolia in Show Boat, Laurie in The Tender Land, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. She can also be heard on Stage Stars’ recordings of Seussical the Musical, Company, and The Sound of Music as Maria. Twice a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she was also a finalist in Portland Opera’s Lieber Awards.
3. Courtenay Budd
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - generation m
  1. - Courtenay Budd, soprano, has been heard with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the National Symphony, and repeatedly at Carnegie Hall, Spoleto USA, and the Grand Teton and Bard Music Festivals. The recipient of a 2001 Sullivan Award, Ms. Budd won First Prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, leading to acclaimed recital debuts at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center, Boston’s Gardner Museum, and New York’s 92nd Street Y, prompting Darrell Rosenbluth of New York Concert Review to applaud: “Ms. Budd effortlessly took New York; the East Coast is secured.”
    - Critic Wes Blomster calls Courtenay Budd “one of the fastest-rising stars on the American opera stage.” A 1998 Metropolitan Opera National Finalist, her operatic performances include Ilia in Idomeneo at Alice Tully Hall, Baby Doe, Zerbinetta, Zerlina, Pamina, Amy in Little Women, and Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment, with such companies as Central City Opera, Opera Omaha, Atlanta Opera, and the Colorado Symphony.
    - Courtenay Budd is a favorite of audiences and critics at the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., where she has appeared in orchestral concerts and has been a regular on the Dock Street Chamber Music Series, appearing alongside her mentor and collaborator of choice, pianist Charles Wadsworth. The 2002 Festival featured Ms. Budd in the world premier of Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae, performed to critical acclaim with Todd Palmer and the St. Lawrence Quartet.
    - Ms. Budd’s chamber music performances include Schönberg’s String Quartet #2, I Hear an Army by David Del Tredici, recitals nationwide, and Rachmaninoff songs with pianist Ruth Laredo at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has collaborated with symphony orchestras across the United States in the Requiems of Brahms and Mozart, Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Strauss’ Brentanolieder, Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras, Beethoven’s Symphony #9, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Haydn’s Creation.
    - In the 2006/07 season she appears in her debut with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and Mahler’s Symphony #4 with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, a Christmas concert with the Missoula Symphony, opera concerts with the Symphony of the Americas, and concerts with Charles Wadsworth and the Southeastern Festival of Song at the Dallas Museum of Art.
    - Look for the release of Budd’s own CD Sleep is Behind the Door: Lullabies for Disaster Relief. She also appears on the VMS recording Korngold’s Hollywood Songbook with baritone Steven Kimbrough and pianist Dalton Baldwin.
4. Amy Cope
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Carmina Burana
    - Shakespeare Unplugged
  1. - Praised for her large, voluptuous sound, soprano Amy Cope made her professional debut with the Houston Grand Opera in a production of Richard Strauss’ Elektra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach featuring famed sopranos Hildegard Behrens and Leonie Rysanek.
    - A native of Iowa, Ms. Cope received a bachelors’ degree from Simpson College and then traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to study in the prominent voice program at Indiana University. Receiving the prestigious Cole Porter Award for full tuition and a stipend, she obtained a masters degree in voice performance and completed coursework for a doctorate in voice. It was at Indiana that she began to receive notice for her large, distinctive soprano voice. After performing Marie in the early twentieth-century masterpiece of Alban Berg, Wozzeck, the Bloomington Herald-Times proclaimed “…That soprano of hers was of Wagnerian heft and cut through everything thrown against it.” Her first orchestral performance of Wagner’s Liebestod took place at Indiana University with Maestro Thomas Baldner conducting.
    - While still a student at Indiana University, Ms. Cope traveled to the Sarasota Opera to perform in their young artists’ program and covered the role of Senta in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. From there, she went directly to the Minnesota Opera to perform as a resident artist from 2000-2001. Ms. Cope covered the title role of Puccini’s ice princess, Turandot. Also at the Minnesota Opera she covered the role of Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, performed the role of Berta in The Barber of Seville and took part in a touring program throughout the upper Midwest, performing and giving master classes for students. Ms. Cope’s then covered two roles for the Santa Fe Opera, Marie in Wozzeck and the title role in Richard Strauss’ The Egyptian Helen. Subsequently, Ms. Cope went to Denver, where the Opera Colorado was home to an updated 1950’s production of Hansel and Gretel where Opera News proclaimed that Ms. Cope “expertly handled” the role of the Mother.
    - Equally adept in the world of oratorio, Ms. Cope has enjoyed performing Elijah and the Lord Nelson Mass, Fauré’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Schubert’s Mass in G, as well as numerous cantatas and recitals with festivals and churches throughout the country. She was also a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera national auditions and a winner of the National Arts and Letters competition.
    - Ms. Cope recently made her debut with the Atlanta Ballet under the auspices of SEFoS in Orff’s Carmina Burana. She also recently sang Wagner’s Liebestod and Italian romantic opera arias with the Richmond Philharmonic in Richmond, VA.
    - A resident of New York City, Ms. Cope continues to study voice with world-renowned teacher Bill Schuman, and coach with Metropolitan Opera assistant conductors Kathryn Olsen-Simpson, Kathleen Kelly and Carrie-Ann Matheson, as well as with other specialists in the field of opera.
5. Angela Gilbert
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Shakespeare Remixed
    - La Traviata
    - King David
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
    - ARTsong EXPRESS
  1. - Angela Gilbert made her professional debut as Sandrina in La finta giardiniera in her native Cape Town where she has also performed a variety of roles including Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. A graduate of the South African College of Music in Cape Town, Angela Gilbert was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the 1996 VITA award, the 1997 Oudemeester Music Prize, the Adcock Ingram Music Prize and the Chiappini Opera Trust.
    - In the 2000/2001 season, Angela Gilbert joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera New York where she has appeared in several Young Artist Gala Concerts under James Levine and where her operatic roles have included Unborn in Die Frau ohne Schatten (Christian Thielemann and Philippe Auguin), Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel (Sir Charles Mackerras), Peasant in Le Nozze di Figaro (Donald Runnicles) and Shepherdess in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (James Levine) - Angela also covered the roles of Queen of the Night and Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
    - Operatic repertoire includes her debut with San Diego Opera in the title role Lucia di Lammermoor (Richard Bonynge), Honeggar Le Roi David in Atlanta, Antonia/Olympia and Giulietta Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Norina Don Pasquale, Violetta La Traviata and title role Lucia di Lammermoor for Cape Town Opera, Micaela in Peter Brook’s La Tragedie de Carmen (which toured South Africa and Namibia), Morgana Alcina at the Handel Festival in Germany, title role Adelia, Inez La Favorita and Elena La Donna del Lago for the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, Madame Hertz Der Schauspieldirektor, Norina and a recital with Steven Blier for Wolf Trap Opera, title role Lucia for Palm Beach Opera, Violetta for the Spiers Festival in Cape Town and in Pretoria, Queen of the Night Die Zauberflöte at the Lyrique en Mer Festival in Belle Ile, France and Gilda Rigoletto for Opera Africa.
    - Concert engagements include extensive concerts with the Cape Town Philharmonic and the Natal Philarmonic in South Africa, a series of opera concerts at the Hanover Festival in Germany, Cunegonde in highlights of Bernstein’s Candide at the Met (James Levine), Konstanze in highlights of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (James Levine) at the Danny Kaye Playhouse, Messiah in Cape Town and a Song recital at the Klein Karoo Festival in South Africa. A keen recitalist Angela has performed for both NYFOS and is a frequent collaborator with SEFoS (Southeastern Festival of Song), who sponsor her in the US. Angela has also made appearances at the New York Festival of Song with Steven Blier and was chosen to represent South Africa at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2003.
    - Engagements this season include Konstanze Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Icelandic Opera and her debut with Kentucky Opera in the title role Lucia di Lammermoor. Subsequent engagements include Carnivale (Gala Concert) for Kentucky Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor both for Connecticut Grand Opera in Stamford, USA and for the Anna Livia International Opera Festival in Dublin, Queen of the Night for Cape Town Opera and title role Maria Stuarda for San Diego Opera.
6. Shana Blake Hill
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Secrets of the Sky and Sea
    - Così fan tutte
    - La Bohème
  1. - Soprano Shana Blake Hill continues to generate praise as an adventurous and multifaceted performer in both the operatic and orchestral repertoires. Of her recent Philadelphia Orchestra debut singing composer Bright Sheng’s The Phoenix under Charles Dutoit, The Saratogian exclaimed, “Shana Blake Hill was amazing in this very difficult soprano role…she was a mesmerizing presence”. Ms. Hill has appeared with such opera companies as: The Los Angeles Opera, Savonlinna Festival Opera (Finland), Dayton Opera, Long Beach Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara. She has also appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as: The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Pacific Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, The New West Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and The Pasadena Symphony.
    - Among Ms. Hill’s upcoming engagements are: Bright Sheng’s The Phoenix with The Seattle Symphony and Gerald Schwartz, an Evening of Opera with The New West Symphony and Boris Brott, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with The Pasadena Symphony, Mahler 4 and Canteloube’s Chants D’Auvergne with Jorge Mester and The Pasadena Symphony ( also with Naples Philharmonic), Beethoven’s Symphony #9 with the California Philharmonic at Disney Hall, and Sakakawea in Michael Ching’s Corps of Discovery. Other recital engagements will take her to California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
    - Ms. Hill holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music from The University Of Southern California, and is an Alumna of The Los Angeles Opera’s Resident Artist program.
7. Dana Beth Miller
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Girls Gone Bad
  1. - Soprano Dana Beth Miller’s powerful voice and dynamic stage presence have earned her national acclaim. The San Francisco Chronicle recently called her “the evening’s biggest find” and went on to write “it takes no great seer to predict that we are going to be hearing a lot from this Texan soprano.” During the 2006-2007 season, Ms. Miller returns to New York City Opera for Musetta in La Bohème and debuts with Seattle Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. She covers the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte for the Metropolitan Opera and performs the same role for Portland Opera in the late spring. Ms. Miller finishes the season with her first Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello with Des Moines Metro Opera. Her most recent operatic appearances include her San Francisco Opera debut as Lillian Russell in The Mother of Us All, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Cincinnati Opera and Austin Lyric Opera, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Dallas Opera and Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with Arizona Opera. She recently won first place in the 2004 Jensen Foundation Voice Competition, won second prize in the 2006 Elardo International Opera Competition, took third prize in both the 2003 Opera Index Career Grant Competition and the 2003 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition, and was a finalist in the 2005 and 2006 Richard Tucker Career Grant Competition. Upcoming engagements include her first Tosca with Sacramento Opera and a return to Seattle Opera for Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmelites.
    - Ms. Miller’s concert appearances during the 2005-2006 season included Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Pacific Symphony, a Southeastern Festival of Song Recital in Atlanta, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The 2004-2005 concert season included her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Faure’s Requiem, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 at Alice Tully Hall, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Sinfonia da Camera and Chorus, and a Schwabacher debut recital in San Francisco.
    - During the 2002-2003 season, Ms. Miller was heard as Marguerite in Faust at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and debuted with the Utah Opera as Mary Willis Tweedy in Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree. Her appearances in the 2001-2002 season included her debut with New York City Opera as Eve’s Daughter in the world premiere of Deborah Drattell’s Lilith, both Giorgetta in Il Tabarro and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with Des Moines Metro Opera, and the title role in Lucrezia Borgia with the Academy of Vocal Arts. Additional engagements include her debut with the Washington Opera as Ann Putnam in a new production of The Crucible, the High Priestess in Aida with the Dallas Opera, both Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and Western Opera Theater, Clärchen in Beethoven’s Egmont with the Cincinnati Symphony, Mrs. Hayes in Susannah with the Kentucky Opera, and both Corinna in Il Viaggo a Reims and the title role in Suor Angelica with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
    - Dana Beth Miller took third place in the 2004 Eleanor Lieber Awards at Portland Opera, first place in the 2003 Florida Grand Opera Voice Competition, second place in the 2001 Palm Beach Opera Competition, first place in the National Opera Association Competition, as well as several district and regional awards in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She has received Career Development Grants from both the Dallas Opera and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, and has been a multiple grant nominee for the Richard Tucker Foundation. Ms. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas, did her Master of Music studies at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and her post-graduate work at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
8. Emily Pulley
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - Soprano Emily Pulley’s radiant voice and electrifying acting have won her both national and international acclaim. Opera News writes, “Pulley’s bright, perceptively shaded tone and sensitive, responsive acting make her a refreshing heroine, always playing the role rather than the star turn.” The New York Times described her portrayal of the title role of Floyd’s Susannah as being, “sung with unfailing warmth, radiance, and spirit,” and elsewhere has lauded her singing as “faultless and exquisite.”
    - A frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Pulley’s roles in the legendary house include Marguerite in Faust, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Musetta in La Bohème, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Thérèse in Les mamelles de Tirésias, and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Mimi in La Bohème. Ms. Pulley has delighted audiences across the country and beyond on the stages of New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Colorado, and Central City Opera in such roles as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Minnie in La Fanciulla del West, and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus.
    - In the summer of 2006, Emily Pulley sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Central City Opera. Her 2006-07 season includes performances of Carmina Burana and Nedda in I Pagliacci with Atlanta Opera; Josephine in HMS Pinafore with Anchorage Opera and, for Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Sarah in Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair.
    - Ms. Pulley’s engagements in the 2005-06 season included her return to the Metropolitan Opera as Musetta in La Bohème and also a return to New York City Opera to reprise the role of Lysia in Lysistrata. She made her debut at the Wexford Festival as the title role in Susannah, and also performed selections from the operatic repertoire with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
    - Also a champion of new repertoire, Ms. Pulley won the New York City Opera Richard F. Gold Debut Artist Award for her portrayal of Lavinia Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra in the spring of 2004. In the 2004-05 season she created the role of Lysia in the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s new opera, Lysistrata in her Houston Grand Opera debut. She returned to both the Metropolitan Opera as First Lady in a new production of Die Zauberflöte directed by Julie Taymor and Central City Opera as the title role in Vanessa. In addition, she appeared as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Albany Symphony Orchestra and performed a solo recital in Texas.
    - Emily Pulley’s recital and oratorio performances have also taken her to some of the world’s most illustrious stages, including those of the Lincoln Center for the Mozart Bicentennial Celebration and Ravinia Festival as well as performances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. A native of Texas, Ms. Pulley is a 2000 ARIA Award recipient and received the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from Central City Opera, Jacobson Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the Catherine File Shouse Career Grant from Wolf Trap Opera. She is the 2006 recipient of New York City Opera’s Christopher Keene Award, recognizing an artist’s performance in new or unusual repertoire.
9. Suzanne Ramo
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Girls Gone Bad
  1. - Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “bright presence both vocally and theatrically” as well as her “formidable show of vocal technique and stage presence”, soprano Suzanne Ramo has made a brilliant start to her career. A former Adler Fellow, she debuted with San Francisco Opera as Woglinde and the Forest Bird in their 1999 Der Ring des Nibelungen Festival and soon was starring in the title role in The Ballad of Baby Doe. Other company appearances have included Papagena in Die Zauberflöte and Countess Olga Sukarev in Fedora as part of the Viva Domingo! Gala. She also appeared in San Francisco Opera Center’s Showcase, singing the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto, and as Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring. In 2003, Ms. Ramo returned to San Francisco for her role debut as the Queen of the Night.
    - Most recently, she has been heard as Musetta in La Bohème with Utah Opera, Mme. Mao in John Adams’ Nixon in China at the Colorado Music Festival, in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Victoria Symphony.
    - A 1998 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Ramo made her professional debut as Papagena during her apprenticeship with Austin Lyric Opera. She has since returned to Austin as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and as Stella in a new production of Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. She counts among her roles Gilda (Rigoletto), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Iris (Semele) Nannetta (Falstaff), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), The Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), the Governess (The Turn of the Screw), and Despina (Così fan tutte).
    - She has toured as Violetta in La Traviata with SFO’s Western Opera Theater, and was twice chosen to participate in their Merola Program, where she sang Elvira (L’Italiana in Algeri).
    - Equally accomplished on the concert stage, Ms. Ramo has been heard in the Brahms Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in c minor, Handel’s Messiah and Poulenc’s Gloria, and recently as the Seraph in Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, for which the Chronicle praised her as “a brilliant Seraph, her coloratura blazing forth brightly and her lyrical phrasing sweetly rendered.”
    - A native of Cheney, Washington, Suzanne Ramo earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Whitworth College and her Master of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She resides in Texas with her husband, Dr. Fritz Gechter, a pianist and university music professor.
10. Alison Trainer
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Carmina Burana
  1. - Young coloratura soprano Alison Trainer is rapidly claiming her place among the most important emerging singers today. A gifted singing actress, Ms. Trainer has recently garnered top prizes in several major vocal competitions and is increasingly gaining recognition for her vocal beauty, sensitive and intelligent musicianship, and compelling stage presence. Ms. Trainer will return to New York City Opera this fall to sing the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. Recently in 2006, Ms. Trainer returned to Annapolis Opera to sing Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and performed a concert of Mozart arias with the Dayton Philharmonic. She also returned to North Carolina to sing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with Asheville Symphony. In 2005, she received critical acclaim for her debuts with Cleveland Opera as Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Central City Opera as Tiny in Paul Bunyan. In 2004, Ms. Trainer had her New York City Opera debut singing Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, her Avery Fisher Hall debut singing Carmina Burana with the National Chorale, and returned to the Aspen Music Festival to sing Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Ms. Trainer’s professional opera credits include Adele in Die Fledermaus with Annapolis Opera and on the Western Opera Theater National Tour, Rose in Street Scene at the Aspen Music Festival, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte with Boston Lyric Opera, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the title role in Handel’s Esther with Albany Pro Musica, and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with Glimmerglass Opera. Ms. Trainer recently won first place in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera Northeast Regional Competition, first place in the 2005 Liederkranz Competition and second place in the 2004 Opera Index Competition. Additionally, she was a top prize winner in the 2005 Sullivan Foundation Competition.
11. Christina Vial
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Così fan tutte
    - Girls Gone Bad
    - La Bohème
    - Schubert and the Schumanns
    - No Song is Safe
  1. - Christina Vial recently sang the role of Musetta in La Bohème with the Bar Harbor Music Festival to public and critical acclaim. The Bar Harbor Times labelled her character, “a pert little minx with Betty Grable legs,” and wrote that, “she delivered her own aria, ‘Quando m’en vo’, in a teasingly provocative manner.” A native of Luling, Louisiana, Ms. Vial began her musical studies at the San Francisco Convervatory of Music where she performed roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Medium. She then traveled to Rome, Italy to sing Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Nannetta in Falstaff with the New Operafestival di Roma. She has also performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni under the direction of Martina Arroyo, as well as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Micaela in Carmen with the West Marin Music Festival. Her additional operatic roles include the title role in Massenet’s Manon, Violetta in La Traviata, Juliette in Romeo e Juliette, and Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffman.
MEZZO-SOPRANO
1. Jennifer Hines
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Petite Messe Solennelle
  1. - Jennifer Hines made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Fourth Naked Virgin and alto soloist in Moses und Aron, with James Levine conducting. She then returned to participate in its Ring Cycle. Her 2006-07 season includes Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (Opera Grand Rapids, Nashville Opera, Aspen Music Festival), Page in Salome, Leonard Slatkin conducting (National Symphony Orchestra), and the title role in Astor Piazzola’s Maria de Buenos Aires, Murry Sidlin conducting (recording debut for Koch), at Aspen and in Portland. Past highlights include Washington National Opera debut as Flosshilde in Das Rheingold; title role in Carmen (East Texas Opera); Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Mercedes in Carmen and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Princess Nicolette in The Love for Three Oranges, and Siren in Rinaldo (all with New York City Opera); Gotham Chamber Opera debut as Carilda in Arianna in Creta; Seattle Opera debut as Flosshilde and Rossweisse in Ring Cycle; Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (New Jersey Symphony Orchestra); Olga in Eugene Onegin (Opera Festival of New Jersey); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Tokyo; and Philip Glass’ White Raven (American premiere, Lincoln Center Festival). The Long Island native holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School.
2. Janara Kellerman
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - King David
  1. - Mezzo Soprano, Janara Kellerman is quickly making a name for herself among opera lovers and aficionados often being referred to as “sultry”; “voluptuous”, “compelling”, and Opera News said she “displays a mezzo timbre velvety as the nap of a big, juicy peach”.
    - She has enjoyed a wonderful career singing in such regional houses including Nashville Opera, Opera Memphis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Eugene Opera, Opera San Jose, Lyric Opera San Antonio, Opera Illinois, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Natchez Opera.
    - In the 2005-2006 season Ms. Kellerman sang with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She made her debut with Opera Illinois as La zia Principessa in Suor Angelica and completed her first recording with the Michael O’Neal Singers in Atlanta as the alto soloist in Honegger’s King David after which the Atlanta Journal said “all the soloists were very good, especially Janara Kellerman – a creamy, rich mezzo” She returned to Des Moines Metro Opera this past summer to sing Maddalena in Rigoletto and the 2nd Lady in The Magic Flute and she was invited back next summer for her debut in the title role in Carmen.
    - The 2006-2007 season will see Ms. Kellerman singing Maddalena with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and the Garden State Philharmonic. In San Antonio she shows off her comedic side in the role of Ruth in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
    - Ms. Kellerman feels equally at home on the concert stage singing the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Mass in C Minor, Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and in a Viva Verdi! Concert with Opera Southwest.
    - Ms. Kellerman is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and now resides in New York City.
3. Fenlon Lamb
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - La Traviata
    - Women on the Verge
    - Così fan tutte
    - Girls Gone Bad
    - La Bohème
  1. - American mezzo-soprano Fenlon Lamb is emerging as a young artist who consistently performs with great vocal skill and excellent style to high critical acclaim. Described as “sweet voiced” and “alluring”, Ms. Lamb enjoyed high marks for many recent title role portrayals. Tri-Cities Herald said of her performance as Carmen, “Lamb is excellent. Her strong, well-trained voice is a pleasure to hear. Her acting abilities are polished.” The Baltimore Sun applauded her Agrippina by saying “In the title role, Fenlon Lamb revealed a bright, flexible voice, ever-brilliant phrasing and theatrical flourish.” The Plain Dealer praised her Iolanthe, sung with “fetching dignity and vocal allure.”
    - Highlights from recent seasons include Dorabella in Così fan tutte for the Caramoor International Music Festival, Mezzo in Berlin to Broadway for Lyric Opera of Cleveland, and Charlotte in Werther for Opera Vivente. Most recently she reprised the role of Dorabella with Opera Santa Barbara and returned to Cleveland Opera to sing the role of Wife in Come to Me in Dreams, a world premiere with baritone Sanford Sylvan. Upcoming performances include; Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd and Martha in Faust both for Cleveland Opera, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Sacramento Opera and Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw for Opera Vivente.
    - A versatile performer, Ms. Lamb is comfortable in opera, operetta and on the concert stage. She made her concert debut with The Cleveland Orchestra as Angelina in La Cenerentola, followed by Kate in Pirates of Penzance with Cleveland Opera, and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd for Toledo Opera. Ms Lamb has been soloist in the Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra as well as appearing as a Pops Soloist with the orchestra. She was also invited as soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.
4. Marie Lenormand
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - The Great Escape
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - In the Fall of 2007, French mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand will sing in concert with the baroque ensemble “Ars Lyrica” in Houston and in recital with the Southeastern Festival of Song in Atlanta. She is thrilled to go back to New Orleans Opera to sing her beloved Siebel with Paul Groves as Faust. In December, she will make her debut with the Bochum Orchestra in Germany, singing Le Nuits d’été with Steven Sloane conducting, before a series of Handel’s Messiah with the Winston-Salem Symphony. In 2008, Marie sings Aloès in L’Etoile by Chabrier at l’Opéra du Luxembourg, before joining le Gradus ad Musicam ensemble in Nancy, France, for Pergolèse’s Stabat Mater. She will be back at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux in the spring for Siebel in a new Faust production by J.P.Clarac and O.Deloeil. And for her debut with San Francisco Opera, Marie is delighted to reprise the role of The Fox which she created in The Little Prince by Rachel Portman for Houston Grand Opera in 2003.
    - In the 2006-2007 season, Marie sings Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Dallas Opera followed by Siebel in Faust with Houston Grand Opera. Additionally, she makes her debut with Chicago Opera Theater as Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and sings Siebel again with Cincinnati Opera. She makes her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Francois-Xavier Roth as the alto solo in Beethoven IXth at the Florida International Festival in Daytona Beach. Also, she performs in recital in New York with Steven Blier’s New York Festival of Song at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.
    - The previous season, Marie performed Siegrune in Die Walküre at the Chatelet under Christoph Eschenbach, was heard in Chabrier’s L’Etoile in Angers and Nantes, and sang Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte in Stuttgart. In January 2006, she sang Cidippe in Aristeo and the title role in Bauci e Filemone by Glück, recorded under the label Ambroisie , with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens lyriques: They took the two newly rediscovered operas on a concert tour (Bruxelles, Paris, Montpellier, Monte-Carlo) benefiting “Les sept vies de Philémon”, an French organization fundraising for research on rare genetic diseases. Also, she appeared in recital with Steven Blier in a program entitled “The Banquet Years” in New York and with the Vocal Arts Society in Washington, DC.
    - In 2005, she made her debuts with New Orleans Opera as Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Opera Pacific as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and performed Zerlina, in Don Giovanni at La Cité de la Musique in Paris under the baton of Emmanuel Krivine with his newly established orchestra, La Chambre Philharmonique in February. She was also heard in recital with Steven Blier at the prestigious New York Festival of Song, and sang the role of Rosina at Opera de Bordeaux.
    - Past notable engagements include her debut with the Bard Music Festival, where she performed in two Shostakovich operas, the role of Masha in Cherry Tree Towers and also in The Nose. Other recent opera engagements include Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Cherubino at the Opéra de Marseille, and Zerlina with both New York City Opera and Toledo Opera. Additionally, she created the role of the Fox in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince with Houston Grand Opera in the early summer of 2003, of which Opera News wrote, “Among the best were Marie Lenormand, whose rich mezzo-soprano and elegant stage presence shone in the role of the Fox.” She has also sung with Opera-Atelier in Lully’s Persée and L’Incoronazione di Poppea, a recital for the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in New York City, and recitals in New York and Minneapolis with Steven Blier.
    - Marie Lenormand was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio from 1999 to 2002. At Houston Grand Opera, she performed Dorabella, the title role in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Mercédès in Carmen, Tebaldo in Don Carlo, the Page in Rigoletto, the Chambermaid in The Makropulos Case, and Thelma Predmore in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree. At Glimmerglass Opera, she sang Melanto in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and performed in the world premiere of Central Park, which was later telecast on national television. She returned to Glimmerglass Opera to perform the role of Aloës in Mark Lamos’ new production of Chabrier’s L’Etoile. She has also sung Cherubino at Fort Worth Opera, as well as Stéphano, and the title role in Carmen at the Oberlin Opera Theater. She has appeared numerous times in broadcasts of NPR’s World of Opera.
    - In addition to her operatic work, Marie Lenormand is also a distinguished oratorio singer. She was the alto soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass under Robert Shaw, as well as in Elijah with a cast headed by Sherrill Milnes. She was a Regional Finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the recipient of several awards, including the Bloomberg Greenwood Prize, the Faustina Hurlbutt Prize, and the prestigious Lavoisier Scholarship from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She studies with Patricia MacCaffrey in New York.
5. Elizabeth Shammash
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Girls Gone Bad
  1. - Acclaimed by Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe as a “mezzo voice that makes one sit up and take notice”, it is not surprising that Elizabeth Shammash is rapidly coming to the attention of opera companies and concert presenters nationwide.
    - An excellent musician, Miss Shammash has enjoyed early career success with contemporary scores. As a Glimmerglass apprentice, she created the title role in Deborah Drattell’s opera Lilith, in a production conducted by Stewart Robertson. The following year, while a Master’s candidate at Manhattan School of Music, she performed the leading role of Dinah in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. She also performed the Hat Box Lady and the Foreign Singer in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco at Manhattan School. Her Boston Lyric Opera debut was in The Ballad of Baby Doe. In Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, she has performed both Mother Goose (at Wolf Trap Opera) and Baba the Turk (in her Lyric Opera of Kansas debut). In spring 2000 she joined the roster of the New York City Opera for the role of Indiana Elliot(cover) in The Mother of Us All. Last season, New York audiences enjoyed Miss Shammash’s performance as the Mother in the Little Orchestra Society’s staged performances of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. In summer 2002 she made her Berkshire Opera debut as Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw in a portrayal characterized as “vivid” and “effective and memorable” in the press.
    - Equally comfortable with works in the standard repertoire, Miss Shammash made her Wolftrap Opera debut in summer 1999 as Idamante in Idomeneo, and performed the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. She returned to Wolf Trap in summer 2000 for performances as Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea. This past summer the mezzo-soprano was engaged by the Mostly Mozart Festival to cover the role of Tamiri in the Mark Lamos production of Il re pastore conducted by Nicholas McGegan. Sarasota Opera offered performances of Curra in La Forza del Destino conducted by Victor Di Renzi, while she was an apprentice artist. At the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, she was responsible for the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She appeared as Rosina in a David Gately production at Fort Worth Opera in and as Maddelena in Rigoletto at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in season 2002-2003. In the upcoming season she joins Palm Beach Opera as Flora in the Thor Steingraber production of La Traviata with June Anderson as Violetta (conducted by Kamal Kahn) and as Mercedes in the Garnett Bruce production of Carmen (conducted by Julius Rudel).
    - A gifted recitalist, Elizabeth Shammash was the winner of the 1999 Joy in Singing Competition and was presented in her professional New York recital debut under their auspices. She has previously been heard in recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, at Smith College, the University of Minnesota and on a tour of the United States through the Piatigorsky Foundation. She has also been presented in chamber music by the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival and collaborated with pianist J.J. Penna in Westminster Choir College’s “Songfest 2002” in Princeton. In season 2001-2002, Elizabeth Shammash appeared in a joint recital under the auspices of the Ravinia Festival. She also participated in an all-Bernstein program at Agnes Scott College in Georgia created by Michael Barrett and Jamie Bernstein Thomas, performed with Steven Blier and The New York Festival of Song in the Kaye Playhouse at New York’s Hunter College, and appeared as part of Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes Music Great” series at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. She returns to the New York Festival of Song this season for Paul Bowles’ Picnic Cantata. She will also be presented by the Milken Archive in a performance of Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road – Highlights in New York.
    - Miss Shammash has appeared in concert with the National Symphony performing the music of Leonard Bernstein (Michael Barrett, conductor), performed William Bolcom’s Symphony No. 4 (Lawrence Leighton Smith, conductor), Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium with the Berkshire Bach Society (Kenneth Cooper, conductor), and Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed at The Crane School of Music of the State University of New York, College at Potsdam (Daniel Gordon, conductor). The mezzo-soprano has also appeared with the New Haven Symphony (concert version of Die Zauberflöte), with the Harrisburg Symphony (concert version of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music), and with the Chatham Chorale (concert version of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas). She made her Memphis Symphony debut with Handel’s Messiah and her Kansas City Symphony debut as soloist in the Choral Fantasy by Beethoven conducted by Nicholas McGegan. Her Pacific Symphony debut was in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with conductor David Loebel. She has performed Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Seattle Symphony conducted by Music Director, Gerard Schwarz. At the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the mezzo-soprano made her debut in Schumann’s rarely performed work Paradise und de Paris, also under Music Director, Gerard Schwarz. Elizabeth Shammash also performed Handel’s Messiah with Apollo’s Fire in performances conducted by Jeanette Sorrell for two consecutive seasons, with Portland Baroque, and with Boston Baroque under Martin Pearlman.
    - Her first recording, David Stock’s A Little Miracle was recorded with Gerard Schwarz and the Berlin Radio Orchestra in season 1999-2000 for The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. She then recorded Thomas Beveridge’s Yizkor Requiem with Ana Maria Martinez and Robert Brubaker conducted by Sir Neville Marriner in London and Ernst Toch’s cantata The Bitter Herbs with Gerard Schwarz and the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, also under the auspices of The Milken Archive. The recordings are expected to be released this fall.
    - Elizabeth Shammash holds a Master’s degree in Music and Voice Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, an Artist Diploma from Boston University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Italian Studies from Brown University and attended both the Università di Bologna in Italy and Middlebury College’s Scuola Italiana. She has benefited from apprenticeships at Wolftrap Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Sarasota Opera. The mezzo has participated in the Chautauqua Studio Program and the Voice Program under the direction of Marlena Malas and was an Ensemble Artist at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has attended the Aspen Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Stean’s Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, and most recently was a participant at the Marlboro Festival. In addition to her vocal studies, Miss Shammash has studied both violin and viola. Elizabeth Shammash resides in New York City.
6. Adriana Zabala
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Shakespeare Remixed
    - generation m
    - Secrets of the Sky and Sea
    - Shakespeare Unplugged
    - Girls Gone Bad
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
    - ARTsong EXPRESS
    - No Song is Safe
    - Italienisches Liederbuch
  1. - Mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala was recently praised by the New York Times as “a vivid, fearless presence,” and by the L.A. Times as “extraordinary” for her portrayal of the Barbarian Girl in the American premiere of Philip Glass’ Waiting for the Barbarians with the Austin Lyric Opera. Ms. Zabala enjoys a vibrant and unique career that includes opera, song repertoire, new works, concert & oratorio, cabaret and Latin Jazz. She has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally, and also serves as Artistic Director of the Atlanta-based Southeastern Festival of Song.
    - Within the last few seasons Ms. Zabala has been seen as Kate Pinkerton with The Seattle Opera, Meg in Little Women with The Minnesota Opera, Hermia, Cherubino, Amastre and Emma Jones and Erminella (a role she originated) in Musto’s Volpone with the Wolf Trap Opera, Mercedes with the Jacksonville Symphony, Rosina with the the Minnesota Opera, the Wildwood Festival and The Syracuse Opera, and Pitti-Sing and La Cenerentola with the Arizona Opera and the Lyric Opera of San Antonio. She has also been a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Spokane Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony,the Virginia Symphony, the Madison Symphony and at the Caramoor International Music Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
    - In the 2006/07 season Ms. Zabala made her debut with Opera Carolina in the title role in La Cenerentola, sang Rosina in the Barber of Seville with the Utah Opera, and returned to the Wildwood Festival in the title role in Carmen. Last fall she joined the Minnesota Opera in the role of Niklausse in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, and early in 2007 made her debut with Austin Lyric Opera as the Barbarian Girl in the accalimed American premiere of Phillip Glass’ Waiting for the Barbarians. She is a frequent soloist with the Jacksonville Symphony, with whom she will sing Bach’s solo cantata Vergnugte Ruh in February, and will then make her debut with Opera Pacific in the role of Mercedes in Carmen. In the spring of 2007 Ms. Zabala makes her Carnegie Hall debut on a concert of pianist and composer Gregg Kallor, premiering Exhilaration, settings of nine Emily Dickinson poems. In the spring she will also return to the Syracuse Opera as Valencienne in The Merry Widow, and will appear at The Lake George Opera as Elmire in Mechem’s Tartuffe.
    - Ms. Zabala has made five appearances with the acclaimed New York Festival of Song, two appearances with the Caramoor International Music Festival, and recently sang in a critically acclaimed concert entitled “Bernstein Memories” with Maestro John DeMain and the Madison Symphony. Last season she created a one-woman show of Kurt Weill’s music at the MTNA national convention in Seattle, and this season brings to the Wildwood Festival in Little Rock her fourth solo recital, a program celebrating the music of Duke Ellington called “Blue Reverie”.
    - Adriana Zabala was born in Tifton, Georgia and raised in Miami, Caracas, Venezuela, and Lake Jackson, Texas. She received her undergraduate degree from Lousiana State University and spent the following schoolyear as a Fulbright Scholar in Salzburg, Austria, studying German Lieder at the Mozarteum. Upon returning to the U.S. she pursued her masters at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Immediately after graduating, Ms. Zabala started a two-season Artist Residency with the Minnesota Opera, where she performed the roles of Cherubino, Annina in Der Rosenkavalier, and Rosina, among others. She spent the following season as a Young Artist with the Seattle Opera, singing the title role in the YA production of La Cenerentola. Ms. Zabala is an alumna of the apprentice programs at the Berkshire Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Operafestival di Roma, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.
    - Adriana Zabala is managed by Robert Mirshak at Mirshak Artists Management, and is a student of Bill Schumann’s. She lives in New York City.
TENOR
1. Lawrence Brownlee
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - In the span of just five years, tenor Lawrence Brownlee has proven himself to be one of the most prominent bel canto tenors on the national and international scenes. He is lauded regularly for the beauty of his voice, as well as his seemingly effortless technical agility.
    - Mr. Brownlee is the winner of both the 2006 Richard Tucker and Marian Anderson Awards, a feat never before achieved by any artist in the same year. His schedule is repeatedly comprised of a steady array of debuts and return engagements at major music centers, encompassing the very best of the world’s leading opera companies, orchestras and presenting organizations.
    - His 2006-07 season begins with a Kennedy Center recital, as the recent Marian Anderson Award winner, followed by his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Carmina burana at the Hollywood Bowl. Next is a trio of the Rossini heroes for whom he is most well-known: Lindoro/L’italiana in Algeri for his return to the Seattle Opera; Don Ramiro/La Cenerentola for his debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia; and Conte Almaviva/Il barbiere di Siviglia with the New National Theatre Tokyo. Holiday Messiahs mark a reengagement at the Houston Symphony and also his first appearances with the San Francisco Symphony. The new year begins with a return to Texas, for his Houston Grand Opera debut in Cenerentola, followed by a pair of recitals in Bethlehem, PA (Moravian College) and in Omaha, NE (Tuesday Musical Concert Series), and a concert with the Sacramento Philharmonic. In the spring, Mr. Brownlee makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and will be heard in eight European cities (Rome, Rotterdam, Valladolid, Barcelona, Valencia, Paris, Cologne and Brussels) in Tancredi on tour with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. More Cenerentolas follow for his first engagement at Dresden’s Semperoper. His season comes to a close in a return to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia for the Rossini Stabat Mater, both in Rome and at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms.
    - During the 2005-06 season, Mr. Brownlee made notable appearances with the: Teatro alla Scala in Barbiere, a work which also served as the vehicle for debuts with the Wiener Staatsoper and San Diego Opera; Théâtre de la Monnaie in Il viaggio a Reims (Libenskof); Trieste’s Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in Cenerentola; and the Staatsoper Hamburg in La fille du Régiment. He performed Tancredi with both the Detroit Symphony (Ann Arbor, MI), as well as with Washington Concert Opera. He offered a solo recital at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of the Vocal Arts Society of Washington, was the tenor soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, as well as in Messiah with the Houston and Baltimore Symphonies, and in Carmina Burana with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. His summer was marked by another pair of debuts: at Vienna’s Festival KlangBogen as Don Capriccio in a pasticcio created by Lorenzo da Ponte, L’ape musicale, with music taken from Cimarosa, Mozart, Paisiello, and Salieri, among others, followed by his introduction to San Francisco Opera audiences in a concert at Stern Grove with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe.
    - The 2004-05 season also marked several important debuts for Mr. Brownlee: at Covent Garden in the world premiere of Lorin Maazel’s 1984; at Madrid’s Teatro Real and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester as Almaviva in Barbiere; and with the Detroit Symphony for Messiah. He also returned to La Scala in Cenerentola, Boston Lyric Opera in L’italiana and Seattle Opera for Florencia en el Amazonas. Mr. Brownlee sang Carmina Burana with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
    - Previously, Mr. Brownlee made noteworthy appearances with: Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice in Viaggio a Reims (Belfiore), Opernhaus Zürich in Salieri’s Axur, re d’Ormus, Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Le Comte Ory, Cincinnati Opera in Fille du Régiment, Washington Concert Opera in La donna del Lago, the Cleveland Orchestra in Handel’s Israel in Egypt, the Charlotte Symphony in a special Martin Luther King Day concert and the Baltimore Symphony for Messiah, as well as La Scala (Barbiere and L’italiana), Seattle Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre (Don Pasquale), Boston Lyric and Virginia Operas (Barbiere), the New York Philharmonic (Gershwin, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, both at Lincoln Center [televised on PBS], as well as on tour in Italy), Cincinnati Symphony (Bach Magnificat), American Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival (Mozart Mass in C minor), Monadnock Music Festival, and the Anderson Symphony Orchestra. He gave recitals in Bermuda and for Tokyo’s Musashino Cultural Foundation. Under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, he performed recitals in New York City and Huntsville, AL, and also was featured on the Foundation’s Gala Concert at Lincoln Center.
    - Mr. Brownlee’s first CD was a live recording of his 2004 Carmina Burana with Sir Simon Rattle leading the Berliner Philharmoniker, released by EMI Classics. His colleagues were soprano Sally Matthews and baritone Christian Gerhaher. This was followed (late-2005 release in Europe/early-2006 in US) by a solo disc of Italian songs by Schubert, Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini, accompanied by pianist Martin Katz, also for EMI. His most recent recording is a document of a live performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia, co-starring mezzo Elina Garancia and baritone Nathan Gunn, with Miguel Gomez Martinez leading the musical forces of the Münchner Rundfunkorchester. This Sony CD was released in Europe in June 2006 and looks forward to an American release in the coming season.
    - In addition to the previously mentioned honors, Lawrence Brownlee was the winner of a 2003 ARIA Award and a 2003 Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He was also a 2001 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Brownlee received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Anderson University, a Master of Music degree from Indiana University and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He was a participant in young artist programs at both the Seattle and Wolf Trap Operas.
2. Mark Calvert
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - No Song is Safe
  1. - With a voice praised as “exceptionally supple and flexible” (Mannheimer Morgen), American tenor Mark Calvert is steadily earning acclaim in Europe for his exciting singing and vivid characterizations. He regularly performs the works of Britten, Baroque composers, and critical supporting roles of the standard repertoire. In the 2006/07 season, he begins his association with Landestheater Linz under the baton of Chief Conductor Dennis Russell Davies. There he will add a number of roles to his growing repertoire, including Jan in Der Bettelstudent, Cégeste in Philip Glass’ Orphée, and Mopsa in The Fairy Queen. He returns to Landestheater Linz in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons for a number of new productions. Among his 2006/07 concert appearances are performances of Messiah with L’Arpa Festante Baroque Orchestra Munich.
    - Mark Calvert made his European debut in 2004 with Stadttheater Gießen as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, followed by critically acclaimed performances of Carmina Burana with Schlossfestspiele Heidelberg, a role he repeated in 2005. During his 2004/05 association with Theater der Stadt Heidelberg, he performed a number of roles, including Tchekalinsky in Pique Dame, Oberprädiger/Ästhet/Pfarrer in Rautavaara’s Vincent, Wilhelm Meister in Mignon, and Gastone in La Traviata. Further European performances included Graf Boni in a European tour of Die Csárdásfürstin, and Katschkarjów in Martinu’s Die Heirat with Kammeroper Konstanz.
    - Mark Calvert recently debuted with Chicago Opera Theater as The Chaplain in The Good Soldier Schweik (recorded for Cedille Records), and he appeared with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere of Paul Schoenfield’s The Merchant and the Pauper. He performed a number of roles with Pittsburgh Opera while a member of their Opera Center, among them Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Gastone in La Traviata, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus, Schmidt in Werther, Selimo in Il Corsaro, and Spoletta in Tosca. His performances with Pittsburgh Opera earned him the 2000 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from The Shoshana Foundation in addition to a Pittsburgh Foundation Career Grant. He was also featured in the documentary “Renata Scotto - L’île opera,” broadcast throughout Europe on ARTE Television.
    - An accomplished oratorio soloist, Mark Calvert’s recent performances include Messiah with Santa Fe Symphony and Green Bay Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Davidde Penitente with Würzburger Kammerorchester; “Mozart Arias and Ensembles” with Hartford Symphony Orchestra; Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer with pianist Leon Fleischer at the Aspen Music Festival; and Mozart’s Waisenhausmesse with Wisconsin’s Racine Symphony Orchestra, which was broadcast on National Public Radio.
    - A native of Wichita, Kansas, Mark Calvert earned his degrees from Lawrence University in Wisconsin and Yale University School of Music. He is an alumnus of The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program, Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, and Aspen Music Festival´s Opera Center.
3. William S. Dukes, Jr.
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Girls Gone Bad
  1. - Tenor and Atlanta native William S. (Billy) Dukes, Jr. makes his debut with the Southeastern Festival of Song in “Girls Gone Bad”. A graduate of both the Lovett School and the University of Georgia, his credits include Tony in West Side Story, Curly in Oklahoma, Nanki Poo in The Mikado, and Benjamin in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Recently he sang the role of Jeff Moss in Bells are Ringing with the Atlanta-based Stage Door Players. In addition to his performances in the Atlanta area, Billy has sung in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and at the Heritage Music Festival Competition in New Orleans. He has worked under the direction of conductors Raymond Chenault and Sir John Rutter. Offstage, Billy manages public relations and corporate communications initiatives.
4. Ross Hauck
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Shakespeare Remixed
    - Shakespeare Unplugged
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - A Seattle resident, lyric tenor Ross Hauck is known for his distinguished artistry, musicality, and versatility of expression. As a very active concert artist, has appeared with the National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Tanglewood symphony and others. A consummate performer on the recital stage, he has appeared with the New York Festival of Song, the Southeastern Festival of Song, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and the Schubert Club in Minneapolis. A recipient of awards from the Macallister Opera Competition, the New York Singing Teachers Association, the NATSAA competition, the Florida Grand Opera competition, and other national organizations, he has received rave reviews in many publications including Opera News, the Washington Post, New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune.
    - Highlights of opera work include originating and recording roles in new operas by American composers Libby Larsen and John Musto. Recent work includes singing Almaviva in Barber of Seville with Sacramento Opera, and Belmonte in Abduction from the Seraglio with Tacoma Opera. Ross is an alumnus of the Wolf Trap Opera Company, where he was awarded the Wolf Trap Foundation Grant from the National Park for the performing arts. He has sung with symphonies and opera companies in New York and throughout the Midwest. Upcoming engagements include lead roles with Skagit Opera, Bellevue Opera, and Black Box Opera Theatre here in Seattle, as well as recitals in Dallas, Cincinnati, and being featured in several concert series in the Northwest, including appearances with Orchestra Seattle, the Helena Symphony, the Bellevue Philharmonic, and the Mid-Columbia symphony.
    - A distinguished alumnus of DePauw University (B.M.), and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), Ross is happily married to his beautiful wife, Laura, a soprano and voice teacher. Ross maintains a private teaching studio out of their home in Issaquah, WA. Ross is also an endorsed artist through Christian Music Presenters, and he enjoys programming and performing innovative concerts and sacred programs for churches, universities, and other presenting organizations. Ross is also a cellist and pianist, and in his spare time is involved in ministry. He is an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast.
5. Bradley Howard
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - King David
  1. - With a career spanning the classical and modern choral works, solo recitals, and operatic roles, Bradley Howard has developed a repertoire of some of opera’s most classic roles, including Mozart’s Tamino in The Magic Flute and Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Puccini’s Rodolfo in La Bohème, Leoncavallo’s Beppe in I Pagliacci, Rossini’s Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Britten’s Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw, and the title roles of Albert Herring and Candide.
    - Mr. Howard’s concert engagements include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem, Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major and Choral Fantasy, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Lobegesang, Handel’s Messiah and Saul, Bach’s St. John Passion and B minor Mass.
    - Other events for Bradley this year include West Side Story in Washington, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, horn, and strings, and a song recital tour in several regions of the U.S..
    - Mr. Howard’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and voice performance from Baylor University and the University of Cincinnati opened doors to America’s musical stages. A coveted fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center brought him to the attention of famed conductor Seiji Ozawa, as he sang the role of Bob Boles in the 50th anniversary production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. He teaches privately in Atlanta, GA.
6. Jeffrey Picón
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - generation m
  1. - Tenor Jeffrey Picón has proven his versatility as a concert and opera singer in a diverse selection of repertoire. He has won acclaim across the country for the natural beauty and richness of his voice and for his compelling stage presence. Highlights of recent seasons include Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Opera Company of North Carolina; both Ramiro in La cenerentola, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Trouble in Tahiti with the Caramoor Festival; and Fenton in Falstaff with Mississippi Opera. In addition, he appeared in Wallace Shawn’s The Music Teacher at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York, and as Tony in West Side Story with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival.
    - Upcoming performances includes appearances with New York Festival of Song; and his Arizona Opera debut as Ali in Zemire et Azor. Mr. Picón began his professional career as one of the youngest members to participate in the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, and impressed audiences there with performances in Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni. Other engagements for the native Texan have included Die Entführung aus dem Serail, L’Orfeo, and Arianna with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Dallas Opera; and roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and Il barbiere di Siviglia with Portland Opera Repertory Theatre; Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Wolf Trap Opera; Les contes d’Hoffmann with the Opera Company of Philadelphia; The Rape of Lucretia for Opera Festival of New Jersey; Il barbiere di Siviglia for Anchorage Opera; Falstaff and Salomé with Pittsburgh Opera; and the national touring production of Don Giovanni with Western Opera Theatre.
    - Equally accomplished on the recital stage, Mr. Picón made his Schwabacher Debut Recital in “Latin Lovers: Music from South America and Cuba” presented by the San Francisco Opera with pianist Steven Blier. Recent concert appearances include “Teatro Espanoles” and “Songs of War and Peace” with New York Festival of Song, Janacek’s From the House of the Dead with the American Symphony Orchestra; Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes with Moab Music Festival, Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and his solo recital debut in Marquette, MI. He has appeared with New York Festival of Song at the Moab Music Festival, the Performing Arts Society in Washington, D.C., Wolf Trap Opera and Weill Recital Hall.
    - Mr. Picón can be heard as Mike on the recording of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, which marked his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago. His broadcast debut was in December, 2003 in the PBS production of “Fiesta at the Philharmonic with the Naples Philharmonic, led by Erich Kunzel. He is a student of Arthur Levy, and a graduate of The University of North Texas and The Curtis Institute of Music.
7. Scott Scully
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Carmina Burana
    - Secrets of the Sky and Sea
    - Così fan tutte
    - La Bohème
  1. - Following recent performances of Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Arizona Opera, the Arizona Republic exclaimed that tenor Scott Scully “turned in a performance startling for its clarity, easy power and infusion of character.” Quickly becoming an in-demand presence on American and international stages, his performances in the 2005-06 season include Carmina Burana with both the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Ballet, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Colorado, Ferrando in Così fan tutte in his return to Maine’s Bar Harbor Music Festival, Le Chevalier in Les Dialogues des Carmelites with Fort Worth Opera, and performances of Falstaff with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland and on tour in Lucerne.
    - The 2006-07 season will see Mr. Scully return to Canada as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Opera Ontario as well as return to Pittsburgh Opera for Die Zauberflöte and Billy Budd, and the Cleveland Orchestra for performances of Der Rosenkavalier. He also performs in concert in Beijing with Singers Beyond Borders. Other upcoming engagements include an American premiere in his return to Fort Worth Opera as well as returns to Houston Grand Opera and Opera Pacific.
    - Active on the concert stage, he has collaborated with such noted conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Roberto Abbado, Anton Guadagno, Alain Lombard, James Conlon, Julius Rudel, and Patrick Summers. Mr. Scully was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas.
8. Brian Stucki
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - The Great Escape
  1. - Quickly distinguishing himself with a voice that the Salt Lake Tribune declares is “heaven sent,” rich hued and flexible, perfectly suited to the lyric roles of Mozart and high flying bel canto repertoire, Brian Stucki’s performances in the 2007-08 season include Haydn’s Creation with Boston Baroque, Handel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Chevalier in Les Dialogues of the Carmelites with Kentucky Opera. In the 2006-07 season, he made his international debut in the 2006-07 season as Ferrando in Così fan tutte with New Israeli Opera followed by performances with the New Israeli Opera Orchestra for Mozart’s Mass in C, Requiem, and Mass in c minor. He also joined the Compañía Nacional de Opera at the Palacio de Bellas Artes for Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia after having sung the role with Dallas Opera in student performance. He also sang Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Piedmont Opera, and joined Dicapo Opera Theatre for Camille in the New York premiere of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin.
    - In previous seasons, he joined Michigan Opera for Ramiro in La Cenerentola and returned to Washington East Opera for Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia following performances of Alfredo in La Traviata. He also made his first festival appearance as a member of Glimmerglass Opera’s prestigious Young American Artists Program in the summer of 2006. Mr. Stucki’s performances continually garner rave reviews with Utah’s Daily Herald describing his Tamino in Die Zauberflöte as “achingly sensitive…a sweet union where the lines between music and voice were amazingly blurred.” His roles with Indiana University Opera Theatre included Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Don Narciso in Il Turco in Italia, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte.
    - An accomplished oratorio soloist, as well Mr. Stucki’s recent performances on the concert stage include the Mozart Requiem with both the Waukegan Symphony and Bach Chorale Singers; Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Utrecht Jubilate and Holst’s Psalm 86 with the Utah Symphony; Messiah and Bach’s Weinachts-Oratorium with the Brigham Young Early Music Ensemble. While at Indiana University, he has joined the Chamber Orchestra and Choir for both Lukas in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and Uriel in Die Schöpfung. He is also a 2005 semi-finalist in the annual competition of The Oratorio Society of New York.
    - Mr. Stucki holds a Master of Music from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music from Brigham Young University, where he sang his first performances of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Also an accomplished cellist, he has released a recording of Rachmaninoff works on the Tantara label.
9. Derek Taylor
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Petite Messe Solennelle
  1. - Tenor Derek Taylor was born in Los Angeles, and trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts. 2006 brought house debuts with Palm Beach Opera, as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Rodolfo in La Bohème with Baltimore Opera, Antonio in Ades’ Tempest with Santa Fe Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with both Opera Grand Rapids , and Austin Lyric Opera. He concluded the season with Gala d’Opera in Montreal. Future engagements include the role of Toby Higgins in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the Los Angeles Opera, Michele in the Saint of Bleecker Street with Central City Opera, Rodolfo in La Bohème with Boston Lyric Opera and Metropolitan Phoenix Opera, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in St. Gallen, Steva in Jenufa with Virginia Opera, and a return to Ades’ Tempest, this time as King Alonzo with the Rotterdam Concertgebow in Amsterdam. In past season Mr Taylor has sung the title role in Faust, and Tamino, both with the Academy of Vocal arts, Rodolfo with El Paso Opera, Manitoba Opera, and AVA, Pinkerton with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera New Hampshire, and the title role of Hoffmann with IVAI, as well as Alfredo in La Traviata with Opera Illinois. On the concert stage he has sung Beethoven’s 9th, Mozart Requiem, and Vaughn Williams Hodie.
BARITONE/BASS
1. Daniel Cole
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Petite Messe Solennelle
  1. - Daniel Cole has appeared with numerous national and international opera companies, including Netherlands Opera as the Voice of God in Stravinsky’s The Flood, Sarasota Opera as Ataliba (Alzira), Opera Illinois as Colline, Sacristan, Sparafucile, and Zuniga, Natchez Opera Festival as Basilio, Teatro Grattacielo, at New York’s Alice Tully Hall as Marco (L’Arlesiana), a Taiwan debut as Colline (La Bohème) and Monterone (Rigoletto), a debut in Cologne as Colline (La Bohème) and in Lisbon as The King (Aida), performances in Shreveport, LA as Elder McLean (Susannah) and the Speaker (Die Zauberflöte), and a debut at Opera Theatre of St. Louis as the Speaker and as the Ghost in Thomas’ Hamlet. His concert career includes performances of Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion, Mozart’s Mass in c minor, and the Mozart Requiem in his debut at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Cole also made his debut with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in performances of Bernard Rands’ Canti dell’Eclissi, returned to the Cincinnati Symphony for Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, and was the bass soloist for Beethoven’s Mass in C under the baton of Jane Glover. Upcoming engagements include Colline at Augusta Opera, and a return to Fargo-Moorhead as Sparafucile. Mr. Cole is currently on faculty at the University of Delaware where he resides with his wife Holly and son Nathanael.
2. Ian Greenlaw
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Girls Gone Bad
  1. - American baritone Ian Greenlaw’s prodigious gifts have brought him to center stage of opera companies and orchestras from coast to coast. The Chicago Sun-Times characterized Ian Greenlaw as “possessing a voice both strong and sweet, and matinee idol good looks…”, and the Washington Post noted that he has “elegant stage presence, a subtle sense of humor and a splendid voice.”
    - The coming 2006-2007 season sees Mr. Greenlaw as a featured artist in The New York Philharmonic’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and singing Mercutio in Atlanta Opera’s Roméo et Juliette. Other engagements this season include a solo recital under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, his debut with the Saint Louis Symphony in Bartók’s Cantata profana, and an appearnce as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Bach Society of St. Louis. In 2007 Mr. Greenlaw will sing Winston in the operatic version of George Orwell’s 1984 in Valencia, Spain. Highlights of the 2005-2006 season included the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Kentucky Opera, Peter in Hansel and Gretel at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and recital appearances with both the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall and with The New York Festival of Song.
    - Earlier in his career, Mr. Greenlaw made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera as the Theater Manager in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias and returned as Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Fléville in Andrea Chénier, Moralès in Carmen and Cascada in The Merry Widow. He has appeared as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Colorado, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Arizona Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at Chicago Opera Theatre, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Central City Opera, and Falke in Die Fledermaus with Michigan Opera Theatre. Mr. Greenlaw has also performed the title role in Don Giovanni in student matinees with the Dallas Opera, the title role of Eugene Onegin, Albert in Werther, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Iron Hans in Susa’s Transformations with Lyric Opera Cleveland.
    - A gifted concert artist and recitalist, Ian Greenlaw has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, the Brahms Requiem, Rodrigo’s Ausencias de Dulcinea, and Britten’s War Requiem. Mr. Greenlaw has participated at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute for Young Artists and is currently on the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, under whose auspices he made his Carnegie Hall debut. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2002 Richard Tucker Career Grant, a 2001 Sara Tucker Study Grant, and First Place in the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Competition. The baritone holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Mr. Greenlaw is an alumnus of the Pittsburgh Opera Center and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
3. Jason Hardy
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - The Great Escape
    - Youth & Love
    - Così fan tutte
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - Acclaimed on the opera, concert, and recital stage, bass Jason Hardy is emerging as one of today’s most versatile artists. In recital, Mr Hardy performed song repertoire and vocal chamber works ranging from Purcell to Prokofiev at the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival. He has presented recitals nationwide under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, including a debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, where he performed the world premiere of John Musto’s viva sweet love. Mr. Hardy is also a founding member of the Southeastern Festival of Song.
    - On the concert platform, Mr. Hardy has given numerous performances at Carnegie Hall, including Mozart’s Requiem and Ein Deutches Requiem by Brahms, both under the baton of John Rutter. Concert highlights also include a debut at the Kennedy Center and appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, New York Choral Society, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Other performances have included Bach’s Magnificat, St. John Passion, and Mass in B Minor, as well as The Creation, Mass in C Minor, Messiah, L’Enfance du Christ, Dona Nobis Pacem, Fauré’s Requiem, and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Upcoming concerts include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Chorale in his Avery Fisher Hall debut.
    - He recently performed the role of Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea) in his debut with New York City Opera. His operatic credits include Colline (La bohème) with Palm Beach Opera, Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore) with Cleveland Opera, bass soloist in a Mozart Anniversary Gala with Dayton Opera, Il Bonzo (Madama Butterfly) with Toledo Opera, Sparafucile (Rigoletto) with Opera Birmingham, 5th Jew (Salome) with Baltimore Opera, Frank (Die Fledermaus) with the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, as well as Bardolfo (Salieri’s Falstaff), Judge Turpin (Sweeney Todd), and Don Magnifico (La cenerentola) with Wolf Trap Opera. Other roles have included Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Uberto (La Serva Padrona), Crespel (The Tales of Hoffmann), Don Alfonso (Così fan Tutte), and the Count in Manon. Other credits include singing the role of Parsons under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel in the pre-production recording of his opera, 1984.
    - The bass was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, National Finalist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago Center for American Artists, Grand Prize-winner of both the Florida Grand Opera Competition and the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Competition, and a winner in the Liederkranz Foundation, Palm Beach Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Birmingham, Connecticut Opera, and the Oratorio Society of New York vocal competitions. He is also the recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Career Grant.
    - A recipient of the Artist Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory, Mr. Hardy currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his two children, Luke and Sabrina. Jason has recently released his first solo CD, entitled “Youth and Love” and is available for purchase at www.jasonhardy.net.
4. Ryan Taylor
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Shakespeare Remixed
    - generation m
    - Carmina Burana
    - Secrets of the Sky and Sea
    - Così fan tutte
    - Shakespeare Unplugged
    - La Bohème
    - Schubert and the Schumanns
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
    - ARTsong EXPRESS
    - No Song is Safe
    - Italienisches Liederbuch
  1. - Baritone and Atlanta native Ryan Taylor recently performed the role Dandini in La Cenerentola with both Opera Carolina and Piedmont Opera, and sang Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with the Bar Harbor Music Festival. Mr. Taylor made his 2006 debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a chamber music performance of Arias and Barcarolles by Leonard Bernstein. During the 2004-2005 season, he bowed as Marcello with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with the Minnesota Opera, both to public and critical acclaim. He also performed Dandini in La Cenerentola with the Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Opera Santa Barbara, and made his Atlanta Opera debut in Carmen. During the 2003-2004 season, he created the role of Voltore in the world premiere of John Musto’s opera, Volpone, commissioned by the Wolf Trap Opera Company and was also heard as Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème with Dayton Opera. Mr. Taylor performed in recital at the Kennedy Center and in Vienna, Virginia on the Wolf Trap Discovery series with Adriana Zabala and Kim Witman presenting Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch.
    - Upcoming concert engagements include Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle with the Fort Worth Symphony, and the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Bryan Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his concert appearances, Mr. Taylor revisits Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with Ft. Worth Opera, and returns to the Atlanta Opera as Paris in Roméo et Juliette. Currently a student of Bill Schuman, Mr. Taylor serves as Vocal Consultant for the Bar Harbor Music Festival, and is General Director of the Southeastern Festival of Song.
PIANO
1. Steven Blier
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - Steven Blier is the co-founder and co-artistic director, with Michael Barrett, of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), and co-hosts NYFOS’ radio broadcast with Jamie Bernstein Thomas on WQXR in New York City.
    - Mr. Blier enjoys an eminent career as an accompanist and vocal coach. Among the many artists he has partnered in recital are Samuel Ramey, Lorraine Hunt, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman, Wolfgang Holzmair, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, Roberta Peters, June Anderson, and Arlene Augér. His collaboration with Cecilia Bartoli began in 1994 and has included an appearance at Carnegie Hall where he played both piano and harpsichord. In concert with Renée Fleming, he has performed throughout North America and Europe, including a recital at La Scala and a Live from Lincoln Center telecast this past winter.
    - In keeping the traditions of America popular music alive, Mr. Blier has brought back to the stage many of the rarely heard songs of Gershwin, Arlen, Kurt Weill, and Cole Porter. He has also played ragtime, blues, and stride piano works from Eubie Blake to William Bolcom, both as a soloist and in duo-piano evenings with John Musto. A champion of American music, he has premiered works by John Corigliano, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom, John Musto, Richard Danielpour, Tobias Picker, and Lee Hoiby, many of which were commissioned by the New York Festival of Song.
    - His discography includes the premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles (Koch International), which won a Grammy Award; the NYFOS discs of Blitzstein, Gershwin, and German lieder (”Unquiet Peace”); Gershwin’s Lady Be Good! for Nonesuch Recordings; the songs of Charles Ives on Albany Records (with baritone William Sharp); and first recordings of music by Busoni and Borodin with cellist Dorothy Lawson. His most recent release is “The Land Where the Good Songs Go” (Harbinger), a disc of songs by Jerome Kern with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse, sung by Sylvia McNair and Hal Cazalet. In October 1999, New World Records issued the Grammy-nominated premiere recording of Ned Rorem’s full-length song cycle Evidence of Things Not Seen, commissioned by the NYFOS and the Library of Congress.
    - Mr. Blier is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and has been active in encouraging young recitalists at summer programs, including the Wolf Trap Opera Company and the Chautauqua Festival. His writings on opera have been featured in recent issues of Opera News magazine and The Yale Review. He has also been Quiz Master on the Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast intermissions. A native New Yorker, he received an Honors Degree in English Literature at Yale University, where his teacher was Alexander Farkas. He completed his studies in New York with Martin Isepp and Paul Jacobs.
2. Myra Huang
  2. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Schubert and the Schumanns
  1. - Myra Huang received her Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York City, followed by a Master of Music degree under Warren Jones at The Manhattan School of Music. She then joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio in Houston, Texas for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. While there, she worked extensively on the mainstage productions, doing such shows as Tannhauser (where she also made her professional mainstage singing debut as a noble page!), Eugene Onegin, Samson and Dalila, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Bohème, and La Traviata, the last of which was Renee Fleming’s debut in the role of Violetta. Since then, she has continued on to a vast operatic repertoire under the baton of such conductors as Robert Spano, Christopher Hogwood, Patrick Summers, Richard Hickox, James Conlon, Lorin Maazel, and Zubin Mehta. Myra served on the music staff of the Washington National Opera in Washington D.C. of which Placido Domingo is the director from 2003-2006. She regularly performs as staff pianist for Placido Domingo’s prestigious competition Operalia. She also served on music staff at New York City Opera from 2004 - 2006. She currently resides as full-time music staff at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, Spain under Intendent Helga Schmidt, where she works with conductors Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta.
      In addition to her work in opera, Ms. Huang has achieved many honors as a solo pianist. At age 14, she was one of the youngest winners ever of the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at the Juilliard School, which granted her full-scholarship tuition to The Juilliard School pre-college division. At age 16, she was a winner of the Kosciuszko Piano Competition in New York, as well as winner of the New York Governor’s Award. She has performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center.
3. Kathleen Kelly
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - The Great Escape
    - generation m
  1. - Opera coach Kathleen Kelly enjoys a wide-ranging career whose variety reflects her many interests and gifts. 2006 was a banner year for Ms. Kelly. In September, she began her duties at Houston Grand Opera with the dual titles Head of Music Staff and Music Director of the HGO Studio. She serves as the major coach of HGO’s highly acclaimed professional training program, and oversees the day-to-day musical activities of the house. In April, she was the subject of a feature article for Playbill Arts, “Key Player,” detailing her new position with the company. In December, she made her HGO conducting debut, leading performances of Hansel and Gretel in her own arrangement for chamber ensemble, to critical acclaim.
    - Summer of 2006 was also Ms. Kelly’s first season as Music Director of the Berkshire Opera Company in Pittsfield, MA She assumed her duties there in August 2005 after three seasons of leading the company’s increasingly respected Resident Artist Program. In addition to forming the curriculum and faculty for that program, she conducted performances of The Secret Marriage, Trouble in Tahiti, The Old Maid and the Thief, and L’heure Espagnole, all in her own chamber ensemble arrangements. She made her mainstage debut with the company in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. In 2006 she was on the podium for an all-Mozart concert, Hansel and Gretel, and Madama Butterfly.
    - In 2006, Ms. Kelly left her position as coach and prompter with the Metropolitan Opera, which she has held since 1997. Under Music Director James Levine, she specialized in German repertoire, including Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger, Wozzeck, Lulu, Salome, Elektra, Capriccio, and Der Rosenkavalier. She assisted on the MET premieres of Moses und Aron, Rodelinda, and An American Tragedy. In addition to Maestro Levine, she has assisted many of opera’s most prominent musical leaders: Valery Gergiev, Patrick Summers, Donald Runnicles, Marco Armiliato, Marcello Viotti, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Charles Mackarras, and James Conlon. She coached or assisted artists including Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Karita Mattila, Kiri te Kanawa, Katarina Dalayman, Jane Eaglen, Patricia Racette, Deborah Polaski, Yvonne Naef, Olga Borodina, Dolora Zajick, Susan Graham, Placido Domingo, Marcello Giordani, Ben Heppner, Thomas Hampson, Nathan Gunn, Bryn Terfel, Rene Pape, and James Morris. . During her tenure, she was the subject of both a MET broadcast intermission feature and a Wall Street journal article.
    - Ms. Kelly also performs in recital with singers around the country. She has performed on Marilyn Horne’s “On Wings of Song” series with Troy Cook and Jennifer Aylmer, and will appear in 2007 with Southeastern Festival of Song. She performed with Renee Fleming on “A Prairie Home Companion” in December 2005.
    - Teaching continues to be a large part of Ms. Kelly’s resume. In addition to her work with the HGO studio in the coming season, she will be a guest coach for the Lindemann Young Artist Program, and guest artist for a week at the University of Michigan.
    - Ms. Kelly’s earlier credits include a long association with the San Francisco Opera, where she received her training in the Merola Opera Program in 1991 and 1992. She has also worked at Opera Australia, Seattle Opera, Sarasota Opera, Tacoma Opera, and the Spoleto Festival. She was Director of Musical Studies for the Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artists in 2000 and 2001. She was a visiting artist at the Peabody Conservatory in 2004 and 2005.
    - Ms. Kelly is newly at home in Houston, Texas. She is married to Paul Chuey, a writer.
4. Peter Marshall
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
  1. - One of the most versatile musicians in the Atlanta area, Peter Marshall performs on piano, harpsichord and organ in a variety of settings. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in Atlanta, Washington, D. C. (National Symphony), Richmond, Norfolk (Virginia Symphony) and Columbus (Ohio), as well as with the chamber groups Hesperus and Folger Consort, and has given solo recitals in the United States and abroad.
    - Active as an accompanist and coach in Atlanta since 1993, Marshall is in frequent demand as a collaborative pianist in vocal and instrumental recitals. He has appeared with the cutting-edge contemporary ensemble Bent Frequency, and in 2004 joined the roster of the Southeastern Festival of Song.
    - Marshall joined the faculty of the Georgia State University School of Music in 2001. In addition to teaching accompanying, he is the musical director of the opera workshop during the academic year, and serves as a coach for the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop. Marshall currently holds the Hugh and Jessie Hodgson Keyboard Chair at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and performs numerous concerts with the ASO throughout the year.
    - Dr. Marshall chaired the organ department at the Catholic University of America from 1984 to 1993, having previously taught at Duke University and served as its Chapel Organist. He holds degrees from Oberlin College and Yale University and studied at the Musikhochschule Lübeck as a Fulbright Scholar.
5. Carrie-Ann Matheson
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Così fan tutte
    - Girls Gone Bad
    - La Bohème
    - Our Love is Here to Stay
    - ARTsong EXPRESS
    - No Song is Safe
  1. - Carrie-Ann Matheson, a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, is currently an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, she was invited to join the coaching staff of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program upon the completion of two years as an apprentice coach/pianist.
    - An active performer, Ms. Matheson has collaborated in recital with some of the world’s most prominent artists, including Ruth Ann Swenson, Barbara Bonney, Marilyn Horne and Eike Wilm Schulte. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2000, joining soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian in the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s New York Recital. In addition, she has performed in gala concerts with Aprile Millo, Hei-Kyung Hong, Christine Goerke, Barbara Dever, Franco Farina, Rodney Gilfry and Brian Asawa, among others.
    - Ms. Matheson has served on the coaching faculty of the International Vocal Arts Institute in Casalmaggiore, Italy and in Nagano, Japan. She was also Co-Music Director of the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival in Urbania, Italy, for their 2001 and 2002 seasons. During the 2003 summer season, she joined the coaching staff for Opera Festival of New Jersey and also served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival.
    - Prior to joining the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Matheson was a full scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Warren Jones. She also holds a degree in Accompanying from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Music Education degree from the University of Prince Edward Island.
6. David Shimoni
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Blithe Spirits
  1. - American pianist David Shimoni enjoys an active career as both soloist and collaborative artist. Described by the American Record Guide as a pianist whose playing “was as smooth as velvet,” his 2007-2008 engagements include recitals on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago and the Artists Series of Sarasota, at the Dallas Museum of Art with Southeastern Festival of Song, and in Minnesota and Louisiana for the Piatigorsky Foundation. He also makes a concerto appearance with the Philharmonia Northwest in Seattle.
    - Mr. Shimoni is the first-prize winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Auditions, International Beethoven Sonata Competition, Five Towns Music and Art Competition, and Simone Belsky Competition. In previous seasons he has appeared in recital in New York’s Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, 92nd St. Y, and Museum of Modern Art, as well as in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh. He has been a guest artist at the Chautauqua, Brevard, and Foothills music festivals and a soloist with the International Chamber Ensemble of Rome and Chappaqua Orchestra.
    - As a chamber musician, Mr. Shimoni has collaborated with the Jupiter String Quartet and members of the New Jersey Symphony and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Mr. Shimoni also appears regularly in recital with acclaimed opera singers and recently made a guest appearance with the New York Festival of Song.
      An avid performer of new music, Mr. Shimoni has premiered songs and chamber works by composers Justine F. Chen, Kenji Bunch, Haflidi Hallgrimsson, and Ellen Fishman-Johnson. In addition, he has performed as solo pianist with Toronto Dance Theatre and recorded with Broadway performers Kelli O’Hara and Norm Lewis. He has given educational and outreach concerts throughout the United States in affiliation with the Piatigorsky Foundation and Astral Artistic Services and has also performed for the charitable organization Sing for Hope.
    - Born in Chapel Hill, NC, Mr. Shimoni attended the North Carolina School of the Arts during high school and earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Swarthmore College. He subsequently received the Vladimir Horowitz Scholarship to study at the Juilliard School, where he obtained masters degrees in both solo and collaborative performance. His principal teachers have been Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert McDonald, Marc Durand, Brian Zeger, Edna Golandsky, and Ilya Itin. In addition to performing and teaching, Mr. Shimoni is currently a doctoral student in piano performance at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
7. Mark Stamper
  2. website
  3. SEFoS Appearances:
    - Secrets of the Sky and Sea
  1. - A native of South Carolina, Mark L. Stamper began his piano study at the age of three and eventually expanded his musical interests to include choral music and sacred music ministry. In 1986, he received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina where he studied with Dr. Eugene Barban. In 1998, Mr. Stamper was awarded a Master of Music degree with concentration in choral conducting from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas where he was the assistant conductor of Oratorio Chorus.
    - He has since accompanied for such notable conductors as Andre Thomas, Donald Neuen, Roger Wagner and Michael Schwarzkoff. Most recently, he held the position of coach/accompanist with the Opera Carolina Theater, and also toured with professional soprano Colleen Mallette as her accompanist. In July 2001, Mr. Stamper competed in his first piano competition in San Antonio, Texas. There, he was awarded the Silver Medal at the Concours International de la Musique.
    - Mr. Stamper has been the Musical Director and accompanist for such shows as The Music Man, Bye, Bye Birdie, Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, The King and I and Chess.
    - Mr. Stamper was appointed associate artistic director for The Texas Boys Choir in 1999. In addition to responsibilities as accompanist and assistant conductor for the choir, he was also tou