Newly appointed Head of Stage Directors for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden (ROH), STAGE DIRECTOR JUSTIN WAY has devoted the year to overseeing the direction of projects for ROH. Upcoming for Mr. Way is a directorial debut for Yale Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, following acclaimed debut productions with The Minnesota Opera and Singapore Opera last season.
CONDUCTOR ANTONY WALKER made several important conducting debuts in the season with for The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Melbourne Symphony and he added performances of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in a return to Opera Australia. Upcoming is a return to English National Opera in addition to projects for Pittsburgh Opera where he serves as music director.
Stage DIRECTOR KRISTINE MCINTYRE makes her Utah Opera debut and returns to Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City in the season. Last season included a return to Tulsa Opera, a debut with Austin Lyric Opera, and a debut with Des Moines Metro Opera. Projects in the recent season included a new production of La Bohème, a revival of her production of Flight, La Cenerentola, The Mikado, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, and Le Nozze di Figaro.
BASS-BARITONE DARREN K. STOKES looks forward to debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra in the next season. He returns to the Dallas Opera and Indianapolis Opera and he makes a role debut singing Banquo in a return to Boston Lyric Opera. New roles in the recent season include Figaro and Theseus for San Antonio and Boston Lyric Opera, respectively, together with a cover assignment of Queequeg in Moby Dick for the Dallas Opera.
TENOR ARTHUR ESPIRITU makes company debuts with Austin Lyric Opera, Washington Concert Opera and Gotham Chamber Opera in a reprise of Tamino and role debuts singing Foresto (Attila) and Publio (Il Sogno di Scipione). Recent successes include Elvino (La Sonnambula) for Sankt Gallen Theatre in Switzerland, Tamino for Israeli Opera in TelAviv, and the tenor solo inVerdi’s Requiem in Norway.
TENOR HUGO VERA returns to The Metropolitan Opera in the season to sing Abdallo and looks forward to a company debut with Pittsburgh Opera in a reprise of Cavaradossi. Mr. Vera returned to Spoleto,USA last season for The Magic Flute, sang Trin in La Fanciulla del West for The Metropolitan Opera , made a company and role debut singing Radames for Opera Memphis.
SOPRANO REBEKAH CAMM sings Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 with Alabama Symphony Orchestra in the upcoming season. She adds the roles of Eliza in Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters and Antonia (Tales of Hoffmann) and she returns to the Barns of Wolf Trap to sing in the Discovery Series. Following a highy successful Susanna in a role debut with Los Angeles Opera, she sang 1st Lady (Die Zauberflöte) for Spoleto, USA and the Soprano Solo in Bruckner’s Te Deum, also for Spoleto, USA.
One of five US singers chosen to compete in prestigious Wigmore Hall Song Competition ,SOPRANO DEBORAH SELIG looks forward to Musetta for Central City Opera and Bella in The Midsummer Marriage for Opera Boston. Ms. Selig recently made a role debut performing Pamina for Chautuaqua Opera, sang a concert of Bach cantatas in a debut with Handel and Haydn Society, and presented recitals throughout the United States.
DANIEL BILLINGS, BARITONE looks forward to a return for a second season with Teater Bielefeld where he performs Ned Keene, Silvio, Don Giovanni, Aeneas and Marullo. Mr Billings debut season with the theater included Figaro, Silvio, Thoas, and 2nd Soldier . Mr. Billings has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Il Teatro di Cagliari, the Colorado Symphony, Fort Worth Opera, and Central City Opera.
SOPRANO MARY-JEAN O’DOHERTY joined the roster between performances of Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) for Prague State Opera. A recent graduate of the distinguished Cardiff International Academy of Voice (CIAV), Ms. O’Doherty has performed with Welsh National Opera and made her Royal Albert Hall debut in the season. She looks forward to joining Opera Theatre of St. Louis in its production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND in 2012.
KATHARINE TIER, MEZZO-SOPRANO makes important role debuts with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe including Octavian, Clementine, Didon, Flora and Dorabella. This follows a highly successful season singing with Deutsche Opera Berlin, the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, State Opera of South Australia and Virginia Opera in the US. She looks forward to a reprise of Brigitta with The Dallas Opera in upcoming seasons.
A recent addition to the roster, SOPRANO HANAN ALATTAR returned to the US following wonderfully acclaimed performances of Leila in THE PEARL FISHERS for English National Opera. She made role and company debuts with Seattle Opera and Austin Lyric Opera performing Pamina garnering additional high praise. Ms. Alattar also performed the Mozart Requiem and other works with The Seattle Symphony Orchestra while in Washington.
TENOR CARL HALVORSON returns to Portland Opera in the upcoming season to sing in Falstaff and Le nozze di Figaro. The season also includes recitals for Portland State University where Mr. Halvorson is on the faculty.
COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR MICHAEL CHING looks forward to the premiere of his new opera Slaying of the Dragon commissioned by Center City Opera Theater in Philadelphia in the upcoming season. His recent premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with voicestra was met with great enthusiasm and praise.