Berkshire Opera
Life has a soundtrack.

Matthew E. Adelson, lighting designer

Matthew E. Adelson (Lighting Designer) previously designed for the Berkshire Opera: the 2007 Moonlight at the Mahaiwe and the 2006 Mozart concerts, both at the Mahaiwe. Also in the Berkshires this summer: The Caretaker and A Man for All Seasons for the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Other credits include: Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Florida Studio Theatre, Shakespeare and Company, Portland Stage, Merrimack Rep, Miniature Theatre of Chester, Yale Rep, American Music Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Hopkins Center, Lincoln Center and New York City Center, among many others. Matthew is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and is also the Lighting Designer for the Dance Program at Williams College and the Production Manager/Lighting Designer for the Mahaiwe.

Liam Bonner, baritone

Baritone Liam Bonner is a former Houston Grand Opera Studio Artist and a native of Pittsburgh, PA. His opera credits include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Il Conte d’Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Don Giovanni, Il Cavaliere di Belfiore in Un giorno di Regno, Silvano in Un ballo in maschera, Hortensius in La fille du Régiment, Redburn in Billy Budd, The Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, Morales/Dancaïre in Carmen, Sid in Albert Herring, Belaev in Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country (which was recorded and released on the Albany label), Il Cavaliere di Ripafrata in Martinů’s Mirandolina, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, and King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, amongst others. He has been the baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and the World Premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ The Refuge. Liam has performed with Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Ballet, and Filharmonie Hradec Králové (Czech Republic). He received his master of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and his bachelor of fine arts degree in vocal performance from Carnegie Mellon University.

Charles Caine, costume designer

Resident costume designer Charles Caine made his debut with Berkshire Opera by designing costumes for the 1994 production of L’Italiana in Algeri. Other past engagements with the Berkshire Opera have included La Boheme and Cosi fan Tutte. He was resident costume designer for the Metropolitan Opera for 16 seasons, as well for the PBS television production of Luisa Miller starring Domingo, Scotto, and Milnes. His costume designs have appeared at the Met, NYCO, Dallas Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and Opera International. Upcoming engagements include: Un ballo in maschera, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Daughter of the Regiment, and La Boheme.

Patrick Carfizzi, bass-baritone

Patrick Carfizzi has performed regularly with the Metropolitan Opera since his debut with the company in the 1999-2000 season in a wide variety of roles. In the 2007-2008 season, he returned to the Met for performances of Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro. Additionally, at the Metropolitan Opera in past seasons, he has performed such roles as Schaunard in La Boheme, the Mandarin in Turandot, Fleville in Andrea Chenier, Betto in Gianni Schicchi, Ortel in Die Meistersinger, Wagner in Faust, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri, Peter Quince in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Innkeeper in Manon, the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos, and The Doctor in Pelleas et Melisande. Other engagements for the 2007-2008 season include his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, role debut performances of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at Houston Grand Opera, and Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia the Canadian Opera Company. Upcoming engagements for future seasons include performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and Seattle Opera.

A graduate of the Yale University School of Music, Mr. Carfizzi has won several prestigious awards: Of note, he has won the Richard Tucker Career Grant Award, the 2001 George London Award, the 1999 Sarah Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the 1998 Sullivan Foundation Award, the 1994-95 and 1995-96 America Opera Scholarship Society Awards, a Richard F. Gold Career Gant from the Shoshana Foundation, and the 1995-96 Sergio Franchi Memorial Scholarship from the National Italian American Association. He has also participated in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions where he was the Connecticut District winner in 1998, and the Third Place Winner in the Mid-Atlantic Region in 1996.

Claude Corbeil, bass-baritone

Renowned French-Canadian bass-baritone Claude Corbeil performed on the operatic and concerts stages of the world for over 39 years. With a master degree from the Montreal Conservatory of Music, he made his operatic debut at the age of 17 in the role of Chichibio in Mozart’s L’Oca del Cairo.

This launched a career in which he became best known for his portrayals of opera’s favorite comedic characters, among them Leporello, Basilio, Figaro, Sulpice, Don Alfonso, Dulcamara, Don Magnifico, Don Pasquale, Gianni Schicchi, and Falstaff. In addition to the comedic figures in his more than 80 roles, he also sang Mephistopheles, the 4 villains in Tales of Hoffman, Don Giovanni, Colline, Johanahaan, Frere Laurent, Raimondo, to name only a few.

Mr. Corbeil sang in all the major opera houses and festivals of the US and Canada, and internationally in London’s Covent Garden, Scottish National Opera, Welsh National Opera, and throughout France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South America, and Israel. He shared the stage with Jon Vickers, Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland, Cornell MacNeil, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, James Morris, Montserrat Caballe, and Frederica Von Stade under the batons of conductors Zubin Mehta, Richard Bonynge, Wilfred Pelltier, Charles Munch and Charles Dutoit.

A frequent recitalist, Mr. Corbeil gave concerts, radio and television appearances throughout Canada interpreting the song cycles of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Duparc, Massenet, Faure, and Debussy. A popular radio and TV personality, he hosted his own television show in the seventies on the CBC French network.

In 1985, The Canadian government sent Mr. Corbeil along with well known contralto Maureen Forrester to the People’s Republic of China to give a series of Master Classes and concerts throughout the country, a trip documented and filmed by the CBC and shown world-wide. In acknowledgement of his brilliant career, Claude Corbeil was inducted into the Canadian Musical Hall of Fame in December 1997.

Now retired from the stage, and teaching voice, Mr. Corbeil is on the faculty of the Opera Institute of Boston University, and has worked with singers in the young artist programs of Washington Opera, Minnesota Opera, Montreal Conservatory, McGill University, University of Massachusetts, to name only a few. He also teaches privately in Massachusetts and New York City, and travels with his wife, soprano Maureen O’Flynn.
Tandy Cronyn, actress

Tandy Cronyn returns to the Berkshires this summer to join Barrington Stage Company’s production of Private Lives, playing August 7 – 24. In past summers she appeared for BSC in The Importance of Being Earnest and Ring Round the Moon. Earlier this year she joined the Chorus of Westerly in Rhode Island to play ‘Christmas’ in their annual production of A Celebration of Twelfth Night. A native New Yorker, she played Off-Broadway recently in the Mint Theater Company’s The Return of the Prodigal which received a Drama Desk nomination for best revival. She appeared on Broadway as Sally Bowles in the original production of Cabaret and Off-Broadway in A Shayna Maidel and The Killing of Sister George. She has toured in the Sondheim musical Company, and in A. R. Gurney’s comedy The Cocktail Hour. Tandy has performed major classical and contemporary roles in theatres across North America, notably Hartford Stage, Yale Rep, Cleveland Play House, Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Theater Company, San Diego’s Old Globe and the Denver Center Theater Co. She portrayed Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst at Missouri Rep, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at The Stratford Festival of Canada, but has appeared in the greatest variety of roles at PlayMakers Repertory Company at UNC, Chapel Hill, where she has played Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra, Estragon in Waiting for Godot, and Vivian Bearing in Wit, among many others. Her work over the years has covered a broad spectrum of periods, styles and playwrights, including Shakespeare, Edward Albee, G. B. Shaw, Brian Friel, Moliere, Neil Simon, Samuel Beckett, Eugene O’Neill, and Bertolt Brecht. Tandy has appeared in the television movies, ‘The Guardian’, ‘Age-Old Friends’, ‘The Story Lady’ and ‘Getting Out’; and episodes of “Law and Order”, “The Book of Daniel”, and “The Guiding Light”.

Mark H. Dold, actor

Actor Mark H. Dold has appeared in the Broadway production of Absurd Person Singular at the Biltmore Theatre, directed by John Tillinger; other performances in the New York theatre landscape include productions of Tall Grass at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Shockheaded Peter at the Little Shubert Theatre, Mayhem at the The Lion (SPF 2004), Othello with NYSF/The Public Theatre, The Seagull and Timon of Athens with NYSF/ Delacorte, Race and The Winter’s Tale with Classic Stage Company, Comic Potential with Manhattan Theatre Club, Buying Time with Hypothetical Theatre Company, Spread Eagle with W.P.A., Romeo and Juliet with New Victory/TFNA, and Body Builder’s Book of Love with INTAR. A few highlights of his regional theatre performances include Hecuba (U.S. premiere w/ Marsha Mason), Singing Forest (East Coast premiere), and Las Menias (world premiere) as well as Barrington Stage Company’s productions of Black Comedy, Ring Round the Moon, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Cyrano de Bergerac. A few of his film/television credits include Gossip Girl (guest star), Conviction (guest star), Third Watch (co-star), and Law and Order: C.I. (guest star). He earned his B.F.A. from Boston University School for the Arts, completed a two-year program with William Esper/William Esper Studios, and earned his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, where he won the Carol Dye Acting Award.

Jason Ferrante, tenor

Jason Ferrante is quickly becoming recognized as one of the leading character singers of his generation. Praised by Opera News for “singing up a stylish storm”, the American tenor sings both comedians and protagonists on the operatic stage, and in concert, a repertoire of a wide range of composers from Bach and Handel to John Musto and Lowell Liebermann. . Engagements for the 2007-2008 season included his return to Arizona Opera for Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Blind in Die Fledermaus and Monastatos in Die Zauberflöte, Borsa in Rigoletto with New Jersey Opera Theater, and Pang in Turandot with Orlando Opera. Highlights of the 2006-2007 included a return to Arizona Opera as Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro directed by Sir Thomas Allen, a debut at the Kennedy Center as the Second Nazarene in Salome with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and starring Deborah Voigt, a debut with Orlando Opera as Goro in Madama Butterfly, and a return invitation to sing at the 2006 Wolf Trap Ball at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. In October, Ferrante joined many colleagues for a Juilliard Vocal Arts Alumni Gala fundraiser for SING FOR HOPE.

In the 2005-2006 season, Ferrante sang in four productions of Madama Butterfly with the Jacksonville Symphony, Opera Birmingham, Harrisburg Opera and Berkshire Opera. He was also heard as St. Brioche in The Merry Widow at Indianapolis Opera, and as Tybalt in Romeo et Juliette and Coryphee in Le Comte Ory during his second summer as a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap where he was the recipient of a Shouse Education Fund Grant.

In the 2004-2005 season Ferrante made debuts with the Arizona Opera as the Magician in The Consul, and with Dayton Opera as Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, and returned to Annapolis Opera for Goro in Madame Butterfly after participating in “Art Song’s and Arias” at Zilka Hall to benefit Houston’s Bering-Omega House.The Summer of 2005 saw Ferrante back at Wolf Trap where he performed the role of the Beadle in Sweeney Todd, sang in the “Murder and Other Operatic Mayehem” concert in his debut with the National Symphony, and on the recital, “Where the Boys Are” with pianist, Steven Blier.

Ferrante’s other operatic credits include Paolino in The Secret Marriage with Berkshire Opera, Cornaccio in the world premiere of John Musto’s Volpone at Wolf Trap, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Sideshow Opera, Rooster in the musical Annie with Ash Lawn Opera, Spalanzani in The Tales of Hoffmann with the Sarasota Opera, Torquemada in L’heure Espagnole and Bardolfo in Falstaff at Tanglewood under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos and Monostatos in The Magic Flute with the Aspen Opera Theatre Center and Dr.Blind with Annapolis Opera. From 1993-2000, Ferrante appeared in many roles at Juilliard including Ximenes in the U.S. stage premiere of Weill’s Der Kuhhandel, and roles in Le nozze di Figaro, The Italian Straw Hat, Werther, The Love for Three Oranges, The Magic Flute, Street Scene, L’etoile, and The Fairy Queen.

Ferrante has been heard in concert and recital on five continents and holds both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. He is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Wolf Trap, Annapolis Opera, The Rosa Ponselle Foundation, Aspen Music Festival and Tanglewood. He has been heard on NPR, PBS, WNYC, WQXR and has been a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz. He makes his fulltime home in Miami, FL.

Dipu Gupta, scenic and lighting designer

Dipu Gupta is a set designer, lighting designer, and architect living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a set designer, he has established himself as an innovative designer of classical plays and operas. He has designed for companies throughout the country including for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Opera Pacific, Berkshire Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep, the Julliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Gotham Chamber Opera, and two recently completed international productions for Opera Africa in Johannesburg. As an architect, he has designed buildings in New York, New Hampshire, California and New Mexico. His restaurant and night club design work in New York City has been published. He studied art history and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, went on to earn a Masters of Architecture at the University of Virginia and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been asked to join the faculty at the University of California for the upcoming year as an Artist in Residence.

Jason Hardy, bass

Acclaimed on the opera, concert, and recital stage, bass Jason Hardy is emerging as one of today’s most versatile artists.

He recently performed the role of Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea in his debut with New York City Opera. His operatic credits include Leporello in Don Giovanni with Orlando Opera, Colline in La bohème with Palm Beach Opera, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Cleveland Opera, Basilio in Barber of Seville and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Opera Birmingham, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Connecticut Opera, , 5th Jew in Salome with Baltimore Opera, Don Magnifico in La cenerentola with Wolf Trap Opera, and an opera gala with Opéra de Montréal, Upcoming engagements include the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Cleveland, and Cadmus/Somnus in Semele with Florentine Opera.
The bass was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a winner in the Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Connecticut Opera vocal competitions. Concert highlights include solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center. He has offered solo recitals at the prestigious Marlboro Festival, with the Southeastern Festival of Song, and in numerous recitals under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation.

Shana Blake Hill, soprano

Hailed as “both visually and vocally voluptuous”, soprano Shana Blake Hill continues to excite audiences and critics alike, proving herself to be a multifaceted performer in the operatic and orchestral repertoires. Of her recent debut singing composer Bright Sheng’s The Phoenix with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, The Saratogan exclaimed, “Shana Blake Hill was amazing in this very difficult soprano role…her richly colored tone lent dignity and a sense of awe to the tale…she was a mesmerizing presence”. Her performance of The Phoenix is now due for release on the Naxos label this year. Ms. Hill appears as a principal artist with such opera companies as: The Los Angeles Opera, Savonlinna Festival Opera (Finland), Opera Pacific, Dayton Opera, Opera Southwest, Cincinnati Opera, Long Beach Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, Durham Triangle Opera, Fargo Moorhead Opera, Opera Stockton, West Bay Opera, and Opera Nova. She has also been featured as a solo artist with orchestras such as; The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Pacific Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, The New West Symphony, Colorado Symphony, The Louisville Orchestra, Pacific Chorale, The Florida Philharmonic, The Naples Philharmonic, The Pasadena Symphony, and the California Philharmonic.

Highlights of Ms. Hill’s recent engagements and notable upcoming events include: Susannah with Opera Pacific, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Opera Southwest, “Secrets of the Sky and Sea” with The Berkshire Opera as well as a solo recital on their Vocal Colors series entitled “Art in Nature”, Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with Louisville Symphony, Bruckner’s Te Deum and Beethoven 9 with The New West Symphony, Mahler 4 and Canteloube’s Chants D’Auvergne with Jorge Mester and the Pasadena Symphony (also with The Naples Philharmonic), Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor with Pasadena Symphony, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with The Angeles Chorale, Les Nuits D’ete and Porgi and Bess Highlights with Pasadena Pops Orchestra, Sakagawea in Michael Ching’s Corps of Discovery with Fargo Moorhead Opera, and Cio cio san in a concert production of Madama Butterfly with the Bryan Symphony, and an ABC Christmas special broadcast live with the Colorado Symphony. Ms. Hill appears in solo recital in North Carolina and Vermont, and with The Verdi Chorus for their 25th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles.

Born in North Carolina Ms. Hill received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, her Master of Music from The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and is an Alumna of The Los Angeles Opera’s Resident Artist program.

Gregg Kallor, pianist and composer

In a review of pianist and composer Gregg Kallor’s 2007 Carnegie Hall debut, Harris Goldsmith wrote: “It took but a few impeccably shaped phrases to make it plain that Kallor is a formidably well-trained technician and a master of stylish proportion as well… This superb recital debut truly established a new, important voice in our musical annals. We’ll be hearing a lot more.”

In addition to his classical playing and composing, Kallor is also an accomplished improviser. His 2002 jazz trio recording, There’s A Rhythm, received critical praise for the dynamic interplay of the ensemble and for the emotional depth of both Kallor’s playing and of his compositions. “Kallor can carry a poetic mood right to the edge of sorrow, always sounding lyrical and moving without ever slipping into the lachrymose.” (Owen McNally, The Harford Courant)

Kallor’s newest CD, Exhilaration – Dickinson and Yeats Songs, features his original song-cycles of poems by Emily Dickinson and William Butler Yeats, sung by mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala. “This album shows the emergence of a truly significant young composer. These songs are full of beauty, fire, pathos, humor and (everywhere) remarkable inventiveness… It’s hard to ask more of the modern song-cycle.” (Herschel Garfein, composer)

Kallor and Zabala will celebrate the release of Exhilaration with performances in New York and Connecticut in the fall. In February, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will premiere a new piece by Kallor, and in the spring he will return to Carnegie Hall for a solo concert. For more information and to purchase recordings and sheet music, please visit greggkallor.com

Gregory Keller, stage director

Gregory Keller directs both opera and theater.

Original opera productions: Madama Butterfly, L’Heure espagnole and The Old Maid and the Thief for the Berkshire Opera Company. L’incoronazione di Poppea in the Barns at Wolf Trap Opera. Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King, and Three Ten-Minute Operas for Eos Orchestra. Susannah for Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. Songs of a Wayfarer for Red {an orchestra.} Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Luisa Miller for Sarasota Opera. La Cenerentola for the OK Mozart Festival. He has also remounted Wozzeck, Lulu, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera.

Theater works include: Mark Crispin Miller’s Patriot Act at New York Theater Workshop (NYTW), which was released on DVD and broadcast on Movies On Demand. Water over Time, a one-woman show about the first female physicist, Laura Bassi, presented both in theatres and scientific institutions. Jean-Claude van Itallie’s Ancient Boys at LaMaMa ETC. David Ives’s Variations on the Death of Trotsky and The Red Address at Ensemble Studio Theater.

He has received grants for his directing projects from The Howard Gilman Foundation, the Florence Gould Foundation, the Martha Boschen Porter Fund, and the Drama League of New York.

Mr. Keller was born and raised in Los Angeles, graduated with honors from Columbia College in 1983, and hopes to retire someday in Hawai’i.

Fenlon Lamb, mezzo-soprano

American mezzo-soprano Fenlon Lamb consistently garners critical acclaim for her “dynamic, rich vocal sound” and “polished acting abilities.” In the title role of Carmen at Granite State Opera she was described as a singer “gifted with a wonderful, resonant voice that packs plenty of punch in all the right places in the score.” As a “deliciously vulnerable” Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte at Opera Santa Barbara, Ms. Lamb was praised for a “charismatic characterization [both] flirtatious and impulsive.” For her role debut of Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia with Sacramento Opera, the critic raved: “…every inch the saucy rebel [who] navigated the highly ornamented passages with creamy ease.” Opera News took notice of her performance in Sweeny Todd for Cleveland Opera saying: “Fenlon Lamb was a moving and convincing Beggar Woman.”

This season Ms. Lamb will make her Seattle Opera debut as Enrichetta in I Puritani and returns to Sacramento Opera for Mrs. Grose in Turn of the Screw. During the 2006/2007 season she portrayed the title role of Carmen for both the Mississippi and Granite State Opera companies. Other recent engagements include Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Vivente, Flora in La Traviata at Opera Grand Rapids, and Stephano in Romeo et Juliette for Opera Cleveland. Highlights from past seasons have included Angelina in La Cerentola with the Cleveland Orchestra, the title role of Iolanthe and the world premier of Come to Me in Dreams with baritone Sanford Sylvan both for Cleveland Opera.

Marie Lenormand, mezzo-soprano

In 2006-2007, Marie performed the roles of Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia with Dallas Opera, Siebel in Faust with Houston Grand Opera and Cincinnati Opera and Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at Chicago Opera Theater. In concert, she has been heard singing the alto solo in Beethoven’s 9tth Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and in recital with the New York Festival of Songs. During last season, Marie sang in Chabrier’s L’Etoile at Opera du Luxembourg and returned to New Orleans Opera and Opera de Bordeaux for Siebel in Faust. She made her debut at San Francisco Opera as The Fox (role which she created in 2003) in Rachel Portman’s Little Prince. In concert, she sang a program of baroque music with the ensemble “Ars Lyrica” in Houston, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Ete with the Bochum Philarmoniker in Germany, Handel’s Messiah with the Winston-Salem Symphony, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Gradus ad Musicam of Nancy. She also appeared in recital with the South Eastern Festival of Songs, both in Atlanta and Dallas. For more information, please visit www.marielenormand.com

Joseph Li, pianist and vocal coach

Pianist/coach and Seattle native Joseph Li joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio in September 2007. This season he coached La fille du régiment, Abduction from the Seraglio, and La bohème for Houston Grand Opera’s mainstage. Mr. Li received his bachelor of music degree in piano performance and master of music degree in vocal accompanying from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was awarded the Helen Cohn Award for chamber music and a tuition scholarship. While on staff at the Manhattan School of Music he coached several operas including Die Zauberflöte, Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni, Dialogues des Carmélites, and Il Tabarro/Gianni Schicchi. Mr. Li has studied piano with Duane Hulbert, Jeaneane Dowis, Phillip Kawin, and Thomas Muraco.

Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone

Bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World USA representative and Song Prize finalist, began the 2007 – 2008 season with performances of Sam in Un ballo in maschera with Houston Grand Opera and will return later in the season as Flint in Billy Budd. Mr. McKinny will also make his Los Angeles Opera debut as Montano in Otello and Ein Bedentier in Ullmann’s Der zerbrochene Krug, both under the baton of Maestro James Conlon. This summer, Mr. McKinny will be seen at Wolf Trap as Barone di Kelbar in Verdi’s Un giorno di regno, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Berkshire Opera, and bass-baritone soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra. In upcoming seasons, he will be seen as Don Pedro in Béatrice et Bénédict and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both at HGO and his debut with Utah Opera as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro.

As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio Artists Program from 2005 – 2007, Mr. McKinny has performed Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Ramfis in Aida, Peter in Hänsel und Gretel, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Zuniga in Carmen, all on the mainstage at HGO. In November 2006, he sang the role of Der Tod in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis conducted by Maestro Conlon with the Jewish Community Center of Houston (in partnership with Houston Grand Opera). He also previously sang this role with Maestro Conlon at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. In the summer of 2006, Mr. McKinny sang Le Gouverneur in Rossini’s Le comte Ory and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at Wolf Trap Opera.

Mr. McKinny made his Carnegie Hall debut in December 2004 in Handel’s Messiah with the Musica Sacra Orchestra. At the Aspen Music Festival in 2007, he sang his first performance of Winterreise accompanied on the piano by Richard Bado. He has also been heard as soloist in the Mozart, Brahms, and Fauré Requiems as well as Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem. Additionally, he sang the world premiere of Henrik Strindberg’s I Thought Someone Came By at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in 2004.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. McKinny represented the United States in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where he was a finalist in the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. He was also a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was the third place winner in the 2005 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition.

Maureen O’Flynn, soprano

Maureen O’Flynn, garners enthusiastic praise from critics, peers and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Of a recent opening night performance of Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera house, the New York Times says the soprano “won a deserved ovation from the audience” and Variety exclaims “…not only a superb technician, with the full coloratura arsenal at her disposal, but a sensitive interpreter…” As one of Musical America’s coveted “Artists to Watch,” Ms. O’Flynn is also regarded as one of the finest interpreters of the role of Gilda in Rigoletto. She performed the role with the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Plácido Domingo, Arena di Verona, Covent Garden, La Fenice, Genoa, Italy, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, San Carlo, Naples, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, New Israeli Opera, the Israel Philharmonic, and debuted with Dallas Opera, winning the company’s Callas Award as “Outstanding New Artist of the Year.”

Egagements in the 2006-2007 Season included Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, Amina in La Sonnambula with Teatro Cervantes, Elena in Donna del Lago with Minnesota Opera, Marguerite in Faust with Portland Opera, Pat Nixon in Nixon in China with Cincinnati Opera, and Mimi in La bohème with the Minnesota Orchestra. In the 2007-2008 Season, she performed Micaela in Carmen
with Portland Opera, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with L’Opera de Montreal, Leila in Les pêcheurs des perles with Florida Grand Opera, and Violetta in La traviata with the Minnesota Orchestra. In the 2008-2009 Season, she performs and the title role in Manon with Opera Carolina, Blue Fairy in Pinocchio with the Minnesota Opera, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Magda in La Rondine.

Other recent noted performances include Nanetta in Falstaff in her La Scala debut in a performance conducted by Riccardo Muti, which was recorded on SONY, as well as Violetta in La traviata with the Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg Staatsoper, Palacio Festivales in Santander, Spain, Portland Opera, Dallas Symphony, MET Opera in the Parks and Opera Company of Philadelphia. In addition, she has recently performed Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow with Minnesota Opera, Amina in La sonnambula at the Opera de la Coruna, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Santander Festival, I Puritani at the Deutsche oper Berlin, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor in Trieste, Tokyo and with Florida Grand Opera, 3 heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann at Calgary Opera, Leila in Les pêcheurs des perles with the Michigan Opera Theatre, Micaela in Carmen with the Metropolitan Opera, and the Soprano Soloist in Vaughn Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony.

She made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall, as well as recitals for the Wexford Festival and the Richard Tucker Gala Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, which is broadcast nationally on PBS and has an all-star cast including Barbara Dever, Denyce Graves, Jerry Hadley and Samuel Ramey for concert performances of Grand Opera’s Greatest Hits with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, as well as Broadways Greatest Hits with Jerry Hadley with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Broadway great Paul Gemignani. She has also appeared in a gala concert with Nicola Ghiaurov, conducted by Riccardo Muti and has appeared as the honored soloist for the televised Christmas Midnight Mass at New York City’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral Additional working in this repertoire include Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 with the Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Tokyo Shinsei Symphony, Amenaide in Tancredi at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Mozart’s Exultate, Jubilate!, Mass in C, Coronation Mass and Requiem Mass; Fauré’s Requiem and Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Judas Maccabeus and Psalm 112. She has been awarded prizes by two of opera’s most prestigious organizations, the Richard Tucker Foundation Grant and the Opera Index First Prize.

Suzanne Ramo, Soprano

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. Her roles include Violetta, Gilda, Baby Doe, and Fiordiligi, among others. She has sung with such companies as Austin Lyric Opera, Utah Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, where she was an Adler Fellow.

Recent performances include La Traviata with Amarillo Opera, for which the Amarillo Globe News said, “Through Ramo, the audience experienced the greatness of Verdi’s achievement, with her voice transporting and enthralling.” The upcoming season includes Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Austin Lyric Opera, and Micaëla in Carmen with Amarillo Opera.

On the concert stage, Ms. Ramo has been heard in such works as the Brahms Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Handel’s Messiah, and Poulenc’s Gloria. For her performance as the Seraph in Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Chronicle praised her as “a brilliant Seraph, her coloratura blazing forth brightly and her lyrical phrasing sweetly rendered.”

A native of Washington State, she resides in Texas with her husband, a pianist and university music professor.

Martha Ruskai, hair and makeup artist

Martha Ruskai earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and an M.F.A. in theatre design from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her professional credits as makeup artist, wig maker, and designer include Santa Fe, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Nashville, Atlanta, Greensboro, and National operas; Opera Carolina; Piedmont Opera Theatre; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; New York Concert Baroque/Concert Royal; Atlanta Ballet; and North Carolina Dance Theatre. Ms. Ruskai built and styled properties wigs for the motion picture Sleeping with the Enemy and the TNT production of “Tecumseh!” She also designed hair and makeup for Atlanta Opera’s Gala Concerts for the 1996 Cultural Olympiad.

Scott Scully, tenor

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”. Mr. Scully is pleased to return to Edmonton Opera for his first performances of Steuermann in the Der Fliegende Holländer following his successful portrayal of Don José in Carmen in 2007. . Future performances in the 2007-08 season include a return to Fort Worth Opera as Louis in Angels in America and as the Ballad Singer in Of Mice and Men. He also joins Dallas Opera for The Merry Widow and appears with Opera Pacific in performances of Die Zauberflöte. In addition to Nemorino, he sang Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Arizona Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Opera Ontario, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Colorado, and Ferrando, Rodolfo, and Alfredo for the Bar Harbor Music Festival in productions of Così fan tutte, La Bohème and La Traviata, respectively. Mr. Scully made his San Francisco Opera debut as Squeak in Billy Budd after which he joined Pittsburgh Opera for subsequent performances of the role. He has twice portrayed the Chevalier in Dialogues des Carmélites in performances led by James Conlon and Christopher Larkin, and has participated in Falstaff , Der Rosenkavalier and Handel’s Messiah with the Cleveland Orchestra, under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. An alumnus of the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera Studio, he made his company debut as the Messenger in Aida, and was the original interpreter of the Lamplighter, Drunkard, Hunter, and Baobab in the world premiere of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. As a member of the prestigious San Francisco Opera Center, Mr. Scully sang Rodolfo in La Bohème and was immediately re-engaged to repeat the role on the company’s Western Opera Theatre Tour. He is a three-time McAllister Opera Award winner, has received both an Encouragement Award and the Pavarotti Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and has been the recipient of a Dallas Opera Career Grant.

Bruce Stasyna, piano

For the 2007-2008 season, Mr. Stasyna returns to the Palm Beach Opera as Head Coach and Director of the Resident Artists Program as well as principal keyboard for the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. As Head of Music for the Minnesota Opera from 1999 to 2006, Bruce Stasyna prepared over thirty productions for such diverse conductors as Harry Bicket, Marco Guidarini and Antony Walker, working with notable artists including Bruce Ford, Suzanne Mentzer, James Morris and Sumi Jo. He also served as chorus master, vocal coach, assistant conductor, director of the Resident Artists Program, and principal keyboardist for Minnesota Opera Orchestra.

In the summer of 2005, he returned for his third season with the Wolf Trap Opera as chorus master for the critically acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd, as music staff in collaboration with the National Symphony, and as guest artist on recital programs The Latest Word and Where the Boys Are featuring Steven Blier. In the summer of 2004 he made his debut with the Des Moines Metro Opera as Chorus Master for the season, assistant conductor for Madama Butterfly and conductor for Stars of Tomorrow. In previous seasons he has enjoyed associations with the Lake George Opera Festival, the American Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Virginia Opera, Augusta Opera, Opera Roanoke and Ohio Light Opera.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Stasyna has performed at the Dallas Art Museum, Avery Fisher Hall, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the Victoria International Festival and the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts in Toronto, Canada. In addition to being an Emory University Coca Cola Artist in Residence, he recently performed on the Southeastern Festival of Song’s presentation of Secrets of the Sea and Sky in Atlanta, Georgia, with the Chamber Music Society of Rochester, MN, the Sugar Creek Symphony and Song Festival and has given master classes in New York City. Additional engagements for 2008 include recitals in Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai and for the Berkshire Opera, as well as collaborations with the Sugar Creek Symphony and Song Festival and the Green Mountain Opera Festival.

Kassandra Taylor, dancer and choreographer

Kassandra Taylor’s new choreography, (dis)connect was performed October 6th and 7th at the Pittsburgh Playhouse as part of the 2006 Point Park University Student Choreography Project. Details on the piece and images of the talented cast on the work’s site: disconnectdance.com. The piece was previewed on October 5th by Jane Vranish, dance critic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who commented in her subsequent review on the 10th that “Kassandra Taylor created a fast-paced work that stood out for its clarity in combining contemporary ballet and a street-wise overlay. The cast of five looked markedly professional, even in bows, and it was easy to see that she was decidedly efficient in rehearsal as well as creative techniques.”
Last spring Ms. Taylor reprised her role in SWANK with the Pillow Project Dance Company; this spring she returns as a guest artist and choreographer.
Ms. Taylor specializes in choreographing and setting large, three-movement modern works; her choreography has been described as “beautifully wraught”, “haunting”, and “a study in sustained intensity.” Her piece Mourning Pointe, originally set on and performed by the Roswell Dance Theatre at the Southeastern Regional Dance Association Gala in 2005, was restaged in 2006 and set on the Playhouse Dance Company of Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the institution Ms. Taylor attends as a scholarship student. Chosen as the top choreography in a concert with her peers, Mourning Pointe was performed by the Playhouse Dance Company at the American College Dance Festival Assocation’s (ACDFA) New England Conference in Boston in February 2006. Tapped as the top selection out of 50 entries, Mourning Pointe was performed May 17, 2006 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC as a national festival selection in the ACDFA national conference.
Ms. Taylor resides in Pittsburgh and Atlanta. www.kassandrataylor.com.

Alison Trainer, soprano

Young coloratura soprano Alison Trainer is rapidly claiming her place among the important emerging singers today. Ms. Trainer will make he European debut as Fiakermilli in Arabella in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2009. She recently returned to New Jersey Opera to sing Valencienne in The Merry Widow. In early 2008, Ms. Trainer sang Handel’s Messiah with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Symphony at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and returned to Albany Pro-Musica to sing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. During the 2006 – 2007 season, Ms. Trainer returned to New York City Opera to sing the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. Other engagements included the Dew Fairy and Sandman with the Phoenix Symphony, a guest appearnce in Mozart at the Opera with the Albany Symphony and Dayton Symphony, the soprano solos in the Poulenc Gloria with the Erie Philharmonic, and Carmina Burana with both the Southeastern Festival of Song (SEFoS) and the Charlottesville Symphony. Additional roles include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Tiny in Paul Bunyan, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and the title role in Handel’s Esther. Ms. Trainer won first place in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera Northeast Regional Competition, first place in the 2005 Liederkranz Competition, and was a top prize winner in the 2005 Sullivan Foundation Competition. Equally at home on the recital stage, Alison Trainer is known for her commitment to exploring and performing a vast array of song repertoire. Ms. Trainer has performed in recital at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, the San Francisco Opera Center, Glimmerglass Opera, and the Josyln Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Southeastern Festival of Song (SEFoS) in Atlanta, Georgia. www.alisontrainer.com

Tamara Wilson, soprano

“With a voice of steely beauty and great power,” (Houston Chronicle) soprano Tamara Wilson began the 2007 – 2008 season with her role debut as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Houston Grand Opera with Patrick Summers conducting. “A bona fide Verdi soprano” (Houston Chronicle), Ms. Wilson will sing her next Verdi role when she debuts at Opera Australia as Aida in 2009.

Also in the 2007-2008 Season at Houston Grand Opera, Ms. Wilson made another role debut as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail showing “excellent control of her considerable power as well as good coloratura and range.” (Houston Chronicle) Her summer performances include Marchesa del Poggio in Verdi’s early opera Un giorno di regno at Wolf Trap and Countess Almaviva in Berkshire Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro.

A former member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she has been previously seen as the High Priestess in Aida, the Innkeeper’s Wife in The Cunning Little Vixen, and the Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Future seasons will see Ms. Wilson return to HGO in leading roles in a variety of repertoire.

In June 2007, Ms. Wilson received acclaim for her performance of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Aspen Opera Theater. Also in the 2006 – 2007 season, she made her debut with the Houston Ballet performing Stravinsky’s Les Noces, as well as the role of Bubikopf in a production of Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis conducted by James Conlon. Other appearances include Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the Choral Arts Society in Austin, Texas.

Ms. Wilson received her degree at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM). While at CCM, she sang the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Miss Jessel in Turn of the Screw, among other roles in scenes performances. Other stage experience includes featured solo work with the Cincinnati Baroque Ensemble, such as Monteverdi’s Vespers, and Handel’s Messiah, Jephthe, and Gloria.

In addition her operatic and orchestral performances, Ms. Wilson is an avid lecturer of vocal technique. In April 2008, Ms. Wilson will be the Guest Master Class Lecturer for the National Pastoral Musicians (NPM) in the Chicago area. Ms. Wilson won first place in the 2005 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, was a finalist in the 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and was the second place winner of the 2004 Dayton Opera Guild Competition.

Wes Yoakam, guitar

In 2001, Wes Yoakam released his second album, “Four Star Explosion”, with his group “Big Atomic” to rave reviews and much critical acclaim. Track three “Breathe”, placed 5th out of 10,000 entries in NYC’s John Lennon Songwriting Contest, while other tracks “ A Postcard From the Edge of the World” and “Evaporate” were selected by Smithereen’s frontman and B.E.A.M. Chairman Pat DiNizio to earn a B.E.A.M. Grant for emerging artists. Three songs from the album were also featured in director Ben Taylor’s most recent feature film, “In the Flesh” that was accepted into film festivals in the U.S. and Germany and earned a national distribution deal. Even MTV has recognized the band: power rocker “When Sparks Fly” was featured in the “Making of the Video” program for Brittany Spears’ “Stronger”.

The most recent album release “Wrestling the Dragon and the Rat” has sold almost 5,000 copies and is set for its second pressing. After spending 2005-2006 in residency at the renowned music venue “The Club” in Vail, CO, Wes has returned to Atlanta. He is currently writing bluegrass material for a Georgia film project, instrumental music for 3-D animation “Jambalaya”, and finishing a new solo Ep due out this fall.
Adriana Zabala, mezzo-soprano

Adriana Zabala enjoys a vibrant and unique career that includes opera, song repertoire, new works, concert & oratorio, cabaret and Latin Jazz. She performs 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 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.

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.