Satyagraha

The American tenor of Sri Lankan heritage made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Manon Lescaut (commercially available on DVD on EMI), and his European operatic debut in Mozart’s Zaïde at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in a production directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Louis Langrée (commercially available on DVD on Opus Arte).

Sean Panikkar made his Salzburg Festival debut this past summer as Dionysus in a new production of Henze’s The Bassarids; the title also served the tenor his Madrid debut in concert performances with the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, both presentations under the baton of Kent Nagano. Highlights of the 2018/19 season include his LA Opera debut as Gandhi in Satyagraha, and a return to the Festival d’Aix en Provence as Jakob Schmidt and Toby in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Core repertoire presentations include performances of La Bohème at Pittsburgh Opera, Carmen with North Carolina Opera, and The Pearl Fishers at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. On the concert stage, the tenor is heard in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Seattle Symphony and Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Highly prized as an interpreter of contemporary music on leading international stages, Sean Panikkar created the roles of Adam in Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2 for a debut at Teatro alla Scala in a world premiere conducted by Cornelius Meister and directed by Robert Carsen, Wendell Smith in Daniel Sonenberg and Mark Campbell’s The Summer King in a co-production between Pittsburgh Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, Agent Henry Rathbone in a co-production of David T. Little’s JFK at the Fort Worth Opera and Opéra de Montréal, and he garnered passionate acclaim in the title role of Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Numerous engagements with the Metropolitan Opera feature the company premiere of The Death of Klinghoffer, a new production of Guillaume Tell led by Gianandrea Noseda, Roméo et Juliette under the baton of Plácido Domingo, Lucia di Lammermoor conducted by Marco Armiliato, and Ariadne auf Naxos led by Kirill Petrenko. 

Her LA Opera appearances have included the leading roles of the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Blondchen in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann and Miss Schlesen in Satyagraha. During the 2018/19 season, in addition to returning to LA Opera in Satyagraha, she makes her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and performs the leading role of Setsuko in Jack Perla's An American Dream with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also appears in concert with the New York Philharmonic. In the summer of 2019, she will perform Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she previously appeared in 2016 as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.

During the 2017/18 season, she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover the role of Le Fée in Cendrillon. She also made her debut with the LA Master Chorale as the soprano soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana, returned to the LA Philharmonic as soprano soloist in Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing, conducted by the composer, and returned to Michigan Opera Theatre as Gilda in Rigoletto. She has performed the Queen of the Night with LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Baroque, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Aspen Music Festival and New England Conservatory. Her engagements for the 2016/17 season include covering the leading role of Dai Yu in San Francisco Opera's world premiere of Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, and returns to LA Opera in Akhnaten, The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Tales of Hoffmann. (SopranoSoYoung.com)

Erica Petrocelli was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program from 2018 to 2020. Her additional company appearances include Annina in La Traviata (2019), the First Lady in The Magic Flute (2019) and both Thetis and Eurydice in Stefano Landi's The Death of Orpheus (2020).

She recently completed her tenure as a studio member with Opernhaus Zürich. Her engagements for the 2022/23 season include guest appearances with Opernhaus Zürich as Musetta in La Bohème and the First Lady in The Magic Flute, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1: Jeremiah with James Conlon and the Baltimore Symphony, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Ravinia Festival, also with James Conlon.

In the 2021/22 season, Ms. Petrocelli performed Pamina in The Magic Flute at Opera Theater of St. Louis, and also joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem. As a Studio member in Zürich, she performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Delia in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, she also covered the title role in Arabella and Stella in The Tales of Hoffmann.

In the 2019/20 season, she made her principal debut at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, as Micaëla in Carmen.

 American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (New York Times), has been heralded as “a rising star” (Los Angeles Times), gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of Ms. Bridges’ engagements in the title role of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera and Canadian Opera Company, she has emerged at this unique moment as a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice in the performing arts. Bridges led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with LA Opera that drew international acclaim for being a “conversation of striking scope and candor” (New York Times). Bridges also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel for two episodes of the digital SOUND/STAGE series. Upcoming highlights of Bridges’s 2020/21 season include her role debut as Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena at Dutch National Opera.

Highlights from her 2019/20 season included her highly-acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Nefertiti in a sold-out run of Philip Glass’ opera Akhnaten, as well as a house and role debut with Washington National Opera as Dalila in Samson et Dalila. Bridges was also originally scheduled to sing the title role of Carmen at Dutch National Opera and was scheduled to make her debut with the Festival d’Aix-en-provence singing Margret in a new production of Wozzeck, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, which were unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic.

Other recent career highlights include her sold-out Carnegie Hall Recital debut, her role debut of Kasturbai in Satyagraha at LA Opera, her Los Angeles Master Chorale debut, and her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In addition, Ms. Bridges made her role debut as Carmen at the San Francisco Opera, creating the role of Josefa Segovia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera, her debut as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino with Opernhaus Zürich, and performances as Carmen in the world premiere of Bel Canto, an opera by Jimmy Lopez, based on the novel by Ann Patchett at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Bridges is a recipient of the prestigious 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, first prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize winner at the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, a recipient of the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Award, a 2012 Marian Anderson award winner, the recipient of the 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, the recipient of the 2009 Richard F. Gold Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, and the winner of the 2008 Leontyne Price Foundation Competition. J’Nai completed a three-year residency with the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, represented the United States at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and was a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York.

A native of Tacoma, Washington, she earned her master of music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, and her bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Learn more at JNaiBridgesMezzo.com.

In the 2019/20 season, he makes his first professional performances as Papageno in The Magic Flute at LA Opera under the baton of James Conlon, marking his eighth production with the company. Additionally, he debuts with Opera Philadelphia as Denis in the world premiere of Denis & Katya by Philip Venables, and will debut at Seattle Opera as Schaunard in La Bohème. Mr. Hoffman has been seen previously at Atlanta Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Mr. Hoffman has concertized with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wiener Akademie and Il Giardino Armonico at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Marlboro Music, Orchestre National de Lille, Grand Teton Music Festival, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Music Northwest. He has appeared in recital at some of the world’s leading venues, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. He is the recipient of awards from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the Sullivan Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, The Kurt Weill Foundation, and was a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Hoffman is a graduate of The Juilliard School. (TheoHoffmanBaritone.com)

Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.

She received her bachelor of music at Xinghai Conservatory of Music (in Guangzhou) and her master of music degree from Manhattan School of Music. She also holds a graduate diploma in opera performance from New England Conservatory.

Her operatic roles include Prince Charming in Massenet’s Cendrillon, the Third Lady in The Magic Flute, the Third Witch in Bloch’s Macbeth (U.S. premiere of original French version), Thetis in Ibert’s Persée et Andromède, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, and the title role in Carmen. In the 51st International Vocal Competition Hertogenbosch, she was the sole winner in the Lied Duo category of the Asia-Pacific region. Through a rigorous selection process, she was chosen as one of the four singers to attend the 2018 Pacific Music Festival, where she was a soloist in a gala concert.

Patrick Blackwell continues to expand his impressive repertoire in opera, oratorio and musical theater. His career has seen him engaged by many of the leading opera companies and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe, including appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival, Munich Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago and LA Opera. He trained at the Juilliard School and began his career as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Opera Studio, the Merola Opera Program with San Francisco Opera, Opera Music Theatre International with Jerome Hines and Aspen Opera.

In July 2023, he appears with the Opera Festival of Chicago in An Italian Soirée and as Leone in Verdi's Attila. His appearances for the 2023/24 season include a return to LA Opera as Baron Douphol in La Traviata and a debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Don Fernando in Fidelio.

He has appeared in concert with the Munich Philharmonic in Porgy and Bess conducted by Lorin Maazel and in the title role of Porgy on a European tour with NY Harlem Productions. His association with this piece is extensive, having appeared as Porgy and other roles with Utah Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Fresno Grand Opera, the Castleton Festival, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and on tour throughout the United States.

On the concert platform, Mr. Blackwell is highly sought after as the bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in the world premiere of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson’s Crucifixion in addition to performing works by Mozart at the Arts Festival in North Korea, the Fauré Requiem with the Fresno Philharmonic and Osride in Mose in Egitto by Rossini with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

In the United States, Mr. Blackwell’s operatic engagements have included Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Boheme, Zuniga in Carmen for New York City Opera, First Nazarene in Salome and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro for Utah Opera, Sarastro in The Magic Flute for Fresno Grand Opera, Ferrando in Il Trovatore for Knoxville Opera, the King in Aïda and Melitone in La Forza del Destino for New Jersey State Opera and Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera for New Orleans Opera.

With Chicago Lyric Opera Mr. Blackwell’s roles have included Burnah in Amistad, Henry Davis in Street Scene, Cal in Regina and the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette. 

Recent engagements include Zuniga in Carmen with San Diego Opera and Méphistophélès in Faust with Valley Opera & Performing Arts. 

He is the 2021 Los Angeles District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

In the summer of 2022, he performs the title role of Don Giovanni and Ford in Falstaff (opposite Bryn Terfel in the title role) with Aspen Opera Theater. His engagements for the 2022/23 season include a recital with pianist Sandra Leary at SUNY at Fredonia's Rosch Recital Hall, a role debut as Dr. Buchanan in Lee Hoiby's Summer and Smoke at Hillman Opera, and a role debut as Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

In the summer of 2021, he returned to Santa Fe Opera as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 2019, he made his role debut as Escamillo in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appeared in Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony and in the U.S. premiere of Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane with the Bard Music Festival.

Other recent appearances include the First Officer and Croupier in Candide at Santa Fe Opera; the Cobbler in Philip Glass's The Juniper Tree at Wolf Trap Opera; Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Professor Bhaer in Mark Adamo's Little Women, Curio in Giulio Cesare and Betto in Gianni Schicchi with the Shepherd School Opera; the Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah and Dandini in La Cenerentola with the Hillman Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with the WNY Chamber Orchestra.

He received his master’s degree in May 2018 from Rice University, where he studied with Stephen King. In 2018, he was a finalist in Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias; in the summer of 2018, he joined the Apprentice Singer Program at Santa Fe Opera, where he covered the title role of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the new production John Adams' Doctor Atomic, directed by the librettist Peter Sellars. In the summer of 2017, he joined the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, covering the role of Pacuvio in Rossini's La Pietra del Paragone and singing in Four of a Kind, a recital with Steven Blier and Joseph Li.

Learn more at MichaelJHawkBaritone.com.

Hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership, and for eliciting technically precise and expressive performances from musicians, Grammy Award-winner Grant Gershon celebrated his 20th anniversary as Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale in the 2021/22 season. The Los Angeles Times has said the Master Chorale "has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon,” a reflection on both his programming and performances. 
 
During his tenure, Gershon has led more than 200 Master Chorale performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in programs encompassing a wide range of choral music, from the early pillars of the repertoire to contemporary compositions. He has led world premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Eve Beglarian, Billy Childs, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ricky Ian Gordon, Shawn Kirchner, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Steve Reich, Ellen Reid, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Chinary Ung, among many others.  

Gershon is committed to increasing representation in the choral repertoire, and in 2020 he announced that the Master Chorale will reserve at least 50% of each future season for works by composers from historically excluded groups in classical music. 
 
In July 2019, Gershon and the Master Chorale opened the famed Salzburg Festival with Lagrime di San Pietro, directed by Peter Sellars. The Salzburg performances received standing ovations and rave reviews from such outlets as the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which called Lagrime “painfully beautiful” (Schmerzliche schön). Gershon and the Master Chorale debuted the production in Los Angeles in 2016 and began touring the world with it in 2018. In its review of the premiere of Lagrime, the Los Angeles Times noted that the production “is a major accomplishment for the Master Chorale, which sang and acted brilliantly. It is also a major accomplishment for music history.”

He was the Resident Conductor of LA Opera from 2012 to 2022, and in this capacity conducted the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha in November 2018. He made his acclaimed debut with the company with La Traviata in 2009 and has subsequently conducted productions including Il Postino, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Florencia en el Amazonas, Wonderful Town, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Pearl Fishers. In 2017, he made his San Francisco Opera debut conducting the world premiere of John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West directed by Peter Sellars, who also wrote the libretto, and made his Dutch National Opera debut with the same opera in March 2019. Gershon and Adams have an enduring friendship and professional relationship which began 27 years ago in Los Angeles when Gershon played keyboards in the pit for Nixon in China at LA Opera. Since then, Gershon has led the world premiere performances of Adams’ theater piece I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, premiered his two-piano piece Hallelujah Junction (with Gloria Cheng), and conducted performances of Harmonium, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, El Niño, The Chairman Dances, and choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer. 

In New York, Gershon has appeared at Carnegie Hall and at the historic Trinity Wall Street, and he has performed on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center and the Making Music series at Zankel Hall. Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Salzburg, and Vienna festivals, the South American premiere of LA Opera’s production of Il Postino in Chile, and performances with the Baltimore Symphony and the Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino in Turin, Italy. He has worked closely with numerous conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen. 
 
His discography includes the 2022 Grammy Award-winning recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as Grammy–nominated recordings of Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti’s Grand Macabre (Sony Classical); six commercial CDs with the Master Chorale, including Glass-Salonen (RCM), You Are (Variations) (Nonesuch), Daniel Variations (Nonesuch), A Good Understanding (Decca), Miserere (Decca), and the national anthems (Cantaloupe Music); and two live-performance albums, the Master Chorale’s 50th Season Celebration recording and Festival of Carols. He has also led the Master Chorale in performances for several major motion pictures soundtracks, including, at the request of John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Gershon was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Thornton School of Music in 2002 and received the USC Alumni Merit Award in 2017.  

He is the artistic director of Improbable (a company which he co-founded in 1996), has produced a number of shows including the multi award-winning 70 Hill Lane, Lifegame, Animo, Coma, Spirit, Sticky, Cinderella, The Hanging Man, Theatre of Blood in collaboration with the National Theatre, Panic and Beauty and the Beast, in co-production with ONEOFUS. He also directed Philip Glass’ Satyagraha and The Perfect American, and, for his latest project, Così fan tutte in collaboration with the English National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He co-founded dereck dereck productions with Julia Bardsley, directing a number of productions including Cupboard Man, Gaudete, The Vinegar Works, The Glass Hill and The Sweet Shop Owner.

During his impressive career he has also directed Alex at The Arts Theatre, The Ghost Downstairs at Leicester Haymarket, Dr Faustus and Improbable Tales at Nottingham Playhouse and The Servant of Two Masters, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Government Inspector at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. His work also includes a musical version of The Addams Family, which he developed for Broadway with Julian Crouch and Elephant Eye Productions. His work with the Metropolitan Opera also saw him direct the company’s 125th anniversary gala and the world premiere of The Enchanted Island.

In recognition of his outstanding work, he received a TMA Award for Best Touring Production for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed with the English Shakespeare Company. He was also awarded an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, a TMA Best Director Award and a Critics Circle Best Designer Award for his work directing Shockheaded Peter, a junk opera collaboration with the Tiger Lilies for Cultural Industry. In 2003 he was awarded a National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts fellowship to research new ways of rehearsing and creating theater using improvisation and process-oriented conflict facilitation techniques. He was also made an Honorary Doctor of Middlesex University in 2007.