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Young Artist Program
Inaugurated during the 2006/07 season, the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program is designed to support the future of opera by discovering and developing the talents of exceptionally gifted young artists to become performers of potentially international stature.
LA Opera uses its resources to provide extensive training for singers and pianists who are transitioning from academic training to a professional career in opera. A two-year paid residency, artists are given opportunities to further develop skills through mainstage roles, as principal artists' covers, and in dedicated young artist concerts and productions. The program is helmed by Paul Hopper, Senior Director of Artistic Planning, and Blair Salter, Head Coach for the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.
The artists work closely with an exceptional faculty of professionals, including Music Director James Conlon, renowned voice teacher Stephen King, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who serves as Artistic Advisor for the program, stage director Paul Curran, who serves as Head of Dramatic Instruction, members of the LA Opera music staff, and the company's prominent guest artists throughout each season.
Singers who have graduated the program have gone on to debuts at prestigious opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayreuth Festival. Many have also returned to LA Opera to sing leading roles. Pianists have gone on to become conductors, members of music staff and heads of music staff, and faculty or staff at institutions such as San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, Atlanta Opera, Florentine Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and Santa Fe Opera.
Click here for a list of the program's alumni.
The Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program is generously underwritten by the Colburn Foundation and Eugene and Marilyn Stein. Additional generous underwriting support is provided by Terri and Jerry Kohl, Barbara Augusta Teichert, and The Rafael and Luisa De Marchena-Huyke Foundation. Special support for young artist stipends is graciously provided by The Lenore and Richard Wayne Young Artist Fellowship. Additional support provided by the Young Artist Circle. The program was created with funding from the Flora L. Thornton Foundation. Additional support provided by The Jules Brenner Trust and the Young Artist Circle. The USC Voice Center is the official vocal healthcare provider for LA Opera.
From: Minot, North Dakota. LA Opera: Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut); Bullfighter in Ainadamar (2025); Borsa in Rigoletto (2025); Parpignol in La Bohème (2025); Dr. Caius in Falstaff (2026); First Armored Man in The Magic Flute (2026); Ismaele in Nabucco (2027). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024.
Heralded as having a voice “without dross” and for his “flawless vocal technique”, Nathan Bowles is quickly earning his reputation as a compelling stage performer.
In the summer of 2026, he will make his role debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre with the Taiwan Philharmonic.
In addition to his LA Opera appearances, his 2025 performances included Don José in La tragédie de Carmen with Tulsa Opera and Canio in Pagliacci with Pacific Opera Project.
In 2024, he made his Dallas Opera mainstage debut last year as Benvolio in Romeo et Juliette. With the Santa Fe Opera, Bowles was featured as Animal Tamer and Waiter 2 in Der Rosenkavalier. He has been heard with Western Plains Opera as Don José in Carmen, John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld, the Baker in Into the Woods, and as Alfred in Die Fledermaus. With the SMU Lyric Theatre, he has been heard in such roles as Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Judge Danforth in The Crucible.
Bowles is a 2024 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning the New Orleans district and Gulf Coast Region. He is a recipient of the 2024 Richard F. Gold Career Grant. Concert performances include Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Hailstork’s I Will Lift up Mine Eyes, and in the DSO Symphony Gala. He is a graduate from Minot State University and holds a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.
Learn more at NathanBowlesTenor.com.
From: Seoul, South Korea. LA Opera: She joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2024/25 season.
South Korean collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Sujin Choi is an active performer known for her appearances in various prestigious venues such as Jordan Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Daegu Opera House, Kumho Art Hall, and Mozarthaus in Vienna, Austria.
Sujin’s musical journey includes serving as pianist and opera coach in Cavalli’s La Calisto , Puccini’s La Bohème, Martin y Soler's L'arbore di Diana, and Jack Perla’s An American Dream at New England Conservatory. She has also had the privilege of serving as an opera coach fellow, contributing to productions such as Mozart's Don Giovanni at Aspen Music Festival and Puccini’s La Bohème at Music Academy of the West. Recently, she joined the staff as a pianist at Boston Conservatory starting in September 2023.
Sujin’s educational achievements are equally commendable, having earned her Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate in Collaborative Piano from the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Cameron Stowe and Jonathan Feldman, with full scholarships supporting her studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance and a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano from Yonsei University.
In the 2024/2025 season, Choi will take part in both the renowned Merola Opera Program and LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn Stein’s Young Artist Program.
Bass Vinícius Costa has been a Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, singing the title role in The Marriage of Figaro and the role of Victor Fyodorov in Jimmy Lopez's Bel Canto.
In the summer of 2026, he will be a Gaddes Festival Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he will appear as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette.
He sang the roles of Amaral and the Father in a recently released recording of Brazilian composer André Mehmari's 2023 opera O Machete.
Winner of the Ralph Vaughan Williams award for best performance of an English song at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, he and his collaborator Pierre Nicolas-Colombat were among the 10 semi-finalists out of more than 120 entries in the most important song competition in the United Kingdom and one of the biggest competitions on the European continent. He was also a first place winner in the Brazilian and Latin American Linus Lerner Singing Competitions.
He has performed with Theater Basel and Bühne Bern in Switzerland and with Teatro São Pedro, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and Sala São Paulo in Brazil. His roles include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Zuniga in Carmen, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Rodimarte in Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor. On the concert platform, he has been a soloist in works such as Bach's Ich Habe Genug and the Saint Matthew Passion, as well as Symphony No. 5 (“Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya”) by Phillip Glass.
He began his vocal and musical education with the Guri Santa Marcelina Program in 2014 with Naraine Sri Hamsa and Paulo Cavalcante. In Brazil he was a student of Maria Lúcia Waldow and Francisco Campos; graduated with a bachelor's degree in singing in 2021 and in 2023 completed his master's degree in performance with Marcel Boone, with specialized training in song with Jan Schultz at the FHNW Hochschule Für Musik Basel. His training also includes the Old Music Workshop at the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo with Nicolau de Figueiredo and master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ludovic Tezier and Margreet Honi. In 2023, he participated in the Reneé Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.
Admired by Parterre Box as full of "vivacity and sparkle," Italian-American soprano Emily Damasco is a force to be reckoned with. The first-prize winner of Opera Grand Rapids' 2023 Vanderlaan Prize Collegiate Vocal Competition and Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization, she was also a 2025 finalist in the George and Nora London Foundation Vocal Competition and a recipient of the Angelo Sylvestro Festorazzi Scholarship. In 2018, she won the Gold Prize and Max Mara Visionary Award at the National YoungArts Competition.
Emily has performed numerous roles such as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Paquette in Candide, Berta in The Barber of Seville, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, and Fox Gold Stripe in The Cunning Little Vixen with Curtis Opera Theatre. She has performed with Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra as Fiordiligi in the Act One finale of Così fan tutte and as the Marschallin in the final trio from Der Rosenkavalier.
In 2025, Emily founded Magical Music and Medicine, an immersive musical project in collaboration with music therapists at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia tailored to hospital patients and personnel.
Emily earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Master of Music in Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying under Dolora Zajick and Julia Faulkner.
From: Seattle, Washington. LA Opera: He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024. He was a coach for LA Opera's 2025 productions of Così fan tutte and Ainadamar and will serve on the music staff for West Side Story to open the 2025/26 season.
Julian Garvue is a pianist from Seattle, Washington, passionate about music in all its forms. Julian attended the Merola Opera Program in summer of 2024, where he worked with many luminaries of the vocal piano world such as Carrie-Ann Matheson, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Kevin Murphy, and Mario Marra. While at Merola, he also performed harpsichord continuo for Merola’s production of Don Giovanni, under Maestro Stefano Sarzani and director Patricia Racette. The previous summer, Julian attended Music Academy in Santa Barbara as a fellow of the Lehrer Vocal Institute where he worked as a pianist/coach on the Academy's production of La Bohème.
Julian graduated with both his MM and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. While at IU, Julian performed dozens of recitals and three opera productions for IU Opera Theater: Sweeney Todd, La Finta Giardiniera, and Don Giovanni. Before beginning his career as a collaborative pianist in 2019, Julian worked for three years freelancing as a jazz pianist in New York City, recorded two albums with The Arsonists, and recorded a free jazz CD with his classmates from the Eastman School of Music entitled Doublefist.
Tenor Yuntong Han earned his master’s degree at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. His roles there include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ruggero in La Rondine and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Before coming to IU, he earned his second bachelor’s degree, in vocal performance, at New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of MaryAnn McCormick, and a bachelor’s degree in aircraft manufacturing engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. He was a 2023 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. That same year, he was a vocal fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute. His roles at the New England Conservatory include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Rodolfo in La Bohème and Lucano in The Coronation of Poppea. In addition to his work on the opera stage, he is also active as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation and the NEC Song and Verse art song series.
Baritone Hyungjin Son is an active opera, oratorio and concert singer. He recently made debuts as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with Detroit Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. His other roles include the title role in Don Giovanni, Doristo in Vicente Martín y Soler's L’arbore di Diana, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Mr. Putnam in Jake Heggie's If I were you, Pa Zegner in Missy Mazzoli's Proving up and Sir Thomas in Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park. He also performed as a soloist for Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor with NEC Philharmonia at Jordan Hall and for Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the BU Symphony Orchestra at Boston’s Symphony Hall. As a studio artist at Aspen Music Festival, he covered the role of Ford in Falstaff with international bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role and covered the title role in Don Giovanni as well. He was named a national semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2023, and he was also named a district winner in 2022 and an encouragement winner in 2020 in the Boston district of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
In 2024, he earned his master’s degree at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Bradley Williams. He holds a graduate certificate from Opera Institute of Boston University and a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from Seoul National University.
Mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg is dedicated to exploring the ways music connects with communities and society. Her mission is to contribute to the accessibility of classical music and to create opportunities for audiences to engage deeply and genuinely with her performances. Katie completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Waikato and completed her Master of Music at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Julia Faulkner.
In July 2026, she appears with the Auckland Philharmonia as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.
Recent roles include Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the Old Lady in Candide and Anna I in Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, all with Curtis Opera Theatre, and Flora in La Traviata with the Auckland Philharmonia. Katie has recently performed as a soloist for Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Auckland Choral) and C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat (Bach Musica NZ).
In 2024, Katie was the winner of the prestigious Lexus Song Quest. During her undergraduate studies in New Zealand, she was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar and a student of Stephanie Acraman. After the pandemic delayed her plans to study overseas, she spent 2021 as a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with New Zealand Opera. Upon her arrival at Curtis in 2022, Katie was featured as a soloist with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and performed with them again in 2023. She has appeared as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem in D minor for Binghamton Philharmonic under Daniel Hege, performed as part of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O23, and collaborated with Warren Jones in recital. She attended Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist in 2023, where she covered the roles of Juno/Ino in Handel's Semele and performed in their "Studio Spotlight" showcase.
For her master’s project at Curtis Institute of Music, Katie pioneered a month-long booster course for high school music students to learn about college-level music programmes from current Curtis students. The project focused on equipping students with skills and confidence to pursue musical studies at college level through individual workshopping and mentorship. After a successful first course, Katie continued to expand and develop the program for a second year. The program will be continuing in the future under the guidance of current Curtis students through the school's community outreach initiative.
Past awards include the Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship, the Sue and Guy Haddleton Emerging Artist Award, the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award, and the Kiwi Music Scholarship to assist with her studies overseas.
Katie would like to acknowledge the essential support of the Fairfield Rotary Club, the Ohaupo/Ngahinapouri and Te Awamutu Lions Clubs, Circle100, and the Adastra Foundation.
Learn more at KatieTrigg.nz.
Gabrielle Turgeon is a 2026 National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition. For the summer of 2026, she is a Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she performs the role of Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her appearances in the 2026/27 season will include Pamina in The Magic Flute with Pacific Opera Victoria.
In 2025, in addition to her LAO appearances, she made her role debut as Micaëla in Carmen with Canada's Brott Music Festival and was the winner of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal competition.
In 2024, she joined Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist, making her debut there as the Slave in Salome and also covering the role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande.
She has been a young artist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and was a 2023 finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.
In the spring of 2024, she earned her master's degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she performed the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. She earned an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the University of Toronto.
Gabrielė Žemaitytė began her musical journey at the age of six, enrolling at the National Čiurlionis Art School, where she laid the foundation for her career as a pianist. She went on to complete both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical piano performance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, studying under the guidance of esteemed professor Naum Grubert.
A laureate of numerous national and international piano competitions, Gabriele has taken part in master classes with distinguished pianists and educators including Dmitry Bashkirov, Stefan Vladar, David Breitman and David Dolan. Her artistry has been showcased across various music festivals in the Netherlands, such as the Kammermuziekfestival Den Haag and the Gergiev Festival in De Doelen. She has also performed at prestigious venues including Het Concertgebouw and the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, often collaborating with prominent artists like Dutch mezzo-soprano Maria Warenberg. In 2019, Gabriele toured China as part of the NSOB orchestra, performing in 30 theaters both as an orchestral and solo pianist.
In 2021, she won second prize at the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition alongside Filipino-American baritone Rolfe Dauz. Her commitment to contemporary music has been recognized with grants from the Lithuanian Council for Culture in both 2020 and 2023, supporting her work in commissioning and performing modern vocal and instrumental repertoire. During her time in the Netherlands, Gabriele was honored to practice on a Bechstein grand piano, generously loaned by the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds. From 2023 to 2025, she has served as a Collaborative Piano Fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music, with a focus on vocal arts. There, she coached under the mentorship of Kayo Iwama, Erika Switzer, Stephanie Blythe and Howard Watkins.
In the summer of 2024, she participated as a collaborative piano fellow at the Manetti Shrem Opera Program, studying with John Churchwell and Martin Katz. In the summer of 2025, Gabriele serves as a Vocal Piano Fellow at the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West, where she will work on a production of Don Giovanni.
Bass Vinícius Costa has been a Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, singing the title role in The Marriage of Figaro and the role of Victor Fyodorov in Jimmy Lopez's Bel Canto.
In the summer of 2026, he will be a Gaddes Festival Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he will appear as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette.
He sang the roles of Amaral and the Father in a recently released recording of Brazilian composer André Mehmari's 2023 opera O Machete.
Winner of the Ralph Vaughan Williams award for best performance of an English song at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, he and his collaborator Pierre Nicolas-Colombat were among the 10 semi-finalists out of more than 120 entries in the most important song competition in the United Kingdom and one of the biggest competitions on the European continent. He was also a first place winner in the Brazilian and Latin American Linus Lerner Singing Competitions.
He has performed with Theater Basel and Bühne Bern in Switzerland and with Teatro São Pedro, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and Sala São Paulo in Brazil. His roles include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Zuniga in Carmen, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Rodimarte in Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor. On the concert platform, he has been a soloist in works such as Bach's Ich Habe Genug and the Saint Matthew Passion, as well as Symphony No. 5 (“Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya”) by Phillip Glass.
He began his vocal and musical education with the Guri Santa Marcelina Program in 2014 with Naraine Sri Hamsa and Paulo Cavalcante. In Brazil he was a student of Maria Lúcia Waldow and Francisco Campos; graduated with a bachelor's degree in singing in 2021 and in 2023 completed his master's degree in performance with Marcel Boone, with specialized training in song with Jan Schultz at the FHNW Hochschule Für Musik Basel. His training also includes the Old Music Workshop at the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo with Nicolau de Figueiredo and master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ludovic Tezier and Margreet Honi. In 2023, he participated in the Reneé Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.
Admired by Parterre Box as full of "vivacity and sparkle," Italian-American soprano Emily Damasco is a force to be reckoned with. The first-prize winner of Opera Grand Rapids' 2023 Vanderlaan Prize Collegiate Vocal Competition and Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization, she was also a 2025 finalist in the George and Nora London Foundation Vocal Competition and a recipient of the Angelo Sylvestro Festorazzi Scholarship. In 2018, she won the Gold Prize and Max Mara Visionary Award at the National YoungArts Competition.
Emily has performed numerous roles such as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Paquette in Candide, Berta in The Barber of Seville, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, and Fox Gold Stripe in The Cunning Little Vixen with Curtis Opera Theatre. She has performed with Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra as Fiordiligi in the Act One finale of Così fan tutte and as the Marschallin in the final trio from Der Rosenkavalier.
In 2025, Emily founded Magical Music and Medicine, an immersive musical project in collaboration with music therapists at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia tailored to hospital patients and personnel.
Emily earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Master of Music in Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying under Dolora Zajick and Julia Faulkner.
Recognized for his “booming baritone voice” and “particularly beautiful tone”, Mario Manzo is quickly becoming an exciting talent to hear and watch on the stage. Previous training includes two summers (2023 and 2024) as a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, where he performed the role of Wagner in Faust. He also covered the roles of Don Giovanni, Marcello in La Bohème, and both Father Palmer and the British Major in Silent Night by Kevin Puts, and he participated in the company’s Studio Spotlight performances.
Mr. Manzo spent the 2024/25 season as a Bailey Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera, making his debut with that company as Grégorio in Roméo et Juliette. He returned there for the 2025/26 season as a Henry and Marsha Laufer Young Artist, performing the roles of Schaunard in La Bohème and Count Monterone in Rigoletto and covering the role of Zurga in The Pearl Fishers.
Recent competition accolades include a district win and regional encouragement award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2024. Additionally, Mr. Manzo was awarded district encouragement awards in the Laffont Competition in 2025 and 2026.
Mr. Manzo is a graduate of Arizona State University and holds a master’s degree from Rice University where he performed the title role of Don Giovanni in 2022.
Soprano Alexis Seminario was the grand prize winner of the 2025 Butler Opera International Competition and a finalist in the 2025 Houston Grand Opera Concert of Arias. In the summer of 2026, Alexis returns to the Santa Fe Opera where she will cover Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly as well as make her house debut as the Matron in Lili Elbe. In 2025, she was an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera where she covered Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and Ortlinde in Die Walküre. Her summer culminated in her performance as Rosalinda from Die Fledermaus under the baton of Ivan Lopez-Reynoso in a scene staged by Patricia Racette. Alexis received The Anna Case McKay Memorial Award for her extraordinary artistry over the summer.
During the 2025/26 season, Ms. Seminario returned to the Atlanta Opera as a Studio Artist, where she made her company debut as Annina in La Traviata, sang Félicie/Adédaïde in La Belle et la Bête, and covered the roles of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and Liù in Turandot.
Ms. Seminario was a southeast regional finalist in the 2026 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition as well as a finalist in the 2026 Partners for the Arts National Opera Competition. During the 2024/25 and 2023/24 seasons, she was both a Laufer Young Artist and Cornelia T. Bailey Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera. There she made her company debut as Annina in La Traviata, covered the roles of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and Clotilde in Norma, while also study-covering Antonia and Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann.
During the summer of 2024, Alexis joined the Aspen Music Festival and School as a Renée Fleming Artist where she debuted the role of Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel under the baton of Patrick Summers. In their season closing concert, she sang both Sieglinde and Helmwige in Act III of Die Walküre conducted by Robert Spano, alongside Christine Goerke and Greer Grimsley. Prior to her time in Aspen and Palm Beach, Alexis was a Studio Artist with the Atlanta Opera where her assignments included covering Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, both Woglinde and Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.
Alexis spent two summers as an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera where she discovered her affinity for new operatic works. She covered the leading role of the Soldier in The Falling and the Rising and Rose in the highly anticipated world premiere of A Thousand Acres. Over her two summers, her scene assignments included Clarissa Vaughan in The Hours, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Ma Zegner in Proving Up, Helmwige in Die Walküre, and Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann. In the symphonic sphere, Alexis debuted with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Dvořák’s Te Deum in 2022.
Ms. Seminario is a proud alumna of Bard College Conservatory Vocal Arts Program where she worked closely with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and also debuted the role of Monica in The Medium. She received her Bachelor of Music from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Marlena Malas. Alexis is an alumna of Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. She is also the recipient of awards from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Grant, Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, John Alexander National Vocal Competition, and D’Angelo Young Artist Competition
Mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg is dedicated to exploring the ways music connects with communities and society. Her mission is to contribute to the accessibility of classical music and to create opportunities for audiences to engage deeply and genuinely with her performances. Katie completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Waikato and completed her Master of Music at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Julia Faulkner.
In July 2026, she appears with the Auckland Philharmonia as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.
Recent roles include Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the Old Lady in Candide and Anna I in Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, all with Curtis Opera Theatre, and Flora in La Traviata with the Auckland Philharmonia. Katie has recently performed as a soloist for Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Auckland Choral) and C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat (Bach Musica NZ).
In 2024, Katie was the winner of the prestigious Lexus Song Quest. During her undergraduate studies in New Zealand, she was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar and a student of Stephanie Acraman. After the pandemic delayed her plans to study overseas, she spent 2021 as a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with New Zealand Opera. Upon her arrival at Curtis in 2022, Katie was featured as a soloist with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and performed with them again in 2023. She has appeared as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem in D minor for Binghamton Philharmonic under Daniel Hege, performed as part of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O23, and collaborated with Warren Jones in recital. She attended Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist in 2023, where she covered the roles of Juno/Ino in Handel's Semele and performed in their "Studio Spotlight" showcase.
For her master’s project at Curtis Institute of Music, Katie pioneered a month-long booster course for high school music students to learn about college-level music programmes from current Curtis students. The project focused on equipping students with skills and confidence to pursue musical studies at college level through individual workshopping and mentorship. After a successful first course, Katie continued to expand and develop the program for a second year. The program will be continuing in the future under the guidance of current Curtis students through the school's community outreach initiative.
Past awards include the Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship, the Sue and Guy Haddleton Emerging Artist Award, the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award, and the Kiwi Music Scholarship to assist with her studies overseas.
Katie would like to acknowledge the essential support of the Fairfield Rotary Club, the Ohaupo/Ngahinapouri and Te Awamutu Lions Clubs, Circle100, and the Adastra Foundation.
Learn more at KatieTrigg.nz.
Gabrielle Turgeon is a 2026 National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition. For the summer of 2026, she is a Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she performs the role of Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her appearances in the 2026/27 season will include Pamina in The Magic Flute with Pacific Opera Victoria.
In 2025, in addition to her LAO appearances, she made her role debut as Micaëla in Carmen with Canada's Brott Music Festival and was the winner of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal competition.
In 2024, she joined Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist, making her debut there as the Slave in Salome and also covering the role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande.
She has been a young artist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and was a 2023 finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.
In the spring of 2024, she earned her master's degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she performed the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. She earned an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the University of Toronto.
From: Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil. LA Opera: Le Remendado in Carmen (2026, debut); Cacambo in Candide (2026); Abdallo in Nabucco (2027); Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro (2027). He joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2026/27 season.
Brazilian tenor Samuel Wallace, a member of the Internationales Opernstudio at Opernhaus Zürich. He receives the vital support of the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation, an institution dedicated to fostering his professional trajectory and development. Recently, in 2024 Samuel Wallace won second place in both the Joaquina Lapinha Vocal Competition and the Natércia Lopes Vocal Competition, in addition to reaching the semifinals of the Paris Opera Competition (2025) in France and being a finalist in the Maria Callas Vocal Competition in Brazil (2024).
In the 2025/26 season at Opernhaus Zürich, Samuel Wallace performs the roles of the Waiter in Arabella, Amelia's Servant in Un Ballo in Maschera, and a Guard in Manon. His repertoire also includes roles such as Tamino in The Magic Flute, Dorvil in Rossini's La Scala di Seta, and the title role in Guilherme Bernstein's Serafim e o lugar onde não se morre. In Brazil, he performed in the Gala Lírica of the 13th Tenors Meeting at the Amazonas Theater. In 2026, he expanded his international reach by joining the NOVUM training program at the Houston Grand Opera.
A scholarship recipient of the Mozarteum Brasileiro for the Internationale Chorakademie, Samuel Wallace has performed at the Philharmonie de Paris. He has furthered his artistry in master classes and coaching sessions with renowned figures such as Elīna Garanča, Patrizia Ciofi, Adrian Kelly, Thomas Barthel, Hedwig Fassbender, Michelle Wegwart, Atalla Ayan, Marcel Boone, Adriane Queiroz, Kismara Pezzati, Ludmilla Bauerfeldt. Currently, Samuel Wallace is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in classical voice at FAMES under the guidance of Licio Bruno.
From: Christchurch, New Zealand. LA Opera: She joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2026/27 season.
Muse Ye is a pianist passionate about connecting with people and exploring humanity through collaboration. Raised in New Zealand, she was a national finalist in the New Zealand Chamber Music Competition, performed with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and toured nationally with choirs. She pursued her bachelor’s degree in piano performance in Singapore, followed by a master’s in collaborative piano and vocal performance in Ithaca, New York. Throughout her training, she cultivated a multifaceted artistic practice, working as a producer, curator, recitalist, vocalist, and arts administrator—perspectives that continue to inform her work today.
Muse holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Ana María Otamendi and Martin Katz. Her doctoral work includes research on New Zealand composer Jenny McLeod; a recital program of arrangements dedicated to folk songs, spirituals and well-known classics; and the production of Eve-Song and La chanson d’Ève, an interdisciplinary exploration of womanhood that weaves together the music of Jake Heggie and Gabriel Fauré.
Recent appearances include Carnegie Hall's SongStudio, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (FUSE Residency), Aspen Music Festival, Queensland Art Song Festival, Classic Lyric Arts, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Opera Lucca, and Opera Company of Middlebury.
Gabrielė Žemaitytė began her musical journey at the age of six, enrolling at the National Čiurlionis Art School, where she laid the foundation for her career as a pianist. She went on to complete both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical piano performance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, studying under the guidance of esteemed professor Naum Grubert.
A laureate of numerous national and international piano competitions, Gabriele has taken part in master classes with distinguished pianists and educators including Dmitry Bashkirov, Stefan Vladar, David Breitman and David Dolan. Her artistry has been showcased across various music festivals in the Netherlands, such as the Kammermuziekfestival Den Haag and the Gergiev Festival in De Doelen. She has also performed at prestigious venues including Het Concertgebouw and the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, often collaborating with prominent artists like Dutch mezzo-soprano Maria Warenberg. In 2019, Gabriele toured China as part of the NSOB orchestra, performing in 30 theaters both as an orchestral and solo pianist.
In 2021, she won second prize at the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition alongside Filipino-American baritone Rolfe Dauz. Her commitment to contemporary music has been recognized with grants from the Lithuanian Council for Culture in both 2020 and 2023, supporting her work in commissioning and performing modern vocal and instrumental repertoire. During her time in the Netherlands, Gabriele was honored to practice on a Bechstein grand piano, generously loaned by the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds. From 2023 to 2025, she has served as a Collaborative Piano Fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music, with a focus on vocal arts. There, she coached under the mentorship of Kayo Iwama, Erika Switzer, Stephanie Blythe and Howard Watkins.
In the summer of 2024, she participated as a collaborative piano fellow at the Manetti Shrem Opera Program, studying with John Churchwell and Martin Katz. In the summer of 2025, Gabriele serves as a Vocal Piano Fellow at the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West, where she will work on a production of Don Giovanni.
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