Omar

An innate musician, and trained pianist, American tenor Jamez McCorkle is gathering acclaim as a hugely exciting talent. Following his time at the Zürich International Opera Studio in 2019, McCorkle was a finalist in the much-coveted Neue Stimmen competition, and has since made anticipated debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Bayerische Staatsoper. Looking further ahead, his appearances include debuts with Theater Basel and the Philadelphia Orchestra as well as an invitation to return to Bavarian State Opera.

In May of 2022, he will create the title role of Omar at the work's world premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.

Highlights of the 2021/22 season include his house and role debut as Telemaco in a new production of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria with Theatre Basel; the title role in the world premiere of Omar, Rhiannon Giddens’ new opera based on the life of Omar Ibn Said at the Spoleto Festival; and Leonard Woolfe in Kevin Puts’ new opera The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

McCorkle’s recent successes include his debut at Bavarian State Opera as the Duke of Cornwall in Lear; Peter the Honeyman in the hugely acclaimed production of Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera; performances of Britten's War Requiem with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Tamino in The Magic Flute with Kentucky Opera; and Lensky in Eugene Onegin with Michigan Opera Theatre and at the Spoleto Festival, where he also sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. McCorkle also received an invitation from Opera Vlaanderen to sing Steva in Jenůfa.

As a member of the International Opera Studio, roles included Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor and Trabuco in  La Forza del Destino; title role (cover) in Idomeneo, Remendado and Don José (cover) in Carmen and the First Armed Man in The Magic Flute. In 2017 McCorkle was invited to take part in the Young Artist Program of the Salzburg Festival, appearing as Fante del Consiglio in The Two Foscari and covering Tito in La Clemenza di Tito. At Curtis Opera Theatre he appeared as Ruggero in La Rondine, Nolan in Doctor Atomic and the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, McCorkle is an alumnus of the Mannes College, The New School for Music and Loyola University New Orleans. He has participated in several summer programs including Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, I Sing Beijing, Houston Grand Opera Young Artists' Vocal Academy, the Music Academy of the West, and the International Vocal Arts Institute. He is a winner of several awards and competitions including the George London Competition, Sullivan Foundation, Brava! Opera Competition, National Opera Association Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Gulf Coast Region.

Heralded for her “superb vocal and dramatic chops” by Opera News, with “stunning vocal beauty and absolute sincerity of expression” in Chicago Classical Review, mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms will return to the Santa Fe Opera this summer to cover the title role of Carmen followed by performances with the Akron Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic. Previously in the 2021/22 season, she starred as Charlie Tyler in the Dayton Opera world premiere of Laura Kaminsky's Finding Wright and debuted as Leocasta in Giustino with Long Beach Opera. An advocate for innovative new works, she also starred in the first opera commissioned for a planetarium: Galaxies in Her Eyes, directed by Kristyne McIntyre and written by Mark Lanz Weiser and Amy S. Pun.

Praised by the New York Times as “commanding with captivating texture” and Opera News for “luxurious full tone and interpretive intensity”, Amanda Lynn Bottoms was a featured Apprentice Artist in 2021 with Santa Fe Opera covering Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fillipyevna in Eugene Onegin, Ino in The Lord of Cries, and singing Carmen in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Showcase. To much acclaim, she headlined the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago Fall 2021 recital series; the opening performance, Songs of the New World, was named one of Chicago Classical Review’s 'Best of 2021' alongside the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the final recital, The Songs We Carried, received honorable mention. A beloved guest artist of the New York Festival of Song led by Steven Blier, she collaborated with the institution for several performances this season, including their return to live performance “And…We’re Back” 

Amanda Lynn Bottoms is an alumna of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera where her mainstage work included roles in the Maurice Sendak production of The Magic Flute, Menotti’s The Consul, and the world premiere of Michael Lanci's Admissions in the Washington National Opera AOI program. Bottoms had a “dramatically and vocally glamorous” debut (Parterre Box) in the Opera Philadelphia O19 Festival, as Smeraldina in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, and continued featured work with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, New York Festival of Song, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Emerging Voices recital series. 

Prominent debuts include Paquette in Candide with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the UCLA Symphony, Mercédès in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Songfest with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Brothers Balliett’s Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses at Carnegie Hall, originating the role of Frances in the world premiere of Korine Fujiwara's The Flood with Opera Columbus, Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo with Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Anita in West Side Story with the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo under the baton of Paavo Järvi. 

She has received recognition and awards from prestigious international competitions including the George London Foundation, Loren L. Zachary Society, Operalia, Gerda Lissner, Opera Index, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regionals. She holds a certificate of professional studies in opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, a master of music degree from the Juilliard School where she was a coveted Kovner Fellow, and a bachelor of music degree from SUNY Fredonia.  

Learn more at AmandaLynnBottoms.com.

Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch is a frequent interpreter of the principal Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Figaro and Leporello, which he has performed in theaters such as LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera. A strong Mozart presence continues through the 2021/22 season with house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as Don Giovanni and his debut with Opernhaus Zürich as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. Other highlights of recent seasons include debuts at Teatro alla Scala in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at Washington National Opera in Peter Grimes and at Grand Théâtre de Genève in Charpentier’s Médée.

Showcasing an innate connection to the music of our time, Okulitch has created several principal characters most notably Ennis del Mar in Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real in Madrid, Seth Brundle in Howard Shore’s The Fly at Paris’ Théâtre de Châtelet and LA Opera, Mark Rutland in Nico Muhly’s Marnie at English National Opera and LBJ in David T. Little’s JFK at Fort Worth Opera and Opéra de Montréal. Further contemporary credentials include appearances as General Groves in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. Daniel Okulitch recently made an acclaimed role debut as The Protector in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Opéra de Montréal and further explored the composer’s work in Katie’s Mitchell’s production of Lessons of Love and Violence in the recent premiere at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. 

Learn more at DanielOkulitch.com.

Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols has been praised for her “dynamic range and vocal acrobatics” (Classical Voice) in theaters across the United States. In the summer of 2022, Echols reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Clara in Porgy and Bess in her debut with Des Moines Metro Opera, in addition to her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra for their annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert and her return to Cincinnati Opera for a special performance alongside Morris Robinson in Morris and Friends.

In the 2022/23 season, she returns to LA Opera as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar, debuts the role of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Opera San Antonio, and makes her long-awaited return to the Kennedy Center reprising the role of Musetta in La Bohème with Washington National Opera.

In the 2021/22 season, Echols was featured at the Metropolitan Opera both as Clara in Porgy and Bess and as Noemie in the Met’s family adaptation of Massenet’s Cendrillon. Additional performances at the Metropolitan Opera include Pousette in Manon and Musetta in La Bohème. She has been seen at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of Washington National Opera in the title role of La Traviata, the role of Sister Helen in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Micaela in Carmen, as well as Woglinde/Forest Bird in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Additional performances include Clara in Porgy and Bess with the Atlanta Opera as well as the title role in La Traviata with Palm Beach Opera. A frequent performer of both standard and contemporary repertoire, Echols debuted the role of Helen in the world premiere performances of The Summer King at the Pittsburgh Opera in 2017 and reprised the role in her hometown of Detroit with Michigan Opera Theater in 2018. She has performed the role of Pip in Heggie’s Moby Dick with the Los Angeles, Dallas and Pittsburgh Operas.

On the concert stage, Echols has performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony for their 2017 season opening gala concert, and returned to the symphony for her first performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She made her debut with the Memphis Symphony in performances of Handel’s Messiah.

The tenor's outstanding facility in roles by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti has regularly taken him to the world’s leading opera houses. With the Metropolitan Opera he has partnered with Renée Fleming in Rossini’s Armida, Natalie Dessay in The Daughter of the Regiment and La Sonnambula, with Olga Borodina in L’Italiana in Algeri and with Anna Netrebko in Don Pasquale and L’Elisir d’Amore. Notable roles have included his debut as Arnold (Guillaume Tell) at Welsh National Opera, the title role in Mitridate, Re di Ponto and Don Narciso (Il Turco in Italia) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Ernesto (Don Pasquale) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Count Almaviva (The Barber of Seville) at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Idreno (Semiramide) at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and at Royal Danish Opera.

He has appeared as Iago in Rossini’s Otello at both Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Salzburger Festspiele. The role of Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) saw his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Oreste (Ermione) marked his debut at the Santa Fe Festival. He made his debuts in Vienna as Norfolk (Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra) at Theater an der Wien, and at the Teatro Real, Madrid as the Astrologer in The Golden Cockerel. During a long association with English National Opera he has appeared as Tamino (The Magic Flute), Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress), Edgardo (in David Alden’s acclaimed production of Lucia di Lammermoor), Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) and as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. 

In concert Barry Banks has performed Berlioz’ Grand Messe des Morts under Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra which was released to considerable acclaim on LSO Live. He sang in Britten’s War Requiem at the Teatro alla Scala under Xian Zhang, The Dream of Gerontius with the Münchner Philharmoniker under Sir Andrew Davis, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniele Gatti, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Utah Symphony under Thierry Fischer. In the 2018/19 season, Barry Banks makes his role and house debuts as Pirelli in Andreas Homoki’s new production of Sweeney Todd at Operhaus Zurich. Bel canto roles include Roberto Devereux at Welsh National Opera under Carlo Rizzi and Rossini’s Sigismondo in concert with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Ulf Schirmer. Other highlights include Gurrelieder with Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España under the baton of David Afkham, and Berlioz’s Te Deum with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Kazuki Yamada. His discography includes Mitridate with Classical Opera Company (Ian Page), The Elixir of Love, The Italian Girl in Algiers, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, The Thieving Magpie and The Magic Flute in the Opera in English series for Chandos. DVD releases include Armida from the Metropolitan Opera. His solo recital disc for Chandos - Barry Banks sings Bel Canto Arias - received substantial critical acclaim.

Canadian mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny, born in Muscat, Oman, has been gaining recognition in major competitions and festivals on the operatic scene.

She began the 2022/23 season as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera San Jose. She then joined LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, where she makes her company debut as Eliza in Omar.

A recent graduate of Indiana University, she was chosen as a winner in the Western Canada District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2020. In her 2019/20 season, she sang the role of Rosina in IU Opera Theatre’s production of The Barber of Seville, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Carmen in Arden Opera’s production of The Tragedy of Carmen. In 2021, she made her debut with IU Opera Theatre’s production of Handel’s Xerses, singing the title role, and Poppea in The Coronation of Poppea. During the summer of 2021, she was invited to join 14 other singers from around the country at the world renowned Ravinia Steans Vocal Institute as a fellow presenting art song repertoire. In winter of 2021, she made her West Virginia Symphony Orchestra debut with the Sounds of the Seasons concerts, guest conducted by Luke Frazier from the American Pops Orchestra.

Her 2022 engagements included a Carnegie Hall debut at Renée Fleming’s SongStudio in January, Suzuki with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of Madama Butterfly, followed by a role debut at the Aspen Music Festival and School as Meg Page in Falstaff as a Renée Fleming Studio Artist.

With a passion to give back to her community, she has recently partnered with A Better World Canada to raise money for local projects and fundraisers associated with education reform.

Briana Hunter has been hailed by Opera News as “a mesmerizing mezzo-soprano with a fiery theatrical presence and dynamic vocalism.” Ms. Hunter’s 2021/2022 season begins with two major New York City debuts: first at the Metropolitan Opera as Ruby/Woman Sinner in a new production of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, followed by her Carnegie Hall debut with The Orchestra Now in a performance of Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, under the auspices of the Bard Musical Festival. She reprises her critically acclaimed portrayal of Mother in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue in February at Seattle Opera and with Pittsburgh Opera in April. On the concert stage she debuts at the Madison Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, as well as the Charlotte Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Recent engagements include the title role in Carmen with Opera Orlando; Tanya in Is This America? with Santa Fe Opera; and Constance Fletcher in The Mother of Us All with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Virtual performances in 2020 include a broadcast on WQXR with the Mostly Mozart Festival for Blue; the Santa Fe Opera for a Digital Winter Concert Tour; Bare Opera’s original production of The Late Walk under the auspices of the Decameron Opera Coalition; Letters You Will Not Get with American Opera Projects; the North American premiere of Apollo y Dafne livestreamed from The Hispanic Museum and Library; and Opera from a Sistah’s Point of View with Opera Birmingham and Cincinnati Opera. The Kennedy Center will release the first-ever commercial recording of Blue in 2022, featuring Ms. Hunter as Mother.

In the 2020/21 season, Ms. Hunter was originally scheduled to perform Blue with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center; Ottavia in The Poppea Project at Opera Columbus; and her role debut as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Ms. Hunter created the roles of Mother in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival and Dee Dee Reyes in Hillard and Boresi’s The Last American Hammer with UrbanArias. Additional recent performances include multiple roles in Augusta Read Thomas’ Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun with the Santa Fe Opera; Hannah Before in Laura Kaminsky’s As One at the Kaufman Music Center with New York City Opera and American Opera Projects; Annie and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Giovanna in Rigoletto and Gertrude Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 at Michigan Opera Theatre, for which she won the Encore Michigan award for Best Performance in an Opera. At the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, she performed the role of Flora in La Traviata for Patricia Racette’s directorial debut, as well as Pvt. Stanton in the world premiere of An American Soldier. She made her Lincoln Center Theater debut for a workshop of Intimate Apparel by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage, directed by Bartlett Sher, and returned for a gala performance of Camelot starring Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Additional roles include the title role of Carmen with the Music Academy of the West and Mercédès at Michigan Opera Theatre, El Paso Opera and Knoxville Opera; Jo in Little Women, Wowkle in The Girl of the Golden West, and Madeleine Audebert in Silent Night at Michigan Opera Theatre; Rachel in the world premiere of Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom with American Opera Projects; Play by Play in the world premiere of Bum Phillips: An All-American Opera at LaMama Experimental Theater; and Ida in Die Fledermaus at Sarasota Opera. As an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, she covered the roles of Lucinda in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain and Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, and performed the roles of Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann and Ruggiero in Alcina for the Apprentice Artist scenes.

An accomplished stage actress, Ms. Hunter has worked with Tony and Academy Award winning playwright Mark Medoff in a production of his play Gunfighter–A Gulf War Chronicle, in addition to developing and starring in an original double bill titled Infinite Variety/For Every Passion Something under the direction of the Royal Shakespeare Company and presented in a two-week run at the Fringe Festival in Scotland. At the Manhattan School of Music, she performed in the institution’s first ever production of The Vagina Monologues in addition to singing with the American Musical Theater Ensemble for productions of Godspell and Ragtime. 

Ms. Hunter is a Lotte Lenya Competition finalist and winner of the Lys Symonette Award from The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. She participated in the I SING BEIJING program where she performed at The National Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Hunter holds a M.M. from Manhattan School of Music and a B.A. from Davidson College. Originally from Malvern, Pennsylvania, she currently resides in New York City.

Learn more at BrianaElyseHunter.com.

American baritone Norman Garrett, who has been called “scene-stealing” by The New York Times, is enjoying a varied and exciting career. In the 2021/22 season, Mr. Garrett will make his house and role debut at Seattle Opera as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro. He will also return to both the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Foreman/Adult James in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and reprise the role of Jim in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera. Finally, he will sing Jake in Porgy and Bess with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, on tour at both the Lucerne Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, with conductor Alan Gilbert.

Cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic include Jake in Porgy and Bess at Washington National Opera and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Jacksonville Symphony. In the 2020/21 season, Mr. Garrett made his house debut at Theater an der Wien as Crown in Porgy and Bess, joined Bard SummerScape as the title role in Chausson’s Le roi Arthus, made his role debut as the title role in Don Giovanni at Dayton Opera, sang Escamillo in Carmen at Opera Orlando, and performed in a concert of arias with Opera Philadelphia at the Mann Center. During the previous season, he returned to Washington National Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni and made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Jim in Porgy and Bess.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Garrett made his house debut at Houston Grand Opera as Ríolobo in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and returned to Washington National Opera as Lieutenant Gordon in Silent Night. He also made his mainland Europe debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Larkens in The Girl of the Golden West, joined Dayton Opera as Jochanaan in Salome, and sang Crown in Porgy and Bess at Fort Worth Opera. High profile concert appearances included Carmina Burana, with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl under Bramwell Tovey and the Toronto Symphony under Donald Runnicles.

In recent seasons, Norman Garrett has appeared numerous times with Washington National Opera, where he was a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist. Performances there include Ríolobo, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Masetto in Don Giovanni, the Father in Hansel and Gretel, a Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, Captain Gardiner in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, and the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn and Me. Other operatic appearances include his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess, the title role in Delius’ rarely heard Koanga at the Wexford Festival in Ireland, Escamillo at both Austin Opera and Opera Columbus, Crown at both the Glimmerglass Festival and University of Michigan, Minksman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight at Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Mandarin in Turandot at Cincinnati Opera.

On the concert stage, Mr. Garrett has made many important appearances, including debuts with both the Philadelphia Orchestra in a Gershwin program, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as the Marchese in La Traviata. He has also sung concert of American music with the Cleveland Orchestra, Escamillo in concert with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with both the National Philharmonic at The Music Center at Strathmore and the Rogue Valley Symphony in Ashland, Oregon.

Mr. Garrett is a former winner of the George London Foundation Competition, and has received top prizes in more than a dozen international vocal competitions, including the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, the Giulio Gari Foundation, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Competition, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Texas Tech University, and the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he was a resident artist.

Alan Williams recently received his specialist and master's degrees in voice performance from the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Daniel Washington. He received his undergraduate degree in 2018 from Northern Arizona University, where he studied with Dr. Judith Cloud. 

He has performed a number of major roles with various festivals and universities including John P. Parker in Adolphus Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story, Rev. Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. He has also performed in various concerts with Detroit Opera, recently in Detroit Players Club Opera Event. In the fall of 2021, Alan was invited to sing for Jean Snyder's presentation on the works of Harry T. Burleigh at the Oxford Lieder Festival in Oxford, England. He has also had the honor of singing with Dr. Eugene Rogers' professional chamber choir Exigence since 2020. 

He has received notable awards, recently earning an encouragement award at the Arizona District Laffont Competition. In 2021, he was named the winner of the Graduate Concerto Competition at the University of Michigan. Also during his M.M. studies at Michigan, he was selected as a national finalist in the 2019 National Association of Negro Musicians convention. In his undergraduate studies at Northern Arizona University, he was selected as a finalist for two consecutive years in the Rocky Mountain District for MONC auditions. 

In the summer of 2022, he will join the Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Program at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he will sing the role of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and cover the role of the Lawyer in Porgy and Bess. 

Cedric Berry received his music diploma from Interlochen Arts Academy, and both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California. He gained his first professional experience as a Resident Artist with LA Opera. His repertoire includes the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Falstaff in Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Sarastro in The Magic Flute, all with USC Opera, Méphistophélès in Faust with Pacific Repertory Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni with UCLA Opera, Dewaine in John Adams’ I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky with Long Beach Opera, and the Good Man in Anne LeBaron’s Crescent City with The Industry.  Cedric made his first European stage appearances as Jake in a concert version of Porgy and Bess in Madrid and Cuenca, Spain.  He also appeared with LA Opera at the Savonlinna Opera Festival singing the role of the First Nazarene in Salome, and sang a concert in tribute to Paul Robeson for the Banlieues Bleues festival in Paris, France. 

On the concert stage, he has appeared with Bakersfield Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic and Santa Fe Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, Pacific Symphony in Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Arizona Symphony as Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, the Telemann Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Handel’s Messiah in Tokyo and of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Osaka, the Luckman Jazz Orchestra singing Duke Ellington’s Sacred Songs, the New West Symphony as Zuniga in Carmen, the Southwest Chamber Orchestra in Wuorinen’s The Haroun Songbook, the Pasadena Pops Orchestra in Jerome Kern’s Showboat Symphonic Suite, the California Philharmonic in Porgy and Bess Concert Suite, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Michael Torke’s Book of Proverbs. 

He has been the recipient of several awards including first place in LA’s Artist of the Future Competition, the Italian Educator’s Vocal Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera Western Region Competition.  Recent Los Angeles engagements include the lead role of Kublai Khan in Christopher Cerrone's Invisible Cities, an opera which was a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist, for The Industry. The production was listed as “Best of 2013” by the Los Angeles Times. The documentary of the production received an Emmy Award, and a CD was recorded and released in 2014. 

Learn more at CedricBerry.com.

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.

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. In July 2023, Patrick Black appears with the Opera Festival of Chicago in An Italian Soirée and as Leone in Verdi's Attila.

The acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, and she has been nominated for six additional Grammys for her work as a soloist and collaborator. She was most recently nominated for her collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, there is no Other (2019). Giddens’s forthcoming album, They’re Calling Me Home, is a 12-track album, recorded with Turrisi in Ireland during the recent lockdown; it speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many during the COVID-19 crisis.  

Giddens’s lifelong mission is to lift up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased, and to work toward a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins. Pitchfork has said of her work, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration,” and Smithsonian Magazine calls her “an electrifying artist who brings alive the memories of forgotten predecessors, white and black.”

Among her many diverse career highlights, Giddens has performed for the Obamas at the White House, served as a Carnegie Hall Perspectives curator, and received an inaugural Legacy of Americana Award from Nashville’s National Museum of African American History in partnership with the Americana Music Association. Her critical acclaim includes in-depth profiles by CBS Sunday Morning, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and NPR’s Fresh Air, among many others. 

Giddens is featured in Ken Burns’s Country Music series, which aired on PBS in 2019, where she speaks about the African American origins of country music. She is also a member of the band Our Native Daughters with three other black female banjo players, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Amythyst Kiah, and co-produced their debut album Songs of Our Native Daughters (2019), which tells stories of historic black womanhood and survival. 

Named Artistic Director of Silkroad in 2020, Giddens is developing a number of new programs for the organization, including one inspired by the history of the American transcontinental railroad and the cultures and music of its builders. She recently wrote the music for an original ballet, Lucy Negro Redux, for Nashville Ballet (premiered in 2019), and the libretto and music for an original opera, Omar, based on the autobiography of the enslaved man Omar Ibn Said for the Spoleto USA Festival (premiering in 2022).

As an actor, Giddens had a featured role on the television series Nashville.

Learn more at RhiannonGiddens.com.

Michael Abels is a two-time Emmy-nominated composer of music for film, media and the concert hall, often incorporating elements of folk, classical and bluegrass music.

He is known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films Get Out and Us, for which Abels won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and multiple critics awards. The hip-hop influenced score for Us was short-listed for the Oscar, and was even named "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. Other recent media projects include the films Bad Education, Nightbooks, Fake Famous, and the docu-series Allen v. Farrow. Current releases include Beauty which premiered at the Tribeca Festival and is now streaming on Netflix, and Breaking (formerly 892) which premiered at Sundance and opened in theaters in August of 2022. Abels' third collaboration with Jordan Peele, Nope, opened in theaters in July of 2022.

Abels' creative output also includes many concert works, including At War With Ourselves for the Kronos Quartet, Isolation Variation for Hilary Hahn, and the opera Omar co-composed with Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Rhiannon Giddens, which opens at Los Angeles Opera in October 2022. His scores have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and many others. Some of these pieces are available on the Cedille label, including Delights & Dances and Winged Creatures. Current commissions include a work for the National Symphony, and a guitar concerto for Grammy-nominated artist Mak Grgic.

Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, gaming and streaming media.

His compositions include the one-act opera Homies and Popz, with a libretto by Bernardo Solano, commissioned by LA Opera and premiered in 2000.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Michael Abels attended the University of Southern California where he studied with James Hopkins and Robert Linn. Later on in his collegiate career, he studied West African music with Alfred Ladzekpo at the California Institute for the Arts. He currently serves as Director of Music for New Roads School in Santa Monica.

American conductor Kazem Abdullah currently lives in Nürnberg, Germany. He was Music and Artistic Director of the City of Aachen, Germany from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure, he succeeded in reaching newer and diverse audiences through innovative programming and moving out of the concert hall, and into atypical venues. In addition to exploring new venues to bring concerts to audiences and experimenting with juxtapositions of styles in non-traditional concert formats, he also performed over 25 operas and collaborated with musicians such as Johannes Moser, Lise de la Salle, Angela Gheorghiu, Augustin Haedelich, and Midori.

His engagements for the 2022/23 season include Omar with LA Opera and Proximity, a trio of new one-act operas, for his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

A passionate advocate of new music as well as established repertoire, Mr. Abdullah continues to develop relationships with national and international orchestras and opera houses. Among his recent orchestral credits are the symphony orchestras of Oregon, Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. In addition to his symphony engagements, he recently conducted an opera gala for the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s opera Brokeback Mountain with the New York City Opera, and Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda for Cape Town Opera.

Of special note are three acclaimed orchestral engagements: leading the Orquestra de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s most celebrated classical music ensembles, on its third United States coast-to-coast tour, conducting the New World Symphony’s 2009 Ives In-Context Festival by special invitation from Michael Tilson Thomas, and substituting on very short notice to conduct the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

In the opera arena, Mr. Abdullah has guest conducted such esteemed companies as the Atlanta Opera, where he conducted Così fan tutte, and the Théâtre du Châtelet de Paris, where he led sold-out performances of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. Mr. Abdullah made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009 conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and returned in 2021 to conduct Fire Shut Up In My Bones.

Trained as a clarinetist, Kazem Abdullah has performed extensively as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, and soloist. He spent two seasons as a member of the New World Symphony and has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the Cincinnati and National Symphony Orchestras. He has also performed with prominent chamber ensembles such as the Paris based Trio Wanderer and the Auryn Quartet.

A dedicated educator, Mr. Abdullah has worked with student band and orchestras in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Interlochen, the Oklahoma Arts Institute, Tanglewood, and at universities in Cologne, Aachen, and Stellenbosch, South Africa. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by his alma mater, CCM where he worked with the students there and spoke at their commencement in 2015.

Born in Indiana, Mr. Abdullah began his music studies at the age of 10 with clarinet and piano. He studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and the University of Southern California.

Learn more at KazemAbdullah.com.

Kaneza Schaal is a New York City based artist working in theater, opera, and film. Schaal was named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, and received a 2019 United States Artists Fellowship, SOROS Art Migration and Public Space Fellowship, Joyce Award, 2018 Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness Award, 2017 MAP Fund Award, 2016 Creative Capital Award, and was an Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage. Her project Go Forth premiered at Performance Space 122 and then showed at the Genocide Memorial Amphitheater in Kigali, Rwanda; Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans; Cairo International Contemporary Theater Festival in Egypt; and at her alma mater Wesleyan University, CT. Her work Jack & showed in BAM’s 2018 Next Wave Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and with its co-commissioners Walker Arts Center, REDCAT, On The Boards, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Schaal’s piece Cartography premiered at The Kennedy Center and toured to The New Victory Theater, Abu Dhabi Arts Center and Playhouse Square, OH. Her dance work Maze, created with FLEXN NYC, premiered at The Shed. Most recently, she directed Triptych composed by Bryce Dessner with libretto by Korde Arrington Tuttle, which premiered at LA Philharmonic, The Power Center in Ann Arbor, BAM Opera House and Holland Festival. Her newest original work KLII, was co-commissioned as part of the Eureka Commissions program by the Onassis Foundation and is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Walker Art Center in partnership with Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, and REDCAT. Schaal will develop and direct a number of upcoming works including Split Tooth with Tanya Tagaq (Luminato Festival, Canada), Hush Arbor (The Opera) with Imani Uzuri (The Momentary, AZ) and Blue at Michigan Opera Theater.

Schaal’s work has also been supported by New England Foundation for the Arts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, FACE Foundation Contemporary Theater grant, Theater Communications Group, and a Princess Grace George C. Wolfe Award. Her work with The Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell/New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Jim Findlay, and Dean Moss has brought her to venues including Centre Pompidou, Royal Lyceum Theater Edinburgh, The Whitney Museum, and MoMA.

Schaal is an arts-in-education advocate. Her work at the International Children’s Book Library in Munich, Germany with young asylum seekers to address migration and storytelling led to the creation of Cartography. Additionally, she created arts exchange platforms at three prisons in upstate New York, and has begun work on a new program for New York State’s maximum security facility for girls. Schaal’s education work has spanned from universities to community centers to public high schools; and from workshops for professional artists, to professional development training for teachers, to intergenerational collaborations between elders and teens, to in-schools work with immigrant communities. Schaal taught an Atelier course at Princeton University with Elevator Repair Service and has lectured at Yale University, Wesleyan University, New York University, the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and Xavier University of Louisiana. She recently taught a course at Harvard University on theater and social practice.

Learn more at KanezaSchaal.com.

Award-winning illustrator Christopher Myers has collaborated with Kaneza Schaal on works including GO FORTH, premiering to great acclaim as part of  PS122’s COIL 2015, and Cartography, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2019. He is the son of acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers. In 1998, the two collaborated on Harlem, which was named a Caldecott Honor Book as well as a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Myers’ solo effort, Black Cat, was also a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. His most recent books include Firebird, written by Misty Copeland, Jake Makes a World written by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and My Pen written by himself.  The Kennedy Center has adapted three of Myers’ books to the stage for young audiences.

His sculptural work has been shown at PS1-MoMA, Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai and the Sundance Film Festival. Most recently Myers was included in the Prospect Biennial in New Orleans, where he and his collaborators, the Propeller Group, organized a funeral march that went from Saigon to the Lower Ninth Ward.

Amy Rubin designs environments for theater, opera, dance and live events. Her visual storytelling creates intimate experiences through the manipulation of space and how the audience views and interacts in the performance. Rubin's New York credits include Octet, Thom Pain (Signature Theatre); Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre); Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons); All the Fine Boys (The New Group); Aging Magician (New Victory Theater); and Ike at Night (Public Theater). Regional credits include: Gloria (American Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre); Cyrano (Goodspeed Musicals); and Mahagonny/​Medium (Philadelphia Opera), as well as projects at La Jolla Playhouse, Walker Arts Center, MASS MoCA, Z Space, the Kimmel Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Bushwick Starr, HERE, the Flea, Cherry Lane, 3LD, and numerous TED Talks. 

She is an assistant professor of theater at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she teaches visual storytelling. She previously taught at Harvard University and University of Rochester, and has lectured at MIT and NYU/Tisch, where she received an M.F.A.

April M. Hickman recently earned an MFA in costume design from the Yale School of Drama, where she designed costumes for productions including Hamlet, Pivot, Seven Spots on the Sun, Dwight Edgewood Project (4 Plays), In the Palm of the Giant and Slave Play. 

Elsewhere she has designed costumes for Theatre Squared, Yale Cabaret and for C1Media's short film The Promotion, for which she was nominated for Best Costume Design at the LA International Film Festival Indie Short Fest.

She has also worked with major regional companies including Yale Repertory Theatre, the Goodman Theatre and Arena Stage.

Learn more at AprilMHickman.com.

Trained as a modern dancer and choreographer, Micheline Russell-Brown’s real love has always been as a costume and design professional. Micheline began her wardrobe career at the Roundabout Theater and then the Metropolitan Opera after a recommendation from her mentor at Bard College. From the Met, she moved on to Broadway, working backstage for several years at Rent.

After making a career in theater, Micheline shifted to film and television and has worked on productions including The Sopranos, Flight of the Conchords, Damages, The Good Wife and The Good Fight.  Always missing the pulse of live theater, Micheline is thrilled to be returning to the wings of the stage. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two children, forever dreaming up ways to better dress her family.

Pablo Santiago is a Mexican-American lighting designer. He is the winner of the Richard Sherwood Award and Stage Raw Award and a four-time Ovation Award nominee. Pablo is proud to have long standing collaborations with many great artists such as James Darrah, Jose Luis Valenzuela, Ellen Reid, Missy Mazzoli, Karen Zacarias, Bill Rouch, Patricia McGregor, Ted Hearne, Christopher Rountree, Francois-Pierre Couture, Adam Rigg, Adam Larsen and Yuval Sharon.

Pablo has designed for companies such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Opera Omaha, Center Theater Group Music Academy of The West, Broad Museum and Beth Morrison Projects. Some of the amazing venues he has worked at include Teatro Municipal Sao Paulo, the Goodman Theater, Disney Concert Hall, Davies Hall, Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center and Arena Stage in DC, La MaMa in NYC, Skirball Center, Paramount Theater, Huntington Theater and Majestic Theater in Boston, and BAM-Harvey Theater.

Recent highlights include The Fall of The House of Usher (feature film for Boston Lyric Opera); The Anonymous Lover (digital content for LA Opera); Pulitzer Prize-winner p r i s m (LA Opera, Sao Paulo, Prototype Festival), Macbeth and Mother Road (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage); Place (BAM-LA Philharmonic-Beth Morrison Projects), Proving Up (ONE Festival/Opera Omaha and Miller Theater); Valley of the Heart and Zoot Suit (Mark Taper Forum); Threepenny Opera, Norma (Boston Lyric Opera); Destiny of Desire (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage); War of the Worlds (Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Industry); Breaking the Waves (Opera Philadelphia and Prototype Festival); Pelleas et Melisande (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra); Flight, Pagliacci and Madama Butterfly (Opera Omaha); On the Town (San Francisco Symphony); Skeleton Crew and The Cake (Geffen Playhouse).

Pablo obtained a BA in Visual Arts at UCSD (Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society) and his MFA in Lighting Design at UCLA, where he obtained Magna Cum Laude honors and won the Cirque du Soleil Grant. Instagram: @pablosdesign

Joshua Higgason is a video, lighting, scenic, and interactive designer for theater, opera, concerts and live performances. Recent projects include Hansel and Gretel (projections; Teatro Alla Scala); King Arthur (projections; Statsoper Berlin); The Threepenny Opera (projections; Salzburg Festival); Nico Muhly’s Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra) (video, scenic; Utah Symphony); Ira Glass' Seven Things I've Learned tour (projections); Persona (video and lighting; Beth Morrison Projects); Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie and Lowell tour 2015 (video); Radiolab’s Apocalyptical tour (video, scenic, lighting);  Powder her Face (video; New York City Opera); and The Ambassador (video; BAM). He has designed and consulted for The Builders Association, Big Dance Theater, MoMA, MassMoCA, Theatre for One/Christine Jones, The Windmill Factory,  and TED. He teaches design at MIT.  

Learn more at JoshuaHiggason.net.

Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for The Clemency of Titus (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.

In partnership with the Getty Villa and LACMA in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., he has curated multimedia recitals which draw connections between the classical vocal repertoire and special exhibits in the museums. He is a frequent collaborator at Wolf Trap Opera as an assistant conductor, chorus master and recitalist. He has been a guest coach at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, in Esterhazy, Austria, and he helped prepare Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. (JeremyMFrank.com)

Kiara Benn is a movement artist and producer pursuing a career in creative direction. She attended Wesleyan University where she received Wesleyan’s DanceLink Fellowship 2019-2020 and was awarded a grant to intern with Whitney Biennial artist, Brendan Fernandes. Kiara assisted with his movement-based installations at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and at Wesleyan’s Zilkha Gallery.

Kiara danced with the Brooklyn youth company Dancewave, where she performed the works of Kyle Abraham, Camille A. Brown, Andrea Miller of Gallim Dance, and more. Additionally, she danced these works at renowned venues like the Pocantico Center and Jacob’s Pillow.

Kiara has produced three choreographic pieces: Will You Reminisce For Me?, tempo take me…, and excuse me while I take up space. Kiara’s artistry often asks, how does music serve as a portal to privately experienced memories and trigger our bodies to move in ways that reference the past? 

Yusuf Nasir’s love for dance is infectious and can be felt far and wide. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Yusuf’s career spans film, television and stage as a dancer, choreographer and director. Credits include: HBO's Euphoria - Zendaya, Fox’s The Masked Singer, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue, Raven Symone- Disney's Raven's Home, Mobbed - FOX, The Prom - Netflix, Spongebob SquarePants 3, The Greatest Showman, The Neighborhood - CBS, The Good Place - NBC, Neil Patrick Harris, Zac Effron, Hugh Jackman, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Cordon, Cee-lo Green/Justin Timberlake, Wayne Brady, Betty White, Mark Feuerstein, Donny and Marie Osmond Live in Las Vegas, Ray Charles Live (Broadway tryout), Lil Abner – Reprise: Broadway’s Best, Derrick Mitchell’s Thin Line: A Dance Drama (off Broadway), Dancing with the Stars, MTV Video Music Awards, AFI Honors: Morgan Freeman, Spike TV Video Game Awards, BET Awards, Dave Foster Presents: Rod Stewart PBS Special, Festival Di San Remo (Italy), Once on this Island - 3D Theatrical, Lily Tomlin’s Search For Signs of Intelligent Life: Revisited and Ike Holter’s Hit the Wall at the Davidson/Valentini Theater, Ray Charles Live (Broadway) and many more.