The Marriage of Figaro

Bass-baritone Craig Colclough initially studied as a cellist and eventually attended the University of Redlands in California. Before training with Wolf Trap Opera and Florida Grand Opera, he began his career appearing in several roles with LA Opera. The company awarded him the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award during the 2020/21 season, celebrating artists with deep connections to LA Opera.

The 2022/23 season will feature a prominent return to Los Angeles, as he sings the title role in The Marriage of Figaro for the company’s new production, directed by filmmaker James Gray. He will return to the Atlanta Opera to make his role debut as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and reprise his acclaimed Monterone in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera.

Following his notable role debut as Alberich in Das Rheingold with the Tiroler Festspiele Erl during the summer of 2021, Mr. Colclough began the 2021/22 season with his debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago, singing the title role in Macbeth in a new production directed by Sir David McVicar and conducted by Lyric’s Music Director, Enrique Mazzola. Elsewhere during the season, he made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Macbeth, and returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Telramund in David Alden’s production of Lohengrin, and to the Metropolitan Opera, to sing Monterone in Barlett Sher’s new production of Rigoletto. During the summer of 2022, he made a thrilling role debut with Opera Saratoga as Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, appearing opposite Broadway great Carolee Carmelo.

His recent engagements include his Metropolitan Opera debut in the fall of 2019, as the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth; Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Scarpia in Tosca and Jack Rance in The Girl of the Golden West with English National Opera, Scarpia for his debut with Canadian Opera Company, Peter in Hansel and Gretel for LA Opera and the title role in Don Pasquale with Minnesota Opera and Arizona Opera. A house favorite with Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderen, he has appeared with the company as Telramund, Kurwenal, Macbeth and the title role of Falstaff, in a production directed by Oscar-winning actor Christoph Waltz.

Known for his versatility, Craig Colclough has appeared as Peter Vogel in Korngold's Der Ring des Polykrates with the Dallas Opera; the Storyteller in John Adams’ A Flowering Tree with Opera Queensland in Australia; Hare in the world premiere of Burke and Hare with Boston Lyric Opera; Pistola in Falstaff with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Fra Melitone in La Forza del Destino with Oper Frankfurt and Doristo in L’arbore di Diana with Minnesota Opera.

He has collaborated with acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel for performances of Timur in Turandot with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Additional credits include the Israeli Symphony Orchestra, California Philharmonic, Capitol Records, Abbey Road Studios and the soundtrack of the film Rolled.

Learn more at CraigColclough.com.

Grammy Award winner Ana María Martínez is considered to be one of the foremost sopranos of her time, with an international career that spans the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls.

A winner of the 15th Annual Opera News Awards, her repertoire encompasses opera’s most intriguing and diverse leading ladies, and she engages her audiences season after season with signature roles, spellbinding debuts, and a myriad of captivating recordings.  In addition to a full calendar of performances, Ms. Martínez continues to explore all aspects of her career, both on and off stage, highlighted by such diverse opportunities as voicing the role of opera singer Alessandra in season three of Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, to proudly representing her birthplace of Puerto Rico as an honoree and performer in the 62nd Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, and all the while maintaining her commitment as a leader in the industry and as an advocate and educator to the next generation of musicians. 

In 2019 Ms. Martínez joined Houston Grand Opera as their first-ever Artistic Advisor where she works with the artistic team on casting and production decisions, adjudicates the annual Concert of Arias competition, mentors and coaches HGO Studio artists, and engages with the larger Houston community on behalf of the Opera.  Equally exciting, following a two year appointment as Artist-in-Residence at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, in July 2021 she became a professor in their Department of Voice.

Her appearances in the 2022/23 season will include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera.

Performance highlights of the 2021/22 season include the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas with Lyric Opera of Chicago and a role debut as Despina in Cosi fan tutte with Washington National Opera. On stage during the 2020/21 season, in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Martínez was thrilled to join San Diego Opera as Mimi in their production of La Bohème, in the world’s first-ever drive-in opera production.  Virtual performances during the season included a “Living Room Recital” with LA Opera performed in Ana María’s home and available digitally.  She curated two Spanish-themed virtual programs, the first for Lyric Opera of Chicago with pianist Craig Terry, was entitled Pasión Latina and featured a dynamic selection of music from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Argentina and Spain. The second program, created by Ana María for Houston Grand Opera, entitled Suite Española, featured music of Spain, including zarzuela, and stared Ana María alongside HGO Studio artists.  Additional performances during the season included her role debut in the title role of Tosca with Opera Philadelphia, which she performed again later in the season with Cincinnati Opera, as well as Nedda in Pagliacci with Palm Beach Opera. 

Learn more at AnaMariaMartinez.com.

Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem, one of the most accomplished, in-demand singers of the moment, continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his “earnest, appealing baritone” (The New York Times). The “rock star of opera” (Opera Pulse) began his 2022/23 season with performances as the title role in Don Giovanni at Ravinia Festival, followed by Escamillo in Carmen with Canadian Opera Company and Opéra National de Paris, Marcello in La Bohème with Bayerische Staatsoper, and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with LA Opera. Rounding out the season with a return to Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at San Francisco Opera, other highlights include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at Dallas Opera, and guest soloist appearances with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Classical Tahoe and San Francisco Opera.

Celebrated by Opera News as a “masterful musician” with an “instrument of striking finish, smooth and solid throughout its range,” Meachem’s recent performances include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Royal Opera House, Marcello in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, and the title role in Nabucco at Oper im Steinbruch. Additionally, Meachem’s Teatro alla Scala debut in Massenet’s Thaïs was acclaimed as the “most impressive performance of the evening” (Opera Online), with his portrayal of Athanaël, alongside Marina Rebeka’s Thaïs, described as “possibly one of the great duos experienced at La Scala in recent decades” (Beckmesser).

When Covid struck and performances were canceled abruptly, Meachem was one of the first classical musicians to live stream a recital from the opera stage, just days after lockdown on March 23, 2020. In a recent profile with Opera News, Meachem revealed that, in March 2020, he felt at loose ends. With debut performances of Rodrigo in Don Carlos at Dallas Opera indefinitely postponed, he and his wife, pianist Irina Meachem, arranged a live-streamed program from the Winspear Opera House. The concert, recorded on smartphones with just two other people in the room, amassed more than 25,000 views on Instagram and Facebook, setting the standard for digital performances over the pandemic. While theaters were dark, Meachem continued to perform on the physical and digital stage, singing his “signature role for good reason” (Opera News) as Figaro in San Francisco Opera’s The Barber of Seville for an innovative “drive-in” experience. Meachem then filmed a movie version of Pagliacci as the romantic lead Silvio with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, set within their own opera house.

Named the winner of San Francisco Opera’s inaugural “Emerging Star of the Year” Award in 2016, other notable performances in Meachem’s American career include marking his 50th role debut as Athanaël in Thaïs (Minnesota Opera), Chorèbe in Les Troyens, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Valentin in Faust at Chicago Lyric Opera; General Rayevsky in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Silvio in Pagliacci, and Mercutio in Roméo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera; Don Giovanni with Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Cincinnati Opera;  Germont in La Traviata at Washington National Opera; The Barber of Seville at San Diego Opera, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Opera and LA Opera, where he also gave his Grammy Award-winning performance of Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles.

A regular performer across Europe, Meachem has performed the title role in The Barber of Seville with the Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, and Den Norske Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne Festival and Semperoper Dresden; the title role in Britten’s Billy Budd at Opéra national de Paris; as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and Royal Opera House; Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan under the baton of Seiji Ozawa; the title role in Eugene Onegin with Komische Oper Berlin and Opéra national de Montpellier; Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at Bilbao Opera; Escamillo in Carmen with Teatro Regio di Torino; and with the Teatro Real de Madrid in the world premiere of José Maria Sánchez-Verdú's El Viaje a Simorgh, Frank/Fritz in Die Tote Stadt, as well as Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride.

Meachem’s first solo album, Shall We Gather, released in September 2021 under Rubicon Records and featuring his wife, Irina Meachem, at the piano, was praised by BBC Music Magazine as having “vibrant and committed performances,” with Meachem delivering “a heartbreakingly beautiful performance.” According to The New Yorker, the album of American songs is “a plea for togetherness in a divided country. Meachem’s voice—a substantial and propulsive lyric baritone with pillowy edges—records beautifully.”

In July 2020, the Meachems founded Perfect Day Music Foundation (PDMF). The foundation aims to represent inclusivity and diversity of people today by using classical music as a relevant medium to address current issues through a traditional art form. The Foundation’s annual competition, which utilizes social media in its application process to raise awareness for new compositions, centers around a yearly theme that highlights an important demographic of classical music.

Born in North Carolina, Lucas Meachem studied music at Appalachian State University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University before becoming an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera.

Learn more at LucasMeachem.com

Tunisian-born Rihab Chaieb is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program where she appeared in numerous productions, including L’Italiana in Algeri (Zulma), Luisa Miller (Laura), Cavalleria Rusticana (Lola) and Hänsel und Gretel (Sandman). Returning since as a guest in Don Giovanni (Zerlina) under Cornelius Meister, she appears there this season as Nefertiti in Phelim McDermott’s unforgettable production of Philip Glass’ Akhnaten, conducted by Karen Kamensek.

In the 2021/22 season, Rihab Chaieb debuts at Washington National Opera in Così fan tutte (Dorabella), sings Penelope on a European concert tour and recording of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Ensemble I Gemelli and Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, returns to Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier as Maddalena in Marie-Eve Signeyrole’s new staging of Rigoletto, and joins Palm Beach Opera in the title role of Carmen. In concert, Chaieb joins the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah, and Les Violons du Roy for Mozart’s Requiem. 

Demonstrating strong repertoire versatility in recent seasons, Rihab Chaieb debuted as Charlotte in Werther at Opera Vlaanderen under Giedrė Šlekytė, at Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, as Rosina (The Barber of Seville) at Cincinnati Opera and as Offenbach’s Fantasio at Opéra de Montpellier. For Dutch National Opera, Chaieb sang Lola in Robert Carsen’s new staging under Lorenzo Viotti, Dorabella at Teatro Santiago de Chile, Kasturbai in Philip Glass’ Satyagraha at Opera Vlaanderen, and received unanimous acclaim for her first Carmen in Lydia Steier’s intense new production for Oper Köln. 

On the concert stage, Rihab Chaieb has performed with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Johannes Debus in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and in a programme of Rossini under Kent Nagano; with both Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Otto Tausk and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Carlos Miguel Prieto in de Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat; and at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in her first Das Lied von der Erde. Last season, Rihab Chaieb joined Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s line-up of soloists for an audiovisual recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Orchestre Métropolitain for broadcast on DG Stage, Deutsche Grammophon’s new online platform.

A former member of both Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, where she earned major acclaim as Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where she debuted as Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Chaieb also enjoyed several summers at the Glyndebourne Festival as Mércedès (Carmen) under Jakub Hrůša, and Flora (La Traviata) under Andrés Orozco-Estrada. 

The recipient of many major grants, Rihab Chaieb has also enjoyed competition success, taking Third Prize at the 2018 Operalia Competition, winning the 2016 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and taking prizes at both the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the 2018 George London Foundation Competition. 

In the 2021/22 season, Kristinn Sigmundsson joins the Enescu Festival as the Chamberlain in The Dwarf, the Royal Opera House Muscat as Monterone in Rigoletto, New National Theatre Tokyo for Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, and returns to the Bavarian State Opera for La Roche in Capriccio. He returned to Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie as Ghost in Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld, and joined Indiana University Opera for Gurnemanz in Parsifal. Mr. Sigmundsson also recently returned to Houston Grand Opera for the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Daland in The Flying Dutchman, to San Francisco Opera for Vodnik in Rusalka, Den Norske Opera for Dansker in Billy Budd, the Edinburgh International Festival for the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Atlanta Opera for Daland in The Flying Dutchman.

Other recent performances include returns to Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie for La Roche in Capriccio, Staatsoper Hamburg to reprise Melchthal in Guillaume Tell, Teatro Regio Torino for Sarastro in The Magic Flute and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Rocco in Fidelio. He also sang Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Sigmundsson recently joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Hunding in excerpts of Die Walküre, Staatsoper Hamburg for Melchthal in Guillaume Tell and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, the Caramoor International Music Festival for Rocco in Fidelio, the Icelandic Opera for Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, the Grant Park Music Festival for Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust, and returned to the Cincinnati May Festival for Music Director James Conlon’s final season for Dvořák’s Stabat Mater. He also joined LA Opera for its trilogy of Beaumarchais operas as he sang Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Louis XVI in Corigliano’s 2017 Grammy-winning The Ghosts of Versailles, and Doctor Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro. He also recently sang King Philip in Don Carlo with the Icelandic Opera and returned to both the Ravinia Festival as Daland in The Flying Dutchman and the Cincinnati May Festival for Haydn’s Creation.

As one of the world’s most sought after basses, Mr. Sigmundsson has sung nearly his entire repertoire with the Opéra National de Paris. His performances at the Metropolitan Opera include Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Hunding in Die Walküre, Rocco in Fidelio, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, and Vodnik in Rusalka. He has sung leading roles regularly with the Staatsoper Wien, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Semperoper Dresden, where his most recent performances include Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust. Other appearances include the Commendatore in Don Giovanni in Munich, Berlin and New York; Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, König Heinrich in Lohengrin and Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Berlin; Rocco in Fidelio in New York and Houston; Daland in The Flying Dutchman in San Francisco and Strasbourg; Fasolt in Das Rheingold in Houston; Creonte in Medea in Salzburg; Gurnemanz in Parsifal in Cologne and Florence; Zaccaria in Nabucco in Copenhagen and Beijing, King Heinrich in Lohengin in Madrid, San Fancisco, Los Angeles, and with the Bayerische Staatsoper both in Munich and on tour to Japan; King Marke in Tristan und Isolde in Santiago, Dallas, and Berlin; Hunding in Die Walküre in Naples, Venice and Cologne; Hermann in Tannhäuser in Geneva, Amsterdam, and Tokyo; Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust; La Cuisinière in The Love of Three Oranges in Florence; King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier in San Francisco; King Heinrich in Lohengrin and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor in Munich; Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio in Naples; the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro and Walter in Luisa Miller at the Cincinnati May Festival; and Sarastro in The Magic Flute in Houston, San Francisco, Toulouse, and Santiago.

His concert performances include collaborations with many of the world's leading conductors including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, James Conlon, Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Charles Mackerras, Christoph von Dohnányi, Jeffrey Tate, Christoph Eschenbach, Ivor Bolton, and Marc Minkowski. He recently joined the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Cincinnati May Festival, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra on tour at Avery Fisher Hall for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and sang Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Hamburger Symphoniker, and Dvořák’s Requiem with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale. Also with the Cincinnati May Festival, he sang Tchaikovsky’s Ode to Joy and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Among his discography are commercial recordings of Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute with Arnold Östman (Decca) and Schreker's Die Gezeichneten (Deutsche Grammophon). With Frans Brueggen he has recorded both Bach’s St. John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion (Phillips). He has recorded Schumann's Faustszenen with Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi) and Fidelio with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis.

In the early part of his career he performed principally in his native Iceland before joining the Hessische Staatstheater in Wiesbaden. His initial training was as a biologist and he taught for a few years before becoming a singer, studying first at the Reykjavik Academy of Singing and then at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria.

Distinguished soprano Marie McLaughlin has enjoyed more than three decades of performance at the highest international level. Over that time, she has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest conductors including such legends as the late Leonard Bernstein and Giuseppe Sinopoli, as well as Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink and Sir Antonio Pappano. A wide repertoire of core roles took her around the world at an early age including to the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, and the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. Her substantial discography includes many of those roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Sir Neville Marriner for Philips, Despina in Così fan tutte with James Levine for Deutsche Grammophon as well as Micaëla in Carmen and Violetta in La Traviata under Bernard Haitink. 

Key roles in today’s repertory include Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, which has been heard at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, at the Salzburg and Ravinia Festivals and at the Metropolitan Opera; La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival; Madam Larina in Eugene Onegin at Teatro Regio di Torino, Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Lille; Despina in Così fan tutte at Scottish Opera and the Spoleto Festival; Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Bavarian State Opera; Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Madrid’s Teatro Real; and Miss Jessel in the same opera at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden in the highly-acclaimed production by the late Luc Bondy, conducted by Daniel Harding and released on DVD by BelAir Classique.

Equally at ease in contemporary repertoire, Marie McLaughlin has recently created the characters of Lilian Disney in Philip Glass’ The Perfect American at Madrid’s Teatro Real, subsequently in performance at the Brisbane Festival, Mother Needham in Iain Bell’s The Harlot’s Progress at Theater an der Wien, and Abigail Simpson in the world premiere of Julian Grant’s The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare for Boston Lyric Opera. For the 2018/19 season, Marie McLaughlin joins Garsington Opera as Ludmila in Paul Curran’s production of The Bartered Bride, makes her first appearance as Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, and creates the role of Annie Chapman in Iain Bell’s new commission Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel for English National Opera. The previous season’s highlights included Meg Page in Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff for the Royal Opera House under Nicola Luisotti, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw for Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden, and the Older Woman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight for Scottish Opera. 

Rodell Aure Rosel is a guest of the major opera companies. Following his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Remendado in Carmen, he has appeared on that stage as Mime in Das Rheingold, Goro in Madama Butterfly, Pang in Turandot, Monastatos in The Magic Flute, the Prince and Man Servant in Lulu, Spoletta in Tosca, Faninal’s Major-domo in Der Rosenkavalier, Bardolph in Falstaff, Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus, the Four Servants in The Tales of Hoffmann, and Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier, among other roles. He has appeared on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera as Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier and as Nathaniel and Franz in the new production of The Tales of Hoffmann. He has also appeared with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Monastatos.

Elsewhere, he has appeared with Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Tulsa Opera as Goro in Madama Butterfly, Houston Grand Opera as Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Squeak in Billy Budd, Dancing Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Goro, Seattle Opera as Monastatos, Wolf Trap Opera as the Governor in Candide and the Dancing Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Florentine Opera as Monastatos in The Magic Flute, Little Bat in Susannah, Njegus in The Merry Widow, and in the title role of Albert Herring, Santa Fe Opera in the world premiere of The Letter, the Ravinia Festival as Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, Spoletta and Arbace in Idomeneo, the Dallas Opera as Anthony Candolino in the world premiere of Heggie’s Great Scott, the Cleveland Orchestra as the First Jew in Salome, and Kentucky Opera as the Dancing Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, Arizona Opera as Loge in Das Rheingold, Numi Opera in the title role of Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf, and the National Theater in Taiwan as Mime.

Engagements for the 2021/22 season include Monostatos in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera and at Pittsburgh Opera, and Spoletta in Tosca with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Formerly a member of the Ryan Opera Center (formerly Lyric Opera Center for American Artists), the Manila native studied at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he sang the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring and leading roles in Mozart, Rossini and Ravel, also appearing as tenor soloist in The Creation, Messiah and the Mozart Requiem. He has sung Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, as well as Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Tinca in Il Tabarro, all with Opera Nova-Santa Monica.

In addition to his award from the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Rosel has received a third-place award from the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, a second-place award at the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition, and was a finalist at the Loren Zachary National Vocal Competition. He is the recipient of scholarships from, among others, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The American-born Cuban and Colombian tenor Anthony León is a young up-and-comer who is quickly developing an international performing career. On April 23, 2023, he was a 2023 grand finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. On October 30, 2022, he was the first place winner of Operalia, where he also won the zarzuela prize.

For the 2022/23 season, his appearances include Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor and Spoletta in Tosca with LA Opera, where he is a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

His most recent engagements include singing Remendado in Carmen at Santa Fe Opera, Ernesto in Don Pasquale at New England Conservatory and being on tour performing the roles of Giove and Amphinome in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with the ensemble I Gemelli. On tour, Anthony performed at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, France; Arsenal Theater in Metz, France; and Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland. A recorded album is in the works and is set to be released in 2023. In the fall of 2021, Anthony also presented the role of Count Almaviva in the Opera Theatre of St. Louis production of The Barber of Seville. During the summer of 2021, Anthony was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera covering the role of Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition to these contracts, Anthony has performed in other leading roles recently such as Le Chevalier in Dialogue des Carmélites, Agenore in Mozart's Il re pastore, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Tamino in The Magic Flute, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance.

Most recent honors include winning the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in the Los Angeles District in 2022 and receiving a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation. Other accolades include being named “Best up-and-comer” in the Inland Empire Magazine’s “Best of the Best 2019” list and being awarded the Wendy Shattuck ‘75 Presidential Scholarship for Vocal Studies among other prestigious awards.

Anthony holds a bachelor of music from La Sierra University and a master of music degree concentrating in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, studying under the tutelage of Bradley Williams.

Learn more at AnthonyLeonTenor.com.

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.

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. 

Since his debut that year with La Traviata, he has conducted 66 different operas and more than 435 performances to date with the company. Highlights of recent seasons include the 2020 company premiere of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the 2021 company premiere of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, and the 2022 company premiere of Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

(Click here to visit James Conlon's Corner, where you can find essays, videos and conversations he has created especially for LA Opera.)

One of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. He has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra since his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1974. He has conducted more than 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and videography, numerous essays and commentaries, frequent television appearances and guest speaking engagements, Mr. Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized interpreters.

In September 2021, he became Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

He has been Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, Italy (2016–20); Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera (1995–2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2003), simultaneously leading the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–91).

Mr. Conlon has served as the Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony (2005–15), and is now Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival―the oldest choral festival in the United States―where he was Music Director for 37 years (1979–2016), marking one of the longest tenures of any director of an American classical music institution. As a guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, he has led more than 270 performances since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals including the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

As LA Opera's Music Director since 2006, Mr. Conlon has led more performances than any other conductor in the company’s history—to date, over 420 performances of more than 60 different operas by over 20 composers. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include conducting the company’s first Ring cycle, recently re-aired in a marathon webcast celebrating the performances’ tenth anniversary; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20^th-century European opera that were suppressed by the Third Reich; and spearheading Britten 100/LA, a city-wide celebration honoring the centennial of that composer’s birth. During the period in which Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was closed due to the pandemic, Mr. Conlon conducted LA Opera’s live-streamed, socially distanced production—staged at the Colburn School—of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18^th-century France. The performance was presented as an online-only event in fall 2020 and marked the work’s West Coast premiere. The Pavilion reopened in June 2021 with Mr. Conlon conducting the company premiere of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, with which LA Opera became the first major American opera company to perform live in its own theater since the coronavirus outbreak. The performance was subsequently released online for at-home viewing. During LA Opera’s 2021/22 season, Mr. Conlon conducts three operas long absent from the company’s repertory: Verdi’s Il Trovatore, which opens the season; Wagner’s Tannhäuser; and Verdi’s Aida. He also conducts John Neumeier’s ballet adaptation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, performed at LA Opera for the first time.

Writer/director James Gray attended film school at the University of Southern California. He made his first film Little Odessa (1994) at the age of 25. The film, which starred Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell, received critical acclaim and was the winner of the Venice Film Festival's prestigious Silver Lion Award in 1994.

Miramax Films released James Gray's second feature, The Yards (2000) starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, Charlize Theron and James Caan in fall of 2000. The film was selected for official competition at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival.

His film The Immigrant (2013), starring Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix, was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His film The Lost City of Z (2016), starring Charlie Hunnam, premiered at the New York Film Festival. He followed with Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, Donald Sutherland and Tommy Lee Jones, which premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. His next film, Armageddon Time, starring Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, and Jeremy Strong, wrapped production in December 2021.

He made his operatic debut in 2019, directing The Marriage of Figaro at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

French fashion designer Christian Lacroix studied at the University of Montpellier and at the at the École du Louvre. He has been a major force in the international fashion world since opening his own haute couture house in 1975.

He has also frequently designed costumes for major opera companies throughout Europe. He has designed costumes for productions of Otello (Salzburg Festival, Dresden Semperoper), Aida (Cologne Opera), La Fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly (Hamburg Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Opéra de Dijon), Le Postillon de Lonjumeau and Fortunio (Opéra Comique, Paris), Adriana Lecouvreur (Frankfurt Opera), and Un Ballo in Maschera (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona)

York Kennedy's designs for the stage have been seen in theaters across America and in Europe, including Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Repertory, American Conservatory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Denver Center.

Awards for theatrical lighting include the Dramalogue, San Diego Drama Critics Circle, Back Stage West Garland, and the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award.

As an architectural lighting designer, he has designed numerous themed environments, theme park, residential, retail, restaurant and museum projects including the Sony Metreon Sendak Playspace in San Francisco, Warner Bros. Movie World in Madrid, Le Centre de Loisirs in Morocco and the LEGO Racers 4D attractions in Germany, Denmark, England and the USA.

Learn more at YKLD.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)

Her early years in LA were spent honing her craft as Artistic Director of Hysterica Dance Co., a consistently prolific and creative collective that redefined dance in Los Angeles. Her unique approach to direction and choreography was declared by Dance Magazine to possess “an outsize talent for that most elusive gift, originality.”

Kitty has collaborated extensively with the LA Philharmonic, developing new productions of Rite of Spring, Firebird, Bolero, Esa Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing, A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and more. Ballets include RIFT, commissioned by Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Kennedy Center, the creation of the new ballets Traces and Transit for National Choreographer’s Initiative and colony for LA Ballet’s NEXT Wave Series.

Kitty moves effortlessly between her work in opera, including Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, Don Carlo, La Rondine, Lucia di Lammermoor and The Tales of Hoffmann for the country’s largest opera houses, to commercials for Target, Adobe MAX, Novartis, Mercedes Benz, Grey Ant and Uniqlo. She finds shifting from high art settings to the demands of pop culture to be incredibly invigorating. Kitty loves working with actors and is known for her ability to draw out organically nuanced performances. She has coached and choreographed for Paz Vega, Julianne Hough, Margaret Cho, Vanessa Williams, Vittorio Grigolo, Lily Tomlin, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. 

Theater credits include Secret Cinema’s groundbreaking live performances with Laura Marling in London, the world premiere of Colony Collapse (commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Sense and Sensibility (South Coast Rep), The Fantasticks (Pasadena Playhouse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (LA Phil/Disney Hall), Man of LaMancha (Reprise!) and Sondheim’s 75th (Hollywood Bowl).

Learn more at KittyMcNamee.com.