James Conlon Farewell Concert

From: New York City, New York. LA Opera: La Traviata (2006, debut). As of the end of 2023/24 season, he had conducted 68 different operas and 469 performances with the company to date. He has been Music Director of the company since 2006 and will serve as in that position until the end of his 20th season in 2026, at which time he will become Conductor Laureate.

Photo: Bonnie Perkinson

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra, and at many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and filmography, numerous writings, television appearances, and guest speaking engagements, Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized and prolific figures.

He was previously 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). He was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (2005–15), summer home of the Chicago Symphony, 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. He also served as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2021–2023).

He has conducted over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals such as the Wiener Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

As Music Director of LA Opera, Conlon has led more operas than any other conductor in company history. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include the company’s first Ring cycle; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20th-century European opera suppressed by the Third Reich; spearheading Britten 100/LA, a city-wide celebration honoring the composer’s centennial; and conducting the West Coast premiere of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18th-century France.

Conlon is dedicated to bringing composers silenced by the Nazi regime to more widespread attention, often programming this lesser-known repertoire throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his work bringing the composer’s music to a broader audience; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of silenced composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”

Conlon is deeply invested in the role of music in civic life and the human experience. At LA Opera, his popular pre-performance talks blend musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to discuss the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music. He also frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. He frequently appears throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics.

Conlon’s extensive discography and filmography spans the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and for Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus.

Conlon holds four honorary doctorates, was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was distinguished by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He received a 2023 Cross of Honor for Science and Art (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst) from the Republic of Austria, and was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.

Learn more at JamesConlon.com.

From: Chicago, Illinois. LA Opera: Musetta in La Bohème (2007, debut); Mary in Highway 1, USA (2024).

Soprano Nicole Heaston has appeared with opera companies throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Semperoper Dresden and the Glyndebourne Festival in England.

To begin the 2024/25 season, the soprano returned to the role of Claire Devon in the North American premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners at Opera Philadelphia. She headlines Lyric Opera of Chicago's spring 2025 performances of that opera, making her company debut. With the National Symphony Orchestra, she sings the title role in Samuel Barber's Vanessa. Other engagements during the season include a Christmas program with Houston’s Mercury Chamber Orchestra and the role of Armida in Detroit Opera’s production of Handel’s Rinaldo.

A richly varied 2023/24 season included her returns to LA Opera as Mary in William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA and to Houston Grand Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff. With Philharmonia Baroque, she sang the unique combination of Anna/Dido in Errollyn Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. During the spring of 2024, she made an anticipated role debut as Thaïs with Utah Opera.

She began the 2022/23 season with the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners at the Norwegian Opera. She also sang Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice with San Francisco Opera and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro with Houston Grand Opera.

Learn more at NicoleHeaston.com.

From: Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. LA Opera: Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (2024, debut); Voice of the Fountain in Ainadamar (2025); Countess Ceprano / Page in Rigoletto (2025). She joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024. She will return as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro (2027).

Gabrielle Turgeon is a 2026 National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition. For the summer of 2026, she is a Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she performs the role of Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her appearances in the 2026/27 season will include Pamina in The Magic Flute with Pacific Opera Victoria.

In 2025, in addition to her LAO appearances, she made her role debut as Micaëla in Carmen with Canada's Brott Music Festival and was the winner of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal competition.

In 2024, she joined Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist, making her debut there as the Slave in Salome and also covering the role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande.

She has been a young artist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and was a 2023 finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.

In the spring of 2024, she earned her master's degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she performed the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. She earned an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the University of Toronto.

From: Seoul, South Korea. LA Opera: Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (2024, debut); Mistress Quickly in Falstaff (2026); Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro (2027).

Praised by the New York Times as a “vibrant mezzo-soprano” and a “dark-toned, agile mezzo-soprano,” Hyona Kim continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her vocal depth, dramatic range, and commanding stage presence. In the 2025/26 season, she will make highly anticipated debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and Irish National Opera as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and at the Korea National Opera as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. She also returns to LA Opera as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, following her acclaimed company debut as Suzuki last season.

From 2018 to 2023, Kim was a principal artist with Dortmund Opera, where her repertoire included Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Tzippie (Where the Wild Things Are by Oliver Knussen), Nancy Tang (Nixon in China), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Amneris (Aïda), and the title role in the German premiere of Frédégonde by Guiraud, Dukas, and Saint-Saëns.

Since joining the Metropolitan Opera in the 2022/23 season, she has covered the roles of Eboli (Don Carlo), Venus (Tannhäuser), and Amneris (Aïda). Her debut with the San Francisco Opera as Lady Wang in the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber was met with critical acclaim, with the San Francisco Chronicle hailing her as an “unstoppable powerhouse.” She has since reprised the role with the Hong Kong Arts Festival and returned to San Francisco Opera for the revival of Dream of the Red Chamber and as Suzuki in a new production of Madama Butterfly.

Her international engagements include appearances with the Royal Danish Opera, New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Maine, Opera Carolina, Romanian National Opera, and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Her extensive repertoire also includes Azucena (Il Trovatore), Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Wowkle (The Girl of the Golden West), Mistress Quickly (Falstaff), and both Olga and Larina in Eugene Onegin.

Kim is a national finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, grand winner of the Joy in Singing Competition, and first prize winner of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. She has received multiple grants and awards from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, Olga Forrai Foundation, and the Poulenc Competition, where she won the Jennie Tourel Prize. In her native South Korea, she won the Suri Competition and the Schubert Lied Competition.

She holds a Bachelor of Music from Ewha Womans University and earned both her Master’s degree and Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes College of Music in New York City. Her festival and training credits include the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, International Vocal Arts Institute, Natchez Music Festival, and the Martina Arroyo Foundation.

An active concert artist, Kim has performed as alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem with Sinfonia da Camera, and Vivaldi’s Gloria at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. She also appeared at the PyeongChang Music Festival in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and has performed Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. She was invited to perform at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe and has collaborated with the Brooklyn Art Song Society, Ensemble 212 and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar.

Learn more at KimHyona.com.

From: Grass Valley, California. LA Opera: soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Jocabed in Moses (2023); Emilia in Otello (2023, mainstage debut); Third Frida Image in Frida y Diego (2023); Third Maid in The Dwarf (2024); Flora in La Traviata (2024); Maddalena in Rigoletto (2025). She is an alumna of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program (2022-24).

Mexican-American mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino is quickly becoming known for her versatility and “range of vocal colors” (Miami Herald). She is a 2023 national winner of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Her 2024 engagements include Fricka in excerpts from the Ring cycle in concerts with Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In 2025, she will make her Santa Fe Opera debut as Fricka in Die Walküre, a role she will reprise in May 2026 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Her appearances for the summer of 2023 included Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte with the Tel Aviv Summer Opera Festival, and Alice Ford in SIr John in Love by Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Bard Music Festival. In October 2023, she performed the title role in Carmen with Santa Barbara Opera.

Her appearances for the 2022/23 season included Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, appearances with LA Opera as Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia and Emilia in Otello, and a Callas centenary concert with Dayton Opera.

Recent roles include: Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen in The Tragedy of Carmen with Shreveport Opera, Vera Boronel in The Consul with Baltimore Concert Opera, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera San Antonio and Painted Sky Opera, and the Mother in Hansel and Gretel and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte with Yale Opera.

She recently completed her second season with the Shreveport Opera Company's Resident Artist program. In 2020 she performed in Art After Dark where she sang Maria in Feel the Tango, Angie in Pepito, and Julia Child in Bon Appétit. She also sang in their 2021 recorded production of Rigoletto as Maddalena and Giovanna.

In 2022, she returned to Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist, covering Meg Page in Falstaff. During the 2021 summer season with Santa Fe Opera, she covered the roles of Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is an alumna of the Chautauqua Opera Company’s Young Artist program. She has performed with the Miami Summer Music Festival as Le Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon and was a soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival, as well as multiple concerts in Tuscany, Italy, with Bel Canto in Tuscany.

She received the Campbell/Wachter Scholarship Award from the Santa Fe Opera for the 2021 season. She received the Faculty Award from the Vann Vocal Institute in 2020. She was a first place winner of the Pacific NorthWest Competition in Eugene, Oregon in 2019. She has placed in the top ten in the Brava! Competition two years (2018, 2019) in a row and was a Grand Finalist in the Talents of the World Competition in 2018.

She has performed in many concert works including Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Handel’s Let God Arise, O Sing unto the Lord, and Messiah. She has also sung in recitals for the Trinity on Wall Street, Pipes at One and the Chautauqua Opera Company’s Emerging Artists Recital. She has also performed the Old Lady in Candide with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.

She graduated cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor of arts in vocal performance and a minor in music industry in 2016. Roles at UCLA include: Jenny in Down in the Valley, the Shepherd in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, the Old Lady in Candide, and Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon. She graduated with honors from the Yale University School of Music with a master's of music in 2018. Roles at Yale included: Second Lady in The Magic Flute, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Bertarido in Rodelinda, and Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking. She continued to work and study at the Potomac Vocal Institute where she studied under the world-renowned Elizabeth Bishop and Arianna Zuckerman in the inaugural class of the Professional Development Program. Roles in that program included Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Quickly in Falstaff and Charlotte in A Weekend in the Country.

Miss Saturnino is a choreographer, fight director and intimacy director. Her work includes Feel the Tango, Speed Dating, and The Marriage of Figaro for Shreveport Opera. She works with Sordelet, Inc., as a fight and intimacy director. She is also trained in fencing.

From: Minot, North Dakota. LA Opera: Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut); Bullfighter in Ainadamar (2025); Borsa in Rigoletto (2025); Parpignol in La Bohème (2025); Dr. Caius in Falstaff (2026); First Armored Man in The Magic Flute (2026); Ismaele in Nabucco (2027). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024.

Heralded as having a voice “without dross” and for his “flawless vocal technique”, Nathan Bowles is quickly earning his reputation as a compelling stage performer. 

In the summer of 2026, he will make his role debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre with the Taiwan Philharmonic.

In addition to his LA Opera appearances, his 2025 performances included Don José in La tragédie de Carmen with Tulsa Opera and Canio in Pagliacci with Pacific Opera Project.

In 2024, he made his Dallas Opera mainstage debut last year as Benvolio in Romeo et Juliette. With the Santa Fe Opera, Bowles was featured as Animal Tamer and Waiter 2 in Der Rosenkavalier. He has been heard with Western Plains Opera as Don José in Carmen, John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld, the Baker in Into the Woods, and as Alfred in Die Fledermaus. With the SMU Lyric Theatre, he has been heard in such roles as Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Judge Danforth in The Crucible.

Bowles is a 2024 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning the New Orleans district and Gulf Coast Region. He is a recipient of the 2024 Richard F. Gold Career Grant. Concert performances include Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Hailstork’s I Will Lift up Mine Eyes, and in the DSO Symphony Gala. He is a graduate from Minot State University and holds a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

Learn more at NathanBowlesTenor.com.

From: Queens, New York. LA Opera: Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser (2007, debut); Recovered Voices concert (2007); title role in The Dwarf (2008 and 2024); James Conlon Gala (2026).

Rodrick Dixon is a leading American dramatic tenor, whose range, musicianship and dramatic intensity have seen him engaged by prominent theaters and orchestras throughout the United States. Notable operatic engagements include: The Dwarf at LA Opera; Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser at Michigan Opera Theater; Otello with Opera Southwest; Erik in The Flying Dutchman with RAI Torino and the St Louis Symphony; the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto for Cincinnati Opera; Hoffmann in The Tales of Hoffmann at Portland Opera; the Prince in the world premiere of Vanqui by Leslie Savoy Burrs for Opera Columbus, and Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess at Virginia Opera.

Notable concert engagements include: Orff's Carmina Burana, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, Mahler's Das klagende Lied, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Rachmaninoff's The Bells, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses all at the Cincinnati May Festival; Oedipus Rex with the LA Philharmonic, The Bells and Das klagende Lied at the Ravinnia Festival; Sportin’ Life with the Cleveland Orchestra; Bernstein's Mass for the Choral Arts Society at the Kennedy Center; Beethoven's Symphony No.9 and Hannibal Lokumbe's Healing Tones and One Land, One River, One People with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Learn more at   TenorRodDixon.com.

From: Shenyang, China. LA Opera: Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut); High Priest of Amon in Akhnaten (2025); Bardolph in Falstaff (2026). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024.

Tenor Yuntong Han earned his master’s degree at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. His roles there include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ruggero in La Rondine and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Before coming to IU, he earned his second bachelor’s degree, in vocal performance, at New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of MaryAnn McCormick, and a bachelor’s degree in aircraft manufacturing engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. He was a 2023 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. That same year, he was a vocal fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute. His roles at the New England Conservatory include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Rodolfo in La Bohème and Lucano in The Coronation of Poppea. In addition to his work on the opera stage, he is also active as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation and the NEC Song and Verse art song series.

From: Freiburg, Germany. LA Opera: Herald in Lohengrin (2001, debut); Music Master in Ariadne auf Naxos (2004); Wolfram in Tannhäuser (2007); soloist in Recovered Voices concert (2007); Hoopoe in The Birds (2009); Count Tamare in The Stigmatized (2010); soloist in James Conlon Gala (2026).

Martin Gantner has earned a reputation as one of the leading dramatic and character baritones of his time, owing to his strong stage personality, outstanding musicality, nuanced and sophisticated diction, and his powerful yet flexible, richly colored voice. His interpretation of the role of Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin, which he has sung in Zurich, Salzburg, Bayreuth, Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and most recently at the Vienna State Opera, has set high standards, and has consistently received enthusiastic praise from press and audience alike. His extensive repertoire also includes roles such as Amfortas, Beckmesser, Klingsor, Kurwenal, Wolfram, Gunther, Barak, Faninal, Jochanaan, Musiklehrer, Don Pizarro, Dr. Schön, Gyges in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules, and the title roles in Hindemith’s Cardillac, Krenek’s Der Diktator and Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

Martin Gantner’s career has taken him to theaters such as the Bavarian State Opera, where he initially was a member of the ensemble and was subsequently in 2005 honored with the title of Bavarian "Kammersänger" for his outstanding achievements, to the Hamburg, Stuttgart and Berlin State Operas, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, the Zurich Opera House, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Opéra National de Paris, La Scala in Milan, Teatro Comunale Bologna, Teatro Regio in Turin, Maggio Musicale Florence, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla, Metropolitan Opera New York, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company Toronto and New National Theatre Tokyo, as well as the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals.

He has worked with renowned conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Myung Whun Chung, James Conlon, Daniele Gatti, Thomas Guggeis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Cornelius Meister, Kent Nagano, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Mstislav Rostropovich, Donald Runnicles, Peter Schneider, Christian Thielemann, Juraj Valčuha, Lorenzo Viotti, Sebastian Weigle and Simone Young, and with directors such as David Alden, Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Jürgen Flimm, Götz Friedrich, Jan Philipp Gloger, David Hermann, Andreas Homoki, Günter Krämer, Maximilian Schell, Michael Thalheimer, Herbert Wernicke and Jossi Wieler, amongst others.

Martin Gantner’s concert repertoire focuses on works such as  Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder and Symphony No. 8, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elias and Paulus, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder and Britten’s War Requiem, which was recorded for television and CD under Mstislav Rostropovich. Further TV, radio and CD recordings include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the RAI in Rome, a TV recording of Haydn’s Paukenmesse with Zubin Mehta, Salome under von Dohnanyi (Decca), Gunther in the operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen (Capriccio), Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte under Bertrand de Billy (Arte Nova Classics), as well as Schumann’s Faust Scenes under Jeffrey Tate. He can also be heard on the CD Best of Bayerische Staatsoper, to which he contributed Wolfram’s aria from Tannhäuser.

Martin Gantner was born in Freiburg and studied vocal performance at the University of Music in Karlsruhe. He lives with his wife in Bruchsal, where he also acts as artistic director of the local Schlossfestspiele.

From: Salerno, Italy. LA Opera: Ford in Falstaff (2026, debut).

Ernesto Petti was born in 1986 in Salerno. He graduated from the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento Torre del Lago Puccini. He was a member of the Centre Perfeccionamento Placido Domingo at Palau de les Arts in Valencia. He made his early debut as Eagro in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Festival Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, followed by Dancaire in Carmen at the San Carlo in Napoli before making his debut at very young age as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata in Lecce.

Among his recent performances, it is worth mentioning the role of David in Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz in Piacenza staged by Leo Nucci and conducted by Donato Renzetti; Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Teatro Lirico Cagliari, at Grand Théâtre de Avignon and touring in Italy; Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera at NCPA in Beijing and in Piacenza, Ravenna and Ferrara; Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and San Carlo in Naples, in a new production at Stadtheater Basel and in Palermo; Paolo in Simon Boccanegra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chénier at Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna; Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore, Marcello in La Bohème and Ford in Falstaff at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; a role debut as Kyoto in Mascagni’s Iris at Konzerthaus in Berlin; a role debut as Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; a role debut as Don Carlo in Ernani in Piacenza and at Vlamsee Oper; a role debut as the High Priest of Dagon in a new production of Samson et Dalila at Teatro San Carlo in Napoli and in the same opera house a debut as Rodrigo in a new Don Carlo; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Nabucco in Oviedo and at the Staatstheater Mainz; Il Trovatore in Piacenza; Ernani in Venice; Rigoletto in Sydney; Un Ballo in Maschera in Barcelona; Madama Butterfly and La Gioconda in Naples; and Macbeth in Parma.

His appearances in the 2024/25 season include Nabucco in Ancona and in Cologne, Falstaff at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci at Teatro Comunale in Modena and in Piacenza, Attila and Un Ballo in Maschera at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Rigoletto at Macerata Opera Festival and Trilogia Verdiana at Teatro Municipale in Piacenza.

From: Claremont, California. LA Opera: Guccio in Gianni Schicchi (2008, debut); over a dozen roles to date including Monterone in Rigoletto (2018); Father in Hansel and Gretel (2018); Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro (2022); Leporello in Don Giovanni (2023); Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (2024). He is a 2021 recipient of the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award.

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.

Verdi’s Macbeth has become a signature role, serving as Colclough’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper and Luxembourg Opera. 2022 saw his return to the Royal Opera House Covent Gardens where he reprised his role as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin. Colclough is currently building the character of Alberich under the direction of Brigitte Fassbaender for the Tiroler Festspiele in Austria. Having debuted Alberich in her 2021 Rheingold to great acclaim, Colclough will complete the cycle in 2024.

The 2022/23 season saw Colclough as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro at LA Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Atlanta Opera with continued appearances as Monterone in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. The 2018/19 season included appearances as Peter in Hansel and Gretel at LA Opera, Fra Melitone in La Forza del Destino for his company debut with Oper Fankfurt, as well as the Storyteller in A Flowering Tree for his company debut with Opera Queensland. During the summer, he returned to the title role of Don Pasquale with the Berkshire Opera Festival.

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; Hare in the world premiere of Burke and Hare with Boston Lyric Opera; Pistola in Falstaff with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; 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.

From: São Paulo, Brazil. LA Opera: Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly (2024, debut); Duke of Verona in Romeo and Juliet (2024); Jose Tripaldi in Ainadamar (2025); Count Ceprano in Rigoletto (2025); Aye in Akhnaten (2025); Pistol in Falstaff (2026). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024.

Bass Vinícius Costa has been a Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Music Festival, singing the title role in The Marriage of Figaro and the role of Victor Fyodorov in Jimmy Lopez's Bel Canto.

In the summer of 2026, he will be a Gaddes Festival Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he will appear as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette.

He sang the roles of Amaral and the Father in a recently released recording of Brazilian composer André Mehmari's 2023 opera O Machete.

Winner of the Ralph Vaughan Williams award for best performance of an English song at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, he and his collaborator Pierre Nicolas-Colombat were among the 10 semi-finalists out of more than 120 entries in the most important song competition in the United Kingdom and one of the biggest competitions on the European continent. He was also a first place winner in the Brazilian and Latin American Linus Lerner Singing Competitions.

He has performed with Theater Basel and Bühne Bern in Switzerland and with Teatro São Pedro, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and Sala São Paulo in Brazil. His roles include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Zuniga in Carmen, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Rodimarte in Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor. On the concert platform, he has been a soloist in works such as Bach's Ich Habe Genug and the Saint Matthew Passion, as well as Symphony No. 5 (“Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya”) by Phillip Glass.

He began his vocal and musical education with the Guri Santa Marcelina Program in 2014 with Naraine Sri Hamsa and Paulo Cavalcante. In Brazil he was a student of Maria Lúcia Waldow and Francisco Campos; graduated with a bachelor's degree in singing in 2021 and in 2023 completed his master's degree in performance with Marcel Boone, with specialized training in song with Jan Schultz at the FHNW Hochschule Für Musik Basel. His training also includes the Old Music Workshop at the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo with Nicolau de Figueiredo and master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ludovic Tezier and Margreet Honi. In 2023, he participated in the Reneé Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.

From: Glendive, Montana. LA Opera: He became Chorus Director in 2022, after working on over 75 productions as associate chorus director and/or assistant conductor. He is a coach for the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

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)