Breaking the Waves

She is the Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and her music has been performed all over the world by the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, pianist Emanuel Ax, Opera Philadelphia, Scottish Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, the Detroit Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, JACK Quartet, cellist Maya Beiser, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Kathleen Supové, Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony and many others. In 2018 she made history when she became one of the two first women composers (along with Jeanine Tesori) to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. That year she was also nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Classical Composition” for her work Vespers for Violin, recorded by violinist Olivia De Prato.

Missy Mazzoli has received considerable acclaim for her operatic compositions. Her third opera, Proving Up, written with longtime collaborator Royce Vavrek, was commissioned by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and New York’s Miller Theatre. Based on a short story by Karen Russell, Proving Up offers a surreal and disquieting commentary on the American dream through the story of a Nebraskan family homesteading in the late 19th century. Proving Up premiered to critical acclaim in January 2018 at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, in April 2018 at Opera Omaha, and in September 2018 at Miller Theatre. The Washington Post called it “harrowing…powerful…a true opera of our time”. Mazzoli’s second opera, Breaking the Waves, a collaboration with librettist Royce Vavrek commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects in 2016, was described as “among the best 21st-century operas yet” (Opera News), “savage, heartbreaking and thoroughly original” (Wall Street Journal), and “dark and daring” (New York Times). Earlier projects include the critically acclaimed sold-out premiere of her first opera, Song from the Uproar, in a Beth Morrison production at New York venue The Kitchen in March 2012. The Wall Street Journal called this work “powerful and new” and the New York Times claimed that “in the electric surge of Ms. Mazzoli’s score you felt the joy, risk, and limitless potential of free sprits unbound.” Time Out New York named Song from the Uproar third on its list of the top ten classical music events of 2012. In October 2012, her operatic work, SALT, a re-telling of the story of Lot’s Wife written for cellist Maya Beiser and vocalist Helga Davis, premiered as part of the BAM Next Wave Festival and at UNC Chapel Hill, directed by Robert Woodruff. This work, including text by Erin Cressida-Wilson, was deemed “a dynamic amalgamation that unapologetically pushes boundaries” by Time Out New York.

Ms. Mazzoli is currently the Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. From 2012 to 2015 she was composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia, Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre Group, and in 2011/12 was composer/educator in residence with the Albany Symphony. She was a visiting professor of music at New York University in 2013, and later that year joined the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music, a division of the New School. From 2007 to 2011 she was executive director of the MATA Festival in New York, and in 2016, along with composer Ellen Reid and in collaboration with the Kaufman Music Center, she founded Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program and support network for female-identifying composers ages 13-19.

The 2019/20 season includes performances of her second opera Breaking the Waves at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Adelaide Festival and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a performance of her opera Proving Up at the Aspen Music Festival, the world premiere of Orpheus Alive, a new ballet score commissioned and premiered by the National Ballet of Canada, the U.S. premiere of her double bass concert Dark with Excessive Bright with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the world premiere of Orpheus Undone, an orchestral work commissioned by the Chicago Symphony, and performances of her work by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Colorado Symphony and the Opera National Bordeaux, among others. Mazzoli will also curate concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony.

He has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker), a “Metastasio of the downtown opera scene” (The Washington Post), “an exemplary creator of operatic prose” (New York Times) and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio).

His opera Angel’s Bone with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. With composer Missy Mazzoli he wrote Song from the Uproar, premiered by Beth Morrison Projects in 2012, and subsequently seen in multiple presentations around the country, including at REDCAT through LA Opera's Off Grand initiative in 2015. Their second opera, an adaptation of Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, premiered at Opera Philadelphia to critical acclaim in 2016. The work won the 2017 Music Critics Association of North America award for Best New Opera. Their next opera, an adaptation of Karen Russell’s short story "Proving Up,” was commissioned by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and The Miller Theatre, to be presented by the three institutions in 2018. They are currently developing a grand opera for a future season at Opera Philadelphia.

His collaboration with composer David T. Little led Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal to proclaim them “one of the most exciting composer-librettist teams working in opera today.” In 2016 they premiered their first grand opera, JFK, at Fort Worth Opera, a co-commission with American Lyric Theater and Opéra de Montréal that was called “ravishing” (Opera News), earning a ten-star review in Opera Now magazine. This followed the success of their first opera, Dog Days, which received its world premiere in 2012 at Peak Performances @ Montclair, in a production co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects and directed by Robert Woodruff. The work was celebrated as the Classical Music Event of the year by Time Out New York and a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times. LA Opera Off Grand presented the West Coast premiere of Dog Days at REDCAT in 2015. Little and Vavrek are currently developing an original work for the Metropolitan Opera through the Met/LCT commissioning program. 

Steven Osgood recently completed his fifth season as General and Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Opera Company.

During the COVID-19 impacted 2020-2021 season, Mr. Osgood conducts further performances of Intimate Apparel by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage, based on her play of the same name, at Lincoln Center Theatre, and leads a workshop reading of a new opera for the Metropolitan Opera.

Original engagements during Steve’s COVID-19 shortened 2019-2020 season began with a collaboration with Rice University, conducting Taking Up Serpents and Proving Up (performed). He joined the Prototype Festival for the world premiere of Blood Moon (performed), and at Lincoln Center Theatre, he conducted the world premiere of Intimate Apparel (show run interrupted & postponed).

During the 2018-2019 season, Steve continued his collaboration with Washington National Opera for their American Opera Initiative and brought As One to Merkin Hall. He returned to Juilliard Opera for The Turn of the Screw and joined Opera Columbus for The Flood. He closed the season with Chautauqua Opera‘s Beaumarchais trilogy themed summer, leading performances of Ghosts of Versailles and Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Steve began the 2017-18 season by conducting Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Columbus Opera in a new production directed by Stephen Wadsworth.  He made his L’Opera de Montreal debut in January 2018 with the first revival of JFK by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek. Steve returned to the Metropolitan Opera  as cover conductor for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s three concerts at Carnegie Hall in May and June.

The 2017 season featured the US stage premiere of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Ottorino Respighi’s realization, along with new productions of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, and Hydrogen Jukebox by Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg; the company’s second Composer in Residence, Gity Razaz; and the return of Opera Invasion, the company’s multi-year audience development initiative. Chautauqua Opera’s 2018 season brought new productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bernstein’s Candide, and As One by Laura Kaminsky, Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed.

In recent seasons Steve conducted the world premieres of Breaking the Waves at Opera Philadelphia, JFK at Fort Worth Opera, The Scarlet Ibis, Thumbprint, and Sumeida’s Song for the PROTOTYPE Festival, as well as Missy Mazzoli’s Song From the Uproar with Beth Morrison Projects.  He was the 2017 Conductor Mentor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, conducting the premieres of Adam, Lifeboat, and What Gets Kept. Other notable productions include the critically acclaimed world premiere of Xenakis’s Oresteia at the Miller Theater, Tan Dun’s Marco Polo with De Nederlandse Opera, La traviata and La bohème with Edmonton Opera; The Ballad of Baby Doe, Peter Grimes and Tosca at Chautauqua Opera; Glory Denied, The Rape of Lucretia, Bon Appetit! and This Is the Rill Speaking with Opera Memphis; Three Decembers at Atlanta Opera; Dead Man Walking at Lyric Opera of Kansas City; The Long Walk at Utah Opera; Tosca at Hawaii Opera Theater,  Stephen Schwartz’s Seance on a Wet Afternoon and Massenet’s La Navarraise with New York City Opera, Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox at Fort Worth Opera, Conrad Susa’s Transformations and Jonathan Dove’s Flight at Juilliard Opera, Lee Hoiby’s Summer and Smoke and Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All at Manhattan School of Music, and John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles at both Northwestern University and Manhattan School of Music.

His concert work included appearances with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony featuring Tony Award nominee Louise Pitre.  He also conducted workshops of two new operas in development:  Herschel Garfein’s Rosenkrantz and Guildentern are Dead, and Conrad Cummings’ The Golden Gate, as well as readings of Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar and Anthony Davis’ Revolution of Forms with New York City Opera’s VOX 2010.

James Darrah's visually and emotionally arresting work at the intersection of theater, opera and film is currently in demand in venues all over the world. His productions of operas, theater, music videos, film and installations are known for their elegance with virtuosic and visceral "striking [work] that injects real drama" (New York Times), merging innovative design with unexpected movement, narrative heft and dance.

He is the newly named artistic director and chief creative officer of Long Beach Opera.

Current projects include debuts and new productions with the Kennedy Center, Theater an der Wien, Santa Fe Opera, Prototype Festival and Theatro Nacional São Paolo in Brazil. In 2020 he also creates an original art installation with composer Ellen Reid, filmmaker Adam Larsen and LA Opera and continues collaborations with Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Omaha/ ONE Festival and Opera Philadelphia as well as Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony where he will direct a new production of The Flying Dutchman with Tilson Thomas conducting and Frank Gehry designing. He is also currently in development for the new opera Dante with composer Patrick Cassidy and film producer Martha De Laurentiis, an expansion of Cassidy’s aria “Vide Cor Meum” originally written for the 2001 film Hannibal.

Recent highlights include developing and directing acclaimed productions of new operas including the world premieres of Reid's Pulitzer Prize-winning prism (premiered by LA Opera Off Grand in 2018) and Missy Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves and Proving Up, the New York premiere of Julian Wachner’s Rev23 in addition to Philip Glass' Les enfants terribles and the lauded West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. He has crafted music videos with “enigmatic twists” (NPR) for artists including Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orlinski on the Warner Music label, and produced a video for Mazzoli’s Grammy-award nominated Vespers.

Mr. Darrah is artistic director of the ONE Festival, where he is "expanding the boundaries of the operatic form" (Wall Street Journal) by framing opera in a context that is both inclusive and relevant while establishing a first of its kind operatic artist residency for myriad artists in the genre. He is also committed to training the next generation of singer and performer, joining the UCLA Faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music in 2019 and was named the new creative director of Music Academy of the West’s Vocal Institute, where he has brought new productions of works and residences by myriad artists and contemporary composers Higdon, Mazzoli, Reid and Jonathan Dove and Kaija Saariaho.

Following his professional debut with Chicago Opera Theater, he has worked with Boston Lyric Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, The International Handel Festspiele, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, Salle Playel in Paris, Barbican Centre, Bard Summerscape and Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Merola/ San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, Pacific Musicworks, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Union for Contemporary Art, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos in Lisbon. He was co-artistic director/founder of Chromatic, a new collective of artists and production company in Los Angeles from 2014 to 2016, completed an MFA in Theater, Film and Television at UCLA and later continued studies with Stephen Wadsworth at The Juilliard School. He has received the national Princess Grace Award in Theater, the James Pendelton Foundation Grant, was a directing nominee in the 2015 International Opera Awards, has led world premieres of two operas to win “Best New Opera” awards from Music Critics Association of North America and was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for December 2015.

He was born in San Antonio, Texas and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Learn more at JamesDarrah.com.

He is a Princess Grace Award winner, a two-time American Theater Wing Henry Hewes Design Award nominee, a Connecticut Critics Circle Award nominee, and a multiple Ovation Award nominee. He was a recipient of the Donald Oenslager Fellowship in 2012 and the Pierre Cardin Fellowship in 2015.

Recent and upcoming designs include productions by Soho Rep, Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Signature Theater, The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, New York Theater Workshop, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Foundry Theatre, The Public Theater, Yale Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Westport Country Playhouse, REDCAT, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, and Manhattan Theatre Club. He received his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

Learn more at AdamRiggDesign.com.

Chrisi Karvonides has more than 25 years of experience as a professional costume designer in theater, film and television. In 2003, she received an Emmy for her costume design work on NBC’s American Dreams. She was also Emmy-nominated for FX’s American Horror Story, and HBO’s Carnivàle and From the Earth to the Moon (produced by Tom Hanks). She was nominated for four Costume Designers Guild Awards during five seasons of HBO’s Big Love. In addition, Carnivàle, From the Earth to the Moon and the pilot for ABC’s Pan Am were also nominated for CDG awards. Her other TV credits include Alan Ball’s HBO series Here and Now, starring Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter; and the Starz TV series Blunt Talk, starring Patrick Stewart. Her feature films include The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008), The Glass House (2001) and Beautiful (2000).

Her theatrical designs have been featured in productions at the Old Globe Theater, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Guthrie Theater and the Kennedy Center. On Broadway, she designed the costumes of August Wilson’s production Two Trains Running.

Her designs for opera include Alcina in Karlsruhe, Germany; Proving Up for Opera Omaha; The Human Voice and Breaking the Waves (based on the 1996 Lars Von Tier film) for Opera Philadelphia; and Iphigenia in Tauris for Teatro National San Carlo in Lisbon, Portugal.

She has given guest lectures on the art of costume design around the world including in Prague, Czech Republic; Cardiff, Wales; and New York City. In Summer 2018, she conducted a week-long seminar in Lecce, Italy.

She received her M.F.A. in theater design from Yale School of Drama and her B.F.A. from Emerson College.

Learn more at CostumeDesignByChrisi.com.

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

Adam Larsen has designed video projections for over 200 productions in theater, dance, symphony and opera. Projects have ranged from intimate to extravagant and have appeared both on Broadway and in many of the major venues across the country. Adam’s multifaceted work has led to collaborations with leading voices in symphony and opera including including 25 projects with James Darrah, 15 projects with Michael Tilson Thomas, three with John Adams, as well as projects with Joni Mitchell, Janelle Monae, Esperanza Spalding, Louis Langrée, Christopher Rountree, Missy Mazzoli, and Ellen Reid.

Recent work includes the direction and design for a semi-staged production of Bluebeard's Castle at the Houston Symphony, and projections for the world premiere of David Lang's prisoner of the state at the New York Philharmonic.

Other designs include Hal Prince’s LoveMusik on Broadway; Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at Opera Philadelphia and the Prototype Festival; Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus at the Athens, Edinburgh, and Spoleto festivals; Esperanza Spalding's 12 Little Spells national tour; Watermill at the BAM Next Wave Festival; Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Singapore and Edinburgh festivals; Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at Canadian Opera; Bernstein’s Mass at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Lincoln Center; Peter Grimes, On the Town and Boris Godunov, as well as all five seasons of the SoundBox series at San Francisco Symphony; The Pelleas Project at the Cincinnati Symphony; The Tales of Hoffmann at Hawaii Opera Theatre; Adams’s A Flowering Tree and Handel’s Agrippina at Opera Omaha; Foss’s Phorion with New World Symphony; and Mascagni’s Iris at Bard Summerscape.

In addition, Adam has directed two feature length documentaries about disability. His first, Neurotypical, about autism from the perspective of autistics, premiered on the the PBS series P.O.V and his second, Undersung, about caregivers of severely disabled family members, is available on Amazon.

Learn more at hum-bar.com.

Kiera Duffy has appeared with the many of the world’s elite orchestras and opera companies, including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera Philadelphia, Ongaku-Juku Festival in Japan, and Wexford Festival in Ireland. Her chamber music appearances include Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Aldeburgh Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Bard SummerScape Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, and the Collaborative Arts Institute in Chicago.

She is widely recognized for her interpretations of modern and contemporary repertoire, including that of composers of the “Second Viennese School,” post-modernists Berio, Boulez, Carter, del Tredici, and Ligeti, and contemporary composers Thomas Adès, John Adams, Derek Bermel, Unsuk Chin, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Caroline Shaw, and many others. In 2016 Kiera premiered the role of Bess McNeill in Missy Mazzoli’s new opera Breaking the Waves with Opera Philadelphia and the Prototype Festival in New York City. Her performance garnered widespread acclaim, including from the New York Times, who called her portrayal “one of the top operatic performances of the year” and WQXR in New York City who declared hers the “Top Female Operatic Performance of 2016.” She will create leading roles in new operas by Rene Orth and George Lewis in 2021.

A frequent performer in both Europe and the United States, John Moore is garnering praise for his energetic performances and burnished baritone in both operatic and concert repertoire. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program.

Mr. Moore’s 2018/19 season included performances of Pa Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up at the Miller Theater, his company debut with San Diego Opera as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, role debuts as Steve Jobs in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Seattle Opera and Zurga in The Pearl Fishers with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and a return to Portland Opera, singing Figaro in The Barber of Seville.

John Moore’s 2017/18 season included a return to Seattle Opera as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and role debuts of Hannah Before in As One with Des Moines Metro Opera and Johannes “Pa” Zegner in Proving Up with Opera Omaha. He also returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Papageno in The Magic Flute and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore. He finished the season by joining the Glyndebourne Festival as Achilla in Giulio Cesare.

2016/17 saw the baritone in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves with Opera Philadelphia, singing the role of Jan, a role he reprised with Beth Morrison Projects. He also returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Moralès in Carmen, Seattle Opera as Papageno in The Magic Flute, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, and the Santa Cruz Symphony as Figaro in The Barber of Seville. In concert he appeared with the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center featuring works of Vaughan Williams and Weber.

The previous season saw several significant company debuts for the baritone including: with Seattle Opera as Count Almavivia in The Marriage of Figaro; with the Bayerische Staatsoper as Adario in Les indes galantes; with Florida Grand Opera as Tadeusz in The Passenger; with Portland Opera as Papageno; and with Opera Omaha as Figaro in The Barber of Seville. On the concert stage, he appeared at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

His Metropolitan Opera appearances include Papageno in The Magic Flute,  Moralès in Carmen, Nachtigal in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Fléville in Andrea Chénier, Curio in Giulio Cesare and Simonetto in Francesca di Rimini, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and Donald in Billy Budd. 

Learn more at SingMoore.com.

Enjoying a career at the highest international level, Patricia Schuman began her career specializing in the Mozartean repertoire, singing Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera with James Levine conducting; Ilia in Idomeneo at La Scala with Riccardo Muti; and Ilia and Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Vienna State Opera, under the baton of Nikolaus Harnencourt.  She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, to great critical and popular acclaim.  She repeated the role at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Madrid, and Lyon.

In a continually expanding repertoire, Ms. Schuman debuted the role of Alice Ford in Falstaff at Covent Garden with Bernard Haitink conducting; Rezia in Weber’s Oberon with Marc Minkowski at the Flemish Opera; the title role in Schumann’s Genoveva with the Edinburgh Festival and Opera North; Blanche in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites with Rome Opera and Seattle Opera; Madeleine in Strauss’s Capriccio in Toulouse and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at Pittsburgh Opera.  She has sung Liu in Turandot and Mimi in La Boheme in Zurich; Poppea in Cologne and Bologna; and the role of the Commander in the world premiere of Philip Glass’ The Voyage at the Metropolitan Opera.

After the birth of twins, Miss Schuman made the decision to stay home and raise her children, once they began school.  After almost a decade, she returned to the opera stage to sing opposite her husband, bass-baritone David Pittsinger, as Carlotta and Eugene O’Neill in the world premiere of Blizzard on Marblehead Neck by Jeanine Tesori at the Glimmerglass Festival. Also, in that season, she appeared as Estelle Oglethorpe in John Musto’s Later the same evening.  She returned to Glimmerglass to sing Elvira Griffiths in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. Soon thereafter, she made her role debut as the Duchess of Argyll in Thomas Ades’ Powder her Face with Opera Philadelphia, to great acclaim.  Returning there in 2016, she sang the role of the Mother in Missy Mazzoli’s world premiere opera, Breaking the Waves. 

At the Ivoryton Playhouse, Schuman made her first professional foray into musical theater, as Bloody Mary in South Pacific, for which she received a Critic’s Circle nomination.  She also sang the world premiere oratorio Letter from Italy by composer Sarah Meneely-Kyder, singing the role of Delia.  

This season, Miss Schuman sang and recorded the role of Grandma Mills in Ricky Ian Gordon’s world premiere The House without a Christmas Tree at Houston Grand Opera before returning to the Ivoryton Playhouse for The Fantasticks.  Schuman is returning to Opera Theater of St. Louis, after many years, to debut the role of Arnalta in The Coronation of Poppea, alongside her husband, David Pittsinger, as Seneca. Following her appearance there, she will return to the Glimmerglass Festival to sing the Countess in a newly realized version of The Queen of Spades.

On recording, Miss Schuman can be heard in the title role of Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catan, which she recorded live at Houston Grand Opera (Albany records).  She has also recorded the soprano solo in Handel’s Messiah (Koch) and the Bertoni mass Veni Creator (Erato) under the baton of Claudio Scimone, and the role of Ruggiero in Rossini’s Tancredi with Marilyn Horne (Sony).  She can be seen on video as Poppea (Schwetzingen Fetstival), Donna Elvira (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Countess Almaviva (Madrid Opera), and in Letter from Italy.  Recently released is Ricky Gordon’s House without a Christmas Tree on Pentatone.

Learn more at PatriciaSchuman.com.

Mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti has a voice that been described as “powerful and agile” (New York Times), and is an “invisive actress” (Opera News). For the COVID-19 impacted 2020/21 season, her planned engagements included a return to the Metropolitan Opera, performing Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette, Annina in La Traviata, Mother Superior in The Fiery Angel, and Mercedes in Carmen, while covering the roles of Mrs. DeRocher in Dead Man Walking, Amneris in Aida, and Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde (all cancelled due to the pandemic). Other engagements include her Opera Maine debut as Mary in The Flying Dutchman, and multiple roles in White Snake Projects’ technologically-immersive Alice in the Pandemic. Eve is involved as creative producer and performer in various works in development including Untitled: Inspired by Film Stills with National Sawdust and No One Is Forgotten an operatic adaptation of the play by Winter Miller.

Ms. Gigliotti’s engagements during the COVID-19 shortened 2019/20 season included her return to San Francisco Opera as Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette (performed), Gertrude in Hamlet with Washington Concert Opera (performed), Glasha in Kat’a Kabanova in a return to the Metropolitan Opera (cancelled), and the alto soloist in Messiah with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony (performed). She also sang Elgar’s The Kingdom at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra, and at National Sawdust she continued development of the highly anticipated ‘Untitled: Inspired by Film Stills’; an immersive chamber opera featuring composers Muhly, Mazzoli, Prestini, and Reid with libretto by Vavrek and directed by R.B. Schlather.  Original concept by Ms. Gigliotti who also serves as Creative Producer and Performer.

In the 2018/19 season, Eve Gigliotti returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Siegrune in Die Walküre, reprised the Pilot in The Little Prince with Opera Parallèle, joined New York’s Prototype Festival as Aunt in Mila, Great Sorcerer, and returned to the Seattle Symphony for Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony. Additionally, she appeared with the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra for performances of Mahler’s Third Symphony, conducted by Leon Botstein, and made her Tanglewood Music Center debut as Siegrune in Die Walküre.

During the 2017/18 season, Ms. Gilgiotti joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the U.S. premiere of A Trip to the Moon, San Francisco Opera for their production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, both the Eugene Symphony and the Seattle Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, and Opera Parallèle as the Pilot in The Little Prince.

The previous season included a debut with Hawaii Opera as Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann, the world premiere of composer Mohammed Fairouz’s new oratorio, Al-Quds: Jerusalem at the Metropolitan Museum, a return to Opera Philadelphia to create the role of Dodo in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, a role she reprised with the Prototype Festival, and she joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover the title role in Carmen.

In the 2015/16 season, Ms. Gigliotti made her debut with the Washington National Opera, singing Siegrune and covering Flosshilde and the Second Norn in their production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. She also appeared with Beth Morrison Projects for the premiere of Persona. She also joined the Princeton Festival for their 2016 Summer season to sing Auntie in Peter Grimes.

The 2014/15 season brought significant company debuts for Ms. Gigliotti, including Houston Grand Opera to sing Siegrune in Die Walküre; Milwaukee Symphony, for Handel’s Messiah, and Opera Santa Barbara to reprise the title role of Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri. Additionally, she debuted the role of Bradamante in director R.B Schlather’s gallery installation of Alcina in association with Whitebox Art Center, and concluded the season in her role debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at Ash Lawn Opera.

Engagements during the 2013/14 season included appearances with Minnesota Opera, as Nazimova in Dream of Valentino, Florentine Opera, as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, and Boston’s Odyssey Opera, as the title role in Mascagni’s rarely performed Zanetto. She also joined the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra for Verdi’s Requiem.

After her promising debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Mercedes in the Richard Eyre production of Carmen, Ms. Gigliotti returned in 2010/11 reprising the role of Mercedes and appearing as Siegrune in Robert Lepage’s milestone production of Die Walküre, led by James Levine, broadcast worldwide in HD. Ms. Gigliotti appeared as Siegrune in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of the Ring cycle as part of the 2012/13 season. Additional performances during the 2012/13 season included the title role in an updated version of L’italiana in Algeri with Wendy Taucher Dance Theater Opera Project in Martha’s Vineyard, reprising a role she has performed with Opera Southwest and Bilbao ABAO (Opera Berri Performance). On the concert stage, Ms. Gigliotti was seen with Carolina Chamber Music Festival, and Wolf Trap Opera in Recital, respectively. In recording, the recently released Opera America Songbook features Ms. Gigliotti performing “Archaeology,” a song written exclusively for her by acclaimed composer/librettist team David Little and Royce Vavrek.

Having won critical acclaim for her emotional portrayal as Ruth in the World Premiere of Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters, produced by Gotham Chamber Opera, Music Theater Group, and Opera Philadelphia, directed by Rebecca Taichman and conducted by Neal Goren, Ms. Gigliotti has garnered attention for her interpretation within the new American repertoire. Ms. Gigliotti was invited by Houston Grand Opera (East + West Festival) to originate the role of Mrs. Parvin in composer Gregory Spears’s, The Bricklayer. Other highlights of the 2011/12 season included appearing with the Metropolitan Opera as Siegrune in Die Walküre under the baton of Fabio Luisi; making her Carnegie Hall debut in Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony No.1 with New York Youth Symphony, Ryan McAdams conducting; and returning to Carnegie Hall in portraying the title role of Djamileh with American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein conducting. Ms. Gigliotti’s concert work during the season included Chanson Madècasses with Gotham Chamber Opera; and Stravinsky: Pairings (a performance of Berg’s Seven Early Songs and Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis) with Greenwich Music Festival.

Other past season highlights include in 2010/11: Verdi’s Requiem with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop conducting; title role in L’italiana in Algeri with ABAO Opera Bilbao (Opera Berri Performance), Michele Mariotti conducting; Wolf Trap Opera as Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

In addition to making her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009/10, Ms. Gigliotti made her Avery Fisher Hall debut with American Symphony Orchestra in Scenes from Goethe’s Faust by Schumann, and appeared with Oregon Symphony in Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Eve Gigliotti is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes the New School for Music and the Curtis Institute of Music.

Praised by Opera News for hitting “high notes with ease, [and] singing with a luxuriant warm glow that seduced the ear as he bounded about the stage with abandon,” American tenor David Portillo has established himself as a leading classical singer of his generation.

In the COVID-shortened 2019/20 season, Mr. Portillo returned to the Metropolitan Opera for his role debut as the Steersman in a new production of The Flying Dutchman, conducted by Valery Gergiev. He also performed Tamino in The Magic Flute at both the Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera.

Zachary James, internationally renowned for his “huge, robust bass,” which “resonates with force” is a performer of remarkable talent and artistry. Season highlights for 2019 included a celebrated turn as Amenhotep III in Akhnaten by Philip Glass with the English National Opera, the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann with Nashville Opera, and the Doctor in Wozzeck with Des Moines Metro Opera. Mr. James closes out his 2019 season as the Cook in The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia, and his debut on the Metropolitan Opera roster, reprising the role of Amenhotep III in their house premiere of Akhnaten and covering the role of the Doctor in Wozzeck. Highly sought after and multifaceted as a performer, Mr. James’ 2020 season engagements include Lucius in the world premiere of Paola Prestini's Edward Tulane with the Minnesota Opera, as well as Banquo in Macbeth with Florentine Opera and his debut as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. During the 2020/21 season, Mr. James returns to Des Moines Metro Opera as Jupiter in Platée, returns to Virginia Opera to sing the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, returns to LA Opera as Terry in Breaking the Waves (a role he created at the work's 2016 world premiere) and makes company debuts at Opera Omaha in the title role of Sweeney Todd and with Cape Symphony as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In future seasons, Mr. James will make his Dallas Opera debut as well as reprising the role of Amenhotep III in Akhnaten with the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. James has a wealth of experience bringing to life the iconic warhorses of the bass repertoire, including mainstage performances of John Claggart in Billy Budd, Vodnik in Rusalka, Fafner in Das Rheingold, Olin Blitch in Susannah, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle, Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, the Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, the Ghost in Mark Adamo’s Avow, Frank Maurrant in Street Scene, the title role in The Mikado, and Zaccaria in Nabucco.

Mr. James is a sought-after interpreter of new works and less performed works. Mr. James created the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid; a role he reprised for London’s English National Opera, Australia’s Opera Queensland, and the Brisbane Festival. He created the role of Terry in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves, Oberon in the world premiere of Kristin Hevner’s Il Sogno, as well as the role of Lurch in the original Broadway cast of The Addams Family.

A prodigious performer of musical theater, Mr. James won the Lotte Lenya Competition in 2009 and has gone on to perform both on and off Broadway. Chief among these engagements was his run as Thomas Hassinger in the Tony Award-winning original Broadway revival cast of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, as well as singing Handel’s Messiah in the 2007 National Theatre of London Broadway transfer, Coram Boy. In addition to originating three Broadway shows, Mr. James played Off-Broadway as Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella and Jo-Jo in Irma la Douce, both with Encores! at New York City Center. Other theater credits include Sweeney in Sweeney Todd, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Billy in Carousel, Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods, Abner in Li’l Abner, Squash in Victor/Victoria and Petr in The Toymaker at multiple venues including Bucks County Playhouse, the York Theatre, Theatre by the Sea, Pocono Playhouse, the Kitchen Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Additionally, Mr. James has appeared on TV as Carl on 30 Rock opposite Steve Martin and Tina Fey, on the series finale of Murphy Brown as the Secret Serviceman to Mike Pence, on the 2010 Tony Awards live from Radio City Music Hall, on PBS Great Performances, on Live from Lincoln Center, on The Late Show with David Letterman, and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Mr. James also appeared on film as Ballion in The Gift.

Highly experienced on the concert stage, Mr. James’ engagements include solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama, Medicine Show, Joe’s Pub, Chicago’s Gorilla Tango, Noce Jazz Club in Des Moines, and Hawaii’s Hoku Concert Series. He has also given solo performances with Sun Valley Opera, Eckerd College, Ithaca College, Opera Ithaca, and Civic Morning Musicals in Syracuse. Orchestral credits include the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Action in West Side Story, bass soloist in Bernstein’s Mass), NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo (Action in West Side Story), the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Alan Gilbert (Sweeney Todd), the NYC Ballet (Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer), American Symphony Orchestra (Kurt Weill Celebration), Symphony of the Mountains (Colline in La Bohème), MasterVoices NYC (Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance) and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (Buff in The Impresario).

A Florida native, Mr. James is a graduate of the musical theater program at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award. Additional studies include Florida State University, U-T Knoxville, and the Goethe Institute in Berlin.

Learn more at ZachJames.com.

Marcus DeLoach has been hailed by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times as "a fine baritone who puts words across with clarity and naturalness." A leading performer of contemporary classical vocal music today, he has established himself in the areas of opera, concert, and crossover. He received critical acclaim in 2009 for his debut at Teatro Communale di Bolzano (Italy) as Jean in Philippe Boesmans’ Julie and was called “powerfully convincing” in his Opera Ireland (Dublin) debut as Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking. That same year he made his debut at Seattle Opera as Schaunard in La Bohème. Mr. DeLoach was a principal artist at the New York City Opera where he sang the roles of Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Satyr and Cithéron in Platée, Slim in Of Mice and Men, Don Alvaro in Il Viaggio a Reims, Schaunard in La Bohème, and many others. He has also performed with Bard Summerscape Festival, Prototype Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Kentucky Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Nashville Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Utah Opera, Tulsa Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, American Opera Projects, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and others.

In concert he has performed Sciarrone and the Jailor in Tosca with Lorin Maazel and Ein Knecht in Hindemith's Sancta Susanna with Riccardo Muti and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. With conductor Kristjan Järvi, Mr. DeLoach has appeared as Maximillian in Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra, Die Münchner Philharmoniker, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Musikfest Bremen.

In 1997, Mr. DeLoach was unanimously voted the first place winner of London's inaugural Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. In addition to concert appearances with many American symphonies and orchestras, he has also appeared regularly with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and The Marilyn Horne Foundation. With a deep commitment to the creation and promotion of modern opera Mr. DeLoach has created principal roles in the world premieres of Spears' Fellow Travelers, Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves, Wiesman's/Hoiby's Darkling, Beeferman's The Rat Land, Drattell's Lilith and Marina: A Captive Spirit, and Paul Schoenfield's The Merchant and the Pauper. Mr. DeLoach has also recorded several CDs of modern operatic works for Naxos including Scott Wheeler’s The Construction of Boston and Scenes from Jewish Operas Vol. 2 with Gerard Schwartz and the Seattle Symphony. Adding to his credits as a crossover artist, he joined the acclaimed rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra for their rock opera Christmas Eve and Other Stories in a tour which included Madison Square Garden and the Fleet Center, performing for an estimated audience of one quarter million.

Mr. DeLoach holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He has also attended The Britten-Pears School, New England Conservatory, and Music Academy of the West. the Opera Index, Albanese-Puccini, Rosa Ponselle, Liederkranz and George London Foundations, the Young Concert Artists International, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Metropolitan Opera National Council and the Gaddes Fund have all honored him for his outstanding achievements and artistry.

Recent engagements include a 2017 role debut as Figaro in Milhaud’s La Mére coupable with On Site Opera, Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute with Philadelphia Opera, Wolf-in-Skins a collaboration of Philadelphia Dance Projects with American Opera Projects and Christopher Williams Dance, and Messiah with the Tucson Symphony. In 2018, he reprised his roles in Fellow Travelers with the Prototype Festival and also brought the role to Lyric Opera of Chicago. He debuted as Sam in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti plus Arias and Barcarolles with Boston Lyric Opera, and Master Peter’s Puppet Show with The Knights at the Tilles Center and BAM’s Bric House, Eric Jacobsen conducting, and was the baritone soloist in Britten’s War Requiem with Tulsa Symphony. In 2019, Mr. DeLoach made company debuts with Arizona Opera in Fellow Travelers and a role and company debut as Don Giovanni with Syracuse Opera. He was also heard in a recital of Duparc songs with the Cincinnati Song Initiative.