The Anonymous Lover

In January 2022, soprano Tiffany Townsend will return to Opera Philadelphia as the featured soloist in George Walker's Lilacs.

She started the 2019/20 season as Princess Ninette in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia. In February 2020, she appeared with Long Beach Opera in the Dream Variation concert.

In 2019, she performed Brenda in Rene Orth’s Empty the House, a co-production with the Curtis Opera Theatre and Opera Philadelphia. 

At Millsaps, she was seen as Lucy Lockit in Benjamin Britten's The Beggar's Opera and performed Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte in scenes. At Juilliard she covered the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. She also performed George Crumb’s Winds of Destiny at Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble. At the Chautauqua Institution, Ms. Townsend performed the First Lady in The Magic Flute.

At Curtis she performed lead roles such as the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She was a winner of the 2019 New Orleans District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She then received an Encouragement Award in the 2019 Gulf Coast Regionals.

She holds a Professional Studies Certificate in Opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Millsaps College. 

In the summer of 2021, he will return to Santa Fe Opera as the Captain in the world premiere of Mark Adamo's The Lord of Cries. For Santa Fe Opera's cancelled 2020 season, he had been contracted to return as a second-year Apprentice Artist and to sing the roles of the First Armored Man in The Magic Flute and Melot in Tristan und Isolde. He had also been contracted to sing the role of Narraboth in Salome with the Bard Conservatory Orchestra.

Recent performances include the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Lynn Philharmonia and the tenor soloist in Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.

Previous performances include William Marshall in Regina with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, scenes as Lenny in Of Mice and Men and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with the St. Louis Symphony, and Pang in Turandot with the Kentucky Symphony. He also appeared as Trajan in a workshop of Rufus Wainwright’s new opera Hadrian with the Canadian Opera Company, and was the tenor soloist in Schubert's Mass in A-flat with CCM choirs. He has been a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera where he covered the roles of Rodolfo in La Boheme and the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia. Other significant roles include the title roles in Candide and Idomeneo, the Schoolmaster in The Cunning Little Vixen, Charlie in Mahagonny-Songspiel, the Lamplighter and the Drunk in The Little Prince, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and Hubert Humphrey in Dark River.

Mr. Stahley was the winner of the 2019 Wagner Society of New York Competition, was a third prize winner in the 2018 Gerda Lissner Vocal Competition, placed first in the 2017 Piccolo Vocal Competition, and was a finalist in the 2018 Mildred Miller Competition. He completed his Artist Diploma and Masters at the College Conservatory of Music. He has bowed with opera companies such as Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Wolf Trap Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Arbor Opera Theater, Palm Beach Opera, and Cincinnati Opera.

He is the 2021 Los Angeles District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In the summer of 2021, he will return to Santa Fe Opera as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream. (COVID cancellations for 2020 included his role debut and international debut as Figaro in The Barber of Seville in Daegu, South Korea, as well as a return to Santa Fe Opera to sing Fiorello and cover the role of Figaro in The Barber of Seville, and to cover the leading role of Rene Gallimard in the world premiere of M. Butterfly by composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang.)

In 2019, he made his role debut as Escamillo in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appeared in Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony and in the U.S. premiere of Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane with the Bard Music Festival.

Other recent appearances include the First Officer and Croupier in Candide at Santa Fe Opera; the Cobbler in Philip Glass's The Juniper Tree at Wolf Trap Opera; Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Professor Bhaer in Mark Adamo's Little Women, Curio in Giulio Cesare and Betto in Gianni Schicchi with the Shepherd School Opera; the Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah and Dandini in La Cenerentola with the Hillman Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with the WNY Chamber Orchestra.

He received his master’s degree in May 2018 from Rice University, where he studied with Stephen King. In 2018, he was a finalist in Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias; in the summer of 2018, he joined the Apprentice Singer Program at Santa Fe Opera, where he covered the title role of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the new production John Adams' Doctor Atomic, directed by the librettist Peter Sellars. In the summer of 2017, he joined the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, covering the role of Pacuvio in Rossini's La Pietra del Paragone and singing in Four of a Kind, a recital with Steven Blier and Joseph Li.

She was recently seen as the First Maiden in Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen with the LA Philharmonic. For the summer of 2020, she had been scheduled to join Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice program.

Some previous credits include Camelot with the Lincoln Center Theater, Kathleen Battle’s Underground Railroad recital, the First Lady in The Magic Flute, Lady Macbeth in Bloch's Macbeth, the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and the title role of Penelope. She was a featured artist in Lee Mingwei’s exhibit Sonic Blossom with MetLiveArts.

Ms. Fox has been honored with several awards including grand finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, first place winner of the Joan Taub Ades Vocal competition, semi-finalist in the Elizabeth Connell dramatic soprano competition, and the Lotte Lenya emerging artist award.

An alumna of the Chautauqua Opera and Opera Saratoga young artist programs, Ms. Fox holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

In September 2019, Mexican mezzo-soprano Gabriela Flores sang the title role in Carmen with Universidad de Xalapa and Armado Mora Producciones in Xalapa.

She studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia with Bill Schuman. There she made her debut as Azucena in Il Trovatore under the baton of Christofer Macatsoris. At AVA she has also performed such roles as Erda in Das Rheingold, Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, Annina in La Traviata, the Mistress of Novices in Suor Angelica, the Third Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette.

Prior to her performances in Philadelphia, she performed in renowned theaters in Mexico including the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where she sang Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore, Maddalena in Il viaggio a Reims, and Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor. Other roles she has performed include Amastre in Xerxes with Oberlin in Italy, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with Mexico’s National Conservatory, the Monitor in Suor Angelica with Artescenica, Carmelita in Jimenez Mabarak’s Misa de seis with the Oaxaca Symphony Orchestra, Baucis in Haydn’s Philemon und Baucis, and Rosita in Derbez’s La Creciente in its world premiere at the Festival Internacional Cervantino, both with Estudio Ópera de Bellas Artes.

Ms. Flores’ concert appearances include Handel’s Messiah with the Politecnico Nacional Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Celaya Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Die sieben letzten worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze with Mexico’s National Symphony Orchestra and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, and the opera gala “Voces del Siglo XXI” conducted by Srba Dinic at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

She was a finalist in the renowned Mexican competition “Concurso Nacional de Canto Carlo Morelli” in 2012, also she is an encouragement award winner in the Middle Atlantic Regional Auditions of Metropolitan Opera National Council.

Ms. Flores started her vocal studies under Professor Armando Mora and earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from the University of Veracruz. She was also a resident artist at Estudio Ópera de Bellas Artes (2014-2016) and at SIVAM (2016-2017).

American countertenor Jacob Ingbar made his professional debut at age ten as a soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and has performed throughout North America and Europe ever since. In 2020, Jacob was slated to debut at the Glimmerglass Festival as Il mago cristiano in Handel’s Rinaldo and with the NDR Radiophilharmonie as Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Hanover, Germany. Recently, he was the alto soloist in Bach’s Magnificat with the Capella Regio Polona in Warsaw.

Jacob has performed at the Aldebugh Festival, Minnesota Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Guthrie Theatre, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Polish National Opera, among other venues. He can be heard as the alto soloist in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms on the album Psalms and Songs featuring the Exultate Choir and Orchestra.

He is an alumnus of the Juilliard School, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Gerdine Young Artist Program, the Glimmerglass Opera Young Artist Program and Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. He pursued his graduate studies at Rice University under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King and previously received scholarship support from the George London and Gerda Lissner Foundations.

Since his debut that year with La Traviata, he has conducted 62 different operas and more than 400 performances to date with the company. Most recently, he conducted the 2020 company premiere of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and the 2021 company premiere of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.

One of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, he 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 2016, he became Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Torino, and in September 2021 becomes Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

He previously was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony (2005-2015), Principal Conductor of the Paris National Opera (1995-2004), General Music Director of the City of Cologne (1989-2002), Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983-91) and Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival (1979-2016). He has won three Grammy Awards and was awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur.

As a child, his father made him write stories and read them aloud in the hallway as punishment for lies and mischief. He’s still in trouble.

An actor, writer, director, producer and creative collaborator, he is the host of 89.3 KPCC In-Person’s UnheardLA, the Artistic Director of Watts Village, and Associate Artistic Director/Ensemble Member with Cornerstone Theater Company and an Illyrian Player. 

Hobbies include: Holding a mirror up to America, rabble rousing, chasing dreams, working for the reimagining of his community, and listening to the kids.

Learn more at BruceALemonJr.com.

She has been a company member of the Santa Cruz Shakespeare festival since 2012, where she served as dramaturg on Henry VI Part 1, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet, The Liar, and The Mandrake. Other regional dramaturgy credits include Gunshot Medley: Part 1 at Rogue Machine Theatre (Los Angeles) and Master Class at The Jewel Theatre (Santa Cruz). Dr. Helou was a faculty member at UCLA (French & Francophone Studies) and UC Santa Cruz (Theater Arts, Classical Studies, and French); has held fellowships from the Huntington Library, the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others; and has published research on Shakespeare and early modern Italian drama and music. She is also a performing artist whose background spans early music, theater, and opera. She is Associate Artistic Producer of the Los Angeles-based choral ensemble Artes Vocales and Dramaturg/Producer of the theater company Collaborative Artists Bloc.

Learn more at ArianeHelou.com.

Hana Kim is a projection and set designer with experience in film and graphic design.

Her design works have been seen across the country including productions for the Public Theater in New York City, A.C.T in San Francisco, the San Francisco Symphony, LA Opera, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Opera Colorado and South Coast Rep. Video Art installations have been shown at the Annenberg Space of Photography in Los Angeles and Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.

She is a recipient of a Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, Richard Sherwood Awards from CTG, Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle, and a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. Her designs won Helen Hayes Award, Stage Raw Awards, StageSceneLA Awards and Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards. Her designs also received multiple nominations from Ovation Awards and Theater Bay Area Awards.

Recent projects include Magdalene at the Prototype Festival in New York, Sweet Land with the Industry Opera in Los Angeles, an Emerging Voices Concert with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and On the Other Side with Marike Splint.

Learn more at HanaNow.com.

Misty Ayres has been artistically designing and creating new worlds from a very early age. Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the daughter of a naval officer and the niece of a professional costume designer, Ms. Ayres has interwoven her early multicultural experiences into the fabric of her life. While still an undergraduate at University of Cameron, Ms. Ayres was uniquely selected to design the shows Private Eyes and Medea, prompting a lifelong passion of integrating her artistic skills and sharp business mind. Ms. Ayres carried her BA in Costume Design Education all the way to Los Angeles for the opportunity to showcase her gifts for global audiences: The World Goes 'Round for Chance Theater and Son of Semele for The Tower, to name a few. Ms. Ayres is most proud to have been able to call LA Opera "home" for the last 16 years. 

Through this symbiotic relationship, Ms. Ayres has been afforded to fully utilize her gifts and expression in numerous opportunities, such as, representing LA Opera's highly sought-after expertise abroad in distinguished theaters across Europe and Asia. Although Ms. Ayres is frequently hand selected by world-renowned costume designers for her ability to fabricate creative visions into stage life, she feels equally zealous in her development of LA Opera Educational Department's Opera Tales, Figaro’s American Adventure, Brundibar and The Prospector.  Ms. Ayres is so excited to once again be part of the continuation of the untold story of the human heart in this profound and innovative production of The Anonymous Lover.  

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

Raved as a “standout” who “turned heads” by DC Theater Scene and "excellent vocally" by the Los Angeles Daily News, she has appeared Off Broadway with Encores! @ New York City Center and Pasadena Playhouse with Tony Award-winning directors and choreographers. She also regularly guests as the soprano soloist for the Cornerstone Chorale in NYC.

In addition to being a classically trained singer, Andrea has danced professionally with Alonzo King's Lines Ballet Studio, Pasadena Dance Theater and with numerous opera companies domestically and internationally. Some highlights include her work as a principal dancer with LA Opera, Dallas Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theater, Royal Opera House of Muscat, and Washington National Opera. In addition to her theatrical credits, she has appeared in commercial industrials for Sony, Puma, Moncler, Microsoft and in the film The One That I Want.

Andrea has associate directed and choreographed for the renowned opera director Francesca Zambello in her productions of The Little Match Girl Passions at The Glimmerglass Festival, La Traviata at Atlanta Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Jacobs School of Music, and Kansas City Opera, and the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori's The Lion, The Unicorn & Me at the Kennedy Center. Throughout her dance career she has won awards for both ballet and choreography.

Learn more at AndreaBeasom.com.

From the age of eight, he was educated in France. In 1757, his father was named Gentleman of the King's Chamber, serving as a personal assistant to King Louis XV. At the age of 17, Joseph was made an officer of the king’s guard and given the title “Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges.” 

He first came to fame as the best fencer in France. He is only known to have lost one match.

Little is known of his training as a violinist or as a composer. He began his professional career as a musician with Les Concerts des Amateurs. He made a sensational debut as a soloist with that orchestra in 1772, playing two violin concerti of his own composition. In 1773, he was named the conductor of the orchestra. Under his leadership, it became regarded as the finest orchestra in Paris and one of the finest in all Europe. In 1781, finances forced the orchestra to disband, and Bologne became director of the newly formed orchestra Le Concert Olympique. Queen Marie Antoinette, an accomplished musician herself, frequently attended its concerts. Under Bologne's baton, the orchestra notably premiered Haydn's six "Paris Symphonies" in 1786 with the queen in attendance. Throughout this decade, he composed string quartets, violin concertos, symphonies concertantes, and other works.

During his tenure with Les Concerts des Amateurs, the music directorship of the Paris Opera became vacant, and Bologne submitted a bid for the position. But after three of the company's leading sopranos wrote to the queen, stating their unwillingness to work for a man of mixed race, Bologne withdrew his application. Despite the setback, he turned his attention to composing operas. His first opera, Ernestine, premiered at the Comédie-Italienne in 1777. Bologne's score was praised, but the libretto by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, author of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, was not, and the opera was only given one performance. His second opera, La Partie de Chasse (The Hunting Party), premiered in 1778 at the same theater and met with greater success than his first.

His third opera, L'Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover), premiered in 1780 in the private theater of the Marquise de Montesson, wife of the Duke of Orléans, who appointed him music director of her theater and gave him a residence in the ducal palace.  (Bologne also served as the Duke's Lieutenant of the Hunt.) The libretto was adapted from a play by the celebrated writer Madame de Genlis, who was governess and tutor to the Duke's children. It is the only one of his operas that survives in complete form.

When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, he joined the National Guard in Lille. In 1791 he was appointed the colonel of the newly created Légion Franche de Cavalerie des Américains (American Free Legion of Calvary), which was comprised mostly of men of color; it soon became known as the Légion Saint-Georges. Bologne served on the front lines, successfully driving back an attack by Austrian forces. Even though he was a war hero, his close ties to the aristocracy made him the object of suspicion. He was jailed without a trail in 1793, on false charges of misusing public funds, for nearly a year. 

After his release, having unsuccessfully attempted to return to his command, he is believed to have traveled to Saint-Dominingue (present-day Haiti). In 1797, after returning to Paris, he became director of a new orchestra, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, which performed in the former residence of the Duke of Orléans. He died in 1799, at the age of 53.

Known as "Madame de Genlis," she is remembered as a novelist, playwright and innovative educator. Largely self taught, she became governess and instructor to the daughters and later (unusually, for a woman) the sons of the Duke of Chartres (later the Duke of Orléans).

In 1793, when her husband and the Duke were both guillotined during the French Revolution, Madame de Genlis went into exile in England, Switzerland and Germany. She returned to France in 1799, continuing to support herself through her writing.

Her career as a writer spanned five decades and her works were read widely throughout Europe. Her writings include several volumes of plays for children, and numerous essays and journals. Her many novels include the wildly popular Adèle et Théodore, and her plays include L'Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover). The latter was adapted by François-Georges Fouques Deshayes (known as “Desfontaines“) into the libretto for an opera of the same name by composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.