La Traviata

American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is known for her diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner. A regular guest at the leading opera houses around the world, Le Monde enthused, "…the American soprano has without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world. The timbre, of marmoreal beauty, is striking, the projection telluric..." In 2021, Rachel signed a multi-record deal with Sony Classical. Her debut album was released on April 8, 2022, and her second CD, Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, came out on March 10, 2023.

Ms. Willis-Sørensen opens the 2023/24 season with a return to the Grand Théâtre de Genève to perform the role of Elisabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlos which she debuted in Chicago last year. This season finds her performing two roles in two Verdi operas at the Vienna State Opera; her first engagement in Vienna includes a return to the role of Desdemona in Otello, followed by Elena in the Italian version of I Vespri Siciliani. Also in the winter, she makes her first role debut of the season, as Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann at Opéra national de Paris, also marking her house debut. In February, she performs the role of Elsa in Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera, and then returns to LA Opera as Violetta in La Traviata. She makes her debut at Santa Fe Opera in the summer to perform the role of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. On the concert stage, she performs Mahler’s 8th Symphony at the Bavarian State Opera, Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Houston Symphony as part of their Strauss Festival under the baton of Juraj Valčuha.

Previous engagements include Elisabeth (Don Carlos) with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rusalka at the San Francisco Opera and NDR Hamburg, Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) at Glyndebourne, Semperoper Dresden and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Violetta (La Traviata) at Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Bavarian State Opera, Marguerite (Faust) as part of the Royal Opera House’s tour of Japan, Elsa (Lohengrin) at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, and Oper Frankfurt, Desdemona (Otello) at the Vienna State Opera, LA Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, Mimi (La Bohème) at the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera and Semperoper Dresden, Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna State Opera, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Semperoper Dresden, Hélène (Les Vêpres siciliennes) at the Bavarian State Opera, Valentine (Les Huguenots) at the Grand Théâtre Genève, Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) at the Bavarian State Opera, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Vienna State Opera, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) at the Houston Grand Opera, Leonore (Fidelio) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, and Leonora (Il Trovatore) at the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Royal Opera House and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed Strauss's Four Last Songs multiple times, including notably at Buckingham Palace for an HRH Prince Charles birthday celebration, and joined Jonas Kaufmann in 2019 and 2020 for a multi-city European tour in support of his latest recording, Wien, on which she is featured. Other repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s 2nd, 4th and 8th Symphonies, Mendelssohn’s Elias, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and the Verdi Requiem.

Rachel was a member of the ensemble at the Dresdner Semperoper for three years, where she sang the title role in The Merry Widow, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Elettra (Idomeneo), Diemut (Feuersnot), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and Mimi (La Bohème). She won first prize at the 2014 Operalia competition in Los Angeles and at the 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and she was a winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Brigham Young University and is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. An active presence on social media, she can be found on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @rachewillissorensen and on X under @RWSing.

Learn more at RachelWillisSorensen.com.

Photo: Olivia Kahler

Armenian tenor Liparit Avetisyan made his European debut in the autumn of 2016 as Fenton in a new production of Falstaff at the Cologne Opera and has since been acknowledged as one of the most exciting lyric tenors of his generation. After his debut in Cologne, other international debuts followed in rapid succession at such leading theaters as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zürich Opera, Opera Australia, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Frankfurt Opera, Hamburg State Opera and Den Norske Opera in Oslo, Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, Seattle Opera, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, he was a guest artist of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre from 2017-2019. His roles have included Alfredo in La Traviata, Rodolfo in La Bohème, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Des Grieux in Manon, Don José in Carmen, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Vaudémont in Iolanta and Lensky in Eugene Onegin.

Avetisyan’s recent highlights include Alfredo and Duke of Mantua at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Vaudémont in Iolanta with the Berlin Philharmonic. Avetisyan made his house debut at the Easter Festival Baden-Baden as Vaudémont and at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo as the Duke. He will return to Dresden as Rodolfo in La Bohème and to Zürich as the Duke in Rigoletto.

Avetisyan recorded the role of Cassio in Verdi’s Otello for Sony Classical (2020) with Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, conducted by Antonio Pappano. The BBC Music Magazine wrote that Liparit Avetisyan as Cassio has the most exquisite youthful heroic tone one could wish for. The album is the Opus Klassik 2021 Award Winner. It has been named “Opera Recording of the Year” (up to the 19th century).

He also active on the concert stage in recent years, he has appeared at the XXI International Music Festival Stars of the White Nights in Saint Petersburg, Easter Festival in Moscow, Beethoven Fest in Poland, Mustonen Fest in Estonia, and Midem Fest in France. He also performed in benefit concerts dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide with Evgeni Kissin at Carnegie Hall and the Music Center at Strathmore in Washington.

The tenor has collaborated with the great conductors of our days including Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniel Oren, Kirill Petrenko, Fabio Luisi, Antonello Manacorda, Bertrand de Billy, the opera stars such as Pretty Yende, Federica Lombardi, Sonya Yoncheva, Lisette Oropesa, Ailyn Pérez, Placido Domingo, Carlos Álvarez, Jonas Kaufmann and many others.

Since 2016 Avetisyan has been a leading artist of the Armenian Opera and Ballet National Academic Theatre, he sang Alfredo, Don José and the young Gypsy in Rachmaninoff’s Aleko. He debuted as the Duke in Rigoletto, sang Rodolfo in La Bohème, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville as well as the tenor part in the Verdi and Mozart Requiems and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of its artistic director and principal conductor Eduard Topchjan.

Born in Yerevan Liparit Avetisyan studied at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory from 2008 to 2011, later he was transferred to the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan to study under the leadership of professor Rafayel Hakobyants. During his studies, Avetisyan won second prize in both the Maria Biesu International Singing Competition and the III Muslim Magomaev International Vocalists Contest. In 2017 he was awarded the prestigious National Theatre Award “GOLDEN MASK” as the Best Opera Actor for the role of Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, as well as the Onegin National Opera Award as the best guest artist (Saint Petersburg, 2016), Artavazd National Theater Award as the best actor of the year (Yerevan, 2016) and Swallow Music Awards as the best opera singer of the year (Yerevan, 2017). Liparit Avetisyan is the Honored Artist of the Republic of Armenia.

Learn more at LiparitAvetisyan.com.

Since the 2017/18 season, he has been an ensemble member of the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater. His appearances in Oldenburg for the 2022/23 season include Alberich in Das Rheingold, Wotan in Die Walküre, the Wanderer in Siegfried, Gunther in Götterdämmerung, the title role of Mendelsohn's Elijah, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Tonio in Pagliacci and Herr von Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier.

In 2014, he made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, as a soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. In 2015, he performed several roles in the U.S. premiere of Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. That same year, he performed Figaro in Giovanni Paisiello's 1782 The Barber of Seville, under the baton of James Conlon with the USC Thornton School of Music Orchestra. In 2016, he was featured as Delirio in the U.S. premiere of Florian Gassmann's 1769 comedy L'Opera Seria at Wolf Trap Opera. In 2014, he made his role debut as Escamillo in Carmen with the Aspen Opera Theater. 

Patrick Blackwell continues to expand his impressive repertoire in opera, oratorio and musical theater. His career has seen him engaged by many of the leading opera companies and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe, including appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival, Munich Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago and LA Opera. He trained at the Juilliard School and began his career as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Opera Studio, the Merola Opera Program with San Francisco Opera, Opera Music Theatre International with Jerome Hines and Aspen Opera.

In July 2023, he appears with the Opera Festival of Chicago in An Italian Soirée and as Leone in Verdi's Attila. His appearances for the 2023/24 season include a return to LA Opera as Baron Douphol in La Traviata and a debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Don Fernando in Fidelio.

He has appeared in concert with the Munich Philharmonic in Porgy and Bess conducted by Lorin Maazel and in the title role of Porgy on a European tour with NY Harlem Productions. His association with this piece is extensive, having appeared as Porgy and other roles with Utah Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Fresno Grand Opera, the Castleton Festival, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and on tour throughout the United States.

On the concert platform, Mr. Blackwell is highly sought after as the bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in the world premiere of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson’s Crucifixion in addition to performing works by Mozart at the Arts Festival in North Korea, the Fauré Requiem with the Fresno Philharmonic and Osride in Mose in Egitto by Rossini with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

In the United States, Mr. Blackwell’s operatic engagements have included Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Boheme, Zuniga in Carmen for New York City Opera, First Nazarene in Salome and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro for Utah Opera, Sarastro in The Magic Flute for Fresno Grand Opera, Ferrando in Il Trovatore for Knoxville Opera, the King in Aïda and Melitone in La Forza del Destino for New Jersey State Opera and Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera for New Orleans Opera.

With Chicago Lyric Opera Mr. Blackwell’s roles have included Burnah in Amistad, Henry Davis in Street Scene, Cal in Regina and the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette. 

Recent engagements include Zuniga in Carmen with San Diego Opera and Méphistophélès in Faust with Valley Opera & Performing Arts. 

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 appearances for the summer of 2023 include 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 will sing 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.  

Versatile tenor Julius Ahn delights audiences around the world with his unique interpretations. Of his signature role, Goro in Madama Butterfly, critics hailed “As the marriage broker Goro, tenor Julius Ahn was in his element, delivering the wickedness of his character with gusto.” Mr. Ahn performed the role in his debut at San Francisco Opera and returned there to reprise it, as well as with the Canadian Opera Company, Palm Beach Opera, Vancouver Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Carolina, Nashville Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Virginia Opera, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In the 2022/23 season, Ahn was thrilled to reprise the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis for Nashville Opera in addition to performing Borsa in Rigoletto with the Dallas Opera, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with On Site Opera, Mime in Das Rheingold with Atlanta Opera, and Bardolf in Sir John in Love with Bard Music Festival. In his signature role of Goro in Madama Butterfly, Ahn joined the San Francisco Opera for their centennial celebratory production of the opera, as well as Atlanta Opera, Cincinnati Opera and New Orleans Opera.

The 2023/24 season’s engagements include returns to Detroit Opera and Opera Philadelphia for Madama Butterfly.

In recent seasons, Mr. Ahn joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for performances of The Nose, Turandot, Rigoletto and Die Fledermaus, making his mainstage debut as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute. Ahn also returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Goro, joined Cincinnati Opera as Spoletta in Tosca, Gherardo in Tulsa Opera’s Gianni Schicchi, and Borsa in Opera Philadelphia’s Rigoletto. He performed in two productions with the Korean National Opera: Gastone in La Traviata and Nick in The Girl of the Golden West. He has now performed the role of Pang in Turandot in over 10 productions including with San Francisco Opera, Vancouver Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Utah Symphony & Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Atlanta Opera, Tulsa Opera, Seattle Opera and Cincinnati Opera.

Previous engagements have also included Monostatos in The Magic Flute with Opera Carolina, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Omaha, and the Pacific Symphony; Mark in Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage with Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall; and Basilio and Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro with Lyric Opera Baltimore; Bardolfo in Falstaff with Opera Omaha; and Antenore in a concert version of Rossini's Zelmira with Washington Concert Opera.

Ahn was cast in the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2011 at the Banff Centre, as well as with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2012 at White Oak. He performed the role in the world premiere with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, which earned him an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre (Principal Actor in a Musical) from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. He later reprised the role with the Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut, and did so again with New York Theatre Workshop.

He portrayed Sellem in The Rake’s Progress with Princeton Festival; Bégearss in The Ghosts of Versailles with Aspen Opera Theater Center; and Demo in Cavalli’s Giasone with Chicago Opera Theater. He was also seen as Conrado in a workshop performance of Long Season by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo, as part of Huntington Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground Festival. Ahn attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the world-renowned tenor Vinson Cole and performed a wide range of operatic roles.

Learn more at JuliusAhn.com.

Ryan Wolfe is a passionate musician fueled by his love for collaboration and performance, who has been commended for his “commanding presence” and “well-tutored, polished baritone.” 

In the summer of 2023, he performed Le Dancaïre in Carmen with Des Moines Metro Opera, followed by his Hollywood Bowl debut in Chris Thile's Attention! with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

His 2022/23 season began with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Richmond Symphony followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He made his LA Opera debut as the Jailer in Tosca, with later credits including the Herald in Otello, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia conducted by Lina Gonzalez Granados, and the title character in Henry Mollicone’s Moses conducted by James Conlon. Additionally, he was the cover for the roles of Johnson/Owen in Omar, the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. He debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the Steersman in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

In the summer of 2022, he returned to the Apprentice Artist Program at Des Moines Metro Opera to cover Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The 2021/22 season saw him make several role debuts including the Count in The Marriage of Figaro and Cardinal 3/Priest/Father in Phillip Glass’s Galileo Galilei at the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music (CCM). In March of 2022, Ryan covered the role of Papageno in Barry Kosky’s internationally acclaimed production of The Magic Flute with Des Moines Metro Opera. Most recently, Ryan appeared as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Santa Cruz Symphony, conducted by Daniel Stewart.  

He won an Encouragement Award in the Central Region Finals of the Eric and Dominque Laffont Competition in 2021, won first prize in the 2022 University of Cincinnati – CCM Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition and is a two-time semi-finalist (2021, 2022) of the Lotte Lenya Competition. He has also won awards from Classical Singer National Voice Competition and the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition.  

In the summer of 2021, he joined the Des Moines Metro Opera Company as an Apprentice Artist where he performed Sen. Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Priest/Technician/Party Guest in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers and Narumov in The Queen of Spades and covered Cithéron in Rameau’s Platée. He was also featured as Pandolfe in Cendrillon and the title role in Don Giovanni in the festival’s scenes program. He made his professional debut in February 2020 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as the Armchair and Tree in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges under the baton of Louis Langrée and direction of James Bonas. A strong proponent of new music and a consummate musician, he collaborated with Opera Fusion:New Works - Cincinnati Opera to workshop Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice (co-commissioned by LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera).  

Other operatic highlights include Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow, Giove in La Calisto, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea. He has also been seen performing selections of Bernstein and Mahler with the CCM Philharmonic, and was the bass soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra. 

Ryan completed his master’s degree before partially completing an artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati – CCM where he studied with esteemed baritone William McGraw. Upon Professor McGraw’s retirement, Ryan began studying with world-renowned baritone Elliot Madore. He is a proud alumnus of DePaul University where he received his bachelor of music, studying with Jeff Ray. 

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

In the summer of 2023, he appears with Aspen Music Festival as the Voice of the Oracle (Neptune) in Idomeneo,  also covering the role of General Benjamin in Jimmy Lopez's Bel Canto. 

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

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

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

Omani-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny gained recognition in major competitions whilst still studying at Indiana University; she was awarded the Andre Bourbeau Best Canadian Artist award and the ICI Musique People’s Choice award at the 2022 Concours Musical International de Montreal competition and was the winner of the Western Canada District of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

She joined LA Opera’s prestigious Domingo-Colburn Stein’s Young Artist Program in the 2022/23 season, making her debut there to considerable acclaim in the role of Owen’s daughter in Omar, a world premiere by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. Johnny has already made several notable debuts in North America, including as Meg Page in Falstaff at the Aspen Music Festival alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role and conducted by Patrick Summers, as Cherubino in a new staging of The Marriage of Figaro at Opera San Jose and, at LA Opera, Mélisande in Impressions de Pelléas at The Ebell of Los Angeles, under James Conlon. She has appeared as Carmen in Arden Opera’s production of The Tragedy of Carmen, as Suzuki in concert performances of Madama Butterfly with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jun Märkl and, with IU Opera Theatre during her studies there, as Rosina in The Barber of Seville and as the title roles in  both Handel’s Xerxes and Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea.

As part of the inaugural cast of The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, an inspirational ensemble piece created by Ted Huffman and Philip Venables from the seminal LGBTQ+ rights text by Larry Mitchell, Johnny performed at the 2023 editions of the Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele and will be seen in the London premiere at the Southbank Centre in the 2023/24 season.

The current season’s commitments open with Deepa Johnny joining Opéra de Rouen Normandie in the title role of Carmen, presented in a staging by Romain Gilbert and conducted by Music Director Ben Glassberg, alongside roles in The Dwarf and La Traviata under James Conlon at LA Opera, and a debut with Portland Opera as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. Concert appearances include Mozart’s Mass in C minor with l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Alarcón, and Handel’s Messiah with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Mathieu Lussier. Johnny made her Carnegie Hall debut last season at Renée Fleming’s SongStudio Masterclass, was a fellow of the renowned Ravinia Steans Vocal Institute presenting art song repertoire and recently performed with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra as part of their Sounds of the Seasons concerts, guest conducted by Luke Frazier from American Pops Orchestra.

Since his debut that year with La Traviata, he has conducted 67 different operas and more than 450 performances to date with the company.

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

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.

Conlon has been Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, Italy (2016–20); Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera (1995–2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2003), simultaneously leading the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–91). Conlon 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 Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

As 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 opens his 18th season at LA Opera conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by Kasper Holten. His groundbreaking Recovered Voices initiative, dedicated to rescuing works from historical neglect or censorship, returns to the company with a double-bill featuring the company premiere of William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA in a new production directed by Kaneza Schaal, and a revival of Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf (Der Zwerg)—an opera that launched the Recovered Voices initiative in 2008—directed by Darko Tresnjak. He also conducts Verdi’s La Traviata—the first opera he led as Music Director of LA Opera—continuing his multi-season focus on the works of the great Italian composer. To date, Conlon has conducted more than 500 international performances of Verdi’s repertoire. Conlon closes his LA Opera season honoring the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death, conducting Turandot, Puccini’s final opera composed in 1924.

Additional highlights of his season include returning to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to lead Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and conducting Wagner’s Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin. He also returns to Switzerland’s Bern Symphony, where he is Principal Guest Conductor, to lead three programs including Schubert and Beethoven symphonies, a celebratory New Years Day concert, and a season finale with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

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.

Since his professional debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in 2019, Louis Lohraseb has quickly established himself as an exciting new conductor on the international stage, with subsequent debuts at the Semperoper Dresden, Los Angeles Opera, and Komische Oper Berlin.

Following his mainstage debut conducting Tosca at LA Opera, Mr. Lohraseb was immediately re-engaged for The Barber of Seville and La Traviata. Elsewhere in 2023/24, he debuts at Staatsoper Hamburg with The Marriage of Figaro and at Atlanta Opera with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and with the Peoria Symphony.

Recent seasons have included Semperoper Dresden (Carmen); Komische Oper Berlin (La Traviata); Opera Sarasota (Massenet's Thérèse); both La Rondine and Don Giovanni at Indiana University Opera Theatre; and gala concerts with Yale Opera and Summer Opera Tel Aviv.

An accomplished pianist, Mr. Lohraseb is a regular recital and chamber music partner collaborating with such artists as Erica Petrocelli, Liv Redpath, Charles Castronovo, Taylor Raven, Eric Silberger, Madalyn Parnas and Cicely Parnas. He studied piano with Findlay Cockrell and Kevin Murphy, and harpsichord and theory with William Carragan.

Mr. Lohraseb was a recipient of the prestigious Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award in 2022, and he includes among his mentors Lorin Maazel, James Conlon, Arthur Fagen, and Kevin Murphy. An alumnus of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, he has served as assistant conductor to Music Director James Conlon for numerous productions since 2017 at both LA Opera and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Born to Iranian and Italian parents, Mr. Lohraseb graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Geneseo, where he was an Edgar Fellow. He has been a Conducting Fellow at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Shinik Hahm and served as assistant conductor to Peter Oundjian, John Adams, and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others; with additional post-graduate coursework at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Learn more at LouisLohraseb.com.

Shawna Lucey is an American theater and opera director based in New York City. She completed her undergraduate degrees in theater and Italian at the University of Texas at Austin. After working in the Barnard and Columbia Theater department, as well as at the world-famous Bread and Puppet Theater, she moved to Russia in order to pursue a master’s degree.

Her first project in Moscow was directing and designing a puppet version of Primo Levi’s If This is a Man, performed at the Moscow Art Theater and toured within Russia. During her five years in Russia, she pursued work with theater institutions while completing her MFA in directing and movement from the Boris Schukin Theatre Institute of the Vakhtangov Theater in Moscow.

Based in London, Robert Innes Hopkins is a multi-award winning international production designer and digital artist. He has designed opera, theatre and large scale events to critical acclaim in Europe, America and worldwide. Recent and upcoming projects include All’s Well That Ends Well (Royal Shakespeare Company); Tamerlano (Grange Festival); Die Fledermaus (Opera Theatre of St. Louis); Wagner's Ring cycle (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Rigoletto (Welsh National Opera); War and Peace (Welsh National Opera); L'Italiana in Algeri (Santa Fe Opera); Edmond de Bergerac (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Belshazzar (Grange Festival); Casino Royale (Secret Cinema London and Shanghai); and Solar (Linz Klangwolke, Austria).

Learn more at RobertInnesHopkins.com.

Michael James Clark is the Head of Lighting and Production Media for Houston Grand Opera. During the 2022/23 at that company, he serves as associate lighting designer for The Marriage of Figaro, Werther, and Tosca. Last season, he created the lighting design for the world premiere production of The Snowy Day, and he served as the assistant lighting designer for The Magic Flute and associate lighting designer for Carmen. He served as revival lighting designer for HGO’s production of Aida (2020) and designed lighting for mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre productions of La Bohème (2018-19) and the world premiere of The Phoenix (2019). He lit the HGO world premieres of Some Light Emerges (2017), After the Storm (2016) and O Columbia (2015); Otello (2014); Die Fledermaus, Aida, and Il Trovatore (2013); La Bohème, La Traviata and The Rape of Lucretia (2012); The Marriage of Figaro (2011); the world premiere of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (2010); and numerous outdoor productions. He also has designed lighting for Teatro La Fenice, San Francisco Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Rice University, and the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He holds a degree in lighting design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. 

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)