The Barber of Seville

Known as one of the finest singer-actors of his generation, JUNO Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins has been hailed by Opera Today as having “a glistening, malleable baritone of exceptional beauty, and the technique to exploit its full range of expressive possibilities from comic bluster to melting beauty.”

Having established himself as a prominent leading artist throughout the United States and Canada, Joshua appears regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Washington National Opera among many others, and has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Alan Gilbert, Matthew Halls, James Gaffigan, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Hans Graf.

In his 2022/23 season, highlights included Joshua’s debut at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Japan, in the title role of Don Giovanni, as well as a return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and to reprise the role of Papageno in The Magic Flute in Julie Taymor’s renowned production. He also returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago to make his role debut as Raimbaud in Bartlett Sher's production of Le Comte Ory, conducted by Enrique Mazzola.

On the concert platform, he performed Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Peter Oundjian, joined the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble for an all-French program at Carnegie Hall, and performed Peter Lieberson’s Songs of Love and Sorrow with the Monterey Symphony.

His most personal work, Songs for Murdered Sisters, is a song cycle by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam. Following the critically acclaimed film and JUNO-nominated album releases, the chamber version of Songs for Murdered Sisters received its live world premiere at Houston’s Rothko Chapel in March 2022, in partnership with Houston Grand Opera. Joshua gave the live world premiere of the work's orchestral version alongside Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Shelley in Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston.

Joshua’s latest role debuts have included Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title role of Billy Budd with Central City Opera, Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Pittsburgh Opera, and Athanaël in a concert version of Massenet’s Thaïs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and recorded for Chandos Records. Past seasons have featured the roles Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Verbier Festival, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera and Washington National Opera; Figaro in The Barber of Seville in house debuts at Opéra de Rouen and Den Norske Opera in Oslo, as well as the Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, and the Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in his company debut at Oper Frankfurt and at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Silvio in Pagliacci at Palm Beach Opera, directed by James Robinson; Papageno in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Washington National Opera, Vancouver Opera, as well as Marcello in La Bohème at the Canadian Opera Company and Houston Grand Opera.

Joshua has developed a reputation for his work in contemporary operas by celebrated American composers, creating leading roles for the world premieres of new works both in the U.S. and Europe. Recent original roles have included Niccolò Machiavelli in the premiere of Mohammed Fairouz and David Ignatius’s The New Prince in his company debut at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; Harry Bailey in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s It’s a Wonderful Life at Houston Grand Opera and in his debut at San Francisco Opera; and creating the role of Orpheus in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice at LA Opera, which he also performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 2021 including a worldwide simulcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series.

Joshua made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Ping in Turandot in the 2009/10 season, conducted by Andris Nelsons. His notable past engagements have also included Cecil in Sir David McVicar’s new production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda conducted by Maurizio Benini for the Metropolitan Opera, his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Tadeusz in The Passenger in David Pountney’s acclaimed production, and his role debut as the title character in Don Giovanni with Utah Opera. Further highlights include the role of Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place with New York City Opera, Sid in Albert Herring at the Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, Dr. Falke in a new production of Die Fledermaus at the Santa Fe Opera, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Valentin in Faust at Houston Grand Opera and Washington National Opera.

Past concert engagements have included his European concert debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain, performing Peter Lieberson’s Songs of Love and Sorrow, Bach’s Magnificat with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the baton of Robert Spano at Carnegie Hall, and both Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 and Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Alan Gilbert. Joshua toured North America with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy offering performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah in Quebec, Montreal, Los Angeles, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. He has also performed and recorded Bach’s St. John Passion with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Arion Orchestre Baroque. Joshua has performed Handel’s Messiah with many symphonies across North America, including San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights of his concert schedule include his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in performances of Peer Gynt, Haydn’s Creation with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum with the San Francisco Symphony, The Magic Flute with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra led by Bernard Labadie, and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony.

Profoundly committed to the art of song, Joshua’s first recital disc, Let Beauty Awake, features songs of Barber, Bowles, Glick, and Vaughan Williams on the ATMA Classique label. He has given recitals in Chicago, Montreal, New York, Santa Fe, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C. Highlights of his varied appearances at Carnegie Hall include the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’s Rilke Songs and a concert highlighting Benjamin Britten alongside Ian Bostridge and Iestyn Davies. Joshua has collaborated with Julius Drake, Richard Goode, Marc-André Hamelin, Graham Johnson, and Warren Jones.

Joshua has won numerous awards and distinctions. Most recently, he won a JUNO Award for his portrayal of Athanaël in Chandos Record’s recording of Massenet’s Thaïs in concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. He was the winner of both the Verbier Festival Academy’s 2008 Prix d’Honneur and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2006. He was also a prizewinner at the prestigious 2006 ARD Musikwettbewerb in Munich and at the 2005 Operalia Competition held in Madrid. In 2002, José Carreras presented him with the first-place prize in the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition in Pamplona. Joshua has also received prizes from the George London Foundation, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Learn more at JoshuaHopkins.com.

Photo: Simon Pauly

Three-time Grammy Award winning artist Isabel Leonard has established herself as one of the most in demand performers as a star on the world’s leading stages and screens. The 2022/23 season saw Ms. Leonard’s house debut at Teatro alla Scala as Miranda in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest, as well as her house debut at Houston Grand Opera as Charlotte in Werther, conducted by Robert Spano. Continuing her long time collaboration with Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra music director Stéphane Denève, she appeared as Marguerite in a concert performance of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. In the recital hall, Ms. Leonard partnered with renowned Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas for performances with Lincoln Center Presents the Metropolitan Opera at Alice Tully Hall, LA Opera at the Colburn School, San Diego Opera at the La Jolla Music Society, the Harris Theatre in Chicago, and the Conservatorìo de Música de Puerto Rico.

The 2021/22 season saw her return to the Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, a return to the role of Cherubino in the Richard Eyre production of The Marriage of Figaro, and in the title role in Laurent Pelly’s production of Cinderella. Ms. Leonard also made her debut in the title role of Carmen in both Francesca Zambello’s production at Washington National Opera, conducted by music director Evan Rogister, and in Santa Fe Opera’s production conducted by Harry Bicket. Ms. Leonard also appeared in Washington National Opera’s reopening gala, Come Home, as well as a concert commemorating the anniversary of September 11 with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Giancarlo Noseda. In recital, she appeared at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Connecticut.

Highlights of Ms. Leonard’s career include the title roles in Carmen, La Périchole, Cendrillon, Marnie, and Der Rosenkavalier, as well as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, both Zerlina and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Charlotte in Werther, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Costanza in Griselda, Musetta in La bohème, Sesto in Giulio Cesare, and Maria in West Side Story.

Ms. Leonard regularly appears on the stages of the world’s leading opera stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, LA Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, San Francisco Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Festspiele, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. She regularly enjoys collaboration with esteemed conductors including Valery Gergiev, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Charles Dutoit, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézét-Seguin, Franz Welser-Möst, Plácido Domingo, Edward Gardner, James Levine, Edo de Waart, James Conlon, Marin Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Michele Mariotti, Harry Bicket, Andris Nelsons, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Orchestral highlights include appearances with Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony, among others.

Television and film credits include an appearance in the Rebecca Miller film She Came to Me, starring Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei, being featured on the season 43 finale of Sesame Street in Murray Monster’s “People in Your Neighborhood’ segment, scenes from Terrence McNally’s Master Class directed by Nicole Alexander, and as a regular host of the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD broadcasts.

Ms. Leonard was named recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award and currently has three Grammy Awards for Michael Tilson Thomas’ From the Diary of Anne Frank on SFS Media, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges on Decca, and The Tempest from The Metropolitan Opera on Deutsche Grammophon. She currently resides in New York and sits on the board of trustees at Carnegie Hall and on the artistic advisory board of ArtSmart.

Learn more at IsabelLeonard.com

Uruguayan tenor Edgardo Rocha began his vocal studies in Montevideo before moving to Italy in 2008 and studying with Salvatore Fisichella, Rockwell Blake and, currently, José Luis Ansorena.

He made his acclaimed debut at the 2010 Martina Franca Festival in the title role in Donizetti’s Gianni di Parigi and was immediately invited to appear at several major Italian houses. He has also sung Gianni at the Wexford Festival. His other roles include Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola in Seattle, Stuttgart, Seville, Lausanne, Monte Carlo, Geneva and Munich, Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Florence and Verona, Ferrando in Così fan tutte in Naples and Turin, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri in Bari, at the Vienna State Opera and at the Liceu in Barcelona, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville in Valencia, Madrid, Naples, Lausanne, Zurich, Hamburg, Verona, Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Tel Aviv and Rome, Alberto in La Gazzetta in Liège, Don Narciso in Il Turco in Italia in Turin, Zurich and at La Scala, Milan, Dorvil in La Scala di Seta, Iago in Rossini’s Otello, the title role in Le Comte Ory and Belfiore in Il Viaggio a Reims in Zurich, Libenskof in Il Viaggio a Reims in Dresden and Moscow, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers in Nancy, Arturo in I Puritani in Stuttgart, Léopold in La Juive in Munich, Iago and Giannetto in La Gazza Ladra at La Scala, Giacomo V/Uberto in La Donna del Lago in Marseille, the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier in Dresden and Percy in Anna Bolena in Lausanne and Geneva.

Edgardo Rocha made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 2014 as Rodrigo in Rossini’s Otello, later singing the same role for his Salzburg Festival debut. He returned to Salzburg in 2017 for Giacomo V/Uberto in a concert performance of La Donna del Lago and in 2018 as Lindoro in an acclaimed new production of L’Italiana in Algeri.

In 2012 Edgardo Rocha appeared as Don Ramiro in Andrea Andermann’s film La Cenerentola: Una favola in diretta directed by Carlo Verdone and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. In 2017 and 2018 he toured Europe singing this same role alongside Cecilia Bartoli. Following this year’s Salzburg appearances in The Barber of Seville both at Whitsun and in the summer, Edgardo Rocha will be heard as Elvino in new productions of La Sonnambula in Nice and Düsseldorf, Don Narciso in Madrid, Gérald in Lakmé and Lindoro in Zurich and Leicester in Maria Stuarda and the title role in Roberto Devereux in Geneva.

His discography includes DVD/Blu-ray recordings of Gianni di Parigi, Otello, La Gazzetta, L’Italiana in Algeri and Paer’s Agnese as well as CD recordings of Rossini’s cantata La Riconoscenza and his Petite Messe Solennelle.

Learn more at EdgardoRocha.com.

Paolo Bordogna is an internationally renowned bass-baritone. He studied with Roberto Coviello, Katia Ricciarelli and Bianca Maria Casoni at the Accademia Internazionale di Desenzano and with Alberto Zedda at the Accademia Rossiana in Pesaro. In 2000 he won the Caruso Competition and in 2006 he received the Bastianini Award.

His expansive baritone range and acting skills have led to performances of over 50 roles from the 16th century to the contemporary era and he has been in most demand for his specialty in bel canto and buffo roles. These include Dandini, Don Magnifico, Dulcamara, Belcore, Don Pasquale, Malatesta, Guglielmo, Don Alfonso, Figaro, Don Bartolo, Don Alvaro, Leporello, Figaro and Il Conte.

He has been a regular guest at the Rossini Opera Festival since 2005, appearing in La Gazzetta, La Cambiale di Matrimonio, La Gazza Ladra, Recital di Belcanto, La Scala di Seta, Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo, La Cenerentola, Matilde di Shabran, L’Occasione fa il Ladro, The Barber of Seville, La Pietra del Paragone and L’Equivoco Stravagante.

In recent years he has performed with many important theaters in Italy such as La Scala Milan, Rossini Opera Festival, Santa Cecilia, San Carlo Naples, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Rome Opera, Teatro Regio Turin, Petruzzelli di Bari, Ravenna Festival, Teatro Regio diParma, Carlo Felice di Genova, Donizetti Bergamo Festival, Teatro Comunale Bologna, Teatro Massimo Palermo and Teatro Bellini Catania.

Outside of his native Italy, Paolo Bordogna has performed with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opèra de Paris, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real de Madrid, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Wexford Opera Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, Sydney Opera House, Valencìa's Palau des Arts, NCPA Beijing, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, National Theatre Tokyo, Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, St. Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theater, Houston Grand Opera, Las Palmas, Seoul Performing Arts Center, and in Wiesbaden, Dusseldorf am Rhein, Karlsruhe, Wildbad Rossini Festival, Festival de Strasbourg, Bilbao, Marseille, La Coruna, Murcia and Santiago de Compostela.

His extensive discography includes the solo album Tutto Buffo for Decca.

Learn more at PaoloBordogna.com.

Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni has established himself as one of the most charismatic and versatile singers performing today. Since his debut at age 26 with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, he has continued to bring his compelling artistry to the world’s leading opera houses, concert halls, and festivals.

Luca Pisaroni began the 2019/20 season with a return to the Vienna State Opera to star as the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann. He then sang the title role of Don Giovanni in a concert staging with the Sinfonieorchester Basel at the George Enescu Festival. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. After a successful tour with Il Pomo d’Oro the previous season, Pisaroni reunited with the ensemble for his role debut as Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando on tour in Europe. He closed out the season starring in multiple productions of Don Giovanni, beginning with the title role for the Opéra National de Paris, singing Leporello at the Bavarian State Opera, and concluding with the title role at Opernhaus Zürich. His 2019/20 concert appearances include Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchester Wiener Akademie, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with NHK Symphony Orchestra and a concert with I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala at Zaryadye Hall in Moscow. In recital, he appeared at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and at UBC Opera in Vancouver for the “Singer Behind the Song” series. He reunited with baritone Thomas Hampson for their acclaimed “No Tenors Allowed” concert series in Provo, Utah, and then at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

In the 2018/19 season, Pisaroni returned to the Teatro Real to sing Méphistophélès in a new production of Gounod’s Faust by La fura dels Baus, followed by an “utterly magnetic” (Opera Traveller) role debut as the four Hoffmann villains at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. He later made his house debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algeri. Additionally, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera stage for his highly anticipated debut in the title role of Don Giovanni. Following this engagement, he then traveled to the Houston Grand Opera for the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix, where he created the role of the young Lorenzo da Ponte in a “splendidly rich, vibrant” (Opera News) portrayal. Pisaroni toured with Il Pomo d’Oro in a concert version of Händel’s Agrippina, and he returned to the Staatsoper Berlin as Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. His operatic season concluded at the Royal Opera House in his premiere appearances as Escamillo in Carmen.

Learn more at LucaPisaroni.com.

Kathleen O’Mara graduated from the Juilliard School with a M.M. in 2020 and Westminster Choir College with her B.M. in 2018.

In the summer of 2023, she covered the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for both Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Palm Beach Opera, after previously performing Fiordiligi at the Juilliard School in 2019. Other roles include Zemire in André Grétry’s Zemire et Azor with Westminster Opera Theater. She has covered various roles including the First Lady in The Magic Flute with the CoOPERAtive Program, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro with Music Academy of the West, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Susan B. Anthony in VIrgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All at Juilliard. She has participated in programs including the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera’s Apprentice Program, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, and Music Academy of the West.

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. 

Praised as a "mature artist with a voluminous sound," baritone Joel Balzun is establishing himself as a mature new voice in the future of music. His multi-faceted career as both singer and composer has already led him to work with some of the world’s most respected musicians and ensembles. Highlights of his 2023/24 season include works of Mozart with San Luis Obispo Master Chorale and a recital with Cincinnati Song Initiative. Other recent performance highlights include Marcello in La Bohème with Pacific Opera Project, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata with Opera Santa Barbara, works of Ralph Vaughan Williams with San Luis Obispo Master Chorale and numerous recitals featuring Black Dog by Tom Cipullo throughout Southern California.

From Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, Mr. Balzun has appeared successfully on both the operatic and concert stages. As a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Mr. Balzun sang alongside Stephanie Blythe in a concert of American song, and Dawn Upshaw and Sanford Sylvan in Shostakovich's brooding Symphony No. 14. Other past appearances include the title roles in Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi, the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, both Prince Yeletskiy and Count Tomsky in The Queen of Spades, Albert  in Werther, Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Valentin in Faust, Sid in Albert Herring and John Brooke in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, among others. On the concert stage, Mr. Balzun has been a featured soloist in Copland's Old American Songs, Dvořák’s Te Deum, Fauré's Requiem, Haydn's The Creation, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and numerous cantatas of Bach. His acclaimed performance of Bach's Johannes-Passion with the Rochester Bach Festival was recently broadcast multiple times across the United States.

An avid proponent of the music of living and contemporary composers, Mr. Balzun won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the titular Joseph de Rocher in the South Florida premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking with Miami Music Festival. He worked with the composer on this work, as well as the role of Charlie in excerpts from Three Decembers. He recently created the role of Ivan Brisilov in the world premiere of Stephanie Fleischmann and Peter Knell’s Arkhipov with Jacaranda, conducted by Daniela Candillari. On the concert stage, he has championed rarely-performed works such as George Rochberg's String Quartet No. 7, as well as Peter Maxwell Davies's virtuosic Eight Songs for a Mad King, and numerous performances of Robert Denham's Sutter Creek, among others. In 2021, Mr. Balzun launched Black Dog Commission, a new commissioning series for art song repertoire which openly discusses life with mental illness. Through this, Mr. Balzun has premiered a new work by Tom Cipullo and looks forward to premiering a new work by Dale Trumbore.

Learn more at JoelBalzun.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.

Rob Ashford is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award winning director and choreographer. Broadway theater credits include Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, Evita, How To Succeed, Promises, Promises, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water's Cry Baby, Curtains and The Wedding Singer. London theater credits include The Entertainer, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's Tale and Harlequinade all for the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company, the Olivier Award winning productions of Anna Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Parade for the Donmar Warehouse, Macbeth at MIF and Park Ave Armory, Guys and Dolls, Evita and Frozen.

He directed and choreographed Peter Pan Live! and The Sound of Music Live! for NBC, both receiving DGA Award nominations, and he has directed and choreographed productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera and La Scala. He choreographed and staged the 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2009 Academy Awards, winning the Emmy for Best Choreography for his work on Baz Luhrmann's 2009 Academy Awards production number featuring Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé. 

He has staged the Tony Awards for eight years, and has also staged tributes at the Kennedy Center Honors for Barbra Streisand, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Barbara Cook, Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep. Films include choreography for Death On The Nile, Murder On the Orient Express, Disney's Cinderella, Ted 2, A Million Ways to Die in the West and Beyond The Sea.

Scott Pask's Broadway credits, designing both scenery and costumes, include The Pillowman with Billy Crudup and Jeff Goldblum, A Behanding in Spokane starring Christopher Walken and A Steady Rain with Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. He was awarded his first Tony Award for the scenic design of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, which he originally designed for the National Theatre in London. 

His Broadway scenic design credits include The Book of Mormon (Tony Award), also presented in London’s West End, on tour in the UK/EU, Australia and the United States, and Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, (Tony nomination). He also designed the Broadway revivals of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and American Buffalo and the Broadway musicals The Prom, The Band's Visit and Waitress. His Broadway productions also include revivals of St. Joan and The Little Foxes and the new plays Casa Valentina, The Father with Frank Langella, and Blackbird with Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams. He set a record with his designs for seven shows running simultaneously on Broadway: Something Rotten, Finding Neverland, It's Only a Play, Airline Highway, The Visit, An Act of God and The Book of Mormon. His design of Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Hewes Awards for Best Scenic Design.

He was the first American scenic designer to be tapped to design a production for Cirque du Soleil, Amaluna. He has designed for the New York Shakespeare Festival, New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Repertory Theater, ART’s Club Oberon, La Jolla Playhouse, Williamstown, Center Theater Group, Yale Rep, Old Globe, Chicago Opera Theater, Alliance Theater and the Walker Arts Center, Arizona Theatre Company and London’s Royal Albert Hall. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with Peter Grimes in 2008 and recently designed The Barber of Seville for Lyric Opera of Chicago.

His work has been exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial, the Bruce Museum of Science and Art, the Leslie Lohman Gallery and the Met Gallery, and is in the permanent collection of the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio.

Learn more at ScottPaskStudio.com.

Catherine Zuber received a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award Honor for her work on Broadway's Moulin Rouge! Select additional Broadway credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, My Fair Lady (Tony, Drama Desk & OCC Awards), Oslo, War Paint (Drama Desk & OCC awards), Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I (Olivier, Tony and OCC awards), Gigi (Drama Desk Award), The Royal Family (Tony Award), South Pacific (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), The Light in the Piazza (Tony Award) and Awake and Sing! (Tony Award).

She is a 2017 recipient of the Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2016.

Howard Harrison has been nominated six times as Best Lighting Designer in the Laurence Olivier Awards and won for his production of City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse) and Macbeth (Gielgud Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, Broadway).

His West End productions include Mamma Mia! (global), Blithe Spirit, Wind in the Willows, Mary Poppins (also Broadway), The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, Neville’s Island, Guys and Dolls, Witches of Eastwick, Ragtime and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

His work at The National, The Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Stratford East, Menier Chocolate Factory and Chichester Festival Theatre includes: South Pacific, Earthquakes in London, Private Lives, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Measure for Measure, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Saint Joan, Anna Christie (Knight of Illumination Award), Tales From Hollywood, Privates on Parade, Shining City, King Hedley, South Pacific, Shadowlands, Mack and Mable and The Truth.

His work in opera includes The Barber of Seville for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Nabucco for the Metropolitan Opera.

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)