IU Opera presents a collegiate premiere!
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
July 31 and August 1, 7, and 8 |
8:00 p.m.
Opera Insights at 7:00 p.m.
HOME | SYNOPSIS | BIOGRAPHIES | CAST LIST | ORCHESTRA | PHOTOS |
ARTISTIC STAFF BIOGRAPHIES
STAGE DIRECTOR
Stage director Vincent Liotta has been both a professional stage director and a dedicated educator for more than 25 years. He is the head of the Opera Stage Directing program at the IU Jacobs School of Music, where he teaches stage directing, acting, and operatic literature. His professional projects have been seen on four continents and have covered the entire history of operatic repertory from Cavalli to John Corigliano. In 1993, Liotta co-founded the Utah Festival Opera. Notable works include directing the world premières of Mollicone’s Coyote Tales, a new version of Frank Loesser’s Greenwillow, Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos, and the American première of Dragon of Wantley. In addition, his works for the musical theater include a new libretto for Victor Herbert’s operetta Naughty Marietta, and Viva Verdi, an original biographical evening about the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi. He has created productions at major American companies, including San Francisco, Houston, and Santa Fe, and has collaborated with Harold Prince on productions of Turandot and Don Giovanni, as well as the world première of Willie Stark.
GUEST CONDUCTOR
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, conductor Dan Riddle became music director of the Musical Theatre Department at Penn State University in 2005. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, and studied conducting and piano on a Fulbright grant in Vienna, Austria. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the orchestras of Dallas, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Monte Carlo, and Cairo, Egypt, among others. Riddle has conducted the Broadway productions of Les Misérables, Titanic, A Class Act, Oklahoma, Into the Woods, Mamma Mia, Bombay Dreams, and The Light in the Piazza. At Penn State, he has conducted Cabaret, The Boyfriend, Urinetown, Parade, 1776, Baby, Big River, Company, Ordinary Days, Camelot, and The Wiz. Riddle has recently been a guest conductor for the Youngstown and Hartford Symphony orchestras.
STAGE & COSTUME DESIGNER
C. David Higgins, set and costume designer, was born in Bloomington, Ind., and raised not two blocks from campus. Higgins started his theatrical studies at IU intent on becoming an actor/dancer before he discovered his love for scenic design. He studied with the famous C. Mario Cristini and became proficient in the Romantic-Realist style of scenic design and painting. After earning his master’s degree, he joined the staff of Indiana University Opera Theater and has worked there as master scenic artist since the Musical Arts Center opened in 1971. He was appointed to the faculty in 1976 and now serves as chair of the Opera Studies Department and principal designer for the Opera Theater, where he designs both scenery and costumes for major new productions. His design credits throughout the United States include the San Antonio Festival, Memphis Opera, Norfolk Opera, Louisville Opera, Detroit Symphony, Canton Ballet, and Sarasota Ballet, as well as many other venues. His Indiana University productions have been seen throughout North America as rentals by major regional opera companies. His many international credits include the Icelandic National Theater; Ballet San Juan de Puerto Rico; Korean National Opera; Seoul City Opera; Korean National Ballet; Dorset Opera (England); Teatro la Paz de Belem, Brazil; and the Teatro National de São Paulo, Brazil. He has designed the scenery for the American premières of Jeppe (Sandström), The Devils of Loudun (Penderecki), the world première of Our Town (Ned Rorem), and the collegiate premières of Nixon in China (Adams) and The Ghosts of Versailles (Corigliano), as well as many other operas and ballets. Known for his Italianate painting style, Opera News magazine has referred to Higgins as one of the finest American scenic artists today.
LIGHTING DESIGNER
For more than a decade, Barry Steele has lit opera productions for companies in the U.S. and France, including San Francisco Opera Center, Portland Opera, Nashville Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Nantes Opera. Madama Butterfly, Otello, Carmen, and La bohème are numbered among the many productions. Les contes d’Hoffmann, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der fliegende Holländer, and La traviata are included in the 43 productions he has lit as resident lighting designer for Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera New Jersey. His video and lighting designs have defined productions of contemporary opera nationwide, including Lost Highway, Buozo’s Ghost, Feynman, Casanova, Surrender Road, and The Lighthouse. Steele has created lighting for contemporary dance since 1989 and currently acts as lighting designer and technical director for two contemporary New York City dance troupes, supervising productions that travel domestically and internationally.
VOCAL COACH
Gary Arvin has served as a vocal coach for Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He was selected as official accompanist for the International Belvedere Competition in Vienna, the world's largest operatic singing competition. Arvin has appeared in recital with singers throughout the United States, Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and Korea. He has also recorded for the ORF (Austria), National Radio of Finland, National Radio of the Czech Republic, Hal Leonard Recordings, and Sung-Eun Records (Korea). Arvin’s recital appearances have included Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Helsinki, Seoul, New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. He is currently associate professor of Vocal Coaching, Repertoire, and Diction at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
MARGARET JOHNSON
Sarah Stone, mezzo-soprano, received her Master of Music in Voice from the Jacobs School of Music in 2005 and is currently a doctoral student, continuing her studies with Patricia Stiles. Previous roles with IU Opera Theater include Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin, Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, and Smeraldina in The Love for Three Oranges. Upcoming engagements include the role of Stefano in Indiana University’s 2009-10 opera season. She has performed professionally with the Kentucky Opera and Louisville Ballet, the Indiana State University Masterworks Chorale, and Terre Haute Sinfonietta, and has recorded the songs of Indiana-based composer Daniel Powers. An alumna of the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a recipient of the Cynthia L. Sparks Fellowship, she sang under the baton of Maestro James Levine. Born in England and raised in Brazil, she had a career as a professional soccer player and sports commentator.
Emily Smokovich is a mezzo-soprano from Grand Rapids, Mich. The Love for Three Oranges marked her début role with IU Opera Theater. She has previously been seen in the chorus for Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, La bohème, and The Tales of Hoffmann. She has participated in multiple master classes during her time at IU, including the most recent with Virginia Zeani. Smokovich complete her undergraduate degree and begins a master’s this fall. She studies with Andreas Poulimenos.
CLARA JOHNSON
Christa Ruiz, soprano, makes her Indiana University Opera Theater debut as Clara. A North Carolina native, she holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied with Marion Pratnicki. Favorite roles and scenes include Polissena (Radamisto), Sandrina (La finda giardiniera), and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel). Ruiz just finished her first year in the master’s program and is a student of Timothy Noble.
Jami Leonard begins her first year as a master's student after completing her bachelor's degree at the Jacobs School of Music last spring. Recent credits include the première performance as Juliet in Don Freund's musical drama Romeo and Juliet, She Loves Me with IU Opera Theater, and Nine and Oklahoma with the IU Theatre Department. Leonard studies with Patricia Wise.
FABRIZIO NACCARELLI
John McLaughlin is an undergraduate entering his senior year in the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies voice. This marks his first performance with Indiana University Opera Theater. He has experience performing roles locally in his hometown of Hammond, Ind., and through multiple student productions on and off campus in Bloomington. Recent roles include Cliff Bradshaw (Cabaret), Matt (The Fantasticks), and Jesus (Godspell). Recently, he has been seen in the ensemble of the IU Department of Theatre and Drama’s production of Oklahoma. He has also performed with the Singing Hoosiers across the country and world with notable performances in Athens, Greece, and Washington, D.C. He is a Lilly Scholar and a member of the Hutton Honors College. McLaughlin is currently a student of Robert Harrison.
Tom Stoffel makes his second appearance in a role at Indiana University Opera Theater. He was last seen as Joe in The Most Happy Fella. He is a master’s student and studies with Paul Kiesgen.
SIGNOR NACCARELLI
Most recently, baritone and Atlanta native Scott Harrison Hogsed was seen as the baritone soloist in Indiana University's performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and as Germont in Indiana University’s production of La traviata. He began his professional training with the San Francisco Opera Merola program singing the title role in Don Giovanni for the Western Opera Theater National Tour and covering Guglielmo for the Merola production of Così fan tutte. While attending the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he sang Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. During his five seasons at New York City Opera as a company baritone, he was responsible for singing the roles of Dancairo and Morales in Carmen, Fritz in Die tote Stadt, Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Antonio in Il viaggio a Reims, Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and many more. On the concert stage, Hogsed has appeared with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra singing Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer. He also sang under the baton of Robert Spano with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in the title role of Sibelius’ Kullervo, was Messiah soloist with Orchestra Atlanta, and sang the baritone solos in J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor and St. John Passion with The Atlanta Bach Choir. Hogsed received two Richard F. Gold Career Grants and two Tanglewood Voice Fellowships. He is a student of Costanza Cuccaro.
Kenneth Marks makes his debut performance in a principal role with IU Opera Theater after performing in the chorus for last season’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cendrillon, and appearing onstage in Giulio Cesare. In New York, Marks performed as a soloist with musical theatre and cabaret legends Kitty Carlisle Hart and Julie Wilson at Symphony Space, as well as appearing as Bud in Bat Boy: The Musical. Others roles include A Chorus Line (Greg), Man of La Mancha (Padre), Wonderful Town (Frank Lippencott), and My Fair Lady (Freddy). This fall, he will sing the role of the Prince of Verona in the IU Opera Theater production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Marks is entering his junior year as a Bachelor of Music in Voice. He currently studies with Timothy Noble, after also having studied with Robert Harrison.
GIUSEPPE NACCARELLI
Bass-baritone Nathan Brown has performed many roles with IU Opera Theater, including Chelio in The Love for Three Oranges, Barone Douphol in La traviata, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Lieutenant Breedley in the collegiate première of William Bolcom’s A Wedding, and Hermann in Les contes d’Hoffmann. Brown recently gave his debut with Indianapolis Opera as Sciarrone in its production of Puccini’s Tosca and will be returning there this fall to perform the role of Lackey in the prologue of Ariadne auf Naxos. Other roles include Tartuffe in Tartuffe, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music, and Ben in The Telephone. Partial roles include Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, and Figaro and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. This fall, he will be starting his third year of the Master of Music program at the Jacobs School of Music and studies under Timothy Noble.
Bass-baritone Thomas Florio is currently pursuing his master’s degree at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with teacher Brian Horne. While at Indiana he has performed Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) and Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor) with IU Opera Theater and Miles Gloriosus (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) with the Department of Theatre and Drama. In January 2009, he narrated a performance of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat as a member of the Athor Ensemble. In the summers of 2007 and 2008, he was a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, where he performed Judge No. 3 (Volpone) and Die Lackai (Ariadne auf Naxos). In 2007, he graduated cum laude from James Madison University in his native Virginia, where his roles included Monsieur Choufleuri (Monsieur Choufleuri), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), and Frank Murrant (Street Scene). Florio’s role studies include Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Leporello and Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Guglielmo and Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Claggart (Billy Budd), and Scarpia (Tosca). Florio also served as rehearsal soloist and cover for a 2006 performance of Carmina burana in Prague with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
FRANCA NACCARELLI
Sara Ann Radke, soprano, is a doctoral voice student in the IU Jacobs School of Music, where she completed a Master of Music in Voice. Previous roles at IU include Amalia Balash in last summer’s production of She Loves Me, Margarita Xirgu in the collegiate première of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and the Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto. In her home of Washington state, she performed the roles of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Maria in West Side Story, and the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors for collegiate and regional theatres. While at home, she frequently performs as the soprano soloist for the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Radke is a student of Scharmal Schrock.
Mezzo-soprano Krista Marie Laskowski is making her IU Opera debut. A Canandaigua, N. Y. native, she is in her last year at the Jacobs School of Music, pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice. Laskowski received an Associate of Arts and Sciences in Music with an emphasis in Voice from Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2007. She has appeared as a soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina burana and was featured as an opening performer for Aretha Franklin at the Syracuse Jazz Festival. Some previous performances include Les Misérables (Woman of Ill Repute), Big River (Joanna Wilkes), Seussical the Musical (Bird Girl), and Jekyll and Hyde (Lady Beaconsfield). Laskowski is a student of Timothy Noble.
SIGNORA NACCARELLI
Ashleigh Guida, soprano, is in the second year of her master’s, studying with Patricia Stiles. A native of Glendale, Ariz., Guida received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona (U of A), where she studied with Faye Robinson. Her previous roles include Mariane in Tartuffe, Alma March in Little Women, andMrs. Nolan in The Medium for the U of A Opera Theater,and she has appeared in La traviata and Macbeth with the Arizona Opera Company.She last appeared in the IU Opera Theater productions of The Most Happy Fella and The Love for Three Oranges. She received the Metropolitan Opera National Council Encouragement Award for the Arizona District in 2005 and was the winner of the Arizona NATS in 2006. At the University of Arizona, Guida was a Medici Scholar and recipient of the Presser Scholarship and the Igor Gorin Memorial Award.
Soprano Kelly Glyptis appeared as Cleo in The Most Happy Fella in April and has also been seen in The Love for Three Oranges and Les contes d'Hoffmann forIU Opera. She recently participated in the Charley Creek program with Timothy Noble as well as the Summer Opera Scenes Workshop with Patricia Stiles, where she performed as Dido. Glyptis performed in the Washington National Opera Institute and with Operafestival di Roma as Prima Novizia (Suor Angelica). She performed professionally with Gray Ghost Theater, Pied Piper Theatre, and Dominion Stage, receiving leading roles with each company. Glyptis has been nominated and won several outstanding actress awards in competitions throughout the D.C. area for her roles as The Bag Lady (Time Lies), Teresa (Apollo of Bellac), and Ruth (Believing Ruth). Some previous roles have included Nancy (Oliver!), Mother Abbess (Sound of Music), Ida (HONK!), Veta Louis Simmons (Harvey), Puck (Midsummer Night's Dream), and Joanne (Godspell). She is a recipient of the Kahn-Marchant Friends of Music Scholarship, Dean’s Music Scholarship, and SJHS Music Scholarship. She won the NVTA Theatre Scholarship and Bland Vocal Scholarship Competition. Formerly a student of Dale Moore, she will be a junior studying with Andreas Poulimenos.
ROY JOHNSON
Anthony Webb, tenor, hails from Spanaway, Wash. and is in his third year of study for his Master of Music in Voice at Indiana University. While at IU, he has performed a wide range of roles on the operatic stage, such as Luigi in the collegiate première of William Bolcom’s A Wedding and, most recently, the role of The Price in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges. Other operatic credits include Giuseppe in The Most Happy Fella, Elder Hayes in Susannah, Graf Elemer in Arabella, The Devil in The Devil and Daniel Webster, Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Giles Corey and Ezekiel Cheever in The Crucible, and Pirelli in Sweeney Todd. On the concert stage, Webb has been heard as The Swan in Orff’s Carmina burana, the Tenor Soloist in the Petite Messa Solennelle and Messadi Gloria by Rossini, Messiah by Handel, and The Mass for a New Millenium by Richard Nance, as well as numerous other works. In the summer of 2008, he sang the role of The Stranger in the one-act pastiche opera Il Pecheballo by Frances James Child in the opera’s first performance in nearly one hundred years. Webb will open the 2009-10 IU Opera Theater season singing the role of Lindoro in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, and he also has upcoming engagements with the Owensboro Symphony, performing Carmina burana, and Messiah with the Rogue Valley Symphony in Medford, Oregon. Webb is a student of Robert Harrison.
A PRIEST
Matthew Opitz, baritone, is an Arizona native. He most recently appeared with IU Opera Theater in The Most Happy Fella as a featured dancer, as well as in The Love for Three Oranges as the devil, Farfarello. He will also be appearing in next season’s production of Roméo et Juliette as Mercutio. The summer of 2008 had him in Fidenza, Italy, singing the role of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, as well as Marcello in scenes from La bohème. He has done various roles with Northern Arizona University Opera, including Guglielmo in W. A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Count Carl-Magnus Malcom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Opitz was a district winner of the Metropolitain Opera National Council audition in Arizona in 2008.In 2007, he was a participant at the Brevard Music Center and sang the roles of James and the Crook in Bernstein’s Candide. He is a first-year master’s student with Timothy Noble.
THE ENSEMBLE
Rainelle Bumbaugh is a senior in the studio of Andreas Poulimenos. Past roles at IU include the Page in Rigoletto, Susanna and Papagena in scenes during Patricia Stiles's Summer Opera Workshop, and the Lady of the Spa in the IU Theatre and Drama department's production of the musical Nine. She played the part of Fiordiligi in a recital excerpt in Vienna, Austria, at the Palais Corbelli as part of her studies abroad. She has been featured as a soloist with the University Chorale as well as the community group the Bloomington Chamber Singers. She was also a participant in Timothy Noble's Charley Creek Vocal Workshop.
Elizabeth Davidson is graduating this August with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance. She has appeared as a member of the opera chorus for IU Opera Theater’s productions of Rigoletto, La bohème, and Le nozze di Figaro. In the fall of 2008, Davidson studied music and German language in Vienna, Austria. She studies with Teresa Kubiak and plans to enroll as a master’s student in Voice Performance in fall 2010.
Baritone Adam Ewing is a student of Marietta Simpson and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree. Ewing is a native of Hiawatha, Kan., and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in vocal music education from Northwest Missouri State University. Previous opera roles with the Jacobs School of Music include Elder McLean in Susannah, Schlemil/Spalanzani in Les Contes de Hoffmann, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, and Leander in The Love for Three Oranges. In addition, he premièred the role of Lord Capulet in Act III of Romeo and Juliet, a new musical-drama by Jacobs School of Music faculty member Don Freund. Elsewhere, Ewing has sung the roles of Schroder (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown), Miles Gloriosus (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum),Colas (Bastien und Bastienne), Mike (Blue Monday), David (A Hand of Bridge), and the Wolf/Woodsman (Little Red Riding Hood) as well as Ko-Ko in a concert setting of The Mikado with the Nodaway Chorale. He has sung in master classes and recitals with William Bolcom and Roger Vignoles. He has also been featured in several composition recitals at Indiana University as well as the 2008 Celebrations of Spirituals concert. Ewing is a current member of S-NATS and an alumnus of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national men’s music fraternity.
Jake Haynie, tenor, made his debut with the IU Opera Theater in The Most Happy Fella. Haynie is a Bachelor of Fine Arts Musical Theatre major, studying with Ray Fellman, as well as a Modern Dance major. Some past IU Theatre performances have been Lippa’s The Wild Party (Jackie), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Protean), Just Dance (Ballet Dancer), Selene Carter’s Land/Marks (Modern Dancer), Liz Lerman’s Wind Studies (Modern Dancer), a 2007-2008 member of Broadway Cabaret, and Hoosier Musical’s production of The Fantasticks (The Mute). He was a member of the College Light Opera Company, where he performed in 42nd Street (Andy Lee), Anything Goes (Featured Tapper), and Candide (Featured Dancer). Haynie was a 2009 semi-finalist for Campus Superstar.
Soprano Sharon Harms is a first-year master's student at Indiana University. A Colorado native, she earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Colorado. Favorite roles include Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Beth (Little Women), Mrs. Umney (The Canterville Ghost, première), Hexe (Hänsel und Gretel), and La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi). Harms has been a soloist with the Pueblo Symphony Orchestra, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and has been a featured performer with the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. She is a student of Carol Vaness, making for her Indiana University Opera Theater debut.
Joseph Mace is a doctoral student in the studio of Patricia Havranek. Indiana University appearances include roles in A Wedding and She Loves Me with IU Opera Theater and as soloist in J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Chansonnier in H. K. Gruber’s Frankenstein!!. This fall he will appear as Lord Capulet in IU Opera Theatre’s production of Roméo et Juliette. In 2008, Mace premièred Marcus Shelby’s Jazz Oratorio, Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and recorded it on the NOIR label. Opera appearances include principle roles in Cendrillon, Gianni Schicchi, Le nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, La serva padrona, and Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Before beginning doctoral studies, he sang as a chorister with San Francisco Opera, New Orleans Opera, and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorus. Musical theater appearances include roles in The Last Five Years, Annie Get Your Gun, Phantom, Victor/Victoria, Side by Side by Sondheim, As the World Goes Round, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, and many others. Mace received his Master of Music in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and holds undergraduate degrees from Tulane University in French/French literature and vocal performance. He is an active member of AGMA.
Soprano Elizabeth Pearse has sung frequently on the IU Opera Theater stage, as Smeraldina in 2008's The Love for Three Oranges, and as an ensemble member (Peter Grimes, La traviata, others). She will soon appear as Elvira in this fall's production of L'italiana in Algeri. In addition to the MAC stage, Pearse performed the role of Lyncaeus in the Early Music Institute's American première of Hypermnestra. During her undergraduate and graduate studies at IU, she has appeared as a soloist with a number of groups, including the University Chorale, Women's Chorus, and with a medieval ensemble for BLEMF's fringe series. Her interest in new music has led to several engagements with emerging composers as well as performances with the IU New Music Ensemble, Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and a recent recital of Pierrot lunaire. She studies with Patricia Stiles.
