Home | Synopsis | Biographies | Program Notes | Cast List | Orchestra | Photos BIOGRAPHIES ARTISTIC STAFF BIOGRAPHIES (see Cast Biographies below) STEPHEN LORD, Conductor Conductor Stephen Lord was recently chosen by Opera News as one of the “25 Most Powerful Names in U.S. Opera” (one of four conductors), and is continually praised for conducting both traditional and contemporary operatic works. For his recent début with San Francisco Opera, conducting Rigoletto, one critic observed, “He partnered his singers perfectly and gave everything its proper weight – he was master of the score’s details and the orchestra played superbly for him.” He is currently music director for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and music director of Boston Lyric Opera until the end of the 2007-08 season. Lord’s 2007-08 Season includes three productions for Opera Colorado: La traviata, Don Pasquale and Der fliegende Höllander; The Tales of Hoffmann for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; the Metropolitan Opera National Council concert; and L’elisir d’amore at Boston Lyric Opera. In summer of 2007, Lord returns to the San Francisco Opera Orchestra for the final concert of Stern Grove Festival’s 70th season. His 2006-07 season included débuts with San Francisco Opera (Rigoletto) and Dallas Opera (La rondine), Un ballo in maschera and Le nozze di Figaro with Boston Lyric Opera, and I Puritani for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Also in 2007, he conducted a concert Carmen for Wolf Trap Opera. Future engagements include his début with Lyric Opera of Chicago. At Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Lord has conducted Roméo et Juliette, a double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Suor Angelica, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, La traviata, Kát’a Kabanová, Il barbiere di Siviglia, The Rape of Lucretia, Candide, The Beggar’s Opera, Curlew River, The Prodigal Son, The Gondoliers, King Arthur, La Fille du régiment, Ariadne auf Naxos and Madama Butterfly. During his tenure with Boston Lyric Opera, he has led productions of The Little Prince, Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La rondine, Don Carlo, Don Pasquale, Madama Butterfly, La Fille du régiment, Salome, Aida, Die Zauberflöte, La traviata, Roméo et Juliette, Lucia di Lammermoor, Werther, Tosca, L’elisir d’amore, Falstaff, Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Puritani and Carmen. Lord made his New York City Opera début in 2004 conducting La rondine. Other career highlights as guest conductor included appearances at Wolf Trap Opera (Roméo et Juliette, La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro and La clemenza di Tito) and with other North American companies such as the Canadian Opera, Opera Colorado, Michigan Opera Theatre, Florentine Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, Cleveland Opera and Arizona Opera. Lord has been a guest with the Boston Pops and first appeared in San Francisco leading the Merola Grand Finale Concert for the opera company. He also conducted Opera Omaha in telecast productions of La traviata and Roméo et Juliette, and the world première of the completed critical edition of Les contes d’Hoffmann. Lord was previously music director of the Banff Festival Opera, where he conducted L’Ormindo, The Rape of Lucretia, Cendrillon, Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte. In addition to his opera endeavors, Lord has conducted at Carnegie Hall for PDQ Bach’s annual concerts and at the Berkshire Choral Festival Institute. He teaches Master Classes at various institutions including Yale University, The Blossom Festival, the Hartt School of Music and Westminster Choir College, and he serves as an adjudicator in vocal competitions such as the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, Opera America’s George London/Sullivan Grants, and the Richard Tucker Foundation. VINCENT LIOTTA, Stage Director Stage director Vincent Liotta has been both a professional stage director and a dedicated educator for more than 15 years. He is the head of the Opera Stage Directing program at Indiana University where he teaches stage directing, acting, and operatic literature. Past professional projects include La fanciulla del West at the Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Turandot at the El Paso Opera, and a new production of Die Fledermaus at the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. In 1993, Liotta co-founded the Utah Festival Opera. His professional productions have covered the entire history of operatic repertory from Cavalli to John Corigliano. 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 with 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. MICHAEL VERNON, Choreographer Michael Vernon studied at the Nesta Brooking School of Ballet and the Royal Ballet School in London with such legendary teachers as Dame Ninette de Valois and Leonide Massine. He performed with the Royal Ballet, the Royal Opera Ballet, and the London Festival Ballet before coming to New York in 1976 to join the Eglevsky Ballet as ballet master and resident choreographer. He was artistic director of the Long Island-based company from 1989 to 1995. He has choreographed many ballets for the Eglevsky Ballet, in addition to ballets for many other professional companies in the United States and worldwide. Mikhail Baryshnikov commissioned him to choreograph the successful pas de deux In a Country Garden for American Ballet Theatre (ABT). His solo S’Wonderful was danced by ABT principal Cynthia Harvey in the presence of President and Mrs. Reagan and shown nationwide on CBS television. He also served as the assistant choreographer on Ken Russell’s movie Valentino, starring Rudolph Nureyev and Leslie Caron. Vernon continues to teach classes at New York-based Steps, works regularly for the Manhattan Dance Project, and is artistic advisor to the Ballet School of Stamford. Since 2000, he has taught and choreographed the ballet company and ballet school at the Chautauqua Institute. His annual activities also include a long association with Ballet Hawaii. Vernon was company teacher for the ABT from 2001 to 2002 and worked as a company teacher for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet from 1994 to 1998. He was also a guest teacher for The Juilliard School in 2001 and has had long associations with Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey Company and School. C. DAVID HIGGINS, Set and Costume Designer C. David Higgins has been designing scenery since 1972 when he began working at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a master scenic artist. Now a faculty member, he has been designing opera and ballet scenery and costumes across the globe for theaters in the United States, England, Italy, Iceland, and Korea. With over 150 productions to his credit, he has been described as one of America’s finest scenic painters by Opera News magazine and is best known for his detailed, Italianate painting style. MAX RÖTHLISBERGER, Set and Costume Designer Late Professor Emeritus of Music Max Röthlisberger was the head of the Department of Stage Design and Technical Production at Indiana University. He acted, directed, and designed sets in European opera houses for over 40 years. Mr. Röthlisberger was chief designer for Zurich Opera and guest designer at opera houses in Milan, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Geneva, Paris, Rome, Venice, Naples, Brussels, and The Netherlands. A set designer for more than 20 Swiss movies, he was awarded the Reinhart Ring, Switzerland’s highest award in theater. CAST BIOGRAPHIES The Duke of Mantua Brian Arreola is a graduate of St. Olaf College, where he studied voice and cello. Arreola received his MM in Vocal Performance from IU this May, while studying with Brian Horne, and is currently pursuing a DM in Voice at IU, now studying with Andreas Poulimenos. Recent roles at IU include Nelson Deadly (Too Many Sopranos), Des Grieux (Manon) and Roméo (Roméo et Juliette). This summer he was an Apprentice Artist at The Des Moines Metro Opera, and he will sing the role of Tybalt in Minnesota Opera’s production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in January, 2008. John Rodger is a native of Miami Beach and has performed numerous operatic roles, including Rodolfo (La bohème), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ruggiero (La Rondine), Leandro (Arlecchino), Tybalt (Roméo et Juliette), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Beppe (Rita), “The Magician” Nika Magadoff (The Consul), Eduardo (La cambiale di matrimonio), Sellem (The Rake’s Progress) and Marco (The Gondoliers). This past summer, Rodger sang the tenor solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra in Bloomington, and he participated in the Charlie Creek Vocal Workshop in Wabash, Indiana with coaches from Indiana University and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. He also sang the role of Pong and covered the role of Prince Calàf in Opera North’s production of Turandot in New Hampshire, conducted by Louis Burkot. This fall, Rodger will reprise the role of the Duke in Rigoletto with Opera Western Reserve in Youngstown, Ohio. After initial training with Richard Miller at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Rodger later studied voice with Metropolitan Opera baritone Mark Oswald in New York City where he lived for three years. Rodger is currently a graduate student in the studio of Timothy Noble at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he has also been appointed Associate Instructor of Music Theory. Borsa Christopher Nelson is currently in his first year of study for the MM in Voice Performance. He has performed with IU Opera on multiple occasions.His most noted appearances are as the title character in Arlecchino, Ralph in HMS Pinafore, Monostatos in The Magic Flute and El Remandato in Carmen. Nelson is actively involved in theater in and around the Bloomington community. He graduated from the IU Jacobs School of Music last May with a BM in Voice Performance. Nelson studies with Paul Kiesgen. Carmund White, tenor, recently made his Indianapolis Opera début as Dr. Caius in Falstaff. This past summer, White traveled to South Africa to perform the role of Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and served as the production’s music director. In December, he will make his début with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater as Monastatos in The Magic Flute. His other operatic roles include Simon Stimson in the world première of Our Town, Goro in Madama Butterfly, Guillot de Morfontaine in Manon, Tom Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, El Remendado in Carmen, Njegus in The Merry Widow, The Grand Consul in From the Towers of the Moon, and Bartley in Riders to the Sea with the Long Leaf Opera Company. He has been a soloist at the Kennedy Center and has sung with the Berkshire Choral Festival, where he serves on the faculty. White is a doctoral student studying with Timothy Noble and is the Associate Instructor and Assistant Director for the African American Choral Ensemble at IU. Countess Ceprano Soprano Johanna Moffitt hails from Buffalo, New York. She is pursuing a Doctor of Music degree this fall and is a student of Sharmal Schrock. Moffitt appeared in roles and scenes while pursuing her Master of Music at SUNY Fredonia, including Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, and Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. Sara Ann Radke, a native of Toppenish, WA, is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Voice at IU Jacobs School of Music. This is her début performance with IU Opera Theater. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Central Washington University where she performed the roles of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, as well as several opera scenes. Her other performance credits include the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Yakima Valley Community College, Maria in A West Side Story with the Warehouse Theatre Company, as well as the soprano soloist for the Yakima Symphony Orchestra’s performance of W.A. Mozart’s Requiem, K.626. Radke is a student of Scharmal Schrock. Rigoletto Jonathan R. Green, originally from Chicago, is a Master of Music student at the IU Jacobs School of Music, studying with Timothy Noble. Green made his IU Opera theater début as De Brétigny in Manon. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2005. While at Oberlin, he performed the roles of Der Tod in Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Colatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Sid in Albert Herring, and the title role in Le nozze di Figaro. Green is a former student of Richard Miller. During the summer of 2004, Green attended the Aspen Music Festival and School and performed the role of Count Ceprano in Rigoletto under the baton of Julius Rudel. During the summer of 2005, Green performed the role of Giorgio Germont in La traviata and General Harrison Howell in Kiss Me Kate at the Bay View Music Festival. He also performed the role of Sakaryango in Nyramachabelli with Kentucky Opera. This past summer, he was a young artist with Opera North and covered (with performance) the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff. In November, Green will reprise the role Rigoletto with Western Reserve Opera. This spring, he will join the Mary Raglan Young Artist Program with Nashville Opera. Green holds an Assistant Instructorship with the African American Choral Ensemble. James Ivey, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is a third year doctoral student in Vocal Performance and Literature. He received his Bachelors degree from Shorter College in Music Education (piano) and his Masters degree in Voice from the University of Illinois. His recent roles include Lescaut in Manon, the title roles in Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi, Morales in Carmen, and Maximillian in Candide. He has been a district winner for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, a NATS winner at the state and regional levels, and a finalist in the Mobile Opera competition. Ivey is a recipient of the Nancy Wustman Memorial accompanying award and the Joseph Schlanger memorial opera award. Last summer marked his second year as music director for the McLeod Summer Theatre in Carbondale, Illinois. He has also served two years as staff accompanist for the Scuola Italia program for opera singers in Urbania, Italy. He serves as president of the IU Student NATS organization. Ivey studies with Dale Moore. Marullo Baritone Aubrey Allicock’s operatic roles include Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Ping in Turandot, the Old Doctor in Vanessa, King Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and the Unnamed Bass in Too Many Sopranos. Allicock has also performed as the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with members of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. He has won many vocal competitions, such as Arizona’s National Association of Teachers of Singing Award in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2006, Allicock made his European début as bass soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria. Allicock recently performed as the soloist opposite Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., in Dvořák’s A New World Symphony: A Portrait of H. T. Burleigh for Chamber Music Plus of Arizona. Allicock studied voice under Phoenix Metropolitan Opera’s Co-founder Gail Dubinbaum, of Phoenix, AZ, and has coached with award winning composer and conductor John Massaro of Phoenix Metropolitan Opera. Allicock’s future engagements include a house début with Phoenix Metropolitan Opera as the customs sergeant in Puccini’s La bohème. Allicock was recently invited back to Europe to sing solos in Italy and Sicily with the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera and friends. Allicock studies with Andreas Poulimenos. Baritone Sean McCarther comes to IU from Baylor University where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and studied with Jack Coldiron. While at Baylor, McCarther was active with the Baylor University Opera Theatre, performing the roles of Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Der Sprecher and Der Erster Priester in Die Zauberflöte. He was also active with the Lyric Opera of Waco, Texas, and appeared in their performances of La bohème, La traviata, and Amahl and the Night Visitors. McCarthur’s performances at IU include Graf Dominik in last year’s production of Arabella and baritone soloist in the Summer Choral Ensemble’s performance of Libby Larsen’s I it Am. McCarthur is a student of Robert Harrison. Count Ceprano Baritone Nathan Brown has performed many roles with Vanderbilt Opera Theater, including the title role in Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe, Count Carl Magnus Malcolm in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone. Brown has also appeared in various scene programs with VOT including Rev. Olin Blitch (Susannah) and Figaro and Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro). While studying with Dr. Jonathan Retzlaff at Vanderbilt, Brown took First Place in the Mid-South Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Voice Competition three consecutive years. Brown has both observed and participated in Master Classes with Dawn Upshaw, Ian Bostridge, Martin Katz, and Barbara Honn. Brown is currently in his first year of the MM program at the Jacobs School of Music and studies under Timothy Noble. Baritone Steven Eddy, a native of Laurel, Maryland, is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music Education from the IU Jacobs School of Music. This production marks his IU Opera Thater début. This past summer, he was a member of Patricia Stiles’ Summer Opera Workshop, where he performed in several scenes as the Count from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro as well as the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Eddy is also actively involved in musical theatre, having performed such roles as Albert Peterson in Bye, Bye Birdie, the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, and Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast with various Baltimore and Washington youth theater companies. He has been a member of numerous instrumental and choral ensembles both in that region and at IU. In addition to his vocal studies with Robert Harrison, Eddy studies classical saxophone with Otis Murphy. Monterone Adam Cioffari, bass-baritone, received his Bachelor of Music in Voice at IU in December, 2006 and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Voice. Previous roles at IU Opera Theater have included Masetto in Don Giovanni, Orson in Too Many Sopranos, Snug the Joiner in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly and the Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute. This past summer, he was a Studio Artist with the New Jersey Opera, singing the role of Paris in Roméo et Juliette and covering Papageno in The Magic Flute. As a member of the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center in 2005 and 2006, he performed the roles of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music and Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore. In October of 2006, he received an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions in Bloomington. Cioffari is a student of Andreas Poulimenos. Jesse Malgieri, a junior, is a native of Rochester, NY. Malgieri has won the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Artist Vocal Competition and has appeared as a soloist at the Rockefeller Center for the Arts and the Chautauqua Institution, singing the title role in scenes from Sweeney Todd. In 2005, Malgieri was chosen to sing the national anthem at the McDonald’s All-Star Basketball Game. While at the Jacobs School, Malgieri has appeared as a soloist with the University Chorale, under the direction of William Jon Gray, the Motet Choir, and the Symphonic Choir. For the past two summers, Malgieri has been a member of the Charley Creek Vocal Workshop, an intense program of art song and aria performance and study, led by Mary Ann Hart and Timothy Noble. He made his début with IU Opera Theatre last spring as Bonzo in Madama Butterfly. Malgieri is a student of Timothy Noble. Sparafucile Steven Hrycelak, bass, is a student of Timothy Noble and is completeing a Master of Music degree in Voice this semester. This is his fourth role at IU, having performed Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Zuniga in Carmen, and Dottor Bombasto in Arlecchino. Hrycelak has also sung roles with Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis for the past two summers. In 2002, he received a BA in Music from Yale University, where he performed several operatic and musical theater roles, and where he sang with the world-renowned Yale Whiffenpoofs. From 2002-2005, Hrycelak was a freelance vocalist in New York, where he sang with such groups as the NY Choral Artists, the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, the Bard Festival Chorale, the NY Virtuoso Singers, and Early Music New York. He was a featured soloist at Trinity Church Wall Street, where he sang solos in Handel’s Messiah, which was broadcast live on WQXR Radio, in Haydn’s Heiligmesse, which was recorded for the Hänssler Classic record label, and most recently in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. He was also a soloist with Musica Sacra, the NY Collegium, the Waverly Consort, and the Collegiate Chorale, with whom he made his Lincoln Center début for their A Night at the American Operetta program at Alice Tully Hall. Hrycelak has also been active as a musical director, pianist, and conductor at Yale, in NY, and in Scotland, where he was musical director of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Texan bass Max Wier is a first-year Master of Music student, studying with Costanza Cuccaro. While doing his undergraduate work at Rice University, he performed the roles of Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring and Le Bailli in Werther, along with scenes studies of Figaro and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Mephistopheles in Faust. Since finishing at Rice, Wier sang with the Houston Grand Opera Chorus during the past two seasons and was an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera in 2006, where he covered Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro. In the summer of 2004, he was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and performed the role of Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For the past three summers, Wier was a member of the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center, where he sang Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte, Colline in La Bohème, and Mozart’s Per Questa Bella Mano, a concert aria for bass and double bass, with the BMC Orchestra. In Houston, Wier was also a frequent soloist, singing repertoire ranging from Jesus in Bach’s Johannes-Passion to contemporary composer H.K. Gruber’s Frankenstein. Gilda Marie Masters is pursuing her Master of Music degree at Indiana University where she studies with Costanza Cuccaro. Her previous roles with the IU Opera Theater include Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Madame Pompous (Too Many Sopranos) and Mercedes (Carmen). She also performed in masterclasses and a recital of Schubert Lieder led by Roger Vignoles. In 2007, Masters won an encouragment award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 2005, Masters sang the role of Ännchen (Der Freischütz) with Opera Orchestra of New York. She also appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez as the soprano soloist in Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol and Four Russian Peasant Songs. She performed the soprano solo in Faure’s Requiem with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra, and in May of 2004, Masters sang the role of the Trainbearer (Elektra) with the Cleveland Orchestra. Masters completed her undergraduate studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where her roles included what The Cleveland Plain Dealer called “as feisty and endearing a Susanna [Le nozze di Figaro] as you’re likely to find on any collegiate stage, not to mention more than a few professional ones.” Masters teaches secondary voice lessons and assists Professor Sylvia McNair with her Undergraduate Opera Workshop. Megan Radder, soprano, is a graduate student studying with Costanza Cuccaro. She has previously performed the roles of Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Yum-Yum in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Radder’s operatic credits include the roles of Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina (cover) and at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music; the Shepherd Boy in Puccini’s Tosca at Opera North; Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in the Oberlin in Italy program; Cupid in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Cis in Britten’s Albert Herring, and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Radder is a native of Brookfield, Wisconsin and completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Giovanna Robin Smith is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and has sung principal roles with the University of Louisville Opera Theatre including Mrs. Peachum in the The Beggar’s Opera, Maurya in Riders to the Sea, the Third Lady in The Magic Flute as well as roles in The Tales of Hoffmann, Trouble in Tahiti, and The Medium. Concert appearances with the University of Louisville include Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and Handel’s Messiah as well as Haydn’s Mass in Times of War with the Evansville Philharmonic. The Evansville Courier Press stated that Smith’s solos in Handel’s Messiah were “a judicious exchange with the orchestra [and] brought forth rich tones and mesmerized her audience.” Smith performed Jake Heggie’s song cycle Times of Day at DePauw University’s 2005-2006 composer symposium and Schumann’s Spanische Liebes-Lieder in DePauw’s Schumann Festival with other faculty members. She has taught at the University of Louisville and DePauw University. Smith is currently pursuing the Doctor of Music degree at Indiana University where she serves as the Associate Instructor Coordinator for the Secondary Voice Department and studies with Patricia Havranek. Mezzo-soprano Julia Snowden is a Massachusetts native currently finishing a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance in the studio of Brian Horne. At Indiana University, Julia has been a featured soloist with the Women’s Chorus and the University Chorale as well as a participant in the 2006 Dawn Upshaw masterclass. She has also appeared in IU Opera Theater’s productions of Così fan tutte, Our Town, and Madama Butterfly as a member of the chorus. This is Julia’s début role with IU Opera Theater. The Page Rainelle Bumbaugh is currently a sophomore earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She performed as Our Lady of the Spa in the IU Theater Department’s production of Nine, and this is her debut with the IU Opera Theater. She won first place in the high school division of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in 2004, among numerous other distinctions. Bumbaugh is a student of Andreas Poulimenos. Soprano Lindsay Kerrigan of Nashville, TN is pursuing her Master of Music in Voice. Last fall marked her début with the IU Opera Theater as the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice from the IU Jacob’s School of Music, where she was the recipient of both the Music Faculty and Music Dean’s Award. Kerrigan has appeared as a soloist in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and in Schutz’s Magnificat SWV 468. She has performed at the 2005 Indiana State Holiday Dinner, the 2006 Indiana Republican Convention and the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Kerrigan is a student of Brian Horne. Maddalena Lindsay Ammann, mezzo-soprano, was a national semi-finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions this past March. Other notable competition wins include MTNA, Thursday Musical, and the Concerto/Aria Competition at Augustana College all 4 years of her undergraduate career. During her last year at Augustana, Ammann was named Senior Music Major of the Year. She was first seen on the IU Opera Theater stage this past February as Dame Doleful in Too Many Sopranos. Operatic roles include Little Red Ridinghood (Into the Woods), Third Lady (The Magic Flute), and Charlotte (Werther) at Opera in the Ozarks; Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel) at the Black Hills Opera Institute; Ruth (Pirates of Penzance) at Augustana College; and Kate Pinkerton (Madame Butterfly) with the South Dakota Symphony. Ammann spent the summer of 2006 at the Aspen Summer Festival, where she sang for sopranos Reneé Fleming and Jane Eaglen, as well as Maestro James Conlon. Previous concert engagements include the alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Sioux County Oratorio Society and featured soloist with the Air Force Heartland of America Band. Formerly a student of Cheryl Koch, Ammann is currently a second-year master’s student and studies with Costanza Cuccaro. Nicole Birkland, a native of Iowa, is currently pursuing a Performance Diploma in Voice at IU. She also holds degrees from the University of Northern Iowa, where she earned both her Bachelor of Music in Education and Master of Music in Voice. This past summer, Birkland was a Studio Artist with Chautauqua Opera. In January, she was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council National Competition District Auditions in Iowa. Birkland also performed with the Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist in the summer of 2006. While at the University of Northern Iowa, she performed with the Lyric Theater as Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Baba in The Medium, and Mrs. Splinters in The Tender Land. She recently sang with the Columbus, Indiana Orchestra, with whom she was a featured soloist in Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Birkland has studied with Carlos Montanè and is currently a student of Carol Vaness.