Jorge Mariano Carciófolo, a native of La Plata, Argentina, studied conducting at La Plata Nacional University, The Conservatorio of Santa Cecilia in Rome with Franco Ferrara, and in the United States under Julius Rudel, Boris Goldovsky, and Bruno Rigacci.
From 1992 to 2005, Carciófolo was engaged by the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, first as chorus master and then as director of studies and conductor. In May 2005, he conducted the critically acclaimed concert of famed soprano Maria Guleghina at the Teatro Colon. During this time, he also served as director of studies and music director and conductor of the Teatro Argentino de la Plata.
Throughout his career, Carciófolo has conducted in all the major theaters in Argentina and throughout South America. His repertoire includes operas, ballets, and symphonic-choral works. In opera, he has led orchestras which include the Teatro Colon, in performances of works such as Aida, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, Tosca, Lucia di Lamermoor, L’elisir d’amore, and Dido and Aeneas, to name just a few. In the symphonic-choral repertoire he has conducted Handel’s Messiah, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgis Nacht, among many. Carciófolo has also conducted numerous ballet performances including Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty, Delibes’s Coppelia, Minkus’s Don Quichotte, Ginastera’s Estancia, Schedrin-Bizet’s Carmen Suite, and Offenbach’s Gaite Parisienne.
These performances of L’elisir d’amore mark Maestro Carciófolo’s debut with IU Opera Theater.

Andrew Sinclair was born in Melbourne and moved to England in 1973. Following engagements with Welsh National Opera, English National Opera (then Sadler’s Wells), and a London season of the Bolshoi Ballet, he was appointed deputy stage manager for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
In 1979, he was assistant director for Götz Friedrich’s production of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival. The following year, Sinclair assisted Professor Friedrich on his production of The Ring at Covent Garden. He works regularly as an assistant director and resident director at Covent Garden. He directed the Royal Opera’s semi-staged Ring Cycle at the Royal Albert Hall. Sinclair made his North American directing debut in 1989 with Le nozze di Figaro for Seattle Opera and since then has directed Norma for San Francisco Opera, Aida and Lohengrin for San Diego Opera, and Les pêcheurs de perles for Michigan Opera Theatre and San Diego Opera (also seen at New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera). In 1991, he directed Lohengrin at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Sinclair’s 1981 production of La bohème for The Australian Opera was later filmed for video by ABC-TV and won an Emmy Award in the 1989 International Television Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Between 1983 and 1985, Sinclair was principal resident director of The Australian Opera with his productions including Otello, Das Rheingold, and Die Walküre. More recently, he returned to Opera Australia for Peter Grimes, Lohengrin, and new productions of Cavalleria rusticana/I pagliacci.

Set and Costume Designer Robert O’Hearn earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 1943. He has been a scenic and costume designer for the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Vienna Volksoper, Hamburg Staatsoper, New York City Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Ballet West. He served as professor for the Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York from 1968 to 1988. O’Hearn has also given guest lectures and classes at Carnegie Mellon, Brandeis, and Penn State University.

Adina

Jacqueline Brecheen, soprano, is beginning her second year of the master’s degree program at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Brecheen sang the role of Just Jeanette in Indiana University Opera Theater’s spring 2007 production of Too Many Sopranos by Edwin Penhorwood. She received a Bachelor of Music from Southeastern Louisiana University, where she studied with Scharmal Schrock. During her undergraduate years, she performed the roles of Laurie in The Tender Land, Monica in The Medium, and Dorine in Tartuffe. She also appeared as a soloist in Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Respighi’s Lauda per la natività del Signore, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, and Vivaldi’s Magnificat. Brecheen’s awards include 2000 and 2001 first places at the Gulf Coast Region of National Association of Teachers of Singing. She is currently studying with Costanza Cuccaro.

Betsy Uschkrat is completing a master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music and is pleased to make her third appearance with IU Opera Theater under the tutelage of Costanza Cuccaro. While pursuing her master’s, she has performed the roles of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Massenet’s title character in Manon. Uschkrat is also preparing the role of Susannah for IU’s upcoming 2007-2008 season and Gilda for Opera Quad Cities’ 2008 production of Rigoletto. In May of this year, she represented the Jacobs School of Music in recital at the Kennedy Center. Uschkrat received a Bachelor of Music with Membership in the Honors College from the University of Houston Moores School of Music in 2005, where she studied with Joseph Evans. Last year, she was crowned Miss Indiana 2006 and was a finalist in the Miss America Pageant’s “Quality of Life Community Service Award,” commended for her work in creating and hosting over 17 “Heart and Soul Benefit Concerts,” which have raised over $100,000 for local food banks in America. Click here for IU Live's latest interview with Miss Indiana >>

Gianetta

Caryn Kerstetter, a native of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, is currently pursuing her Master of Voice at IU. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she was a student of Dale Moore and Rita Shane. Following her undergraduate studies, she received a graduate diploma in opera from the Royal College of Music in London. She was seen on the stage in a revival of Handel’s Sosarme and was a soprano soloist for Bach’s Mass in A. While at IU, she performed the role of the Dew Fairy in last season’s Hansel and Gretel. She also participated in a master class with Virginia Zeani and performed the role of Susannah in last summer’s opera workshop. Kerstetter is a student of Patricia Stiles.

Heather Youngquist, a native of Washington, IA, is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree in voice at the IU Jacobs School of Music. In fall 2006, she made her debut with IU Opera Theater as the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. This past May, she performed as La Musica during the Bloomington Early Music Festival’s production of L’Orfeo by Monteverdi. She has also appeared as Cerere in the oratorio Le Nozze di Teti, e di Peleo with the University Singers, and as a soprano soloist with the Bach Chorale Singers of Lafayette, IN. Youngquist graduated magna cum laude from The University of Iowa with a B.M. in Vocal Performance and Music Education. While an undergraduate, she performed several roles with U of I’s Martha-Ellen Tye Opera Theater, including Mary Warren in The Crucible, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, and Clorinda in La Cenerentola. She was also featured as a soloist in several oratorios including Bach’s B Minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, and Barber’s Prayers of Kirkegaard. In 2004, she studied the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the European Academy of Performing Arts in Montepulciano, Italy, under the direction of Georges Delnon and Shari Rhoads. In summer 2006, she was a Young Artist with the Cedar Rapids Opera Theater of Cedar Rapids, IA. She is a student of Robert Harrison.

Nemorino

Tenor Nicholas Nesbitt is presently working on his Masters of Music in Voice and studies with Costanza Cuccaro. Nesbitt received his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from DePauw University in 2006. This is the second role he has performed with IU Opera Theater. Some of his previous roles include Arlecchino in IU’s spring production of Busoni’s Arlecchino, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Rinnuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Nesbitt has won first place at NATS Indiana State and regional competitions. He was also a winner of Opera Columbus’s Irma M. Cooper international vocal competition in 2006.

Joshua Whitener, tenor, is currently a doctoral student in voice at IU, where he has performed the roles of Camille in The Merry Widow, Josh in Jeppe, Mike in A View from the Bridge, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Nanki-Poo in the Mikado. Previous roles include Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Edwin in Trial by Jury. Professionally, Whitener has performed with the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, and the Des Moines Metro Opera, where he was an apprentice artist. He has also spent two summers attending the German for Singers program at Middlebury College. Whitener is a student of Patricia Stiles.

Sergeant Belcore

Jeremiah Johnson is a second-year master’s student at Indiana University where he studies with Professor Dale Moore. Johnson made his debut with IU Opera Theater in November as Peter in Hansel and Gretel. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 from Texas Tech University where his roles included Papageno in The Magic Flute, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, and Sgt. Quigly in the world premiere of Belinni’s War. For four years, Johnson performed as a Young Artist with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre where, most recently, he covered the role of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.

Justin Moore, a student of Andreas Poulimenos, is working toward a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance. Last summer at IU, he completed a Bachelor’s of Arts in Slavic Languages with an emphasis in Russian, as well as a Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance. Moore recently won the second-place prize at the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale competition. He made his operatic debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in 2000 at Mercyhurst College. He was also involved in musical theater there, performing Guiteau in Sondheim’s Assassins and Adam in Sheldon Harnack’s The Apple Tree. More recently, he covered the role of Papageno at the University of Washington in 2003. With IU Opera Theater, he has sung the role of the Jailor in Dialogues of the Carmelites by Poulenc, Morales in Carmen, and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Dr. Dulcamara

Bass-baritone Alan Dunbar is currently working on his doctorate in vocal performance and studies with Chancellor’s Professor Costanza Cuccaro. Dunbar did his undergraduate study in music theory and composition at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. He debuted with IU Opera Theater in the 2004-2005 season as Alcindoro in La bohéme and has appeared in eight other IU productions, most recently as Leporello in Don Giovanni and St. Peter in Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos. His other roles include Pangloss/Voltaire in Bernstein’s Candide and Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Opera Twin Cities, and he created the role of the Abbot in the new opera Sicut Erat by New England composer Brian Griffeath-Loeb. From 1998 to 2004, Dunbar performed throughout North America and Europe with the internationally acclaimed male chamber vocal ensemble Cantus.

Carl DuPont is a master’s student originally from Daytona Beach, Florida. He completed undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music where he was also awarded the Performers’ Certificate. While in Rochester, DuPont was a frequent recitalist under the auspices of the William Warfield Foundation and soloist with various orchestral ensembles. In addition to bass solos by Bach, Handel, and Schubert, his final appearance was as Méphistophélès in Schumann’s Faust with the Eastman Symphony. With the Eastman Opera Theatre, he sang lead roles in Sweeney Todd, Charles Strouse’s East and West, and Pandolfe in Cendrillon. Here in Bloomington, DuPont has pursued his far reaching musical interests by singing bass solos in the oratorios by Rheinberger and Mozart, performing in a Liederabend under the guidance of Roger Vignoles, and participating with the Bloomington Early Music Festival’s production of Monterverdi’s L’Orfeo as Plutone; other engagements have taken him to Lafayette, Indianapolis, and Martinsville as a soloist, chorister, and choir director respectitively. His IU Opera Theater debut was as Graf Lamoral in Arabella last spring, and he will join the cast of Susannah in the fall as Elder Ott. He is a student of Costanza Cuccaro.