PANEL DISCUSSIONS

SINGING WHILE BLACK
IN GERMANY
August 20, 2020, 7pm CEST

Germany is a great place for opera - it holds 51% of the world’s opera theaters and is a popular choice for any singer wanting to embark on a singing career. But what is it like singing here while Black? Our panel discusses their experiences as professional opera singers in Germany.

Jeremy Osborne, Host
Raehann Bryce-Davis
Leah Hawkins
Calvin Lee
Ronnita Miller
Chantale Nurse
Julius P Williams

WATCH HERE:

RACE & OPERA:
REACHING ACROSS THE TABLE
August 21, 2020, 7pm CEST

The challenges for singers of color have been much discussed and well-documented over the years. But the only way to affect real change is at the institutional level. Our panel of directors, conductors, casting directors/agents, and singers talk about how to shift the current paradigm towards complete diversity and inclusivity.

Jeremy Osborne, Host
Jeremy Bines
Raehann Bryce-Davis
Kevin John Edusei
Byron Knutson
Leslie Kwan
Sarah Stephens
Stephanie Weiss
Melody Wilson

WATCH HERE:

AGEISM IN OPERA
September 8, 2020, 7pm CEST

Ageism’s seed is based in white supremacy and paternalism. What sprouts from that seed is exclusion and distrimination based on socio-economic disadvantages, race and gender. Our panel will discuss how ageism affects all corners of the industry as well as how to level the playing field.

Anastasia Inniss (Host)
Alaysha Fox
Carol Mastrodomenico
Francesca Mondanaro
Andrea Nwoke
Jeremy Osborne
Rosalind Plowright
Stephen Reineke
Tichina Vaughn
Susan Eichhorn Young

WATCH HERE:

Disclaimer: all panelists are joining us as individual artists, not as representatives of any organisation with which they may be associated. The views expressed are those of the individuals and do not necessarily represent the views of Opera Programs Berlin or any other organisation.

PANELISTS

JEREMY BINES

Jeremy Bines is the Chorus Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Belfast-born and raised in England, he studied music at Cambridge University and trained as a répétiteur at London’s National Opera Studio. He has worked all over Europe as a coach, répétiteur and conductor, and has repeatedly been engaged as a guest member of music staff at the English National Opera and Royal Opera. He was a regular guest coach at the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at Covent Garden for over a decade before moving to Germany. He coached on the Russian première of Billy Budd in St Petersburg.

From 2007 to 2009, he was Chorus Master of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, and was subsequently the longest-serving Chorus Master in the history of Glyndebourne, where he was engaged until 2017. He worked as a regular assistant conductor to Vladimir Jurowski, both at Glyndebourne and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted La bohème, Hänsel und Gretel and La traviata on the Glyndebourne Tour, and in 2012 jumped in at short notice to conduct a performance of La bohème with the LPO in the Glyndebourne Festival. He returned as a conductor in the Festival to conduct Peter Hall’s legendary production of A midsummer night’s dream in 2016.

His work as a chorus master has been a contributing factor to the success of such award-winning productions as Billy Budd, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Saul and Hamlet in Glyndebourne, and Das Wunder der Heliane and Oceane at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has been nominated for an International Opera Award twice: for his work with the Glyndebourne Chorus in 2016, and the Chor der Deutschen Oper in 2020.

He once accidentally commissioned David Hockney’s first cupcake design.

RAEHANN BRYCE-DAVIS

Hailed by the New York Times as a "striking mezzo soprano" and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "electrifying sense of fearlessness," Raehann Bryce-Davis opens the 2019/20 season singing Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the Olympic Stadium. She then returns to Opera Vlaanderen for her role debut as Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos and makes her LA Opera debut in the World Premiere of Aucoin and Ruhl’s Eurydice, a coproduction with The Metropolitan Opera, and sings Sara in Roberto Devereux opposite Angela Meade and Ramon Vargas. Further performances of the season include: Unknown, I Live With You at the Kurt Weill Festival Dessau, A Nation of Others at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society New York, Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses with the Harlem Chamber Players, Mendelssohn's Elijah with St. George’s Choral Society, and a recital series for the Art Song Preservation Society in New York with pianist Mark Markham. Last season she made her role debuts as Leonor in Donizetti’s La Favorite at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust conducted by Maestro John Nelson with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Ms. Alexander in Satyagraha at Opera Vlaanderen, Kristina in The Makropulos Affair at the Janáček Brno Festival, Verdi's Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, Martinů’s Julietta with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

Additional opera credits include Wellgunde in Wagner’s Die Ring-Trilogie at Theater an der Wien, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers at Opera Maine, and while a member of the Junges Ensemble at Opera Vlaanderen she sang: Nezhata in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko, Kristina in Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair, and Mary in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. She was a participant in San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program and while a resident artist at Michigan Opera Theatre, she sang: Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Lady in Waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth, and Ma Moss in Copland’s The Tender Land. Other roles have incuded Mama McCourt in Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe with Chautauqua Opera, Albine in Massenet’s Thaïs with Florida Grand Opera, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schichi with Aspen Music Festival, Owl in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Lily in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at Grand Théâtre de Genève.

On the concert stage, Ms. Bryce-Davis recently sang Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the Musikverein in Vienna, the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road in her Carnegie Hall debut with Oratorio Society of New York, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, conducted by John Nelson. She also joined the Aspen Music Festival for Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Maestro Kent Tritle at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Verdi’s Requiem with Marywood University, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Maestro Philippe Entremont and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Durufle’s Requiem with Maestro David Thye, and Handel’s Messiah with Maestro Phillip Nuzzo and the Metro Chamber Orchestra. Also an ardent proponent of contemporary music, she premiered composer Melissa Dunphy’s Come, My Tan-Faced Children at Lyric Fest, Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s Brown Sounds, Kyle Werner's Psalm 42, and Jacob A. Greenberg’s Four Songs for Mezzo Soprano and Orchestra.

Ms. Bryce-Davis is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award, the 2017 1st Place and Audience Prize-winner of the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino competition, chaired by Dominique Meyer, Winner of the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, Winner of the 2015 9th International Hilde Zadek Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna, the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Pittsburgh District, and the 2015 Sedat Gürel - Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. She holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

KEVIN JOHN EDUSEI

Kevin John Edusei is praised repeatedly for the drama and tension that he brings to his music-making, for his clear sense of architecture and attention to detail. A suave and elegant figure on the podium, he divides his time equally between the concert hall and opera house with a particular interest in German music from the early romantic period and early 20th century. He is Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of Edusei’s symphonic engagements include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberg Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and in the United States the Colorado Symphony. In 2017 he made his debut at the BBC Proms with the Chineke! Orchestra and in the same year conducted John Adams Nixon in China at the Zaterdag Matinee at the Concertgebouw. Highlight's for the season 2020/21 will include his debuts at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Edusei was appointed Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra in 2014. He has been applauded for introducing an eclectic range of repertoire into the MSO concert programmes and cultivating a loyal, trusting audience. In recognition of these achievements the orchestra was awarded the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal Government in 2018. In 2019 Edusei led the MSO on their first tour of China and Korea.

Edusei concluded his tenure as Chief Conductor of Bern Opera House in 2019, where he led many new productions including Britten Peter Grimes, Strauss Salome, Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle,Wagner Tannhäuser, Janáček Kátya Kábanová, a cycle of the Mozart Da Ponte operas – described in the press as “rousing and brilliant” – and Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos which led the Neue Zürcher Zeitung to describe him as "the discovery of the production". Elsewhere, Edusei has conducted at the Semperoper Dresden (Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Hindemith Cardillac), and in 2018 he made his debut at the Hamburg State Opera. He conducted Mozart Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni at the Volksoper Wien and Komische Oper Berlin. In 2019/20 he made his debut at the Hannover State Opera in a new production of Puccini Tosca and at English National Opera in a new production of Mozart The Marriage of Figaro.

Edusei has a varied discography, which includes recordings with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and Tonkünstler Orchestra, and he is currently mid-way through a cycle of the complete Schubert symphonies with the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Germany Edusei studied orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory The Hague and the University of the Arts Berlin with Jac van Steen and Ed Spanjaard. In 2004 he was awarded the fellowship for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival by David Zinman, and in 2007 he was a prize-winner at the Lucerne Festival conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös, and in 2008 he won the International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition.

www.kevinjohnedusei.com
Twitter: @kevinjohnedusei
Facebook: facebook.com/ kevinjohnedusei

SUSAN EICHHORN YOUNG

Susan Eichhorn Young embodies all things voice: Chanteuse/Singer, Actor, Writer, Speaker, Voice Teacher, and Speaking Coach.
Canadian-born and NYC-based, her vocal versatility and its ability to live comfortably in many genres has carried her from the church to concert halls, opera and musical theatre stages, recording studios, and back to the intimacy of cabaret.

Raised in a theatrical and musical family, early piano virtuosity started with lessons at age 8. She went on to earn three ARCT diplomas (Piano Performance, Voice Performance, and Voice Pedagogy) from University of Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature from Western University, London.

Her versatility on stage has allowed her the privilege of creating operatic roles that include the Countess in Mozart’s La Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme, the title role of Puccini’s Suor Angelica, among others; as well, she originated a role in the NYC-premiere of Alan Jaffe’s The Mary Shelley Opera.

Her music theatre, concert, and cabaret performances are numerous, and include works by Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hart, Kander and Ebb, Gershwin, Cole Porter, and many more. She gave the world premiere of Modern Love Songs by American composer, Chester Biscardi, with Canadian pianist, Mark Payne. Steeped in the European cabaret tradition, her performances include German and French repertoire, as well as American Song. She has recorded and performed Schönberg's Brettl-Lieder with pianist/music director, Alan Johnson. Also, in this tradition, her debut album, Taking My Turn, is a collection of cabaret & theatre songs by Weill, Sondheim, Poulenc & William Bolcom. Recorded with music director and pianist Alan Johnson and produced by Grammy Award-winning tenor Thomas Young, Taking My Turn is available on iTunes and Spotify.

Susan's work as a voiceover artist can be heard on many promos and commercials, as well as the voice actor for 30+ audiobooks on Audible.

In addition to her performance career, Susan has worked as an Artistic Director, Stage Director and Vocal Consultant for various productions, recording studios, and talent agencies. Her passion for teaching (a legacy from her father) has allowed her a parallel path. Her private teaching, adjudicating, group workshops, and seminars have been developed throughout North America, Brazil, Europe and China. She has held long-term academic positions at Western University, Sarah Lawrence College, Moravian College, and CAP21, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.

After a near fatal car accident in 2011, Susan took a brief hiatus from performing and teaching. However, in November of 2016, she premiered her most recent one-woman show, Why?, at The Laurie Beechman Theater to sold-out audiences and rave reviews. Online, her blog reaches a worldwide audience of over 300,000 viewers and growing!

Susan is married to tenor, Thomas Young. Her greatest accomplishment is being mother to a magnificent young woman and singer, Erin Elizabeth Eichhorn.

ALAYSHA FOX

Soprano Alaysha Fox is an emerging artist based in Los Angeles. Currently Ms. Fox is a member of LA Opera’s Domingo Colburn Stein young artist program. This summer, Ms. Fox was scheduled to join Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice program. Recently Ms. Fox was seen as Erstes Mädchen in Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen with the LA Philharmonic.

Some previous credits include: Camelot with the Lincoln Center Theater, Kathleen Battle’s Underground Railroad recital, First Lady (Die Zauberflӧte), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth, Bloch), Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Penelope(Penelope), and featured artist in Lee Mingwei’s exhibit: Sonic Blossom with MetLiveArts.

Ms. Fox has been honored with several awards including: Grand finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, first place winner of the Joan Taub Ades Vocal competition, semi-finalist in the Elizabeth Connell dramatic soprano competition, and the Lotte Lenya emerging artist award.

An alumna of the Chautauqua Opera and Opera Saratoga young artist programs; Ms. Fox holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

LEAH HAWKINS

A native of Philadelphia, soprano Leah Hawkins recently completed the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. In the 2019-20 season she appeared at the Met as the Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess and Masha in The Queen of Spades, joined the Colorado Symphony for Verdi Requiem, and was scheduled to make her Bayerische Staatsoper debut. In the 2018-19 season she made her Met debut as an Alms Collector in Suor Angelica, the High Priestess in Aida, and appeared on the 2019 Summer Recital Series. She is an alumna of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera, where she appeared as Mrs. Johannes “Ma” Zegner in the world premiere of Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek; Voce dal cielo in Don Carlo; I-Will-Sell- My-Children-Mom in the premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s The Dictator’s Wife; Cousin Blanche/Sadie Griffith in Champion, an “opera in jazz” by Terence Blanchard; Mrs. Dorsey/Amelia Boynton in the premiere of the revised version of Philip Glass’ Appomattox; and in Justice at the Opera with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, performing scenes from Aida and Un ballo in maschera with the Washington National Opera Orchestra.

On the concert stage she has appeared with Yale Philharmonia in Mahler Symphony No. 2; the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven Symphony No. 9; as Serena in Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; in A Space Odyssey with The Philadelphia Orchestra; with The Apollo Orchestra in Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder; the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Knoxville: Summer of 1915; the National Symphony Orchestra in Songfest by Leonard Bernstein; at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in a concert of vocal works by Beethoven; as a guest artist in concert in Accra, Ghana; and at The White House, singing for the President of France. In addition to appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, in the 2018-19 season she presented a Park Avenue Armory Recital, returned to the National Symphony Orchestra for a Labor Day Concert and DECLASSIFIED, and joined the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra for a Gala Concert. Upcoming engagements include Seven Deaths of Maria Callas at Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro del Maggio Musicale, Greek National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Paris Opera, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera.

Leah’s summer festival credits include The Martina Arroyo Foundation: Prelude to Performance Program, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy (YAVA), Central City Opera, The Chautauqua Opera Company and The Glimmerglass Festival. She is a 2018 Sullivan Foundation Award Winner, and the 2018 recipient of The Richard F. Gold Career Grant (The Shoshana Foundation) from Washington National Opera. She has received awards from The Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Vocal Competition, The Chautauqua Opera Guild, Yale School of Music, George London Foundation, Marcello Giordani Foundation, Opera Ebony, NANBPWC, Inc., and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Leah received her Master of Music in Voice from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts in Music from Morgan State University.

PROF. BYRON KNUTSON

Byron Knutson studied piano, conducting, composition and acting in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, and in the United States. After completing the Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he was appointed Visiting Professor of Song Interpretation at Albion College in Michigan.

In 1999, Mr. Knutson moved to Germany, where until 2010 he worked in the opera houses in Kiel, Halle and Augsburg, conducting operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary, including operetta, musicals and ballet.

In 2010, Mr. Knutson took over the musical direction of the young artist program at the Komische Oper Berlin. While at the KOB, Mr. Knutson conducted works by Handel, Mozart, Weill, Ginastera and a critically acclaimed production of Phlip Glass’ Les enfants terribles directed by Felix Seiler.

Mr. Knutson’s has worked with conductors such as Paolo Arrivabeni (Bellini’s La Straniera; Theater an der Wien), Friedemann Layer (Der Rosenkavalier) Johannes Kalitzke (World Premiere, Olga Neuwirth’s American Lulu), Patrick Lange (Rigoletto), Carl St. Clair (Aribert Reimann’s Lear), Sebastian Lang-Lessing (Der Rosenkavalier, National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing), Christian Curnyn (Castor et Pollux), Lü Jia (Tannhäuser, Beijing). Mr. Knutson has also prepared the casts of Reimann’s Lear and DieGespenstersonate for productions at Theater an der Wien and in Tokyo.
Mr. Knutson frequently gives Masterclasses in North America, Europe and China.

In 2015 Mr. Knutson was appointed Professor of Operatic Studies at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin. He is also currently music director of the Berlin Wagner Gruppe.

LESLIE KWAN

Leslie Kwan is a first generation Guyanese-American harpsichordist, entrepreneur and arts executive. Highlights of Leslie’s career include founder and harpsichordist of L’ Académie Baroque Orchestra in Boston, MA and senior marketing director roles at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Handel + Haydn Society, and the Chineke! Foundation in London. As of October 2019, Leslie became the founder and Managing Director of Lionsgate Music, an innovative chamber music series exclusively for hospitals that specialize in cancer and pediatrics throughout the United Kingdom. Ms. Kwan lives in London.

Photo by Daniel Doke

CALVIN LEE

American tenor Calvin Lee hails from Miami, Florida, and studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston- Salem, North Carolina and Conservatorio di Trento in Italy followed by studies at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida. After graduation Calvin Lee made his professional debut in 1996, with the Houston Grand Opera’s International tour of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, in major opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala, National Opera of Paris, Tokyo’s Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Nagoya’s Aichi Prefectural Art Theatre and Osaka’s International Festival in Japan.

In January 2020, Mr. Lee sang the role of the Professor in Joseph Haas' Die Hochzeit des Jobs, at the Winterstein Theater in Annaberg- Buchholtz.

In 2021, Mr. Lee will sing in Oedipus Rex, with the Dutch National Opera and Ballet.

Mr. Lee, made his English National Opera ( London), and Dutch National Opera ( Amsterdam) debut in 2018/ '19, season in a co- production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. In the same season at Dutch National Opera Mr. Lee, performed in John Adams, Girls of the Golden West.

Recent debuts in season 2016, have included the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Semperoper (Dresden ), Staatsoper Hamburg and Alteoper Frankfurt am Main in Porgy and Bess.

Calvin sang the Italian Singer in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier with Theater Werk München in 2016.

In 2014, Mr. Lee made his debut with the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in a new production of Porgy and Bess in the role of Mingo.

Show Boat with the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele in Bad Hersfeld , Germany.
Mr. Lee sang the roles of Mingo, Crab man and Nelson in Porgy and Bess at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

He he opened the 2012, season at Symphony Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess under the baton of Maestro Bram Tovey.

Mr. Lee made a splash at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2010 along with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006, Mr. Lee recorded the role of Peter in Porgy and Bess on the Decca Label with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro John Mauceri.

Mr. Lee had further engagements at San Francisco Opera, Opera Comique, Grand Teatre de la Ville Luxembourg, Theatre de Caen, Teatro Real, Granada Festival Internacional de Musica and Dance, Atlanta Opera,
Tulsa Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Connecticut Opera, Opera Memphis,
Opera Colorado, Opera Naples in Florida U.S.A.

More roles include Pang and Pong/ Turandot, Ruiz/Il Trovatore, Normanno/ Lucia di Lammermoor, Monostatos and First Armoured Man/ Magic Flute, Narraboth, First and Third Jew/Salome, Steersman/ The Flying Dutchman, Messenger/ Aida, and Four Servants/ Tales of Hoffmann.

In addition to his operatic performances, his concert repertoire includes Oratorios, such as Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Stavinsky’s Pulcinella, and Verdi’s Requiem.

2014, the San Francisco Opera released on DVD and Blue Ray (Euro Arts) Mr. Lee’s performance of Peter in Francesca Zambello’s updated production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

CAROL MASTRODOMENICO

Carol Mastrodomenico maintains an active schedule as a guest soloist with choruses, orchestras and other ensembles. She excels in the interpretation of oratorio, and has appeared recently in Poulenc’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Fauré’s Requiem.

Ms. Mastrodomenico is an accomplished recitalist, and has recently performed programs ranging from premieres of contemporary music to cabaret programs involving interaction with the audience. She recently toured England with her production of John Morrison’s Jane Austin’s History of England singing the role of Emce. She premiered John McDonald’s Put this in your Pipe and Speech Made by Music with the Essex Chamber Players, and premiered Ellen Bender’s Five Emily Dickinson Songs during New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Festival. Other noted composers she has worked with include Robert DiDomenica and David Leisner. Ms. Mastrodomenico has a great love for Spanish Repertoire, and enjoys programing Spanish and particularly Argentinian songs to introduce the repertoire to her recital audiences.

A champion of vocal chamber music, she has worked with noted musicians premiering new works at contemporary festivals sponsored by BMOP and composer groups at Tufts University and Longy School of Music of Bard College. She has been invited to perform at the Tanglewood Music Center, Jordan Hall, Faneuil Hall, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, the Boston Vocal Artists Series, the 1794 Meeting House concert Series in New Salem, and the Music at Noon Concert Series at the Swedenborg Chapel.

Ms. Mastrodomenico is the stage director of both the Tufts University Opera Ensemble and the Longy School of Music of Bard College’s Opera Theater at Longy. Recent productions she has directed include Le Nozze di Figaro, Der Zwerg, L’amico Fritz, Gianni Schicchi, Three Sisters who are not Sisters, Three Penny Opera, Dido and Aeneas, Old Maid and the Thief, Amelia Goes to the Ball, Riders to the Sea, Gallantry, The Telephone and Doctor Miracle. Ms. Mastrodomenico is a passionate advocate for newly composed works. With the Tufts Opera Ensemble, she commissioned and directed the world premieres of Knave of Hearts by Vartan Aghababian in 2013 and No Onions, nor Garlic by Thomas Stumpf in 2014. With the Longy Opera Workshop, she commissioned and directed the world premiere of Jane Austen’s History of England by John Morrison in 2014. It is her hope to commission a new opera work every year.

Ms. Mastrodomenico is just as passionate about vocal pedagogy and teaching voice. She has participated in panel discussions by the Boston NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Chapter on the different elements of "Teaching Men to Sing", and was invited by the Western Massachusetts NATS chapter to give a solo presentation on Teaching Men. Her master classes at the Classical Singer Convention, Regional NATS workshops and area Colleges are widely attended. At her invitation, renowned pedagogue Ken Bozeman spoke in the Boston area about the Pedagogical Applications of Vocal Acoustics for teaching voice. She developed and annually taught a vocal curriculum for string performers at the Heifetz International Summer Institute in Staunton, Virginia, US.

Ms. Mastrodomenico’s students can be heard singing throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. They have been accepted into graduate and undergraduate programs at Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Texas, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Miami, Frost School of Music, Michigan State University, University of Maryland at College Park, Ithaca College, Guild Hall and The Royal Academy of Music in London. Her singers regularly attend young artist programs at Houston Grand Opera Outreach Program, Central City, Berlin Song Festival, Edinburgh Music Festival and Halifax Opera Festival.

Ms. Mastrodomenico received her Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy at New England Conservatory of Music. She is on the voice faculties of Longy School of Music of Bard College and Tufts University.

RONNITA MILLER

American mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller continues her upward career trajectory in Season 2019-20 in her seventh season as a member of the ensemble at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Performances there this season include Mama Lucia Cavalleria Rusticana, Third Lady Die Zauberflöte, Mary Der fliegende Holländer, Madelon Andrea Chenier and Ulrika Un Ballo in Maschera. The artist travels to Concertgebouw Amsterdam for performances of Die Walküre in the role of Fricka and returns later in the season for performances of Verdi’s Requiem. In the US she joins Chicago Symphony Orchestra to sing Mama Lucia under the baton of Riccardo Muti and returns to Lyric Opera Chicago to continue her portrayal as Erda/First Norn Der Ring des Nibelungen. She ends the season at Cincinnati Opera in her role debut as Amneris Aida. Last season at Deutsche Oper Berlin she sang Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette before returning to Lyric Opera Chicago and her signature role of Erda Siegfried. She gave further performances of Erda Das Rheingold at Teatro Real, Madrid before returning to the Metropolitan Opera to sing First Norn Götterdämmerung, and to Boston Symphony Orchestra where she sang Schwertleite Die Walküre at Tanglewood. In the UK she sang First Norn at the Edinburgh International Festival with Andrew Davis, and at Brighton Festival, Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Recent highlights at Deutsche Oper Berlin include Handmaiden Invisible, Fenena Nabucco and Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro as well as appearing in revival performances of some of the roles that have brought her the admiration of Berlin audiences such as Marthe Schwertle in Faust. Other recent highlights include Erda/First Norn at San Francisco Opera and she joined Semperoper Dresden as Erda under the baton of Christian Thieleman. Guest appearances elsewhere included the role of Armando Le Grand Macabre under the baton of Simon Rattle with both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as Verdi’s Requiem at Opernhaus Hannover.

Miss Miller joined the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for the 2013-14 Season and made her house debut with the roles of Grimgerde Die Walküre and First Norn Gotterdämmerung; other roles there since have included Anna Les Troyens, Dryade Ariadne auf Naxos, Bianca The Rape of Lucretia, Alice Lucia di Lammermoor, Filipevna Eugene Onegin, Wowkle LaFanciulla del West, Geneviève Pelléas et Mélisande, Mama Lucia, Marcellina and Maddalena/Giovanna Rigoletto. She made her role debut as Fricka with the Odense Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Vedernikov, Mary Der Fliegende Höllander at Ravinia Festival, a role she previously sang at Los Angeles Opera, and her debut as Mistress Quickly in Los Angeles Opera’s Falstaff. She sang at Cincinnati’s May Festival in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and in a special anniversary performance of Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses under the baton of James Conlon which was also presented at New York’s Carnegie Hall in a live broadcast performance.

Past successes include role debuts as Tisbe La Cenerentola, Fillippevna Eugene Onegin, Gertrude Roméo et Juliette and Florence Pike Albert Herring at Los Angeles Opera; at Ravinia Festival she sang Third Lady with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon; she also appeared as Erda and First Norn in San Francisco Opera’s new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Donald Runnicles, and sang First Norn at the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of Fabio Luisi in the new production by Robert Lepage. A Florida native, Ronnita Miller received her Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and graduated from the prestigious Juilliard Opera School before spending two years in the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera. She made her company debut as La Badessa Suor Angelica in 2008 before joining the cast of Joachim Freyer’s controversial production of Der Ring des Nibelungen in the roles of Schwertleite and Flosshilde while additionally covering Erda. Other roles in Miss Miller’s repertoire include Azucena Il Trovatore and Eboli Don Carlos, both in preparation.

FRANCESCA MONDANARO

A singing actress of exceptional vocal and dramatic capacity, Francesca Mondanaro is recognized for her “electric...high impact singing” (Opera News), “riveting performances” (Washington Post) and ability to create “thrilling and shattering music-drama” (Parterre Box). Ms. Mondanaro began the 2019 season with a role debut as Madama Butterfly with Opera in the Rock. She continues the 2020 season performing Norma for Maryland Opera, in full recital for Baltimore Concert Opera with Matthew Lobaugh (Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera), and as soloist with the Fairfield County Chorale Orchestra as Leonora in selections from La Forza Del Destino. She will also be featured in a staged concert project for Vertical Player Repertory for New York Opera Fest, in the famed Blue Building, NYC. Recent seasons have seen her as Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco and Fata Morgana in Prokofiev’s L’Amour pour Trois Oranges at Deutsche Oper Berlin; in the title roles of Bellini’s Norma, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Margherita / Elena in Boito’s Mefistofele, the Mother and Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with companies including Opera Delaware, Lyric Opera of Baltimore, Baltimore Concert Opera, Taconic Opera, Anchorage Opera, Nashville Opera, New Jersey Verismo Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Skylight Opera Theatre, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the Tel Aviv International Vocal Arts Institute, and the Spontini Festival in Italy. With Metropolitan Opera stage director Fabrizio Melano, Ms. Mondanaro has toured a program based on the life and career of Maria Callas. Also in the role of that iconic diva, she was featured in Terrence McNally’s Tony Award winning Masterclass at the Edward Albee Theater Conference in Valdez, for an audience which included August Wilson, John Guare, and Edward Albee.

Ms. Mondanaro made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New England Symphonium as soprano soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G and Haydn’s Orgelmesse. Other concert appearances include the Verdi Requiem with the Southwest Florida Symphony, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Fairfield County Chorale and Mozart’s Bella mia Fiamma with the Bach Society of New York. For the Argentine Consulate in New York City, Mondanaro performed a demanding program of excerpts from Norma and the final scenes of Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux. For the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Mondanaro sang the role of Lady Macbeth for Masterly Singing: The Power Behind the Throne: Creating Lady Macbeth.

Francesca has been the recipient of many awards, including a grant from the prestigious Amadeus Fund. She was a finalist in the Licia Albanese Puccini Festival, a winner of the Career Bridges Foundation Competition, a two time grant winner from the Olga Forrai Foundation (most recently in 2017), winner of the Silverman Prize at the International Vocal Academy of Israel, the Anna Maria-Saritelli-diPanni Bel Canto Competition, the Metropolitan Opera Northwest Council Scholarship Award, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Stanley L. Richman Award at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Five Towns Music and Art Competition, and the NFAA Arts Competition.

ANASTASIA INNISS, FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Anastasia Inniss started her arts education at the age of 5, studying piano. She was a member of the Bulgarian National Theater Youth Ensemble, where she was cast in children's roles in numerous main stage and touring productions. Her training at the National Theatre included acting, improvisation, Latin and folk dance. She also studied percussion and classical guitar.

In addition to her musical interests, Ms. Inniss showed a keen interest in the visual arts & design. Before the age of 10, her watercolor paintings and color pencil drawings were selected for numerous solo and group art exhibitions. At the age of 8, she was the recipient of the City of Plovdiv Portrait Drawing Award having been selected from thousands of entries city-wide.

Ms. Inniss commenced her vocal training in Bulgaria and continued it at the Longy School of Music at Bard College (Cambridge, Massachusetts) as a recipient of the Janet Irving Scholarship for Vocal Studies. She was a member of the Central Florida Lyric Opera Young Artists Program and was later invited to return as a main stage Resident Artist with the company.

Opera roles include: Judith in A kékszakállú herceg vára (Grimeborn Opera Festival London); Woglinde in Das Rheingold (Berliner Wagner Gruppe); Elsa in Lohengrin (Berliner Wagner Gruppe); Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Violetta in La Traviata (Central Florida Lyric Opera; New London Opera Players, Fine Arts Chorale & Orchestra) Governess in Turn of the Screw (Opera Seria), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Opera Seria, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Nedda in Pagliacci (Central Florida Lyric Opera), Micaëla and Frasquita in Carmen, under the directorship of late legendary soprano Licia Albanese (Central Florida Lyric Opera); Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro (Central Florida Lyric Opera), Serpina in La serva padrona (Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, concertante).

Ms. Inniss is a champion of new music. She has premiered works by prominent American and British composers such as Vartan Aghababian, Michael Djupstrom, Victoria Ellis, Heather Gilligan and Eric Sawyer; some of these works were written and dedicated to her. In addition to numerous song cycles and solo concert works with orchestra, she also created the role of Anna von Mildenburg in the new theater piece Geboren Alma Schindler (Berliner Opern Verein); the role of Member of the Chamber in the premiere performance of Eric Sawyer's Our American Cousin (Composers in Red Sneakers); and the title role in the world premiere of Victoria Ellis' opera Darling (One of Us Foundation).

Solo concert engagements include J.S. Bach Jauchzet Gott in alles Landen (Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal), Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (Old North Concert Series), Magnificat in D (Fine Arts Chorale), Missa brevis in A (Fine Arts Chorale); Mozart's Requiem (Fine Arts Chorale), Missa Brevis in F (Sommerville Choir), Exultate Jubilate (Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal), Vesperae solennes de confessore (Somerville Choir); Händel's Messiah (College Park Players), L'Allego, il Pensieroso, ed il Moderato (Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal); Pergolesi Stabat mater (Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal); Schubert Mass in G (Highnam Choir and Orchestra); Dubois Seven Last Words of Christ (College Park Players); Vivaldi Gloria (Old North Concert Series); Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem (Tufts University Orchestra, cover); Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream (Longy Chamber Orchestra); Berg Sieben frühe Lieder (Kirchberg Chamber Music Festival); Mahler Rückert-Lieder (Berlin Song Festival); Strauss Vier letzte Lieder (Berlin Song Festival, Kirchberg Chamber Music Festival, Walbrook Music Trust, Galerieforum am Meer); Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasilieras No.5 (Kirchberg Chamber Music Festival) among others.

As a concert artist, Ms. Inniss has also given numerous concert and solo recitals in the United States and in Europe.

Ms. Inniss is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Opera Programs Berlin and Dramatic Voices Program Berlin. Previously, she was the Artistic Director of the Berlin Song Festival and an Artistic Consultant for The Opera Stage (now folded into Classical Singer Magazine). She has worked as an educator in higher education as well as in leadership positions in the arts for the last 15 years, both in the United States and in Europe.

Her directing credits include: Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years and scenes from the operatic and musical theatre repertoire. She has served as a casting director and producer for Wagner's Das Rheingold, Wagner's Lohengrin, Strauss' Elektra, Wagner's Die Walküre and Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. She also designed costumes for Purcell's Dido & Aeneas and Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years.

Ms. Inniss is a leader in the classical music industry. She has co-produced and hosted roundtable panel discussions on patterns of discrimination in the classical music industry - Singing While Black In Germany, Race in Opera and Ageism in Opera. In addition, she has spear-headed, co-designed, co-produced and hosted Trans*Voices - a series of masterclasses for transgender and non-binary artists. She often does charity work raising money for such organisations as Save the Children, Berliner Aids-Hilfe, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler CoronaCare, Black Lives Matter, Chineke! Foundation, Artist Relief Tree.

She currently splits her time between Berlin, London and Lanzarote (Canary Island) with her husband linguist Jahmai Inniss. In her free time, she enjoys long swims, cooking without recipes, spontaneous travel and pretty much anything to do with the ocean.

CHANTALE NURSE

Soprano Chantale Nurse, a Canadian of Guyanese origin, is known for her commanding stage presence and gripping performances. At Opéra de Montréal, Chantale was featured as a soloist in numerous productions, most notably Sister Rose in Dead Man Walking, Clara in Porgy & Bess, and the roles of Sadie/Cousin Blanche in the Canadian premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Role highlights include Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Tosca. Most recently, Chantale has performed internationally as Maria in Grange Park
Opera’s production of Porgy & Bess in London and in the Kunst am Kai festival in Lübeck, Germany, as Mary in Sir Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio. Chantale is also passionate about performing in styles ranging from burlesque, to theatre, to musical revues, to funk and pop, to crossover genres such as techno-opera.

ANDREA NWOKE

Andrea has spent her entire life straddling multiple worlds. From the mountains of Colorado to the steel and glass valleys of Manhattan, from the green room to the board room, Andrea has always married her sense of style with a clear-minded pragmatism.

An accomplished classical singer, her devotion to language, nuance, and precision translated beautifully to her 12+ years in the corporate world. As an indispensable presence in the C-Suites of multiple global companies, Andrea started to see an opportunity to make even better use of her unique skill set. In the process of preparing a spotlight averse CEO for a major keynote presentation, a new direction crystallized, something that could meld her diverse body of experience into a singular, holistic calling.

Andrea’s mission in providing Empowerment and Leadership Coaching is to guide her clients through the process of giving voice to their dreams, planting the seeds with intention, nurturing growth with concrete action, and celebrating every bloom. And coming full circle, through empowering others to find their voices, Andrea is uncovering her own fully authentic power.

To quote Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

This is not a dress rehearsal…. Find your light. No holding back. Now, shine!

JEREMY OSBORNE

Jeremy Osborne is a German-based activist and baritone. He has a bachelors degree in music from the University of Central Arkansas and a masters in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Since moving to Berlin in 2014, he has performed in the extra choruses of the Deutsche Oper and the Komische Oper in a range of works, including Erich Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane, Prokofiev’s Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, Verdi’s La Forza del Destino La Forza del Destino and others. In addition to these performances, he’s developed a fruitful musical relationship with pianist Bonnie Wagner, with whom he’s performed the Schubert song cycles Schwanengesang & Winterreise in concert. In December of this year, the pair will perform a concert of French mélodie in Schwartze Villa in Berlin.

He also works for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle as a translator and voice over artist.

As an activist he’s volunteered in a refugee center and participates regularly in events organized by Black Lives Matter Berlin, as well as countless other demonstrations for racial justice in Germany and the United States.

ROSALIND PLOWRIGHT

One of the most celebrated artists our time, in a career spanning over 45 years, Rosalind Plowright has sung at the major international theatres such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Opéra National de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the Arena di Verona, the Teatro Real, Madrid, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest spinto sopranos, her colleagues included José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Conductors with whom she has worked include Claudio Abbado, Semyon Bychkov, Sylvain Cambreling, Mark Elder, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Michael Gielen, Carlo Maria Giulini, Hartmut Haenchen, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Jurowski, Gustav Kuhn, Charles Mackerras, Riccardo Muti, Roger Norrington, Kazushi Ono, Seiji Ozawa, Giuseppe Patané, Antonio Pappano, David Parry, Jérémie Rhorer, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Ulf Schirmer, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Jeffrey Tate.
In 1999, she entered the mezzo-soprano repertoire, singing Amneris Aïda for Scottish Opera. Her engagements in recent years have included The Old Baroness Vanessa for Wexford Festival Opera, Mrs Sedley Peter Grimes at the Theater an der Wien and the Opéra National de Lyon, Contessa di Coigny / Madelon Andrea Chenier at the Bregenz Festival, La Zia Principessa Suor Angelica for Opera Holland Park, the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, and Seattle Opera, Madame de Croissy Dialogues des Carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Klytemnestra Elektra at the Teatro Real, Madrid, and Seattle Opera, Herodias Salome and Fricka Das Rheingold / Die Walküre for the Royal Opera, London, Herodias Salome for Portland Opera, The Countess The Queen of Spades for Opera Holland Park, Ulrica Un ballo in maschera for the Dorset Opera Festival and Mary Der fliegende Holländer at La Scala, Milan.
Her solo recital disc, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, a programme which she performed at the Buxton Festival, is available on Romeo Records, and her recordings further include Mary Stuart, Hansel and Gretel, Elijah, Aïda and Otello for Chandos, Mahler Symphony No. 2, La forza del destino and Il trovatore for DGG, Les contes d’Hoffmann for EMI and La vestale for Orfeo. Performances available on DVD include Vanessa from Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Andrea Chenier from both the Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Dialogues des Carmélites from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Suor Angelica from La Scala, Milan, and Il trovatore from the Arena di Verona.
Recent engagements have included her debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as The Old Baroness Vanessa, Mrs Sedley Peter Grimes at the Palau de les Arts, Valencia, Contessa di Coigny Andrea Chénier for the Royal Opera, London, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Kabanicha Katya Kabanova at the Staatsoper Berlin, Mila’s Mother Osud and Mamma Lucia Cavalleria Rusticana for Opera North, Mamma Lucia for Gothenburg Opera, Mme de la Haltière Cendrillon for Angers Nantes Opera, Madame de Croissy Dialogues des Carmélites at the Dutch National Opera, Klytemnestra Elektra at the National Theatre, Prague, and Madame Arvidson Un ballo in maschera for Opera Holland Park.
During 2020 / 2021, she will return to the Staatsoper Stuttgart to sing Mamma Lucia Cavalleria Rusticana.
For services to music, Rosalind Plowright was awarded the OBE in 2007.

STEPHAN REINEKE

Stephan studied law, musicology and cultural administration at the universities in Bayreuth, Mainz, Cologne and Berlin. After early lessons in piano, he became a member of a chorus working with conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, Sylvain Cambreling and Michael Gielen and orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London and the SWR Symphonieorchester.

He gained valuable experience working in the artistic administration of Komische Oper Berlin, as Assistant to the Director of the Radio Chorus Berlin and as Personal Assistant to the Intendant of Dortmund Opera.
In 2004 he embarked on his career as an Artist Manager for singers and conductors and during the subsequent years worked for different agencies before joining the team of TACT International Art Management in 2012. For many years, he was also Managing President of a non-profit foundation in Berlin supporting young and talented artists.

In addition, Stephan was a member of the jury of the International Singing Competition Debut and the Jerusalem International Opera Competition. He gives lectures at the Berlin Summer University of the Arts and works in audition trainings with students at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, at the Dutch National Opera Academy Amsterdam, and for further vocal academies and programs.

SARAH STEPHENS

Sarah Stephens founded International Artists Management in Bremen, Germany in 1996. Her agency specialized in professional personal management and bilingual promotion for international opera singers in Europe and later expanded to include management for conductors, stage directors and other classical musicians. Her artists performed in theaters throughout Europe including the Staatsoper in Berlin, Covent Garden in London, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Stockholm, Basel, Zürich, Graz, Bayreuth Festival, Semperoper in Dresden, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Bayerische Staatsoper in München, Mannheim, Leipzig, Bremen, Oldenburg, Kiel, Darmstadt, Augsburg, Nürnberg and Münster.
Ms. Stephens was granted the German agency license in 2000 authorizing her to operate as a recognized artists management agency (Künstleragentur) in Germany. A second license was issued the same year entitling her agency to engage in business internationally and throughout the European Union. In 2008, she returned to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to complete her Master’s degree with a bilingual thesis on Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Subsequently, she came to New York City and founded Stephens Nicolson Artists Management with Mark Nicolson.

Sarah Stephens studied as a young student in Germany, where she learned German fluently, and has spent most of her life since (25 years). She lived in Freiburg, Hamburg, Berlin, and in 1991 moved to Bremen where she lived until 2008. Ms. Stephens attended the University of Vermont, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany), and the University of Minnesota. Born and raised in Minneapolis, she returns there often to be with her family and friends on the beautiful Minnesota lakes.

TICHINA VAUGHN

Tichina Vaughn is an outstanding American mezzo-soprano, celebrated for her luxuriously rich voice as well as her electrifying stagecraft. She began her career as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her European debut as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Staatstheater Stuttgart where she was awarded the title Kammersängerin.

Recent successes include her Staatstheater Hannover debut as Begonia in The Young Lord, Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin at Spoleto Festival USA, her Teatro alla Scala debut as Maria in Porgy and Bess, as well as Clytemnestra in Elektra, Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and The King’s Children, and Ice Queen in Schwanda the Bagpiper at Semperoper Dresden.

Upcoming appearances include Herodias in Salome, the Mother in Il prigioniero and Brigitta in Die tote Stadt at Semperoper Dresden, her role debut as First Maid in Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera and debuts with English National Opera and Dutch National Opera as Mariah in Porgy and Bess.

Vaughn is a recipient of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award, Opera Index Vocal Award, Robert M. Jacobson Study Grant, Birgit Nilsson Foundatin Award, Living Heritage Foundation Award, and the Consul General’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy from the Consulate General Milan.

In previous seasons, Tichina Vaughn was AMNERIS in Aida at Arena di Verona,Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, National Opera Hong Kong,Teatro Rome alla Caracalla,Teatro Padova, Detroit Opera, Seattle Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Michigan Opera; AZUCENA in Il Trovatore at Arena di Verona, Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Festival Arturo Toscanini Bussetto, Teatro Carlo Felice Genoa, Greek National Opera, Budhapest National Opera and the Sacramento Opera; and ULRICA in Un Ballo in Maschera with San Francisco, Hamburg Opera, Opera Graz, Salerno Opera, Verona Opera, Palermo, Ancona, and at the Semper Opera Dresden.
Further guest engagements have taken her to the opera houses of Los Angeles, („Il Trittico“) as well as the Finnish National Opera, Augsburg Opera, Opera Kassel, ( Erda „The Ring Cycle“), Frankfurt National Opera, („Don Carlo“) („Il Trittico“), the Bregenz Festival („Porgy and Bess“), and Las Palmas Opera, („Salome“), among others.

From 1998 to 2006 Tichina Vaughn was a principal artist at the State Opera of Stuttgart and was awarded the title Kammersängerin for her successes in such roles as as Eboli ("Don Carlo"), Azucena ( "Il Trovatore"), Widow Begbick ( "Mahagonny"), Venus („Tannhauser“), Arnalta ( Poppea), Herodias ( "Salome"), Fricka ( "The Walküre"), Waltraute ("Götterdämmerung ") and Erda (" Siegfried "and" Das Rheingold "). In crossover she was a guest at SWR Big Band, SWR 4 Band, Tango 5, and in numerous crossover concerts and festivals, as well as the 50th anniversary of the State of Baden-Württemberg.

Her discography includes the Stuttgart Ring Cycle with appearances as Fricka in („Die Walküre“) and Waltraute in („Die Götterdämmerung“), which was filmed for the Euro Arts distributed DVD and recorded on the Naxos label as well as her solo portrait CD entitled "Christmas At My House". Additionally she appears on the NEW RELEASE Live from the Semperoper 2012: Schwanda the Bagpiper.

Since the 2010/11 season Tichina Vaughn is a principal artist at the Semper Opera Dresden, where she has been heard as Azucena ( "Il Trovatore"), Venus ("Tannhauser" ), Ulrica ( "Un Ballo in Maschera "), Ortrud ( "Lohengrin"), Eboli ( "Don Carlo"), Prince Orlofsky ( "The Bat"), Isabella ( "L'italiana in Algeri"), Suzuki ( "Madama Butterfly"), High Priestess ( "La Vestale"), Ursula ("Feuersnot"), Herodias ( "Salome"), The Witch ( "Hansel and Gretel"), Ice Queen ( "Švanda dudák! /! Schwanda the Bagpiper"), Cornelia ("Giulio Cesare in Egitto"), and Filipjewna ("Eugene Onegin") to name a few.
Recent Crossover and Jazz engagements have included appearances at the Jazz Festival Dresden and in a Germany wide tour with Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion.

In addition to her many operatic engagements, Tichina Vaughn performs symphonic concerts, chamber concerts and recitals in many prestigious concert halls around the world. Featured works include („Verdi Requiem“), („Beethoveen’s 9th“), Bernstein’s („Jerimiah Symphony“), and the symphonies of Mahler. Orchestra and conductors include the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei Symphony, the Dublin National Symphony, and the Stuttgart Philharmonic in collaboration with Maestros Placido Domingo, Sir Simon Rattle, James Conlon, Fabio Luisi, James Levine, Nello Santi, Mislahv Rostropovich, Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Bobby McFerrin, Lorin Maazel and Yves Abel to name a few.

Tichina Vaughn completed her studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Georgia State University, and the American Institue of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

STEPHANIE WEISS

Stephanie Weiss, mezzo-soprano, was a Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation from Mannes College of Music. As the winner of the American Berlin Opera Foundation Competition, she became a member of Deutsche Oper Berlin as a Stipendiatin, where in her first season, while still a soprano, she sang Frasquita (Carmen), Musetta, Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Gerhilde (Die Walküre), and Schlafittchen in the Berlin premiere of Das Traumfresserchen.

Ms. Weiss continues to be a regular guest at Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she has sung Marianne Leitmetzerin (Der Rosenkavalier), Aufseherin (Elektra), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Grimgerde (Die Walküre), Johanna [cover] (Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna), and Venus [cover] (Tannhäuser) in the company’s tour to Beijing. Other appearances include Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler at Carnegie Hall as Rose (Lakmé), Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) and Marthe (Faust), at Oper Frankfurt as Musetta, and at Stadttheater Bern, San Diego Opera, Oper Dortmund, and Oper Köln as Marianne Leitmetzerin. She debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic as the Cook in Le Rossignol under the baton of Pierre Boulez. Other notable performances have included Venus (Tannhäuser) with Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) with Opera Las Vegas, and a return to the San Diego Opera as Giannetta (L'elisir d'amore).

Concerts include Wesendonck Lieder with the Henderson Symphony Orchestra, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Symphony No. 4 with the L’viv Philharmonic (Ukraine), and Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana) with Singakademie Potsdam. Recent appearances include Grimgerde (Die Walküre) at Oper Leipzig, Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas) with Opera Company of Middlebury, a return to Deutsche Oper Berlin to sing Zweite Dienerin (Die Ägyptische Helena) and Aufseherin (Elektra), and the title role of Johanna (Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna) by Walter Braunfels at Oper Köln. In the 2017/2018 season, she sang Aksinja in Lady Macbeth of Mzensk at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and returned to Oper Leipzig to sing Grimgerde in Die Walküre.

Along with operatic and orchestral concert repertoire, Ms. Weiss is an avid performer of art song and new music. She has performed recitals in the US, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia, singing the music of award-winning American and German living composers. With pianist Christina Wright-Ivanova, she has sung the world premieres of several song cycles, including Jonathan Stark’s “Passageway”, and Daron Hagen’s “Jaik’s Songs”. In 2018, the duo will release their debut CD of the songs of Daron Hagen.

In addition to her singing, Ms. Weiss is Assistant Professor of Voice at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts School of Music. She holds degrees from New England Conservatory (B.M. voice), Tufts University (B.S. biology and drama), University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M), Mannes College of Music (Prof. Studies Dipl.), and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (D.M.A.). Previously, she was Assistant Professor of Voice at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a Teaching Fellow with the Metropolitan Opera Education Department, and serves on the faculties of COSI (Centre for Opera Studies in Italy) in Sulmona, Italy and AIMS in Graz.

JULIUS P. WILLIAMS

Julius P. Williams III has been involved in music and theater his entire life. As a teenager, he was in the All-State choir ensemble of Connecticut, The USA Eastern Seaboard, All-New England, NY State Summer School of the Arts, and Tanglewood Boston Institute. Julius achieved his Bachelor of Music, Musical Theater Vocal Performance BM at the NYU Steinhardt School, and Classical Voice Performance Masters in Music at the Boston Conservatory. With additional studies Contemporary Writing and Production at Berklee College of Music.

He has performed in the United States and Europe, having being seen as Robbins in “ Porgy and Bess” at Grange Park Opera in London, Jimmy in “Grand Hotel” at the Musiktheater Linz, Benvolio in “Romeo et Juliette” at the New Jersey Opera Theater, The Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Nemorino in L’eleisir d’amore at the Boston Conservatory, Duane/Seaweed in Hairspray at the Cologne Musical Dome and ensembles roles in various theaters throughout Europe.

Julius has also developed his own nostalgic Golden Age of Musical Film Revue “Funny Faces Fancy Feet” and also was a founding member and musical arranger for the Classical Crossover group Vox Fortura. He regularly teaches musical theater, and dance workshops throughout Europe and the United States.

MELODY WILSON

Melody Wilson is steadily gaining recognition as a rising young artist in the US and in Europe.
In the 2019-20 season, Melody Wilson made her first appearances with Seattle Opera as Olga in Eugen Onegin and with Columbus Symphony in Paul Moravec’s oratorio. Upcoming engagements include her debuts with San Francisco Symphony in Brahms’ Alto-Rhapsody as well as further performances of Sanctuary Road with Oakland Symphony and Chautauqua Symphony.
In 2018, Ms. Wilson sang Addie in Blitzstein’s Regina with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as well as Fenena in Nabucco and Linda in Lost In The Stars with Union Avenue Opera St. Louis. In 2017, she performed Blumenmädchen in the world premiere of Mondparsifal Alpha 1-8, Jonathan Meese’s adaption of Wagner’s Parsifal under Simone Young with the Wiener Festwochen and the Berliner Festspiele, and the year before, she garnered acclaim as Mrs. Miller in Union Avenue Opera’s production of Doubt, for which she was nominated for the St. Louis Theater Circle Awards in the category “Outstanding achievement in opera”. In the 2015-16 season, she made two important European debuts: in Germany at Theater Bremen (Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes and Mercédès in Carmen) and in Hungary at the State Opera Budapest (Maddalena in Rigoletto).
No stranger to contemporary repertoire, she performed in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with Opera Delaware (Cherubino), Wexford Opera Festival (Opera Quartet) and Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Opera Quartet). As a Gerdine Young Artist, she also covered Denyce Graves in the role of Emelda in the world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In the standard repertoire she performed Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Flora in La Traviata, Kate in The Pirates of Penzance and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess, all with Opera Delaware, Mercédès in Carmen, Frau Reich in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor and Suzuki (cover) in Madama Butterfly with Opera North as well as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and Larina in Eugene Onegin at the University of Michigan.
Ms. Wilson is also known internationally as a concert soloist and recitalist. She performed Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été with the Slovak State Philharmonic, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Kennett Square Symphony, Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Wexford Opera Festival Orchestra and Vienna’s Consortium Musicum, as well as Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli and Schubert’s Mass No. 3 in b-flat major, again with the Consortium Musicum. She was a featured soloist in Las voces de Montserrat Caballé in Zaragoza, Spain, and in The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington at the Wilmington Jazz Festival, and has presented solo recitals at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts in Wisconsin and the Barocksaal Vienna.
Melody Wilson is a five-time recipient of the Jessye Norman Fellowship and a winner of the "Gabriela Beňačková Competition" in Prague (2016) and the "International Czech and Slovak Competition" (2009). She also won 2nd places at the "Irma M. Cooper International Voice Competition" (2014) and the "Annapolis Vocal Competition" (2012). She received awards from the "Austrian American Society of Delaware", and was one of the winners of the "Kennett Symphony Orchestra Voice Young Artist Competition".
Ms. Wilson holds undergraduate degrees in Music and Spanish from the University of Delaware and a Master of Music and a specialist degree (Artist Diploma) from the University of Michigan. She splits her time between Vienna and Philadelphia.