2024 Company

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.

Andersen’s fairy tales, consisting of 156 stories across nine volumes, have been translated into more than 125 languages. They have become embedded in Western collective consciousness, accessible to children as well as presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers. His most famous fairy tales include “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Nightingale”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Red Shoes”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Little Match Girl”, and “Thumbelina”. His stories have inspired ballets, plays, operas, and animated and live-action films.

Bill was very lucky and got started in theater in junior high school. He then went on to a great high school program, which led to college at Wayne State University in Detroit. A national tour of 56 cities in 26 weeks rounded out his theater training. Working in New York for many years added to the variety and length of the production list.

Since relocating to Portland in 1989, Bill has worked on hundreds of productions including: dramas, musicals, operas, ballets, children’s theater, film, television, commercials, industrials, parade floats, zoo scenery and, “other events as assigned.”

He is very pleased to be in on the ground floor of a new company with so much potential, and he hopes this brief look back does not turn him into a pillar of salt.

Marjorie has worked for many years in opera, dance, and theater, including Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Lucinda Childs, and Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians. She is also a Teaching Artist with the Right Brain Initiative and is Resident Designer at Grant High School.

Lucia Atkinson is a Portland-based freelance violinist who enjoys performing everything from chamber music to rock concerts. She is a tenured violinist with the Portland Opera and a frequent performer with the Oregon Symphony, with which she has served two seasons as acting member. She is a founder of the duo Fifth Mirror and regularly performs with ensembles ranging from jazz to new music to ballet. She has recorded on five Oregon Symphony albums, as well as on records such as Music for Jazz Quintet and Strings with the Barry Deister Quintet, Dick Titterington’s jazz album To Those Who Have Gone Before, and The Decemberists’ album Her Majesty the Decemberists. She has performed several live shows for All Classical KQUAC FM in Portland, and spent many summers playing with various ensembles including the Oregon Bach Festival, the Astoria Music Festival, Summerfest and the Sunriver Musical Festival. In addition to performing with established organizations in town such as the Oregon Ballet Theater, Third Angle New Music and 45thParallel, she also has enjoyed playing with touring groups of all different genres, such as Belle and Sebastian, Dessa, and Weird Al. Lucia holds a Bachelor of Music from Rice University where she studied with Sergiu Luca, and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from SUNY Purchase, where she studied with Laurie Smukler. She is an instructor of violin on the faculty at Lewis & Clark College.

Sara has designed wigs and makeup for theatre, opera and dance companies all over the country including Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theater, Opera San Jose, Indianapolis Opera , Orlando Opera , New Orleans Opera , Tulsa Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Chautauqua Opera, The Wildwood Festival, The Western Opera Theatre Tour, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, The Willows Theatre Company, San Jose Stage Company, Diablo Light Opera Company, and the Aurora Theatre. She has also worked for the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Spoletto Festival USA and on several films and television shows including Metal Lords, Wild, Grimm, Shrill, and Leverage.

Pamela Burovac is an active violist in northwest Oregon, where she regularly plays with Portland Opera, the Eugene Symphony, and the Oregon Mozart Players, in addition to often appearing with the Oregon Music Festival and Eugene Concert Choir. Prior to moving to Oregon in 2018, she lived in Michigan, where she played with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and West Michigan Symphony. She holds a B.A. in Music Education and a B.A. in Music Theory from the University of Washington, after which she completed an M.M. at Kent State University in Viola Performance, with an emphasis on chamber music, as well as Orchestral Conducting.

Charles Butler continues a busy performance schedule in the Pacific Northwest as principal trumpet with the orchestras of the Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theater, Bellingham and Hamptons Festivals of Music. He is also a frequent guest of the Grammy nominated Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Charleston (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver (BC) Symphony, Colorado Music Festival and has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, San Francisco and Santa Fe Operas, Malaysia Philharmonic and orchestras of Tenerife and Galacia, Spain. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Northwestern University, he quickly gained prominence in his early career with job appointments to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and Houston Symphony. In 1980, he recorded the Bernstein Retrospective with the Israel Philharmonic on the Deutsche Grammophon record label – a project which re-recorded all of Leonard Bernstein’s major symphonies and Broadway works with Leonard Bernstein conducting. He has also toured internationally and recorded under the batons of Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman (Israel Philharmonic), Donald Runnicles (San Francisco Opera), Hans Graf (Houston Symphony) and released over 100 recordings of symphonic literature with the Seattle Symphony.

Jenna earned their B.A. in Theatre from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Since then, they’ve been working in the Portland metro area as a costume designer and wardrobe technician. You may have recently seen their costume designs in shows such as Beta Bitches (Stomping Grounds Arthouse); Julius Caesar (Oregon Adventure Theatre); and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Bag&Baggage), as well as their work as a costume design assistant on Hair and Choir Boy at Portland Center Stage. Jenna has also been a wardrobe crew member for many shows at Portland Center Stage including Quixote Nuevo; What the Constitution Means to Me; Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Play, Really; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and many more.

Gracie is an artist and a retired graphic designer. She is a great fan of the arts and for over 20 years has volunteered for many Portland performing art organizations. She is excited to be working with OrpheusPDX!

Owen Carey is best known for his forty plus years shooting theatrical productions for over thirty companies, including Portland Center Stage, and over 3 decades shooting for both Artists Repertory Theatre and Oregon Childrens Theatre; as well as his promotional and advertising images for hundreds of productions. He has been called “an actor’s best friend” and “King of the Headshots.” He is delighted and grateful to be the production photographer for Orpheus|PDX.

Originally from New York City, his roots are in fine art photography; where he’s studied with Peter Moore at the New School, and assisted experimental filmmakers like Michael Snow in the early 70s. Back then, he could be found at photo galleries and museums, talking with and learning from, some of his photography heroes, reading the history of photography, or pounding the NY streets with his Pentax or Leica, then developing the results in his home darkroom.

In 1974 he moved to Portland to play drums and sing in a band; and get away from those NY inspirations, to find his own photographic “voice.” His images and portraits have appeared on many book covers, CD covers, albums, and promotional materials for hundreds of musicians.

His commercial and advertising clients include Nike, Jantzen Sportswear, US Bank, the Oregon Lottery, and all four of the local network stations.

His editorial portraits can be found in Portland Monthly and Willamette Week; and his fine art work has been exhibited nationally.

…and he thanks his wife for everything.

A Maryland native, Jess received a Master’s in Clarinet Performance (along with two Bachelor’s degrees) from Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY, before relocating to Portland in 2005. Jess began her career as the music librarian at Portland Opera, where for nine seasons she prepared scores and parts, helped manage the orchestra, drafted contracts, ran supertext, coordinated auditions, and assisted with the young artist program. She has also worked for Portland Baroque Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Chamber Music Northwest, Atlanta Opera, and Pink Martini. She spent several years as a music editor for Oregon Catholic Press, and then made a leap into a new medium: Stop motion animation. Currently, she is the puppet wrangler on Guillermo del Toro’s PINOCCHIO. She spends her spare time paddleboarding, hanging out with her dog, Toby, and her horse, Cookie, puttering in her (chronically overgrown) garden, and attempting to play through every Legend of Zelda game in order of release.

Mark Dubac joined the clarinet section of the Oregon Symphony in 2008, where he plays second clarinet and E-flat clarinet. He also performs in several Portland-based chamber groups, including Third Angle, fEARnoMUSIC, and 45th Parallel. Mark previously served as principal clarinet of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, and has also performed with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet, New Mexico Symphony, Portland Opera, and the Oregon Ballet Theatre orchestra. Mark has participated in a number of summer festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Astoria Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto Festival of Italy, National Orchestral Institute, Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival.

Sydney Dufka Forchielli is a visual storyteller and costume designer. She is interested in exploring the motivation of characters through the details in the clothing. Her work is rooted in research, and finding the silhouettes and shapes through sketching. Sydney believes art is a universal form of communication that is vital to humanity.

Sydney is also an accomplished craftsman and spends much of her spare time behind the sewing machine building her fashion designs. In addition to her own work Sydney is an Associate Designer with LDC Design Associates in NYC.

Educated in Chicago and based in Portland, Oregon and New York City. Sydney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Costume Design from The Theatre School at DePaul University

Pianist Paul Floyd works as a collaborative artist, vocal coach, and conductor. He has taught on the music faculties of Chapman University and the University of California, LosAngeles.

For sixteen years he served as an Assistant Conductor with the Los Angeles Opera where he often collaborated with some of the opera world’s greatest singers and conductors, played in the opera orchestra, and was regularly featured as a lecturer at pre-performance talks. During the summers he has coached singers or conducted at the Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and the Astoria Festival in Oregon. Paul frequently appeared as the official accompanist for the Western Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. His movie credits include an appearance with Julie Andrews and Anna Netrebko in Princess Diaries II, and a Disney Hall performance with Vivica Genaux in Anthony Hopkins’ Fracture.

Paul holds a doctoral degree in piano performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in addition to degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California, where he graduated summa cum laude.

Claire Forstman is a pianist and vocal coach currently a member of the Resident Artist studio at Portland Opera. She has also held studio residencies at the Florentine Opera, Opera Steamboat, and Finger Lakes Opera, and coached at Chicago Summer Opera, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, and Sarah Lawrence College. Her studio recording work with The Orchestra Now and The Curiosity Cabinet ensembles can be heard on Buried Alive (Bridge Records), For You (Pinch Records), and Solitude and Secrecy (Pinch Records). Claire also plays this season for the Oregon Ballet Theatre School, and previously worked as a class pianist for the Milwaukee Ballet School and Academy. She earned her M.M. in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and a B.M. in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music.

Brian’s career in the arts has spanned almost 20 years and as many locations. Not one to stay with one field for very long, Brian has worked as a Stage Performer, Commercial and Music Video Production Manager, Stage Manager, Chamber Music Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Technical Director, and Stage Director. More recently, Brian has begun to teach at the University of Portland after receiving his MFA in Directing there. When not working, Brian spends most of his time with his wife, Eve, and their 8 year old triplets – Hector, Rosie and Ella.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest composers of all time— writing enduring masterpieces in all musical genres of his time: operas, oratorios, concertos, and chamber music. He is well loved for such works as The Messiah, Water Music, The Royal Fireworks, and The Concerti Grossi, and also composed 42 operas

There has been a huge resurgence of performances of Handel operas during the past 40 years – operas such as Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo, Semele, Rodelinda, Alcina, Agrippina, Tamerlano, Acis and Galatea, Partenope, Ariodante, Orlando, and Xerxes are now produced regularly by major opera companies throughout the world.

Almost all his operas have been commercially recorded (some several times over) and are available on DVD.

Described as “utterly original” by The New York Times and named a 2023 Musician to Watch by the Washington Post, David Hertzberg is a composer from Los Angeles.

In the spring of 2020, the debut recording of his opera The Wake World, which premiered at Opera Philadelphia in 2017 and won the Music Critics Association of North America’s Best New Opera Award, was released on Tzadik. Lauded as “a rapturous nirvana” by the Financial Times and “astonishingly imaginative” by the BBC, the recording was included among The New York Times Best Classical Albums of 2020. This was followed shortly by the release of his chamber opera The Rose Elf, which premiered in the catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery in 2018 and was dubbed WQXR’s Opera Event of the Year. Opera News listed the album as one of the Year’s Best Recordings, calling it “a kaleidoscopic, narcotic vision” that The New Yorker wrote “blooms with warmth and depth”. That same year David was awarded the Andrew Imbrie Award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and named a Guggenheim Fellow.

David is currently working on his next opera, Grand Hotel, a site-specific operatic fugue in four acts for the Los Angeles-based company The Industry, as well as a one-act symphonic monodrama entitled HQ, to premiere in 2024.

Highlights of recent seasons have included the premiere of his Chamber Symphony with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the cantata Sunday Morning with New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, the orchestral works for none shall gaze upon the Father and live and Spectre of the Spheres with the Pittsburgh and Kansas City Symphonies, four premieres of chamber works on the Concert Artists Guild series at Carnegie Hall, his orchestral cantata Nympharum and large ensemble work femminina, oscura at Alice Tully Hall, as well as performances at Tanglewood and the Kennedy Center.

David has held residencies at Opera Philadelphia, Dumbarton Oaks, Young Concert Artists, Copland House, Yaddo, and MacDowell, and received distinctions from Juilliard, Harvard, Tanglewood, BMI, ASCAP, and the International Opera Awards, which shortlisted him for Newcomer of the Year in 2018. He studied at Juilliard and Curtis.

Michael Hettwer has been a freelance horn player in the Northwest for 35 years. He holds positions with the Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theatre orchestras and frequently plays with the Oregon Symphony and Eugene Symphony orchestras. He serves as orchestra manager for Portland Opera and contractor for Portland’s Best of Broadway series. Michael is also the horn professor at Willamette University. He has recently retired after 30 years teaching music in public schools. His wife, Kami, is a music educator and executive director of the Salem Youth Symphony. Together they have three adult children who are all professional musicians.

Alyssa Jewell is a Portland based artist and recent Boston University MFA graduate who dances between the worlds of live performance design and video installation. She has had the pleasure of working as a scenic designer for Patterns of Wind (Boothe Theatre) directed by Ty Defoe & Kate Freer, Rx Machina (Boston Playwrights Theatre) directed by Blair Cadden, Exit The King (BU Studio One) directed by Clay Hopper, Once: The Musical (Boothe Theatre) directed by Shamus McCarty, and Motion. (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao) in collaboration with MIT Media Lab. Alyssa strives to continue her work as a designer exploring the intersections of music, theatre and multimedia, and their impact on sparking conversation and building community.

Lindsey Rae Johnson (she/her) hails from Minnesota. After completing music degrees at Luther College and the University of North Texas, she relocated to Portland. Lindsey has performed locally with Portland Opera, Renegade Opera, Ping & Woof Opera, OperaBend, Lark Opera, Queer Opera, Opera on Tap, Portland SummerFest Opera in the Park, Mocks Crest Productions, Light Opera of Portland, Classical Revolution PDX, and the Dickens Carolers. She has also performed with Fort Worth Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Really Spicy Opera, Waffle Opera, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Oberlin in Italy, Frost School of Music in Salzburg, Sieur Du Luth Summer Arts Festival, and Lamplighters Music Theatre. Lindsey has worked as a Supertitles Operator with Portland Opera, Opera Theater Oregon, and Anima Mundi Productions. She is a Musical Artist in Residence with St. John the Baptist Episcopal and serves on the AGMA Board of Governors and NW Area Committee. www.lindseyraejohnson.com

Joseph Klause received his Bachelor’s Degree in Trumpet Performance from the New England Conservatory after graduating from the Pre-College Program at Juilliard. At the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, he continued his studies receiving a Master’s Degree in Dalcroze Eurhythmics and an Artist Diploma in Chamber Music. Upon leaving music school, Joseph put his skills to good use and built an ice cream sandwich business, Peace Pie, which now has six stores in three states up and down the East Coast. Feeling satisfied that he scooped enough ice cream, Joseph moved to Oregon in 2017 to follow his passion for music.

Joseph is a regular performer with the Eugene Symphony, Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Portland Columbia Symphony. He is a member of the Rose City Brass Quintet, Rose City Brass Trio, and Ne Plus Ultra Jazz Orchestra, and also performs with many other local orchestras, musicals, wind ensembles and festivals in and around the PNW. When not playing the trumpet, Joseph enjoys being outdoors, playing with his cats, and working as a software engineer.

Shin-young has been a member of the Oregon Symphony orchestra since 2004 and served as acting assistant concertmaster from September 2016 through December 2018. She joined the Arnica String Quartet in 2005, and is a founding member of the Portland-based string quartet Mousai Remix since 2011.

In 1996, Shin-young transferred from Seoul National University to the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg and earned both her B.M. and M.M. She later completed her Doctor of Musical Arts at Indiana University as a student of Miriam Fried. Shin-young’s dissertation is a survey of string quartets by minor composers of the Classical period.

Shin-young has been coached by Atar Arad, James Buswell, Isidore Cohen, Glenn Dicterow, Alexander Kerr, Peter Salaf, János Starker, Sheryl Staples, Alan de Veritch, Zvi Zeitlin, and members of the Orion, Juilliard, Chicago, and Takács quartets.

She has also participated in a number of music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West, the New York String Seminar, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Taos School of Music.

Viewed as “a broad, resonant baritone that is exquisitely controlled throughout his entire range,” Zachary Lenox has performed leading roles across North America. Notable roles include Silvio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La bohème, Marullo in Rigoletto, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Cosí fan Tutte, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Father in Hansel and Gretel, Sid in Albert Herring, Gianni Schicchi and Betto in Gianni Schicchi, and Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore.

Mr. Lenox has appeared with Portland Opera, Eugene Opera, Tacoma Opera, Opera Parallèle, Opera Bend, Pacific Music Works, Cascadia Chamber Opera, Portland Summerfest, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Portland Concert Opera, Eugene Concert Choir, Bravo Northwest, and the Astoria Music Festival.

Concert appearances include Bass Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Samson, and Judah Maccabeus, Mozart’s Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s Coffee Cantata, Christmas Cantatas, as well as BWV 56.

Zachary is a past winner of the Pacific Northwest Sings competition as well as the MONC Idaho/ Montana District Auditions. He received his B.M. and M.M. from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

John Lenti, described by the Seattle Times as “a joy to behold” is regularly beheld playing lute, theorbo, and baroque guitar with lots of orchestras, choirs, and opera companies on both coasts of the United States, as well as in the interior, non-coastal part, and a few, coastal or otherwise, in other countries. While orchestral work as an accompanist and concerto soloist comprises most of his career, chamber music is John’s primary interest and he enjoys touring with his groups Wayward Sisters, the I-90 Collective, and Ostraka, while appearing as a guest with many other notable ensembles. 

With various groups he is frequently heard on most early music concert series and at lots of festivals. His recording credits include several well-received albums with some of the aforementioned bands, and his liner notes, program notes, and lectures have drawn praise.

While his time is spent doing a great many things on a great many historical plucked instruments and teaching a bit, his most intense musical love is the English golden-age lute song repertoire, and his sincere desire is to become the Gerald Moore of the lute (currently accepting applications for a quiet Fischer-Dieskau with no vibrato), once that becomes remunerative. His repertoire extends from the early 16th century to the present day, but other than something really neat like an electric theorbo concerto, his commitment to the music of our own time is negligible if not actually averse.

A native of South Carolina, John attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and Indiana University, and he studied lute with Jacob Heringman, Elizabeth Kenny, and Nigel North, also receiving valuable guidance from Pat O’Brien, Walter Gray, and Ricardo Cobo.

The wide-ranging and versatile George Manahan has had an esteemed career embracing everything from opera to the concert stage, the traditional to the contemporary. In addition, he continues his commitment to working with young musicians as Director of Orchestral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music as well as guest conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music and Merola Opera Program.

Mr. Manahan is the 2012 winner of the Ditson Conductor’s Award, established in 1945 by the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. It is the oldest award honoring conductors for their support of American music. Previous recipients include James Levine, Christopher Keene, Leopold Stowkowsky, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, and Alan Gilbert. He also served as Music Director of New York City Opera, Portland Opera, and American Composers’ Orchestra.

Mr. Manahan was honored by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) for his “career-long advocacy for American composers and the music of our time [that] has enriched and enabled Concert Music both at home and abroad.” His recent Carnegie Hall performance of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra was hailed by audiences and critics alike, “What a difference it makes to hear the piece performed by an opera conductor who palpably believes in it,” said the New York Times, “the fervent and sensitive performance that Mr. Manahan presided over made the best case for this opera that I have encountered.”

Mr. Manahan’s guest appearances include the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, as well as the symphonies of Atlanta, San Francisco, Hollywood Bowl, and New Jersey, where he served as acting Music Director for four seasons. He is a regular guest with the Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Music Festival, and has also appeared with the Opera Companies of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Santa Fe, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera National du Paris, Teatro de Communale de Bologna, the Bergen Festival (Norway), and the Casals Festival (Puerto Rico).

His many appearances on television include productions of La bohème, Lizzie Borden, and Tosca on PBS. Live from Lincoln Center’s telecast of New York City Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly under his direction won a 2007 Emmy Award. Mr. Manahan’s wide-ranging recording activities include the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Tehillim for ECM; recordings of Edward Thomas’s Desire Under the Elms, which was nominated for a Grammy; Joe Jackson’s Will Power; and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. His enthusiasm for contemporary music continues today; he has conducted numerous world premieres, including Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, David Lang’s Modern Painters, Hans Werner Henze’s The English Cat, and Terence Blanchard’s Champion. As Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (VA) for twelve years, he was honored four times by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) for his commitment to new music.

He received his formal musical training at the Manhattan School of Music, studying conducting with Anton Coppola and George Schick, and was appointed to the faculty of the school upon his graduation, at which time The Juilliard School awarded him a fellowship as Assistant Conductor with the American Opera Center. Mr. Manahan was chosen as the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony and he made his opera debut with the Santa Fe Opera, conducting the American premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Von Heute Auf Morgen.

Bea Martino (they/them) is a multidisciplinary performance artist, producer, designer, stage manager, and grief advocate. They are a producing partner of Edge Effect Media Group in NYC, Assistant Stage Manager at Oregon Ballet Theater, and a freelance artist and creative consultant working on both coasts. Bea is delighted to be joining Orpheus PDX’s team for the production of The Rose Elf. Bea holds a B.A. with honors in Dance and Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, and an M.A. in Grief Studies from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study (Artistic Thesis: What Remains: Ritual Spaces for the Contemporary Mourner). Driven by multiple experiences of significant personal loss, Bea has been exploring themes of grief, memory, loss, and identity since 2007. Their artistic work advocates for the value of adequate and appropriate ritual spaces, by providing a holistic model for processing the universal human experience of loss. Learn more at https://www.beatricemartino.com/

Alex is happy to be working with Orpheus PDX. As a scenic designer, she has worked with Third Rail Repertory, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, The Theatre Company, Bag&Baggage Productions, Portland Shakespeare Project, Broadway Rose, Crave Theatre, Salt and Sage Productions, Passinart, Fuse Theatre Ensemble, CoHo Productions, Imago Theatre. Alex is Shaking the Tree Theatre’s resident scenic artist. She is also an oil painter, with work recently shown at Lunaria Gallery and The Remains Gallery. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art and theatre from Augustana University (SD). More at www.designbyalexmeyer.com.

Brandon Michael has been recognized for his beautiful and versatile tenor voice and his dynamic stage presence. Last summer, Brandon sang the role of Agenore in Mozarts “Il Re Pastore” with Orpheus PDX and is thrilled to sing with the company again this summer in “The Rose Elf”. Brandon has been performing opera and musical theater for three decades. Brandon has been a regular chorus member with the Portland Opera since 2022. With Inland Northwest Opera, Brandon performed the roles of Goro, Spoletta and Basilio/Don Curzio. In concert, Brandon is regularly heard with Portlands Resonance Ensemble and will be featured on an album they are recording this summer. Brandon sings with Portland Symphonic Choir and was the Tenor Soloist for the Rachmanoniv Vespers and understudy for the Puccini Messa Di Gloria with Vancouver Symphony. Brandon has sang the tenor solo in Beethovens 9th with the Spokane Symphony. This summer Brandon will sing Nemorino in a concert version of Elisir D’Amore with Ping and Woof Opera. Brandon teaches voice and performance and repertoire at Clackamas Community College.

Jerry studied the teachings of Jacques Lecoq at the Hayes-Marshall School of Theatre Arts. After co-founding Imago Theatre with Carol Triffle, he staged two works by Richard Foreman: Samuel’s Major Problems and Symphony of Rats.

He has adapted magical realism literature for the stage, incorporating multimedia, puppetry and stage illusion in Verdad (in collaboration with Triffle) and Half Light. His modern adaptations of classics include Blood Wedding, The Imaginary Invalid, Exit the King, and Uncle Vanya. His adaptation of Sartre’s No Exit on a moving stage played at the Tony-award-winning American Repertory Theatre and Hartford Stage Company. Among the arts organizations he has staged work for are BodyVox, The Portland Opera and The Oregon Symphony.

Jerry’s staging of Caryl Churchill’s A Number saw its United States premiere at Imago Theatre in 2003. His canon of original silent works entitled “Opera Beyond Words” erupted onto the Imago stage from 2009 to 2011 with Apis, or the Taste of Honey; The Cuban Missile Crisis; Tick Tack Type; Stage Left Lost and Zugzwang, followed shortly by critically-acclaimed stagings of three Harold Pinter plays: The Lover, The Caretaker, and The Homecoming. Additional productions include Yukio Mishima’s The Black Lizard and The Lady Aoi, Pimento & Pullman, Hughie, Savage/Love, and Medea. He co-created and co-directed with Carol Triffle their award-winning touring shows FROGZ, ZooZoo and La Belle, Lost in the World of the Automaton.

Awards include Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship, Portland Theater Guild Fellowship, Best Director by the Independent Reviewers of New England, the New York Dance Film Award, and Portland Theatre awards for acting, light design, choreography, and best original play.

Recent directing projects include The Seafarer and Port Authority (by Conor McPherson) and original works My Bedroom is an Installation and Voiceover (co-writer with Drew Pisarra). Opera direction with The Portland Opera includes The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, The Little Match Girl Passion, In The Penal Colony (designer and director), and with Eugene Opera, Lucy (director).

Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC – AD 17), known in English as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists.

Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a “poem and a mistake”, but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.

Ovid is most famous for The Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”) and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today.

David Parmeter, double bass, came from a musical family. He grew up in Southern California and graduated from UCLA; shortly after, David won a position with Pacific Symphony and landed a career as a studio musician playing film scores. Twenty-five years later, he continues to do both, even though in 2012 David and his family relocated to Portland Oregon, where he is currently Principal Bass of Oregon Ballet Theatre and a member of Portland Opera. David has also played with Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Oregon Symphony as a substitute musician. David plays in many summer festivals and enjoys riding his bike and brewing beer in his free time.

Hannah Penn, a mezzo-soprano, enjoys a diverse career as a performer of opera, oratorio, and recital literature. Frequently praised for her musicality and the timbre of her voice, Ms. Penn has recently been called “…a major talent”, and “…an intelligent and wonderfully musical singer” by Portland’s Willamette Week, and was praised for having “…intriguing colors at both ends of her range” by The Oregonian. She has sung more than twenty operatic roles with Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Portland Opera, Tacoma Opera, Opera Bend, Eugene Opera, Opera Coeur D’Alene, and many other companies.

As a past member of Portland Opera’s studio artist program, Ms. Penn sang the roles of Diana (La Calisto), Thisbe (La Cenerentola), Mercedes (Carmen), Flora (La traviata), and Nancy (Albert Herring). She also sang her first Carmen with Portland Opera, which garnered critical acclaim and resulted in a chance to reprise the role following season with the Teatro National Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. Ms. Penn has since returned to Portland Opera many times as a guest artist, most notably as “Hannah After” in As One, Julie in Show Boat, and L’enfant in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges.

A strong proponent of new works, Ms. Penn has performed in the American premiere tours of John Adam’s El Niño and Sven-David Sandstrom’s High Mass, and has been involved in the American premieres of several operas, including Anthony Davis’s Wakonda’s Dream, Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur, and David Carlson’s Anna Karenina.

Ms. Penn also enjoys a full concert schedule, having been featured with orchestras around the country, including many appearances with the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Sunriver Music Festival, the Florida Philharmonic, and the Seattle Baroque.

A dedicated and passionate teacher, Ms. Penn maintains a large private studio, in addition to positions on faculty at Portland State University, Linfield University, and Aquilon Music Festival. She has been Portland Opera’s regular pre-show lecturer for the past six years. Ms. Penn received her doctorate of musical arts from New England Conservatory last fall, after rediscovering the manuscript parts and reconstructing the full score for a lost American opera, Shanewis, by Charles Wakefield Cadman. The semi-biographical piece tells the life story of Cadman’s friend and colleague, Native American operatic mezzo-soprano Tsianina Redfeather.

This season’s engagements include two concerts with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, concerts, and recording projects with Portland’s medieval music group In Mulieribus, concerts with the Salem Festival Chorale and Salem Winds, and a series of Bach cantatas in Leipzig, Berlin, and Prague, with the Leipzig Bach Festival. Next season, Ms. Penn will perform Peter Maxwell Davies’ one-woman show, Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, with Third Angle.

Alayna Powell is based in Kansas City and just completed her second season as stage manager for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Recent productions include Roméo et Juliette, The Sound of Music, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, and The Shining. Alayna also regularly stage manages for Lawrence Opera Theatre and Pensacola Opera. She received her MFA in Theatre Design and Technology – Stage Management from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2018. Prior to attending graduate school, Alayna worked in the public schools as a music educator, teaching elementary music for three years and middle school/high school choirs for five years. Alayna holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Kansas State University.

Ben Price is an oboist and creative whose mission is to create stories and memories through music. They currently hold the David H. Springman Memorial Fellowship at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, where they regularly perform as part of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and as a soloist and chamber musician in the Curtis Student Recital Series. While growing up in Portland, Oregon, Ben was an oboist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA (VSO) and principal oboist of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. They are also a three-time member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, and toured Europe with the orchestra in summer 2022.

An avid contributor in the sphere of multimedia, Ben performed as part of the launch of Site-Specific Dances at the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City, a video installation with live dancing that highlights the relationship between music, dance, and nature. Ben has also recorded tracks for the Barnes Foundation and Curtis Institute’s joint presentation of John Dowell: A Public Intimate Space, a project that celebrates the heritage of Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood and contemplates architecture and urbanism.

Ben Price is a first-prize laureate of competitions with the VSO, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and Oregon Sinfonietta, and has appeared as concerto soloist with them and with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. They have also performed as guest Principal Oboe with Symphony in C, Pink Martini, and the MYSfits Chamber Orchestra.

Ben currently studies with Katherine Needleman and Philippe Tondre at Curtis, and owes an enormous debt to their former teachers Karen Wagner and Dagny Rask Regan in Portland, without whom they would not have gotten very far. When not immersed in the metaphysical experience of music, Ben thoroughly enjoys a good map, a good book, and a good journey at sunset.

Stage Director Chas Rader-Shieber is known both for his bold and inventive productions and for his acute musical instincts. Reviewing his staging of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Toronto’s Classical 96.3 FM praised Mr. Rader-Shieber’s “daring and visionary approach to staging” and declared him “a force to be reckoned with in the opera world.”

Mr. Rader-Shieber’s 2023-2024 season began with a company debut as he directed Le nozze di Figaro with New Orleans Opera. He then returned to Curtis Institute of Music for Handel’s oratorio, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, where he served as both stage director and costume designer. During the summer, Chas continued his long-standing relationship with Des Moines Metro Opera directing a new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

2022-2023 featured a debut for Mr. Rader-Shieber with Orpheus PDX, directing a new production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, followed by a return to Curtis Institute of Music for Dangerous Liasons, rescheduled from the 2021-22 season. He also traveled to the Rocky Mountains for a new production of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt with Opera Colorado.

In the 2021-2022 season, Mr. Rader-Shieber returned to Des Moines Metro Opera for a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, collaborating with frequent design partner Jacob A. Climer. During the COVID-19 impacted 2020-2021 season, his engagements included a film entitled Mercy, inspired by Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, which he co-directed with Alek Shrader for the Curtis Institute of Music, a new production of Rameau’s Platée at Des Moines Metro Opera, and a reprisal of his acclaimed production of Orfeo ed Euridice at The Dallas Opera (cancelled).

Mr. Rader-Shieber has enjoyed a long relationship with the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, where he has directed over 30 operas, among them Il barbiere di Siviglia, La clemenza di Tito, Capriccio, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Zauberflöte, Henze’sElegy for Young Lovers, Idomeneo, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Antony and Cleopatra, Dido and Aeneas, and Alcina. He has also established lasting relationships with multiple other companies, such as Des Moines Metro Opera (Rameau’s Plateée, Rusalka, Gluck’s Orfeo, Die Entführung aus dem serail), Portland Opera (La finta giardiniera, Die Fledermaus, Rinaldo, Gluck’s Orfeo), and Pinchgut Opera (Hasse’s Artaserse, Cavalli’s Giasone, Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, L’amant jaloux).

​In addition, his productions have been seen around the world, at houses such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and many more.

Among his many other Handel credits, he directed lavish and modern stagings of Semele for the Arizona Opera and the Skylight Opera Theatre, Alcina at the Curtis Institute of Music, Giulio Cesare at the Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Edmonton Operas, and Tamerlano at the Spoleto Festival USA. He has also directed other Baroque operas, including Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Pittsburgh Opera Center and the Curtis Institute, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Curtis Institute.

​Mr. Rader-Shieber has served as Artistic Director of the Skylight Opera Theatre, and on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Music Academy of the West.

Hi, My name is Ray. I am a multi-disciplinary theater artist, who enjoys wearing many hats. I have worked as a divisor, designer, technician, actor, and director. I am excited by telling stories and a shameless fan of spectacle. Some of my most recent works include the role of Escaleas in Measure for Measure at PSU, Assistant director of Mr. Burns with STAGE, and dramatic readings at COHO, scenic painting for Dark Sisters with OrpheusPDX. Theatre has been a part of my life since childhood, and I hope to continue my work dabbling in as many areas as possible. I do theater because it makes me feel better about the world. When I’m not working on a show you can usually find me hanging with chosen family, walking my dog, or making an epic mess in my kitchen. Really excited to be working with OrpheusPDX.

Gordon Rencher is one of the Northwest’s most versatile percussionists. A skilled drum set player and orchestral percussionist, he also performs professionally on latin percussion and steel drum. He is the principal percussionist for the Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theater, and has been principal for several area summer music festivals, including the Oregon Bach Festival. He performs frequently with The Oregon Symphony, and is Portland’s “first call” show player for touring Broadway musicals. He has performed with Chick Corea, Jason Alexander, Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, Bernadette Peters, Roberta Flack, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Cetera, The Indigo Girls, Bela Fleck, The Pointer Sisters, Jerry Lewis, Dave Brubeck, Randy Newman, along with many others. In addition to recordings of the Oregon Symphony (3 Grammy nominations), Gordon can be heard on recordings for The Portland Opera, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Oregon Catholic Press, and folk-rock-blues artist, Martha Schuyler Thompson.

Mr. Rencher teaches drum set and percussion in his own studio, and has taught for Western Oregon University, Linfield College, Portland State University, Warner Pacific College, Marylhurst University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and many area high schools. Mr. Rencher has published a method book for beginning snare drum, a method book for beginning jazz drum set, and several pieces for concert percussion, marching percussion, and steel drum band through Alfred Music, Matrix Music, and Drop6 publications. Originally from Boise, Idaho, and a graduate of the University of North Texas and veteran of NT’s renowned Lab bands, he worked on cruise ships as a drummer and band leader before moving to the Portland area in 1989.

Cristine Anne Reynolds (stage manager) is based out of Seattle, WA where she works at Seattle Opera (23 seasons) Seattle Repertory Theatre (18 seasons), and Seattle Children’s Theatre (20 seasons).
National and international credits include Arena Stage (DC), Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC), South Coast Repertory (CA), Pacific Northwest Ballet (WA). Edinburgh International Festival, Sadler’s Wells-London, Singapore Arts Festival and Macau Festival of the Arts. She received her training at College of Marin in Kentfield, CA and California State University at Long Beach: BA in Theatre Arts.

Dylan Rieck, a cellist and composer, is principal cellist for the Portland Opera orchestra. He has performed over 800 concerts in 15 countries globally. Dylan’s original compositions span a wide range of musical styles and convey a sense of exploration and urgency. An avid collaborator, Dylan finds inspiration from working with artists in many fields to blend ideas into rich tapestries of new work. His work can be heard on television, film, video games, and in live performances in many unique environments.

Award-winning American mezzo-soprano Lisa Marie Rogali has been praised for her “nuanced voice” and “spontaneity” on the stage. Opera News described her début performance with Minnesota Opera as “…a tour de force of diction, precision and pizzazz.” Ms. Rogali is quickly establishing herself as a versatile performer of opera and musical theatre as well as contemporary and concert music.

This season, Ms. Rogali joins Detroit Opera’s Resident Artist Program, singing the roles of Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Lapak in The Cunning Little Vixen, and covering Dodo in Breaking the Waves. She will also make her role début as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with North Carolina Opera.

Last season, Ms. Rogali débuted the roles of Princess/Lucy/Fancy Doll #1 in the world premiere of Edward Tulane with Minnesota Opera. She also performed her first Hansel in Opera Birmingham’s production of Hansel and Gretel this spring. On the concert stage, she was featured as the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Naples Philharmonic, as well as Mozart’s Requiem with The Masterwork Chorus. Additionally, she performed Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Williamsport Symphony Orchestra as part of their “Love & Romance” concert. Additionally, she returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to sing Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette and Paquette in Candide.

Ms. Rogali has been featured in roles on the stages of companies including Minnesota Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Birmingham, and Opera Saratoga. New to mezzo-soprano repertoire, she has already garnered attention for her success in the zwischenfach world. Some of her most notable operatic roles to date include: Mercédès in Carmen, Tina in Flight, Lisette in La rondine, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Musetta in La bohème, Elle in La voix humaine, and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. Ms. Rogali’s versatility extends to the musical theatre realm as well, where she has performed and covered leading roles such as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Louise in Gypsy, and Maria in The Sound of Music.

On the competition circuit, Ms. Rogali has earned top accolades from a variety of prominent organizations. Recently, she was awarded Third Place in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Eastern Region), Second Place in the Orpheus Vocal Competition, First Place in the Dorothy Lincoln Smith Classical Voice Competition, Fourth Place in the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, and Second Place in the American Traditions Vocal Competition. She has also won awards from the Lotte Lenya Competition, Jensen Foundation, Career Bridges, and Opera at Florham Competition, among others.

Ms. Rogali received her M.M. in Vocal Performance from The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and her B.M.E. in Music Education from The Pennsylvania State University.

Praised for her exquisite tone, enthralling stage presence, and thrilling versatility, Madeline Ross made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 as a jazz soloist where she “scatt[ed] to beat the band” (NY Concert Review). She has performed with Portland Opera, Resonance Ensemble, The Oregon Symphony, 45th Parallel, Portland Opera To Go, and Opera Theater Oregon, and was recently hailed for “effortlessly nailing” her performance as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Oregon ArtsWatch). She won first prize at the National Association of Teachers of Singing classical voice competition in 2020 and has recently returned from a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., premiering An African American Requiem with Resonance Ensemble and NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Renegade Opera, Portland’s unconventional opera company. Recent engagements include an experimental theater production with Shaking the Tree Theatre and a role debut as First Wood Sprite in Dvorak’s Rusalka with Portland Opera.

As a classical pianist, British-born Sequoia has worked for such companies as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Rambert Dance Company, the BBC Singers, and the acclaimed music theater group, the Clod Ensemble. Since his arrival in Portland, he is now working for Portland Opera & Opera Theater Oregon. He also enjoys working in progressive music outside of the classical box, and has performed and collaborated with the likes of rock legends Mark E Smith (The Fall), Damo Suzuki (Can), and jazz/improvising luminaries Meredith Monk, Jacqui Dankworth, and Barb Jungr.

Jim entered the theatrical world late in life. Shuttling four children to and from ballet, choir and orchestra for years led to getting engaged backstage for ballet productions for Oregon Ballet Theater. And when his two boys performed in Madame Butterfly in 2004 for Portland Opera, Jim was pulled in for his first Supernumerary role for Portland Opera’s amazing production of Nixon in China. Thirty-Five productions and four opera companies later, Jim eagerly jumps at any opportunity to be on stage or backstage for an opera production. When not on stage and not busy with his day job and parenting, Jim manages a 1,500 square foot music studio he built in his home to provide teaching, rehearsing and recital space for Portland area teachers to teach to old and young alike at no cost to teachers. Jim’s goal is to connect teachers and students in a warm, friendly and stress-free environment.

Powerfully compelling, Deanna Tham is known for her captivating and tenacious spirit on and off the podium. She is currently Associate Conductor of the Oregon Symphony and Music Director of the Union Symphony Orchestra.

Previously, Tham was the Assistant Conductor of the Omaha Symphony, following her tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras. She has performed at the Proms in Royal Albert Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center working with Maestros James Ross, Joseph Young, and Sir Antonio Pappano, as well as renowned artists Isobel Leonard and Joyce DiDonato. Highlights of the 2019-2020 season included leading the Jacksonville Symphony’s first educational Martin Luther King Jr. tribute concert and the Union Symphony’s first city-community Pops on the Plaza collaboration of Latin American pop and classical music. Additional recent engagements include Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra (NYO-USA and NYO2) and Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta with Maestro Mei-Ann Chen. Tham has also regularly guest conducted with the Boise Philharmonic and Ballet Idaho, is a cover conductor for the San Francisco Symphony, and has worked with world-renown soloists in a variety of genres including Melissa White, Capathia Jenkins, and Cherish the Ladies. Her past positions include those with the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Louisville Youth Orchestras, and American Chamber Opera.

Tham is also equally at home with a variety of musical genres. These projects include full-feature blockbuster movie scores, collaborations with Cirque Musica, Broadway artists, pop cover groups like Jeans ’n Classics, and independent artists like Silent Film Score connoisseur and composer, Ben Model.

Tham is a staunch advocate of music education from school education engagement and youth orchestral performing opportunities to lifelong learning. In 2018, Tham and the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras made their debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. Previously, she has worked with the Louisville Youth Orchestras and the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Tham has also created and presented educational concert series in a variety of formats. She has written original school-curriculum-based programs for numerous symphony orchestras and collaborated with organizations including Really Inventive Stuff, the Louisville Ballet Academy, and the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute.

Tham is a second-place winner in the Youth Orchestra Conductor division of the American Prize. She was invited as a scholarship participant to the 2015 Conductors Guild Conductor/Composer Training Workshop at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music working with renowned conductors Marin Alsop and James Ross. Additionally, she was the recipient of the 2015 Wintergreen Summer Music Academy Conductor’s Guild Scholarship where she worked with Master Teacher Victor Yampolsky. In 2013, Tham’s work with the National Music Festival was featured on National Public Radio as well as American Public Media. She has also made appearances at the Cadaques Orchestra International Conducting Competition.

Tham has been the Music Director of the American Chamber Orchestra. Her work with the company includes a groundbreaking semi-staged version of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, staged in English for the South Chicago community. During her time with the company, she worked with many talented musicians, including those who sing with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made great strides making the company a strong presence in the Chicago area and has sold recordings of her work with the company on iTunes.

Tham holds a Professional Studies Certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Orchestral Conducting studying with Maestro Carl Topilow. She received her Master of Music in conducting with conducting program honors from Northwestern University studying with Dr. Mallory Thompson. There, she additionally worked with Dr. Robert Harris, Victor Yampolsky, and Dr. Robert Hasty, making her equally at home in wind, orchestral, and vocal settings. Tham received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in horn performance studying with Dennis Abelson, Zachary Smith, Bob Lauver, and Steven Kostyniak at Carnegie Mellon University.

Karen Wagner joined the Oregon Symphony in 1999 as Assistant Principal/Second Oboe. Before moving to Portland she played with the Louisville Orchestra and was a fellow with the New World Symphony.

Karen holds a Bachelors Degree in Oboe Performance from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a nearly completed Masters from the University of Southern California. Karen’s most treasured mentors include Allan Vogel, John de Lancie, and Ronald Richards.

For over 20 years she has enjoyed an active playing career and a robust private teaching studio. Karen is a member of 45th Parallel Universe Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of the Arcturus Quintet. Karen was honored to serve as the Principal Oboist of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music from 2001-2018.

She lives in Southeast Portland with her husband Dave where they enjoy all that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

Originally from Portland, Solomon has created original works in drama, opera, dance, and music across the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Slovenia. Highlights include Otello (Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Germany); Il Trovatore (Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Regio di Parma, Italy); Oedipus (Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Greece; Ancient Theatre of Pompeii, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, and Teatro Mercadante di Napoli, Italy) all with Robert Wilson; Macbeth (directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company, NYC); The Shape of Things (created by Carrie Mae Weems at the Park Avenue Armory, NYC); Duat (Soho Rep, NYC); and Men on Boats (World Premiere: Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb, NYC).

Solomon’s work in dance, dance/theatre and avant-garde music includes original full-length pieces with Alethea Adsitt, Jennifer Archibald, Jonah Bokaer, Christine Bonansea, Joshua Beamish/MOVE, Maria Chavez, Ximena Garnica/Leimay, Lane Gifford, Invisible Anatomy, LoudHound Movement, Martha Graham Dance Company, Ofelia Loret de Mola, Patrick Lovejoy, Belinda McGuire, Stefanie Nelson, Patricia Noworol, The Nerve Tank (as resident designer), Jennifer Harrison Newman, Jen Shyu, Waxfactory, and four major works as associate set designer with Bill T. Jones.

Solomon was the associate lighting designer on the Broadway production of Jitney and its national tour, which earned lighting designer Jane Cox a tony nomination. Other associate credits include two seasons at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy (with AJ Weissbard); the Holland Festival in Amsterdam (for Tyler Micoleau); and at Minnesota Opera (with Steve TenEyck) among many others.

With students, Solomon served as a guest artist with Bard, Barnard, Connecticut College, City College, Columbia, DeSales, East Stroudsburg, Fordham, NYU/Tisch, The New School, Princeton, University of the Arts, University of Rochester, Quinnipiac, Willamette, and Yale. He is Assistant Professor of Scenic/Lighting Design at Portland State University.

He holds a BFA from Ithaca College and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where he was a Stanley R. McCandless Fellow and a George Harrison Senie Scholar.

Katherine Whyte has delighted audiences and critics alike on opera and concert stages across her native Canada, the United States and Europe. Opera Today has praised her “keen artistic sensibility” while the San Francisco Classical Voice singled out “her glamorous, vibrato-rich voice”. Following her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2007 in Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena, she has returned to the company for productions of Iolanta, Rigoletto, Jenufa, The Gambler, The Enchanted Island, Two Boys, Parsifal, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Suor Angelica.

Recent and upcoming engagements for Ms. Whyte include her celebrated Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Intermountain Opera Bozeman; her debut with Syracuse’s Symphoria performing Poulenc’s Gloria; a return to New Choral Society as soprano soloist in Carmina Burana; a solo recital at Gordon College, her debut with Heartbeat Opera as Agathe in Der Freischütz; and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Opera Grand Rapids.

The 2018-19 season for Ms. Whyte included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Louisiana Symphony, joining Opera Hong Kong as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, and returning to The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Suor Angelica. The 2017-2018 season saw her back at The Metropolitan Opera for Parsifal as well as appearing in concert with the Mountain View International Festival of Song and the Orquesta Sinfonica Mineria for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Additionally, she appeared with both Charlottesville Opera and the Norwalk Symphony as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. The 2016-2017 season included her return to The Metropolitan Opera for productions of Jenufa and Rigoletto, a debut with the Edmonton Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem with Manhattan Concert Productions at Carnegie Hall, and her debut with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra in China. The 2015-2016 season saw her debut with the Dallas Opera as Pousette in Manon, a return to the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Rigoletto, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Saratoga, and concerts with the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of China’s National Opera at the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival.

Other notable operatic appearances include the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride and Iris in Semele with Canadian Opera Company, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with the Princeton Festival, her Vancouver Opera debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Gilda in Rigoletto with English National Opera, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Virginia Opera and Opera Hamilton, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Michigan Opera Theatre, Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Atlanta Opera, and Iphis in Handel’s Jephta with Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Ms. Whyte’s appearances on the concert stage include Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Mozart’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony, Neilsen’s Symphony No. 3 with the San Francisco Symphony, Carmina burana and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the National Chorale, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Mass in C-minor with the Vancouver Symphony, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Colorado Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional, Mozart’s Requiem with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with the New Choral Society. The winner of the 2007 Alice Tully Recital Competition, Ms. Whyte made her Carnegie Hall debut in Solo recital at Weill Hall in 2008.

Douglas Williams, bass baritone, was born in Farmington, Connecticut. He trained in voice at the New England Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and Tanglewood Music Center. His repertoire spans many centuries: This season he has premiered a new work by Matthew Barnson with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and will appear in the debut recording of Henry Demarest’s Circé with the Boston Early Music Festival. He has appeared as a soloist with some of the great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. In opera he distinguished himself in the roles of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Nick Shadow, with conductors Edo de Waart and Barbara Hannigan. Always up for a challenge on stage, Douglas has created new opera productions with the choreographers Mark Morris and Sasha Waltz for Lincoln Center and the Dutch National Opera. His characterization of Pluto in Jonathan Dove’s The Other Euridice last season was called “one of Houston’s most riveting operatic portrayals in recent years” (Texas Classical Review). Douglas is also a writer and a performer. He lives in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.

Sumi is a sculptor and designer whose works include large-scale public commissions in metal and glass. She creates properties and costumes for dance and theatre and has designed original and experimental works with Imago Theatre and world premieres with Milagro Theatre. She designs and builds kinetic sculptural sets for dance and opera, including Skinner|Kirk Dance Ensemble and Portland State University’s opera program. She is resident properties designer for Oregon Ballet Theatre and PSU. Sumi is delighted to collaborate with OrpheusPDX.