2025 Company

NYC born director Christopher Alden’s work has been seen across the globe. His production of Handel’s PARTENOPE at English National Opera won the Olivier Award in 2009 and was subsequently presented by Opera Australia, San Francisco Opera and Teatro Real in Madrid. His other ENO productions include TURANDOT, THE MAKROPULOS CASE, NORMA and Britten’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which won the Golden Mask Award when presented at the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow. For San Francisco Opera, Mr. Alden directed LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN, L‘INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA, I VESPRI SICILIANI, Henze’s DAS VERRATENE MEER, THE MOTHER OF US ALL and the premiere of Stewart Wallace’s HARVEY MILK, which also traveled to New York City and San Francisco. At the Festival d’Aix en Provence, his staging of IL TURCO IN ITALIA was presented as a co-production with Torino, Dijon and Warsaw, and his Glimmerglass Opera production of Monteverdi’s ORFEO travelled to Oslo and Opera North in the UK.

Other recent highlights include productions of Leonard Bernstein’s PETER PAN for Bard Summerfare Festival, Martinu’s THE GREEK PASSION for Opera North, Peter Eotvos’ THREE SISTERS for The Ural Opera, Laura Schwendinger’s ARTEMISIA for Trinity Church Wall Street, PETER GRIMES and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE for Karlsruhe and Franchetti’s ASRAEL for Bonn. For the Canadian Opera Company, Mr. Alden created productions of DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER, DIE FLEDERMAUS, RIGOLETTO and LA CLEMENZA DI TITO, and his stagings for New York City Opera included LE COMTE ORY, L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI, THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA, Sousa’s THE GLASS BLOWERS, DON GIOVANNI, LA PERICHOLE and Bernstein’s A QUIET PLACE. He directed the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas for Gustavo Dudamel and The Los Angeles Philharmonic and for Daniel Barenboim and The Chicago Symphony, in collaboration with his twin brother, David Alden.

Annissa Allred is an aspiring stage manager and a student at Portland State University.

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.

Acclaimed soprano and actor Marnie Breckenridge is known for her “commanding voice with a splendid high register” (Opera News), “lyrical poignancy and dramatic power…a young Meryl Streep” (Chicago Tribune), “bell-like ring over an enormous range and personality spilling from every note” (The Globe and Mail), “lovely soprano” voice (The New York Times), is captivating international audiences in a diverse range of roles from the Baroque to Modern. A favourite among some of the most gifted composers of our time, she has sung lead roles in 8 world premieres of award-winning new operas and countless art songs/recordings. Several of her favourite contemporary works include Mother in DOG DAYS by David T. Little (LA Opera, Ft. Worth, Prototype), Ruth in Luna Pearl Woolf’s, THE PILLAR (Washington Chorus), Sierva Maria in Peter Eötvös’s LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS (Glyndebourne), La Princesse in Philip Glass’ ORPHÉE, title role in Milhaud’s MÉDÉE, Margarita Xirgu in AINADAMAR (Opera Parallèle), and as Cunegonde in CANDIDE (English National Opera).

She received the 2020 DORA award for “Outstanding Performance by an Individual in an Opera” in Woolf’s JACQUELINE (Tapestry Opera). Recent song albums include David Conte’s Everyone Sang, Herschel Garfein’s, The Layers and Mortality Mansions, Henry Mollicone’s There Is Another Sky, Robert Paterson’s Summer Songs and In Real Life, Richard Aldag’s Arab Love Songs (and several others) as well as her self-produced Holiday Album, Happy Golden Days on all streaming platforms.

She is a featured soloist on Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s Heroes & Villains and New World Records’ Victor Herbert Collected Songs and portrayed the role of Kathie in Gordon Getty’s feature film of the opera Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

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.

Emma Mildred Cowell is a soprano, accompanist, and music historian specializing in art song, early music, and sacred music. Ms. Cowell holds degrees in Voice Performance (B.A., Geneva College) and Music History (M.M., Youngstown State University). Ms. Cowell serves on the faculty of Willamette University, as instructor of voice and repetiteur for the University’s opera program. She is Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Boulanger, a Portland-based chamber collaboration dedicated to crafting engaging lecture-recitals of music by women. She is also Minister of Music at Ascension Episcopal Parish, and a soprano with Cantores in Ecclesia. Ms. Cowell has appeared as soloist with The Bach Cantata Choir and The Oregon Chorale, and performed roles in several Gilbert & Sullivan operas with Light Opera of Portland. Recent stage appearances include roles in Ruddigore, Trial by Jury, and a portrayal of Enlightenment harpsichordist Sara Levy in The Musical Salon of Sara Levy, a concert and theater performance by the Bach Cantata Choir and Orchestra for which Prof. Cowell also served as musicological consultant and scriptwriter. As an accompanist, Ms. Cowell’s recent collaborations include projects with Ping & Woof Opera and an array of Lieder recitals with Pacific Northwest singers. Learn more at emmamildred.com.

Adam Farmer is an active performer and teacher of orchestral and chamber music. As a bassoonist, Adam has performed with orchestras across the Pacific Northwest and Midwest including the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Festival Orchestra, Walla Walla Symphony, Newport Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, and the West Michigan Symphony.

Adam received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Bassoon Performance from Michigan State University and also holds degrees from Kent State University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His primary instructors include Michael Kroth, David DeBolt, William Winstead, and Martin James.

Holly Flack is a coloratura soprano with a unique range that extends beyond an octave above high C. Praised as an “explosive talent” with her warm, flowing middle voice, rippling coloratura, and effortless trills, she “wields an impressive range, effortlessly reaching higher than high notes” with her stratospheric vocal extension.

Ms. Flack’s operatic roles include the title role in SEMELE, Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Queen of the Night in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, Ophélie in HAMLET, Morgana in ALCINA, Elvira in L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI, and Dinorah in DINORAH (Le Pardon de Ploërmel) for which she received a “Star-Making Performance” award from Mr. Fred Plotkin in his Seventh Annual “Freddie” Awards for Excellence in Opera, stating she, “sang the title role with astonishing fluidity and confidence… as if it was her birthright.”

Internationally, Ms. Flack made her debut at the Trentino Music Festival in Mezzano, Italy singing the role of the Vixen in THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN. She has traveled multiple times to China with the iSing International Young Artists Festival for concerts in different cities around the country, and has performed on CCTV, Dragon TV, and Jiangsu Weishi TV for China’s National Day Celebration and the Chinese New Year. In 2022, she singularly represented the USA singing in a promotional video for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In orchestral concert, Ms. Flack has sung soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, and Orff’s Carmina Burana, where she “delighted, flawlessly climbed to the extremes of her register, and continued with effortless coloratura”.

In 2019, she performed the highest note ever sung at Lincoln Center, a B-flat above high C, as a featured soloist in a Golden Night Concert celebrating China’s Mid-Autumn Festival at David Geffen Hall in New York City. In 2021, she surpassed this record singing a B natural above high C in the East/West: A Symphonic Celebration concert at David H. Koch Theater.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College, and a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Kentucky, where she studied with renowned soprano Cynthia Lawrence.

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.

Zachariah Galatis’ “irresistible energy, appealing tone, and dazzling technique” (The Oregonian) have cemented his place in Portland’s music community. Serving as solo piccolo of the Oregon Symphony since 2012, you can also hear Zach playing with various other groups around town, including frequent appearances with 45th Parallel.

A native of LaGrange, NY, Zach graduated summa cum laude with performance honors from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where he studied with Kenneth Andrews. Zach received his Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory, studying with the Baltimore Symphony’s solo piccolo Laurie Sokoloff and principal flute Emily Skala. He then pursued doctoral studies with world-renowned soloist Marina Piccinini at Peabody before moving to Oregon.

In 2009, Zach won first place in the Mid-Atlantic Young Artist Piccolo Competition, and was a winner of the National Flute Association’s 2009 Piccolo Masterclass Competition. Zach was a fellow at the National Orchestral Institute in 2010 and 2012, and in 2011 was awarded the Piccolo Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival. Zach won first prize in the National Flute Association’s 2012 Piccolo Artist Competition, a competition for which he then served as coordinator for five years.

In addition to performing, Zach is a passionate educator, having given various masterclasses and seminars on piccolo technique, including at both of his alma maters. He maintains a private studio in Portland, working with students of all ages, and since 2016, Zach has been the Instructor of Flute at the University of Portland.

Zach has appeared as guest piccolo with orchestras around the country, including Baltimore, Detroit, and Seattle, and has appeared as guest principal flute with the Buffalo Philharmonic multiple times, including for their 2018 tour to Poland. He has also performed at various summer festivals, including the Astoria Music Festival and Oregon Bach Festival. Before Joining the Oregon Symphony, Zach played piccolo/third flute in the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, under music director JoAnn Falletta.

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.

Allen Hahn has designed productions for New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Lincoln Center Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, the Spoleto USA Festival and the influential New York company Gotham Chamber Opera.

He has designed world premiere operas Miss Lonelyhearts at Juilliard and Kafka’s Trial for The Royal Danish Opera, where his award-winning Giulio Cesare with Andreas Scholl was recorded for DVD release from Harmonia Mundi.

Other international credits include the national premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie for Finnish National Opera, La Finta Giardiniera and La Fanciulla del West for Opera Zuid, and Der Freischütz in Bilbao as well as companies and festivals in Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Norway, and the UK.

He has worked with the cross-media performance company The Builders Association since its inception in 1994 and with artist Tony Oursler on installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark. His work in the music world has ranged from designing for David Byrne in Central Park, to working with contemporary musical ensemble Alarm Will Sound at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

His dance for camera work as a director and designer has been seen in the short films Breath Light Stone and Mutable Spirals of Ascension, which were featured in festivals in the US and internationally, with Breath Light Stone garnering awards in multiple categories.

Renowned as a musical pioneer, multi-Grammy-nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz is praised by The New York Times as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles” and by The New Yorker as “remarkable virtuoso” who “never turns in a predictable performance.” He brings a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, champions new music, initiates groundbreaking collaborations and creates innovative recording projects. In addition to his touring schedule, Haimovitz mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal. He is the first-ever John Cage Fellow at The New School’s Mannes School of Music in New York City.

Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as a soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. He has gone on to perform on the world’s most esteemed stages with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Kent Nagano. His latest endeavour, THE PRIMAVERA PROJECT, encompasses 81 new commissions from a diverse intersection of North American communities and featured in the most recent 59th Venice Biennale Arte.

Making his first recording at 17 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Haimovitz’s recording career encompasses more than 30 years of award-winning work on Deutsche Grammophon (Universal), Oxingale Records, and the PENTATONE Oxingale Series. His honours include the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Grand Prix du Disque, and the Premio Internazionale “Accademia Musicale Chigiana.” He studied with Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School and graduated magna cum laude with the highest honours from Harvard University. Haimovitz plays a Venetian cello made in 1710 by Matteo Gofriller.

matthaimovitz.com

A sixteen year Portland resident, Melissa Heller is a native Oregonian, originally from Bend. She received a B.S. in Apparel Design while attending Oregon State University where her interest in costumes for theatre began. She began her work with the Oregon State University Theatres in 2006 as Assistant Costume Designer.

Since then, Melissa has served as the Costume Shop Manager and Resident Designer for Pacific university from 2014-2023, was a founding and current member of Bag & Baggage’s Resident Artist Company beginning in 2011, and has designed for a multitude of local area theatre companies and universities including Oregon Children’s Theatre; Broadway Rose; MHCC; Third Rail; Lakewood Theatre Company; St. Mary’s Academy; Open Hearts, Open Minds; Crave Theatre; Northwest Dance Project; and more.

Melissa currently splits most of her time designing for stage, building costumes as the Costume Craftsperson for Portland Center Stage, and being a partner and parent to her two best guys. She thanks OrpheusPDX for this engaging partnership.

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.

Andrew has designed both scenery and costumes for all types of live performance. His work has been seen at the Spoleto Festival USA, Juilliard, Chicago Opera Theater, The Canadian Opera Company, Boston Lyric Opera, The Yale Repertory Theater, Pittsburg Ballet Theatre, The Glimmerglass Festival and a long list of other venues. Mr. Holland has served on the faculties of American University and Hamilton College, among others. He holds an MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama and lives with his family in Astoria, New York.

Kurt Howard rejoined the Fort Worth Opera team in 2024 as Production/Stage Manager after holding a similar position from 2004-2014. During that time Kurt led the transition to a festival format, created Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers program and produced audio recordings of some of Fort Worth Opera’s premier productions. Most recently, Kurt brought his management skills and innovative mindset to further the mission at Opera Omaha – fostering ties to the local artistic community through equity-based relationship building and artist-centered projects. After departing Fort Worth in 2014, he joined the opera field’s membership organization, OPERA America, in the roles of Managing Director and Director of Programs and Services. His successes in creating safe, human-centered productive spaces for creativity is well recognized throughout the US. His recent stage management engagements include Florida Grand Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Roanoke, Wichita Opera, West Edge Opera and Opera Montana.

Mezzo-soprano Allison Kim-Yok Knotts is from Portland, Oregon, and has studied with Nancy Olson Chatalas, Allison Swensen Mitchell, and Megan Sand. She has performed with the Oregon State University Chamber Choir, Corvallis Repertory Singers, the Willamette Master Chorus, Opera on Tap PDX, Ping & Woof Opera, Portland Summer Opera Workshop, Portland Summerfest, Our Song Artists, Bend Opera, Lark Opera, Renegade Opera, New Wave Opera, Cascadia Composers, and Portland Opera.

Camellia is a set and costume designer for theatre, opera, dance and site-specific performance installations. Recent designs for opera include Bremen Town Musicians and Operation Superpower (Canadian Opera Company School Tours), Macbeth (Minnesota Opera), Marilyn Forever (Aventa Ensmeble), Carmen and The Tales of Hoffman (Edmonton Opera), Maria Stuarda (Pacific Opera Victoria), The Lighthouse (Boston Lyric Opera), Pélleas et Mélisande, Turn of the Screw and La Bohéme (Against the Grain), Giiwedin (Native Earth), and The Shadow (Tapestry New Opera). Recent designs for theatre include collaborations Tarragon Theatre, The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, and Cahoots Theatre Projects. She has received six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Sterling Award, a Chalmers Award Grant, Siminovitch Protégé Prize, 2011 European Opera Directing Third Prize Team, and the 2016 Virginia & Myrtle Cooper Award for costume design. Upcoming plans include set and costume designs for The Rape of Lucretia (Banff/AtG), and Simon Boccanegra (POV).

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.

Timothy Lafolette has been performing in the Portland area for the better part of the past 16 years. He has been in productions at the Portland Opera (MAN OF LA MANCHA), Mock’s Crest (DIE FLEDERMAUS), Northwest Children’s Theater (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST), Lakewood Theater (MUSIC MAN, HELLO DOLLY!, and OKLAHOMA!), Gallery Theater (YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, STUDENT PRINCE, and MAN OF LA MANCHA), Live Onstage (TOMMY), Metropolitan Community Theatre (RENT, CHICAGO), and The Christmas Revels. Lately, he has been primarily singing in the Portland Opera Chorus (for most of the past 14 seasons), singing in various concerts and cabarets (such as Cabaret White, and Broadway Bears), and working as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner/Psychiatric Services Manager in the Portland area. Follow him on Instagram @tlafolette and/or YouTube (Timothy Lafolette) for more music and information on his upcoming solo cabaret, LIVE YOUR LIFE.

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.

Multi-instrumentalist Adaiha MacAdam-Somer is highly sought after as a teacher, chamber and orchestral musician across the United States and Europe. She splits her time and passion equally between cello, baroque cello, and all branches of the viola da gamba family. From her home base in Portland, Adaiha performs with a variety of ensembles including Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, 45th Parallel, Sound Salon, Gallery Concerts, Baroque Music Montana, Oregon Bach Festival and various other chamber and vocal ensembles across the states. As an educator she maintains a studio of private students, coaches the Bridgetown Baroque Ensemble, Trillium Baroque Orchestra, and substitute teaches for chamber ensembles across the Pacific Northwest. Adaiha is regularly sought after as a guest instructor of workshops nationwide.

Miss MacAdam-Somer holds a Masters in Chamber Music and a Professional Studies Diploma in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While in attendance she had the opportunity to work and perform with such esteemed artists as Kim Kashkashian, Robert Mann, Menahem Pressler, Ian Swenson and Joseph Swensen. While completing her undergraduate degree in cello performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Adaiha taught for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and was tenured into Madison Symphony Orchestra as their assistant principal cellist. Her primary teachers include Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Elisabeth Reed, Uri Vardi, and Laszlo Varga. In the summer you can find her performing with various festivals and teaching chamber music and cello at Kinhaven Music School. Adaiha is forever grateful to Indre Viskontas and Adam Bristol for facilitating the acquisition of her 7-string bass viol, made by master luthier Francis Beaulieu.

Hailed as a “natural, most charming” performer, mezzo-soprano Sarah Maines’ favorite roles include Margaret in The Light in the Piazza, Claudia in Nine, and Maurya in Riders to the Sea. Dr. Maines is a member of the Portland Opera Chorus, voice faculty at the University of Portland and Reed College, and served on the Cascade Chapter board of the National Association of Teachers of Singing for seven years. She frequently performs with Portland companies and ensembles such as Fear No Music, Resonance Ensemble, Broadway Rose Theatre, Lakewood Theatre, Bridgetown Conservatory, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Cascadia Composers. As a practicing singing voice specialist, Dr. Maines administers voice habilitation to singers referred by Dr. James Thomas and area laryngologists and speech-language pathologists. A Lessac-Madsen and Casper-Stone Confidential Flow Therapy Clinical Provider, she is certified in Contemporary Commercial Music; the LoVetri Method and completed training in transgender and non-binary voice pedagogy with Liz Jackson Hearns of The Voice Lab. Dr. Maines holds a BA in music from Berea College and MM and DMA degrees in voice pedagogy from Shenandoah Conservatory. She is a published researcher who presented at the Voice Foundation Annual Symposium and the Pan-European Voice Conference and frequently lectures on vocal health, pathology, and function. Dr. Maines previously served on the voice faculty at the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy, Patrick Henry College, and Trinity Washington University. She lives in Portland with her partner Matty and puppy Satchel. www.themainestudio.com

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/

Soprano Jana McIntyre is a George and Nora London Foundation Competition Award Winner as well as a Finalist in The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. In the 24/25 season, Jana debuts at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tytania) and returns to Opera Santa Barbara for La fille du régiment (Marie). On the concert stage, she debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with performances in Los Angeles, New York, and Bogotà conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. She will also make her debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Pierre Boulez’ Pli selon pli: Improvisations sur Mallarmé, I and II conducted by David Robertson. Additionally, she returns to Bard College for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Strauss’ Four Last Songs with The Orchestra Now.

Jana began last season with a return to Opera Santa Barbara for La Divina: The Art of Maria Callas. Additional season engagements included debuts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for Carmina Burana, and Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra for Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration. Additionally, she joins the roster of the San Francisco Opera for Die Zauberflöte and Innocence.

In the 22/23 season, Jana returned to Opera Santa Barbara for Rossini’s comic one-act La scala di seta (Giulia) and Tulsa Opera for Into the Woods (Cinderella). She debuted Carmina Burana with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Seattle Symphony. Additional concerts included her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra in Richard Strauss’ rarely heard Daphne (Title Role) conducted by Music Director Leon Botstein. In 21/22, Jana sang the title role in Semele with Opera Santa Barbara as well as Die Schweigsame Frau (Aminta) in a new production with Bard SummerScape Festival. With The Rally Cat in New York City, she created the role of Marianne in recording and workshop of Aferidan Stephens and Marella Martin Koch’s Elinor and Marianne based on the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility. She also performed in chamber concert with Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate and Tulsa’s Signature Symphony.

Other recent engagements include her hometown debut with Opera Santa Barbara in Don Pasquale (Norina) as well as joining the rosters of Palm Beach Opera (Die Zauberflöte) and Tulsa Opera (Rigoletto). She was scheduled to make company debuts with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Canadian Opera Company among other notable returns to theaters which were postponed/canceled due to the pandemic. Jana performed in Heartbeat Opera’s new production of Der Freischütz (Ännchen) and joined The Santa Fe Opera for their workshop of the completed version of M. Butterfly in New York City and for whom she was to return as Sister in Mark Adamo and John Corgliano’s newly commissioned Lord of Cries which was canceled due to the pandemic. She also debuted with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera singing selections from Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro in their “Mozart Favorites” Concert.

Ms. McIntyre made debuts with Toledo Opera and Opera Grand Rapids in Die Zauberflöte (Die Königin der Nacht), Arizona Opera in Le nozze di Figaro (Barbarina), The Santa Fe Opera in Jenůfa (Jano), and Tulsa Opera in Don Giovanni (Zerlina) and Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince (Water).

Jana has won awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, and the Shoshana Foundation and was a Young Artist with the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and an Apprentice Artist with The Santa Fe Opera.

Pietro Metastasio (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782) was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti. As a boy, his poetic and oratorial talent was soon discovered by Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, then director of the Pontifical Academy of Arcadia, who adopted him and offered him a formal education and exposure to the highest intellectual circles of Rome and Naples. Pietro’s education, the obligatory studies of law aside, included a comprehensive training in Latin and Greek and the ability to translate the classical works into poetic modern Italian – a skill which laid the foundation for Metastasio’s entire professional future.

Metastasio’s heritage consists of 28 opera librettos, 8 librettos for oratorios, 36 for serenades and 37 for cantatas and is completed by a large number of songs, compliments, or works not intended for music like 32 sonnets, translations from Greek, spiritual poems or odes for weddings, as well as his over 2600 published letters. If these numbers are impressive in themselves, the wealth of musical production Metastasio’s poetry inspired in the composers of his century is simply staggering and made of him the by far most influential librettist not only of his but very likely of all times: these 28 opera librettos were set to music as unthinkable 1050 operas (that we know of today, there might still be many more stacked in some attic or in the chronically understaffed Italian libraries!). In other words: a Metastasio libretto was on average made into almost 40 individual operas, the most successful one being Artaserse which inspired 90 composers to set this libretto to music.

Article by Sebastian F. Schwarz
February 2023

Michael Hidetoshi Mori is the General Director and Artistic Director of Tapestry Opera and a freelance opera director based in Toronto, Canada. Michael has won Canada’s highest award for outstanding direction in opera twice, has received accolades as a recording artist and film director, and developed and directed Nicole Lizée and Nicolas Billon’s R.U.R., a Torrent of Light which won the MCANA 2023 Best New Opera (first time for a Canadian work), and most recently became the youngest recipient of Opera Canada’s Ruby Award for his co-creation of Women in Musical Leadership with co-awardee Jaime Martino. Michael is also the past chair of the Association for Opera in Canada and a board member of Opera America.

Some opera and music theatre collaborative projects that Michael has piloted include working with the punk rock band Fucked Up on Metallurgy, The Ontario College of Art and Design to create cue-able collaboratively developed wearable tech for the robot-opera R.U.R. a torrent of light, Persian Classical musicians and a Farsi rapper for the opera Forbidden, 10+ Indigenous artists and elders for the collaborative creation of Shanawdithit, giving voice back to the last living Beothuk (the first full Indigenous genocide in North America), and creating the Opera Writers Room during the pandemic to create S.O.S. aka Sketch Opera Shorts with a team of writers, composers, singers, and pianists exchanging roles fluidly. Michael has led Tapestry Opera as Artistic Director since 2014, helping commission and premiere over 15 major Canadian works.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is often referred to as the greatest composer the world has ever known. He was also the finest pianist, organist, and conductor of his time.

As a child prodigy he traveled a great deal, performing in the courts of Europe and absorbing the culture and musical ideas of the continent. These influences inform his mature compositions, which combine German depth, Italianate melody, and French elegance into deeply human works.

A highly prolific composer (in his short lifetime he composed over 600 works), he created supreme masterworks in all genres: opera, chamber, symphonic, and choral music. His works are examples of perfection of form and classicism, influencing poets, philosophers, and musicians over the past two centuries.

We know from his letters that he was always eager to compose the next opera. Particularly skilled at musical characterizations and dramatic truth, his operas such as Idomeneo, The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte, La Clemenza di Tito, and The Magic Flute are endlessly fascinating works, well-loved by both the general public and professional musicians, and performed regularly throughout the world.

Kristen Mun-Van Noy was born and raised on the island of Oahu where she started her theatrical stage combat training. She has been training and working in the field of theatrical stage combat for almost 20 years and since 2012 she has been working as a fight choreographer and teacher in the city of Portland, OR. She owes her training to Dueling Arts International and her time as assistant fight choreographer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (09-10) with resident Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo. She has received multiple Awards for Best Fight Choreography. Outside of Portland she has worked at Utah Shakespeare Festival and Idaho Repertory Theatre.

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.

Tenor Anthony Nguyen is from Portland, Oregon. He attended Portland State University, and subsequently Manhattan School of Music for vocal performance under the tutelage of Mark Oswald. Most recently, he performed as a Tenor soloist in Portland Opera’s “Lunch and Learn” and “Opera a la Carte” series, appearing in 18 performances this past summer. He has also performed with Lark Opera in their “A Flight of Opera” variety show and was a tenor soloist at Neil Deponte’s “The Concerts at the Barn”. He will be singing as the Tenor Soloist in an upcoming performance of Christopher Tin’s “Waloyo Yamoni” with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and Pacific Youth Choir as part of their Music for Millions: Film and Video Games concert. Previous credits include Die Zauberflöte (Monostatos), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Starveling), and Le nozze di Figaro (Don Curzio). Upcoming engagements include “Count Almaviva” in OperaBend’s June production of The Barber of Seville!

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.

Ben Price is an oboist and creative whose mission is to create stories and memories through music. They currently hold the Anderson and Daria Pew 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. Ben is also Second Oboe of Symphony in C in Camden, New Jersey. 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. Ben has additionally been invited to perform at the Colorado College, Sarasota, Spoleto USA, and OrpheusPDX summer music festivals.

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.

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.

The music of composer Benton Roark (he/him) has been described as “visionary” (The Vancouver Sun), “ardent and soaring” (The National Post), and “an experience of deep and darkling beauty” (The Austin Chronicle). In recent years much of his work has focused on new opera, with full productions including Tapestry Opera’s Augmented Opera (“gorgeous Straussian vocal writing,” The Globe and Mail) and Bandits in the Valley (Dora Mavor Moore award nominee, 2018), Vancouver Pro Musica/Tomoe Arts’ Shadow Catch (“an evocative score” The Bulletin), and Fugue Theatre’s Off Leash (“one of the most unique theatrical experiences currently on Vancouver stages” Vancity Buzz). Roark has also enjoyed acclaim as a bandleader and songwriter with projects such as The Benton Roark Band, Rollaway (“backwoods choir elegance” The Georgia Straight), and Arkora (“the standout event of Vancouver’s spring music season” Vancouver Observer), whose Songs from the Rainshadow’s Edge earned him a 2016 WCMA nomination for Composition of the Year. Current projects include new opera work slated for premiere at the Chan Centre in November 2024 (Eurydice Fragments, re:Naissance Opera), and recording projects The Sign of Jonas (Mother Country, Laughing Heart Records), and Transfigured Light (Arkora, Redshift Records). Roark holds a D.M.A. from the University of British Columbia and has served as Associate Artistic Director of Redshift Music Society and Sound Symposium. He currently serves as Artistic Director of Arkora and makes his home in Toronto.

“Tiny powerful soprano”, Madeline Ross recently made her Portland Opera debut as the First Woodspite in Dvorak’s Rusalka and role debuts of Tamiri in Il Re Pastore by Mozart and Lucinda in Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly with OrpheusPDX. In 2024 she won the Anne Marie Gertz Prize at the National Artist Awards competition, and premiered Qaqnus (Phoenix) by Sahba Aminikia with Music of Remembrance in Seattle, WA. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 as a jazz soloist where she “scatt[ed] to beat the band” (NY Concert Review). Ms. Ross has performed with Portland Opera, The Oregon Symphony, Fear No Music, Resonance Ensemble, 45th Parallel, Opera Theater Oregon, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Music of Remembrance, and was 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 was honored to take part in a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. premiering An African American Requiem with Resonance Ensemble and NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Ross is a founder and Executive Director of Renegade Opera, Portland’s unconventional and accessible opera company! Upcoming performances with Renegade Opera include Orlofsky’s Party, a new adaptation of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus.

www.madelinelross.com | www.renegadeopera.org

American Tenor Norman Shankle is currently enjoying worldwide acclaim for his portrayals of Mozart and Rossini’s most famous tenors. The Boston Globe called Shankle, “a real find, a singer of elegance, grace and conviction,” and the San Francisco Chronicle praised him equally as “clearly a singer to watch.”

The 2024-2025 season brings Mr. Shankle’s debut with Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra for Sanctuary Road, his debut with South Florida Symphony in Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem, and a return to National Philharmonic for their Messiah. Previous seasons’ engagements of note include his return to Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra for Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël and Handel’s Messiah and the National Philharmonic for their Messiah, in addition to Elijah with the Washington Chorus. Mr. Shankle has also been featured in the National Philharmonic’s performances of Berlioz’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Adolphus Hailstork’s Symphony No. 5; Mozart’s Requiem with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra; Messiah with Glacier Symphony Orchestra; Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra’s Classical Christmas concert; and Sanctuary Road with Penn Square Music Festival.

Other notable engagements for Mr. Shankle have included the tenor solo in Mozart’s Requiem, Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee On a Neck, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis for the National Philharmonic; Sanctuary Road with North Carolina Opera; it all falls down and The Rift for the Washington National Opera; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Helena Symphony; Cassio in Otello for Pacific Symphony; and the performance and recording of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem at the Kennedy Center with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. Shankle also returned to Northern Lights Music Festival as Ramiro in La Cenerentola and performed a gala concert for Knoxville Opera. He sang Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Memphis and Piedmont Opera, Ferrando in a concert performance of Così fan tutte with the National Philharmonic at the Kennedy Center, Remus in Treemonisha with the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, Nick in La fanciulla del West with Opera Colorado, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Northern Lights Music Festival, the tenor soloist in Atlanta Symphony’s performances of Bach’s Cantata No. 29 and Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music, and Handel’s Messiah with Boston Baroque, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and the National Philharmonic. He also reprised the role of Elder Barber/Gus Greenlee in The Summer King, a new opera that explores the life of Josh Gibson, “one of the greatest Negro League baseball players,” with Michigan Opera Theatre — a role he had previously created for Pittsburgh Opera.

Norman’s vast international concert experience includes Carlo in Rossini’s Armida and Laïos in Enescu’s Œdipe at the Edinburgh International Festival; Handel’s Saul conducted by René Jacobs at Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels; Tito in La clemenza di Tito with the Münchener Kammerorchester in Amsterdam; and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings with the International Bach Akademie. US symphonic engagements include Messiah with the Cincinnati Symphony and Houston Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s War Requiem with the San Francisco Choral Society; as well as appearances with the Essen Philharmonic, Choral Arts Society of Washington, and New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Norman began his career with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program and as an Adler Fellow. He made his company mainstage début as Valletto in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and he subsequently appeared in SFO’s productions of Tristan und Isolde, Don Carlo, Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, Louise, Lucia di Lammermoor, Idomeneo, and Don Giovanni. Norman was selected as a winner of the distinguished ARIA award; other awards include a Richard Tucker Career Grant and the McAllister Award.

Canadian tenor Charles Sy has received international recognition for his “rich tenor” voice. Recent successes include winning a 2019 George London Award and appearing as a finalist in the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup.

In the 2024-2025 season, Sy debuts with Boston Lyric Opera as Marzio in Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto; appears at the Staatsoper Stuttgart as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Arbace in Idomeneo, as well as in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen; and joins I Barocchisti for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Milan and Lugano. He concludes the season with a return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Ernesto in Don Pasquale as part of their 50th Anniversary Season.

An Ensemble member in Stuttgart since 2021, Sy’s roles have included Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Elvino in La sonnambula, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola. As a member of the Stuttgart Opernstudio from 2019-2021, he was heard in productions of Boris Godunov, Les contes d’Hoffmann, and Purcell’s King Arthur.

He has appeared as a guest at Nationaltheater Mannheim in the title role of Hippolyte et Aricie; at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe as Belfiore in La finta giardiniera; at Vancouver Opera as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, and at Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.

Notable concert performances include Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Mozart Requiem with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Barbara Hannigan as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as the Evangelist and Tenor Soloist in Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, and has appeared at festivals including the Messiaen Festival au Pays de la Meije and Aix-en-Provence.

Sy is an alumnus of The Juilliard School and the University of Toronto.

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.

Praised for her “staggeringly brilliant…ethereal soprano” (The Source) Jocelyn Claire Thomas has engaged audiences with her haunting sound, musical intelligence, and unusual versatility. She has sung more than 40 operatic roles with Portland Opera, Tacoma Opera, Eugene Opera, Inland Northwest Opera, Opera Theater Oregon, OperaBend, Brava Opera Theater, Cascadia Chamber Opera, and others.
Recent solo highlights include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Salem Philharmonia Orchestra, “Amore” in Orpheus & Eurydice with Inland Northwest Opera, Soprano Soloist in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with Festival Chorale Oregon, and “Nedda” in Pagliacci with OperaBend. Ms. Thomas was a featured soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Portland’s Bach Cantata Choir, about which Oregon ArtsWatch wrote “Ms. Thomas shone brightly as the angel.” Other highlights include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the Central Oregon
Symphony, ”Susanna” in Le nozze di Figaro with Tacoma Opera, and Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Handel’s Messiah with Bravo Northwest.
Ms. Thomas is a passionate advocate for new music, and has recently participated in the creation and premiere of many new works including Cantata Caffeinata by John Muehleisen, Free Men and The Dream by Ashley Hastings, The Voice of One by Scot Crandal and Robert Bryant, Tango of the White Gardenia by Ethan Ganz-Morse, Two Yosemities by Justin Ralls, and Via Lactea by Ellen Waterston & Rebecca Oswald, about which Northwest Reverb remarked “Soprano Jocelyn Claire Thomas as Peggy was noteworthy; she has a fine, bright soprano and lent the right verve and spunkiness to a character that could have been annoying and trite in the wrong hands.” Jocelyn also serves as Troupe Soprano for Cult of Orpheus, Portland’s only all-original art-song and opera troupe, founded by composer Christopher Corbell. Recordings with Cult of Orpheus include Viva’s Holiday, a new opera in which Jocelyn sings the title role, and also Sacred Works I: The Emerald Tablet, which Willamette Weekly called “fervently beautiful.”
Originally from Columbia, MO, Jocelyn holds a B.M. from the Oberlin Conservatory, and both an M.M. and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory. Currently based in Portland, OR, Jocelyn maintains a private studio in voice, piano, and flute. She also serves as Artistic Director for Ping & Woof Opera, which is dedicated to bringing intimate and accessible opera experiences to the PNW, and making opera available to everyone through donation based admission.
www.jocelynclairethomas.com

Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera “Angel’s Bone” with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Among his many collaborations include operas with Missy Mazzoli (“Song from the Uproar”, “Breaking the Waves”, “Proving Up”, “The Listeners”), David T. Little (“Dog Days”, “Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera”, “JFK”), Mikael Karlsson (“Melancholia”), Paola Prestini (“Silent Light”, “The Old Man and the Sea”), and Ricky Ian Gordon (“27”, “The House Without a Christmas Tree”). Royce holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU.  He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program.

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.

Award-winning composer Luna Pearl Woolf has long used her evocative voice to advocate for social and political change. Her work has been praised as “brilliant … profoundly moving” (Opera Going Toronto) for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth” (NY Times). Her dramatic works are championed by major opera houses and international performing artists.

Woolf’s oratorio Number Our Days, with concept and libretto by David Van Taylor, was commissioned and premiered by PAC NYC in its inaugural 2023-2024 season, receiving a thunderous response: “extraordinary, completely original…new and electrifying,” “death-affirming, life-inciting,” “elegiac, funny, haunting…poetic, and utterly unique.”

Canada’s CBC Music named the JUNO award-nominated recording Vagues et Ombres including Woolf’s 2022 work, Contact, as their #1 Classical Album of the year; and her 2021 composer-portrait album, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood (Pentatone Oxingale Series) was nominated for a GRAMMY Award.

Woolf’s opera Jacqueline, about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, commissioned and premiered by Tapestry Opera, was hailed as an “extraordinary piece, one that deserves an unquestioned place in the 21st-century canon” (The Globe and Mail). Its 2020 premiere garnered five nominations and a win in Toronto’s prestigious Dora Awards.

Woolf mentors new opera creators in her work with Montreal’s Musique 3 Femmes, and teaches about the intersection of text and music at institutions such as the National Theater School of Canada and McGill University. She is co-founder of Oxingale Productions, a ground-breaking record label and music publisher supporting new music by lyrical and innovative contemporary composers.

A dual Canadian-American citizen, Woolf was born Western Massachusetts and lives in Montréal, Quebec.

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.