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Press Releases
San Diego Opera Announces 2021-2022 Season
For Immediate Release, June 28, 2021
Contact: Edward Wilensky
Phone: 619.232.7636 x248
San Diego Opera Announces 2021-2022 Season
- Fall Concert Series Featuring Stephanie Blythe, Michelle Bradley, and Arturo Chacón-Cruz
- Return to indoor mainstage performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre with productions of Così fan tutte and Roméo et Juliette
- Beth Morrison Production’s Aging Magician to make its triumphant debut at San Diego Opera
- Important and exciting debuts by a number of young singers including Pene Pati, Gihoon Kim, Kristina Mkhitaryan, and Reginald Smith, Jr.
- Soprano Alisa Jordheim makes her welcome return as Despina in Così fan tutte and principal guest conductor Yves Abel returns to lead performances of Roméo et Juliette
- Fall Concert Series supported by The Conrad Prebys Foundation, our 2021 Season Sponsor
- Roméo et Juliette supported by Lead Production Sponsor Darlene Marcos Shiley
San Diego, CA – San Diego Opera is excited to announce its 2021-2022 season, which returns to theatres indoors, after a reduced 2020-2021 season that saw the Company perform innovative drive-in productions during the global coronavirus pandemic.
The season begins on Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 7:30 PM at The Balboa Theatre with a special concert by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. Stephanie will draw from her vast repertoire of opera and Broadway to present a concert of arias and art songs, as well as a few surprises. Stephanie Blythe made her Company debut in 2014’s A Masked Ball as Ulrica, sang in the Company’s Verdi Requiem that same year, and returned in recital later that fall for We’ll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. She was scheduled to sing the title role of Gianni Schicchi last season, the first time the lead role was to be sung by a mezzo-soprano, but that production has now been postponed to the 2022-2023 season.
The season continues on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 7:30 PM at The Conrad Performing Arts Center, Baker Baum Recital Hall with a concert by soprano Michelle Bradley. Michelle dazzled audiences in her 2019 Company debut as Aida and will perform a program of soprano arias, spirituals, and art songs in this intimate concert.
San Diego Opera is very excited to welcome the Company debut of Arturo Chacón-Cruz in concert on Friday, December 3, 2021 at 7:30 PM at the California Center for the Performing Arts, Escondido. Arturo Chacón-Cruz has established himself in recent years as a leading tenor with exciting appearances in renowned theaters and concert halls across the globe. He has sung over 60 roles in more than 30 countries. He is the 2005 winner of the Operalia Competition. Audiences can expect an exciting concert of opera favorites, zarzuela, mariachi, and personal favorites of the Mexican tenor.
The San Diego Opera Vocal Concert Series is supported in part by The Conrad Prebys Foundation, our 2021 Season Sponsor.
San Diego Opera’s mainstage series returns to indoor performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM for the first of four performances of Mozart’s delightful comedy Così fan tutte. Così fan tutte marks the welcome return of soprano Alisa Jordheim, who dazzled local audiences and critics as Gilda in 2019’s production of Rigoletto, as Despina. She is joined by a number of young artists making important house debuts including baritones Reginald Smith, Jr. as Don Alfonso and Gihoon Kim as Guglielmo, who both recently competed in the 2021 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, which was won by Mr. Kim. They are joined by tenor Konu Kim as Ferrando, and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Dorabella. Così fan tutte tells the story of two young soldiers who disguise their identities to test their lovers’ fidelity. Will the women fall for their "new" suitors as the opera's title ("All women do it") suggests? Filled with humor and keen insight into human nature, this opera features some of Mozart’s most seductive music. Director Tim Nelson makes his Company debut staging the opera and San Diego Opera’s Chorus Master Bruce Stasyna conducts. Così fan tutte was last presented by San Diego Opera in 2005. Additional performances are February 15, 18, and 20 (matinee), 2022. Così fan tutte will be performed in Italian with English translations above the stage.
Gonoud’s heartbreaking tragedy, Roméo et Juliette continues the mainstage season at the San Diego Civic Theatre when it opens on Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 7:30 PM for the first of four performances. Making important Company debuts for these performances is tenor Pene Pati as Roméo, a role he has sung to critical and popular acclaim. He will be joined by soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan, also in her Company debut, as Juliette. Other House debuts feature baritone Yunpeng Wang as Mercutio and mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit as Stephano. Returning singers include bass Simon Lim, who was last heard as Ramfis in 2019’s Aida, as Friar Laurent; tenor Adrian Kramer, last seen as Don José in 2017’s The Tragedy of Carmen, as Tybalt; and bass Colin Ramsey, last heard as Colline in 2020’s La bohème, as Count Capulet. San Diego Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor, Yves Abel, leads the orchestra for these performances and stage director Matthew Ozawa makes his Company debut staging the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s most famous play. Roméo et Juliette was last presented by San Diego Opera in 2010. Additional performances are March 29, April 1, and 3 (matinee), 2022. Roméo et Juliette will be performed in French with English translations above the stage. These performances are made possible by Lead Production Sponsor Darlene Marcos Shiley.
Paola Prestini’s Aging Magician makes its triumphant San Diego Opera debut as part of the 2021-2022 season. Aging Magician was originally scheduled to be performed in March of 2019 but was cancelled because of COVID-19, making San Diego Opera one of the first professional opera companies to cancel a performance due to the pandemic. San Diego Opera is pleased to be able to move this production to this season as a symbol of perseverance and hope. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, one of the most influential and innovative taste makers on the forefront of the “indie opera” movement, Aging Magician opens on Friday, May 13, 2022 at 7:30 PM at The Balboa Theatre. Additional performances are Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 2 PM and 7:30 PM. Aging Magician will be performed in English with English text above the stage. Aging Magician tells the story of Harold, an eccentric and aging clockmaker who is nearing the end of his life. He has been working on a children’s book, called The Aging Magician, and is at a critical point in his story. Should Harold kill off the magician? Should he allow him to live? As Harold ponders these decisions he finds himself transported to a magical place where fiction and reality collide. Aging Magician stars Rinde Eckert in his Company debut as Harold. Aging Magician features the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, also in a Company debut. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus have appeared with the New York Philharmonic, The National, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Wye Oak, Shara Nova, International Contemporary Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Barbra Streisand, Arcade Fire, Sir Elton John, and Grizzly Bear, among others, in recent seasons. The director is Julian Crouch and the conductor is Dianne Berkun Menaker, both in San Diego Opera debuts. The composer is Paola Prestini. These are the first performances of Aging Magician by San Diego Opera and the West Coast Premiere of the opera.
Pre-season artwork available at: https://sandiegoopera.smugmug.com/2021-2022-Pre-Season-Artwork/n-VMxXMJ
Only subscriptions to the 2021-2022 season are now on sale. Single tickets will be on sale at a later date. A subscription for the two Main Stage operas begins at a low $70. A subscription for the three vocal concerts starts at $105. Tickets to Aging Magician begin at $35. Subscriptions start at $210 for a full series including the Main Stage operas (Così fan tutte and Roméo et Juliette), the Vocal Concert Series, and Aging Magician and goes up to $1,180 for a full-season of prime orchestra level seating on Saturday nights, the Company’s most popular day. Casts, repertoire, and scheduling are subject to change.
At the heart of every reopening plan is the safety and well-being of our audience, artists, and staff. While it is impossible today to know what our safety protocols will look in the future, we will be taking careful steps to ensure the safety of our guests and employees. Additionally, the different theatres we perform in all have different policies that will be enforced. Guests should visit our website at www.sdopera.org for the most up-to-date safety policies. It will take all of us working together to keep each other safe. Before arriving to any in-person San Diego Opera performance, we ask that our staff and patrons perform a self-assessment. If they are feeling unwell or showing any symptoms of COVID-19, we ask they do not attend the performance. Our Patron Services team is happy to exchange tickets for our patrons for another time.
Senior citizen discounts of 15% are available to the Main Stage series on Tuesday and Friday subscription packages. Senior citizen discounts of 15% are available to the detour Series on Saturday subscription packages.
Military discounts (active and retired) of 50% are available to the Main Stage series on Tuesday and Friday subscription packages. Military discounts of 50% are available to the detour Series on Saturday subscription packages.
www.sdopera.org
San Diego Opera 2021-2022 Season Performance Schedule
The Conrad Prebys Foundation – 2021 Season Sponsor
Stephanie Blythe in Concert
The Balboa Theatre
detour Series
Saturday October 23, 2021 7:30pm
Michelle Bradley in Concert
The Conrad Performing Arts Center, Baker Baum Recital Hall
detour Series
Saturday November 20, 2021 7:30pm
Arturo Chacón-Cruz in Concert
California Center for the Performing Arts, Escondido
detour Series
Friday December 3, 2021 7:30pm
Così fan tutte
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
San Diego Civic Theatre
Main Stage Series
Saturday February 12, 2022 7:30pm
Tuesday February 15, 2022 7:30pm
Friday February 18, 2022 7:30pm
Sunday February 20, 2022 2:00pm
Roméo et Juliette
Charles Gounod
San Diego Civic Theatre
Main Stage Series
Lead Production Sponsor Darlene Marcos Shiley
Saturday March 26, 2022 7:30pm
Tuesday March 29, 2022 7:30pm
Friday April 1, 2022 7:30pm
Sunday April 3, 2022 2:00pm
Aging Magician
The Balboa Theatre
detour Series
Friday May 13, 2022 7:30pm
Saturday May 14, 2022 2:00pm
Saturday May 14, 2022 7:30pm
Concert Series Artist Biographies
Stephanie Blythe, Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe made her Company debut in 2014’s A Masked Ball as Ulrica, sang in the Company’s Verdi Requiem in 2014, and returned in recital that same year for We’ll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. Ms. Blythe has sung in many of the renowned opera houses in the US and Europe including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Opera National de Paris. Her many roles include the title roles in Carmen, Samson et Dalila , Orfeo ed Euridice, La Grande Duchesse, Tancredi, Mignon, and Giulio Cesare; Frugola, Principessa, and Zita in Il Trittico, Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, Azucena in Il trovatore, Ulrica, Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress, Ježibaba in Rusalka, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mere Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites; Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, and Ino/Juno in Semele. She also created the role of Gertrude Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon's 27 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Ms. Blythe has also appeared with many of the world's finest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Minnesota Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Ensemble Orchestre de Paris, and the Concertgerbouworkest. She has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, and Ravinia festivals, and at the BBC Proms. The many conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Alan Gilbert, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, John Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Blythe has been presented in recital in New York by Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center in both its Great Performers Series at Alice Tully Hall and its American Songbook Series at the Allen Room, Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also been a performer at the Vocal Arts Society and at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC; the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall in Baltimore, and San Francisco Performances. A champion of American song, Ms. Blythe has premiered several song cycles written for her including Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson by the late James Legg, Covered Wagon Woman by Alan Smith which was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and recorded with the ensemble (CMS Studio Recordings); and Vignettes: Ellis Island, also by Alan Smith and featured in a special television program entitled Vignettes: An Evening with Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones. Ms Blythe starred in the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts of Orfeo ed Euridice, Il Trittico, Rodelinda, and the complete Ring Cycle. She also appeared in PBS's Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic's performance of Carousel and her acclaimed show, We'll Meet Again: The Songs of Kate Smith. Her recordings include her solo album, as long as there are songs (Innova), and works by Mahler, Brahms, Wagner, Handel and Bach (Virgin Classics). Ms. Blythe's many engagements have also included her return to the Metropolitan Opera for The Rake's Progress, the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Il trovatore, the Seattle Opera for Semele, Samson and Dalilah with the Atlanta Symphony, and Carnegie Hall for a recital in Stern Auditorium. She recently performed with the San Francisco Opera as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and the Houston Grand Opera as Nettie Fowler in Carousel. She also performed her new program, Sing, America! at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year for 2009. Her other awards include the 2007 Opera News Award and the 1999 Richard Tucker Award. She is also the Artistic Director of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at the Crane School of Music.
Michelle Bradley, Soprano
Soprano Michelle Bradley made her Company debut in the title role of Aida in 2019. She made notable debuts in Frankfurt as Leonora in La Forza del Destino, in Nancy, France and Erfurt, Germany as the title role in Aida, the Deutsche Oper Berlin in staged performances of Verdi’s Requiem, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Clotilde in Norma. This season, she makes debuts with the Vienna State Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore, the San Francisco Opera as Elvira in Ernani, and will return to the Metropolitan Opera for their New Year’s Eve Gala as Liù in Turandot. Future projects include debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and returns to the Metropolitan Opera, all in leading roles. In concert, she appeared in Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the Orchestre de Paris, sang the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, made her debut at the Cincinnati May Festival in the Verdi Requiem, and sang in recital under the auspices of the George London Foundation in Miami and New York City. She is a recipient of the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, and is a first place winner in the Gerda Lissner and the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky vocal competitions. She is the 2014 grand prize winner of The Music Academy of the West’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition, and is a recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Tenor
San Diego Opera debut. A native of Sonora, Mexico, tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz, has established himself in recent years as a leading tenor with exciting appearances in renowned theaters and concert halls across the globe. He has sung over 60 roles in more than 30 countries. Since winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 2005, Arturo’s career has seen a successful and steady development. His repertoire spans from Bellini and Donizetti to Puccini and Verdi. Some of his more sought after roles are: Rodolfo, the Duke of Mantua, Alfredo, Jacopo Foscari, Gabriele Adorno, B.F. Pinkerton, Hoffmann, Werther, and Roméo to name a few. He has sung private recitals for His Majesties Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos of Spain, as well as another one for all the leaders of Iberoamerica, and His Majesty King Felipe of Spain. Highlights include role debuts as Cavaradossi in Tosca, Ismael in Nabucco, and Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller in Oviedo, Valencia and Barcelona respectively. He also sang his first Nemorino in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love in Palermo, Italy and afterwards he performed it again in Macau, China. Other recent performances include: The Duke in Rigoletto (Verona, Naples, Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles and Florence), La bohème (San Francisco and Hamburg), La traviata (Munich, Valencia, Moscow, Rome, Barcelona, Verona and Oman), Ruggero in La Rondine in Genova, Faust in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust in Mexico City’s Bellas Artes, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Werther in Barcelona and Budapest, Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Monte Carlo, Don José in Carmen (Tel Aviv, Lyon, Tampere, Palermo and Zurich), as well as a critically acclaimed role debut as Macduff in Macbeth in Los Angeles and later in Vienna. In addition to an extensive existing operatic discography, the artist’s first solo CD is available. “Arturo Chacón le canta a México”, features some of the most beautiful Mexican music ever written, and is accompanied by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. Arturo’s Mariachi recordings “De México para el Mundo” and “De mi Casa a tu Casa” were recently released, including a duet with his wife Venetia-Maria Stelliou, as well as his first ever English language recording “A Christmas Wonderland.” Chacón-Cruz has received many honors and awards throughout the years. The most recent one being the “Moncayo Medal” in Jalisco, Mexico, he was also “GQ Man of the Year 2018” in Mexico. He was the “Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Emerging Star” of 2017 for the San Francisco Opera. He received the Alfonso Ortíz Tirado medal in 2013 (Sonora’s highest cultural award), the Distinguished Sonoran Medal 2009, the Culturarte de Puerto Rico, the Opera de Valencia and the Plácido Domingo Zarzuela Awards in Operalia 2005 in Madrid’s Teatro Real. He received the Eleanor McCollum 1st Prize Award, and Audience Choice Award with the Houston Grand Opera in 2003, among many others. Arturo is also the spokesperson for Beyond Celiac, an organization he proudly supports that works towards a cure for Celiac Disease. He currently lives in Miami with his wife and his son.
Così fan tutte Select Cast Biographies
Samantha Hankey, Dorabella
San Diego Opera debut. American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey is quickly establishing a name for herself both at home and abroad. In the 2019/20 season, Samantha joined the ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she made her role and house debut as Hänsel Hänsel and Gretel. She continues her residency in Munich for the 2020-21 season, where she reprises the roles of Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and Second Dame The Magic Flute and makes her role debut as Octavian in their new production of Der Rosenkavalier, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Other highlights of her upcoming seasons include exciting returns to the Metropolitan Opera, where she will debut the role of Prince Charming in Massenet’s Cendrillion among others. Samantha’s abridged 2019/20 season featured numerous role reprisals with the Bayerische Staatsoper in addition to her house debut with The Dallas Opera in the role of Second Dame. In the 2018/19 season, Samantha made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pantalis in Mefistofele and returned to the Met throughout the year in Adriana Lecouvreur, Carmen, Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung, and Rigoletto, debuting a myriad of named roles in her first season at the Met. She also travelled to Turku, Finland to renew the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro. Other highlights of Samantha’s recent seasons include major role and house debuts at Opernhaus Zürich, Den Norske Opera Oslo, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Konu Kim, Ferrando
San Diego Opera debut. South Korean tenor Konu Kim joined the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists Program for the 2017/18 Season where he sang Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor, Mitrane in Semiramide, Fourth Jew in Salome, Voice From the House of the Dead, Malcolm Macbeth), and First Follower of Telramund in Lohengrin. The following season, he sang Chaplitsky in The Queen of Spades, Gastone in La traviata, Maintop in Billy Budd, and Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment. He studied at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, the Korean National Opera Academy and in Germany. Awards include first prizes at the Concours musical international de Montréal and Operalia, second prize at the Seoul International Music Competition and further awards at the Marmande International Opera Singing Competition, France, the G.B. Rubini, Marcello Giordani and Riccardo Zandonai international singing competitions in Italy and the International Stanislaw Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Poland. His other engagements include Nadir in The Pearl Fishers for Korean National Opera, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville for Theater Rudolstadt, Arturo in I puritani for Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti di Modena and in concert at Carnegie Hall.
Gihoon Kim, Guglielmo
San Diego Opera and United States debut. From South Korea, baritone Gihoon Kim has risen to prominence following a string of international competition successes, including winning Second Prize and the Audience Prize at Operalia 2019 and the Second Prize at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Gihoon is a former member of the Junges Ensemble at Staatstheater Hannover which he joined after his studies with Kwan-dong Kim at the Yonsei University in Seoul. Recent highlights include gala concerts at the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall and Zaryadye Hall in Moscow at the invitation of Valery Gergiev. Due to the coronavirus panedemic, Gihoon’s scheduled debuts at Washington National Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival were cancelled. Future seasons will see series of exciting opera and concert debuts including at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Glyndebourne Festival.
Alisa Jordheim, Despina
Soprano Alisa Jordheim made her Company debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in 2019. Notable debuts include Palm Beach Opera for Cunegonde in Candide, Paris Opera as 1st Knappe in Parsifal, Florentine Opera for Venus in Venus and Adonis, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Lola in Aldridge’s Sister Carrie, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Serpetta in La finta giardiniera with On Site Opera and Atlanta Opera, Yum Yum in The Mikado with DuPage Opera, Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Marzelline in Fidelio with Madison Opera, Nannetta in Falstaff with Emerald City Opera, Micaëla in Carmen with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and Satirino in La Calisto with Cincinnati Opera, where she previously sang the Second Boy in The Magic Flute and the Page in Rigoletto. She returned to Florentine Opera as Lulu Baines in Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry after participating in the company’s studio, where she sang numerous mainstage roles with the company including Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro, and Frasquita in Carmen. She is a former participant in San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera program, where she sang both Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Barbarina. With Central City Opera, she sang Flora in The Turn of the Screw, Ellen in Oklahoma!, Fredrika in A Little Night Music, and Sirena in Rinaldo and received both the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Young Artists Training Program Award and the Young Artist Award. Her concert performances include the title role in Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull’s Letters from Ruth with the New York Opera Society at the National Gallery of Art, Mozart’s Requiem with Baltimore Symphony, Yum Yum with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, A Bernstein Banquet with the Southwestern Suburban Symphony, an all Rodgers & Hammerstein concert with the New Philharmonic, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and Bach’s St. John Passion with Madison Bach Musicians.
Reginald Smith, Jr., Don Alfonso
San Diego Opera debut. Baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., a native of Atlanta, Georgia, is a Grand Finals winner of the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and he is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. He opened the 2019-2020 season with his much-anticipated debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Jim in Porgy and Bess, followed by Amonasro in Aida with the Houston Grand Opera and the Cincinnati Opera and Jake in Porgy and Bess with the Atlanta Opera. His orchestral appearances include Christmas Pops Concerts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Oregon Symphony. Reginald Smith, Jr. appeared as Jake with Cincinnati Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Memphis, Amonasro with Opera Idaho, and returned to the rosters of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera. His orchestral engagements included the baritone solo in Carmina Burana for his return to the Houston Symphony and the bass solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at New Jersey Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, and Symphoria. He made company debuts with Opera Hong Kong as Amonasro, the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Senator Charles Potter/General Airlie/Bartender in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers and Portland Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto. He returned to Opera Memphis to make his role debut as Taddeo in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. In conjunction with the University of Michigan Gershwin Initiative’s research, Mr. Smith sang the role of Jake in a concert performance of the new, critical edition score of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Additionally, he made his concert debut with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra as the bass soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as making his Dallas Symphony Orchestra debut as the guest soloist and narrator for the Dallas Symphony Christmas Pops. He made his Lincoln Center debut as the bass soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Chorale. Mr. Smith was thrilled to return to his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, to perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Lexington Singers and the University of Kentucky Chorale. He has appeared in operatic performances with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Toledo Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. In concert, Mr. Smith has performed with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Lexington Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony Orchestra (GA), North Carolina Symphony, Johnson City Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Russia. Previous operatic highlights include La bohème (Marcello), Die Fledermaus (Falke), Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), La traviata (Giorgio Germont), The Pirates of Penzance (The Pirate King), Gounod’s Roméo and Juliet (Capulet) and The Marriage of Figaro (Count Almaviva). In addition to receiving recognition from the Dallas Opera Guild Competition, the Mildred Miller International Vocal Competition, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Vocal Competition, Mr. Smith has won first place in the National Opera Association Competition: Scholarship Division, Orpheus Vocal Competition: Young Artist Division, George London Vocal Competition: Top Prize (George London Award), Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition: Top Prize, received a 2015 Sarah Tucker Study Grant, and he has received a 2016 Career Grant from the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation.
Bruce Stasyna, Conductor
Conductor Bruce Stasyna made his Company conducting debut with As One in 2017, returned to conduct Maria de Buenos Aires in 2018, One Amazing Night with Stephen Costello and Stephen Powell in 2019, All is Calm Holiday Concert in 2020, and was last seen conducting both One Amazing Night: When I See Your Face Again and The Barber of Seville, in the Company’s 2021 Spring drive-in season. He has been on the conducting rosters of the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Sugar Creek Opera, and has held positions as Chorus Master for New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and Des Moines Opera. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Green Mountain Opera Festival, and Head of Music and Director of the Young Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera. He has collaborated on many notable North American premieres including Anna Nicole, The Handmaid’s Tale, Orazi e Curiazi, and Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man. As a pianist he has concertized with such artists as Marcello Giordani, Deborah Voigt, J’nai Bridges, Irene Roberts, Marina Costa-Jackson, and Richard Troxell. The Canadian born conductor is currently the Chorus Master and Music Administrator for San Diego Opera, Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor for Washington Concert Opera, and Music Director of Vero Beach Opera.
Tim Nelson, Director
San Diego Opera debut. Stage Director Timothy Nelson has directed over 70 productions of opera and theater throughout the United States and Europe. The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times have both referred to Nelson as “The Future of Opera.” He recently directed the Nederlandse Reiopera's highy acclaimed production of The Pearl Fishers and the Barbican's L'Incoronazione di Poppea. Recent projects have included Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria for the Academy of Ancient Music and Barbican Theatre in London; and A Masked Ball for the Iford Arts Festival. From 2002-2012, Nelson served as Artistic Director of the American Opera Theater, directing and designing a diverse body of productions including baroque masterpieces Messiah, La Calisto, and Jephtha. Nelson also directed the American premiers of La Didone and David et Jonathas at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and a national tour of his acclaimed circus production of Acis and Galatea. Other work includes productions of Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly for Sardinia's Festival Ente Concerti, Aureliano in Palmira for the famed Festivale della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, Riders to the Sea for Amsterdam's Grachtenfestival, La Voix Humaine for the Residentie Orkest of the Hague, and Giulio Cesare for Opera London. Nelson is a frequent guest of the Nederlandse Reisopera, where he has directed and designed productions of The Lighthouse and the theater piece Figaro in Four Quartets. Nelson served as Artistic Director of the Netherlands Opera Studio where he directed and designed productions of Don Giovanni, La bohème, Pelleas et Melisande, and The Rape of Lucretia. He is currently Artistic Director of Nieuwe Stemmen of the Rotterdam Operadagen and of the Accademia Europea dell'Opera, where he has directed and designed Les Dialogues des Carmelites, The Magic Flute, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, Così fan Tutte, and Alcina. Other guest credits include work for Bard College, Georgetown University, Indiana University, Oberlin College, Royal Hague Conservatory, and Peabody Conservatory.
Roméo et Juliette Select Cast Biographies
Pene Pati, Roméo
San Diego Opera debut. Samoan tenor Pene Pati has taken the operatic world by storm with recent debuts as Percy in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at Opéra national de Bordeaux, Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at San Francisco Opera and Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata at Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre. While still a young artist on San Francisco Opera’s Adler Program, his critically acclaimed 2017 debut as The Duke in Rigoletto, conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti, thrust the New Zealander into the limelight, receiving subsequent invitations to join productions of The Elixir of Love, Madama Butterfly, and Manon. In the upcoming seasons, he will enjoy debuts at Staatsoper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Opéra National de Paris, and take on new roles such as Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, Verdi’s Cassio in Otello and Donizetti’s Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. An equally compelling performer on the concert and recital stages, this season Pene Pati will join Theater Dortmund for gala concerts and return to Matinee Musicale Cincinnati in recital with regular pianist partner Ronny Michael Greenberg. In the early years of his career, he enjoyed a string of high-profile competition successes taking the prestigious Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge ‘Bel Canto’ Award, both Second Prize and Audience Prize at Operalia, and Second Prize at Neue Stimmen. As First Prize winner at the Montserrat Caballé International Aria Competition, Pati was invited to be part of a special celebratory concert in 2019 dedicated to?the late soprano at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, and he joined the prestigious line-up of soloists at the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall. Since 2012, Pene Pati has enjoyed huge commercial success as part of Sol3 Mio, a popular trio formed together with his tenor brother and baritone cousin. Their first album, released on Decca Classics, achieved 8x platinum sales in New Zealand and they continue to perform concerts together to sold-out stadiums whenever solo schedules permit.
Kristina Mkhitaryan, Juliette
San Diego Opera debut. A graduate of the Galina Vishnevskaya Theatre Studio, Moscow, soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan went on to join the Young Artist Program at the Bolshoi Theatre where she remains a studio artist. She has won first prize at the Queen Sonja International Competition in Oslo (2013), third prize at the Neue Stimmen Competition (2013) and the Viotti Competition in Vercelli (2014). Kristina won 2nd Prize at the 2017 Operalia Competition. Recent roles include a debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Micaela in Carmen and Violetta in La traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Australia and Hamburgische Staatsoper, the title role in Alcina at Opéra National de Lorraine, and Armida in Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival. Kristina debuts at Liceu Barcelona in La traviata and with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko in Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini. Later, she returns to Grand Théâtre de Genève as Leila in The Pearl Fishers and to Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Oman, and NCPA Beijing.
Yunpeng Wang, Mercutio
San Diego Opera debut. Chinese baritone Yunpeng Wang is quickly gaining international recognition on both the opera and concert stages of the world. He has appeared around the world at The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Rossini, Guangzhou Opera House, Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, The Dallas Opera, Quanzhou Opera House, and Tulsa Opera; concert venues have included Carnegie Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Alice Tully Hall, St. George’s Hall (Liverpool), Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Chicago’s Harris Theater, Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, and Shenzhen Concert Hall; and participated in The Musical Olympus Festival and Rossini Opera Festival. He won Second Prize (as well as the Zarzuela Prize and coveted Audience Favorite Award) at Plácido Domingo’s 2012 Operalia Competition. Recent highlights include his stage debut in the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatro Municpal in São Paulo, a role he had previously covered at the Metropolitan Opera, a concert version of Madama Butterfly with the Pacific Symphony, a performance of Dona nobis pacem by Vaughan Williams with the Hartford Symphony, and a tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center featuring Barber’s Dover Beach that culminated in a concert at Alice Tully Hall in New York. Mr. Wang also sang the title role in the Chinese premiere of Buddha Passion in Xi'an with the Orchestre National de Lyon conducted by the composer Tan Dun. Previous performances at the Metropolitan Opera have included Mercutio in Bartlett Sher’s new production of Roméo et Juliette, a Flemish Deputy in Don Carlos, appearing twice in the Live in HD series in movie theaters around the world as Prince Yamadori in Anthony Minghella’s production of Madama Butterfly and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville, as well as appearing in the company’s 50th anniversary gala and the Summer Recital Series in New York City parks.
Yves Abel, Conductor
Maestro Yves Abel is San Diego Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor. He made his Company debut in 2013 for performances of The Daughter of the Regiment. He returned in 2014 for Pagliacci, in 2016 for Madama Butterfly, and was last heard locally in 2019 for performances of Carmen. He is the Chief Conductor designate of the NordwestDeutsche Philarmonie, Germany. A frequent guest with the world’s great opera companies, Yves Abel has conducted performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; La Scala, Milan; the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; Seattle Opera; Glyndebourne Festival; Bayerische Staatsoper; Opéra National de Paris; Netherlands Opera; Grand Théatre de Génève; Teatro San Carlo, Naples; Teatro Communale Bologna; New National Theatre, Tokyo; Welsh National Opera and Opera North. He has conducted new productions in Liceo (The Pearl Fishers), Munich (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Geneva (Les Vêpres Siciliennes), Barcelona (Madama Butterfly), Bilbao (Norma), Toulouse (Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys and The Tales of Hoffmann), Lisbon (Il Turco in Italia), Naples (Gounod’s Faust), Dallas (Ermione), Seattle (Il trovatore and Heggie’s The End of Affair), Monte Carlo Opera (Il Turco in Italia) and Santa Fe (Così fan tutte), and at the festivals of Pesaro, Caramoor, the Menuhin festival in Gstaad, and the Spoleto festival in Charleston and Spoleto, Italy. As Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin from 2005 to 2011, he conducted new productions of Don Pasquale, Simon Boccanegra, d’Albert’s Tiefland, and Carmen, as well as performances of The Marriage of Figaro, La traviata, Dialogues des Carmélites, La bohème and Carmina Burana. He is a frequent guest at the Vienna Staatsoper where his repertoire includes The Daughter of the Regiment, The Elixir of Love, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Simon Boccanegra, A Masked Ball, and L'italiana in Algeri. In concerts he has performed with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra at the Tivoli Festival, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchèstre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma. He has also conducted the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchèstre National de Lyon, Orchestra of St. Luke's New York, the Royal Liverpool, the Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano and the orchestras of Genoa, Naples, and Palermo among others. A Franco-Canadian, he has a particular affinity with the French repertoire and has won significant critical acclaim for his achievements as founder and Music Director of L'Opéra Francais de New York, with whom he has regenerated rare French operas and also performed the world premiere of Dusapin’s To be Sung. Since 1994, the company has performed regularly to capacity audiences at the Lincoln Center. He conducts at various festivals around the world including the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and the Glyndebourne festival, among others. His recordings include Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Werther with Andrea Bocelli (Decca), Madama Butterfly with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Chandos), and two discs of French arias, one with Susan Graham and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Erato) and the other with Patricia Petibon and the Orchestra of the Opera National de Lyon (Decca). His most recent recording, ‘Romantique’, is a disc of romantic arias with Elina Garanca on Deutsche Grammophon. In 2009 he was awarded the title Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
Matthew Ozawa, Director
San Diego Opera debut. Matthew Ozawa is a stage director, artistic director, and educator whose international career spans all artistic disciplines including opera, theater, musical theater, dance, video, world music, and visual art. Ozawa is the Founder and Artistic Director of Mozawa, a Chicago-based incubator advancing collaborative art and artists. Also a proponent of arts education, Ozawa served three years as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Passionate about collaborative interdisciplinary performance, new work, and reigniting classics, his productions have been seen at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolftrap Opera, Opera Colorado, Des Moines Metro Opera, Arizona Opera, Kentucky Opera, North Carolina Opera, Opera Siam and Asia Society among many others. In opera, Ozawa divides his time between directing classics, rarely performed works, world premieres and musical theater. Recent productions of classic as well as rarely performed repertory include Madama Butterfly (Santa Fe Opera / Arizona Opera), Don Quixote (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Roméo et Juliette (Minnesota Opera / Cincinnati Opera / Michigan Opera Theatre), Nabucco (Lyric Opera of Chicago), L'Opera Seria (Wolf Trap Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Colorado / North Carolina Opera), The Barber of Seville (Kentucky Opera), Arizona Lady (Arizona Opera), La bohème (Opera Colorado / Opera North), and Les Mamelles de Tiresias / Le Pauvre Matelot (Wolf Trap Opera). Committed to new and modern work, recent new production highlights include Ruo / Hwang’s An American Soldier (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Perla / Murphy’s An American Dream (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Aucoin’s Second Nature (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Hanlon / Fleischmann’s After The Storm (Houston Grand Opera), Sucharitkul’s Snow Dragon (Skylight Music Theatre / Opera Siam), Larsen’s Frankenstein (West Edge Opera), and Regan / Fries’ The Memory Stone (Houston Grand Opera). In addition, Ozawa’s interest in hybrid storytelling has led him to direct pieces of musical theater including A Little Night Music (Houston Grand Opera / Des Moines Metro Opera) and Sweeney Todd (Skylight Music Theater). Ozawa’s skill at working across artistic boundaries has led him to collaborate with the Grammy award winning contemporary music ensemble Eighth Blackbird (Hand Eye and Ghostlight), Placido Domingo (Celebrating Placido Domingo), Sondra Radvanovsky (The Three Queens), Houston Ballet & Asia Society Houston (Tsuru), Mariachi Aztlon (Canciones y arias), Alexa Grae / Jon Wes (Vimeo music video – Sur La Nuit), and visual performance designer Candystations (Hand Eye) among others. In 2013, Ozawa founded MOZAWA because of his commitment to cross-cultural interdisciplinary work. Having incubated numerous new works and fostered over 150 artists from all over the world, Mozawa has been featured in Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine, at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and by High Concept Laboratory. Ozawa led collaborations have included A Dream Play (an interdisciplinary production in collaboration with Bow & Hammer: Sponsored by High Concept Laboratory), Y Portraits: Origins and Y Portraits: Awakening (an art gallery experience featuring over 50 international artists from all mediums; in collaboration with Chicago Harp Quartet & Ho Etsu Taiko Ensemble), and Fallen (a theatrical adaptation of Akutgawa's In A Grove featuring collaborative composition by koto musician Yumi Kurosawa and electronic sound artist Mike Vernusky). As an educator, Ozawa taught movement, acting and directing to undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance from 2017-2020. In addition, he has acted as lecturer for the School of Music at DePaul University, lecturer / stage director for the School of Music at North Park University, instructor for Music Academy of the West, and instructor for Rider University / Westminster Choir College. As an acting and movement coach, Ozawa has worked with young professionals at the Santa Fe Opera, Ryan Opera Center (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Arizona Opera and Opera Colorado. Ozawa’s own education in the industry led him to learn the business from the ground up. Starting at the Santa Fe Opera where he was a technical apprentice, he then proceeded to work as an Assistant Stage Manager, Stage Manager, Assistant Dramaturge, Assistant Director and then Associate Director all over the world. In any one of these capacities Ozawa has worked for Canadian Opera Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Opera Colorado, Macau International Festival, Indianapolis Opera, and Off-Broadway. Throughout his formative years he was fortunate to work with and learn from some of the most world-renowned directors and artists including Meredith Monk, Peter Sellars, Isaac Mizrahi, Robert Carsen, Francesca Zambello, Chay Yew, David Alden, Bob Falls, Rob Ashford, Gary Griffin, James Robinson, and Francisco Negrin.
Aging Magician Select Biographies
Rinde Eckert, Harold
San Diego Opera debit. Rinde Eckert is a writer, composer, singer, actor, and director whose music and music theater pieces have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. Among them are: And God Created Great Whales (Obie Award), Horizon (Lucille Lortel Award, and Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play), and Orpheus X (2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist). He is a recipient of a Marc Blitzstein Memorial Award (for Lyricist/Librettists) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2005), an Alpert Award (for Theater work) (2009), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (in composition) (2007). In 2012 he won a Grammy Award singing with eighth blackbird and Steven Mackey on ‘Lonely Motel - Music from Slide’ (for which he also wrote the lyrics). He is one of the inaugural class of Doris Duke Performing Artist Award winners (2012). Rinde has appeared as a principle soloist with the New York Philharmonic, and the BBC Philharmonic. In the spring of 2017 he was one of five singers chosen by Renée Fleming to perform solo concerts at the Kennedy Center as part of her Voices Festival. That same spring he performed the solo role in Aging Magician (Rinde’s libretto), a collaboration with composer Paola Prestini and designer/director Julian Crouch. In the spring of 2018 he toured with the Kronos Quartet in My Lai, a mono-opera written for him by Jonathan Berger. His new solo recording The Natural World was released in August 2018 as a Songtone production in association with National Sawdust Tracks.
Paola Prestini, Composer
San Diego Opera debut. Composer Paola Prestini is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Brooklyn arts center National Sawdust. Since 1999, when she co-founded the multimedia production company VisionIntoArt (subsequently re-launched as National Sawdust Projects), she has collaborated with poets, filmmakers, and scientists in large-scale multimedia works. She was recently named an “Innovator” on the list of Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America, the country’s oldest classical music magazine; she is on Brooklyn Magazine’s latest list of “influencers of Brooklyn culture…in perpetuity” alongside such household names as Chuck Schumer and Spike Lee; and is one of the Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music (Washington Post). As part of her commitment to education and mentoring the next generation of musical artists, she started the Hildegard Competition, for emerging female, trans, and non-binary composers. Prestini’s music and works have been commissioned by and performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Barbican Centre, the Cannes Film Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Opera, Roomful of Teeth, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and the Young People’s Chorus, among others. Her next steps include the following new commissions: a new piece for the New York Philharmonic’s Project 19 Initiative, a piano concerto for Awadagin Pratt and A Far Cry, a string quartet commissioned by Caramoor for the Thalea String Quartet, and the score to The Amazon, a documentary and arts event (and follow up to filmmaker Murat Eyuboglu’s The Colorado). Her upcoming operas include the grand opera Edward Tulane with librettist Mark Campbell and director Eric Simonson (Minnesota Opera), the chamber opera Sensorium Ex with poet Brenda Shaughnessy and director Tomer Tzvulun (Atlanta Opera and Beth Morrison Projects), and the foley chamber opera Stellet Licht with librettist Royce Vavrek and director Thaddeus Strassberger (Banff’s Opera in the 21st Century). She has collaborated with artists such as the multidisciplinary talent Rinde Eckert; astrophysicist Mario Livio; conservationist William deBuys; VR writer and director Eliza McNitt; throat singer Tanya Tagaq; directors Julian Crouch and Robert Wilson; and musicians such as Helga Davis and Jeffrey Zeigler. She has been a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and a Sundance Fellow and was a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), Creative Producer
San Diego Opera debut. Since 2006 “the contemporary opera mastermind (LA Times),” Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), has been an industry disruptor and tastemaker at the forefront of musical and theatrical innovation by commissioning, developing, producing and touring the groundbreaking new works of living composers and their collaborators, which take the form of opera-theatre, music-theatre, and vocal-theatre. BMP encourages risk-taking and the result is provocative works that represent a dynamic and lasting legacy for a new American canon. The 2014 bi-coastal expansion to Los Angeles sprang from growing partnerships and relationships with institutions such as LA Opera, the LA Phil, Ford Theatres, Center Theatre Group and RVCC. During the last five years alone, BMP has produced works in 43 venues in 22 cities around the world. BMP’s commitment to cutting edge musical expression has created “its own genre" (Opera News) of originality. In 2013, Beth Morrison Projects and HERE Arts Center co-founded the PROTOTYPE Festival, which showcases contemporary opera-theatre and music-theatre projects over ten days each January in New York City. The New Yorker recently wrote that the festival is “Essential to the evolution of American Opera,” and The New York Times called the festival “Bracingly innovative… a point of reference.”
Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Chorus
San Diego Opera debut. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus is a Grammy Award-winning collective of young voices led by Founder & Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker. The Chorus has performed or recorded with major orchestras and artists such as New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Barbra Streisand, Arcade Fire, Sir Elton John, The National, and Grizzly Bear. Recordings of the Chorus have been featured in major motion pictures, commercials, and live events, including a work by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for rag & bone’s Spring 2016 collection as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s OTR II World Tour. As a bold commissioner and producer of new music, the Chorus has introduced into the repertoire more than 120 original works and world premieres by contemporary composers, including collaborations with Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, Blues and R&B powerhouse Toshi Reagon, iconic British DJ Bishi, The National’s Bryce Dessner, and ubiquitous indie-classical superstar Nico Muhly. Founded in 1992, Brooklyn Youth Chorus has served over 10,000 students over the course of its history, currently involving more than 700 students in its core after-school and public-school outreach programs. All students perform in the Chorus’s annual concert series, and our advanced ensembles appear regularly at prestigious venues—from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Barbican Theatre and The Kennedy Center. Advanced singers also enjoy opportunities for touring and recording.
Julian Crouch, Director
Julian Crouch is a Brooklyn-based independent director, designer, writer, maker, teacher, illustrator and musician, whose career has spanned theatre, opera, ballet, film and television. Initially a mask and puppet maker, and with much of his life based in London, in the mid- 1990’s co-founded London’s Improbable Theatre Company. Improbable’s productions, which included Animo, 70 Hill Lane, Lifegame, Spirit, Sticky, The Hanging Man, The Wolves in The Walls, and Panic, have gained far-reaching national and international recognition. His final production for Improbable, which he conceived, directed and designed, was The Devil and Mister Punch. Julian co-created, co-directed and designed the multi-award winning Shockheaded Peter. His opera work has included set design and associate direction for Satyagraha for the ENO and The Met Opera, and creating The Enchanted Island, Doctor Atomic and staging the 125th Gala for the Met. Other major projects include Jerry Springer: The Opera and A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to the Forum for the National Theatre, The Magic Flute for the Welsh National Opera and Cinderella for the Dutch National and San Francisco Ballets. On Broadway Julian designed The Addams Family Musical and Big Fish. Most recently Julian co-directed, co-composed and designed Jedermann for the Salzburg Festival. His recent set design for Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway earned him a Tony Nomination. Most recently he designed and co-created The Aging Magician for BMP at the New Victory Theater, designed The Nutcracker for Christopher Wheeldon and The Joffrey Ballet, co-directed and designed King Arthur for the Berlin Staatsoper. He was also Director and Designer for the Met Opera's 50 Years of The Met at Lincoln Center Gala. He is currently designing Hansel and Gretel and Ernani for La Scala Opera, Milan, Nico Muhly's Marnie for the English National Opera and the Met Opera, and The Barber Of Seville for the Dutch National Opera. His production Birdheart, co-conceived with Saskia Lane, played for the Dalai Lama in Brussels and has toured as far afield as Zimbabwe and Abu Dhabi. Julian was recently Artist in Residence at New York’s Park Avenue Armory and was the first commissioned artist for the BRIC House Fireworks Residency Program in Brooklyn, NY. He has illustrated 2 books - Jedermann, and Maggot Moon.
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