Opera San José Presents Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus

SAN JOSE, CA (August 28, 2019) – On September 14th San José opens the 2019-2020 season with Die Fledermaus.

We kick off the season on September 14, 2019 when we open Die Fledermaus. Michael Morgan, music director of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek will make his Opera San José debut conducting Johann Strauss’ most seductive series of waltzes and polkas, effervescent arias and dizzying, sentimental ensembles. We will have particularly brilliant sets and costumes, and Marc Jacobs will return to direct this production, which was highly appreciated in 2012. Fledermaus is a double dose of good cheer, thanks to the sparkle of excellent champagne and a vintage, masterful operetta.

This production from Opera San José is funded in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José.

Die Fledermaus will be sung in German with English dialogue and English supertitles. Runtime is approximately three hours. Opera San José presents six performances of this opera, opening in San José’s Theatre on September 14, 2019, closing September 29, 2019. The California Theatre is at 345 S. First Street in downtown San José.

Dates: Performances: September 14, 15m, 19, 22m, 27, and September 29m.

Time: “m” indicates matinee at 3PM; all other performances are at 8PM

Location: California Theatre, 345 South 1st Street (between San Carlos and San Salvador), San José, CA

Tickets: Tickets are available by calling (408) 437-4450, online at OPERASJ.ORG, and at the Opera San José Box Office at 2149 Paragon Drive in San José. Prices range from $10 for students ages 25 and younger with a current student ID. Tickets are $55, $75, $95, $115, $145, $179, and $185 for adults.

Die Fledermaus Preview: September 3, 2019 from 12 – 1 p.m., California Theatre, 345 S. First Street in downtown San José; Please use the Market Street entrance; Free vocal preview with members of the cast. For information, call 408-437-4450.

Introduction to Opera: General Director Larry Hancock will present a free 45-minute talk to ticket holders about the opera at the California Theatre before each performance of Die Fledermaus. The talk begins at 6:30pm prior to evening performances and at 1:30pm prior to Sunday matinees. No reservations required.

Press Room: www.operasj.org/news-events/press-room

To learn more about Die Fledermaus, please visit OPERASJ.ORG

Performances supported, in part, by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José.

Die Fledermaus CAST BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Morgan makes his OSJ debut on the podium in the 2019-20 season, conducting performances of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Maestro Morgan was born in Washington, DC, where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, studying with Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa. He first worked with Leonard Bernstein during that same summer.

His operatic debut was in 1982 at the State Opera, conducting Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. In 1986, Sir Georg Solti chose him to become the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for seven years under both Solti and Daniel Barenboim. In 1986, he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic.

As guest conductor, Morgan has appeared with most of America’s major orchestras, as well as the Opera, St. Louis Opera Theater and Washington National Opera. In addition to his duties with the Oakland Symphony since 1991, Maestro Morgan serves as Artistic Director of the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director at Bear Valley Music Festival, and Music Director of Gateways Music Festival. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and is on the boards of Oaktown Jazz Workshops, the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. In the summer of 2018, he led a national youth orchestra of students from El Sistema programs organized by the Philharmonic, sharing the concert with Gustavo Dudamel. He makes many appearances in the nation’s schools each year.

Christopher James Ray returns in the 2019-20 season as a member of OSJ’s resident company, serving as assistant conductor, chorus master and principal coach. As the company’s resident conductor, he will conduct two performances of each 2019-20 production, act as principal coach, and oversee chorus preparation. Mr. Ray made his OSJ debut in the 2018-19 season as assistant conductor and chorus master for Pagliacci. Recent engagements for Mr. Ray include joining the music staff of the renowned Bayreuth Festival where he worked on productions of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Götterdämmerung, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal.

For the 2017-18 season, Christopher served as Interim Music Director for Opera at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis where he led performances of

Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and Copland’s The Tender Land. Additional conducting credits include Handel’s Alcina at the State University, Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters at Texas Christian University, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for Land of Enchantment Opera, and Florida State Opera’s productions of Heggie’s Three Decembers, Glass’s In the Penal Colony, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, and Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera. In 2014, he made his professional conducting debut leading a double bill of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with the Mississippi Opera, and later that year he conducted performances of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi with Opera in the Ozarks.

As assistant conductor, Mr. Ray has worked with (Brokeback Mountain), Salzburg State Theater (Brokeback Mountain), North Carolina Opera (La bohème, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro), Sarasota Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Don Carlos), Opera on the James (Carmen), Opera on the Avalon (Die Zauberflöte), Syracuse Opera (Die Fledermaus) as well as the Memphis and Portland (ME) Symphonies.

A protege of American composer , Christopher is a sought-after interpreter of Floyd’s works. In addition to serving as the assistant to the composer, Christopher recorded an album of Floyd’s songs with the celebrated mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer. It is available through GPR Records on the Naxos label.

A native of Sumrall, Mississippi, Christopher is a graduate of Florida State University where he studied with Douglas Fisher and Carlisle Floyd.

Director Marc Jacobs returns to OSJ in the 2019-20 season, directing Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Mr. Jacobs started his opera career assisting Sir Peter Hall and legendary Broadway Director Hal Prince. He then joined the New York City Opera staging staff (, Artistic Director) where he mounted productions of Puccini’s Turandot, and Knussen and Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Since then he has directed Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette for Houston Opera, Mozart’s Cosí Fan Tutte for Los Angeles Opera, Mozart’s and Die Fledermaus for Madison Opera, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for Opera San Antonio among many others.

He has received the San Francisco Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Show Boat), two “Ginny” Awards from American Musical Theatre of San Jose where he served as Associate Artistic Director, the Shelly Award for It Shoulda Been You at Center Rep, and two Meritorious Achievement Awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He dedicates this production to his ever-patient husband, Steve.

Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu returns during the 2019-20 season as a member of OSJ’s resident company, appearing as Eisenstein (Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), the Father (Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), and Count De Luna (Verdi’s Il trovatore) and Papageno (Mozart’s The Magic Flute.) Roles performed for OSJ include Stubb (Heggie and Scheer’s

Moby-Dick), Leporello (Mozart’s ), Stanley Kowalski (Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire), and Escamillo (Bizet’s Carmen.)

Other recent engagements for Mr. Brancoveanu include Older Brother in Jabri’s Cities of Salt with Opera Movie NY, and serving as Director and performing the role of Pasha Selim in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio with Livermore Opera. In Freiburg, Germany, he appeared as Falke in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Darcy in Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice, and Escamillo in Carmen,and performed the title role in Don Giovanni in Warsaw, Poland. Other international performances include appearances at Heidelberg Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Salzburg Music Festival, Munich State Opera, Berlin Opera, Pesaro Teatro Rossini, Piccola Scala di Milano, Macerata teatro di opera, Romanian National Theater, Tokyo Opera House, Matsumoto Opera, Montreal Opera and Opera Theater of Tel Aviv.

After his successful apprenticeship with ’s Merola Program, he was awarded the position of Adler Fellow, where roles performed included Tomski in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, Riccardo in Rossini’s The Italian in Algiers, the title role in Don Giovanni, the Pilot in Portman’s The Little Prince, Belcore in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Tarquinius in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia. Other career highlights include receiving the Tony Award for his role of Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème, and his performance in the title role of Shostakovich’s Orango with the Los Angeles Symphony under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Sellers, which was recorded for Deutsche Gramaphon.

Mr. Brancoveanu graduated both the Academy of Music in Transylvania, Romania and the Mozarteum in Salzburg .

Former resident artist, soprano Maria Natale returns in the 2019-20 season, appearing as Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Ms. Natale made her company debut in the 2018-19 season, appearing as Nedda (Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci) and Cio-Cio-San (Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.) Other recent engagements include her Opera Maine début as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata and debut with Sarasota Opera as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot. On the concert stage, she performed the soprano solo in Faure’s Requiem and Mozart’s Missa Solemnis with MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Natale’s other roles include Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Mimì and Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, and Gilda in Verdi’s .

Ms. Natale is the recipient of many awards and grants from some of the most prestigious vocal competitions nationwide including as a finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition; grant recipient from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, and the Gerda Lissner Foundation; and the second prize winner of the Violetta

Dupont Competition and the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2015, Ms. Natale was selected by the Guild to sing in their masterclass with Maestro Placido Domingo in Bruno Walter Auditorium. Ms. Natale is a recent graduate from the Manhattan School of Music, where she received a professional studies certificate.

Soprano Elena Galván returns in the 2019-20 season as a member of the resident company, appearing as Adele (Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), Gretel (Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), Ines (Verdi’s Il trovatore) and Papagena (Mozart’s The Magic Flute.) Ms. Galván made her company debut in the 2017-18 season, appearing as Lisette in Puccini’s La rondine. Recent engagements for Ms. Galván include a return to the main-stage of Florida Grand Opera in 2019 as Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and her role debut of Blondchen in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio with Livermore Valley Opera. On the concert stage, she joined First Coast Opera for a Bernstein Celebration concert and performed Händel’s Messiah with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Arts at Grace Series, and the Binghamton Downtown Singers. Performances in 2017-18 featured her in Out of the Box Opera in Minneapolis to sing in their “Diva Cage Match” concert and First Coast Opera to perform Kay in The Stranger’s Tale by Curtis Tucker.

During the 2016-17 season, Ms. Galván was a Young Artist at Florida Grand Opera where she performed the roles of Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. Other engagements included the world premiere performance of A Cuban in Vermont – the orchestrated song cycle by Jorge Martin, in her debut with Nu Deco Ensemble, and the role of Konstanze in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with Opera Ithaca.

During the 2015-2016 season, Ms. Galván performed the roles of Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale with Florida Grand Opera, and Yvette in The Passenger. Also in 2015, she joined Kentucky Opera as a Studio Artist to perform Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Awards received include Second Place in the Lois Alba Aria Competition in Houston, TX in 2014 and an Encouragement Award from the Los Angeles District and in the San Francisco Districts of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2013 and 2011. She holds degrees from Ithaca College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM).

Soprano Ellen Leslie makes her company debut during the 2019-20 season, appearing as Ida in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Ms. Leslie recently finished a residency with Opera Saratoga, singing roles in Menotti’s The Consul, Lehar’s The Merry Widow, Little’s Vinkensport, and Williams’s Rocking Horse Winner. She made her German debut in 2016 as Pamina (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte) in Köln, and Rosane (Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento) in Leipzig.

Recent Bay Area engagements include Jane Bennet in the world premiere of Kirke Mechem’s Pride & Prejudice, Adina (Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love) with both Pocket Opera and the San Francisco Opera Guild, Micaëla (Bizet’s Carmen) and Lady Billows (Britten’s Albert Herring) at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Damigella/Amore (Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea) with the SFCM Baroque Ensemble, the title role

in Patience with Lamplighters Music Theatre, and the workshops for ’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Mason Bates.

In June/July 2019, Ms. Leslie toured Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Sweden as the soprano soloist in Brahms’ Requiem. She reprised her acclaimed Josephine in Lamplighters’ HMS Pinafore in August 2019, and sings Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) with the SF Opera Guild in the fall. She is also an AGMA professional singer with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Awards and accolades include being a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions in the San Francisco District (2018 and 2016). Born in San Francisco, Ms. Leslie holds degrees in Voice and French from the University of Denver, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Hochschule für Musik Leipzig.

Former resident artist tenor Alexander Boyer returns to OSJ in 2019-20, appearing as Alfred in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Manrico in Verdi’s Il trovatore. Recent engagements for Mr. Boyer included the role of Canio (Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci) with Festival Opera, Ahab (Heggie and Scheer’s Moby-Dick) with Chicago Opera Theater, Sam in Floyd’s Susannah with Festival Opera, and covering the roles of Pollione in Bellini’s , Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Ahab in Moby-Dick with the Dallas Opera. Other roles performed include Abbot in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier and Remendado in Bizet’s Carmen with San Francisco Opera, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Island City Opera, Marcello in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Alwa in Lulu in the acclaimed West Edge Opera production, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Livermore Valley Opera, Lenski in Evgeny Onegin with Opera Idaho, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Manrico in Il trovatore with Island City Opera.

While a resident principal artist with Opera San José, he performed Manrico in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Canio in Pagliacci, the title role in Faust, Cavaradossi in Tosca, the title role in , and many others. He is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program, the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers, and is a recipient of the Mario Lanza Scholarship Award. A New York native, Boyer holds degrees from Boston University and Manhattan School of Music.

Former resident Brian James Myer returns in the 2019-20 season, appearing as Dr. Falke in Strauss’s Die Fldermaus. Most recently, Mr. Myer performed the role of the Minister in OSJ’s North American premiere of Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella in 2017-18. While a member of the resident company, Mr. Myer appeared as Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème, Ponchel in Puts and Campbell’s Silent Night, and Figaro in Rossini’s . Other OSJ roles include Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca, Alessandro/Enrico in the world premiere of Weiser’s Where Angels Fear to Tread and 2nd Armored Man in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He made his company debut during the 2013-14 season, performing the role of Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Recent engagements for Mr. Myer include debuts with Hawaii Symphony as baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Henderson Symphony as Maximilian in Bernstein’s Candide, American

Lyric Theater on their InsightALT: Opera in Eden concert at Merkin Hall, the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice as Moralès and Le Dancaïre in Bizet’s Carmen, and finally the Grand Teton Music Festival as Snowboy and Big Deal in Bernstein’s West Side Story under the baton of Donald Runnicles. He also returned to Opera Las Vegas as Dandini in Rossini’s and Hawaii Opera Theater as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. In 2019, Mr. Myer debuted with New York City Opera as Young Erich in Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera, Dear Erich, returned to Opera Orlando to sing Fiorello and Bert (formally known as Berta) in their new production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, made his MESS (Mise-en-scène Studios) debut as the baritone soloist in the Brahms Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, returned to Opera Las Vegas as Leo Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 and rejoins New York City Opera as Carlos in the world premiere of Stonewall, written by Iain Bell and Mark Campbell. Upcoming engagements include a company debut at Knoxville Opera, where Mr. Myer will reprise the role of Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette.

On the concert platform, Mr. Myer has appeared as soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Milhaud’s Cantate de Psaumes, Bach’s Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, Rutter’s Mass of the Children, and Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer in venues across North America. He has recently made his Opera Orlando debut as part of their Opera in the Park summer concert series, performing as a member of “The Three ” to sold-out audiences. The group has since released a new album entitled “Christmas Around the World”.

Awards and accolades received include two young artist encouragement awards from Chautauqua Opera, first place prizes in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions in both Ohio and his native Nevada, and the Albert Rees Davis Scholarship from the Singers Club of Cleveland. He was also a regional finalist in the NATS Artist Award Competition (Cal-Western Region) and a semifinalist in the Meistersinger Competition of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS Graz).

As a staunch advocate of music education, Mr. Myer has participated in outreach programs with the Palm Springs Opera Guild and Chautauqua Opera. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Romance Languages from University of Nevada Las Vegas and a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. An active composer, Mr. Myer’s choral octavo “Go, Lovely Rose”, a setting of the poem of Edmund Waller, is published by Santa Barbara Music.

Tenor Mason Gates returns as an associate member of OSJ’s resident company in the 2019- 20 season, appearing as Dr. Blind (Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), Ruiz (Verdi’s Il trovatore), and Monostatos (Mozart’s The Magic Flute.) Roles performed previously with OSJ include Beppe in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Flask in the company premiere of Heggie’s Moby-Dick, Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Prunier in Puccini’s La rondine, the Steersman in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Gastone in Verdi’s La traviata, Jonathan Dale in Puts and Campbell’s Silent Night, and his company debut as Don Curzio in the 2015-16 production of The Marriage of Figaro.

He received his Bachelor’s of Music from Brigham Young University in Utah, and his Master’s of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. A two-time recipient of the encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Mr. Gates was also a festival artist at Utah Festival Artist two years in a row, as well as a Vocal Fellow at the esteemed Music Academy of the West. In 2018, he was named Top 10 in the Brava! Opera Vocal Competition.

Other roles performed recently include the title role in Albert Herring, El Remendado (Carmen), The Man with Old Luggage (Postcard from Morocco), Spoletta (Tosca), Grigori (Boris Godunov), Rodolfo (La bohème), (Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), and Edwin the Defendant (Trial by Jury).

Bass Nathan Stark returns to OSJ in the 2019-20 season, appearing as Frank in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Mr. Stark was seen last season as Pasha Selim in OSJ’s production of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, the King in the North American premiere of Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella in the 2017-18 season, and as General Audebert in OSJ’s West Coast premiere of Puts and Campbell’s Silent Night in 2016-17. He made his OSJ debut as Mustafa (Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers) in the company’s 2014-15 season.

Other recent engagements include his debut on the Metropolitan Opera stage as the One- Armed Man in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten; First Nazarene in Strauss’ Salome with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the world premieres of Myers’ Buried Alive and Soluri’s Embedded with Fargo-Moorhead Opera’s Poe Project; his return to Madison Opera as Sulpice in Donizetti’s La fille du regiment; bass soloist with Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; featured soloist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in A Madison Symphony Christmas; Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen and Sylvano in Cavalli’s La Calisto, both with Cincinnati Opera; and bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Defiant Requiem Foundation at Strathmore and at the University of , under Murry Sidlin. On the concert stage, Mr. Stark has been a featured soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Elijah, El retablo de Maese Pedro, and Handel’s Messiah. Additionally, he has given recitals throughout the and Germany, a concert of American spirituals at the Great Wall of China, performances at the U.S. Colombian Embassy, U.S. French Embassy, the U.S. Austrian Embassy and the Washington National Cathedral. In 2005 he was the featured soloist at the nationally televised opening ceremonies for the Air Force One Exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Library for former First Ladies, Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan, members and former members of the US Senate and Congress, and former President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Mr. Stark has been a recipient of several vocal awards including the 2010 Fort Worth Opera Marguerite McCammon Competition, the Opera Columbus Vocal Competition, the Brentwood Artist of Tomorrow Competition, the Sun Valley Opera Competition, the Westwood Vocal Competition, the Burbank Aria Competition, first place winner of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Corbett Scholarship Opera Competition, the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal

Competition, the Pasadena Opera Guild Competition, the Opera Buffs Competition, first place winner of the Classical Singers Association Vocal Competition in Los Angeles and was the 2006 district winner of the Metropolitan Opera Vocal Competition, San Diego District.

He holds degrees in opera performance form California State University, Long Beach (B.M. & M.M.) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (A.D.)

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Sanchez makes her company debut as a new member of the 2019- 20 resident company. Ms. Sanchez will be featured as Prince Orlofsky (Strauss’s Die Fledermaus), Hansel (Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), Inez (Verdi’s Il trovatore), and the Third Lady (Mozart’s The Magic Flute.) Recent engagements include debuting the roles of Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel with Brava Opera Theatre and appearing as Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Intermountain Opera. Ms Sanchez was also recently chosen as the sole recipient of the prestigious 2018 Igor Gorin Memorial Competition, an award given yearly to a promising singer at the start of their careers.

In the 2017-18 season, Ms. Sanchez joined Arizona Opera as a Marion Pullin studio artist, performing the roles of Persephone in Morganelli’s Hercules vs. Vampires, Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide, Berta in The Barber of Seville and Flosshilde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Other roles performed with Arizona Opera included Maria in Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires and Baroness Nica in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird. As a member of the Gerdine Young Artist and Gaddes Festival Artist programs at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, she performed the roles of Dryad in ’s Ariadne on Naxos and covered the role of the Composer in the same production. Other roles at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis include Sister Mathilde in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and Ruth in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. Ms. Sanchez completed her artist diploma from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2017. Ms. Sanchez was born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico and earned her masters degree in vocal performance from New Mexico State University in 2012. She currently resides in Houston, TX.

A former member of OSJ’s resident company, bass Jesse Merlin returns in 2019-20 to perform the role of Frosch in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Career highlights for Mr. Merlin include debuting the role of Dr. Hill in ’s award-winning Re-Animator: The Musical, and was decapitated 200 times in Las Vegas, Edinburgh, New York and Los Angeles, earning an Ovation Award nomination and a rave review in the New York Times. He sings on the forthcoming Original Cast Album.

Other roles recently performed include the mysterious Elric in Jackson Stewart’s Beyond the Gates, which won the Nightfall Jury Prize at the LA Film Festival. He voiced Impact Man in Mega Man 11 and F.A.N.G in Street Fighter V, and in Ross Patterson films played 2LT Chandler in Range 15, William Keller in Helen Keller vs Nightwolves, and Werewolf Hitler in FDR: American Badass! He also played the homicidal cult-leader Sugarplum in two episodes of Blumhouse’s 12 Deadly Days, appeared in various episodes of Dream Corp LLC on Adult Swim, and voiced Makube in Hellsing Ultimate X and Liquid Terror in The Reflection. Other

appearances include Jackass 3D/3.5, All The Creatures Were Stirring, Cabaret of the Dead, and several upcoming features.

His theater work includes Salo in Stuart Gordon’s adaptation of Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan. Mr. Merlin created the role of The President of the USA in the long-running operetta The Beastly Bombing, performing at the Theater, New York Musical Theatre Festival, and Opera aan het Ij (Amsterdam). He performed Hannibal Lecter in Silence! The Musical in both the Original LA Cast (along with four other roles) and recently in a hit production with Bucket List Theatre. His sketch comedy work includes Matty Simmons’ Sketches From The National Lampoon. As principal bass and patter-baritone with touring repertory Opera A La Carte for 7 seasons, he sang a variety of roles in The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, and The Gondoliers.

Merlin was profiled by NPR on Weekend Edition in a nationally aired, award-winning story about his niche career as “Mr. Horror Musicals.” He played the Troll King in a concert version of Peer Gynt with the San Francisco Symphony and Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas. He sings Professor Upham on the “Dreams in the Witch House” Lovecraft-inspired heavy metal album.

As a younger performer, he had a regional opera career spanning 45 diverse roles like Gounod’s Mephistopheles in Faust, Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Mr. Merlin was a Principal Artist-in-Residence with OSJ for four seasons, singing 17 roles. He made his international debut in Paris with the electronic opera Le Terrain Vague at the Théâtre du Rond Point and the Théâtre Lucernaire.

Opera San José’s production of Die Fledermas includes set designs by Charlie Smith, costumes designed by Cathleen Edwards, lighting design by Pamila Z. Gray, choreography by Robyn Tribuzi, and wig and makeup designs by Christina Martin.

About Opera San José Opera San José, performing at the beautiful California Theatre in downtown San José, is a professional, regional opera company that is unique in the United States. Maintaining a resident company of principal artists, Opera San José specializes in showcasing the finest young professional singers in the nation. In addition to mainstage performances, Opera San José maintains extensive educational programs in schools and in the community at large, and offers preview lectures and Introduction to Opera talks for all mainstage productions.

Contact: Chris Jalufka Communications Manager [email protected]