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Home , Adina (opera), Catherine Malfitano, Il turco in Italia, Impresario, Irene Sharaff, James Westman

Lucia di Lammermoor Artist Biographies

Joseph Beutel (Raimondo)

– performs March 4 Joseph Beutel, , joins Minnesota ’s Resident Artist program after spending the summer as a Apprentice Artist, where he covered Méphistophélès in and the Catholic Priest in The Last Savage. Previous roles have included the Impresario/Direttore in the young artist production of Viva La Mamma! at Seattle Opera; Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème for South Texas Lyric Opera; Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Mustafà in L’italiana in Algeri, Simone in , Le Roi in Cendrillon and Herr Reich in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor for IU Opera Theatre; and the Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance for Western Michigan University.

Mr. Beutel was a district finalist of the National Council Auditions in 2011, won the Sullivan Foundation Career Development Award in November and received the Palm Beach Opera

Competition Encouragement Award in 2010 and 2011. For Minnesota

Opera this season, he will appear as the British Major in Silent Night,

Le Bailli in , Raimondo in and the Bonze in Madame Butterfly. This summer he sings Lamoral in Arabella for Santa Fe Opera.

Scott Bolman (lighting designer)

Recent credits include the premieres of Missy Mizzoli's opera Song from the Uproar (The Kitchen) and Darcy James Argue's Brooklyn Babylon (Brooklyn Academy of ). He also lit Shen Wei's opening performance at the Q Confucius exhibition (Rockbund Museum, Shanghai), Sty of the Blind Pig, The Understudy (Theaterworks Hartford), the lighting installation Act Curtain (with Wingspace, EMPAC Filament Festival), Darkling (Cinedans Festival, ), Katrina Ballads (with film by Bill Morrison; Le Poisson Rouge, Hobby

Performing Arts Center) and Coup de Foudre (with DJ Spooky; Guggenheim Museum NYC). Upcoming projects include Robert Wilson's Odyssey (National Theater of Greece) and Clementine Hunter (Peak Performances). Scott is the theatrical lighting consultant for the renovation of the new Roulette venue in Brooklyn. He co-teaches design collaboration at Brown University and is a founding member of Wingspace Design Collective.

A. J. Glueckert (Arturo)

Tenor A. J. Glueckert begins his first season as a Resident Artist singing Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and the Kronprinz in Silent Night. Previously, he has been seen as Dr. Caius in at Utah Opera where he was a resident artist last year and the Simpleton in Boris Godunov at Utah Festival Opera. Other roles include the Tambor-Major in and Sextus in Harrison’s Young Caesar for Ensemble Parallèlle, Wolfram in Les contes d’Hoffmann for Santa Fe Opera, where he was an Apprentice Artist, Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor for San Francisco Lyric Opera, El Remendado in for Festival Opera of Walnut Creek and Carl Magnus in A Little Night Music for SFCM Musical Theater Ensemble.

Mr. Glueckert performed a number of roles at his alma mater, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Cuban Cesar Ulloa, including Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Dema in Cavalli’s L’Egisto, the title role in Orpheus in the Underworld, Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel and Don Basilio/Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro. He is a first place winner of the YES Stewart Brady Competition. At the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, A. J. won an encouragement award in 2009 and district competitions in 2010 and 2011. He received the encouragement award in the 2010 regional auditions and will compete this January in the 2012 regionals.

Constance Hoffman (costume designer)

Constance Hoffman has designed costumes for opera, dance and theater regionally, internationally and in . Her credits include collaborations with theater artists such as Mark Lamos, , Eliot Feld and Mikhail Baryshnikov; opera directors Robert Carsen, David Alden, Christopher Alden and Keith Warner; and entertainer Bette Midler. Her work has been seen on many stages in New York City, including the Public Theatre, The New Victory Theatre, The Second Stage, The Theatre for a New Audience, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, The Joyce and . On her Broadway debut, she earned a Tony nomination and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her designs for The Green Bird, directed by Julie Taymor.

Hoffman’s collaborations in opera have taken her to the Glyndebourne

Festival Opera, the Paris Opera, the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, the

Bayerische Staatsoper in and the Tokyo Opera Nomori, among others. In the United States, she has designed costumes for , Santa Fe Opera, Houston , , Minnesota Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Lincoln Center Festival, and she has had a long association with the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York, whose productions have traveled regularly to the New York City Opera. At New York City Opera, Hoffman’s designs for the critically acclaimed Paul Bunyan, and Lizzie Borden have been televised in the Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts.

Regionally, she has designed in theaters such as the Guthrie, the Hartford Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, The Center Stage in Baltimore, The Alley Theatre in Houston, Goodspeed Musicals and the Prince Music Theatre.

In addition to her Tony Nomination and Outer Critics Circle Award for The Green Bird in 2000, Hoffman was honored in 2001 with The ’s Irene Sharaff Young Masters Award, and in 2003, 2007 and 2011 with an invitation to exhibit her work in the Prague Quadrennial.

She is currently engaged at the Tisch School of the Arts as an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Design for Stage and Film, and holds an MFA as an alumna of that program.

Christine Jones (set designer)

Christine Jones’ Broadway credits include American Idiot (Tony Award), Everyday Rapture, Spring Awakening (Tony Nomination) and The Green Bird, with director Julie Taymor (Drama Desk Nomination).

Other credits include: Coraline, adapted from Neil Gaman’s popular book with music by Stephen Merritt, The Book of Longing, music by , based on the poems of Leonard Cohen (Lincoln Center Festival); The Onion Cellar, which she co-created along with director Marcus Stern and , and for which she won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for her design which turned the black box theatre into a 360-degree cabaret space; Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park); Nocturne (New York Theatre Workshop); Burn This, starring Ed Norton and Catherine Keener (Signature Theatre); Debbie Does Dallas (Jane Street Theatre); and True Love (for which she was instrumental in creating The Zipper space infamous for its use of car seats in the audience).

Opera credits include: Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man (Minnesota Opera); Lucia di Lammermoor (New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera); and Guilio Cesare (). Her work was recently exhibited in Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designers for Live Performance at Lincoln Center Library for Performing Arts.

As the Artistic Director of Theatre for One she has led workshops at Princeton and Juilliard, collaborating with students and professionals in the exploration of the relationship between actor and performer in an intimate setting.

For achievements in her field she received an Award of Distinction from Concordia University, 2009, and was honored at New York University’s Tisch Gala, 2007.

John Robert Lindsey (Normanno)

Colorado native tenor John Robert Lindsey is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder where he earned his Master of Music in vocal performance under the tutelage of Julie Simson. Past engagements include Tenor Soloist in the by Handel, Sam Polk in by Floyd, the character of Stage Manager in Our Town by Rorem and Don Ottavio in by Mozart. Mr. Lindsey was met with numerous successes in competitions in the recent past. He was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the past two years, as well as taking third place in 2010 and first place in 2011 at the prestigious Denver Lyric Opera Guild competition.

For Minnesota Opera’s 2011–2012 season, Mr. Lindsey will appear as Jonathan Dale in Silent Night, Schmidt in Werther, Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor and Goro in Madame Butterfly. He will also sing a of Carmen highlights with the Mankato Symphony. Next season he returns as Ismaele in Nabucco, Hervey in and Pang in .

Angela Mortellaro (Lucia)

– performs March 4 Angela Mortellaro returns to the Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist program for a second season, singing the roles of Despina in Così fan tutte, Madeleine in Silent Night, Sophie in Werther, the title role in the second cast of Lucia di Lammermoor and Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. Last season, she was seen as Amore in Orpheus and Eurydice, Clorinda in Cinderella and Annina in La traviata . Ms. Mortellaro has sung the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with both PORTOpera and Sarasota Opera. She was a Caramoor Opera Young Artist and a Chautauqua Opera Apprentice Artist, where she sang Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and Anna Gomez in . For Orlando Opera Company, Ms. Mortellaro sang Sister Genovieffa in , Sally in Die Fledermaus and Clorinda in . The soprano also appeared as Clorinda for Aspen Opera Theatre as well as Frasquita in its production of Carmen. Internationally, she has performed Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for Operafestival di Roma.

Ms. Mortellaro has a master of music degree in vocal performance from Rice University (Houston, Texas), where she sang Diana in La

Calisto, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Sandrina in La finta giardiniera and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. She completed her bachelor of music degree at the University of Wisconsin (Whitewater).

Nathaniel Peake (Edgardo)

– performs March 4 American tenor Nathaniel Peake, a 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Winner, has been admired for “his ringing tone and effortless phrasing” (San Francisco Chronicle). The Lansing State Journal awarded him with a “Thespie” award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of the title role of Bernstein’s . In a recent production of L’amico Fritz, Mr. Peake was lauded for his “brilliant performance in the title role, deploying a clarion tone that moved as deftly through the graceful ease of Act I as through the more emotionally urgent writing of the latter acts.” (San Francisco Chronicle).

An exciting season for 2011–2012 includes a return to the San

Francisco Opera as Tamino in Mozart’s , a new production by Jun Kaneko, conducted by Rory Macdonald, and debuts with Seattle Opera as Pinkerton in Puccini’s and Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Minnesota Opera. Mr. Peake will return to Syracuse Opera in a role debut as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata and to Wolf Trap Opera for his title role debut in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann and as Pirelli in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Nathaniel Peake began the 2010–2011 season performing Pinkerton in a new production of Madama Butterfly at Houston Grand Opera as well as Scaramuccio in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Arturo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. He also presented a recital at the Morgan Library with legendary mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as part of The

George Foundation recital series. In the summer of 2010, Mr.

Peake was seen on the stages Wolf Trap Opera as Sultan Soliman in

Mozart’s Zaide, Albazar in Rossini’s and Snout in Britten’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. He also performed in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2008 and 2009, Nathaniel Peake was in the San Francisco Opera Merola program, performing the title role of Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz in addition to scenes from La traviata, , Werther and . In fall of 2009, he made his Houston Grand Opera debut in the role of Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. Mr. Peake was also seen at Syracuse Opera as the Second Priest/Amored Man in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Don José in Peter Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen and Tybalt in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Nathaniel Peake has won several awards in competitions from, The

George London Foundation (2010), The Metropolitan Opera National

Council (2010), The Richard Tucker Foundation (2010), Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition (2010), The National Opera Association (2009), The Eleanor McCollum Vocal Competition (2009), and many more.

Mr. Peake hails from Humble, Texas, and is a graduate of Michigan State University. Nathaniel credits his family for a large part of his success, as they continue to support him unwaveringly.

Susanna Phillips (Lucia)

– performs March 3, 6, 8, 10 “Susanna Phillips … demonstrates rare stylistic fluency, canny pathos and finesse. Susanna Phillips. Remember the name.” – Financial Times, August 2011

Alabama native Susanna Phillips has attracted special recognition for a voice of striking beauty and sophistication. Recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Artist Award, she returns to the Met this season for a reprisal of her signature Musetta in La Bohème. Other engagements in her 2011–2012 season include appearances in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor with and the Minnesota Opera; as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Gran Teatro del Barcelona; and as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. She will also perform in concert with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St.

Luke’s and the Santa Fe Concert Association. After Phillips’s recent participation in New York’s “Mostly Mozart” Festival, observed: “Her phrasing and sound production are of the first rank and listening to her was an unmitigated pleasure.”

Highlights of Phillips’s 2010–2011 season included Metropolitan Opera appearances as Pamina, in Julie Taymor’s celebrated production of The Magic Flute, and as Musetta – the role with which Phillips made her 2008 house debut – in La bohème, in New York and on tour in Japan. She was a featured artist in the Met’s Summer Recital Series in Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, and a resident artist at the 2010 Marlboro Music Festival. In August 2011, Phillips was featured at the opening night of the Mostly Mozart Festival, which aired live on PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center. Other season highlights included Euridice in Minnesota Opera’s Orpheus and Eurydice with David Daniels; her first staged Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Birmingham; and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Boston Lyric Opera. Major concert appearances included the

Foundation gala at Carnegie Hall and a solo recital in Chicago.

In the 2009–2010 season, Phillips portrayed Pamina at the Met under conductor Bernard Labadie, and – as an alumna of the city’s and recipient of the Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital Award – made her New York solo recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Following her Baltimore Symphony debut under Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Sun proclaimed, “She’s the real deal.” Phillips also appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago as in L’elisir d’amore; with Opera Birmingham as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro; and made her Fort Worth Opera Festival debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, earning rave reviews.

The soprano had a banner year in 2005, when she won four of the world’s leading vocal competitions: Operalia (both First Place and the

Audience Prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards and the George London Foundation. She went on to make her Santa Fe Opera debut as Pamina, before returning to Santa Fe in a trio of Mozart roles: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Countess Almaviva in Figaro and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Recent seasons have brought significant operatic debuts, including Mozart’s Countess with the , Donna Anna with Boston Lyric Opera and her first Violetta with Opera Birmingham. Phillips won kudos in the notoriously challenging role of Elmira, when she made her Minnesota Opera debut in a Tim Albery production of Reinhard Keiser’s The Fortunes of King Croesus. As a participant in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, she sang Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and – opposite Susan Graham – Diana in a new Robert Carsen production of Iphigénie en Tauride. Phillips has sung leading roles at Madison Opera and Utah Opera and portrayed Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites at Kentucky

Opera.

In recital, the soprano has appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC under the auspices of the Vocal Arts Society and at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the Marilyn Horne Foundation. Her ever-expanding concert repertoire has been showcased with many prestigious organizations: she has performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert, and has sung Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Chicago Symphony and Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy at both Lincoln Center, for her Mostly Mozart debut, and Carnegie Hall, with Kent Tritle and the Oratorio Society of New York Phillips has also sung Dvorák’s with the Santa Fe Symphony, Brahms’s Deutsches Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony and Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch at Carnegie’s Weill

Recital Hall. Other recent concert and oratorio engagements include

Carmina burana, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mahler’s Symphony

No. 4, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart Requiems and Handel’s Messiah. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson, Rob Fisher and the New York Pops.

Phillips is a winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and was awarded grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation. She also won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Phillips is also a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Susanna Phillips is grateful for the ongoing support of her community in her career. She sang Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, gave her first concert performances in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor with the Huntsville Symphony, and returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances. Over 400 people traveled from Huntsville to New York City in December 2008 for Phillips’s Metropolitan Opera debut as Musetta in La Boheme.

James Robinson (stage director)

Stage director James Robinson is regarded as one of America’s most inventive and sought after directors. He has won wide acclaim for productions that range from standard repertory, to world premieres, to seldom performed works and he is considered the most widely performed director of opera in North America.

Mr. Robinson is currently Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of St Louis. His first production there was a landmark version of ’s (a co-production with the Wexford Festival in Ireland).

Past seasons’ productions further include Die Entführung aus dem Serail and La bohème for Houston Grand Opera, L’elisir d’amore for Boston Lyric Opera, Kát’a Kabanová and for Opera Ireland, for the Royal Swedish Opera, Handel’s Rinaldo for , Handel’s Radamisto and ’s Miss Havisham’s Fire for Opera Theatre of St. Louis and his widely seen production of for . His production of

Turandot, first produced for the Minnesota Opera in 1995, has since been adopted by more than twenty-five companies in North America.

James Robinson has directed numerous new productions for the New York City Opera, including Il trittico, , Lucia di Lammermoor, Hänsel und Gretel (co-produced with Los Angeles Opera) and the widely acclaimed La bohème (broadcast on Public Television as part of Live from Lincoln Center in 2001). In 2002, he made his Houston Grand Opera debut with a new production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail and followed up this production with La bohème, Lucia and . He directed new productions of Elektra and Norma for the , The Rake’s Progress and Così fan tutte for the Santa Fe Opera, Carmen for the Seattle Opera, Antheil’s Transatlantic and Lucia for the Minnesota Opera and Eugene Onegin for Boston Lyric Opera. In 2004, he directed the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes for the

Houston Grand Opera and in the same year, his production of Nixon in China, first produced by Opera Theatre of St. Louis, was seen throughout the United States.

In the 2009–2010 season, James directed The Ghosts of Versailles at the Wexford Festival, Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming with the Minnesota Opera and Die Entführung aus dem Serail for .

Highlights of the 2010–2011 season included productions of Un ballo in maschera with Washington National Opera, a return to Wexford Festival with The Golden Ticket, Nixon in China with the Canadian Opera Company and Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at the Barbican Centre, London, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop.

Upcoming projects include the world premieres of Dolores Claiborne for San Francisco, Carnival of the Animals for London's Riverside Hammersmith and the American premiere of Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland for St. Louis.

Michael Spyres (Edgardo)

– performs March 3, 6, 8, 10 Michael Spyres was born in Mansfield, Missouri, where he grew up in a family of musicians. He began his studies in the United States and continued them at the Conservatory, Austria. He was a Young Artist with Opera Theatre Saint Louis, where he made his main stage operatic debut in a touring production as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème. Prior to his international breakthrough, he also performed such operatic roles as Guglielmo in Donizetti's Viva la mamma, Lindoro in Rossini’s L'italiana in Algeri and Hoffmann in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann as well as oratorio works like Händel's Messiah, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Mozart's Requiem.

After his debut at Teatro San Carlo of Naples in 2006 as Jaquino in

Beethoven’s , Spyres performed the role of Alberto from

Rossini's at the Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival and toured Japan as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata. He returned to Bad Wildbad in July 2008 for his role debut as Rossini’s .

For the 2008–2009 season, Michael Spyres became member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he performed roles such as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Steuermann in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. Other important engagements in 2008–2009 were his UK debut in London as Fernand in a concert performance of , Duca in a production of Rigoletto for Springfield (Missouri), an opera gala concert in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, his debut at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano as Belfiore in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims as well as the role of Raoul in the uncut version of

Meyerbeer’s for the SummerScape Festival in New

York.

Important engagements of the 2009–2010 season were the title role in Bernstein’s Candide for his debut with the Vlaamse Opera in Gent and Antwerp, a new production of Britten’s Billy Budd (role of Novice) for Bilbao, his debut with Opera Ireland as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Néocle in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe in concert performances at the Wildbad Rossini Festival as well as Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette for the 2010. In May 2010, Spyres performed the role of Ozìa in Mozart’s Betulia Liberata with Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and subsequently at the Ravenna Festival.

Roles in 2010–2011 include Tamino in a new production of Die

Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Wallonie in Liège, the title role in the first modern staged performances of Steffani's Antigono in Lisbon,

Gianetto in Rossini's for Semperoper Dresden, Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola for the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Arnold in Rossini's Guillaume Tell at the Caramoor Festival, conducted by Will Crutchfield. Under the baton of Riccardo Muti, he will be participating within a series of concert performances of Verdi's Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchstra. These will also lead to his debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Also on the concert platform, he could be heard recently in Schumann’s Faust Szenen with the American Symphony Orchestra and at Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow for an concert.

In October 2011, he returned to di Milano as Rodrigo in Rossini's , conducted by . Further engagements during the 2011/2012 season include a concert tour of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra and in London, Birmingham, Munich, Hanover and , Candide for his debut at the Opera di Roma, his first Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera, Masaniello in

Auber's La muette de Portici in Paris (Opéra Comique in co-production with in ) and Berlioz' Requiem with John Eliot

Gardiner at the St Denis Festival.

Among his numerous future engagements after the 2011–2012 season are the title role in Berlioz' at Vlaamse Opera, directed by Terry Gilliam, Missa solemnis and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at the New York Carnegie Hall, in Orange County, Valencia and Madrid, also with John Eliot Gardiner, and Rodrigo in Rossini’s La donna del lago for his debut at Royal Opera Covent Garden in London in 2013.

Michael Spyres has recorded Rossini's La gazzetta, Otello and Le siège de Corinthe for Naxos. His first recital compact disc, including , by among others, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Bizet and

Puccini was released in 2011. Rossini’s Otello from Bad Wildbad will also be released on DVD.

Victoria Vargas (Alisa)

Mezzo-soprano Victoria Vargas recently completed her master of music degree from Manhattan School of Music, where she appeared as Euryclée in Fauré's Pénélope, and the Beggar and Mrs. Peachum in The Beggar's Opera. Other credits include Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro for Ash Lawn Opera and Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance; the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, the title role in Carmen and Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Hillman Opera; Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music for Lyric Arts International; and Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief for Fredonia Opera Theater.

Ms. Vargas has been a young artist at Sarasota Opera and Chautauqua , where she covered the role of Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana. At Chautauqua, she won the opera company’s Guild Studio Artist and Apprentice Artist Awards, performing Laura in

Luisa Miller and the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. In 2011, she also received an encouragement award at the Metropolitan Opera district competition. As a Minnesota Opera Resident Artist, Ms. Vargas appeared as Tisbe in Cinderella, Anna in Mary Stuart, Flora in La traviata and Nelly in Wuthering Heights. This spring, she sings Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly and returns next season as Fenena in Nabucco and Smeton in Anna Bolena.

Leonardo Vordoni (conductor)

Originally from Trieste, Italy, the fast-rising conductor Leonardo Vordoni studied conducting at the Accademia Pescarese with Gilberto Serembe and earned a diploma in opera conducting at Bologna’s Reale Accademia Filarmonica.

Mr. Vordoni’s 2010–2011 season included three of Puccini’s greatest works: La bohème with Santa Fe Opera and Utah Opera, Tosca at Opera on the James and Turandot at Portland Opera. An important debut followed with La Cenerentola at the Canadian Opera Company, and engagements this season include Il barbiere di Siviglia at Houston Grand Opera and Lucia di Lammermoor at Minnesota Opera.

Leonardo Vordoni began the 2009–2010 season conducting Les pêcheurs de perles at Minnesota Opera, followed by a revival of Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming. Later in the season, he made two consecutive debuts in Chicago – first conducting Le nozze di Figaro at Lyric Opera of Chicago followed by Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto at Chicago Opera Theatre. Of his performances in Le nozze di Figaro, John van Rhein at the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Mindful of the singers’ needs, he infused the orchestral playing with crisp vitality and shapely phrasing.” Regarding Mosè in Egitto Opera News raved: “Maestro Leonardo Vordoni led a splendidly nuanced reading of verve and melting grace.” Additional engagements included Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera Colorado and Lucia di Lammermoor at Green Mountain Opera Festival.

In recent seasons, Mr. Vordoni debuted at the prestigious Wexford Opera Festival in Pedrotti’s Tutti in maschera giving what critics called a “scintillating performance.” Other productions include Don Pasquale at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Madama Butterfly with Madison Opera and La Cenerentola at Orlando Opera. In the summer of 2008, Mr. Vordoni conducted at the internationally renowned in Pesaro in a concert of music associated with , with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

Leonardo Vordoni was a member of the music staff at the Metropolitan Opera and worked on productions including L’elisir d'amore (cover conductor), Macbeth, La traviata, , , La bohème, Un ballo in maschera, Norma and Madama Butterfly.

Collaborations with Edoardo Müller include L’italiana in Algeri with Seattle Opera, La Cenerentola for Houston Grand Opera, as well as and Le nozze di Figaro for .

Leonardo Vordoni has given master classes in Italian repertoire for Young Artist Programs across the United States including: San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Utah Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Kansas University, UMKC Conservatory, University of North Texas in conjunction with La Fenice in Castelfranco Veneto as well as coaching for the Accademia in Pesaro. Additional studies include piano at the Conservatorio Tartini with Neva Merlak and composition at the Accademia Musicale in Portogruaro with Mario Pagotto.

Ben Wager (Raimondo)

– performs March 3, 6, 8, 10 Ben Wager is a 2009 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where his roles included: Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Enrico in Anna Bolena, the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Padre Guardiano in La forza del destino.

Mr. Wager's 2011–2012 season includes dual appearances at Minnesota Opera, as General Audebert in the world premiere of Silent Night, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. Additionally, he debuts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Jacques Lacombe for a series of concerts and returns to the Oregon Symphony as the bass soloist in Haydn's The Creation under the baton of Carlos Kalmar . Future seasons will include a return to Opera Company of Philadelphia and a new production with Kentucky Opera.

During the 2010–2011 season, Ben Wager maintained a presence in both North American and European opera houses. In the United States, he made debuts with Opera Cleveland as Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles and the Dallas Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni and returned to Minnesota Opera for the role of Hindley Earnshaw in Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights. As a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which he joined in 2009, he sang Panthus in , Doctor Grenvil in La traviata, Angelotti in Tosca and Escamillo in Carmen, among other roles.

For the 2009–2010 season, Mr. Wager’s assignments at the Deutsche Oper included Zuniga in Carmen, Angelotti in Tosca, and Sarastro in an abridged version of Die Zauberflöte. Additional engagements for the season included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Mozarteum of Salzburg under Ivor Bolton, Rossini’s Stabat mater with the Oregon Symphony led by Carlos Kalmar and his debut with the Los Angeles Opera as Julian Pinelli in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten.

During the 2008–2009 season, he concluded his residency at the Academy of Vocal Arts as Enrico in Anna Bolena, Il Vescovo in La fiamma and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, joined Minnesota Opera to sing the bass roles in the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio and made his debut at Opera Company of Philadelphia as Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia.

Mr. Wager spent the summer of 2008 as a member of the prestigious Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, where he sang the role of Il Commendatore in ’s production of Don Giovanni.

Other notable engagements include Masetto in Don Giovanni for his debut at Chicago Opera Theater, under the baton of Jane Glover; Monterone in Rigoletto and Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte with Opera New Jersey; and appearances as Kaspar in Der Freischütz, Gremin and Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the bass soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Academy of Vocal Arts.

James Westman (Enrico)

– performs March 3, 6, 8, 10 Originally from Stratford, Ontario, James Westman has fast established himself as one of today’s leading young Verdi , making Germont in La traviata his signature role throughout North America and Europe. A noted concert artist, Mr. Westman also likes to spend as much time as possible performing in concert as recital.

James Westman’s current projects include a return to the Minnesota Opera as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, concerts of Bramwell

Tovey’s The Inventor (in which Mr. Westman sings the title role) with the Symphony, a Christmas program with the Guelph Symphony and a recital with the Aldeburgh Connection in . Future plans include returns to the Canadian Opera Company and to the Calgary Opera.

This past season, Mr. Westman returned to the Montreal Opera for Nottingham in Donizetti’s , to the Calgary Opera for the title role in the world premiere of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor, Germont in La traviata for his debut with the Vancouver Opera and the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Indianapolis Symphony.

In past seasons, James Westman appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, the Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera in performances of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, as well as as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Manitoba Opera. In addition, Mr. Westman made his role debut as the Count in Capriccio with Pacific Opera Victoria.

Other recent engagements included Mr. Westman’s debut as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, a return to as the Count in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and the role of Edward Gaines in Margaret Garner, with for performances in Detroit as well as in Chicago. Other additional new roles were Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Minnesota Opera and Beaumarchais in Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ The Ghosts of Versailles.

James Westman’s recent opera projects included debuts with Opera Pacific as Marcello in La bohème, and with the Opéra de Bordeaux as Renato in Un ballo in maschera followed by returns to Boston Lyric Opera for Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and to the Opéra de Montreal for Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. In concert, Mr. Westman was heard in Fauré’s Requiem with the Florida Orchestra and in Handel’s Messiah with Grand Philharmonic Choir. Later in the season, James Westman made his second recording with : the title role in excerpts of Ricci’s Corrado d’Altamura.

James Westman’s 2006–2007 season opened with the ’s signature role, Germont, with the for his London debut. Mr. Westman then returned to Dallas to sing a new role, Talbot in Donizetti’s , before joining the Opéra de Montréal for another new role, Frédéric in Lakmé. Mr. Westman went back to London for a commercial recording for Opera Rara and a concert performance of another Donizetti opera, the rare Imelda de’ Lambertazzi. James Westman returned to the Calgary Opera for Escamillo in Carmen and to one of his favorite companies, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, for Germont before making his debut with the Santa Fe Opera as Marcello in La bohème.

Other engagements include Mr. Westman’s Chevreuse in Donizetti’s at the Wexford Opera Festival, followed by a return to Opera Ontario for concerts of Opera Pops. An exciting project was Mr. Westman’s back-to-back productions with the Boston Lyric Opera: first his celebrated Germont in La traviata and then Athanaël in Thaïs. James Westman sang both Fauré and Duruflé’s Requiem Masses with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and was heard in December as the Bass Soloist in Messiah with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. In August, he made his Chicago debut as the Bass Soloist in Dvorak’s Stabat mater at the Grant Park Music Festival. Future projects include returns to the Boston Lyric Opera, a debut with Opera Pacific and concerts with the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir.

Prior to that Mr. Westman returned to the Pittsburgh Opera in his most celebrated role, Germont. He made his debut with the Florida Grand Opera as Sharpless before returning to the Toronto Symphony for concerts of Handel’s Messiah. In the beginning of 2005, Mr. Westman sang his first Forester in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen with Pacific Opera Victoria and returned to the San Diego Opera for another new role, Paolo in . This was followed by his debut with the Houston Grand Opera as Ford in Falstaff. Finally, Mr. Westman ended the season with an exciting new role: Mountjoy in Britten’s rarely-performed Gloriana with Opera Theater of Saint Louis.

James Westman sang his first Silvio in I with the San Francisco Opera and made debuts with the Dallas and San Diego Operas (both times with his signature role, Germont in La traviata). Other important debuts were with the Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis in Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette, with the National Arts Centre for a program of arias and duets with and with the Baltimore Symphony for the Messiah. With Michigan Opera Theatre, he debuted as Sharpless. His most recent appearances in Europe were for his first Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo in Graz, Austria. The Canadian baritone returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and to Opera Theatre of St. Louis as Athanael in Massenet’s rarely heard Thaïs. He also made his debut with the Manitoba Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. In concert, Mr. Westman sang Messiah with the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir, Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette with the Edmonton Symphony and Carmina burana with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser- Möst. A consummate recitalist, Mr. Westman appeared in Buffalo, New York under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation shortly after having taken part in their yearly Birthday Gala in New York City.

James Westman started his 2001–2002 season with his first Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Hamilton, which he followed with a gala concert appearance for the George London Foundation in New York. Immediately after that, he sang a solo recital in Toronto for the Aldeburgh Connection, performed the Messiah in Detroit and appeared in a televised concert with mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo at the Studio in Toronto. He reprised his Marcello for the Calgary Opera and sang Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, successively in Pittsburgh and in Saint Louis. Mr. Westman also performed in recital in Bradford, Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation.

Immediately following the summer of 2000 production of Falstaff at Tanglewood in which he sang his first Ford under Seiji Ozawa, James Westman made his European operatic debut as Germont in La traviata and Redburn in Billy Budd, both with the Cologne Opera. Other debuts included the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with the Fort Worth Opera and Bach's B Minor Mass with the Vancouver Symphony. James Westman returned to the San Francisco Opera as Germont and was heard in recital in Detroit, St. Paul, Minnesota and East Lansing, Michigan.

As a young singer, Mr. Westman’s roles with the Canadian Opera Company included the Messenger in Oedipus Rex, the Emperor in The Emperor of Atlantis, Joseph in L'enfance du Christ, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and the Bass Soloist in Stravinsky's Pulcinella. Later on, he became an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera, where his performances included: Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Marcello in La bohème, Germont in La traviata, Renato in Un ballo in maschera and Sid in Albert Herring.

In 1995, Westman performed Purcell's The Fairy Queen under Jane Glover in Oxford and at the 50th Anniversary of the Aldeburgh Music Festival. In 1996, he sang the role of Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro under Maestro Jonathan Darlington at the Buxton Festival in Aldeburgh.

Formerly a successful boy treble, Mr. Westman toured with the American Boys Choir, the Paris Boys Choir and the Vienna Boys Choir. James Westman was the first boy ever to perform the fourth movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 4, and toured this work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany and Russia.

Mr. Westman excels at and enjoys the recital repertoire and he has performed recitals for the Aldeburgh Connection, the Schwabacher recital series and the Marilyn Horne Foundation in New York. International competitions include the 1997 George London Competition, the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, as well as the -Puccini Foundation.

James Westman has studied with such renowned artists as Dame , Richard Bonynge, Renato Capecchi, Paul Esswood, Régine Crespin, Warren Jones, Martin Katz, Virginia Zeani, Marlena Malas, and Diane Forlano. Mr. Westman was also a member of the C.O.C. Ensemble Studio and currently studies with Miss Patricia Kern.

In June 1999, James Westman was a finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Hyung Yun (Enrico)

– performs March 4 A rising star on the operatic scene, Korean-American baritone Hyung Yun has performed on some of the most prestigious stages in the United States. With the Metropolitan Opera, he has sung Valentin in Faust under Maestro , Ping in Turandot, Lescaut in Manon with Renée Fleming in the title role and Silvio in I pagliacci. With Los Angeles Opera he made his debut as Angelotti in Tosca and returned to sing Marcello in La bohème, Micheletto Cibo in Die Gezeichneten and Lescaut in Manon with Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko under the baton of Plácido Domingo. He debuted as Ping in Turandot with the Santa Fe Opera and returned to sing in their 50th Anniversary Gala Concert.

Upcoming in the United States, Mr. Yun performs Ping in Turandot at the San Francisco Opera, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Minnesota Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin at Madison Opera and Carmina burana with the Colorado Symphony. He also returns to his native Seoul, Korea as Germont in La traviata at the Seoul Metropolitan Opera and performs Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Ford in Falstaff under Myunghoon Chung at the Korean National Opera.

Recent operatic engagements from the past two seasons include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera and Welsh National Opera, Valentin in Faust and Escamillo in Carmen with Madison Opera, Marcello in La bohème and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Tulsa Opera,

Marcello in La bohème with Minnesota Opera, Micheletto Cibo in Die

Gezeichneten at the Los Angeles Opera and at the Seoul Metropolitan Opera, he performed Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, a David McVicar/Royal production.

During his tenure as a young artist at Washington National Opera, he sang the title role of Don Giovanni under the baton of Plácido Domingo, a Trojan Man and a Count Tomsky cover in Pique Dame, Dancaïro in Carmen, Lescaut cover in Manon Lescaut and Germont cover in La traviata. He returned a few seasons later as a guest artist to sing Marcello in La bohème.

Additional operatic highlights include Figaro in with the New York City Opera tour, Valentin in Faust at Palm Beach Opera, and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Bob Jones Opera. He sang the role of Marcello in La bohème with the Merola Young Artist

Program at San Francisco Opera and Ford in Falstaff as part of the Tanglewood Festival Fellowship Program with Maestro Seiji Ozawa. As a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, he sang the Jailor in Dialogue of the Carmelites, as well as covering Escamillo in Carmen and Altair in Strauss’ The Egyptian Helen. While at the Curtis Institute of Music, he covered Germont, Marcello, Figaro, Count and Rigoletto with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, as well as sang the roles of Johann, the Imperial Commissioner and Marullo.

In concert, he has sung Handel’s Messiah with Phoenix Symphony and in Seoul, Korea, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Tokyo City Symphony and Nielson’s Symphony No. 2 with Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Yun has been a recipient of a 2002 Sullivan Award, a Connecticut Opera Company Scholarship, a Santa Fe Opera Award of 1999 and 2001, and was a National Finalist in the 1996–1997 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He appeared as Melchior in BBC TV production of Amahl and the Night Visitors with Francesca Zambello and Patricia Racette. He also appeared in PBS TV Broadcast for Domingo and Friends with Washington Opera and in a Spanish National TV broadcast for the Concert for Deaf Children with Juan Pons, Marcello Giordani and Ruggiero Raimondi.

Scott Zielinski (original lighting designer)

Scott is based in New York and has created lighting designs for theater, dance and opera throughout the world. He created the lighting for this production of Lucia di Lammermoor for Minnesota Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. Other opera highlights include Miss Fortune for Bregenzer Festspiele, The Magic Flute for Canadian Opera Company, Orfeo for English National Opera, La traviata for Lithuanian National Opera, La commedia for De Nederlandse Opera, The Bonesetter’s Daughter for San Francisco Opera, and most recently, Red Waters for Opera de Rouen Haute Normandie, among others. Upcoming projects include Miss Fortune for Covent Garden, Abigail’s Party for the National Theater of Norway in Oslo, Lear Dreaming for TheatreWorks Singapore and The Seagul for Festival d’Avignon at the Cour d’Honneur.