Advance Program Notes Giocomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly Saturday, June 27, 2015, 7:30 PM

These Advance Program Notes are provided online for our patrons who like to read about performances ahead of time. Printed programs will be provided to patrons at the performances. Programs are subject to change.

Giocomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

featuring Ash Lawn Young Artists

Michelle Krisel, artistic director Kevin O’Halloran, executive director Raymond Zilberberg, stage director Shelby Rhoades, pianist

Cio-Cio San Tamara Rusqué Lt. Pinkerton Adam Cromer Suzuki Rachael Braunstein Sharpless Anthony Eversole Goro Philip Morgan Yamadori Mitchell Hutchings Kate Olivia Douglas Bonze Stephen Maus Trouble Linus Malone Imperial Commissioner Jacob Kinderman Official Registrar Jacob Kinderman Yakuside Trevor Neale

Conductor Joseph Hodge Stage Director Raymond Zilberberg Piano Shelby Rhoades

Ensemble Danielle Beckvermit, Tabitha Burchett, André Chiang, Te Hu, Sandra Marante, Nicholas Szoeke, Julia Walsh, Julia Wolcott, and Olivia Yokers Program Notes MADAMA BUTTERFLY Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Based on the play by David Belasco Act I Nagasaki, Japan, the spring of 1945 Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy inspects a house overlooking Nagasaki harbor that he is leasing from Goro, a marriage broker. The house comes with three servants and a geisha wife named Cio-Cio-San, known as Madam Butterfly. The lease runs for 999 years, subject to monthly renewal. The American consul Sharpless arrives breathless from climbing the hill. Pinkerton describes his philosophy of the fearless Yankee roaming the world in search of experience and pleasure. He is not sure whether his feelings for the young girl are love or a whim, but he intends to go through with the marriage ceremony. Sharpless warns him that the girl may view the marriage differently, but Pinkerton brushes off such concerns and says someday he will take a real, American wife. He offers the consul whiskey and proposes a toast. Butterfly is heard climbing the hill with her friends for the ceremony. In casual conversation after the formal introduction, Butterfly admits her age, 15, and explains that her family was once prominent but lost its position, and she has had to earn her living as a geisha. Her relatives arrive and chatter about the marriage. Cio-Cio-San shows Pinkerton her very few possessions, and quietly tells him she has been to the Christian mission and will embrace her husband’s religion. The Imperial Commissioner reads the marriage agreement, and the relatives congratulate the couple. Suddenly, a threatening voice is heard from afar—it is the Bonze, Butterfly’s uncle, a priest. He curses the girl for going to the Christian mission and rejecting her ancestral religion. Pinkerton orders them to leave, and as they go, the Bonze and the shocked relatives denounce Cio-Cio-San. Pinkerton tries to console Butterfly with sweet words. She is helped by Suzuki into her wedding kimono, and joins Pinkerton in the garden, where they make love.

INTERMISSION Act II, Part 1 Three years have passed, Nagasaki is in ruins and only beginning to rebuild. Cio-Cio-San awaits her husband’s return. Suzuki prays to the gods for help, but Butterfly berates her for believing in lazy Japanese gods rather than in Pinkerton’s promise to return one day. Sharpless appears with a letter from Pinkerton, but before he can read it to Butterfly, Goro arrives with the latest potential husband for Butterfly, the wealthy Prince Yamadori. Butterfly politely serves the guests tea but insists she is not available for marriage—her American husband has not deserted her. She dismisses Goro and Yamadori. Sharpless attempts to read Pinkerton’s letter and suggests that perhaps Butterfly should reconsider Yamadori’s offer. “And this?” asks the outraged Butterfly, showing the consul her small child. Sharpless is too upset to tell her more of the letter’s contents. He leaves, promising to tell Pinkerton of the child. A cannon shot is heard in the harbor announcing the arrival of a ship. Butterfly and Suzuki take a telescope to the terrace and read the name of Pinkerton’s ship. Overjoyed, Butterfly joins Suzuki in strewing the house with flower petals from the garden. Night falls, and Butterfly, Suzuki, and the child settle into a vigil watching over the harbor.

Act II, Part 2 Dawn breaks, and Suzuki insists that Butterfly get some sleep. Butterfly carries the child into another room. Sharpless appears with Pinkerton and Kate, Pinkerton’s new wife. Suzuki realizes who the American woman is, and agrees to help break the news to Butterfly. Pinkerton is overcome with guilt and runs from the scene, pausing to remember his days in the little house. Cio-Cio-San rushes in, hoping to find Pinkerton, but sees Kate instead. Grasping the situation, she agrees to give up the child but insists Pinkerton return for him. Dismissing everyone, Butterfly takes out the dagger with which her father committed suicide, choosing to die with honor rather than live in shame. She is interrupted momentarily when the child comes in, but Butterfly says goodbye to him and blindfolds him. She stabs herself as Pinkerton calls her name.

Based on a synopsis by the Metropolitan Opera, reprinted by permission. Biographies DANIELLE BECKVERMIT (ensemble) Danielle Beckvermit, soprano, recently graduated with a bachelor of music in voice performance from SUNY Fredonia and will be pursing a graduate degree at the Mannes School of Music in Manhattan this fall. She is a proud recipient of The Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions Encouragement Award for the Buffalo- Toronto District, awarded in January 2014. She earned a performer’s certificate at SUNY Fredonia and won the SUNY Fredonia Concerto Competition in 2013. Her opera scenes include the partial roles of Mimì (La Bohème), Papagena and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Marenka (The Bartered Bride), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Lady Billows (Albert Herring) at both SUNY Fredonia and the Chautauqua Institute. She has sung in master classes with Peter Kazaras, Dawn Upshaw, Brian Zeger, Marc Deaton, and Amy Burton. Beckvermit’s full operatic roles include the title role of Floyd’s Susannah, Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Hillman Opera, and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as Magda Sorell in Menotti’s The Consul with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. For the past two summers she has attended the Chautauqua Institute Summer Festival. Beckvermit is a proud student of Patricia Corron.

RACHAEL BRAUNSTEIN (Suzuki) American mezzo-soprano Rachael Braunstein was most recently seen as the witch in Humperdink’s Hänsel und Gretel and Mrs. Ott in Floyd’s Susannah at Seagle Music Colony. Upcoming performances include Roscoe, which is a new opera workshop at Seagle Music Colony, and a New England recital tour in fall 2015. Braunstein recently completed a session of study with Dawn Upshaw at Bard College and holds a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. Previous credits include concert performances with Joan Tower’s Music Alive! series, Flora in La Traviata with New York Opera Exchange, Anna Hope in Virgil Thompson’s The Mother of Us All with Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, covering Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with Ken Merrill’s Seminar at Manhattan School of Music, and concert performances with Orford Academy of the Arts in Québec.

TABITHA BURCHETT (ensemble) Soprano Tabitha Burchett recently completed a master of music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (IU), where she studied with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. At IU she appeared as Pamina in and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. Other solo credits include Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, and Libby Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. In 2014, Burchett received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. A frequent collaborator with composers, she premiered American Composition Prize winner Dominick DiOrio’s Stravinsky Refracted with IU’s Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, NOTUS. Burchett earned a bachelor of music cum laude from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. During her undergraduate work, she performed a number of roles, including Gretel in Hänsel and Gretel, Lily in The Secret Garden, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Burchett is from Terre Haute, Indiana.

ANDRÉ CHIANG (ensemble) “Vocally commanding” baritone André Chiang brings his lyrical voice to repertoire spanning from Handel to Glass. This season Chiang’s engagements include Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd and Barone Douphol in La Traviata, both with Virginia Opera, as well as his return to Portland Opera as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. Previous credits include Young Galileo (Galileo Galilei), Argante (Rinaldo), and Ford (Falstaff), all with Portland Opera; Masetto (Don Giovanni) and El Gallo (The Fantasticks), both with Shreveport Opera; Lancelot in the Young Artist Matinee of Camelot at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Vaughan-Williams’ The Songs of Travel, under the baton of George Manahan. Competition honors include regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, finalist in the Liederkranz Art Song/Lieder competition, and winner of the Grand Concours de Chant for French song. Biographies, continued ADAM CROMER (Pinkerton) A native of Nashville, Tennessee, tenor Adam Cromer has performed across the U.S. and internationally in opera, concert, and recital. He is thrilled to be making his first appearance with Ash Lawn Opera as Pinkerton in their Young Artists performances, a role he recently performed with the Natchez Festival of Music. Cromer’s 2014-15 season also includes performances with Mississippi Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Lancaster, and the Hudson Opera Orchestra. In the 2013-14 season, Cromer performed the role of Cavaradossi in Tosca with the Natchez Festival of Music, as well as making his role debuts as Pollione in Norma with Taconic Opera and Don José in Carmen with Pacific Opera Project. Of his Don José, one critic wrote, “Adam Cromer… has a powerful voice that is very sure in the part, equally engaging when he’s chasing Carmen as in his duets with Michaëla.” Other performance highlights include Rodolfo in La Bohème (“standing out among the cast was Adam Cromer… capable of power as well as subtlety.”), Faust in Mefistofele, and Alfredo in La Traviata. A frequent performer of American Opera, he has appeared as Lennie in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, Sam in Floyd’s Susannah, Valere in Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe, and Arkady in Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country.

OLIVIA DOUGLAS (Kate) Olivia Douglas, mezzo-soprano, is a born-and-raised Texan. She holds a bachelor of music in vocal performance from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and a master of music from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). Through the Opera UTEP program, she performed in numerous choruses with El Paso Opera and was honored to be selected as one of their Young Artists, portraying Olive in their summer production of Desert Song and Cherubino for their outreach production of Le Nozze di Figaro. While studying at UT Austin, she performed the roles of Dargelos and Agathe in Les Enfants Terribles, Claire in the world premiere of A Woman in Morocco, and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd with the Butler Opera Center. After completing The CoOPERAtive Program at Rider University/Westminster Choir College last summer, she returned to Austin to perform with Spotlight On Opera in their Spotlight Concerts series and to sing in the chorus for the Austin Opera production of Roméo et Juliette.

ANTHONY DUKE EVERSOLE (Sharpless) American baritone Anthony Duke Eversole is an emerging artist in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region and is equally at home on the operatic and concert stages. Eversole most recently performed the role of Sharpless in the Castleton Festival’s production of Madama Butterfly. Operatic roles include Ollie Jr. (A Family Reunion), Sir John Falstaff (Falstaff), Thoas (Iphigénie en Tauride), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Rambaldo (La Rondine), Plunkett (Martha), Vidal Hernando (Lusia Fernanda), Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore), Top (The Tender Land), and others. He was also recently featured as a baritone soloist in such concert works as Brahms’ German Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, and Haydn’s Nicolaimesse. Eversole holds degrees in voice performance from the University of Oklahoma (master of music) and Utah State University (bachelor of music). He is currently a doctoral candidate in opera performance at the University of Maryland and a member of the renowned Maryland Opera Studio. Eversole studies with baritone Dominic Cossa. Upcoming engagements include featured roles in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Blitzstein’s Regina with the Maryland Opera Studio for the 2015-16 season.

JOSEPH HODGE (conductor) Joseph Hodge currently serves as the music director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra, Hartford All-City Youth Orchestra, and Hartford Opera Theater. Guest conducting engagements bring him to Texas each year to work with the Abilene Opera Association. Hodge graduated from the Hartt School of Music in 2012, where he studied conducting with Edward Cumming and was the assistant conductor of the Hartt Symphony Orchestra. Also a graduate of the University of Virginia, he has worked with orchestras in Virginia, including the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia, and the Wintergreen Academy Chamber Orchestra. He has previously studied conducting with Christopher Zimmerman, Kate Tamarkin, Kenneth Kiesler, and Joseph Gifford. This is his fourth year at Ash Lawn Opera as an assistant conductor.

TE HU (ensemble) Biographies, continued Te Hu, mezzo-soprano, was born in China. She received a bachelor of music from The Capital Normal University and is a recent graduate of The Longy School of Music of Bard College’s master of music program. Her training at Longy led her to perform in a number of operas, including Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, and The Tender Land. During the summer of 2014, she participated in a master class given by Helen Donath.

MITCHELL HUTCHINGS (Yamadori) Baritone Mitchell Hutchings’ most notable roles include the title roles in Gianni Schicchi and Sweeney Todd; Marcello, Benoit, and Alcindoro in La Bohème; Tarquinius in The Rape Of Lucretia; Escamillo in Carmen; Germont in La Traviata; Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette; Marullo in ; Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Frank in Die Fledermaus; Ben in The Telephone; and Yamadori and the Commissioner in Madama Butterfly. Hutchings has been a resident artist of Des Moines Metro Opera, Pensacola Opera, Opera Saratoga, PORTopera, and Dicapo Opera Theatre and was an Ash Lawn Opera Young Artist in 2012. He essayed the role of Timothy Cratchit in the world premiere of God Bless Us, Every One, a Christmas opera by Thomas Pasatieri, at Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York City. He can be heard as Soldier #1 in the world premiere recording of this work, published under Albany Records. Other performances of new works have included the title role in Evan Mack’s Roscoe (libretto based on Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy’s novel of the same title) with Opera Saratoga. In 2015, Hutchings will assist in the creation of the role of Keith in Sarah Hutchings’ The Broken Land. Hutchings received a master’s degree from Florida State University and a bachelor’s degree from Western Carolina University. He currently is continuing his study at the Eastman School of Music, and holds the position of assistant professor of voice and opera at the Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton College.

JACOB KINDERMAN (Imperial Commissioner, Official Registrar) Jacob Kinderman, baritone, is a Washington native based in Princeton, New Jersey. He most recently made his debut as a guest artist with Princeton University Opera Theater as Tobit in Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel, as well as performing works by William Croft with the Princeton University Glee Club. Past performances have included the title roles of Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte, Melisso in Alcina, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Mr. Kofner in The Consul. Kinderman has appeared with companies and ensembles such as Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Slavica, CoOPERAtive Concert Opera, The Princeton Festival, Westminster Opera Theater, Princeton University Opera Theater, The Princeton Singers, Philadelphia Opera Collective, and Poor Richard’s Opera, and he was an apprentice singer with Ash Lawn Opera in 2013. Kinderman has received many awards and accolades, including the first annual Dalton Baldwin Art Song Prize for his performance of selections from Before and After Summer by Gerald Finzi in the Westminster Choir College Art Song Festival. He won second prize at the 2014 NATS Artist Award Northwest Regional Competition after winning first prize at the Washington State District level. In 2009 he received the Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Vancouver British Columbia District. He was the first runner-up in the NATS Artist Award Competition Northwest Region in 2010, as well as the first place winner of the NATS Artist Award Washington District that same year.

LINUS BURKE MALONE (Trouble) Linus Burke Malone is seven years old and loves all things music. He is constantly singing and dancing. He just finished his first year at Wilson School of Dance in Charlottesville, Virginia, taking on the jazz world. Malone also plays soccer, basketball, swims, and loves Nerf with his friends. He was a Dancing Shepherd in Ash Lawn Opera’s 2014 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Biographies, continued SANDRA MARANTE (ensemble) The Chicago Tribune has said of soprano Sandra Marante, “When she sings, [she] has a warm, deep, full sound.” During the 2014-15 season, Marante covered the role of Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff with Emerald City Opera and made her debut with the Greater Youth Symphony Orchestra at New World Arts Theater in Miami. A resident artist in Dicapo Opera Theater’s 2012-13 season, Marante performed Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, and Beauty in Vittorio Gianinni’s Beauty and the Beast. Known for her eloquent public speaking, Marante was chosen to be a spokesperson for a national commercial and media advertisement for Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She was a regional first place winner and national semi-finalist in the Classical Singer National Competition, and her personal story was chosen for the Classical Singer Magazine in the October 2010 issue. Marante received a master of music at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and a bachelor of music at New World School of the Arts, affiliated with University of Florida in Miami.

STEPHEN MAUS (Bonze) Baritone Stephen Maus is a native Texan currently based in Austin. Recognized for his “beautiful smooth voice with much size and potential,” Maus is a versatile performer whose work ranges from Handel and Bach to newly composed repertoire. Select roles include Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Pallante in Handel’s Agrippina, and Emile de Becque in South Pacific. He is a regular performer with Austin Opera, and for the past two summers he has performed as a Young Artist with Opera NEO. Maus has been featured as a guest artist with Youth Opera of El Paso and Spotlight on Opera and has also been in demand as an oratorio soloist, with credits including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. John Passion, and Haydn’s Theresienmesse. This season, performances have included Un Ballo in Maschera and Roméo et Juliette with Austin Opera, Leporello in a workshop production of Don Giovanni, and Don Alfonso in Così Fan Tutte. He holds degrees in voice from Texas Tech University and Bowling Green State University. When not performing, Maus works as a voice teacher and accompanist, maintaining a studio of 50 students.

PHILIP MORGAN (Goro) Philip Morgan, tenor, returns to Ash Lawn Opera after serving as an intern and performing in the ensembles of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and The King and I in 2011. He has performed the roles of Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte, Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus, Panatellas in La Perichole, and Roger in Rent with the Arizona State Lyric Opera Theater. Other roles include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Albert in Albert Herring, and Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro. Recently, Morgan was a teaching artist with Arizona Opera’s OperaTunity Troupe. A Minnesota native, he received a bachelor of music in vocal performance from DePauw University and a master of music in opera performance from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Biographies, continued TREVOR NEAL (Yakuside) A native of Dallas, Texas, baritone Trevor Neal is a favorite among audiences throughout the southwest United States. Neal has appeared in concert with the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, Abilene Symphony, and numerous community orchestras performing such works as Orff’s Carmina Burana, Verdi’s Requiem, Durufle’sRequiem, and Handel’s Messiah. He has performed for such dignitaries as President George W. Bush, Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Colin Powell, and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. This winter season he was a member of the Apprentice Artist program at Sarasota Opera. Previously, he was a Young Artist at Opera North, where he performed the role of Henry Davis in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene and covered the role of Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. Neal returned to Opera North throughout the season for school and community outreach and to sing King Melchior in their production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. In the 2011 season with Spotlight on Opera of Austin, Texas, he made his role debut as Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. Neal participated as a sailor in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s opera Moby-Dick in addition to appearances in Aida, Boris Godunov, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tristan und Isolde, La Traviata, and The Magic Flute with The Dallas Opera. Neal sings with the South Dakota Chorale, a professional choral group of 28 singers, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is a featured soloist on their debut album, In Paradisum: The Healing Power of Heaven, which was released and distributed by Naxos/Gothic in May 2012. Of this recording, Donald Rosenburg of Gramophone described him as “vividly alert to emotional coloration.” Neal recently completed performances as the featured soloist with The UNT A Capella Choir in concerts in both Daejeon and Incheon, South Korea, as part of the Daejeon International Choral Festival.

SHELBY RHOADES (piano) Ohio native Shelby Rhoades returns to the Ash Lawn Opera for her seventh season as principal coach. She currently works as principal coach and director of the Emerging Artists Program at Virginia Opera, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Before Virginia, Rhoades was based in New York City, where she was a member of the Vocal Arts Faculty at The Juilliard School from 2008-2013. Other previous engagements include coach fellow for the Aspen Music Festival Opera Theater during the summers of 2003-2008, music staff for Seattle Opera/Young Artists Program, and Tacoma Opera. Rhoades holds degrees in piano performance, chamber accompanying, and vocal performance. In addition to her faculty tenure at Juilliard, she also previously served as faculty for the University of Washington/Seattle, Pacific Lutheran University, and Anderson University.

TAMARA RUSQUÉ (Cio-Cio San) “Keep your eye on Tamara Rusqué (Cio-Cio San)…This polished young performer packs dramatic intensity, an intriguingly dark and flexible soprano and oodles of stage presence,” saidOpera News. Rusqué has performed to critical acclaim across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Born in Toronto, Canada, of Chilean-Argentine descent, she began her career in the roles of Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Polly Peachum in The Beggar’s Opera. After pursuing advanced vocal training in Florence, Italy, she returned to Canada, where performances included the roles of Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, and the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s op. 65, as well as participation in the Pacific Opera Victoria Young Artist Program. Rusqué has performed in New York City as a soloist in Mahler’s Symphony no. 2; the role of Giunone in La Calisto; Giulietta in the 2013 Martina Arroyo Prelude to Performance production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann; and the role of Diana in Orphée aux Enfers, for which the New York Post celebrated her as “a clear standout” whose “megawatt comic energy lit up the stage.” In 2014, she joined Ash Lawn Opera’s productions of Susannah (Mrs. Gleaton) and Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitel). She was also featured in the 2014 Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques Competition finals in Montreal, Canada, winning the Prix Lyrique Mexicain and the Prix Lyrique Hollandais. A highlight in 2015, Rusqué was featured by Ópera de San Miguel performing in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Biographies, continued NICHOLAS SZOEKE (ensemble) Tenor Nicholas Szoeke is currently pursuing a master of music degree at the University of Alabama where he studies with Paul Houghtaling. Recent credits for the Humble, Texas, native include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Sid El Kar in The Desert Song, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, and Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas. Formerly a baritone, Szoeke has also appeared as the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Filiberto in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino, Melchior in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He has performed principal roles with Opera in the Heights; Lone Star Lyric Theater in Houston, Texas; the University of Alabama Opera Theatre; and the Birmingham Music Club Guild. He was a Young Artist with the Druid City Opera Workshop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 2014, Szoeke received a bachelor of music in vocal performance from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

JULIA KATHERINE WALSH (ensemble) Julia Katherine Walsh, soprano, is delighted to be back in the U.S. and making her Ash Lawn Opera debut this summer. Acclaimed by critics as “extraordinary,” “top-notch,” and “delightful,” she has been praised for her technical accuracy and believable portrayals. Walsh has made her most notable appearances as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Oper Schloss Laubach, Freie Philharmonie Bonn); Rosine in Der Barbier von Sevilla (Opernakademie Bad Orb); Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Center City Opera Theater); Diana in Orpheus in the Underworld (The Bronx Opera Company); Najade in (Intermezzo Opera); Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro (The Janiec Opera Company); and Gilda in Rigoletto (New York Lyric Opera Theater). She was selected to perform in master classes with such prestigious teachers as Brigitte Fassbaender, Ingeborg Hallstein, Ken Benson, Joan Dornemann, Diana Soviero, Steven White, and Brian Zeger. She gave her concert debut in Germany in 2014 with the Johann- Strauss-Orchester Frankfurt and performed most recently in an Opera Gala with the Freie Philharmonie Bonn in March 2015. Her recital work has taken her throughout the United States and Germany, and she has been awarded prizes in the CareerBridges, Thursday Musical, Orpheus, and American Prize Competitions. She has received grants from The Joyce Dutka Foundation for the Arts, The Berks County Community Foundation, and The Reading Musical Foundation, among others. Walsh is a graduate of Westminster Choir College and Hunter College.

JULIA WOLCOTT (ensemble) Soprano Julia Wolcott is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University bachelor’s degree program, where she studied with professor Jennifer Trost. Wolcott most recently attended Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival, where she covered Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and sang the role of Cousin in Madama Butterfly. In the 2013-14 season she portrayed Madame Lidoine in Penn State Opera Theatre’s production of Dialogues of the Carmelites and Fortuna in Opera NEO’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (San Diego, California). She also took part in the SOARS workshop at the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan. She was the third place winner of the American Prize in the College Opera Division and was recently a finalist in the 2014 National Opera Association competition, as well as a semi-finalist in the national round of the Classical Singer Competition.

OLIVIA YOKERS (ensemble) Soprano Olivia Yokers, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, is in her second year of graduate studies at Indiana University (IU). At IU she appeared as Sardula in the The Last Savage, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, and LoLo in The Merry Widow. She performed with the chorus in Indiana University Opera Theater’s productions of La Boheme and Candide. In 2013 Yokers appeared as a Daughter in Akhnaten with Indianapolis Opera. In 2012, she won the title of Cincinnati Opera Idol and was a member of the Cincinnati Opera chorus for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. In 2013, she was awarded first place at the Indianapolis Musicale Competition and the Dayton Opera Guild Competition. Yokers studies with IU professor Alice Hopper. Biographies, continued RAYMOND ZILBERBERG (stage director) Raymond Zilberberg is a New York-based director of musicals and dramas. He is originally from Montreal, Quebec, and returns to Ash Lawn Opera this season after assisting Crystal Manich on Fiddler on the Roof last summer. When he was new to the world of opera, Zilberberg was fortunate enough to assist Andrei Serban on remounting his production of Mussorgsky’s La Khovantschina at the Opéra National de Paris in 2013. His most recent credits include the South Florida tour of Stars of David (Daryl Roth); Rent (LIU Post); Sleep in Safety (Jenny Wiley); Gay Card (Judson Church); Two Gentlemen of Verona (West Side Lounge); Mother Courage and Her Children (Arena Stage); Marie Christine (3LD); Tartuffe, Madama Butterfly, Platonov, and The Hothouse (Columbia Stages); A Little Night Music and The Woman in White (Stagedoor Manor); and Mauritius (Urban Stages). Zilberberg also works with students at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program on developing new musicals. He received a master of fine arts from Columbia University. Engagement Activities Saturday, June 27, 2015, 5:45-7 PM Talk: Michelle Krisel, artistic director, Ash Lawn Opera Cube Prior to the performance of Madama Butterfly, participants in Virginia Tech’s new Lifelong Learning Institute interact with Michelle Krisel during the artistic director’s talk on Ash Lawn Opera’s production of the Giacomo Puccini opera. For more information on the Lifelong Learning Institute, please visit: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/ lifelonglearning/. In the Galleries

Charlotte Chan Ginko Leaves, 2009 Watercolor on paper 32 x 38 inches

Explore CONNECTIONS between works of art, artists, and viewers; between art past and present; and between ideas and their aesthetic manifestation.

Tangled: Pat West Wanderings: Charlotte Chan, Marie Collier, and Betty Moore Unleashed: Poetry Unbound Through Sunday, August 9, 2015 Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 AM-6 PM/Saturday-Sunday, 10 AM-4 PM

A journey through landscape—both real and metaphoric—is the subject of Tangled, a one-person exhibition of paintings by Pat West. An established artist throughout Blacksburg and the New River Valley, West is well known for her bold, richly textured, expressionistically rendered paintings.

Wanderings presents oil paintings, watercolor, and oil pastel works on paper by Charlotte Chan, Marie Collier, and Betty Moore. Each of these artists draws from a depth of individual experience to represent visions of the evanescent world of the garden, fields, and rolling hills.

Unleashed explores the written word as visual art. Poetry by local writers and Virginia Tech students and faculty is freed from the confines of the page.