Untitled Document

CASE SCAGLIONE (2011)

Texas native Case Scaglione is currently the 20th music director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles. Formerly honored in 2009 with a Career Assistance Award, he is the third recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in the Foundation’s history. Among his performance credits are the Cleveland Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival and School. A frequent guest assistant and cover conductor with the St Louis Symphony and David Robertson, Mr. Scaglione has also assisted at the Baltimore Symphony and Baltimore Opera. This summer, he will participate as one of only three conducting fellows accepted into the prestigious conducting program at Tanglewood Music Center. Most recently, he was selected for a Fulbright Award to Switzerland in 2011-12. The award will support Case’s project of studying with Maestro David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra for the 2011-12 concert season.

For more information: www.casescaglione.com/.

ANKUSH KUMAR BAHL (2011)

Described as an "energetic" conductor who leads with "clear authority and enthusiasm" by the New York Times after his Carnegie Hall debut, Indian American conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl is currently an Assistant Conductor with the Orchestre National de France and will additionally begin his post as the Assistant Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C) this fall. Mr Bahl is also the proud recipient of the 2009 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship (given in Leipzig, Germany). This prestigious award enabled him to spend time in Germany working privately with Maestros Kurt Masur and Riccardo Chailly along with the Gewandhaus Orchestra as the city of Leipzig celebrated the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth.

For more information: www.boleroartists.com/akb_b.htm.

SEAN NEWHOUSE (2011)

Sean Newhouse made an acclaimed last-minute debut with the Boston Symphony in February 2011, conducting Mahler's Ninth Symphony on two hours' notice in place of James Levine. The Boston Globe wrote that "The BSO often played beautifully for him, the strings digging in deeply in the final movement to produce a glowing and expressive tone." No stranger to eleventh-hour substitutions, he also stepped in for Mario Venzago on short notice to open the Indianapolis Symphony season in 2008, to rave reviews commending his "expert" conducting and hailing the performances as "electrifying." He is the first American-born conductor in fifteen years to be appointed Assistant Conductor to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he assumed in 2010 at the invitation of James Levine.

For more information: www.seannewhouse.com.

WARD STARE (2011)

Described as "a compelling figure on the podium" and "one of the hottest young conductors in America" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ward Stare is currently the Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony, a position created for him in the fall of 2008 by Music Director David Robertson. In April 2009, Stare made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra, stepping in at the last minute to conduct while Robertson made his debut as chansonnier in H.K. Gruber's Frankenstein!!. In addition to his duties with the St. Louis Symphony, Stare is the Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and, in June 2010, led the group in its New York City debut at the historic Riverside Church. The New York Times praised the orchestra for their "terrific concert," noting that "Mr. Stare inspired the musicians to impressive heights."

For more information: www.wardstare.com.

RYAN McADAMS (2010)

Ryan McAdams is the 15th Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), a Fulbright scholar and former Apprentice Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under the tutelage of then-Chief Conductor (now Music Director of the New York Philharmonic) Alan Gilbert. 2009-10 season engagement highlights included his opera debut with the New York City Opera, and appearances with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Princeton Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Festival, in addition to performances with the NYYS. Recent guest engagements include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. McAdams served as a Conducting Fellow at the 2009 Tanglewood Music Festival. Highlights included a performance of Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments with Peter Serkin, assisting Maestro Levine on a performance of Act III of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and a performance of John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fees. Upcoming engagements in the next two seasons include concerts and operas with New York City Opera, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Italy, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI.

For more information: www.ryan-mcadams.com/.

YANIV ATTAR (2010)

A native of Israel, Yaniv Attar was named Assistant Conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and holds the Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair.

Attar has studied with Israel Edelson in Jerusalem, Virginia Allen at the Juilliard School in New York and Neil Thomson at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was also the associate conductor of the Tempus Chamber Orchestra. In 2008, Attar earned his Doctor of Music degree from McGill University where he studied with Alexis Hauser. Attar has worked with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammeracademie Neuss am Rhein, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali Milan, Mihail Jora Philharmonic Romania and Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. An active participant of many conducting workshops, his teachers have included Kurt Masur, Janos Fürst, Jorma Panula, Leonard Slatkin, Peter Gülke, Donald Thulean, Daniel Lewis, John Farrer, Gerhard Markson, Liutauras Balciunas, Ovidiu Balan and Kirk Trevor. In 2009, Attar was awarded the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award.

Attar is also an accomplished classical guitarist. He has studied under Irit Even-Tov, Charles Ramirez and Sharon Isbin, for whom he served as teaching assistant at the Aspen Music Festival from 2003 to 2005. Attar was the first guitarist to win the Aviv Competition Prize in Israel and the Concerto Competition at the Juilliard School in 2001.

KAZEM ABDULLAH (2010)

Kazem Abdullah has conducted such orchestras as the Mexico City Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, Berliner Kammerphilharmonie, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, to name a few. Highlights of Mr. Abdullah’s 2009–10 performances included sold–out performances of Joplin’s Treemonisha at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, conducting the internationally renowned Orquestra de Sao Paul during its third U.S. coast–to–coast tour, and debuts with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle Weimar. Mr. Abdullah made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice during the 2008–09 season. Upcoming engagements in 2010-11 include the Napa Valley Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Opera, where he will conduct Cosi fan tutte.

For more information: www.cami.com/?webid=1950.

CHRISTOPHER HILL (2010)

Christopher Hill is the music director and conductor of the Portsmouth (NH) Symphony Orchestra. From 2009-2010, Mr. Hill also served as the director of orchestras at the University of New Hampshire. Mr. Hill’s passion and commitment to artistic excellence, innovative programming, community presence, audience engagement, and educational outreach highlight his artistic and musical priorities.

In 2010, Mr. Hill was selected to participate in the Cadaqués International Conducting Competition near Barcelona, Spain. Other recent conducting appearances include with the Richmond (VA) Symphony under the guidance of Victor Yampolsky. Mr. Hill has participated in classes with Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, Paavo Järvi, Carl St. Clair, Gustav Meier, Daniel Lewis, Thomas Wilkins, Michael Morgan, David Lockington, and Neal Gittleman. He assisted Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan, where he also studied with Marianne Ploger. Mr. Hill is a candidate for the doctoral of musical arts degree in orchestral conducting under the mentorship of Mark Gibson at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. There, as the assistant conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, he assisted guest conductor Hugh Wolff and undertook additional study with Ulrich Nicolai, visiting faculty from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.

For more information: www.christopherhillconductor.com.

ROBERT TREVINO (2010)

Robert Trevino has conducted orchestras and ensembles across North America, Europe and Asia. His conducting credits include the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus, New World Symphony, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic (South Korea), Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra (Germany), the Ohio Light Opera and the Montpellier National Orchestra (France). He served as Associate Conductor for the New York City Opera’s new 2009 production of ,Don Giovanni. Recently named Laureate of the 2010 Evgene Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, Mr. Trevino’s upcoming season engagements include conducting the Chicago Philharmonic, serving as an Associate Conductor at New York City Opera, and serving as guest conductor for the spring 2011 VOX Contemporary American Opera Workshop.

For more information: www.robertkatkovtrevino.com/.

ERIK NIELSEN (2009)

An up-and-coming talent on both the operatic and orchestral podium, American Conductor Erik Nielsen is the recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S.’s 2009 $25,000 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award. Kapellmeister at the Frankfurt Opera since 2007, Mr. Nielsen’s European conducting credits include the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Pasdeloup, Frankfurt and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Ensemble Moderne, the orchestra of the Frankfurt Opera, and the English National Opera, and in the United States, the New World Symphony, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has served as assistant to James Levine at Tanglewood and to Christoph Eschenbach at Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet.

In August 2008, Mr. Nielsen was personally selected by Maestro James Levine to be his replacement for Tanglewood’s production of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Maestro Nielsen’s 2009-10 season, in addition to his work with the Frankfurt Opera, includes debut engagements with Boston Lyric Opera and with the UK’s Northern Sinfonia. With the Frankfurt Opera, he leads a new production of Simplicius Simplicissimus in September 2009 and revivals of La Bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Die Zauberflöte from October through February. In March 2010, he makes his U.S. opera debut conducting the Boston Lyric Opera in Ariadne auf Naxos, followed by his UK concert debut in April, leading the Northern Sinfonia in a trio of concerts in Middlesbrough, Nottingham and Gateshead.

Born in 1977 inIowa, USA, Erik Nielsen studied the piano, harp and oboe before turning to conducting. He studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and received his bachelor’s degree as a double-major in oboe and harp at The Juilliard School in New York.

For more information: www.ingpen.co.uk/artist_detail.php?aid=112.

JAMES FEDDECK (2009)

James Feddeck, recently appointed Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, previously served as Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony. Among his awards are the 2007 Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and the 2008 Aspen Conducting Prize.

In 2006, he was winner of the Sixth Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition, and was nominated for the Glimmerglass Opera Conducting Prize. He returned to Aspen in summer 2009 as Assistant Conductor, working with artists including Cho-Liang Lin and Misha Dichter. and made his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival. Upcoming engagements include a subscription debut with the Charlotte Symphony followed by a special gala performance in Charlotte with Yo-Yo Ma. Mr. Feddeck also returns to the Memphis Symphony for performances of Handel's Messiah.

Mr. Feddeck holds the distinction of having been admitted to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in four areas: piano, oboe, organ, and conducting. Following undergraduate and graduate degrees from Oberlin, he continued his studies in conducting at the University of Michigan and at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen as a conducting fellow (2006-2008) where he studied with Murry Sidlin and David Zinman. At Aspen, he participated in conducting master classes of operatic scenes with Patrick Summers, Harry Bicket, and James Conlon.

For more information: www.opus3artists.com/artists/james-feddeck.

KELLY KUO (2009)

Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra since 2007, Kelly Kuo previously served as Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur for Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera and Opera Pacific. Mr. Kuo has also served as cover conductor for Los Angeles Opera and Italy’s Festival Euro Mediterraneo.

In the 2009–10 season, Mr. Kuo leads La Traviata for Kentucky Opera and Hansel and Gretel for Lyric Opera San Diego and returns as Music Director for Opera International’s Vocal Gala Concert. This past season, Mr. Kuo made his conducting debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Porgy and Bess) and Madison Opera (Cosi fan tutte) and returned to Lyric Opera San Diego to lead Trial by Jury and the world premiere of Nicholas Reveles’ Rumpelstiltskin, as well as performances of Porgy and Bess at Hamburg Staatsoper. Among his opera credits are performances with Tulsa Opera, Pro Cantus Lyric Opera, Rising Star Opera Theater and gala concerts for Wichita Grand Opera.

Kelly Kuo began his musical studies at age five on the violin and made his debut as a piano soloist with the Walla Walla Symphony five years later. An alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, where he studied vocal coaching as well as conducting with Larry Rachleff, Kelly Kuo earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon where he studied piano with Horowitz pupil Dean Kramer and majored in both music and Chinese. He earned his M.M. in piano from Manhattan School of Music, where his teachers included Byron Janis and Warren Jones.

For more information: kellykuo.com.

CASE SCAGLIONE (2009)

Honored in 2009 with a Career Assistance Award, Case Scaglione received The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in 2011.

For more information: www.casescaglione.com.

JOSEPH F. YOUNG (2008)

Joseph F. Young is currently serving as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra-Peabody Conservatory Conducting Fellow, a prestigious new conductor-training program developed and managed by the BSO and Peabody Conservatory with the aid of the League of American Orchestras. Since his arrival, he has covered concerts led by music director Marin Alsop and guest conductors John Adams, H.K. Gruber, Arild Remmereit and Thomas Ades. He made his subscription debut with the BSO in January 2008, conducting Mozart's Magic Flute Overture as the opening work on one of Maestra Alsop's programs.

In February 2006, Mr. Young was a participant in the League of American Orchestras Donald Thulean Conducting Workshop in Los Angeles, where his mentors were Michael Morgan and Daniel Lewis. In the summer of 2006, he participated in the Cabrillo Music Festival Conductor Workshop where he first met Marin Alsop and once again worked with mentor Daniel Lewis.

Joseph Young received a bachelor's of music degree with emphasis in music education from the University of South Carolina. He also pursued graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory, earning an artist's diploma in 2009. His primary conducting teachers are Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar.

For more information: www.josephfyoung.com.

ANTHONY BARRESE (2007)

Anthony Barrese has earned accolades as both a composer and a conductor, winning numerous awards for his original works, and being engaged by a number of opera companies in the United States and Italy.

Mr. Barrese made his operatic conducting debut in Milan with La bohème and conducted successful performances of Cavelleria rusticana, and Il barbiere di Siviglia. He served as Associate Conductor of the Sarasota Opera from 2003-2004 and was appointed the Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Opera for their 2006-2007 season. In 2007-2008, he returned to Dallas Opera as Guest Conductor for their production of Tosca and made his debut with the Fargo-Moorhead Opera conducting concert performances of Rigoletto. He also returned to the Spoleto Festival to cover Maestro Harry Bicket on Gluck’s L'île de Merlin and made a successful debut with Opera Southwest conducting performances of Le nozze di Figaro.

Mr. Barrese was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Southwest in the summer of 2008, and opened their 2008/2009 season with Die Fledermaus. He also returned to Italy to conduct performances of Turandot in Ascoli Piceno’s historic Teatro Ventidio Basso, and gave his conducting debuts with the Opéra de Massy in France (Turandot, 2009) and Boston Lyric Opera (Don Giovanni, 2009). His most recent engagements in 2010 include a return to Sarasota Opera for a production of Hansel and Gretel, and a debut with DePaul Opera Theater conducting performances of Ned Rorem’s Our Town.

Barrese’s musical activities are not confined to the pit. In recent years he also has received a number of awards for his compositions. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in composition from Trinity University (Texas), a master’s from the New England Conservatory, and additional studies in Milan and in Darmstadt, Germany.

For more information: www.anthonybarrese.com.

ERIC MELEAR (2006)

An exciting emerging artist in opera, Eric Melear enjoys a multi-faceted career as conductor, pianist/coach and chorusmaster. The 2006 recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award for conducting, his 2008 conducting engagements include a Gala Concert with the L.A. Opera Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program in May, Alcina at Wolf Trap Opera in July, and alternate cast performances of Beatrice and Benedict at Houston Grand Opera.

In his six years on music staff at Houston Grand Opera, he has led performances of Aida, Carmen and Le nozze di Figaro, the conducted workshop of Jake Heggie’s Last Acts, and assisted over twenty productions. He works closely with the renowned HGO Studio and has performed in recital with Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Ana Maria Martinez, and Chad Shelton.

As part of the Solti Foundation Award, he has traveled to London as a guest of Sir Charles Mackerras to observe final rehearsals at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Ann Arbor to study privately with Gustav Meier, San Francisco to shadow Patrick Summers on Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Siena to intensively study Italian.

In the fall of 2007 Mr. Melear toured with Wolf Trap Opera Director Kim Witman to audition over 400 singers and assisted in casting and choosing repertoire for the 2008 summer season. Previous seasons he has helped prepare over a dozen productions and concerts, served as chorusmaster and helped coordinate the newly-founded Studio program. In addition to conducting Alcina this summer, he will act as chorusmaster for Un giorno di regno and music director of the Studio artists’ scenes program.

A native of Moline, Illinois, Mr. Melear was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. His studies also included graduate work with esteemed pianist Martin Katz at the University of Michigan and a double major in music and math from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

For more information: www.ericmelear.com.

Sara Jobin (2006)

GRAMMY-nominated conductor Sara Jobin has conducted San Francisco Opera in performances of Tosca, Der fliegende Holländer, Norma, and the world premiere of Philip Glass’ Appomattox, and she led the recent production of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince for that company. She has also led productions for the San Francisco Opera Center including Transformations, The Bear, Dr. Heidegger’s Fountain of Youth, and Egon und Emilie. Credits elsewhere include another Philip Glass world premiere, The Bacchae, with the New York Shakespeare Festival; Carmen with Anchorage Opera; John Musto’s Volpone with Wolf Trap Opera; Faust, Carmen, La Bohème, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Le Nozze di Figaro with Tacoma Opera; performances of Der fliegende Holländer with Arizona Opera, and a fire opera version of The Seven Deadly Sins at the Crucible School for Fire Arts in Oakland. Recent orchestral debuts have included Symphony Silicon Valley and the Dayton Philharmonic. Ms. Jobin just finished a successful European debut season conducting the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players at the MANCA Festival in Nice, France and the Bochumer Symphoniker in Germany. Next season includes several new American operas including the world premiere of The Secret Agent in New York with the Center for Contemporary Opera, and new music concerts in San Francisco and Houston.

Ms. Jobin’s first full recording, the comic American opera Volpone by John Musto, was nominated for a GRAMMY Award this year. Her recording with Frederica von Stade of the world premiere River of Song by Chris Brubeck can be heard on Convergence on the Koch label; both recordings are available on Amazon.com, iTunes, and cdbaby.com.

At age 16 Ms. Jobin attended Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, where she was a Leonard Bernstein Music Scholar. After graduation, as a John Knowles Paine Travelling Fellow, she studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School. In 1999 she was the first recipient of the JoAnn Falletta Award from The Women’s Philharmonic, and in 2004 she had the honor of making history as the first woman to conduct mainstage subscription performances at San Francisco Opera. The Solti Foundation U.S. acknowledged her with a Special Grant in 2006, and she was a Visiting Artist at Harvard in 2008.

Not one to fit neatly into categories, Sara Jobin has a black belt in judo, and was the 1998 and 2006 National Champion and 1999 World Master Athlete Champion in Ju-no-kata. Since 2001 she has been a member of the Glide Ensemble, a gospel choir featured in the movie The Pursuit of Happiness.

For more information: www.hughkaylor.com/SaraJobin.html.

Carlos César Rodríguez (2005)

A musician of exceptional brilliance and versatility, Carlos César Rodríguez has gained recognition as a virtuoso pianist who not only generates unusual excitement in the Hispanic keyboard repertoire (in recordings on the Omicron, Brioso labels) but also displays an extraordinary flair for Mozart and avant-garde scores. An expert on early instruments as well, enjoying entrée to the Smithsonian Institution’s rare collection, he was chosen by the Smithsonian to perform in its 150th anniversary concert in Washington, DC as well as a solo recital celebrating the 300th anniversary of the piano as part of the museum’s Piano300 exhibit. He has won acclaim moreover, as a music director of Mozart operas and a composer/improviser of ballet and Spanish dance scores. Mr. Rodríguez made his New York debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall at age 21, and has since has performed in such major venues as the Kennedy Center; The Corcoran Gallery; Merkin Hall, New York City; and the Royal Palace of Music in Salzburg, Austria. In his career he has toured Spain and performed concerti and solo recitals in locales as disparate as San Juan, Puerto Rico and Fairfax, VA. After making his recital debut in his native Venezuela at age 11, Mr. Rodríguez earned both his high school diploma and bachelor’s degree with Clifton Matthews from the North Carolina School of the Arts and earned his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School, studying with Joseph Kalichstein. A finalist in the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Competition, he also worked privately in London with Peter Feuchtwanger and attended the Summer Academy of The Salzburg Mozarteum, where his teachers were Harmut Holl and Alfons Kontarsky. Mr. Rodríguez is presently completing his DMA degree with Thomas Schumacher at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a member of the piano faculty at The Levine School of Music and is an Apprentice Artist with The Washington Opera’s Vilar/Domingo Young Artists Program in Washington, DC.

Thomas Rimes (2004)

Coach/accompanist Thomas Rimes, born in Fiji and raised in Australia, is in his first season with the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera. Mr. Rimes has been on the staff of the New Opera Festival di Roma where served as Assistant Musical Director and chorus master for several productions and conducted symphonic concerts. A recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award for a Young Opera Conductor/Coach, Mr. Rimes holds degrees from the University of Sydney and the University of Memphis. He is also an active composer and has recently finished writing his first full-length opera, The Long Ride Home. This season he will serve on the music staff for La Fille du regiment at the Washington National Opera.

For more information: www.tomrimes.com.

Quinn Kelsey (2003)

Quinn Kelsey (baritone), a recent alumnus of the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center (formerly the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists), has appeared in Lyric Opera's 2006-07 season as Ping/Puccini's Turandot, and in the 2005-06 season as Monterone/Verdi's Rigoletto and Escamillo/Carmen (student matinee). Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai'i, Kelsey received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa under John W. Mount. Having begun his career as a teenager in the Hawai'i Opera Theatre chorus, he has returned as a principal artist, appearing as Melot/Tristan und Isolde, Marcello/La Bohème, and most recently the Mandarin and Ping/Turandot. As a soloist, Kelsey most recently performed in recital with renowned accompanist Craig Rutenberg as part of the Marilyn Horne Foundation's On Wings of Song series at St. Bartholomew's Cathedral as well as with accompanist Catherine Popovic at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Cerritos, California. The baritone's concert work includes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah, Fauré's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, Rutter's Requiem, Beethoven's Mass in C, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Creation, and Puccini's Messa di Gloria with major orchestral and choral organizations throughout Hawai'i, as well as the Chicago Youth Symphony and the Chicago Children's Choir. Last summer, the baritone appeared with the Grant Park Music Festival in its production of Carl Orff's CARMINA BURANA with soprano Harolyn Blackwell, tenor Thomas Dymit, conductor Christopher Bell, the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, and the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus. Kelsey represented the United States with fellow Ryan Opera Center alum soprano Nicole Cabell at the 2005 BBC Singer of the World competition in Cardiff, Wales, and was recently awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. In February, the baritone will return to Honolulu to take on the role of Sharpless/Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the Hawaii Opera Theatre.

For more information: www.quinnkelsey.com

Stacey Tappan (2003)

Stacey Tappan continues to attract international attention for her shining lyric coloratura soprano and stunning stage presence, recently praised for a "breakthrough performance" in Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Sir Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage. "Stacey Tappan's bright soprano was perfect for the bustling Bella," wrote the Wall Street Journal. She appeared this season with the Glyndebourne Music Festival as Adele in Die Fledermaus, and with Los Angeles Opera as Virtú and Pallade in L'incoronazione di Poppea and the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel.

Ms. Tappan's roles with Lyric Opera of Chicago include the Woodbird and Woglinde in Wagner's Ring Cycle, the Charmeuse in Thaïs, First Esquire in Parsifal and Papagena in the student matinees of Die Zauberflöte. While with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, she "turned heads throughout operatic America" and "emerged as a real star" as Isis in the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's Lovers and Friends. She was a member of the Juilliard Opera Center and an ensemble artist with both the Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis before making her professional debut with Houston Grand Opera as Beth in Little Women, which was broadcast on PBS' Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine. Her operetta roles include Mabel in Pirates of Penzance with Michigan Opera Theatre and Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow with Chicago's Light Opera Works, of which one critic said, "From her first entrance Stacey Tappan commands the stage and breaks hearts as Hanna, never more so than in her exquisitely sung 'Vilja Lied.' "

Named one of Symphony magazine's 2005 "Upwardly Musical Artists on the Move," Ms. Tappan was a featured soloist with the Stars of Lyric Opera concert in Chicago's Millennium Park and with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra in Carmina Burana. She appeared with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in Hugh Wood's Scenes from Comus, performed twice in the Stars of Lyric Opera Concert in Grant Park, singing alongside Renee Fleming, Susan Graham and Samuel Ramey, and shared the stage with John De Lancie in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream at Ravinia Festival. She portrayed Cunegonde in Candide at the Chicago Cultural Center and returned in Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, winning critical acclaim as "the vocal showstopper."

Beloved in Thailand as an ambassador for opera, Ms. Tappan recently returned to the Bangkok Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte after singing the title role in the company's premiere, Madana, the first opera by a Thai composer. She is featured on the best-selling Thai recording of the Mahajanaka Symphony, a work honoring the King of Thailand, and has performed before members of the Thai royal family. Of her performances in Thailand, Opera Now wrote: "Her attacca top E flat, sustained over a belting orchestra, was spine-chilling. Her diction is flawless, her voice grand. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an up-and-coming star."

Her awards include grants from the Elardo Competition and the Solti Foundation U.S., first place in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competition, finalist in the MacAllister and Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum competitions, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the Lucrezia Bori award, and first place from the New York Singing Teachers Association, as well as scholarships from Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Miami, and Chapman University.

For more information: www.staceytappan.com

The SOLTI FOUNDATION U.S