2019 Music On Site Artists
Kameron Alston
King Kaspar, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Kameron Alston, tenor, is a senior vocal performance major at Baylor University, and is highly involved in the Baylor Opera Theater program. He has performed the role of Boy 1 in Bernstien’s Trouble in Tahiti, Mr. Erlanson in Sondheim’s a Little Night Music, Il Podesta in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera and has sung in numerous scenes. Kameron has also has performed the roles of Don Basilio at Chicago Summer Opera, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with Spotlight on Opera and Geppetto in Pinocchio the Opera with Opera in the Ozarks.
Panya Amphone-Suh
Shepherd, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Pinellino, Gianni Schicchi
Panya is a senior music education and math major in his student teaching semester at Friends University. Panya is a voice student of Dr. Matthew Schloneger. Besides singing, he also teaches and plays violin in the Wichita community. Recently, Panya has performed as the Baritone in Opera Kansas’ production of It’s a Grand Night for Singing, as well as the roles of Mr. Bluff in Friend’s production of Mozart’s Impresario, and the title role in Friends University’s The Mikado. Panya was a finalist to sing in the final round of the Barbara Rondelli Classical Voice Competition.
Kirsten Anderson
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Gherardino, Gianni Schicchi
La maestra della novizie, Suor Angelica
Kirsten Anderson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Pepperdine University and a Master’s degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College. She recently took the stage as Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (LAH-SOW Bloomington) and Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Chicago Summer Opera). Previous roles include Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff (Westminster Opera Theater) and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (Pepperdine University Opera). She sang as an apprentice artist for the farewell season of Bel Canto at Caramoor, and as a chorister in Peter Grimes and Madama Butterfly with the Princeton Festival Opera. Kirsten also enjoys musical theater, appearing as Bathsheba in Alan Menken’s King David (3 Crosses Church) and in the ensemble for shows such as Les Misérables (Pepperdine University) and Children of Eden (3 Crosses Church). She is excited to join the casts of Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, and Amahl and the Night Visitors with Music On Site.
David Araujo
Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi
David Araujo is a Brazilian tenor with a MM from Georgia State University and a BM from Universidade de São Paulo. Currently a student of Mignon Dunn. He performed Bastien (Bastien und Bastienne), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Mr. Upfold (Albert Herring), Don Ramiro (Cinderella), and covered Nanki-Poo (The Mikado). His partial roles and scenes includes Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Lucio Silla (Lucio Silla), Tonio (La Fille du Regiment), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’amore), Nerone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Candide (Candide) and Sam (Susannah). He sang twice in the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany. He was awarded full scholarship to participate on IVAI NY and CVAI Montreal 2018 and 2019. He was a finalist in the 2017 Opera Guild for Atlanta Competition, winner on the Georgia NATS Adult Men category on the Fall of 2017 and Semi-finalist at the McCammon Voice Competition 2018. He performed on Master Classes of Matthew Polenzani, Neil Shicoff and William Burden.
Allan Armstrong
Pianist and Coach, Suor Angelica
Pianist and vocal coach Allan Armstrong is a postdoctoral scholar and visiting professor of music in chamber and collaborative music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is the official accompanist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Colorado/Wyoming District and the Rocky Mountain Region. In 2019, Allan was selected as a collaborative pianist for the prestigious National Association of Teachers of Singing Summer Intern Program at the New England Conservatory of Music. He was previously a member of the applied piano faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), where he co-directed the NOA award-winning Bravo Opera Company. Armstrong has been a principal production coach at Eugene Opera, Opera Colorado, St. Petersburg Opera, Opera on the Avalon, Tel Aviv Summer Opera Program and Opera Tampa.
J. Bradley Baker
Pianist and Coach, Gianni Schicchi
Ashley Becker
Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica
Dramatic soprano Ashley Becker has been lauded by The New York Times for her “lovely, fully supported sound and thoughtful nuanced phrasing”. Ashley’s 2019 season has included performances of the role of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with Amore Opera, excerpts from Turandot and Die Walküre with Riverside Opera/Orchestra and the role of Madame Lidoine in Dialogue of the Carmelites with Savannah Voice Festival. Additionally, Ashley recently made her Taiwan recital debut in October with stops at the Taipei National Theatre and Concert Hall and Taichung City Huludun Cultural Center. Other recent performances include the role of Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with the Russian Opera Workshop in Philadelphia, PA and a Professional Fellowship with Songfest. Ashley has additionally performed Janacek's Jenufa with Opera Slavica, Francesca in Francesca da Rimini with the Russian Opera Workshop and excerpts from Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche with One World Symphony.
Christine Boddicker
La suora zelatrice, Suor Angelica
Christine Boddicker is a young mezzo-soprano from Hinsdale, Illinois and is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance at Michigan State University under the tutelage of Jane Bunnell. She recently performed the roles of Juno in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with MSU Opera Theater. She has performed in many other productions at MSU such as L’elisir d’amore, Le nozze di Figaro, Street Scene and Die Fledermaus. While a member of the Janiec Opera Company (2018), Christine performed in productions of Madama Butterfly and Candide and was a soloist in Sondhiem on Sondheim. In 2019, Christine joined Chicago Summer Opera to cover Alice in Le comte Ory.
Conor Broaders
Page, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Simone, Gianni Schicchi
Conor Broaders, bass-baritone, is currently completing his Masters in Vocal
Performance at the University of Iowa where he studies with Stephen Swanson. Recent
operatic engagements include Pistola in Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff with Lawrence Opera Theatre and Escamillo in Le Tragédie de Carmen with University of Iowa Opera Theatre. Other performance credits include a production of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Sarastro in a chamber production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Elder Ott in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Antonio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Sir Roderic Murgatroyd
in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore. Additionally, Broaders has been in the chorus of the recent productions of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS at the Ravinia Festival. He has been a soloist in Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Bello, and he will be featured as the bass soloist in Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra’s June 2020 performance of Bruckner’s Te Deum.
James Brown
Amahl, Amahl and the Night Visitors
A Maine native considered by the Portland Press Herald as “a countertenor with a pleasingly warm, powerful tone,”James M. Brown has been seen performing repertoire of diversity after completing his graduate degree at McGill University. In the 2019-2020 season, he makes his company debut with Music On Site Inc. as Amahl in Menotti’s Amahl & the Night Visitors and returns to The Oratorio Society of Richmond as Joachim in Handel’s Susanna. Last season he was seen singing the roles of La Dame Ragonde in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Chicago Summer Opera, as well as performing the roles of Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet and Thomas Tallis in the improvisational Elizabethan Entertainments with Shakespeare Opera Theatre.
James has been hailed by L’Opéra as “a voice well controlled in the whole range for playing the cold menace” whilst portraying the role of the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas while simultaneously performing the role of the Troll Princess in East O’ the Sun, West O’ the Moon by rising opera composer James Garner.
Currently Morgan is working on a second Master’s Degree in Arts Leadership and
Management through Wichita State University. This past May, she graduated with her Master of Music in Opera Performance from WSU, where she was involved in several of their productions. While at WSU Morgan performed the roles of Maman in Ravel’s
L’enfant et les sortilèges, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Mrs. Olson in Street Scene, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro and The Voice from Les contes d'Hoffmann in WSU’s Opera Scenes Program. Morgan has also performed the role of Opera Box Ghost in Ghost of Versailles at Miami Music Festival in Miami, FL.
Recently, While singing the role of Marcellina, Morgan began to explore stage direction and served as the Assistant Director for WSU’s Le Nozze di Figaro. While in Miami, she co-directed an Opera Scenes Program and was the Assistant Director for Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Corigliamo's Ghost of Versailles, and Act II of both Wagner’s Lohengrin and Die Walkϋre, where she was able to work with internationally known opera singers: Alan Held and Linda Watson.
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Joseph Calzada
King Balthazar, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Marco, Gianni Schicchi
American-Greek Baritone Joseph Calzada is an undergraduate student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music studying with the distinguished Timothy Noble. Mr. Calzada is thrilled to join Music On Site, Inc. in their 2019 season as Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors. He will be an Opera Chorus member in IU Opera Theater’s historical revival of Parsifal in November 2019. In July 2019, Mr. Calzada made his professional
debut with the Festival of the Aegean singing the role of Ein Lakai in Ariadne auf Naxos. He also sang Belcore in L’elisir D’amore with the Greek Opera Studio in Syros, Greece. In June 2019, Joseph sang Don Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop. In August 2019, Joseph joined the Milnes VOICE Studio and sang the role of the Businessman in The Little Prince as part of the Savannah Voice Festival. In 2018, Joseph sang the comic lead role of Giuseppe in The Gondoliers. He also sang Antonio in the same opera.
Morgan Buie
La suora zelatrice, Suor Angelica
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Elizabeth Cohen
Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica
Soprano Elizabeth Cohen, is an Albany New York native. Elizabeth began her musical career at age 9 as part of Celine Dion’s children’s chorus for the Let’s Talk About Love Tour. She began formal training at 15 when she auditioned and was selected for the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Program after being dared to audition by her Mother. Elizabeth’s most recent roles include (Contessa) Le Nozze di Figaro, (Miss Jessel) Turn of the Screw, (Donna Anna) Don Giovanni, (Antonia) Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and (Magda) La Rondine. Elizabeth was the 2018 winner of the Raphael Bundage award in the National Orpheus vocal competition and was a semifinalist in both the Rochester International Vocal Competition and the International Joy in Singing Competition, where she performed a recital at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in Lincoln Center. Elizabeth has a deep love for art song and as a passion project performed the complete Clairieres dans le ciel by Lili Boulanger with Javier Arrebola while attending Indiana University. Elizabeth holds degrees in Vocal Performance and Political Science from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a Masters’ Degree from Bard College’s prestigious Vocal Arts Program under the artistic direction of Dawn Upshaw.
Soprano Catherine Compton has performed throughout the United States and Europe. A frequent recitalist, she is dedicated to advancing the works of female composers with special focus for the songs of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Catherine was a Fulbright fellow in Leipzig, Germany, where she sang with the Leipzig Bach Festival, Mendelssohn Haus Museum, and Gewandhaus zu Leipzig as well as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Fulbright Kommission in Berlin. Recent performances in the US include Lili Boulanger’s Clairières dans le ciel at Indiana University, the Brahms Requiem with the Truman Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Cantata 51 with the Brownsville Chamber Orchestra, and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Central Iowa Symphony. Operatic roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Magic Flute), Erste Dame (Magic Flute), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and Gretel (Hansel & Gretel), among others. She was a winner in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition in 2011. Catherine served on the voice faculty of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from 2015-2018, where she taught applied voice, diction, music entrepreneurship, and opera workshop. She holds an MM in voice performance and pedagogy from CU-Boulder, and was a 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing Teaching Intern. Catherine is currently associate instructor of voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she also serves on the production staff of IU Opera Theater.
Megan Cullen
Mother (Cover), Amahl and the Night Visitors
Nella, Gianni Schicchi
Hailed by Opera News as “first rate,” Megan Cullen is a young, dramatic soprano whose powerful voice and compelling characterizations are capturing the devotion of audiences throughout the world. In the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Cullen has several role debuts, including Abigaille in Nabucco, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Nella in
Gianni Schicchi, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She also reprises the Mother in Hansel and Gretel, and, as a prize winner in the Montecatini International Opera Competition, she reprises the title role of Turandot in Trieste, Italy, and on tour throughout Asia, in the 2019-2020 season. Megan studied at the
San Francisco Conservatory, Boston University, and The Juilliard School.
Catherine Compton
Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Carina DiGianfilippo
Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi
Soprano, Carina DiGianfilippo, has been praised by The Boston Globe for her "winsome” voice and hailed a “vision” by the Theatre Times. Most recently, she placed first in the Concorso Internazionale Rolando Nicolosi competition in Formello, Italy. This past year, she performed as a young artist with the
Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont, as Adele in MassOpera’s Die Fledermaus, and as a guest artist with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China, singing Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Miss DiGianfilippo traveled to China during the 2017-2018 season as well with the iSing! International
Young Artist Festival, performing in concerts at venues including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Suzhou Arts & Culture Center, and Beijing National Theater. As a young artist, Miss DiGianfilippo has sung with Opera Maine, where she performed as the first trio member in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and the Natchez Festival of Music in Mississippi, where she portrayed Queen Guinevere in Camelot. For more credits, please see www.carinadigianfilippo.com.
A native Texan, Ms. Dobbs holds a Bachelor of Music in Worship Music Studies
from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas where she studied voice with Dr. Lynnette
Chambers. While there, she got her start in opera by performing in various scenes programs. She also performed the roles of Miss Silverpeal in Mozart’s The Impressario and Mrs. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium. In 2016 Ms. Dobbs won the university’s Concerto Competition, and was featured on the Collegiate Artists’ Concert.
Ms. Dobbs earned a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of
Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where she studied with Dr. Raymond Feener. While there,
she performed the roles of La Bergère in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges and Sandrina in
Mozart’s La finta giardiniera. Additionally, she has participated with Red River Lyric Opera as a studio artist in Wichita Falls, Texas, and the Opera Viva! summer intensive in Verona, Italy. Ms. Dobbs and her husband are currently based in Kansas City.
Megan Dotzler
La suora infermiera, Suor Angelica
La suora zelatrice (Cover), Suor Angelica
Megan Dotzler, mezzo soprano, is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is currently pursuing her master of music degree in voice performance at the University of Minnesota as a student of Adriana Zabala. This summer, she attended Chicago Summer Opera where she sang Nireno in Giulio Cesare and performed scenes as Carmen (Carmen), The Witch (Hãnsel und Gretel), and Noémie (Cendrillon). Past roles include Mercédès in La tragedie de Carmen/Carmen, Oktavian in scenes from Der Rosenkavalier and Nancy in Albert Herring with University Opera Theater at the University of MN. In January 2020, she will cover the role of Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Opera Reading Project in Minneapolis, MN. From 2013-2015 she was a member of the chorus with Fargo-Moorhead Opera. She received her bachelor of music degree from Concordia College, Moorhead. In 2014 she attended Concordia’s Voice and Italian May Seminar in Trieste, Italy. An avid choral performer, she was also a member and soloist with the Choral Arts ensemble in Rochester, Minnesota from 2015-2018.
Megan Dobbs
La ciesca, Gianni Schicchi
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Lisa Gerstenkorn
La zia principessa, Suor Angelica
Lisa Marie Gerstenkorn, contralto, is thrilled to return to MOSI as La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica. This year she performed as Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s one-woman opera, Bon Appetit! with Heartland Opera Theatre, and as Ursule in Berlioz’ Beatrice et Benedict with Landlocked Opera. She also sang the world premiere of Bonnie McLarty’s Snow Angel with Lawrence Opera Theatre, and travelled to Spain and Portugal with the American Opera Studio performing as Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
Other past performances in the U.S. have been with the Oregon Bach Festival, Haymarket Summer Opera in Chicago, Baroque Opera Workshop (NY), Ozark Family Opera (AR), Ohio Light Opera, and College Light Opera Company (MA). She also spent a month in Nova Scotia, Canada performing Arnalta in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Halifax Summer Opera Festival.
This December, she will perform as a soloist with the Southeast Kansas Symphony and as Alto soloist in Handel's The Messiah with the Bartlesville Choral Society. For more info, visit
Tracelyn Gesteland, mezzo-soprano, is an active performer on the opera, concert and recital stage. She has been referred to by reviewers as "powerful" and "striking" (Great Britain's Organists' Review), “remarkable” and a “highlight of the evening,” (Sioux City Journal) and “an engaging and versatile singing actress” (Madison Isthmus). On the operatic stage, she has created roles in world premiere productions, most notably, the title role in Strega Nona with Houston Grand Opera’s “Opera to Go.” Other credits include leading roles and concerts with the Houston Grand Opera, Atlantic Coast Opera, Stoughton Opera, Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival, Opera South Dakota, South Dakota Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, Nachitoches-Northwestern Symphony, Elgin Opera, Light Opera Works, Center Light Theatre, l’opera piccola, Ars Lyrica Houston, Moores Opera Center, Harrower Opera Workshop, Contemporary Opera Lab (Canada), National Opera Association (USA), Song Fest, Song Collaborators Consortia, Rawlins Piano Trio, and the Chicago Symphony Chorus under the batons of Barenboim, Mehta, Boulez, Penderecki and Wolff. An avid recitalist, she performs frequently across the United States, Canada, and Europe as a soloist and as part of the Gesteland-Smith Duo, championing and commissioning works for voice and organ. Their debut CD of sacred classical works, Make a Joyful Noise, was commercially released in 2016 on Raven Recordings.
Leah Heathcote-Osburn
La zia principessa, Suor Angelica
Leah Heathcote-Osburn is a Kansas native mezzo-soprano known for performing in a myriad of vocal and performance styles. She graduated from Wichita State University with a Bachelor’s of Music, Vocal Performance Emphasis in 2017 and has devoted her time to performing and teaching music since. Leah has recently been seen performing as a Soloist in Opera Kansas's A Grand Night For Singing, The Advisor in the Crown Uptown's workshop performance of An American in Beirut, Mrs. Fox in Opera Kansas’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mrs. Segstrom in Hawaii Performing Art Festival’s A Little Night Music, and many Wichita State University productions, some of which include Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict, and Roberta in The Dead Guy. Her favorite role, however, has been the ongoing role of Mrs. Osburn, as she was married last April! Leah is currently pursuing her teaching licensure at Wichita State and is thrilled to sing with Music On Site this winter season!
Tracelyn Gesteland
Zita, Gianni Schicchi
Paul Hindemith
Gianni Schicchi, Gianni Schicchi
Paul Hindemith is thrilled to join Music on Site as Gianni Schicchi. Hailed as “touching and expressive” by the Washington Times, the baritone has performed with the San Diego, Utah Festival, Ohio Light, and Fargo-Moorhead Operas as well as the Minnesota Orchestra. Hindemith made his European debut as both singer and stage director in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona with the Grumo Festival in 2014. Regionally, he has performed with Opera180 (La Bohème), The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (Unsinkable Molly Brown), Kantorei KC, and also with Saint Joseph’s Robidoux Resident Theatre, where he received a “Ruby” award for his portrayal of Lumière in Beauty and the Beast. He appears on a recording of Bach arias published by the International Trumpet Guild and as Baron Weps in the Ohio Light Opera’s recording of Carl Zeller’s The Birdseller. In February, He will appear in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years at Midwestern State University.
Hindemith has a growing resume as both a stage director and music director; he translated and directed Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel for the University of South Dakota, and received a commendation from the Kennedy Center American Collegiate Theatre Festival (Region 5) for his music direction of Spring Awakening at Missouri Western State University. The Omaha native is currently an assistant professor of voice at MWSU where he serves as coordinator of vocal studies, music director for musical theatre, and co-director of the Light Opera Workshop.
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Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, mezzo-soprano, Kelsey Huxman is no stranger to the stage, having sung the lead roles of Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), La Messagiera (La Favola d'Orfeo), Terentia (Captain Lovelock), and Lady Jane (Patience) with Tabor College Opera. Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Ms. Huxman frequently performs with Tabor College’s Concert Choir, Chamber Voices, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, and Pep Band. A senior pursuing the Bachelor of Arts Degree in both Music Education and Vocal Performance, Ms. Huxman is excited to make her Music On Site debut in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Suor Angelica. Kelsey has been a featured soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Tabor College Oratorio Chorus and Orchestra, and is on the artist roster of Wichita’s Opera Kansas. In addition to her performing endeavors, Ms. Huxman is also an emerging educator and conductor: Through the Tabor College Music Preparatory School, she has a growing studio of voice students, she is the president of both Tabor’s Symphonic Band as well as the Concert Choir, and she was recently appointed Choir Director at Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing, Kansas. Through the Kansas Music Educators Association, Ms. Huxman recently received the Robert and Myrabel Hollowell Scholarship, and she is a two-time recipient of the Jonah C. Kliewer Choral Music Award.
Maximiliano Illanes-Campatella
Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi
Maximiliano Illanes Campetella, tenor, is from Patagonia, Argentina. With the Mediterranean Opera Festival in Caltagirone, Sicily, Mr. Illanes Campetella has sung Don José (Carmen), Ruggero (La Rondine), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro). He has sung Judge Danforth (The Crucible) with Chicago Summer Opera, and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro) with Manhattan Opera Studio Summer Festival. In Buenos Aires he has sung Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Ramiro (La Cenerentola). He is engaged by “Music on Site” in Wichita, Kansas to sing Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) in December, 2019.
Since 2016 Mr. Illanes Campetela has been a voice student of W. Stephen Smith. His coaches have included Richard Boldrey, Kenneth Smith, Karina Kontorovich and Carol Smith. This summer he worked with Aprile Millo in a masterclass in Busseto, Italy.
In his home country of Argentina, Mr. Illanes Campetela has been a member of the National Polyphonic Choir in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra. For several years he was a choir member in Juventus Lyrica Opera Company. His undergraduate studies were at the U.N.A., University of the Arts in Buenos Aires, with a Major in Voice and Choral Conducting.
Kelsey Huxman
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Una sorella, Suor Angelica
Claire Iverson
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Suor Dolcina, Suor Angelica
Suor Genovieffa (Cover), Suor Angelica
Claire Iverson is a soprano currently attaining a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studies under Ah Young Hong. Most recently, Claire performed as Jane Bennet in the staged premiere of Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice with Peabody Opera Theatre. Over the summer she took part Hawaii Performing Arts Festival’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cobweb, Helena cover) by Benjamin Britten and Chicago Summer Opera’s productions of Offenbach’s Mr. et Mdme. Denis (Gaston d’Amboise) and Le Mariage aux Lanternes (Denise). In February of 2020, she will be singing in Peabody’s production of Émilie by Kaija Saariaho.
Mezzo-soprano Brittany Jeffery is originally from Kansas and is thrilled to be back in
Wichita performing in Music on Site Inc. 2019 season! Brittany completed a Masters
in Opera Performance at Wichita State University in 2016 and then re-located to
Chicago in 2017. She made her Chicago debut as Dorabella in Transgressive
Theatre-Opera’s Cosi Fan Tutte that same year and has continued as a free-lance artist. Most recently, Brittany performed the raging coloratura role of Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina with Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium. She has also been heard singing the full and partial roles of Octavian from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Romeo from Bellini’s Il Capuleti ei Montecchi, and several Mozart roles, including Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Sesto and Annio from La Clemenza di Tito.
In Chicago this October Brittany will be a part of Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Rosśa Crean’s, newest work with librettist Kendra Leonard, The Harbingers. After performing as La Badessa in MOSI’s production of Suor Angelica, Brittany will be working with Thompson Street Opera Company as Mrs. Hale in their March production of Trifles, a chamber opera by John Bilotta.
Abigail Karnes
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Suor Osmina, Suor Angelica
Abigail Karnes, soprano, lived in the Kansas City, MO area until she attended Millikin University in Illinois for her Bachelor of Music Performance degree, and eventually made her way to Wichita, where she earned her Master of Music degree at Wichita State University in 2018. While in school, Abigail had the opportunity to travel abroad to Lucca, Italy, with Wichita State's "Canta in Italia" program, where she studied Italian and worked on the roles of Norina in Don Pasquale and Gilda in Rigoletto. Her performed roles include Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Galatea in Acis and Galatea, and Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito. This summer, Abigail joined Geneva Light Opera as the Susanna understudy in their production of Le Nozze di Figaro, a role she performed in 2018 at Wichita State University. Abigail is also a member of the Wichita Chamber Chorale and teaches music lessons in the Wichita area.
Brittany Jeffery
La badessa, Suor Angelica
Olivia Kliewer
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Una sorella, Suor Angelica
Soprano Olivia Kliewer, from Hillsboro, Kansas, is a graduate of Tabor College, where
she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. Recently she has appeared with
Lawrence Opera Theatre in their production of Falstaff, as well as their scenes program and concert series. In the past Ms. Kliewer has also performed with Opera Kansas in Trial by Jury and Amahl and the Night Visitors, and with Stage 9 in Hutchinson Kansas in Avenue Q. Ms. Kliewer is also an active member in the Wichita Choral Society, Bethany Oratorio Society, and the Celebration Choir at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita.
At Tabor College, Olivia was a member of Concerto Bella Voce and Tabor College
Concert Choir. In addition Ms. Kliewer has been a featured soloist in performances of
Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus with the Tabor College Oratorio Chorus. On the stage, Olivia was a part of Tabor College Opera in scenes from Patience, and H.M.S. Pinafore. With Tabor College Theatre, she performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, Our Town, Secret in the Wings, and Opal. Olivia was also a five-time NATS regional finalist.
Mezzo-Soprano Gilda Parlatto Lire is currently a Graduate student in vocal performance at the University of Central Oklahoma. She earned her undergraduate degree in vocal music education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Recently, she has appeared as Mrs. Nolan in The Medium with Chicago Summer Opera, Zita in Gianni Schicchi and the Abbess in Suor Angelica with Red River Lyric Opera, and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel with the UL Lafayette Opera Theater.
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Christina Liu
Pianist and Coach, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Christina Liu, DMA, NCTM, is Assistant Professor at Bethel College in Newton, KS where she teaches applied piano, class piano, music history, music theory, and aural skills. In addition to teaching at the collegiate and pre-collegiate level, she is in demand as a solo and collaborative pianist. Most recently, she was a guest artist of the Summer Music Series in Independence, MO and served as collaborative pianist for the Lawrence Opera Theatre. She also currently serves as coordinator of Lawrence KS Final Fridays Music and frequently collaborates with colleagues in the Kansas City area. She holds degrees from the University of Kansas, University of Michigan, and Washington State University. She is a founding member of the MTNA Collegiate Piano Pedagogy Symposium and her research has been featured at both state and national level MTNA Conferences as well as the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy.
Gilda Parlatto Lire
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
La maestra della novizie, Suor Angelica
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Chynna Lucken
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
La novizia, Suor Angelica
Chynna Lucken is a Soprano based in Michigan. Most recently, she was a Studio Artist with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, where she performed the role of Mama Bear in Goldie B. Locks, covered the role of Woglinde in Das Rheingold, and sang in the ensemble of La Bohème. She previously performed the role of Miss Jessel in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's production of The Turn of the Screw. In 2016, she made her debut at the Miami Music Festival in the role of First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Her past roles include Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance and Zita in Gianni Schicchi with Oakland University Opera. Other recent performances include Agathe from Weber’s Der Freischütz in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s opera workshop scenes program and “I’m Full of Happiness” from Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she has been a participant in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. She earned her Masters degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with César Ulloa.
Midwestern soprano Renee Macdonald was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition for the Tulsa District in 2018. Macdonald was also a finalist in the Naftzger competition through the Wichita Symphony Orchestra in 2017, was a finalist in her category in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition in the fall of 2016, and was a winner of WSU’s Concerto-Aria competition for the 2015-16 school year. She currently holds a position at Wichita State University as an Instructor of Voice. Her past roles include the Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), the title role in Béatrice et Bénédict, Emilie (Les Indes Galantes), and Margaret (Light in the Piazza). Macdonald holds a BM from Western Michigan University, located in her hometown of Kalamazoo, MI, as well as an MM and a post-graduate level Performance Certificate from WSU.
Diane Machin
Stage Director, Gianni Schicchi
New York-based stage director Diane Machin has worked on productions with theaters, universities, and festivals throughout North America, most recently with Chicago Summer Opera, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and Mannes School of Music. This season sees Machin working with the Wooster Group's Performing Garage, Music On Site, Inc., and The New School of Drama. Favorite theater credits include Theresa Rebeck's Spike Heels, KISS:Disambiguation (a collaboration with Emily Duncan), and Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. Most recent opera credits include serving as Assistant Director to Margaret Jumonville on Giulio Cesare and Le Nozze de Figaro and directing Jacques Offenbach's Bagatelle.
Renee Macdonald
Nella, Gianni Schicchi
Nadia Marshall
Amahl, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Nadia Marshall, soprano was recently seen as Laeticia in The Old Maid and the Thief with Chicago Summer Opera. Ms. Marshall completed her Master’s in Vocal Performance and Certificate in Singing Health Specialization at the Ohio State University. While attending OSU, she sang as Grisette Margot in Opera Project Columbus’ The Merry Widow and Paquette in OSU’s production of Candide.
Nadia has been seen as an Emerging Artist and Media Coordinator in Gulfshore Opera's 2017-2018 season. She performed the roles of Dater #23 and #16 in Ching’s Speed Dating Tonight!. Nadia’s other roles include Lauretta (cover) in Gianni Schicchi with the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Suor Genovieffa (cover) in Suor Angelica with Vienna Summer Music Festival, and The Princess and The Nightingale in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.
On the concert stage, Ms. Marshall has been a soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, and The Messiah with Trinity Seminary at Capital University and as The Angel in Lauda per la Natività with Gulfshore Opera. Ms. Marshall has been the recipient of several awards and honors. She was awarded the Margaret Speaks Award at OSU in 2018. She has also won First Place in The Women in Music Scholarship Competition and Second Place in the Tuesday Musical Competition. In 2016, she won a Southwest Florida Symphony Society Scholarship.
Ashley Martin-Casler completed her MM in Vocal Performance at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. She obtained a BM in Music Education from the University of Arizona and taught in Tucson Unified School District for nine years, most recently as an Arts Integration Specialist with the nationally recognized Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) program. She has also worked as a voice instructor at the Allegro School of Music in Tucson, AZ and currently teaches at NAU Community Music and Dance Academy. Ashley has performed the roles of Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes, and Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring, and she was the alto soloist in South Mountain Community College’s Messiah concert in Phoenix, Arizona. She received first place in her division at the NATS Student Auditions in 2018.
Joshua May
Stage Director, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Joshua May, tenor, is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera Director at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA. He has performed and premiered works throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States. He is an avid recitalist and oratorio singer, performing recently as a soloist in Mozart's Requiem, Handel's
Messiah, and Dubois's Seven Last Words of Christ. In 2020, will be premiering Jay Batzner’s song cycle, In fabled land. He is an operatic artist in high demand, performing such recent roles as Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Male Chorus in Britten's Rape of Lucretia, Rinuccio in Gianni
Schicchi, Prince Paul in Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, and Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. As an opera director, his recent directing credits include mainstage and outreach productions of Alcina, Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Captain Lovelock.
In 2019, he directed opera productions of Viardot’s Cendrillon and Ching’s Speed Dating
Tonight! at CSU. He was a resident artist with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, where he served as an assistant director for Wagner’s Die Walküre and as an associate director for a world-premiere of an opera set to the life story and music of Puccini, Scandals. Dr. May will direct upcoming productions of Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza with Schwob Opera Theatre at CSU and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Virginia Tech. For information on upcoming engagements, please visit his website www.joshuamaytenor.com .
Ashley Martin-Casler
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Una sorella, Suor Angelica
Laura McHugh
La cercatrice I, Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica (Cover), Suor Angelica
Laura McHugh, soprano, lauded for her “superb, floating” voice, is on the rise in the Boston area and beyond. She is a Tulsa Opera Resident Artist, and will appear as Harriet Mosher in Tulsa’s upcoming production of Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. Laura was named 1st Place winner in the 2018 National Classical Singer Competition. She was a Grand Finalist at the 2018 International Talents of the World Competition in New York City, presenting a diverse program of opera, art song, and musical theatre. She recently made her European debut singing the role of the Valkyrie Gerhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre in Sweden. In early 2019 she performed the title role in Kalman’s Gräfin Maritza. Other recent credits include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) (cvr) with Lowell House Opera, Mimì (La bohème) (cvr) with Boston Opera Collaborative, Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) with Promenade Opera Project, and Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffmann).
Laura is a dedicated recitalist and vocal chamber musician, with upcoming recitals planned in Boston, MA and Dallas, TX. As a concert artist, she has performed the soprano solos in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel Messiah, Vivaldi Gloria, Schubert Mass in G, Bach Magnificat, Mozart Coronation Mass, and Faure Requiem in the United States and Italy. Laura has premiered several new works by modern composers, and recently sang the World Premiere of the role of Hannah in Marc Hoffeditz’s new opera Non Motus.
She looks forward to her upcoming recital endeavors as well as engagements with Longy Conservatory Orchestra and Tulsa Opera.
Soprano Elise Miller's performance highlights include Silly Girl & Enchanted Object in Beauty & the Beast (Woodlawn Theater), Susanna in
Le Nozze di Figaro and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Mediterranean Opera Festival). Last November, she premiered the role of Jean in a contemporary opera called The War Bride by composer, Nathan Felix, at
Luminaria: San Antonio Arts Festival. Some of her professional credits include the choruses of Tosca, Faust, La Traviata, and Carmen with Opera San Antonio. Ms. Miller has also been a participant in various summer enrichment programs and has had the opportunity to perform in many concerts and opera scenes in places like Massachusetts, New Mexico, Austria and Italy. She is currently studying voice with Dr. Jacquelyn Matava and is planning to start graduate school next fall.
Whitney Myers
Suor Genovieffa, Suor Angelica
Whitney Myers, Soprano, has performed with numerous opera companies such as the Dallas Opera, Roanoke Opera, Marble City Opera, Millennium Opera, UNC-G Opera, Schmidt Opera Outreach, UK Opera Theatre, and Greensboro Opera. Her roles include: Elle in La Voix humaine, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Tsarevna in Kashchei the Immortal, Ludmila in The Bartered Bride, Vendedora in La Vida Breve, Octet Member in Barnum’s Bird, Novice and Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, 2nd Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Susannah in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Clorinda from La Cenerentola. In August Myers presented arias from Otello, Le Nozze di Figaro, and La Wally at the Bouquet Kyiv Stage Festival in the Ukraine accompanied by the National Presidential Orchestra. Other international venues Myers has graced the stages of are Mirabell Gardens, St. Stephens Cathedral, Amerika Haus, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Mondsee Cathedral. Myers toured Ireland singing with the critically-acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble. Myers recently sang with the Tulsa Ballet in a world premiere of Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the Music. Myers was recently named a finalist in the John Alexander Vocal Competition. Myers is a winner of numerous competitions and awards such as the Kentucky District National Metropolitan Opera Council auditions in 2013, the Gail Robinson Musicianship Award in 2012. Myers was a semi-finalist in the 2018 New York Lyric Opera Competition. Myers has performed for festivals such as the Liberties Festival in Dublin Ireland and the Tribal Film Festival.
Elise Miller
Nella, Gianni Schicchi
Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi
Kristin Newbegin
Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi
Soprano Kristin Newbegin has sung with companies such as Des Moines Metro Opera, Lyric Opera Kansas City, Opera for the Young, Kantorei KC, New Ear Contemporary Music Ensemble, Opera 180, Kansas City Metro Opera and Seagle Music Colony. Newbegin’s previous roles have included Mimí (La Bohème), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Female Chorus (Rape of Lucretia) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni).
Newbegin currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Missouri Western State University. She earned her DMA at the University of Kansas where she studied with Joyce Castle. Her research focused on Spanish song and opera, with extensive study of Granados’ opera, Goyescas.
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Mackenzie Phillips
Zita, Gianni Schicchi
Mezzo-Soprano, Mackenzie Philips is very excited to join Music on Site, Inc. this
season. Mackenzie is an advocate of contemporary vocal music and is a founder of the new contemporary vocal ensemble, The Meadowlark Project, whose mission is to bring
fresh classical musical to new audiences. During the 2018-2019 season, The
Meadowlark Project toured Kansas with their recital series “Sounds of the Plains” which
featured new art songs by Kansas-based composers with texts by Kansas-based poets.
In 2018, Mackenzie joined the Seagle Music Colony as an emerging artist where she
performed the roles of Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide and Vera Charles in Mame.
Mackenzie attended the Brevard Music Festival in the summers of 2015 and 2016. She was seen as Mama McCourt in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe and Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Mackenzie received her Doctorate from the University of Kansas where she studied
under Joyce Castle and sang a number of operatic roles, most notably the title role in
Regina by Marc Blitzstein. She also has a Master of Music from Stephen F. Austin
State University and a Bachelor of Music from Simpson College.
Marcos Ochoa
Gherardo, Gianni Schicchi
Joel Rogier
King Melchior, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Gianni Schicchi
Joel Rogier, baritone, is making a name for himself with opera companies across the Midwest. He returns to Music On Site after appearing in its inaugural double bill of The Medium and The Telephone and its 2017 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Wichita audiences may also recognize Rogier from his featured alumnus appearance playing Count Almaviva in Wichita State University’s 2018 production of Le nozze di Figaro. Later this season he will portray Bello in Winter Opera St. Louis’s production of La fanciulla del West and Baron Douphol in La Traviata with Opera in the Rock. Throughout this season, Rogier can also be seen touring with
Opera for the Young, a Wisconsin-based children’s opera company, as the Pirate King and the Major General in their production of The Pirates of Penzance. Rogier previously appeared with Opera for the Young as Powerhouse in the premiere tour of their superhero opera, Super Storm! Prior roles with Winter Opera St. Louis include Ascanio in the world premiere of Borgia infami, Lucas in The Student Prince, and Cascada in The Merry Widow. Rogier has also appeared in a
number of featured ensemble roles with Union Avenue Opera, most recently in their 2019
production of Candide, starring Christine Brewer. Rogier was a member of the 2017 Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, where he starred as Frank Maurrant in Street Scene. Rogier received his Masters of Music in Opera Performance in 2016 from Wichita State University, where he studied with Alan Held.
Hailing from the small town of Hesston, Kansas, bass-baritone Jordan Roth is currently a vocal performance major at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, where he is a voice student of Dr. Jen Stephenson. Previous to his studies at Tabor, Mr. Roth studied voice with Dr. Matthew Schloneger. At Tabor, he is a member of the Concert Choir and Chamber Voices ensembles. No stranger to the stage, some of his favorite roles include the Major General (The Pirates of Penzance), Orfeo (L’Orfeo), and the Father (Hansel and Gretel). In December of 2017, Mr. Roth was pleased to make his professional opera debut as a Shepherd in Music on Site’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, and he debuted with Tabor College Opera in spring of 2018 as Bunthorne in Patience. Later that spring, he made his first official appearance the American South, having been offered a position in the highly selective Druid City Opera Workshop at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. This program offered twenty-two spots to singers from all over North America by audition only. At Druid City, Mr. Roth performed scenes from Mozart’s Così fan Tutte and Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos.
Matthew Schloneger
King Kaspar, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Matthew Schloneger is thrilled to reprise the role of Kaspar in Music On Site’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. An active performer in oratorio and opera, Schloneger most recently appeared with Opera Kansas as Farmer Bunce in Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and at venues across south central Kansas in Opera Kansas’ Songs to the Moon, a musical celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. He has also performed with Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Opera, the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre of Lucca (Italy), among others. Favorite roles have included Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. Schloneger currently serves as Associate Professor of Voice at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, where he serves as head of the voice area and directs the opera and musical theatre programs. He previously served as Voice Professor and Fine Arts Department Chair at Hesston College, Kansas. He holds degrees from Hesston College, Goshen College, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the University of Kansas, and he was a Rotary Scholar in Italy at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano. Schloneger currently serves as Central Region Governor of the Pan-American Vocology Association and Vice President of the Kasas Chapter of NATS. He was awarded the 2017 Van Lawrence Fellowship of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Voice Foundation for his ongoing research on vocal health and voice use.
Jordan Roth
King Balthazar, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Maestro Spinelloccio, Gianni Schicchi
Alex Paul Sheerin
Assistant Director, Gianni Schicchi
Gherardo, Gianni Schicchi
Assistant Director, Suor Angelica
Alex Paul is a stage director based in New York. Paul was a young artist director at Brevard Music Center, and was the resident director at North Shore Music Festival for 2019 for Don Pasquale. Directorial credits include The Medium/ Chicago Summer Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte (abridged)/ Florida State Opera, Patience/ Long Island Light Opera, The Very Best of Gilbert and Sullivan/ Brevard Music Center. Upcoming productions include Glory Denied / Florida State Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte/ Queens College. Selected assistant directing credits include: Of Mice and Men, Don Pasquale, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Street Scene.
As a tenor, Paul is no stranger to stage, having performed a wide variety of repertoire including the title role in Albert Herring, Prunier in La Rondine, Guillot in Manon, Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro and Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Paul was awarded third place in the southern region of NATS 2019. Paul is currently pursuing a masters in Opera Production (Stage Directing) from the Florida State University under the mentorship of Matthew Lata. Paul also holds degrees from The University of Houston and New England Conservatory.
Jen Stephenson
Stage Director, Suor Angelica
Tim Shenk
Shepherd, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Charles Turley
King Melchior, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Betto di Signa, Gianni Schicchi
Charles Turley, baritone, has sung over 45 lead and supporting operatic roles, including recent successes as Morales (Carmen), Farmer Bean (Fantastic Mister Fox), Marquis d’Obigny (La Traviata), the Judge (Trial by Jury), and Marullo (Rigoletto). Dr. Turley is on the voice faculty at Friends University and Kansas Wesleyan University, and teaches a large studio of private students in Wichita and surrounding areas. He has served as the stage director for the DRC Camp Center Stage Productions for the past four years, where he works with children in Derby, KS to produce an annual musical. He is the Traditional Music Director for Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, a Resident Artist for Wichita Grand Opera, and the proud step-father of the six amazing kids of his beautiful partner, Stacey.
Education: B.M. Jacksonville University; M.M. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville; D.M.A. University of North Texas
Erin Sura
Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Mezzo-Soprano Erin Sura has recently performed the title role in Carmen with Brew City Opera; Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) with the Master Singers of Milwaukee; Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) with Fresco Opera; Betty in the Midwest premiere of Passion in Pigskin by Lydon and Mandel with WI Opera on Tap; Second Lady in the world premiere of Queen of the Night by Jordan Jenkins with Fresco Opera Theatre; Second Lady (Magic Flute) with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Lawrence Opera Theatre; Fatme (Zemire et Azor) with Skylight Music Theatre; and Jo March (Little Women) with Nightingale Opera Theatre. Additional roles include Dido (Dido and Aeneas); Mother (Hansel and Gretel); Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites); and Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro). Active in concert work as well Ms. Sura has been a featured soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Future performances include featured mezzo in Belle Ensemble’s Monsters and Meanies and Miserere, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors also with Belle Ensemble (January 2020), and ensemble in Florentine Opera Company’s spring production of Verdi’s MacBeth.
Kelly Walvatne
Shepherdess, Amahl and the Night Visitors
La conversa I, Suor Angelica
Kelly Walvatne, soprano, is a Minnesota native and recent graduate of Wichita State University’s Master of Music in Opera Performance program. She is thrilled to be working with Music On Site and so grateful for the opportunities for the arts here in Wichita! Performing credits during her time at WSU include Anna Maurrant (Kurt Weill’s Street Scene), La Contessa (Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro), and Nella (Puccini’s Suor Angelica). Previously, Ms. Walvatne received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota Duluth, performing in numerous scenes programs, as well as in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Weill’s Street Scene. Kelly studies with Dr. Cristina Castaldi.
Katherine Watson
Suor Genovieffa, Suor Angelica
Currently based in Dallas, Texas, Katherine Watson, soprano, is a second year Masters of Music student at the University of North Texas and a voice student of Professor Molly Fillmore. With UNT Opera she has recently performed the roles of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Christine (Roussel’s Le testament de la tante Caroline). This past year, Miss Watson was the soprano soloist for Jonathan Willcocks’ Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah (conducted by Dr. Richard Sparks) at Spring Valley United Methodist Church and Dupré’s De Profundis with Tyler Civic Chorale. Upcoming engagements include Arianna (Monteverdi’s Madrigals of Love and War) in April, 2020.
A native Hoosier, Hannah Wheeler is passionate about performing modern works, which is manifested through her wide range of performances through out the years. She just recently finished performing the role of
Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief with Chicago Summer Opera. Ms. Wheeler has also sung the role of Alma in Adamo’s Little Women and Ramiro in La finta giardiniera with Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium, appeared in the world premiere of ...for the sake of a narrative closure as the Critic in Chicago College of Performing Arts’ Opera Fest, and Lapák, Mrs. Páskova, and Grasshopper in the
CCPA production of The Cunning Little Vixen. Ms. Wheeler recently finished her master’s degree in voice performance from CCPA at Roosevelt University in May of 2018, where she studied and continues to work with Allan Glassman.
Kaitlyn York
La conversa II, Suor Angelica
In November 2019, Kaitlyn York sings the role of Magda in the North American premiere of
Adam Gorb's The Path to Heaven with the Wichita State University Opera Theater. Her previous roles at Wichita State include L'Ecureuil (The Squirrel), La Chatte (The White Cat) in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Jenny Hildebrand in Street Scene. Before pursuing her graduate degree from Wichita State, Kaitlyn trained with the OperaWorks Advanced Artist Program in 2018 and sang at the Janus Vocal Arts Festival in 2017. Kaitlyn received her first degree in music from Luther College in 2017.