desert in
Now streaming on operabox.tv and YouTube
Desert in is commissioned and produced by Boston Lyric Opera, as well as produced in association with Long Beach Opera.
The commission of Ellen Reid for desert in was funded, in part, by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and the Fromm Music Foundation, with additional commissioning support from the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts.
Executive Production Sponsorship
Episode 1: Willa & Taylor Bodman
Lost souls are found, love is rekindled, and secrets are exposed at a mysterious motor lodge in the American West. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, playwright christopher oscar peña, and director James Darrah, desert in is a groundbreaking, new eight-part miniseries that reveals a supernatural story of love, loss, and the price of memories.
This series contains strong language, some nudity and strong sexual content.
FINALIST for Noteworthy Project
at the 2022 Opera America Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera
Episode 1
“This House is Now”
Cass and Sunny, innkeepers at a remote motor lodge called Desert Inn, are on the verge of a milestone anniversary. New guests Ion and Rufus are celebrating their honeymoon, but their love story is lined with tragedy. Ion must play by the innkeepers’ rules – and pay up — to continue seeing his husband.
Composer: Ellen Reid
Writer: Kirsten Greenidge
Episode 2
“Love is Like the Sea”
Dusk brings mandatory happy hour for all Desert Inn guests. The music and dancing celebrates all shapes of love — and the party goes way beyond curfew. It’s all great fun… until Rufus accuses Ion of forgetting their past. Tensions boil over before Federico comes to save the party.
Composer: Nathalie Joachim
Writer: Joy Kecken
Episode 3
“Someday you’ll know…they’re calling to you too”
Ion struggles to understand what’s really going on at the Inn. The motel guests attend a ritual of sacrifice, and the high cost of keeping memories alive is uncovered.
Composers: Ellen Reid, Vijay Iyer (Intercut)
Writer: A. Rey Pamatmat
Episode 4
“A Single Man”
After a guest’s mysterious disappearance, Ion and Federico are tasked with clearing out their room–and their memories. Ion discovers new feelings for Federico and learns how old memories are kept alive at the Inn. An after-hours swim forces Ion to remember a past trauma.
Composer: Emma O’Halloran
Writer: Ryan J. Haddad
Episode 5
“i miss you more than I remember you”
Federico, flush with new feelings, lies when Cass asks if Ion is a threat. The betrayal generates a powerful charge that shorts out the Desert Inn sign. Meanwhile, Sunny shows signs of forgetting people from her past.
Composer: Wang Lu
Writer: christopher oscar peña
Episode 6
“The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”
Sunny’s memories continue to fade, and Federico tries to remind her of their shared past. She refuses to believe until she dives into the roiling pool and emerges with disturbing new insights on her beloved Cass.
Composer: Shelley Washington
Writer: Quentin Nguyen-duy
Episode 7
“The Sun Also Rises”
Sunny confronts Cass for lying about the past and changing their future. Tension and anger build throughout the Desert Inn. Federico tells Ion the truth about why he’s there, and encourages him to leave for his own safety. Cass finds Sunny’s wedding ring in an unexpected place, and things begin to fall apart.
Composers: Nico Muhly
Writer: Jesse J. Sanchez
Episode 8
“Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us”
With Cass’s secrets revealed, and the Inn seemingly in collapse, Federico releases Ion and locks himself in a room. With a plan to free everyone, Ion tells Cass she can stop the destruction she caused and start over. Instead, Cass remains with her memories, determined to rebuild and carry on until Sunny returns.
Composer: Michael Abels
Writer: Roxie Perkins
The Reviews are In!
“Lush and expansive…a highly original marriage of opera and series television”
– Wall Street Journal
“Spookily and consistently atmospheric…[its] visuals catch the imagination…with an arty style of its own.”
– Financial Times
“a sexy mysterious streaming series assembled by a starry cast and crew”
– NPR Morning Edition
“desert in hooks you immediately. Opera may never be the same!”
– Opera News
“Exactly what my life was missing: bingeable opera!”
– Which Sinfonia
“This stylish film-opera hybrid…is a sun-drenched melodrama”
– New York Observer
For press images, please visit
desert in Media Kit
Ellen Reid
Ellen Reid | Creator
Ellen Reid is known as one of the most innovative artists of her generation. A composer and sound artist whose breadth of work spans opera, sound design, film scoring, ensemble and choral writing, she was awarded the the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her opera, p r i s m. Along with composer Missy Mazzoli, Ellen co-founded the Luna Composition Lab. Luna Lab is a mentorship program for young, female-identifying, non-binary, and gender nonconforming composers. Since the fall of 2019, she has served as Creative Advisor and Composer-in-Residence for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Ellen received her BFA from Columbia University and her MA from California Institute of the Arts. She is inspired by music from all over the globe, and she splits her time between her two favorite cities – Los Angeles and New York. Her music is released on Decca Gold.
christopher oscar peña
christopher oscar peña | Lead Writer and Creator
christopher oscar peña is a story-teller — originally from California, and now residing in New York and LA. His recent world premiere plays include The Strangers, commissioned and produced by the Clarence Brown Theatre, and a cautionary tail, produced by the Flea Theatre. He recently co-directed the world premiere adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s The Haunted Life at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Upcoming projects include his first musical — an adaptation of the novel The First Rule of Punk, commissioned by The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis — and the world premiere of his play how to make an American Son in a co-production between Arizona Theatre Company, (where he was recently named an Artistic Associate) and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. In television, peña wrote for the Golden Globe-nominated debut season of the CW show Jane the Virgin, as well as HBO’s Insecure, the Starz original Sweetbitter, and Freeform’s Motherland: Fort Salem. He is currently developing an original series for Netflix. A two-time Sundance Institute Theater Fellow, peña held fellowships with the Lark Play Development Center, he was recipient of the Latino Playwrights Award, an Emerging Artist Fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop, a Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, and part of the US/UK Exchange with Old Vic New Voices.
James Darrah
James Darrah | Creator/Director
Director and designer James Darrah’s visually and emotionally arresting work at the intersection of theater, opera and film is currently in demand in venues all over the world. His productions of operas, theater, music videos, film, and installations are known for their elegance with virtuosic and visceral work that merges innovative design with unexpected movement, narrative heft, and dance. Darrah is Artistic Director of the ONE Festival, where he is framing opera in a context that is both inclusive and relevant while establishing a first of its kind operatic artist residency for myriad artists in the genre. He is also committed to training the next generation of singer and performer, joining the UCLA Faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music in 2019 where he has brought new productions of works by contemporary composers Higdon, Mazzoli, Reid and Jonathan Dove and Kaija Saariaho. He was co-artistic director/founder of Chromatic, a new collective of artists and production company in Los Angeles from 2014-2016. He holds an MFA in Theater, Film and Television from UCLA and later continued studies with Stephen Wadsworth at The Juilliard School.
Michael Abels
Composer
Michael Abels | Composer
Michael Abels is a composer and producer best known for his scores for Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning films GET OUT, and US, for which he won the World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics’ Choice nomination, an Image Award nomination, and multiple critics awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for the Oscar, and was named “Score of the Decade” by online publication The Wrap. As a concert composer, Abels received grants from the NEA, Meet The Composer, and the Sphinx Organization, among others. His orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and many others. As guest conductor of Get Out – In Concert, Abels led orchestras including the National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. Several of his orchestral works have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, including “Delights & Dances” and “Global Warming.” Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, game and streaming media.
Vijay Iyer
Composer
Vijay Iyer | Composer
Vijay Iyer is a composer-pianist and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts.Hewas voted Downbeat Magazine’s Jazz Artist of the Year four times in the last decade. Iyer has released two dozen albums, including: “The Transitory Poems” with pianist Craig Taborn; “Far From Over” with the Vijay Iyer Sextet; “A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke” with composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith; “Break Stuff”with the Vijay Iyer Trio; the live score to the film “Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi” by filmmaker Prashant Bhargava; and “Holding it Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project” with poet-performer Mike Ladd. Iyer’s concert works have been commissioned and premieredby music groups around the worldincluding Imani Winds, American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, LAPhil Group for New Music, and more. Iyer is Artistic Director of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. He teaches at Harvard University.
Nathalie Joachim
Composer
Nathalie Joachim | Composer
Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, composer and vocalist. The Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice” (The Nation). As co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo, Flutronix, Joachim navigates everything from classical to indie-rock while advocating for social change and cultural awareness. A 2020 United States Artist Fellow and 2019-20 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence, Joachim has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles, including Bryce Dessner, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and is the former flutist of the contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. As a composer, Joachim writes for instrumental and vocal artists, dance, and interdisciplinary theater, each highlighting her unique electroacoustic style. Joachim’s Fanm d’Ayiti is an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet and electronics that celebrates some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, and explores Joachim’s personal Haitian heritage. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album.
Nico Muhly
Composer
Nico Muhly | Composer
Nico Muhly is an American composer. The recipient of commissions from the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Tallis Scholars, he has written more than 100 works including the operas Two Boys (2011) and Marnie (2017), both of which premièred at English National Opera and were staged at the Metropolitan Opera, which commissioned them. Muhly is a frequent collaborator with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and released an album co-composed with Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner (Planetarium, 2017). As an arranger, he’s worked with Jónsi, James Blake, Joanna Newsom, and Yoko Ono. Muhly’s work for stage and screen include music for John Tiffany’s Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and for films including the Academy Award-winning The Reader. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied composition at the Juilliard School before working for Philip Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his albums Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). He lives in New York City.
Emma O’Halloran
Composer
Emma O'Halloran | Composer
Emma O’Halloran is an Irish composer and vocalist, intertwining acoustic and electronic music, and writing for folk musicians, chamber ensembles, turntables, laptop orchestra, symphony orchestra, film, and theatre. For her efforts, she was praised by I Care If You Listen editor-in-chief Amanda Cook for writing “some of the most unencumbered, authentic, and joyful music that I have heard in recent years.” O’Halloran won numerous competitions, including National Sawdust’s inaugural Hildegard competition and the Next Generation award from Beth Morrison Projects. O’Halloran’s music aims to capture the human experience, exploring complex emotions felt in specific moments in time. This approach has a wide audience: her work was featured at the international Classical NEXT conference in Rotterdam, the Prototype Festival in New York, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, and MATA Festival. Additionally, her music has been performed by Crash Ensemble, Contemporaneous, the Refugee Orchestra Project, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, among others. Emma holds a PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University and is currently working on her first full-length opera. www.emma-ohalloran.com
Wang Lu
Composer
Wang Lu | Composer
Wang Lu is a composer and pianist, writing music that draws on her Chinese heritage and interpreting urban environmental sounds and linguistic intonations through contemporary instrumental techniques. A recipient of the Berlin Prize in Music Composition (Spring 2019 residency), Wang was a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress, Harvard’s Fromm Foundation, IRCAM, and the Ensemble Modern, among others. Her works have been performed internationally, by ensembles including Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW, American Composers Orchestra, Seattle Modern Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Holland Symfonia, Shanghai National Chinese Orchestra, and many others. Wang Lu is currently the David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music at Brown University, and earned her doctoral degree in composition at Columbia University after graduating from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. She is the current Vanguard Emerging Opera Composer at the Chicago Opera Theatre.
Shelley Washington
Composer
Shelley Washington | Composer
Composer and performer Shelley Washington’s eclectic palette incorporates classical, jazz, rock, American folk and other contemporary musical genres. Her compositions comment on current and past social narratives, both personal and observed, exploring emotions and intentions while addressing social injustices to create a public dialogue. Washington’s commissioned works and performances include a multi-movement suite for Bearthoven and an arrangement of Julius Easterman’s Joy Boy for the Chicago Symphony. Her string quartet, MIDDLEGROUND, appears on PUBLIQuartet’s 2019 Grammy-nominated album “Freedom and Faith,” and she is creating a new concerto for Eighth Blackbird and the Cincinnati Symphony, in addition to a new work for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Washington recently performed and recorded with Wild Up, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Pieta Brown and the 37d03d collective. She is also a vocalist, saxophonist, and arranger in her Brooklyn-based band, Good Looking Friends, and joined the faculty of NYU in the fall of 2020.
Kirsten Greenidge
Writer
Kirsten Greenidge | Writer
Playwright Kirsten Greenidge is the author of Beacon, Little Row Boat, Feeding Beatrice, Our Daughters Like Pillars, Greater Good, Baltimore, Bud Not Buddy (an adaptation of the children’s novel by Christopher Paul Curtis, with music by Terence Blanchard), and The Luck of the Irish. Her play Milk Like Sugar was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and received an Independent Reviewers of New England Award, a San Diego Critics Award, and a Village Voice Obie Award, among others. She’s enjoyed development experiences at the Space at Ryder Farm, the Huntington Theatre Company’s Summer Play Festival, Cleveland Playhouse (2016 Roe Green New Play Award), The Goodman Theater, Denver Theater Center, Sundance, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, Sundance at Ucross, and the O’Neill Theater Center. Greenidge is currently working on commissions from the Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Oregon Shakespeare. A recent PEN/Laura Pels Playwrighting Award recipient and current Andrew W. Mellon/Howlround Fellow in residence at Company One Theatre, Greenidge is an alumna of New Dramatists and has been featured on the Kilroys List of new plays by women and woman-identified playwrights. She oversees the BFA playwrighting track at Boston University’s School of Theatre, where she is acting co-chair of Performance, and acting chair of Theatre Arts.
Ryan J. Haddad
Writer
Ryan J. Haddad | Writer
Ryan J. Haddad is an actor, playwright, and performer based in New York. His acclaimed solo play Hi, Are You Single? was presented at The Public Theater’s “Under the Radar” Festival and has been seen across the country at the Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Play House, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. His other New York credits include My Straighties (Ars Nova/ANT Fest), Noor and Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers), and the cabaret performance Falling for Make Believe (Joe’s Pub). Haddad’s regional credits include The Maids, and Lucy Thurber’s Orpheus in the Berkshires (Williamstown Theatre Festival). He has a recurring role on Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “The Politician”; his additional television credits include “Bull,” “Madam Secretary” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Haddad has performed original work at La MaMa E.T.C., the New Museum, and The LGBT Center of New York City. Plays in development include Good Time Charlie and Dark Disabled Stories. He is a member of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group and a former Queer|Art Performance and Playwriting Fellow under the mentorship of Moe Angelos. Learn more at www.ryanjhaddad.com and follow Haddad on social at @ryanjhaddad.
Joy Kecken
Deputy Lead Writer
Joy Kecken | Deputy Lead Writer/Director
Joy Kecken is a critically acclaimed writer, director and producer. She wrote and directed for the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire, and worked as a Supervising Producer on the second season of Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger. She also served as Consulting Producer on the award-winning documentary film The Biggest Little Farm, which appeared on the film festival circuit at Sundance, Toronto, Telluride, and Berlinele. It was a winner at the Boulder International Film Festival and the Hamptons International Gilm Festival. This year, Kecken co-executive produced the new Freeform TV series, Motherland: Fort Salem – a project that connected her to playwright and screen writer christopher oscar peña, on whose Freeform series, Joyland, she worked. Her feature film script All-In, set in the high-stakes poker world, was honored by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for its Feature Access Project Award. She also received two WGA commendations for contributions to television, which include episodes for Homicide: Life on the Street. Some of Kecken’s additional projects have been optioned by Lifetime, E1, and the BBC Scotland. Her film shorts and feature documentary have been screened at more than 30 film festivals, and have appeared on Showtime and BET.
Quentin Nguyen-duy
Writer
Quentin Nguyen-duy | Writer
Quentin Nguyen-duy is an actor, playwright and a BFA graduate in Theatre Arts from Boston University (BU). Born in Ashland, Ore., Quentin made his way to the Midwest in his senior year of high school to attend Interlochen Arts Academy and eventually to BU. His acting credits include Vietgone for Company One, American Hwangap at theInterlochen Shakespeare Festival, Twelfth Night at Oberlin College, LONG with The Barrow Group, and S.W.I.M at SpeakEasy Stage Company. Alongside his work as an actor, Quentin also transforms his passion for dramatic storytelling into generating his own plays. Recently, he oversaw a production of his play Amputees at the Boston University Fringe Festival; he had the same work produced by the Asian American Playwrights’ Collective (AAPC) Cape Cod Festival and at ArtsEmerson. During his time in lockdown, Quentin co-wrote, filmed, and acted in an NYC-based web series called The Social Distance, finished his second full-length play SOAPBOX, and is currently commissioned by the Pao Arts Center to co-author his third play #SinceYallWantMeToBeWhite. Find out more here: https://quentinnguyenduy.com/.
A. Rey Pamatmat
Writer
A. Rey Pamatmat | Writer
Rey’s play Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them began a rolling world premiere at the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, earning a Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation and a GLAAD Media Award nomination. Pamatmat has written a trilogy, Safe, Three Queer Plays, which follows the seismic changes in Queer America through the romantic and artistic life of a gay man of color. His additional full-length plays include House Rules (Ma-Yi), after all the terrible things I do (Milwaukee Rep, Huntington, AboutFace) and Thunder Above, Deeps Below (Second Generation). His newest play Blood in your Blood was developed at NYU and the Sundance Theater Program in Morocco. Pamatmat’s short works include Tilda Swinton Betrayed Us (Keen Company), This Is How It Ends (59E59’s Summer Shorts) and Gratuitous Nudity and the Undisclosed Costs of Questioning Surveillance Rather Than Bad Broccoli (Actors Theatre of Louisville). He has written for the tv series “NOS4A2” and is currently developing a pilot for AMC. His plays are published by Samuel French and Playscripts. Rey is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab (Co-Director 2014-18). He teaches at Cornish College of the Arts, and was a Hodder, PoNY, and Princess Grace Fellow.
Roxie Perkins
Writer
Roxie Perkins | Writer
Roxie Perkins writes and directs for theatre, opera, TV and film. She is the librettist of Ellen Reid’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “p r i s m”, which won The Music Critics Association of North America’s 2019 “Best New Opera” Award and is currently a nominee in the “World Premiere” category at the International Opera Awards of 2020 for James Darrah’s production. Perkins has been awarded a Sundance Playwright Fellowship, and her plays have been semi-finalists for the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Conference and the Princess Grace Award. Her writing has been nominated to Kilroys List and We For She’s “WriteHer List,” which compiles annual rankings of the best unproduced plays and original TV pilots by women. She directed “Green Umbrella: Theatre of the Outrageous,” a program of three short operas performed by the LA Philharmonic. Her work has been programmed at The Kennedy Center’s DIRECT CURRENT Festival, REDCAT, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, the New York Philharmonic, Jazz at Lincoln Center, PROTOTYPE Festival, LA Opera, Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival, Cutting Ball Theater, A Noise Within’s “Noise Now” Artist Residency, Crowded Fire Theater’s “Matchbox Reading Series”, The Tank NYC, The LARK’s Roundtable Reading Series, On The Verge Summer Repertory Theater, and internationally at Theatro Municipal in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jesse J. Sanchez
Writer
Jesse J. Sanchez | Writer
Jesse J. Sanchez is a Latinx artist who writes, composes, and directs music for theatre, opera, TV, and film. Nominated for an educator Grammy in 2014, Sanchez is currently in residence as Producing Music Supervisor for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He was named “People to Watch” in 2018 by American Theatre Magazine and nominated for an educator Grammy in 2014. He has served as music director and/or has had his music heard in professional theaters across the country including Roundabout Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, the New York Theatre Barn, American Conservatory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, FOGG Theatre SF, Arizona Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Choreography Lab, Hartford Stage, Alley Theatre, The 24 Hour Plays, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, and The Green Room 42 (NYC), among others. Sanchez was involved in multiple writing rooms as a songwriter for Netflix (unannounced projects), and some of his plays and musicals have been semi-finalists for the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. For more information, visit www.jessejsanchez.com.
David Angus
Music Director
David Angus | Music Director
David Angus was appointed Music Director of Boston Lyric Opera in 2010 following his highly successful debut conducting Idomeneo, re di Creta during the Company’s 2009/2010 Season. He is also the Honorary Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, following several years as its Principal Conductor, during which time he played a major part in establishing it as Belgium’s most exciting and successful new orchestra.
Born in England, David spent his early years in Belfast. He was a boy chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, under Sir David Willcocks, and he read music at Surrey University where he specialised as a pianist. He finished his training with a Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for his opera conducting.
His professional career began as a repetiteur with Opera North before becoming Chorus Master and Staff Conductor for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. At Glyndebourne he conducted many operas, both in the Festival and on tour. David’s operatic career then took him to Italy, where he conducted several productions and concerts in Turin, Milan, Bologna and Modena. He has worked with Scottish Opera, Opera North and English Touring Opera, and conducted many productions elsewhere in the UK and Ireland, including several British premieres for the Brighton Festival. In mainland Europe, he has worked at Opéra National de Paris, Danish National Opera, Malmö Opera and Icelandic Opera. In North America, he has been the Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera, where he conducted for five seasons, and he has also conducted for the Canadian Opera Company and Cleveland Opera.
On the UK concert platform, David regularly conducts the London Philharmonic, both in concert and in the recording studio. He has appeared with most of the major orchestras in the country, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, the BBC’s Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, the London Mozart Players, the Ulster Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia.
David Angus broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3 and abroad in Austria, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Italy, and particularly on Klara, the Belgian Classical Music channel. He conducts orchestras and choirs all over Europe, particularly in Scandinavia where he is a regular guest with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and several Danish orchestras. In North America, he has had appeared with the Utah Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic.
An affinity with the music of Benjamin Britten started when he sang for Britten as a boy chorister at Aldeburgh, and since then he has conducted for the Aldeburgh Festival and for several years was the Vocal Consultant to the Britten-Pears School. David Angus has a natural empathy with young musicians and he finds working with youth orchestras particularly rewarding.
Apart from his regular commitments with Boston Lyric Opera, the London Philharmonic and his former orchestra in Belgium, future plans include Cilea’s L’arlesiana at the Wexford Festival, his Central American debut with the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico City, and a welcome return to the Dartington International Summer School to conduct Dvorak’s Stabat Mater.
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Music Supervisor
Vimbayi Kaziboni | Music Supervisor
Born in Zimbabwe, Kaziboni has served as assistant conductor of two of the foremost orchestras of contemporary music, Ensemble InterContemporain (France) and Ensemble Modern (Germany), ensembles he now regularly conducts as guest conductor. Additionally, Kaziboni has been conductor of the International Ensemble Modern Academy (Germany), artistic director of the What’s Next? Ensemble (Los Angeles) and the New Philharmonic (Omaha), and assistant professor of music and director of orchestral activities at Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania).
Kaziboni has led critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe, (Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan), performing at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, South Bank Centre, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie, Deutschlandfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Oper Frankfurt, and Sala Sao Paulo.
In the 2019–2020 season, Kaziboni will make debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the Royal Concertgebouw. He will also make debuts conducting the London Sinfonietta, Boston Lyric Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (National Composers Intensive), and will serve as assistant conductor to Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall (England).
Among the foremost interpreters of modern and contemporary music of his generation, Kaziboni has worked directly with many of today’s leading composers, including Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, George Benjamin, Heiner Goebbels, Augusta Read Thomas, John Adams, George Lewis, Liza Lim, Morten Lauridsen, Dai Fujikura, Rebecca Saunders, Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth, Bruno Mantovani, Nicolaus A. Huber, and Jacob TV, among many others. In addition to Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain, recent collaborators have included the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (Germany), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), the Omaha Symphony, Hamburg Camerata, the Omnibus Ensemble (Tashkent) and the Martha Graham Dance Company (New York).
A former Fulbright Fellow (2013–2014), Kaziboni holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. Kaziboni is in his third year at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he is an assistant professor of orchestral studies and contemporary music. In 2019, he was named the institution’s Teacher of the Year.
Zackary Drucker
Zackary Drucker | Director
Zackary Drucker is a multimedia artist, cultural producer, and trans woman whose work explores themes of gender and sexuality. She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries and film festivals, including at the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated producer for Amazon’s groundbreaking docuseries “This Is Me,” as well as a producer and consultant on the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning show “Transparent.” In addition to her celebrated work in film and television, Drucker regularly speaks at universities, museums, film festivals and charity events on transgender history, trans representation in media and culture, and her personal experience in the arts, television, and film production. In recent years, Drucker has lectured widely at museums and educational institutions, among them Columbia University, Duke University, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, New York University, and Yale University.
Michael Elias Thomas
Director of Photography
Michael Elias Thomas | Director of Photography
Cinematographer Michael Elias Thomas was born in Alabama, graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in film, and moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA, where he received an M.F.A. in Cinematography. Thomas taught at the UCLA Summer Film Institute from 2016 to 2018 and served as a festival producer for the University of Alabama’s Black Warrior Film Festival. Citing his main cinematic and artistic inspiration as dance movement and its relationship to the camera, Thomas’s film and commercial work includes the short film “First Position,” which premiered at the 2019 Outfest Film Festival; the sci-fi short “The Lu’issi Run”; and three commercials for brand collaborations between FabFitFun and the fashion labels Richer Poorer, Kate Spade, and Mark & Graham.
Yuki Izumihara
Production Designer
Yuki Izumihara | Production Designer
Yuki Izumihara is a scenic, projection, and production designer based in Los Angeles. Her work has been featured at L.A. Opera, the New World Symphony, The Adrienne Arsht Center, San Diego Opera, the Hammer Museum, Getty Villa Museum, and various theaters in Los Angeles. Izumihara has worked as a scenic and projection designer for the Miami Classical Music Festival for the past five years, designing productions including The Flying Dutchman, The Marriage of Figaro, Dead Man Walking, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Tales of Hoffman, The Crucible, The Magic Flute, and The Turn of the Screw. Recent engagements include Les Enfants Terribles with Opera Omaha, Don Giovanni with Jacksonville Symphony, and Measuring Eternity at TEDxUCLA. As a visual artist, she has been commissioned to create Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival season cover work for the last three years, join the post-production team of Sun Valley Music Festival 2020 as a title card designer, and participated as a featured artist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s season Close Quarters.
Pablo Santiago
Lighting Designer/Gaffer
Pablo Santiago | Lighting Designer/Gaffer
Pablo Santiago’s lighting design spans theater, opera, dance and gallery work. His work has been seen at Los Angeles Theatre Center and the Latino Theater Co., Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), the Paramount Theater (Boston), Skirball Center (New York City), Su Teatro (Denver), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), Opera Santa Barbara, and more. Recent highlights include War of the Worlds with the LA Phil, Dementia at Los Angeles Theatre Center, Pélleas et Mélisande at Cincinnati Symphony, Breaking the Waves for Opera Philadelphia and PROTOTYPE Festival, Destiny of Desire at the Goodman Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Flight for Opera Omaha. His upcoming projects include Ted Hearne’s Place co-commissioned by the LA Phil, the Barbican Centre and Beth Morrison Projects, as well as the professional World Premiere of Proving Up at Opera Omaha and the Miller Theater (New York City), Eugene Onegin at The Boston Conservatory, and Boris Godunov at San Francisco Symphony.
Molly Irelan
Costume Designer
Molly Irelan | Costume Designer
Los Angeles costume designer Molly Irelan creates looks for film, opera and television productions, and worked as a personal stylist for Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk. Irelan received an associate’s degree in Apparel Design from the Art Institute of Portland in Oregon, and has an M.F.A. in Costume Design from UCLA. She provided costume research for designer Lou Eyrich on Fox’s docudrama series “Feud” and went on to work with Eyrich again on “Pose” for FX. She served as costume assistant on season eight of Ryan Murphy’s hit TV series “American Horror Story” and the Netflix comedy-drama series “The Politician.” Irelan worked as costume designer on the Pulitzer-winning opera “p r i s m” at LA Opera. She recently provided costume design and styling for Opera UCLA’s 2020 production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers.”
Isabel Leonard
Cass
Isabel Leonard | Cass
Multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Isabel Leonard’s repertoire spans from Vivaldi to Mozart to Nico Muhly, and she has performed on many of the world’s great stages including Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Carnegie Hall, Glyndebourne Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. Though based in New York, Leonard has worked extensively at Los Angeles Opera, appearing as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Charlotte in Werther, and many more roles. She has appeared with orchestras across the U.S., led by some of the foremost conductors of her time: Valery Gergiev, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Gustavo Dudamel, Marin Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Andris Nelsons, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Leonard’s most recent of three Grammy Awards was for Best Classical Compendium for Thomas’s From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditations on Rilke (2020). She won for Best Opera Recording Grammys for Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges on Decca (2016) and The Tempest from The Metropolitan Opera on Deutsche Grammophon (2014). Leonard has appeared on Sesame Street and hosted The Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” movie theater transmissions.
Talise Trevigne
Sunny
Talise Trevigne | Sunny
American soprano and 2016 Grammy Nominee Talise Trevigne
began 2020 with her celebrated portrayal in the title role of Porgy and Bess at The Atlanta Opera, her new artistic home. A TAO Company Principal Artist in Season 2020-21, Miss Trevigne sings Nedda in I Pagliacci alongside a selection of specialized concerts and recitals for the company, joins Donald Runnicles for an Atlanta recital of the works of Mahler, and makes her Cincinnati Symphony recital debut in a specially devised programme of French repertoire with Louis Langree before joining Boston Lyric Opera for Desert In. Last season’s highlights include her return appearance with CBSO for Tippett’s A Child of our Time in performances in the UK and Germany conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Returning to the US she made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Kitty Hart (Sister Rose (c)) in Dead Man Walking before traveling to Albany Symphony to sing Knoxville: Summer of 1915. She joined the Metropolitan Opera cast of Porgy and Bess, and will perform the title role in La Traviata at Calgary Opera next season.
Justin Vivian Bond
The Lounge Singer
Justin Vivian Bond |
The Lounge Singer
Mx Justin Vivian Bond has been at the forefront of Trans visibility and activism since the early 1990s, and appeared on Broadway, in films (Shortbus, Can You Ever Forgive Me?), television (“High Maintenance,” “Difficult People”), a decades-long residency at Joeʼs Pub at The Public Theater in NYC, and in concert halls worldwide (Carnegie Hall, The Sydney Opera House). Mx Bond’s memoir “Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels” won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction, and they received an Obie, a Bessie, a Tony Award nomination, an Ethyl Eichelberger Award, The Peter Reed Foundation Grant, The Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant for Artists, and the Art Matters Grant. They have self-released several full length recordings including “Dendrophile” and “Silver Wells”. As one half of the legendary punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb, they toured the world and released two CDs: Do You Hear What We Hear? and Kiki and Herb Will Die For You at Carnegie Hall. They have a Masters Degree in Live Art from Central Saint Martins College in London and have taught performance composition and Live Art Installation at NYU and Bard College.
Edward Nelson
Ion
Edward Nelson | Ion
American baritone Edward Nelson is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, where he made over 70 appearances onstage at the War Memorial Opera House. Recent opera engagements include performances at Opera Philadelphia, Vancouver Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Washington National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, the Opera de Oviedo in Spain, and the title role in Hamlet at West Edge Opera. He sang both Schaunard in La Bohème and Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Nelson is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received further training at the Tanglewood Music Center. He was National Semi-Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan National Council Auditions, winner of the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, and is the recipient of grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Shoshana Foundation. This season Mr. Nelson returns to the Norwegian National Opera as the title role in a new production of Il Barbierie di Siviglia and makes his debut at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as the title role in Harvey Milk.
Jesus Garcia
Rufus
Jesus Garcia | Rufus
Internationally acclaimed tenor Jesus Garcia specializes in the romantic roles of the French and Italian repertoires. Garcia’s best known performances include his debut in the title role of Gounod’s Faust at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland under the baton of Philippe Auguin, Count Almaviva in Rosetta Cucchi’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Lyric Opera, and Rodolfo in La Bohème with Tampere Talo in Finland. Garcia also performed Mozart’s Requiem in cities throughout Italy with Filharmonia Arturo Toscanini conducted by Maestro Rinaldo Alessandrini. His recording credits include the world premiere recording of Jorge Martin’s “Before Night Falls,” the Original Broadway Cast recording of Baz Luhrmann’s “La Bohème,” and the Virgin Classics DVD recording of Laurent Pelly’s production of “La Vie Parisienne.” Garcia’s television appearances include the Today Show, A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts, and the Tony Awards, and he has been featured in the pages of numerous publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and Opera News.
Alan Pingarrón
Federico
Alan Pingarrón | Federico
Renowned Mexican tenor Alan Pingarrón studied at the National School of Music of the UNAM in 2003 under the direction of Rufino Montero. He received the Gabino Barreda Medal in Singing upon the completion of his BA, was a finalist in the San Miguel National Opera Singing Competition, took second place in Opera Prima Las Voces del Bicentenario, and was awarded the public prize. Pingarrón performed as Rodolfo in La Boheme and Nemorino in Elixir de Amor with the Morelos Opera Company, and collaborated with contemporary conductors Sergio Cárdenas, José Areán, Juan Carlos Lomónaco, Enrique Patrón de Rueda, Enrique Barrios, and Carlos Spierer at landmark orchestras across Mexico, including Estanislao Mejía, Filarmónica de la UNAM, Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Sinfónica de Xalapa, Sinfónica de Yucatán, Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes, and Sinfónica de Minería. He is currently a Link Artist at the Royal Opera House in London as part of the Jette Parker Young Artist program.
Davóne Tines
Old Man/Derek
Davóne Tines | Old Man/Derek
Davóne Tines is a bass-baritone whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire and explores social issues by blending opera, art song, contemporary classical, spirituals, gospel and songs of protest. Tines is a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company and featured in productions including Henze’s El Cimarrón and John Adams’ Nativity Reconsidered, both presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is co-creator of The Black Clown, a music theater experience inspired by Langston Hughes’ eponymous poem. The piece was commissioned and premiered by The American Repertory Theater and presented at Lincoln Center in 2019. He has premiered works created by leading contemporary composers and directors including Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmons’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones — based on the memoir of New York Times op-ed columnist Charles M. Blow — at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and John Adams and Peter Sellars’s Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera and the Dutch National Opera. Tines received the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, recognizing extraordinary classical musicians of color and the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He is a graduate of Harvard University and The Juilliard School.
Brianna J. Robinson
Vapor
Brianna J. Robinson | Vapor
Soprano Brianna J. Robinson returns to Boston Lyric Opera as a Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artist for a third season. During her time with BLO she has performed the role of Lucy in Spears’ Fellow Travelers, and covered three principal roles in The Handmaid’s Tale. In Boston, her most recent work includes singing the role of Florence Price in Florence Comes Home by Francine Trester with Shelter Music Boston, and being a featured soloist in the Boston Landmarks Orchestra 2020 summer season. Previously, Brianna was a Rising Artist with Pegasus Early Music, performing in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She performed the title role in Caccini’s La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’Isola d’Alcina with the Baroque performance ensemble, Collegium Musicum. Brianna has participated in international programs including the Berlin Opera Academy and Opernfest Prague. She will make her international debut in Ruse, Bulgaria in 2021 creating the role of Ophelia in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s Hamlet. In January 2020, Briana was awarded first prize at the 6th Getting to Carnegie Competition at Carnegie Hall, New York City. Brianna J. Robinson is sponsored for this production by Allison Ryder and David Jones.
Emma Sorenson
Vapor
Emma Sorenson | Vapor
Emma Sorenson is a mezzo soprano and model living in Chicago. A former Boston Lyric Opera Emerging artist, she sings on the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage as a member of the supplementary core ensemble, and looks forward to debuting Nicklausse this summer at Union Avenue Opera. Her recent awards include the 2020 Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions Kansas City District, and the 2019 Lotte Lenya Competition, as a semi-finalist. You can learn more about Emma on her Instagram page @emma.rose.sorenson, and find her on CAMEO @opera_cameo.
Neal Ferreira
Vapor
Neal Ferreira | Vapor
Neal Ferreira is a nationally recognized lyric tenor known for his cultivated vocalism and eloquent expression. He recently appeared with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall as Tamino in The Magic Flute, with Emmanuel Music as Macheath in Benjamin Britten’s version of The Beggar’s Opera, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood as Parpignol in La bohème under the baton of Maestro Andris Nelsons.
Ferreira’s performance as the Visitor in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Philip Glass’ In the Penal Colony was critically acclaimed. He originated the role of Ferdinand in the world premiere performance and recording of Joseph Summer’s The Tempest with the Shakespeare Concerts. He has also been featured on the premiere recordings of Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and James MacMillan’s Clemency.
Ferreira has appeared with Florida Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Colorado, Virginia Opera, Odyssey Opera, Anchorage Opera, Syracuse Opera, American Repertory Theatre, and Guerilla Opera. He will make his European debut in the spring of 2021 as Laertes in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s Hamlet in a co-production with The Shakespeare Concerts and Ruse Opera in Bulgaria. Neil Ferreira is sponsored for this production by Larry and Beverly St. Clair.
Raviv Ullman
Ion
Actor
Raviv Ullman | Ion / Director & Actor
Raviv Ullman is an actor, director and musician, with television credits including work for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, HBO, MTV, Disney and Comedy Central. Ullman has worked both in New York and around the U.S. in theaters. His theater performances have included “Usual Girls” (at Roundabout Theater Co), “Sticks & Bones,” and “Russian Transport”(New Group), “Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner” (Atlantic Theater), “Bad Guys” (Second Stage), “Dead End” (Ahmanson) , “Bad Jews” (Geffen), “Choice” (Huntington Theatre Company), and “Deathtrap” (Bucks County Playhouse). His TV credits include “Broad City,” “Phil of The Future,” “Strangers,” “Rita Rocks,” “Law & Order SVU/CI,” “Criminal Minds,” “Cold Case,” “Big Love,” and “House.” His directorial documentary film debut, “Standing Ground,” is currently in post-production. He is grateful to have the opportunity to work in opera for the first time with the team at Boston Lyric.
Alexander Jon Flores
Rufus
Actor
Alexander Jon Flores | Rufus Actor
Alexander Jon Flores is from the Bronx, New York, and has been acting since he was a teen — he attended and had early training at the famed Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. Flores is well known for playing Winston in he film “The Maze Runner” and its sequel “Scorch Trials,” directed by Wes Ball. He also appeared in the films “Delivery Man” with Vince Vaughn (directed by Ken Scott), director Jono Oliver’s “Home,” and “Twelve,” directed by Joel Schumacher and Shana Feste’s “The Greatest.” His television credits include “Orange Is The New Black,” “The Good Wife,” “The Wackness,” “Nurse Jackie,” “The Big C,” “Law and Order,” “Sopranos” and a recurring role on “Rescue Me.” Flores has also performed Off-Broadway in Anton Dudley’s “Slag Heap” at the Cherry Lane Theater and “Guinea Pig Solo” by Brett C. Leonard at the Public Theater (Labyrinth Theater Company) among other New York theatre productions.
Anthony Michael Lopez
Federico
Actor
Anthony Michael Lopez | Federico (Actor)
Anthony Michael Lopez is known for his appearances on TV’s “Broad City,” “Homeland,” and “New Amsterdam,” as well as the 2019 feature film “Mapplethorpe” starring Matt Smith. Recently, Lopez shared the stage with Daniel Craig, David Oyelowo, and Rachel Brosnahan in Sam Gold’s critically acclaimed production of “Othello” at New York Theatre Workshop. In 2019, he was named one of Queerty’s “Pride50” honorees alongside Lizzo, Elton John, Armistead Maupin and others. Lopez was recognized for his visibility at the intersection of queerness and disability. Soon he’ll join Greta Gerwig, Oscar Isaac, and Steve Buscemi in an upcoming NYC production of Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” directed by Sam Gold.
Ricco Ross
Old Man/Derek
Actor
Ricco Ross | Old Man/Derek (Actor)
Chicago-born actor Ricco Ross first took the stage in a high school production, going on to major in theater at a local community college, and graduate with a B.A. in Theater from Florida Atlantic University, and an M.F.A. from UCLA. Ross’s first television role was as an extra on “The Young and the Restless,” followed by a small part in “Hill Street Blues” and the male lead in Whitney Houston’s music video for “Saving All My Love For You.” He went on to study Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art and spent much of the early 1990s living and working across Europe and the U.K., where he had guest appearances in “Doctor Who” and “Jeeves and Wooster.” Ross’s extensive film and television credits include “Aliens,” “Spies Like Us,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Practice,” “Highlander,” “Babylon 5,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “E.R.,” and “JAG.”
Jon Orsini
Son
Actor
Jon Orsini | Son (Actor)
Jon Orsini has been seen in films, on television, on and off-Broaday, and at regional theaters across the country. He has recently appeared in the films “Wash Me in the River” as Skeeter, “The Survivalist” as Jackson, and a key role in 2019’s “The Assistant” with Julia Garner, as Male Assistant 2. Orsini was featured in a 2019 episode of “NCIS: New Orleans,” as well as the TV movie “Incident at Vichy,” and on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center Series” for his performance in Broadway’s “The Nance” with Nathan Lane. His other Broadway performances include “Fish in the Dark,” with Larry David, and “MacBeth” with Ethan Hawke, directed by Jack O’Brien. He has been in several Shakespeare production by The Old Globe Theater in San Diego and Boston-based Company One Theater’s production of “After Ashley,” for which he was nominated for the Independent Reviewers of New England’s Best Actor Award.
Carlis Shane Clark
The Stranger
Actor
Carlis Shane Clark | The Stranger (Actor)
Actor Carlis Shane Clark was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. He began acting at the age of 9, while attending Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Augusta, and went on to graduate from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Theatre. Soon after graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to develop his acting career. Clark performed in several stage productions at New York’s Stella Adler Studio, in Edinburgh, Scotland at the International Fringe Festival, and in Los Angeles, where he was honored by the LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, Stage Raw, and Ovation Awards for his work in “Hit the Wall.” Clark recently appeared in the Netflix comedy-drama series “Dear White People,“ and Amazon Studios‘ “Jean-Claude Van Johnson.” His film credits include a supporting role in “Dutch” (2021).
Shauna Davis
Vapor
Actor
Jasmine Albuquerque
Vapor
Actor
Veronica Taylor
Vapor
Actor
Annie Rabbat
Violin/Concertmaster
Annie Rabbat | Violin/Concertmaster
Violinist Annie Rabbat is Concertmaster of Boston Lyric Opera and a member of A Far Cry. She has performed with the Orpheus, St. Paul, and East Coast Chamber Orchestras, as well as with the Arcturus Ensemble, Walden Chamber Players, and North Country Chamber Players. For three years, she served as Concertmaster of the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Rabbat has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Takacs and Orion Quartets as well as the Florestan, Peabody and Beaux Arts Trios. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Indiana University, Rabbat completed her studies at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. Her mentors have included Robert Mann, Pamela Frank, Paul Biss and Roger Tapping.
Loewi Lin
Cello
Loewi Lin | Cello
Taiwanese-Canadian cellist Loewi Lin attended the Cleveland Institute, the University of Ottawa, and New England Conservatory. He appeared at Carnegie Hall in the New York String Orchestra, as well as the Taos School of Music, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. Loewi lived in Boston for 11 years, helping to found the unique, conductor-less chamber orchestra, A Far Cry. The group is now an established institution in the musical fabric of Boston and around the world, with a number one Traditional Classical Music album, two Grammy nominations, and ongoing residencies at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the New England Conservatory. Loewi’s credits include performances with the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, and the Boston Symphony, and teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy. He is the principal cellist of the Boston Lyric Opera and a member of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Linda Toote
Flute/Alto Flute
Linda Toote | Flute/Alto Flute
Linda Toote is Principal Flutist of the Boston Lyric Opera orchestra. Her former principal orchestral positions include orchestras in Milwaukee and Atlanta, as well as the Santa Fe Opera and Lake George Opera. She performs regularly with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops and Esplanade Orchestras, and with Collage New Music. Toote is currently a full- time faculty member at Boston University and teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During summers she is on faculty at the Aria Academy, and has coached chamber music and masterclasses at the Tanglewood Music Center. She also serves as Director of the Flute Workshop of Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. A frequent performer at National Flute Association (NFA) Conventions, Toote has premiered several concertos and appeared in recitals. In 2009, she served as Program Chair for the NFA convention in New York City which saw record breaking attendance of 4,600 flutists and thereafter served on the organization’s Executive Board. Her many recordings include symphonic works with the Atlanta Symphony, the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops. A Mannes College of Music graduate who studied with John Wion, Toote was also a student of Thomas Nyfenger at Yale University.
Jan Halloran
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Jan Halloran | Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Praised for her “soulful intensity,” clarinetist Jan Halloran is a fixture in concert halls and opera venues throughout New England. The Boston-based artist is Principal Clarinetist of both Boston Lyric Opera and Odyssey Opera and a member of the Grammy award winning ensemble Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), with whom she has premiered and recorded numerous new works. She is also a member of the Portland ME Symphony and has appeared regularly with many of the region’s preeminent orchestral ensembles, including the Boston Symphony and Pops, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic and Emmanuel Music.
Ms Halloran’s varied chamber music experiences include the recently formed Bass Clarinets Boston, who will make their International Clarinet Association debut in June. She performs and tours with the Walden Chamber Players, and has appeared with such notable chamber groups as Collage New Music and the Radius Ensemble.
A devoted educator, Ms Halloran is on the faculties of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Dartmouth College and the Wellesley Public Schools, and maintains a private clarinet studio. She is equally at home teaching in person and online.
Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, PA, Ms Halloran studied clarinet with Thomas Thompson. She earned her BM at the Eastman School of Music and MM at Boston University, with Michael Webster, and furthered her clarinet studies with Thomas Martin.
Ms Halloran’s recordings can be found on the BMOP Sound, Capstone,Telergy, and Navona labels.
Richard Flanagan
Percussion
Richard Flanagan | Percussion
Richard Flanagan is principal percussionist with Boston Lyric Opera and Boston Ballet. As a freelance musician in Boston for nearly 40 years, he has played and tourdd with The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. Flanagan has worked as Associate Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music since 1993, and received his Master of Music degree from Boston University. In addition to running orchestral percussion studies, he conducts The Berklee Percussion Ensemble and coaches The Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra. Flanagan is a private instructor on orchestral and rudimentary snare drumming, as well as marimba, xylophone, timpani, and drum set.
Craig McNutt
Percussion
Craig McNutt | Percussion
Craig McNutt has worked with virtually all of Boston’s major musical groups, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, as well as Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Cantata Singers, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. He is Principal Timpanist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Craig is the solo percussionist for Collage New Music, and has performed with Alea III, Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex. Equally at home in the field of historical performance, he regularly performs on baroque timpani with period instrument groups Boston Baroque, Handel & Haydn Society, and Boston Cecilia. McNutt can be heard on sixty-plus commercial recordings, including multiple Grammy-nominated albums on the BMOP/Sound Label, with the Rhode Island Philharmonic (Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm) and Collage New Music (Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto). With degrees from the Hartt School of Music and Yale University, and additional studies at New England Conservatory of Music, McNutt is a two-time alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival, and was a fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. He serves on the faculty of Wellesley, and also maintains his own private percussion studio.
Brett Hodgdon
Piano
Brett Hodgdon | Piano
Brett Hodgdon is a pianist, vocal coach, and conductor living in Boston. An alumnus of the first class of Boston Lyric Opera Emerging Artists, Hodgdon has served on the company’s music staff since 2011 and was appointed its Chorus Master in 2018. In the 2020/21 Season, he served as Associate Conductor for BLO’s digital production of Philip Glass’ “The Fall of the House of Usher,” as well as pianist in BLO’s online holiday offering “A Winter’s Evening” with soprano Gabriella Reyes. A rehearsal pianist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2007, Hodgdon was recently featured in recital with members of the symphony as a part of the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival. He maintains frequent collaborations as pianist and rehearsal conductor with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Boston Symphony Children’s Chorus. Hodgdon has also been a frequent performer with Boston’s Emmanuel Music since 2006. A committed educator, Hodgdon serves on the opera faculties of New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Connecticut. Since 2014, he has taught on the coaching faculty of Si Parla, Si Canta in Arona, Italy, where he made his international conducting debut in 2019 with the Orchestra Sinfonica Carlo Coccia di Novara.
Images:
- Zackary Drukers: Danielle Levitt
- TaliseTrevigne-2021: Photo by Kingmond Young
- JustinVivianBond-2021: Photo by Bob Krasner
- DavóneTines-2021: Photo by Bowie Verschuuren