Bradley Vernatter
Stanford Calderwood General Director & Chief Executive Officer
Bradley Vernatter
Bradley Vernatter is Boston Lyric Opera’s Stanford Calderwood General Director and Chief Executive Officer, the company’s top leadership role. Throughout his career to date, Vernatter has produced a range of operas and multi-disciplinary performances covering core opera canon, rare titles, and new works and commissions in various venues and formats – from 3,000-seat theaters to distinctive installation projects and cinematic experiences for streaming.
In 2020, Vernatter was recognized by Boston Business Journal as one of Boston’s “40 Under 40” rising young leaders. He was a member of the YW Boston LeadBoston 2022 cohort and serves on the board of advisors at Artists For Humanity, a non-profit that empowers teens through employment in the arts. Additionally, Vernatter contributes to social entrepreneurship projects addressing access to basic services.
Previously, Vernatter served as Boston Lyric Opera’s Acting General and Artistic Director, after having served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Before BLO, he was Director of Operations for Opera Omaha and Associate Producer for the company’s ONE Festival. He held artistic and management positions with Wexford Festival Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, the Castleton (VA) Festival, and the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. He has also worked in commercial media production.
Vernatter holds a Master of Business Administration from the IE-Brown MBA program (Madrid/Providence, R.I.), a Bachelor of Arts from Otterbein College, and a certificate in professional fundraising from Boston University. He is an alumnus of the OPERA America Leadership Intensive, through which he has participated in the Civic Action Group and as a reviewer for grants.
Nina Yoshida Nelsen
Artistic Director
Nina Yoshida Nelsen
NINA YOSHIDA NELSEN is made her Boston Lyric Opera performing debut in 2021 as Mamma Lucia, Cavalleria Rusticana. She was featured as a singer and storyteller in the filmed documentary-concert B., which marked an artistic culmination of BLO’s “The Butterfly Process.” She joined the company as an Artistic Advisor in 2021, participating in artistic discussions and decisions, company auditions, and more. Most recently, she served as dramaturg for BLO’s widely acclaimed 2023 production of Madama Butterfly.
Nelsen has performed traditional and contemporary operatic roles throughout North America and Europe, including performances with Washington National Opera, Lincoln Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Avery Fisher Hall. This season, Nelsen sang Melissa, Alcina, Seattle Opera and the title role of Carmen, Indianapolis Opera. She debuts with Opera Carolina this winter as Suzuki, Madama Butterfly; makes a role debut as Marcellina, Le Nozze di Figaro, Utah Opera; and reprises Mother Chen, An American Soldier, Perelman Performing Arts Center.
As Co-Founder and Board President of Asian Opera Alliance, Nelsen has worked to uplift Asian artists, and to advocate for greater representation within the industry. She was recently featured in TIME Magazine and was the subject of an NHK World documentary centered on Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo’s opera An American Dream and Nelsen’s origination of the role of Hiroko Kobayashi at Seattle Opera.
A Boston University alumna, Nelsen received an undergraduate degree in violin and psychology in 2001 and a Master’s degree in voice in 2003. She also studied at Philadelphia’s prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts, where she received an Artist Diploma in 2009.
David Angus
Music Director
David Angus
DAVID ANGUS Now in his fifteenth year as Boston Lyric Opera’s music director, David Angus recently served as music director and conductor for the critically acclaimed online productions of desert in and The Fall of the House of Usher, as well as BLO’s backwards La Bohème and Anne Bogart’s striking production of Bluebeard’s Castle. In addition to his work with BLO, he just conducted a new Sweeney Todd at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, The Marriage of Figaro in Prague, and several recordings of new American works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Prior to his time at BLO, Angus was music director of The Glimmerglass Festival and Chief Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders. He has led orchestras and choirs throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, including the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and several Danish orchestras. Born in England, he has conducted most of the major orchestras in Great Britain, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, most of the BBC orchestras, the London Mozart Players, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He recently debuted with the Toscanini Orchestra in Parma and the Porto Symphony Orchestra in Portugal. He returned to Wexford Festival Opera, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the LPO, and the Huddersfield Choral Society, as well as to his former orchestra in Belgium. Angus was a boy chorister at King’s College under Sir David Willcocks and read music at Surrey University. He was a conducting fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for opera conducting.
Anne Bogart
Artistic Associate
Anne Bogart
ANNE BOGART last worked with BLO directing Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale. A professor at Columbia University, where she runs the graduate directing program, Bogart is the author of six books: A Director Prepares; The Viewpoints Book; And Then, You Act; Conversations with Anne; What’s the Story; and The Art of Resonance.
Recent theater works with SITI Company include Falling and Loving; The Bacchae; the theater is a blank page; Persians; Steel Hammer; A Rite; Café Variations; Trojan Women; American Document; Antigone; Freshwater Under Construction; Who Do You Think You Are; Radio Macbeth; Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman; La Dispute; Score; bobrauschenbergamerica; Room; War of the Worlds; Cabin Pressure; Alice’s Adventures; Culture of Desire; Bob; Going, Going, Gone; Small Lives/Big Dreams; The Medium; Hay Fever; Private Lives; Miss Julie; and Orestes. Opera credits include Tristan and Isolde, Croatian National Theatre; Macbeth, Glimmerglass Festival; Norma, Washington National Opera; I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Carmen, Glimmerglass Festival, Seven Deadly Sins, New York City Opera; and three operas by Deborah Drattell: Nicholas and Alexandra, Los Angeles Opera; Marina: A Captive Spirit, American Opera Projects; and Lilith, New York City Opera.
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Artistic Advisor
Vimbayi Kaziboni
Vimbayi Kaziboni has led many critically lauded performances with orchestras across the globe, performing at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Davies Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie, Deutschlandfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, and Sala São Paulo. Recent debuts include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonie Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Royal Concertgebouw. Recent engagements include performances with London Sinfonietta, Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Contrechamps, and International Contemporary Ensemble. He also served as Assistant Conductor for Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London. A former Fulbright Fellow, Kaziboni holds degrees from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK) in Germany. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Orchestral Studies and Contemporary Music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, a fellow at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and an Artistic Advisor of the Boston Lyric Opera.
John Conklin
Artistic Advisor
John Conklin
John Conklin has designed for the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Glimmerglass Opera, and the opera companies of Houston, Seattle, Dallas, Washington, and Minneapolis, among others. Abroad, he has worked at the English National Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opera Australia. In addition, he served as Director of Production for New York City Opera, Associate Director of Glimmerglass Opera, and he is currently Artistic Advisor to Boston Lyric Opera. He recently retired from teaching at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.