Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
Carousel
Music by
RICHARD RODGERS
Book and Lyrics by
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Based on Ferenc Molnar’s Play “Liliom“
As adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer
Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille
Conducted by David Angus
Directed by Anne Bogart
Production Choreography by Shura Baryshnikov
Co-Production with Boston Lyric Opera and Utah Opera
Emerson Colonial Theatre
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 7:30PM
Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 3:00PM
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 7:30PM
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 3:00PM
80th Anniversary Production
Running Time: 3 hours with 1 intermission
Nearly a century after premiering at the Colonial Theatre, Carousel has become one of the most beloved American musicals of all time. In this landmark 80th anniversary production, creative visionary and BLO Artistic Associate Anne Bogart stages a stunning and evocative tribute to this Rodgers & Hammerstein gem. Featuring unforgettable songs like “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” this timeless paean to the power of love and redemption is sure to sweep you off your feet.
Music Director David Angus conducts an exceptional cast featuring Brandie Sutton as Julie Jordan, Edward Nelson as Billy Bigelow, Jamie Barton as Nettie Fowler, and Anya Matanovič as Carrie Pipperidge.
CAROUSEL is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. www.concordtheatricals.com
Edward Nelson’s appearance as Billy Bigelow is supported by Peter Wender
Jamie Barton’s appearance as Nettie Fowler is supported by Katie and Paul Buttenwieser
“A revelatory production…a richly resonant and memorable experience!”
– Edge Media Network
“Breathtaking…a musical and theatrical event for the ages..”
– On Boston Stages
“Sparkles with originality, grit and passion…a beautiful pageant of a show.”
– Theater Mirror
Carousel is more than just a musical; it is a time capsule from 1945, carrying with it a sense of magic that transcends generations. Yet, as we view this material through our contemporary social lens, we must confront its problematic themes – domestic violence, cycles of poverty and crime, suicide, and toxic masculinity – issues that resonate strongly into day’s social and political climate. As artists and audiences alike engage with challenging subject matter, we are invited to question characters like Billy Bigelow – a morally ambiguous protagonist whose flaws prompt us to examine our own attractions to danger. This reflection is crucial as we navigate our own dilemmas in a world fraught with complexity.
Brandie Sutton | Julie Jordan
Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, soprano Brandie Inez Sutton enjoys success in opera, concerts, classical art songs, oratorio, spirituals, jazz and musical theater. She made her New York City Opera debut as Rautendelein in Respighi’s rarely-heard opera, La Campana Sommersa. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was as Clara in Porgy and Bess, and she has returned to the company to sing The Fairy Godmother in Cendrillon, among other roles. Recent additions to her operatic repertoire have included Violetta, La Traviata; Gilda, Rigoletto; Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos; Adina, L’elisir d’amore; and the title role in Joplin’s Treemonisha. She returns to Seattle Opera to sing Pamina in The Magic Flute, where previously sang Clara in Porgy and Bess and Musetta in La bohème. Ms. Sutton has appeared with the opera companies of Hamburg, Geneva, Dresden, Mexico City, Philadelphia, Virginia, Michigan, St. Louis, and Theater an der Wien (Vienna). Her concert appearances have included Carnegie Hall, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, and performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC; American Symphony Orchestra; Royal Danish Orchestra; the Bard Festival; and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Edward Nelson | Billy Bigelow
Winner of the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup and an alumnus of both the Merola Opera Program and the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, American baritone Edward Nelson is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting singers of his generation. This season, Mr. Nelson made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in La Cenerentola and returned to the Semperoper Dresden for the same production. He also returned to the Washington National Opera for Songbird. He recently made his debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in the new production of Terence Blanchard’s Champion, the Teatro del la Maestranza in Seville as Pelleas in Pelleas et Melisande, and at the Teatro Real in the title role of Glass’s Orphée. His many other engagements have included over 70 appearances on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House with the San Francisco Opera and productions at Opera Philadelphia, Palm Beach Opera, Detroit Opera, Norwegian Opera, and Ópera de Oviedo. A native of California, Mr. Nelson is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received further training at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Jamie Barton | Nettie Fowler
Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage – lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized communities. In recognition of her iconic performance at Last Night of the Proms, Ms. Barton was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards. She is also the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Her 2007 win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launched a major international career that includes leading roles at the world’s most-loved opera houses, including the Met, Royal Opera House, Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Unexpected Shadows, her critically acclaimed album with composer and pianist Jake Heggie, earned a 2022 Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
Anya Matanovič | Carrie Pipperidge
American soprano Anya Matanovič (ma-‘ta-no-vich) returns to The Metropolitan Opera during the 2023/24 season to cover Musetta, La bohème. She also sings Violetta, La traviata, Knoxville Opera; and Micäela, Carmen, Opera Santa Barbara.
A graduate of Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program, she has appeared with the company as Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Gretel, Hansel and Gretel; Marzelline, Fidelio; and Nanetta, Falstaff. Recent roles also include Wanda, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein and Papagena, Die Zauberflöte, Santa Fe Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera, she covered Violetta during the 2022/23 season, having previously sung the role with Utah Opera and Boston Lyric Opera.
Other engagements include Micaëla, Carmen, Glimmerglass Festival; Musetta, La bohème, New Israeli Opera; Mimì, La bohème, Opera Colorado; Isotta, Die Schweigsame Frau, Bard Summerscape; Anne Trulove, The Rake’s Progress, Boston Lyric Opera; and Stella, A Streetcar Named Desire, Kentucky Opera. Ms. Matanovič made her professional opera debut as Mimì in the Los Angeles commercial engagement of Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning production of La bohème.
Highlights of the soprano’s orchestral appearances include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony, Carmina Burana with Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with North Carolina Symphony.
Omar Najmi | Enoch Snow
This season, Boston-based tenor Omar Najmi debuts with Boston Baroque in Handel’s Messiah; LA Opera as Simon, Adoration; and Washington National Opera as a composer, where his new opera Mud Girl will be presented through the American Opera Initiative. He also appears at BachFest Leipzig and will be featured on Danaë Xanthe Vlasse’s upcoming album Mythlogies.
Recent engagements include Valcour, The Anonymous Lover, Boston Lyric Opera; Ruggero, La rondine, Opera on the James; Lord Byron, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (world premiere), Guerilla Opera; Alessandro, Il re pastore, Orpheus PDX; Rodolfo, La bohème, Opera Steamboat; Shakur, Thumbprint, Portland Opera; and Spearmint Lodge, The Artwork of the Future (world premiere), Fresh Squeezed Opera. He debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2018 and has toured with Video Games Live. Accolades include the Harold Norblom Award (Opera Colorado), Stephen Shrestinian Award (Boston Lyric Opera), and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellowship (Emmanuel Music).
As a composer, Najmi has written several operas, song cycles, and choral works, including my name is Alondra, Boston Lyric Opera; The Portrait, Atlanta Opera; The Last Invocation, Emmanuel Music; More Than Our Own Caves, Juventas New Music Ensemble; This Is Not That Dawn, Catalyst New Music; and Jo Dooba So Paar, White Snake Projects.
Markel Reed | Jigger Craigin
Baritone Markel Reed excels in concert, recital and opera performances throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
At the Metropolitan Opera, Reed performed with the ensemble in productions of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and sang in their Grammy®Award-winning Porgy and Bess in 2019. That same year, he created the role of Chester in Fire Shut Up in My Bones in its premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Recent highlights include singing as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Virginia Opera, Young Emile in Terence Blanchard’s Champion with Boston Lyric Opera, and Marcello in La bohème with Opera Steamboat. Concert highlights include soloist performances in Carmina Burana with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Wozzeck in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Toledo Symphony, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Charlotte Master Chorale, and a Bach and Margaret Bonds program with the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall. In the spring of 2023, Reed traveled to Switzerland to perform the role of Joey in The Time of our Singing at Theater St. Gallen.
Sarah Heltzel | Mrs. Mullin
Sarah Heltzel made her debut with Seattle Opera as Siegrune and Flosshilde in their acclaimed “Green” Ring cycle. Select opera credits include Offred, The Handmaid’s Tale, Australian Contemporary Opera Co.; Carmen, Carmen, Wichita Grand, Tacoma, Pacific Northwest, and Western Plains Operas, as well as Newport Festival; Eboli, Don Carlo, Wichita Grand Opera; Maddalena, Rigoletto, Wichita Grand Opera and The Box NYC; Suzuki, Madama Butterfly, Indianapolis Opera, Amarillo Opera, Syracuse Opera, Nevada Opera, and Opera on the James; Musetta, La bohème and Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, Opera on the James; Desirée and Charlotte, A Little Night Music, Syracuse Opera and Phoenicia Festival; and Siegrune, Die Walküre and Flora, La traviata, Seattle Opera. Select contemporary opera credits include Olga Finzi-Contini, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis; Ugly Duchess, Alice In Wonderland; Trio Alto, Angels in America; and Saleswoman, Brokeback Mountain, New York City Opera. She also sang Death in Tom Cipullo’s The Parting with Chelsea Opera, Caroline Herschel in Zaid Jabri’s Southern Crossings with Barnard/Center for Contemporary Opera, and Jo in Little Women with Opera on the James. This season, she also performs Musetta in La bohème with Western Plains Opera and Desirée Armfeldt in A Little Night Music with St. Petersburg Opera.
Lee Pelton | Starkeeper/Dr. Seldon
Lee Pelton, who was recognized in 2024 by Non-Profit Times in its list of America’s 50 most powerful and influential non-profit leaders, is the CEO & President of The Boston Foundation, which he joined in 2021 after serving as President of Emerson College (2011-2021) and Willamette University (1998-2011). Pelton has positioned The Boston Foundation as an agent for social change by centering equity and seeking to eliminate the structural and underlying causes of outcome disparities for historically marginalized communities.
Pelton holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Harvard University. He taught English and American literature at Harvard University, Colgate University, Dartmouth College, and Willamette University, also serving as a dean at Colgate and Dartmouth. He graduated from Wichita State University, located in his hometown.
He regularly seeks opportunities outside his “comfort zone,” such as his co-curation of Steve McQueen’s Lynching Tree exhibition with Peggy Fogelman of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Pelton has received many awards and recognitions for educational excellence and social justice and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He serves as an advisor to the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Project and sits on the Boards of The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Chamber of Commerce, WGBH, The Green Ribbon Commission, The Barr Foundation, and Urban Institute.
Theophile Victoria | David Bascombe
Theophile Victoria (Theo for short) is a Boston-based actor and dancer who was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. His aspiration as a performing artist is to thrive within a multitude of different performance spaces. He uses hip-hop as the base of his artistic practice, which guides exploration of everything art has to offer. Mr. Victoria’s stage experience ranges from Shakespearean tragedies to dance concerts, dance theatre, and film acting. His enthusiastic and open-minded approach to theatre has led to impactful experiences for audience and cast members alike.
Tyler Dobies | Policeman
Tyler Dobies is an esteemed actor originally from the American Pacific Northwest. He is honored to join Boston Lyric Opera for their production of Carousel. Dobies has performed with theaters across the country including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Village Theatre, Imagination Stage, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and Constellation Theatre Company, among others. Most recently, Dobies performed performed in the Washington D.C. regional premiere of Disney’s Frozen as Pabbie at Olney Theatre Center. Last year, Dobies performed in the national tour of Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School with TheaterWorksUSA. Dobies was also nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical for his performance as Michael in Monumental Theatre Company’s tick, tick…BOOM! Finally, you can hear him on the podcast E-Ticket to Broadway, where he brings a special mouse to life. Dobies is an alumnus of Pacific Lutheran University and New York University: Steinhardt.
Devon Russo | 1st Man
Bass-baritone Devon Russo performs frequently as a soloist and ensemble member in opera, contemporary music, and early music throughout the United States and abroad. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, The Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Lyric Opera, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Seraphic Fire, Boston Baroque, Trinity Repertory Company, the Chorus of Westerly, and the Rhode Island Civic Chorale. He is also a current choral fellow at Marsh Chapel and is the 2023 winner of the American Prize in Voice (Friedrich & Virginia Schorr Memorial Award, Men’s Division). He has participated in the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Source Song Festival, Orford Musique, Voces8 Scholars Programme, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Boston Early Music Festival Young Artist Program. Russo earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University, his Master’s in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and his Bachelor’s in vocal performance and education from the University of Rhode Island. Russo is currently an Artist/Teacher in Classical Voice at the University of Rhode Island, where he also directs the opera theatre. He is also the Director of Choral Activities at Bryant University.
Fred C. VanNess, Jr. | 2nd Man
Fred C. VanNess, Jr. is a 2024/25 Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, where he sang Messenger, Aida. Past performances include Paris, Romeo and Juliet, Boston Lyric Opera; Amadou/Renty, Omar, Boston Lyric Opera; Russell Davenport, Freedom Ride, MassOpera; Voltaire/Pangloss, Candide, Opera del West; Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni, Toronto Summer Opera; Don José, Carmen, NEMPAC Opera Project; and Rodolfo, La bohème, Longwood Opera. Mr. VanNess is a member of Castle of our Skins, an organization dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music. Recent performances include Remember the Sea, Castle of our Skins; Tide Flowers, University of Rhode Island Artist Series; Elijah, Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra; Ballad of the Brown King, Portsmouth Pro Musica; Schöpfungsmesse, Concord Chorale; Judas Maccabeus, Handel by Candlelight; and solo recitals with Lake Charles Symphony, Salem Philharmonic, and Coushatta Casino Resort. Mr. VanNess has developed and performed two one-man shows: When I Think of Home…, McNeese State University; and Beethoven to Broadway, Larcom Theatre. He received his GPD from Longy School of Music and MM from Louisiana State University. He was awarded first place for the North Shore Star and is a recipient of The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Career Grant.
Alexander Davis | Captain
Alexander Davis (He/Him) is a Boston-based choreographer, fiber artist, and performer dedicated to subverting expectations, heightening the pedestrian, and amplifying queer narratives. His work spans contemporary dance, theatre, and visual arts, engaging audiences through humor, physicality, and storytelling. Davis has collaborated with Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Children’s Chorus, Global Arts Live, Improv Asylum, Emmanuel Music, and Ryan Landry’s Gold Dust Orphans. He was a company member with Urbanity Dance (2015-19) and assisted choreographer Monica Bill Barnes on Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019). A City of Boston Artist Fellow (2019), Davis’ choreographic and fiber art practices have received support from The Studios at Mass MoCA, The Boston Foundation, NEFA, The City of Boston, and The Theater Offensive. His fiber series Federation of Athletic Gentlemen (F.A.G.) was recently exhibited at Childs Gallery, where he has also curated exhibitions on queer and male physique photography. As one half of The Davis Sisters with collaborator Joy Davis, he has received Creative Residencies at The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Bates Dance Festival, Wesleyan Center for the Arts, and more. In 2023, Davis earned his MFA from Smith College, where he was a Teaching Fellow (2021-23).
Sabrina Lobner | Principal
Sabrina Lobner received her training from the Northwest Florida Ballet. Upon graduating high school, she accepted an invitation to join Martha Graham Dance Company’s second company, Graham 2. Lobner has since performed in Dior’s “Carousel of Dreams”, Die schweigsame Frau with Bard SummerScape, La Traviata with Seattle Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Carousel with The Wick Theatre, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with The Wick Theatre. Her television work comprises HBO’s The Plot Against America and Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Lobner choreographed her first evening-length work, If I Reach You, while attending Sarah Lawrence College. She was selected to present a new full-length work, Little Marble Kisses, at The Tank NYC. Additional choreographic credits include commissions for Westchester Ballet Company and Northwest Florida Ballet, contributing choreography for The Mechanicals Theater Co. in NYC, and premiering Drink Me in Developments: Original Works by New York Choreographers, a festival she produced.
Angela Yam | Heavenly Friend #1
Soprano Angela Yam has sung with the New York City Ballet, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Baroque, Chautauqua Opera, and Opera Saratoga. She is honored to return to Boston Lyric Opera as an Emerging Artist for the 2024/25 season, performing the role of Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate. Recent credits include the title role of Cavalli’s La Calisto, Opera Memphis; Josephine Young (cover) in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier, PAC NYC; Johanna, Sweeney Todd, Chautauqua Opera and Opera Saratoga; and Diana, Iphigénie en Tauride, Boston Baroque. She has premiered several operas, including Kenji Oh’s The Emissary, Opera Parallèle; Ellis Ludwig-Leone’s The Night Falls, BalletCollective; and Jones & Tinley’s ICELAND, Overtone Industries.
Yam’s solo concert appearances include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, New York City Ballet; Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Opera Saratoga; and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, Music at Co-Cath. Yam was a New York City District winner in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and her self-directed visual recital was awarded 3rd place in the 2022 American Prize Competition.
Abigail Marie Curran | Louise
Abigail Marie Curran is a dancer, singer, and actor who enjoys performing in commercial and contemporary work on stages ranging from The Kennedy Center to Radio City Music Hall. Curran has danced across the country with acclaimed choreographers such as Camille A. Brown, Stephen Petronio, Dwight Rhoden, and Sean Curran. Her favorite theatrical roles in regional productions include Louise in Carousel, Georgette in Amélie, and Kristine in A Chorus Line. Film credits include Kindred Bodies and Liberated directed by Tony Wang, within which her performance earned her recognition in the Directors Notes Film Festival and New York No Limits Film Series. She holds a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is thrilled to be making her Boston Lyric Opera debut.
John Robert Sasso | Enoch Snow, Jr.
John Robert (JR) Sasso is thrilled to make his Boston Lyric Opera debut! Last summer, he trained at NYU Tisch’s New Studio for Musical Theatre, working with top industry professionals in an intensive conservatory-style program. A senior at Landmark School in Beverly, MA, Sasso will begin pursuing a BFA in musical theatre with a minor in dance at Nazareth University this fall, striving to grow as a well-rounded performer. Recent credits include Gomez, The Addams Family; Ren, Footloose; Squidward, The SpongeBob Musical; Charlie Brown, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Carlos, Descendants; and Adam, Freaky Friday. Sasso has been the resident choreographer at the New England School of Performing Arts for three years, teaching musical theatre dance to students of all levels. His choreography blends storytelling with strong technique, ensuring movement serves character and narrative. Sasso is a member of the Landmark Theater and Dance Company and re-established the Landmark Dance Club. He has also choreographed at North Shore Music Theatre and North Andover High School and taught at Landmark’s Tot Spot. Sasso is passionate about mentoring young performers and helping them build confidence and artistry through dance.
Olivia Moon | Dancer
While pole dance has become most of their identity, Olivia Moon is also a photographer, sock-lover, martini enthusiast, princess, and simp. Based in Boston, Moon is curious about pushing boundaries and buttons of all sorts; in 2022, WBUR named her as one of 15 artists of color making an impact in Boston. It’s the closest to 30 under 30 she’ll ever get. With movement and visual arts as vehicles, Moon finds nourishment beyond herself where weightlessness meets seemingly impossible feats. Through an experimental approach to pole dance, they use the pole as a vessel for exploring genderless sensuality and creating flows and shapes that are open to interpretation. Currently, Moon is exploring collaborative group pole installations and trying to stay afloat.
Jay León | Dancer
Jay León is a dancer, choreographer, and director from the New England and East Coast region. León has trained and studied in a number of prestigious institutions and programs such as Ballet RI (formerly Festival Ballet Providence), Marymount Manhattan College, Stacey Tookey’s Camp Protégé, CLI Conservatory under the direction of Teddy Forance, and the New England-based dance crew Liv3lihood. León has had experience through these training experiences and professionally to work on both stage and camera. She was featured in a Bose ad campaign, has directed and/or choreographed various personal concept videos and other New England music artists’ music videos, taught in several studios and schools, and performed in a number of productions with Boston Lyric Opera.
Cassie Wang | Dancer
Cassie Wang is a multidisciplinary artist exploring various mediums within the framework of contemporary dance performance. Originally from Kansas City, she earned her B.A. from Pomona College in computer science with minors in dance and media studies. As a performer, Wang is a movement researcher at the Partnering Lab and a principal dancer with KAIROS Dance Theater. Her other recent performance and collaboration credits include Boston Lyric Opera, DREAMGLOW Band, Dogs Eat Wind, Dafi Altabeb, and Ilya Vidrin. Wang is the current Dancemakers Resident at the Boston Center for the Arts, a 2024/25 Next Steps for Boston Dance grant recipient, and a 2025 danceWEB Scholar. She was previously a BCA Dance Lab Resident, an inaugural MIDDAY Movement Series Rough Drafts Artist, and her work has been presented by Arrow Street Arts, Cotuit Dance Festival, Asian American Ballet Project, and Resilience Dance Company. Her artistic endeavors embody a relentless pursuit for an understanding of Self in relation to surrounding circumstances and works to capture feelings of chance and existential intimacy.
David Angus | Conductor
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 | Stage Director
Anne Bogart last worked with BLO directing Bluebeard’s Castle | Four Songs. 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.
Shura Baryshnikov | Choreographer
Shura Baryshnikov is a New England-based artist who works broadly across dance, theatre, and opera. Baryshnikov co-founded the contemporary dance project Doppelgänger Dance Collective and the contact improvisation research and performance ensemble setGo. Choreographic and performance credits include projects at Hartford Stage Company, Trinity Repertory Company, FirstWorks, Motion State Arts, Emmanuel Music, Urbanity Dance, The Gamm Theatre, Odyssey Opera, and the Contemporary American Theater Festival, among others. Baryshnikov directed Svadba, a cinematic opera for Boston Lyric Opera, which received the award for Artistic Creation at the 2nd Annual OPERA America Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera in 2023, and she was the movement designer for Anne Bogart’s 2019 Boston Lyric Opera production of The Handmaid’s Tale. Baryshnikov is an Associate Professor of the Practice at Brown University in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, where she has been on faculty since 2011. Both a performer and a designer, Baryshnikov is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the American Guild of Musical Artists, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Sara Brown | Set Designer
Sara Brown (she/her) is a set designer for theatre, opera, and dance. Designs for Boston Lyric opera include Fellow Travelers, Champion, and Bluebeard | Four Songs. Other designs include Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and Pride and Prejudice at the Hartford Stage Company; The Lehman Trilogy and Common Ground: Revisited at the Huntington Theatre Company; The Day at Jacob’s Pillow; Hagoromo at The Brooklyn Academy of Music; Fellow Travelers and La rondine at Minnesota Opera; World of Wires at The Kitchen in NYC and Festival d’Automne in Paris; Prince of Providence at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI; Der Freischütz with Heartbeat Opera in NYC; and The Mother of Us All at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her virtual and online designs include set design for The Other Shore, a virtual reality dance performance developed with the dance and visual art company zoe/juniper and the production design for an online film version of the play Fat Ham produced by the Wilma in Philadelphia. She is an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Music and Theater Arts.
Haydee Zelideth | Costume Designer
Haydee Zelideth is a Chicana artist and costume designer. Clothes carry on public conversations with others and share stories about who we are, who we are not, and who we wish to be. They are a means of exploring how image can open up perceptions of race, class, socioeconomic status, and more – all of which is what most interests her. She grew up on both sides of the Mexican border and these experiences inform her point of view and how she approaches her work, giving depth, dimension, and color to the specificities of someone’s life.
Brian H Scott | Lighting Designer
Brian H Scott, a lighting designer based in New York City, recently designed The Handmaid’s Tale and Bluebeard’s Castle | Four Songs with Anne Bogart and Boston Lyric Opera; Tristan and Isolde with Anne Bogart and the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka; the theatre is a blank page with Ann Hamilton and SITI Company; Lost In the Stars for LA Chamber Orchestra; Falling and Loving with Elizabeth Streb and SITI Company; as well as a number of projects with Kronos Quartet. He created lighting for Tears become…Streams become, Bound to Hurt, and Neck of the Woods with artist Douglas Gordon; and habitus and The Event Of A Thread with Ann Hamilton. He designed lighting for Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet’s Landfall. As a SITI Company member, he designed lighting for Chess Match No.5 and Steel Hammer with Bang on a Can All Stars; American Document with Martha Graham Dancers; as well as bobrauschenbergamerica, The Bacchae, Trojan Women, and many others.
Earon Chew Nealey | Wig & Makeup Designer
Earon Chew Nealey is an Obie Award-winning and Drama Desk-nominated hair, wig, and makeup designer. Her Broadway credits include Fat Ham (Associate Designer), Macbeth, Chicken and Biscuits, and Sweat. Other credits include Diary of a Tap Dancer with A.R.T.; Sojourners, Toni Stone, Fat Ham, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone with The Huntington; Bad Kreyól and Three Houses with Signature Theatre; Table 17 (Makeup Design) with MCC; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Malvolio, and Twelfth Night with Classical Theatre of Harlem; Hamlet, The Harder They Come, Fat Ham, Cullud Wattah, and Mojada with Public Theater; Dames at Sea and Kinky Boots with Bucks County Playhouse; Last Supper with SOPAC; On Killing with Soho Rep; Little Girl Blue with Goodspeed and New World Stages; Meet Vera Stark and Matilda with Colorado University; On Sugarland with NYTW; Nina Simone: Four Women with Berkshire Theatre Group; Little Women with Dallas Theater Center; Oklahoma! and Patsy Cline with Weston Playhouse; Memphis and Dream Girls with Cape Fear Regional Theatre; and Cadillac Crew and Twelfth Night with Yale Rep.
Angie Jepson | Intimacy Director / Fight Director
Angie Jepson is an intimacy director, fight choreographer, actress, and professor based in the Boston area. She is thrilled to return to the BLO after serving as Intimacy Director on Mitridate, Bluebeard’s Castle | Four Songs, La Cenerentola, and The Anonymous Lover. Her fight and intimacy work has been seen onstage at theaters including the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Huntington Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Central Square Theater, and at several universities in the Boston area. She is currently on the faculty of the Brown/Trinity MFA Acting program, and at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she teaches in the theatre and opera departments. She is a certified intimacy director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, and a certified teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. She holds an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University.
Steve Colby | Sound Engineer/Consultant
Steve Colby is the principal sound reinforcement engineer for the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra and has designed and mixed for numerous tours of the U.S. and Japan. He has provided design, mixing, and consulting services for the Atlanta, Baltimore, Utah, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and American Symphony Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. Notable projects include a production of the Bernstein Mass with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Other sound reinforcement projects have included sound design and mixing for an outdoor Boston Lyric Opera production of Carmen that drew an audience of 170,000 over 2 performances; and a stadium performance of Aida in Shanghai, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest opera production ever mounted. During the pandemic, Colby designed and mixed outdoor performances for Tulsa Opera and Opera Theatre St. Louis. He toured internationally as sound mixer for the “Star Wars in Concert” tour. In 2012, he was the orchestra mixer for Barbra Streisand’s “Back to Brooklyn” tour. Recording credits range from Aerosmith to Peter, Paul and Mary; and Andy Williams to Phish. His mixing credits for radio and television include the PBS series Evening At Pops, James Taylor, BB King, Bonnie Raitt.
Emerson Colonial Theatre
106 Boylston Street | Boston, MA 02116
