Daughter of the Regiment
Music by Gaetano Donizetti | Libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-François Bayard
Performed in English based on the G. Schirmer, Inc. translation by Ruth & Thomas Martin
Revised for this production by John de los Santos
New English Dialogue by Kirsten Greenidge
Conducted by Kelly Kuo | Directed by John de los Santos
Emerson Colonial Theatre
Friday, April 24 | 7:30pm
Sunday, April 26 | 3:00pm
Friday, May 1 | 7:30pm
Sunday, May 3 | 3:00pm
Love, liberty, and laughs— a revolutionary comedy for America’s 250th.
Laughter meets revolutionary spirit in BLO’s staging of Donizetti’s glorious comedy. Inspired by the life of Deborah Sampson, the Massachusetts revolutionary who disguised herself as a man to fight for independence, this production transports us to Revolutionary-era Boston, telling a heartfelt tale of love and loyalty to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. With a new English dialogue by Kirsten Greenidge, it’s a patriotic toast to America at 250—and to the rebels who shaped it.
The participation of Kirsten Greenidge is supported in part by an Anonymous Donor.
Brenda Rae | Marie
With dazzling coloratura and an unflinching dramatic commitment to the eclectic roles she brings to life, Brenda Rae continues to triumph on the world’s leading stages. She returns to Boston Lyric Opera after her electric debut as Aspasia in BLO’s 2024 production of Mitridate. This season brings important new challenges for Rae at Teatro Real and Palau de la Música, where she sings Petra in the world premiere of Francisco Coll’s setting of Ibsen’s An enemy of the people. At the Grand Theâtre de Genève, she embraces the surreal world of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels making its Swiss premiere. Back home in the United States, Rae returns to her bel canto roots as Rossini’s Madame Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims for Opera Philadelphia and as Donizetti’s high-flying eponymous Marie in Daughter of the Regiment for Boston Lyric Opera. Recent European highlights include a long-awaited return to Oper Frankfurt as Lulu in Nadja Loschky’s new production conducted by Thomas Guggeis, as well as Aminta in Jan Philipp Gloger’s new production of Die schweigsame Frau for Staatsoper Unter den Linden under Christian Thielemann. Elsewhere, Rae returned to the role of Gilda in Rigoletto for Deutsche Oper Berlin under Michele Spotti, and Opernhaus Zürich with Andrea Sanguineti.
Spencer Britten | Tonio
Chinese-Canadian tenor Spencer Britten is a former member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, where his assignments included Janek Prus in a new production of The Makropulos Affair, Erste Priester in Die Zauberflöte, Haushofmeister bei Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, Silango in Le Cinesi, Kalil in Die arabische Nacht, Postiglione in La fanciulla del West, Offizier in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Borsa in Rigoletto. He recently made his house and role debut at the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, singing Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri. Britten’s 2025/26 season includes a role and house debut as Tonio in Daughter of the Regiment with Boston Lyric Opera; concert performances of Carmina Burana and Turandot (role debut of Pong) with the Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes; and a return to the Hungarian State Opera for Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri. Recent highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the Vancouver Bach Choir under Leslie Dala; The Philadelphia Orchestra for a return collaboration with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; covering Don Ottavio at The Glyndebourne Festival; covering Tonio in La fille du régiment at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Messiah with Orchestre Métropolitain at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal; and Pepe/Official in Opera Southwest’s production of Before Night Falls
Kenneth Kellogg | Sulpice
Bass Kenneth Kellogg’s recent career highlights include his recent Wagner debut as Fafner in a celebrated new production of Das Rheingold at Seattle Opera, where he also made his debut in the title role in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. Other recent appearances include Il Re in Aida in concert at Detroit Opera, Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Pocket Opera, and Logger in Bulrusher at West Edge Opera. Current season appearances include Ramfis in Aida at Daytona Opera, Kourouscha in Dédé’s rarely heard Morgiane in a co-production between Louisiana Philharmonic and Opera Lafayette, and in his return to Washington National Opera in his debut as Crown in Porgy and Bess.
A significant feature of Kellogg’s last three seasons is the role of Father in Blue, named the best new opera of 2020 by the Music Critics Association of North America, a role written for him by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson. Kellogg sang the role in its world premiere at Glimmerglass Festival, then at Detroit Opera, Toledo Opera, Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Washington National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, with international appearances at Dutch National Opera in Holland, and at London’s English National Opera.
Sandra Piques Eddy | Widow Birkenfeld
Sandra Piques Eddy returns to Boston Lyric Opera after her enthusiastically received performance as Dorothée in BLO’s 2024 production of The Anonymous Lover. Past roles with BLO include Dorabella, Così fan tutte; Charlotte, Werther; Varvara, Kátya Kabanová; Idamante, Idomeneo; and her company debut in 2000 as Kate Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly. Ms. Eddy is a Boston native whose operatic career has taken her to renowned stages worldwide. Recently, she sang Carmen, Carmen, Opera in the Park in Portland, Oregon; Little Buttercup, HMS Pinafore, Opera Grand Rapids; and Aunt March, Little Women, Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Ms. Eddy’s career is marked by standout performances including Rosina, Il barbiere di Siviglia; Isabella, L’italiana in Algeri; Paula, Florencia en al Amazonas; Poppea, L’incoronazione di Poppea; Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice; Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro; Maddalena, Rigoletto; and Desirée, A Little Night Music at companies such as Vancouver Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Colorado, Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Austin Opera, Portland Opera, Opera North UK, New Zealand Opera, and Hyogo Performing Arts in Japan. A celebrated Carmen, Ms. Eddy has performed the role with numerous companies and orchestras, most notably two tours of Japan with legendary Maestro Seiji Ozawa.
Angela Yam | Hortensia
Angela Yam returns as a BLO Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist for the 2025/26 Season as Second Apparition in Macbeth and Hortensia in Daughter of the Regiment, also covering Marie. Her debut as Ismene in BLO’s 2024 production of Mitridate was awarded the Boston Globe’s Best Breakout Performance in a Supporting Role and featured on the cover of Opera Magazine. Her 2024/25 season included the title role in La Calisto, Opera Memphis; Liesgen, Coffee Cantata, Boston Baroque and North Star Baroque; Horse and Rabbit, The Big Swim, Asia Society Texas/Houston Grand Opera; and Heavenly Friend 1 and Carrie Pipperidge (cover), Carousel, Boston Lyric Opera. Past roles include Johanna, Sweeney Todd, Chautauqua Opera and Opera Saratoga; Josephine Young (cover), An American Soldier, PAC NYC; Cobweb, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Santa Fe Opera; and Diana, Iphigénie en Tauride, Boston Baroque. 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. As a composer, Yam’s output includes art songs, chamber/dance works, and operas for Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, Catalyst New Music, Boston Opera Collaborative, songSLAM NYC, Robert Moses’ Kin, SMFA at Tufts, and DREAMGLOW.
Neal Ferreira | Duchesse de Krakenthorpe
Neal Ferreira is a nationally recognized lyric tenor known for his dynamic stage presence and cultivated vocalism. A recipient of the 2009 Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence and a member of the inaugural class of the Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artists Initiative, he has appeared with Boston Lyric Opera in more than 25 productions. Favorite roles with the company include Loud Stone in Eurydice, Auctioneer/Taylor in Omar, Jazz Trio in Trouble in Tahiti, The Visitor in In the Penal Colony, Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and Tancredi in The Inspector. Most recently, he was the Emcee for BLO’s Opera Gala 2025. Ferreira regularly sings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and this past summer performed as Spoletta in Tosca at Tanglewood under the baton of Maestro Andris Nelsons. He recently appeared with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project as Aubrey in Ulysses Kay’s Frederick Douglass and with Odyssey Opera as Alpheus/Ares in Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata. This season, he returned to the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company as Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol, sang Iopas in Les Troyens à Carthage with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and performs as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in BLO’s new production of Daughter of the Regiment. Ferreira is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music.
Devon Russo | Corporal
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, 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 Internationalen Sommerakademie am Mozarteum Salzburg, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Source Song Festival, Orford Musique, Voces8 Scholars Programme, Aspen Music Festival & School, and the Boston Early Music Festival Young Artist Program. Russo earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University, his master’s degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and education from the University of Rhode Island. Russo is currently an Artist-Teacher in Classical Voice and director of Opera Theatre at the University of Rhode Island; he is also the Director of Choral Activities at Bryant University. www.devonrusso.com
Kelly Kuo | Conductor
Currently Music Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Associate Artistic Director of American Lyric Theater, Kelly Kuo has consistently championed the development of the next generation of musical talent and demonstrated a commitment to innovative programming, creative initiatives, and advocacy for underrepresented voices in the concert hall. Maestro Kuo brings a dynamic versatility and nuance to a diverse repertoire. Highlights of recent seasons include productions with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, and concerts with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Sunriver Music Festival, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Walla Walla Symphony, Olympia Symphony Orchestra, and Ballet Fantastique. Maestro Kuo is the first conductor of Asian descent to lead a performance at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He was also named Emeritus Artistic Director of the Oregon Mozart Players after having served the longest tenure in the organization’s history. Kuo continues to concertize as a keyboardist as the only pianist to have studied with two pupils of the Russian virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz.
John de los Santos | Stage Director/Choreographer
Director/choreographer John de los Santos’ productions include Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun, Santa Fe Opera (world premiere); Ghosts (San Diego Opera, world premiere); Don Giovanni and Carmen, Wolf Trap Opera; Before Night Falls, Opera Southwest; L’heure espagnole, New Camerata Opera; Frida, Opera Orlando; Maria de Buenos Aires, Fort Worth Opera; and La fille du regiment, Minnesota Opera. He has directed for The Julliard School, The Yale School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. As a librettist, his collaborations with composer Clint Borzoni include When Adonis Calls, Asheville Lyric Opera; The Copper Queen, Arizona Opera; and The Christmas Spider, Opera Louisiane. His commission by Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative with Christopher Weiss, Service Provider, premiered at the Kennedy Center and has since had twenty productions nationwide. In 2020, UrbanArias commissioned John and Marc Migó to write an operatic film for the Decameron Opera Coalition. Their piece, The Roost, was added to the Library of Congress archives. De los Santos’ and Jorge Sosa’s opera Ofrenda won Austin Opera’s Opera ATX Residencies for Latinx Creatives. De los Santos is a librettist with Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative, where he and Kamala Sankaram are creating an opera of Stephen King’s Misery.
Kirsten Greenidge | Librettist
Village Voice/Obie and PEN America/Laura Pels winner Kirsten Greenidge is the author of The Luck of the Irish, Milk Like Sugar, Our Daughters Like Pillars and Common Ground: Revisited, an adaptation of J. Anthony Lucas’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book about Boston’s desegregation efforts in the 1970s. A hallmark of Greenidge’s work is her focus on the nexus of race, class, and gender in the U.S. Recent work includes Matilde: A Fable, last seen at the 2025 DNA Festival at La Jolla Playhouse; and her libretto adaptation for Boston Lyric Opera’s 2024 production of Joseph Bologne’s The Anonymous Lover, which was subsequently presented at Opera Philadelphia in winter 2025. Greenidge is an Associate Professor of theatre at the School of Theatre at Boston University, where she oversees the playwriting track of study and serves as the school’s director. She attended Wesleyan University and the Playwrights’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. She is currently working on commissions from Plays-in-Place, A.R.T., and Fourth Wall Theatricals, for which she is developing the musical Shelter, based on the journalism of Lauren Sandler, with music and lyrics by Crystal Monee Hall and direction by Lorin Latarro. Shelter will be workshopped at New York Stage and Film in summer 2025.
Liliana Duque Piñeiro | Set Designer
Liliana Duque Piñeiro is a set designer and sculptor. Recent opera productions include Dolores, co-produced by West Edge Opera, Opera Southwest, and San Diego Opera; Farolitos and Before Night Falls for Opera Southwest; Zorro and Florencia en el Amazonas for Opera San José; Carmen for Charlottesville Opera; Le Comte Ory for the Merola Opera Program; Don Giovanni for Minnesota Opera; Julius Caesar and Ariane & Bluebeard for West Edge Opera; Thumbprint and Tosca for Chautauqua Opera; La traviata for Fort Worth Opera; The Copper Queen, a film produced by Arizona Opera; Il postino, co-produced by Virginia Opera, Opera Southwest, and Chicago Opera Theatre; the world premiere of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun for Santa Fe Opera; and the world premiere of If I Were You by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer for the Merola Opera Program. Upcoming productions include Romeo and Juliet for Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Rinaldo for West Edge Opera.
Oana Botez | Costume Designer
Oana Botez is a Romanian American costume designer working in theatre, opera, film, and dance. She is a recipient of the Lucille Lortel, Obie, Henry Hewes, Princess Grace, and Barrymore Awards, and a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program. Her US theatre credits include projects for BAM, The Public Theater, LCT3, Signature Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, The Kitchen, The Joyce Theater, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, and Wilma Theater. In the realm of opera, she has designed for Detroit Opera, The Industry LA, Alice Tully Hall/Lincoln Center, Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Portland Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Prototype NY, National Sawdust, REDCAT, BAM, Wolf Trap Opera, NY Philharmonic, and Château de Versailles. Internationally, she has worked with Bucharest National Theatre, The Old Vic, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Les Subsistances, Budapest National Theatre, The International Festival of Contemporary Theatre (Turkey), Le Quartz (France), La Filature (France), and Exit Festival/Maison des arts de Créteil (France). Ms. Botez teaches at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale in the Design Department.
Reza Behjat | Lighting Designer
Reza Behjat is an Obie Award-winning lighting designer based in New York City. He began his career in Iran, collaborating with the country’s most prominent theatre artists before transitioning to the U.S. His work has been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at regional theaters nationwide, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Atlantic Theater Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, Steppenwolf, Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. While his primary practice is theatrical design, Behjat’s storytelling is deeply rooted in his background as a director. This dual perspective allows him to look beyond the visual, bringing a sharp sensitivity to dramaturgy and directorial vision. Dedicated to the development of new work and devised theatre, he balances his passion for directing with his career as a collaborative designer. Behjat won an Obie Award in the design category for his work on two productions of English and Wish You Were Here in 2023. Additionally, alongside the cast and the creative team of English, he received a Special Citation from the Obie Award. Other accolades include the Knight of Illumination award for Nina Simone: Four Women and nominations for the Drama Desk, Henry Hewes Design Awards, and Jeff Awards.
Earon Chew Nealey | Wig & Makeup Designer
Earon Chew Nealey returns to Boston Lyric Opera, having previously served as Wig & Makeup Designer for BLO’s Carousel (2025), The Seasons (2025), and La bohème (2022). Her numerous design credits include Fat Ham and Waterfall, WP Theater; Almost Famous and Jersey Boys, ACT of Connecticut; Huzzah, The Old Globe; Camelot and Blues for an Alabama Sky, Barrington; Two Strangers and Diary of a Tap Dancer, A.C.T.; The Grove, Sojourners, Toni Stone, Fat Ham, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Huntington; Bad Kreyól and Three Houses, The Signature Theatre; Table 17 (Makeup Design), MCC Theater; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Malvolio, and Twelfth Night, Classical Theatre of Harlem; Hamlet, The Harder They Come, Fat Ham, Cullud Wattah, and Mojada, The Public Theater; Dames at Sea and Kinky Boots, Bucks County Playhouse; The Last Supper, SOPAC; On Killing, Soho Rep; Little Girl Blue, Goodspeed and New World Stages; Meet Vera Stark and Matilda, Colorado University; On Sugarland, NYTW; Nina Simone: Four Women, Berkshire Theatre Group; Little Women, Dallas Theater Center; Oklahoma!, and Always… Patsy Cline, Weston Playhouse; Memphis and Dream Girls, Cape Fear Regional Theatre; and Cadillac Crew and Twelfth Night, Yale Rep.
Angie Jepson | Intimacy Director/Fight Choreographer
Angie Jepson is an intimacy director, fight choreographer, and professor based in the Boston area. She is thrilled to return to the BLO after serving as the fight choreographer and intimacy director for Macbeth, Mitridate, and Carousel, as well as the intimacy director on The Anonymous Lover, La Cenerentola, and Bluebeard’s Castle | Four Songs. 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 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.
Emerson Colonial Theatre
106 Boylston Street | Boston, MA 02116
