Michael Mayes as Don Giovanni
With a strong voice and even stronger sense of drama, baritone Michael Mayes is making waves in the opera world for his command of the stage and attractive masculine presence. Originally from Conroe, Texas, Michael has performed with several opera companies across the United States including Madison Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Skylight Opera, Opera Theatre Highland Park, Central City Opera, Union Avenue Opera Theatre, and
Fort Worth Opera. In the 2008-2009 season Mr. Mayes will sing the title role in Don Giovanni with Connecticut Opera, Marcello in La bohème with Skylight Opera Theater, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore with Eugene Opera, and Morales in Carmen and Motorcycle Cop in Dead Man Walking with Fort Worth Opera. Additional upcoming engagements include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Arizona Opera. [ read more ]

Jason Hardy as Leporello
Of his debut with New York City Opera in Acis and Galatea, Opera News remarked that the role of Polyphemus was “brilliantly played by Jason Hardy."

Recent credits for Mr. Hardy include the title role in (Le nozze di Figaro) with Cleveland Opera, Leporello (Don Giovanni) with Orlando Opera, Colline ( La Bohème ) with Berkshire Opera, Basilio (Barber of Seville) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto) with Opera Birmingham, Don Alfonso (Così fan Tutte) with Connecticut Opera, Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’Amore) with Cleveland Opera, 5th Jew (Salome) with Baltimore Opera, Colline (La Bohème) with Palm Beach Opera, Frank (Die Fledermaus) with the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, an opera gala with Opéra de Montréal, as well as Judge Turpin (Sweeney Todd) and Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola) with Wolf Trap Opera. Other roles have included Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Uberto (La Serva Padrona), Crespel (The Tales of Hoffmann), and the Count in Manon. Mr. Hardy has also sung the role of Parsons under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel in the pre-production recording of his new opera, 1984. Upcoming operatic engagements include Cadmus/Somnus (Semele) with Florentine Opera, Colline (La Bohème) with Nashville Opera, and Leporello (Don Giovanni) with Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. [ read more ]

Francesca Mondanaro as Donna Anna
Most recently named a 2007 Grant Winner from the Olga Forrai Foundation and reviewed in Opera News as being "destined for bigger houses," Francesca performed the role Isabella in La Grazie di Isabella for Teatro Peroglesi in Italy for the 2007 Spontini Festival and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana for New Jersey State Opera, as well as being featured in scenes from Norma for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation concert series. Upcoming events for the 2008-2009 season include singing the title role of Norma in concert for the Calvary Music Recital series, covering the title role of Norma for Baltimore Opera under Maestro Christian Badea, performing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Baltimore Concert Opera and featured in concert with the Bach Society of New York. [ read more ]

Steven Sanders as Don Ottavio
Tenor Steven Sanders has performed with many prestigious opera companies including New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Boston, Chautauqua Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Amarillo Opera, and the Opera Institute at Boston University. In the Spring of 2008 he made his New York City Opera debut in Purcell’s King Arthur.

A native of Chickasha, OK, Mr. Sanders holds degrees in Music Education from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma from which he received the 2004 Distinguished Young Alumni Award. He received his Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University and a Certificate of Performance from Boston University. His repertoire includes many mainstream roles and also lesser performed roles such as Chairman Mao in Nixon In China by John Adams, Galileo in Galileo Galilei by Philip Glass, Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie, and The Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten.
[ read more ]

Kyle Engler as Donna Elvira
Proclaimed “a virtuoso of a high order” by the Baltimore Sun, mezzo soprano Kyle Engler has been praised for her extreme versatility in opera, oratorio, and chamber music.  As a performer on the opera stage, she has sung the roles of the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, Charlotte in Werther, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Mercedes in Carmen, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro to name a few.  In January, 2005, Ms. Engler was cast by Placido Domingo to premier the role of Lydia Dudley in Washington National Opera’s production of Democracy, An American Comedy by Scott Wheeler, garnering rave reviews in major publications around the country.  She also premiered the role of Retinue in Augusta Read-Thomas’ opera Ligeia, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, in Evian, France.

Ms. Engler has been a featured soloist with many orchestras most recently performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Lancaster Symphony.  An advocate of contemporary chamber music, Ms. Engler has collaborated with the Ravel Trio, the Morpheus Trio, the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, and celebrated pianist Andre Watts.

Ms. Engler, who earned a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, is the Director of Vocal Studies at McDaniel College and also teaches voice at Towson University. 

Erika Juengst as Zerlina
Soprano Erika Juengst is known for her youthful energy and “lovely” presence on stage in opera, operetta, theatre and recital.  She has sung roles in the operas La Boheme, Die Zauberflöte, Dido and Aeneas, Manon, Hansel and Gretel, With Blood, With Ink, The Cunning Little Vixen and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers.  At home on stage whether singing or acting, she made her theater debut as Gloria in the Shaw play, You Never Can Tell.  Ms. Juengst has performed in the Baltimore area with Baltimore Opera, Summer Opera Theater, Co., the Young Victorian Theatre Company, Theatre Hopkins and the Peabody Opera Theater.  In her native Colorado, she has been a featured soloist with the Steamboat Orchestra and Greeley Chorale.  Ms. Juengst is sought after as a performer and recitalist, performing on several occasions for the Baltimore Opera Guild, Hood College Chamber Players and more.  Currently, Ms. Juengst is an active performer with the Baltimore Opera Educational Outreach Programs, where she enjoys sharing opera with children in area schools.  This spring, she looks forward to performing Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Baltimore Concert Opera.  She received her Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she graduated with highest honors.  In addition to performing, Ms. Juengst gained extensive arts management experience as Managing Director of Community Concerts at Second, a non-profit concert series in Baltimore.  She now resides in Catonsville, Maryland with her husband and two children.

Troy Clark as Masetto
Baritone Troy Clark has recently enjoyed a variety of roles including Marcello (La Boheme) and Silvio (Pagliacci) in productions at OTP, Philadelphia, de Brétigny in Jules Massenet’s Manon for Summer Opera, Washington, D.C. and Ko-Ko in Annapolis Opera’s The Mikado.  Other roles include Blansac in Rossini’s La Scala di Seta Baltimore Opera Studio, The Major General (Pirates of Penzance), Ko-Ko (The Mikado) and Wilfred Shadbolt (The Yeomen of the Guard) all with Young Victorian Theatre Co. of Baltimore, Pish-Tush in OperaDelaware’s The Mikado, and Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Sid in Baltimore Opera’s La Fanciulla del West, Fiorello in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Marquis d’Obigny in Verdi’s La Traviata, and Fleville in Andrea Chenier all with Baltimore Opera; Fredrik Egerman (A Little Night Music) for Muddy River Opera Co. and Annapolis Chorale, Danilo in The Merry Widow for Light Opera Works, Chicago, and Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly) Chattanooga Symphony and Opera.  Mr. Clark resides in Lutherville with his lovely wife and two darling daughters.

Thom King as Il Commendatore
A native of Connecticut and a magna cum laude graduate of the Hartt College of Music, baritone Thom King has an impressive and varied list of roles to his credit in opera, light opera, music theater and oratorio. Having started out in bass-baritone roles, Mr. King has been singing wide range of baritone roles with many other companies and orchestras throughout the country. Aside from the standard repertory, in which he has sung some 35 roles, he has appeared in a number of contemporary operas by Ching, Bernstein, Weill, Pliska and Wargo.

More recently he had great success with his interpretation of Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King with the Camerata de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Handel's Messiah with the Bridgeport Symphony, Handel's Samson with the Baltimore Choral Artists, in Orff's Carmina Burana with the Greater Lansing Symphony and he was featured in a concert with the Memphis Opera celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. He also appeared in Charles Davidson's oratorio Souls on Fire in Detroit with Leonard Nimoy as Narrator and sang the title role of Jephtha with the Handel Choir of Baltimore. [ read more ]

Anthony Barrese - Conductor
Anthony Barrese has earned accolades as both a composer and a conductor, winning numerous awards for his original works, and being engaged by a number of opera companies in the United States and Italy.

He began studying composition with Robert Ceely of the New England Conservatory of Music, and received his bachelor’s degree under the tutelage of Dr. Timothy Kramer at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. In 1996 he studied in Milan, Italy with Maestro Roberto Andreoni. That summer he attended the prestigious Darmstadt summer courses in composition in Darmstadt Germany. After completing his Master’s degree in composition from the New England Conservatory, Mr. Barrese returned to Milan as a Frank Huntington Beebe Award winner. During this sojourn Mr. Barrese studied composition with Maestri Roberto Andreoni, Luca Francesconi, and Paolo Perezzani. [ read more ]

Daniel Lau - Pianist
Pianist Daniel Lau has received enthusiastic press notices for both his solo and chamber performances.  As a soloist, Dr. Lau has appeared in recitals and with orchestras throughout North America and Europe.  The Washington Post praised his "exemplary artistry", the Baltimore Sun noted "Lau's beautifully shaded playing", and the Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA) lauded his "flair, great technical proficiency and expressiveness".  He is in constant demand by singers and instrumentalists and balances a heavy teaching schedule with an extensive performing  career.

In addition to the traditional classical repertoire, Dr. Lau is committed to the performance of living composers.  He has premiered many solo and chamber music works, and most recently received a Peabody Development Grant to  record the pianoworks of ASCAP award-winning composer Dr. Daniel Crozier.   He also has a special interest in Asian American and African American  composers.  He is a founding member of the Ravel Trio and the Morpheus  Trio. [ read more ]