Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is universally acclaimed as the foremost operatic baritone of his generation. With his powerful voice, commanding stage presence and rugged handsomeness, he received the kind of adulation that is usually reserved for tenors. He sang over 650 performances at the Met, where he was honored with sixteen new productions, seven opening nights, and ten national telecasts. As a leading artist in all of the world’s great opera houses, Mr. Milnes performed and recorded with the likes of Domingo, Pavarotti, Sutherland, Sills, Horne, Price, and Tebaldi. He is the winner of three Grammy Awards, and the most recorded American singer of his time. In 2008 he received the Opera News Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Maria Zouves
Maria Zouves is an educator, director, producer and writer. She is President of the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs − VOICExperience Foundation and the Savannah VOICE Festival – which she co-founded with her husband, Sherrill Milnes, to provide training for aspiring young artists and foster new audiences for the vocal arts. The Greek-American soprano has sung leading roles in the regional U.S., made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1997, and has recorded under the VAI label. While Maria directs most of the concerts in the VOICE Programs and co-directed the new SVF opera commission, Ching’s Alice Ryley: A Savannah Ghost Story, she most recently directed Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague, where the work first premiered and co-directed Le nozze de Figaro with Sherrill Milnes in Prague and Salzburg with Prague Summer Nights. She was recently seen in the title role of the premiere of Ching’s Anna Hunter: The Spirit of Savannah.
Ms. Zouves has directed, taught, and produced events all around the world, having worked with the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in Montreal and Puerto Rico, the International Institute of Vocal Arts (IIVA) in Chiari, Italy, and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. From 2007 to 2011, she served as Vice President and Associate General Director of Opera Tampa, the resident opera company of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. She has taught workshops at Southern Illinois University, Drake University and served as interim opera director at Northwestern University. A sought after clinician, particularly in career development, she has also aided young singers as a career liaison through her former feature, “A Conversation with…” in Classical Singer magazine.
Ms. Zouves has sung leading roles with the Baltimore Opera, Florentine Opera, Memphis Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Orlando Opera, and the Pittsburgh Opera. The Stuttgarter Zeitung praised her “beautiful, lyric voice” and “a not to be surpassed ‘piano’ in the high register.” Opera News has described her voice as “creamy.” This Greek-American soprano shows great versatility in opera, on concert stages, and in crossover repertoire, with a specialty in classical and popular Greek music.
Michael Ching
An opera composer/librettist, conductor, and songwriter, Michael Ching is the composer/librettist of the opera Speed Dating Tonight! With nearly one hundred productions since its 2013 premiere at the Janiec Opera of the Brevard Music Center, Speed Dating Tonight! is one of the most popular operas of the 21st century. His most recent project, All Dressed Up (No Place to Go) for L’arietta Productions in Singapore, includes nine quarantine-related songs which are now part of Speed Dating Tonight!. His newest opera, RSBE, had its premiere at the University of Alabama in 2020. In 2018-2019, two new one act operas had their premieres, Thrivers, at Palm Springs Opera Guild, and Eight Woods and a Van, at the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. Additional shorter operas in 2018-19 included Birthday Clown at the Savannah VOICE Festival and Completing the Picture for Utah Opera’s commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. As Composer-in-Residence of Savannah VOICE Festival, Michael wrote Alice Ryley (2015) and Anna Hunter (2017) two works with Savannah subjects. Other works include works include Slaying the Dragon and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, opera a cappella, recorded on Albany Records. Michael’s other well known opera is Buoso’s Ghost. Buoso is a comic sequel to Gianni Schicchi. Recently, Buoso was performed at the Michigan Opera Theatre and OperaDelaware. In 2021, Savannah VOICE Festival will premiere his La Cenerentola sequel, A Royal Feast. Many of these operas have free downloadable perusals scores through Michael’s blog. Michael is Music Director of Amarillo Opera, Composer-in-Residence at Savannah Voice Festival, and Opera consultant at EC Schirmer. He is the former Artistic Director of Opera Memphis. In 2019, Michael was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Opera Association. Michael studied composition with Robert Ward at Duke University and Carlisle Floyd at the Houston Opera Studio. With a lifelong devotion to the craft of operatic composition learned through the success and failure of over a dozen operas, through composition study, and through years of conducting the standard operatic repertoire; and with a strong interest in folk and country music, Michael is a somewhat of an outlier in the world of new music.
Angela De Venuto
Soprano Angela De Venuto has been known to bring on the laughs and break some hearts. This dynamic soprano has portrayed roles from the innocent girl next door, Emily Webb (Our Town), and the young ingenue, Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), to the comedically jaded Despina (Così fan tutte), and cunning Adele (Die Fledermaus), to the fiery siren Angélique (Ibert), and the hauntingly obsessive Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw). In more intimate settings, Angela’s recital work has depicted the life and work of historical figures and legendary wordsmiths such as Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mörike, Goethe, Jammes, Toni Morrison, Agee, Rubino, and the wives of King Henry VIII, set by influential composers like Debussy, N. Boulanger, Libby Larsen, Previn, Pasatieri, Britten, Wolf, Barber, Poulenc, Bolcom, Respighi, and Schubert among others. Angela’s understanding and great appreciation for the artists of the past inspires in her a passionate curiosity for the future of Classical music. Her affinity for new and lesser known composers has made her a sought after performer of this music. Highlights include Comala Suite by Zohn-Muldoon based on the novel Pedro Párama by Mexican author Juan Rulfo, Ode on St. Cecelia’s Day by Parry, Poems of Amy Lowell set by Benjamin Krause, and Estonian folk texts set by Leo Radosavljevic. Angela has been awarded first prizes in the Classical Singer competition Emerging Professional Division (2017), Musician’s Club of Women (2017), the Sherrill Milnes Opera Idol competition (2016), and been named a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition (2018). Angela received her Masters and Bachelors of Music degrees in Vocal Performance from DePaul University.
Victoria Erickson
Praised for her “beautifully ruby-throated quality” (Classical Voice North Carolina) and her “pointed wit and sparkling tone wielded with comedic potency” (Voix des Arts), Minnesota native Victoria Erickson is a uniquely promising and vibrant soprano. As a champion of new works, Erickson sang the title role in the world premiere of The Miller’s Daughter, a new opera produced in conjunction with the Iowa Arts Council in April 2024, and previously sang the role of Alex in the world premiere of Meow and Forever. Selected performances include the title role in the world premiere of Harmony (Seagle Festival), Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites (Saltworks Opera), Liù in Turandot (North Carolina Summer Opera), Alice Ford in Falstaf and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (UNCG Opera Theatre), Hedy LaRue in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Rapunzel in Into the Woods (College Light Opera Company). In addition to her stage capabilities, Ms. Erickson received a Respekt und Wertschätzung Grant from the DAAD-Stiftung (German Academic Exchange) to perform and research as a Visiting Fellow at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany, after which she served as an artist-in-residence in the collaboration between the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Munich and Really Spicy Opera. For more information, visit victoriaericksonsoprano.com.
Jodi Goble
Savannah VOICE Festival Composer in Residence
Composer Jodi Goble writes text-based, character-driven music fueled by her extensive background as a vocal coach and song-specialist collaborative pianist. Her compositions have been performed across the United States and internationally and featured on National Public Radio. She won the Iowa Music Teachers Association Commission Competition in 2013 and took second prize in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Competition in 2016. She also placed as a NATS ASCA finalist in 2008, 2017, 2020, and 2021, and as the honorable mention winner in 2015. Her art songs are published in anthologies by New Music Shelf and North Star Music.
Ms. Goble’s recent commissions include works for Seaglass Theater, Really Spicy Opera, I, the Siren, Voices of the Pearl, the Durward Ensemble, and Laura Strickling and the 40×40 Project. Her works have recently been performed at the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago’s Spring Lieder Lounge, the ASEAN Festival of Contemporary Music, Calliope’s Call, Songfest, the National Opera Center in New York City, the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, San Francisco Opera’s Atrium Sessions, Jordan Hall, Ames Town and Gown, Omaha Under the Radar, and the Art Song Preservation Society of New York. Helen of Troy, her monodrama for mezzo-soprano and chamber instruments, was recorded and released by the Durward Ensemble on their Prophetic Revolutions album.
Ms. Goble is Full Teaching Professor in Voice at Iowa State University, the official pianist for the Simon Estes Roots and Wings Community Concert Series, and the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Guild Auditions in Iowa.
Gabriela Linares
Puerto Rican mezzo-soprano, Gabriela Linares, completed her undergraduate degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in voice and ethnomusicology, and her masters degree in voice at the San Francisco Conservatory. Her instructors include Rhoslyn Jones, Jonathan Beyer, and Marlene Rosen. Linares is a winner of the Oregon District (2023) and award recipient of the North West Region of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. At the Oberlin Conservatory she sang in Trouble in Tahiti (Dinah), Dialogues of the Carmelites (Mère Marie), and Cosi Fan Tutte (Dorabella). At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she performed in the productions of Giulio Cesare (Cornelia) and The Consul (Mother). She performed in the production of Gianni Schicchi (Zita) with Chautauqua Opera Company and Conservatory. She was a 2023 Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theater of St. Louis where she stepped in their production of the opera Susannah (Mrs. Ott). Linares will return to the Opera Theatre of St Louis as a GYA for their 2024 season. There, she will be performing in Galileo Galilei (Scribe) and covering the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Gabriela will be performing in Opera Parallel and SFJAZZ’s premier of Birds & Balls (Rosie Casals).
Ryan Lustgarten
Ryan Lustgarten was born in Seattle, WA and is currently based in New York. He received his Bachelor of Music in Voice and Opera Performance from Washington State University in 2016, his master’s degree in Voice & Opera from Northwestern University in 2020, and was also a member of the Boston University Opera Institute from 2020-2022, during which he performed numerous operatic roles. This past year, Ryan has performed with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Festival Napa Valley, Pacific Northwest Opera, American Lyric Theater, and Savannah Voice Festival. He is also a recent finalist in the Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition and the John Alexander National Vocal Competition. Ryan, also a lover of early music, performs often with Upper Valley Baroque and the Boston Camerata. He will be internationally touring a revival production of Borrowed Light with the Boston Camerata in collaboration with the Tero Saarinen Company, based in Finland, this spring and this summer. Ryan is annually involved in numerous operatic workshops and has a passion for helping to bring fledgling contemporary operas to life.
Away from the stage, Ryan enjoys a rousing game of pickleball on the weekends, a juicy book, and all things Star Wars.
Ashley Nuñez
Cuban-American Soprano Ashley Nuñez’s engagements include being an Emerging Artist in the Milnes VOICE Studio at the Savannah VOICE Festival with Sherrill Milnes. Her repertoire includes singing the Foreign Woman in Ourland by Davies with the San José Chamber Orchestra, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Painted Sky Opera and Opera Amici, Manon in Massenet’s Manon with the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera at LSU and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen with Vero Beach Opera. She is looking forward to debuting the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Miami Music Festival in the Summer of 2024.
She was named Second Place winner for the St. Petersburg Opera Guild Voice Competition and Finalist for the Music International Grand Prix competition in New York in 2023. She was also named Third Place winner in the Nightingale Opera Theatre Voice Competition, Mobile Opera Rose Competition, a Finalist in the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston Vocal Competition, First Place winner of the Giffin Vocal Competition, the Wednesday Morning Music Club Voice Competition, and the Daytona Beach Choral Society Vocal Competition. Ashley received her Bachelor of Music Degree at Stetson University and her Master of Music degree at Louisiana State University in Vocal Performance, under the tutelage of Robert Grayson and Paul Groves.
Jorge Parodi
Internationally acclaimed conductor Jorge Parodi has worked extensively in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Recent credits include Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Tampa; Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires for New York City Opera, The Atlanta Opera and Opera Grand Rapids; Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi for Buenos Aires Lírica (Argentina); Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for the Castleton Festival in Virginia and The Banff Centre (Canada); Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann for Opera Orlando; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges for The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center and the World Premiere of Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt, the latest opera by John Musto –a coproduction of On Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric’s Unlimited and Pittsburg Opera-. Upcoming engagements include his return to The Atlanta Opera and Opera Tampa, and his debut at Chautauqua Opera. Reviewed as having “the most expressive conducting hands since Stokowski” by the New York Daily News, Argentinean born Jorge Parodi has also worked with such companies as the Teatro Colón in Argentina, the Volgograd Opera in Russia, the Encuentros Internacionales de Opera in Mexico, the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy in Japan, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel. He has collaborated with such artists as Isabel Leonard, Eglise Gutierrez, Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes, Aprile Millo and Rufus Wainwright and has assisted conductors Lorin Maazel and Julius Rudel, among others. Maestro Parodi is the Music Director of Opera in Williamsburg (Virginia), where he has conducted Rigoletto, Il trovatore, L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, La cenerentola and Le nozze di Figaro, among other titles. He is also the Music Director of the Senior Opera Theatre at the Manhattan School of Music, where he has led its productions to critical acclaim, including Schubert’s Die Verschworenen –that the New York Times praised as being “superbly performed” and the American premieres of Le Roi l’a dit by Délibes and Nina by Paisiello. A featured interview by editor-in chief F. Paul Driscoll to Maestro Parodi and his work with MSM Senior Opera Theater appeared in the March ’18 edition of Opera News.
Leo Radosavljevic
Poised for a breakthrough career on the international operatic stage, bass-baritone Leo Radosavljevic is sought after around the world for his “excellent musicianship” and “expansive delivery”. A native of Chicago, Leo spent his childhood singing in the Lyric Opera Children’s Chorus and studying piano with his father. He then attended The Juilliard School where he received a bachelors degree with scholastic distinction and a masters degree, as well as performed many operatic roles such as Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tobia Mill in La Cambiale di Matrimonio, and gave the U.S. premiere performances of Willi Graf in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Kommilitonen!. Since his studies, he has been heard with Opera Colorado as Bonze in Madama Butterfly, The New Philharmonic as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Opera Theater of Saint Louis as Manders in Regina, Teatro Nuovo as Orbazzano in Tancredi, and most recently he covered the role of the King in Aida with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is the 3rd Prize winner of the 8th Klaudia Taev Competition in Estonia, Grand Prize winner of the 2017 Bel Canto Competition, and was a Regional Finalist in the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. On the concert stage, he has appeared as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Metropolis Symphony, The Orchestra Now, New Juilliard Ensemble, and Juilliard415, with whom he performed Telemann’s rarely heard Die Tageszeiten to high acclaim from The New York Times, as well as made a studio recording in Vancouver with the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He has also appeared regularly as an art song recitalist at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Kyaunnee Richardson
Kyaunnee Richardson, soprano, made her professional debut as Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with the Festival of the Arts Boca in 2016. In 2021, Kyaunnee starred as Calpurnia in the world premiere of The Secret River with Opera Orlando and made her 2020 Opera Orlando debut as Adele in Die Fledermaus.
Other highlights from the last few seasons include the roles of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Savannah VOICE Festival; Adele in Die Fledermaus, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte with Opera in Williamsburg; Monica in The Medium with First Coast Opera; Sister 2 in the world premiere of Why I Live at the PO with UrbanArias, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Maria in West Side Story with Gulfshore Opera; Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and Frasquita in Carmen with Opera Orlando; Clara in Porgy and Bess with the South Florida Symphony; Alice/Dr. Marigold in Adolphe’s The Adventures of Alvin Allegretto and Pamina in The Magic Flute with Orchestra Miami and several roles with Opera Fusion’s Emerging Artist Project series.
Recently, Kyaunnee placed 1st in 2023 Opera Ebony’s Benjamin Matthew’s Vocal Competition. She also was a semi-finalist in the 2023 American Traditions Vocal Competition where she was awarded the Sherrill Milnes American Opera Award. She has competed in several competitions and won awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Opera Ebony and Harlem Opera Theatre.
She has also been a featured soloist with the Alabama Symphony, Brevard Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Symphony of the Americas, South Florida Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras across South Florida.
Photo Credit: Dario Acosta Photography
Weiyi Song
Originally from Hangzhou, China, soprano Weiyi Song is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree studying with Marianne Cornetti at Carnegie Mellon University. Before coming to the U.S., her interest in both operatic performance and the creation of new music drew her to take part in a diverse array of productions in her home country. During her undergraduate years, she toured across China as the roleof Granddaughter of Zhang Xin’s and Zhu Hui’s collaborative opera “Country Song” and later played Fiordiligi in Zhejiang Conservatory’s staging of “Così fan tutte.” Sheis a frequent collaborator for student composition premieres. She also sang in numerous chorus parts in symphonies and other operas, and in 2021, Song was chosen as the only singer that year to perform in the inaugural ceremony of the IAF2021 West Lake Animation Biennale Opens Concert.
Throughout her studies, Weiyi Song was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Government scholarships, First Prize of Outstanding Student, and Professional Excellence (second prize) scholarships; her academic work and artistry were recognized partially by the Sanhao Award for Excellence and the Zhejiang Provincial Outstanding Graduate. The first-prize winner of the 3rd National Contest in ChineseClassics Reciting, Writing, and Speaking, she developed an interest in poetry recitation and public speech early on and became conversant in the fields of moderating and broadcasting. Upcoming opera roles include Susie in Jodi Goble’sThe Eleanors (premiering in August 2024), Anne Sexton in Conrad Susa’s Transformations (October 2024), and the Opera Scenes installation at Carnegie Mellon University (April 2025).
Song is currently based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Chad Sonka
Chad Sonka is establishing himself as a versatile American baritone, teacher, and director. He was consistently singing and teaching throughout the country for Savannah VOICE Festival and Iowa State University, where he serves on the voice faculty. Recently, he performed as the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at Carnegie Hall with Iowa State University and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder