featured artists

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.

Andrew Bisantz

Conductor Andrew Bisantz has received accolades from Opera News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The Boston Globe, and The Buffalo News. This is his 15th summer as part of VE/SVF, in the past having led productions of Alice and Anna, La Bohème, and Dialogues of the Carmelites, among others. He is Artistic Director and Conductor of Eugene Opera; in his fifteen seasons there he has led twenty-seven productions exploring a wide range of repertoire, including both the beloved operatic canon and the company premiers of Nixon in China, Dead Man Walking, La fanciulla del West, Eugene Onegin, Little Women, María de Buenos Aires, As One, little match girl passion, and Lucy. He has conducted more than eighty-five productions for opera companies throughout the U.S., including appearances with Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera San José, Shreveport Opera, the Savannah Music Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, and the Brevard Festival. He has led ten productions for Florida Grand Opera, including the world orchestral premiere of Daron Hagen’s New York Stories in February 2021, which was hailed by the South Florida Classical Review as one of its Top 10 Musical Performances of the Year. He has been appointed Associate Professor of Music and Principal Opera Conductor of Boston Conservatory at Berklee starting this fall and will continue in his role in Eugene.

Torlef Borsting

A native of Hawaii, singing performer Torlef A. Borsting has enjoyed many stages of a varied musical career. While a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Torlef worked with San Francisco Opera, Opera San Jose, Sacramento Opera, Opera Parallele, Berkeley Opera, West Bay Opera, and Livermore Valley Opera. His favorite roles include Scarpia, Marcello, Jack Rance, Horace Tabor, Sharpless, Giorgio Germont, and Prince Yeletsky. He has also been an active concert performer working with Mendocino Music Festival, Pacific Chamber symphony, Oakland Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, Cantare Con Vivo, Orlando Sings, and the BelCanto Singers of Daytona Beach.

Now based in DeLand, Florida, Torlef has been thrilled to make debuts with Opera and Musical theater companies alike. Since his move to the east coast, he has worked with New York City Opera, Opera Orlando, Indianapolis Opera, Gulf Shore Opera, First Coast Opera, Citrus Alliance for the Arts, Jefferson Performing Arts Society (NOLA), Halifax Repertory Theatre, and of course the Savannah VOICE Festival. Torlef is so pleased to be returning as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance after participating in a beautiful production of Madama Butterfly as Sharpless in 2023, and as Jeff Douglas in Brigadoon during the summer of 2022.

Peiwen Chen

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ms. Chen graduated from the National Academy of Art with highest honors in 1990, where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. In 1992, she entered Mannes College of Music, where in 1994 she performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini under the baton of Maestro Michael Charry. Shortly after her graduation from Mannes with a special piano award, Ms. Chen made her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the 1995 New York Concert Artists Competition. Frequently performing as a piano due with her husband Alexander Paley, Ms. Chen performs annually as part of the Alexander Paley Music Festival in Richmond, Virginia, as well as Moulin d’Ande, France.

In December 2001, Ms. Chen made her Paris debut playing Liszt’s Concerto Pathetique for two pianos in Salle O. Messiaen, Maison de Radio France. Following in 2003, she performed Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade in the composer’s own one piano, four hands version, which was broadcast live worldwide from Seattle, USA on kings.org. In March 2004, Ms. Chen performed both Mozart and Mendelssohn Piano Concertos for two pianos with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius, Lithuania.In the summer of 2009, Ms. Chen returned to Taiwan and gave a gala concert in the National Concert Hall in Taipei to benefit young musicians there. In 2011, she performed Mozart Concertos for two and three pianos in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

As a collaborative artist, Ms. Chen has worked with artists including Licia Abanese, Elly Ameling, Regina Resnik, Jon Vickers, Evelyn Lear, Diane Soviero, Deborah Voigt, Ruth Falcon, Mignon Dunn, Sherril Milnes, and Olga Peretyako, among others. In 1998, she joined the production of Fedora for Washington Opera. In addition, Ms. Chen served as a pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild as well as Amato Opera, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Regina Opera in NYC for many seasons. She has been a member of the music faculty for IVAI in both Virginia and NYC, CVAI in Canada, as well as a faculty member for VOICExperience in Florida, CoOperative at Rider University and Savannah Voice Festival .

Highlights of Ms. Chen’s past engagements include concerts in Washington, D.C. as well as in Virginia and Maine, piano duo concerts in France, and Bach Concerti in Lithuania. Additionally, she has served as coach and conductor for operas including Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart, The Telephone by Menotti, Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, and Alcina and Ariodante by Handel in concert version with New York Lyric Opera ;Czerny piano Concerto for one piano, four hands in Modolva and complete Rachmaninoff music for two pianos in France. In the spring of 2017, Ms. Chen was the official pianist of the Classical Singers Magazine Competition in Shanghai.In 2020,Ms Chen served as a jury member for many international online voice competitions in Russia,China and US.

Since 2021,Ms.Chen has joined New Camerata Opera in New York City for their productions both in operas and concerts.In spring,2022,Ms Chen played a series of concerts in the project of complete Brahms chamber music for piano duets, including Brahms liebeslieder waltzs and Neue liebeslieder walzes with the soloists from the Lithuanian State Opera in Vilnius.In April 2022,Ms Chen premiered “Hommage a Rachmaninoff für 2 Klaviere“ with husband Alexander Paley by reknown German composer Thomas Böttger in France.In August 2022,Ms Chen joined the Savannah Voice Festival in the production of Menotti’s Medium.

Ms Chen has recorded complete Saint-Saens symphonies in the version for piano duo in season 2022-23 which will be soon released.In addition,she has served as a rehearsal pianist for productions like Ravel’s “L’Heure Espangnole” ,Lili Boulanger’s” Faust et Helene” ,Mozart’s “Don Giovanni “ during the season.

In season 2024-25,Ms Chen will perform the complete works for piano duet by Mozart and well as complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin.In October ,2024,she will perform Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire with City Light Opera in New York City as well as in productions of R.Strauss’s Salome ,Puccini’S Madama Butterfly .Ms Chen will be the music director for numerous of scenes concerts and vocal recitals in the universities this season.

Ms Chen is a member of faculty at Mannes college of Music and Cali School at Montclair State 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.

Brent Douglas

Brent Douglas has made his way to the podium after many years as a pianist for opera companies, choruses and orchestras. He is a highly versatile performer with experiences in many genres. He made his debut as an opera conductor with Dusseldorf (Germany) Lyric Opera in 2017, where he conducted “The Magic Flute” for the company’s inaugural performance. In the summer or 2021, he conducted at the Vienna Summer Music Festival, where he premiered an improve opera set to the music of “Carnival of the Animals”. He is an active operatic vocal coach, serving on the faculty of the Savannah Voice Festival and has worked for Opera Tampa, St. Petersburg Opera, and Springfield Opera. Conducting appearances outside of opera include serving as Assistant Conductor of Tampa Bay Symphony, being a Conducting Scholar at Eastern Music Festival, and appearing in concert with The National Women’s Chorus of Cuba. He completed his Master of Conducting at the University of South Florida in 2016 where he studied with Dr. William Wiedrich and Dr. James Bass. He has furthered his conducting studies in masterclasses with Michael Francis (The Florida Orchestra), Kenneth Kiesler at International Masterclass of Berlin, Harold Farberman at Bard Summer Conducting Institute, Diane Wittry at Beyond the Baton, and Dr. Ronald Portnoy at the South Carolina Conducting Institute. This is his seventh season playing piano and celeste in the Florida Orchestra and has also played with Tampa Bay Symphony and Springfield Symphony (MO). Brent regularly performs in chamber music concerts, and is part of The Florida Orchestra Clarinet Trio. Mr. Douglas teaches Chorus, Piano and Performing Arts Management at Eckerd College and maintains a private studio of piano students. “Creative Loafing Magazine of Tampa Bay – 2016 Classical Musician of the Year” https://local.cltampa.com/publication/best-of-the-bay/2016/arts-and-entertainment/best-local-classical-musician

Assaf Gleizner

Born and raised in Israel, Assaf Gleizner is a Grammy nominated composer, Music Director, orchestrator, and arranger both in NYC and around the world for the past 10 years. Assaf‘s favorite credits include:

Broadway: Arts For Autism – Featuring Kelly O’Hara, Julia Murney (Gershwin Theater). Orchestrator, Arranger. Off-Broadway/Tour: The Office! A Musical Parody (The Theater Center, North America Tour), Friends! The Musical (The Theater Center, North America Tour, International Tour) 90210! The Musical (Theater 80, Chicago) Composer, Orchestrator.

Regional: The Swingaroos (Florida Studio Theater)

Composer, MD. Other: Move On, A Sondheim Adventure – Grammy nominated album featuring Cyrille Aimee (NYC, FRANCE) Arranger, Orchestrator, Producer. Show Choir! The Musical – Featuring Christiane Noll (NYC) Orchestrator. The Wolf, (NC & NYC) Orchestrator.

Assaf is also a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Caleb Yanez Glickman

Praised for his superb leadership of the orchestra, Caleb Yanez Glickman was recently appointed Associate Music Director of Opera Modesto, where he works as an integral part of the music staff bringing opera to California’s Central Valley. His recent conducting of their Le Nozze di Figaro was acclaimed by North Bay Stage and Screen as sounding “as fresh as the day it premiered.” He was also the music director of the Hollywood Youth Orchestra from 2022-24, an El-Sistema inspired program where he led programming dedicated to cultivating community interest in classical music. Since 2023, he has conducted several productions with Pacific Opera Project in Los Angeles, quickly becoming one of their mainstay conductors. In addition to POP and Opera Modesto, Caleb has also recently worked with Spoleto Festival USA, Opera Southwest, Lyric Opera of Orange County, Opera in the Ozarks, Opera Saratoga, and Savannah Opera. Caleb is a zealous advocate for bringing classical music to new audiences. His recent conception of a gender-bent production of The Mighty Casey, William Schuman’s baseball opera, was hailed as “nothing short of brilliant.” In 2023, he was the music director for Opera Modesto’s world premiere production of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant, an American Lyric Theater Co-commission. In February, Caleb conducted for Opera Southwest’s world premiere production of Llantos 1492: A Flamenco Opera. He also collaborated in the creation and performance of Enchanted Melodies: An Interactive Fairytale Opera which has seen multiple productions since its premiere last June.

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 first prize in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Competition in 2024 for her song cycle Sea Creatures. She also placed as a NATS ASCA finalist in 2008, 2017, 2020, and 2021, as the honorable mention winner in 2015, and won second prize in 2016. The American Prize named her a 2025 national finalist for the Charles Ives Vocal Chamber Music Composition Award for Sea Creatures and the Thomas Putsche Memorial Award in Opera/Film/Dance Composition for Meow and Forever. 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’s GRAMMY-nominated 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, the Art Song Preservation Society of New York, and the Savannah VOICE Festival, for which she is Composer-In-Residence.

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.

Timothy L. Hall

After three decades in Savannah, Timothy Hall purchased his dream house in southern Virginia and has returned to the city of his childhood. He currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church and is Staff Accompanist for the Concert Choir and applied voice students at Virginia State University. In Savannah, he served as Director of Music for two historic congregations, Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church and Christ Church Episcopal, The Mother Church of Georgia. He was also Chorus Master for Savannah Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director and Conductor of Savannah Choral Society and Conductor/Accompanist for Savannah Children’s Choir. He served on the Board of Directors and was an adjudicator and accompanist for The American Traditions Vocal Competition for Singers. He has been a part of Savannah VOICE Festival’s steering committee and has been a faculty member and producer of the Sacred Concert since its inception.

Justin Havard

Justin Havard is an accomplished director, pianist, singer and educator in Monroe, Louisiana. Originally from Mobile, Alabama, he received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Choral Music Education from Florida State University with an emphasis on Piano. He was the collaborative pianist for the Florida All-State Men’s Choir in 2017 and 2018, and he has played for many national tours including The Book of Mormon, Wicked, and Spamalot. He also regularly performs as a pianist with the St. Petersburg Opera and the VOICExperience program, led by Sherrill Milnes. During his 13 years as the choral director at Palm Harbor University High School, they gained recognition and honors both statewide and nationally. Mr. Havard is particularly known for his work with Acapella Groups and Musical Theatre, and he has presented at the American Choral Directors Association, Florida Music Educators’ Association Conference, and the Florida State Thespian Conference. He has worked as a music director for theatrical productions both equity and amateur. Mr. Havard joined the faculty at the University of Louisiana Monroe in 2018, where he conducts The Warhawk Singers, teaches voice, music directs the Spring musical, and accompanies many of the other ensembles, faculty, and students within the department.

Peter Lake

Praised by the Houston Press for how he, “…amazes with a clarion tenor that has the reedy projection of superstar-from-yore Jan Peerce,” Peter Lake is an internationally performing crossover artist who recently returned from a tour of the Mediterranean aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas as Old Deuteronomy in Andrew Lloydd Webber’s musical CATS. Peter also joined Pacific Opera Project to perform in their ground-breaking interpretation and production of Madama Butterfly as the leading tenor, B.F. Pinkerton. In the fall of 2024 he released his debut, full-length album, Still Standing, which went on to chart in the top ten of Billboard’s Classical Crossover Top Ten! In the Spring of 2024 Peter made his role debut as Roberto in Puccini’s rarely performed Le Villi with a return to Mobile Opera in collaboration with Classical Ballet Mobile. In the Spring of 2025 Peter will make a featured appearance with Opera Idaho in his first collaboration with the company for their Broadway Pops concert presented by the Boise Philharmonic.

Liz Lang

Opera News has applauded American soprano Liz Lang for her “comedic timing and clear resonant tone.” Last February, Liz was a semifinalist in the American Traditions Vocal Competition where she won the Sherrill Milnes American Opera Award. She was delighted to return to Georgia this winter for several concerts as a Savannah VOICE Festival Artist. Last year she enjoyed solo performances with the New American Songbook Orchestra, Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Riverside Choir and Orchestra, various cabarets throughout New York and the East Coast, and the premiere of The Constitution: a Secular Oratorio by Ben Yarmolinsky with the Vertical Player Repertory as part of New York Opera Fest. In March 2018, Ms. Lang made her Lincoln Center debut in a new production of La Traviata with the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York as Annina and the Violetta u/s. Ms. Lang has been a recitalist and soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, with Voices of Ascension, Bard Summerscape, St. Bartholomew’s Choir and Orchestra, with Grammy® award winners Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, the Salzburg Festival in Austria, and throughout the Tuscan region of Italy. Liz is based in NYC with degrees from the Eastman School of Music (MM) and Oklahoma City University (BM).

Fabrizio Melano

Fabrizio Melano, stage director, is an established figure on the international opera scene, having worked in leading opera houses throughout the world for more than 40 years. He began a long-standing relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in 1969 and has directed 21 operas there, among them seven new or revised productions. He directed Tony Randall in his last play, Pirandello’s Right You Are, with the National Actors Theater and staged a new musical, Asylum, at the York Theater Company. In April 2010, Juilliard presented his production of Dialogues des Carmélites, and the Met and Juilliard his staging of Armide in February 2012. He is a member of the Milnes VOICE Programs faculty, participating annually in Opera as Drama and the Milnes VOICE Studio. He has recently directed opera productions in Croatia and Finland.

Laura Melano-Flanagan

Laura Melano Flanagan is a psychotherapist in private practice with offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She received her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College and a Certificate from the Advanced Institute for Psychoanalysis. She has taught in the Post Masters Programs at both Hunter and NYU and is a long-standing adjunct faculty professor at the Smith College School for Social Work. She is also a Field Faculty Advisor for the Smith interns who are placed in various agencies in New York. She is the co-author of the psychodynamic theory textbook Inside Out and Outside In, the fifth edition of which will be released in 2020.

Laura’s involvement in working with young opera singers began over a decade ago when she started working with her brother, Fabrizio Melano, in the Sherrill Milnes VOICExperience “Opera as Drama” program in New York City. Since then she has become part of the VE faculty, continuing to coach, work on productions, and give Master Classes both in New York and Savannah. She has also worked with Fabrizio in the Juilliard productions of Dialogue of the Carmelites (in which, to her great delight, she got to play a nun for two days) and Armide. Recently Laura has provided psychological consultation to OperaRox for the company’s newly commissioned opera Ghost Variations, which will be produced in 2020.

Ashley Nuñez

After debuting the role of Lilian in the world premiere of The Eleanors by Jodi Goble and co-librettist Michael Ching at the National Opera Association Conference in January 2025 representing the Savannah VOICE Festival, Cuban-American soprano Ashley Nuñez went on to perform the role of Liù in Puccini’s Turandot with First Coast Opera at the Romanza Festivale. She also sang Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Miami Music Festival.

Her diverse repertoire includes another world premiere: Ourland by Davies with the San José Chamber Orchestra. Additional credits include 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. Since her last visit to Savannah, Ashley made her Carnegie Hall debut, was the featured soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Stetson University’s Choral Union, and performed as soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Nuñez has garnered recognition in numerous competitions, including the St. Petersburg Opera Guild Voice Competition, Music International Grand Prix in New York, Mobile Opera Rose Competition, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston Vocal Competition, the Giffin Vocal Competition, the Wednesday Morning Music Club Voice Competition, and the Daytona Beach Choral Society Vocal Competition. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Louisiana State University.

Jorge Parodi

Reviewed as having “the most expressive conducting hands since Stokowski” by the New York Daily News, Maestro Parodi has worked extensively in North America, Latin America and Asia. Some of Maestro Jorge Parodi credits include New York City Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Tampa, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Orlando, the Castleton Festival, The Juilliard School, The Banff Centre, and Buenos Aires Lírica. He led the World Premiéres of Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite for Opera Tampa, Michael Ching’s The Birthday Clown for Savannah OPERA; and John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt in a coproduction of On Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Pittsburgh Opera. In the last three seasons he made his debut at Amarillo Opera; Gulfshore Opera with Tosca; the Merola Program for their Schwabacher Summer Concert; New Orleans Opera with Charlie Parker’s Yardbird; El Paso Opera with La Traviata; Knoxville Opera with Fastaff; and Opera San José with Rigoletto.

Jorge Parodi has worked with a wide range of ensembles, as the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán (Mexico), the NHK Symphony (Japan), and the Orquesta del Conservatorio Nacional (Argentina) among others. He has worked with such companies as the Teatro Colón in Argentina, the Volgograd Opera in Russia, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel. He has collaborated with such artists as Isabel Leonard, Nancy Herrera, Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes, and Verónica Villarroel; and has assisted conductors Lorin Maazel and Julius Rudel, among others.

Mr. Parodi in the new Music Director of the Moores Opera Center and Assistant Director of Orchestras at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston.
Primary responsibilities include collaborating with the Artistic Director of the Opera Center and the Director of Orchestral Studies, to serve the myriad orchestras at the Moores School of Music and the Moores Opera Center, and to teach conducting to undergraduate and graduate students.

Maestro Parodi is the General and Artistic Director of Opera Hispánica, the premier company in the United Sates focused on the Hispanic vocal repertoire and on the Latin perspective; and the Music Director of Gulfshore Opera and Opera in Williamsburg.

Mr. Parodi has been a faculty member at The Juilliard School for over two decades and he is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy. Maestro Parodi has been Artistic Director of the Savannah VOICE Festival, and he was the Music Director of the Senior Opera Theatre at the Manhattan School of Music. His work with Manhattan was showcased in a feature interview in Opera News.

He has offered master classes at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Manhattan School of Music, the Escuela Superior de Canto (Madrid), the Kunitachi Music College (Tokyo), and Senzoku Gakuen Music College (Tokyo).

Mr. Parodi completed studies in Conducting and Piano Performance at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música of Buenos Aires, and he holds a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan. He recorded with Denon Essentials, Albany Records and MSR Classics.

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

Eric Šebek

Eric Šebek has always been surrounded by the performing arts with a family of opera singers and Broadway performers. He is proud to a part of The Šebek Tenors comprised of his brother Zach, and his father Christian. He made his start in Nutley High school playing Pippin and Jack Kelly in Newsies. Eric has also played Patrick professionally in the The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes in their 2016-2017 and 2019-2020 seasons. He attended Montclair State University for 4 years where he played Fleet in Titanic, Cigar in the New Musical: The Names We Gave Him, Musidorus in Head Over Heels, and Cat in the Hat in Seussical. He has also crossed over to Opera. Eric took part in a role study for the Marriage of Figaro where he played Basilio and Don Curzio with MSU’s Opera program. Eric also sang the role of Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Michael Ching’s hilarious continuation: Buoso’s Ghost. Additionally in 2023 he played Le Chevalier in Dialogues des Carmelites at MSU. Eric played the roles of Tamino in Magic Flute and Gastone in La Traviata at the Quisisana Resort as well as Alfred in Die Fledermaus the following summers. Eric has also performed the Jazz Trio in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti SAS Performing Arts Company. Recently Eric was in a production of the new Opera “Blind Injustice” at Lincoln Center written by Scott Richards and conducted by Ted Sperling. Eric continues to perform and audition! He is represented by Jason Bercy Talent.

Benjamin Sokol

Benjamin R. Sokol is a bass-baritone whose repertoire spans several genres. Benjamin completed his BM, MM and PS at Manhattan School of Music, where he studied classical voice with world-renowned bass-baritone, James Morris. Benjamin is currently a member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he studies with Julia Faulkner. In addition to these two luminary voice teachers, Benjamin has worked with teachers and coaches across the United States including Mignon Dunn, Joshua Greene, Mary Jane Johnson, Thomas Lausmann, Marlena Malas, Mario Antonio Marra, Carrie-Ann Matheson, Sherrill Milnes, Thomas Muraco, Kevin Murphy, Mark Schnaible, Shane Schag, Kenneth Merrill, Myra Huang, Bryan Wagorn and Howard Watkins. Benjamin has worked with prominent opera directors including Laura Alley, Adrienne Boris, Omer Ben-Seadia, Katherine Carter, John Giampietro Matsumoto, Fabrizio Melano, A. Scott Parry, Patricia Racette, Marcus Shields, John De Los Santos, and Dennis Whitehead Darling, and has participated in Master Classes with Dominic Armstrong, Piotr Beczala, Rachel Calloway, Simon Estes, Martin Katz, Sherrill Milnes, Adam Nielsen, Jorge Parodi and Matthew Polenzani.

Benjamin has been the recipient of many awards and accolades. During his time at Manhattan School of Music, he was both the recipient of the Stan Sesser Career Award and the Alexandra Hunt Endowed Vocal Scholarship. Benjamin is also the grand prize winner of the 2021 Milnes Opera Idol Competition, was a finalist in the 2022 Opera Index competition, a semi-finalist in the 2023 and 2024 Premiere Opera Foundation Competitions, the third-place winner of the 2024 Mario Lanza Scholarship, a winner of the 2024 Opera Index Competition, a 2024 winner of the Philadelphia District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, the 2025 winner of the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition, and a 2025 semi-finalist of the George and Nora London Foundation Competition. Benjamin is a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble at Lyric Opera of Chicago, as a Young Artist. In past summers, Benjamin was a Young Artist at the Merola Opera Program in 2024, Chautauqua Opera Company and Conservatory in 2023, and at the Taos Opera Institute in 2022. He has also been with the Milnes VOICE Programs for several years, participating at the Florida VOICE Project, Milnes VOICE Studio, and performing at the Savannah VOICE Festival. Most recently, Benjamin sang the role of Don Alfonso (Act I) in Così Fan Tutte as part of the Ryan Opera Center’s (Lyric Opera of Chicago) scenes program. This Winter, Benjamin will be making his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as the Fifth Jew in Salome. Benjamin’s previous roles include Vodnik, Frére Laurent, Der Tod, Nick Bottom, Betto Di Signa, L’Arbre, Badger, Parson, Orest, Sarastro, Sprecher, Zweiter Geharnischter Mann, Wagner, Il Commendatore, L’Americain in Angelique, Bartender in Speed Dating Tonight, and Don Magnifico and Seagull #2 in A Royal Feast, both by Michael Ching.

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 the role of Marcello in La bohème with Quad Cities Opera and will be performing the role of Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with Cedar Rapids Opera. Previous performing credits: Tosca (Scarpia – cover) with Central City Opera; Gianni Schicchi (Marco) with Savannah Music Festival; Man of La Mancha (Don Quixote) and Carmen (Dancaïro) with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre; The Mother of Us All (Virgil T.), The Rape of Lucretia (Junius), Faust (Wagner), Elijah (Elijah) with Manhattan School of Music; and Amahl and the Night Visitors (King Melchior) with Nevada Opera. He was the first-place winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions – Iowa District in 2017. He is also the Education and Outreach Director the Milnes VOICE Programs. Directing credits include specializing in outreach theatre, Cendrillon (Viardot), Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), The Little Prince (Portman), and Die Fledermaus (Strauss II).

Melanie Spector

Praised for her “beaming soprano” by Operawire, Melanie Spector is a soprano on the rise who was born and raised in New York City, and now based in Detroit where she is a Resident Artist at Detroit Opera. Most recently, in a cast headlined by Angel Blue and Christine Goerke, she made her Detroit Opera debut as the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, in which she was praised for her “exceptional ability to nail pitch”, “supreme cleanliness of her sound”, and “commitment to operatic excellence”. Other performances during the 2022-23 season have included Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 at Detroit Opera, Mozart’s “Vorrei spiegarvi, o dio” K. 418 and Requiem with the Midland Symphony Orchestra; Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Detroit Symphony’s Orchestra Hall with the Wayne State Wind Symphony; covering Atalanta in Handel’s Xerxes and Margarita Xirgu in Golijov’s Ainadamar at Detroit Opera; and Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in a collaboration between Detroit Opera and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.

Melanie has received awards from several organizations for her vocal prowess, including the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (District Winner/Region Finalist 2021, 2022), the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the SAS Performing Arts Company, the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Camille Coloratura Awards.

This fall, Melanie begins begin her second season as a Resident Artist with Detroit Opera, during which she will be a featured soloist on a gala conducted by Music Director Roberto Kalb, one of the solo singers in John Cage’s Europeras, and Chocholka (Hen) and Mrs. Páskova in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.