Speakeasy vibe, cozy pub with live entertainment, serving small plates from the Grotto kitchen. Extensive list of Whiskeys and Scotches.
37 Spring St • Eureka Springs
Serving 5-11, Friday and Saturday
139 E Van Buren • Eureka Springs
Closed Tuesday saucedbbqeureka.com
Family-friendly restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, specials and homemade desserts. Indoor/Outdoor Seating.
2055 E Van Buren • Eureka Springs
Serving 8-1 p.m. Thursday - Monday
Reasons to visit
Reasons to visit
The Crescent Hotel
Skybar Gourmet Pizza
Reasons to visit The Crescent Hotel
The Crescent Hotel
Skybar Gourmet Pizza
Indulge in delicious pizza while enjoying panoramic views of the Ozarks.
Skybar Gourmet Pizza
Indulge in delicious pizza while enjoying panoramic views of the Ozarks.
Top of the Crest
Indulge in delicious pizza while enjoying panoramic views of the Ozarks.
Top of the Crest
Top of the Crest
Savor drinks and desserts on our rooftop, the perfect spot for a relaxing evening.
Savor drinks and desserts on our rooftop, the perfect spot for a relaxing evening.
Nightly Ghost Tours
Savor drinks and desserts on our rooftop, the perfect spot for a relaxing evening.
Nightly Ghost Tours
Nightly Ghost Tours
Discover the historic secrets of the Crescent Hotel with our intriguing ghost tours.
Discover the historic secrets of the Crescent Hotel with our intriguing ghost tours.
Discover the historic secrets of the Crescent Hotel with our intriguing ghost tours.
Crystal Dining Room
Crystal Dining Room
Crystal Dining Room
Start your day with a hearty breakfast, served daily in an elegant setting.
Start your day with a hearty breakfast, served daily in an elegant setting.
Start your day with a hearty breakfast, served daily in an elegant setting.
New Moon Spa & Salon
New Moon Spa & Salon
New Moon Spa & Salon
Pamper yourself with our spa treatments and salon services for a rejuvenating experience.
Pamper yourself with our spa treatments and salon services for a rejuvenating experience.
Frisco Sporting Club
Pamper yourself with our spa treatments and salon services for a rejuvenating experience.
Frisco Sporting Club
Frisco Sporting Club
Enjoy a lively evening with games, hatchet throwing, and a food truck & bar area.
Enjoy a lively evening with games, hatchet throwing, and a food truck & bar area.
Enjoy a lively evening with games, hatchet throwing, and a food truck & bar area.
www.crescent-hotel.com
www.crescent-hotel.com
www.crescent-hotel.com
CELEBRATING 76 YEARS OF OPERA
FROM THE GENERAL DIRECTOR
“Bloom where you are planted” is a contemporary version of a 16th century quotation from St. Francis de Sales. At Opera in the Ozarks, we are in the business of encouraging young singers, instrumentalists, and theatrical technicians to bloom. We take artists just emerging from their artistic seeds and help them grow and begin to flower. Watching this happen every summer for over 76 years, our audiences and supporters, along with our staff, can experience a connection to the careers of these young talents.
In the decade plus that I have been general director, I have had many thrilling experiences. I have watched the career of a soprano I met in my first-year blossom into significant roles at major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera. I have become acquainted with legends of the opera world and
FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT
Dear Opera in the Ozarks fans,
We are excited that you are joining us for another season of musical comedies and dramas at Opera in the Ozarks. Our wonderful new theater, now in just its second season, is the perfect place for you and your companions to enjoy fine opera amidst the resplendent hills of the Ozarks.
Our General Director, Nancy Preis, and Artistic Director, Tom Cockrell, have prepared an outstanding season for you to enjoy. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most delightful comic musicals ever written. What a keen understanding Mozart had of the human condition! Whether this is your first hearing or you have seen it many times before, you will encounter much in Figaro that will touch your heart.
The American musical giant, Leonard Bernstein, left us compositions in almost every musical genre. His Candide, based upon a clever satire by the French philosopher and playwright Voltaire, is a monument to Bernstein’s genius. Originally written for Broadway, it is more often performed these days in the opera house. We think you will find it moving and meaningful, as well as uproariously funny. Finally, over the years we have staged many works by the Italian master Giacomo Puccini, but it has been a while since
have attended many productions across the country where I meet our alumni. I have met hundreds of young singers who will contribute music to their communities for the rest of their lives. To have had a small role in bringing music to Northwest Arkansas and to the larger world is an accomplishment of which I am increasingly proud.
I love to garden. I plant flowers and bulbs and wait for them to bring beauty to my little piece of property. Digging in the dirt is not for everyone, but we can all cultivate our garden in other ways. Whether you bake cookies for singers or contribute money for scholarships, everything we do to bring music to the world is important and necessary. I invite you to follow the careers of these young artists and to revel in their accomplishments and in the glorious experience of their music making.
Nancy Preis General Director
we have presented the two short operas that take up our third evening of entertainment this summer. Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) takes place in a convent, and features an all-female cast. You will find it a dramatic and spiritual experience.
In stark contrast is Puccini’s comedy Gianni Schicchi, a riotous farce based upon an episode in Dante’s classic Inferno. You will chuckle at the antics of the scoundrel Gianni Schicchi and the scheming family members with whom he plots. You will probably conclude, amidst the laughter, that he was properly consigned by Dante to…well, you know.
As you enjoy this performance, please keep in mind that none of this would be possible without the generosity of our supporters, including you. Your ticket price covers only a fraction of our expenses in bringing you these masterpieces. Won’t you join our family of donors to help bridge the gap between ticket income and the income we need to balance our budget? We literally could not do it without you.
Finally, hats off to the wonderful volunteers from the Eureka Springs Opera Guild, who are absolutely invaluable to our success. Please say “thank you” to them as you see them in the theater. They are treasured friends.
Enjoy the opera!
Don Dagenais President, Board of Directors
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
Don Dagenais, President
Alice Conway, Vice President
Ed Henson, Treasurer
Jean Moffatt, Secretary
Carole Langley, Chairman of the Board
STATE PRESIDENTS
Kathie White, Arkansas
John Bechen, Kansas
Anne Gassel, Missouri
Debra Rue, Oklahoma
Lora Lynn Christensen, Texas
MEMBERS
Gary Ardes
Lois Armor
Annamary Beaver
Richard Drapeau
Lorraine Ernest
Fidelma Farinas-Cobas
Roberta Gumbel
Carla Johnson
EX OFFICIO
Raquel King
Duane Langley
Lynn McNew
Janet Parsch
Judy Rownak
Steve Shogren
Michael Shuman
Jim Swiggart
Christine Vitt, NFMC VP SCR
Nancy Preis, OIO General Director
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Terry and Starla Blair
Mark Delavan
Brenda Ford
Carroll Freeman
Gloria Grilk
Marquita Lister
Melba Maechtlen
Alice Martinson
Chris Merritt
Dawn Pierce
Barbara Rondelli-Perry
John Schmidt
Josh Shaw
Linda Vollen
Joan Wells
Leona Whitesell
Dan Wright
Bill Yick
Jennifer Zetlan
2026 ADMINISTRATION
Nancy Preis, General Director
Thomas Cockrell, Artistic Director
Chris Cathcart, Operations Director
Alice Martinson, Medical Director
Robin Milam, Administrative Assistant
Yvonne Creangă, Assistant to the General Director
Monica Williams, Head Housekeeper
Mark Williams, Maintenance Head
Mike Palmer, Chef
Cam Landberg, Chef
David Prody, Chef
Jen Palmer, Kitchen Assistant
2026 ARTISTIC STAFF
Thomas Cockrell, Artistic Director & Principal Conductor
William Lumpkin, Conductor
J.J. Hudson, Stage Director & Stage Skills Instructor
Samuel Mungo, Stage Director & Stage Skills Instructor
Amy Helms, Stage Director
Emily Ulibarri, Movement Instructor
Raymond Ulibarri, Choreographer
Lorraine Ernest, Voice Instructor
Bille Bruley, Voice Instructor
Bo Price, Senior Coach
Brian Osborne, Senior Coach & Musical Theater Music Director, Coach Accompanist
Andrew Voelker, Music Director (MSMD) & Coach Accompanist (Puccini)
Edoardo Lenza, Apprentice Coach Accompanist
Andrea Morokutti, Apprentice Coach Accompanist
Richard Dunham, Lighting Director
Kellen Sapp, Assistant Lighting Director
Spencer Musser, Scenic Designer & Technical Director
Poppy Garner, Assistant Technical Director
Samuel Fischer, Production Assistant
Samuel Tucker, Props & Production Assistant
Meredith Magoun, Costume Designer & Shop Manager
Alice Crist, Costume Designer
Alexander Davidson, Stitcher & Wardrobe Assistant
Ken Schutter, Stitcher & Wardrobe Assistant
Carol Brian, Production Stage Manager
Chiana Niedbalec, Stage Manager
Erin Speno-Stout, Stage Manager
WELCOME TO
WELCOME to the 76th year of Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point in historic Eureka Springs, Arkansas – a mountainside arts community with picturesque Victorian-style architecture, natural beauty, and a vibrant downtown.
In addition to being home to Opera in the Ozarks, Eureka Springs has been named one of the “Coolest Towns in America,” and its entire downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places.
From locally owned shops and galleries to nationally recognized mountain bike trails, there is a plethora of things to enjoy. With fine art around every corner, a variety of music, exceptional dining, festivals and events, night spots and tons of outdoor activities, you’ll never have a dull moment during your visit to Eureka Springs.
Discover more online at VisitEurekaSprings.com Additional visitor information can be found at NorthwestArkansas.org.
OPE R A IN THE O Z ARKS THE HISTORY OF
WELCOME TO INSPIRATION POINT, POETICALLY DESCRIBED AS “A MOUNTAINOUS PLACE NOT TOO MANY MILES FROM HEAVEN.”
LOCATED NORTHWEST OF EUREKA SPRINGS AND OVERLOOKING
THE WHITE RIVER VALLEY SOME 600 FEET BELOW, THE LOWLANDS MERGE INTO THE INCOMPARABLY BEAUTIFUL OZARK MOUNTAINS, CREATING AN IDYLLIC SCENE INDEED.
In 1928 a German-born architectural engineer, Charles Mowers, purchased the land overlooking the White River valley outside Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and began construction of a castle patterned after those along the Rhine River valley in Germany. In 1932, the unfinished castle and grounds were bought by Rev. Charles Scoville, who completed the castle and gave it its name, Inspiration Point.
When Scoville died in 1938, his wife gave the property to Phillips University (Enid, Oklahoma) but for years it was little used. Then, in 1950, Dr. Henry Hobart of the Phillips University faculty was asked to start a summer music camp at Inspiration Point.
With the support of Gertrude Stockard, Director of Music at Eureka Springs High School, the organization then known as Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony (IPFAC) came into being in the summer of 1950. The first summer camp was held that year, over four weeks, with a small number of students, all from
Oklahoma. The camp offered a little bit of everything in vocal and instrumental music and dramatic art.
Constance (“Connie”) Eberhart was the opera workshop director for eight years beginning in 1951. In 1957, Dr. Isaac Van Grove began directing the program.
A few years later Dr. Hobart decided to focus on an opera workshop for talented college and high school students. All opera roles were performed entirely by the students. No lead singers would be brought in to sing the principal roles. The theme of IPFAC became “the students are the stars.”
IPFAC was incorporated in Oklahoma as a nonprofit corporation in 1954. Beginning in 1974, the organization became affiliated with the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC), where it eventually became a project of the South Central Region of NFMC. In 1977 IPFAC received a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization status with the Internal Revenue Service.
Slowly but surely new facilities were added. In 1955 the building which serves as the offices was constructed. The Red Barn, the oldest building on the campus, served as housing for many years. During the 1950s practice cabins were added and in the 1960s the stage area of the present theater, then called
the Tabernacle, was enlarged. Until that time, performances had been held in the Eureka Springs Auditorium downtown and in other locations, including on tour to destinations as far away as Memphis and Chicago.
Dr. Isaac Van Grove, who directed the program for 21 years, was an internationally known director and composer. During his years he wrote many operas which were premiered at The Point.
In the 1970s, the objective of IPFAC changed so that the organization became a career preparation center for opera singers. Presently, all artists are either college or graduate students who consider themselves pre-professionals.
The effectiveness of training at IPFAC is demonstrated by the success of its alumni. Many have performed with the Metropolitan Opera and opera companies in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Houston, as well as with major international companies. Singers who have not gone on to become professional performers have enjoyed substantial careers as teachers, church musicians, private and university teachers, opera directors, and in other ways.
In addition to Drs. Hobart and Van Grove, IPFAC has enjoyed the leadership of several other talented individuals. These include Wenonah Williams, Carroll Freeman, Dr. Vernon Sutton and our current Artistic Director, Dr. Thomas Cockrell. Among the people who have served in business or General Director positions are Jim Swiggart, who held that role for 25 years of service, and our current General Director, Dr. Nancy Preis.
The effectiveness of training received at inspiration point is demonstrated by the success of its alumni
In 2017, General Director Nancy Preis began exploring the possibility of a new theater for the Inspiration Point campus with representatives of the Walton Family Foundation based in Bentonville, Arkansas. In 2023, the Foundation announced a generous donation of over $34 million to fund the construction of a new theater. The donation also included support for new faculty housing and other improvements.
The organization was re-incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in Arkansas, and changed its name to Opera in the Ozarks, Inc., since that is the name by which it is generally known.
The new theater officially opened to the public on May 31, 2025, and we deeply appreciate the extraordinary kindness and generosity of the Walton Family Foundation for making this possible.
An enthusiastic group of Northwest Arkansas volunteers, the Eureka Springs Opera Guild, has provided much-needed volunteer support for Opera in the Ozarks since the Guild was founded in 1982 with Gloria Chrychel serving as its first president. For several decades Pam Jones, a dedicated fan and volunteer, was the driving force behind the Guild.
Now entering its 76th year and second full season in the new state-of-the-art 300-seat theater, audiences will once again enjoy world-class opera in a setting that pairs exceptional acoustics and modern comfort with the natural beauty of the Ozark Mountains.
These are exciting times for Opera in the Ozarks, and we appreciate your sharing them with us.
Jo Ann Clark, Agent 802 W Trimble Avenue
Berr y ville, AR 72616
Bus: 870 - 423 -34 43
jo.a.clark.b2wo@statefarm.com
Pick the right team
Here’s the
We Hope you Enjoy the Opera
NATIONAL
Open 7 days a week 7am-8pm
ARKANSAS
Kathie White, President
Suzanne Babbie
Dr. Thomas Bolton
Frank Ferguson
Christine Graham
Nancy Griffin
Gloria Grilk
Dr. George Keck
Dr. Ouida Keck
Dr. Alice Martinson
Carol Moore
Betty Pierce
Jimmie Stephens
Dr. Chris Thompson
KANSAS
John Bechen, President
Phillis Scorce
Evelyn Falen
Lynn Basow
Delores Wishart
Linda Mannering
Janis Saket
Linda Vollen
Gay Dill
Janice Shaner
Melba Maechtlen
Dee Blaser
Beth Harrison
Shirley Lemmons
Linda Lind
Marty Edwards
Cherie Caulley
MISSOURI
Anne Gassel, President
Connie Craig
Donna Kinslow
Yukiyo Lake
Annette Mayhew
Judy Shaw
Marlana Strasburg
OKLAHOMA
Debra Rue, President
Melanie Bayles
Donna Caldwell
Susan Gates
Natlynn Hayes
Diann Henson
Jessica Huddleston
Suzi Lenhart
Moriah Schmidt
Mike Seals
Amanda Welch
Lavonna Whitesell
Lisa Whitesell
Allison Yates
TEXAS
Lora Lynn Christensen, President
Lois Armor
Mary Ann Bridges
Stephen George
Annette Griesbach
Dawn Humphrey
Carla Johnson
Jennifer Key
Lynn McNew
Jean Moffatt
Cathy Neidert
Pam Price
207 W. Van Buren, Eureka Springs
YOU CAN KEEP THE OPERA ALIVE
Opera in the Ozarks is a 501(c)(3) corporation supported by gifts from friends, student tuition, memberships, and ticket sales. While we receive a modest grant from the State of Arkansas, we receive no federal funding and are mostly dependent on the gifts of people like you, who love what you see and hear on our stage.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Many people want to ensure that aspiring young singers can get the training they need at Opera in the Ozarks, regardless of the singer’s financial situation. We encourage endowed scholarships, at a minimum contribution of $10,000, that will continue to support singers in perpetuity. For those with more modest means, we offer annual scholarships at $250 which will associate your name with a particular singer for one season. We encourage donors to meet “their” singer and to follow future career paths.
ENDOWMENT FUND
The Endowment Fund provides a continuing income source as we spend only the earnings from this fund. All $1,000 life memberships go into the Endowment Fund, along with endowed scholarships. You can play a role in increasing this fund – it is one of the best investments you can possibly make to ensure an excellent experience and fine training for young and aspiring opera singers, instrumentalists, directors, designers, and technicians.
BEQUESTS, TRUSTS, LIFE INSURANCE, IRA DISTRIBUTIONS
Opera in the Ozarks welcomes bequests from charitable trusts or estates. You can make OIO the beneficiary of life insurance, IRAs or 401k plans. And, the U.S. Congress has finally made permanent the tax break for donations of required minimum distributions from IRAs. We also are happy to receive gifts from donor advised funds.
SECURITIES
Opera in the Ozarks welcomes gifts of securities. Consult your tax advisor about the tax advantages of donating appreciated securities. Information about how to donate securities can be obtained by calling the General Director.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
We have made arrangements with CARS Inc. to accept donations of cars, trucks, RVs, boats, and other vehicles. The donor gets a tax deduction and CARS Inc. sends the proceeds from the sale of the vehicles to Opera in the Ozarks. Details are on our website, opera.org.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
MATCHING GIFTS
We encourage you to consult your employer for matching gift programs. We receive matching gifts from a number of corporations, which are very much appreciated.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT NAMING OPPORTUNITIES
You can lay claim to a key on one of our beautiful Steinway grand pianos. For $1,000, we will add your name to a plaque that commemorates the acquisition of instruments worthy of our singers.
OTHER NAMING OPPORTUNITIES
The campus buildings are now owned by Inspiration Point Center for the Arts. Auditorium chairs and various other spaces are available for you to add your name. While we are enjoying the beautiful new theater and faculty housing, a gift of the Walton Family Foundation, much remains to be done to bring the remainder of the campus buildings up to current standards. For information, please contact Dr. Anna Smedley, anna@inspirationpointarts.org.
ANY SIZE GIFTS ARE IMPORTANT
Your gift doesn’t have to be large to be important. You can add a few dollars when you purchase a ticket, or make a modest monthly gift. Take the plunge – put your money where your heart is. You can donate today using the QR code below, online at opera.org, or by sending a check to
Opera in the Ozarks
P.O. Box 127 Eureka Springs, Arkansas 72632 (479) 253-8595
If you need further information, please call Nancy Preis, General Director. We rely on our many generous and caring friends. Our work is important, and your gifts make it possible.
GENERAL DIRECTOR
Nancy Preis joined the staff of Opera in the Ozarks in 2015 after a varied career encompassing academics, investment banking, manufacturing management and opera management. She was an associate professor of accounting at Columbia University Graduate School of Business for 11 years. She left academia and became a vice president of Kleinwort Benson N.A., a British merchant bank, where she led a team of financial analysts and worked on leveraged buyouts and commercial banking. A late night phone call led to a move to Florida to take over a small research and
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Conductor Thomas Cockrell is marking his fifteenth season as artistic director of Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point. Under his leadership, the company mounts bold productions and is committed to performing works by American composers annually. Inspiration Point premieres in recent seasons include Cendrillon, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Ballad of Baby Doe, La rondine, The Tender Land, and in 2026, Candide. OIO presented its first non-summer production, a holiday-themed evening of opera and song, Gifts from the Heart, in December 2025. With the opening of the Inspiration Point Center for the Arts Theater, Opera in the Ozarks has entered a new era of adventure, inventiveness, and growth under his leadership.
In May 2026, Cockrell retired from the University of Arizona School of Music where he served as professor of music and director of orchestral activities and held the Nelson Riddle Endowed Chair in Music since 2000. With the University of Arizona Opera Theater, he conducted a wide range of productions including The Crucible, Postcard from Morocco, L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and The Rape of Lucretia, as well as works from the traditional repertoire. With the school’s Arizona Symphony Orchestra, he conducted hundreds of programs, guiding students through works of the core symphonic repertoire and nurturing them on the path to professions as performers and educators. His April 2026 farewell concert with the ASO featured favorite works
development company that made high efficiency electric motors. Through a combination of internal growth and five acquisitions, she grew the company substantially and worked primarily in the military and aviation markets.
At the same time, she began working with St. Petersburg Opera Co. as chief financial officer and marketing manager. She helped that company grow from one donor to a diverse base of support that kept the company “in the black” for over ten years and consistently drew critical praise for its artistic excellence. Her work for Opera in the Ozarks includes upgrading the physical facilities at Inspiration Point and at the same time, increasing the company’s visibility through collaboration with other organizations. She holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Toledo and a PhD from the University of Michigan.
of Verdi, Brahms, Copland, Nelson Riddle, and Strauss’s Four Last Songs, in which he was joined by Metropolitan Opera soprano and OIO alumna Latonia Moore. This finale brought together aspects of Cockrell’s dual legacies: at the University of Arizona and Opera in the Ozarks.
Cockrell has conducted numerous productions for Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Dayton Opera, Opera Colorado Artist Center, and Washington, D.C.’s Summer Opera Theatre. For the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and South Carolina he conducted symphonic, chamber and contemporary music concerts, assisted for productions of Parsifal, Elektra and Salome and conducted Gian Carlo Menotti’s Maria Golovin at the composer’s invitation. Early in his career Cockrell served as associate conductor for Cincinnati Opera, Opera Colorado, and the Colorado Symphony. Equally versed in the symphonic repertoire, he has conducted the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Tucson, Louisville, and Boulder, as well as several in Italy, Romania, Mexico, and South Korea. A dedicated educator and mentor, he has served as conductor of the Phoenix Youth Symphony and Denver Young Artists Orchestra and was on the conducting faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp. His former conducting students are charting careers with symphony orchestras, opera theaters, and universities in the US and abroad.
Cockrell is a graduate of Yale University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he received his DMA. He was one of the last students of the legendary Franco Ferrara and holds diplomas from L’Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and the Conservatoire Américain in Fontainebleau, France. He subsequently pursued further studies at Aspen and Tanglewood.
NANCY PREIS
THOMAS COCKRELL
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
CHRIS CATHCART
Chris Cathcart was born in Los Angeles, CA and grew up in an entertainment family. He started performing at age three and spent most of his childhood as an actor and singer. He attended Pasadena City College and began working in recording studios as a singer and audio engineer assistant. He managed student films, theatrical productions, commercial projects and live concerts, most notably the 1992 Malibu Earth Day Celebration, an outdoor concert on the beach attracting 25,000 attendees. Asked to come to Branson, MO, he helped open the 2,200-seat Welk Resort Theatre where he was production/stage manager for over 25 years. Cathcart worked
with some of the biggest names in entertainment, such as the Beach Boys, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Huey Lewis and the News, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Three Dog Night, Pat Benatar, Mel Tillis, Glen Campbell, Lee Greenwood, Tanya Tucker, Pam Tillis, the Gatlin Brothers, Louise Mandrell, Ray Stevens, among others.
Cathcart has written, produced and directed several productions in Branson, including The Philip Welford Show, BransonFest, the Branson ABA Show, and the Rankin Brothers Classic Music Revue, and produced the Broadway musicals, Shrek and The Million Dollar Quartet.
He joined Opera in the Ozarks in May, 2020, right before the company cancelled its season because of COVID 19. He has become an invaluable member of the team and the instigator of some of our best laughs.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
SUMMER 2026 PERFORMANCE CALENDAR
Curtain 7:30PM at Inspiration Point unless otherwise noted All seats reserved / (479) 253-8595 or visit opera.org
Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi The Marriage of Figaro
Marriage of Figaro
Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi
3:00PM Ice Cream Sunday
Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi
Marriage of Figaro
Cabaret 6:00PM
Evening opera talks held on veranda of new theater (inside if rain). Opera talks begin at 6:50PM for evening performances. Sunday opera talks begin at 1:30PM held inside theater.
A manor house near Seville. In a storeroom that they have been allocated, Figaro and Susanna, servants to the Count and Countess Almaviva, are preparing for their wedding. Figaro is furious when he learns from his bride that the count has tried to seduce her. He’s determined to have revenge on his master. Dr. Bartolo appears with his former housekeeper Marcellina, who is equally determined to marry Figaro. She has a contract: Figaro must marry her or repay the money that he borrowed from her. When Marcellina runs into Susanna, the two rivals exchange insults. Susanna returns to her room, and the count’s young page Cherubino rushes in. Finding Susanna alone, he speaks of his love for all the women in the house, particularly the countess. When the
count appears, again trying to seduce Susanna, Cherubino hides, but when Don Basilio, the music teacher, approaches, the count conceals himself. Basilio tells Susanna that everyone knows that Cherubino has a crush on the countess. Outraged, the count steps forward, but he becomes even more enraged when he discovers Cherubino and realizes that the boy has overheard his attempts to seduce Susanna. He chases Cherubino into the great hall, encountering Figaro, who has assembled the entire household to sing the praises of their master. Put on the spot, the count is forced to bless the marriage of Figaro and Susanna. To spite them and to silence Cherubino, he orders the boy to join the army without delay. Figaro sarcastically sends Cherubino off into battle.
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Based on a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais Premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786
This Production Generously Underwritten by Phyllis and Mike Barrier | Janet and Luke Parsch
ACT II
Conductor: William Lumpkin
Stage Director: J. J. Hudson
Scenic Designer: William Spencer Musser
Lighting Designer: Richard Dunham
Costume Designer: Meredith Magoun
CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Wardrobe Manager: Alice Crist
Stage Manager: Chiana Niedbalec
Accompanist and Recitatives: Andrea Morokutti
Choreographer: Raymond Ulibarri
Count Almaviva Holden Seward
Countess Rosina Almaviva
Krista Hastings, Carol Jarrett
Susanna, The Countess's Maid Cas Dixon, Lorena Maggiore
Figaro, Valet to the Count Carter Houston, Jongho Woo
Cherubino, The Count's Page Fengzhen Liu, Hannah Park
Marcellina, Doctor Bartolo's Housekeeper Alanna Perrin, Gabrielle Tyler
Bartolo, Doctor from Seville, also a Lawyer
Daniel Basurto Fojaco, Timothy Zajdela
Basilio, Music Teacher Camden Kegley, Larson Miller
In her bedroom, the countess mourns the loss of love in her life. Encouraged by Figaro and Susanna, she agrees to set a trap for her husband: They will send Cherubino, disguised as Susanna, to a rendezvous with the count that night. At the same time, Figaro will send the count an anonymous note suggesting that the countess is having an assignation with another man. Cherubino arrives, and the two women lock the door before dressing him in women’s clothes. As Susanna steps into an adjoining room, the count knocks and is annoyed to find the door locked. Cherubino hides himself in the dressing room, and the countess lets her husband in. When there’s a sudden noise from behind the door, the count is skeptical of his wife’s story that Susanna is in there. Taking
his wife with him, he leaves to get tools to force the door. Meanwhile, Susanna, who has reentered the room unseen and observed everything, helps Cherubino escape through the window before taking his place in the dressing room. When the count and countess return, both are astonished when Susanna emerges from the room. Figaro arrives to begin the wedding festivities, but the count questions him about the note that he received. Figaro successfully eludes questioning until the gardener, Antonio, bursts in, complaining that someone has jumped from the window. Figaro improvises quickly, feigning a limp and pretending that it was he who jumped. As soon as Antonio leaves, Bartolo, Marcellina, and Basilio appear, putting their case to
the count and holding the contract that obliges Figaro to marry Marcellina. Delighted, the count declares that Figaro must honor his agreement and that his wedding to Susanna will be postponed.
ACT III
Later that day in the great hall, Susanna leads on the count with promises of a rendezvous that night. He is overjoyed but then overhears Susanna conspiring with Figaro. In a rage, he declares that he will have revenge. The countess, alone, recalls her past happiness. Marcellina, accompanied by a lawyer, Don Curzio, demands that Figaro pay his debt or marry her at once. Figaro replies that he can’t marry without the consent of his parents for whom he’s been searching for years, having been abducted as a baby. When he reveals a birthmark on his arm, Marcellina realizes that he is her long-lost son, fathered by Bartolo. Arriving to see Figaro and Marcellina embracing, Susanna thinks that her fiancé has betrayed her, but she is pacified when she learns the truth. The countess is determined to go through with the conspiracy against her husband, and she and Susanna compose a letter to him confirming the meeting with Susanna that evening in the garden. Cherubino, now disguised as a girl, appears with his sweetheart, Barbarina, the daughter of Antonio. Antonio, who has found Cherubino’s cap, also arrives and reveals the young man. The count is furious to discover that Cherubino has disobeyed him and is still in the house. Barbarina punctures his anger,
PROGRAM NOTES
Is there any truth to the rumor that a down-and-out court poet named Lorenzo da Ponte and a brash young composer named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart cooked up their opera Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) in a bar in Vienna in 1785? Whether or not the bar part is true, the two of them certainly did decide to collaborate on the opera about that time.
Da Ponte, the author of the opera’s words (libretto), was a curious figure. Born in Venice of Jewish ancestry, his family converted to Catholicism and his name was changed from
explaining that the count, when he attempted to seduce her, promised her anything she desired. Now, she wants to marry Cherubino, and the count reluctantly agrees. The household assembles for Figaro and Susanna’s wedding. While dancing with the count, Susanna hands him the note, sealed with a pin, confirming their tryst that evening.
ACT IV
At night in the garden, Barbarina despairs that she has lost the pin that the count has asked her to take back to Susanna as a sign that he’s received her letter. When Figaro and Marcellina appear, Barbarina tells them about the planned rendezvous between the count and Susanna. Thinking that his bride is unfaithful, Figaro curses all women. He hides when Susanna and the countess arrive, dressed in each other’s clothes. Alone, Susanna sings of love. She knows that Figaro is listening and enjoys making him think that she’s about to betray him with the count. She then conceals herself—in time to see Cherubino try to seduce the disguised countess. When the count arrives looking for Susanna, he chases the boy away. Figaro, by now realizing what is going on, joins in the joke and declares his passion for Susanna in her countess disguise. The count returns to discover Figaro with his wife, or so he thinks, and explodes with rage. At that moment, the real countess steps forward and reveals her identity. Ashamed, the count asks her pardon. Ultimately, she forgives him, and the entire household celebrates the day’s happy ending.
Portrait (Detail) of Lorenzo Da Ponte by Samuel Morse
Emanuele Conegliano to Lorenzo da Ponte. He was named after the dignitary who baptized him.
Young Lorenzo studied theology and took orders in the Catholic church, where he became known as Abbé da Ponte. However, he was dangerously adventurous. He embarked on a series of scandalous love affairs (really) and wrote a series of libelously satirical pamphlets about local authorities. He was unceremoniously booted out of Venice and ended up, after several intervening adventures, as the Italian poet in the court of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II.
There Da Ponte wrote the libretto for a comic opera composed by the court composer who also had been transplanted from Italy, Antonio Salieri. You may have heard of him. The piece was a failure, however, for which Salieri blamed Da Ponte. Salieri swore never to work with Da Ponte again, which is the reason for the phrase “down-and-out” in our first sentence.
Vienna, meanwhile, was also the home of a brash, confident and altogether immature young musician named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The son of a renowned composer and violin pedagogue, Leopold Mozart, the young man, then just 29, was praised by some and vilified by others for his audacious but beguiling compositions.
Da Ponte had an idea for Mozart. They would collaborate on an opera based upon a controversial play by the French author Beaumarchais called The Marriage of Figaro, a sequel to Beaumarchais’ popular comedy The Barber of Seville. The second play featured many of the same characters as the first, but was set ten years later and took the controversial theme of clever servants outwitting their stumbling masters.
We now know Beaumarchais’ play as a startlingly provocative piece of its day, often cited as a precursor to the French Revolution which was to take place only six years later. In 1785, however, it was considered mildly outrageous and wickedly funny.
Foregoing the politics for once, and concentrating primarily on two love stories (one passionate, the other broken), Da Ponte produced a brilliant libretto which delighted the young Mozart. What made it so brilliant? Its simplicity. Knowing Mozart’s ability to write gorgeous music evoking the characters and their emotions, Da Ponte chose simple, telling words which left Mozart ample space in which to weave his musical magic.
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Mozart took full advantage. The Marriage of Figaro is filled with memorable characters: the scheming, selfcentered Count Almaviva, ruler of the manor; his lovely but longsuffering wife Countess Rosina, who longs to reattract her husband’s wandering eye; the sparkling, clever and constantly scheming maid Susanna, who delights in thwarting the count’s amorous designs; the lovesick and fawning teenager Cherubino, who is hopelessly infatuated with the countess; the aging servants Bartolo and Marcellina; the stumbling gardener Antonio who nearly spoils Susanna and the countess’ carefully-contrived plot; and, of course, the charming and inventive manservant Figaro, who is sometimes a bit too clever for his own good and who needs to be brought down a peg or two before he deserves Susanna’s hand.
Mozart mixes and matches these figures, bringing out expressions of almost every human emotion, making the characters sympathetic, outrageous, foolish and endearing in turn. At crucial times it appears that the bad guy (the count) will win out but (spoiler alert) ultimately the good characters (almost everybody else) prevail. At the end of the opera, the count, completely humbled, begs the countess’ forgiveness on bended knee. She graciously consents, but as the curtain closes we wonder whether it is all sincere or whether, given another chance, he will be breaching her trust once again.
No matter. For the moment, Da Ponte, and especially Mozart, have concluded their comedy with a scene of transcendent glow. May we leave the theater bearing it with us, and thank these two unlikely collaborators for leaving us one of the greatest musical masterpieces ever created.
— By Don Dagenais
Portrait of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais by Jean-Marc Nattier
Premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on December 14, 1918
June 27 | July 2, 6, 10, 14, 16, 19, 23
Suor Angelica Production Generously Underwritten by Don Dagenais
Gianni Schicchi Production Generously Underwritten by Don Dagenais | Ann Marie and Gary Ardes
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
Conductor: Thomas Cockrell
Stage Director: Samuel Mungo
Scenic Designer: William Spencer Musser
Lighting Designer: Kellen Sapp
SUOR ANGELICA
Costume Designer: Alice Crist
Stage Manager: Carol Brian
Assistant Stage Director: Amy Helms
Accompanist: Edoardo Lenza
CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Sister Angelica Grace Christensen, Julia Pace
The Princess
Kimia Keshavarz Kelley, Gabrielle Tyler
The Abbess Hannah Park
La Monitor Gabrielle Tyler, Gentry Wessman
Mistress of the Novices Margaret Branyon-Goodman, Krista Hastings
Sister Genovieffa Joanna Kim, Eleanor Rees
Sister Osmina Isabella San Pablo
Sister Dolcina Katheryn Cooper
The Nursing Sister
Karenna Peterson
The First Alms Sister Tanvi Thatai
The Second Alms Sister
Annabella Hynniman
A Novice Julia Ruddy
First Lay Sister
Hannah Yohe
Second Lay Sister Fengzhen Liu
SUOR ANGELICA SYNOPSIS
Tuscany, Italy, the previous century. Banished to live in a convent after having an illegitimate child, Sister Angelica has not heard from her family in seven years. Finally a visitor is announced: it is Angelica’s aunt, the princess. Rejecting Angelica’s gestures of affection, she explains that when Angelica’s parents died, she was made guardian of both her and her younger sister. The sister is to be married, and the princess demands Angelica sign her share of the inheritance
over to her. Crushed by her aunt’s cruelty, Angelica asks about her little son. The princess coldly tells her that he died two years earlier. The devastated Angelica signs the document, and the princess leaves. Angelica grieves that her child died without his mother by her side (“Senza mamma”). She drinks poison, then suddenly realizes that suicide is a mortal sin. Praying for forgiveness, she dies with a vision of her son greeting her in heaven.
La Ciesca, Marco's Wife Fengzhen Liu, Karenna Peterson
Maestro Spinelloccio, A Doctor
Joseph Harris
Ser Amantio di Nicolao, A Notary Maxwell Vernon
Pinellino, A Cobbler
Tyrell Harris
Guccio, A Dyer John Asmus
GIANNI SCHICCHI SYNOPSIS
Florence, Italy, current day. The greedy relatives of the wealthy Buoso Donati discover that the deceased has left his fortune to the church. The young Rinuccio suggests that Gianni Schicchi, a shrewd, self-made man and the father of his girlfriend, Lauretta, can help them. Schicchi appears with his daughter. Disgusted by the hypocrisy and avarice of the wealthy family, he is about to leave but is persuaded to stay by Lauretta who proclaims her intention to marry Rinuccio (“O mio babbino caro”). Reading the will, Schicchi devises a plan to impersonate the dead man. The
relatives send for the notary, and Schicchi, wearing Buoso’s nightclothes, from his sickbed dictates a new will, in which he leaves the greater part of the estate, including the house they are in, to his “dear friend Gianni Schicchi.” The relatives are furious, and steal what they can from the house, chased out by Schicchi, who remains behind with Lauretta and Rinuccio. Turning to the audience, he points out how happy his fraud has made the young lovers and pleads that he not be judged too harshly.
SUOR ANGELICA & GIANNI SCHICCHI
PROGRAM NOTES
Giacomo Puccini’s Il trittico (The Triptych) premiered on December 14, 1918, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. As its title suggests, Il trittico consists of three one-act operas: Il tabarro (The Cloak), Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. Although the narratives are unrelated, the works are loosely connected through a recurring motif: each opera features a death concealed from the other characters.
While Puccini intended the trilogy to be performed as a unified evening of opera, many opera companies and universities choose to present only portions of the work because of its substantial length—complete performances often exceed three and a half hours—as well as its demanding vocal requirements, since singers frequently perform principal roles across multiple operas in the same production. Notably, the first partial staging of Il trittico took place in 1920 at the Royal Opera House, only two years after the premiere. Today, the most commonly performed configuration omits Il tabarro, presenting Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi as a double bill.
These two operas complement one another remarkably well through both their contrasts and their unexpected similarities. On the surface, they occupy opposite ends of the dramatic spectrum: Suor Angelica is a deeply tragic work, whereas Gianni Schicchi is a brilliant comic opera. Suor Angelica is set within a convent, where the Sisters devote themselves to lives of purity and poverty, while Gianni Schicchi centers on characters consumed by greed, envy, and gluttony. Furthermore, although both libretti were written by Giovacchino Forzano, Suor Angelica is an original story conceived by the librettist, whereas Gianni Schicchi derives its narrative from an episode in Inferno by Dante Alighieri. In fact, at the conclusion of the opera, Schicchi famously breaks the fourth wall to offer a playful apology to Dante himself.
Despite these differences, both operas are ultimately grounded in the theme of parental love. The actions of both Angelica and Schicchi—even those that may be considered morally questionable—are motivated by a desire to secure happiness and salvation for their children. Consequently, these seemingly unrelated works form a compelling and highly complementary pairing.
— By Jonathan Stinson
Giacomo Puccini
Giovacchino Forzano
PROGRAM NOTES
The Composer
Giacomo Puccini, born in Lucca in 1858, came from a long line of musicians. Beginning with his great-great grandfather, the Puccini family occupied the position of maestro di cappella at the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca for 124 years. Only six years old when his father died, Giacomo was too young to step into the role of maestro di cappella, but his future career was set. He received a diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca and went on to study at the Milan Conservatory for three years, where he was friends with other budding opera composers such as Ponchielli and Mascagni.
Ferdinando Fontana wrote the libretti for Puccini’s first two operas, Le villi and Edgar. When neither opera was successful, Puccini blamed Fontana. For his next attempt, Puccini said he would write his own libretto, but his publisher, Ricordi, convinced him to use Leoncavallo. That alliance was short lived and Puccini went through four other librettists before settling on Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. That team persisted through Puccini’s next four operas, arguably his best and among the most popular operas to this day: Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly. The deaths of both Giacosa and Ricordi, Puccini’s editor and publisher, led to the search for a new partner. At the same time, Puccini was embroiled in a marital scandal. His wife, with whom he had an affair and a child while she was married to someone else, now accused him of having an affair with their maid. While Puccini was a prolific womanizer, this time he was innocent. The turmoil of the incident no doubt cost him some composition time. His next opera, La fanciulla del West, was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910 with Arturo Toscanini conducting. It was the first world premiere at the Met. While the opera was a success, Puccini only used the librettists, Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini for this one opera. In the remaining 14 years of his life, Puccini collaborated with Giuseppe Adami to write La rondine, Il tabarro, and Turandot Giovacchino Forzano wrote Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.
A chain smoker, Puccini developed throat cancer and died after traveling to Brussels for radiation treatment. At the time of his death, Turandot was not quite finished. At least four other composers were considered to complete the work, but ultimately, Franco Alfano was chosen by the publisher Ricordi. At least eight other composers have written new endings, three as recently as 2024, to varying success.
The Librettist
Giovacchino Forzano, born outside Florence, Italy in 1884 was a bit of a Renaissance man. He studied medicine, had a brief career as a baritone, earned a law degree, and then became a freelance journalist. He met Puccini in 1914 and agreed to write the libretti for Suor Angelica and for Gianni Schicchi. He declined to write Il tabarro because he didn’t like the plot. (Il tabarro was later written by Giuseppe Adami.) He had a career as a stage director at La Scala from 1920-1930.
With the success of his two libretti for Puccini, Forzano was sought out by other early 20th c. Italian composers to write for them, including Alberto Franchetti, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Umberto Giordano, and Pietro Mascagni. While the two Puccini operas have never left the canon, Forzano’s other libretti have fallen into obscurity. That may be in part a result of his enthusiasm for fascism and Benito Mussolini. He was never able to disassociate his name from Mussolini and he died in 1970 without having reclaimed his cultural significance.
Puccini's birthplace in the Corte San Lorenzo, Lucca; the building presently houses a museum dedicated to his life and œuvre
SUOR ANGELICA & GIANNI SCHICCHI
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
Suor Angelica
At first blush, it may seem that a story about a convent of nuns has little to say to a contemporary audience. However, a deeper dive into Puccini’s music and Forzano’s libretto reveals universal ideas and truths that we can take with us. Angelica is from a family for whom there is no room for error—one way to think, one way to believe, no room for understanding or compassion. The convent was (is?) the place where women are sent to learn penance, a place with even more strictures on life. When she makes a final mistake, she fears that in a black and white world there is no space for forgiveness. But while society and culture may not offer it, she, and we, find that in the end there is plenty of room in this world for reconciliation and redemption.
Gianni Schicchi
Given the beauty and brilliance of Puccini’s only comedy, I’ve always wished he had written more of them. From the classic “O Mio Babbino Caro” to the amazing ensemble writing, Puccini shows himself as adept at comedy as he is with heartbreaking drama like Suor Angelica. The themes of avarice and greed, rationalization and consequences, are so universal, so sadly timeless, that we have placed the time period of the show in the world of today. Families fighting over money, the rich wanting to keep their own and take as much as possible even from one another seem like everyday headlines. From Anna Nicole Smith and Howard Hughes to Prince and Lisa Marie Presley, famous battles over wills and estates happen when vast fortunes, eccentric demands, or disinheritances spark intense warfare. Although Dante’s Schicchi is condemned to eternal rage and madness, the fun of seeing karma visited on people such as the Donati family is timeless. Enjoy!
— By Samuel Mungo
MORE ABOUT GIANNI SCHICCHI
From the Encyclopedia Britannica
The story of the opera is derived from a passage in the 30th canto of Dante’s Inferno, which mentions, in an unflattering fashion, Gianni Schicchi—who was an actual Florentine— as having been consigned to the eighth circle of hell with other forgers and cheats for disguising himself as Buoso Donati, a recently deceased Florentine aristocrat, in order to obtain Donati’s wealth for himself. Part of the Donatis’ great house, so coveted in the opera, still stands in Florence today, a crumbling tower on the Via del Corso, very near the house where Dante was born in 1265. (Dante’s house was reconstructed in the early 20th century and is a museum.) Dante, in fact, married Gemma Donati—to whom he was formally betrothed at age 12—five years before the death of his beloved muse, Beatrice Portinari. Thus, it is quite possible that he was sympathetic to the Donati side of events.
Donati Luxury Tower Suites
The Donati Luxury Tower Suites claims to be the site of the Donati house: “Dating back to the year 1000, the property began as two medieval towers owned by rival noble families during Florence’s early rise. Two centuries later, the structures were unified under the powerful Donati family and persisted through centuries of the city’s evolving landscape.”
PROGRAM
Premiered by the New York City Opera in New York, NY, on October 13, 1982
June 30 | July 3, 7, 9, 12, 15, 22
This Production Generously Underwritten by Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis | Gloria Matyszyk and Dick Caldwell
SYNOPSIS
In the castle of Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronck in Westphalia, Dr. Pangloss tutors four children based on his philosophy that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." The children are Cunegonde and Maximilian, the beautiful daughter and son of the Baron, Paquette, a servant girl, and Candide, a bastard cousin. Candide and Cunegonde fall in love and once their feelings are discovered, Candide is banished from the barony and tricked into joining the Bulgarian army to ravage his own homeland. After many misadventures, Candide is borne to Portugal where he discovers Pangloss, now a beggar, and both are sentenced before the Spanish Inquisition. An Old Lady leads Candide away and eventually presents him to her mistress who happens to be Cunegonde. The three of them set forth on a harrowing journey to the New World. Meanwhile, in the New World, the Governor of
Cartagena, Colombia, purchases Maximilian (disguised as a woman) and Paquette as concubines. The Governor falls for Maximilian and is so disgusted upon learning his true gender he decides to sell him to a monastery. Candide eventually arrives at the monastery in the New World and inadvertently stabs Maximilian and runs off into the jungle with Paquette. After further misadventures, the Old Lady helps Candide find Cunegonde, who has since become a prostitute in a gambling casino, so he buys her and the newly brought back to life Maximilian, who happens to be working there as a house slave. Destitute but re-united, the four go to see a wise man who turns out to be Dr. Pangloss. Their old teacher reveals his new plan for happiness to the quartet: man must "work from dawn til’ dusk, in the fields, patiently learning to make his garden grow."
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book by Hugh Wheeler, after Voltaire
Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche and Leonard Bernstein
Conductor: Thomas Cockrell
Stage Director: J. J. Hudson
Scenic Designer: William Spencer Musser
Lighting Designer: Richard Dunham
Costume Designer: Meredith Magoun
CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Stage Manager: Carol Brian
Chorus Master and Coach: Brian Osborne
Accompanist: Brian Osborne
Choreographer: Raymond Ulibarri
CANDIDE
Voltaire and Sundry Others Carter Houston, Matthew Merolla
Candide Nicholas Hausman, Cole Sherwood
Cunegonde Payton Boldt, Joanna Kim
Maximilian Eric Cornwell, Theron LePage
Paquette Karenna Peterson, Gentry Wessman
Baroness / Old Lady Margaret Branyon-Goodman, Alanna Perrin
Governor Brandon Flores, Nicholas Hausman
Baron / Don Issachar Larson Miller
Grand Inquisitor Daniel Basurto Fojaco
Judges
1st Pink Sheep
2nd Pink Sheep
Lion
Joseph Harris, Tyrell Harris, Maxwell Vernon
Julia Pace, Tanvi Thatai
Grace Christensen, Kimia Keshavarz Kelley
Timothy Zajdela
Ensemble Members of the 2026 Company
PROGRAM NOTES
Candide
Pangloss was professor of metaphysicotheologico-cosmolo-nigology. He proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause, and that, in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron’s castle was the most magnificent of castles, and his lady the best of all possible Baronesses. “It is demonstrable,” said he, “that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end. Observe, that the nose has been formed to bear spectacles—thus we have spectacles. Legs are visibly designed for
Pangloss teaching at Thunder-Ten-Tronck
stockings—and we have stockings. Stones were made to be hewn, and to construct castles—therefore my lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in the province ought to be the best lodged. Pigs were made to be eaten—therefore we eat pork all the year round. Consequently, they who assert that all is well have said a foolish thing, they should have said all is for the best.”
From Chapter 1 of Candide, by Voltaire
By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher and Copyright Owner.
PROGRAM NOTES
Who was Voltaire?
François-Marie Arouet, born 1694, was known by his pen name Voltaire. A product of the French Enlightenment, he was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific papers. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was one of the French philosophes: public intellectuals who applied reason to the study of philosophy, history, science, politics, economics, and social issues. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. His best-known work and magnum opus, Candide, is a novella that comments on, criticizes, and ridicules many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time, most notably Gottfried Leibniz and his belief that our world is of necessity the “best of all possible worlds”.
In philosophy and theology, Leibniz is most noted for his optimism, i.e. his conclusion that our world is, in a qualified sense, the best possible world that God could have created. It is this philosophy that Voltaire lampooned in Candide.
By 1744, Voltaire found life at the Marquise’s chateau confining and began an affair with his recently widowed niece. The Marquise died in childbirth in 1749 and Voltaire moved to Potsdam, Prussia, at the invitation of Frederick the Great. Voltaire’s relationship with Frederick soured in 1752 and he began a slow return to Paris. Louis XV banned him from Paris in 1754 and Voltaire moved to Geneva. By 1758, he bought an estate in Ferney, on the French side of the border, and that remained his home until his death in 1778. Candide, published in 1759, remains his best-known work. In Ferney, he entertained notable figures such as James Boswell, Giacomo Casanova, Edward Gibbon, and Benjamin Franklin. He died at 84, at a time when a man who survived childhood could expect to live into his 50s.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
This note is not meant to be a complete biography of one of the most celebrated conductors, composers, educators, and humanitarians of the 20th century.
He chose the name Voltaire in 1718 although he also used 178 pen names throughout his career. Following a challenge to duel after an insult about his name-change, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille. He proposed exile to England as an alternative to a lengthy incarceration, which the French authorities accepted. In England, he circulated in high society, befriending Alexander Pope, John Gay, Jonathan Swift, and became interested in the works of Shakespeare, who was still little known in France. After two and a half years, Voltaire returned to France where he published a series of admiring essays on British government, literature, religion, and science, causing a scandal that forced him to leave Paris once again. In 1733, he moved to the countryside with his lover, the Marquise du Châtelet and her husband, where he studied history and performed scientific experiments. Strongly influenced by Isaac Newton, Voltaire also studied the work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a mathematician, philosopher, scientist, and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus. In addition to his work on calculus, he is credited with devising the modern binary number system.
Born in 1918, Bernstein was the eldest of three children of Jewish Ukrainian parents. He started piano lessons at age 10 and played his first piano recital at New England Conservatory of Music in 1932. In 1935, he entered Harvard University where he studied with Walter Piston and met Dmitri Mitropoulos, Marc Blitzstein and Aaron Copland. Graduating cum laude in 1939, he enrolled in Curtis Institute of Music to study conducting with Fritz Reiner. He attended the inaugural year of the Boston Symphony’s Berkshire Music Center, later renamed Tanglewood. At Tanglewood, he became an assistant to Serge Koussevitsky who became a lifelong inspiration. Bernstein returned to Tanglewood nearly every year of his life. He moved to New York in 1941 and scraped together a living teaching piano, coaching singers, and transcribing jazz and pop music. In 1943, having been appointed an assistant to New York Philharmonic conductor Artur Rodziński, Bernstein made his conducting debut when Bruno Walter caught the flu. Bernstein stepped in with no rehearsal and a challenging program. Within two years, he had conducted ten different orchestras in the US and Canada and premiered his first symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony. In the fall of 1943, Bernstein and Jerome Robbins began working on the ballet Fancy Free, which premiered in April 1944. Bernstein and Robbins decided to expand the ballet into a musical On the Town with Betty Comden and Adolph Green providing the book and lyrics.
Portrait of Voltaire by Nicolas deLargillière
Voltaire's niece and lover. Marie Louise Mignot
His career, firmly established in the US by 1945, went international with conducting assignments in Prague, Israel, and for the United Nations. In 1953 he became the first American to conduct an opera at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, in acclaimed performances of Cherubini’s Medea and Bellini’s La sonnambula, both with Maria Callas in the title role. The 1950s were the most active years of Bernstein’s career. He created five new works for the Broadway stage, composed several symphonic works and an iconic film score, and was appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic with whom he toured the world.
In 1953, the playwright Lillian Hellman approached Bernstein with the idea to write a play based on Voltaire’s novel with incidental music. Hellman and Bernstein saw parallels between Voltaire’s satirical portrayal of the Catholic Church’s blatant hypocrisy and violence and the inquisition-like tactics then being implemented by the U.S. government under the House of Representatives’ House Un-American Activities Committee. Bernstein was excited about the idea and convinced Hellman to turn the piece into a comic operetta. Hellman wrote the original libretto, but James Agee, Richard Wilbur, John La Touche and Dorothy Parker also worked on it. Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, wrote the lyrics to “I Am Easily Assimilated.”
According to Marin Alsop, a longtime Bernstein fan, “there can be no doubt about the brilliance of Bernstein’s score, which he conceived as a Valentine’s card to European music. Few composers could construct a score where European dance forms like the gavotte, waltz and polka are interwoven seamlessly with bel canto arias, Gilbert and Sullivan-style comedy, grand opera and Bernstein’s own “Jewish tango.””
Despite the brilliance of Bernstein’s score, Candide was not a Broadway success, lasting for only 73 performances from December 1956 to February 1957. The New York Times wrote “(Hellman’s) libretto … seems too serious for the verve and mocking lyricism of Leonard Bernstein’s score which, without being strictly 18th century, maintains, with its gay pastiche of past styles and forms, a period quality.”
Famed Broadway director Harold Prince undertook a series of
revivals, without Bernstein’s involvement. Hellman refused to let her work be used in the revivals, so Prince commissioned a new book from Hugh Wheeler. The version omitted over half of the musical numbers and the 104-minute show ran on Broadway for 740 performances. In 1982, New York City Opera, with Harold Prince directing, restored much of Bernstein’s music in the “opera house version.” This version was filmed for “Live from Lincoln Center” and the recording later won a Grammy in 1987. In 1988, John Mauceri, the director of the Scottish Opera, engaged John Wells to work on the libretto. After the final rehearsal, Bernstein decided to re-examine the music. He made changes in orchestration, shuffled the order of numbers in the second act, and altered the endings of several numbers. Bernstein conducted a stellar cast of Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Christa Ludwig, Adolph Green, and Kurt Ollman in this final revised version. Hal Prince directed a Lyric Opera of Chicago version, with additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and John La Touche.
It is worth noting that at the same time Bernstein was working on Candide, he was also writing West Side Story, which opened on Broadway in September, 1957.
What a day for an auto de fe
An auto de fe (literally “act of faith” in Spanish) was a public ritual and ceremony staged by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexican Inquisition. It involved a Catholic Mass, a public procession of condemned heretics, and the reading of their sentences. While the trials and torture occurred in secret, the auto de fe was highly publicized and theatrical. Many of the condemned were conversos – Jews or Muslims who converted to Christianity but whose sincerity was questioned by the Inquisition. They were suspected of practicing their original religion in secret.
The ceremony of public penitence began with a procession of prisoners, who bore elaborate visual symbols called sanbenitos on their garments and bodies. The prisoners were taken to a place where their sentences were read. Prisoners who were acquitted or whose sentence was suspended would fall on their knees in thanksgiving, but the condemned would be punished. Artistic representations of the auto de fé usually depict physical punishment such as whipping, torture, and burning at the stake.
Leonard Bernstein in 1953 when he was beginning work on Candide
One of Bernstein's last rehearsals, in 1990
TRAVELING OPERA
Monkey See, Monkey Do
by
Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Stage Director: Amy Helms
Music Director: Andrew Voelker
Pianists: Edoardo Lenza, Andrea Morokutti
Scenic Designer: William Spencer Musser
CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Maria
. Julia Ruddy, Hannah Yohe
Pedrito Joseph Harris, Maxwell Vernon
Antonio John Asmus, Tyrell Harris
Monkey # 1
. Julia Ruddy, Hannah Yohe
Words
by
Mary Duren Medrick
Costume Designer: Meredith Magoun
Stage Manager: Erin Speno-Stout
General Director: Nancy J. Preis
Monkey # 2 . . Bella Hynniman, Isabella San Pablo
Villager # 1
Julia Ruddy, Hannah Yohe
Villager # 2 Bella Hynniman, Isabella San Pablo
This Production Generously Underwritten by Richard Hill Endowment
SYNOPSIS
A Mexican village square. Antonio frantically searches for his missing monkey. Maria and sympathetic villagers listen and try to help. Pedrito enters, wearing many sombreros piled upon his head. He tries to sell the sombreros, but the town people, more interested in Antonio's plight, rebuff him. Only Maria listens to Pedrito, and the two exchange tender words.
The villagers leave to look for the monkey. Maria and Pedrito ask Antonio's permission to marry. Antonio refuses, calling Pedrito a failure. The organ grinder storms off to continue looking for the monkey. As Pedrito and Maria console each other, Antonio's monkey appears, this time with a girl monkey.
Unaware of the monkeys, Pedrito and Maria sing an affectionate duet. The monkeys imitate their phrases as well as their gestures, then rush off. Maria leaves to appeal once more to her father. Alone, Pedrito muses on his predicament and, still wearing his stack of sombreros, rests under a tree. As Pedrito dozes, the two monkeys reappear, now with another monkey. Antonio's monkey steals the top sombrero, the girl monkey steals the next sombrero and
the first monkey takes the remaining sombreros. One by one the monkeys disappear into the branches of the tree. Pedrito awakens and is alarmed to see the monkeys wearing his sombrero. Maria, Antonio and the villagers hear the commotion and enter only to add to the confusion.
Pedrito waves his arms about in frustration, whereupon the monkeys imitate him behind his back. When Pedrito realizes that the monkeys are copying him, he leads them in an imitation pantomime, culminating in his throwing his own sombrero on the ground. Instantly the monkeys follow suit, and hats fly as Pedrito's sombreros come sailing down from the tree. Antonio rushes to congratulate Pedrito. As the two embrace, the monkeys join them on the ground, imitating the happy scene. The delighted villagers eagerly buy up the sombreros of the clever Pedrito. Antonio, now the proud owner of two monkeys, gives his blessing to Pedrito and Maria. The audience joins the cast in a Mexican celebration, clapping and singing.
By arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
Music
2026 OPERA UNDERWRITERS
The Marriage of Figaro
Phyllis and Mike Barrier
Janet and Luke Parsch
Suor Angelica
Don Dagenais
Gianni Schicchi
Don Dagenais
Ann Marie and Gary Ardes
Candide
Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
Gloria Matyszyk and Dick Caldwell
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Richard Hill Endowment
NIGHT OF OPERA SPONSORS
Amy Cole
Texas FMC
Nancy Preis
Lynn McNew
Wednesday Morning Music Club of Austin
Barbara Perry
EuGene Smith
Ann Marie and Gary Ardes
Betty Pierce
Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
Sharon Meyerhofer
Janet and Luke Parsch
Missouri Federation of Music Clubs
VOLUNTEER THANK YOU
OPERA IN THE OZARKS is grateful for these volunteers who give of their time and talents to help with artist transportation, ushering, costume inventory and wardrobe tasks, properties, gardening, and many other tasks. We thank you and are glad that you are part of our team! We couldn’t do without these wonderful helpers.
Gary & Ann-Marie Ardes
Rebecca Becker
Arlene & Jerry Biebesheimer
Ken Brown
Margie & Phil Bullock
Wendy & David Carlisle
Ann Carter
Mary Diehl
Richard Drapeau
Fred & Terry Eilskov
Fidelma Farinas-Cobas
Ronn & Danna Hearn
Lisa Lockwood
Sarah Martin
Alice Martinson & Carole Sturgis
Anna Mathews
Darrell & Susan Morgan
Betty Pierce
William Poe
Michael & Susan Reed
Chris Ritthaler
Linda Rogers
Roxanne Royster
Debra Rue
Suzanne Ryan
Carol Saari
Anunziata Scarpino
Becky Seidl
Colleen & Steve Shogren
EuGene Charles Smith
Mary Springer
Brad Swiger
Jim & Janice Swiggart
Natasha Treuer
Kent Turner & Shane Gasser
Jennifer & Roger Viola
Auralie Vogler
Jess Wade & Kevin Graham
Karen & Chuck Welch
Nancy Werbitzky
Denise Wilson
Holly & Rob Wright
Marcia Yearsley
Special thanks to:
Fayetteville Public Library
University of Arkansas Special Collections
Janet Parsch
Bentonville Film Festival
Drea Clark
Karen Day
Ben Gulley
Cecilia Violetta Lopez
Jill & Rodney Slane
OUR ACTIVITIES:
Supporting
Opera In The Ozarks through memberships, donations and other fund raising, all of which provide scholarships to aspiring artists
Ushering for the performances
Transporting singers and staff to and from the airport
Beautifying the theatre area with our time and talents
Showcasing
ART EXHIBITION; a stunning art show at every performance!
PERKS:
Early bird ticketing access for members AND MORE!
How can YOU join?
Printable membership forms available online at opera.org
Send your $15 membership fee along with your contact information to:
Eureka Springs Opera Guild | PO Box 3234 Holiday Island, AR 72631
eurekaoperaguild @gmail.com
2026 OFFICERS
President: Stephen Shogren
Vice President: William Poe
Secretary: Colleen Shogren
Treasurer: Gary Ardes
Directors: Jim Swiggart, Ann-Marie Ardes, Richard Drapeau
EUREKA SPRINGS OPERA GUILD PROVIDED OVER $13,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS IN 2026.
OPERA IN THE OZARKS
ALUMNI SP O TLIGHT
Clay Hilley (2004) sang Siegfried at Berlin Opera this spring as well as singing Tristan to Lise Davidsen’s role debut as Isolde in Madrid. He will make his Metropolitan Opera debut in November as Samson in Samson et Dalila.
Elizabeth Fisher (2021) and Louis Tiemann (2021) are members of the Nashville Young Artist Program.
Jonathan Patton (2019) makes his role debut as Scarpia in Wolf Trap’s Tosca this summer. He also enjoyed his first Met contract this spring, covering Melot in Tristan and Isolde, and sang with the National Symphony in a complete Il trittico this spring.
Lindsay Ammann (2005) will sing in both Eugene Onegin and Lili Elbe at Santa Fe Opera this summer.
Andrew Alan Hiers (2010, 11) was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Andrew hit a dry patch in his opera career and started selling cars. To attract attention, he started recording ads by singing his own lyrics to opera melodies. He sold nine cars before the CBS story ran and his opera career has also reignited.
Chelsea Friedlander (2011) and Caroline Nielson (2017) are staff sergeants with the US Army Chorus, part of the US Army Band “Pershing’s Own”.
Nathan Schludecker (2022, 24) has been singing with OperAvenir, the studio of Opera Basel in Switzerland.
Will Raskin (2021) returned to Sarasota Opera as an apprentice artist, was a traveling artist for Des Moines Metro Opera, and will be returning to Glimmerglass this summer.
Sara Kennedy (2018) was featured as Valencienne this spring at Sarasota Opera. She will be singing at Teatro Grattacielo this summer along with Nathan Schafer (2016).
Bille Bruley (2012, 13) sings Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire for Opera Theater St. Louis this summer, and is cast by Houston Grand Opera this fall as Sam Polk in Susannah
Jamila Drecker-Waxman (2021) sang Zerlina for Florentine Opera and begins a post-graduate year at Juilliard next fall.
William Dopp (2024) and Suzanne Burgess (2015, 16) sang Silent Night at Florida Grand Opera this spring. Suzanne was also featured as Frasquita (Carmen) at the Met and sang all four of the Tales of Hoffmann women for Florentine Opera
Keeley Futterer (2009, 12, 13) returns to Glimmerglass this summer where she is cast in Fellow Travelers and Così fan tutti (Despina).
Jordan Knapick (2018, 22) and Jack Murphy (2021) are returning to Ohio Light Opera this summer. Jack has been continuing his love affair with Gilbert and Sullivan with the New York G&S Players.
Sara Dyer-Jones (2021), Lindsey Weissman (2024) and Sara Nealley (2022) are all returning to Chatauqua as Young Artists. Lindsey was the alto soloist for the Boston Symphony performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony this spring.
Yazid Gray (2015, 16) received a Sullivan Award for career support.
Weston Hurt (1995), Daejong Song (2018), Jamila DreckerWaxman (2021), and Jeremy Lopez (2019) will be appearing at Central City Opera this summer.
Erin Reppenhagen (2019) will be singing the role of Flora in La traviata at the Berkshire Opera Festival this summer.
Georgia Belmont (2018) is a Fleming Artist at Aspen this summer.
Skylar Vargas (2019) sang Slim in Of Mice and Men for Kansas City Opera this spring.
Andrew Alan Hiers
Lindsay Ammann
Elizabeth Fisher
Sara Dyer-Jones
Clay Hilley
Caroline Nielson
Jonathan Patton
Nathan Schludecker
Chelsea Friedlander
Anza, Bed Stü, Blue Gem, Blue Planet, Børn, Case, Chaco, Deejo, Dorfman Pacific, Duke Cannon, Flag & Anthem, Head N Home, Hey Dude, Hot Sox, Joy Susan, KAVU, Keen, Kershaw, Life is Good, Lucky, Makeshift, Mauritius, Myra, Nylon Rope Sandals, Olivina, Osgoode-Marley, Park Hill, Pro Tech, Ray Troll, RVCA, Silver, Smartwool, Sog, Sorel, Stance Thread & Supply, Trixie & Milo, William Henry, Yellow Box, Z Supply, and more
ARTISTIC STAFF
CAROL BRIAN
Production Stage Manager
After graduating from Wright State University in Dayton, OH and serving an internship at The Juilliard School, life has never been boring for Carol Brian. She has been busy stage managing from as far north as New Hampshire, as far south as Florida, from Boston to Kansas City. Most recently she finished her seventh year as Production Stage Manager at Opera Tampa and her fifth year with Shreveport Opera. This is her eleventh season with Opera in the Ozarks. Carol has done shows of all sizes including Disney World, Norwegian Cruise Line and national tour shows and has worked at all four Tennessee opera companies. She lives in middle Tennessee with her husband, Gene.
BILLE BRULEY
Voice Instructor
Texas-born tenor Bille Bruley has garnered attention for his strength and versatility in operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary. The 2026-27 season highlights include his Houston Grand Opera debut in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, a debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis for A Streetcar Named Desire, Lyric Opera of Kansas City for Of Mice and Men, Lyric Opera of Chicago for Salome, and a workshop of Paola Prestini’s eagerly anticipated new opera with the Spoleto Festival. He also recorded a new studio recording of Strauss’ Salome with conductor Alexander Prior and Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, which will be released on a major label in 2027.
His 2024-25 season included his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in a new production of Salome directed by Claus Guth and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, his Carnegie Hall debut as tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah and a return to Utah Opera for Sweeney Todd. The 2023-24 season began with The Santa Fe Opera for Der fliegende Holländer, a debut at San Francisco Opera for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Jenůfa. Other notable previous engagements include The Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Opera, Austin Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Arizona Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Central City Opera, Virginia Opera and The Tulsa Symphony.
He is a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Baylor University, and Arizona State University. Dr. Bruley currently serves as Assistant Professor of Vocal Arts at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
ALICE CRIST
Draper, Costume Designer for the Puccini Productions
Alice Crist is excited to return for her third season as the costume designer for the double bill. She has been sewing for 10 years. Alice graduated with a BFA in Costume Design from Stephens College Conservatory in Columbia, MO, and is currently preparing to attend the costume technician graduate program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is excited to spend yet another summer with people who are equally as passionate about the arts as she is!
ALEXANDER DAVIDSON
Stitcher, Wardrobe Assistant
Alexander Davidson graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in
creative writing and an extensive resume in technical theatre. He has spent the past year as a costume intern at Florida Repertory Theatre, working as a stitcher and dresser on shows such as Doubt: A Parable, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Little Shop of Horrors. During college, he worked as a stitcher and wardrobe supervisor on shows such as Oleanna, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, as well as dabbling in stage management for The Tempest. He has also produced staged readings of his original plays, including Sun Bleached Flies, and The First Play About Hearts, Lies, and Friends.
RICHARD DUNHAM
Lighting Designer
Richard Dunham is pleased to be returning to Opera in the Ozarks yet again; his first season was in 2014. Rich earned his MFA (Dual Emphasis in Lighting and Scenic Design) from The Ohio State University. He currently serves as Chair/ Artistic Director for the Theatre and Cinema Dept. of Radford University. Before coming to Radford, he served as Professor of Scene and Lighting Design/Head of Design in the Theatre and Film Studies Department at the University of Georgia for 19 years. He is a national leader with The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and is a Fellow of the Institute. He continues to design regularly within the entertainment industry as well as in the architectural/ landscaping lighting markets. His professional credits include nearly forty years of design experience and numerous regional and stock productions throughout the East Coast and Midwest. Approximately 25 lighting designs have been for OIO. Notable credits include: Brunswick Music Theatre (Maine State Music Theatre), The Disney Institute, Music Theatre North, The Springer Opera House and The Atlanta Lyric Theatre and the SW Virginia Ballet. He has also designed for a number of New York regional and Off/Off-Off Broadway theatres including: The Circle Repertory Theatre, Theatre Three, Broadhollow Productions, The Jean Cocteau Rep., and the Directors Theatre. His designs have won various press awards while two of his articles have won national publications awards. He’s also the author of the well-received lighting text, Stage Lighting: Fundamentals and Applications which will be coming off the presses in a third edition later this year. He is also the author of Stage Lighting: Design: Applications and More, as well as segments in other books and several articles in professional journals.
LORRAINE
ERNEST Voice Instructor
Lorraine Ernest is celebrated for her portrayal of the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, a role she has brought to distinguished opera houses and concert stages throughout the United States and Europe. Her performances in this role include the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Washington National Opera, the Denver Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop, Opera Grand Rapids, Palm Beach Opera, Central City Opera, and the Volksoper in Vienna.
Her wide-ranging repertoire includes Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeri with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, a nationally broadcast PBS performance featuring Stephanie Blythe, Juan Diego Flórez, and Arthur Woodley. She has also made debuts at Carnegie Hall as Mademoiselle Jouvenot in Adriana Lecouvreur with the Opera Orchestra of New York, and with the Los Angeles Opera as Princess Tatishchev in Nicholas and Alexandra
alongside Plácido Domingo. Her other acclaimed roles include the title characters in Lucia di Lammermoor and Lakmé, as well as Violetta in La traviata, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Musetta in La bohème, and Adele in Die Fledermaus Ms. Ernest received both her Bachelor of Music and master’s degree from Oklahoma City University and attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. She was on the voice faculties of Montclair State University, Seton Hall University, and since 2021 has been an assistant professor of voice at the University of Oklahoma. She received the 2026 PeerFaculty Recognition Award. Her students have achieved notable success on Broadway and off Broadway, as well as with leading companies including Utah Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Washington National Opera Young Artist Program, San Francisco Opera, and numerous institutions throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Her recent and upcoming engagements include a recital with tenor Nathan Dougherty featuring French salon music by women composers with the Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra in Oklahoma City, Orpheus and Euridice by Ricky Ian Gordon at ClarinetFest 2025 in Fort Worth, and soprano soloist in Haydn’s The Creation with the New Jersey Symphony in Newark.
SAMUEL FISCHER
Production Assistant
Sam Fischer currently resides in Moberly, MO, where he has been a big part of the community theater for the last three years doing everything from building sets to sound operation, running lights, and stagehand work. Coming from a family of theatre nerds, it didn’t take long to find his passion in theater. Sam is currently working on earning his BFA in Theater Design/Technology at the University of Central Missouri. He has been given wonderful opportunities to work in all aspects of backstage theater, from sound board operation, scenic carpentry, rigging lights, and fly rail operation. The past three years have been fun and hard work.
POPPY GARNER
Assistant Technical Director
Poppy Garner is excited for her third season at Opera in the Ozarks. Previously, she was the Production Assistant for the 2023-2024 seasons and is thrilled to return this summer as the Assistant Technical Director. Poppy obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Central Methodist University, where she received commendations of achievement from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for her scenic design in Stupid ... Bird and scenic painting in The Hobbit. Recently, Poppy has produced scenic designs for High School Musical on Stage! at Lift for Life Academy in St. Louis and Frankenstein at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
AMY HELMS
Stage Director for Monkey See, Monkey Do
Assistant Stage Director for the Puccini and Bernstein Productions
Amy Helms is an intuitive, dynamic, and joyfully collaborative stage director, hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is thrilled for her first summer with Opera in the Ozarks as the Director for Monkey See, Monkey Do! and Assistant Director for Candide
and the double bill of Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi. Amy joined Indianapolis Opera this season as the Resident Assistant Director. She served as the Assistant Director for Rigoletto, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Le nozze di Figaro and Stage Director for the children’s outreach Sing Me a Story series and Opera Cabaret events, in addition to her duties as Production Coordinator. She recently graduated from Florida State University with a Master of Music in Opera Production, having directed Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice last May as her culminating thesis project. During her studies with directors Matthew Lata and James Marvel, Amy also directed two Outreach projects: Abrazo de Oso and an adaptation she created of The Magic Flute, in addition to assistant directing mainstage productions. Last summer, she was an Apprentice Stage Director at Opera Neo, where she was the First Assistant Director for Donizetti’s Elixir of Love which was performed at the Spanish Art Village in Balboa Park in San Diego, and an associate Assistant Director for Haydn’s Armida.
JJ HUDSON
Stage Director for Candide and Le nozze di Figaro
JJ Hudson is known for his sensitive and dynamic productions. Recent engagements include Rita and Il segreto di Susanna with Sarasota Opera, Così fan tutte with Opera Tampa, West Side Story with Wichita Grand Opera, and Becoming Santa Claus with Opera Louisiane. Additional directing credits include productions with Opera Roanoke, Tri-Cities Opera, Opera in the Heights, Mississippi Opera, Lakes Area Music Festival, and the Natchez Festival.
Beginning this fall, JJ will serve as Senior Lecturer of Opera Directing at the University of North Texas. Between 2023-2026 he was Interim Artistic Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater. Prior to his directorship at CIM, JJ was the Valerie Adams Professor of Opera at Georgia State University between 2021-2023. He has also directed productions with Temple University, Stony Brook University, Columbus State University, and the University of Kansas.
JJ is a frequent director in young artist programs, including Aspen Opera Theater, Harrower Summer Opera Workshop, Oberlin in Italy, the Miami Music Festival, and Red River Lyric Opera. He returns for a fifth season to Opera in the Ozarks to direct Candide and Le nozze di Figaro
JJ holds a Master of Music in Stage Direction and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice and Opera Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Iowa, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition and Vocal Performance from Stetson University.
EDOARDO LENZA
Apprentice Coach/Accompanist
Edoardo Lenza is a pianist from Sardinia, Italy, currently pursuing a Performer’s Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under Prof. Jean-Louis Haguenauer. He performs solo and collaborative repertoire, with extensive experience accompanying singers. He earned a Master of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music and a Bachelor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. During his undergraduate studies, he spent a year at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, studying with Prof. Stephen McIntyre and performing widely in piano duet repertoire. After returning to Italy, Edoardo completed postgraduate
ARTISTIC STAFF
studies in piano and chamber music at the Conservatorio di Musica Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. In 2021, he made his orchestral debut as soloist performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, following his victory in the conservatory’s piano competition.
In addition to performance, Edoardo has participated in community engagement projects supporting music education for disadvantaged youth. He has attended masterclasses and summer schools with internationally recognized musicians, including Leslie Howard and Enrico Pace, further shaping his artistic development.
WILLIAM LUMPKIN
Music Director for Le nozze di Figaro
William Lumpkin’s extensive repertoire and career have led to engagements with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Boston Lyric Opera, having previously served on the music staff for Los Angeles Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre, and Wolf Trap Opera. Additionally, Maestro Lumpkin led performances of the Mary Zimmerman production of Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s New Wave Festival, and conducted world premiere performances at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
He conducted performances of West Side Story with Wichita Grand Opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Opera Grand Rapids and was guest conductor for Southern Methodist University’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica.
Maestro Lumpkin conducted the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Flight with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and again in 2005 for Boston Lyric Opera. Additional credits at St. Louis include La bohème, The Magic Flute, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Hänsel and Gretel. In 2004, Maestro Lumpkin joined Boston Lyric Opera to conduct Così fan tutte
Maestro Lumpkin is the Artistic Director/Conductor for the Boston University Opera Institute where he has conducted over 40 opera productions including a co-production with Glimmerglass Opera of The Cunning Little Vixen and a cocommission with New York City Opera of Picker’s chamber version of his opera Dolores Claiborne
Recent recordings include the recently re-discovered Cuban opera El Caminante on Navona Records, and with Juliana Gondek on a recording of Roger Bourland’s Four Quartets of Songs and Arias for Navona Records.
MEREDITH MAGOUN
Costume Designer and Shop Manager
Meredith Magoun returns to Opera in the Ozarks for her second season, having previously designed costumes for The Merry Widow, Into the Woods, and Carmen.
Meredith serves as Assistant Costume Designer at UNC Charlotte and has taught at Old Dominion University (Senior Lecturer), Central Washington University, and Boston Arts Academy. Her courses span Costume Technology, Stage Costuming, Costume Design, Costume Crafts, Fashion History, Intro to Theatre, Intro to Production Design, and Mask Making. Her professional design credits include Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Busch Gardens, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE, Weston Playhouse, Longwood Players, Arts After Hours, Boston Baby Dolls, Northeastern University, Berklee College
of Music, Emerson College, Stoneham Theatre, Zeitgeist Stage Company, and Company One.
Her work has earned KCACTF Certificates of Merit for Cinderella, HOMEsick, Getting Out, Faust, and Mary Poppins, and The Normal Heart received the IRNE Award for Best Production (Small/Fringe). Meredith has four chapters forthcoming in The Costume Design and Technology Classroom: Teaching Strategies, Projects, and Solutions (Routledge/Focal Press, 2027-2028) and has published and presented widely through the USITT Costume Commission. She also works as a wardrobe mistress, milliner, photographer, artist, and balloon sculptor. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Theatre from Smith College.
ALICE MARTINSON Medical Adviser
Dr. Alice Martinson is a retired orthopedic surgeon who practiced in Berryville, AR for nearly 30 years. She is a graduate of George Washington University School of Medicine, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, and the first woman to have held a command position in the Navy Medical Department. She was also the Carroll County health officer for over 20 years. A supporter of Opera in the Ozarks for more than 30 years and a member of the governing board for 20, Dr. Martinson also serves as a trustee of the Inspiration Point Center for the Arts.
ANDREA MOROKUTTI Coach/Accompanist
A recent graduate of Ithaca College in Piano Performance, Andrea Morokutti is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Dr. Ana Maria Otamendi. Andrea recently coached the chamber opera and orchestral workshop of Working for the Macbeths by Johanna Navarro at the University of Michigan. Andrea has been Associate Music Director for many Ithaca College mainstage productions including Catch Me if You Can, Newsies, Into the Woods, and We Wear the Sea like a Coat. At the University of Michigan, Andrea plays in chamber ensembles, coaches singers, and performs in various settings. She has participated in the Collaborative Piano Institute for two summers where she played in masterclasses and was instructed by Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Howard Watkins, and many others. Her love of music and specifically opera began when she started singing in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s chorus at age six.
SAMUEL MUNGO
Stage Director for Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi
Samuel Mungo has an international reputation as director, producer, actor, and opera pedagogue. An expert in actor training for the young singer, Dr. Mungo has lectured and presented at universities and national conferences including the National Opera Association, NATS, UMKC Conservatory, University of Georgia, and University of Houston.
His honors include Classical Performance of the Year from the San Antonio Express-News, Opera Production of the Year from the National Opera Association, and the American Prize in both Opera Production, and Director of the Year. Professional directing credits include Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Florida
Grand Opera, La traviata at Opera Carolina, Suor Angelica for Opera Plovdiv, The Falling and the Rising at Baltimore Theatre Project, and Rigoletto and Il trovatore for San Antonio Opera. He recently collaborated with conductor Marin Alsop on a critically acclaimed production of Bernstein’s Mass, with over 540 participants. Committed to fostering new, socially conscious opera, he has led Errollyn Wallen’s ANON, Béla Pintér’s A Bajnok, and Laura Kaminsky’s As One.
He is currently Director of Opera Studies at Northern Arizona University, a position he previously held at the Peabody Institute and Texas State University. He has also served on the faculty of The Actors Studio Drama School, Towson University and New York University, and has served as Vice President and Board Member of National Opera Association. Dr. Mungo had an extensive performing career for over 20 years. He has sung with the St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Utah Symphony and Orquesta Filarmónica de Lima among others. He holds a Doctorate from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a master’s from the New England Conservatory, an Artist’s Diploma from The Boston Conservatory and a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from Illinois State University.
WILLIAM SPENCER MUSSER
Scenic Designer, Technical Director
William Spencer Musser returns for his tenth summer working at Inspiration Point. Previous set designs at Opera in the Ozarks could be seen in 2011-2016 and the 2023-2025 seasons. He received a BFA in Sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in Theater Design from The University of Missouri – Kansas City. He is an assistant professor of Scene Design and Technical Direction at the University of Central Missouri.
CHIANA NIEDBALEC
Assistant Stage Manager
Chiana Niedbalec is a stage manager and theatre production professional based in Los Angeles, California, and is pleased to join Opera in the Ozarks for her first season as an Assistant Stage Manager. Recent credits include stage managing ‘night, Mother and The Humans with Interact Theatre Company in Los Angeles, as well as The Marriage of Figaro at California State University, Northridge, where she earned her B.A. in Theatre Production and Design. She also spent a summer season with Lawrence Opera Theatre, serving as Stage Manager for Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci. Additional credits include assistant stage management for The Wolves and Dialogues of the Carmelites, and stage management and design work on The Good Doctor. Her experience spans stage management, lighting, and scenic production.
BRIAN OSBORNE
Senior Coach, Music Theater Music Director
Brian Osborne enjoys working as music director, vocal coach of opera and musical theatre, pianist, singer, actor and model. He is thrilled to be returning to Opera in the Ozarks, music directing the annual Musical Theatre Cabaret for a second year! Previous teaching experience includes work with Georgia State University, Reinhardt University, Oklahoma City University and The University of Mississippi. He music directs regularly at various regional theatre companies, including The Alliance Theatre, Woodstock Arts, Marietta Theatre Company,
The Strand Theatre, Surflight Theatre, McLeod Summer Playhouse and Rome Little Theatre.
He works every summer with a variety of music festivals, Academy Street Players, “Si parla, si canta” in Arona, Italy, Stagedoor Manor, Harrower Opera Workshop, Red River Lyric Opera, and Vanguard Musical Theatre Camp. Osborne has music directed in styles, genres, revues, cabarets and opera. Highlights include Violet, As You Like It, Ordinary Days, Monster Songs, Head Over Heels, The Rocky Horror Show, Rent, Lucky Stiff, Anything Goes, Company, The Sound of Music, She Loves Me, Songs for a New World, Newsies, The Secret Garden, Pippin, A Little Night Music, Brigadoon, Singin’ in the Rain, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, just a few of the more than 85 productions under his direction.
Osborne holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Georgia, a master’s in vocal performance from Florida State University and a second master’s from the University of Tennessee in collaborative piano.
BO PRICE Senior
Coach
Bo Price was born in England and grew up in the USA, attending Harvard University. He has been active as a pianist, coach, and accompanist for over 40 years. As a répétiteur, he has worked throughout Europe, including at least eight years each at the Teatro dell’Opera and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Oper Leipzig, and the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich; as well as for shorter stints at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence), and Orchestra Haydn (Bolzano), in Italy; the Theater St. Gallen and Opernhaus Zürich in Switzerland; the Bregenzer Festspiele and Salzburg Mozarteum in Austria, and the Theater Halle, Theater Regensburg, and Landestheater Niederbayern in Germany. He has collaborated with conductors such as Nello Santi, Riccardo Chailly, Bruno Campanella, Donato Renzetti, Marco Armiliato, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Christopher Hogwood, Anthony Bramall, Ulf Schirmer, Axel Kober, and Mstislav Rostropovich. Bo Price has taught at the “Maggio Musicale Formazione” (Florence), “Fondazione Musica per Roma” (Rome) in Italy; and the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Leipzig), and Sächsische Sängerakademie (Torgau) in Germany. He is also active as a Lied pianist, piano accompanist for vocal competitions, and Italian pronunciation coach.
KELLEN SAPP
Assistant Lighting Designer
Kellen Sapp is excited to be back at OIO for a second summer! Originally from Columbia, MO, she earned her BFA from the Helmerich School of Drama at the University of Oklahoma. Her recent work includes lighting design for The Importance of Being Earnest, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Hamlet (OK Shakespeare in the Park); The Sacred Veil at IPCA and the Reynolds Performing Arts Center; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and Orfeo ed Euridice (OU Opera); Contemporary Dance Oklahoma; and Oklahoma Festival Ballet.
KEN SCHUTTER
Stitcher, Wardrobe Assistant
Ken Schutter is excited for their first season with Opera in the Ozarks. They recently graduated from Stephens College with a BFA in Theatrical Costume Design, where they designed Songs for a New World, Ken Ludwig’s: Baskerville, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Since graduating, they have worked at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts in Warsaw, Indiana for both their summer season and Christmas show as a stitcher and firsthand.
ERIN SPENO-STOUT
Assistant Stage Manager
Erin Speno-Stout is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist and technician from Cincinnati, OH. She graduated in 2018 from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a B.A in theatre and sustainability, after which she worked at many different theatres including Richmond Shakespeare Festival, The Rev Theatre Company (formerly Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival), and Florida Studio Theatre. She has been stage managing professionally around the greater Cincinnati area since 2019 and has been working at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as the Artistic Engagement Stage Manager for the past 4 seasons. Some of her favorite stage management credits have included Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, Nate the Great: The Musical, and a world-premiere adaptation of The Tortoise and the Hare
Erin was the technical director of lighting and sound at Anderson High School in Cincinnati, where she mentored talented, driven students on a variety of productions including The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Oliver!, and Bring It On: The Musical. In her free time, she volunteers as a choreographer at Acting Up, a young performers’ community theatre where she used to perform as a teenager.
SAMUEL TUCKER
Props/Production Assistant
Sam is excited to join Opera in the Ozarks for his first season. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, he is currently pursuing a BFA in Drama Design and Technical Production at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, with a concentration in scenery and props.
EMILY AND RAYMOND ULIBARRI
Choreographers and Movement Coaches
Emily and Raymond Ulibarri are the co-founders and creative directors of the Melonlight Theater, an immersive theater company in Eureka Springs, AR. For more than twenty years, they have collaborated as performers, choreographers, directors, producers, and educators, creating original theatrical experiences that combine movement, storytelling, and audience immersion.
Emily is an accomplished playwright, performer, and choreographer whose original productions include Experience ANNA, I Haunt You, Silence in the Jungle, Christmas With the Rosses, Date Night With the Rosses, and ROBBIE!. Her background in dance and movement informs her distinctive approach to character
ARTISTIC STAFF
development and storytelling. She also serves as a movement specialist and instructor, helping performers build confidence, expression, and stage presence.
As Melonlight Theater’s lead director, Raymond is known for his dynamic visual storytelling and multidisciplinary approach to production. In addition to directing and performing, he oversees photography, videography, sound design, and multimedia elements.
Together, Emily and Raymond have written, produced, directed, and performed in dozens of original productions while mentoring artists and fostering a vibrant performing arts community in Northwest Arkansas. Their work with Opera in the Ozarks has included choreography and movement direction for The Tender Land, La traviata, L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Merry Widow, Carmen, and Into the Woods.
ANDREW VOELKER
Music Director for Monkey See, Monkey Do; Coach/Accompanist
Dr. Andrew Voelker serves as Vocal Coach and Music Director of Opera Theatre for the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia. This season, Dr. Voelker directed music for Erich Korngold’s The Ring of Polykrates and conducted Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park at the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia at UGA.
Andrew previously served on the faculty of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam as the music director of the Crane Opera Ensemble. Highlights included the workshop and premiere of Computing Venus (Takach/Vincent), as well as stage productions including Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon and Milton Granger’s Bluebeard’s Waiting Room. While serving as Associate Instructor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Voelker coached productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La traviata, Little Women, Serse, and L’incoronazione di Poppea. In 2023, they assisted in preparing vocal roles for the premiere production of Shulamit Ran and Charles Kondek’s opera Anne Frank. Andrew also spent three years as the music director for the graduate opera workshop directed by internationally renowned soprano Heidi Grant Murphy. As a pianist and opera coach at Illinois Wesleyan University, Voelker made their conducting debut in 2017 in Menotti’s The Medium, and directed productions including Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Trial by Jury. Additional credits include work at the Aspen Opera Center, Interlochen Arts Camp, Great Lakes Light Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, and Prairie Fire Theatre.
Andrew received the Doctor of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. They hold a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano and Voice from Northern Illinois University.
OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTS
JOHN (JACK) ASMUS
Baritone Middleton, WI
Education: Pursuing a BA in Vocal Performance and English Literature (film studies), Gustavus Adolphus College. Vocal study with Dr. David Kozisek, Lynn Najem, Barbara Dever, Carlos César Rodríguez.
Roles Performed: Count Almaviva, Le nozze di Figaro; Alidoro Cover, La Cenerentola; Avram, Fiddler on the Roof
Awards: Semi-Finalist (Junior) National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition – Minnesota District (2025), Semifinalist Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal (2023, 2024, 2025), Björling Music Scholarship (2023-present)
Previous Experience: Opera Apprentice Northern Lights Opera Company; Bayview Music Festival; Emerging Artist Jennifer Rowley’s Aria Bootcamp
DANIEL BASURTO FOJACO
Baritone Tijuana, Mexico
Education: Pursuing MM in Vocal Performance, University of Denver, Lamont School of Music; PC in Vocal Performance, University of Denver; BA in Music, NYU Abu Dhabi. Vocal study with Catherine Kasch, Mary Gatchell.
Roles Performed: Dr. Blind, Die Fledermaus; Antonio, Le nozze di Figaro
Awards: Founders Day Award - NYU Abu Dhabi
Previous Experience: Lamont Opera Theater; Prague Summer Nights
Scholarship Benefactors: Richard Drapeau Endowment, Moberly Music Club
PAYTON BOLDT
Soprano Kansas City, KS
Education: Pursuing a DMA in Vocal Performance, University of Missouri-Kansas City; MM in Vocal Performance, University of Missouri-Kansas City; BM in Vocal Performance, Kansas State University. Vocal study with Maria Kanyova, Reginald Pittman, Natalie Young.
Roles Performed: Laetitia, The Old Maid and the Thief; Mamá, Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena; Fastrada, Pippin; Querulous String, The Haberdasher Prince; Laurette, Doctor Miracle; Cinderella, Into the Woods; Cinderella’s Stepmother, Into the Woods; Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Zerlina, Don Giovanni; Adele, Die Fledermaus; Erste Dame, Die Zauberflöte; Pamina, Die Zauberflöte; Adina, Elixir of Love; Cinderella, Cinderella; Kate, Pirates of Penzance
Awards: 2025-26 Lyric Opera of Kansas City Soprano Apprentice Artist; 2026 Naftzger Division Winner; Featured soloist with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra; Featured soloist in Bach’s Cantata 51, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Handel’s Messiah; Leona Schaefer Memorial Scholarship; Mary Prudie Brown Scholarship; Kansas City Music Foundation Scholarship Winner; Bertha Degginger Scholarship; Rheta Sosland Hurwitt Scholarship; 2024 UMKC Concerto/Aria Contest Winner; 2022 KSU Aria Contest Winner; Leadership Scholarship
Scholarship Benefactors: National Federation of Music Clubs, Becky Seidl
MARGARET BRANYONGOODMAN
Mezzo-Soprano
Metairie, LA
Education: MM in Vocal Performance, Loyola University New Orleans; BM in Applied Music, Baylor University. Vocal study with Kathy McNeil, Luretta Bybee.
Roles Performed: Roßweisse, Die Walküre; Ma Moss, The Tender Land; Juno, Orphée aux enfers; Zita, Gianni Schicchi; La Badessa, Suor Angelica; The Sorceress, Dido & Aeneas
Previous Experience: Baylor Opera Theater, Loyola Opera, New Orleans Opera, Boston Wagner Institute, Miami Music Festival, Opera in the Ozarks
Scholarship Benefactor: James and Janice Swiggart Endowment
GRACE CHRISTENSEN
Soprano
Peterborough, NH
Education: MM in Voice Performance, Manhattan School of Music; BM in Voice Performance, Boston University. Vocal study with Joan Patenaude Yarnell, Dr. David Guzman.
Roles Performed: Eliza, Dark Sisters; Adina, L’elisir d’amore; Valencienne, The Merry Widow; Stepmother, Into the Woods; Florinda, Into the Woods; Scorpion, The Infinite Lives of Frog and Scorpion; Abigail Williams, The Crucible
Awards: Finalist in the Cooper Bing International Vocal Competition 2026; Helen Salem Philbrook Prize for promising vocal students
Previous Experience: Soloist at 61st annual Popayán Religious Music Festival in Popayán Colombia, Opera in the Ozarks, Musiktheater Bavaria, Juilliard Conservatory Prep Summer Program
Scholarship Benefactor: National Federation of Music Clubs Martha Mack Award
KATHERYN COOPER
Soprano
Springdale, AR
Education: Pursuing MM in Vocal Performance, University of Arkansas; BA in Music and BA in Theatre Arts, University of Arizona. Vocal study with Dr. Lenora Green-Turner, Dr. Andrew Stuckey, Marcia McGowen.
Roles Performed: Adina, L’elisir d’Amore; Lucinda, Into the Woods; Dodo, The Merry Widow; Dorabella, The Bremen Town Musicians; Adele, Die Fledermaus; Lillia, Hinterkaifeck; Ariel, Footloose
Awards: Spring 2026 Arkansas NATS 1st Place - Lower Advanced Classical Treble Voice, 2026 University of Arkansas Honors Recitalist, Helmut and Ellen Hof Scholarship Recipient (2025), Southern Arizona Quest for the Best 2025 Nominee
Previous Experience: Opera in the Ozarks, University of Arkansas Opera Theater, University of Arizona Opera Theater, The Media Theatre
Scholarship Benefactors: Rebecca and John Babbs, Fred and Terry Eilskov
ERIC CORNWELL
Baritone Westminster, CA
Education: BM in Music Performance with a concentration in opera, Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University of Long Beach. Vocal study with Reid Bruton, Dr. Alexander Hahn.
Roles Performed: Eisenstein, Die Fledermaus; Anu, Gilgamesh; Lorenzo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Schaunard, La bohème; Guglielmo, Così fan tutte; Dr. Malatesta, Don Pasquale; Don Annibale, Il Campanello di notte; The Forester, The Cunning Little Vixen; Count Almaviva, Le nozze di Figaro
Awards: 2021 Long Beach Camerata Singers Emerging Artist of the Year
Previous Experience: BCCM Opera Program, Opera Italia Los Angeles, Lyric Opera of Orange County, Verdi Chorus, Santa Monica
Scholarship Benefactors: Justice Phil and Carla Johnson Endowment, EuGene Smith
CAS DIXON
Soprano Walla Walla, WA
Education: Pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma in Voice, Cleveland Institute of Music; MM in Voice Performance, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; BM in Vocal Performance, San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Vocal study with Dina Kuznetsova, Elizabeth Futral, Susanne Mentzer.
Roles Performed: Bird, Blond Eckbert; La Sorella Infermiera, Suor Angelica; Tatiana Schloezer, The Death of Alexander Scriabin; Gretel and Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel; Ma Zegner, Proving Up; Tytania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Miss Wordsworth, Albert Herring; Mrs. Nordstrom and Fredrika, A Little Night Music; Snake, The Apple Tree; Ella Peterson, Bells are Ringing; Older Sandra Bloom, Big Fish
Awards: 2025 Finalist Nightingale Opera Theatre Biennial Vocal Competition, 2025 Third Prize 31st Annual Darius Milhaud Performance Prize Concert, 2023 Semi-finalist CS Vocal Competition, 2018 Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role The 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards Program, WA
Previous Experience: CIM Opera Theater, Peabody Opera, SFCM Opera and Musical Theatre Program, Chicago Summer Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Premiere Opera Vocal Arts Institute, Bel Canto Institute (Florence), Complete Package Performer “Acting for Classical Singers Bootcamp,” The Jimmy Awards - National High School Musical Theatre Awards
Scholarship Benefactors: Pamela Murphy Jones Endowment, Nancy Werbitzky
OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTS
MATTHEW FEINBERG
Baritone
Boston, MA
Education: Pursuing a Performance Diploma, Boston University Opera Institute; BA Music, Southern Connecticut State University. Vocal study with Dr. Margaret Astrup, James Demler.
Roles Performed: Steward, Flight; Mercutio, Roméo et Juliette; Cal, The Eleanor’s; Dr. Falke, Die Fledermaus; Ensemble, L’Italiana in Algeri, Don Giovanni, Die Fledermaus, Falstaff, Les Troyens
Awards: Advanced TBB category at the NATS National Student Auditions Finalist, RICCO Collegiate Vocal Competition Winner
Previous Experience: Opera Theater of Connecticut, Salt Marsh Opera, Connecticut Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra
Scholarship Benefactors: Gary and Ann Marie Ardes, Hobart Family Endowment
BRANDON FLORES
Tenor
Miami, FL
Education: Pursuing MM in Vocal Performance at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University; BM Vocal Performance, Frost School of Music, University of Miami. Vocal study with Sandra Lopez-Neill.
Roles Performed: Nika Magadoff, The Consul; Bill, Flight; Street Singer and Filch, Threepenny Opera; Lippo Fiorentino, Street Scene, Gherardo, Gianni Schicchi; Basilio and Curzio, Le nozze di Figaro; Apollo, L’Orfeo
Awards: President’s Music Scholarship recipient (202226), Georgia Dieter Dennis Scholarship recipient (2022-26), Arturo di Fillippi Scholarship recipient (2024-26), Semi Finalist Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition 2026, 2nd Place Mirabell Competition at the Patty and Allan Herbert Program at Salzburg 2025
Previous Experience: Frost Opera Theater, Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center Opera Institute, Miami Beach Classical Music Festival, Patty and Allan Herbert Program at Salzburg
Scholarship Benefactors: Eureka Springs Opera Guild, Benjamin Lundy Scholarship
JOSEPH DAY HARRIS
Tenor Minneapolis, MN
Education: Pursuing BM, University of Minnesota. Vocal study with Victoria Vargas, James Barnett, David Gustafson, Marie Landreth, Jerry Elsbernd.
Roles Performed: Sam Kaplan, Street Scene; 1st Shepherd – Cover, The Christmas Rose; Eddie Pensier, The Bremen Town Musicians; Bogdanovich, The Merry Widow
Awards: Schuessler Vocal Arts Scholarship (2024-2026), 2025 NATS Minnesota Chapter 2nd Place, 2022 NATS National Semifinalist, 2021 NATS National Semifinalist, 2021 NDSU Performance Competition 3rd Place
Previous Experience: St. Croix Valley Opera, Stillwater, MN; Skylark Opera Theatre, Minneapolis, MN; University of Minnesota Opera Theatre; Opera in the Ozarks; Cottage Theatre, Cottage Grove, OR; Shedd Institute, Eugene, OR
Scholarship Benefactors: South Central Region, National Federation of Music Clubs
TYRELL HARRIS
Baritone
Laurel, MD
Education: Pursuing MM in Vocal Performance, Michigan State University; BM, Vocal Performance, Michigan State University. Vocal study with Mark Rucker.
Roles Performed: King Balthazar, Amahl and the Night Visitors; Pa Joad, The Grapes of Wrath; The Speaker, The Magic Flute
Awards: Elizabeth R. Stanaway Nordlund Endowment Fund beneficiary (2022-2026), Erik and Kris Lindquist Vocal Performance Scholarship recipient (2026-2027)
Previous Experience: Maryland Opera, MSU Opera Theatre
KRISTA HASTINGS
Soprano Ewing, NJ
Education: MM Voice Performance and Pedagogy, Westminster Choir College; BM Voice Performance, Westminster Choir College. Vocal study with Dr. Kathy Price and Jack Livigni.
Roles Performed: Countess, Le nozze di Figaro; Nella, Gianni Schicchi; Sorella delle Novizie, Suor Angelica; Serpina, La Serva Padrona; Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica; Violetta, La traviata; Stepmother, Into the Woods; Marie, Marie Begins
Awards: Finalist in the Eastern NATS Vocal Competition, Semi-finalist in the National NATSAA Competition, Mildred May Scholarship Recipient, Winner of the Nebraska District in the MET Opera Laffont Competition, Encouragement Award in the Philadelphia District of the MET Council Auditions
Previous Experience: Garden State Opera; Opera America’s Career Blueprints, Westminster Opera Theater; Janiec Opera Company; Hawaii Performing Arts Festival; Bel Canto in Tuscany; Mediterranean Opera Studio
Education: Pursuing MM Opera Performance, University of Oklahoma; MM Voice Performance, Southern Methodist University; BM Music Performance, SUNY Potsdam, Crane School of Music. Vocal study with Joel Burcham, Clifton Forbis.
Roles Performed: Tito, La Clemenza di Tito; Prologue/Peter Quint, Turn of the Screw; Larry/Matt, The Face on the Barroom Floor; Beadle, Sweeney Todd; Gherardo, Gianni Schicchi; Male Siri, The Secret Life of Siri; Sailor/Aeneas Cover, Dido and Aeneas
Awards: National Association of Teachers of Singing, Texoma Regional Competition, 5th Place, National Qualifier
Previous Experience: University of Oklahoma; Southern Methodist University; Opera Lucca; Crane Opera Ensemble, SUNY Potsdam
Scholarship Benefactor: Rowland Davis Endowment
CARTER HOUSTON
Baritone
Erie, PA
Education: MM in Performance (Voice), Florida State University; BM in Performance (Voice), Penn State University. Vocal study with David Okerlund, Rachel Copeland, Bernard McDonald, Valerie Trujillo, Blair Salter
Roles Performed: Nick Shadow, The Rake’s Progress; Don Bartolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia; Officer/Marquis, Dialogues of the Carmelites; Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro; Schlendrian, J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata; Soloist, Die schöne Müllerin
Awards: Finalist of Mobile Opera’s Madame Rose Vocal Scholarship Competition (2025), Winner of Florida State Beaulieu Competition (2023), Graduate Assistantship in Voice Performance at Florida State University (2023-2025), Winner of Penn State Marjorie Jane Brewster Memorial Scholarship Competition (2022), Winner of Scholarship Grants from the Penn State Schreyer Honors College and College of Arts and Architecture (2021-2023), Selected for Penn State Undergraduate Exhibition (2021) Winner of Penn State Jury Recognition Award (2020, 2021, 2022)
Previous Experience: Lehrer Vocal Institute at Music Academy of the West; Florida State Opera; Penn State Opera Theatre
Scholarship Benefactors: Gary and Ann Marie Ardes, Ted and Shannon Hayes
ANNABELLA HYNNIMAN
Mezzo-Soprano
Louisville, KY
Education: Pursuing a BM Vocal Performance, Furman University. Vocal study with Bronwen Forbay, Stephen Taylor, Elizabeth Sorenson, Garrett Sorenson.
Roles Performed: Emma Jones, Street Scene; Waitress, Speed Dating Tonight!; Sally, Hand of Bridge; Evangeline Harcourt, Anything Goes; First Witch, Dido and Aeneas
Awards: CS Music Competition Semifinalist (2022) and Quarterfinalist (2025), KY Governor’s School for the Arts Voice Alum (2021), Furman Presser Award Nominee
Previous Experience: Opera Lucca; Trinity Department of Theatre Arts; Canto Louisville; KY Youth Performing Arts School
Scholarship Benefactor: Luke and Janet Parsch Endowment
OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTS
CAROL JARRETT
Soprano
Enid, OK
Education: MM Opera Performance, University of Oklahoma; Graduate Certificate in Arts Management, University of Oklahoma; BM Voice Performance, University of Oklahoma. Vocal study with Lorraine Ernest.
Roles Performed: Isabelle/Madeline, The Face on the Barroom Floor; Valencienne, Die Lustige Witwe; Rapunzel, Into the Woods; Jenny Smith, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; Miss Jessel, Turn of the Screw
Awards: Texoma National Association of Teachers of Singing Semifinalist (2023-2025), Benton Schmidt Voice Competition 3rd Place (2023), Helene C. Lottinville award recipient (2021)
Previous Experience: University Theater (University of Oklahoma); Opera in the Ozarks; OK City Opera Co.; Trentino Music Festival
Scholarship Benefactors: Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs, Maria deWaal Putter Endowment
CAMDEN KEGLEY
Tenor
Fairbanks, AK
Education: Pursuing MM Voice Performance & Pedagogy, University of Houston; BM Voice Performance, University of Memphis. Vocal study with Daniel Belcher, Dr. Randall Rushing.
Roles Performed: Josiah Creach, Markheim; Monostatos, Die Zauberflöte; Dancaire, Carmen; Njegus, The Merry Widow
Previous Experience: Opera in the Ozarks; Hawaii Performing Arts Festival
Scholarship Benefactors: Tim Danielson Endowment, Bill Yick Endowment
KIMIA KESHAVARZ KELLEY
Mezzo-Soprano
Conway, AR / Shiraz, Iran
Education: Pursuing MM Vocal Performance, University of Central Arkansas. She previously studied piano during her undergraduate degree in Iran after beginning her musical training as a violinist. Vocal study with Dr. JoAna Rusche.
Roles Performed: Carmen, Carmen Scenes Program; Dorabella, Così fan tutte; Amneris, Scenes from Aida; Ruth, The Pirates of Penzance
Scholarship Benefactors: Arkansas Federation of Music Clubs, Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
JOANNA KIM
Soprano
Los Angeles, CA
Education: MM Vocal Arts, University of Southern California; BM Vocal Performance with Music Education Concentration, New England Conservatory of Music. Vocal study with Mirko Matarazzo, Lynn Helding, Renee Sousa, Carole Haber.
Roles Performed: Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Blonde, The Abduction from the Seraglio; Gilda, Countess Ceprano, and Page, Rigoletto; Diana, Orphée aux Enfers; Cinderella, Into the Woods; Sophie, Masterclass; Christine, Phantom of the Opera; Son, Juniper Tree; Aréthuze, Actéon; Amore, L’incoronazione di Poppea Awards: 1st Prize from Coeur d’Alene Symphony National Young Artist Competition (2026); 1st Prize from Gwendolyn Roberts Young Artist of NATS-LA (2025); District Winner from NATS Award Competition Cal-Western Region (2025), Finalist
Previous Experience: Young Artist at Regium Lepidi Opera Company (Italy) and Opera North (US). Pacific Opera Project, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Opera Buffs
Scholarship Benefactor: Colleen and Steve Shogren
THERON LEPAGE
Baritone
Springfield, MO
Education: Pursuing MM Vocal Performance, The New School - Mannes School of Music; BME Missouri State University. Vocal study with Dr. Chris Thompson, Daniel Gutierrez.
Roles Performed: The Baker, Into the Woods; The Businessman, The Little Prince; Morales, Carmen; Mr. Jenks, The Tender Land; Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, Ruddigore; Prisoner #2, Fidelio; Lurker, Speed Dating Tonight!; Matthew, Considering Matthew Shepard
Awards: Presidential Scholarship recipient (2021-2025), Reynolds Scholar (2021-2025), 2024 National Association of Teachers of Singing 2nd Place (National Finals), 2025 National Association of Teachers of Singing 1st Place (Central Region), finalist in the Musical Theatre Scenes Division of the 2023 National Opera Association Conference
Previous Experience: Ozarks Lyric Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Springfield Contemporary Theater, Missouri State University Opera Theater, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Queen City Chorale
Scholarship Benefactors: Missouri Federation of Music Clubs, Denise and Tony Wilson
FENGZHEN LIU
Mezzo-Soprano
East Lansing, MI
Education: Pursuing DMA Vocal Performance, Michigan State University; MM and BM Vocal Performance, Xinghai Conservatory of Music. Vocal study with Jane Bunnell, Ling Duan, Yuemei Li.
Roles Performed: La Zia Principessa, Suor Angelica; Bradamante, Alcina; Mae, The Grapes of Wrath; Pirate Jenny, The Threepenny Opera; Jiang Jie, Sister Jiang; Tong Jialing, To Youth; Hua Mulan, Mulan Psalm
Awards: Golden Bell Award, 3rd Prize (2021); Ode to the Red Boat Competition, 1st Prize (2021); Zheng Qiufeng Vocal Competition, Best Singer (2021); 9th Rome International Music Festival China Selection, 2nd Prize (2020); Singapore International Arts Festival Guangzhou Region, 1st Prize (2019); Academic Scholarship, 1st Prize, Xinghai Conservatory of Music (B.M. & M.M., consecutive years); MSU College Scholarship (2024–2026); Outstanding Graduate, Xinghai Conservatory of Music
Previous Experience: Michigan State University Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, Guangzhou Opera House, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Liuzhou Grand Theatre; Selected for Peking University Opera Institute Young Artist Program (2021)
Scholarship Benefactor: Kenneth and Maxine Burkhard Endowment
LORENA MAGGIORE
Soprano Pelham, NY
Education: MM Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University; BM, BA English, Binghamton University. One year-study abroad program at the Istituto Musicale Vincenzo Bellini, in Catania, Sicily. Vocal study with Carol Vaness, Sharon Sweet.
Roles Performed: Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Blanche, Dialogues of the Carmelites; Poppea, L’incoronazione di Poppea; and ensemble La bohème, Cendrillon, Le nozze di Figaro Awards: Finalist in Meistersinger Competition (2025), NSALS competition winner of the Helton and Lynton Caldwell Memorial Award in Voice (2025). Finalist in the NATS Eastern Region competition (2023)
Previous Experience: IU Opera Theatre, Binghamton University Opera, Tri Cities Opera
Scholarship Benefactors: Helen S. Boylan Foundation, Debra and Carroll Rue
MATTHEW MEROLLA
Baritone Dalton, PA
Education: MM Opera, Binghamton University; BM Vocal Performance, Mansfield University. Vocal study with Thomas Goodheart, Dr. Todd E. Ranney, Gary Richards.
Roles Performed: Musiklehrer, Ariadne auf Naxos; Gianni Schicchi, Marco, and Betto, Gianni Schicchi; Il Conte di Ceprano, Rigoletto; Big Al, Mystery on the Docks; Peter, Hänsel and Gretel; Le Chat, L’Horloge comtoise, and Le Fauteuil, L’enfant et les sortilèges; Ottone, L’Incoronazione di Poppea; John Proctor, The Crucible; Ford, The Merry Wives of Windsor; Guglielmo; Così fan tutte; Second Priest and Second Armored Man, Die Zauberflöte
Awards: Helen Boatwright Award (2025); Classical Singer Vocal Competition, Chicago, IL, Semifinalist (2025); Classical Singer Vocal Competition, Washington, D.C., Semifinalist (2024); and numerous First Place awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition
Previous Experience: Bronx Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Syracuse Opera, Binghamton University Opera Theatre, Mansfield University Opera Theater
Scholarship Benefactors: National Federation of Music Clubs Martha Mack Award, The Craig Family Endowment
OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTS
LARSON MILLER
Tenor Weston, MA
Education: Pursuing MM Vocal Performance, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins; BA Liberal Arts, Sarah Lawrence College. Vocal study with Ah Young Houng, Andy Papas, Thomas Young.
Roles Performed: Gastone/Dr. Caius, Passione: A Celebration of Italian Opera; Abraham Kaplan, Street Scene; Borsa, Rigoletto; Anthony, Sweeney Todd; Samuel, Pirates of Penzance
Previous Experience: NEXT and Special Projects ensemble, Peabody and Washington Chorus; soloist, National Philharmonic Orchestra; Exigence Vocal Ensemble
Awards: 2026 Semifinalist CS Voice Competition Boston Classical Division
Scholarship Benefactors: Little Rock Music Coterie, Jess Wade and Kevin Graham
JULIA PACE
Soprano Fort Worth, TX
Education: MM Opera Performance, University of Oklahoma; BM Vocal Performance, Tarleton State University. Vocal study with LK Fletcher, Lorraine Ernest, Heather Hawk.
Roles Performed: Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors; Abigail Williams, The Crucible; Annina, La traviata; Hanna Glawari, The Merry Widow; Mrs. Gleaton, Susannah
Awards: First Prize Oklahoma NATS (2024), Opera Guild Encore Award OU Opera Guild (2024), OU Concerto Competition Finalist (2024)
Previous Experience: American Institute of Musical Studies; Music On Site, Inc.; OU Opera Theatre; Opera Seme Scholarship Benefactor: Helen S. Boylan Foundation
HANNAH PARK
Mezzo-Soprano Gig Harbor, WA
Education: MM Vocal Performance, Baylor University; BM Vocal Performance; The University of Alabama. Vocal study with Jamie Van Eyck, David Tayloe.
Roles Performed: Hänsel, Hänsel und Gretel; Flora Bervoix, La traviata; Lola, Cavalleria Rusticana; Armelinde, Cendrillon (Viardot); Mariana, Luisa Fernanda; The Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors; Ruggiero, Alcina; Zweite Dame, Die Zauberflöte
Previous Experience: Austin Opera Resident Artist; Baylor Opera Theatre; Spotlight on Opera at Tulsa Opera; The University of Alabama Opera Theatre
Scholarship Benefactor: Eureka Springs Opera Guild
ALANNA PERRIN
Mezzo-Soprano
Raleigh, NC
Education: MM Vocal Performance, The University of Alabama; BM Vocal Performance, East Carolina University. Vocal study with David Tayloe, Jami Rhodes.
Roles Performed: Mamma Lucia, Cavalleria Rusticana; Hänsel, Hänsel and Gretel; Gastone, La traviata; The Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors; Armelinde, Cendrillon; Rebecca Nurse, The Crucible; Mama McCourt, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Maman, La tasse chinoise, and La libellule, L’enfant et les sortilèges
Previous Experience: Tulsa Opera; Spotlight on Opera; The University of Alabama Opera Theatre; Opera in the Ozarks; East Carolina University Opera Theatre
Scholarship Benefactors: Mary Prudie Brown Endowment, Caitlin Kelly
KARENNA PETERSON
Mezzo-Soprano Lawrence, KS
Education: MM Vocal Performance: Classical Voice, New York University; BM Vocal Performance, The Ohio State University. Vocal study with Amy Zorn, Errik Hood, Andy Blosser.
Roles Performed: Despina, Così fan tutte; Prince Orlofsky, Die Fledermaus; La Princesse, L’enfant et les sortilèges; Suor Osmina, Suor Angelica; Female Crooner, Sweets by Kate
Previous Experience: Ohio State Opera and Lyric Theatre; Vienna Summer Music Festival; Opera Columbus; NYU Classical Voice Collective
ELEANOR REES
Soprano New York, NY
Education: MM Classical Voice, Manhattan School of Music; BM Voice Performance, Westminster Choir College. Vocal study with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell.
Roles Performed: Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro; Lucinda, Dark Sisters; Maguelonne, Cendrillon (Viardot); Suor Genovieffa, Suor Angelica; Yadwiga, Enemies: A Love Story; Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel
Previous Experience: Vienna Summer Opera Festival; Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera Theatre; Westminster Opera Theatre; Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival
Scholarship Benefactors: Colleen and Steve Shogren, Eureka Springs Opera Guild Art in Opera
JULIA RUDDY
Soprano
Lawrence, KS
Education: Pursuing a BM Vocal Arts and Opera, University of Southern California. Vocal study with Derrick Lawrence, Lara Semetko-Brooks.
Roles Performed: Pepík, The Cunning Little Vixen; First Witch, Dido and Aeneas; Elle’s Mom, Legally Blonde; and Chorus, Our Town
Awards: Third Place NATS Los Angeles Chapter (2026); Semifinalist at Classical Singer (2024, 2025); Chamber Singers Thornton Honors Convocation award (2024)
Previous Experience: USC Thornton Opera; USC School of Dramatic Arts; The Industry (LA opera company); Sprung (LA theatrical company); Opera, Viva! (Verona, Italy); U Miami Salzburg, and Thornton Chamber Opera
ISABELLA SAN PABLO
Mezzo-Soprano
Glendale, AZ
Education: Pursuing a BM Vocal Performance, BS Neuroscience; Arizona State University. Vocal study with Amanda DeMaris, Zachary Coates.
Roles Performed: Cherubino cover, Le nozze di Figaro; The Refugee cover, Flight; La pastourelle, L’enfant et les sortilèges
Awards: ASU Special Talent Award scholarship (2023-present); First Prize NSAL AZ Classical Voice Competition (2026, 2024); First Prize Cal-West Regional NATS Lower College Classical (2025); First Prize Arizona MusicFest voice competition
Previous Experience: ASU Musical Theater and Opera; AIMS Graz Lieder Program
Scholarship Benefactor: Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
HOLDEN SEWARD
Baritone Richmond, VA
Education: Pursuing MM Vocal Performance, Carnegie Mellon University; BM Vocal Performance, Frost School of Music (University of Miami). Vocal study with Daniel Teadt, Robynne Redmon, Jocelyn Dueck.
Roles Performed: Malatesta, Don Pasquale; Publio, La clemenza di Tito; Dancaïro, Carmen; Peter, Mayo Buckner; Marcel, Beauty and the Beast; Steward, Flight; Antonio, Le nozze di Figaro
Previous Experience: Seagle Festival; Florida Grand Opera; Pittsburgh Festival Opera; SERIO; Wintergreen Festival; Carnegie Mellon Opera; Frost Opera Theater
Scholarship Benefactors: The Craig Family Endowment, William Poe
COLE SHERWOOD
Tenor
Grand Forks, ND
Education: Pursuing MM Classical Performance, Hochschule der Kunst, Bern, Switzerland; BM Vocal Performance, North Dakota State University. Vocal study with Mary Dibbern, Billy Saetre, Dr. Virginia Sublett, Dr. Marianne Lemieux, and Claude Eichenberger.
Roles Performed: Papageno, Die Zauberflöte; Eisenstein, Die Fledermaus; Robin Starveling, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream; Cpt. Corcoran, HMS Pinafore
Previous Experience: Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Weimar Lyric Opera Company
Scholarship Benefactors: Duane and Carole Langley Endowment, Carol Ann Martin Endowment
TANVI THATAI
Soprano
Sterling, VA
Education: Pursuing MM Vocal Arts, University of Southern California; BM Vocal Performance, BA Linguistics, Lawrence University. Vocal study with Elizabeth Hynes, Alexandra Loutsion, Dr. Karen Leigh-Post, John Holiday.
Roles Performed: Governess, The Turn of the Screw; Magda Sorel, The Consul; La Fée, Cendrillon (Viardot); Flora, La traviata; Suor Genovieffa, Suor Angelica
Previous Experience: USC Opera Theatre; Lawrence University Opera Theatre; La Musica Lirica (Novafeltria); FIO Italia (Urbania)
Scholarship Benefactors: Andante Music Club, Alice Conway
OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTS
GABRIELLE TYLER
Mezzo-Soprano
Houston, TX
Education: BM Vocal Performance, Houston Christian University. Vocal study with Melanie Sonnenberg, Dr. David Kirkwood, Keith Chambers, Bethany Self.
Roles Performed: Reporter, Séance on a Wet Afternoon; Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni; Mother Abbess, The Sound of Music; Sister Berthe, The Sound of Music; Chorus, La bohème; Chorus, Tannhäuser
Previous Experience: Houston Grand Opera; Lone Star Lyric; A.D Players; Houston Christian University; Houston Choral Society; Martin Luther Festival (Berlin, Germany)
Scholarship Benefactor: Texas Federation of Music Clubs
MAXWELL VERNON
Tenor
Ankeny, IA
Education: Pursuing BM Voice Performance, University of Michigan. Vocal study with Stephen West.
Roles Performed: Macduff, Working for the Macbeths; Apollo/ Chorus, Semele; Marco, The Gondoliers; Chorus, Le nozze di Figaro; Jehan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Geraldo Cover / Squinky / Tree 3 / Guy (Taxi Driver) / Chorus, The House on Mango Street
Awards: SMTD Friends of Opera John Knapp Undergraduate Award: Second Prize (2025); The Sam Vitale and Aaron Caruso Neapolitan Song Competition: Second Prize (2026)
Previous Experiences: University of Michigan Mainstage Operas; University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society; University of Michigan MUSKET
GENTRY WESSMAN
Mezzo-Soprano
Bastrop, TX
Education: Pursuing MM Opera Performance, Arizona State University; BM Vocal Performance, Texas State University. Vocal study with Stephanie Weiss, Daveda Karanas, Cheryl Parrish.
Roles Performed: Minskwoman, Flight; L’enfant, L’enfant et les sortilèges; Baba, The Medium; Signora Naccarelli, Light in the Piazza; Dame Quickly, Falstaff; Suor Infermiera, Suor Angelica
Awards: 2024 TEXOMA NATS Senior Treble Finalist, 2024 Texas State Aria and Concerto Contest Finalist, 2024 Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin Scholarship Winner, 2024 Sigma Alpha Iota Austin Alumnae Scholarship Winner, 2023 Texas State Aria and Concerto Contest Finalist
Previous Experience: Austin Opera Chorus; OPERA San Antonio Chorus; Arizona State University MTO; Texas State Opera Theatre; La Musica Lirica
Scholarship Benefactors: Don and Lora Lynn Christensen Endowment, Lyric Opera Theater Guild, Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies
JONGHO WOO
Baritone
Seoul, South Korea
Education: Pursuing Performers Certificate, Opera Institute, Boston University; MM, Mannes School of Music; BM, Hanyang University. Vocal study with James Demler, Daniel Belcher, Stephen Powell, Senghyoun Ko.
Roles Performed: Minsk Man, Flight; Capulet, Roméo et Juliette; Father, Thumbprint; Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro; Don Giovanni/Leporello/Masetto, Don Giovanni; Enrico, Lucia di Lammermoor; Guglielmo, Così fan tutte
Previous Experience: Hawaii Performing Arts Festival; Classic Lyric Arts; L’Académie internationale d’été de Nice; Arte Opera Company
Scholarship Benefactors: David Beatty and Marshall Binns, Mike and Susan Reed
HANNAH YOHE
Soprano
Kansas City, MO
Education: BA Vocal Performance & Minor in Business Law, University of Nebraska –Lincoln. Vocal study with Amy Guevara, Susanna Wegner, Kristy Ruf.
Roles Performed: Gretel, Hänsel und Gretel; Hope Cladwell, Urinetown; Jenny Hill/Ensemble, Big Fish; Parthénis, La belle Hélène; Nun Chorus, Dialogues des Carmélites; Chorus, O, Pioneers!
Previous Experience: University of Nebraska – Lincoln Opera; Nebraska Repertory Theatre; Angels Theatre Company; Franco-American Vocal Academy (Angers, France)
TIMOTHY ZAJDELA
Bass
Paris, France
Education: Pursuing MM Voice Performance, University of Michigan; BMA Voice Performance, University of Michigan. Vocal study with Stephen West, Susan Granneman.
Roles Performed: Lord Macbeth, Working for the Macbeths; Zunige, La tragédie de Carmen; Antonio, Le nozze di Figaro; Le Roi, Cendrillon; Uberto, La Serva Padrona; Peter Zegner, Proving Up; Albert Prosser, Hobson’s Choice; Patron 8, Eintanzer
Awards: Sam Vitale and Aaron Caruso Neapolitan Song Competition, Encouragement Award (2023, 2025)
Previous Experience: University of Michigan Productions
Scholarship Benefactors: Richard Hill Scholarship Endowment, Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
TO ALL OUR SCHOLARSHIP DONORS! THANK YOU
Andante Music Club
Gary and Ann Marie Ardes
Arkansas Federation of Music Clubs
Rebecca and John Babbs
David Beatty and Marshall Binns
Helen S. Boylan Foundation
Kenneth and Maxine Burkhard Endowment
Mary Prudie Brown Endowment
Theobell Campbell Endowment
Mary A Chop Trust
Don and Lora Lynn Christensen Endowment
Alice Conway
The Craig Family Endowment
Regina Crane in memory of Mrs. Maureen Coffey
Tim Danielson Endowment
Rowland Davis Endowment
Richard Drapeau Endowment
Fred and Terry Eilskov
Dorothy Ellis Endowment
Eureka Springs Opera Guild
Eureka Springs Opera Guild Art in Opera
Marvin Hall Endowment
Ted and Shannon Hayes
Adah Hesselgrave Endowment
Richard Hill Scholarship
The Hobart Family Endowment
Carla and Phil Johnson
Justice Phil & Carla Johnson Endowment
Pamela Murphy Jones Endowment
Kansas Federation of Music Clubs
Caitlin Kelley
Lisa Kelly
Duane & Carole Langley Endowment
Little Rock Music Coterie
Molly Longstreth
Benjamin Lundy Scholarship
Lyric Opera Theater Guild
Carol Ann Martin Endowment
Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis
Corrinne Mayfield Endowment
Missouri Federation of Music Clubs
Moberly Music Club Endowment
National Federation of Music Clubs
National Federation of Music Clubs
Martha Mack Awards
Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs
Luke and Janet Parsch Endowment
Betty L. Pierce
William Poe
Nancy J. Preis Endowment
Maria deWaal Putter Endowment
Martha and Thurman Ragar
Mike and Susan Reed
Glenda and Howard Reynolds
Aleeta Mae Riney Endowment
Debra Rue
Becky Seidl
Colleen and Steve Shogren
Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies
EuGene Smith
South Central Region NFMC Endowment
James and Janice Swiggart Endowment
Texas Federation of Music Clubs
Jess Wade and Kevin Graham
Beulah Walwerk Endowment
Nancy Werbitzky
Denise and Tony Wilson
Elsie Wright Endowment
Bill Yick Endowment
ORCHESTRA
ANDREA C. BAKER
Principal Bassoon
Back for her sixth season, Andrea C. Baker is the Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Western Illinois University. An avid chamber musician, she is a founding member of Some Light Reeding and the Camerata Nova Contemporary Woodwind Quintet. She also holds the position of second bassoon with the Richmond Symphony in Indiana. She earned her DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and her Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory. In her free time, she enjoys floating on the lake and spending time with her two cats.
MEGHAN BIRMINGHAM
Principal Viola
Meghan Birmingham is a violist with the Dallas Opera and an active freelance artist in the Dallas area. For eight summers she served as principal violist with the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre in Logan, Utah. Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, she holds degrees from Wichita State University and the Juilliard School. This is her first season with Opera in the Ozarks.
NICK BLACKBURN
Principal Bass
Double bassist Nick Blackburn is an Illinois-based performer and educator. Nick is a section member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Acting Assistant Principal Bass of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Principal Bass of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, and frequently performs with Orchestra Iowa and the Dayton Philharmonic. Nick is a graduate of Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati, where he is currently a DMA candidate. This is Nick’s fifth summer with OIO.
OLIVIA CORPORON
Section Violin
Originally from Florida, Olivia Corporon is a violinist currently residing in Denton, Texas. She started on violin at age 11 and has since obtained degrees from both Stetson University (BM) and the University of North Texas (MM). Olivia is an avid baroque musician and is a member of Dallas Bach Society and Early Birds Baroque. She also works closely with Abilene, Amarillo, and Waco Symphonies. This is her first season with Opera in the Ozarks.
YVONNE CREANGĂ
Section Violin
Romanian-born violin/violist Yvonne Creangă enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She has performed at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Charleston, South Carolina and Spoleto, Italy, the Settimane Musicale Senese, Siena, Italy and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Her ensembles have won prizes at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, the Accademia Chigiana, the Conservatoire Américain, and in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She is currently a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.
JUSTIN CROUSHORE
Principal Trombone
Justin Croushore currently serves as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Morehead State University in Kentucky. An active performer, Justin holds the position of principal trombone with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina and the Opera in the Ozarks orchestra. In the 2025-26 season, Justin has participated as a guest artist/clinician at the Second Santa Catarina Trombonists’ Festival in Florianópolis, Brazil, the American Trombone Workshop in Arlington, VA, and has performed as a substitute musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, among other groups.
DUSTIN CUNNINGHAM
Section Violin
Texas-based violinist Dustin Cunningham feels passionately that there is nothing more wonderfully human than sharing music and art with one another! A three-time Texas Music Festival Fellowship Recipient, Dustin holds a degree in Violin Performance from the University of Houston and is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at Texas Christian University. This is his first season at Opera in the Ozarks.
JULIANNA EIDLE
Second Flute/Piccolo
Julianna Eidle is Instructor of Flute at Western Illinois University, Acting Principal Flute of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, a Performing Artist with the Contemporary Art Music Project, and Co-Director of New Downbeat, a Cincinnati chamber collective rooted in intersectional feminism. Julianna is a graduate of Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati, and is a certified Yoga Teacher and Deep Listening Facilitator. This is Julianna’s fifth summer at Inspiration Point.
ELIJAH EVANS
Section Violin
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Elijah Evans won positions with the El Paso Symphony and the Juarez Symphony at age 17 and from there began to pursue a performing profession. Graduating from the University of North Texas with focuses in violin performance and linguistics, Evans was privileged to study with professors Felix Olschofka and Julia Bushkova. Evans regularly performs and holds positions with the Roswell Symphony Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in Mexico, Italy, and Tanzania. In addition to his brimful performing schedule, Evans enjoys teaching his studio of students in Denton, Texas. Evans currently performs on a wonderful English violin from the 1700s which he procured in 2020.
M ARGOT ELDER
Section Viola
Margot Elder, from Melbourne, FL, holds a bachelor’s in viola performance from Florida State University and a master’s in viola performance from the University of North Texas, where she studied with Dr. Susan Dubois while teaching violin and viola in the DFW area. She has also attended summer festivals such as Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and the Meadowmount School of Music. This is her first season with Opera in the Ozarks.
YAKIMA FERNANDEZ
Section Violin
Yakima Fernandez grew up in Santa Fe and received both his undergraduate and graduate degree in violin performance from the University of New Mexico, where he studied under Professor Carmelo De Los Santos. Being an avid traveler, violin has taken Yakima to Brazil, Germany, and Italy. Currently he maintains a private studio in Santa Fe, and plays as a freelance violinist, performing regularly with the Roswell Symphony and the San Juan Symphony.
MICHELE GUNN
Concertmaster
Currently based in Shreveport, LA, Michele plays both violin and viola in several orchestras and chamber groups in the Ark-La-Tex area. She is also the Music Librarian and Community Engagement Coordinator for the Shreveport Symphony. She holds degrees from Baylor University (BM) and Rice University (MM). Michele spent three summers playing at Utah Festival Opera (Logan, UT; Principal Viola), and this is her second summer as concertmaster at Opera in the Ozarks.
CHARLES HAMILTON
Assistant Concertmaster
Charlie Hamilton is a violinist based in St. Louis, MO. He performs with the Peoria Symphony, where he has served as acting associate concertmaster, and the Jackson Symphony (TN), among others. He attended Oberlin Conservatory as a Conservatory Dean’s Scholar and McGill University as a Graduate Excellence Fellow, studying with David Bowlin and Joshua Peters, respectively. Other significant teachers have included Corinne Stillwell and Joo Kim. Charlie has attended summer festivals such as Bowdoin and Festival Napa Valley.
GREGORY HELSETH
Principal Horn
Gregory Helseth has enjoyed a successful career spanning nearly 40 years, performing in ensembles across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Having held seats in the horn section from Assistant Horn to Fourth, he ultimately settled into the role of Principal: 13 seasons with the Omaha Symphony (1989-2002), two seasons with the legendary Allentown Band, and after taking time off to raise two children, he was appointed Principal Horn with Lincoln Symphony Orchestra in Lincoln, NE, in 2007. He currently remains a freelance hornist, teacher, and composer at large.
STEFAN KOCH
Principal Cello
Stefan Koch studied the cello at Temple University in Philadelphia with Hirofumi Kanno and Orlando Cole. He is a member of the Lansing Symphony and frequently performs with the Ann Arbor Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Detroit Opera and Grand Rapids Symphony. From 2007 to 2024 he was Principal Cello at the Utah Festival Opera and accepted the same position at OIO in 2025. He has also produced four CDs of chamber music of the exiled Jewish Viennese composer Richard Stöhr.
LISA MEYERHOFER
Principal Flute
Lisa Meyerhofer is Principal Flute of the Des Moines Symphony and Third Flute/Piccolo of the Omaha Symphony, where she was recently featured as the soloist performing Lowell Liebermann’s Piccolo Concerto. She has held positions as Acting Assistant Principal Flute with the Omaha Symphony and Second Flute/Piccolo with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and has played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony, Lincoln’s Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and Lexington Philharmonic. Lisa received her BM from Ithaca College and MM from Northwestern University. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska, is in her twelfth year at Opera in the Ozarks, and is excited for her wedding here this summer with a certain mustachioed clarinetist.
BRYCE NEWCOMER
Second Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Returning for his fifth season, Bryce is a performer, theorist, and educator. Bryce is the Collegiate Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Virginia Tech and a member of the Johnson City Symphony, International Pride Orchestra, and Some Light Reeding Trio. He holds a DMA and MM from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a BM from the University of North Texas. When not at the opera, he’s likely overanalyzing reeds, at the lake, or funding the local coffee economy.
BETHANY PEREBOOM
Assistant Principal Viola
Bethany Pereboom believes that music is a powerful tool to connect people and is passionate about engaging people in her Chicago community and in the concert hall. She performs with and serves on the board for 5th Wave Collective, a Chicago-based chamber music collective that programs music by women and gender-nonconforming composers and holds titled positions with Orchestra Iowa, Rockford Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and Illinois Symphony. Bethany is a devoted auntie, eternal dog-lover, and avid cyclist.
ORCHESTRA
ALISHA RUFTY
Section Cello
Alisha Rufty is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Albany State University. Dr. Rufty holds degrees from Florida State University and the University of Memphis as well as a performance certificate from Penn State. She performs with several regional orchestras such as the Memphis and Huntsville Symphonies. She has been in concert with a range of artists, including Roberta Flack, the Beach Boys, ABBA, Amy Grant, Weird Al, Celtic Woman, and the Eagles.
ORLANDO SCALIA
Principal Clarinet
Orlando Scalia is one of the few select Argentines living in Omaha, NE. He is the Associate Principal Clarinetist of the South Dakota Symphony and will be Acting Bass Clarinetist of the Omaha Symphony for the upcoming season. Orlando is a fixture in the musical life of Northwest Arkansas, having held the Bass Clarinet position in Symphony of Northwest Arkansas for more than a decade. He holds degrees from the Universities of Miami and Cincinnati. After twelve seasons at OIO, he has finally learned to like the flute.
MARIE SMITH
Second Horn
Dr. Marie Smith is an Assistant Instructional Professor at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, where she teaches music history and horn. Dr. Smith has performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa Signature Symphony, Tulsa Opera, Wichita Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, and Utah Festival Opera. Marie holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (DMA), University of North Carolina School of the Arts (MM), and Utah State University (BM).
TIMOTHY SWANSON
Principal Oboe/English Horn
Currently living in Charlotte, NC, Timothy Swanson is a musician who has performed with many ensembles and festivals in the U.S. and beyond. Holding a degree from The Juilliard School (BM), he now serves as the principal oboist of the Charlotte Symphony. Additionally, he has performed with the Delaware Symphony, the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. This is his first season at OIO.
CHASE TEAGUE
Principal Trumpet
Chase Teague, from Frisco, TX, is an active performer in the DFW Metroplex. He has earned his BME from Texas Christian University along with his MM and Graduate Performance Certificate from the University of Arkansas. Chase has had the pleasure of performing as Principal Trumpet for the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trumpet for Opera in the Ozarks, and with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra while also subbing with The Richardson Symphony as well as other groups in the area. Chase has also performed with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, Fort Smith Symphony, Ozark Family Opera Company, and the Arkansas Brassworks. Chase made his soloist debut with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2024 as well. Chase Teague is an S.E. Shires Artist. This will be Chase’s ninth summer as principal trumpet with Opera in the Ozarks. In his free time Chase enjoys fishing, basketball, barbecue and being with his wife, two sons, and two dogs.
DWIGHT VAN DE VATE
Principal Percussionist
Dwight Van de Vate is a percussionist with a reputation for an engaging personality that translates to his performance. This can be seen through his performances in the Memphis Area. He is currently the Visiting Professor of Music at Mississippi Valley State University, the Percussion Coordinator with the Memphis Youth Symphony Program, and Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Memphis. This is his third season as Principal Percussionist with Opera in the Ozarks.
BAYLEE WOMACK
Second Trumpet
Baylee is a freelance musician currently based out of the Denver area. She holds degrees from the University of Central Arkansas (BM) and the University of Colorado Boulder (MM). Her freelance career has given her opportunities to play with many symphonies in Arkansas and Colorado, including the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. As a native Arkansan, Baylee is thrilled to return to OIO for her third season. Upcoming performances include the Sounds of the Dolomites festival in Trentino, Italy, where she will be performing with the allwomen’s trumpet ensemble, Belles of the Rockies.
LIFE MEMBERS
ARKANSAS
Ardes, Ann-Marie
Ardes, Gary
Babbie, Suzanne and Dr. Earl
Benson, ML
Bond, Marjorie*
Bonner, Bill*
Bonner, Louise*
Cabe, Lucy*
Cathcart, Christopher
Caviness, Mrs. Eric*
Davis, Rowland*
Davis, Virginia*
Dixon, Bruce & NeNe Lynch
Drum, John and Lois*
Fantz, Wanda
Fite, Gilbert C.*
Fite, June*
Flanagan, Patrick
Gemaehlich, Herta
Graham, Margaret
Grilk, Ernst*
Grilk, Gloria Febro
Henson, Catherine M.
Henson, J. Edwin
Hobart, Mrs. Henry M.*
Jones, Pamela*
Jordan, Ruth
King, Jill and Thomas Little Rock Coterie
Martinson, M.D., Alice M.
Milberger, Esther*
Parsch, Janet and Lucas
Pierce, Betty L.
Rownak, Judy
Shambarger, Mary J.*
Shogren, Colleen
Shogren, Stephen
Strakshus, Gary
Strakshus, Gay
Sturgis, Carole
Swiggart, James
Taylor, Dan
Walton, Helen Robson*
Welter, Mr. and Mrs. William G.
Williams, Mark and Monica
Wicks, Frank*
Wright, Elsie Braginton*
CALIFORNIA
Cook, Catherine
COLORADO
Wheeler, Juline
FLORIDA
Preis, Nancy J.
ILLINOIS
Balluff, Marie M.
KANSAS
Burkhard, Dr. Kenneth*
Burkhard, Maxine*
Campbell, Bob*
Dagenais, Don
Fields, Dr. Galen* and Evelyn*
Graber, Mrs. Clarence J.
Gum, Brian
Gum, Deborah Burkhard*
Harrison, Beth
Hentzen, Katherine L.*
Janson, Ruth E.*
Kraus, Lynda Burkhard*
Lansdowne, Kathy Burkhard
Martin, Carol Ann*
Nagel, Elwyn H.* and Jacqueline
Saket, Janis
Sorrell, Bruce* and Judith*
Steele, Flora*
Stewart, Dr. Carol Stewart, Rose*
Vollen, Gene*
Vollen, Linda H.
Whitmer, Kathleen
Wilcox, Wilma B.
KENTUCKY
Paris, Elizabeth*
LOUISIANA
Haley, Rebecca
MASSACHUSETTS
Merry, Virginia*
MISSOURI
Blair, Starla
Blair, Terry
Boyd, Mrs. Frances E.*
Cockman III, James
Conway, Alice E.
Craig, Connie
Craig, Larry*
Cranfill, Doris Jean*
French, Caroline*
Garcia, Rita P.
Garrett, Michael and Phyllis
Hesselgrave, Adah*
Ingram, Mrs. Beth
Langley, Carole S.
Langley, Duane D.
McHaney Beulah Hale*
Nelson, Dr. Edward P.*
Nelson, Vivian Menees*
O’Hara, Thomas
Riney, Aleeta Mae*
Ryan, Evelyn*
Shelton, Ruth
Wells, Joan B.
Wetterau, Edna*
NEW MEXICO
Hinson, Nina*
NEW YORK
Rowan, Anne*
OKLAHOMA
Abbott, Jane*
Abbott, Mae Ruth “Red”
Alexander, Dr. James*
Alspaugh, Ann
Ballew, Edythe M. Burruss, Zelma* Byrum, Thelma Cole, Wilma
Cullen, Lois*
Ernest, Lorraine Hardesty, Lynne Hickman, Kathryn
Hudson, Mrs. Charles*
Lacy, Dr. Ann*
Linn, James Paul
Murphy, John M.* Quan, Alice*
Replogle, Margaret K.*
Ringham, LaTrice* Rue, Debra Ryals, Kent
Smith, Leta Mae*
Weaver, Virginia
Wheeler, Dr. Ellen Jayne
Whitesell, Leon* and Lavonna Whtesell, Lisa
TENNESSEE
Harsson, Mildred Zimmerman*
Brian, Carol
TEXAS
Armor, Lois
Athens Music Study Club Bear, Glenn Bear, Lore Langley Breuer, Sue M.* Brown, Brenda Brown, Guy S.* Brown, Mary Prudie* Brown, Susanna Christensen, Lora Lynn Christmann, Francis*
Copeland, Carolyn Danielson, Tim*
Del Rio Music Club
Drapeau, Richard A. Ford, Brenda Guemple, Mary* Hall, Betty*
Harrison, William Hayes, DT and Shannon Hobart, David*
Hobart, Jeanice*
Johnson, Carla Jean Johnson, Phil Jones, Peggy C.
McKay, Mary
McNew, Lynn Meyer, Lee Clements Moffatt, Jean Putter, Maria de Waal*
Reid, Carolyn S. Scheel, Marie U* Scheel, Weldon B.* Schmidt, John C. Thrasher, Gloria*
Whitworth, Louise M.*
VIRGINIA
Sidway, Lois Hobart*
WISCONSIN
Roach, Kristin
DIAMOND BENEFACTORS
(More than $50,000)
Gary & Ann-Marie Ardes
Ann Lacy Foundation
Arkansas Arts Council
Arkansas Federation of Music Clubs
Glenn & Lorie Langley Bear
Best Western Eureka Inn
Helen S. Boylan Foundation
Mary Prudie Brown*
Dr. Kenneth* & Maxine* Burkhard
Bob* & Theobell* Campbell
Alice Conway
Connie & Larry* Craig
Don Dagenais
Richard Arthur Drapeau
Richard Hill* Estate
David C.* & Jeanice* Hobart
Dr. Ann Lacy*
Carole & Duane Langley
Dr. Carol Ann Martin*
Dr. Alice M. Martinson
Missouri Federation of Music Clubs
National Federation of Music Clubs
Dr. Edward P. Nelson*
Vivian Menees Nelson*
Luke & Janet Parsch
Nancy Preis
Maria de Waal Putter*
Stephen & Colleen Shogren
Texas Federation of Music Clubs
Gene* & Linda Vollen
Walton Family Foundation
Elsie Wright*
PLATINUM BENEFACTORS
($10,000 - $49,999)
Lois Armor
Sue Breuer*
Suzanna Brown
Zelma Burress Estate (Triad Energy)
J. Richard Caldwell & Gloria Matyszyk
Don & Lora Lynn Christensen
Francis Christmann*
Mary A. Chop Trust
Doris Jean Cranfill*
Tim J. Danielson*
Virginia Davis*
John* & Mary Dolce*
Dorothy L. Ellis Trust
Eureka Springs Opera Guild
Jay & Patricia Fitzsimmons
Caroline French*
Marjorie Gammill*
Herta Gemaehlich
Gloria & Ernest* Grilk
Marvin H. Hall
Ed & Catherine Henson
Susan Hobart
Dr. Barbara Irish*
Phil & Carla Jean Johnson
Pamela Jones*
Marquis & Diane Jones
Kansas Federation of Music Clubs
Jill & Tom King
Martha McCurdy Estate
Francis Millett
Moberly Music Club
Jean Moffatt
Marcia Molter
John M. Murphy*
Elwyn* & Jacqueline Nagel
Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs
Dr.* & Mrs.* Charles Olson
Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects
Mr.* & Mrs.* C. R. Ringham
Aleeta Mae Riney*
Martin* & Elise Roenigk
John Schmidt
Sigma Alpha Iota International Philanthropy
South Central Region NFMC
Al* & Pat Walden
Helen Robson Walton*
Joan B. Wells
Frank Wicks*
Ruth Wood
Bill & Laresa Yick
GOLD BENEFACTORS
($5,000 - $9,999)
Arkansas Community Foundation
John & Rebecca Babbs
David Beatty and Marshall Burns
Ramona Butala
Marilyn Caldwell
Charles Christmann
Nita Herrick Colpitts
Emil Cross, Jr.
CS Bank
John & Lois* Drum
Ellen Thomas Trust
June* & Gilbert Fite*
Ed & Mary Lou Garrison
Dr. Jess Green*
Ben & Rebecca Bird Haley
David & Shannon Hayes
Mrs. Robert Ingram
Wilmot Irish*
Hattie Janek*
Fritz & Lavinia Jensen Foundation
Peggy Jones
Melba Maechtlen
Beulah Hale McHaney*
Lynn McNew
Frank* & Lee Clements Meyer
Ruth Michaels
Minnesota Federation of Music Clubs
William & Etta Moore Trust
Morning Etude Music Club, St. Louis, MO
National Endowment for the Arts
Barbara Rondelli Perry
Debra Rue
Elizabeth Paris*
Marie Scheel*
Mary J. Shambarger*
Gay & Gary Strakshus
Gloria Thrasher*
Frederica Wald
Leo* & Doris* Whinery
BENEFACTORS
($2,500 - $4,999)
Frances L. Abendroth*
Andante Music Club, Bella Vista, AR
Suzanne & Earl Babbie
Doug & Michelle Hobart Barnes
Martha Boden
Cottage Inn
Crescent Hotel
Crossland Construction
Bruce Dixon & NeNe Lynch
Gene & Patricia Flesher
King Gladden*
Golden Lyre Foundation
Carolyn Green
Mary Guemple*
Betty Hall*
Danna & Ronn Hearn
Mark & Sharon Hobart
Marilyn Hoyt
Chuck & Marilyn Janzen
Amy Jarman
Raquel & Chris King
Patricia Marx
Robert & Terry McRae
Carol & Tom Miller
Dr. John Mizell*
Meredith Mizell *
Missouri Federation of Music Clubs-District 2
Music Club Friends, Austin, TX
Sara & Buzz Peine
Ponca City Music Club, OK
Z Reeder
Lee Reycraft
Judy Rownak
Evelyn Ryan*
Weldon Scheel*
Schubert Music Club, Lawton, OK
John & Molly Seeligson
Becky Seidl
Southwest Oklahoma Opera Guild
Dr. Eline Stene
Harry* & Tracie Sutcliffe
Dr. Vern Sutton
James & Janet Swiggart
University of Arkansas
War Eagle Mills
Jessie Weichert
A. Max Weitzenhoffer
Wednesday Morning Music Club, Austin, TX
Wednesday Music Club, Kennett, MO
Herbert West
Leon* & Lavonna Whitesell
The Woman’s City Club, Kansas City
WalMart Inc.
ANGELS
($1,000 - $2,499)
Dr. James Alexander*
Lenora Allen*
Annie An
Arkansas FMC, NW District
Arkansas FMC, SW District
Athens Music Study Club, TX
TL & Cynthia Augspurger
Judge Clifton* & Marjorie Bond*
ML Benson
Terry & Starla Blair
Helen Boylan*
Mary Ann Bridges
Leah Brown
Janet Burgess
Terry Burress
Zelma Burress*
Arsene Burton*
Antonino Catanzaro
Carroll County Community Foundation
Carroll County Community Foundation, Youth Advisory Council
Central Region Federation Days
Mary Ella Clark*
Wayne Clark*
Thomas Cockrell & Yvonne Creangă
Richard Conkings*
Cooper Communities, Inc.
Carolyn Copeland
Muriel Cross
Sheryl Crow*
Kay Deaton
Mary Dixon
Donna Dover
Enterprise Rent-a-Car
Etude Music Club, San Antonio, TX
Exxon Mobil
Patrick Flanagin
Brenda Ford
Foreman Thursday Music Club, AR
Maxine Fortenberry
Rita P. Garcia
Michael & Phyllis Garrett
Lynn Hardesty
Beth Harrison
William Harrison
Mildred Z. Harsson
Hartmann Brewing
Galen & Debi Havner
Adah Hesselgrave*
Kansas City Lyric Opera Guild
Kathryn Hickman
Nina Hinson*
Anthony Hui
Merilyn Jax*
Lena Johnson Estate
Margaret Jones
Jonesboro Treble Clef Club
Caitlin Kelley
Charles Kimberlin
Fred & Phyllis* Knox
Elaine Knight
Jacqueline & William Lockwood
Susan & Dick Luehrs
Deborah & David Malone
Mary Cox McKay
Renate Melinat
Melodie Club, Dallas, TX
William & Dixie* Mills
Dr. John T. Minor
Mu Phi Epsilon
Musical Research Society, Bartlesville, OK
Ann Nicholson*
Alan Orr
Will Paine
Lillian Bell Parnell
Marla Patterson
William Pendergrass
Mr. & Mrs. William Pfieffer
Betty Pierce
Carolyn U. Poe
Nirupama Raghavan
Joe Randall
Carolyn S. Reid
Kent Ryals
Janis Saket
Schuler Shook
Lois Hobart Sidway*
Ed & Judy Simpson
Jeremy A. Slavin
Terrance & Patti* Smith
Bruce* & Judith* Sorrell
Helen Spradling*
Robert Swedberg
Karen Swogger
Daniel Taylor
Texas FMC, District 6
Ralph N. Turner
Judith Unrath
Elna Valine
Wesley & Traci Walls
Madge Webster*
Lynn & Larry* Welk
William & Jean Welter
Juline Wheeler
Kathleen Whitmer
Louise Whitworth*
Kathie White
Wichita Music Club
Wilma Wilcox
Alise Wilkinson
Cletis Williamson
Alice Witterman
Janette S. Wittmann
SPONSORS
($500 - $999)
Jane* & Mae Ruth* Abbott
Virginia Allison*
Peter & Maureen Anderson
Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club
Bank of 1889
Leon J. Bechet
Neela Beetem
Ann Shull Bell
Dortha* & Ron Bennett
Butch & Lynn Berry
Jerry & Arlene Biebesheimer
Anita Blackmon
Lynn Boise
Marjorie & David Boyer
Sherry & Charles Bryan
Charles Burns & Lenora Thompson
Marilyn Caldwell
Carroll County Music Group
Ann Carter
Richard Cockrell*
Amy Cole
Connecticut Federation of Music & Dance Clubs
Lois Dasher
Dr. Rodney* & Gay Dill
Ruth Dyer*
Marcia & George Edwards
Terrance & Carolyn Engholm
Vickie Ferguson
Kathleen Fitzgerald
Ruth Fleishman
Shirley Foust
Margaret Garrett
Reinhard Gehbauer
Revs. Howard Gordon & Roberta Saxon
Mariellen Griffith
Nancy Haines
John Hale
Katherine Hentzen*
Mary P. Hirsch
Steve Holifield
MEMBERS
ANGEL
Alice Conway
Etude Music School
Rebecca Haley
SUSTAINING
Steve Holifield
Little Rock Music Coterie
Jean Moffatt
National Federation of Music Clubs
Janet & Lucas Parsch
Texas Federation of Music Clubs District 6
Kathie White
CONTRIBUTING
Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club
Thomas & Darlene Beller
Harmony Club
Melba Maechtlen
Missouri Federation of Music Clubs
Elizabeth Mobley
Ponca City Music Club
Sandra & Herbert Riemer
James Robertson
Ralph & Carla Weber
ACTIVE
AR-TX Music Connection
Hot Springs Music Club
Illinois Federation of Music Clubs
Sherri Irvin
Beulah Johnson*
JoAnne Justus
Donald & Pat Karner
George & Ouida Keck
Warren & Irene* Kester
Virginia Knieser
Cynthia Kresse
Sharon Lawlor
Geary & Judith Leason
Lucille Leisy
Kenneth Leonard
Dr. & Mrs. Revis Lewis
David M. Luce
Marilynn Mann
Sandy Martin & Kim Stryker
Jaquita Molot
Craig Milam
Nebraska Federation of Music Clubs
Herta & Willi* Nikolai
Phyllis Noonan
Thomas O’Neal
Orpheus Music Club, Blytheville, AR
David & Charlotte Paul
John Reeve
Byron* & Audrey* Reeves
Sheila Rice
Herbert & Sandra Riemer
Lucile Roberts
James Robertson
Carol Saari
Schubert Music Club, Lawton, OK
Judith Simpson
Scott Smith
Robert & Leona Snyder
Springfield Music Club, MO
Dr. John Spurlin*
Jack & Mary Stark
Charles & Sandra Templeton
Krista Van Zant
Roger & Jennifer Viola
Carolyn Walker
Dr. Oliver Wallace*
Julie Watson
Krista Whipple
Laura Lee Wilcox
Dr. & Mrs. Elmer W. Williams
Zenda Music Club, KS
Virginia Babb
Rebecca & John Babbs
Lonna Beers
Bella Vista Andante Club
Carthage Music Club
Benoit Desrochers
Deborah Doerr
Richard Dunham
Ruth Dyar*
Tom Dykman
Mary Esther & Brian Eck
Euterpean Club of Fort Worth
Evening Etude Music Club
Federated Teachers of Kansas City
Fort Smith Musical Coterie
Gary Gaines
Sheryl Gee
Goodland Music Club
Roderick Harwood
Natlynn Hayes
Danna Ronn Hearn
Hot Springs Music Club
Jan Houser
William A. Johnson
Jonesboro Treble Clef Club
Kansas City Musical Club
Ouida Keck
George Keck
Cynthia Kresse
Laverne Love
Jill March
Juli McWhorter
Melody Maker
Hana & Alexander Mironoff
Monticello Music Club
North Dakota Federation of Music Clubs
New Braunfels Music Club
Northwest District ARFMC
Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs
Joanne Pederson
Perry Musique Club
Jerome & Elizabeth Phelan
Marion Purvis
David Rainwater
James Robertson
Ann Rosso
Russellville Music Club
John Schmidt
Ruth & Richard Siefert
Springdale Music Club
St. Louis Suzuki Piano Teachers
Sherri Stricker
Texas Federation of Music Clubs District 2
Stephen Turner
Christine Van Hoozer
Virtuoso Junior Music Club
Waco Euterpean Club
This list includes memberships received from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026. If we have omitted your name, please accept our apologies, and let us know so that we can correct our records. We are grateful for your support.
ANNUAL FUND DONORS
FRIENDS
$5,000
PERFORMERS
COMPOSERS
$2,500
OPERA IN THE OZARKS REPERTOIRE
Opera
Composer
Little Women Adamo, Mark
Postcard from Morocco Argento, Dominick
A Hand of Bridge Barber, Samuel
The Old Man Who Loved Cheese Barnes, Edward Carmen Bizet, Georges
Albert Herring Britten, Benjamin
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Turn of the Screw
Pickwick
Burnand and Solomon
Shanewis Cadman, Charles Wakefield
The Willow Tree
A Witch of Salem
The Tender Land Copland, Aaron
Pinocchio, The Opera Davies, John Jack and the Beanstalk
The Prodigal Son Debussy, Claude
Lakmé Delibes, Léo
Laundry Romance
Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von Don Pasquale Donizetti, Gaetano
L’elisir d’amore
Lucia di Lammermoor
Captain Lovelock Duke, John
Martha Flotow, Friedrich von Bluebeard Floyd, Carlisle
Susannah
Beauty and the Beast Giannini, Vittorio
The Gondoliers Gilbert and Sullivan
The Mikado
The Pirates of Penzance
Trial by Jury
Faust Gounod, Charles
The Frantic Physician
Robin and Marion de la Halle, Adam Sunday Costs 5 Pesos Haubiel, Charles
The Proposal Humel, Gerald
Hansel and Gretel Humperdinck, Engelbert
Smoky Mountain Hunkins, Eusebia
Green Eggs and Ham Kapilow, Robert
Draagenfut Girl
Kupferman, Meyer
Pagliacci Leoncavallo, Ruggero
The Merry Widow Lehár, Franz
What Men Live By Martinů, Bohuslav
Cavalleria Rusticana Mascagni, Pietro
Don Quichotte Massenet, Jules
The Juggler of Notre Dame
Cendrillon
Manon
Werther
Amahl and the Night Visitors Menotti, Gian Carlo
The Medium
The Old Maid and the Thief
The Telephone
The Ballad of Baby Doe Moore, Douglas
Gallantry
Headless Horseman
The Face on the Barroom Floor
Mollicone, Henry
Opera Composer
Die Entführung aus dem Serail Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Bastien and Bastienne
Così fan tutte
Don Giovanni
The Impresario
Le nozze di Figaro
Die Zauberflöte
The Merry Wives of Windsor Nicolai, Otto
Marriage by Lantern Light Offenbach, Jacques Orpheus in the Underworld
La Périchole
Les contes d’Hoffmann
Signor Deluso Pasatieri, Thomas
The Village Singer Paulus, Stephen
The Music Master Pergolesi, Giovanni
La serva padrona
The Game of Love Petit, Pierre
Dialogues des Carmélites Poulenc, Francis
La bohème Puccini, Giacomo
Gianni Schicchi
Madama Butterfly
La rondine
Suor Angelica
Il Tabarro
Tosca
Dido and Aeneas Purcell, Henry
The House of the Sun (Auringon talo) Rautavaara, Einojuhani
L’enfant et les sortilèges Ravel, Maurice
Cindy Reiners, Anne
Il barbiere di Siviglia Rossini, Gioacchino
La Cenerentola
The Bartered Bride Smetana, Bedrich
The Gooseherd and the Goblin Smith, Julia
Into the Woods Sondheim, Stephen
A Little Night Music
Die Fledermaus Strauss, Johann, Jr.
The Gypsy Baron
Ariadne auf Naxos Strauss, Richard
The Beautiful Galathea Von Suppé, Franz von Ten Girls and No Man
Mignon Thomas, Ambroise
Solomon and Balkis Thompson, Randall
Miracles of Our Lady Van Grove, Isaac
Noe’s Fludde
The Other Wise Man
The Prodigal – His Wandering Years
Ruth
The Shining Chalice
Riders to the Sea
Vaughan Williams, Ralph Falstaff Verdi, Giuseppe
Un ballo in maschera
Rigoletto
La traviata
The Crucible Ward, Robert
Down in the Valley Weill, Kurt
Street Scene
Sunday Excursion Wilder, Al
ADVERTISERS & SUPPORTERS
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