Cast & Creative

Music Director of the Atlanta Opera since 2010, Arthur Fagen is in great demand as a conductor of symphony and opera in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. He is a regular guest at the most prestigious opera houses, concert halls, and music festivals at home and abroad where he has an opera repertory of more than 90 works. Fagen conducted a new production of Turandot at The Atlanta Opera opening the 2007-08 season with enormous success and inaugurating the new opera house, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. He has ARTHUR FAGEN served as Principal Conductor in Kassel and Brunswick, CARL & SALLY GABLE as Chief Conductor of the Flanders Opera of Antwerp MUSIC DIRECTOR and Ghent, as Music Director of the Queens Symphony CONDUCTOR Orchestra and a member of the conducting staff of (MARCH 5, 8, & 11) the Chicago Lyric Opera. Mr. Fagen is also Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Jacobs School of Music ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT at Indiana University. He was born in New York where LA TRAVIATA, 2005 he began his conducting studies with Laszlo Halasz. Further studies continued at the Curtis Institute under the guidance of Max Rudolf, and both at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Hans Swarowsky. A former assistant of both Christoph von Dohnanyi (Frankfurt Opera) and James Levine (Metropolitan Opera), Fagen’s career has been marked by a string of notable appearances: from 1998 to 2001, he appeared regularly as Guest Conductor at the Vienna State Opera; he has conducted opera productions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, Munich State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, New York City Opera, Theatre Capitole de Toulouse, Bordeaux Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Staatstheater Stuttgart, New Israeli Opera, Baltimore Opera. On the concert podium, he has appeared with internationally known orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Czech Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, to name but a few.

Rolando Salazar was the Associate Conductor and Chorus Master for The Atlanta Opera from 2017 through 2020. He has served as assistant conductor and pianist at the Bellingham Festival of Music, as assistant conductor at La Musica Lirica, and as coach/ conductor for the Harrower Opera Workshop. Rolando was seen most recently in performances with The Atlanta Opera, Madison Opera, Atlanta Concert Opera, the Rome Symphony Orchestra, The Atlanta Ballet, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Georgia State University ROLANDO SALAZAR Orchestra, Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, the Ozark ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Family Opera, and the Permian Basin Opera. He keeps & CHORUS MASTER an active coaching and collaborative piano schedule in Atlanta, preparing numerous singers for engagements CONDUCTOR with major orchestras and opera houses worldwide. A (MARCH 13) student of Michael Palmer, he is a graduate of Georgia ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT State University with a Master of Music in orchestral LA TRAVIATA, 2013 conducting and an Artist Diploma in orchestra and opera. This season’s production of The Pirates of Penzance marked his 25th production with The Atlanta Opera Chorus.

MICHAEL SHELL

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT THE GOLDEN TICKET, 2012 Michael’s productions have been praised by critics across the nation. Broadway World said of his most recent new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, “This production was one I could watch over and over again. The final picture of the we see on stage, is a beautiful reminder of what our world can be.” Michael has directed productions for The Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera San Jose, Opera Tampa, Opera North, Virginia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Houston Grand Opera. He made his international directing debut at the Wexford Festival Opera in 2010 with a production of Winners by American composer Richard Wargo and returned the next fall to direct Double Trouble–Trouble in Tahiti & The Telephone. Michael was recently appointed Associate Professor at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and Resident Stage Director for the IU Opera and Ballet Theater.

Recent work: Animals Out of Paper (Hudson Stage Company), The Prince of Players (World Premiere, Houston Grand Opera), The Little Mermaid (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), The Barber of Seville (Opera Philadelphia, Opera Theatre of St. Louis - St Louis Theater Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design, Opera Omaha), Nice Work If You Can Get It (National Tour, Worklight Productions), Don Pasquale (Juilliard School), 7th Monarch (Off-Broadway, Acorn Theater), The Turn of the Screw (Syracuse Stage), 1-888 Dial India (Various Theaters, SHOKO KAMBARA Mumbai), The Bombitty of Errors (Syracuse Stage), SCENIC DESIGNER Shining City (Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Las Vegas) Broadway associate design work: Macbeth, Nice Work If ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT You Can Get It, Man and Boy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Million Dollar Quartet, The Miracle Worker, Ragtime, 33 Variations. Other broadway assistant work: Beautiful, Follies, Grease, Lestat, The Threepenny Opera, The Pajama Game, Little Women, I Am My Own Wife, The Look of Love. Master of fine arts in Scenic Design at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Bachelor of arts at Dartmouth College

AMANDA SEYMOUR

COSTUME DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Amanda Seymour is a New York-based costume designer for theatre, opera, tv, film and dance. She has been lucky enough to continue in this career providing clothes appropriate for the character to tell their story, and comfortable for the artist to have confidence in their performance.

Driscoll is a lighting and projection designer in New York City. Originally from Texas, Driscoll has been in New York for a decade and a half working with some of the best theatre and opera artists in the world. Driscoll recently designed the projections for The Golden Cockerel at Santa Fe Opera. In 2015 Driscoll had his Metropolitan Opera debut with La Donna del Lago. Other venues in NYC include Ars Nova; The Mint; The Ohio; La Mamma; Lincoln Center Jazz; and Gotham Chamber Opera. Driscoll’s work is seen frequently in regional opera & theatre. In 2015 DRISCOLL OTTO Driscoll designed the lighting for The Colored Museum LIGHTING DESIGNER at The Huntington Theater Company; projections for Next to Normal at Baltimore’s Center Stage; and lighting ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT for The Barber of Seville at Philadelphia Opera. Other companies that Driscoll has worked with include NC Opera; Virginia Opera; Dallas Theatre Center; Dallas Opera; Houston Shakespeare Festival; Trinity Repertory Theatre; The Hangar Theater; Flatrock Playhouse; Utah Festival Opera and productions of Legally Blonde and Rock of Ages for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Driscoll received a Master of Fine Arts from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Mr. Zimmerman has worked with opera companies around the world. These Include The Metropolitan Opera (NYC), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Paris National Opera (France), Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, Minnesota Opera, The Dallas Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, International Music Festival (Macau, China), Holy City Lyric Opera (Charleston, SC), and Dutch National Opera (Amsterdam). Mr. Zimmerman’s career extends to Broadway, as well, where he has worked with such shows as Wicked, Rocky Horror, Show Boat, South DAVID ZIMMERMAN Pacific, and Evita. Some of his personal clients include WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Martha Stewart, Olympia Dukakis, and Ricky ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Martin. He has also worked with DIFFA Fashion Runway, THE PIRATES OF Dallas Fashion and Art, and Yelp.com Fashion Magazine. PENZANCE, 2022 Credits include spreads in Opera News, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. TV and Film credits are “Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year,” Margaret (starring Anna Paquin), and Hostiles (starring Christian Bale and Rosemund Pike)

Lauded by the Opera News for her “ringing upper register and immaculate passagework,” last season, Ms. Lauricella was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera as Mercedes in Carmen, by San Francisco Opera for Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and by Glyndebourne Opera for Dorabella in Così fan tutte, all of which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her recent credits include: Stephano in Roméo et Juliette (San Francisco Opera); Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Staatoper Hamburg, Paris Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Stuttgart); Idamante in STEPHANIE LAURICELLA Idomeneo (Israeli Opera); Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia ROSINA (Oper Stuttgart, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Hong Kong, Arizona Opera); Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel (Bochumer ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Symphoniker); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Atlanta Symphony); Annina in Der Rosenkavalier (Glyndebourne Opera); the title role in La cenerentola (El Paso Opera); Stephano in Roméo et Juliette with Madison Opera; Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Grand Théâtre de Genève); Isolier in Le comte Ory (Seattle Opera); Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (Virginia Opera); and Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Siébel in Faust, Smeraldina in L’amour des trois oranges, and Mercédès in Carmen (Deutsche Oper Berlin). On the concert stage, Ms. Lauricella has recently sung Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with Donald Runnicles conducting both the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Suzy in La rondine with the Bayerische Rundfunkorchester in a performance that will be recorded for commercial release. Ms. Lauricella holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Manhattan School of Music.

Tenor Taylor Stayton’s “laser-bright timbre” and “exceptional fluidity above the staff” (Opera News) continue to distinguish him as one of the most soughtafter tenors in his repertoire. Described as “deserving to be numbered on the short list of Rossini allstars” by Opera Today, Stayton premiered the role of Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra de Lille in 2012 and has reprised the role at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Nashville Opera, and Opera Philadelphia, as well as on a tour throughout France. Additional roles in the bel canto TAYLOR STAYTON repertoire include his debut as the title character in Le COUNT ALMAVIVA Comte Ory with Des Moines Metro Opera, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Glyndebourne Festival and Tonio in ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT La fille du regiment in his debut with Palm Beach Opera. Stayton made his critically acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in a last-minute performance as Percy in Anna Bolena, and returned as Elvino in La Sonnambula opposite Diana Damrau.

A 2017 recipient of a top prize from the Sullivan Foundation, Joseph Lattanzi returns home to Atlanta to bring to life his debut in the illustrious title role of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with The Atlanta Opera. Previously with The Atlanta Opera, he was heard in productions of Pagliacci, Sweeney Todd, and Carmen, and he made his Atlanta Symphony debut in 2019 in a concert featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein. Lattanzi established himself as a singer to watch with his portrayal of Hawkins Fuller in the world premiere of Greg Spears’ Fellow Travelers JOSEPH LATTANZI with Cincinnati Opera in 2016. Since the premiere, Lattanzi FIGARO has been heard in the role with Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the Prototype Festival in New York City, and with ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Arizona Opera. Praise for his performances included The MADAMA BUTTERFLY, 2014 New York Times saying “Joseph Lattanzi was splendid as Hawk, his buttery baritone luxuriant and robust.” and Opera News described him as a “confident, handsome presence, and a resonant baritone suggesting wells of feeling that the character might prefer to leave untapped.” Other recent engagements include Dandini in La Cenerentola for Virginia Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni with Jacksonville Symphony, and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro for Cincinnati Opera. Lattanzi has been a regular at The Metropolitan Opera since the 201819 season including productions Eurydice, Der Rosenkavalier, Madama Butterfly, Marnie, and Kat’a Kabanova. A regular with Arizona Opera, Lattanzi was a member of the Marion Roose Pullin Studio, and has been heard as Lt. Audebert in Silent Night, the title role in Don Giovanni, and Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas.

KELLY & MASSA

Taylor Stayton is Count Almaviva, who arrives in Seville in pursuit of the beautiful Rosina. From Opera Philadelphia’s 2014 production.

Milanese bass-baritone Giovanni Romeo is one of the youngest Italian talents who have establishing themselves on the most important opera stages worldwide, such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Auditorium Rai in Turin, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Carlo Felice in Genoa, Malibran (Gran Teatro La Fenice) in Venice, Filarmonico in Verona, Teatro Verdi in Salerno, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Deutsche Oper Berlin, NCPA in Beijing, ABAO in Bilbao, Opera de Oviedo, Opéra de Monte-Carlo and many others. After starting his career with the “Laboratorio lirico del 700” at GIOVANNI ROMEO the Bibiena Theatre in Mantua as Uberto in Paisiello’s La DOCTOR BARTOLO Serva Padrona and as Geronimo in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto, he debuted many Mozart and Donizetti roles, ATLANTA OPERA & both as bass and as baritone buffo, thanks to his vocal U.S. DEBUT extension and flexibility. Among his signature funny roles, Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and Barone Trombonok in Il Viaggio a Reims by Rossini; the title role in Don Pasquale, Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore and Sulpice in La fille du regiment by Donizetti; Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. His vocal and dramatic versatility ranges as far as the Sancho Panza in Massenet’s Don Quichotte. Future engagements include Il turco in Italia at Opéra de Monte-Carlo and at Wiener Staatsoper, and a revival of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. This production marks Giovanni’s United States debut.

KELLY & MASSA

Rosina (Jennifer Holloway), Figaro (Jonathan Beyer), and Almaviva (Taylor Stayton). From Opera Philadelphia’s 2014 production.

Since making his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 2007 as The Warrior Apparition in Macbeth, American bass-baritone David Crawford has taken part in over three hundred performances and covered roles in over two hundred performances with the company. Highlights include performances of Les contes d’Hoffmann, Roméo et Juliette, Manon Lescaut, I puritani, Eugene Onegin, Anna Bolena, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Un ballo in maschera, Andrea Chénier, Les Troyens, Nabucco, La fanciulla del West, Armida, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Angelotti and DAVID CRAWFORD the Jailer in Tosca among others. Mr. Crawford recently DON BASILIO appeared in concert with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, sang Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Boston Lyric Opera, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor ROMEO AND JULIET, 2016 with Knoxville Opera, and a returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Masetto in Don Giovanni and Angelotti in Tosca. Additional career highlights include previous appearances with The Atlanta Opera as Zuniga in Carmen and the Duke in Roméo et Juliette, Betto in Gianni Schicchi with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera in Japan, Banquo in Macbeth, William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Chautauqua Opera, Caspar in Der Freischütz with Des Moines Metro Opera, the King in Transformations with Wexford Festival Opera, and Monterone in Rigoletto with Florida Grand Opera.

Almaviva (Taylor Stayton), Don Basilio (Wayne Tigges), Figaro (Jonathan Beyer), Rosina (Jennifer Holloway), Berta (Katrina Thurman), and Dr. Bartolo (Kevin Burdette). From Opera Philadelphia’s 2014 production.

Praised as “sparkling” and “pertly pealing” by Opera News, Louisiana-born soprano Cadie J. Bryan is quickly emerging as a captivating and versatile performer in a variety of repertoire. Her 2021-22 season features house debuts with The Dallas Opera in concert for the Hart Institute for Women Conductors and Opera Las Vegas as Addie Mills in the west coast premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The House Without a Christmas Tree, as well as a return to Arizona Opera to reprise the role of Despina. She recently came out of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio CADIE J. BRYAN where she performed mainstage leading and supporting BERTA roles including Musetta in La bohème, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Bess in Craig Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT Sage, Maid in the Taliesin West Premier of Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow, and Annina in La traviata. She spent three seasons as an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera during which she debuted roles including Clarine in Rameau’s Platée, Prilepa in The Queen of Spades, and Second Wood Sprite, in an Emmy award-winning production of Rusalka. Dedicated to promoting new works, Cadie’s other career highlights include Chan Parker in Daniel Schnyder’s and Bridgette Wimberly’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and Lucy in Fellow Travelers (Arizona Opera) as well as Clara in Jake Heggie’s and Gene Scheer’s It’s A Wonderful Life (Indiana University). Cadie is an alumnus of Ravinia’s Steans Institute for singers where she studied and performed in a variety of art song and Lieder recitals with world-renowned pianists and coaches. She received a Master of Music and a Performance Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and her Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University.

KELLY & MASSA

Baritone Sankara Harouna hails from the South Side of Chicago, and studied music at Kentucky State University. He began his musical journey in the traditional arts of West African culture, music and drumming, and has had the opportunity to perform across the country singing different styles of music from jazz to gospel to classical. For the 2021-22 season, Sankara premiered with The Atlanta Opera as a Glynn Studio Artist where he made his debut with in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance as Samuel. In the summer of 2021, he portrayed the role of The Officer in SANKARA HAROUNA Rossini’s The Barber of Seville with Cincinnati Opera where GLYNN STUDIO ARTIST he was slated to be a 2020 Young Artist, until the season FIORELLO was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sankara also portrayed the role of Derrick Wheatt in Cincinnati Opera’s ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT 2019 World Premiere of Blind Injustice by Scott Davenport THE PIRATES OF Richards and David Cote. He has also performed numerous PENZANCE, 2022 times with the Kentucky Opera, including performing the role of The Page in Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in 2018, and the role of First Prison Guard in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in 2017. He also was a featured soloist in Kentucky Opera’s Holiday Celebration in December 2021. He was part of the 2018 inaugural class of Canto Vocal Programs singing the role of Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, a lead jazz vocalist with the Avant-Garde Hip HOpera by David Boykin, and was a featured artist in the Six Degrees Women Composers Concert where he sang compositions by Regina Harris Baiocchi and Ann E. Ward. In the summer of 2022, he will be an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera where he will make his debut as Nelson in the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

DAVID SILVERSTEIN

AMBROGIO

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT David is thrilled to be back with The Atlanta Opera. Past work included supernumerary in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, Puccini’s La bohème, the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers, and The Barber of Seville. Originally from New Jersey, David has been an Atlanta resident since 2003.

Mitch Gindlesperger, bass-baritone, is a regular member of The Atlanta Opera Chorus, and has performed roles with The Atlanta Opera including Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Second Philistine in Samson et Dalilah, German Soldier in Silent Night, Prison Guard in Dead Man Walking, First Soldier and Second Soldier in Salome, and the Old Gypsy in Il trovotore. Mr. Gindlesperger also has prior experience with The Atlanta Opera Studio performing Master Classes and Opera Workshops for high schools across MITCH GINDLESPERGER the state of Georgia. Mr. Gindlesperger received his AN OFFICER vocal performance degree from Clayton College and State University. He has also performned many other ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT: roles including Figaro in the Atlanta Concert Opera’s SAMSON ET DELIILAH, 1999 production of Le Nozze di Figaro, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Adonis in Venus and Adonis, Lancelot du Lac in Camelot, and the Mother in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins.