ARTISTS’ PROFILES

South African baritone Tshilidzi Ndou holds degrees from North-Western University in South Africa, and a Performer’s Diploma in Voice and Master of Music from Southern Methodist University. Past roles include Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mr. Webb in Our Town, Luther Billis in South Pacific, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, John Proctor in The Crucible, and the baritone soloist in Mozart’s Requiem. As part of Dallas Opera’s Educational Outreach program, he performed the Mayor in Doctor Miracle and Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore. Tshilidzi has won numerous awards, including First Prize of the Pre-Professional Division and the Spiritual and Contemporary Art Song prizes in the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition, Second place and legacy award winner of the 2022 NOA Carolyn Bailey Argento Vocal Competition, and District Winner and Western Region Encouragement Award Winner in the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. At Utah Opera he appears in Daughter of the Regiment as the Corporal, in Rigoletto as Marullo, and in the Ensemble of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. This summer Tshilidzi will join the Chautauqua Opera as an Apprentice Artist.

Hawaii-born pianist Laura Bleakley received her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the University of Houston, where she is currently a Doctoral Candidate. She received her Bachelor of Music in Organ and Piano Performance from the University of Puget Sound. She has won competitions in both instruments, including the state Music Teachers National Association Piano Solo Competition, the first alternate in the regional MTNA Chamber Music Competition, and the American Guild of Organists Competition. She has performed on National Public Radio for From the Top, was featured in Houston Public Media’s Skyline Sessions, and recorded an album of rare Russian art songs for KNS Classical. She was a Festival Artist with Opera Saratoga in 2020 and 2021, the artist in residence at Opera in the Heights from 2019–2022, and a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She will be joining the Glimmerglass Festival as a Young Artist this summer.