Artistic Staff Biographies

2021 OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTIC STAFF

EMANUELE ANDRIZZI

Music Director and Conductor, Lucia di Lammermoor

Educated in Rome’s rich conservatory tradition as a conductor, composer and pianist, Emanuele Andrizzi has collaborated with symphonic and operatic companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Chicago Philharmonic, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Chicago Opera Theater and New Philharmonic.

In 2018, he brought his expertise in Italian opera to a team of international artists who joined together to fill the void in Chicago’s operatic climate, and created the Opera Festival of Chicago (OFC). The OFC, where he is Music Director, will amalgamate the atmosphere and artistry of the operatic festivals of Spoleto, Pesaro, Verona and Festival Puccini.

Andrizzi has worked since 2013 as the Principal Conductor and Head of the Orchestral Program at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and as the Music Director of the McHenry County Youth Orchestras. His work with young musicians has extended to collaborations with international artist programs, including the Ryan Opera Center, Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival, and Chicago Opera Theater Young Artist Program. In addition, he has guest conducted in various university music programs, including the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and DePaul University. Andrizzi has conducted many All-State, honors and youth orchestras. He is a recipient of the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2021 Conductor of the Year Award (college/university), Honorable Mention Award at the International Competition for Conductors of Contemporary Music 4x4 Prize, and a winner of the P. Barrasso International Competition for Chamber Music.

CORY BATTEY

Senior Coach

After spending the last decade working in New York as a vocal coach, pianist and music educator, Cory Battey has recently moved to Cincinnati to pursue further education. In September, 2017, he joined the vocal coaching faculty of the Manhattan School of Music opera program. Prior to this, he was a member of the music staff of Palm Beach Opera and has worked with Portland Opera, Opera Omaha, Sarasota Opera, Nashville Opera, Kentucky Opera and Shreveport Opera.

Battey has enjoyed six summers at Opera in the Ozarks. Beginning as a junior apprentice coach, his roles and responsibilities have increased with each successive season, leading to his current capacity as senior vocal coach, chorus master and assistant conductor. In addition to Opera in the Ozarks, he has worked with young singers at the University of Memphis, Brevard Music Center and Seagle Music Colony.

For the last three years, he served as principal pianist and musicianship instructor for the National Children’s Chorus (NCC) where he performed on several acclaimed stages throughout New York City, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. He also accompanied the choir on their international tour to Japan and South Korea, including a concert to promote peace at the demilitarized zone on the North Korean border.

JAYE BEETEM

Technical Director/Designer

Jaye Beetem is delighted to be back at the Opera doing anything live! It is technically her sixth season as Technical Director/Designer for Opera in the Ozarks as she was onsite in 2020 integrating the exciting new lighting system. During the regular year, Beetem is the Technical Director and Designer for The Green Center for the Performing Arts at DePauw University in Indiana, where recent productions have included a whole lot of Zooming. She holds a BFA in Technical Theatre from the University of Utah, an MA in Speech Communications from Louisiana State University at Monroe, and an MFA in Scenography and Technical Direction from Wayne State University in Detroit, as a member of the prestigious Hilberry Repertory Theatre. She is a proud member of both IATSE and Actor’s Equity as a Stage Manager.

SEAN BRESEMANN

Assistant Conductor and Second Horn

Sean Bresemann is currently a DMA student in orchestral conducting at the University of Arizona. He was recently invited to conduct the Vidin Sinfonietta as part of an advanced conducting workshop in Vidin, Bulgaria. He has also been a conducting fellow at the Eastern Music Festival in 2015 and 2016. There he conducted both faculty and student orchestras and worked in masterclasses led by Maestro Gerard Schwarz. He was appointed chief editor with Veritas Musica Publishing in 2019 where he also is a contributing composer. Sean holds a MM in orchestral conducting from the University of North Texas where he studied with David Itkin and a BM in horn performance from the University of Cincinnati where he studied with Randy Gardner.

2021 OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTIC STAFF

CAROL BRIAN

Production Stage Manager

After graduating from Wright State University in Dayton, OH and serving an internship at The Juilliard School, Carol Brian’s life has never been boring. She has been busy stage managing from as far north as New Hampshire and as far south as Florida, from Boston to Kansas City. Most recently she completed her seventh year as Production Stage Manager at Opera Tampa. This is her fifth season with Opera in the Ozarks. She 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 outside of Nashville, TN with her husband, Gene and their Alaskan malamute, Jeremy

AARON CHANG

Assistant Technical Director

Aaron Chang is excited to make his Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point debut. He earned a BS in Theatre with an emphasis in Design and Production and is entering his second year as a Technical Direction MFA candidate at the University of Memphis. Before deciding to attend graduate school, Chang worked professionally at Virginia Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, and served as Technical Director at Lamar University.

RICHARD DUNHAM

Lighting Director

Richard Dunham is a scenic and lighting designer who has previously designed/taught at the University of Central Florida, Stephens College, Vanderbilt, and SUNY at Stony Brook. He was the lead scenic/lighting designer and Head of Design for The University of Georgia for 19 years before moving to Radford University as chair of the Department of Theater and Cinema. He is active in the national leadership of the United States Institute for Theatre Design and Technology (USITT) and is a fellow of the institute. He currently serves on the Grants and Fellowship Committee, chairing it from 2008-2017. His professional credits include numerous regional and stock productions throughout the East Coast. Notable credits include: the Brunswick Music Theatre (Maine State Music Theatre), the Disney Institute, Music Theatre North, the Dunes and Okaboji Summer theatres, The Springer Opera House and Atlanta Lyric Theatre. He has also designed scenery and lighting for a number of New York regional, Off and Off-Off Broadway theaters including Circle Repertory Theatre, Theatre Three, Broadhollow Productions, the Jean Cocteau Rep, Directors’ Theatre, and six previous seasons at Opera in the Ozarks. He is author of two well-received lighting texts as well as a number of feature articles and reviews for theater trade publications. He was editor for Practical Projects for Teaching Lighting Design (2nd edition), an advising editor to Projects for Teaching Scene Design, and two of his articles have won Herbert D. Greggs Awards from Theatre Design and Technology. In addition to performance venues, he designs architectural and landscape lighting through his design practice, Dunham Design Associates.

ALLISON DURANCEAU

Master Carpenter

Allie Duranceau is a new addition to the Opera in the Ozarks crew. She has been heavily involved in DePauw University Productions, working as a student intern alongside Technical Director Jaye Beetem. She is currently working on her BA in both Film Studies and Theatre, and expects to graduate in 2022. Productions she has worked on at DePauw include Cendrillon, Trojan Women, The Wolves, Hansel and Gretel and Sleeping Beauty. She helped write her school production Zoom Doom: Three Short Disaster Plays by student writers, and is a varsity sport collegiate athlete. She hopes to continue her passion for building and creating.

RICHARD GAMMON

Stage Director, Cendrillon

Richard Gammon, a Filipino American U.S.-based stage director, recently directed Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Gluck’s L’île de Merlin (Wolf Trap Opera); Gianni Schicchi and Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost (Michigan Opera Theatre); Madama Butterfly and Jack Perla’s An American Dream (Virginia Opera); the American premiere of Scarlatti’s Erminia at the Kennedy Center (Opera Lafayette); Susannah (Charlottesville Opera); the world premiere of Jorge Sosa’s The Lake (ArtSounds); the workshop of J Ashley Miller’s Echosis (Atemporchestra); CARE Monologue Film Project (Cleveland Play House); Much Ado About Nothing (Kentucky Shakespeare Festival); and The Life and Times of Joe Jefferson Benjamin Blow at NYC’s Theatre 315 (National Asian Artists Project). He is the director of Opera Maine’s Studio Artist Program (Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, Mohammed Fairouz’s Sumeida’s Song, Jack Perla’s An American Dream, Laura Kaminsky’s As One); and the cofounder/director of Art with Arias, a recital collaboration with the Portland Museum of Art. He has also directed for the Manhattan School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre. He was the creative associate for Seán Curran Company’s world premiere of Dream’d in a Dream (BAM Next Wave Festival), associate director for Ricky Ian Gordon’s The

Grapes of Wrath (Michigan Opera Theatre), and has worked with LA Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Fort Worth Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera North, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He has recently accepted the position of Director of Opera at the University of Northern Iowa.

GREG HOPPER-MOORE

Stage Manager

This is Greg Hopper-Moore’s first season at Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point. He hails from Eugene, OR where he has worked behind the scenes for productions of ballets, operas and musicals. He has also been a stage manager for two West Bay Opera productions in Palo Alto, CA. Most recently, he was the stage director for a Cascadia Chamber Opera production of Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief. Before making the transition to a career in stage management, he worked 20 years in education as a teacher trainer and a high school French teacher.

CLOVER KELLY

Assistant Costumer

Clover Kelly is excited to spend her first summer with Opera in the Ozarks. She has worked as a stitcher and wardrobe crew member throughout the U.S. since 2016 and currently resides in Grand Rapids, MI. She earned a BA in Studio Art from Kalamazoo College in 2014. She began her theater career as a volunteer at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and the Midland Center for the Arts in Michigan where she helped bring various shows to life, including The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Beauty and the Beast, The Philadelphia Story, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. In 2019, she interned at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, where she was Assistant Designer and Head of Wardrobe for Taming of the Shrew, and a stitcher for Merry Wives of Windsor and Twelfth Night. That same year she worked as an over-hire stitcher for the Moscow Ballet’s touring performance of The Great Russian Nutcracker. In addition to theatrical work, Kelly works as a freelance seamstress for various businesses in Grand Rapids and occasionally makes costumes on commission and for herself.

MI-JIN KIM

Coach/Accompanist

In the past decade, Mi-Jin Kim has served as a collaborative pianist and coach at numerous concerts and festivals including Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Opera Theatre at Michigan State University, Oklahoma State University, Tarrant County College, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of North Texas. Her collaborative performances were livebroadcasted on WRR Classical 101.1 FM’s “Classic Café” at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Kim also has received recognition and awards from numerous competitions such as the Joong-Ahng Music Newspaper Competition and the Incheon City Piano Competition in Korea, the International Piano Workshop Competition in Bulgaria, and the International Bicentennial Liszt Competition in Los Angeles. She has appeared as soloist with the Sejong University Symphony Orchestra and Good Classic Music Festival Orchestra in Korea, and with the Philharmonica Bulgarica in Bulgaria. She was also invited to perform at the 2015 American Liszt Society Festival “Liszt and Damnation,” at the University of North Texas. She holds a double master’s degree in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano from Michigan State University, and a DMA in Piano Performance from the University of North Texas.

ALICE MARTINSON

Medical Adviser and Properties Procurement

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 had a command position in the Navy Medical Department. She was also the Carroll County health officer for over 20 years and has kept up to date on Covid-related health matters in the Eureka Springs area. A supporter of Opera in the Ozarks for more than 30 years and a member of the governing board for 20, Dr. Martinson is extremely happy to be able to participate in creating this marvelous art form.

ANA MOISEEVA

Coach/Accompanist

Ana Moiseeva is a graduate student and teaching assistant at Butler School of Music at the University of Texas. She came to the U.S. in August 2019 from Georgia to pursue her goal of becoming an opera coach. Before coming to the U.S., Moiseeva was an accomplished piano accompanist in both Georgia and Europe. The choirs that she accompanied were awarded best choir titles all over Europe. She was recognized as the best choir accompanist of Georgia. She fell in love with opera as a child, when upon hearing Mozart’s Don Giovanni, she was pulled towards the magical world of music. Don Giovanni, by a turn of fate, was the first opera she worked on at Butler Opera Center as an opera coach, 25 years after seeing it for the first time.

2021 OPERA IN THE OZARKS ARTISTIC STAFF

ELAINE RINALDI

Conductor, The Magic Flute and Senior Coach

Conductor, vocal coach, recitalist and educator Elaine Rinaldi is a versatile performer with over 35 years’ experience on the concert stage. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Orchestra Miami, a professional symphonic ensemble based in Miami, FL, where for the past 14 seasons she has programmed and conducted performances. She was recently awarded the First Prize in The American Prize Ernst Bacon Award for the Performance of American Music, in the professional ensemble division, for her performance of Marvin David Levy’s Inquisition & Masada. In addition to her work with Orchestra Miami, Rinaldi is much in demand as an opera conductor. Recent appearances include performances with the Miami Music Festival (L’Incoronzione di Poppea & Die Zauberflöte), Mezzano Romantico Summer Festival (Gianni Schicchi & Suor Angelica), Opera Orlando (Don Giovanni), and Tri-Cities Opera (Don Giovanni) among others. As a vocal coach, she led the Young Artist program at former Dicapo Opera, and was a lecturer in Vocal Coaching at the University of Miami for eight years. Her awards include the Agnes Varis/ Inter-Cities Performing Arts grant, the League of American Orchestra’s mentorship with JoAnn Falletta, finalist for the American Prize for Orchestral Conducting and Orchestra Performance, the Newton Swift Prize for Accompanying at the Mannes College of Music, and the M. B. Byrd full tuition scholarship at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Rinaldi maintains a private coaching studio at her home in New York City.

QUINN D . SCHUSTER

Lighting Designer

Quinn D. Schuster is a theatrical lighting designer currently based in Central IL. He recently earned a BA in Theatre Design and Technology with an emphasis in Lighting Design at San Diego State University. He has worked in every aspect of lighting design and technology, from touring Broadway musicals and storefront community theater to summer stock opera and rock and roll touring concerts. Notably, Schuster worked as resident designer for both the House of Blues San Diego and Observatory North Park concert venues in San Diego, CA. Recent design credits include The Heist: A Theatrical Escape Room Experience and the upcoming work Native Gardens at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Schuster has always sought expression through storytelling and artistic excellence. He enjoys being a legislative advocate for educational theater programs and organized labor, as well as being a member of the technical theater community. In his leisure time, he loves working on cars and going on long bike rides.

ROBERT SWEDBERG

Stage Director, Lucia di Lammermoor and The Magic Flute

Robert Swedberg recently retired as Associate Professor of Music and opera director at the University of Michigan, where he also taught The Business of Music and Yoga for Performers. For the past several years at U-M he also produced “green opera” productions on campus, making University of Michigan the first in the U.S. to create ecofriendly opera. From 1990 through 2007, he was General Director of Orlando Opera. Prior to that, he held positions as General Director of Syracuse Opera; Manager/Artistic Director of Opera Carolina; and Director of Educational projects and Assistant Stage Director of the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival. Previous productions directed at Opera in the Ozarks: Susannah, Die Zauberflöte, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, L’elisir d’amore, La traviata, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Ballad of Baby Doe, Abduction from the Seraglio and Little Women. Working on the international stage, Swedberg has directed productions in Macau and Beijing, China; Mallorca, Spain; Ischia, Italy; and for Hof, Bamberg, Pforzheim and Bayreuth, Germany. He holds degrees in music and theatre from California State University, Northridge, where he was a student of Elisabeth Parham and Dr. David Scott. He also earned an MBA degree from the University of Central Florida. He was on the board of directors of OPERA America from 2002-2007. He is also a certified yoga instructor, and author of the book Yoga for Performers.

MELANIE SONNENBERG

Voice Teacher

Mezzo-soprano Melanie Sonnenberg has enjoyed a successful international stage career in leading roles with the Teatro San Carlo, Hamburg Staatsoper, Salzburg Festspiel, Graz Oper, Tokyo Yoyogi Arena, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, and the companies of Ontario, Edmonton, Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Diego, New Orleans, Austin and Fort Worth. Performance highlights of over fifty bel canto productions include the critical edition premieres of La donna del lago (Malcolm) and Il viaggio a Reims (Marchesa Melibea), and the leading roles of La Cenerentola, L’italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and La pietra del paragone. She was featured in new productions with New York City Opera, performing Kontchakovna in Prince Igor, Marie De Pays in the American premiere of Jost Meier’s The Dreyfus Affair, and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. Her Carnegie Hall debut came as Smeton in Anna Bolena with the Opera Orchestra of New York, and her Town Hall debut was as Malcolm in La donna del lago. Noted symphonic appearances

include the Buffalo Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Grazer Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, Little Orchestra of New York, Louisiana Philharmonic, Newport Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, and the Bach Society of St. Louis. Her film and discography credits include Das Rheingold and Die Walküre for Austrian radio and television, Cavalleria Rusticana for “Live from Lincoln Center,” The Merry Widow with Beverly Sills for “Great Performances” for PBS, and recordings for Albany, Reference, House of Opera and Acis. Sonnenberg is Professor of Music at the University of Houston and the Director of The Institute of Vocal Studies at Texas Music Festival.

KIM WELBORN

Costume Designer

This is Kim Welborn’s second season at Opera in the Ozarks. She regularly designs for Opera Orlando; recent productions included Pagliacci/Pulcinella, Hansel and Gretel, Tales of Hoffman, and Le nozze di Figaro. She has designed multiple productions of Don Pasquale, La bohème and Amahl. In addition to opera, she has designed over 50 musicals and straight plays. Her favorites include Hello, Dolly, Evita, The Producers, Paint Your Wagon, South Pacific, Spamalot, The Diary of Anne Frank and Blithe Spirit. She has also enjoyed doing children’s theater including Willie Wonka, The Jungle Book, and Peter and the Wolf, and has worked with several dance companies and productions. In addition to theatrical design, Welborn produces accurate period clothing and presentations for reenactments and historic events, including Florida’s Quincentennial and the anniversary of the National Park Service, and performance gowns for clients including Wendy Bryn Harmer of the Metropolitan Opera. She is a world native, having lived in eight countries before graduating from high school and moving to Florida for college. She is a master herbalist and developed an extensive natural health consulting practice before returning to her love of fashion and the arts. Her family includes her husband, David, four wonderfully supportive children, and five grandchildren.

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