San Francisco Cabaret Opera
Harriet March Page, Artistic Director
Cast, Composers, and Production Team for Fresh Voices X
Mark Alburger composer, Job: A MasqueKate Bautch singer, Sutter Creek; Job's Wife, Messenger III, Job: A Masque
Joshua Beld Bronislav, The Hunger Art
John Bilotta composer, Trifles
Kristen Brown Medea, Medea Alone
Sarita Cannon singer, Sutter Creek; Eliphaz the Temanite, Messenger II, Job: A Masque
Robert Denham composer, Sutter Creek
Michael Desnoyers Mr. Henderson, Trifles
Meghan Dibble Dana Perino, George Bush: The Last 100 Days; Jan, The Hunger Art
Daniel Felsenfeld composer, The Bloody Chamber
David Garner composer, Medea Alone
Elizabeth Isadora Gold librettist, The Bloody Chamber
Ross Halper stage director, Theresa Kren
Chelsea Hollow Reporter, George Bush: The Last 100 Days
Alden Jenks composer, Letter from Linda
Alexandra Jerinic Mrs. Hale, Trifles
Heather Lauren Klein singer, Sutter Creek; Elihu, Messenger I, Job: A Masque
Nathan Kondrat Sheriff Peters, Trifles
Edward Knight composer, Life is Fine
Hadley McCarroll pianist
Nathaniel Marken George W. Bush, George Bush: The Last 100 Days; Mr. Hale, Trifles
Justin Marsh Alfons, The Hunger Art
John McGrew librettist, Trifles
Nanette McGuiness Sophie, The Bloody Chamber; God & Bildad the Shuhite, Job: A Masque
Delayne Medoff, lighting designer
Maria Mikheyenko Mrs. Peters, Trifles
Jeff Meyers composer, The Hunger Art
Eliza O'Malley Ivana, The Hunger Art
Keisuke Nakagoshi pianist
Mark Narins composer, librettist Theresa Kren
Harriet March Page Artistic Director
Jo Vincent Parks Marquis, The Bloody Chamber
Crystal Philippi Satan, Zophar the Naamathite, Messenger IV, Job: A Masque
Marilyn Pratt Job, Job: A Masque
Tristan Robben Jacob, Theresa Kren
Sophia Santulli Milos, The Hunger Art
Raina Simons singer, Life is Fine
Royce Vavrek librettist, The Hunger Art
Indre Viskontas Dora, The Bloody Chamber; singer, Letter from Linda
Chris Whittaker composer George W. Bush: The Last 100 Days
Wayne Wong singer, Sutter Creek
Mark Alburger
(b. 4/2/57, Upper Darby, PA) studied composition with Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti at Swarthmore College (B.A.),
Karl Kohn at Pomona College, Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.), Christopher Yavelow at Claremont Graduate
University (Ph.D.), and Terry Riley. He is the Editor-Publisher of 21ST-CENTURY MUSIC Journal, the Founder and Music
Director of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Music Director and Resident Composer of San Francisco Cabaret
Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and Music Professor at Diablo Valley and St. Mary's Colleges. Alburger has been the
recipient of many honors, awards, and commissions, including a number of ASCAP Standard Awards, grants from Meet the
Composer, the American Composers Forum, and the Marra Foundation. His works have received performances by ensembles
and orchestras throughout the United States. Audience enthusiasm, critical response, and acclaim from colleagues have
been consistent for Alburger's concert and dramatic works, which combine aleatory, atonal, collage, neoclassic, pop,
and postminimal sensibilities -- often in overall frameworks troped on pre-existent material. More information on his
compositions -- through Opus 186 and counting -- may be found at
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com and at the DrMarkAlburger
channel on YouTube. 
Joshua Beld
is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University with a Bachelors of Music in classical
voice. He has had several roles in and around the bay area including his most recent performance as Don
Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. He enjoys cooking and coloring his hair in his spare time, if any. He would
like to thank his best friends Stephanie Patterson and Kayeligh Loe for actually believing in him and giving him
something to aspire to.
John G. Bilotta was born in Waterbury, CT, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition with Frederick
Saunders. His works have been performed by Rarescale, Earplay, Chamber Mix, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, the Washington Square Contemporary Music
Society, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Talea Ensemble, Avenue Winds, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, VocalWorks, the Boston String Quartet, the Boston
Metro Opera, and the Blue Grass Opera Company. His first chamber opera
Aria da Capo, on the play by Edna St. Vincent Millay, was a finalist at the
New York City Opera. His comic opera Quantum Mechanic won the 2007 Opera-in-a-Month Competition.
Trifles, on the play by Susan Glaspell, is his
third chamber opera. John is Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Wind Festival, and co-directs with Brian Bice the Festival of Contemporary
Music. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc., and is editor of SCION, the organization’s opportunities
newsletter. http://www.johnbilotta.comTop
Texas native
Kristen Brown has been acclaimed for her “impressive, ringing soprano” (Marin Independent Journal), and hailed as “San Francisco’s
up-and-coming powerhouse” (Petaluma Argus-Courier,
Santa Rosa Press Democrat). Kristen made her professional debut as Magda Sorel (The Consul)
with Cinnabar Opera in 2007. In August 2008, Kristen created the role of The Mayor in the world premiere of Red Bennett’s opera,
What They Seem.
Favorite roles include Agathe (Der Freischütz), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), the title roles in
Arabella,
Vanessa,
and Carmen, Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and Mistress Quickly (Falstaff). Her regular recital appearances have included engagements
with the German Consulate in San Francisco, Oakland Lyric Opera, Eglise de Notre Dame des Victoires, and the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco.
In 2010, Kristen will premiere David Garner’s
Medea Alone, a staged a capella work for solo voice in Goat Hall’s “Fresh Voices X,” as well as San
Francisco Parlor Opera’s production of
Don Giovanni (Donna Anna). 
Sarita Cannon is delighted to make her Goat Hall debut in
Job
and Sutter Creek. A San Francisco native, she returned
to the Bay Area after earning her A.B. in Literature at Harvard University, where she sang operatic roles such as
Susanna (Marriage of Figaro), Antonia (Tales of Hoffmann), and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas). Locally, Sarita has performed
with Ray of Light Theater, Lamplighters Music Theater, Willows Theater, and Golden Gate Opera. An avid fan of new music,
she has also performed in several productions with Oakland Opera, including
White Darkness by Thomas Dean/Sergei Prokoviev,
Queenie Pie by Duke Ellington, and
Dark River by Mary Watkins; and she recently sang the role of Marguerite Ida and Helena
Annabel in David Ahlstrom's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights at City College of San Francisco. Sarita currently studies
voice with Victoria Rapanan. By day, she is assistant professor of English at San Francisco State University.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area,
Robert Denham
holds a DMA in composition from the University of Cincinnati College
Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he studied with Michael Fiday, Joel
Hoffman, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. His other degrees are from UCLA (MA
Composition) where he studied with Roger Bourland, Ian Krouse, and the
late Jerry Goldsmith, and Biola University (BM, Trumpet Performance).
Dr. Denham managed the annual new music festival MusicX for four years,
and currently teaches Theory and Composition at Biola University in La
Mirada California. Denham is a member of ASCAP, CFAMC, and SCI, Denham's
music is published by Falls House Press, GIA Publishing, Imagine Music
Publishing, Pasquina Publishing Company, Pelican Music Publishing, and
Tuba Euphonium Press.Top
Michael Desnoyers is a graduate student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studies with César Ulloa.
Michael holds a Bachelor’s of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Slippery Rock University. He made
his professional debut with the Pittsburgh Opera in 2005, as the Officer in
Ariadne auf Naxos. Other past roles include
Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), King Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Haemon/Messenger (Antigone), Quantum Mechanic
(The Quantum Mechanic), and Padre (Man of la Mancha). He has also performed the tenor solos in Handel’s
Messiah
and
Mozart’s Requiem. In 2006, he participated in Cincinnati Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca in
Italy. He was the winner of the 2004 Chad Williamson Memorial Scholarship Competition, and he took second place at both
the 2004 Tri-State NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and 2006 Eastern Regional NATS competitions. Last year, he appeared at
the SF Conservatory as Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld) and Monsieur Cash (Der Schauspieldirektor).
Last summer, he has participated in the Chautauqua Opera Young Artist program.
Meghan Dibble, mezzo
soprano, made her debut last October with Pacific Repertory Opera in San Luis Obispo singing Ruth in
The Pirates of
Penzance after debuting with the Redwood Symphony singing the Old Lady in
Candide. Last
year she was seen singing Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Mercedes (Carmen) with Rimrock Opera in Billings,
MT, and as Aunt Clotilda in The Haunted Manor with Pocket Opera. Last June, Ms. Dibble premiered Inez Serrano in the
new opera based on No Exit by local composer Zachary M. Watkins which was double billed with her as Miss Todd in
Old
Maid and the Thief with San Francisco Cabaret Opera at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley.Other roles include Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) with West Bay Opera, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Rimrock Opera, Suzuki (Madam Butterfly), Mrs. Page (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Governess (The Queen of Spades) with Pocket Opera, La Maestra delle Novizie (Suor Angelica) with Garden State Opera, Rosine (Signor Deluso) with Opera Company of Brooklyn, Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), Fidalma (Il matrimonio segreto), and Siebel (Faust).
Ms. Dibble sang Agave in Steven Clark's opera Dionysus, and has performed several songs from D.C. Meckler's The Albion Deity. A new music enthusiast, Meghan is thrilled to be working with several local composers including Kirke Mechem, Mark Alburger, DC Meckler, Steven Clark, and Sheli Nan. For more information, www.meghandibble.com
Composer Daniel Felsenfeld received his bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and went on to Boston’s New England Conservatory, where he received his doctorate in 2001.
Recent commissions a 30 minute music theatre work for Sequitur; a resetting of David Bowie’s lyrics for Real Quiet with Theo Bleckmann and Petra Haden; The Poet’s Dream of Herself as a Young Girl for mezzo and piano trio to be performed at Stanford University by Amy Schneider and the Harmida Trio; and All Work and No Play, a work for piccolo and piano. His music can be found on the Endeavor and Koch i mprints.
Recent performances include: American Opera Projects, Jenny Lin at Bargemusic, Stephanie Mortimore at Carnegie Hall, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Boston Modern Orchestra Projects’ Club Concert Series, Hartwell Dance Theatre, the Momenta Quartet, the Either/Or Festival, and the NewGallery Concert Series. His opera The Last of Manhattan was commissioned by (and premiered at) The Kitchen in New York City, and another of his operas, Summer and All it Brings, was chosen to be part of New York City Opera’s VOX 2004: Showcasing American Composers.
Daniel is also the author of eight books and hundreds of articles. He teaches at City College and lives in Brooklyn.
Top
Well known and performed often, composer David Garner’s body of work reflects his decades of musical training, historical knowledge, theatrical flair and humor. Composer David Garner has been creating uniquely beautiful works for over 25 years and interest in his music continues to build. Phenomenon, the newest CD of Garner’s music, will be released in July, 2007. Produced by PentaTone Classics, the recording features Lisa Delan, Francisco Araiza, Suzanne Mentzer, William Stone and Stephanie Friede, with pianist Kristin Pankonin and members of the San Francisco Symphony. Recorded works are Spoon River Songs, Fireflies and Willows, Viñetas Flamencas and Phenomenal Woman. Lisa Delan's solo recording, scheduled for similar release date, features Garner's Annettes Lieder, with acclaimed cellist Matt Haimowitz.
Recent career highlights include the premiere of Five Chokas for The Princess at the SF Asian Art Museum, the premiere of Garner's guitar composition Raghs at the Ordu International Guitar Festival in Turkey, the premiere and CD release of Cuadro Cuadrangulos by QUADRE, the Costa Rica performance of Seis Capriches de García Lorca (as part of Berlin’s Ibero-American Institute’s “Federico García Lorca Project ,”), with Manuel Marin, tenor; the New York premiere of Phenomenal Woman, performed by Frederica von Stade, Lisa Delan, Zhang Cao and Kristin Pankonin, and an additional New York performance of Phenomenal Woman at the Salander O’Rielly Gallery.
Garner continues to receive numerous commissions from Bay Area soloists and ensembles and international artists, including the San Francisco Chamber Singers, Citywinds, the Beaumont Ensemble, the New Music Ensemble, QUADRE, Japanese Tanka master Mutsuo Shukuya, Susanne Mentzer, and the Iranian Guitar Duo. His one-act opera, The Money Tree, with libretto by Dan Linden Cohen, premiered to critical acclaim in 2000. Besides his native English, he has written vocal chamber-music in Spanish, Catalan, German, Renaissance Italian, modern Greek and Japanese.
Prof. Garner has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1979. He held the Chair of the Department of Musicianship and Music Theory from 1984 until 1999, and is the recipient of the 1997 George Sarlo Family Foundation Outstanding Professor Award. Garner studied piano with Virginia Danforth, Beatrice Beauregard, and Nathan Schwartz, and cello with Priscilla Parsons and Roman Dukson.
Elizabeth Isadora Gold’s work has appeared in The Believer, Tin House, Time Out New York, and Philadelphia Magazine, among other publications. She’s currently working on DON'T TOUCH ME!, a surreal novel about a born-again Christian pop singer reality-TV star. She lives in Brooklyn.
Having recently made his debut with Los Angeles Opera as Kromov in THE MERRY WIDOW, versatile tenor/actor Ross Halper has been called "Opera's mad genius" by conductor Kent Nagano, "Opera's man for all seasons" by famed heldentenor Jess Thomas and "Our modern Schikaneder" by the great lyric tenor Leopold Simoneau.
With a repertoire of 200 roles, he has sung under solo contracts with San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Long Beach Opera, San Jose Opera, Carmel Bach Festival, Eugene Opera, Festival Opera, Sacramento Opera, Berkeley Symphony and many, many others.
Among his favorite roles are both the RHEINGOLD and SIEGFRIED Mime, Mr. Owen in POSTCARD FROM MOROCCO, the Witch in HANSEL, Vasek in BARTERED BRIDE, Albert Herring, Szupan in GYPSY BARON, Herod in SALOME, Basilio, Jacquino in FIDELIO, the Steersman in FLYING DUTCHMAN and the Magician in THE CONSUL.
Having sung virtually all the standard character roles and many unusual ones, he has summed up these experiences in a unique staged recital, GODS AND GOBLINS, presented by Columbia Artists' Community Concerts. Ross' comic acting creations in television commercials have been seen internationally. He headlined in Las Vegas and toured the world in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as the funny tenor, naturally.
Besides serving 15 years as director in residence at North Bay Opera in Fairfield CA, he has served as stage director with Eugene Opera, Opera Idaho and just returned from directing DON GIOVANNI at Pacific Repertoire Opera in San Luis Obispo. Ross has also trained singers at UC Berkeley, at San Francisco's BASOTI summer opera program, Cal Poly Univ. and at Mannes College of Music, NY. Recent projects include singing the Scribe in KHOVANSHCHINA with Kent Nagano, directing ABDUCTION, HANSEL, DIDO and translating Mozart's ABDUCTION (Lyric Opera Cleveland) and Oscar Straus' MERRY NIBELUNGS (Dicapo Opera, NY).
Chelsea Hollow is thrilled to make her Goat Hall
Productions debut as The Reporter in Chris Whittaker's
George Bush:
The Last 100 Days. Recent Recipient of the Bachelor of Music Degree
in Classical Vocal Performance from San Francisco State University’s
School of Music & Dance, she has performed roles including Dorine (Tartuffe,
Mechem), and Hebe (Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach).
Upcoming roles include Carroll in 42nd Street Moon's production 2010
production of Kern's Very Warm For May. Chelsea’s concert
performances include the Soprano Solo in
The Great Mass in C-Minor
(Mozart), Fiesta de la Posada
(Brubeck), The Lord Nelson
Mass in D (Haydn),
Rosas Pandan (Hernandez), and
When
Daffodills Begin Peer (Harris). Other appearances include the
Moorpark Symphony Orchestra Annual Concerto & Aria Concert where she was
featured as a competition winner performing “Bester Jüngling” (Der
Schauspieldirektor, Mozart) and “Ah! Je veux vivre” (Roméo et
Juliette, Gounod). Chelsea was awarded as a finalist in West Bay
Opera’s “Henry and Maria Holt Scholarship Competition” in Spring 2010.
Choral Experience includes the International Orange Chorale with Zane
Fiala, San Francisco State University Chamber Singers with Joshua
Habermann and University Chorus with David Xiques as well as The Los
Robles Master Chorale and Moorpark College Vocal Ensemble.
www.chelseahollow.comTop
Alden Jenks is currently professor of composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His music has been performed in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world.
He was born in Michigan, attended Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, from which he received BA and M.A. degrees. He studied composition with Darius Milhaud, Ben Weber, Andrew Imbrie, and Karlheinz Stockhausen; he studied piano with Robert Helps and Barbara Shearer; and after his academic work was completed he worked closely with David Tudor and John Cage in several performance presentations.
He collaborated with the Canadian composer Martin Bartlett in "Deus ex Machina" --- a touring performance ensemble utilizing home-made electronics in eccentric and sometimes noisy compositions. He was then hired to develop the electronic music studio at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (a position he continues to hold --- he has also taught a wide variety of courses there in music theory and history).
Soon after joining the Conservatory he taught a summer course at the Buddhist University, the Naropa Institute, in Boulder, Colorado. (At his invitation John Cage appeared in a now notorious performance of his piece "Empty Words", at which a riot broke out!). Several of his own works were performed the same summer. Later he was invited to present several performances in the Vancouver area with composer John Adams, in presentations of works by both composers.
He collaborated with Efrem Lipkin, well know systems designer, in the creation of the "Grand Canonical Ensemble", an ambitious digital synthesizer. In 1989 he was invited as guest composer at the Vatinee School of Music in Bangkok, Thailand; and in 2001 he was featured guest composer, lecturer and performer at the 7th Pusan Electronic Music Association festival.
His work includes electronic music for recorded media alone and with live performers, and a significant body of music for live performers alone as well. He has composed music for concert, theatre, dance, video and CD-ROM. Among his theatre credits are music for “Femme Fatale”, “Mummermusic”, and “Those Long Canadian Winters”. His work for video includes music for a play broadcast on cable, “Houses of Mud and Rock”, and music for a prize-winning instructional video, “West Meets East”. Works for dance include “And the Winner Is....” and “Ohio”. His electronic work "Nagasaki" was awarded a prize at the Bourges Festival in 1983, and his work for two pianos, "Marrying Music" was Winner of "Diploma and Medal" from the 3rd Viotti-Valsesia International Music Competition in 1983. He has received grants from the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center, and "Meet the Composer".
Young mezzo-soprano
Alexandra Jerinic has been an
active performer in the Bay Area for the past two years and is thrilled
to be premiering the role of Mrs. Hale in
Trifles. She was most recently
seen as Katisha in the Great Dickens Fair's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Mikado, a role
she will be returning to this December. She earned her Bachelor's of Arts in Music at Mills College
in 2005, and her Master's of Music in Vocal Performance from Notre Dame de Namur University in 2007.
A regular performer with San Francisco Cabaret Opera/Goat Hall Productions, past stage credits with
the company include Diocles in Dioclesian and the Housekeeper in Stefan Weisman's opera
Fade.
She made her debut with Lamplighters in their summer 2008 production of Gilbert and Sullivan's
The
Mikado and with San Francisco Parlor Opera as Albine in their production of
Thais last November.
She has also performed in Holy Names University's Opera Scenes Program as Bradamante, Dorabella, and
Isabella and is a regular performer at Jarvis Conservatory's Saturday Opera Night. She currently
studies voice with Dr. Lee Strawn, and coaches with Marcie Stapp and Mai-Linh Pham.Top
Heather Lauren
Klein most recently was seen as Adele with Capital Opera Sacramento and as Soprano Soloist in
The Messiah with San Francisco
Academy Orchestra in December. Heather also has toured in NYC with her trio “The Inextinguishable Trio.” Heather enjoys often performing
with “The Three Yiddish Diva’s” in Vancouver and Winnipeg. She has been seen in recital with City opera's Robert Abelson and Claire Barry
of the famous Barry Sisters with National Yiddish Folksbine. Audiences enjoyed the role of Rivka Shmuel in the National tour of
Meshuga
Nutcracker! with the National Jewish Theater Festival. Heather was seen singing at the final cabaret performance for the Medem’s Yiddish
festival in Paris, France. Heather has attended many summer programs, including: KlezKanada in Quebec, Paris Yiddish Festival, Sherril Milnes’ program in Florida, and the selective Bel Canto institute in New Paltz, New York, with coaches from the Metropolitan Opera. Heather is a respected performer in the Bay Area’s Yiddish song scene where she has performed with many festivals including: The Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, To Life! A Jewish Music Festival, Bible by the Bay, JCC of the East Bay “Freylakh,” several old age homes throughout the bay area, Café by the Bay, the San Francisco JCC, The Red Hot Chachkas at KlezKalifornia, and Jewish Folk Chorus.
Miss Klein is currently preparing the role of Miss Silverpeal with Capital Opera in May and after her trio’s triumph with the CD “Mayn Yiddishe Velt,” they are working on their newest project with Yiddish Art Song.
Heather Klein received her Masters degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She currently studies with her voice teacher Jane Randolph and works with several coaches in the Bay area and the east coast.
Edward Knight’s work eschews easy classification moving freely between diverse musical
styles. His music has been performed by ensembles ranging from Oklahoma-based Duo Clarion to the New York
Philharmonic in venues as varied as the "Meet in Beijing" Festival to the Hollywood Bowl by artists
ranging from Kelli O’Hara to Paul Neubauer.
Knight studied privately with John Corigliano and was the first American to win the Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial
Award for outstanding composer at London's Royal College of Music.
Among his prizes are the Aaron Copland Award, the San Francisco Song Festival's American Art Song Competition,
ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award for Best New Orchestral Work, and Oklahoma’s Musician of the Year. He is a frequent
fellow at Yaddo, MacDowell, Ucross, and Djerassi. Knight will be on the composition faculty at Interlochen Summer
Arts Camp in 2010.
His works are published exclusively by Subito Music. Recordings are available from Albany Records, ERMMedia, and
Capstone Records.Nathaniel Marken returns to Goat Hall after first playing the roles of Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan in their production of Solidarity in the Fall of 2009, and is excited to be participating in their Fresh Voices X festival to continue the neo-con theme as the title role in George [W.] Bush: The Last Hundred Days. Nathaniel previously debuted as Wagner with San Francisco Parlor Opera's Faust in the Spring of 2009. A proponent of new music, Nathaniel has sung such 20th century pieces as Ben in Menotti's The Telephone, Snug in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gideon in Mark Adamo's Little Women and the role of Phagita in the 2007 premier of Lou Harrison's Young Caesar with Ensemble Parallèle. Nathaniel was in the closing cast of Insignificant Others, the “only in San Francisco musical” at Pier 39 during the fall of 2008. He also co-directed and -produced of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2008 prior to completing his Masters in Voice Performance at the Conservatory. Nathaniel has also sung with Bay Area ensembles including Soli Deo Gloria and the Mission Dolores Basilica Choir. He thanks his loving family and fabulous friends for their inspiring support.
Top
Justin Farrell Marsh has been singing with several opera companies in the Bay Area since his
arrival on the West Coast two years ago. He has previously been seen in San Francisco Parlor Opera’s productions
of Cosi fan tutte (as Ferrando) in 2008/2009 and
Thais
(as Nicias) in November of 2009. In December of 2008,
Justin made his national television debut performing solo pieces on ABC Television’s broadcast of “Christmas
from the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi”. Justin has sung with Goat Hall Productions/San Francisco
Cabaret Opera in productions of No Exit (as Valet) and
Solidarity
(as Julian/Tomko). With Pocket Opera, Justin
sang in productions of La Belle Helene (Ajax 1),
La Favorita (Seigneur),
The Haunted Manor (Ensemble) and
rejoins the company to sing La Traviata (as Gastone) in July of 2010. Justin performed John Bilotta’s
The
Quantum Mechanic (as the Quantum Mechanic) with the San Francisco Composer’s Chamber Orchestra in February of 2010.
After completing his undergraduate studies at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Justin went on to earn his
Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music; and, he currently studies privately with San Francisco Opera’s
Mezzo-Soprano Catherine Cook.
A well-known performer throughout the Bay Area pianist
Hadley McCarroll is hailed for her "...lively and exhilarating..."
pianism (SF Classical Voice). She is also known in the US and internationally as a collaborative pianist, working at the Royal
Danish Opera, Utah Festival Opera, San Francisco Opera, Festival Opera. Under Kent Nagano Hadley prepared West Coast premieres
of works by Elliott Carter and Unsuk Chin. She taught chamber music master classes at Northwestern University, and has taught
piano at the San Francisco Community Music Center since 1997. She performs chamber music with cellist Monica Scott as part of
martha & monica.
Delayne Medoff is very excited and honored to be asked to design again for Goat Hall Productions. A jack of all trades, Delayne has spent the last 13 years practicing every aspect of technical theater. Delayne is happy to spend his time behind the scenes, and prays that he will never be called upon to act, sing, or dance in front of an audience. Delayne is especially excited for Fresh Voices because of the extreme variety and amazing talent it contains. Here's to local artists!
John F. McGrew studied piano, harmony, and composition
as a teenager with Alexander Sckaventa (a student of Rimsky-Korsakov).
After receiving his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology he worked as a
human factors engineer for 30 years. He returned to music studying with
Aaron Blumenfeld. John has played the contrabass in Bay Area community
orchestras, Washington D.C., and Pasadena, and is an amateur guitarist.
He wrote the libretto for Quantum Mechanic which won the 2007
Opera-in-a-Month Challenge, and for Trifles and
A Christmas
Tale. He composed the music for
Three Haiku Songs for
soprano and string quartet. He has written short stories, screen plays,
children’s stories, a novel, and acted in the film
Xtraterrestrials
Xposed.Top
Lyric
soprano Nanette
McGuinness has been hailed in the press for her “creamy golden tone,” “glorious soprano” and
“magnetic stage presence.” She performed the roles of Mimì in the Czech Republic and Musetta in Italy, and has been heard
recently by Bay Area audiences as the Countess with Capitol Opera Sacramento/Davis, Mimì and Micaela with Verismo Opera,
the Foreign Woman (The Consul) with Cinnabar Opera, and the First Lady with Mission City Opera. After performing Mark Alburger’s Sex and Delilah and Jean Ahn’s song cycle Open in 2009, Nanette is excited to be returning to Cabaret Opera for Sex and the Bible. An avid proponent of new music, she has sung the world or West Coast premieres of works that include William Ludtke's Christmas Suite with the San Jose Symphony (JoAnn Falletta conducting) as well as the title role in his Gaia Sophia and a number of his chamber pieces, the Lady with a Cake Box, Soprano in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, Madam Bubble in Vaughan-Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress with Trinity Lyric Opera, and Rorem's Homer. Her CD with the Athena Trio, Fabulous Femmes features music by Libby Larsen, Louise Talma, Germaine Tailleferre, and Margaret Garwood, among others, and went into its second pressing on Centaur in 2007. Nanette covered the soprano soloists for a season for the Berkeley Symphony (conducted by Kent Nagano), the highlight of which was the West Coast premiere of the Suite from Messiaen's St. François d'Assise.
Nanette made her stage debut performing the role of Nino in the American premiere of Cesti’s Semiramide, conducted by Alan Curtis, and her professional operatic debut as Cis in Albert Herring with Berkeley Opera. She has sung with the Pacific Repertory, West Bay, Livermore Valley, Pocket, North Bay and Oakland Opera Companies, Opera San Jose (Opera in the Schools),and the Lamplighters, in roles that include Fiordiligi, Despina, Lauretta and Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Anna (Le Villi, Puccini), Pamina, the Mother (Amahl), First Nymph (Rusalka), Norina, and Pertelote (Chanticleer by Seymour Barab). Additional solo concert engagements include the Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), Messiah, Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saens) and Vesperae solemnes (Mozart) with the Contra Costa Chorale, Solano Community Symphony, Monterey Peninsula Choral Society, Solano Choral Society, West Marin Festival Orchestra, and the New Millenium Strings, among others.
Nanette began her musical education at the organ, adding piano, musicological, and vocal studies while at Cornell University. She received a MM in voice from Holy Names and a PhD (specializing in musicology) from U.C. Berkeley. She maintains a private vocal studio in the East Bay. For upcoming events, visit www.nanette.biz or read her very occasional blog, http://musicandwordsontheroad@blogspot.com.
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia,
Maria
Mikheyenko has sung with the Russian Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Russian
Festival, and presents recitals of Russian Romances throughout the Bay Area. Opera credits include Berkeley Opera, Pocket
Opera, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Opera Lafayette, Oakland Opera Theater, and the Austrian American
Mozart Academy of Salzburg. In the world of contemporary music, Ms. Mikheyenko is a frequent collaborator with Bay Area
composers. She has performed in three world premiere works by Lisa Prosek:
Leonardo’s Notebooks, Belfagor, and
Trap Door.
With San Francisco Cabaret Opera, she has portrayed Lennie Small in Mark Alburger’s Of Mice and Men, the Sentry in his
Antigone, and a Quark Sister in John Bilotta’s award-winning short opera,
Quantum Mechanic. As a member of the Pacific
Mozart Ensemble, Maria has also collaborated with musical icons such as Meredith Monk, Dave Brubeck, and Bobby McFerrin.She is a founding member of Opera Frontier, an innovative song-and- dance troupe. In addition to the roles of Hagar and Leah in Mark Alburger’s Sex & the Bible, Maria will also perform in the Fresh Voices Festival, portraying Mrs. Peters in John Bilotta’s chamber opera Trifles, based on the 1916 play by Pulitzer-Prize-Winning author Susan Glaspell. www.MariaMikheyenko.com
Though much of his work draws on an eclectic array of musical forms, all
of the music of
Jeff Myers shares the commonality of of
expressive intensity. Many of his works draw on preexisting musical
works, styles and genres, as well as visual art and natural phenomena.
Filipino kulintang music, works by M.C. Escher, overtone music and more
recently, folk music and geographical narratives have been a source for
inspiration. His operatic collaboration with writer Royce Vavrek yielded
the one-act opera The Hunger Art, which is based on Kafka’s
Fasting Artist. Currently Myers is working on a new opera with
writer Quincy Long and the American Lyric Theater based on the works of
Edgar Allan Poe. Myers has also written instrumental music for the JACK
Quartet, Transit, PRISM Quartet and many other ensembles. His music has
been featured at Carnegie Hall, Gaudeamus, Aspen, Tanglewood and
Acanthes festivals. He was recently performed in Spain (International
Conference on Contemporary Music) and at the Library of Congress in
Washington DC.Top
A native of Japan,
Keisuke
Nakagoshi began his piano studies at age ten with Kaori Fujiwara. At age 18 he came to the U.S.
and studied piano with Linda Carroll and composition with Jerry Mueller. He went on to study composition with David Conte
at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and in 2003 earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition. Mr. Nakagoshi studied
piano with Paul Hersh at the Conservatory, and earned his M.M. in chamber music in 2006. He won the Concerto Competition
and performed Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Alasdair Neale. Mr. Nakagoshi
has participated in master classes with Gilbert Kalish, Menahem Pressler, Robert Mann, Norman Fisher, The Peabody Trio and
Emanuel Ax. He also became principal pianist for conductor George Daugherty's award-winning
Bugs Bunny on Broadway. He
tours with the production, performing with the orchestras of major U.S. cities. As an active performer, he has performed in
venues such as Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Hollywood Bowl in L.A, and Carnegie Hall in New York. He is also a member
of Adorno Ensemble, a collective of musicians performing chamber music by contemporary composers.
Mark
Narins is a composer, conductor, tenor and trombonist active in the Bay Area for 25 years.
His opera in progress Theresa Kren
occupies most of his creative time. The story was inspired by
texts from the Jewish Graveyard of Graz, Austria. Orchestral excerpts from the opera including,
Suite from Theresa Kren and The Entrance of Rabbi Shlomo ben Zion, were performed by the Kensington
Symphony during their past two seasons. Mr. Narins' recent works for piano include
Romp in f minor
which premiered this year in London, Ontario and Evocation. Instrumental works include
Burlesque for
two bassoons and
Dreaming of Gliere and
You for violin and cello. The composer's first major work
Selma
Weiss, dramatic lament for baritone, is also based on a text taken from the same Austrian graveyard which inspired
Theresa Kren.
As a conductor Mr. Narins was the music director and founder of Orchestai, Arizona's Touring Orchestra,
music director of the Oakland Opera and associate conductor of the Kensington Symphony. Mr. Narins thanks
his wife, Ulrike, and son, Lothar, for their unending enthusiastic support and the Kensington Symphony.
Eliza O’Malley, soprano, received training in the
summer programs AIMS in Graz, Austria, Aspen School of Music, the Wesley
Balk Institute and BASOTI as well as at Oberlin College. She earned an
M.M. in Voice Performance at Texas Tech University School of Music. She
has recently performed the title role in
Suor Angelica,
Violetta in La Traviata, Susanna in
The Marriage of Figaro,
Antigone in Mark Alburger's Antigone, and Nedda in
Pagliacci and looks forward to singing Gilda in
Rigoletto
in the fall. With Goat Hall Productions/ SF Cabaret Opera she has
premiered works by Alburger, Stephen Clark, Allan Crossman, Patrick
Dailly, Sheli Nan, Lisa Scola Prosek, and more. She has also premiered
music by Peter Josheff, Mary Watkins and Alexis Alrich. This past year
she helped to create the role of John Brown in William Crossman's
improvised opera John Brown's Truth. Other opera companies with
whom she has performed include Verismo Opera, The Santa Cruz Chamber
Orchestra, Oakland Opera Theater, Berkeley Opera, Solo Opera, BASOTI,
Lamplighters and Capitol Opera Sacramento. She also produces and sings
in the “Dazzling Divas” nights of opera arias at the Bateau Ivre as well
as a series of monthly Works in Progress concerts at the Chamber Arts
House in Berkeley, which she helped to found. By day, Eliza maintains a
busy teaching schedule. She looks forward to leading her students at
Richmond's East Bay Center for Performing Arts in an opera workshop
production of Dido and Aeneas
this summer. Eliza's website is
www.elizaomalley.com. Top
Harriet March Page, Artistic
Director, has pursued a life-long obsession with the performing arts as actor, singer, writer, director, and producer.
A passion for singing first propelled Page to the Music & Arts Institute in San Francisco 1970-1975, and then a variety
of unexpected circumstances to the theater program at Foothill College in Los Altos 1980-1985, studying under Doyne Mraz,
from whom she learned all she knows about producing and directing. Reeling off the decades, the 1970s was grand opera in
and about the San Francisco Bay Area; 1980s, acting in plays and musicals with Doyne Mraz's Los Altos Conservatory Theatre;
1990s, writing and performing autobiographical monologues in San Francisco and producing monthly Sunday Salons; and the
2000s directing and producing as Artistic Director of San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, whose mission
is presenting contemporary opera in English (from Bernstein to Menotti to Weill -and a little Mozart- and premiering new
opera theater and song by Bay Area composers. To date, Page has produced annual festivals showcasing more than 40 composers
and over 100 singers. Fresh Voices X Festival of New Works marks the tenth anniversary of this
Xciting Festival in 2010.Crystal Philippi
After falling off the face of the earth last year,
Marilyn Pratt,
coloratura soprano, is quite happy to be singing again with the San Francisco Cabaret Opera.
Ms. Pratt started adult life innocently enough, earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer
Science and an MBA, then after a couple of decades in the computer industry she went off
half-cocked and got a Bachelor of Music from Notre Dame de Namur University. Since then
she has enjoyed dressing up in outrageous clothes and expressing extreme emotions in public,
performing the roles of Queen of the Night in Mozart’s
The Magic Flute and Konstanze in his
Abduction from the Seraglio in music festivals in Italy, as well as Olympia in Offenbach’s
Tales of Hoffmann. When she’s not performing ridiculously difficult coloratura roles, new
music with the San Francisco Cabaret Opera, or oratorio such as the beloved
Messiah, she’s a
geek at Oracle and an elder in St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Pacifica. Oh, and she just
bought a farm in Oregon. Ms. Pratt is seldom bored.Tristan Robben was last seen with San Francisco Cabaret Opera in their 5th Annual production of Contemporary Composers Irregular Resolutions concert where Mr. Robben performed John Billota’s Yeats Songs with the composer in accompaniment on the piano. Prior to this he sang in Fresh Voices IX concert where he had the title role in scenes From Greg Bartholomew’s Opera Razumov. Since then he has been performed the Yeats Songs with John Bilotta at the 2010 SCI Region VIII Conference held at the University Of Puget Sound Tacoma Washington.
Previous performances in Northern California with Mendocino’s Opera Fresca included numerous concerts and some fully staged opera productions. Mr. Robben attended B.A.S.O.T.I. where he studied and performed Renato in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme and Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. His first performance of the Count was undertaken at the age of sixteen in a fully staged production held at San Francisco State University.
Largely self taught as a child Mr. Robben began singing as an Alto Tenor at the age of four under the direction of his father Conreux Robben. Some later vocal studies included lessons with Maria Greco. Tristan currently studies with Mark Narins.
Top
Sophia
Santulli is currently working toward her Masters in Vocal Performance with a scholarship
from San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is a student of Catherine Cook. Sophia recently sang
Dryade in the West Coast premiere of the original 1912 version of Strauss'
Ariadne auf Naxos, Cinderella
in an outreach production with Martinez Opera Contra Costa, Goffredo in Handel’s
Rinaldo under the baton
of Corey Jamason, Third Lady in Mozart’s
The Magic Flute and was a mezzo soloist in Handel's
Messiah.
In 2008, Sophia traveled to Italy to sing Third Lady for Tuscia Operafestival. In her hometown of Portland,
Oregon, she presented Dominick Argento's Pulitzer Prize-winning song cycle
From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
for The Old Church concert series and was also a principal soloist in Festa Italiana, held in Portland's Pioneer
Square. Her favorite roles at Portland State University include Elmire in
Tartuffe, under the baton of the
Met's Steven Crawford, and Suora Zelatrice in
Suor Angelica under the artistic direction of Martina Arroyo.
Sophia was an Apprentice Artist at the 2007 Astoria Festival of Music and is also a featured soloist on the
premiere English recording of Veljo Tormis' works,
On American Shores. Sophia is a recipient of the full-tuition
Presidential Scholarship, Bruce Browne Scholarship, Ritz Music Scholarship, and was a winner of the 2007 Monday
Musical Club Competition. Sophia graduated Magna Cum Laude from Portland State Honors College with a degree in
music and theater.
Royce Vavrek is a multi-disciplinary narrative artist from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, whose work has
been hailed as “wildly dramatic and… exhilarating” by the
New York Times and “smart, crisp, [and] witty” by
See Magazine. Opera/Music Theater libretti include David T. Little’s
Dog Days (Zankel Hall, New York City
Opera VOX) and Vinkensport, or
The Finch Opera (Bard Conservatory); Jeff Myers’
The Hunger Art (American
Lyric Theater, Center City Opera Theater, Burning Bayreuth); Jay Anthony Gach’s
Nora at the Altar-Rail
(A.L.T.); and Kristin Hevner’s Bully Pulpit (Metropolis Opera Project). A founding member of The New Ensemble,
he contributed lyrics to nonplay and
Black Snow in collaboration with composer Andrew Gerle. As a filmmaker,
Royce wrote and directed From Sky and Soil (Corus Young Filmmakers Initiative),
I Will Not Be Sad Anymore
(Quebec Cooperative Filmmakers Initiative),
Pig and Bear (Frigid Fest NY) and
Good Woman, a collaboration
with American fashion designer Marc Bouwer. Upcoming projects include collaborations with Du Yun, Nick Martin,
Rachel Peters, Mark Baechle, Matt Marks, Christine Donkin, Jay Anthony Gach, and Cristian Amigo. Artistic
Director of opera-theater company The Coterie, founded with soprano Lauren Worsham. B.F.A: Concordia University,
Montreal; M.F.A: NYU.Top
Indre
Viskontas, soprano,
enjoys performing both contemporary and classical opera roles. Her contemporary opera credits include
Beth in Adamo’s Little Women, Kate in Estacio’s
Frobisher and Water Nymph in Heuser’s
The Golden Ax.
She has created the roles of Irena in Dailly’s
Solidarity, and several roles in Alburger’s
Sex and the
Bible. She has performed with companies such as West Bay Opera, Goat Hall Productions and the Lyric
Theater of San Jose. Recent chamber music highlights include the premiere of Archibald-Seiffer's
Der
Vogel als Racher with orchestra, Weill, Bolcom and French Cabaret songs, the premiere of Stiles'
Ma Boheme with guitar, and Golijov’s
Lua Descolorida and
How slow the wind with strings. Indre holds a
Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Phd in Cognitive Neuroscience. She is also the host
of a new television show called Miracle Detectives airing in 2011 on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Chris Whittaker
(b. 1986) is a recent graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where
he studied composition with Nicholas Maw, Christopher Theofanidis and Philip Lasser. As a composer, Chris has
written for a wide variety of solo and ensemble settings. Recent accolades include commissions for the York
and Harrisburg Symphonies, the Naples Philharmonic and an honorable mention in the New York Youth Symphony’s
First Music 24 competition. His compositions have been featured on Central Pennsylvania’s WITF 89.5 and
Baltimore’s WYPR 88.1. Chris directs a gospel choir in Baltimore where he studies privately and works as a
freelance jazz pianist. This fall, Chris will begin graduate studies in orchestral conducting at the
University of Michigan. You can contact Chris at
whittaker.chris@gmail.com
Wayne Wong
made his Goat Hall debut as George in Mark Alburger's
MICE SUITES. He has appeared in nearly 50 Bay Area opera productions over the past two decades, most often
with Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera, and San Francisco Lyric Opera. Roles include Don Alfonso
(Cosi Fan Tutte),
Frank (Die Fledermaus),
Angelotti, Sciarrone and The Jailer (Tosca), and Antonio (Figaro, where Opera News
called him "notably strong"). Other engagements include Oakland Opera, West Bay Opera and Teatro Bocchino
(in the world premiere of David Morris'
Il Bobo Sferrato). A graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Brown University, he is buried in
Westminster Abbey.Top