Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, having set the standards and established the rules of musical theatre still being followed today. Set in a Western Indian territory just after the turn of the century, the high-spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story. Although the road to true love never runs smoothly, with these two headstrong romantics holding the reins, love’s journey is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road. That they will succeed in making a new life together we have no doubt and that this new life will begin in a brand new state provides the ultimate climax to the triumphant Oklahoma!

by Gabriel Barre

What makes Oklahoma! a “classic” work of the American Musical Theatre? Since its premiere at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on March 31, 1943, Oklahoma! has certainly been regarded as such. By definition, a “classic” is “a work of art with recognized and established value.” As America’s involvement in World War II was reaching a peak, what the writers of this musical tapped into, I believe, was a fierce commitment from the audience to declare allegiance to this country and better understand and appreciate who we are as a nation. Oklahoma! has not only earned its title as an American musical classic due to its sheer excellence, but the show itself has become an actual part of our cultural heritage. There still exists today an insatiable appetite for the show among audiences and critics alike, as well as for the lush score that has woven its way into the cultural fabric of our country.

Adapted from the play Green Grows the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs, composer Richard Rodgers and book writer and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein sought not just to transform the piece into a traditional musical, but to break new ground by investing in the play first and adding songs to it where the story cried out for them. Combined with the notable, storytelling choreography by Agnes DeMille (who had never choreographed for Broadway before), the result is truly groundbreaking and contains emotional and dramatic highs and lows that hadn’t been seen on Broadway before, or at least since Showboat in 1927. After Showboat, Hammerstein had a number of flops in the 1930s and so, when Rodgers asked him to join him on Oklahoma!, since his usual collaborator, Larry Hart, was unavailable, Hammerstein was considered a risk. What Rodgers and Hammerstein created together however, would set the path for where musical theatre would tread for at least the next few decades. Some of the precepts, such as really using the songs and movement to forward the plot at all times, still hold true today.

The story of Oklahoma! centers on Laurey, a young but strong pioneer woman who wonders not just with whom she should align herself romantically, but if there is even a place for love in her tough life of survival on the plains of a young country. Her coming of age parallels that of the country itself and, in a sense, the show allows us to experience both a visceral and a nostalgic view of both of those processes. Oklahoma! also deals with the dark side of love and infatuation through the character of Jud (Jeeter in the play), a hired farmhand who becomes obsessed with Laurey and simply can’t find a healthy way to channel his feelings. She not only rejects him but is disgusted by his vulgar affection. The result is a cautionary tale of what can happen when someone is unequipped to handle frustration. Ironically, Jud’s lashing out leads Laurey to the vulnerability required to allow her young cowboy suitor, Curly, into her heart.

It has been such a joy and privilege for myself, and choreographer Jennifer Paulson Lee, to explore the vast landscape of this show on the vast landscape of this stage and with this fantastic group of students, artists, musicians, technicians, and staff of the Indiana University opera program, with special thanks to the IU Ballet Department. We hope that you are transported, as we have been in the creating of this production, to the open prairies of a young America and to the open and sweet hearts of the characters that fill the wide open fields of this rich story. Enjoy!

by Katherine Altizer
Musicology Ph.D. Student

In an interview before the 1943 premiere of Oklahoma!, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein explained how he made his audience believe in characters who move constantly between speech and song:

The art of this thing is to get in and out of the numbers so that the audience isn’t aware that you are jumping from dialogue to singing. The art, you understand, is not to jump but to ooze. The reason that’s so important in this show is that it demands a much greater reality than the ordinary musical comedy. The play [Green Grow the Lilacs] has a good and realistic story, so every song and dance has to be motivated and placed so well in the story that it’s completely natural for the people to be singing and dancing wherever they are.

Oklahoma! was a historical success in part because Hammerstein and his collaborator, composer Richard Rodgers, were able to use a variety of compositional and lyric devices to bring a new sense of reality to musical theatre. Hammerstein’s trick of oozing from dialogue to song allowed Oklahoma! to transition from the style of operetta, which bruce d. mcclung characterizes as consisting of “specialty numbers . . . the cynical edge, up-to-the-minute dance idioms and orchestrations, and the laugh lines of 1930s musical comedies,” and towards an “emphasis on earnest, lyric singing from the principals.”

The first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma! was based on Lynn Rigg’s play about the Oklahoma Territory, Green Grow the Lilacs (1931). Oklahoma! features two love triangles, a primary trio and another of secondary characters. The relationship between the two leads, Laurey Williams and Curly McClain, is strained when Laurey agrees to attend the Box Social with Jud, a hired hand who works on the farm owned by Laurey and her Aunt Eller. The comic subplot of the secondary triangle follows the complicated engagement between Ado Annie and Will Parker who, though verbally promised to each other, each enjoy flirtations with other men and women. Annie’s father, Andrew Carnes, attempts to secure a marriage between his daughter and the peddler Ali Hakim after discovering their romantic exploits.

Musicologist Tim Carter points out that the musical numbers reflect this character structure, as Laurey, Curly, and Jud have noticeably more lyrical and substantial songs than Annie, Will, and Ali. Music also indicates the power relationships among these characters. In “Pore Jud is Daid,” Curly has power over the sound world of Jud, and by extension over Jud himself. Curly begins the singing with only a few interjections from Jud, but by the end of the song, Curly succeeds in enthralling Jud with the idea of his own death, leading him to take over the original melody.

Carter has identified how individual songs play an important role in the integration of plot, drama, and music, either by highlighting a key rhetorical point (“I Cain’t Say No”) or by featuring music and dance within the actual plot of the drama. For example, in “Kansas City,” Will Parker demonstrates to his onstage audience the two-step and ragtime, and “The Farmer and the Cowman” occurs while the fictional community is dancing at the Box Social. Songs also often spin out of what Carter calls “I” moments, which can also be “you” or “we” moments, that allow the characters to express themselves (“I Got a Beautiful Feeling”). Themes from dialogue persist in song, helping to make transitions more seamless; half-spoken passages lead into sung numbers (“All Er Nuthin’”), while at other times dialogue might indicate what’s about to happen next. Such a moment occurs when Laurey sings “Then out of my dreams I’ll go/Into a dream with you” before the dream ballet that ends Act I.

This ballet, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, allows us to watch and listen as Laurey’s subconscious mind works through her emotions of distress, regret, and desire stimulated by her acceptance of Jud’s invitation. The wordless extended detour into Laurey’s psychological life is possible due to the elixir, for the drug-induced dream is not confined to the parameters of reality established for the rest of the show. A powerful dream has the ability to change how a character feels about her situation, for fictional dreams can be premonitions, lessons, wish-fulfillments, repositories for memories, or expressions of anxiety. A dream can show what might have been or can redirect toward an alternate future.

In addition to the intricate planning of music, dance, and narrative in Oklahoma!, much of the success of this work is due to the compelling music of its individual numbers. Oklahoma! was the first musical to produce a recording comprised of not only the original central cast, but also the original chorus and orchestra. The most recent DVD of the first cinematic production, from 1955, includes a karaoke sing-along feature, indicating that some audiences are not content just to re-watch Oklahoma!, but also want to participate in it, even if from their couches. Such cultural artifacts testify to the beloved status of the music, even when it is separate from the story or staging, and this fact suggests that for many modern fans at least, the art is not only in the effortless “oozing” between dialogue and music, but also in the familiarity and enduring popularity of its songs.

Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway. Kitsopoulos is in his eighth year as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as general director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. He serves as music director of the Festival of the Arts BOCA, a multi-day cultural arts event for South Florida, and was most recently appointed artistic director of the OK Mozart Festival, Oklahoma’s premier music festival, where he led his second season this past June.

In addition to his ongoing music director commitments, in the 2014-15 season, Kitsopoulos led the New York Philharmonic in holiday subscription concerts following a notable debut last season. He returns to the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, New Jersey, Houston, and North Carolina, and makes debuts with the Florida Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and Toledo Symphony. A frequent guest conductor at Indiana University, he led Menotti’s The Last Savage earlier in the season.

Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, as well as the Calgary Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Summer concerts have included Saratoga Performing Arts Center with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony, Blossom Festival with the Blossom Festival Orchestra, Sun Valley Festival, Atlanta Symphony, and Dallas Symphony. International appearances have seen him conduct China’s Macao Orchestra with Cuban band Tiempo Libre, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and the Russian National Orchestra.

Beyond his symphonic work, Kitsopoulos maintains a busy opera schedule. In recent seasons, he has led annual productions at IU Opera Theater of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore (2013-14), Verdi’s Falstaff (2012-13), Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge (2011-2012), Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (2010-11), and Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella. Previous seasons’ operatic highlights include the Dicapo Opera Theatre’s productions of Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Gounod’s Faust, and all three versions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Chatham Opera’s debut production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Hong Kong Municipal Opera’s production of Bizet’s Carmen in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Alice Tully Hall. He also served as music director and created the orchestrations for the world premiere production of Ed Dixon’s Fanny Hill at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.

Kitsopoulos has continued to show his ability and interest in performing new works and conducting a wide variety of genres. He conducted the Red Bull Artsehcro, an orchestra consisting of students from the top conservatories and university music programs in the country, in a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a program of world premieres by Raul Yanez and Laura Karpman.

Also much in demand as a theater conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide, Kitsopoulos is currently music director and conductor of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Broadway. He most recently served as music director and conductor of

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical revival that ran until September 2012. Prior to that, he was conductor and musical director of the Tony-nominated musical A Catered Affair, the Tony-nominated musical Coram Boy, and the American Conservatory Theatre’s production of Kurt Weill’s Happy End, for which he recorded the cast album at Skywalker Ranch. Other musical theater highlights include serving as music director and principal conductor of Baz Luhrmann’s highly acclaimed production of Puccini’s La Bohème, conducting the new musical Mambo Kings in San Francisco, serving as music director of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula and Les Misérables, and conducting Matthew Bourne’s Broadway production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

Kitsopoulos’ most recent recording is the Grammy Award-winning original Broadway cast album of the Tony Award-winning Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, released in May 2012 on P. S. Classics. His first recording, Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Bohème, is available on Dreamworks. Also available are recordings of Happy End, the only English-language recording of the work, and an original Broadway cast recording of A Catered Affair on P. S. Classics.

He studied conducting with his principal teacher Vincent La Selva, as well as Gustav Meier, Sergiu Commissiona, and Semyon Bychkov. He studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Ed Edson, and Sophia Rosoff.

Gabriel Barre is an internationally acclaimed director whose work includes the recent Broadway musical Amazing Grace, which also ran in Chicago at the Bank of America Theatre and will be seen on tour beginning next year. He directed the off-Broadway production of The Wild Party by Andrew Lippa at the Manhattan Theatre Club. It was nominated for numerous awards, including five Outer Critics Circle Awards and 13 Drama Desk Awards, including Best Direction of a Musical, and he won the Calloway Award for Best Direction. He directed the national tours of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, starring Eartha Kitt, and Pippin. Other original off-Broadway credits include Almost, Maine at the Daryl Roth Theatre, Summer of ‘42 at the Variety Arts Theatre, Son of a Gun on Theatre Row, Honky Tonk Highway at Don’t Tell Mama (winner of a Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award and Bistro Award for Best Review), Stars in Your Eyes at the Cherry Lane Theatre, and john & jen at the Lamb’s Theatre, as well as three concerts at Lincoln Center as part of the American Songbook Series and a number of concerts at Town Hall. His international credits include the world premiere of the Frank Wildhorn musicals Carmen and Tears of Heaven as well as large-scale revivals of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Elton John’s Aida. Carmen ran for five years in Prague, Czech Republic, and the production was recently revived as well as released as a 3D movie. Barre recently directed and cocreated the new Stephen Schwartz magical review, Magic to Do, now seen around the world on Princess Cruises.

Jennifer Paulson Lee’s credits include Magic To Do, a new musical revue of Stephen Schwartz songs currently running on three vessels for Princess Cruises; Enter Laughing, the musical (New York’s York Theatre, and Mark Taper Forum and The Wallis in Los Angeles); Annie Get Your Gun (Lincoln Center, New York); Susannah (St. Petersburg Opera); Camelot (Casa Manana); H.M.S. Pinafore; The Consul (Opera New Jersey); Little Women, the musical (pre-Broadway workshop); and The Four Seasons (Vancouver Symphony). Her Off-Broadway credits include Cyrano, starring Oklahoma! director Gabriel Barre (New York); Stars in Your Eyes, The Last Starfighter, Lola, the musical, Fables in Slang, and Tintypes (Melting Pot); Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Paper Mill); West Side Story (Pioneer); The Rink (Cape Playhouse); The Book of Candy (Passage Theatre Co.); Pericles and A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); and Bookends (New Jersey Rep). Credits at Goodspeed Opera House include City of Angels, Dear World, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Finian’s Rainbow (nominated for Best Choreography), Just So, Houdini, Sweeney Todd, and others. Regional credits include Zorro, Guys and Dolls, Jerry’s Girls, and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well. She choreographed the world premiere of A Rockin’ Midsummer Night’s Dream with a score by Eric Sveycar and Heist Almighty and The Tiger Roars at Princeton’s Triangle Club. A graduate of East Carolina University, Lee has danced for and/or assisted many notable director/choreographers of our time, including mentor Mavis Ray (an Agnes De Mille dancer), Susan Stroman, and Jerome Robbins. Her upcoming director credits include Howard, a new musical based on the life of billionaire Howard Hughes.

Steven C. Kemp is a New York City-based set designer for theatre and opera. His credits for IU include Dead Man Walking. Other opera designs include Silent Night, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, The Italian Girl in Algiers, Il Trovatore, Faust, Idomeneo and Anna Karenina (Opera San Jose), Rigoletto, Falstaff (Opera Santa Barbara/ Opera San Jose), A Streetcar Named Desire (Merola/Opera Santa Barbara/Kentucky Opera/Tulsa Opera), Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love (San Francisco Conservatory of Music), Figaro 90210 (The Duke on 42, New York City), and A Streetcar Named Desire (Opera Grand Rapids/Fresno Opera/Townsend Opera/New Orleans Opera). His designs in New York include numerous productions Off-Broadway for Keen Company, Mint Theater Company, Second Stage, The Playwrights Realm, Cherry Lane Theatre, New Worlds Theatre Project, The Shop, Red Dog Squadron, 59E59, and 47th Street Theatre. Regional and international work includes Norwegian Cruise Lines, Asolo Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse, Royal George Theatre, and the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj. As associate designer, he has worked for The Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Sante Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, San Diego Opera, and 10 Broadway productions, including Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Memphis.

An award-winning costume designer, Linda Pisano’s work covers a broad range of performance genres, including ballet, theatre, musical theatre, opera, and contemporary dance. She is particularly fond of designing new works and world premieres. As professor of costume design at IU, Pisano heads the Design and Technology area of the Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, and directs its study abroad program in London. A member of USA Local 829, her designs have been featured with companies throughout the United States, Canada, and the U.K. Her work has been featured in the Quadrennial World Design Expo in Prague and the World Design Exhibition in Toronto. Several of her designs, including her costumes for IU Opera Theater’s 2014 production of La Traviata are currently on exhibition at the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow, Russia, and the China Institute of Stage Design in Beijing. Some of her designs with IU Opera include Deadman Walking, Der Rosenkavalier, Akhnaten, South Pacific, La Rondine, The Merry Widow, and the world premieres of Vincent and The Tale of Lady Thi Khin. Audiences can also enjoy Pisano’s costume designs for the productions of Florencia en el Amazonas, Madama Butterfly, and The Music Man in the 2016-17 season. She serves on the board of directors for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

Patrick Mero is the head of lighting for IU Opera and Ballet Theater. He has designed the lighting for La Traviata, H.M.S. Pinafore, Le Nozze di Figaro, Werther, Falstaff, Xerxes, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème, Tosca, The Italian Girl in Algiers, West Side Story, The Barber of Seville, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Alcina, Dead Man Walking, Così fan tutte, and Carmen. He has also done extensive design work for the Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department, IU African American Art Institute’s Dance Ensemble, and Cardinal Stage Company. In addition to his work in Bloomington, he has worked at Spoleto Festival USA. Mero originally hails from Charleston, S.C., but calls Bloomington home.

Bryan Delaney’s previous design/engineering credits include shows at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Opera, Flat Rock Playhouse, Walnut Street Theatre, American Repertory Theater, North Shore Music Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, House Theatre of Chicago, Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. A Jacobs School of Music alumnus, he served as the production sound engineer on the 2008-09 national tour of Sweeney Todd. Delaney currently resides in Greenville, S.C., where he is head audio engineer at the Peace Center.

Matt Herndon is an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, a Bloomington native, and a graduate of IU (B.A. in Theatre and Drama, 2011). He has choreographed the violence for several local productions, including Carmen, Così fan tutte, and Dead Man Walking for IU Opera and Ballet Theater; Billy Witch, She Kills Monsters, and Mad Gravity for the Bloomington Playwrights Project; king oedipus, Macbeth, Oleanna, and The Rimers of Eldritch for Ivy Tech Theatre; The Lieutenant of Inishmore for University Players; The Crucible and Waiting for Lefty for Bloomington High School North; Sonia Flew for Jewish Theatre of Bloomington; and IU independent productions of Sunday on the Rocks, Closer, and Hamlet. Herndon has also served as the stunt coordinator for several local short films, including Disdain, Daystime, Caligo, Sequela, Team Inspire, Born Again, and Pilgrimage.

Along with his responsibilities as professor of choral conducting and faculty director of opera choruses at the Jacobs School of Music, Walter Huff continues his duties as Atlanta Opera chorus master. He has been chorus master for The Atlanta Opera since 1988, preparing the chorus in more than 120 productions and receiving critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. Huff earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory and his Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins). He studied piano with Sarah Martin, Peter Takács, and Lillian Freundlich, and voice with Flore Wend. After serving as a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center, he received Tanglewood’s C. D. Jackson Master Award for Excellence. Huff served as coach with the Peabody Opera Theatre and Washington Opera, and has been musical director for The Atlanta Opera Studio, Georgia State University Opera, and Actor’s Express (Atlanta, Ga. ). He also has worked as chorus master with San Diego Opera. He served on the faculty at Georgia State University for four years as assistant professor, guest lecturer, and conductor for the Georgia State University Choral Society. He was one of four Atlanta artists chosen for the first Loridans Arts Awards, given to Atlanta artists who have made exceptional contributions to the arts life of Atlanta over a long period of time. While serving as chorus master for The Atlanta Opera, Huff has been the music director for The Atlanta Opera High School Opera Institute, a nine-month training program for talented, classically trained high school singers. He has served as chorus master for IU Opera Theater productions of Don Giovanni, The Merry Widow, Akhnaten, Le Nozze di Figaro, Lady Thi Kinh, H.M.S. Pinafore, La Traviata, The Italian Girl in Algiers, La Bohème, The Last Savage, South Pacific, Die Zauberflöte, The Barber of Seville, Dead Man Walking, Die Fledermaus, and Carmen. In June 2015, Huff served as choral instructor and conductor for the Sacred Music Intensive, a workshop inaugurated by the organ and choral departments at the Jacobs School. In addition, he maintains a busy vocal coaching studio in Atlanta.

Daniela Siena brings many years of experience in teaching Italian diction and language to singers. She was introduced to operatic diction by Boris Goldovsky, who was seeking a native speaker without teaching experience to work with singers according to his own pedagogical principles. Siena went on to teach in a number of operatic settings (among them, the Curtis Institute of Music, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and Seattle Opera). Over the years, she worked with a number of well-known singers, including Samuel Ramey, Justino Díaz, Carol Vaness, Wolfgang Brendel, June Anderson, Gianna Rolandi, and Jerry Hadley. The conductors, coaches, and stage directors with whom she has worked include Otto Guth, Max Rudolf, Edoardo Müller, David Effron, Arthur Fagen, Anthony Pappano, Anthony Manoli, Terry Lusk, Dino Yannopoulos, Tito Capobianco, Andrei Șerban, John Cox, and John Copley. At New York City Opera, Siena worked closely with Beverly Sills—as her executive assistant, as a diction coach, and as the creator of English supertitles for a dozen operas. More recently, she worked for two years as a coach for the Young Artists Program of the Los Angeles Opera and, for the past six years, she has taught in Dolora Zajick’s summer Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. Born in Florence, Italy, to an Italian mother and a Russian émigré father, Siena arrived in the United States at age seven. She received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and, in her twenties, worked for two years in Italy as secretary to the president of the Olivetti Company. Many years later, she continued her education, earned a master’s degree, and became licensed as a psychotherapist by the state of California, where she practiced for 15 years. The mother of two grown children, she moved to Bloomington to be near her son, who lives here with his wife and two young daughters.

Mitchell Jones, baritone, is a Jacobs School of Music junior from Atlanta pursuing a degree in voice performance. He has performed with the Atlanta Opera Chorus in productions of Tosca, The Italian Girl in Algiers, and Carmen. He recently portrayed the role of Don Basilio in Indiana University Opera Theater’s production of The Barber of Seville. He studies with Timothy Noble.

A native of Glen Head, N.Y., baritone Robert Gerold is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance as a senior at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to transferring to the Jacobs School, his operatic credits included Il Mandarino in a concert production of Puccini’s Turandot with Coro Lirico, Le Premier Ministre in Massenet’s Cendrillon with SUNY Purchase Opera, and Peter (der Vater) in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in German with SUNY Purchase Opera. With Indiana University Opera Theater, Gerold has performed the role of Peter (the father) in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in English, the title role of Abdul (the Savage) in Menotti’s The Last Savage, Lieutenant Buzz Adams in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and, most recently, the title role of Figaro in Rossini’s the Barber of Seville. In April 2014, he premiered the dual roles of Retrograde/Asher in New Voices Opera’s premiere of Eric Lindsay’s Cosmic Ray and the Amazing Chris. Gerold has performed the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Oberlin in Italy program in Arezzo, Italy. He is a student of Andreas Poulimenos.

Emily Dyer is a second-year master’s student at the Jacobs School of Music. Her operatic roles include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Hanna (Die Lustige Witwe), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). Dyer was most recently engaged in the Oklahoma Mozart Festival’s 2015 season. Previously she has performed as a soloist with the California Philharmonic, including the roles of Gretel (Hansel and Gretel, scenes) and Christine (Phantom of the Opera, scenes). She was pleased to perform the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the California Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, a role she reprised with the New West Symphony. She has also sung the role of Micaëla (selections) at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the CalPhil. Dyer is the recipient of the 2015 Bain Scholarship at Indiana University. In 2015, she received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Mid-South Regional Auditions. She was named the winner of the Symphonet Young Artist Competition, sponsored by the New West Symphony and iCadenza. She was also a winner of the Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition and has received a Gold Medal for the Rotary Young Singer of the Year Competition. She has had the pleasure of participating in several renowned young artist programs, including Aspen Opera Theater Company, OperaWorks, and Songfest. Dyer earned her B.M. from Chapman University under the tutelage of Carol Neblett and is currently pursuing her M.M. at Indiana University as a student of Timothy Noble.

Soprano Olivia Yokers, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, is completing her second year of graduate studies at Indiana University. At IU, she appeared as Sardula in The Last Savage, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, a daughter in Akhnaten, and LoLo in The Merry Widow. Yokers spent last summer as an apprentice artist with the Ash Lawn Opera in Charlottesville, Va. There she appeared in productions of Madame Butterfly and My Fair Lady. In 2012, Yokers won the title of Cincinnati Opera Idol and was a member of the Cincinnati Opera chorus for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. In 2013, she was awarded first place at the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Collegiate Competition and the Dayton Opera Guild Competition. This fall, Yokers will be joining Virginia Opera as a Herndon Foundation Emerging Artist for its 2016-17 season. She is a student of Alice Hopper.

Tenor Kole Howie is a junior from Texas pursuing a B.M. in voice performance. He is a recipient of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Premier Young Artist Award Scholarship. A student of Andreas Poulimenos, he has appeared in IU Operas Theater’s productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, Menotti’s The Last Savage, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Kole is a three-time first-place winner (classical division) of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Dallas/Fort Worth Area Chapter. Past favorite roles include Jean Valjean in Schönberg’s Les Misérables and Lun Tha in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I.

Chad Singer is currently a junior majoring in theatre and drama while pursuing a dance minor. From Sylvania, Ohio, this is his debut with IU Opera Theater. For IU Theatre, he has appeared in Antigone (Eteocles/Dancer). For Indiana Festival Theatre, his credits include Seussical the Musical (Wickersham Brother), Schoolhouse Rock Live! (Tom), and Twelfth Night (Curio). For Bloomington Playwrights Project, he has performed in Toast by Carner and Gregor (Marcus). For Cardinal Stage Company, he has performed in Shrek (Little Piggy) and Junie B. Jones (Herb/Camille). He has appeared in Legally Blonde the Musical (Sundeep), 35MM (Company), and The Rocky Horror Show (Ensemble) for University Players.

Bass-baritone Christopher Seefeldt is a first-year master’s student, having completed his undergraduate studies at the Jacobs School of Music last spring. He is bilingual, holding a bachelor’s degree in Germanic studies from IU. Seefeldt’s passion for comedic characters is exemplified by his solo credits with IU Opera Theater: Sir Joseph Porter (Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore), Benoît and Alcindoro (Puccini’s La Bohème), The Composer (Menotti’s The Last Savage), and—with the University Gilbert and Sullivan Society—Pirate King (Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance). Oklahoma! marks a dramatic shift for Seefeldt, preceded by solo credits such as Speaker (Mozart’s The Magic Flute) and Guard 1 (Heggie’s Dead Man Walking). As a Jacobs chorus member, Seefeldt’s extensive credits include La Bohème, Candide, Don Giovanni, Cendrillon, Xerxes, Le Nozzedi Figaro, La Traviata, and Così fan tutte. Off the opera stage, he has performed as bass soloist in Michael Haydn’s Missa Sancti Gabrielis and Mozart’s Requiem. Large-scale choral credits at IU include Verdi’s Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. With the Bloomingvoce Summer Opera Workshop, Seefeldt performed the role of Sarastro (Mozart’s The Magic Flute) and has performed opera scenes from Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love under the direction of Heidi Grant Murphy. This summer, Seefeldt will perform the role of Betto (Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi) and cover the bass solo in Bach’s B Minor Mass with Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre. Originally from Avon, Ind., he is a student of Timothy Noble.

Connor Lidell, 23, is a first-year master’s student at the IU Jacobs School of Music, studying voice performance with Andreas Poulimenos. From Arlington, Texas, he has been seen in multiple shows on the IU Opera and Ballet Theater mainstage. Most recently, he was seen as Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville last fall. In spring 2015, he was seen in IU composer Kim Osberg’s opera, Thump. He has been involved with many student organizations focusing on the production of new opera. He premiered the role of Charlie in Chappell Kingsland’s Intoxication: America’s Love Affair with Oil, produced by New Voices Opera, an IU student organization. He also premiered a one-man concert opera by IU composer Patricia Wallinga, Tarrare. Most recently, he premiered Texu Kim’s Lotus Voice with IU’s New Music Ensemble, directed by David Dzubay. Lidell has coached with and worked with Gary Arvin, Sylvia McNair, Ed Bak, Roger Vignoles, Chris Crans, and others. He has sung under the batons of Arthur Fagen, Z. Randall Stroope, David Effron, Constantine Kitsopoulos, and Marzio Conti, to name a few, and he has been directed by Candace Evans, Chris Alexander, James Marvel, Michael Shell, and others during the past five years.

Rebekah Howell, a native of Houston, Texas, is pleased to be performing her second role with IU Opera Theater. This past fall, she made her debut as Adele in Die Fledermaus. Other recent opera credits include Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Samantha (The Ballad of Baby Doe), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Olympia (Prima Donna), Flora (The Turn of the Screw), Sister Constance de St. Denis (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Belinda (Dido & Aeneas), and Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro). Howell has performed as a young artist with SongFest, the Studio Program at Chautauqua Opera, and the Studio Program at Opera in the Ozarks. In 2016, she was awarded second place at the Orpheus National Vocal Competition in March and second place at the National Opera Association Vocal Competition in January. In 2015, Howell was the national winner of the Music Teacher’s National Association Young Artists Vocal Competition. In the Texoma Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Competitions, she was a frequent finalist, winning both the Edward Baird Singer of the Year Award in 2014 and the Grady Harlan Award for Most Promising Professional Voice in 2013. In 2014, she was a finalist in the Dallas Opera Guild Competition, and in 2015, she received an Encouragement Award at the New Orleans District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Currently, she is completing the first year of her master’s degree at Indiana University, studying with Carol Vaness. She completed her undergraduate studies at Baylor University, where she studied with Robert Best.

Emily Kelly is a senior B.F.A. Musical Theatre major at IU in her first IU Opera production. Her IU Theatre roles include Charity in Sweet Charity and Velma Kelly in Chicago. Other IU Theatre credits include Into the Woods (Cinderella’s Mother/Assistant Choreographer), Spring Awakening (Thea), Drood (Ballet Dancer), and Guys and Dolls (Hot Box Girl). For Bloomington Playwright’s Project, she has appeared in TOAST (Assistant Choreographer) and Greta (female ensemble). For Cardinal Stage Company, she has appeared in Hairspray (Assistant Choreographer). Kelly has performed at regional theaters around the country, including Music Theatre of Wichita, The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, and North Shore Music Theatre. She is from Sacramento, Calif.

Contralto/mezzo-soprano Olivia Thompson is a second-year voice performance graduate student studying with Patricia Stiles. She earned her undergraduate degree in voice performance from the University of Michigan. While there, she performed Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. She also performed opera scenes from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Verdi’s Aida, Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and Patience. In addition, she performed in opera choruses in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. In 2014, Thompson performed the role of the Maharanee in Menotti’s The Last Savage with IU Opera Theater. She also performed the roles of L’Amica in Menotti’s Amelia al ballo and Auntie in Britten’s Peter Grimes, as well as the role of Suzy in Puccini’s La Rondine under the direction of Carol Vaness in her opera workshop.

Megan Wilhelm, soprano, is in her second year of the Master of Music degree program at the Jacobs School of Music. At IU, she has performed as the soprano soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem as well as in the world premiere of A Vietnamese Requiem by P. Q. Phan. She was recently a young artist at SongFest. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Houston, she performed the role of Second Lady in The Magic Flute and was a member and section leader of the internationally renowned Moores School Concert Chorale. From 2013 to 2014, Wilhelm performed in the Houston Grand Opera Chorus and was a frequent soloist in the Zachow Consort and Players. She has also been a young artist for the CoOperative program and has performed with Le Chiavi di Bel Canto and Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. She is currently studying with Timothy Noble.

Brazilian baritone Bruno Sandes is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance as a former student of Robert Harrison and a current student of Carol Vaness. He is a recipient of the Barbara and David Jacobs Scholarship. Sandes earned a degree in interior design at the Federal Institute of Alagoas, Brazil, before relocating to Bloomington, Ind. His roles with IU Opera Theater include Dr. Falke in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, The Police Sergeant in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, Taddeo in Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers, Le Surintendant des Plaisirs in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Sùng Ông in the world premiere of P. Q. Phan’s The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh. Sandes also performed the roles of Steward in Ezra Donner’s Ile, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and Joly in Schönberg’s Les Misérables. He sang on tour through Austria, Italy, and Germany. He was first-place winner in the XI Maracanto International Voice Competition, a winner of the 2013 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, selected as a semifinalist in the IX Maria Callas International Voice Competition, and one of six singers from around the world in the 42nd International Winter Festival of Campos do Jordão (largest classical music festival in Latin America). Sandes was chosen in 2010 as the best classical singer of northeast Brazil by the Art and Culture Critics Association. He recorded a CD of Brazilian chamber songs based on folk and love themes, Minha Terra (My Land), with pianist Shelley Hanmo as grand winners of the 2014 IU Latin American Music Center Recording Competition.

New Jersey native James Conrad Smith, baritone, is in the final semester of his Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Jacobs School of Music. With IU Opera Theater, he debuted as Fiorello in The Barber of Seville last September and appeared in the choruses of Così fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, South Pacific, and The Last Savage, in which he also played the first American Tailor. In addition to the Jacob School of Music, this past year he has also been involved with Reimagining Opera for Kids, as Papageno/Sarastro in a children’s version of The Magic Flute. Other roles include Don Giovanni, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Marco (Gianni Schicchi), Major-General Stanley (The Pirates of Penzance), Le Marquis (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Maximilian (Candide), and Slook (La cambiale di matrimonio). In March 2014, his choral composition “Reflection: Innocent Thoughts on Peace” was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Vocal Accord, the premier vocal ensemble of his undergraduate institution, the John J. Cali School of Music (Montclair, N.J.). Smith is founder of The Young Artist’s Initiative, a company for aspiring college age singers in New Jersey. He has directed and produced productions of Don Giovanni and The Pirates of Penzance in 2013-14. Currently under the tutelage of Timothy Noble, he has also studied with Teresa Kubiak.

Evan Forbes is a senior voice performance major at Indiana University. A native of Sacramento, Calif., he has appeared in previous IU productions as Luther Billis in South Pacific and the Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore. Additionally, he has appeared in several IU choruses, including Dead Man Walking, The Italian Girl in Algiers, and Cendrillion. Outside of Indiana University, he has performed the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance and Strephon in Iolanthe with the University Gilbert & Sullivan Society. He is a student of Timothy Noble.

Baritone Brayton Arvin is in his second year of doctoral studies at the Jacobs School of Music, studying under Heidi Grant Murphy. He earned his Master of Music from Indiana University and his Bachelor of Music cum laude from Ball State University. He has previously appeared with IU Opera Theater as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Le Balli in Werther, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, and Maximilian in Candide. Other roles have included David in L’amico Fritz, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Notary/Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi, and Le Dancaïre in Carmen, Jack Scott in the premiere of The King in Yellow, Tommy Djilas in The Music Man, and Isaachar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has been a young artist with Cedar Rapids Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, and Ash Lawn Opera. As a concert artist, Arvin has been a soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Duruflé’s Messe cum Jubilo, and Haydn’s Nelson Mass as well as dozens of premieres of vocal-orchestral and chamber music. He is the administrative assistant for IU Opera Theater and vice president of IU Student National Association of Teachers of Singing. This month, he will be the baritone soloist in John Stainer’s The Crucifixion.

Olivia Huntley is a third-year undergraduate pursuing her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Timothy Noble. In addition to her voice studies, she has completed a minor in Theatre and Drama through the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance. At the Jacobs School of Music, Huntley has performed ensemble roles in Così fan tutte (2016), South Pacific (2015), and La Bohème (2014) and made her debut with the newly founded University Gilbert & Sullivan Society at Indiana University in its inaugural production of Iolanthe (Fleta). Professionally, she has performed with Opera Naples in Puccini’s Tosca (Shepherd), conducted by Paul Nadler of the Metropolitan Opera, and with the Indianapolis Opera in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. Huntley has originated two world-premiere, Off-Broadway roles with the West Village Musical Theatre Festival (NYC): Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the Coroner’s Inquest and Penny in The Musician’s Curse. She is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association.

Soprano Hayley Lipke, a native of Racine, Wis., is completing the final year of her Bachelor of Music studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. During her time at the Jacobs School of Music, Lipke has performed in Verdi’s Falstaff, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Verdi’s La Traviata, Rodger and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking as a member of the opera chorus. Lipke sang as a concert soloist at the Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy, in 2012 and was awarded the Bella Voce award in the 2015 Bel Canto Foundation competition.