Act I

Scene 1 – Street outside the Commendatore’s brownstone

Leporello, Don Giovanni’s servant, complains of his lot in life. He’s keeping watch while Don Giovanni breaks into the room of the Commendatore’s daughter, Donna Anna. When the two appear, Giovanni is masked, but Donna Anna is holding onto his arm. Something has transpired, and she insists on knowing his true identity. She cries for help. The Commendatore appears and forces Giovanni to a duel. Giovanni slays the Commendatore and escapes with Leporello. Anna returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio, and is horrified to see her father lying dead in a pool of his own blood. She makes Ottavio swear vengeance against the unknown murderer.

Scene 2 – Outside a café on the upper west side of the city

Giovanni and Leporello arrive and hear a woman (Donna Elvira) singing of having been abandoned by her lover. Giovanni starts to flirt with her, but he is the man she is seeking. He shoves Leporello forward, ordering him to tell Elvira the truth, and then hurries away.

Leporello tells Elvira that Don Giovanni is not worth it. His conquests include 640 women in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey, but in Spain, 1,003. When she leaves, a marriage party with Masetto and Zerlina enters. Don Giovanni and Leporello arrive soon after. Giovanni is immediately attracted to Zerlina, and he attempts to remove the jealous Masetto by offering to host a wedding celebration at his nightclub. On realizing that Giovanni means to remain behind with Zerlina, Masetto becomes angry. Don Giovanni and Zerlina are soon alone, and he immediately begins trying to seduce her.

Elvira arrives and stops Giovanni from assaulting Zerlina. Ottavio and Anna enter, arguing about whether to take matters of the death of her father into their own hands. Ottavio and Anna see their friend Giovanni. Anna, unaware that she is speaking to her attacker, pleads for Giovanni’s help. Giovanni, relieved that he is unrecognized, readily promises it and asks who has disturbed her peace. Before she can answer, Elvira returns and tells Anna and Ottavio that Giovanni is a liar. Giovanni tries to convince Ottavio and Anna that Elvira is insane. As Giovanni leaves, Anna suddenly recognizes him as her father’s murderer and the man who sexually assaulted her. Ottavio, not convinced, resolves to keep an eye on his friend.

Leporello informs Giovanni that all the guests of Zerlina and Masetto’s wedding are in Giovanni’s house and that he distracted Masetto from his jealousy, but that Zerlina, returning with Elvira, made a scene and spoiled everything. However, Don Giovanni remains cheerful and tells Leporello to organize a party and invite every girl he can find.

Zerlina follows the jealous Masetto and tries to pacify him, but just as she manages to persuade him of her innocence, Don Giovanni’s voice from offstage startles and frightens her. Masetto hides, resolving to see for himself what Zerlina will do when Giovanni arrives. Zerlina tries to hide from Don Giovanni, but he finds her and attempts to continue the seduction, until he stumbles upon Masetto’s hiding place. Confused but quickly recovering, Giovanni reproaches Masetto for leaving Zerlina alone and returns her temporarily to him. Giovanni then leads both to his nightclub. Leporello invites three masked guests to the party: the disguised Ottavio, Anna, and Elvira. Ottavio and Anna pray for protection, Elvira for vengeance.

Scene 3 – Giovanni’s nightclub

As the party proceeds, Leporello distracts Masetto by dancing with him, while Don Giovanni leads Zerlina offstage to a private room. When Zerlina screams for help, Don Giovanni tries to fool the onlookers by dragging Leporello into the room and threatening to kill him for assaulting Zerlina. But Ottavio threatens Giovanni with a gun, and the three guests unmask and declare that they know all. But despite being denounced on all sides, Don Giovanni escapes—for the moment.

Act II

Scene 1 – A dark alley

Leporello threatens to leave Giovanni, but his boss calms him with a peace offering of money. Wanting to seduce Elvira’s maid, Giovanni persuades Leporello to exchange cloak and hat with him. Elvira comes to her window. Seeing an opportunity for a game, Giovanni hides and sends Leporello out in the open dressed as Giovanni. From his hiding place, Giovanni sings a promise of repentance, expressing a desire to return to her, while Leporello poses as Giovanni and tries to keep from laughing. Elvira is convinced and descends to the street. Leporello, continuing to pose as Giovanni, leads her away to keep her occupied while Giovanni serenades her maid. Before Giovanni can complete his attempt to seduce the maid, Masetto and his friends arrive, searching for Giovanni and intending to kill him. Giovanni (dressed as Leporello) convinces the men that he also hates Giovanni and joins the hunt. After frightening Masetto’s friends, Giovanni takes Masetto’s weapons away, beats him up, and runs off, laughing. Zerlina arrives and consoles the bruised and battered Masetto.

Scene 2 – Later in the same dark alley

Leporello abandons Elvira. As he tries to escape, Ottavio arrives with Anna, consoling her in her grief. Just as Leporello is about to slip through the door, which he has difficulty finding, Zerlina and Masetto open it and, seeing him dressed as Giovanni, catch him before he can escape. When Anna and Ottavio notice what is going on, all move to surround Leporello, threatening him with death. Elvira tries to protect the man whom she thinks is Giovanni, claiming that he is her husband and begging for pity. The other four are resolved to punish the traitor, but Leporello removes his cloak to reveal his identity. He begs everyone’s forgiveness and, seeing an opportunity, runs off. Given the circumstances, Ottavio is convinced that Giovanni was the murderer of Donna Anna’s father (the deceased Commendatore) and swears revenge. Elvira is still furious at Giovanni for betraying her, but she finds her love for Giovanni compels her to try to save him from himself.

Scene 3 – A graveyard with the statue of the Commendatore

Leporello tells Don Giovanni of his brush with danger, and Giovanni taunts him, saying that he took advantage of his disguise as Leporello by trying to seduce one of Leporello’s girlfriends. The voice of the statue warns Giovanni that his laughter will not last beyond sunrise. At the command of his master, Leporello reads the inscription on the statue’s base: “I’m waiting for revenge against my murderer.” The servant trembles, but the unabashed Giovanni orders him to invite the statue to dinner, threatening to kill him if he does not. Leporello makes several attempts to invite the statue to dinner but, for fear, cannot complete the task. It falls upon Don Giovanni himself to complete the invitation, thereby sealing his own doom. Much to his surprise, the statue nods its head and responds affirmatively.

Scene 4 – Later in the same graveyard

Ottavio pressures Anna to marry him, but she thinks it inappropriate so soon after her father’s death. He accuses her of being cruel, and she assures him that she loves him and is faithful.

Scene 5 – Don Giovanni’s nightclub

Giovanni demands that Leporello and his waiters set up a dinner and musical entertainment. Elvira appears, saying that she no longer feels resentment for Giovanni, and she begs him to change his life. Giovanni taunts her and then turns away, praising wine and women as the “essence and glory of humankind.” Hurt and angered, Elvira gives up and leaves. A moment later, her scream is heard. Giovanni orders Leporello to see what has upset her; upon looking, Leporello also cries out, and runs back into the room, stammering that the statue has appeared as promised. An ominous knocking sounds at the door. Leporello, paralyzed by fear, cannot answer it, so Giovanni opens it himself, revealing the statue of the Commendatore. The Commendatore offers a last chance to repent, but Giovanni adamantly refuses. The statue grabs Giovanni’s hand and drains the life out of him. Hellfire and a chorus of demons are heard, and Don Giovanni disappears.

Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto arrive, searching for Giovanni. They find instead Leporello hiding under the table, shaken by the supernatural horror he has witnessed. Now that Giovanni is dead, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, Masetto, and Leporello decide what to do next.

“Thoughts on Don Giovanni”

by Louis Lohraseb

It is the beginning of July 1778. A 22-year-old Mozart sits at a desk in a rented apartment in Paris, his beloved mother lying dead in the bedroom a room over. He pens two letters, one to his father in their home city of Salzburg, deceptively crafted to read that over time his wife had been sick and ailing, and another to a family friend, sorrowfully confessing the tragedy that had already occurred and begging him to help soften the blow to his father, Leopold, and sister, Nannerl, when they receive the news. Leopold, whom Wolfgang revered (“Right after God, comes Papa” was his axiom as a child), was not only devastated at the loss of his wife, but felt betrayed by his son’s ruse when he learned of it. Indeed, there is every indication that Leopold held Wolfgang partly responsible. Their special relationship would never be quite the same.

The calamity of his mother’s death immediately produced two of Mozart’s most emotion-laden pieces, the Violin Sonata in E Minor and the Piano Sonata in A Minor. Both exhibit shocking dynamic contrasts, the latter having a harrowing sequence of manic alternating fortissimos and pianissimos, unique in his work. Nine years later, when, in May 1787, his father dies, what could Mozart possibly write afterward? To the amazement of many—and the delectation of psychologists—it is Ein musikalischer Spaß, a scathing parody of musical mediocrity, filled with cruel jokes, bitter satire, and unplayable passages for the instruments, all ending with the musicians botching the final cadence in four different keys! Surely Leopold, who had taught the young Wolfgang everything he knew, and who despite their later differences continued to guide and shape the path of his prodigious son, deserved a more fitting tribute.

Such a tribute would manifest itself a few months later in Don Giovanni, one of the towering creations of all humanity. In this opera, Mozart advanced some of his most complex musical thoughts, to bring to life the equally astounding characters illuminated through the text of Lorenzo da Ponte. Since its premiere in October 1787, this collaboration has entertained, delighted, stimulated, scandalized, horrified, perplexed, frustrated, or flummoxed almost everyone who has experienced it. By later musicians, intellectuals, and philosophers, it has been deemed the best opera ever created, and its influence and inspiration have been spread through many works and media. The characters are all so robust in their portrayals that, for over 200 years, great minds have been debating their motives and morality. And due to Mozart’s extraordinary ability to present his characters without passing judgement on them, countless interpretations have been put forward.

From the first bars of the overture, Mozart broke the mold of what was then conceivable. Those two massive chords, each with three dire bass notes invoking the heavy tramp of the Commendatore’s statue, must have shocked and dismayed their initial public in ways that we cannot fully appreciate today. The first chord is the tonic, D minor, and the second is A major, the dominant, which, at first glance, seem normal enough. But in his genius, Mozart chose to present the second chord in its first inversion, thereby making the sonority far more unstable and thus far more frightening. Indeed, this chord would reign for almost 37 years as the most terrifying major chord in western classical music, until the beginning of the recapitulation of the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Interestingly enough, that particular chord is also expressed in the first inversion, and knowing Beethoven’s supreme admiration and love for Mozart, one can suspect that the influence of the opening of the opera was well ingrained in his memory.

The chromatic music that ensues also must have been absolutely petrifying (if you’ll forgive the pun) to anyone who heard it, particularly when the material is extended in the final scene, as the Commendatore comes to impose the ultimate punishment on the feckless Don Giovanni. In the same vein, the recitativo accompagnato that precedes Donna Anna’s showstopper, “Or sai chi l’onore,” must have startled the audience with the intensity of its dramatic thrust and the perversity of its harmonies. Our modern ears have long since been accustomed to highly chromatic music, which has been enabled by equal-temperament tuning. One forgets that in Mozart’s time, that system had not yet been developed, each key thereby having a particular flavor, some far more picante than others. As Donna Anna begins to recount the trauma of her experience with Don Giovanni prior to the beginning of the opera, the E-flat minor sonority followed by the F-sharp dominant seventh would have sounded very unsettled in the keyboard tuning system of the time, intensifying the disturbing character of the narrative.

Because of this, the keys were believed to have specific affects, which Mozart advantageously uses to add layers of complexity to the dramatic situations at hand. Take for example Donna Elvira’s entrance aria, in which she demands to know where she can find the barbarous traitor who deserted her, declaring that she wants to slaughter him and cut out his heart. However, the key of the aria is E-flat major, which often was employed when portraying true love, or at least sincere amorous leanings. And, as we will come to see throughout the course of the opera, she indeed cares for Don Giovanni, despite who he is, and is the only one who tries to reform him and save him from his terrible demise. In contrast, the famous duet between Zerlina and the amorous don, “Là ci darem la mano,” is in A major, often associated with sensual passions and lustful desires (as we also see in the Act II duet between Fiordiligi and Ferrando from Così fan tutte). In the first part of the duet, Zerlina and Don Giovanni sing in alternate phrases as he tries to persuade her to marry him at his “casinetto,” while she weighs whether or not she is to be made the fool. Only when she finally agrees, do the two sing together in lilting harmony of their “innocent love,” simply for such a pretense to be brutally shattered with two bars of grotesque chromatic counterpoint, showing the corrupt intentions of both characters.

Throughout the opera, Mozart utilizes the orchestra to enhance the discourse between the characters on the stage and to provide revelatory insights into their world. This is perhaps nowhere more prodigiously accomplished than toward the end of the first-act finale. Don Giovanni coerces Zerlina to dance with him, while forcing her fiancé, Masetto, to dance with Leporello, all while Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Don Ottavio dance in masks, awaiting the prime moment to expose and accuse Giovanni. Each of the three groups of dancers has a different orchestra, each set to a different dance, each with its own meter! Presaging the twentieth century by more than a hundred years, this dizzying passage not merely provides a chance for the composer to flaunt his compositional bravado, but, at the same time, stratify the various social class structures at play, each dance representing a different level of society at the time. He also is able to blend all of this seamlessly into the fabric of the drama; how many of us have heard Don Giovanni multiple times and failed to realize that the first hearing of the offstage orchestra is actually the middle of these dances, the 2/4 contradance, without its first two measures, giving the impression of hearing music that has already been playing in the background?

Musical treasures such as these provide a lifetime of fascination to those who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of their discovery, and yet their effects are clearly felt by all who are open to receiving them. Perhaps it was Mozart himself who said it best, writing to his father in 1782 about his recently written piano concertos: “Here and there are passages from which the connoisseurs can get satisfaction alone, but in such a way that the non-connoisseurs have to be satisfied with it without knowing why.” No other composer in history could present music that could at once seem so simple and, at the same time, invoke such complex emotions. Richard Strauss, who revered Mozart, is purported to have said he would have traded all his compositions to have composed the two-measure transition into the sublime trio for Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Don Ottavio in the first-act finale. While this might have been a slight exaggeration, it speaks to how so many of us feel humbled when contemplating the oceanic vastness that is Mozart. And while this brief essay merely scratches the surface of the immensity of this masterwork, it is my hope that it has stimulated the audience at tonight’s presentation to listen with new ears and experience fully the clear breadth of Mozart’s eternal genius.

by Mingfei Li
Ph.D. Musicology Student

Premiered in 1787 in Prague, Don Giovanni is a work full of disguise, deception, and persuasion. Characters not only appear in masks to hide their identities but also put on various personas to persuade others.

Disguises in Don Giovanni are intricately linked to deception. Don Giovanni, the opera’s title character, first appears in the opening scene masked. We learn from Donna Anna’s dialogue with her betrothed, Don Ottavio, before her aria “Or sai chi l’onore” that she mistook the masked Don Giovanni for Don Ottavio but soon realized that she had been deceived. With Donna Anna and Don Ottavio seeking revenge for Don Giovanni sexually assaulting Donna Anna and murdering the Commendatore, the opera’s first act is about unmasking Don Giovanni’s identity.

Later in the opera, Don Giovanni swaps clothing with Leporello and disguises himself as his own servant, wooing Donna Elvira’s maid with a serenade and brutally beating Masetto (who reports having been injured by Leporello “or someone who looks like him”). Even Don Giovanni can be deceived: hearing Donna Elvira’s first aria, “A chi mi dici mai,” he resolves to help a poor girl in distress, only to discover that she is his own jilted lover.

Don Giovanni is not the only character to appear in a mask. Near the end of Act I, as Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, and Donna Elvira seek revenge (the first two for Don Giovanni’s crimes and Donna Elvira for his betrayed love), the three noble characters enter the ballroom masked. Leporello introduces them to Don Giovanni as “three gallant maskers.” As they unmask themselves at the ball, they announce vengeance against Don Giovanni.

Leporello, too, gets disguised. At the beginning of Act II, he is dressed as Don Giovanni, who commands him to embrace Donna Elvira, “give her three or four kisses,” imitate Don Giovanni’s voice, “and with similar deceptions, manage to lead her away.” As Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Zerlina, and Masetto unveil Leporello’s disguise, they sing in their sextet “O heavens—what new deceit!”

Much of the characters’ deception in Don Giovanni is through pretense. When Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, and Don Ottavio enter the ballroom with masks unrecognized, they reinforce their disguises by pretending to be strangers to Don Giovanni. As Donna Anna can no longer stand Don Giovanni’s behavior at the ball, Donna Elvira and Don Ottavio warn her to keep pretending.

Pretense is a way through which characters in Don Giovanni put on the metaphorical masks of various personas to achieve their desires. Don Giovanni pretends to be an honorable nobleman to win other characters’ trust. In Act I Scene 2, Don Giovanni claims to be a trustworthy man in front of the betrothed peasants Zerlina and Masetto. When Zerlina praises Masetto as “good natured,” Don Giovanni responds, “So am I; I will show you. I think we shall all be friends.” Deceived by his forged noble persona, Zerlina sings, “Don’t worry; I am with a nobleman . . . and so there is no cause for concern.”

Don Giovanni continues to play up the persona of the generous nobleman when persuading Zerlina in their Act I duet, “Là ci darem la mano,” to leave Masetto and be with him instead. Zerlina hesitates, as she feels guilt towards Masetto and fears that Don Giovanni may be deceiving her. But Don Giovanni successfully persuades her by offering her the possibility of marrying into high society, making Zerlina unable to resist him.

In front of Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni pretends to be a loyal and respectable friend. In the recitative before the quartet, “Non ti fidar,” in Act I, Donna Anna asks Don Giovanni for his “noble heart,” “generous soul,” and friendship, to which Don Giovanni responds, “Command me! My vassals, relatives, this hand, this sword, my possessions, my blood, will flow to serve you.”

Donna Elvira also falls for Don Giovanni’s pretended warmth. In the trio “Ah taci, ingiusto core” at the beginning of Act II, Don Giovanni pretends to still be in love with Donna Elvira by calling her “my darling Elvira” and “my love” and begs for her pity—all while hiding behind Leporello, who is pretending to be him. This pretense and deception result in Donna Elvira’s reignited trust and affection for him.

Other characters in Don Giovanni also put on personas to persuade. For example, Donna Anna persuades Don Ottavio to avenge Don Giovanni in her name by playing the role of a wronged woman to the hilt. In their first-act duet, after the perpetrator has fled the scene, Donna Anna asks Don Ottavio to “swear to avenge” the Commendatore’s blood however he can. Once Donna Anna discovers Don Giovanni’s true identity, she further persuades Don Ottavio in her rage aria, “Or sai chi l’onore,” to avenge, another utterance at the highest pitch of anger and vengeance.

Zerlina’s flirting with Don Giovanni leads to Masetto’s jealousy and anger, which Zerlina has to soothe by persuading him of her faithfulness. In her aria “Batti, batti,” Zerlina puts on an innocent yet playful persona to satisfy Masetto’s desire for her to be submissive.

The characters in Don Giovanni use disguises and personas to deceive others and achieve their goals, but with strikingly different results. Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, and Donna Elvira all obtain what they desire: revenge for Don Giovanni’s crimes and betrayed love. Zerlina wins back Masetto’s love. As for Don Giovanni, who is sent to hell at the opera’s end, his deception and persuasion ultimately lead to his punishment.

Rising conductor Louis Lohraseb, whose recent performances of both opera and symphonic work have garnered praise from Opera News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Berkshire Review, made his professional conducting debut in 2019 at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, leading performances of Carmen. Of these performances, Classical Music Daily wrote: “Teatro dell’Opera’s good orchestra was conducted with ability by Louis Lohraseb, who has, no doubt, a merit in making this premiere vibrant and full of tension.” Last season, engagements included debuts with the Komische Oper Berlin, conducting La Traviata, and with Semperoper Dresden, leading performances of Carmen, as well as a return to Indiana University for IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater’s production of La Rondine, and a Gala Concert for Yale University. He also returned to Los Angeles Opera as assistant conductor to music director James Conlon for productions of Il trovatore, Tannhauser, La Cenerentola, and Aida, and to the Ravinia Festival for La clemenza di Tito. Upcoming engagements include The Turn of the Screw for the Curtis Opera Theatre and Therese for Sarasota Opera.

Michael Shell is associate professor of voice at the IU Jacobs School of Music, where he teaches acting and opera workshops, and directs mainstage productions. His philosophy is to inform, excite, and empower his students to be the most authentic singing actors possible. Over the past two years, he has created the new core of Jacobs dramatic training courses. His productions have been praised by critics across the nation. A Broadway World reviewer recently commented on Shell’s new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide: “This production was one I could watch over and over again.” Shell has directed productions for Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera San José, Opera Tampa, Opera North, Virginia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Houston Grand Opera. He made his international directing debut at the Wexford Festival Opera in 2010 with a production of Winners by American composer Richard Wargo and returned the following fall to direct Double Trouble–Trouble in Tahiti and The Telephone. He has written and directed three cabarets, including All About Love and The Glamorous Life—A group therapy session for Opera Singers, both for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Shell earned a B.M. and an M.M. in Music/Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was a Corbett Scholar at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and studied acting and scene study at H. B. Studios on an H. B. Studios merit scholarship. Shell has been guest faculty and director at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Florida State University, Oklahoma University, A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and Webster University–St. Louis, teaching opera workshops and directing full productions and workshop performances. He is also on faculty at the International Vocal Arts Institute Summer Opera Program in Tel Aviv.

Indianapolis-based Andrew Elliot is a makeup artist, stylist, wig designer, and cellist. His design and music work can be seen and heard with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater, Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Phoenix Theatre, Zach & Zack Productions, Summer Stock Stage, and more. As a makeup artist and stylist, his work can be seen locally and nationally in various publications, commercials, billboards, industrials, and editorials. He spent 2020 recreating icons of film, fashion, and theater, which gained national attention, with features in The New York Times, NowThis News, The Indianapolis Star, and Indianapolis Monthly.

From 2019 to 2021, Ken Phillips served as the lighting specialist for the Jacobs School of Music, where he designed the lighting and helped engineered the projections for close to a dozen productions, including TheTurn of the Screw, which won the National Opera Association’s 2020 Division VIII Production Competition Award. He returned in fall 2022 to work on the lighting design and codesign the projections for The Magic Flute. He currently works at the University of Arizona, where he is an assistant professor of practice in lighting design, production manager for the school of theatre, and stage management instructor. Phillips earned his M.F.A. in Lighting Design and B.F.A. in Stage Management from Arizona and has worked on productions around the country, mostly in opera and musical theater. Samples of his work may be seen at KGPhillips.com.

Walter Huff is professor of choral conducting and faculty director of opera choruses at the Jacobs School of Music. He served as chorus master for the Atlanta Opera for more than two decades, leading the renowned ensemble in more than 125 productions, with critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory and a 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). 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 has served as chorus master for many IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater productions, including L’Étoile, It’s a Wonderful Life, Lucia di Lammermoor, West Side Story, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Elixir of Love, Bernstein’s Mass, Le Nozze di Figaro, Parsifal, Suor Angelica, La Traviata, Little Women, The Barber of Seville, Xerxes, La Bohème, The Magic Flute, The Coronation of Poppea, Falstaff, Highway 1, USA, La Rondine, and H.M.S. Pinafore. For five years, Huff has served as choral instructor and conductor for the Jacobs School’s Sacred Music Intensive. He conducted the Jacobs Summer Music series productions of Arthur Honegger’s King David and Stephen Paulus’s The Three Hermits. This past summer, Huff returned for his fourth year as a faculty member at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. He also maintains a busy vocal coaching studio in Atlanta.

Andrés López is an advanced actor/combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, holding certifications in all eight weapon disciplines. For over nine years, he has taught stage combat to people of all ages at workshops and in classrooms both in the United States and internationally. He has been the fight choreographer for several productions, including Vinegar Tom, Water by the Spoonful, Streamers, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. In addition, Lopez has lectured at universities, organizations, and theaters on the historical and contemporary practice of stage combat.

A leading creative figure in the opera world, Cori Ellison has served as staff Dramaturg at Santa Fe Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and New York City Opera. Active in developing contemporary opera, she leads Opera Lab, a unique new practical training program for composers, librettists, and performers at The Juilliard School, where she serves on the Vocal Arts faculty. She is also a founding faculty member of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and was the first dramaturg invited to participate in the Yale Institute for Music Theatre. At New York City Opera (NYCO), she was a curator of the annual VOX American Opera Showcase and cofounded and led City Opera’s “Words First” program for opera librettists. She has been a sought-after developmental dramaturg to numerous composers, librettists, and commissioners, including Glyndebourne, Canadian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, Icelandic Opera, Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Santa Fe Opera, Miller Theater, Opera Birmingham, On-Site Opera, Indiana University, and Crane School of Music. Ellison has served as production dramaturg for projects including The Coronation of Poppea at Cincinnati Opera; Orphic Moments at the Salzburg Landestheater, National Sawdust, and Master Voices; Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo at National Sawdust; Washington National Opera’s Ring cycle; Opera Boston’s The Nose; and Offenbach!!! at Bard Summerscape. She is a faculty member at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers and has taught and lectured for schools, performance venues, and media outlets worldwide. She creates supertitles for opera companies across the English-speaking world and helped launch Met Titles, the Met’s simultaneous translation system. Her English singing translations include Hansel and Gretel (NYCO), La vestale (English National Opera), and Shostakovich’s Cherry Tree Towers (Bard Summerscape). Ellison has often written for TheNew York Times and has contributed to books including The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The Compleat Mozart.

David Drettwan is a first-year M.M. voice student hailing from Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. Recent credits include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at Baldwin Wallace (BW) Conservatory of Music, chorus/soloist in the world premiere production of Omar at Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld at Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (HPAF). Other roles include Melisso in Alcina (BW), King Arkel in Pelleas/Melisande (BW), and Zuniga in Carmen (HPAF).

Baritone Jack Nadler, from Chicago, Illinois, is in his first year of pursuing a master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music. A student of Carol Vaness, he completed his undergraduate studies in voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. During his time there, he performed Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Ludwig in The Grand Duke as well as Schlemil in The Tales of Hoffmann with Arbor Opera Theatre. An alum of Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, Nadler has placed in or won multiple competitions, such as the New York Lyric Opera Competition, Schmidt Competition, and Livingston Mather Competition, in addition to receiving an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. This is his first performance with Jacobs.

Brazilian-American soprano Sophia Hunt is pursuing a Performer Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies with Carol Vaness. From Brooklyn, New York, Hunt earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and was a national semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. This past summer, she sang Mrs. Gleaton in Susannah and covered Violetta in La Traviata with Wolf Trap Opera. Her past roles with Curtis Opera Theatre include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), and Faith (Rene Orth’s Empty the House). Passionate about concert and recital work, she recently sang with Opera Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Curtis on Tour in Greece, Main Line Symphony Orchestra, and Art Song Preservation Society of New York. Hunt has been a recipient of grants from the Winston Classical Voice Scholarship and the Pittsburgh Foundation, and a prizewinner in the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, Dorothy Lincoln Smith Competition in Classical Voice, and International Collegiate Singing Championship, among others. She was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and has participated in the Joyce DiDonato master classes at Carnegie Hall, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, and SongFest.

This past summer, Maggie Kinabrew made her professional debut as The Queen of the Night at the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. Previous IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater credits include The Queen of the Night as well as the choruses of Xerxes, Falstaff, and H.M.S. Pinafore. She has performed with the IU New Music Ensemble in Unsuk Chin’s Puzzles and Games and with the University Chorale as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. Other operatic credits include Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cunegonde in a centennial celebration of Leonard Bernstein at Oberlin Conservatory as well as the title role in Händel’s Teseo at the Miami Music Festival. An avid performer of contemporary opera and song, Kinabrew has also performed Taller Daughter in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and Ensemble in Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone. She has premiered many of composer Kari Watson’s works, such as Let Me Count the Signs and Black is the Color . . . , and gave the world premiere of Sarah Ann Marze’s Two Sewing Songs in April 2021. In 2020, Kinabrew was named a Fulbright finalist, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition. Originally from West Hartford, Connecticut, she holds degrees in voice performance and mathematics from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a master’s degree in voice from the Jacobs School of Music, where she is currently studying with Carol Vaness in the Performer Diploma.

Tenor Yuntong Han, a native of China, is a second-year master’s student and associate instructor of voice at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. Before coming to IU, he earned his second bachelor’s degree, in vocal performance, at New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) under the tutelage of MaryAnn McCormick, and a bachelor’s degree in aircraft manufacturing engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. He recently won the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in Illinois District and was chosen for the singers’ program at Ravinia Stean Music Institute as a vocal fellow for this past summer. In the 2021-22 season, Han debuted with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater in the new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute as Tamino, then portrayed Ruggero in Puccini’s La Rondine the following spring. He performed in New England Conservatory’s undergraduate spring mainstage productions as Nemorino in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (2021); Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème (2020); and Lucano in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea (2019, his opera debut). In addition to his work on the opera stage, he is also active as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, and the NEC Song and Verse art song series.

Tenor Jaemyeong Lee, a native of South Korea, is pursuing an Artist Diploma in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Carol Vaness. He is the 2021-22 recipient of a Wilfred Bain Opera Award and the 2022-23 recipient of the Georgina Joshi Graduate Fellowship Award at Jacobs. He earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Voice Performance degrees from Seoul National University as a student of Yonghoon Lee. While in Korea, he won the Chun-chu Music Competition and was a finalist in the Joong-Ang, Sung-Jung, Suri, and Gwang-ju vocal music competitions. In Korea, he performed as Nemorino in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, a minor role in Wagner’s Parsifal, and tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. Lee recently won second prize in the Indiana Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters Voice Competition and performed as Ruggero in Puccini’s La Rondine at IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. In Carol Vaness’s Opera Workshop, he performed main scenes of Mozart’s Don Giovanni as Don Ottavio and Verdi’s Rigoletto as Duke. He joined the Tel Aviv Opera Program this summer and performed the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Filipino-American soprano Sarah Rachel Bacani recently made her professional debut performing the role of Mariola in Heggie’s Two Remain with Central City Opera as a member of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program. Last fall, she opened the IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater’s season in the role of Pamina (The Magic Flute). At Manhattan School of Music (MSM), Bacani sang the roles of Sifare (Mitridate, re di ponto) and Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw) in scenes with MSM Senior Opera Theater. Other notable partial roles include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte); Susanna, Contessa, and Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro); Laurie (The Tender Land); and Niece 2 (Peter Grimes), among others. She is an alumna of Classic Lyric Arts—La Lingua della Lirica and the Franz-Schubert-Institut. In concert, she has performed the soprano solo in Britten’s Les Illuminations with the MSM String Chamber Orchestra and an excerpt from The Elixir of Love as Adina. She has also covered the soprano solos in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Bach’s Magnificat, and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. Bacani recently won the Pock and Blumberg Merit Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters Voice Competition. Hailing from Toms River, New Jersey, she was awarded an associate instructorship as she pursues a Master of Music in Voice Performance degree under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Cynthia Hoffmann.

Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, soprano Chase Sanders is pursuing a Performer Diploma in Voice Performance under the instruction of Heidi Grant Murphy. Sanders is a recent graduate of the master’s voice performance program at Jacobs and was most recently seen in IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater’s production of Highway 1, USA as Mary. Other performances with Jacobs Opera Theater include the title role in The Coronation of Poppea and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. This past summer, she was a festival artist with Opera Saratoga and sang the role of Elder 1 in its production of Sky on Swings. Sanders was a recipient of the Michigan District Encouragement Award in last year’s Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from West Chester University (WCU), where she performed the role of Mother in WCU Opera Theatre & Uptown Theatre Alliance’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. She also performed the role of Mrs. Jenks/Splinters in WCU’s production of The Tender Land and was a soloist in the WCU Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition Winner’s Concert.

Langelihle Mngxati, a native of South Africa, was born and raised in the Ixopo region of Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. He earned a B.A. in Music from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Performance Diploma and master’s in voice from Southern Methodist University. He has sung the roles of Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Colas (Bastien und Bastienne), and Vertigo (Pepito) with the Dallas Opera Educational Outreach Program. Mngxati received training from the Seagle Festival, Opera in the Ozarks, and Amalfi Coast Music Festival. He was in Fort Worth Opera’s 2017 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors as Balthazar. Mngxati won the Nathan Ward Memorial Award from Opera Neo’s inaugural Vocal Competition, in 2019, was a finalist in the 2018 McCammon Voice Competition, and received an Encouragement Award from the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Houston District. He was a resident artist with Tri-Cities Opera (TCO) in the 2019-20 season, performing the roles of Sciarrone in Tosca and Dulcamara/Wolf in Pinnochio. In 2020, he returned to TCO and performed Crocodile, Monkey King, and Lady Tiger in Monkey and Francine. In 2019, he was an apprentice artist with Opera Neo, where he sang Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto. He has sung bass solos in Händel’s Messiah (2011, 2013) in Pietermaritzburg with the Pietermaritzburg City Orchestra, Haydn’s Missa Caecilliae Sanctae (2012) with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rossini’s Missa Sollenelle (2012), and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Dallas Chamber Choir and a string quartet (2018). In summer 2021, he sang Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for an apprenticeship with Opera Neo.

Brazilian-American baritone Bruno Sandes earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Jacobs School of Music and is currently pursuing his doctorate in voice under the tutelage of Carol Vaness. His roles with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater include Figaro and Police Sergeant in The Barber of Seville, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Belcore in The Elixir of Love, Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Sergeant Sulpice in The Daughter of the Regiment, Ali Hakim in Oklahoma!, Doctor Falke in Die Fledermaus, Emile de Becque in South Pacific, Taddeo in The Italian Girl in Algiers, Le Surintendant des Plaisirs in Cendrillon, and Sùng Ông in the world premiere of P. Q. Phan’s The Tale of Lady Thi Kính. He has also worked with professors Betsy Burleigh, Walter Huff, and Dominic DiOrio as a member of many choruses at IU and with opera coaches Kevin Murphy, Gary Arvin, and Mark Phelps. Sandes has received many awards in the U.S. and abroad, including a Joshi International Fellowship from the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc., first place in the XI Maracanto International Voice Competition, a winner in the 2013 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, and a semifinalist in the IX Maria Callas International Voice Competition. He was chosen as the grand winner of the 2014 IU Latin American Music Center Recording Competition and was a semifinalist in the 2018 Liszt International Competition. Sandes served for many years as the assistant director for both Carol Vaness’s and Heidi Grant Murphy’s opera workshops, and as an associate instructor of voice at Jacobs.

Soprano Jimin Jeong is a master’s student studying with Carol Vaness at the Jacobs School of music. Jeong earning a B.M. cum laude from Seoul National University, the most prestigious music school in South Korea. In 2022, she performed at IU’s Lunar New Year Celebration Concert. In 2021, she performed the roles of Virtue and Valletto in The Coronation of Poppea with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. In 2018-19, she won grand prize at the City Philharmonic Orchestra Competition and Engaged Blessing Concert. Further awards include first prize at the 19^thClassical Music magazine competition and the 26^th Korean Voice Competition in the 2013-14 season.

Soprano Adriana Nicole Torres Díaz is pursuing a Performer Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Carol Vaness. Hailing from Puerto Rico, Torres Díaz earned undergraduate degrees in voice at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and in biology at the University of Puerto Rico. Before coming to IU, she studied with Zoraida López and Diana Alvarado. Torres Díaz has been part of the cast of Suor Angelica (Cercatrice) under the direction of Antonio Barasorda and Roselín Pabín, Così fan tutte (Despina) in the Third San Luis Opera Festival under the baton of Linus Lerner, and in the premiere of Pluto (Venus) under the direction of Michael Polo. With IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater, she has performed in Xerxes (Atalanta) under the direction of Kevin Murphy and Michael Shell, The Magic Flute (Papagena) under the direction of Arthur Fagen and Shell, and La Rondine (Lisette) under the direction of Louis Lohraseb and Crystal Manich. She has also participated with WIUX in the project Songs for Skeptics and in master classes with Justino Díaz, Kristin Dauphinian, Joel Prieto, Taylor Stilson, and Marilyn Taylor.

Born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, baritone Ethan Upchurch, is pursuing his undergraduate degree in voice performance and music education under the tutelage of Brian Horne. Growing up with two choir teachers for parents, Upchurch had the opportunity to immerse himself in music. In middle school and high school, he performed in musicals, choir concerts, and competitions and grew up watching the productions at Indiana University. He has been seen in the opera choruses of The Coronation of Poppea and H.M.S. Pinafore. As an educator, Upchurch has volunteered at Sing for Joy as part of the inclusive participatory music course at Indiana University and volunteers with Bloomington High School South’s choir program. He has performed in the opera scenes program at Jacobs under the direction of Patricia Stiles the past two summers, as Papageno from The Magic Flute and Osmin from The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Robert Wente is a fifth-year undergraduate student from Munster, Indiana. He is studying with Wolfgang Brendel at the Jacobs School of Music while pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Music with an outside field in Astronomy as well as a Bachelor of Science in Physics. With IU Jacobs Opera Theater, he has performed as Bob Becket in H.M.S. Pinafore as well as in the choruses of Bernstein’s Mass, Parsifal, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, and The Magic Flute.

Praised for his “clear enunciation and powerful steady voice” by Opera Canada, bass Drew Comer is the recipient of the Jacobs School of Music’s prestigious Wilfred C Bain Award in Opera and is pursuing a Performer Diploma under the tutelage of Jane Dutton and Gary Arvin. An Indiana native, Comer earned a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from Jacobs in 2019. After earning a Master of Music degree from Jacobs in May 2022, he traveled to Italy to perform the role of Simone (Gianni Schicchi) with the International Opera Performing Experience program. Recent performances with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater include The Sheriff (Highway 1, USA), Pistola (Falstaff), and the Second Armored Man (The Magic Flute). Under the direction of Carol Vaness, he performed the roles of Il Commendatore and Masetto (Don Giovanni) in her Graduate Opera Workshop. Performances at IU include Marco (Gianni Schicchi), Antonio (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Curio (Giulio Cesare) as well as the choruses of The Barber of Seville, Oklahoma!, Florencia en el Amazonas, The Music Man, Lucia di Lammermoor,Dialogues of the Carmelites, Bernstein’s Mass, The Three Hermits, Suor Angelica, The Magic Flute, and H.M.S. Pinafore. In 2018, he marked his Canadian debut with the Halifax Summer Opera Festival, where he brought to life the roles of Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Seneca in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea. Comer has sung in master classes with soprano Caroline Worra and tenor Matthias Klink and was a finalist and prizewinner at the 2022 Orpheus National Vocal Competition.