Act I. The Capulet Ball
A masked ball is in progress. Tybalt speaks to Count Paris of Juliette, to whom Count Paris is engaged and who, at that moment, appears with her father. Capulet greets his guests (“Allons! Jeunes gens! Allon! Belles dames!”).
Despite the deadly feud between the two houses, the Montagues have decided to come to the Capulets’ ball. Roméo, Mercutio, Benfolio, and some followers find a moment alone away from Capulet eyes. Mercutio sings the ballad of Queen Mab to cheer the heartsick Roméo, encouraging him to enjoy the countless other beauties at the ball.

The Montagues begin to head off to another part of the palace as Juliette and her friends return to the scene. Roméo, seeing Juliette, falls in love with her at first site. Seeing this, Mercutio cheers his friend and leads the Montagues off to another part of the party, leaving Juliette and her nurse, Gertrude. Full of high spirits, Juliette sings the graceful and animated waltz “Je veux vivre.”
Gertrude is called away, and Roméo approaches Juliette. Roméo passionately addresses his newfound love (“Ange adorable”), and Juliette returns his affections.

Tybalt interrupts the lovers, and Roméo quickly replaces his mask, but Tybalt’s suspicions have been aroused, and Juliette learns that her new love is a Montague. Tybalt is ready to fight, but Count Capulet, respecting the laws of hospitality, orders that the ball continue.

Act II. The Capulet Garden
Roméo is below Juliette’s apartment. He sings one of Gounod’s finest tenor arias, “Ah! Lève-toi soleil.” Juliette comes out on the balcony, and Roméo hides. From her soliloquy, he learns that though he is a Montague, she still loves him. Their exchange of pledges is interrupted as Gregorio and some servants search the garden for a suspected intruder. Gertrude calls, and Juliette goes into her apartment. Roméo sings “O nuit divine,” and Juliette again comes out to the balcony. The scene ends with the ravishing duet “Ah! Ne fuis pas encore.”

Act III
Scene 1. Friar Laurence’s Quarters
Roméo and Juliette meet secretly in Friar Laurence’s cell. Hoping to end the dispute between the families, the Friar agrees to perform a marriage ceremony. The two marry under the witness of Friar Laurence and Gertrude.

Scene 2. Public Square outside the Capulet Palace
Stéphano, Roméo’s page, thinking that Roméo may still be hiding in the Capulets’ garden, sings a lilting refrain (“Que fais-tu blanche tourterelle”) calculated to bring the Capulets out to the street, allowing Roméo to escape. Grégorio rushes out, and he and Stephano fight. This attracts various Montagues and Capulets, including Mercutio, who fights with Tybalt and is killed. Roméo, in revenge, kills Tybalt. At this moment, the Duke of Verona appears and, after hearing what happened, banishes Roméo from Verona.

Act IV
Scene 1. Juliette’s Bedroom
Roméo bids farewell before he goes into exile. Their feelings of despair are reflected in the achingly beautiful duet “Nuit d’hyménée, O douce nuit d’amour,” during which Roméo hears the lark, a sign of dawn. Juliette protests that it is not the lark, and they stay together for a bit longer.

Roméo has barely left when Gertrude appears to warn Juliette that her father is approaching with Friar Laurence. Tybalt’s dying wish, says Lord Capulet, was that Juliette marry Count Paris at once. Lord Capulet orders her to prepare to wed Count Paris, and no one dares tell him of Juliette’s secret marriage. Lord Capulet leaves, and Friar Laurence gives Juliette a potion which, when taken, will make her appear dead (“Buvez donc ce breuvage”). After Laurence leaves, Juliette contemplates the choice ahead (“Amour, ranime mon courage”).

Scene 2. Juliette’s Bedroom, the morning of the wedding
Capulet, Paris, and others come to Juliette’s room for her marriage to Paris. In front of her loved ones, Juliette takes the potion that the Friar has given her. The community mourns the loss of Juliette on her wedding morning.

Act V. The Capulet Tomb
Roméo has heard in exile of Juliette’s death. He returns and breaks into the vault (“Salut, tombeau sombre et silencieux”). He sings to what he believes is Juliette’s corpse (“O ma femme! O ma bien aimée!”), then takes poison. Juliette, who is beginning to recover from the effects of the potion and is unaware that Roméo is dying, awakens. They reunite joyfully (“Viens, fuyons au bout du monde”), but it is too late. Roméo, feeling the effects of the poison, tells Juliette what he has done (“Console-toi, pauvre-âme”). Juliette will not live without Roméo and stabs herself. The lovers ask forgiveness as they die together.

by Kayla Anderson
M.A. Musicology Student

“Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” These are the first four lines of the prologue that set the stage for one of Shakespeare’s most recognizable works: Romeo and Juliet. A beautiful story of two young lovers from warring houses, Romeo of House Montague and Juliet of House Capulet, with a whirlwind five-day love affair that follows the marriage vow to the bitterest of ends. More than 270 years later, Roméo et Juliette premiered on April 27, 1867, under the Parisian opera company Théâtre Lyrique at Théâtre du Châtelet, with music by Charles Gounod and libretto by his frequent collaborators Jules Barbier and Michel Carré.

Romeo and Juliet’s story predates Shakespeare’s 1597 story to Arthur Brooke’s 1562 narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet has always been a famous face for adaptations from movies, ballet, musical theater works, and opera, such as Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Following Gounod’s earlier success with Faust and the recent failure of Mireille, pressure was felt in all aspects of the production. The state ball and reception of the Exposition Universelle were planned to be held the same night as the opera premiere, even after Gounod implored for a postponement. The performance went off without a hitch, and its audience flew to the ball with raving reviews, securing a successful 322-performance run across six years for Gounod.

Roméo et Juliette is ultimately about young love and its race against fate and time. As popular as the story is, the audience can easily get swept away in love’s splendor before tragedy strikes its characters one by one. In a letter to the Choudens music publishing house, Gounod describes the opera in which “the first act finishes brilliantly, the second is tender and dream-like, the third is boldly animated and grand, the fourth is dramatic, and the fifth tragic. It’s a fine progression.”

Gounod’s prologue opens with an overture that easily catches the audience off guard, helmed by a mighty brass section and an equally aggressive strings section. The intensity is silenced to make way for a homophonic choral funeral dirge of Shakespeare’s text. As it sings acapella, the chorus takes on the form of a viewer onlooking, a narrator conveying the tale. Queen Mab watches over as well, as foretold in Mercutio’s aria “Mab, la reine des mensonges” or, simply, the “Ballad of Queen Mab.” With an aria reminiscent of the Grimms Brothers in text, Mercutio depicts Queen Mab’s power to entrap lovers in false dreams of kisses amidst bloody battle in the background. In conversation before and after the aria, Mercutio gives Roméo a damning premonition: Once surrounded by hundreds at the ball, “is to no longer find your Rosaline and will make you forget.” It is then that the titular characters spot each other for the first time and Mercutio’s warning lands on deaf ears. The fates are now entwined as predicted by the aria.

Juliette’s notable waltz aria, “Je veux vivre,” arrives at the height of the Capulet ball. In her young giddiness, she contests her nurse Gertrude’s desire for Juliette to consider her marriage prospect to Count Paris, as Juliette is of age. Juliette’s anxiety is reflected in her, and the orchestra’s fluttery grace notes as she states her longing to stay in the beautiful dream of youth—the soul’s springtime—as the intoxication of youth will seem to last only a day. The young woman would rather slip into slumber while she still has the fresh scent of roses, soon to be plucked in winter.

The lovers soon speak face to face in the madrigal “Ange adorable. This is, indeed, a romantic rendition of metaphorical sonnets of saints and pilgrims.
Once in the Act II balcony scene, Roméo proposes to Juliette with the latter giving him a place and time to meet and get married. Roméo et Juliette’s biggest strength, then, is the duets between the lovers, including now emblematic verses like “O nuit divine! Je t’implore!” and “Va! je t’ai pardonné . . . Nuit d’hyménée” that take place in the vicinity of Juliette’s private quarters. “O nuit divine” occurs at the end of Act II as Roméo begs the night to keep the dew of love alive while he wishes goodnight to his new beloved. “Va! je t’ai pardonné” occurs after the events of Act III, when Tybalt and Mercutio were slain, and Roméo was exiled from Verona. The lovers consummate their love overnight until a lark played by a lone flute interrupts their blissful splendor. Juliette, not wishing to say farewell to her husband, feints the flute as a nightingale, the messenger of love and night. However, forlorn, Roméo sees the rays of light as “jealous rays,” intruding on the night of love and forcing him to flee from Juliette’s arms.

Act V holds the titular death scene: “Salut tombeau sombre et silencieux . . . Viens, fuyons au bout du monde!” Barbier and Carré had adapted the play to a T while making minimal additions and changes to fit the French audiences. Traditionally, Romeo kills Paris and drinks the poison, killing him instantaneously before Juliet wakes up. The libretto removes Paris, the ending tableau, and ensures the poison is slow enough for Juliette to greet Roméo. For the couple, it gives them a morose yet still romantic closure to their love—a love that couldn’t escape time and fate, only hoping that God would forgive them.

Following his highly acclaimed performances of the complete three-act version of Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Stefan Lano began an extended collaboration with the theater that spanned from 1993 until 2010. In 2005, he was appointed music director of the Teatro Colón, where he remained until the theater’s closing for renovation in 2008. His two predecessors were Fritz Busch (1933) and Erich Kleiber (1936). Lano returned in 2010 with a double bill of his invention combining Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violanta and Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Ein florentinische Tragödie. Lano’s professional career began as pianist at the Graz Opera, followed by an extended tenure on the music staff of the Vienna State Opera during the 1980s. He was solo pianist in the world-premiere performances of Luciano Berio’s Un re in ascolto at the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, and Teatro alla Scala Milan conducted by Lorin Maazel, who in 1988, would appoint him associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 1994, James Levine invited Lano to join the staff of the Metropolitan Opera. His 1997 debut performance at the Met, conducting Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, resulted in an engagement at the San Francisco Opera, where he conducted a lauded rendition of Alban Berg’s Lulu. In 1998, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera to prepare Arnold Schönberg’s Moses und Aron. The Montréal Symphony Orchestra contracted him for concert performances of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in 2002, for which he won an OPUS Award for Best Concert of the Season by the Conseil Québécoise de la Musique. In 2017, Lano returned to Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar. During this period, Lano made his debut at the State Opera in Prague. Upon completion of studies in composition and piano at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, while concurrently completing a degree in biology at Oberlin College, Lano was awarded a full scholarship as a teaching fellow at Harvard University, from which he earned a Ph.D. in Composition.

Katherine M. Carter is a stage director of theater and opera. Based in New York City, she travels around the world, bringing a consent- and community-based approach to her work. From generative play and musical development to large-scale opera, her expertise in various mediums provides a unique lens for guiding productions. Previous engagements include Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Juilliard School, the Alley Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Manhattan School of Music, Sarasota Opera, Mannes Opera at the New School, The Rose Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, On Site Opera, Carnegie Mellon University, Rice University Opera, and Parallel 45 Theatre. Fellowships include New Georges, The Drama League, Wolf Trap Opera, and Playwrights Horizons. Carter is also an intimacy director for theater and opera, trained by Intimacy Directors and Coordinators professionals. This past season, her work was seen at the Metropolitan Opera on the revival of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the new productions of Champion and Don Giovanni. Next season, she will create the intimacy for a new production of Carmen, opening New Year’s Eve 2024. Carter and Tony Award-winning producer Rachel Sussman created the MITTEN (Michigan Incubator of Theatre Talent Emerging Now) Lab to promote new work development in their home state of Michigan. After a break due to the pandemic, the MITTEN Lab will return in summer 2024, bringing five writers and composers for a week to create in the beauty of northern Michigan. Carter’s 2023-24 season also includes the world premiere of Song of the Nightingale, with music by Lisa DeSpain and libretto by Melisa Tein, with On Site Opera in partnership with Arts Brookfield in three locations around New York City; Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel with Intermountain Opera; and Puccini’s La Rondine with Manhattan School of Music.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, and raised not two blocks from campus, C. David Higgins started his theatrical studies at IU intent on becoming an actor/dancer before he discovered his love for scenic design. He studied with the famous C. Mario Cristini and became proficient in the Romantic-Realist style of scenic design and painting. After earning his master’s degree, Higgins joined the staff of Indiana University Opera Theater and worked as master scenic artist from the time the Musical Arts Center opened in 1971 until his retirement in December 2011. He was appointed to the faculty in 1976 and served as chair of the Opera Studies Department and principal designer for Opera Theater. His design credits throughout the United States include the San Antonio Festival, Memphis Opera, Norfolk Opera, Louisville Opera, Detroit Symphony, Canton Ballet, and Sarasota Ballet as well as many other venues. His Indiana University productions have been seen throughout North America as rentals by major regional opera companies. His many international credits include the Icelandic National Theater; Ballet San Juan de Puerto Rico; Korean National Opera; Seoul City Opera; Korean National Ballet; Dorset Opera (England); Teatro la Paz de Belém, Brazil; and the Teatro National de São Paulo, Brazil. He has designed the scenery for the world premiere of Our Town (Ned Rorem), the American premieres of Jeppe (Sandström) and The Devils of Loudun (Penderecki), and the collegiate premieres of Nixon in China (Adams) and The Ghosts of Versailles (Corigliano) as well as many other operas and ballets. Known for his Italianate painting style, Opera News magazine has referred to Higgins as one today’s finest American scenic artists.

Lydia Spellman is a costume designer for film, opera, dance and theater. Her most recent costume design credits include Madeleines with the Jewish Theater of Bloomington and the world premiere of Decolonizing Your Mind with Walter Mercado by Jayne Deely. She has also created scenic designs for the 2022 TEDx Indiana University Conference and serves as resident wardrobe supervisor for IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater. Originally from Central Illinois, Spellman earned her B.A. in Theatre and Linguistics from Indiana University and has worked on multiple projects with IU Theatre, the IU Media School, Evansville Shakespeare Players, Bloomington Chamber Opera, and other performing arts organizations throughout the Midwest.

Russell Long’s most recent design credits include Lunch bunch, 45 Seconds from Broadway, The Music Man, Carrie: The Musical, Pippin, and the national tour of We Outside. He has also worked as the lighting supervisor/resident lighting designer for Aspen Music Festival and School, where he designed lights for Uncommon Ritual, ¡De Colores!, and Mathew Whitaker. Originally from Southern Arizona, Long studied at Northern Arizona University and has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, Peaks Productions, University of Arizona Opera, Aspen Opera, and Vail Ballet Festival. He is also a founding member of Spotlight Youth Productions in Oro Valley, Arizona. He earned an M.F.A in lighting design from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance. Locally, he has worked with the African American Arts Institute and local music and performing group Ben & Winnie.

Andrew Elliot is a makeup artist, wig designer, stylist, and cellist. His design and music work can be seen and heard with IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater, Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Phoenix Theatre, Zach & Zack Productions, Summer Stock Stage, and more. His work as a makeup artist and stylist 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.

Matt Herndon is a stage combat choreographer and teacher based in Las Vegas. Originally from Bloomington and an IU grad (B.A. Theatre, ’11), some of his in-town theatrical credits include Anon(ymous), Spring Awakening, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, She Kills Monsters, and Oleanna. With IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater, his work has been seen in productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, Giulio Cesare, West Side Story, Lucia di Lammermoor, Peter Grimes, Oklahoma!, Carmen, Così fan tutte, and Dead Man Walking. Herndon has spent the past two summers serving as the resident fight choreographer and stage combat instructor with Central City Opera (CCO), where he’s been able to impart safe and believable stage combat techniques to the next generation of opera singers. His onstage work with CCO includes Roméo et Juliette, Kiss Me, Kate, Otello, Two Remain, Die Fledermaus, and The Light in the Piazza.

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, H.M.S. Pinafore, Ainadamar, Anne Frank, Candide and The Merry Widow. For eight 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 fifth year as a faculty member at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. This season, Huff will serve as principal guest coach for the Atlanta Opera Studio Artists Program.

Jennifer Ringo is known internationally as an accomplished language coach and teacher of vocal diction. She has prepared productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, USC Thornton School of Music, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Cincinnati May Festival, Jacobs School of Music, and Aspen Opera Theater. Ringo has worked with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artists at the Los Angeles Opera as well as the Steans Institute at Ravinia, International Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal, and Summer Opera Tel Aviv. Her master classes include AIMS in Graz, Austria, Arizona Opera, Thornton School of Music, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, among others. She has taught vocal diction at Bard College and the Thornton School of Music. She has sung leading soprano roles with San Francisco Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Houston Grand Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company, among others. She holds degrees in voice from the University of Iowa and attended The Juilliard School. Ringo studied diction with Nico Castel, Robert Cowart, Janine Reiss, and Pierre Vallet, and maintains vocal studios in New York and Los Angeles.

Cori Ellison, a leading creative figure in the opera world, returns to the Jacobs School after serving as dramaturg for last season’s Anne Frank and supertitle author and dramaturg for this season’s La Finta Giardiniera. She has been staff dramaturg at Santa Fe Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and New York City Opera (NYCO). Active in developing contemporary opera, she is a founding faculty member of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and has developed new works for companies including Glyndebourne, Icelandic Opera, Canadian Opera, Norwegian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, Pittsburgh Opera, and Beth Morrison Projects. She has been 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 and Philharmonia Baroque; Washington National Opera’s Ring cycle; Opera Boston’s The Nose; and Offenbach!!! at Bard Summerscape. At The Juilliard School, she serves on the vocal arts faculty and is also a faculty member at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers. She has coached and taught master classes for singers at schools including the Jacobs School of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Mannes College, University of Toronto, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Michigan State University, DePaul University, University of Illinois, Montclair State University, and University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She serves as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Concurso San Miguel in Mexico, and other vocal competitions. She creates supertitles for opera companies worldwide and helped launch Met Titles, the Met’s simultaneous translation system. Her English singing translations include Hansel and Gretel (NYCO, twice performed at IU), La vestale (English National Opera), and Shostakovich’s Cherry Tree Towers (Bard Summerscape). She has written for The New York Times and has contributed to books including The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The Compleat Mozart.

Filipino American soprano Sarah Rachel Bacani’s 2023-24 season includes covering the role of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at Central City Opera, where she also performed the role in its Family Matinee production as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program Apprentice Artist. There, she also gave a recital as part of the “Lunch & A Song” series. The 2022-23 season saw Bacani’s professional debut, also with Central City Opera, in the role of Mariola in Heggie’s Two Remain. In the fall of 2022, she opened the IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater’s Conrad Prebys Performance Season in the role of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). Other notable IU Jacobs Opera Theater performances include the role of Pamina (The Magic Flute) in its centennial season and scenes as Leïla (Les pécheurs de perles), Micaëla (Carmen), and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte). In concert, Bacani has performed the soprano solo in Britten’s Les Illuminations, Mozart’s Requiem, and Getty’s The White Election. She is the second-place winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters Indiana Chapter Competition and previously won the organization’s Pock and Blumberg Merit Award. Hailing from Toms River, New Jersy, she is pursuing a Performer Diploma in Voice from Jacobs, where she also earned a Master of Music in Voice. She studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton and was awarded an associate instructorship. Bacani earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Cynthia Hoffmann.

Soprano Ginaia Black is a second-year graduate student pursuing a Performance Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Russell Thomas. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University, where she studied voice under Phyllis Lewis-Hale. During her time there, she won first place in the Mississippi Music Teachers Association Competition. Her previous roles include Mimi in La Bohème, Musetta in La Bohème, and Dorine in Tartuffe for Lewis-Hale’s opera workshop. Black also sang in the Mississippi Opera’s productions of La Bohème and Treemonisha. In concert, she has sung the soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah and Fauré’s Requiem. Her debut role at IU was in the spring 2023 production of Golijov’s masterpiece Ainadamar, where she played the role of Nuria. Other engagements with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater include the ensembles for Candide and The Merry Widow. This is her fourth production with Jacobs Opera Theater.

Tenor Yuntong Han, a native of China, completed his master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music in the studio of Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy, and is now continuing his study in the performer diploma program. He earned his second bachelor’s degree at New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of MaryAnn McCormick and his first bachelor’s degree in aircraft manufacturing engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. Recently, he returned to the Ravinia Steans Music Institute as a singer fellow and made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival. He was named as one of the national finalists in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and awarded the Richmond Memorial Award from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) for his outstanding performance in the 2023 OTSL festival season, where he covered Cavaradossi in Tosca and Elder Hayes in Susannah. Last season, he successfully portrayed Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. Han was also seen as Ruggero in La Rondine, debuted with Jacobs Opera in Mozart’s The Magic Flute as Tamino, and participated in three productions of New England Conservatory’s undergraduate mainstage operas, including 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, marking his opera debut).

Tenor Jaemyeong Lee, a native of South Korea, earned an Artist Diploma in Voice Performance and is currently pursuing a Performer Diploma with Performance Fellowship at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Carol Vaness. He is the 2021-22 recipient of the 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 first prize in the Chun-chu Music Competition and was a finalist in the Joong-Ang, Sung-Jung, Suri, and Gwang-ju vocal music competitions. In Korea, Lee performed as Nemorino in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Ferrand in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, a minor role in Wagner’s Parsifal, and tenor soloist of Handel’s Messiah. He won second prize in the National Society of Arts and Letters Voice Competition in the Indiana chapter, and performed as Ruggero in Puccini’s La Rondine, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Jacobs. He joined the Tel Aviv Opera Program last summer with a full scholarship and performed the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. Last summer, he participated in that program with a full scholarship, as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

From Kennett Square Pennsylvania, tenor Jeremy Do is pursuing a master’s in music at the Jacobs School in the studio of Brian Horne. His previous operatic roles include Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chicago Summer Opera), Peter in the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank at Indiana University, Barigoule in Cendrillon (University of Delaware Lyric Theatre), Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro (Harrower Summer Opera Workshop), and Petrucci in Lucrezia Borgia (University of Delaware Lyric Theatre). This past May, he was a featured soloist in Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus. Do earned a bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Delaware under the tutelage of Blake Smith.

Conner McWhirter is a second-year P.D. student under Michelle DeYoung. He has previously been heard as the Grand Inquisitor and Judge in Candide and the Torero in Ainadamar at IU. Last summer, he was a fellow at Opernfest Prague and performed the Prince in Rusalka at Luke Housner Opera Workshop in Houston. He has been heard as Cavaradossi, Gherardo, and Pong in opera workshop. Also last summer, he performed the Duke in Rigoletto at the Mediterranean Opera Festival. He earned his master’s under Clifton Forbis at Southern Methodist University and bachelor’s under Jan Opalach at Eastman.

Baritone Mitchell Widmer, from Williamsburg, Iowa, is a first-year doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music studying under Timothy Noble. This is his first production with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. Widmer earned a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music under the instruction of Shirley Close. While there, he sang the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He was most recently seen as Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera Quad Cities as well as Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata and Conte Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto with the Martha-Ellen Tye Opera Theater at the University of Iowa. A recipient of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, he studied at Albert-Ludwigs Universität in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. There, Stadtheater Freiburg engaged him to sing the role of Alte Zigeuner in Verdi’s Il Trovatore for the 2014-15 season. In 2018, Widmer was awarded a United States Teaching Assistantship in coordination with Fulbright Austria to continue his musical studies. Based in Vienna, he studied with Carol Mayo Blaickner.

Baritone Sam Witmer is a first-year D.M. student from Athens, Ohio, studying with Brian Horne. He has performed roles including the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, Fred Graham in Kiss Me, Kate, Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Paul in Philip Glass’s Les Enfants Terribles, and Neville Craven in The Secret Garden. He won first place at the state and regional levels of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. As a concert soloist, Witmer has performed the baritone/bass solos in Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and Bach’s Jesu, der du meine Seele, among others. He has taught voice at Marietta College, Ohio University, and Hocking College. He earned a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio University.

Cassandra Glaeser, a mezzo-soprano from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is a doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies with Jane Dutton. This is her third production with Jacobs Opera Theater, marking her role debut as Gertrude. Previous Jacobs stage appearances include Mrs. Van Daan in the world premiere of Ran/Kondek’s Anne Frank and Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. She was most recently seen as the First Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the IU Summer Chorus. Professional credits include the Fourth Serving Maid and Chrysothemis (cover) in Elektra with Des Moines Metro Opera. She was an apprentice artist with both Sarasota Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera for two seasons. Other performance highlights include scenes as Leonora in La forza del destino, Leonora in Il trovatore, Aïda in Aïda, La Gioconda in La Gioconda, Leonora in Fidelio, and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. Glaeser earned a Master of Music in Opera Performance degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Lawrence University.

A mezzo-soprano with versatile performing and teaching experience, Marielle Hug is passionate about the connection between the voice and yoga practice. This is her role debut IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. She made her debut with Indianapolis Opera earlier this year as Third Spirit in The Magic Flute. Hug has performed in multiple opera choruses at IU, including Madama Butterfly, Peter Grimes, Lucia di Lammermoor, S. Ran’s world premiere of Anne Frank, and The Merry Widow. This past spring, she performed the role of Armelinde in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon. A multifaceted musician, she has performed both as a soloist and student music director with the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers. Along with her extensive singing activities, Hug teaches yoga and voice lessons. She was the choral director at Bloomington High School North from 2020 to 2022. Hug earned a B.M. in Voice and a B.M.E. in Choral Teaching from IU in 2020. She is currently a second-year master’s student studying voice with Jane Dutton.

Mezzo-soprano Maya Davis is a class of 2022 graduate of Jackson State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance. There she studied under Phyllis Lewis-Hale and was a NATS Southern Regional Finalist in 2018 and 2019. In her hometown of South Bend, Indiana, Davis participated in musicals with the South Bend Civic Theater as an ensemble member and a soloist. She was also a student of the LA Opera’s HBCU Career Comprehensive in the class of 2022. As a second-year master’s student at Jacobs, she is pursuing a degree in vocal performance under the tutelage of Russell Thomas. Last spring, she made her IU Jacobs Opera Theater debut as Lorca in Ainadamar. Davis recently performed as the Second Witch in the IU Summer Chorus’s production of Dido and Aeneas.

Mezzo-soprano Regan Poarch is pursuing her graduate studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton at the Jacobs School. She also completed her undergraduate studies at IU, earning a dual degree in voice and international studies. She recently sang the role of Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon at the Trentino Music Festival in Italy and the title role in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon at Indiana University. Performances with IU Jacobs Opera Theater include Anne Frank, H.M.S. Pinafore, Falstaff, The Magic Flute, Xerxes, Little Women, and Mass. Other highlights include singing Erika with Carol Vaness’s Opera Workshop and Cherubino and Alisa with Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop.

Baritone Shan Ding is originally from China, where he received a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2019, he participated in Gianni Maffeo and Giuseppe Morino’s master classes and the Assisi Music Festival in Italy. In 2020, he received the Special Jury Prize at the Prokofiev International Music Competition. In 2023, Ding participated in the opera studio at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and played Hosokawa in Bel Canto and the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Act IV. He appeared as Maestro in Ainadamar and Inquisitor in Candide with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. He has also played Count Almaviva, Betto, Rodrigo, and Ping in Carol Vaness’s Opera Workshop and is pursuing a master’s degree with Vaness.

Muyuan Liu is a baritone from China in his first year of a master’s program in voice at the Jacobs School of Music, where he is studying under Patricia Stiles. He earned an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, under the tutelage of Kangliang Peng. Liu has extensive experience on stage, having been active in artistic forms such as dramas, musicals, dances, and choral performances. He was part of the Magnificent Culture Co. Ltd Acting Touring Company. In opera, he has played a variety of roles, such as Onegin (Eugene Onegin), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), and Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola). Liu has also participated in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop, where he performed the main scenes of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro as Figaro, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin as Onegin, Puccini’s Tosca as Baron Scarpia, and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville as Fiorello. He performed Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C as a bass soloist in February 2023 with the University Chorale and Conductors Orchestra.

Theo Harrah is a bass from Louisville, Kentucky, in his senior year at the Jacobs School of Music as a vocal performance major studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. His previous credits at Jacobs include Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore, Siroco in L’Étoile, and José Tripaldi in Ainadamar as well as the choruses of Falstaff, Highway One, Candide, and The Merry Widow. He has also been featured as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien. Outside of Jacobs, Harrah has been seen as Colline in La Bohème and Simone in Gianni Schicchi at the Canto Program.

Last year, bass Noah Lauer performed for Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater as Tripaldi in Ainadamar and Siroco in L’Étoile, and in the previous fall as Sarastro in The Magic Flute. Also in Bloomington, he premiered the role of Iorwerth in the New Voices Opera production of Rhiannon’s Condemnation, and last spring, he performed as Monsieur de Preville and Boniface with Unsung Opera. He has previously performed with Chamber Opera Chicago as a soloist in a new musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which toured to the U.K. and Canada, as Charlie in the children’s opera Miracle!, and in the ensemble of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Other performances include Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and The Gondoliers at Luther College, the title role in The King and I, Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker, Warner in Legally Blonde, and Les Misérables at Theatre Cedar Rapids. He placed second at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Central Regional Competition. Lauer is studying with Peter Volpe in the third year of the Master of Music in Voice Performance program.

Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, bass-baritone Aiden Collawn is in his second year of studies pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Brian Horne. This is his IU Jacobs Opera Theater debut. His previous roles include Sarastro in the Virginia Governor’s School production of The Magic Flute, Pulitzer in Newsies, and Agwe in Once on This Island. He studied musical theater and theater at the Center for the Arts at Henrico High School.

A native of South Africa, Langelihle Mngxati was born and raised in the Ixopo region of Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. He received a B.A. in Music from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and 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 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 won the Nathan Ward Memorial Award from Opera NEO’s inaugural Vocal Competition in 2019. He was a resident artist with Tri-Cities Opera (TCO) in the 2019-20 season and performed the roles of Sciarrone in Tosca and Dulcamara/Wolf in Pinnochio. He returned to TCO and performed Crocodile, Monkey King, and Lady Tiger in Monkey and Francine in 2020. Mngxati was an apprentice artist with Opera NEO in 2019, where he sang Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto. He sang the title role of Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for an apprenticeship with Opera NEO in the summer of 2021 and sang Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Jacobs School of Music in 2022. He recently covered the role of the King of Egypt in Verdi’s Aida at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater.

Jamaican baritone Giovani Malcolm is pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Timothy Noble. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Delaware with a B.M. in Voice Performance and dual B.A.’s in political science and music management. Malcolm most recently played Viacomte Casada in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s The Merry Widow. He also played Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium with the Bloomington Chamber Opera. In the 2022-23 season, Malcolm’s notable performances included Ned in Joplin’s Treemonisha and Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon. With Jacobs Opera Theater last season, he was seen in the choruses of Don Giovanni and Candide. He most recently won the Art Song Award at the 2023 George Shirley Vocal Competition. As an activist constantly seeking to push creative boundaries, Malcolm used the moments of civil unrest during 2020-22 as an opportunity to stretch himself imaginatively and vocally with his “Speak Up, Speak Out” recital series in which he performs selections outlining the stories of Black individuals living in America. He continues to advocate for change on the federal level by working as a coordinator for non-profit programs from the White House.

Peter Papadopoulos, baritone, is a first-year Master of Music student from Broomall, Pennsylvania, studying under the tutelage of Wolfgang Brendel. Papadopoulos earned a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from Temple University, where he studied with Marcus DeLoach. There, he performed opera scenes including Don Giovanni and Masetto in Don Giovanni and musical scenes Judd in Oklahoma!, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, Jimmy Ray in Bright Star, and Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods. Papadopoulos is a highly regarded baritone soloist at St. Luke G.O.C. in Broomall. This is his debut with Jacobs Opera Theater.

A tenor from Newtown, Pennsylvania, Michael Varilla is a first-year master’s student at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing an M.M. in voice under the direction of Brian Horne. This past spring, he graduated with a B.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Florida. While there, he made his operatic debut as Other 2 in the premiere of Paul Richards’ The Golem of Prague and also performed Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Remendado in Carmen, and Bill in A Hand of Bridge. Last summer, Varilla performed Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with the Festival of International Opera in Urbania, Italy. Other prior engagements include covering Don José in Carmen, performing Spineloccio in Gianni Schicchi, the tenor solo in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and the choruses for Carmen, Suor Angelica, The Merry Widow, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Thompson’s The Peaceable Kingdom, Ellingboe’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Ramirez’s Misa Criolla, Misa por la paz y la justicia, and Navidad Nuestra. In April, he will make his debut as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah.