Prologue
As the audience enters, an organist sits at a gigantic organ and plays funeral music. A drop depicting the social structure of the nineteenth century is hung on the stage. Two men dig a grave at the front of the stage. A police warden enters and urges the diggers to hurry. Two workmen enter and pull down the drop. A shrill factory whistle is heard.

A man steps forward and invites the audience to attend the tale of Sweeney Todd. As the company begins to outline Sweeney’s dark tale, coordinated stage elements support the storytelling, hinting at the gruesome deeds yet to come (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”).

Act I
We find ourselves on the London docks. Anthony Hope, a young sailor, and Sweeney Todd enter. They both express their feelings about being back in London. Anthony is genuinely happy to be back in the city, but Todd’s response is full of grim irony (“No Place Like London”). While Todd thanks Anthony for saving his life at sea, a ragged, crazed Beggar Woman appears and begs for money; she offers sexual favors in return. She thinks she recognizes Sweeney, but he fends her off. Anthony inquires about Sweeney’s circumstances, worried that he has no place to go now that they are in London. Sweeney dismisses his offer of money. He tells Anthony that, if he needs him, he can find him around Fleet Street.

Sweeney travels to find Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop and stands outside the building, gazing at it. He enters and sees Mrs. Lovett chopping suet and flicking flies off the trays of pies with a dirty rag. Excited to have a customer, she offers him a pie, but she recognizes that they are disgusting. She apologizes and explains that times have been hard and meat is hard to come by (“The Worst Pies in London”). Sweeney asks why she doesn’t rent the room above her shop if times are so tough. She replies that no one wants it because of the awful thing that happened there. Mrs. Lovett then recounts the fate of Benjamin Barker, a foolish young barber who was shipped to Australia by an evil judge. The Judge coveted the Barber’s pretty young wife, Lucy. Once the Judge and his Beadle had Barker removed, Lucy was left alone to care for her one-year-old daughter, Johanna. The Judge and Beadle invited her to a party at the Judge’s mansion, got her drunk, and then raped her in the midst of a masked ball (“Poor Thing”). When Sweeney Todd shouts in anguish, Mrs. Lovett realizes that he is Benjamin Barker.

Demanding to learn the fate of his family, Barker hears that Lucy took arsenic and that Judge Turpin adopted his daughter. Todd swears to take revenge on the Judge and the Beadle. Mrs. Lovett then brings him his razors, which she has kept hidden away for all these years; Todd is thrilled to be reunited with his razors, and Mrs. Lovett is thrilled to be reunited with Todd (“My Friends”).
The scene shifts to Judge Turpin’s mansion, where Johanna is imprisoned. She calls out to the caged birds of a passing bird seller, imploring them to share their secret for singing so sweetly when they, too, are kept captive (“Green Finch and Linnet Bird”). Anthony appears on the street, sees Johanna, and instantly falls in love with her (“Ah, Miss”). Suddenly, the Beggar Woman appears and tells Anthony that he is standing in front of Judge Turpin’s house and should beware of trespassing. Anthony buys a bird for Johanna. He calls to her and presents the bird (“Johanna”). They stand, absorbed with each other, not noticing the approach of Judge Turpin and the Beadle. The Judge orders Johanna into the house. The Beadle cautions Anthony to stay away and strangles the bird as a warning.

Meanwhile, in St. Dunstan’s Marketplace, a painted caravan announces the presence of Signor Adolfo Pirelli and his baldness-banishing miracle elixir. Tobias, Pirelli’s simpleminded assistant, beats a tin drum to attract a crowd (“Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir”). Todd and Mrs. Lovett are among them. Although the crowd responds to Tobias’s pitch, Todd and Mrs. Lovett begin a slander campaign against the elixir, and people demand their money back. Tobias tries to distract them, but to no avail. Pirelli arrives and silences the crowd, demanding to know who denies his excellence as a barber. Todd steps forward and challenges Pirelli to a shaving contest. Todd gets the Beadle to judge the match and, being of superior skill, wins easily (“The Contest”). Todd and Pirelli then have a tooth-pulling contest, which Todd also wins (“Contest II”). The Beadle is very impressed and gets the address of Todd’s shop, promising to appear soon. When the Beadle thinks that he recognizes Todd, Mrs. Lovett assures him that this is not possible. The company explains how Sweeney methodically plotted his revenge (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”).

Judge Turpin is in his quarters while Johanna sews in an adjoining room. Unable to control his desires for Johanna, the Judge holds a Bible and whips himself, praying (“Johanna”). When he is done, he visits Johanna and announces that he plans to marry her to keep her safe from the venal young men of the street.

After an encounter with the Beggar Woman, Mrs. Lovett climbs the stairs to Todd’s quarters, where he is waiting eagerly for the Beadle to appear. Mrs. Lovett tells him to be patient as she plans the redecoration of his drab quarters with daisies and other homey touches (“Wait”). Despite her entreaties, Todd is also impatient for the Judge to visit. Anthony appears at Todd’s door and tells him of his encounter with Johanna, unaware that she is Sweeney’s daughter. He plans to steal Johanna and asks if he can bring her to Sweeney’s for safekeeping. Having secured Todd’s assistance, he leaves. Mrs. Lovett suggests that Sweeney kill Anthony and keep Johanna with him. She promises that she will be a splendid mother to Johanna.

Pirelli and Tobias appear. Mrs. Lovett takes Tobias downstairs for a meat pie. Pirelli reveals his real identity as Benjamin Barker’s former apprentice. He tries to blackmail Todd by threatening to reveal that Todd is really Barker. They struggle, and Todd renders Pirelli unconscious. Todd stuffs him into a chest, when Tobias appears. Todd persuades the boy to go to the kitchen for more meat pies and some gin. Once Tobias has gone, Todd pulls Pirelli out of the chest and slashes his throat (“Pirelli’s Death”).

The company transitions to the next scene, remarking on Sweeney’s treatment of hypocrites (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”). Leaving court, the Judge announces to the Beadle his intention to marry Johanna. At the same time, Anthony proposes to Johanna (“Kiss Me”). As the Judge continues home, the Beadle delicately suggests that Turpin pay more attention to his personal appearance to heighten his appeal to Johanna (“Ladies in Their Sensitivities”). Recalling Sweeney’s excellent work, the Beadle suggests to the judge that he make a visit to Sweeney’s shop.

At the pie shop, Mrs. Lovett discovers Pirelli’s fate. When Todd wants to kill Tobias, too, she protests. The Judge appears. Mrs. Lovett goes downstairs to distract Tobias. The Judge confides his marriage plans. Todd prepares to slit the judge’s throat, but he takes his time, savoring the moment before his anticipated revenge; meanwhile, the Judge anticipates his future with Johanna (“Pretty Women”). Just as Sweeney is about to kill the Judge, Anthony rushes in, blurting out the news of his planned elopement. The Judge leaves in a fury, announcing his intention to lock Johanna away and telling Todd that he will not be back. Enraged at losing the chance to kill the Judge, Sweeney throws Anthony out of the shop and announces his intention to kill everyone he can to get ready for the inevitable destruction of the Judge (“Epiphany”). Mrs. Lovett reminds him that they have to dispose of Pirelli’s body. She has an inspiration; they can recycle his victims into meat pies. Sweeney sees the genius of this plan, and they celebrate (“A Little Priest”).

Act II
Thanks to her newfound prosperity, Mrs. Lovett has expanded her shop to include an outdoor eating garden. She now wears a fancy gown, and Tobias wears a waiter’s apron. Her shop is mobbed with customers who crave the new pies (“God, That’s Good!”). The Beggar Woman lurks around. An elaborate new barber chair is moved into Todd’s quarters. Todd and Mrs. Lovett set up a complicated system by which Todd sends his victims down a chute, directly into the bake house, where there is a grinding machine. Anthony searches the streets for Johanna. At the same time, Todd dreams of his daughter and systematically kills the customers who sit in his chair. The Beggar Woman tries to warn passersby about the strange odors and smoke coming from Mrs. Lovett’s bake house. In the lunatic asylum where the Judge has placed her, Johanna dreams of the moment when Anthony will free her (“Johanna Act II Sequence”).

Anthony hears Johanna’s voice and discovers that she is in the asylum. He tries to rescue her, but the Beadle stops him and tells the police to bash his head. Anthony escapes. Mrs. Lovett sits in the parlor, playing the harmonium (“I Am a Lass”). She fantasizes about a married life with Todd on the seashore, but he is too fixated on his revenge plot to notice her (“By the Sea”). Anthony appears, asking Todd to help him free Johanna. Todd makes Anthony over as a wigmaker, knowing that the asylum will sell inmates’ hair to the highest bidder. He gives Anthony a gun and tells him to bring Johanna to the barbershop after the escape (“Wigmaker Sequence”). Todd then writes to Judge Turpin, telling him that he can find Johanna and Anthony at the barbershop that evening (“The Letter”).

Mrs. Lovett sits with Tobias. As she knits him a muffler, they exchange words about their warm feelings for each other. He is devoted to her and promises that no one will harm her (“Not While I’m Around”). He then suggests that something about Sweeney Todd is suspicious. When Mrs. Lovett pulls out Pirelli’s purse, he recognizes it. She says that Todd gave it to her, which only further feeds Tobias’s doubts. She invites Tobias into the bake house, where he is usually forbidden to go. He is delighted. Once there, she allows him to grind the meat for pies, and he forgets his concerns. She leaves him grinding and locks the door to the bake house. As she returns upstairs, she finds the Beadle at the harmonium in her parlor (“Parlor Songs Part 1”). He has come in response to complaints about a foul smell from her chimney. She says that she can’t take him into the bake house until Mr. Todd comes home. He says that he’ll wait and continues playing the harmonium (“Parlor Songs Part II”). Todd arrives. He takes the Beadle upstairs for a free shave before his inspection of the ovens.
In the bake house, Tobias begins to suspect that the remains of humans are used for the pies just as the Beadle’s body comes down the chute. He realizes that he is locked in and, whimpering, disappears down the cellar steps. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Tobias suspects them. She wants Todd to dispense with Tobias at once, but Todd is focused on extracting his revenge from the Judge.
Anthony comes to save Johanna at the asylum, but, when the owner tries to stop him, he cannot bring himself to shoot. Johanna grabs the gun and kills the owner (“Fogg’s Asylum”). They escape. The lunatics are freed from the asylum and spill with euphoric excitement into the street (“City on Fire”). Mrs. Lovett and Todd look for Tobias. The Beggar Woman, suspicious of Mrs. Lovett, searches for the Beadle (“Searching I”). Anthony and Johanna arrive at the barbershop. She wears a sailor suit. At Anthony’s insistence, Johanna stays behind as he leaves to hire a coach for their escape to Plymouth. The Beggar Woman appears. Johanna hides in a trunk. The Beggar Woman surveys the room; being there stimulates something within her. She cradles and begins singing to an imaginary infant (“Searching II”).

Todd discovers her. She tries to warn him about Mrs. Lovett and again wonders if she knows him. He turns on her, slits her throat and releases her down the chute. The Judge enters. Sweeney pretends that Johanna is safely with Mrs. Lovett and is longing to be reunited with him. Todd convinces the Judge to have a shave to prepare for his meeting with Johanna. Sweeney reveals himself as Benjamin Barker and slits the Judge’s throat (“The Judge’s Return”).

Todd starts out of the room to deal with Tobias as Johanna emerges from the trunk. Mistaking her for a sailor because of her disguise, Todd tries to attack her, but she escapes. He runs to the bake house. Mrs. Lovett tries to kill the Judge, who is still clinging to life. She then notices the Beggar Woman. She frantically tries to drag the Beggar Woman to the oven. Todd sees the woman in the light and realizes that she is his wife, Lucy. He accuses Mrs. Lovett of deceiving him; she claims that she never told him that Lucy died, only that she took poison (“Final Scene Part I”). She tries to stem his anger, and he feigns forgiveness by waltzing with her . . . over to the oven, shoving her inside. He then cradles the Beggar Woman in his arms (“Final Scene Part II”). Tobias appears, his hair now completely white from shock. He kills Sweeney with the razor, which has fallen on the floor. Constables, Anthony, and Johanna appear. Tobias has lost his mind; he cannot stop turning the handle on the grinder.

Epilogue
The company reenters and claims to see the Sweeney in each of us. At the end, Sweeney glares at the audience malevolently, and he slams the iron door (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”).

“What Do We Learn from Sweeney Todd?”
by Samantha Hark
M.A. Student in Musicology

The story of Sweeney Todd is an ever-evolving myth that has been continuously tinkered with since the mid-nineteenth century. The gruesome tale has been retold through multiple media: books, plays, songs, television shows, and films have all reshaped the monstrous barber’s journey. The earliest iterations of Sweeney’s character were tropes of a bloodthirsty villain who was driven by his greed to kill. This characterization was typical for the titular fiend until Christopher Bond’s 1973 stage play; Bond gave Sweeney a tragic backstory that introduced a new dastardly antagonist to the narrative, and recast Sweeney as an antihero. What was originally a simple horror fiction involving a one-dimensional murderer transformed into a tale of twisted revenge and questionable justice. Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler reimagined Bond’s version of the story for their 1979 musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

This more nuanced rendition of Sweeney Todd allows for multiple narrative themes, such as obsession’s pitfalls, capitalism’s cycle of violence, and the price of revenge. Each character bears their own obsession that lands them in conflict: Sweeney’s incessant need for vengeance; Anthony’s unwavering wish to elope with Johanna; Mrs. Lovett’s fascination with Sweeney; Judge Turpin’s unsettling desire for his ward. The violent cycle of capitalism is, quite literally, a violent cycle. Customers pay Sweeney for a shave, Sweeney murders them, Mrs. Lovett grinds them up into meat and then sells her meat pies to hungry patrons to consume (buy, die, sell, consume, repeat). As for the price of revenge, suffice it to say that in carrying out his retribution, Sweeney loses everything.

These themes are rather heavy, but audiences don’t dwell in gloom for the entire runtime; much of the tension is cut with wickedly clever dark humor. The choice to add so many jokes seems callous, but it may be to highlight how numb to tragedies society has become. We do not pity Mrs. Lovett’s plight when we see the state of her shop—we laugh at the squalor and failure of her business throughout “The Worst Pies in London.” Audiences may cringe a little in disgust at the prospect of cannibalism, but they still delight in the silly wordplay between Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney during “A Little Priest.” Perhaps this humor is a nod to the fact that for some, if they don’t laugh, they’ll cry. Yet, there are also moments of extreme tragedy and horror that need to be accounted for. Sondheim is a master of mood changes, and the atmospheres of scenes easily shift between whimsical to deadly serious in a matter of measures.

The music sets the stage well for both the physical environments and emotional stakes, heightening suspense and pulling us into the world. It gives us insight into each of the character’s mental states by way of key changes, register shifts, and sudden dissonances or resolutions. A simple example would be the opening conversation in “No Place Like London”; Sweeney repeats Anthony’s fanciful words with a soured melody, immediately revealing his open disdain for the city. But Sondheim’s musical prowess especially shines throughout “Epiphany,” where he showcases Sweeney’s mental deterioration. Listeners become spectators to Sweeney’s fleeting thoughts as he abruptly ricochets from one emotion to the next in a spiral of grief, rage, and manic glee; and the musical twists and turns, no matter how sudden, always feel apt.

The score of Sweeney Todd also incorporates musical quotations from outside sources, calling upon the listener’s prior sonic knowledge to assist in setting the scene and the tone. For example, Sondheim replicates the Westminster Chimes, which signify the passing of time and firmly cement the story in London. They can be faintly heard during “No Place Like London,” but are most easily recognizable at the beginning of Act II’s “God That’s Good!” But the through-thread of the score is the constant usage of the “Dies irae” chant melody. A musical marker of impending death and judgement, “Dies irae” references are enmeshed throughout the entire show. Not only is the musical quote a perfect encapsulation of Sweeney’s perspective of the dog-eat-dog world that he so vehemently despises, but it serves as a grim foreshadowing of deaths both delayed and imminent. Listeners will be able to pick out the “Dies irae” in “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and its reprises; though it is most blatantly on display in “Epiphany.”

The musical setting of Sweeney Todd shares many similarities with operatic conventions. One of these similarities is the usage of leitmotifs: musical themes that represent characters or ideas. Leitmotifs are abundant throughout the orchestration and the vocal lines, forming a secondary narration, pointing out character ties, and foreshadowing events. By the fall of the curtain, it’s clear that, much like Mrs. Lovett’s entrepreneurial recycling of Sweeney’s customers, Sondheim brilliantly reuses much of the melodic material in the score. Tunes are repurposed and utilized as callbacks to earlier story beats, such as the return of “The Worst Pies in London” in “A Little Priest.” By repeating small sections of music and layering them over one another, Sondheim molds them into an omniscient orchestration that drives the story to its conclusion.

And what do we learn from this conclusion—what is the message Sondheim and Wheeler wanted us to come away with? Is Sweeney Todd a lesson in how to laugh our way through absurdly unjust treatment? Perhaps it’s more of a satirical scolding of society’s indifference to the plight of others? Maybe it’s a lesson in how being kinder could result in more favorable outcomes? In truth, it’s likely that Sweeney Todd alludes to all those things. However, it is important to acknowledge Sondheim’s fourth wall breaks, where he engages the audience directly in dialogue with the show. In “Epiphany,” Sweeney threatens audience members with his razors, beckoning them to come sit in his chair for a shave; in “Epilogue,” the chorus chants “It’s Sweeney! There! There!” while pointing randomly at observers in their seats.

We laugh at the cartoonishly evil deeds performed on the stage, as it is all an over-the-top, campy fiction. We indulge ourselves in the macabre comedy, feeling confident in how nothing as horrible could happen to us. We are assured that we could never be as callous, cruel, or indifferent as the characters before us. But Sondheim invites the audience into his world in fleeting moments, perhaps to ask us: What would it take for us to be like Sweeney? What are our unhealthy obsessions? How would we behave in the face of injustice? When we are focused on getting even, what do we lose out on? We believe that we could never be Sweeney . . . but could we be, if we were hungry enough?

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night (1954), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passions (1994), and Road Show (2008), as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Anthologies of his work include Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Merry Me a Little (1981), You’re Gonna Love Me Tomorrow (1983), Putting it Together (1993/99) and Sondheim on Sondheim (2010). He composed the scores of the films Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (1990) and the television production Evening Primrose (1966). His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been published in two volumes: Finishing the Hat (2010) and Look, I Made a Hat (2011). In 2010, Broadway’s Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in his honor; in 2019, London’s Queens Theatre was also renamed the Sondheim.

Hugh Wheeler was a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 mystery novels under the pseudonyms Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, and four of his novels were transformed into films: Black Widow, Man in the Net, The Green-Eyed Monster, and The Man with Two Wives. For film, he wrote the screenplays for Travels with My Aunt, Something for Everyone, A Little Night Music, and Nijinsky. His plays include Big Fish, Little Fish (1961), Look: We’ve Come Through (1961), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966, adapted from the Shirley Jackson novel). He co-authored with Joseph Stein the book for a new production of the 1919 musical Irene (1973), wrote the books for A Little Night Music (1973), a new production of Candide (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979, based on a version of the play by Christopher Bond), and Meet Me in St. Louis (adapted from the 1949 MGM musical), contributed additional material for the musical Pacific Overtures (1976), and wrote a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill opera Silverlake, which was directed by Harold Prince at the New York Opera. Wheeler received Tony and Drama Desk awards for A Little Night Music, Candide, and Sweeney Todd. Prior to his death in 1987, he was working on two new musicals, Bodo and Fu Manchu, and a new adaptation of The Merry Widow.

Constantine Kitsopoulos is equally at home with opera, symphonic repertoire, film with live orchestra, musical theater, and composition. His work has taken him worldwide, where he has conducted the major orchestras of North America, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. During the 2023-24 season, Kitsopoulos has conducted return engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Pacific, New Jersey, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco symphonies. Highlights of previous seasons include return engagements with the Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and New York Philharmonic. He also conducted Leonard Bernstein’s Mass and Candide at IU Jacobs Opera Theater. In addition to his engagements as guest conductor, he was music director of the Festival of the Arts Boca from 2010 to 2023, general director of Chatham Opera from 2005 to 2015, and assistant chorus master at New York City Opera from 1984 to 1989. Kitsopoulos has developed semi-staged productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (for which he has written a new translation), Don Giovanni, and La Bohème. He has conducted Jacobs Opera Theater productions of Mass, Falstaff, Die Fledermaus, A View from the Bridge, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Most Happy Fella, South Pacific, Oklahoma, The Music Man, and The Last Savage. On Broadway, Kitsopoulos has been music director of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (cast album on PS Classics), A Catered Affair (cast album on PS Classics), Coram Boy, Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème (cast album on DreamWorks Records), Swan Lake, and Les Misérables. He was music director of ACT’s production of Weill/Brecht’s Happy End and conducted the only English-language recording of the piece for Sh-K-Boom Records. Kitsopoulos studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Edward Edson, and Sophia Rosoff. He studied conducting with Semyon Bychkov, Sergiu Commissiona, Gustav Meier, and his principal teacher, Vincent La Selva.

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.

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, The Merry Widow, and Eugene Onegin. 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 coming summer, Huff will return for his sixth year as a faculty member at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. This season, Huff also serves as principal guest coach for the Atlanta Opera Studio Artists Program.

Bloomington-based designer and scenic artist Mark Frederic Smith is director of scenic painting and properties for IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater, where he has worked on more than 150 productions during the past 27 years. Design work for Jacobs School projects includes The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Coronation of Poppea, Hansel and Gretel, Bernstein’s Mass, last season’s world premiere of Anne Frank, and La Finta Giardiniera. His design for Florencia en el Amazonas was featured in San Diego Opera’s 2017-18 season. In addition to work for Indianapolis Civic Theater, Butler Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet, and Chicago’s Greenhouse Theater, area theatergoers may recognize his designs for more than a dozen Cardinal Stage Company shows, including Les Misérables, A Streetcar Named Desire, My Fair Lady, Oliver!, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Smith earned a Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design degree from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance and was a student of former Jacobs faculty members C. David Higgins and Robert O’Hearn.

Ken Phillips served as lighting specialist for the Jacobs School of Music from 2019 to 2021, where he designed the lighting and helped engineer projections for almost a dozen productions, including The Turn of the Screw, which won the National Opera Association’s Division VIII Production Competition Award for 2020. He returned in fall 2022 to work on the lighting design and codesign projections for The Magic Flute. He currently works at the University of Arizona, where he is an assistant professor of practice in lighting design and stage management, as well as serving as production manager for the school of theater. Phillips earned an 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.

Linda Pisano designs for many theater, dance, musical theater, ballet, and opera companies throughout the United States; her ballet designs have toured the U.K. and Canada. An award-winning designer, she was selected to represent the United States in costume design at the World Stage Design Exhibition in Taipei and for feature in the Quadrennial World Exhibition in Prague. She is a three-time winner of the National Stage Expo for performance design and a four-time recipient of the Peggy Ezekiel Award for Excellence in Design. Her work was selected from top designers in the United States to be featured and published in the “Costumes of the Turn of the Century” exhibition with the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow and the China Institute of Stage Design in Beijing. As professor of costume design at Indiana University, she also directs its Theatre and Drama study abroad program in London, is department chair, and produces IU’s Summer Theatre. She is co-author of the recent book The Art and Practice of Costume Design. Pisano was selected by Indiana University as the inaugural presidential arts and humanities fellow for 2023-25. Some of her favorite projects include The Nutcracker, The Daughter of the Regiment, Urinetown, Anne Frank, Salome (with Patricia Racette), To Kill a Mockingbird, Sense and Sensibility, The Merry Widow, The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus, A Little Night Music, and the opera Akhnaten. She served two terms as an elected member of the board of directors for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. Last year, she designed the new Nutcracker for the Jacobs School of Music.

E. M. Giménez (B.S.’02) is a Los Angeles-based sound and video designer whose work spans the gamut from opera and theater to immersive installation and rock and roll. Previous opera designs include It’s A Wonderful Life and Bernstein’s Mass at Jacobs, Sweeney Todd and Thumbprint at Chautauqua Opera, I Dream at Opera Carolina, Crescent City and Invisible Cities for The Industry, and Covid Fan Tutte and La Corona for Pacific Opera Projects. In addition to his degree from Indiana University, he earned an M.F.A. from CalArts.

Chris Mills taught for a decade at NYU’s Undergraduate Drama Department and Playwrights Horizons Theater School at Tisch School of the Arts. She was also the longtime resident dramaturg for Theater Mitu and has worked as a dramaturg at Little Lord, Lucky Pierre Performance, 24seven Play Lab, and Young Playwrights (founded by Stephen Sondheim). Mills is an alumna of NYU’s Department of Performance Studies, Temple University’s History of Art Department, and the Whitney Museum of Art’s Independent Scholars Program. She has made theater with the Public Theater/NYSF, Big Mess Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Company, Stage Left Theater, Philadelphia Alliance for Performance Alternatives, and Walnut Street Theater as well as with Momenta Art Alternatives and Goat Island Performance Group. She has been published in Art Journal, TDR, Frakcija, Theater Journal, Journal of Architectural Education, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, The Village Voice, and the books Out of Time and Place: An Anthology of Plays from The Women’s Project Playwright’s Lab, and [1968]: Moments of Culture in Context. Mills came to Bloomington from New York, where she was the global content strategist for UNICEF. She earned an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from IU’s Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance and is currently director of communications at the Jacobs School of Music.

Lauren Haughton Gillis returns to IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater after working on Candide last year. She has produced, directed, and choreographed all over the U.S. and Canada with the Broadway National Touring companies of Hamilton, Wicked, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, and The Book of Mormon. Gillis is currently an associate choreographer for Virgin Voyages International. She recently made her New York City directing debut at The Cutting Room with a concert version of the new musical The Magic Hummingbird. Prior to the Lincoln Center run, she worked on The Gardens of Anuncia with Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Graciela Daniele at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. Gillis has directed and/or choreographed at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Musical Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, Ripley Grier Studios, Constellation Stage & Screen, Okoboji Summer Theatre, Festival 56, Cardinal Stage, San Diego State University, Northwestern University, and The Broadway in San Diego Awards. As a performer, she appeared on Broadway in Wicked. She was in the original casts of Turn of the Century directed by Tommy Tune (Goodman Theatre), Sammy with Leslie Bricusse (The Old Globe), and Hans Christian Anderson with Maury Yeston (Maine State Music Theatre). On television, she appeared in the Annie episode for Encore! on Disney Plus, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge and choreographed by Melinda Sullivan. Gillis is currently assistant professor of musical theater at the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, where she won the 2022 Trustees Teaching Award. She is a member of Actors Equity Association and the head of dance and vice president of conferences for Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance International. Gillis earned a B.F.A. from Syracuse University and an M.F.A. from San Diego State University.

Matt Herndon is a stage combat choreographer and teacher based in Las Vegas. Given his Bloomington and IU theater roots, his favorite local fight credits include Anon(ymous), Spring Awakening, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, king oedipus, She Kills Monsters, and Oleanna. With IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater, his work has been seen most recently in last semester’s Roméo et Juliette. Some of his other productions with Jacobs have been West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Carmen, Così fan tutte, and Dead Man Walking. Herndon is the resident fight choreographer and stage combat instructor at Central City Opera (CCO), where he’s been able to impart safe and believable stage combat techniques to the next generation of opera singers over the past two years. This summer, he’ll be tackling CCO’s The Pirates of Penzance, The Girl of the Golden West, and Street Scene. Previous CCO credits include Roméo et Juliette, Kiss Me, Kate, and Two Remain.

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.

John Armstrong is an actor, producer, director, and coach with over 20 years of diverse experience in the entertainment industry. He is co-founder and development director at Constellation Stage & Screen. He is also co-founder of Pigasus Pictures, an Indiana-based, independent film company where he has produced several films, including The Good Catholic (Danny Glover, John C. McGinley) and So Cold the River, the film adaptation of Michael Koryta’s novel of the same name. Armstrong’s acting credits include As You Like It (New York Classical Theatre), The Piper with Tony Award nominees Christiane Noll and Bob Cuccioli (NYMF and Irish Rep NYC), Heartbreaker with Tony Award nominee Christine Andreas (NYC), Seussical (National Tour), Macbeth (Indiana Repertory), Hamlet (title character, Freed PAC), and many more. Armstrong also performed locally in Santaland Diaries, Rounding Third, Holmes & Watson, and Tuning In for Constellation Stage & Screen. He is adjunct professor of acting and voice at the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance and has served as instructor and professor of acting, voice, movement, musical theater, and Shakespeare studies at the New York Film Academy, Ohio Northern University, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, and Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Armstrong has coached voice and dialects for numerous productions, including Candide and H.M.S. Pinafore with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. He began his training in voice performance at the Jacobs School of Music and earned a bachelor’s degree in musical theater and an M.F.A. in acting from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, where he performed in more than 20 plays and musicals over seven years. Armstrong is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, Bloomington Rotary, and the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Praised for his big voice and stage presence, Skyler Schlenker has recently been seen as an apprentice artist at Central City Opera, Opera Naples, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. He is an artist with a unique story from NCAA football to professional opera singing. Recently, he was seen as Count Pâris in Roméo et Juliette with Central City Opera, where he garnered praise for his performances and covered leading man Fred Graham in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate. He has also played several leading roles with Opera Naples, a regional opera company that is quickly gaining recognition, including Older Jim Thompson in Glory Denied, The Pirate King, and Ozzie in On The Town. In March 2023, Schlenker appeared as the father of Anne Frank in the world premiere of Anne Frank, a new opera by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran, with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. He has performed leading roles in repertoire ranging from contemporary to Verdi and Puccini, and Sondheim and Cole Porter. Schlenker, raised in the upper valley of New Hampshire and Vermont, is pursuing a Performer Diploma as a student of Jane Dutton. He earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Baritone Sam Witmer, a native of Athens, Ohio, is a first-year D.M. Voice Performance student studying with Brian Horne. Witmer is an active teacher and performer of opera, musical theater, concert works, and choral music. Last fall, he performed the role of Mercutio in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Other roles include 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 has won first place at the state and regional levels of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. As a concert soloist, Witmer has performed the baritone/bass solos in works such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and Bach’s Jesu, der du meine Seele, among others. He previously taught voice at Marietta College, Ohio University, and Hocking College. He earned a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from Ohio University.

Mezzo-soprano Alice Lind is a Master of Music in Voice Performance student under the tutelage of Michelle DeYoung. A native of Clinton, Iowa, Lind earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Drake University. While there, she served as singer and assistant stage director with Drake Opera Theatre, performing The Magic Flute (Third Lady), The Old Maid and the Thief (Miss Todd, cover), and Le Nozze di Figaro (Marcellina, cover). With Jacobs Opera Theater, credits include Candide (Old Lady), Falstaff (Dame Quickly), and the opera choruses of Ainadamar and La Rondine. She has also performed Suor Angelica (La Badessa; Zia Principessa, cover) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) with the International Lyric Academy in Italy. Scene performance credits include La Clemenza di Tito (Annio) with Jacobs Graduate Opera Workshop under the direction of Heidi Grant Murphy, Alcina (Bradamante), Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Sibella). Mainstage directing credits include Menotti’s The Medium with Bloomington Chamber Opera and The Magic Flute (opening scene). She is also a frequent collaborator with Jacobs student composers, premiering many solo and ensemble works.

Mezzo-soprano Elise Miller is a second-year doctoral student studying with Heidi Grant Murphy. Miller was most recently seen performing with Central City Opera as an apprentice artist covering the role of Lilli Vanessi/Kate in Kiss Me, Kate. In fall 2022, she sang the role of Lazuli in L’Étoile with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. A lover of musical theater, jazz, and cabaret music, Miller performed a variety of German cabaret selections with an up-and-coming company called The Wild Stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in summer 2022. No stranger to new music, she performed the role of Lowri in the world premiere of Rhiannon’s Condemnation by composer Leigha Amick with New Voices Opera during its 2021-22 season. She has also appeared in Jacobs Opera Theater’s productions of La Rondine as Lolette, The Coronation of Poppea as Emperor Nerone, and Little Women as Beth March. Other noteworthy credits include La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (Music On Site, Inc.), Silly Girl and Enchanted Object in Beauty and the Beast (Woodlawn Theater), Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Mediterranean Opera Festival). She was a resident artist with OPERA San Antonio from 2016 to 2020 and appeared in its mainstage productions of Tosca, Faust, La Traviata, and Carmen. This summer, Miller will serve as an emerging artist at Charlottesville Opera, where she will perform the role of Mrs. Paroo and cover the roles of Maud Dunlop and Newspaper/Salesman in The Music Man. She will also be a featured artist in several concerts and perform in the chorus of The Elixir of Love.

From Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, tenor Jeremy Do is pursuing a master’s in music at the Jacobs School of Music in the studio of Brian Horne. This past fall, Do performed the role of Tybalt in Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. In October, he performed the “Swan Aria” in the IU Oratorio and Concert Orchestra’s performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana conducted by Betsy Burleigh. Last summer, he was the featured tenor soloist in Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus. Last spring, he performed the role of Peter in the world premiere of Anne Frank by Shulamit Ran with the Jacobs School of Music. He also recently performed the role of Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten with Chicago Summer Opera. In 2022, Do earned a bachelor’s degree in music under the tutelage of Blake Smith at the University of Delaware (UD), where he was seen as Barigoule in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon with UD Lyric Theatre.

Hailing from Vienna, Virginia, tenor Robert Erickson is currently a second-year undergraduate student at the Jacobs School of Music. He is pursuing a degree in voice performance under the tutelage of Brian Horne. Erickson has been singing in choirs since age 10 and training in classical voice since age 13. At the Jacobs School, he has sung in the opera choruses for Don Giovanni, Candide, and The Merry Widow. Most recently, he performed as Pinellino and covered the role of the notary in Gianni Schicchi at Opera Lucca under the direction of Peter Volpe. This is Erickson’s debut role at the collegiate level.

From Pensacola, Florida, soprano Laura Looper is in her fourth year as an undergraduate voice performance major, studying with Heidi Grant Murphy. At IU, she has sung in the choruses for Candide, Roméo et Juliette, and Highway 1, USA. She is making her IU Jacobs Opera Theater role debut as Johanna. Past roles include Atalanta in Xerxes with Chicago Summer Opera, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Utah Vocal Arts Academy, and most recently, covering Despina in Così fan tutte at the Tel Aviv Summer Opera. Looper was the first-place winner in the 2023 Indiana Matinee Musicale Collegiate Competition, a semifinalist in the 2022 National Orpheus Vocal Competition, and a recipient of the 2021 Pock and Blumberg Merit Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters. She recently completed a minor in Italian.

Soprano Issana Yaguda, from Orlando, Florida, is a junior studying voice performance under the tutelage of Heidi Grant Murphy. Recently, she played the role of Lolo as one of the Grisettes in The Merry Widow with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. She has also performed with the Jacobs Opera Chorus in the productions of Don Giovanni, The Nutcracker, and Candide. Currently, she is a member of Jacobs’ Voces Caelestes. This past summer, Yaguda joined the Tel Aviv International Summer Opera Program and performed “Ah! douce enfant” from Cendrillon and “Ach, ich fühl’s” from The Magic Flute. She also performed “Green Finch” and “Linnet Bird” from Sweeney Todd in its Broadway Concert. This summer, she will sing the role of Lauretta in Opera Lucca’s production of Gianni Schicchi.

Theo Harrah is a bass from Louisville, Kentucky, in his senior year at the Jacobs School as a voice performance major under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. Harrah’s previous credits at Jacobs include The Second Armored man in The Magic Flute, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore, Sirocco in L’Étoile, José Tripaldi in Ainadamar, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette as well as the choruses of Falstaff, Candide, The Merry Widow, and Highway 1, USA. 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.

Noah Lauer is a bass from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His most recent performance was as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette for IU Jacobs Opera Theater. Last year, he performed at Jacobs as Tripaldi in Ainadamar and as Siroco of L’Étoile, and in the fall previous 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 for 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 currently studies with Peter Volpe in his third year of the Master of Music in Voice Performance program.

Michael Christopher is a tenor from Dallas, Texas, studying with Peter Volpe in his final year of a dual bachelor’s degree program in voice performance and Italian. Last spring, he played the titular role in Candide with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. Before transferring to IU, he made his professional opera debut with The Dallas Opera (TDO) as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute at the age of 19. Christopher also sang the role of the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas. He has previously sung with The Dallas Opera Chorus in TDO’s production of Don Carlos and has been a member of The Magic Flute, H.M.S. Pinafore, L’Étoile, The Merry Widow, and Eugene Onegin opera choruses at IU.

Tenor Asher Ramaly is a junior studying with Russell Thomas pursuing a B.M. in Voice Performance and a B.S.O.F. in Musical Theater. He hails from Skokie, Illinois, and this is his debut as a principal with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater. He has previously appeared in the opera choruses of The Merry Widow, Candide (in which he also played the Sailor and Second Officer), L’Étoile, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Magic Flute at IU. Roles outside of IU include First Armored Man in The Magic Flute (Harrower Summer Opera Workshop) and Antonio in a production of Figaros Hochzeit (Middlebury College German Language School). He was a member of the ensemble of Modern, a collaborative production of the Bloomington Playwright’s Project and University Players. Ramaly is also a choir scholar in a local community congregation.

Nate Paul was born and raised in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, earning a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Middle Tennessee State University before completing a Master of Music and vocology certificate at Indiana University this past spring. Studying with Brian Gill, Paul is a first-year doctoral student in voice performance. His voice has been described as “show-stopping and nothing less than thrilling” and as having “the presence of a stage-struck powerhouse.” (Broadway World: Nashville). His most recent theatrical performances include Njegus in The Merry Widow, Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw, Adolfo Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, Lord Tolloler in Iolanthe, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, and Sir Robin in Spamalot. He is a frequent concert soloist as well, having sung as the tenor soloist in Telemann’s Die Donner-Ode, Beethoven’s Mass in C, and Handel’s Messiah. Paul is an award-winning music director and conductor, with past works including La Cage aux Folles, Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Wiz, Newsies, The Addams Family, Heathers, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He also currently serves as assistant professor of music in voice at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where he teaches private voice lessons and voice pedagogy.

Originally from Bedford, Indiana, Will Upham is pursuing a Performer Diploma in Voice under the tutelage of Peter Volpe. At IU, Upham has been seen as Comrade Belka in a workshop of Hennessy’s Swimming in the Dark, a member of the chorus in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, a tenor soloist in Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien with the IU Conductors Chorus, a tenor soloist in Schnittke’s Requiem and Howells’ Requiem with NOTUS, and as various roles in Carol Vaness’s Opera Workshop. Recently, he was a young artist at the Glimmerglass Festival, where he performed Benvolio and covered Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Prior to that, Upham worked as a resident artist with Indianapolis Opera. There he portrayed the roles of Donald Hopewell in Moore’s Gallantry, VA Psychiatrist in the Midwest premiere of Wells’ Veteran Journeys, and both Tamino and Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He is also a former education artist at The Dallas Opera, where he performed the role of Nemorino in an abridged, English-language version of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. He earned a Master of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree from DePauw University. Upham will perform as the tenor soloist in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Second Presbyterian Church and be a young artist this summer at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he will perform First Jew and cover Herod in Strauss’s Salome.

Mezzo-soprano Lauren Bolla is in the second year of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in voice performance and a minor in music education under the guidance of Patricia Stiles. Bolla is a native Hoosier from Chesterton, Indiana, and this is her IU Jacobs Opera Theater debut. Last summer, she performed scenes as Jo March (Little Women) and Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) in a program curated by Stiles.

Soprano Faith Kopecky is a versatile emerging artist from Leawood, Kansas, pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Timothy Noble. This is her IU Jacobs Opera Theater role debut. Recently, she sang in Opera Workshop as Giovanna in Anna Bolena and was seen in IU Jacobs Opera choruses of Roméo et Juliette, Don Giovanni, and Candide. She was Helena (cover) and Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Miami Music Festival and has performed overseas with the Interharmony International Music Festival. Kopecky will perform the role of Gertrud in Chicago Summer Opera’s Hansel and Gretel. She graduated from The University of Tampa (UT) with a B.M. in Vocal Performance and a B.A. in Theatre and placed with TBNATS and SERNATS in the Classical and Musical Theatre Divisions. UT Opera scenes include Zaide (Zaide), Hanna (The Merry Widow), Violetta (La Traviata), Mimi (La Bohème), Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffman), Norma (Norma), and Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance). She performed solos with Florida Masterworks in Concert and was broadcast with WEDU PBS in the “Let Heaven and Nature Sing” concert. Kopecky has also performed in UT Theatre productions as Marmee (Little Women), Philamante (The Learned Ladies), and Babette (The Arsonists).

Tenor Jonathan Elmore debuts this May at Indianapolis Opera as Henrik in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. During his time at Jacobs, he has also performed the roles of Count Danilo Danilovich (The Merry Widow), Guard (Anne Frank), Ouf (L’Étoile), and Ralph Rackstraw (H.M.S. Pinafore) as well as Secondo Soldato (The Coronation of Poppea). Alongside his mainstage roles at IU, Elmore has participated in the choruses of The Barber of Seville, The Coronation of Poppea, and Highway 1, USA. This summer, he will join the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute as a vocal fellow. He is currently a Doctor of Music degree candidate at Jacobs, where he also earned a Master of Music in Voice Performance degree and is currently studying with Heidi Grant Murphy. A Southwest Virginia native, Elmore earned a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance degree from Virginia Tech (’20) under the tutelage of Brian Thorsett. Elmore is also an active collaborative pianist and currently maintains a roster of six undergraduate vocalists at Indiana University.

Inside Magazine described tenor Andrew Lunsford, M.M. Voice Performance, as possessing “a take-your-breath-away high C,” and Fox News portrayed him as “quickly rising to the top due to his jaw-dropping voice.” He has been profiled by NBC, ABC, and FOX News and was the subject of the prime-time CNN feature The Accidental Tenor. After discovering his vocal abilities later in life, Lunsford attended the Jacobs School of Music, where he trained with Carol Vaness. He has since gone on to perform on many of the world’s most distinguished stages, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, and, most recently, in recital at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Some of his most notable roles include the title role in Faust, Calaf in Turandot, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Tamino in The Magic Flute. Lunsford has previously performed with IU Jacobs Opera Theater in the title role of Faust and as the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier. He has returned to Jacobs to complete a master’s degree in voice performance and was most recently seen as Podestà in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s production of Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. He returns to the Carnegie Hall stage this spring.