Through the vision of Georgina’s mother, Louise Addicott-Joshi, the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc., was established in 2007 as a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation to provide, among other things, educational and career development opportunities for young musicians and to encourage and support the public performance of music.

– let music flow and surround the world

let humanity be drowned in beautiful music –

George Frideric Handel, a German-English Baroque composer, was famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. He was strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers of the Italian Baroque period and English composer Henry Purcell. Handel’s music was well known to many composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. His body of work includes 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios, and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, and 16 organ concerti. His most well-known works include Messiah, Giulio Cesare, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Because of the variety of musical styles, vocal ranges, and musical instruments used in Handel’s works, it is important for students preparing for a career in opera performance to be well versed in, and comfortable with, singing his music. The Georgina Joshi Fund, administered by the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc. and the Indiana University Foundation, was established to encourage and support the student performance of Handel’s operas and oratorios as well as works by composers influenced by the Baroque master, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a student of Handel’s music who would go on to prepare a reorchestrated adaptation of Messiah, recast in German for Viennese audiences, further cementing the oratorio’s popularity. It is the goal of the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc., that Jacobs students be able to study and perform major works of the Baroque and Classic eras every year.

Through the generosity of the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc., the Jacobs School of Music has been able to produce four fully staged Handel operas—Giulio Cesare in 2009 and 2019, Xerxes in 2013, Alcina in 2015 and now in 2025, and Rodelinda in 2017, as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2022—and four oratorios—Judas Maccabaeus in 2011, Esther in 2013, Messiah in 2016, and Alexander’s Feast in 2018, as well as Haydn’s The Seasons in 2020.

The IU Jacobs School of Music remains grateful to the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc., for its friendship and continued support.

A native of Indiana, Georgina Joshi had earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Royal College of Music, London, where she studied with Eiddwen Harrhy. Notably, Joshi sang for the gala opera night at the Beaumaris Festival with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anthony Hose. She also performed the role of the first Harlot in Handel’s Solomon conducted by William Jon Gray for the Bloomington Early Music Festival. Joshi pursued her Master of Music in Voice Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Alan Bennett. Her first role at IU was Clorinda in La Cenerentola.

by Chas Rader-Shieber

There is great beauty, allure, and a certain kind of magic in the theater.

We are momentarily transported, seduced, and even transformed by its enchantments. But as the curtain falls at the end, we realize that the dream is short lived, and we return to our own lives, hopefully enlightened by the experience—perhaps even our truer selves.

In this production, Alcina’s magical island is the world of the theater itself. She uses its elaborately painted visions, and its surface beauty, to trap and imprison the men she so desperately needs to feed her desire to be loved. Once the illusion is discovered, revealed, and ultimately destroyed, her true nature is ours to see—sad, but profoundly human.

Handel is the master of combining the comic, dramatic, romantic, and the disarmingly poignant. In Alcina, he offers a spectacular range of emotional truths, and a surprisingly moving cast of characters—more like us than we might really want to admit.

Act I

A day on Alcina’s Magic Island

Bradamante, disguised as her own brother, Ricciardo, is in search of her fiancé, Ruggiero. She is accompanied by her guardian, Melisso. They land on the magic island that is ruled by the sorceress Alcina, who has enchanted Ruggiero with her charms. Meanwhile, Bradamante and Melisso are met by Alcina’s sister, Morgana, who, not realizing that Bradamante is only disguised as a man, falls in love with “him.”

Bradamante soon meets Alcina and Ruggiero, who have become inseparable. Alcina welcomes Bradamante and Melisso and declares her love for Ruggiero.

Bradamante, still disguised as Ricciardo, scolds Ruggiero for his faithlessness, but Ruggiero only mocks “him.” He swears that he will never leave Alcina. Rejected by Ruggiero and pursued by Morgana, Bradamante now meets Morgana’s jealous lover, Oronte, and narrowly avoids having a duel with him.

Using Oronte’s jealousy as an excuse, Morgana rejects him. Oronte in revenge tells Ruggiero that Alcina has fallen in love with Ricciardo/Bradamante and, like all her former lovers, Ruggiero will soon be transformed into an animal by the sorceress. Ruggiero confronts Alcina in front of “Ricciardo.” Offended that he thinks she is unfaithful, Alcina leaves. Bradamante tries to reveal her true identity to Ruggiero, who does not believe her. He urges Alcina to prove her love by getting rid of his rival. Out of desperation, Bradamante, still disguised as Ricciardo, throws herself into Morgana’s arms.

Act II

That night

Ruggiero is looking for Alcina. Melisso meanwhile disguises himself as Ruggiero’s former tutor, Atlante, and gives him a magic ring. The ring undoes the spell that Alcina has cast over Ruggiero. Freed of the spell, he immediately desires to see his beloved Bradamante again. When she once again reveals her true identity, he decides that this is another of Alcina’s spells and spurns her. Eventually, Ruggiero begins to see what has happened. Meanwhile, Alcina and Morgana both sense that something has changed in the men they love. When Oronte tells them that Ruggiero is secretly getting ready to leave with Bradamante, Alcina is heartbroken. Morgana, however, refuses to believe that she has been betrayed, but when she hears Bradamante and Ruggiero talking together, she realizes that she has been betrayed twice: by a woman disguised as a man, who also lied to her about being in love. As Ruggiero prepares to leave the magic world, Alcina tries to conjure up spirits to help her regain his love. As the act ends, she curses her magic powers and falls into a deep and troubled sleep.

Act III

The next morning

Morgana admits that she still has feelings for Oronte, who, in turn, forgives her inconstancy. Alcina fails in her last desperate attempt to keep Ruggiero’s affections. He is determined to gain his freedom by force, if necessary. Alcina tries to stop him with her magic powers. Ultimately, Alcina’s forces are beaten by Ruggiero and his allies. When Ruggiero destroys the source of Alcina’s power, her magic kingdom collapses. In the end, Ruggiero is celebrated as the liberator of all those who were enslaved by Alcina’s power.

by Kitt Westerduin

Ph.D. Student in Musicology

Handel’s Alcina premiered on April 18, 1735, at London’s Covent Garden Theater to enormous success. The work was performed 18 times during its initial run and was even revived the following season, to be honored by the attendance of King George II. Such acclaim could not have come at a better time for Handel, who had been in the midst of a commercial slump leading up to the work’s composition. Alcina’s popularity arguably revived Handel’s reputation, after a difficult season performing for near-empty houses, as the foremost composer of Italian opera in England. Today, the work remains a testament to the composer’s masterful use of operatic conventions to create a dramatically compelling theatrical experience.

The plot of Alcina was derived from Ludovico Ariosto’s sixteenth-century poem Orlando Furioso, a chivalric epic set against the backdrop of the Carolingian war between Christian and invading Saracen forces. Handel’s immediate source was the libretto of Riccardo Broschi’s 1728 opera L’isola di Alcina, likely composed for Broschi’s brother (and star of Handel’s rival opera company), the internationally renowned castrato Farinelli. Handel, however, adapted the libretto to better serve the drama. In doing so, he reintroduced the natural and supernatural elements of Ariosto’s poem to heighten its magical foundation.

The story is set on an enchanted island where the hero, Ruggiero, has been bewitched by the sorceress Alcina, whose former lovers have been transformed into beasts who haunt the island. Ruggiero surely awaits the same fate, but fortunately, his betrothed, Bradamante, takes to the island with Ruggiero’s tutor Melisso to release the young hero from Alcina’s spell and bring him home.

In IU’s production, the theater itself, with its own enchanting artifice, serves as Alcina’s island. Act I opens with the arrival of Bradamante and Melisso to Alcina’s island. As yet unaffected by Alcina’s spell, they see the setting as it really is, a desolate space with a few empty chairs. It is not until after Morgana, Alcina’s sister, welcomes the “heroes” that the curtain lifts to reveal an opulent baroque opera house. The fantastic shift in scenery transports Bradamante and Melisso—and the audience—into Alcina’s magically forged idyll. Morgana, immediately captivated by Bradamante, who is disguised as her brother Ricciardo, takes to the stage to fawn over the newcomer with her aria “O s’apre al riso.” The triple meter and major key, historically associated with idealized rural life and innocence, is set in conflict with Morgana’s clearly performative gestures. As such, this setting hints at the theatrical subterfuge that has ensnared the island’s inhabitants and, self-referentially, to the temporary escapism of opera itself.

The supernatural content may have affected the composer as much as his protagonists. One contemporary account describes Handel at rehearsal as “a necromancer in the midst of his own enchantments.” Indeed, Handel generally seems to have conjured his most affecting music for magical operas, and for Alcina’s character in particular. Handel’s sensitive treatment of the titular sorceress presents her as paradoxically human. As opposed to the one-dimensional spellcaster of Ariosto’s poem, Handel’s Alcina is emotionally complex. Her opening revelry in hedonistic pleasure expressed in “Di cor mío” is marked by surprising gratitude for Ruggiero’s love and her anxiety over its potential loss. In Act II, her fears are realized when Ruggiero is released from her spell and plots to flee with Bradamante. Torn between anger at his betrayal and the love she still has for him, Alcina collapses into her great lament, “Ah! mio cor.” The aria opens with a prolonged instrumental ritornello of detached, pulsating chords in the key of C minor, which outline her despair. After nearly a minute, Alcina enters on a single, doleful utterance, but the strings have already faded away, leaving her voice unaccompanied. In this moment, the musical setting embodies her abandonment. As the aria continues, she lingers on words like “sola” (alone) and “perché” (why?), further emphasizing her distress. The ritornello reenters, encasing her sorrow in sonorous affect. The lament then transitions to the B section, an outburst of vengeful fury, before ultimately surrendering again to her lamentation.

 This aria, with its ABA form, is one of the many examples of the da capo aria form in Alcina. Opera seria, Italian serious opera of the late baroque period, was strictly governed by generic conventions, such as the da capo aria, that could sometimes result in the sacrifice of an aria’s expressivity in favor of its form. However, as “Ah, mio cor” attests, Handel excelled at reconciling dramatic content and formal constraints. His sensitivity to Alcina’s complex motives and reactions in this aria, as well as her despairing act-ending aria “ombre pallide,” balances her cruel disposition with vulnerability. Unlike earlier representations, Handel’s Alcina is a sympathetic trickster whose eventual downfall colors the opera’s happy ending with an element of tragedy.

The role of Alcina was originally played by Anna Maria Strada del Pò, an Italian soprano who remained faithful to Handel in the face of the many defections to the newly founded Opera of the Nobility, and whose unique vocal style developed with and through the composer’s own writing. Handel notably adjusted some of his own melodies to suit the strong upper range of her voice. The effect must have been not only thrilling for baroque audiences, but also melodically reflective of the sorceress’s strange power.

The case of Anna Strada demonstrates how baroque opera divas and divos shaped the composition itself. Their star power drew in audiences and, as such, many roles were tailored to them. The composer had to at once write with the singer in mind and also know when to put his or her foot down to their demands. In the original production, Ruggiero was played by Giovanni Carestini, the only castrato who could rival the great Farinelli who starred at the Opera of the Nobility. When Carestini insisted that Handel rewrite his Act II aria, “Verdi prati,” to showcase his virtuosity, Handel marched over to his house and told the singer point blank that he would sing it as Handel had written, or he would not get paid. Needing no more convincing, Carestini dropped his campaign. Thankfully so, as the surviving aria is another beautiful example of Handel’s ability to infuse an opera seria verse with a character’s complex, even conflicting, motivations.

“Verdi prati” is Ruggiero’s farewell aria to the verdant pleasures of Alcina’s island. Steeped in pastoral imagery, the text meditates on the “green meadows and pleasant woods” that will lose their beauty when Ruggiero shatters the urn that holds Alcina’s power. Handel breaks convention by setting the aria in a rondo instead of the typical da capo form, allowing Ruggiero to musically return over and over again to reflection on the earthly paradise he must destroy. The revised structure gives insight into the hero’s emotionally fraught decision to reject arcadian escapism for duty and love.

Indeed, contemporary English audiences understood Alcina as a moral allegory. The young hero, Ruggiero, must choose between a path of virtue and dignity and one of pleasure and indolence, symbolized by Bradamante and Alcina, respectively. Ruggiero’s ultimate choice to live virtuously necessitates the sacrifice of illusory, if not sentimental, pleasures.

Alcina is the last of Handel’s five magical operas. Unfettered by the constraints of a factual plot, Handel could exploit resources such as ballet, chorus, and fantastic scene changes to delight his audience. As musicologist Winton Dean writes, Alcina “. . . appeals equally to the eye, the ear, and the imagination, forming a deeply satisfying fusion of opera’s component arts, music, drama, dance, and spectacle.” The enduring legacy of Alcina is indebted to Handel’s mastery of dramatic expression.

Marzio Conti began his career as a flutist, making his debut at the Salzburg Festival at the age of 20 with I Solisti Veneti. He has been considered internationally as one of the exponents of the flute of his generation—playing, recording, and teaching classes for the most important international institutions. He decided to leave his concert activity in the mid-nineties to devote himself entirely to conducting. A student of Piero Bellugi, Conti soon began to be named titular director in several Italian orchestras and abroad. Since then, he has directed prestigious orchestras in theaters around the world, varying from symphonic repertoire to opera, also collaborating with renowned ballet companies. He has numerous recordings with international record labels. Conti has frequently appeared on television and radio programs, promoting, in addition to traditional symphonic repertoire and opera, contemporary music. Since the beginning of his directing career, he has held positions as principal and artistic director in several Italian and foreign orchestras. His last position was as titular director in Spain of Oviedo Filarmonia from 2011 to 2017, receiving prizes including the Gold Medal Auditorium of Oviedo, considered the highest artistic recognition of the city. Among other recent honors, he has served several times on the Jury of the Arts in the Princess of Asturias Awards. Conti has played, directed, and recorded with some of the greatest soloists, singers, stage directors, dancers, and choreographers of the international scene. He has collaborated as guest conductor and visiting professor with the Jacob School of Music since 2014 and has been principal guest conductor of the AIMS Festival in Graz since 2017.

Stage director Chas Rader-Shieber is known both for his bold and inventive productions and for his acute musical instincts. Reviewing his staging of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Toronto’s Classical 96.3 FM praised Rader-Shieber’s “daring and visionary approach to staging” and declared him “a force to be reckoned with in the opera world.” He began the 2024-25 season with a return to Orpheus PDX for a new production of Handel’s Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo, followed by Gounod’s Faust with the Academy of Vocal Arts. He also makes his company debut with North Carolina Opera, remounting his production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Recently named artistic partner as part of a three-year agreement, he continued his long-standing relationship with Des Moines Metro Opera in the summer, directing a new production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. The previous season began with a company debut at New Orleans Opera, where he directed a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Rader-Shieber also returned to the Curtis Institute of Music for Handel’s oratorio L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and to Des Moines Metro Opera for a new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Rader-Shieber has enjoyed a long relationship with the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, where he has directed over 30 operas, among them Il barbiere di Siviglia, La clemenza di Tito, Capriccio, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Zauberflöte, Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers, and Alcina. At Curtis, he also co-directed the film Mercy with Alek Shrader, inspired by Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. Rader-Shieber’s productions have been seen around the world, at houses such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and many more.

Robert Perdziola has designed sets and costumes for the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Boston, Glimmerglass, Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School of Drama. Among these designs are Capriccio and Il Pirata for the Met, The Merry Wives of Windsor for Stratford, and Giulio Cesare for Fort Worth. Most recently, he designed The Nutcracker (sets and costumes) for the Boston Ballet. Perdziola received a 2008 Helpmann Award nomination in costume design for Arabella at the Sydney Opera House. In 2006, he designed costumes for the world premiere of David Carlson and Colin Graham’s new opera, Anna Karenina, performed at the Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the U.K., he has designed Le Nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte for the Garsington Opera. Other works in Europe include Così fan tutte (Opera Monte Carlo) and Gounod’s Faust (Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover). His designs for theater are frequently featured at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. Perdziola is the recipient of three Helen Hayes Awards for costume design (The Country Wife, Don Carlos, and Lady Windermere’s Fan) and the Irene Sharaff Young Master Award. Ballet designs include works for American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. He is on the board of directors for The Tobin Foundation for Theatre Arts. (Photo by Jonathan Tichler)

Russell Long is the lighting specialist for the Musical Arts Center, where he has designed lights for Suor Angelica, Trouble in Tahiti, Silence, Die Fledermaus, Eugene Onegin, An American Dream, Autumnsong, Roméo et Juliette, La Finta Giardiniera, and The Merry Widow. Long’s most recent regional design credits include Dial M for Murder, Forever Plaid (IUST), Newsies, The Music Man (QCT), Lunch Bunch (Clubbed Thumb), 45 Seconds from Broadway (Hudson Guild), and Aladdin Jr. (SYP). He has also worked as the lighting supervisor/resident lighting designer for Aspen Music Festival and School, where he designed lights for Uncommon Ritual (Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Mike Marshall), ¡De Colores!, and Mathew Whitaker. Originally from Southern Arizona, Long studied at Pima Community College and Northern Arizona University and has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, Peaks Productions, University of Arizona Opera, Aspen Opera, and Vail Ballet Festival. He has also toured nationally as a lighting director, lighting designer, and production manager. He earned an M.F.A in Lighting Design from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance.

Andrew Elliot is a makeup artist, wig designer, and stylist. His work can also be seen with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Phoenix Theatre, Zach & Zack Productions, Summer Stock Stage, and others. His work as a makeup artist and stylist can be seen locally and nationally in various publications, commercials, and editorials. The facade of the Palladium in Carmel, Indiana, showcases his work as a part of the Blockhouse Studios productions of Eos and Frost. 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.

A 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 200 productions during the past 28 years. Design work for Jacobs School productions includes Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, The Coronation of Poppea, Hansel and Gretel, Bernstein’s Mass, An American Dream, Sweeney Todd, Trouble in Tahiti, the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank, and last season’s premiere of A Star on the Rise: La Bayadère . . . Reimagined. His design for Florencia en el Amazonas was featured in San Diego Opera’s 2017-18 season. Smith earned a Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, and was a student of former Jacobs professors C. David Higgins and Robert O’Hearn. Upcoming productions include Swan Lake with Indianapolis Ballet.

Elizabeth Licata is an award-winning costume artist and head of costumes at IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater. Previously, she worked for the Santa Fe Opera, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Constellation Stage & Screen, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. She was an M.F.A. student under Heather Milam, head of the Costume Technology program at IU. Additionally, she has studied haute couture at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and embroidery from the London School of Embroidery and at Chanel’s École Lesage in Paris. Licata earned a B.A. from Dartmouth and an M.A. from Stanford.

In addition to the libretto for this production of Alcina, Jacobs Professor Emeritus Vincent Liotta has authored and translated numerous works for the musical theater. These include new English librettos for Victor Herbert’s operetta Naughty Marietta, Viva Verdi—an original dramatic concert for chorus, orchestra, and soloists about the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi—and The Merry Wives of Windsor as well as many supertitle translations. In collaboration with Barbara Silverstein, he wrote an original performance translation for Haydn’s opera Orlando Paladino. As a stage director, Liotta is credited with the creation of several world-premiere productions, notably the much-acclaimed opera Vincent by Bernard Rands, Our Town by Ned Rorem, Coyote Tales by Henry Mollicone, The Tale of Lady Thị Kính by Jacobs professor P. Q. Phan, and Too Many Sopranos by former Jacobs faculty Edwin Penhorwood. Liotta’s professional projects have been seen in opera houses around the world, including in Korea, Romania, Argentina, Canada, and Australia. During his tenure at the Jacobs School of Music, he directed over 100 productions for IU Jacobs Opera Theater, spanning the history of opera from its beginnings in the compositions of Monteverdi and Cavalli to modern works by composers such as Benjamin Britten and John Corigliano. Liotta also has an extensive repertory in modern American musicals.

Jasmine Wonkyung Chung, a soprano from Seoul, South Korea, is currently pursuing a Performer Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Carol Vaness. She earned both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree from Yonsei University in South Korea. She has showcased her talents in operatic roles such as Sandrina/Violante in La Finta Giardiniera (IU Jacobs Opera Theater), Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. She made her Carnegie Hall debut and was honored as the Indiana District winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition for the 2023-24 season. She has also been recognized with awards from the Indiana Matinee Musicale Competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters Competition. In her native Korea, she has earned bronze awards in two significant competitions: the Korea National Opera Competition and the KBS∙KEPCO Music Competition. In 2019, she further refined her artistry through practical training at Hannover State Opera in Germany. Looking ahead, she will join the Aspen Music Festival in summer 2025 as a studio artist, covering the role of Govinda in Siddhartha.

Soprano Macey Rowland earned a Master of Music in Voice from the Jacobs School of Music in the spring of 2024 and is currently pursuing a Performer Diploma under the mentorship of Heidi Grant Murphy. She was the first-place winner of the Indiana National Society of Arts and Letters award in classical voice in 2024, a finalist for the 2024 Georgina Joshi Fellowship, and a recipient of the Joshi International Fellowship in 2023. During her time at Jacobs, she portrayed Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow and served as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C. Her operatic experience at Jacobs includes performances in the choruses of Ainadamar, Roméo et Juliette, and Sweeney Todd. In November 2024, she performed a supporting role in the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Mason Bates, a coproduction with the Metropolitan Opera at IU Jacobs Opera Theater. This April, Rowland will conclude her time at IU with her final opera chorus performance in Carmen. She dedicates her appearance in the title role of Alcina to Georgina Joshi, whose favorite composer was Handel, with special thanks to the Joshi family.

Soprano Emma DiSanto, hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Timothy Noble. She recently earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance with a minor in Arts Administration at the Jacobs School of Music. She has been featured in the choruses of The Merry Widow, Eugene Onegin, and Mason Bates’ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a coproduction between the Jacobs School and the Metropolitan Opera. She was recently seen in party scenes as Peep-Bo (The Mikado) in Pop-Up Opera: Die Fledermaus. She has also sung in the oratorio choruses and NOTUS during her undergraduate studies. Outside of IU, she made her debut singing the world premiere role of Philomela in Paul Richards’ Mondo Novo (2022) at the Vienna Summer Music Festival in Florida. Upon returning to the festival the following year, she made her international debut in Vienna as Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) and covered the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte). DiSanto also sang the role of Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) with the Berlin Opera Academy. Other credits include Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) in undergraduate opera scenes workshop.

Soomin Kim, a soprano from the Republic of Korea, is currently in her first year of the Performer Diploma program at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies under the guidance of Heidi Grant Murphy. Kim graduated with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Yonsei University and has captivated audiences with her powerful performances and emotional depth in opera and classical music. She has won awards in various competitions, including the Korea Music Journal Contest, Music Education News Contest, and Han-eum Competition in Korea. Notable performances include the role of Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte in Seoul, as well as appearances at the Korea-China Opera Gala Concert. She has also performed in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as a soloist. In the fall of 2024, Kim performed the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop at the Jacobs School of Music, further showcasing her versatility and vocal expressiveness. She continues to inspire through her teaching and performances, blending her deep passion for music with her commitment to artistic excellence.

Mezzo-soprano Miranda Nilan is a first-year master’s student in voice performance at the Jacobs School of Music studying under Heidi Grant Murphy. Originally from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from West Chester University, where she studied with Emily Bullock. In the fall of 2024, she portrayed La Maestra delle Novizie in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

Mezzo-soprano Dajeong Song is originally from Goyang, South Korea, and is a fourth-year doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton and worked as a graduate assistant. Song earned an M.M. and Professional Studies Diploma in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music Education from Konkuk University, Seoul. She has been on stage at the summer program Opera in the Ozarks in several opera performances, including Die Fledermaus (Prince Orlofsky) and The Ballad of Baby Doe (Mama McCourt and Effie). Additionally, she has been on opera stages at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in several performances, including Trouble inTahiti (Dinah), Rodelinda (Unulfo), and Suor Angelica (Zelatrice). Song has sung in several master classes, with Frederica von Stade, Barbara Reed-Honn, and Martin Katz. Before she started her doctoral program, Song was a high school music teacher and a choir conductor in South Korea. She debuted at IU Jacobs Opera Theater as Aunt Lou in Highway 1, USA. She also performed Lazuli in L’Étoile and Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera with Jacobs Opera. Song debuted in Bolivia, with Orquesta Filarmónica de Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Last summer, she was an apprentice artist with Central City Opera, where she made her American debut in the role of Kate in The Pirates of Penzance and covered Mrs. Jones in Street Scene. Last fall, she was seen on the MAC stage as La Badessa in Jacobs’ production of Suor Angelica.

Tenor Elijah Bowen is a second-year master’s student at the Jacobs School of Music studying with Heidi Grant Murphy. He has also studied with Brian Horne and Steven Rickards. A native of Logansport, Indiana, Bowen graduated from Indiana University in 2023 with degrees in voice performance and choral music education. In 2019, he marked his IU Jacobs Opera Theater debut as Don Curzio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. More recently, he performed Soldato Pretoriano in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, and Second Trio in Trouble in Tahiti. Other roles include Luiz in the University Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s production of The Gondoliers and Corebo in Cavalli’s La Didone with the Haymarket Opera Company. A lover of early music, Bowen has been featured in many performances of the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. He is a frequent soloist with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and soloed with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. Along with his frequent recital and small ensemble work, he is a staff singer for the English Choir at the historic Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis.

From Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, Simon Brea is a second-year master’s student at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Russell Thomas. He graduated from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in voice and opera studies under the tutelage of Jacque Trussel. At Purchase, he performed roles such as Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, also performing the latter at the Queens Summer Vocal Institute. Brea made his Jacobs debut as Camille de Rosillon in the fall 2023 production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Other roles at Jacobs include the Harvester Solo in Eugene Onegin and Alfred in the Pop-Up Opera edition of Die Fledermaus, while also participating in opera choruses for Roméo et Juliette, Eugene Onegin, and the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Scenes at Jacobs include the title role in The Rake’s Progress, Martin in The Tender Land, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment. This past summer, Brea made his professional debut as a resident artist at Opera North’s Young Artist Program in New Hampshire, conducted by Louis Burkot, playing the roles of Mercury in Orphée aux enfers, Borsa, while also covering the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and Jack in Into the Woods. He is also a comedic content creator with one million subscribers on YouTube and uses the influence he has gained throughout social media to bring attention to his operatic journey and opera as a whole.

Evan Tiapula is pursuing an M.M. degree under the instruction of Brian Horne. Originally from Brisbane, California, he earned a B.M. degree from Oberlin Conservatory. With Oberlin Opera Theater, Tiapula performed Count Robinson in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Martino in L’occasione fa il ladro, Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring, and Voltaire/Pangloss/Cacambo/Martin in Candide. Last fall, he played Frank, the prison ward, in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s Pop-Up Opera production of Die Fledermaus. In addition, he performed the role of Salvador Dalí and sang in the chorus for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Samuel Wetzel is a P.D.S.P student at IU studying with Linda Di Fiore. Hailing from Erie, Pennsylvania, he has most recently sung the baritone solos in Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the University Chorale and Bach’s BWV 92 with the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. He earned an M.M. from the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, where he sang a number of roles, including Pa in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, Pandolfe in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème. While at CU, he also participated in the CU New Opera Works Festival, where he worked with Gene Scheer and Tom Cipullo to workshop their new operas. Wetzel recently won the Colorado Bach Ensemble’s Annual Competition for Young Artists and performs regularly with them. He earned a B.M. at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, where he sang many roles and participated in the annual Bach Festival.

Caleb Crawford is a countertenor and pianist from Central Florida. He is currently a second-year graduate student at the Jacobs School of Music, where he is pursuing a Master of Music in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Tichina Vaughn. Crawford received both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Piano Performance from Pensacola Christian College. He later attended Butler University, where he graduated with a Master of Music in Piano Performance. He served as a staff accompanist at Butler, where he also taught private piano and voice lessons for the Butler Community Arts School. He was also a music director for Hancock County Children’s Choir, where he taught and directed the K-3rd and 4^th-6^th grade choirs. In spring 2022, he made his professional debut as a vocal soloist with the American Choral Directors Association at the Harris Theater in Chicago. For the past three years, he has served as the Alto 1 section leader at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. In December 2022, Crawford was the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. In spring 2024, he was the winning vocalist of the Jacobs School’s Vivaldi Competition, which afforded him the opportunity to perform his aria with the Jacobs Baroque Ensemble in April.

Macanese Canadian mezzo-soprano Natalie Vong is a second-year D.M. Voice Performance student at the Jacobs School of Music, studying under the tutelage of Brian Gill. A 2024 recipient of the New Emerging Artist Grant from the Canadian Arts Council, Vong is an active performer and teacher of opera, classical singing, and music of all ages. Having performed in Canada, Italy, and the United States, some of her past credits include La Badessa (Suor Angelica), Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Ruggiero (Alcina), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Praskowia (The Merry Widow), Suor Mathilde (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and the opera choruses of Die Zauberflöte and Le Nozze di Figaro. Opera scene credits include Romeo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Annina in La Traviata, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. She earned both a Master of Music in Performance and Literature and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Western Ontario, studying with Sophie Roland.