Seville, Spain, in 1928

Act I

Soldiers and townspeople mill around in a square in Seville. A young girl from out of town, Micaëla, asks the soldiers if they have seen Don José, a young brigadier. Telling her he’ll be back soon, they try to persuade her to stay with them, but she declines. The relief soldiers, including Don José, arrive. Factory bells ring, and a group of cigarette factory workers arrive to take a break, including Carmen, a Roma woman who works in the factory. She focuses her attention on Don José, who pretends not to notice. Before leaving, she seductively tosses a flower at him. Alone, Don José recovers the flower and reflects on Carmen’s charms. Micaëla finds him and delivers both a letter and a kiss from his mother, who asks her son to marry Micaëla. Don José promises his love and fidelity to Micaëla, despite the temptations of Carmen. A ruckus erupts from the cigarette factory. Carmen has injured another woman, who was hurling derogatory talk at her, and the officer Zuniga commands Don José to escort Carmen to prison. In doing so, Don José succumbs to Carmen’s charms. He agrees to a rendezvous and lets Carmen escape.

Act II

At Lillas Pastia’s inn, Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès dance for Zuniga and other soldiers. A group of revelers arrives, celebrating Escamillo, the illustrious bullfighter. The crowd cheers as Escamillo boasts of his victories. He notices Carmen, but she remains indifferent. Zuniga, also smitten, tells Carmen that he plans to return to the inn later to visit her. When the crowd disperses, the smugglers Remendado and Dancaïre try to enlist the aid of Carmen, Frasquita, and Mercédès. Mercédès and Frasquita agree to help them smuggle contraband for the resistance, but Carmen, expecting Don José, wants to stay at the inn. Don José arrives, and Carmen dances for him. But distant bugles signal him to return to his quarters, and he prepares to leave. Carmen mocks his obedience and encourages him to run away with her and lead a freer life. Don José remains unconvinced until Zuniga returns to the inn seeking Carmen. In a jealous rage, Don José defies his officer’s orders to leave. As the smugglers pounce on Zuniga and escort him to his demise, Don José has no choice but to remain with them.

Act III

At a Roma hideout in the mountains, Don José longs for his mother, who still believes him an honest man. Carmen urges him to leave for home, but he refuses. Frasquita and Mercédès tell their fortunes with a deck of cards. When Carmen takes her turn, the cards foretell death for her and Don José. The smugglers set off to see if the path is clear for their contraband, leaving Don José behind to guard the camp. Micaëla arrives at the mountain hideout searching for Don José and hides among the rocks. Escamillo approaches the camp looking for Carmen. He and Don José exchange words and begin to fight. But the smugglers return in time to stop Don José from wounding Escamillo, who invites them all to the bullfight in Seville. Her hiding place discovered, Micaëla begs Don José to return home to his mother, who is dying. Despite his violent jealousy, Don José leaves with Micaëla.

Act IV

At the bullfight, a crowd gathers to watch the procession of toreadors. Escamillo and Carmen arrive together. Mercédès and Frasquita warn Carmen that Don José is lurking about. Carmen, unafraid, waits alone for Don José. He approaches and begs her to leave with him. She insists that their affair is over, that she does not love him anymore, and that she now loves Escamillo. As Don José’s demands become more desperate and violent, Carmen throws the ring he once gave her at him. In a fit of rage, Don José murders Carmen, while the crowd inside the bullring cheers Escamillo.

by Keturah Stickann

At the very end of Bizet’s opera Carmen, as Don José confronts Carmen after she’s left him for Escamillo, he pleads with her by saying “laisse-moi te sauver,” which translates as “let me save you.” A shocking tactic from an obsessed man, it’s clear from this brief moment in an opera of fiery exchanges that no matter whether he loves her or not, José sees Carmen as less than, or as the “other.” Of course, in the 1870s when Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the libretto of Carmen based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée, the Romani people were much maligned, seen as exotic but dangerous, as the other, as shocking subjects for an opera. Roma women such as Carmen were considered witches, seducing men into a life of crime, and indeed for many years, Don José was seen as the victim of the story, rightly killing a seductress who led him down a bad path.

As we have evolved as a society, our ideas of Carmen and the Romani people have changed. As the only Roma woman working in a factory, we see her being arrested for attacking another factory worker. What we realize now is that the fight she gets into is actually started because the other woman yells derogatory comments at her. We watch the soldiers and townspeople get excited to see her and now realize it’s not just because she is a beautiful woman, but because she is “exotic.” They don’t see her humanity and, as do the soldiers in Lillias Pastia’s bar in Act II, they see Roma women as “loose” and “easy,” and therefore okay to abuse and use.

Carmen is by no means an innocent, but as I’ve told this story over and over, I’ve become more and more aligned with the idea that Don José is by nature a violent, jealous man, obsessed with the idea of who Carmen is, or who he expects her to be. Carmen, like so many abused women before and after her, gets caught up with him and can’t extract herself from his grasp. The harder she pushes away, the more he grabs on, and by Act III, she knows she will die by his hand.

Misogynistic abuse and the othering of races and cultures different than our own are practices that have happened for millennia and still happen today. To highlight this, I’ve reframed Carmen’s story in a more modern context by updating our environment to late 1920s Spain. In this period, Spain was under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, a period which would have seen the abused Romani community eagerly working for the resistance. It also lays bare the fact that, even in a modern society, Carmen’s plight still rings true.

by Louis Lohraseb

If one imagines silence as darkness, then Carmen begins as an explosion of color— an ecstatic effulgence of chromatic splendor, vibrantly saturated colors whirling, scintillating, and cavorting in the mind’s eye. This dazzling display unfolds against a bright, sunlit backdrop, where warm light pours down from a flawless azure sky, illuminating the mesmerizing spectacle with its brilliance. Perhaps no other canonical opera—not even those of Puccini or the opening of Otello—catapults the listener into its ethos with the singular intensity of Carmen. This musical Big Bang unfurls Bizet’s universe, thus charting a journey into one of the most powerful dramas to ever enchant the operatic arena.

When prompted to name a musical prodigy whose life was cut tragically short, Mozart almost certainly emerges as the most immediate answer among the general public, followed by perhaps Schubert or Mendelssohn. It is curious that mainstream cognizance seldom includes Bizet, who in his youth exhibited a profound musical talent and fully formed compositional prowess and who died at the age of 36, living but nine months longer than Mozart. Famously, he died only weeks after the disappointing premiere of Carmen, never to know how his creation would ultimately captivate the global audience. Of course, it almost needn’t be mentioned that the same critics who had rebuked Carmen at its premiere later lauded its genius immediately following Bizet’s death.

In many respects, Carmen remains a perennially modern opera, provoking passionate responses since its premiere to the present day, traversing the shifting societal paradigms that have enveloped its narrative over the span of a century and a half. Perhaps the most telling reflection of this evolution is found in the question of who is deemed responsible for the tragedy. Indeed, it required significant effort and debate before the Opéra-Comique would permit the presentation of a work whose title character, in their view, embodied the very essence of immorality, une femme fatale suprême whose corruption of Don José precipitates their dual tragedy. In a complete reversal, contemporary discourse rightly places the mantle of culpability upon José, holding him accountable for his violent tendencies and the ensuing murder.

Much ink has been devoted by far more esteemed pens to exploring these dynamics and the numerous social and cultural considerations surrounding the presentation of this opera. In this context, it serves but to underscore the enduring appeal of this work, owing to Bizet’s remarkable ability to depict the multifaceted tapestry of the human experience: Romani pride, Spanish flair, the innocent joy of children, the heavy midday air redolent of tobacco and blossoms, the realization of tragic destiny, the sensuality of dance, the descent into visceral rage and violence, the youthful valiance of innocence, the intoxication of lust, jovial camaraderie, filial devotion, sinister drunkenness, audacious bravado, humiliation, nostalgia, remorse, regret, and so much more, all transmitted effortlessly through the music of Carmen.

Intriguingly, the one major emotion conspicuously absent is reciprocated love: never do we see Carmen and Don José in a blissful, consummated union, which, along with the creation of Micaëla and the deletion of Carmen’s husband, is one of the most important differences between the opera and Mérimée’s novella. Much like the tumultuous relationship that unfolds on stage, the audience is ensnared in a perpetual state of disquietude, ensuring that the dramatic tension pulsates with unrelenting vivacity, propelling the narrative inexorably toward its tragic dénouement.

What is truly incredible is the depth of emotion that is conveyed so prodigiously through music. At the risk of trying to dissect the metaphorical rainbow, let us examine but the famous “fate” theme, introduced in the concluding section of the Prelude and recurring at crucial junctures within the score, including its final strains. If one looks at its construction, one marvels to find that its first four bars are precisely crafted from a Romani musical scale, characterized by the sharpening of the fourth and seventh degrees and the flattening of the sixth. However, the ensuing four bars begin by employing the Western European technique of sequential transposition, followed by morphing the melody into one clearly rooted in the major mode. Thus Bizet musically melds the two beings of Carmen and José, revealing the inescapable intertwining of their destinies.

This moment offers but a mere glimpse of the pervasive brilliance seeping through the score, often overlooked amidst the extraordinary popularity of its numbers. Few operas can rival the sheer number of iconic “tunes” or moments that transcend classical music to become universally acclaimed and cherished. Although we lament Bizet’s untimely departure and speculate on the myriad possibilities his extended life might have afforded, let us ultimately celebrate the indelible legacy he bequeathed; Carmen’s genius lives on, continuing to captivate, move, and mirror the human experience even today.

by Abigail Byrd Glidewell

Ph.D. Student in Musicology

Since its premiere in 1875, Georges Bizet’s (1838-1875) Carmen has captured the hearts and minds of its audiences. With its vibrant protagonist and enchanting melodies, the opera whisks both listeners and the soldier Don José to faraway lands and lifestyles, sometimes with disastrous consequences. When the opera was first performed in France, however, audience reactions were decidedly negative. Critics at the Operá-Comique in Paris balked at the opera’s sensuality, its use of French cabaret music, and its brutal ending in a theater that catered to families and engaged couples. Sadly, Bizet died exactly three months after the initial premiere, believing his opera to be an utter failure. Once the opera’s spoken parts were orchestrated into recitative by Ernest Guiraud (1837-1892) for performance abroad, it quickly gained international popularity and acclaim for many of the same reasons that made it objectionable to French audiences. Carmen has since become one of the most performed operas in the world, and its music has seeped into popular culture and media as a prototypical example of “Spanishness.”

Carmen began in 1845 as a novella by the author Prosper Mérimée, detailing the fictional travel journal of a male narrator through exotic cultures and landscapes in the “Orient,” a popular genre for French citizens curious about other corners of the world. Spain’s Muslim North African influence and South American colonialism gave the country an air of mystery that was attributed to the East, even though Spain is located in Western Europe. This theme of the “Other” is central to both the novella and the opera, although this sense of “otherness” is misattributed or multivalent. In the media of the time, women were often used as stand-ins for the Middle East, aliens, or the poor who threatened to overthrow Western society. Moreover, Carmen’s sexual proclivities and ethnic background make her a representation of this imagined exotic “Other.” Although Carmen refers to herself as a gypsy (now considered a prejudicial term for the Roma people) in the opera, the narrator of Mérimée’s story first believes her to be Jewish—a mistake that stems from the loss of the Romani and Jewish people’s homelands. This ethnic conflation and Carmen’s transgressive lifestyle are both dangerous and appealing to the narrator and to Don José, a soldier the narrator meets in the countryside of Spain. Bizet’s contribution to this discourse is twofold: his music boldly marks Carmen as this dangerous “Other,” while the musical content and libretto paint an ambiguous portrait that has fascinated audiences ever since.

Many of the changes made by Bizet and the librettists Henri Meilhac (1831-1897) and Ludovic Halévy (1834-1908) from the source material are due to the expectations of the opera-comique genre, as Bizet faced opposition on several fronts during the opera’s conception and production. The most obvious changes from the novella are the omission of the narrator and the addition of Micaëla as a paragon of Christian purity to foil Carmen’s character. The children’s choruses in Acts I and IV are common diversions in the genre, adding levity to the opera’s gritty realism. Escamillo’s famous “Toreador Song” in Act II was a later addition due to pressure from Bizet’s peers. Certain plot points, such as Don José’s military service as punishment for a violent fight over a game of paume (a precursor to tennis), are also omitted in the transformation of Carmen’s spoken parts into recitative. The tension between normative patterns and transgression is a theme in both the plot and the music. Even in the Prelude, predictable four-bar phrases and tonal musical structures give listeners a sense of expectation and normalcy that are disrupted by the musical figures associated with Carmen. The most famous example, popularly known as the “fate motif,” first appears in the cellos at the end of the Prelude. This motif is chromatic but never musically resolved. It also features the interval of an augmented second, which is often associated with the ethnic “Other.” The motif emerges at important moments in Don José and Carmen’s relationship throughout each act: in Act I when Carmen drops her flower in front of Don José, in Act II when they reunite, in Act III when Carmen foretells the future, and, finally, during the climax of Act IV. This motif could represent their love for each other, Carmen’s slowly approaching destiny, or Don José’s fatal attraction to her.

Throughout the opera, Bizet portrays characters and interpersonal dynamics through expert orchestration and depictions of the exotic. The composer once said that it was “virtually impossible to compose without the stimulus” of exotic cultures and music, which allowed him to transgress the rules and boundaries typically associated with classical music. The Prelude introduces these codes for the musical “normal” and the “Other” through a series of themes, all of which appear later in the opera. Although musical representations of “Otherness” threaten to disrupt small-scale musical structures, the opera is segmented by self-contained and often symmetrical musical tableaus, with each act beginning with a short instrumental entr’acte depicting the setting of the opera. The main characters all have a distinct musical style, with Micaëla’s earnest melodies, Don José’s lyrical and effusive delivery, Escamillo’s pompous march-like feel, and Carmen’s dance-inflected chromatic delivery.

Carmen’s famous “Habanera” (or “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) in Act I is full of dance rhythms and chromatic sliding, including a repeating bass line with rhythms resembling the Cuban dance. The Habanera extends the ethnic conflations of the novella into the musical realm, with generalized musical markers of “Otherness” including an increased use of percussion, repeated melodic and rhythmic ostinatos, and scales outside of major and minor groupings. The inspiration for the exotic music in Carmen, however, often came from secondhand sources, written by Europeans who had visited the Caribbean and performed these sounds in French nightlife. Another layer of Carmen’s musical language is the variation in her vocal delivery throughout the opera. In private moments, such as her reflections on her fate in Act III, many of the exotic musical markers associated with her fade away and are replaced by more standard operatic expression. This musical dichotomy could be correlated with Carmen’s performance of self and sexuality in the presence of others. Escamillo shares a similar performative and “Othered” mode of musical expression with Carmen that is highlighted in this production, suggesting a reason for their compatibility as the opera progresses.

Carmen’s complexity is part of what makes her, and the opera, so compelling. Is she an unapologetic feminist icon or a problematic femme fatale who throws men away for her own personal gain? What does love mean to the various characters in this opera—is it a transactional encounter, the possession of women, or something more emotional and enduring? How do hegemonic cultures hurt both unprivileged “Others” and those who wield power? What are the ethical implications for us of enjoying an opera that depicts the abuse of women? Despite Carmen’s problematic tendencies and misattributions, perhaps its value lies in the conversations, questions, and emotions that arise from it.

Since his professional debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in 2019, Louis Lohraseb has quickly established himself as an exciting new conductor on the international stage, with subsequent debuts at the Semperoper Dresden, Los Angeles Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, and Komische Oper Berlin. The 2024-25 season includes his return to Sarasota Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro) and IU Jacobs Opera Theater (Carmen) and debuts with Central City Opera (Barber) and Rice University (Alcina) as well as concerts with the Skaneateles Festival Orchestra. Following his Los Angeles Opera mainstage debut conducting Tosca, Lohraseb was immediately reengaged for The Barber of Seville and La Traviata. Elsewhere in 2023-24, he debuted at Staatsoper Hamburg (Le Nozze di Figaro), Merola Opera Program (Schwabacher Concerts), and Atlanta Opera (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and with the Oakland and Peoria symphonies and Wintergreen Music Festival. An accomplished pianist, Lohraseb is a regular recital and chamber music partner. He studied piano with Findlay Cockrell and Kevin Murphy, and harpsichord and theory with William Carragan. Lohraseb was a recipient of the prestigious Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award in 2022, and he includes among his mentors Murphy, Lorin Maazel, James Conlon, and Arthur Fagen. An alumnus of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera, he has served as assistant conductor to music director James Conlon for numerous productions since 2017 at Los Angeles Opera and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In recognition of his work at Los Angeles Opera, Lohraseb received the Eva and Marc Stein Artist Award in 2024. Born to Iranian and Italian parents, he graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Geneseo, where he was an Edgar Fellow. He was a conducting fellow at the Yale School of Music, with additional post-graduate coursework at the Jacobs School of Music.

Keturah Stickann’s directing and choreographic work has been seen in countless opera houses across the United States and Canada as well as in Chile, Japan, France, Hungary, and Australia. A champion of new American opera, she has directed and choreographed multiple works by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, including directing the world premiere of their If I Were You at Merola Opera and associate directing and choreographing for director Leonard Foglia on the world premieres of Moby-Dick (which toured to nine cities, most recently this season at the Metropolitan Opera) and It’s a Wonderful Life. She has also directed works by Robert Aldridge (Sister Carrie), Anthony Davis (Lilith), Ricky Ian Gordon (Orpheus and Euridice and A Coffin in Egypt), Jennifer Higdon (Cold Mountain), Laura Kaminsky (As One), and Jose “Pepe” Martinez (Cruzar La Cara de la Luna). Recent productions by Stickann include Don Giovanni (Minnesota Opera), The Mother of Us All and Hansel and Gretel (Chautauqua Opera), Salome (Madison Opera), The Barber of Seville (San Diego Opera)—which was conceived as a drive-in production during the height of COVID, Candide (Michigan Opera Theatre), Rusalka (Madison Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (West Edge Opera), Orfeo ed Euridice (Florida Grand Opera), Turandot (San Diego Opera and Palm Beach Opera), Norma (Opera Southwest), Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Chautauqua Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Colorado), Don Quichotte (San Diego Opera), and The Seven Deadly Sins and Pagliacci (Virginia Opera). Upcoming, Stickann joins Foglia once again for the world premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at the Dallas Opera, directs La Traviata at Knoxville Opera, and directs Samson et Dalila at Opera Colorado. Before becoming a director, she was a classically trained dancer, performing in opera and concert dance around the country.

Steven C. Kemp is a set designer for opera, theater, and events. Originally from Houston, Texas, he earned his M.F.A. from the University of California San Diego. His previous IU Jacobs Opera Theater designs include Candide, West Side Story, The Music Man, MadamaButterfly, Oklahoma!, and Dead Man Walking. His over 150 designs for opera have been presented at 40 companies, including the Atlanta Opera, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Kentucky Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Santa Barbara, Pittsburgh Opera, Portland Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His 30 designs for Opera San José across 14 seasons include the West Coast premieres of Anna Karenina and Silent Night as well as the acclaimed productions of Idomeneo and Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella. His design for Candide, originally presented at Des Moines Metro Opera, won honorable mention at the 2021 Golden Trezzini Awards for Architecture and Design. His design for Falstaff was selected as a finalist in the World Stage Design 2017 exhibit in Taipei, Taiwan. He has designed over 50 productions in New York City, including the current Off-Broadway world-premiere musical All the World’s a Stage and the revivals of Tick, Tick . . . Boom! and Ordinary Days. He has designed on the West End as well as numerous productions for regional theaters, cruise ships, and international tours, such as the current Sesame Street Live!, Peppa Pig Live!, Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour, and Baby Shark Live!. Early in his career, he worked extensively as an associate designer, including designs for 10 Broadway productions, national tours, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Disney Theatricals, Dreamworks, and the Metropolitan Opera.

Sarah Bahr is a Minneapolis-based costume and scenic designer working in opera, theater, and dance. Opera credits include Minnesota Opera: Don Giovanni (Costume Design), Albert Herring (Scenic Design), Roméo et Juliette (Costume Design), and Carmen (Assistant Costume Design); Mill City Summer Opera: Carmen (Costume Design); A Picnic Operetta: Don Giovanni in Cornlandia (Costume Design); and Santa Fe Opera: Carmen (Assistant Costume Design). Theater and dance credits include Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theater Company, Jungle Theater, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Trademark Theater, Theater Latte Da, Penumbra Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, BRKFST Dance Company, Threads Dance Project, and Vail Dance Festival. Teaching credits include the University of Minnesota, Augsburg University, and Macalester College. Bahr was recognized by American Theatre Magazine in “Roll Call People to Watch: Twin Cities” in 2024 and awarded a MN Theatre Award for Exceptional Overall Production for her costume design for This Bitter Earth at Penumbra Theatre in 2018. As a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, she is a Central Region board member and activist for equity for theater designers and technicians. Bahr holds a design and technical theater M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota and a studio art M.A. from New York University.

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.

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, Lucia di Lammermoor, West Side Story, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, The Elixir of Love, Bernstein’s Mass, Parsifal, La Traviata, Little Women, 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, Eugene Onegin, and Sweeney Todd. For five years, Huff has served as choral instructor and conductor for the Jacobs School’s Sacred Music Intensive. He conducted the Jacobs Summer Music series productions of Arthur Honegger’s King David and Stephen Paulus’s The Three Hermits. This past summer, Huff returned for his sixth year as faculty coach at Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute and also made his debut as guest chorus director with the Chicago Symphony Chorus in concert performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (James Conlon, conductor). This season, Huff continues to serve as principal guest coach for the Atlanta Opera Studio Artists Program.

Brent Gault is professor of music education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He specializes in elementary general music education, early childhood music education, and Kodály-inspired methodology. Gault also has training in both the Orff and Dalcroze approaches to music education. He has presented sessions and research at conferences of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Dalcroze Society of America, International Kodály Society, International Society for Music Education, Organization of American Kodály Educators, and The National Association for Music Education. In addition, he has served as a presenter and guest lecturer for colleges and music education organizations in the United States, Canada, China, Ireland, and Singapore. Articles by Gault have been published in various music education periodicals, including the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal, General Music Today, Kodály Envoy, Orff Echo, and American Dalcroze Journal. He is the coeditor (with Carlos Abril) of Teaching General Music (2016, Oxford University Press) and General Music: Dimensions of Practice (2022, Oxford University Press), and the author of Listen Up! Fostering Musicianship Through Active Listening (2016, Oxford University Press). In addition to his duties with the Jacobs School Music Education Department, Gault serves as the program director for the Indiana University Children’s Choir, where he conducts the Allegro Choir. He is a past president of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.

Katherine (Kat) Coyl is a professional intimacy and fight director based in Chicago. Their work includes multiple world premieres in both opera and dance. Her most recent work includes Hindsight (intimacy and fight director) at Chicago Fringe Opera, Lenora (intimacy and fight director) at Chicago Opera Theater, Breaking the Wave (assistant director and intimacy coordinator) at Detroit Opera, The Nose (intimacy and fight director) at Chicago Opera Theater, Carmen (intimacy and Act 4 intimate violence choreography) at Des Moines Metro Opera, Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley (intimacy director) at South Chicago Dance Theatre, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turning (intimacy and fight director) at Chicago Opera Theater, and Athena at Urbanite Theatre. Coyl also teaches acting for singers at DePaul University and stage combat at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt.

Matt Herndon is a fight choreographer and stage combat teacher originally from Bloomington and currently based in Las Vegas. At Jacobs, along with having choreographed its previous Carmen, nearly a decade ago, some of his more memorable work has been seen in Sweeney Todd, Roméo et Juliette, West Side Story, Oklahoma!, and Dead Man Walking. In the Bloomington theater scene, he’s crafted the violence for productions such as Anon(ymous), The Lieutenant of Inishmore, king oedipus, She Kills Monsters, and Oleanna. Herndon is the resident fight choreographer and stage combat instructor at Central City Opera (CCO), and he’ll be returning for a fourth summer this year to continue teaching safe and believable stage combat techniques to the next generation of opera singers. Some of his favorite CCO credits include The Girl of the Golden West, Street Scene, Roméo et Juliette, and Two Remain. He also currently serves on the governing body of the Society of American Fight Directors.

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.

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

Cori Ellison, a leading creative figure in the opera world, has served as staff dramaturg at the Santa Fe Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, and New York City Opera (NYCO). Active in developing contemporary opera, she is a founding faculty member and mentor at American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and has developed new operatic works for companies including Glyndebourne, Icelandic Opera, Canadian Opera, Norwegian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, Pittsburgh Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, On-Site Opera, the Miller Theater, IU Jacobs Opera Theater, and Crane School of Music. She has served as production dramaturg for projects including Das Rheingold at Los Angeles Philharmonic; The Coronation of Poppea at Cincinnati Opera; Orphic Moments at the Salzburg Landestheater, National Sawdust, and Master Voices; Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo at National Sawdust and Philharmonia Baroque; Washington National Opera’s Ring cycle, Opera Boston’s The Nose, Offenbach!!! at Bard Summerscape, and La Finta Giardiniera at Indiana University. At The Juilliard School, she serves on the Vocal Arts faculty and is also a faculty member at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers. She has coached and taught master classes for singers at schools including the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Cincinnati College–Conservatory, University of Toronto, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Texas at Austin, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Mannes College, DePaul University, University of Illinois, Loyola University, Montclair State University, University of Utah, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Florida International University, and Oklahoma State University, as well as the Crested Butte Opera Studio and Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance program. Ellison regularly serves as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Concurso San Miguel in Mexico, and many other vocal competitions. She creates supertitles for opera companies worldwide and helped launch Met Titles, the Met’s simultaneous translation system. Her English singing translations include Hansel and Gretel (NYCO), La vestale (English National Opera), and Shostakovich’s Cherry Tree Towers (Bard Summerscape). She has often written for The New York Times and has contributed to books including The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The Compleat Mozart.

Kerensa DeMars is a choreographer, performer, and educator working in flamenco dance. She has performed internationally at venues like the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Tivoli in Barcelona, Madrid’s Teatro Calderón, and the Fort Mason Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The founding director of the San Francisco Flamenco Dance Company, she lived in Spain from 1997 to 2004, where she trained intensively in flamenco dance with Spain’s foremost artists. She is the recipient of major choreography commissions from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Theatre Bay Area/Dancer’s Group, Azahar Dance Foundation, and Teatro Pradillo of Madrid. DeMars is currently the artistic director of Studio K Flamenco, Milwaukee’s home for the flamenco arts. With programs like the annual Flamenco Nutcracker, Compás Youth Project, and (W)here in the World Festival, Studio K is committed to furthering the art of flamenco in Milwaukee and beyond. As an educator, she is a guest instructor with the Milwaukee Ballet School, Lawrence University, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She teaches bilingual classes for youth in Milwaukee Public Schools and imparts regular workshops through Studio K Flamenco. DeMars has served on the board of the Wisconsin Dance Council and the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee.

Maya Davis is a mezzo-soprano from South Bend, Indiana, currently pursuing a Performer Diploma under the tutelage of Russell Thomas. She is a recent Indiana District winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2024-25). In the fall of 2024, she sang the role of Aurelia Browder in the orchestral workshop of Jasmine Barnes’ new opera She Who Dared at American Lyric Theater. She looks forward to covering the role for the world premiere this upcoming summer with the Chicago Opera Theater. Last summer, she was a Frank R. Brownwell III Apprentice Artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera. There, she covered the roles of Ida Mae McDonald and Florence Mckeller for the world premiere of Damien Jeter’s American Apollo. Other credits with IU Jacobs Opera Theater include Federico Lorca (Ainadamar), Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas), and Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette). In 2022, she was a participant in the LA Opera HBCU Career Comprehensive. She is a graduate of Jackson State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance under the instruction of Phyllis Lewis-Hale. Some highlights of her educational career include master classes with Jamie Barton, Derrick Lawrence, Aundi Marie Moore, Chystal E. Williams, and Chandler Johnson.

Mezzo-soprano Esther Jo, from Seoul, South Korea, is pursuing a Performer Diploma with a Performance Fellowship and full scholarship under the tutelage of Jane Dutton at the Jacobs School of Music. At Hanyang University, Jo graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music, earning multiple merit-based full scholarships, an exclusive teaching certification, and ranking among the top three students in the voice department. She continued in the Master of Music program with full scholarships and research assistantships, was awarded the Excellent Doctoral Scholarship, and was admitted to the doctoral program. Under the guidance of Locky Chung and Su-gil Park in Korea, Jo performed Maddalena (Rigoletto, a coproduction of Hanyang University and the Seongdong Cultural Foundation), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), among others. As an alto soloist, she has sung in oratorios such as Charpentier’s Te Deum, Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major, Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, and Schütz’s Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz. She further refined her artistry through master classes with Mutsumi Moteki and as a music program voice fellow at Yewool Music Stage, earning international recognition. At IU, Jo performed Carmen (Carmen), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), and Queen Gertrude (Hamlet) in opera scenes. With IU Jacobs Opera Theater, she has portrayed Olga (Eugene Onegin) and La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica). She has been admitted to IU’s prestigious Artist Diploma program and selected as a Jan Miller Studio Artist for Pensacola Opera’s 2025-26 season, a studio artist for Opera San Antonio Young Artist Program, an opera studio artist at AIMS in Graz, a voice fellow at Opernfest Prague, and a voice fellow at Vienna Summer Music Festival.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Jinpark Choi is a second-year Performer Diploma student at the Jacobs School of Music, studying under Jane Dutton. In spring 2024, he made his opera debut as Lensky in Eugene Onegin. That summer, he was a resident artist at the Lakes Area Music Festival covering Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress and performing in various concerts. In January 2025, he was featured in the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute Showcase. He will cover the role of Don José in Carmen at Charlottesville Opera’s Ader Emerging Artist Program, where he will also perform in concerts. Choi earned a Bachelor of Music from Yonsei University, studying under Jaeyoon Jung, and a Master of Music from CCM under Daniel Weeks. His roles include Tamino (The Magic Flute), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), and Colin (L’Amant Anonyme). His accolades include third place at MiOpera International Vocal Competition, honorable mention at the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, and a merit award at the NSAL Voice Competition. He was a semifinalist in the PARTNERS National Opera Competition.

Tenor Josh Hooker, from Midway, Utah, is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Carol Vaness. He performed the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at IU in 2024. Recently, he performed as a soloist for the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors. He was accepted as a Fleming Artist at Aspen Opera Theater of VocalARTS, where he will cover the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. Hooker earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Utah Valley University, where he studied with Isaac Hurtado. There he performed as Hoffman in Offenbach’s TheTales of Hoffman and Arturo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and covered Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. He was also a winner of the Concerto Competition. He made his professional debut with Lyrical Opera Theater in Utah as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor followed by the role of Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.

Soprano Yoori Choi, from Seoul, South Korea, is pursuing a master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Carol Vaness. She previously earned a bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University, where she studied under Jennifer Larmore and performed the roles of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. A highly decorated performer, Choi has earned the National Assembly Prize from the Korea Performing Arts Association and third prize at the Korea Vocal Association International Competition. She also won first prize at the Music Chunchoo Competition, first prize in the La Bella Opera Competition, and first prize in the Korea Herald Competition. Additional accolades include third prize at the Korean Vocal Competition, first prize at the Korea National Music Competition for two consecutive years, and second prize at the Hanum Philharmonic Orchestra Competition. In performances, as a Kumho Young Artist, she received a fully sponsored solo recital and performed as a soloist in the Hanum Philharmonic Orchestra Winners’ Concert and the Young Artists Concert at Pyeongchon Art Hall. She has refined her craft through master classes with Olga Barla-Collow and Gerhard Hill. Internationally, she appeared at the Vipa Festival Orchestra Gala Concert in Spain under Carlos Amat, where she showcased her dramatic soprano voice. This summer, she will portray Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Chicago Summer Opera, followed by Butterfly in Madama Butterfly in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop.

Originally from Los Angeles, soprano Brittany Rose Weinstock is a second-year master’s student studying under Carol Vaness. She earned a B.A. from Pepperdine University, studying under Louise Lofquist. This summer, Weinstock will be a studio artist with Aspen Music Festival, covering Musetta in La Bohème. IU performances include Helen/chorus in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Eugene Onegin chorus, The Rake’s Progress (Anne Trulove), and Pagliacci (Nedda) with the Carol Vaness/Zachary Coates Opera Workshop, Anna Bolena (Giovanna) with Michael Shell’s Opera Workshop, Swimming in the Dark workshop (Karolina cover/chorus), Charles Ives Models and Sources recital, and Ukrainian Art Song recital. In summer 2024, Weinstock was an apprentice artist with Central City Opera, covering Anna Maurrant in Street Scene. She was a study grant artist at the 2023 Sherrill Milnes VOICE Program, where she sang Amelia in a scene from Simon Boccanegra. Other credits include H.M.S. Pinafore (Josephine), Into the Woods (Jack’s Mother), Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess), and Stewart Copeland’s oratorio Satan’s Fall (Messiah) with Pepperdine University. In summer 2022, she performed scenes from Susannah (Susannah), The Elixir of Love (Adina), and L’Étoile (Laoula) with the Heidelberg Summer Music Program in Germany. She was a finalist in the 2024 Carolyn Bailey Argento and 2023 Loren L. Zachary competitions and a 2023 Laffont Competition Los Angeles District Encouragement Award Winner. In 2023, Weinstock placed second in the Opera Buffs Competition, first in the NATS Cal-Western Auditions, and first in the NOA Opera Scenes Competition.

Stephen Stavnicky is a bass-baritone from Cleveland, Ohio, in his second year as a double-degree master’s student in voice performance and trumpet performance under the tutelage of Peter Volpe (voice) and Jason Bergman (trumpet). Stavnicky portrayed Prince Gremin in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s production of Eugene Onegin last year as well as Dottore Grenvil in an IU Opera Workshop performance of La Traviata. He was a featured party guest/chorus member in IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s Pop-Up Opera: Die Fledermaus in the fall semester, performing “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific as Emile de Becque and in the trio “Soave sia il vento” from Così fan tutte as Don Alfonso. He was also a chorus member in the world premiere of Mason Bates’ new opera, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. His opera roles outside of IU have included Leporello in Don Giovanni, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, Ben in The Telephone, and King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors. As a trumpet player, Stavnicky has performed with nearly every orchestra and band at IU as well as with various chamber groups. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance degree from Kent State University.

Praised by Graz’s Kleine Zeitung for his “velvet baritone” and a “powerfully trumpeting performance of Gianni Schicchi,” baritone Robert Wente is a versatile and passionate performer of opera in every form. Originally from Munster, Indiana, he is pursuing an M.M. in Voice Performance while studying with Heidi Grant Murphy at Jacobs, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Music with an Outside Field in Astronomy in spring 2023 under the tutelage of Wolfgang Brendel. He recently attended the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where he won first place in the 2024 Meistersinger Competition and performed the roles of Papageno and Gianni Schicchi in concert as well as scenes from Anna Bolena and La Traviata. With IU Jacobs Opera Theater, he performed as Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Bob Becket in H.M.S. Pinafore. Also with IU, he has performed as Germont from La Traviata in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop. Wente has been in many opera choruses, including the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Parsifal, and Bernstein’s Mass, among others. In addition to opera, he has also performed several oratorio works, as a chorus member of Britten’s War Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and as the bass soloist of Beethoven’s Mass in C and the baritone soloist of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Theo Harrah is a bass from Louisville, Kentucky, and a first-year master’s student in voice performance studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. His previous credits at Jacobs include Second Armed Man in Die Zauberflöte, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore, Siroco in L’Étoile, José Tripaldi in Ainadamar, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, and, most recently, Sheldon Anapol in the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. Additionally, Harrah has performed in the choruses of Falstaff, Candide, The Merry Widow, and Highway 1, USA. He has also been featured as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien, and Howell’s Requiem. Outside of Jacobs, Harrah has been seen as Colline in La Bohème and Simone in Gianni Schicchi at the Canto Program and Dean of the Faculties in Massenet’s Cendrillon with Cedar Rapids Opera. In 2024, he was a finalist in the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria. This summer, he will be an apprentice singer at the Santa Fe Opera, where he will be singing in the choruses of La Bohème and Rigoletto, in which he will also be singing Count Ceprano.

Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, baritone Patrick Tervo is in his third year of studies pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Michelle DeYoung. He was last seen with IU Jacobs Opera Theater as the Radio Announcer in Mason Bates’ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. A lifelong performer and multi-instrumentalist originally based in Portland, Oregon, he transitioned into the study of opera in high school after portraying the role of Major-General Stanley in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. He is an alumnus of Oregon Repertory Singers and the award-winning West Linn High School Symphonic Choir directed by Aubrey Patterson and through these programs, collaborated with the likes of Eric Whitacre, Caroline Shaw, and Matthew Lyon Hazzard. He has previously been seen in the opera choruses of Kavalier & Clay, Chabrier’s L’Étoile, Ran’s Anne Frank, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Evan Woods Gunter, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Brian Horne. His operatic credits include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Moralès and El Dancaïro in Carmen at the University of Florida; Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and Gabey in On the Town at Samford University, and Giuseppe Palmieri in The Gondoliers at College Light Opera Company. In addition to his operatic work, he has an extensive background in professional musical theater, having spent several years in New York City as a member of Actors’ Equity Association before beginning his graduate studies. Some past roles include Beast in Beauty and the Beast (The Little Theatre on the Square), Robert in The Drowsy Chaperone (Maples Repertory Theatre), Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods (Red Mountain Theatre Company), Marius in Les Misérables (Wallace Hall Fine Arts), and Quale in South Pacific (The REV). He earned a Bachelor of Music from Samford University and a Master of Music from the University of Florida.

Andreas C. Psillos is a baritone in his first year of the Master of Music program at the Jacobs School of Music, where he studies under Zachary Coates. He graduated from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in Voice Performance. In the spring of 2024, he made his Jacobs debut as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. Other operatic roles include Maximilian (Candide) and Benoit (La Bohème) with the Rutgers University Opera Theatre and Peter (Hansel and Gretel) at the Trentino Music Festival. In concert, Psillos has appeared as a soloist in the Fauré Requiem and Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb with the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir. Other credits include Le Roi and Polonius (Hamlet) and Lescaut and Le Comte des Grieux (Manon) in the Graduate Opera Scenes Workshop, and Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) in the Undergraduate Opera Scenes Workshop.

Soprano Yi-Lin Wu was born and raised in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. She is a second-year master’s student under the tutelage of Linda Di Fiore at the Jacobs School of Music. Last season, she performed as Lakmé in Pop-Up Opera with IU Jacobs Opera Theater, having previously been in the chorus of Roméo et Juliette. Wu earned a bachelor’s degree in voice from National Taiwan Normal University. Her past roles include Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Lucy in TheTelephone, and her scene performances include Ännchen from Der Freischütz, Zerlina from Don Giovanni, Susanna from Le Nozze di Figaro, and Norina from Don Pasquale. She has also been featured as a soloist in Bruckner’s Requiem and Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore.

Described as “an absolutely brilliant soprano” by the Rutland Herald, Chinese soprano Siyi Yan is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Heidi Grant Murphy, Kevin Murphy, and Gary Arvin. She was most recently a resident artist with Opera North, where she performed Gilda (Rigoletto), Juno (Orphée aux enfers), and Florinda (Into the Woods). This summer, she will join Opera Maine as a studio artist, performing History Teacher in Paul’s Case and covering Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd. Yan excelled in the 2024 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards Competition, reaching the semifinals. Her notable achievements also include being a finalist in the 2022 Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition in New York City. In addition, she clinched first prize in both the Indiana Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters Voice Competition and the Tri-State College Vocal Competition. She also appears in the Dallas Opera Showcase Concert. In past seasons with IU Jacobs Opera Theater, she portrayed Yvette (La Rondine), Cunegonde (Candide), and Setsuko Kobayashi (An American Dream). She performed the role of Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in 2021.

Mezzo-soprano Nicole Barbeau, from Dallas, Texas, is in the first year of pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance degree at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Jane Dutton. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, Texas, under the guidance of William Joyner. At UNT, she performed in the chorus of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Also at UNT, Barbeau performed as a choir member and featured soloist in the early music ensemble Vox Aquillae and was a member of the A Cappella Choir. She was most recently heard in the chorus of IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s production of Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and as Maddalena in the Act III quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Anna Liu, a mezzo-soprano from China, is pursuing a Doctor of Music degree at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Heidi Grant Murphy. She holds a master’s degree from the Peabody Institute of Music and a bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Liu has captivated audiences in both trouser and traditional female roles. Her opera performances include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Prince Charmant in Cinderella, Siebel in Faust, and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She has also portrayed Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Liu has collaborated with prestigious ensembles such as the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Cody Horne is a baritone hailing from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended Belmont University for a bachelor’s degree while studying under Mark Whatley. Upon graduation, Horne decided to pursue a master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music. He is currently studying under the tutelage of Peter Volpe. Horne has performed the roles of Boaz in Ronald Beckett’s Ruth (Belmont University, 2022), Marco and Simone in productions of Gianni Schicchi (Marco: CANTO Louisville, 2022; Simone: Opera Lucca, 2023), Le Baron de Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon (Belmont University 2023), and Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow (Belmont University, 2024). This summer, he will be performing as Belcore in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love with La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy.

Benhur Mosazghi is a baritone from Asmara, Eritrea, currently a first-year M.M. in voice student at the Jacobs School of Music, studying under the tutelage of Timothy Noble. Praised by the Cleveland Classical as “a name and gift predictive of success,” he has appeared in operatic roles singing Sid in Albert Herring, Geronimo in Matrimonio Segreto, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, Il Commissario di Polizia in Amelia al Ballo with the Oberlin Opera Theatre, and Simone in Gianni Schicchi and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville with the Janeic Opera Company at Brevard. At Jacobs, he sang Verdi’s Macbeth and Nick Shadow from The Rake’s Progress in Coates and Vaness’s Opera Workshop. Mosazghi earned a B.M. in voice from Oberlin College and Conservatory, where he studied with tenor Salvatore Champagne. He won third prize in the Crescendo Competition of Union Avenue Opera and a special prize from the Lunigiana International Music Festival. A versatile performer in both concert and chamber music, he was a soloist with CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Oberlin College Choir and Orchestra.

A native of Asheville, North Carolina, tenor Jackson Ray is pursuing an M.M. in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. This is his debut with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. This spring, he will also sing in scenes from Verdi’s Falstaff and Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the IU Opera Workshop. As a soloist, Ray is set to perform Bach’s St. John Passion with The Company of Singers in Columbia, South Carolina. Before coming to IU, he studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), where he was a featured soloist with the Student Orchestra, performing works by Bach and Handel. His talents have earned him several honors, including first place in the North Carolina National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition and reaching the semifinals in the NATS national student auditions. He made his professional debut with Piedmont Opera as Giuseppe in Verdi’s La Traviata, followed by his role as the Notary in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. He’s also been part of various other productions with the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute, UNCSA Undergraduate Opera Workshop, and Piedmont Opera.

Tenor Zongwei Zhang, from Anhui, China, is a first-year master’s student in voice performance at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Carol Vaness. He earned a Bachelor of Musicology from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. He won second prize in the Prokofiev International Music Competition and Korea-China International Vocal Competition. At IU, he has performed as Werther from Massenet’s Werther, Nemorino from Donizetti’s The Elixir ofLove, Fritz from Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Monostatos from Mozart’s The Magic Flute in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop. This is his debut with IU Jacobs Opera Theater.