Setting: The cloister of a convent near Siena.

Because of the scandal caused by her having an illegitimate child, Sister Angelica has done penance in a convent for seven years. The Princess, Sister Angelica’s aunt, arrives unexpectedly and demands that Sister Angelica sign a document renouncing her right to any inheritance and turning it over to her sister who is about to be married. The Princess refuses to forgive Sister Angelica, who inquires about the fate of her son. The Princess coldly tells her that the child has been dead for two years. Devastated by the news and the coldness of her aunt, Sister Angelica takes poison. She then realizes, too late, that she has committed a mortal sin and asks the Virgin Mary to forgive her and give her a sign her prayer has been answered.

by Kaitlyn Canneto

Trouble in Tahiti (1952) opens with a Greek trio chorus, illustrating the conventions of a day in the life of a suburban marriage in the 1950s. Inside, husband and wife Sam and Dinah are in the middle of a daily argument that they cannot escape—the fight to be kind to each other. While Sam is on his way out of the house to work, Dinah reminds him that their son, Junior’s, play is that evening. Much to Dinah’s chagrin, Sam excuses himself from attending the play due to the handball tournament at his gym. While Sam is happily at work, Dinah details a nightmare to her psychiatrist, in which she is trapped in a dead garden without an escape in sight. In her dream, a voice tells her about another garden that is prosperous—unlike the one she is tangled in—which she longs for, in a way that parallels her marriage. Midday, Sam and Dinah run into one another on the street and discuss the prospect of meeting for lunch, yet they lie to each other to avoid time together. Later, at the gym, Sam reveals his priority to succeed as a man above all else. At the cinema, Dinah sees Trouble in Tahiti, and she finds herself lustful for the exotic “island magic” that is described on the silver screen. The two meet at home, where they attempt to discuss their marriage, which only ends in another argument. They discover that neither of them went to Junior’s play. Instead of trying to resolve their differences, they instead go to the cinema to buy another escape to temporary happiness.

by Kaitlyn Canneto

Ph.D. Musicology Student

Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) premiered on December 14, 1918, at the Metropolitan Opera in a series of three one-act operas collectively titled Il trittico (The Triptych), composed by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). These were the final operatic works completed by Puccini before his death six years later. Puccini sought to create shorter operatic works toward the end of his career in contrast with his earlier grand operas such as La Bohème (1896) and Madama Butterfly (1904). While Puccini was developing the one-act works that would become the Trittico, Italian playwright Giovacchino Forzano approached the composer with a drama about a nun, and Puccini delightedly accepted. Set in a seventeenth-century Italian convent and performed by an all-female cast, Suor Angelica provides a contrast against the first and third parts of the Trittico. The first opera, Il tabarro (The Cloak), is set in Paris in 1910, and the third opera, Gianni Schicchi, takes place in Florence in 1299. Although Puccini initially instructed that Il trittico be staged in its entirety, by 1920, the Royal Opera House, London, set the precedent of staging the operas separately. To date, Suor Angelica is the least performed of the three operas, overlooking the nuance and significance of Puccini and Forzano’s original work.

Suor Angelica is dubbed an opera seria for its tragic ending, yet Forzano’s libretto is driven by irony and humor. Forzano introduces the audience to the convent with a focus on the titular nun, Angelica, who is only a nun by consequence of sin and has left behind an upper-class life. Throughout the opera, Forzano provides the audience with comedic scenes between the nuns, unexpected in a serious work.

The opera opens with nuns in a chapel singing the Ave Maria. After this demonstration of faith and purity, the following scene introduces the audience to the reality that nuns sin, too. Here, the monitor nun orders penance to the sinning sisters, including Sister Osmina for theft of roses from the garden, to which Osmina demands her innocence. In some productions, rose pedals subsequently fall from Osmina’s sleeves, breaking from the seriousness of the scene. Further, in the following scene, the sisters discuss their desires; Sister Dolcina chimes in to declare her wish, accompanied by a playful motive, to which her fellow sisters sarcastically beat her to the punch. They collectively state, “La gola è colpa grave! È golosa! (Greed is a serious sin! She’s greedy!),” as though the garden were a schoolyard, and the nuns were mocking their classmate. This motive reappears in the following scene when the alms-collectors deliver goods to the convent, to which Sister Dolcina excitedly reacts “unable to control herself,” as marked in the libretto. The continued humor throughout Suor Angelica provides a depth of entertainment to the opera and a relief to the tragic (yet moving) ending.

Set in “any American city, and its suburbs,” according to composer and librettist Leonard Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti demonstrates irony less subtly than Puccini’s Suor Angelica, while exposing realities behind the idealized American nuclear family. This one-act opera premiered on June 23, 1952, at Brandeis University’s inaugural Festival of the Creative Arts, directed by Bernstein himself. Then, Bernstein was a visiting music professor at the Boston-area institution and still early in his career composing for the stage. Trouble in Tahiti—a play on the idiom “trouble in paradise”—follows a marriage at stalemate, where husband and wife Sam and Dinah, respectively, each long for love but fail to communicate with each other and instead masquerade behind their white picket fence. The focus on marriage reflects developments in Bernstein’s own life, as he began his first operatic work around the time of his honeymoon and continued to write both the music and text during the honeymoon.

The opera consists of seven scenes that occur within a day to capture the dynamic of Sam and Dinah’s marriage and their individual perspectives. A Trio (soprano, tenor, baritone) opens the opera in a prelude, acting as a narrator for the happy marriage-masquerade Sam and Dinah hide behind. Throughout the scenes, the trio reappears as the internal dialogue of Sam, characters in the film Trouble in Tahiti that Dinah sees, and again as a narrator to further the plot. Given the minimal cast, the only dialogue in the opera occurs between the unhappily married couple, and these moments only happen in three of the seven scenes, where the two argue with each other. Otherwise, the audiences learn from Sam’s and Dinah’s arias and solos that Sam prioritizes himself over his wife and family, and Dinah experiences a haunting dream in which she ultimately escapes to a garden she details to her therapist, akin to the escape of “Island Magic” she later sees at the movie theater.

The opera underscores the universality of Sam and Dinah’s marital dynamics. The Trio’s opening prelude involves a cadential motive with the text “the little white house in . . .” followed by the name of a different U.S. suburb (e.g., Scarsdale, Wellesley Hills, Elkins Park) with each repetition. In doing so, Bernstein implies that a marriage like Sam and Dinah’s can materialize anywhere. Further, in the score, the composer-librettist explicitly calls for minimal set pieces and, instead, the use of lighting and backdrops to create scenery that strips the scene of a specific location or period and clarifies the ubiquity of domestic distress.

Throughout the opera, it becomes clear from their arguments and laments that Sam and Dinah desire a happier marriage, which they once had. Bernstein emphasizes this through contrasting motives. Bernstein scholar Helen Smith (2011) points out that, in Scene 1, Sam expresses anger and aggression with a D–A–D–C motive pattern, which Smith dubs the “conflict motive.” The inconsistent contour against Bernstein’s quartal chords reflects the tension between the married couple. Further, Smith points to continued sonic tension with an inversion of this motive in Dinah’s solo about her dream in Scene 3.

The opera concludes with Sam and Dinah avoiding an actual conversation about their relationship, instead, escaping, once again, to the movies and leaving their problems unresolved. In 1980, Bernstein and writer Stephen Wadsworth created a full-length operatic sequel to the one-act, titled A Quiet Place (1983). This work, which takes place 30 years after Trouble in Tahiti, follows the same family, as Sam and his children cope with the sudden death of Dinah. After multiple revisions, the sequel opera would interpolate Trouble in Tahiti.

This production provides a unique pairing of two contrasting works—from a seventeenth-century Italian nun to a twentieth-century American couple, each navigating their own unfortunate circumstances with humor, tragedy, and irony.

Arthur Fagen has been professor of orchestral conducting at the Jacobs School of Music since 2008. Additionally, he has been music director of the Atlanta Opera from 2010 to 2024, where he recently conducted highly successful productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre; he will now be music director emeritus. He has conducted opera productions at the world’s most prestigious opera houses and music festivals. From 1998 to 2001, he was invited regularly as guest conductor to the Vienna State Opera, in addition to performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Staatsoper Berlin Deutsche Oper Berlin, Munich State Opera, and many more. On the concert podium, he has appeared with numerous internationally known orchestras. Fagen has an opera repertory of more than 100 works. He has served as principal conductor in Kassel and Brunswick, as chief conductor of the Flanders Opera of Antwerp and Ghent, as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, and as a member of the conducting staff of Lyric Opera of Chicago. From 2002 to 2007, he was music director of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dortmund Opera. He and the Dortmund Philharmonic were invited to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels, and to Salzburg, Beijing, and Shanghai. Fagen conducted a new production of Turandot at the Atlanta Opera in 2007, opening the season and inaugurating the new opera house, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. He was a regular guest conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra and guest conducted the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and many others. Fagen has recorded for BMG, Bayerischer Rundfunk, SFB, and WDR Cologne. His Naxos recording of Martinů’s piano concertos was awarded an Editor’s Choice award in the March 2010 issue of Gramophone magazine. His recording of the Negro Folk Symphony by William Dawson Levi was nominated as one of the best classical CDs of 2020 by NPR.

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

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

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 The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, The Coronation of Poppea, Hansel and Gretel, Bernstein’s Mass, An American Dream,Sweeney Todd, the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank, and last season’s premiere of A Star on the Rise: La Bayadere . . . 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 and Drama and was a student of former Jacobs professors C. David Higgins and Robert O’Hearn. Upcoming productions include The Turn of the Screw at Jacobs and Sleeping Beauty with Indianapolis Ballet.

Eriko Terao is a costume designer and technician. Originally from Japan, Terao has worked internationally in the U.S., Japan, the U.K., and Ireland, serving as a costume designer, assistant designer, coordinator, wardrobe supervisor, and technician in a variety of theatrical productions, concerts, and costume exhibitions. Past costume experience includes work with the Santa Fe Opera, Utah Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Madison, Williams College Theatre Department, Ally Theatre, Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater, Imperial Theatre, Nissei Theatre, and Akasaka ACT Theatre.

Russell Long returns for his second season at the MAC, where he designed lights for Eugene Onegin, An American Dream, Autumnsong, Roméo et Juliet, 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, ¡De Colores!, and Mathew Whitaker. Originally from Southern Arizona, Long studied at Northern Arizona University and has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, Peaks Productions, University of Arizona Opera, Aspen Opera, and Vail Ballet Festival. He has also toured nationally as a lighting director and production manager. He earned an M.F.A in Lighting Design from the IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance.

Ken Phillips served as the lighting specialist for the Jacobs School of Music from 2019 to 2021, where he designed the lighting and helped engineer the projections for close to a dozen productions, including TheTurn of the Screw, which won the National Opera Association’s Division VIII Production Competition Award for 2020. He has been honored to come back for numerous productions since. Phillips earned an M.F.A. in Lighting Design and a B.F.A. in Stage Management from the University of Arizona and has worked on productions around the country, mostly in opera and musical theater. Samples of his work can be seen on his website at KGPhillips.com.

Sarah Resch is a senior in the Music Production program at the Jacobs School of Music. She has been working in sound for theater for seven years. In 2018, she sounddesigned an award-winning and Indiana Thespian Chapter StateQualifying production of Refugee Women. In recent years, she has been on the audio crew for many Jacobs productions, including Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, as well as jazz bands, orchestras, and ballets.

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.

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

Seonyoung Park is a lyric soprano from South Korea, celebrated for her dynamic, warm, and expressive voice as well as her outstanding musicianship. She made her professional debut in Korea as Sandman in Hänsel und Gretel at Seongnam Art Center in 2018. In 2019, Park performed as Mimì in La Bohème at the Morellino Classic Festival of the Theater of Scansano in Italy. At Indiana University, she has portrayed Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Maguelonne in Cendrillon. She was also the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra. Park’s competition achievements include first prize at the Euterpe International Music Competition in Milan (2019), third prize at the Foundation of Korean Classic Vocal Performer International Vocal Competition, and third prize at the 28th Suri Music Competition. She was also a finalist in the JoongAng Music Competition in Korea in 2018. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from KyungHee University in Seoul. After further vocal studies in Italy, she completed a Performance Diploma at Indiana University. Currently, Park is pursuing a master’s degree in voice at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Jane Dutton.

Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, soprano Ashley Ruckman is pursuing a Master of Music at the Jacobs School of Music under the instruction of Carol Vaness and is the proud recipient of the 2024-25 Georgina Joshi Graduate Fellowship. This past season with Indiana Jacobs Opera Theater, Ruckman performed the roles of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Praskovia in The Merry Widow. She earned a Bachelor of Music from Wichita State University, where she performed notable roles including Hester in Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter, Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, Esther in The Path to Heaven, and Despina in Così fan tutte. Her professional credits include the roles of Musetta in La Bohème and Berta in The Barber of Seville, both at Wichita Grand Opera. She won second place in the 2023 Naftzger Young Artist Competition, first place and selected soloist for the 2023 Wichita State Concerto-Aria Concert, and first place in the 2022 Rondelli Vocal Competition soprano division.

Russian-American mezzo-soprano Elizaveta Agladze-Scherschel is a doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music studying with Deanne Meek. A prizewinner in the 2018 Dr. Luis Sigall International Voice Competition in Viña del Mar, Chile, and in 2019 American International Czech and Slovak Competition, Agladze-Scherschel has performed the roles of Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin, Mère Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Zelatrice in Suor Angelica with IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater; Angelina in La Cenerentola and Third Lady and Third Spirit in Die Zauberflöte with the Lyric Opera Studio of Weimar; and Olga in Eugene Onegin with Hudson Lyric Opera Theatre, among others. Last season, she premiered Alexey Logunov’s new work The Hollow Men for mezzo-soprano and sinfonietta with the New Music Ensemble under the baton of David Dzubay. She has performed as a recitalist in America and Russia, including in such venues as the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Silver Age Museum and Esenin Centre in Moscow. Agladze-Scherschel earned a bachelor’s degree with majors in music and psychology from Emory University, a master’s degree in organizational sciences from the George Washington University, and an M.M. in Voice Performance from the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Carlos Montané.

Mezzo-soprano Esther Jo, from Seoul, South Korea, is pursuing a Performer Diploma with a Performance Fellowship and a full scholarship under the tutelage of Jane Dutton at the Jacobs School of Music. At Hanyang University in Seoul, Jo graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music, securing multiple merit-based full scholarships and exclusive teaching certification, and ranking among the top three students in the voice department. In the Master of Music program, she earned maximum meritbased full scholarships and research assistantships, ultimately graduating with full-tuition coverage. She also received the Excellent Doctoral Scholarship and was admitted to the Doctor of Music program. Under the guidance of Locky Chung and Su-gil Park in Korea, Jo showcased her artistry in various opera roles, including Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto (a collaborative production by Hanyang University and the Seongdong Cultural Foundation), Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen, and Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. As an alto soloist, she demonstrated her talent 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. Participating in master classes with Mutsumi Moteki, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and consistently attending the Yewool Summer Music Camp, she earned recognition from musicians globally. At IU, she performed as Carmen from Bizet’s Carmen in Michael Shell’s Opera Workshop, as Giovanna from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena in Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop, and as Olga from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with IU Jacobs Opera Theater.

Originally from Goyang, South Korea, mezzo-soprano Dajeong Song is a fourth-year doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies under the tutelage of Jane Dutton and was recently a graduate assistant. She earned an M.M. and Professional Studies Diploma in Vocal Performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music Education from Konkuk University, Seoul. Song 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). Also, she has been on opera stages at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in several performances, including Trouble in Tahiti (Dinah), Rodelinda (Unulfo), and Suor Angelica (Zelatrice). Song has sung in several master classes, with Frederica Von Stade, Barbara ReedHonn, and Martin Katz. Her roles at IU Jacobs Opera Theater include Aunt Lou from the Highway 1, USA, Lazuli from L’Étoile, and Ramiro from La Finta Giardiniera. Song has also performed in Bolivia, South America, with Orquesta Filarmónica de Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Recently, she made her debut in the United States as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance and covered Mrs. Jones in the opera Street Scene in Central City Opera, Colorado.

Macanese-Canadian mezzo-soprano Natalie Vong is a second-year D.M. Voice Performance student at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Brian Gill. 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 experiences include Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Ruggiero (Alcina), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Praskowia (The Merry Widow), Suor Mathilde (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and 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 at the University of Western Ontario studying with Sophie Roland.

Mezzo-soprano Lauren Bolla is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Peter Volpe. She is also pursuing minors in music education and entrepreneurship. Bolla made her IU Jacobs Opera Theater role debut last April as Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd. In the summer of 2024, she attended AIMS in Graz, Austria, where she was a member of the lieder studio. There, she also sang in the chorus of Die Zauberflöte under Marzio Conti and sang during Catholic mass. Additionally, she has performed as Jo March (Little Women) and Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) in Patricia Stiles’ Opera Workshop. A native Hoosier from Chesterton, Indiana, she is currently a choral scholar at Trinity Episcopal in Bloomington.

Madelyn Deininger is a Hawaiian-Filipino American mezzo-soprano from Cincinnati, Ohio, completing her M.M. at the Jacobs School of Music with Jane Dutton. In her undergraduate studies at Baldwin Wallace University, she originated the role of the Stream in the new micro- opera The Stream, composed by Michi Wiancko with a libretto by Sarah Labrie. In the fall of 2021, she performed as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina and as Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) in the spring of 2022. In summer 2022, she was involved in the fully staged world premiere of La Casa de Bernarda Alba, playing the role of Amelia, and performed as Juno in Hawaii Performing Arts Festival’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld. In fall 2022, she played Nerone in Monteverdi’s The Coronation ofPoppea. In 2024, she originated the role of Min-Ji in the premiere of the new opera All of Us: An Anti-Asian-Hate Opera by Hippocrates Cheng at the Carmel Center for Performing Arts as a part of its New Works commission project.

From Orlando, Florida, soprano Issana Yaguda is a senior studying under the tutelage of Heidi Grant Murphy at the Jacobs School of Music. This past summer, she performed the role of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Lucca in Lucca, Italy. She also performed “Tornami a vagheggiar” from Alcina in its Aria Concert. For IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater, she performed the role of Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd as well as the role of Lolo, one of the Grisettes, in The Merry Widow. With Jacobs Opera Chorus, she appeared in the productions of Don Giovanni, The Nutcracker, and Candide. In the summer of 2023, Yaguda attended the Tel Aviv International Summer Opera Program and performed “Ah! Douce enfant” from Cendrillon and “Ach, ich fühl’s” from The Magic Flute. She also performed in its Broadway Concert singing “Green Finch” and “Linnet Bird” from Sweeney Todd.

From China, soprano Yuxuan Lin is pursuing a Performer Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Carol Vaness. In 2022, Lin earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Fujian Normal University in China. She graduated with a Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Jacobs School of Music in 2024. Previously at IU, Lin made her opera debut as Nella in Carol Vaness’s Opera Workshop production of Gianni Schicchi by Puccini. She has sung in the opera choruses of The Merry Widow and Eugene Onegin of IU Jacobs Opera Theater’s mainstage productions. Most recently, she performed the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart at the Trentino Music Festival in Italy. Suor Angelica marks her debut with IU Jacobs Opera Theater.

Armenian-Uzbek-American soprano Anna Seda Ambartsumian is a first-year M.M. student from Athens, Georgia, studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. Recent performances include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Trentino Music Festival and La Fée in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon at Indiana University. In March 2023, Ambartsumian performed the Mozart Requiem with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. In December 2023, she was the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus Philharmonic Orchestra. This semester, she will also sing in the chorus of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a coproduction with the Metropolitan Opera. Previous IU Jacobs Opera Theater credits include singing in the opera choruses of the world premiere of Anne Frank by Shulamit Ran, Falstaff, and La Rondine. Ambartsumian is a recent graduate of the Jacobs School of Music, earning a B.M. in Voice Performance, and is in her second year working with IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater as the administrative production and Opera Office assistant.

Soprano Soo Hyun Ryu was born in South Korea and raised in New York. She is currently pursuing a Performance Diploma in Voice under the tutelage of Russell Thomas. This is her role debut with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. Prior to her time at IU, she earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice, studying under Isabel Bayrakdarian, from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her past roles include Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Second Lady and Second Spirit (The Magic Flute), as well as covering First Witch (Dido and Aeneus) and Micaela (Carmen). Her scene performances include Violetta (La Traviata), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and Sophie (Werther).

Miranda Nilan is a first-year master’s student from Oxford, Pennsylvania, studying voice performance under Heidi Grant Murphy.

Hailing from Holt, Michigan, soprano Abigail McKay Cherry is a second-year master’s student pursuing a degree in voice and a certificate of vocology. Last season, she sang the role of Eva Crowley in the IU Jacobs Opera Theater production of An American Dream. Past roles include Lady Billows (Albert Herring), Lady Harriet (Martha), and Rose Maurrant (Street Scene). McKay Cherry studies under the tutelage of Brian Gill. She previously attended Oakland University, where she studied under Alta Boover, earning a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance in 2019.

David Drettwan is a P.D. student hailing from Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and studying under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. Past roles at Jacobs include Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), and Kromow (The Merry Widow) as well as Anne Frank (chorus) and a workshop performance of Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi) and Swimming in the Dark (Janusz). Outside of Jacobs, Drettwan was an apprentice artist at Central City Opera this past summer singing the role of Jake Wallace in La Fanciulla del West by Puccini. He made his professional debut in the world-premiere production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning new opera Omar at Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. He also performed Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), King Arkel (Pelléas et Melisande), Melisso (Alcina), and Keeper/Father Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.

Born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, baritone Ethan Upchurch is pursuing his undergraduate degree in voice performance and music education under the tutelage of Brian Horne. Growing up with two choir teachers for parents, Upchurch had the opportunity to immerse himself in music. In middle school and high school, he performed in musicals, choir concerts, and competitions and grew up watching the productions at Indiana University. He has been seen in the opera choruses of The Coronation of Poppea and H.M.S. Pinafore. He also performed the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni and St. Brioche in The Merry Widow. As an educator, he has volunteered at Sing for Joy as a part of the inclusive participatory music course at Indiana University and volunteers at Bloomington High School South’s choir program. Upchurch has performed in the opera scenes program at Jacobs under the direction of Patricia Stiles over the summers of 2021 and 2022. In those scenes, he played Papageno from Die Zauberflöte and Osmin from Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

Mezzo-soprano Lauren Nicholls, from Richmond, Virgina, is a secondyear master’s student at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studies with Jane Dutton. This is her second production in a principal role with IU Jacobs Opera Theater. Previous Jacobs stage appearances include Aloès in Chabrier’s L’Étoile and the choruses of EugeneOnegin, Roméo et Juliette, Candide, H.M.S Pinafore, and Die Zauberflöte. This spring, she will also sing in the chorus of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a coproduction with the Metropolitan Opera. She recently sang the role of Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Trentino Music Festival. Other highlights include singing Orfeo with Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop, Zia Principessa at Opera Lucca, and Madame de la Haltière with Michael Shell’s Opera Workshop.

Soprano Katie Song-Yi Nam, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, is a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Heidi Grant Murphy. Recently, Nam was a finalist for the Georgina Joshi Fellowship and the Wilfred Bain Award in Opera. She has portrayed Nedda in Pagliacci with Heidi Grant Murphy’s Opera Workshop and was a semifinalist for the American Pops’ NextGen National Voice Competition in New York City. At IU, she was a member of the chorus for The Nutcracker and the vocal ensemble Voces Caelestes. Nam earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from New York University (NYU) in 2023 with a minor in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology at Stern School of Business and Tisch School of the Arts. She performed roles including Ilia in Idomeneo, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Venus in Orpheus in the Underworld, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. She sang the National Anthem at NYU’s Commencement at Yankee Stadium and performed with the Steinhardt Singers at Radio City Music Hall. She has also been a member and a soloist with the jazz ensemble Village Voices, directed by Grammy Award-winning artists Janis Siegel and Lauren Kinhan. Nam was a young artist at the Trentino Music Festival in Mezzano, Italy, where she performed as the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Her other credits include Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Johanna in Sweeney Todd, and Claudia in Nine. This production marks her debut in a principal role with IU Jacobs Opera Theater.

Soprano Biana Pinchuk is a double major pursuing a degree in voice and violin performance as well as a minor in public relations. Hailing from Miami, Florida, she has performed internationally. Most recently, she attended a master class at the MDW in Vienna, Austria, where she studied under Claudia Visca. Her versatile career has led her to open for the likes of George Benson and Phil Collins and perform at events like Miami’s Art Basel and Music Week. Also a songwriter, Pinchuk uses her classical background to explore a plethora of genres, including jazz, pop, Latin, and many more. She currently studies voice with Alice Hopper and violin with Alexander Kerr.

Originally from Mercer Island, Washington, soprano Isabella Stachurski is a fourth-year undergraduate pursuing a degree in voice performance under the tutelage of Catherine Compton. Trouble in Tahiti is her fourteenth production with IU Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater and her first principal role. Stachurski most recently made her international debut at Opera Lucca in Italy, where she sang the roles of Zita in Gianni Schicchi and Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, and premiered compositions by Laura Nobili and Raphael Fusco. In 2023, she earned the Jon Vickers Award, placed first in the Great Lakes Region of the NATS Student Audition Competition, and finished the competition as a national semifinalist. Stachurski can next be seen performing in the Charles Ives at 150 festival as a soloist and a member in NOTUS.

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 in 2023 from Indiana University 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 played Soldato Pretoriano in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea and Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. Other roles include Luiz in the University Gilbert and 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 currently a staff singer for the English Choir at the historic Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis.

Michael Christopher is a tenor from Dallas, Texas, studying with Peter Volpe. He is currently in his final semester of a dual bachelor’s degree program in voice performance and Italian. This past spring, Christopher played Tobias Ragg in IU’s production of Sweeney Todd. He also played the titular role in Candide with IU Jacobs Opera Theater in spring 2023. Before coming to IU, he made his professional opera debut with the Dallas Opera as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute, at age 19. Christopher also sang the role of the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas. He has previously sung with the Dallas Opera Chorus in its production of Don Carlo and has been a part of The Magic Flute, H.M.S. Pinafore, L’Étoile, The Merry Widow, and Eugene Onegin opera choruses at IU.

Baritone Jonathan Grimes is in his third year of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in choral music education under the tutelage of Zachary Coates. Grimes, hailing from Avon, Indiana, has previously performed in the choruses of Candide, The Merry Widow, and Sweeney Todd at IU.

Jamaican baritone Giovani Malcolm has performed notable roles such as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Don Giovanni in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Ned in Joplin’s Treemonisha, and Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium. At IU Jacobs Opera Theater, he has appeared as Cascada in Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Gregorio in Roméo et Juliette, and in the choruses of Candide and Sweeney Todd. His recent concert work includes baritone soloist in Margaret Bonds’ Credo, Handel’s Messiah, and Shawn Okpebholo’s Negro Spirituals. Malcolm won the Art Song Award at the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition and was a finalist in the FGO Young Patronesses of the Arts Competition and the NOA Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. He received an Encouragement Award at the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont St. Louis District Competition and is an active member of the Elevation Vocal Ensemble and Delaware Vocal Arts. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School of Music with Deanne Meek. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Music Management from the University of Delaware and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University.