GUEST ARTISTS
2020
(By alphabetical order)
Ailyn Perez
Soprano
Hailed by the New York Times as “a beautiful woman who commands the stage” and “a major soprano,” Ailyn Pérez is in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals. She has won both the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, thereby becoming the first Hispanic recipient in the award’s 35-year history. As Opera News observes, “The phrase ‘an embarrassment of riches’ might have been invented to describe the combination of talents that belong to Ailyn Pérez, … who truly seems to have it all.”
Career highlights include Violetta La traviata for Opernhaus Zürich, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Teatro all Scala Milan, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where she was hailed as “an ideal Violetta” (Observer, UK). Pérez then went on to appear at Covent Garden in the same season, as the title role in Massenet’s Manon, and for her role debut as Liù Turandot. Other highlights include Thaïs, Mimì and Musetta La bohème and Juliette Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera; Adina L’elisir d’amore for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper and Washington National Opera; Countess Le nozze di Figaro for Houston Grand Opera (having made her house debut as Desdemona Otello in 2015); Violetta and title role Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House; Tatyana Bakst in the World Premiere of Jake Heggie’s Great Scott and Manon for Dallas Opera; house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre as Mimì La bohème and at Glyndebourne as Alice Ford; Countess Le nozze di Figaro and Marguerite Faust for Hamburgische Staatsoper; Marguerite Faust in Santa Fe and Amelia Grimaldi Simon Boccanegra at Teatro alla Scala, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and opposite Leo Nucci at Opernhaus Zürich.
In concert Ailyn has performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Mozart’s Requiem with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Essen Philharmoniker. In recent seasons Ailyn has sung opposite Carreras, Bocelli and with Plácido Domingo in gala concerts at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and has made guest appearances at several gala concerts for the Metropolitan Opera. Ailyn has also appeared in recital at London’s Rosenblatt Recitals, at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and for Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Her debut album, Poème d’un jour (a program of French and Italian songs on the Opus Arte label) was released to rave reviews; with the UK’s Independent newspaper awarding it five stars, while International Record Review confessed, “Every so often, a singer comes along who completely bowls you over.”
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Danielle Orlando
Vocal Coach
Danielle Orlando is an accompanist to international opera singers and a vocal coach and artistic consultant to prestigious musical organizations throughout the world. She has appeared with esteemed singers in such venues as the Phillips Collection, Théatre du Châtelet, and Carnegie Hall; and for the United States Supreme Court, the Schubert Club, Vocal Arts D.C., Music at the Morgan Library, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and many many more. She also appears in the documentary The Audition. Ms. Orlando has performed recitals for the Harriman-Jewell Series and has appeared at the Florida Opera and Astoria Music festivals, Festival Castell de Peralada (Spain), and Festival International Hautes-Laurentides (Canada).
Ms. Orlando served as accompanist, judge, and artistic coordinator for the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competitions and worked with Gian Carlo Menotti at the Festival dei Due Mondi for nine seasons. She was the artistic administrator and head of music staff for the Opera Company of Philadelphia and has served on the music staffs of the Metropolitan, Washington National, and San Francisco operas; Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; Dresden Semperoper; and Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Ms. Orlando is a guest judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a guest coach for the Domingo-Cafritz and Palm Beach young artist programs. Recent residencies include Curtis Summerfest, the University of Tennessee—Knoxville, and the Peking University Academy of Opera in Beijing. She will lead master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Summer 2018.
Ms. Orlando holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Temple University, where she studied with Harvey Wedeen and Lambert Orkis. She also studied at the Eastman School of Music with David Burge. Ms. Orlando joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986, and is also master coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts.
Beginning in the 2019-20 season, Ms. Orlando will assume co-leadership of the Curtis Vocal Studies Department and Curtis Opera Theatre, working alongside Eric Owens.
David Lomelí
Tenor & Casting Director
David Lomeli joined The Dallas Opera in July of 2014. In August of 2018, David was promoted to Director of Artistic Administration. Prior to this, David was Casting and Hart Institute for Women Conductors Manager, making him the first Hispanic to occupy a top casting position at a Level 1 opera house in the history of professional opera in the US. In November of 2019 he accepted the position of Casting Director at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany to commence in July of 2021.
Before joining TDO, David performed as a tenor with many of the world’s leading companies worldwide such as Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, Los Angeles Philarmonic, Glyndeborn Festival, Los Angeles Opera, Deutche Opera Berlin, Santa Fe Opera, and San Francisco Opera.
David earned an Engineering Degree in Computer Science by the ITESM in Mexico and a post graduate joint degree in International Marketing by the Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain and the Universitad di Milano, Italy. He is a recipient of the National Youth Prize in Arts by the Mexican Government and the First Prize in Placido Domingo’s Operalia. He has been featured in Ted Talks in Guadalajara, Mexico and Milano, Italy. David is fluent in Spanish, Italian, French and English.
DictionBody
Mobile App
DictionBuddy has revolutionized how singers prepare to perform in foreing languages by providing the Ultimate Singer's Diction Study Aid- The Diction Buddy Mobile App. This Top Rated app gives singers and teachers access to a searchable audio database of hundreds of lyric diction tracks read by trained singers who are native speakers of their respective languages. Texts, translations and IPA included.
"I have just tried out a fantastic new app for opera singers called DictionBuddy which is simple, brilliant and extremely useful. I am recommending it to my base of singers all over the world as a terrific hands-on tool which gives them immediate help with the challenges of singing in Italian, French, German, Russian and more as it offers native speakers in operatic and song repertoire. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to take advantage of DictionBuddy."
- Carole Farley. Soprano
“DictionBuddy is one of the best tools for singers I've seen; it brings languages and the IPA to life in a way that just using text on paper cannot provide. I highly recommend using as part of preparation for performance."
- William Hicks. Voice Coach, Pianist, Conductor
Enrique Diemecke
Conductor
Enrique Arturo Diemecke is a Mexican conductor, violinist and composer. He is currently the Artistic General Director of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and Music Director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and the Flint Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, USA.
Maestro Diemecke is a frequent guest of orchestras throughout the world, most notably the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, French National Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, L’Orchestre de Paris, Residentie Orkest in The Hague, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane, the Russian National Orchestra, the Bogota Philharmonic, the Puerto Rico Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, Orchestre National de Lorraine, the National Orchestra of Montpellier, the Valladolid Symphony, ORCAM Madrid, Orchestre de Isle de France, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Minnesota, and Auckland.
Maestro Diemecke is an experienced conductor of opera, having served as Music Director of the Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City from 1984-1990, where he led more than 20 productions including Faust, La bohème, Salome, Elektra, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der fliegende Hollander, Rigoletto, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, and Roméo et Juliette. He has since returned as a guest conductor with new productions of Lohengrin, Boris Godunov, and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
Diemecke returned to opera as he opened the 2007-2008 season of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires with a new production of Werther, followed by performances of Massenet's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with tenor Roberto Alagna in Montpellier, which was released by Deutsche Grammophon and awarded the prestigious Grand Prix de l'Academie du Disque Lyrique. He is a regular guest of the famed Teatro Zarzuela in Madrid, and was awarded the Jean Fontaine Orpheus d’Or Gold Medal for “best vocal music recording” by France's Academy of Lyric Recordings for his recording of Donizetti's The Exiles of Siberia with the L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier-Languedoc-Roussillon. Maestro Diemecke was previously honored with a Gold Medal from the Academy of Lyric Recordings with the Bruno Walter Orpheus d’Or Prize for “Best Opera Conductor” for his live recording of Mascagni's Parisina, from the Radio France Festival.
With 20 years at the helm of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Maestro Diemecke led the ensemble on a ten-city tour of the United States, culminating with a program of Latin American masterworks at New York's Carnegie Hall. He and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México were nominated for “Best Classical Album” for the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, for their recording of Carlos Chávez’ Violin and Piano Concertos with violinist Pablo Diemecke and pianist Jorge Federico Osorio.
He is also frequently invited to festivals such as the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, the Hollywood Bowl Festival, Wolf Trap, Autumno Musicale a Como (Italy), Europalia (Brussels), World Fair Expo Sevilla (Spain), Festival International Radio France, and the World Orchestra Festival in Moscow where he led the Bogota Philharmonic.
Maestro Diemecke is an accomplished composer and orchestral arranger, and has conducted his Die-Sir-E, during the Mexican National Symphony Orchestra tour of the U.S. in 1999. The Die-Sir-E was commissioned by the Radio France Festival for the World Cup Final Concert in France in 1998. Maestro Diemecke was commissioned to write a tone poem for the Flint Symphony Orchestra, and his works Chacona a Chávez and Guitar Concerto have received many performances both in Europe and in the United States. During the 2001-2002 season, he gave the world premiere of his work Camino y vision, dedicated to President Vincente Fox, with the Tulsa Philharmonic.
Recordings of the music of Revueltas, Chávez, and Moncayo for Sony/Mexico with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México have been best-sellers in Mexico, earning Maestro Diemecke and orchestra the Golden Record Award. Other releases have included the music of Villa-Lobos and Silvestre Revueltas on the Dorian label with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. In these recordings, as well as in his concert performance, Maestro Diemecke has earned particular renown as a pioneering advocate of the music of Chávez and Revueltas, Mexico's greatest composers, and his CD of Revueltas’ masterwork La noche de los Mayas has become a recording classic. Maestro Diemecke's recording with the Flint Symphony Orchestra of the 1896 version of Mahler's First Symphony (which includes the subsequently deleted “Blumine” movement) was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Howard Watkins
Vocal Coach
American pianist Howard Watkins is a frequent associate of some of the world’s leading musicians on the concert stage; he’s also an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. His appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Russia, and Israel have included collaborations with Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Kathleen Battle, Grace Bumbry, Mariusz Kwiecień, Anna Netrebko, and Matthew Polenzani as well as violinists Xiang Gao and Sarah Chang at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spivey Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the United States Supreme Court, Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the three stages of Carnegie Hall, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. He has accompanied the classes of legendary artists Renata Scotto, Frederica von Stade, Régine Crespin, Birgit Nilsson, Sherrill Milnes, and George Shirley.
Watkins has served on the faculties of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mannes School of Music, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the International Vocal Arts Institute (Israel, Japan, and China), IIVA in Italy, the Brancaleoni Music Festival in Italy, the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy (TIVAA), and VOICExperience in Orlando, Tampa, and Savannah. He has also worked on the music staffs of Palm Beach Opera, the Washington National Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Watkins completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in accompanying and chamber Music at the University of Michigan. In 2004, he received the Paul C. Boylan award from the University of Michigan for his outstanding contributions to the field of music, and a special achievement award from the National Alumni Association of the University of Dayton. He is a resident of New York City.
Jennifer Rowley
Soprano
Soprano, Jennifer Rowley is acclaimed worldwide for her unforgettable voice and remarkable stage presence, singing a richly varied repertoire that includes many of opera’s greatest heroines. In the 2019/20 season, Ms. Rowley added two Verdi roles to her growing list of repertoire and she made two highly anticipated house debuts: first at the National Theatre Prague as Amelia from Verdi’s 'Un ballo in maschera', and then at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in the title role of Verdi’s 'Aida'.
Jennifer Rowley’s triumphant Metropolitan Opera role debut as Roxane in Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac (2017) inspired universal critical praise, with The New York Times raving that this was a “break-through moment,” further adding that for the heartbreaking final scene, “Ms. Rowley sang with an intensity of expression and a subtly embittered sound that suggested a singer for enormous gift and promise.” She has since appeared at the Metropolitan opera in the title roles of Adriana Lecouvurer and Tosca, and as Leonora in Il Trovatore. Around the world, Ms. Rowley has been seen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opera de Paris, SemperOper Dresden, Maggio Musical Fiorentino, Opera San Antonio, New Orleans Opera, Nashville Opera, The Seoul Arts Center, The Caramoor Festival, and many more of the world’s great theatre’s and concert halls.
Coming up next season, Ms. Rowley will make debuts at The Dallas Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, and Opéra de Marseille, while also returning to Opera de Paris in the title role of Aida. She will also join Maestro Yannik Nezet-Seguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis both in Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center and at Carnegie Hall.
A highly-decorated soprano who has been recognized by many international competitions, Jennifer Rowley was awarded the 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant, was one of the top prize winners in the 2013 Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition and the 2011 Opera Index Vocal Competition, a winner of the 2011 William Mattheus Sullivan Musical Foundation awards, a first prize-winner of the 2011 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, a grant winner of the 2011 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, and the winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Michigan District.
Jorge Parodi
Connductor and Vocal Coach
Internationally acclaimed conductor Jorge Parodi has worked extensively in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Recent credits include Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Tampa; Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires for New York City Opera, The Atlanta Opera and Opera Grand Rapids; Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi for Buenos Aires Lírica (Argentina); Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for the Castleton Festival in Virginia and The Banff Centre (Canada); Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann for Opera Orlando; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges for The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center and the World Premiere of Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt, the latest opera by John Musto –a coproduction of On Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric’s Unlimited and Pittsburg Opera-. Upcoming engagements include his return to The Atlanta Opera and Opera Tampa, and his debut at Chautauqua Opera.
Reviewed as having “the most expressive conducting hands since Stokowski” by the New York Daily News, Argentinean born Jorge Parodi has also worked with such companies as the Teatro Colón in Argentina, the Volgograd Opera in Russia, the Encuentros Internacionales de Opera in Mexico, the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy in Japan, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel. He has collaborated with such artists as Isabel Leonard, Eglise Gutierrez, Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes, Aprile Millo and Rufus Wainwright and has assisted conductors Lorin Maazel and Julius Rudel, among others.
Maestro Parodi is the Music Director of Opera in Williamsburg (Virginia), where he has conducted Rigoletto, Il trovatore, L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, La cenerentola and Le nozze di Figaro, among other titles. He is also the Music Director of the Senior Opera Theatre at the Manhattan School of Music, where he has led its productions to critical acclaim, including Schubert’s Die Verschworenen –that the New York Times praised as being “superbly performed” and the American premieres of Le Roi l’a dit by Délibes and Nina by Paisiello. A featured interview by editor-in chief F. Paul Driscoll to Maestro Parodi and his work with MSM Senior Opera Theater appeared in the March ’18 edition of Opera News.
Kirsten Chambers
Soprano
Kirsten Chambers made her Metropolitan Opera house debut on short notice in 2016 in the title role of Saolme. Her Carnegie Hall debut came on just two days’ notice when she sang the fiendishly difficult role of Maria in Richard Strauss’ Friedenstag with the American Symphony Orchestra. Her 2016-17 season started when she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for the first time this fall as a cover of Isolde in Tristan und Isolde.
Upcoming highlights for 2018-19 include the title role in Die Ägyptische Helena in a return to Odyssey Opera in Boston, a return the Metropolitan Opera roster to cover Helmwige in Die WalkÜre and creating an innovative new opera with White Snake Projects called "I am a dreamer who no longer has dreams".
Engagements for 2017-18 include Infantin in Der Zwerg with Odyssey Opera in Boston, the Angel in Angels in America for New York City Opera, Erwartung with The Orchestra Now, and the title role of Saolme with Florida Grand Opera.
Kristine Opolais
Soprano
Kristine Opolais is one of the most sought after sopranos on the international scene today, with a firmly established reputation amongst the world’s pre-eminent singing actresses, combining lustrous tone and fierce dramatic intensity. Opolais appears at the Metropolitan Opera New York, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich and Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She is working with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, Kirill Petrenko and Semyon Bychkov.
Kristine Opolais is known for collaborations with the Metropolitan Opera, and in the last years her appearances in “La bohème”, “Madama Butterfly”, the new productions of “Manon Lescaut” and “Rusalka” have all been broadcast in HD across the world. In 2018 Opolais returned to the Met to sing “Suor Angelica”, a role she recorded for label ‘Orfeo’. Previously, she starred as the title role in Zimmerman’s 2017 production of “Rusalka” and received critical praise for her “vocally lustrous and achingly vulnerable performance” (NY Times). Opolais maintains a strong relationship with the Met since her debut as Magda in “La Rondine”. Famously, in 2014 she made history at the Met, with two role debuts in 18 hours. She gave a renowned performance in “Butterfly”, only to step in for a matinee of “La bohème” the next day, which was concurrently cinema broadcast worldwide.
In the 2019/20 season Opolais makes an anticipated role debut starring in “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, in a new production by Rosetta Cucchi. She also makes her debut at the Semperoper Dresden with performances of “Tosca” and returns to Staatsoper Hamburg as part of the House notable Italian Opera Festival with the same title. Opolais returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for performances of “Madama Butterfly”. Opolais has a strong collaboration with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, recently returning to the House as “Tosca”. In London, Opolais has particularly cemented her title as “the leading Puccini Soprano of today” (The Telegraph), appearing in Kent’s 2014 production as Manon Lescaut, as well as starring as Cio-Cio San. Opolais also has a significant relationship with the Bayerische Staatsoper, which began in 2010 when she made her debut as Rusalka in Kušej’s production, which she has been invited back numerous times to perform. Since this time Opolais has appeared in titles including “Manon Lescaut”, “Madama Butterfly”, Tatjana in “Onegin”, Margherita in “Mefistofele” and Vitellia in “La clemenza di Tito”. Opolais also appeared as the title role of “Jenůfa” at the Opernhaus Zürich in a new Tcherniakov production. At the Teatro alla Scala Opolais appeared as Polina in “The Gambler”, in a new Tcherniakov production and was invited to perform the role of Nedda in “Pagliacci”.
Opolais’ solo concert and recital appearances, for which she is in demand worldwide, include performances at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Tanglewood Festival, the Musikverein Wien, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Royal Opera House Muscat, Royal Concertgebouw, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and Carnegie Hall, to name but a few. Opolais has appeared with orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Filarmonica della Scala and NHK Symphony Orchestra, with whom she makes her debut this season. Opolais’ most recent opera recording was released in Autumn 2017, a DVD of Tosca, from Himmelmann’s production in Baden-Baden, with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
Luis Ledesma
Baritone
Baritone Luis Ledesma has established a reputation as a "rich and well controlled baritone (Opera News). He frequently portrays the heroes and villains of Puccini, Verdi and the bel canto masters as well as roles in recent new works in Spanish including Florencia en el Amazonas and El pasado nunca se termina.His operatic and concert career has advanced in Europe, the United States and South America and includes theaters such as Teatro alla Scala (Luisa Fernanda), the Liceu in Barcelona (Alphonse in La favorite, Riccardo in I puritani and Marcello in La bohème), Klangbogen Festival in Vienna (Leoncavallo's La bohème), Wexford Festival (Don Pasquale), Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Escamillo), Semperoper in Dresden (Marcello), several roles for Koeln Oper (including Don Carlo and Germont), Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia),
Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Marcello, Germont, and Escamillo ), Macau Festival (Sharpless), Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos (Marcello), Graz Oper (Escamillo), L’opera de Montreal (Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West), Manitoba Opera (Escamillo), Opera Lyra Ottawa (Tonio), the Philadelphia Orchestra (Marcello in a concert version of La boheme and Beethoven Nine) and the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and Escamillo), Bucharest National Opera (Scarpia) and Hungarian State Opera (Alfio and Tonio).
In the United States, Mr. Ledesma has sung with many companies, including Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Washington Opera, New York City Opera, Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Atllanta Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, Anchorage Opera, Santo Domingo, Madison Opera, Nashville Opera, Portland Opera, Indianapolis and Connecticut Opera, Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Carolina, Memphis Opera, San Antonio Opera, New Jersey Opera, Minnesota Opera, Florentine Opera, and Hawaii Opera. He also sang two tours with Andrea Bochelli, performing in famous venues such as Madison Square Garden, Hollywood Bowl, Hard Rock Café in Hollywood, Florida, and the Auditorio Nacional Mexico City.
The 2017-2018 season begins with performances of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Astoria Music Festival. Mr. Ledesma will make two new role debuts in the fall, Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Toledo Opera followed by El Duende in Piazzola's Maria de Aires for Nashville Opera. Last season featured performances of Florencia en el Amazonas with NYCO and Sinfonica Nacional del Estado de Mexico, Madama Butterfly for Palm Beach Opera and Il barbiere di Siviglia in San Antonio.
Mr. Ledesma made his Carnegie Hall debut in the Faure Requiem and returned for Dvorak’s Te Deum. He has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Mann Music Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra and with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has performed a variety of orchestral repertoire including Mozart's Coronation Mass, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Louisville Orchestra, a series of Christmas concerts in Hannover with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and a Verdi concert presented in Die Alte Opera Frankfurt. He also performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the Filarmonica de Jalisco and Gala concerts with Tampa Opera and with Festival Cultural Zacatecas, and a solo with Festival Classique des Hautes-Laurentides in Mont-Tremblant, Canada. His concert performances include La bohème (Marcello) at the Vail Festival and the Mann Music Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah in Spain with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Asturias.
Ragnar Conde
Stage Director
A native of Mexico, Ragnar Conde studied Graphic Design at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana- Azcapotzalco and Performing Arts at Casa del Teatro. Since 1992, he has served as teacher, coach and stage director in both the educational and professional sectors. These institutions and companies include SIVAM, ARGOS, Artepost Productions, San Benito Abad Theater, Universidad del Valle de México, Alas y Raíces para los niños, Nickelodeon, Artescenica, ITESM-CEM, National Fine Arts Opera Company, Zacatecas Opera Company, the Madrigalistas Choir, Solists Ensemble, Pro Opera, FIGAROSY, the Centro Histórico Children's Choir, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, West Bay Opera, Golden Ceiba Productions., Mobile Productions, Morelos Opera Company, Xcaret Archeological Park, Skylight Music Theatre and Pro-Musica .
Mr. Conde has participated in over 100 Performing Arts projects in Mexico, United States, France, Switzerland, Italy and Colombia. This projects include Theatre, Opera, Musicals, Concerts and Films, sharing credits as Stage Director, Producer, Writer, Acting Coach or Scenic, Lighting and Costume Designer.
His opera productions include L’Enfant et le Sortiléges, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Suor Angelica, Il Segreto di Susana, Bastien und Bastienne, The Telephone, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Don Pasquale, La Bohéme, El Rey Poeta, Agamenón, Leoncio y Lena, Le nozze di Figaro, I Pagliacci, Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen, La Scala di Seta, L'occasione fa il ladro, Dido and Aeneas, Samson et Dalila, Il Trovatore, Traviata, Elisir d'amore, Despertar al Sueño, Faust, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, La Creciente, La Voix Humaine, I Puritani, Otello, Eugene Onegin, Salome, Fidelio, Aura, Turandot and the Latin-American premier of A Streetcar Named Desire. He served as Associate Stage Director for Peter Webster`s production of Little Women, the international première of this most popular opera by Mark Adamo (Mexico City). Conductors and Musical Directors he has worked with include Teresa Rodríguez, James Demster, Enrique Batiz, Luis Fernando Luna, Rodrigo Macías, Gabriela Díaz-Alatriste, Juan Carlos Lomónaco, Roberto Kalb, Benjamín Juárez Echenique, José Luis Moscovich, Andrés Dos Santos, Johannes Debus, Iván López-Reynoso, Marco Parisotto and Edoardo Muller.
In film, he is the co-writer of No Turning Back, an international feature film (Mexico-Columbia), where he worked also as Acting Coach and Second Assistant. He also worked as Acting Coach in Balls, a Columbian feature film Mr. Conde also adapted the script for the film Seven Years of Marriage, to be feature in Mexico in 2012, and wrote the script for Enamorándome de Abril, to be filmed in the next few months.
Mr. Conde has taught classes in acting, dance, corporal expression and arts. He has extensive experience working with children in professional staging for theatre, opera and concerts, and in coaching acting with opera singers. He has also worked in design, production management and stage management in several national and international projects.
Mr. Conde was the Appretince Stage Director selected for the Merola Opera Program for 2011 at San Francisco Opera Center. In December 2012 he worked as stage director in the world premier of Viva Verdi, the 200 years celebration of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, in the Hallenstadion, Zürich, under the artistic advice of Mr. Lotfi Mansouri.
He is the General Director of Escenia Ensemble, A. C., a performing arts company in Mexico City.
LEADERSHIP
Juan Del Bosco
Founder & President
Internationally acclaimed tenor, Juan Del Bosco made his debut at Carnegie Hall and Apolo Theater in 2016 and has performed at Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City) and Lincoln Center in years past. Mr. Del Bosco frequently performed for European media outlets and royalty. He also performed the Mexican National Anthem at Tennis’ Davis Cup. He won the José Mojica Price for the best tenor at Concurso San Miguel, one of the most prestigious competitions in Latin America.
The Mexican tenor Juan Del Bosco has sung, the title role in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino, Riunuccio (Gianni Schicchi), King Artbano (La Dorichlea), The Duke (Rigoletto), Roméo (Roméo et Julieta), Faust (Faust), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Canio (I Pagliacci), and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus).
Juan Del Bosco is the Founder and President of International Sumner Opera Festival of Morelia, which its first year become the 3rd largest Festival in Mexico. Mr. Del Bosco is also the Founder of Passion for the Opera, which will aims to support operatic vocal careers.
Abdiel Vázquez
Music Director
Abdiel Vázquez is a pianist, conductor, and vocal coach born in Monterrey, Mexico.
He has performed more than 100 concerts as soloist with orchestra throughout Mexico and in the U.S., Europe, and South America. He has appeared as soloist, conductor, recitalist, and collaborator in major cultural capitals such as New York (Carnegie Hall), Chicago, Paris, Madrid, London (Guildhall), Tokio, Shanghai, Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón), Lima (Gran Teatro Nacional), Bogotá, Caracas (Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra), Mexico City (Palacio de Bellas Artes), and Guanajuato (International Cervantino Festival),
His most recent album with the Jalisco Philarmonic Orchestra and music by Juan Pablo Contreras, “Mariachitlán”, was released by Universal Music in 2019 and received a Latin GRAMMY® nomination in the category of Best Arrangement. His first solo album, “Love & Death: Piano transcriptions of Wagner and Verdi Operas”, was released by the British label Piano Classics in 2015 and received rave reviews internationally.
As a guest conductor for Manhattan Opera Studio, he has led productions of The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, and The Marriage of Figaro. With the Opera Company of Brooklyn, he conducted Simon Boccanegra and Dialogues of the Carmelites. He has also been assistant conductor and repetiteur in companies in Mexico, USA, and Europe for productions of Don Giovanni, La Cenerentola, Romeo et Juliette, Carmen, La Traviata, La Bohème, Tosca, and Suor Angelica.
As a collaborator, he has shared the stage with some of the world top singers such as Kristine Opolais, Ailyn Pérez, Javier Camarena, David Lomeli, Joshua Guerrero, María Katzarava, among many others. He has also been a vocal coach at Manhattan School of Music for more than a decade.
His repertoire as pianist includes the concertos of Beethoven, Liszt, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Ravel, Ricardo Castro, Manuel Ponce (New York premiere), Samuel Barber (Mexican premiere), Leonard Bernstein, and Contreras (World premiere performance and recording).
He is the winner of the First Prize at The World Competition, New York's Shining Stars Debut Series, and WPTA Argentina International Piano Competition. In Mexico, he received the President’s National Youth Award and won the most important piano competitions.
Vázquez resides in New York City. He is currently the president of the World Piano Teachers Association Chapter Mexico, music director of the International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia, principal guest conductor for Manhattan Opera Studio, a Steinway & Sons teaching partner, and founder and director of the music school Little Chopins.
Adriana Valdés
Administrative Director and Creative Consultant
Born in La Habana, Cuba, Adriana graduated from Superior School of Music in Mexico City.
Adriana has been a soloist with notable companies such as Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the Bellas Artes Theater and the National Symphonic Orchestra of Mexico. She has performed in numerous operas with the Bellas Artes Theater to include: Hänsel und Gretel, Die Zauberflöte, Viva la Mamma, and The Little Sweep.
Adriana won four National Competition Prizes: First Place and The Roberta Peters Prize by Opera de San Miguel, and Second Prize and First Zarzuela Prize by Contest Carlo Morelli in Mexico.
Recordings include a CD with work by Stravinsky, Ravel and Dèlage. In addition, Adriana has attended Masterclasses with Montserrat Caballé and performed numerous concerts and operas specifically in Mexico and recently in the U.S.
Adriana has performed principal roles in Alcina, La Voix Humane, Die Fledermaus, Don Pasquale, L'enfant et les sortilèges, The Medium, Gianni Schicchi, La Scala di Seta, Rigoletto, Pinocchio, Carmen, Marina and A Streetcar named Desire's debut in Latinoamerica among others. She worked for Disney Mexico and Myst My Soundtrack by Azteca TV and performed voice over work for film shorts and complete films like El Viaje de Keta and Lupe bajo el Sol. Adriana is also the General Director at La Artemisa Performance Project in New York City.