The Marriage of Figaro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jun 29, Jul 1 & 3, 2022

Maryland Lyric Opera makes a triumphant return to fully staged performances with one of opera’s most popular musical comedies: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, June 29 through July 3, 2022. Presented in an inventive and stylish period production on the intimate stage of the Kay Theatre at the University of Maryland, the opera tells an upstairs/downstairs story of love and all of its hijinks – from lust to betrayal to forgiveness – all set to some of the most beautiful and indelible music ever written. Conducted by Music Director Louis Salemno and directed for the stage by David Gately, this classic remains every bit as relevant today as it was in Mozart’s time – perfect for opera lovers and those who are new to opera alike.

The cast features Hunter Enoch as Figaro, Nayoung Ban as Susanna, Javier Arrey as the Count, Mary Feminear as the Countess, Allegra De Vita as Cherubino, Kenneth Kellogg as Dr. Bartolo and Leah Heater as Marcellina.

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Meet the Artists

Hunter Enoch

Hunter Enoch

bass-baritone

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Bass-baritone Hunter Enoch joined the Cafritz Young Artist program at Washington National Opera in the fall of 2015. During his time with the company, he was heard as Count Almaviva in the Young Artist performance of Le nozze di Figaro, a Corporal in The Daughter of the Regiment, ADC in The Dictator’s Wife, covered Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking, and sang Sharpless in the Young Artist performance of Madame Butterfly. His WNO debut was as Moralés in Carmen and he was later heard as James Miller in the world premiere of Better Gods. In the 2019-2020 season, Mr. Enoch returned to WNO as Montano in Otello, and sang the role of Kurwenal in Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda at both the Kennedy Center and at Lincoln Center, and performed Palémon with Maryland Lyric Opera. In the 2018-19 Mr. Enoch performed the role of William Dale in Silent Night at Washington National Opera, made his company and role debut as Scarpia for Opera Birmingham, and sang Happy in La Fanciulla del West and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor for Maryland Lyric Opera, and debuted Wotan with Pacific Northwest Opera in The Ring in One Evening. This season Mr. Enoch will sing Scarpia with Anchorage Opera and returns to Pacific Northwest Opera as Germont in La Traviata.

Nayoung Ban

Nayoung Ban

Soprano

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South Korean Soprano Nayoung Ban is a young and dedicated operatic soprano with a sizeable and remarkably warm Bel Canto voice. She has been praised for vocal color, stage personality, and musicality beyond her years. Ms.Ban’s upcoming performances include Susanna(Le Nozze di Figaro) with Opera Ithaca and A Voice from Heaven(Don Carlo) with Maryland Lyric Opera. Recently Ms.Ban made her début with Maryland Lyric Opera debut performing the Title role of Lucia di Lammermoor where she also appeared as Gilda(Rigoletto), Musetta(La bohème), Pamina(Die Zauberflöte) and Blonde(Die Entführung) in their Concerts. Additionally, she performed Musetta(La Bohème) with Opera Ithaca and and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) with Mannes Opera where she also appeared as Euridice (Orfeo di Euridice), Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen), Giulietta in (I Capuleti e Montecchi) and Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) with Mannes Opera Opera Scene Performance. Ms. Ban also has performed as a Soprano Soloist in ‘Hear my prayer’ by F.Mendelssohn with Peniel Women’s Choir, T.Dubois’s The Seven Last Words of Christ with Christian Broadcasting System of New York, Soprano Soloist in Gounod’s St.Cecilia Mass with GNC Orchestra and Soloist in Handel’s Messiah with New Hope Reformed Church of New York.

Soprano Nayoung Ban has her Professional Studies in Mannes College of Music, holds her Master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree at ChungAng University in Korea where she also has her Bachelor's Degree.

Javier Arrey

Javier Arrey

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Heralded as one of the most sought after and versatile Belcanto baritones of the emerging generation, Chilean baritone Javier Arrey recently did his Metropolitan Opera debut as Schaunard (La Boheme) in the classic Franco Zeffirelli production and joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera; he also did an acclaimed debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Marcelloin La Boheme.

Engagements in recent seasons include, among others: Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana) at Boston Lyric Opera; Valdeburgo (La Straniera) and Riccardo (I Puritani) at Washington Concert Opera; Giovanni (Don Giovanni) at the Estates Theater in Prague and Castleton Festival; Silvio (I Pagliacci) at the NCPA Mumbai under Antonello Allemandi; Giorgio (Il Postino) and Garibaldo (Rodelinda) at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago.

Following an acclaimed debut as Jago (Otello) at the Castleton Festival under Lorin Maazel, a performance The Washington Post described as "menaced and connived but [Arrey] did so subtly and with a voice so lovely to that his scheming seemed all the more threatening." Praises came also from Mo. Lorin Maazel who published: "Jago was stunningly sung and acted by Javier Arrey [who] manages to give shape to the jealous demon within Otello"

On CD, Mr.Arrey can be heard as Lescaut on the recording of Puccini's Manon Lescaut for Decca Classics alongside Andrea Bocelli and Plácido Domingo.

In addition to his work on the opera stage Arrey has proved to be a world-class interpreter of the concert repertoire most recently performing Carmina Burana in Europe and Dvorák's Biblical Songs & Gypsy Songs in Czech Republic. His repertoire includes Fauré's Requiem, Bach St.John Passion BWV 245, Bach Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248, Bach Cantata BWV
82, Schumann's Dichterliebe, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem and Mahler's Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, among others.

In 2017, Mr. Arrey received the "Congressional Medal of Honor" at the National Congress of Chile in recognition of his artistic career and his social labor bringing the Opera to populations who have no access to live performances. In 2011 Javier Arrey was the winner of the CulturArte Prize at Operalia Competition in Moscow and in 2009 he was finalist at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition (Song prize). Mr.Arrey is a graduate of The Washington National Opera "Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program" and Dolora Zajick's Program Institute for "Young Dramatic Voices"

Future engagements include, among others his debut as Germont (La Traviata, Verdi) at the
Teatro Municipal de Santiago under Mo. Rizzi Brignoli.

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Mary Feminear

Mary Feminear

Soprano

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American soprano Mary Feminear’s voice has been described as “luminous…full of longing and sensual promise” by the critic of the Wall Street Journal, and by the critic of the New York Times as showing “versatility [as Magdalene] in her sorrowing and then in her transcendent joy.” Among her 2019-20 engagements are the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Maryland Lyric Opera, and Pallade, Damigella, and Venere in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Opera Delaware. In the summer of 2020, Ms. Feminear is soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C Major in her debut with the Grant Park Music Festival. Her engagements in the 2020-21 season include a return to Opera Omaha as the Countess.

Ms. Feminear’s engagements in the 2018-19 season included a return to Grand Théâtre de Genève as Micaëla in Carmen, and concerts with Maryland Lyric Opera, where she appeared as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. Engagements for the 2017-18 season included Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodanteand soloist in Mariana Sadovska’s The Wreck at the Opera Omaha One Festival, and Amore in Cavalli’s Il Giasone at the Château de Versailles.

As a member of the Troupe des Jeunes Solistes at Grand Théâtre de Genève, she performed a number of roles, including Musetta in La bohème, Amore in Il Giasone, Mimì in Scènes de la vie de Bohème, Nanetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, and Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ms. Feminear’s other opera credits include the title role in Handel’s Semele at Opera Omaha and Seattle Opera, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Pacific MusicWorks, Proserpine in Charpentier’s La descente d'Orphée aux enfers with Gotham Chamber Opera, and Polissena in Handel’s Radamistoat Juilliard.

She has also appeared in concert, with performances of Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Pacific MusicWorks, Tchaikovsky’s Orleanskaya Deva with Grand Théâtre de Genève, Handel’s La resurrezione with William Christie and Juilliard415, and the St. Matthew Passion with Juilliard415 at Alice Tully Hall.

Ms. Feminear is a recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Prize, the Makiko Narumi Memorial Prize, and the Hardesty and Beverley Peck Johnson Award. She holds an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a Master of Arts degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University.

Allegra De Vita

Allegra De Vita

Mezzo-soprano

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Allegra was recently seen as Angelina in La Cenerentola at Boston Midsummer Opera, The Page in Salome at The Spoleto Festival, Siebel in Faust at Washington National Opera and the title role in Carmen in a semi-staged production with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Future engagements include Maddalena in Rigoletto with Austin Opera, Rinaldo in Rinadlo at the Glimmerglass Festival. As a 2018 graduate from the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program she was seen as Rosina in The Barber of Seville (Emerging Artist Performance), Tebaldo in Don Carlo, Sister 2 in Provin’ Up, The Fox/A Rose in The Little Prince, Ruggiero in Alcina (Emerging Artist Performance), the title role in The Dictator’s Wife, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (Emerging Artist Performance) and Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. She was also seen as Tancredi in Erminia with Opera Lafayette, Arsamenes in Xerxes at the 2017 Glimmerglass Festival as well as the roles of Olga in Eugene Onegin with Syracuse Opera and Isaura inTancredi with Opera Philadelphia. Allegra was a 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finalist.

Kenneth Kellogg

Kenneth Kellogg

Bass

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Praised for his "commanding stage presence" and "rich, resonant bass", Kenneth was born and raised in Washington, D.C, music has been a part of his life since grade school. Nurtured in the public school system by amazing music teachers, began formal training at the Duke Ellington School of the Performing and Visual Arts as a Vocal and Visual Arts student.

Among his roles are staples of opera repertoire: The title role, in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as Leporello and Il Commendatore, Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Ramfis and Il Re in Verdi’s Aida, Colline in Puccini’s La Boheme, the title role of Handel’s Hercules, The King in Handel’s Ariodante, Osmin in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sarastro and the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Fasolt in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson's opera Blue was written for him. It was named the best new opera of 2020 by the Music Critics Association of North America.

Never afraid to step outside of the box of traditional repertoire, Mr. Kellogg has been involved with several new operas. He sang the role of Queequeg in the workshop of Jake Heggie’s acclaimed, Moby Dick at San Francisco Opera. He led the cast in the west coast premier of Terence Blanchard’s Champion: An Opera in Jazz, as the champion boxer, Young Emile Griffith, to rave reviews with Opera Parallele. He has been a guest at the Opera America’s New Works Forum in NY, where among other roles, he brought to life the character of Sam Bankhead in Dan Sonenberg’s Opera, The Summer King, about the life of Negro League great, Joshua Gibson. He is a frequent collaborator with small companies pushing the boundaries of the Art of Opera and has lent his voice to several voice-over projects.

Mr. Kellogg has managed a very active performing schedule between the US and Europe. He has worked with many leaders in the field at houses including San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Atlanta Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Tampa, Opera Memphis, Opera North Carolina, Opera Parallele, and is set to make several role and house debuts. His European debut was in the role of Sarastro at Opera de Oviedo where he returned to sing the devil himself, Mephistopheles in Faust. He also sang the same 2 roles with Opera de Lausanne.

He in an Alumnus of the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera and the Domingo-Caftriz Emerging Artist Program at Washington National Opera. He also trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Wolf Trap Opera and holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Ohio University. He is a frequent guest lecturer for organizations about music. He is an advocate for artist rights and uses his certification from Cornell University to consult with performing arts organizations on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

Leah Heater

Leah Heater

Mezzo-Soprano

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Mezzo-Soprano Leah Heater just finished the Resident Artist Program with Pittsburgh Opera, where she sang the roles of Flora in La Traviata and The Page in Salome, in which she “impressed” with her “solid low register” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). She portrayed the title role in Riccardo Primo, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, and Jessie Castner in the Long Walk .Her first role with Pittsburgh Opera was the role of Cecelia in Little Women in which she “displayed singing and acting abilities that lifted a secondary character into considerable prominence” (Pittsburgh In The Round).

More recently Ms. Heater has been seen and heard in Verdi's Requiem with Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in which her "sonorous yet vigorous phrasing stood out" (Chautauquan Daily), and as Gertrude in Opera Ithaca's Hamlet, in which her "passion, carnality, and splendid voice completed communicated the transgressions of sovereigns." (Ithaca.com)

Leah graduated from the Masters and Artist Diploma programs at University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music and she performed many works there, including: Mezzo Soloist in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No. 3, Verdi's Requiem, and John Adam's El Niño, as well as Carmen in La tragèdie de Carmen, Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Aloés in L'Étoile, Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress, and Eboli in the CCM Philharmonic’s concert presentation of the five-act French version of Verdi’s Don Carlos. She has also sung as mezzo soloist in Dvorak’s Requiem with Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and with Asheville Symphony Orchestra in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. In June of 2015, Leah made her Carnegie Hall debut as mezzo soloist in Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem and was praised by the New York Concert Review for her “exquisite voice”.

Leah has been fortunate to workshop a number of new works: at Cincinnati Opera she created the role of Sadie in two workshops of Ricky Ian Gordon's new opera, Morning Star, and sang the role of Kathleen in the world premiere of the same opera. She also had the opportunity to work closely with Jake Heggie and Terrance McNally in a workshop of their new opera, Great Scott, which premiered at Dallas Opera. As a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Leah covered the role of Kathy Hagen in the world premiere of Terrence Blanchard’s Champion, as well as the role of Gertrude Stein in the premiere of 27 by Ricky Ian Gordon, during which she stood in for the first two weeks of staging for Ms. Stephanie Blythe. Leah sang as Carmen in the touring reduction of Bizet's famous opera with Cincinnati Opera as well as the full length version with Rome Festival Opera. She covered Princess Eboli in Verdi’s French version of Don Carlos as a Studio Artist with Sarasota Opera. While an Emerging Artist at Virginia Opera, she sang the role of Juno in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, and covered the role of Mary in The Flying Dutchman.

Melissa Mino

Melissa Mino

Soprano

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MELISSA MINO is a versatile and engaging performer in opera, oratorio, operetta, and in concert.  She made her Washington National Opera debut singing the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. Concert engagements have included Midsummer Night’s Dream with American Ballet Theatre at the Kennedy Center, Brahms’ Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria at the National Cathedral, Creation with the Sylvan Chorale, and a return to the Kennedy Center to perform Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise. 2018-2019 engagements included Lord Nelson Mass with York Symphony, Franck’s Beatitudes with Bucks County Choral Society, and a G&S review with Young Victorian Theatre Company. In 2019-2020, she returns to Bucks Choral as soprano soloist for Brahms Requiem, and joins Maryland Lyric Opera as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Nella in Gianni Schicchi.

A proponent of contemporary opera, she covered Rosalba in Washington National Opera's Florencia en el Amazonas, sang Sylvia in Douglas Pew’s A Game of Hearts at the Opera America New Works Forum, premiered the title role in Maurice Wright’s Galatea Reset, and sang in the world premiere of Lost Childhood at Strathmore. In operetta Melissa has been heard as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Yum Yum in The Mikado, and Casilda in The Gondoliers. Other roles include Zerlina, Pamina, Despina, Janacek’s Vixen, and Monica in The Medium. She trained as an apprentice artist at Sarasota Opera, in the young artist institute at Maryland Lyric Opera, and at the CoOPERAtive program. She holds an M.M. from Temple University and a B.M. in music education, summa cum laude, from Bucknell University.

Michael Pitocchi

Michael Pitocchi

Bass-baritone

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Bass-baritone Michael Pitocchi has been described as a brilliant singer with a powerful, rich voice. Hailing from New York, he is a graduate of the Mannes Conservatory, where he performed leading roles including Dr. Bartolo and Antonio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake's Progress, Prince Gremin and Zaretsky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Frank Maurrant in Weill’s Street Scene.

In the summer of 2018, Michael was invited to perform with the prestigious Glimmerglass Festival. There, he performed in productions of Put’s Silent Night, Janáček‘s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

In 2019, Michael was awarded top prize in the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s concert series. Brooklyndiscovery.com described his “rich basso” as a voice that will “fill the void today of a lack of great dark voices.” He was later invited to attended the 2019 ICAV Institute in Montreal, Quebec where he was featured as Barbemuche in Leoncavallo’s La Bohéme.

Michael has been a featured soloist with the Fairfield County Chorale in Connecticut. Recent concerts include Mozart's Mass in C minor, J. Christian Bach's Magnificat a 4 in C major, and Handel’s Messiah.

Michael was featured in the 2019 MDLO Institute Concert performing lead roles in scenes from Beethoven's Fidelo, Gounod's Faust, and Verdi's Falstaff. Michael was privileged to cover the role of Timur in MDLO's 2022 production of Puccini's Turandot. His most recent performance with MDLO was singing the role of Antonio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.

Joseph Michael Brent

Joseph Michael Brent

Tenor

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Tenor Joseph Michael Brent, a native New Yorker, began his operatic career as a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, Athens. Since graduating in the fall of 2014, Dr. Brent’s lyric tenor voice has continued to gain recognition around the United States and abroad. Most recently, he became the inaugural tenor resident artist of the Michigan Opera Theatre Studio, under the artistic direction of internationally acclaimed tenor Richard Leech and opera impresario Dr. David Dichiera. He completed two seasons as resident artist, ending his tenure at the Michigan Opera Theatre in the spring of 2017.

As a member of the Michigan Opera Theatre Studio Dr. Brent’s roles included Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence (Little Women), Martin (The Tender Land), the Kronprinz (Silent Night), Malcolm (Macbeth), Trin (La Fanciulla del West), and Remendado (Carmen).

Mauricio Miranda

Mauricio Miranda

Tenor

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Tenor Mauricio Miranda has recently performed with MDLO as The Emperor Altoum in Turandot by Puccini, as Il Conte di Lerma in Don Carlo by Verdi, as Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, and as Joe in La fanciulla del West by Puccini. His future roles with MDLO include The Judge in Un ballo in maschera and Doctor Caius in Falstaff by Verdi.

During his career, Miranda has performed at the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Music Center, Palacio Euskalduna and Teatro La Laboral (Spain); Teatro Goldoni (Italy), Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile), among others. His oratorio repertoire includes works by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Rossini, Beethoven and Schubert, and he has given concerts in Chile, Argentina, Peru, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and the United States. He performed with conductors such as Louis Salemno, Dimitry Jurowsky, Jan Latham-Koenig, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, and Daniele Rustioni; and directors such as Emilio Sagi, Anne Bogart, Hugo de Ana and Jean Louis Grinda. Miranda has sung Mozart's Requiem at the Washington National Cathedral, and the role of Eros in the U.S. premiere of Debussy's opera Diane au bois. His soloist career began in South America, and he continued his training in Europe and North America with Bruno Pola in Germany, Isabel Penagos in Spain and Diana Soviero in the U.S.

He graduated from the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera. Miranda received his degree in Music Theory from the National Conservatory of the University of Chile and was the winner of the prestigious FONDART scholarship.

Louis Salemno

Louis Salemno

Music Director

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Louis Salemno is the Music Director of Maryland Lyric Opera and is the principal conductor for all its performances, including the recent Thaïs, La fanciulla del West, and the MDLO Orchestra concert featuring pianist Leon Fleisher. He oversees the recruitment and training of the emerging artists of the MDLO Institute and leads the team responsible for auditioning, hiring, and managing the MDLO Orchestra and Chorus.

Maestro’s long and storied international conducting career includes posts at some of the world’s leading opera houses, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and New York City Opera, among many others. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in France and was mentored by the legendary Kurt Herbert Adler, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gianandrea Gavazzeni and Bruno Bartoletti.  As a pianist, he has appeared in recital with Montserrat Caballe and Denyce Graves.

As a mentor, he held the post of Resident Coach for Washington National Opera’s acclaimed Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program for nearly a decade, where he also trained conducting students as well as visiting conductors in preparation for performances. He has also mentored singers at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. He studied piano with Mieczyslaw Horszowski and conducting with Max Rudolf at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

David Gately

David Gately

Stage Director

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Stage director David Gately is known for his vivid story-telling and lively and clever productions. Recent reviews have called his staging “fresh, amusing and energetic,” and praised his direction which used “nuance and creative physical comedy, resulting in a superb production brimming with energy.”

The Director’s hugely successful “Wild West” production of Don Pasquale which was hailed as a “contemporary classic” by the Denver Post has been mounted by San Diego Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Colorado, Calgary Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Virginia Opera, Dayton Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Omaha, Edmonton Opera and the Fort Worth Opera. In addition to these performances, the last several seasons are highlighted by productions of La Traviata with The Academy of Vocal Arts and Atlanta Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte, Giulio Cesare and Ariadne auf Naxos with Fort Worth Opera, L’Italiana in Algeri with Seagle Music Colony, and Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon with Boston University’s Fringe Festival.

Career milestones include his staging of L’Elisir d’Amore with Dallas Opera and Atlanta Opera, Madama Butterfly with Seattle Opera, La Boheme with Florida Grand Opera, Carmen in New Orleans, Les Contes D’Hoffman in Edmonton and Tulsa, Die Zauberflote with the Cincinnati and Vancouver Operas, A Midsummer Night’s Dream with both the Florentine Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, Falstaff with Opera Omaha, and Rigoletto with Utah Opera and Arizona Opera. He has directed productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Washington National Opera, Opera Colorado and Manitoba Opera, Simon Boccanegra for its premiere with L’Opera de Montreal, and the World Premiere production of Before Night Falls with the Forth Worth Opera where the Dallas Morning News wrote that he “supplies a physically gripping staging.” In addition, he directed Angels in America with Fort Worth Opera for its North American Premiere, as well as its UK premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London.

Carmen Castañon

Carmen Castañon

Scenic Designer

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Doctor in Fine Arts specializes in Scenography with a thesis developed in the Opera Theatre of Rome during her prize in The Spanish Royal Academy.

In 1992 start work as painter of scenery in “Sormani” Milano in projects of the most important italian stage designers as Pier Luigi Pizzi, Tito Varisco, Luisa Spinatelli, among others.

She starts working at Opera in her hometown, Oviedo in 1992, in this city makes several works for Opera and Zarzuela (Elektra, Ballo in Maschera, Thaïs, Marina ...).

Since 1997 she worked with several stage directors in Spain and in many other countries, with outstanding works such as Zaide in La Coruña (Spain), Carmen in Buenos Aires and tour in Italy, La Boheme in Plodviv (Bulgaria), and tour in Holland, Dracula in Seville (Spain), Fidelio in Kosice (Slovakia).

Since 2014 she collaborates with Daniel Bianco as an assistant in all her productions and designs some scenographies for the Teatro de la Zarzuela.

Until now, she has combined the opera works with prose theater in the most important theaters of Spain and films and television as production manager.

Jeff Bruckerhoff

Jeff Bruckerhoff

Lighting Designer

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As the current Director of Production & Facilities at Palm Beach Opera, Jeff Bruckerhoff brings over two decades of production experience gathered from work with companies as far flung as Montevideo, Uruguay to Tokyo, Japan and nearly everywhere in between. Following an early career in theater consulting for Schuler and Shook in Chicago, recent work has been concentrated on lighting design for opera and ballet with companies including The Washington Ballet, San Francisco Opera, The Kennedy Center, Washington National Opera, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and Tulsa Opera. Additionally Jeff has taught lighting at the University of Illinois and Northwestern’s Cherub program, and worked as director of production and resident designer for Roosevelt University. Recently he has taken on the managing director role for The Vermont Opera Project – a new summer event based in central Vermont.

The Marriage of Figaro:

Cast

Figaro: Hunter Enoch
Susanna: Nayoung Ban
Conte d’Almaviva: Javier Arrey
Contessa d’Almaviva: Mary Feminear
Cherubino: Allegra de Vita
Bartolo: Kenneth Kellogg
Marcellina: Leah Heater
Barbarina: Melissa Mino
Antonio: Michael Pitocchi
Don Basilio: Joseph Michael Brent
Don Curzio: Mauricio Miranda

Conductor: Louis Salemno
Director: David Gately
Scenic Designer: Carmen Castañon
Lighting Designer: Jeff Bruckerhoff
Hair & Makeup: Priscilla Bruce
Costume Designer: Glenn Avery Breed
MDLO Orchestra
MDLO Chorus

Synopsis

Act I and II.

While preparing for their wedding, the valet Figaro learns from the maid Susanna that their philandering master, Count Almaviva, has his eye on her. At this, the servant vows to outwit his master. Before long Dr. Bartolo enters with the palace housekeeper, Marcellina, who wants Figaro to marry her to cancel a loan he cannot repay. Marcellina and Susanna trade insults until the amorous page Cherubino arrives, reveling in his infatuation with all women. The Count enters, furious at having caught Cherubino flirting with the gardener’s daughter Barbarina, and the page hides not a moment too soon. The Count pursues Susanna and conceals himself when the gossiping music master Don Basilio approaches, only to reemerge when Basilio mentions Cherubino’s infatuation with the Countess. The Count becomes livid when he finally discovers Cherubino hiding in the room. Figaro returns with fellow servants praising the Count’s progressive reform in abolishing the droit du seigneur—the right of a noble to take a manservant’s place on his wedding night. The Count banishes Cherubino to serve in his regiment and leaves Figaro to cheer up the distraught adolescent.

The Countess laments her husband’s waning love but plots to chasten him, with help from Figaro and Susanna. They will send Cherubino, disguised as Susanna, to a romantic tryst with the Count. Cherubino, smitten with the Countess, appears and the two women begin to dress the page for his rendezvous. While Susanna goes out to find a ribbon, the Count knocks on the door, furious to find it locked. Cherubino quickly locks himself in the closet, and the Countess admits her husband. The Count soon hears a noise coming from the closet and doubts the Countess’s claim that Susanna is inside the closet. He takes his wife to fetch some tools with which to force open the closet door. Meanwhile, Susanna, having observed everything from behind a screen, urges Cherubino to come out. Cherubino leaps from the window to escape, and Susanna takes his place in the closet. Both the Count and the Countess are amazed to find her there upon their return. All seems well until the gardener, Antonio, storms in with crushed geraniums from a flower bed below the window. Figaro, who has run in to announce that the wedding is ready, contends it was he who jumped from the window and feigns a sprained ankle. Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio burst into the room waving a court summons for Figaro, which delights the Count since this gives him an excuse to delay the wedding.

Acts III and IV

Susanna, encouraged by the Countess, leads the Count on with promises of a rendezvous in the garden. The nobleman, however, grows doubtful when he spies her conspiring with Figaro. As everyone assembles for Figaro’s trial, Barbarina takes Cherubino off to her house where she dresses him as a girl in order to hide from the Count. After the trial is over, the enraged Figaro finds himself sentenced to marry Marcellina—unless he pays her at once. They soon discover, however, that Figaro is actually the offspring of an illicit union between Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina herself. Susanna meanwhile has secured from the Countess enough money to pay off Figaro’s debt and returns to find him embracing the despised housekeeper. The confusion is rapidly cleared, and the couples plan a double wedding, much to the Count’s irritation. The Countess and Susanna resume their plotting, summoning the Count to the garden that evening with a secret letter. They seal it with a pin which the Count is to return to Susanna. A group of village girls, including Barbarina and the disguised Cherubino, arrive to bring flowers to the Countess. Antonio unmasks Cherubino, but Barbarina’s allegations against the flirtatious Count earn them permission to stay at the wedding. Marcellina and Bartolo are married along with Figaro and Susanna, who slips the Count her note.

In the moonlit garden later that night, Barbarina searches for the hatpin the Count asked her to bring to Susanna, which she has dropped, and unwittingly reveals the arrangement to Figaro and Marcellina. Figaro immediately suspects that Susanna is deceiving him and hides to oversee the rendezvous. Susanna and the Countess, who have exchanged clothes in order to deceive the Count, arrive with Marcellina who has warned them of Figaro’s suspicions. Punishing her doubting husband, Susanna torments Figaro with her supposed joy at waiting for the Count. Susanna hides in time to see Cherubino flirting with the Countess disguised as Susanna. The Count soon chases the page away so that he can fulfill his own desires with the supposed Susanna when he is frightened off by Figaro. Figaro attempts to enlist the aid of the supposed Countess, but he needs only a moment to understand from her voice that it is in reality Susanna. He woos her as if she were the Countess in playful revenge, but has only enough time to calm Susanna before the Count returns. Figaro and Susanna, whom the Count takes to be his wife, play an exaggerated love scene for his benefit. Believing the Countess has deceived him, the Count furiously calls everyone to witness her disgrace. He adamantly refuses all pleas for pardon, until the real Countess appears. Grasping the truth at last, the Count begs his wife’s forgiveness.

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