Sarah Callinan – LAKMÉ
Always a house favorite with the Connecticut Opera, Sarah Callinan performed several main-stage roles with the company including Frasquita in Carmen, Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore, Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeri, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, and Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Seraili. She recently sang her first Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Mississippi Opera and next year will reprise her role of Despina in the Cape Cod Opera’s production of Cosi fan tutte. Her rendition of “Glitter and be Gay” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was the highlight of a Hartford Symphony Concert in 2007 at the Talcott Mountain Music Festival in Simsbury, as well as Connecticut Concert Opera’s Opera and The Park in July 2008. Sarah Callinan sang Monica in Connecticut Concert Opera’s production of Menotti’s The Medium.
Michael Clive, the critic for The Waterbury Republican American, said of her performance: “Callinan is blessed with one of those bell-like soprano voices that sounds pure and lustrous from top to bottom….”
Recently the winner of the Jenny Lind Competition, Sarah Callinan was awarded a concert tour of Sweden. In 2006 she won first prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition. Sarah has been a Resident Artist with Connecticut Opera and a member of Connecticut Opera’s Opera Express, and has attracted praise from Bushnell audiences and critics alike. Matthew Erikson, then writing for the Hartford Courant, said: “[as] Gianetta, Sarah Callinan, soprano and Connecticut Opera Resident Artist, was an unexpected pleasure.”
Meredith Ziegler – MILLIKA
Meredith Ziegler has impressed critics and audiences alike with her warm lyric mezzo-soprano voice and her stage presence. Meredith was seen last year as Dinah in Connecticut Concert Opera’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.
Of Ms. Ziegler's recent debut as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte with Granite State Opera, Seen and Heard International Opera Review praised her "very beautiful voice” and her delightful portrayal of the flighty Dorabella”. For her role as Meg Page in Falstaff with Opera North, Opera News commended Ms. Ziegler’s ”game, well-sung Meg.”
Recent engagements include Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) with Cape Cod Opera as well as Dido (Dido and Aeneas) with Connecticut Lyric Opera, mezzo soloist at the Sanibel Music Festival, and Hänsel (Hänsel and Gretel) with Opera Theater of Connecticut. During her two-year residency with Connecticut Opera, Ms. Ziegler performed the roles of Mercedes (Carmen), Zulma (L’Italiana in Algeri), and Inez (Il Trovatore).
Internationally, Ms. Ziegler's work has taken her to Graz, Austria where, in 2005, she was a soloist with the AIMS Festival Orchestra for performances of Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles. Closer to home, she has appeared as a soloist in Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été as well as in Bach’s St. John’s Passion and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, with both the Holyoke Civic Symphony and the New Haven Oratorio Choir, respectively.
Ms. Ziegler received a 2008 Encouragement Award from the prestigious Sullivan Foundation. She was a 2007 Regional Finalist in the New England Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as a 2006 prize winner (Second place) of the Connecticut Opera Guild Scholarship Competition. She received 2nd Prize from the 2007 Amici Vocal Competition (Young Professional Division).
Michael-Paul Krubitzer – GÉRALD
Michael-Paul’s recent engagements include Central City Opera Festival in Colorado where he performed as an apprentice artist in Menotti’s The Saint of Bleeker Street and Massenet’s Cendrillion, as well as covering and performing the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. He has also recently made company debuts with Amarillo Opera, singing in Carmen and Opera Omaha in Aida. Michael-Paul spent part of 2008 performing at Florida Grand Opera as part of its Young Artist Program. He was also a Resident Artist at Connecticut Opera for two seasons and returned as a mainstage artist in the role of Pedrillo in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. Michael-Paul is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Opera Studies at Yale, where he was featured in performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Massenet’s La Navarraise. Upcoming engagements include a debut with the Waterbury Symphony as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Jeremy Moore – FREDERIC
Jeremy Moore, baritone, has sung Ping in Puccini’s Turandot, Figaro in Mozart’s La Nozze di Figaro, John Hale in Robert Ward’s The Crucible with Opera Theatre of the Rockies; Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Austrian American Mozart Academy, Salzburg; Dr. Falke in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, withOpera Company of the Highlands, New York. In July 2009 Jeremy was chosen to compete in Connecticut Concert Opera’s American Opera Idol. Of Moore’s performance that evening, Michael Clive, critic for The Waterbury Republican American, said: “Moore has the right stuff for leading baritone roles: good looks, a full head of hair, height, and a burnished, romantic sound”. This is Jeremy Moore’s debut with Connecticut Concert Opera.
Irwin Densen – NILIKANTHA
Bass-Baritone Irwin Densen has been a fixture on the national and international scene for many years, singing a wide variety of roles which demonstrate his versatility of style and language. Opera companies with which he has performed include the Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Connecticut Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Dayton and Toledo Operas, New Orleans Opera, Florentine Opera, Syracuse Opera, Lake George Opera, New York City Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. Festival appearances have included Caramoor and Spoleto, and he has appeared with Opera De Venezuela in Caracas and at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. His extensive repertoire includes the following roles: Leporello in Don Giovanni, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the title role in Don Pasquale, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, the Sacristan in Tosca, Ramphis in Aida, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, among others. “Sandy” Densen appeared as Rodolfo in Connecticut Concert Opera’s 2005 production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula.
Kyle Torrence – HADJI
In 2008, Kyle Torrence sang the role of Mars in Orpheus in the Underworld with Hartt Opera Theatre, as well as The Policeman in Brundibar, a Muleteer in Man of la Mancha, and Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly with Commonwealth Opera. His delivery of Njeus in The Merry Widow with The Simsbury Light Opera Company was an audience favorite. Kyle appeared as Toby in Connecticut Concert Opera’s 2008 production of The Medium and as a member of the suburban satire trio in CCO’s Trouble in Tahiti and he also sang The Black Cat/Counter Clock in L'enfant et les sortilèges with Hartt Opera Theatre. Kyle studies with Joanna Levy at the Hartt School where he is currently pursuing a B.M in Vocal Performance and Music History.
Claudia Rosenthal – MISS ELLEN
Sarah Asmar – MISS ROSE
Heather Petrie – MISTRESS BENSON