Bryan Boyce, bass-baritone

Bass-baritone Bryan Boyce is a native of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He has performed in Minneapolis/St. Paul with Theatre de la Jeune Lune (Figaro in FIGARO and Don Giovanni in DON JUAN GIOVANNI), Theatre Latté Da (Colline in LA BOHEME and Olin Blitch in SUSANNAH), and has sung comprimario roles with the Minnesota Orchestra and The Minnesota Opera. Mr. Boyce has spent three seasons in the Central City Opera's Young Artist Training Program performing various comprimario roles and most recently covering Leporello in Don Giovanni. This past year he toured with Theatre de la Jeune Lune's operatic re-imaginings to the American Repertory Theatre (Cambridge, MA) and to the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Berkeley, CA). In the Minnesota Opera's Resident Artist Program this season his roles will include the Old Gypsy in IL TROVATORE, Pantalone and the Drum Maker in THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO (by Jonathan Dove) and Don Basilio in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA.

Colleen Brooks, mezzo-soprano

Colleen Brooks, (District Katz Award Winner 2006, District Fifth Place Award Winner 2005), has recently become a mezzo! She will be making her mezzo-soprano debut this July as Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville this summer with Rising Star Singers in Rising Sun, Indiana. This weekend she is singing the soprano II part in Mozart's C Minor Mass in Cincinnati, OH. She will also be working with Thomas Pasatieri this coming August and performing several songs from his cycle LETTER TO WARSAW in College-Conservatory of Music's Grandin Music Festival. This past year Colleen tackled the soprano solo part of Stravinsky's ballet LES NOCES. In the year to come Colleen plans finish her doctorate degree at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.

Melanie Cain, soprano

Melanie Cain, Soprano, holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and a Masters of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A native of Carroll, Iowa, she received her BA in both Music and Art from Luther College in Decorah, IA. Melanie has performed numerous roles in the Madison area receiving rave reviews. Her past roles include Second Lady in Mozart’s DIE ZAUBERFLOTE, The Mother and Witch in Humperdinck’s HANSEL AND GRETEL, Madame Lidoine in T HE DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES, Alice Ford in FALSTAFF, Rosalinda in DIE FLEDERMAUS While at UW, Cain understudied the well known soprano, Julia Faulkner, in the title role of VANESSA. Melanie was Assistant Director/Stage Manager of the UW Opera’s productions of ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD and Mozart’s COSI FAN TUTTE and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO under the direction of William Farlow. Cain has received numerous honors including winner of the UW Concerto Competition, was a recipient of the Bolz Fellowship of Music from UW, and had the honor of singing for the famous tenor Ben Heppner

Carra Chrzan, soprano

Caitlin Cisler, soprano

Rachael Crim, soprano

Anne Graczyk Druce, mezzo-soprano

Ms Graczyk Druce is a dynamic mezzo-soprano who has performed a wide variety of roles ranging from Kim McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie to Zita in Gianni Schicchi. While an undergraduate, she understudied Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with the Boston University Opera Institute.  Ms. Graczyk Druce also participated  in the Boston University  Symphonic performances of the Mozart Requiem and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Boston’s Symphony Hall.  She has performed the leading roles of Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia with Hartt Opera Theater, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, and Jo March in Little Women with Intermezzo Development programs.  While in graduate school at The Hartt School of Music, she performed Zita in Gianni Schicchi and La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica under the direction of Peter Kazaras.  In the winter of 2006, Anne covered the roles of Second Witch and Spirit with Chicago Opera Theater.  During the 2005-2006 academic year, Anne was the mezzo-soprano intern with American Opera Projects under the direction of Steven Osgood.  She premiered several new works while being paired with six emerging composers from around the country as well as scenes from two brand new operas, Heart of Darkness and Bonfire of the Vanities. Most recently Anne covered and performed the role of Ursula in Beatrice et Benedict also with Chicago Opera Theater.  In 2008, Anne will be a featured young artist with Opera Santa Barbara, covering both Lola and Mamma Lucia in Il Cavalleria.

Brad Jungwirth, baritone

Baritone Brad Jungwirth, a native of Rochester, MN, earned his Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, where he studied with renowned baritone Richard Stilwell. Previous operatic roles include Dr. Engel in THE STUDENT PRINCE with the Music by the Lake festival, the title role in Walton’s THE BEAR and Marcello in LA BOHÈME with Chicago’s Millennium Chamber Players, Count Almaviva in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO with Chicago’s L’opera Piccola, the title role of Mozart’s THE IMPRESARIO and the husband in Menotti’s AMELIA GOES TO THE BALL (both at Roosevelt University). Solo concert performances include Dvorak’s Te Deum, Beethoven’s Mass in C, and numerous masses and cantatas of J. S. Bach. Mr. Jungwirth is also an avid performer of contemporary music, and has been highly praised for his performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’ monodrama 8 SONGS FOR A MAD KING with the Millennium Chamber Players. Most recently, he performed this difficult work at the Jusqu’aux Oreilles contemporary music festival in Montréal, Canada, and has been invited to sing the piece at the 2009 Sound Ways International New Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Angela Kloc, soprano

Evelyn Nelson, soprano

Rebecca Olthafer, mezzo-soprano

Rebecca Olthafer, (5th Place at the Wisconsin District 2006, Florentine Opera Mainstage Performance Award 2006, Arline Johnson Award 2005), currently resides in Chicago, IL. Following her performances in TURANDOT and DIALOGUE OF THE CARMELITES with the Lyric Opera of Chicago chorus this spring Rebecca sang in the chorus of the Verdi REQUIEM with the Chicago Symphony. This summer, Rebecca will be singing the role of Annina in LA TRAVIATA with Sugar Creek Symphony and Song in Watseka, IL and preparing to teach music appreciation at North Park University next year. Rebecca is the alto soloist and section leader at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Evanston, IL and maintains a thriving private voice and piano studio. www.RebeccaO.com

Meaghan Reider, soprano

Christopher Aaron Smith, tenor

Christopher Aaron Smith is currently in his second year of vocal performance graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music.  Recent performance credits include the Tenor Soloist in Bach's Magnificat and the Tenor Soloist in Mozart's Requiem (Masterworks Chorale), The Italian in Angêlique (NEC Opera Workshop), Laurie in Little Women (Stoughton Opera Company), the Tenor Soloist in Dubois's The Seven Last Words of Christ (Good Shepherd Lutheran Church), the Tenor Soloist in Messiah (New Berlin Community Symphony), Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (Four Seasons Theatre), the Duke of Dunstable in Patience and Marco in The Gondoliers (Madison Savoyards), and Tamino in The Magic Flute, Mr. Angel in Tbe Impresario, and The Narrator in Oedipus Tex  at his alma mater (Wartburg College).  Mr. Smith has earned many vocal scholarships including the Harold Whitworth Pierce Provost Scholarship (NEC), the Badger Chordhawks Vocal Scholarship, the Macdowell Music Club Vocal Scholarship, and the Zahn Meistersinger Scholarship (Wartburg).  At competition, his credits include an Opera Encouragement Award from the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition, 2^nd Place in the NEC Vocal Concerto Competition, 1^st Place in the Adult Professional Division at the Wisconsin NATS Competition, two Skylight Opera Theatre Awards for his "unusual dramatic talent, interesting presence, and vivid projection of text and music" and a Milwaukee Music Teacher's Association, Inc. Award from the Wisconsin District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and 1^st Place in the Freshman Male Division at the Iowa NATS Competition.  He studies voice with Patricia Craig and coaches with Michael Strauss, Daniel Wyneken, and Timothy Steele.

Danielle Steele, soprano

Danielle Steele, a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is an active performer and teacher. Her repertoire includes such avant-garde pieces as Pärt’s Passio, and the role of Virginia Poe in Argento’s tone-row opera, THE VOYAGE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. Ms. Steele is also a passionate supporter of living composers and enjoys performing new and unusual vocal literature. In 2006 she performed in the Cincinnati New Music Festival and premiered 3 Haiku, a work by composer Christopher Levin. In 2007, Ms. Steele formed The Steele Project, a non-profit opera company dedicated to premiering lesser-known quality one-act operas while giving undergraduate performers a legitimate professional experience and promoting arts in the communities in which they perform. In 2010, Opera Steele is slated to premier a new opera by composer Frank Felice. Ms. Steele currently resides in Indianapolis, IN, where maintains a private voice studio, is minister of music at a Methodist church, and sings professionally with Indianapolis Opera, where she made her debut as Second Spirit in THE MAGIC FLUTE last fall. She is currently studying with Julia Faulkner.

Susan Wiedmeyer, soprano

Susan Wiedmeyer, native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, recently graduated from St. Olaf College with a BM degree in vocal performance. While at St. Olaf, she studied under the guidance of Janis Hardy and she was actively involved with several lyric theater productions. Her most recent roles include: Catherine in PIPPIN, Sandrina in Mozart’s LA FINTA GIARDINIERA and YumYum in an adapted version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE MIKADO. After taking some time off to continue her vocal studies privately with Dr. Valerie Errante, she plans to attend graduate school and earn her MM degree in vocal performance.