Yuval Sharon has amassed an unconventional body of work that expands the operatic form. He is founder and Artistic Director of The Industry in Los Angeles and the newly appointed Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director of Michigan Opera Theatre. With The Industry, Mr. Sharon has directed and produced new operas in moving vehicles, operating train stations, Hollywood sound stages, and various “non-spaces” such as warehouses, parking lots, and escalator corridors. From 2016-2019, Mr. Sharon was the first Artist-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, creating nine projects that included newly commissioned works, site-specific installations, and performances outside the hall. His residency culminated in a major revival of Meredith Monk’s opera ATLAS, making him the first director Monk entrusted with a new production of her work. The first American ever invited to direct at Bayreuth, Mr. Sharon distinguished himself with a boldly progressive Lohengrin in 2018, using subtle dramatic direction to completely overhaul the opera into a critique of entrenched power structures. He is the recipient of the 2014 Götz Friedrich Prize in Germany for his production of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. He also directed a landmark production of Song Books at the San Francisco Symphony and Carnegie Hall. In 2017, Sharon was honored with a MacArthur Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Art grant for theater.

We see Lady Macbeth in a dozen crooning silhouettes washing blood out of rags over bright porcelain sinks; hear Stravinsky pouring out of an abandoned warehouse; see dozens of watermelons fly off Disney Hall; hear a black and white overture imploring against hatred; parse a chorus singing Haydn’s Creation backwards; watch a violinist cutting himself out of duct tape with a razor as his amplified violin sits gathering feedback; listen to three minutes of Le nozze di Figaro on repeat for twelve hours; celebrate with rituals joyous for the end of the world; witness a long-lost John Adams suite come alive; and hear the sound of rose-petal jam-making as music. Conductor and composer Christopher Rountree stands at the intersection of classical music, new music, performance art and pop. Highlights of the 2020-21 season include his debut with Long Beach Opera conducting Philip Glass’ Les Enfants Terribles, and the premiere of a commission for Martha Graham Dance Company. In the 2019-20 season, Rountree began recording a four-volume set of the music of Julius Eastman. In conjunction with this recording project, he toured the country with Wild Up, culminating in an Eastman portrait at the National Gallery. With the Martha Graham Dance Company, he continues a multi-year project resurrecting old works. Additionally, Rountree collaborated with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Four Larks, filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer Alex Somers at the ACE Hotel, and inaugurates an ambient series at Descanso Gardens with co-artistic director Anna Bulbrook. Rountree is currently working on two operas about love and technology with librettists Royce Vavrek and Roxie Perkins. Rountree’s inimitable style has led to collaborations with: Björk, John Adams, Yoko Ono, David Lang, Scott Walker, La Monte Young, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mica Levi, Alison Knowles, Yuval Sharon, Sigourney Weaver, Tyshawn Sorey, Ragnar Kjartansson, Ashley Fure, Julia Holter, Claire Chase, Missy Mazzoli, Ryoji Ikeda, Du Yun, Thaddeus Strassberger, Ellen Reid, Ted Hearne, James Darrah, and many of the planet’s greatest orchestras and ensembles including the San Francisco, Chicago, National, Houston, and Cincinnati Symphonies; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; International Contemporary Ensemble; Roomful of Teeth; Opéra national de Paris; the Los Angeles, Washington National, and Atlanta Operas; and the Martha Graham Dance Company. He has presented compositions and concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Palais Garnier, Mile High Stadium, the Coliseum, Kennedy Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, ACE Hotel, National Sawdust, MCA Denver, The Hammer, The Getty, a basketball court in Santa Cruz, and at Lincoln Center on the New York Philharmonic’s Biennale. Rountree is the artistic director and conductor of Wild Up, the ensemble he founded in 2010, and artistic director of an interdisciplinary ambient series in an oak grove in LA called SILENCE. Rountree is a seventh-generation Californian descended from the first sheriffs of Santa Cruz County, he lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Award-winning baritone Corey McKern continuously earns critical acclaim and accolades in every appearance he makes. Of his performance as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, critics hailed: “Corey McKern… has all the goods to rise to star stature – timing, stamina, vocal heft and an easy-going stage presence – especially telling in Figaro’s signature aria, ‘Largo al factotum della citta.’” Recent engagements include Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Opera Birmingham, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Inland North West Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen, and Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore with Pensacola Opera, performances as a soloist in Carmina Burana with Missoula Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer for Pensacola Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony. He also returned to the Florentine Opera for a concert of “Opera’s Greatest Hits,” performed in Nashville Opera’s Opera Jukebox Virtual Concert, in Asheville Symphony’s Virtual Gala, and Mobile Opera’s Winter Gala Concert. Mr. McKern is a grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation, as well as the first-place winner of Opera Birmingham, Shreveport Opera, and Mobile Opera competitions. He holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Mississippi State University. He is also a graduate of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program.

Diane Rae Schoff, mezzo soprano, is a regular character on stage with regional companies throughout Michigan and around the country. Diane recently received high praise for her company and role debuts with Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids as Marcellina in their joint production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Opera News said “It would be hard to imagine a better portrayal of Marcellina, both physically and vocally than that of Diane Schoff.” Career highlights include her work with Michigan Opera Theatre as the second maid in Elektra 2014, Natalia Trotsky in Frida 2015, the Second Lady in The Magic Flute 2016 and as Aunt Cecilia in Little Women 2017; with Toledo Opera as the Old Baroness in their 2017 production of Vanessa where she earned where she earned acclaim for her “look that could drop a horse at 50 feet” -Toledo Blade.

Grace Wipfli, from Toledo, Ohio, has proven to be an impressive, charming and promising young soprano. Most recently, she was awarded an Encouragement Award from the Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Performance highlights include: Sa femme in Milhaud’s Le Pauvre Matelot, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, The Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Ann Truelove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and The Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd. Ms. Wipfli made her Carnegie Hall debut as the Soprano Soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem”, in March of 2020, days before the world shut down. While attending the 2021 Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Ms. Wipfli was chosen as a winner of the Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition. She is currently in her second season as Toledo Opera’s Soprano Resident Artist and will make her Toledo Opera debut as Inez in Il Trovatore. Ms. Wipfli currently studies with Laura Brooks Rice. Bliss marks Grace’s Michigan Opera Theatre debut and she could not be more thrilled. Keep up with her at: gracewipfli.com.

Jacob Surzyn is glad to perform in Michigan Opera Theatre’s Frida as Mr. Rockefeller! Jake is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he performed the roles of Schaunard in La bohème, Melisso in Alcina, and Cacambo/Don Issachar in Candide. He returned to the University of Michigan in 2020 as a guest performer to portray Johannes “Pa” Zegner in Mazzoli’s Proving Up. Born and raised in Michigan, Jake has worked with companies such as Plymouth’s Main Street Opera Theatre, Ann Arbor’s Arbor Opera Theatre, and Detroit’s Opera MODO. With these companies he has performed as Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Doctor Gregg in Gallantry, Jupiter in Orphée aux enfers, Crespel in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance. A pioneer of virtual opera, Jake covered the role of Guglielmo in Opera NexGen’s inaugural performance of Così fan tutte. This past summer Jake was a resident artist with Opera North performing the role of Marcello in La bohème, and in March of 2020 he made his debut with First Coast Opera where he sang the role of The Pilot in Portman’s The Little Prince. Jake has been a Young and Apprentice Artist with Charlottesville Opera where he covered the roles of Marcello, Lancelot, and Escamillo. An avid performer of oratorio, Jake has sung as the soloist in concerts ranging from the Baroque to the Contemporary. Such works include J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, Haydn’s The Creation, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, and Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. This spring Jake will cover the role of Jupiter in Madison Opera’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld.

Soprano Jennifer Cresswell was last seen at Michigan Opera Theatre as the Cropper Woman in The Grapes of Wrath. While she has enjoyed success in many traditional roles, including Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Liù in Turandot, her true operatic passion lies in American Opera, as demonstrated in performances such as Magda Sorel in The Consul, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Charlotte in Before Breakfast, Hannah After in As One, and her most recent adventure, Olivia in INTERSTATE, a new chamber opera with music by Kamala Sankaram, for which Jennifer also served as co-librettist with Kathleen Kelly (premiering digitally through Minnesota Opera in October 2021). Cresswell is also an accomplished recitalist and concert performer, including performances as soprano soloist for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Poulenc's Gloria, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and David Lang's Simple Song #3. In recent seasons, she has performed in concert at the Toledo Museum of Art, Kerrytown Concert House, in virtual distribution through the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance, and in concert with acclaimed tenor George Shirley, featuring the music of George Gershwin and Kurt Weill.

Lucia Helgren recently graduated with her Masters in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan under Dr. Louise Toppin. She was last seen on the MOT stage in the summer production of Cavalleria Rusticana. Her other recent credits include Cunegonde in Syracuse Opera’s production of Candide, Musetta in University of Michigan’s La Bohème, and Frasquita in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Upcoming, she will appear with the Buffalo Philharmonic, once again under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s, The Magic Flute. 

Hailed as a “gifted and fiercely committed baritone whose voice is spacious and reverberant,” (Opera News), Robert Wesley Mason has established himself as one of today’s most versatile performers, employing "his mighty baritone to stunning effect, using interpretive phrasing and nuanced delivery” (Albany Times Union). Wes has performed more than 50 operatic roles, among them the formidable title roles of Thomas’s Hamlet (Fort Worth Opera) and Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (Southern Illinois Music Festival), as well as Marcello/La bohème (Hawaii Opera Theater, Fort Worth Opera, Norwalk Symphony), Ping/Turandot (Nashville Opera), Zurga/The Pearl Fishers (Opera Delaware, Baltimore Concert Opera), Belcore/L’elisir d’amore (Gulfshore Opera), Escamillo in both Carmen (Fargo-Moorhead Opera) and La tragédie de Carmen (Syracuse Opera), and Masetto/Don Giovanni (Opera Philadelphia). Among his many leading contemporary-opera roles are Charlie/Three Decembers (Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Nashville Opera), Jan Nyman/Breaking the Waves (West Edge Opera), Hannah Before/As One (Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Eugene Opera, Pensacola Opera) Stanley Kowalski/A Streetcar Named Desire (Kentucky Opera), Father Flynn/Doubt (Union Avenue Opera), John Sorel/The Consul (Opera Saratoga), Jonathan/Siren Song (Hawaii Opera Theatre) and Dax and Larry/Three Way (world premiere, Nashville Opera/American Opera Project). He has also appeared in concert and supporting roles with the Dallas Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Michigan Opera Theatre, Virginia Opera, and Opera Hong Kong to name a few. Mason made his Off-Broadway debut in 2020 as Wotan/Gunther/Hagen in On Site Opera’s production of Das Barbecü. Prominent among his other musical theater credits are Billy Bigelow/Carousel (Union Avenue Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater) and Curly/Oklahoma! (Maryland Live Arts). He is featured on the world-premiere recordings of Robert Paterson’s Three Way (Naxos label) and Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls (Albany Records label). Wes has received awards from the Sullivan Foundation, The Loren L. Zachary Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council.

Tyrese Byrd, tenor, is a native of Greenville, SC and a graduate of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Tyrese has competed for several years in the NATS Student Auditions where he has won state and regional awards, as well as recognition as a three-time national finalist. Tyrese is currently pursuing a Masters of Music degree at the University of Michigan while studying with Dr. Louise Toppin. He completed his undergraduate studies at Furman University, where he studied with Dr. Grant Knox and was an active member of Furman Singers, Furman Chamber Choir, and Furman Lyric Theatre. While at Furman, Tyrese was selected to participate in Furman’s Music in Italy program, where he studied at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Recent roles include Miles in Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli, Herr Vogelsang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon, Arpad in She Loves Me, and the title role in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne. His concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass in C and Handel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.