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.

One of today’s most recognized and acclaimed conductors, Sir Andrew Davis’s career spans more than 50 years during which he has been the musical and artistic leader at several of the world’s most distinguished opera and symphonic institutions including Lyric Opera of Chicago (Music Director and Principal Conductor, 2000-2021), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate; Chief Conductor, 1991–2004), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Music Director, 1988–2000), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate; Chief Conductor, 2013-2019), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate; Principal Conductor, 1975–1988). He also holds the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Andrew has conducted virtually all of the world’s major orchestras, opera companies, and festivals.   Born in 1944 in Hertfordshire, England, Maestro Davis studied at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar before taking up conducting. His wide-ranging repertoire encompasses the Baroque to contemporary and spans the symphonic, operatic, and choral worlds. A vast and award-winning discography documents Sir Andrew's artistry, with recent CDs including the works of Berlioz, Bliss, Elgar (winner of the 2018 Diapason d’Or de l’Année - Musique Symphonique), Finzi, Grainger, Delius, Ives, Holst, Handel (nominated for a 2018 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance), Vaughan Williams, and York Bowen (nominated for a 2012 GRAMMY® for Best Orchestral Performance). He currently records exclusively for Chandos Records.   In 1992, Maestro Davis was made a Commander of the British Empire, and in 1999 he was designated a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List.

Soprano Christine Goerke has appeared in many of the most prestigious opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House, Paris Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Saito Kinen Festival. She has sung much of the great soprano repertoire, beginning with the Mozart and Handel heroines and now moving into dramatic R. Strauss and Wagner roles. She has also appeared with many leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Radio Vara, the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and both the Hallè Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival. Christine's recording of Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra won the 2003 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Recording and Best Choral Performance. Her close association with Robert Shaw yielded several recordings, which include of Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, and the GRAMMY-nominated recording of Dvořák's Stabat Mater. Other recordings include the title role in Iphigenie en Tauride for Telarc and Britten’s War Requiem, which won the 1999 GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance. Christine is the Associate Artistic Director of Detroit Opera (formerly Michigan Opera Theatre). She was the recipient of the 2001 Richard Tucker Award, the 2015 Musical America Vocalist of the Year Award, and the 2017 Opera News Award.

Recognized internationally as one of the leading singing actors today, American bass-baritone, Alan Held, has appeared in major roles in the world's finest opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera,  Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Bayerische Staastoper,  Hamburgische Staatsoper, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, De Nederlandse Opera, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and Tokyo Opera Nomori. His many roles include Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, the title roles in Wozzeck and Der fliegende Holländer, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg, Scarpia in Tosca, Leporello in Don Giovanni, the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffman,  Jochanaan in Salome, Don Pizzaro in Fidelio, Orestes in Elektra, and Balstrode in Peter Grimes. Mr. Held appears as the title role in Cardillac in the DVD of the Paris Opera production, and recorded the role of Don Pizzaro in Fidelio with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic for EMI Classics. He also appeared as the Four Villains in the Met’s HD broadcast of the Les Contes d’Hoffman and as Peter in the broadcast of Hansel and Gretel. Mr. Held is currently the Director of Sacred Music at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita, Kanas.  A native of Washburn, Illinois, Mr. Held received his vocal training at Millikin University and at Wichita State University where he is the Director of Opera and a Professor, holding the title of The Ann and Dennis Ross Faculty of Distinction.   He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Birgit Nilsson Prize and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Male Performance in an Opera.  He is a noted clinician who, since 2002, has regularly given master classes at Yale University as well as throughout the country.

The Seattle Times heralded Wendy Bryn Harmer as “a standout Senta with a big, radiant voice” in her first performances of Der fliegende Holländer with Seattle Opera. She has also recently excelled as Leonore in Fidelio with Opera Omaha and Boston Baroque, the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos with Palm Beach Opera, and Eglantine in von Weber’s rarely-performed Euryanthe at the Bard Music Festival. She previously joined Seattle Opera as well as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival for operas  the comprise Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Her countless performances within the epic work encompass the roles of Sieglinde, Gerhilde, and Orltinde in Die Walküre; Freia in Das Rheingold; and Gutrune and Third Norn in Götterdämmerung. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she has returned to the company’s famed stage countless other times in Parsifal, Die Ägyptische Helena, War and  Peace, Khovanshchina, and Le nozze di Figaro. Her performances in Die Zauberflöte, as well as the Ring Cycle, have been released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon following the company’s Live in HD  broadcasts. She has also joined the company for its productions of Iolanta, Fidelio, Norma, Jenůfa, Rusalka, Pique Dame, La clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, Norma, and, in the 2021-22 season, returns for its  productions of Elektra and Ariadne auf Naxos. Also this season, she sings Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido with the Chautauqua Symphony and Susan B. Anthony in  Thompson’s The Mother of Us All at Chautauqua Opera. Among her future engagements is a return to Senta in Der fliegende Holländer.

Described by Classical WQXR & Operavore as one of “40 Under 40: A New Generation of Superb Opera Singers,” young dramatic soprano Angel Azzarra is becoming known for having “a warm voice that swells from staggering size to pianissimi as effortlessly as the ocean waves.” (Sybaritic Singer’s Ashley Emrick.) Her Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with dell’Arte Opera was praised by critic Fred Plotkin as “a standout performance… Angel Azzarra sang with quality and distinction.” Angel’s performance in the world premiere of the symphony Sheltering Voices with Eureka Ensemble went viral in a documentary by NowThis!News, and was admired “Azzarra’s expressive immediacy gave us an impassioned performance that flowed so organically it was as if each phrase was spontaneously created in that very moment.” (American Record Guide.) Her recent summer season with Opera Theatre Saint Louis included Miss Kohl in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, and excerpts from Ariadne auf Naxos as the titular role. For more on Angel’s upcoming season, visit her at angelazzarra.com. The dramatic soprano is also a popular chamber musician. Most recently she performed the Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5 with the Eastman School of Music, and has performed multiple engagements of Pierrot Lunaire, with the Shenandoah Fringe Festival, among others. She has held chamber residencies with the Heifetz Institute, D.C. Strings, Música de Cámara (Peru), and the Schubert Institute. When offstage, Angel runs a popular YouTube channel, AngelOpera, where over 5 million viewers have learned about the world of opera.

American soprano Ann Toomey, whom Naples Daily News proclaimed, “…is a brilliant Floria Tosca…[whose] rich voice projects power that doesn't disintegrate under adversity” is a former member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, a 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions national semifinalist and 2019 Richard F. Gold Career Grant Recipient. Recently, she made her European debut, to critical acclaim, performing the title role in Suor Angelica at the Berlin Philharmonie, under the baton of Kirill Petrenko. In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Toomey will return to Wolf Trap Opera to perform the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Tosca with Livermore Valley Opera, the title role in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline with Tulsa Opera, and Ortlinde in Act III of Die Walküre with Detroit Opera. In the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Toomey made house and role debuts as Tosca with Opera Naples and Sarasota Opera, performed Lady Billows in Albert Herring with the Princeton Festival, the title role in Die Kathrin with the Chicago Folks Operetta and returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Lady in Waiting cover in Macbeth. During the 2018-2019 season, she performed as Musetta in La bohème with Lyric Opera of Chicago, completing her three-year residency with the Ryan Opera Center. She debuted at Lyric Opera of Chicago as First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and was also seen as the Fifth Maid in Elektra. She covered several roles during her time in Chicago, including Elettra (Idomeneo), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Micaëla (Carmen). Ann Toomey is a native of Detroit, and currently lives in Chicago.

American mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford has gained a reputation as an exciting and in-demand singer appearing with many of the finest orchestras and opera house in the US and Europe. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Mumford has appeared in over 150 performances with the company including productions of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin, Anna Bolena, Rigoletto, Cavalleria Rusticana, Nixon in China, The Queen of Spades, and The Magic Flute. Other recent opera engagements have included the premiere of The Thirteenth Child at the Santa Fe Opera, Tancredi with Teatro Nuovo, Aureliano in Palmira and Lucrezia Borgia at the Caramoor Festival, Henze’s Phaedra, The Rape of Lucretia, and the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder's Yardbird at Opera Philadelphia; and L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and the BBC Proms. Also an active concert performer and recitalist, Ms. Mumford appeared with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in multiple US and European tours. Other concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Netherland Radio Philharmonic, and at the Hollywood Bowl and the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals. Her recordings include Handel's Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Momon Tabernacle Choir), Beethoven's Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (Avie), and both Mahler Symphony No 8 and John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon).

Mezzo-soprano GeDeane Graham is a native of Bay Springs, MS and is known for her rich, low range, and refulgent top voice. She is currently under the tutelage of Jane Bunnell at Michigan State University, where she is in her final semester of doctoral coursework. The dramatic, yet lyrical mezzo has gained the attention of several national and international competitions, such as being a finalist and audience favorite in the Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition and being a semi-finalist/finalist in the Detroit Aria Competition, D’Angelo Vocal Competition, and Partners for the Arts to name a few. Graham is a huge advocate and performer of music of the African American Diaspora,in which she has been recently invited to join the administration board of the George Shirley International Vocal Competition. In conjunction with this appointment, Graham has co-founded a fresh new opera company that has been cultivated to specifically foster opportunities and creative space for musicians, and break barriers for those who do not fit into the traditional operatic career track. She made her solo debut with Artsong Colorado and Chamber Orchestra of the Springs as part of their Voices of the African Diaspora in the winter of 2022. On the rise, Graham will reprise the role of Annie in Porgy and Bess with Des Moines Metropolitan Opera in the summer 2022 season.

American Soprano, Jessica Faselt, is the recipient of the 2021 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award and the 2020 George London Foundation Award. Ms. Faselt has been praised for her "keen expression and impressive delivery" in performance with a “sound that is rich, full and luminous throughout its range." Ms. Faselt is currently in her third season at the Metropolitan Opera as a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. In 2019, Ms. Faselt made her Metropolitan Opera Live in HD debut in movie theaters around the world as Helmwige in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Following this debut, Ms. Faselt was engaged to sing Helmwige in the Act III ‘Ride of the Valkyries’of Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Boston Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Ms. Faselt was the cover for the Lady in Waiting in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 production of Verdi’s Macbeth. In 2018 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as ‘a Novice’ in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. Ms. Faselt was a winner of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Upon performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the Grand Final Concert, Ms. Faselt was presented with the Birgit Nilsson Award of the American Scandinavian Foundation.

Leah Dexter, mezzo-soprano and Detroit area native, is praised for being a performer of “commanding force, both vocally and dramatically” (Chicago Classical Review), and enjoyed a busy 2021-22 season. A frequent artist with Chicago Opera Theater, she was seen as Mercedes in Carmen, Ib in Becoming Santa Claus, and Mistress Paddington in the world premiere of Wallen's Quamino's Map. Ms. Dexter joined Detroit Opera for revival performances of the opera Frida, for which she reprised her roles of Dimas’ Mother and Lupe. She was seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago for Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, singing the role of Bertha, and participated in a live performance, as a featured soloist, celebrating the release of the LYNX Project’s Amplify Series’ first album of art songs. She concluded the season with additional  performances as Dimas’ Mother/Lupe in El Paso Opera’s re-imagining of Frida, this past summer. For the 2022-23 season, Ms. Dexter is excited to be returning to Detroit Opera for performances as Siegrune in The Valkyries. She will also have a role debut as Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring with Chicago Opera Theater, followed by a debut as the alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Urbana-Champaign Symphony. She will join Northwestern University and Cedille Records in a concert performance and professional recording of Garrop’s oratorio, Terra Nostra, as the alto soloist, and will re-join Lyric Opera of Chicago for performances of Don Carlos and Carmen, throughout the season. Leah attended the University of Michigan for her musical degrees and is a past Studio Artist of Sarasota Opera, at which she won the Anne J’ O Donnell Outstanding Artist Award for her work with the company.

Hailed as “a voice to die for [combined] with acting ability, beauty, and stage presence,” Israeli mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani is quickly becoming one of today’s most sought-after international singers. In the 2022/23 season, Ms. Lahyani will perform the title role in Carmen at Portland Opera and OnSite Opera as well as Handel’s Messiah with Xian Zhang. Last season, she performed Dorothée in Laurent Pelly’s production of Cinderella at the Metropolitan Opera, and Carmen at both Arizona Opera and Minnesota Opera. Ms. Lahyani was a 2010 grand finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a 2008 finalist in the Joy in Singing Competition. She has been awarded scholarships by the San Francisco Foundation, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute. She received her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Music from the Mannes School of Music in New York. She is married to tenor Viktor Antipenko.

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Krysty Swann has been hailed for her beautiful and rich voice, as well as her captivating presence on stage. The Washington Post declares, “Krysty Swann has a voice, and she knows how to use it…[She] displayed an instrument of immense power, natural beauty of tone and luscious legato line.” The Philadelphia-born, New York-based mezzo-soprano was featured on the cover of Opera News with the great Dolora Zajick. She performed Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with New York City Opera, Maddalena in Atlanta Opera’s Rigoletto, and Amneris in Bucharest National Opera's production of Aïda.  She also covered the title role of Richard Danielpour's opera Margaret Garner, which received its world première in 2005 (New York City Opera). Concert highlights from recent seasons also include Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall; Verdi’s Requiem at Lincoln Center and with Santa Barbara Symphony; her concert début in South Africa with the acclaimed KZN Philharmonic under the baton of Daniel Boico; her Milan début in concert with Laverdi orchestra; a return to Austria's Bregenz festival for a second season; and her début with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as the Tanglewood Music Festival. Ms. Swann is a winner of the 2013 Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition in Italy and the Intermezzo Foundation Award (Elardo International Opera Competition), as well as a two-time winner of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant (New York City Opera and Manhattan School of Music). Other distinctions include the Silver Prize of the Opera Index Competition and prizes from the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award Recipient.