Lawrence Barasa • Tenor

A tenor from Kenya, developed his artistic profile as a member and Assistant Production Manager of The Kenyan Boys Choir. In this capacity he interacted and performed with artists including, Jonas Brothers, Ellie Goulding, Ciara, Demi Lovato, among others.

He has performed the roles of Spoletta in Astoria Music Festival and Eugene opera’s production of Tosca. He also appeared as Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro at the Astoria Music Festival in 2018, and He also appeared as Hoffmann in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Don José in La Tragedy de Carmen at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. He also completed training at the Savannah Voice Festival 2019-2020 under the tutelage of Sherrill Milnes and Maria Zouaves.

He is the 1st Price Winner of The National Opera Association (NOA) vocal competition 2021, Encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition 2019 and the 2nd Prize winner of PNW Sings, a vocal competition run by Eugene Opera.

Lawrence graduated from the University of Oregon with a Vocal Performance Degree under Dr. Karen Esquivel. He is currently a Graduate International Student and the University of Maryland Opera Studio studying with Prof. Dolore Ziegler.

Brian Major • Baritone

Charismatic baritone Brian Major continues to be praised by critics for his “velvety voice’ and “commanding stage presence.”  This season, he will make his role debut as Scarpia in Tosca with Opera Columbus, sing the role of Taylor in the world premiere of Undying Love with Hearing in Color, and Schaunard in La bohème with Florentine Opera. He will also return to both the Columbus Symphony to sing Schaunard in La bohème and the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as Opera Carolina to sing Amonasro in Aida. 

Mr. Major holds degrees from Morehouse College, Boston University, and Michigan State University.

Saïd Henry Pressley • Bass-Baritone

New York native Saïd Henry Pressley made his Houston Grand Opera main stage debut as the Jailer in Tosca, Hyde in Carlisle Floyd's world premiere of The Prince of Players and Edd in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

For HGOco, he appeared in the world premiere of The Pastry Prince and also in Cinderella in Spain. Recently, Pressley premiered in Unsung Activist by Steve Wallace with Opera in the Heights as well as The Dacameron Opera Coalition as Otis, Pressley is an experimental singer with Houston’s Transitory Sound and Movement Collective where his performances were premiered at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art as well as Match Houston’s .

Pressley won first prize in the Tony and Sally Amato Opera Competition (2010) and second prize in the Harlem Opera Theater Competition (2013), and was a semi-finalist in Dallas Opera Guild’s Annual Vocal Competition (2014). Best Vocalist at the Sid Wright Accompanying competition (2018) Pressley is a graduate of Purchase College Conservatory and The Juilliard School.

Currently, Pressley is pursuing Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance and Pedagogy at the Butler School of Music.

Ariana Wehr • Soprano

Brazilian-born soprano Ariana Wehr is a recent graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program with Washington National Opera at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  

The 2021-2022 season finds Ariana recording the roles of Nurse/Girlfriend #1/Congregant on the commercial recording of Blue with the Washington National Opera cast. Upcoming engagements include singing the role of Amelia Alumond in a workshop of Quamino’s Map with Chicago Opera Theater, debuts with Seattle Opera singing Eurydice in Orpheus and Eurydice and reprising the roles of Nurse/Girlfriend #1/Congregant in Blue with Pittsburgh Opera and Seattle Opera. 

An accomplished competitor, Ms. Wehr has received awards from The Sullivan Foundation, The George London Foundation, Opera Index, the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions as a National Semi-Finalist, and has competed internationally in Japan, England, The Netherlands, and China.

Kimberli Render • Soprano

Kimberli Render is a lyric soprano from Columbus, Georgia. She can currently be seen as one of the featured ensemble members of the ground-breaking premiere of Fire Shut Up In My Bones at the Metropolitan Opera. In the fall of 2019 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as a featured chorus soloist in the cast of James Robinson’s new production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and in 2020 made her Off-Broadway debut in the Lincoln Center Theater premiere of Intimate Apparel, music by Ricky Ian Gordon, libretto by Lynn Nottage and directed by Bartlett Sher.

Amanda Sheriff • Soprano

Amanda Sheriff recently sang with OD as Norina (Don Pasquale) and will sing Monica (The Medium) with BCO.

In early 2021, she was an Apprentice Artist at DMMO. She performed Miss Lightfoot (Fellow Travelers) and covered Clarine and L’amour (Platée). Amanda was also a Studio Artist at FGO where she sang Beatrice (Three Decembers), 1st Trio member (Trouble in Tahiti), and Célie (Signor Deluso).

In 2019/20, Amanda sang Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Little Red (Little Red’s Most Unusual Day) with OI and DMMO.

In 2018/19, she was an Emerging Artist at Seagle performing Susanna in (Le Nozze di Figaro).

Edwin Davis  • Bass

Edwin Jhamal Davis is a native of Utica, MS. He's an alumnus of Jackson State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology with dual minors in Chemistry and Music. In 2014, while studying voice with soprano Phyllis Lewis- Hale, he made his professional debut with the Mississippi Opera singing Simone in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. He is a Master's Degree recipient of the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with well-acclaimed baritone and bass-baritone, Mark Oswald and James Morris. He has since become the national winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Arts Competition hosted by the National Association of Negro Musicians in its centennial celebration and became the first African American to win one of the top two prizes in the Opera Columbus Cooper Bing voice competition in 2021, second to only Denyce Graves. He's a Metropolitan Opera Eastern Region award winner and he recently served as Bass in Residence with the Portland Opera Association, for the 2020-2021 season. In the 2021-2022 season, he welcomes debuts with national and international companies in opera and concert repertoire.