Janet Williams
American soprano Janet Williams has won international critical acclaim for performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Berlin Staatsoper, Paris Opera, Théâtre des Champs Elysée, Opera de Lyon, Nice Opera, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Geneva Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Cologne Opera, Leipzig Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, and Michigan Opera Theatre as well as in concerts throughout Europe, North America, Canada, Israel and Japan with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Myung Whung Chung, Phillippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Marek Janowski, Neemi Jarvi, Raymond Leppard, Fabio Luisi, Sir Neville Marriner, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Donald Runnicles, Gerard Schwarz and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Janet Williams has appeared with the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and Tokyo, the New World Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the New York, Los Angeles and Santa Fe Chamber Orchestras, as well as with orchestras throughout Europe in repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to contemporary works of living composers. Her interpretations as a recitalist have been critically acclaimed in New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Detroit as well as Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, and in Iceland.
Ms. Williams' professional career began with the San Francisco Opera Center as a member of the Merola Program. She was awarded an Adler Fellowship and subsequently appeared with the company as a guest artist singing leading roles in the operas of Mozart, Puccini, Handel and Rossini. She was a member of the Berlin Staatsoper ensemble, making a critically acclaimed debut as Cleopatra in Carl Heinrich Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare. Other roles in her repertoire include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Konstanze and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Adina in L'Elisir d'amore, Ännchen in Der Freischutz, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Musetta in La Bohème, Gilda in Rigoletto, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, and Nannetta in Falstaff, as well as the Jungfrau in Stravinsky’s Moses und Aaron and Manon in Henze's Boulevard Solitude. She is especially acclaimed for leading roles in the baroque operas of Handel, Telemann, Gassmann and Stradella at the Handel Festival in Halle, the Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck, Austria; the Spoleto Festival Italy, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Wexford Festival in Ireland and the Styriarte Festival in Graz.
Ms. Williams recently made her theatrical debut in Dante’s La Vita Nova in a co-production of the Berlin Renaissance Theater and the Bayer-Leverkusen Kulturhaus. She has appeared in nationally and internationally televised specials, including the Kennedy Center Honors Concert in a tribute to honoree Marilyn Horne, the PBS broadcast of the San Francisco Opera Gala co-hosted by Joan Sutherland and the ARTE film documentary L'Opera Seria. She was featured in an Oscar-winning documentary of the San Francisco Opera Chorus as Musetta in Francesca Zambello's production of La Bohème. Her recordings include Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim, Handel's Messiah with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan, Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare with the Concerto Köln Orchestra under René Jacobs and Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto under Gabriele Bellini.
Janet Williams holds Bachelor degrees in both Music Education and Vocal Performance from Michigan State University and a Masters in Vocal Performance from Indiana University, where she was a student and Assistant Instructor under Professor Camilla Williams. Other instructors and mentors have included world-renowned singers Regine Crespin, Kammersängerin Helen Donath, Mirella Freni, Kammersängerin Reri Grist and noted international vocal pedagogue David Jones.
Janet Williams is currently Honorary Professor of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and was interim Professor of Voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre in Rostock and is a lecturer for the Lotte Lehmann Summer Academy in Perleberg, Germany. She is founder of the Leistung und Performance Vokal Akademie Berlin and gives master classes and workshops across the United States and Europe. Her book Nail Your Next Audition, The Ultimate 30-Day Guide for Singers has attracted a global following of young singers and voice professionals.
Derrell Acon
Fulbright scholar Dr. Derrell Acon is an award-winning activist, performer, and educator who understands the power of the performing arts to foster human compassion and catalyze conversations on challenging subjects. He has over 15 years of experience as an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) practitioner and continues to establish himself as a leader in classical music, education, and ethnic studies as relates to the role of the artist-activist. Dr. Acon is known for his unique and provocative presentations, which often combine performance and scholarship. His experiential workshop “An Absurdist Conversation on Rainbows and COLOR” boldly explored the queer experience within Black culture, while his performance-presentations “Ay Blackity Black; Classical S - H - I - T that ain't Wack” and “Old Opera, New Opera, Red Opera, Blues Opera” explored the barriers inherent to classical music education and performance. He has taught at all levels on topics in 19th century opera, Black Art, and artistic activism, including a course entitled "The Musician in Society" at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and an online seminar entitled “Viva VERDI: Why Giuseppe and Gang would be BLM Activists." He is the Vice President of People Operations & Inclusion at Opera Philadelphia.
Dr. Acon is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grantee for his work in challenging the traditional narrative in opera and is a frequent presenter throughout the U.S. at venues such as the National Association for Ethnic Studies and National Association of Negro Musicians conferences, and internationally at venues in Europe and Africa. His publications include "From Without the Veil" ("In Mourning and In Rage" conference papers out of Rome, Italy), “Neglected Legacy” (OPERA America Magazine), “Whence Comes Black Art” (Lawrence University), and “This is Just My Job: Duty and Intervention in Our Fidelio” (Septentrion University Press out of Lille, France). Recent operatic roles include Rocco in Heartbeat Opera's critically acclaimed 'Fidelio' and Antron McCray in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of 'The Central Park Five' by Anthony Davis with Long Beach Opera.
Afton Battle
Afton Battle comes to Fort Worth Opera following development and strategic consulting work with Red Clay Dance Company, the National Black Theatre, the African American Policy Forum, and Brooklyn arts and culture firm Red Olive Consulting. She was previously the Director of Development for the New York Theatre Workshop, Director of the Annual Campaign for America’s premiere ballet company, The Joffrey Ballet, and the Corporate and Foundation Relations and Individual Giving Manager for the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to that, she served as the Program and Grants Manager for Bank Street College of Education in New York. A native of Amarillo, Ms. Battle graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Voice Performance, before attending Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and receiving a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy. As Ms. Battle joins Fort Worth Opera this season, she gratefully acknowledges Angelique Power, President of the Field Foundation, and Mila Gibson, voice teacher, music educator, and founder of Amarillo Opera, for their mentorship, guidance, and career development advice that encouraged her to pursue a path in opera and arts administration.
Samuel James Dewese
Samuel James Dewese is forging a unique path as an evocative artist worldwide. In 2022–23 he joins LYNX Project as an artist in residence, helping to amplify diverse voices through commissioned song. Traditional operatic highlights include Sam/Trouble in Tahiti, Father/Hansel and Gretel, Astrophel/The Arcadians, and Marcello/La Bohème. In concert, Samuel has been a soloist alongside Portsmouth Festival Orchestra at Portsmouth Cathedral (UK), Highgate Choral Society, and the Illinois Wind Symphony. Passionate about new works, Samuel has premiered operas including The Perfect Opera (Edinburgh Fringe), Would You Eat Me? (Thompson Street Opera Company), and the title characters in John Henry (Tête à Tête, London) and La Jetée (Chicago Fringe Opera). Samuel is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, London and the Florentine Opera apprentice program, and has been honored in competition by James Toland Vocal Arts, the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the Hariclea Darclée Competition, and the Luminarts Foundation.
Elisabeth Stevens
In the US and abroad, soprano Elisabeth Stevens is hailed for her elegant artistry, majestic presence, and powerful voice. Her credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Teatro Verdi di Sassari, and other world stages in Italy, France, China, Austria and across the US. Ms. Stevens’ operatic repertoire includes the title roles in Aida, Ariadne auf Naxos, Turandot, Maria Stuarda, and Suor Angelica and she has also performed Elvira in Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and more. Ms. Stevens also excels in concert repertoire having performed the world premiers of four new works for soprano on texts by Sonia Sanchez with the Network for New Music Ensemble and she has been the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Handel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah among others. Ms. Stevens’ performances have been featured in Philadelphia on CBS News, NBC10 and on New York’s WQXR.
Off stage, Ms. Stevens is dedicated to teaching and educating singers and others about vocal technique, the business of singing, and living in true freedom as an artist. Her New York based voice studio, Studio LIS Voice – established in 2015 — includes a series of empowering workshops for artists of all levels. 2020 saw the launch of her innovative Quarantine Sing! Program, which offered aspiring singers the opportunity to cultivate peace and mindfulness through troubling times, while intensely studying their art and performing for international audiences through digital platforms, singing in virtual masterclasses for industry professionals including artist managers, conductors, and opera administrators.
Ms. Stevens previously served on the faculty at Lincoln University and the International Lyric Academy (ILA), and she has presented Studio LIS Voice workshops and masterclasses at Penn State University, Queens College, West Virginia University, University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, and other institutions. In 2022 Lis joined the National Music Festival as the Voice Mentor for their young artist program and she also performed Richard Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder.