TIER I

Andrea Baker • Soprano
Olean, New York

Andrea Baker most recently sang the role of Donna Elvira with Pensacola Opera and was a finalist in the D’Angelo Young Artist Vocal Competition with Opera Tampa. In the 2018-2019 season, she was an Artist in Residence with Pensacola Opera where she covered the roles of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas, and was the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. For three seasons, she was an apprentice artist with Des Moines Metro Opera where she sang a role in Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei and covered Liù in Turandot, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. 

Joshua Conyers • Baritone
Bronx, New York

Baritone Joshua Conyers is hailed by Opera News with “a deliciously honeyed baritone that would seduce anyone” and The New York Times as having “a sonorous baritone” that “wheedled and seduced.” Mr. Conyers, a native of Bronx, NY, is quickly being championed for his captivating performances as he continues to be recognized as one of the promising young dramatic voices of today. Joshua Conyers has performed leading/supporting roles with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, English National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Alex DeSocio • Baritone
Wichita, Kansas

Described by The New York Times as having a “buttery, booming baritone," Alex DeSocio (Wichita, KS), received his BM from Northwestern University and his MM at the University of Maryland.

Alex has worked in many regional opera companies as a principal artist including Fort Worth Opera, Pensacola Opera, Anchorage Opera, Opera Memphis, Livermore Valley Opera, Castleton Festival, Opera Santa Barbara, and the Pacific Opera Project. 

Awards include being a 2 Time-Metropolitan Council Audition Semi-Finalist and a Winner/Laureate with the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

Kara Dugan • Mezzo-Soprano
San Diego, California

Mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan has been praised by The New York Times for her “vocal warmth and rich character.” Her diverse career ranges from baroque oratorio to world premieres. Her work with living composers includes her upcoming Kennedy Center debut, singing Michael Tilson Thomas’ Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind. Additional orchestral work includes three international tours with Juilliard415 and conductors Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, and Nicholas McGegan, culminating in a performance as the Soprano II soloist in Bach's Mass in B minor and performances with the Boston Early Music Festival. As a passionate recitalist, she performs often with her husband Peter Dugan, pianist and host of NPR’s From the Top. The husband and wife duo were recently featured on PBS Great Performances’ “Now Hear This” and have performed across the United States. This season Ms. Dugan won first place in the Rochester International Vocal Competition and was selected to be a member of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab. Ms. Dugan has sung with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Wolf Trap Opera, and Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Dugan received her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from The Juilliard School.

Timothy Murray • Baritone
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Heralded for his “firm, flexible baritone” (New York Times) and “swaggering, rakish” stage presence (Opera News), baritone Timothy Murray has won recognition in competitions from the Sullivan Foundation, the Loren. L. Zachary Society, the Glyndebourne Opera Cup, the Mario Lanza competition, and he was 2022 George London Foundation award winner and was a Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is currently a member of the Adler Fellowship Program with San Francisco Opera with present assignments in Don Giovanni, Antony & Cleopatra, Eugene Onegin, Dialogue des Carmélites, Dream of Red Chamber, and La Traviata.

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen • Countertenor
Brooklyn, New York

Acclaimed as a “young star” and “complete artist” by The New York Times, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen has been recognized with awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Operalia, Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, and others.

Aryeh has performed at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Houston Grand Opera, and many others. His broad repertoire spans from pillars of the Baroque – Bach, Cavalli, Handel, Monteverdi, and Vivaldi – to leading modern composers – including Britten, Dove, and Glass. 

His first commercial recording - Fuchs’ Poems of Life with the London Symphony Orchestra - won a 2019 GRAMMY® Award.

Ariana Wehr • Soprano
Brazil

Brazilian-American soprano Ariana Wehr is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program with Washington National Opera. Last season she debuted at Seattle Opera as Euridice in Orfeo and Girlfriend #1/Nurse/Congregant in Blue. She reprised her roles in Blue for her Pittsburgh Opera debut, was featured in the Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Justino Díaz on the CBS Television Network, and made her Carnegie Hall debut. Ariana is featured in the recently released cast recording of Blue available from Pentatone. Future engagements include Blue with Washington National Opera and Micaëla in Carmen with Portland Opera.

TIER II

Aaron Crouch • Tenor
Bowie, Maryland

An artist and activist, African-American tenor, Aaron Crouch has been described by the Huffington Post as “riveting vocally and as an actor.” Originally from Bowie, Maryland, he is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying under the guidance of Mikael Eliasen and Jonathan Beyer.

During his time at the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Crouch performed several notable roles such as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Prunier in Puccini’s La Rondine, and Anthony in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. In past summers, Mr. Crouch attended HGO's Young Artist Vocal Academy as well as the Glimmerglass Festival's Young Artist Program where he sang The Son in Blue & Tamino in The Magic Flute. In 2019, he received an Emerging Artist Award from the Opera Index Vocal Competition and most recently was awarded a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation.

Adia Evans • Soprano
Baltimore, Maryland

Praised for her “big, beautifully projected voice with an attractive edge and sparkle” (Arts Knoxville) soprano Adia Evans is quickly establishing herself as an up-and-coming talent in the opera and concert world. Most recently, Evans was awarded an Encouragement Award from the Tennessee District of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Second Place in the 2022 Lewisville Lake Vocal Competition, both Fourth Place and Audience Choice in the 2021 Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing Vocal Competition, and both Second Place and Audience Choice in the 2020 Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competition.

Evans holds a Bachelor of Music degree from University of Maryland College Park and a Master of Music degree from the University of Tennessee Knoxville as part of the Knoxville Opera Studio. Evans just completed a wonderful year as Resident Artist with Opera Columbus. She will spend the summer as a young artist with the Merola Opera Center where she will play First Lady in Die Zauberflöte.

Helaine Liebman • Soprano
Chicago, Illinois

Helaine Liebman is a soprano supported by Joyce Reed Cope and Eckstein Scholarships. Her awards include second place in the 2022 Central Region NATS Student Auditions, third place in the MIOpera Vocal Competition University Division, first place in the 2021 NATS National Student Auditions, winner of the Lynne Harvey Foundation Award in honor of Virginia Cooper Maier from the Musicians Club of Women, and 2020 Wisconsin District winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In the 2021-2022 season, Helaine made her debut as Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La bohème, covered Diana in If I Were You by Heggie, and Exsultate, jubilate by Mozart. Her past engagements include Suor Angelica at Carnegie Hall, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Micaela in Carmen. Additionally, she graduated with distinction from the Royal College of Music in London.

Isabella Luchi  • Soprano
Brazil

Brazilian soprano Isabella Luchi is a second-year Professional Studies student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, under Mary Schiller. Isabella has performed in major cities in Brazil, United States, Austria and Mexico, and holds a Master of Music degree from Azusa Pacific University. Stage credits include Angelica in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino (Summer Opera Studio at University Mozarteum Salzburg), Una Conversa in Suor Angelica (Angels Vocal Art), and Susan in Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement (COES-Brazil). In Cleveland, Luchi has performed with The Cleveland Opera Theater and M.U.S.i.C - Stars in the Classics. Please visit isabellaluchi.com for more.

Jennie Olivia • Soprano
Sylmar, California

Soprano Jennie Olivia most recently prepared the role of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Russian Opera Workshop. Some of her other roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Micaela in Carmen, Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow, and the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Ms. Olivia received the Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2018) and was a semifinalist in the 2020 James Toland Vocal Arts Competition. She holds a Master’s Degree in Music from UCLA as well as a Bachelor’s of Arts in Vocal Performance from Pepperdine University.

Zoe Rose Pallas (Proeber) • Soprano
Salisbury, Maryland

Soprano Zoe Rose Pallas (Proeber) is graduating from the University of Alabama with her Master's in Voice this May, and was most recently seen with the UA Opera Theatre as the title character in Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin, Alcina in Alcina, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Houghtaling, she was awarded second place at the national level of the Music Teachers National Association competition in the Young Artist division, honorable mention in the Huxford Symphony Concerto Competition, current finalist in the Mobile Opera aria competition, and won the first-place performance prize at the University of Mississippi’s Living Music Institute. She received her undergraduate degree at Florida State University, where she studied with Dr. Wanda Brister, and was last cast as Young Alyce in Cipullo's Glory Denied.

Michael Skarke • Countertenor
League City, Texas

Michael Skarke, praised for his “exquisite, almost ethereal tone quality” and “strong dramatic presence,” is quickly making a name for himself as one of America’s top young countertenors. Michael’s 2022 season highlights included a solo feature on the Houston Chamber Choir’s world premiere recording of Daniel Knaggs’ Two Streams with 10-time GRAMMY® award-winning producer Blanton Alspaugh, and performances of Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus with the American Baroque Opera Company. Most recently, Michael spent two weeks in Jerusalem for the world premiere recording of a men’s arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil with the GRAMMY® nominated PaTRAM Male Chorus.