Tenor Erik Bagger has performed over 50 operatic roles in New York City, regional, and international venues. Highlights include Canio in I Pagliacci, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Albert in Albert Herring, Alfredo in La Traviata, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and The Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia. He has performed with New Camerata Opera, The San Jose Stage Company, Bronx Opera, Opera on Tap, North Shore Music Festival, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, The Martina Arroyo Foundation, Utopia Opera, Opera Noire of NY, OperaOggi NY, Apollo Opera, Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, Intermezzo Opera Festival, International Lyric Academy of Rome, New Operafestival di Roma, LiedAustria, Wendy Taucher Dance Opera Theater, Monk Parrots, Gertrude Opera, Victoria Opera House, Opera Ischia, as a guest of The Lithuanian Consulate, and in concert with New York City Opera. In June 2017, Bagger made his Carnegie Hall soloist debut, with The Eco-Music Big Band in excerpts from the new opera Angela’s Ring (Incontrera). For his strong stage charisma, he has been hailed “consistently amusing” by The New York Times, and a “comic gem” by Broadway World. OperaWire has praised him for his “punctuating high notes”, while Voce di Meche wrote of his “admirable flexibility.” He holds a Masters of Music and a Bachelors of Music, magna cum laude, from The Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. He is a recipient of The Saul Lyons Memorial Scholarship, The Brooklyn College Opera Theatre Award, and a semi-finalist in Teatro Grattacielo's International Camerata dei Bardi Competition and The Paolo Coni International Opera Competition. Bagger is a Co-Founder and Artistic Chair of New Camerata Opera, a bold and innovative presence on the New York opera scene. He maintains an active performance schedule of standard and contemporary operatic repertoire. In addition, the tenor regularly performs sets of Neapolitan and Italian songs, with his own guitar accompaniment.

Puerto Rican-American tenor Gabriel Hernandez has been performing since childhood and believes in the power of community and collaboration to create meaningful art. They have been in collaboration with queer community members in the NYC area working on projects that speak to towards community experience, both through locational and personal experience. In the fall of 2021 Gabriel premiered his new project Taking Up Space: Queer Identity in Opera, a photo series dedicated to documenting queer experience in opera from the perspective of juxtaposing the past and present.

This season Gabriel joins the Spoleto Festival for the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar, an opera which narrates Omar Ibn Said’s 1831 autobiography. They will be featured in a concert of Nico Muhly and Parker Ramsay’s Stations of the Cross and will join the festival chorus to sing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. After Gabriel’s residency with the Spoleto Festival, in their second world premiere of the season Gabriel will portray Abraham Lincoln in Quarry Theater’s Yours Forever, Lincoln; a story highlighting Lincoln’s romantic relationships with several men. Gabriel is currently in collaboration to premiere the second part of his photo series in Taking Up Space: Queer Identity in Opera.

Alonso Jordán López is a Mexican-American tenor who has been described as “striking” in the South Florida Classical Review in the Miami Summer Music Festival 2018's production of "Ghosts of Versailles" in the role of Léon. Alonso is a recent transplant to NYC and has worked with Libero Canto in a concert of Beethoven's Scottish Songs; with Taconic Opera as Normanno / Arturo in "Lucia di Lammermoor"; Art Song Preservation Society of New York in various masterclasses including "The Art of French Song" with Thomas Grubb and "Italian Art Song" with Mark Markham; Lowbrow Opera Collective in a virtual presentation of "Windows" by Zach Redler as the "Con Man"; and Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble in virtual recitals. In spring/summer 2022 he is the tenor soloist in the “Liebeslieder-Walzer” by Brahms with Libero Canto and he will sing in the chorus for Mozart’s Requiem and Verdi’s Requiem. He has a Master of Music in Opera Performance from Oklahoma City University where he wrote his thesis on and performed Benjamin Britten’s “Winter Words”.

Emily Solo is recognized as a fearless singing-actress with an aptitude for contemporary and crossover works as well as standard repertoire. Praised for her “expressive soprano” (South Florida Classical Review), she was recently named a Semi-Finalist in the 2021 SAS Performing Arts Vocal Competition. The upcoming season includes her debut with New Camerata Opera and a return to Charlottesville Opera as Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

The 21/22 Season saw Emily as an Emerging Artist with Charlottesville Opera, covering Musetta in a new production of La Bohème directed by Stephanie Havey. In NYC, Emily premiered From Century to Century, an unaccompanied solo work written for her and 3 other sopranos, by Jonathan Katz.

Highlights: The Threepenny Opera (Polly) with Everyman Rep, Hamlet (Ophelia) with the Camden Shakespeare Festival, Alice in Wonderland (Alice) with SAS Performing Arts, Amahl and the Night Visitors (Amahl) with Music On Site, A Christmas Carol at the Tony award-winning McCarter Theatre, and the premiere of TESLA: A Multidisciplinary Opera (Tommie) with SoBe Arts.

Emily can also be seen in the indie films Knee High, Plus One, L’alphabete noire (upcoming), and the award-winning web series Trillo & Suede. IG: @emmsolo | www.emilysolo.com

Noted for her lyrical pathos and comedic flair, mezzo-soprano Brittany Fowler has been praised by the New York Times for her “dynamically fluid characterization”. Upcoming engagements include performing in The American Opera Project’s NYU/Tisch Opera Lab operas as a guest artist in May 2022. Recent professional engagements include Grandmother in Samuel Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood with Prelude Opera, Ronnie in the American Opera Project’s workshop of Pete Wyer’s Ga Sho, Dorothy Hindman’s The Pillowbook with Fresh Squeezed Opera, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostra in Pennsylvania, and First Lover in a workshop of Kate Soper’s The Romance of the Rose with the Wet Ink Ensemble. Other operatic roles include Larina (Eugene Onegin), Ottavia (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Meg (Little Women), The Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and La Musica (L’Orfeo). She received her BA in Music and Italian Studies from Wesleyan University; she has been Young Artist with the Boston Early Music Festival and Opera North as well as pursued extended studies at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Mezzo-Soprano Emily Hughes’ last season included performances as Tisbe in La Cenerentola with

Geneva Light Opera, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Panopera, and Musette in Leoncavallo’s La Bohème with Teatro Grattacielo, for which Opera News called her “delightful and coquettish Musette” a performance of “particular note.” Other recent roles include Patsy in The Only Girl with the Victor

Herbert Renaissance Project, the title role of Handel’s Teseo with Cantanti Project, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Panopera, and Second Lady in The Magic Flute with The Nahant Music Festival.

She has been a studio artist at Teatro Nuovo (where she returns this summer to cover Teresa in La

Sonnambula) and a young artist at dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, where she sang the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto. She has been a soloist for The Messiah, Carmina Burana, and Vivaldi’s Gloria, and has premiered works by many living composers. Emily’s work in early music has brought collaborations with Artek, the Baroque Academy at Amherst Early Music Festival, and Haymarket Opera Company.

Next month, she’ll be singing Annio in La Clemenza di Tito with Bronx Opera. www.emily-hughes.com.

A self-described “classically trained vocalist rescued from the clutches of the opera world”, Heather came to circus quite late in the game (but also dreamt of running away with the circus at age 7). In her days with traditional opera, she was especially at home with Britten and Mozart, and made her professional debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw. Within the last decade, Heather has focused predominately on the works of living composers and has had the privilege to premiere multiple works and perform at venues such as the Park Avenue Armory, National Sawdust, Joyce Theatre, HERE Arts Center, and John Zorn's The Stone. Now, as an aerialist trained primarily in aerial silks and corde lisse, she strives to create pieces that fuse aerial movement with 20th&21stcentury classical vocal techniques, and enjoys exploring multi-disciplinary collaborations that allow room for more varied theatrical narratives than the traditional opera route. She has trained with Lisa Natoli, Terry Beeman, Elizabeth Munn and Nicki Miller, among others. To date, she has had the pleasure of performing at Dixon Place, The Muse Brooklyn, Duane Park, and most recently, with Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, as a part of their Open Stage virtual showcases. Currently, you will find her on staff at Aerial Arts NYC. Future engagements include appearing at the cell theatre in July 2022, in The Final Veil, a new dance opera work by J.L. Marlor and Cassandra Rosebeetle. For more information, visit www.heathermichelemeyer.com.

Virdell Williams is excited to make his New Camerata Opera debut in the role of Charles Babbage. He has performed throughout the U.S. and internationally. Recently heard as Ben in the World Premiere of Animal Farm and as The King in The Little Prince, he returns to Berlin next summer to sing the role of Wotan in Die Walküre.

Virdell has also appeared with Amore Opera in New York City as Colline in La Bohème, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other engagements include Wotan in Die Walküre with New York Lyric Opera, Zuniga in Carmen with Capitol Heights Lyric Opera, and Scarpia in Tosca and the title role of Rigoletto with Zwei Gröschen Oper in Germany.

Rob Handel is a librettist and playwright. His collaborations with composer Kamala Sankaram include the surveillance-capitalism thriller LOOKING AT YOU, the scientific romance THE INFINITE ENERGY OF ADA LOVELACE, and the first live Zoom opera, ALL DECISIONS WILL BE MADE BY CONSENSUS. Productions include the Prototype festival at HERE, Tête à Tête in London, Opera Ithaca, New Camerata Opera at The Flea, Opera Theater of Yale College, Boston University, and 3rd Eye in Chicago. Rob's plays have been produced and developed by New York Stage and Film, Long Wharf, Target Margin, Rorschach Theatre (DC), Just Theater/Shotgun Players (Berkeley), Curious Theatre (Denver), the Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, National Playwrights Conference, Soho Rep, and Portland Center Stage. Rob was a founding member of 13P, was a resident playwright at New Dramatists, served on the board of the MacDowell Colony, and heads the dramatic writing program at Carnegie Mellon. Rob lives in Pittsburgh with poet Joy Katz and their son.

Elliot Roman is a multifaceted composer, pianist, flutist, and conductor based in New York City.

Elliot’s compositions often juxtapose stasis with motion, rich harmony with rhythmic vibrancy, and sincerity with wit. They have been performed in the US and Europe and have won awards in competitions including the BMI Student Composer Awards, the Charles Ives Concert Series Call for Scores, and the Chicago Ensemble “Discover America” Call for Scores, among others. Elliot has received commissions from ensembles and organizations such as the American String Quartet, the New York Virtuoso Singers and the National Orchestral Institute and Festival and has collaborated with artists such as George Manahan and Frederick Zlotkin. In addition, Elliot has composed for other genres such as musical theatre and film. He orchestrated Morningside, a new musical premiered in 2019 at the Manhattan School of Music and scored Ashes Artist Collective’s award-winning short film Girl of My Dreams (2021).

Elliot also has experience performing as a soloist and orchestral player. He was a member of the New York Youth Symphony on flute and piano from 2017-19, performing at Carnegie Hall, on CNN, and on tour in Spain. Elliot has premiered new works both in the New York Youth Symphony and in programs such as the Carnegie Hall “Migrations: The Making of America” Festival.

In 2021, Elliot founded underStaffed, a collective dedicated to the performance of classical works for chamber orchestra and small ensembles and serves as its Artistic Director and Conductor.

Elliot is a graduate student at the Manhattan School of Music, where he also received his undergraduate degree and was a recipient of the Jay Rubinton Scholarship. He has studied composition with Reiko Fueting, J. Mark Stambaugh, Nick DiBerardino, and Simon Holt and piano with Daniel Epstein, Julian Jacobson and Adam Kent.

www.elliotromanmusic.com

Holly (she/her) has been working as a Stage Manager in New York City for 5 years. Her most recent stage management credits include The King's College original musical Normal? (Stage Management Supervisor), NCO's Cav+Pag, Prelude Opera Company's Little Red Riding Hood, NYMF's 2019 reading of Queen E: The Reluctant Royal. Holly graduated with a BA from The King's College in 2019 in Media, Culture, and the Arts.

Acclaimed as a director of “particular ingenuity,” Jennifer Williams has created innovative productions worldwide. Praise for her multi-media approach to opera has been effusive, and her extraordinary vision yields indelible results.

Site-specific and immersive productions have been a recent hallmark of her work, distinguishing Williams as an artist who thrives on the unexpected. Her unique presentations have taken her to prestigious venues in New York, Berlin, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Washington, DC, with upcoming engagements in Hong Kong, New York and Austin.

Traditional repertoire such as Rigoletto, La bohème and Les contes d’Hoffmann have figured prominently in her career at theaters such as Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, among others, but Williams is also a passionate advocate of contemporary opera. Her direction of such works as Ainadamar, Dark Sisters, Sumeida’s Song, and Backwards from Winter have been described as “extraordinarily beautiful” and “consistently imaginative.” In addition, she has created installations for concert repertoire including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, and Schubert’s Goethe-Lieder.

Williams is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and an A.B. with honors from the University of Chicago. Artist appears courtesy of Insignia Artists. www.jenniferwilliamsdirector.com