Vanessa Conlin, soprano (Susanna)
Vanessa Conlin, a member of the original cast of Baz Luhrmann’s production of La bohème on Broadway, is “a skyrocket of vocal and physical flamboyance” (The Daily Freeman, NY). She was Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Amarillo Opera, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and Abigail in The Crucible with Toledo Opera, Diana in the world premiere of The Song of Eddie at Bard Festival, Juliette with Skylight Opera, Micaëla in Carmen with Evansville Philharmonic, Zerlina in Don Giovanni at Bardavon Opera House, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Astoria Music Festival, Musetta in La bohème with Hudson Valley Philharmonic and Belleayre Summer Festival. Ms. Conlin was a soloist with the Indianapolis, Johnstown and West Virginia symphonies. This winter she’s Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera with Opera Columbus. Ms. Conlin is a native of Texas who resides in Manhattan.

Kara Shay Thomson, soprano (Countess)
American soprano Kara Shay Thomson is proving herself a versatile and essential presence on the operatic and concert stages. Recent engagements include Fortuna in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Chicago Opera Theater, Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Dicapo Opera Theatre, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw with Chicago Opera Theater, Tosca with Central City Opera and Opera North, and Musetta in La bohème with Glimmerglass Opera. Ms. Thomson attended the New England Conservatory of Music where she created the role of Marietta in the world stage premiere of Chadwick’s The Padrone. A Young American Artist at Glimmerglass Opera, she participated in Sousa’s The Glass Blowers. With orchestra she has performed the Brahms Requiem, Carmina Burana and the Mozart Requiem, and recently participated in a staged interpretation of Schubert’s Die Winterreise with the Jacques Thibaud Trio.

Angela Horn, mezzo-soprano (Cherubino)
Angela Horn is rapidly becoming one of the premiere interpreters of the role of Carmen. She has performed this role with the Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of Kansas City, Mississippi Opera, Dayton Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa. Other recent engagements include Emilia in Otello for Opera Omaha, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Pacific and Nashville Opera, the US premiere of Flight with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Elizabeth Procter in The Crucible with Indianapolis Opera, and Teresa in La Sonnambula with Baltimore Opera. Also in demand as a soloist with orchestra, Ms. Horn has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony, The Toronto Symphony, The National Chorale of New York City and the American Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Horn received her undergraduate training at the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City and completed her advanced vocal studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Victoria Livengood, mezzo-soprano (Marcellina)
Internationally renowned Metropolitan Opera star Victoria Livengood is a Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano who has been hailed by critics worldwide in a remarkably varied repertoire. Recent engagements include a concert tour of Russia, including both Saint Petersburg and Moscow. This past season at the Metropolitan Opera she performed Waltraute in Die Walkure.  Other performances at the Met have included Herodias in Salome, Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, and Sonetka in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. She has been heard on numerous “Live from the Met” international radio broadcasts. European credits include the title role in the world premiere of La Senorita Cristina for Madrid’s Teatro Colón, Carmen with the Bühnen Stadt Köln, Oedipus Rex at the Salzburg Festival, and War and Peace at Italy’s Spoleto Festival.

Doug Jones, tenor (Don Curzio, Don Basilio)
Tenor Doug Jones studied singing under Thomas Hayward and in Vienna with Carol Blaickner-Mayo. He made his debut in Vienna as Sesto in Händel’s Giulio Cesare in the Wiener Musikverein. Recent engagements include Tobias in Sweeney Todd with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos with Seattle Opera, Kudrjasch in Katya Kabanova with San Diego Opera, and Shostakovich’s The Nose with the Bard Festival. Other noteworthy engagements have included Pedrillo in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and the world premiere of Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox with the Los Angeles Opera. He is a frequent guest artist with the New Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv and the Opera Bastille. Other US engagements include his debut in 1998 with Seattle Opera in Tristan und Isolde followed by roles there in Magic Flute, Eugene Onegin and Parsifal.

Thomas Barrett, baritone (The Count)
Among the emerging baritones of his generation, Thomas Barrett has performed leading roles with the opera companies of Santa Fe, San Francisco, St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Omaha, Kansas City, Chautauqua, Detroit, Boston, Miami, Milwaukee, and Dusseldorf, Germany. Mr. Barrett recently made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in their production of The Merry Widow. Other engagements include Handel’s Messiah and Carmina Burana with the St. Louis Symphony, Turandot with the Dallas Opera, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Roanoke Symphony, Escamillo in Carmen with Opera Carolina, the American premiere of Jonathon Dove’s Flight with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. A graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, he received his BM in Vocal Performance at the Indiana University School of Music. Mr. Barrett resides in Chesterfield, MO with his wife, mezzo-soprano Angela Horn and their two children.

Donald Hartmann, bass-baritone (Antonio)
Donald Hartmann is considered one of the best character singers on the opera stage. Recent engagements have included Swallow in Peter Grimes with L’Opéra de Montréal, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Michigan Opera Theatre, Colline in La bohème, Bonze in Madama Butterfly with Toledo Opera, Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème with Madison Opera, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Nashville Opera, and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance with Chattanooga Opera.  European engagements have included Simon Boccanegra, Cosi fan tutte, Oklahoma, Xerxes and Wiener Blut at the Stadtheater Regensburg. Mr. Hartmann received his Master of Music Degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Oklahoma. He is a Full Professor with tenure in the Department of Music at Eastern Michigan University.

Kristopher Irmiter, bass-baritone (Figaro)
Kristopher Irmiter has performed over 70 roles with more than 30 opera companies. His engagements have taken him to San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Portland Opera, Baltimore Opera, Atlanta Opera and Hawaii Opera. Mr. Irmiter has displayed a vast range both vocally and dramatically, performing to critical acclaim such diverse roles as Scarpia in Tosca and the title role in Don Pasquale, as well as Ferrando in Il Trovatore. Previous engagements have included Méphistophélès in Faust with Utah Opera, Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde with Florentine Opera, the Four Villain’s in Les Contes d’Hoffman with Opera Lyra Ottawa, and Rucker Lattimore in Cold Sassy Tree with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He was a two-time Regional Finalist at the Metropolitan Opera auditions and winner of the Leonardo da Vince Award in San Francisco.

Jason Budd, bass-baritone (Bartolo)
Mr. Budd recently completed a two-year residency with Orlando Opera where he performed the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Crespel/Luther in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème, Sir Joseph in HMS Pinafore and Melchoir in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Since then he has appeared with Augusta Opera, Opera Birmingham, Piedmont Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland and Opera Carolina. In the summer of 2002, he portrayed the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff with the Opera Theatre of Lucca in Italy. Future engagements include Monterone in Rigoletto and Don Florito in Luisa Fernanda with Orlando Opera. Other accomplishments include first place in the Metropolitan Opera Florida district competition, first place in the Opera Columbus vocal competition and second place at the Metropolitan Opera southeast regional competition in Atlanta.

Bernard Uzan, Stage Director
Bernard Uzan served as General and Artistic Director of L'Opèra de Montreal from 1988 to 2001. During his tenure, he brought financial success and artistic renown throughout the world for its productions. Prior to his engagement with L'Opèra de Montreal, he served as General and Artistic Director of the Tulsa Opera during the 1987-88 season.

In Europe, he has directed productions in Switzerland for the Zurich Opera; in Monaco for Opera de Monte Carlo; in Italy for the Teatro Massimo Palermo, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, and Pisa; and in France for Opera de Lyon, Marseilles Opera, and the Toulouse Opera. In South America he has directed in Venezuela, Chile and Argentina.

In North America, his productions have graced the stages of the Arizona Opera, Baltimore Opera, Connecticut Opera, Dallas Opera, Dayton Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Fort Worth Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Kentucky Opera, Long Beach Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, New Orleans Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, Orlando Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Tulsa Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Opera Colorado, Canadian opera company, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Winnipeg Opera, Vancouver Opera, Calgary Opera, and Edmonton Opera.

Recent new productions by Mr. Uzan include Faust for Montreal, Seattle, Portland, and Florida Grand Opera, Massenet's Manon for Michigan Opera, Montreal Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, and Florida Grand Opera, Katya Kabanova for Montreal Opera and the Florida Grand Opera, and Don Carlo in Montreal. Last season he introduced a new production of Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Carolina, Michigan Opera, and Montreal Opera, and a new production of Peter Grimes for Florida Grand Opera and Montreal Opera. This past season, productions included La bohème with Opera Pacific and Virginia opera, Magic Flute with Montreal Opera, Andrea Chenier with Virginia Opera, Die Fledermaus with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Tales of Hoffman with Palm Beach Opera.

Engagements for the 2005-2006 Season include a new production of Macbeth for Seattle Opera, La fille du Regiment with Florentine Opera, La Rondine with Utah Symphony & Opera, Threepenny Opera with Arizona Opera, Aida with Palm Beach Opera, and Salome for Michigan Opera Theatre. He has also been invited to direct a new production of Il Tabarro/Pagliacci for Seattle Opera in 2008 and is the librettist and director of the new opera composed by David DiChiera, Cyrano de Bergerac, which will premiere in 2007.

A native of France, Mr. Uzan is a graduate of the University of Paris, with Ph.D.'s in Literature, Theatrical Studies and in Philosophy. He began his career in the theater as an actor and director in close collaboration with noted French director, Jean Louis Barrault. He appeared in leading theaters throughout Europe, earning recognition and receiving awards as the Best Young Actor (1967), Best Young Director (1969), and Best Director (1972). He emigrated to the U.S.A where he established French Theater in America, which toured for ten years giving 200 performances per year. He pursued an academic career as Professor of Literature, Acting, and Directing at Wellesley College and Middlebury College in addition to his work as an actor and director. He was also the producer and the main French voice for many French academic books.

Thomas Conlin, Conductor
Thomas Conlin’s performances in America and abroad have generated great enthusiasm. The New York Times calls his leadership “brilliant” and Opera News “passionate,” also reporting that he “conducted the complex work [Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia] with a beat so clear that he must have brought joy and confidence to his singers and instrumentalists.”

Thomas Conlin conducts the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus and soloists in George Crumb’s Star-Child on a CD which won the 2001 Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.” Even before the Grammy finalists were selected, Conlin’s recording (Bridge 9095) had received highest recommendations from virtually every music publication in the world, including Billboard, Classic CD, Klassik Heute, Gramophone (“monumental”), Amazon.com (Editor’s Choice), and ClassicsToday.com: “This miraculous disc represents the fulfillment of a dream for all those music lovers who find themselves captivated by Crumb’s haunting, evocative and passionate musical landscapes.” His recording of Crumb’s A Haunted Landscape (Bridge 9113), also with the Warsaw Philharmonic, was nominated for an Indie Award in the category “Best Orchestral Recording.” The third CD in the series, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Echoes of Time and the River was released in October, and Crumb’s Variazioni will be recorded later in 2004. For Naxos, Conlin is recording the six piano concertos by Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri with the Warsaw Philharmonic and pianist Max Barros.

Thomas Conlin is a frequent guest conductor with opera companies, ballet companies and symphony orchestras on five continents, while serving as  Principal Conductor of  Toledo Opera. Recent seasons have included performances in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and throughout the United States. He founded the Snowshoe Music Festival in the Appalachian mountains and frequently conducts at music festivals in Europe, Japan and America. His repertoire includes compositions of all styles and periods, with an emphasis on music of our time. Conlin has presented numerous world and national premieres of works by American composers.

Maestro Conlin has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest singers, including Kathleen Battle, Maureen Forrester, Marilyn Horne, Cornell MacNeil, Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes, Roberta Peters, Giorgio Tozzi and Frederica von Stade. He has served as vocal coach for many artists currently on the rosters of San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera and other major companies. He is a distinguished teacher of the art of conducting, having served in that capacity for the American Symphony Orchestra League, Queens College of the City University of New York, the Conductors’ Institute at the University of South Carolina and elsewhere. Articles by or about Thomas Conlin have appeared in numerous international publications, and he has lectured widely on opera and other musical subjects.

While a student at Peabody Conservatory of Music (Johns Hopkins University), Conlin made operatic history with the Chamber Opera Society of Baltimore through his innovative use of projected English translations (Supertitles). As the society’s Artistic Director, he prepared and presented the American premiere – and first staged performance in modern times – of Mozart’s early masterpiece, Lucio Silla. His performing edition has been heard at San Francisco Opera and New York’s Mostly Mozart festival. The conservatory awarded him the Bach-Horstmeier Prize for performance of works by J.S. Bach and the Zaidee Thomas Prize in composition. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Charleston (Doctor of Music) and West Virginia Wesleyan College (Doctor of Humane Letters).