Cast/Production Team

Kerri Marcinko, soprano (Leonora)
A graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, her roles there included Frasquita in Carmen, Despina in Cosi fan tutte and Fortune and Venus in L’incoronazione di Poppea for Houston Grand Opera, and the role of Laurie in Houston Grand Opera Studio’s production of Copland’s The Tenderland. In the 2001-2002 season, Ms. Marcinko made her Boston Lyric Opera debut reprising the role of Missy, which she created in the world premiere of Tod Machover’s Resurrection at Houston Grand Opera. In the summer of 2000, she made her Aspen Opera Theater debut singing Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, also broadcast on NPR. Other engagements include Mimi in La bohème with the Belleayre Music Festival and Nashville Opera, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Spokane Opera. Other opera credits are Ann Putnam in The Crucible with Toledo Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Bellingham Festival, Micaëla in Carmen with Lyric Opera of San Antonio, and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Adrian Symphony. Recent engagements include Micaëla at New York City Opera.

Margaret Mack, soprano (Inez)
Toledoan Margaret Mack made her professional debut in the 1995 world premiere of David Lang’s Modern Painters at the Santa Fe Opera (NM). She received the Outstanding Apprentice Award from Santa Fe Opera for two seasons and went on to appear with the company in the world premiere performance, recording and PBS national telecast of Tobias Picker’s opera Emmeline. Margaret’s appearances include the Overseer in Elektra with Washington National Opera, Violetta in La Traviata with the Mid-Columbia Symphony in Richland, Washington, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Aspen Opera Theatre in Colorado. Upcoming performances include a concert performance of Peter Grimes in the United Kingdom and a recording of Debussy’s L’enfant Prodigue. She is a graduate of Ohio State University with a Masters Degree in Music.

Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano (Azucena)
Ms. Redmon has performed leading roles with the major opera houses of the world including Maddalena in Rigoletto at The Metropolitan Opera, Adalgisa in Norma with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Opèra de Marseilles, Clytemnestre in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide at the Berlin State Opera and Opèra de Marseilles, Eboli in Don Carlos with the Boston Lyric Opera and the Minnesota Opera, and Azucena in Il Trovatore with Opera Queensland in Australia. A respected interpreter of modern music and creator of new roles, Ms. Redmon has created the title role in the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Madame Mao for the Santa Fe Opera, the American premiere of Mathis der Maler, and the world premieres of Harvey Milk and Hugo Weisgall’s Esther for New York City Opera, Conrad Susa’s Black River, Stephen Oliver’s Beauty and the Beast, and, this past June (2006), Mrs. Fairfax in the American premiere of Michael Berkeley’s Jane Eyre, all with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Equally at home in recital and concert she has appeared with many orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic as well as orchestras in Montreal, Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle.

Dongwon Shin, tenor (Manrico)
Young tenor Dongwon Shin, a native of Seoul, Korea, made his professional operatic debut as Radames in Aida at Opera Company of Philadelphia, followed by a debut with Opera Australia as Calaf in Turandot, where he has been re-engaged for the title role in Otello in 2008. Upcoming engagements include Radames in Aida with the Savonlinna Festival, Manrico in Il trovatore with Nashville Opera, and Calaf in Turandot with New Zealand Opera, Palm Beach Opera and Fort Worth Opera. Other recent performances include Radames in Aida with Houston Grand Opera, the title role in Samson et Dalila at Dayton Opera, Canio in Pagliacci with Opera Delaware, and Pollione in Norma with Michigan Opera Theatre. In 2003, he was a National Finalist in the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is a 2005 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Before attending AVA, he received a BM in Music from Seoul National University and also attended Indiana University.

Sebastian Catana, baritone (Count di Luna)
Romanian baritone Sebastian Catana made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Schaunard in La bohème in 2003. Since that time he has been heard in the house as Morales in Carmen, Roberto in I vespri siciliani, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Kuligin in Kat'a Kabanova, Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. In 2006, he made his debut for the Metropolitan Opera in the Parks as Valentin in Faust. Mr. Catana has most recently enjoyed success when he joined Eve Queler in an all Verdi Concert at Weill Recital Hall in New York singing arias and duets. Other performances include Marcello in La bohème at the Seattle Opera, which were followed by performances as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at the Baltimore Opera. Future engagements include his debut in Bologna as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra, the role of Miller in Luisa Miller with the Teatro Regio di Torino, Germont in La traviata in Lausanne, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Virginia Opera, and his first Conte di Luna with Toledo Opera.

Andrew Gangestad, bass (Ferrando)
The 2006-07 season included Mr. Gangestad's performances at the Metropolitan Opera as Colline in La bohème and Frate in Don Carlo. He made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra singing Brander in La Damnation de Faust and at Carnegie Hall, a role which he reprises at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw. In addition, he sang the role of Colline in La bohème with Kentucky Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Pacific, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera Omaha. Mr. Gangestad's 2007-08 engagements include a return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Tom in Un ballo in maschera, and Ramfis in Aïda at Welsh National Opera. Andrew Gangestad has also performed a significant amount of oratorio and concert work. Recent repertoire includes Tan Dun's Theatre Orchestral II: Re and Mozart's Coronation Mass. He has appeared with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra in their Opera Gala Concerts, Duluth/Superior Symphony Orchestra, State College Chorale Society and the Minnesota Orchestra. Mr. Gangestad is the first place winner of the 2005 Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Voice Competition.

David Kaverman, tenor (Ruiz)
Toledoan David Kaverman recently earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Otterbein College. While at Otterbein, Mr. Kaverman appeared as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi. Other performances include Robert in Oscar Hammerstein’s The New Moon and Robert in Ron Grainer’s Robert and Elizabeth with The College Light Opera Company of Falmouth, MA. In 2006, he was a finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. Currently Mr. Kaverman is pursuing studies at The Cleveland Institute of Music. This spring he will be a member of Toledo Opera’s Young Artist Program.

Elizabeth Bachman, Stage Director
Stage director Elizabeth Bachman consistently receives critical praise for her innovative operatic productions. Opera News wrote of her production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Madison Opera: “Fine singing and solid theater values marked Madison Opera's Les Contes d'Hoffmann... Director Elizabeth Bachman kept the action crisp and clean, delineated her characters clearly, and offered a variety of charming touches.” For her production of Roméo et Juliette with Sarasota Opera, Opéra International commented that “she created a veritable portrait gallery of finely drawn and well-conceived characters... the clarity and economy of her visual storytelling was telling and unusual.” And for her production of Rigoletto with Madison Opera, the Capital Times declared that “dramatic tension is useful to a good director, and Elizabeth Bachman is a very good director.”

Elizabeth Bachman's recent engagements include Aïda at the Metropolitan Opera with Luciano Pavarotti, L'Assedio di Corinto and La bohème with Baltimore Opera, Madama Butterfly with Boston Lyric Opera and her debut at Teatro Argentino (La Plata, Argentina) with Turandot. In addition, she has directed L'Elisir d'Amore and La traviata for the Metropolitan Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro in Vancouver, Portland (OR) and Ft. Worth, new productions of Candide at Lake George Opera and Madison Opera, Tosca with Mobile Opera, Un Ballo in Maschera for Arizona Opera, Madama Butterfly for Ft. Worth Opera, in Charlotte (NC), Columbus and Cincinnati (OH), and San Juan (Puerto Rico), Carmen with Opera Festival of New Jersey, Syracuse Opera and Madison Opera, and the world premiere of Ezequiel Viñao's Arcanum at The Kitchen in New York.

Elizabeth Bachman has worked with numerous opera companies in North America, directing a diverse repertoire: Faust in Pittsburgh, Houston, Charlotte and Dallas, The Merry Widow with Shreveport Opera; Il Tabarroand Gianni Schicchi (starring Sherrill Milnes) with Connecticut Grand Opera, and Don Pasquale with Lake George Opera. She has directed at the Portland Opera (Hansel and Gretel), Opera Columbus (L'Incoronazione di Poppea, La traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor), Madison Opera (Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Rigoletto and Candide), Mobile Opera (Tosca), Indianapolis Opera (The Ballad of Baby Doe) and Anchorage Opera (Don Giovanni). She has also directed productions of Carmen, La traviata and Madama Butterfly for Opera de Puerto Rico, where she was the Artistic Advisor for five years.

Thomas Conlin, Conductor
Thomas Conlin is a regular guest conductor with symphony orchestras, ballet companies and opera companies on five continents, most recently in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and throughout the United States. Many of Conlin’s programs feature works by Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin and other fellow Americans, and he is a champion of music of our time, but his international career includes conducting Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, Beethoven and Brahms in Germany, Mozart and Mahler in Austria, Debussy and Ravel in France, Verdi and Puccini in Italy, Grieg in Norway and Sibelius in Finland. Last season he led the Eastern European premiere of Bernstein’s West Side Story at the National Opera of Croatia, in Zagreb.  

Maestro Conlin’s recording of George Crumb’s Star-Child, on which he conducts the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. His music video, Symphonic Wonderworks, won the Gold Award (1st Prize) at the 1992 Houston International Film Festival and was nominated for a Telly Award. His CD of Crumb’s A Haunted Landscape was nominated for an Indie Award as Best Orchestral Recording of 2002, and his latest CD on the Bridge label, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Echoes of Time and the River, was released in 2004 to great acclaim. The first in a series of recordings of works by the Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri was released on the Naxos label last Year.

Conlin has collaborated in opera and concert with renowned vocalists Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne, Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes, Roberta Peters, Giorgio Tozzi and Frederica von Stade, in ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Edward Villella and Violette Verdi, and with instrumentalists Emanuel Ax, Alicia de Larrocha, James Galway, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern. For Toledo Opera he has conducted recent productions of Romeo and Juliet, Don Pasquale, The Turn of the Screw, La traviata, Sweeney Todd, Don Giovanni, La bohème, The Crucible, The Barber of Seville, Faust, Madama Butterfly, Pagliacci, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca and Così fan tutte and six of TO’s Opera Galas: Three Tenors! – the Next Generation, A Night in Old Vienna, The Greatest Wagner Concert Ever!, Opera Goes to the Movies, From Russia with Love and From Broadway to the Met.