Toledo Opera Announces 2021-22 Resident Artists
Published Monday, April 26, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2021
CONTACT: James Norman, Director of Artistic Administration and Production, jnorman@toledoopera.org
Toledo Opera Announces 2021-22 Resident Artists
Cohort of five, selected from 160+ applicants, includes new and returning talent; artists will appear in mainstage Valentine Theatre productions and educational and community programs
Toledo Opera today announced the selection of five Resident Artists for its 2021-22 performance season. The cohort — selected from an international pool of more than 160 applicants — will begin a one-year residency with the company this August.
“With this year’s Resident Artists, we’re continuing to build on our history of bringing some of the world’s most promising emerging performers to Toledo and providing them with the opportunity to develop their talent,” said Toledo Opera Executive Director Suzanne Rorick. “We’re thrilled to welcome another truly outstanding group of musicians to the Toledo Opera fold this year, and to share their talents with our audiences and community.”
Joining the Opera for the first time are mezzo soprano Katherine Kincaid, a 2021 Master of Music graduate of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland originally from Jacksonville, FL; Cuban American tenor Fran Daniel Laucerica, a recent MM graduate of Boston Conservatory; and pianist Mercy Olson, a southeast Michigan native who received her MM in collaborative piano from Ohio University, and her undergraduate training at the University of Toledo.
The company also welcomes two returning Resident Artists from its 2020-21 cohort: baritone Andrew Payne, a Waynesboro, IN native who received his graduate training at Northwestern University and studies under Jennifer Rowley; and soprano and Toledo native Grace Wipfli, also a Northwestern alum.
The 2021-22 Resident Artists will appear in Toledo Opera’s mainstage productions at the Valentine Theatre beginning in fall 2021. They’ll also bring free live music to the Toledo area as part of the Opera Outdoors program, and perform in Opera on Wheels, a K-12 educational program presented in partnership with Toledo Public Schools.
TOLEDO OPERA RESIDENT ARTISTS: 2021-22 SEASON
Each year, Toledo Opera selects some of the most promising emerging performers from an international pool of 150+ applicants for a one-year residency experience in Toledo. Resident Artists perform in mainstage productions at the Valentine Theater, at area schools through the Opera On Wheels program, and in other Toledo Opera programs and productions, with a new group of Resident Artists selected each season.
Grace Wipfli, soprano
Grace Wipfli, from Toledo, Ohio, has proven to be an impressive, charming, and promising young soprano. Most recently, she received an Encouragement Award from the Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Her performance highlights include Sa femme in Milhaud’s Le Pauvre Matelot, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Ann Truelove (The Rake’s Progress), The Beggar Woman (Sweeney Todd), and the Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods). Moments before the pandemic took over, she performed at Carnegie Hall as the Soprano Soloist for Ralph Vaughan William’s Dona Nobis Pacem, conducted by Dr. Lynda Hasseler. In 2019, she received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Wisconsin District and was also a finalist for the Northwestern University Concerto/Aria Competition. Ms. Wipfli has completed the Summer Concert Residency with Florentine Opera, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and performed with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. She earned her Master of Music at Northwestern University where she studied with Sunny Joy Langton. She completed her undergraduate studies at Capital University while studying with Jacqueline Barlow-Ware. While at Capital, Ms. Wipfli won the 2017 Concerto Competition in Performance and the Richard Miller Award for Fine Singing from the Ohio chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She is thrilled to be spending another season with her hometown company, Toledo Opera.
Katherine Kincaid, mezzo soprano
Katherine Kincaid is a mezzo-soprano from Jacksonville, Florida who recently graduated with a Master of Music in opera from the University of Maryland as a part of the Maryland Opera Studio, where she studied with Delores Ziegler. In 2019, Ms. Kincaid graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Music in voice performance. She recently performed with the Maryland Opera Studio as Ramiro (La finta giardiniera). Her past roles include Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Orphée (Orphée e Euridice), and Mrs. Lowe (The Manchurian Candidate). Katherine has performed with the Seagle Music Colony, Oberlin in Italy, Classical Singing and New York in June, and CCM Opera Bootcamp. She is also a trained classical pianist and songwriter.
Fran Daniel Laucerica, tenor
Praised for his clarity and agility, Cuban American tenor, Fran Daniel Laucerica, is a versatile musician who shines equally in operatic and concert repertoire. Mr. Laucerica is a recent graduate from the Boston Conservatory with a master’s degree in opera performance and prior to that, he graduated from Northwestern University. He was also part of the 2020 Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist program, where he performed scenes from Billy Budd and Fellow Travelers. He will be returning to Wolf Trap Opera for the 2021 summer season, where he will cover the roles of Comte Barigoule (Cendrillon) and Satyavan (Savitri). Mr. Laucerica’s other recent operatic performance credits include Ernesto (Don Pasquale), The Magician (The Consul), The Vain Man/The Snake (The Little Prince), Reverend Samuel Parris (The Crucible), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Albert (Albert Herring). In concert, Mr. Laucerica has had the opportunity to perform as a Tenor Soloist in Carmina Burana, Henry VIII, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Puccini’s Missa di Gloria, and Messiah. Additionally, since beginning his time at Northwestern, he has had the opportunity to perform in many world and regional premieres of works, including as Miguelín in Omar Najmi’s, En la ardiente oscuridad, and the tenor soloist in David Lang’s a house and Samuel Carl Adams’ Light Readings. Mr. Laucerica is very excited to join the Toledo Opera family as a resident artist for the 2021-22 season and looks forward to performing with the educational touring and mainstage productions.
Andrew Payne, baritone
BaritoneAndrew Payne hails from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and is a student of Jennifer Rowley. Previously, he has studied with W. Stephen Smith at Northwestern University where he received his M.M. in voice and opera, and with Marcus DeLoach, where he graduated from Temple University with a B.M. in voice performance. Past operatic roles have been Howard (Dog Days), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), Guglielmo (Così Fan Tutte), Benoît/Alcindoro (La bohème), Johann and the Albert understudy (Werther), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Frank (Die Fledermaus), Claudio (Béatrice et Bénédict) and the Gendarme (Les Mamelles de Tirésias). Mr. Payne has also been the baritone soloist in Stacey Garrop’s oratorio, Terra Nostra and has also performed internationally in a world premiere production of The Mad Hatter in the West End district of London. This summer, he will be making a guest appearance performing in the Savannah Voice Festival. Mr. Payne has recently won first place in Opera Idol hosted by Sherrill Milnes, third place in the NATS Philadelphia Chapter in 2015, and was a recipient of the Middleburg Music Scholarship in 2017. He has performed in masterclasses with Sherrill Milnes, Jennifer Rowley, Warren Jones, Anthony Michaels-Moore, and Brenton Ryan. Mr. Payne is once again extremely excited and honored to continue another season as a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera.
Mercy Olson, pianist
Pianist Mercy Olson pursues creating meaningful connections between listeners, performers, and the music they play. A Southeast Michigan native, Ms. Olson earned a Bachelor of Music in piano performance at the University of Toledo and a Master of Music in collaborative piano from Ohio University. As the Opera Theater at OU pianist, she performed impactful works such as Jake Heggie’s Farewell, Auschwitz; Pieces of 9/11; and cabaret songs by Kurt Weill. While the Singing Men of Ohio pianist, Ms. Olson shared choral works in Chicago, Nashville, and Cleveland during their 2020 spring break tour and has collaborated for performances such as student honors recitals at the Toledo Museum of Art; NATS vocal competitions; and Toledo Symphony Young Artist, OU, and UT concerto competitions. She was selected to participate in the 2021 Collaborative Piano Institute featuring faculty such as Jamie Barton and Martin Katz. Besides performing standard piano and collaborative repertoire, Ms. Olson seeks to connect audiences to the works of current composers. In 2018, she performed David Maslanka’s Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Wind Ensemble for the University of Toledo New Music Festival. Additionally, she has premiered new chamber works for the West Fork New Music Festival and sOUndings concerts. As Vice President of the OU Collegiate Chapter of Music Teachers National Association, she helped create children’s concert engagement events, was part of commissioning a new piano ensemble representing the Athens, OH region, and presented at the MTNA national conference. The chapter received the 2020 MTNA Chapter of the Year award. Ms. Olson is excited to forge new musical experiences with Toledo Opera.
ABOUT TOLEDO OPERA
The mission of Toledo Opera is to enhance the cultural fabric of the region by creating opera experiences that celebrate, both in the theater and beyond its walls, what is unique to opera: dramatic, passionate stories expressed through glorious music and the powerful voices of classically trained singers.
Having opened its first season in 1959 with Verdi’s Aida in the 3,500 seat Paramount Theater in downtown Toledo, Toledo Opera continues to produce quality opera each season. Subsequently, the Opera performed in the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle Theater and the Stranahan Theater. In October 1999, the Opera opened its fortieth anniversary season with performances in the newly renovated 900-seat Valentine Theatre. That venue has now become its home, with the company’s main stage productions, three each year, taking place there. For the past five years, one of the productions has been an American 20th-21st century opera. In April 2018, for the first time in its history, Toledo Opera premiered an opera, Douglas Tappin's I Dream. The Toledo Symphony Orchestra plays at the Opera's performances, with the Toledo Opera Chorus and Children’s Chorus performing as needed. In 1987, the company began offering educational programs for children and youth which now include An Opera Is a Story for preschoolers, Opera on Wheels for elementary students, and Student Night at the Opera for middle and high school students. In 2018, the Opera put on two, two-week summer Opera Camps, one in collaboration with the Toledo School for the Arts and one at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts in Findlay.