American Lyric Theater Presents INSIGHTALT: Opera In Eden Featuring Three New One-Act Operas In Concert, 5/17

American Lyric Theater concludes the 10th Anniversary of its nationally acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program this season with InsightALT: Opera in Eden, a one-night-only concert featuring three new one-act operas written by ALT Resident Artists, hosted by composer/librettist Mark Adamo and producing artistic director Lawrence Edelson.

InsightALT: Opera in Eden will take place on Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 7:30pm at Merkin Concert Hall - Kaufman Music Center, 129 67th Street, NYC. Tickets are $25 and are available by phone at 212-501-3330 or online at http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/insightalt-opera-in-eden/.

PROGRAM

BLOODLINES (Music by Shuying Li; Libretto by Lila Palmer): For Marcus and Esme, life is good. As children, they survived a war, and emigrated to adoption in a new country. As adults, they flourished and found love in each other. Then a strange series of events brings the old country dangerously to life in the present, begging the question: are all secrets better exposed to the light, or should some things remain in darkness?

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO NANA (Music by Liliya Ugay; Libretto by Lorene Cary): Nana's Ghost discovers that her granddaughter is revising the libretto to an opera she's been writing about Nana's life - and Nana's Ghost is not pleased. A haunted wrestling for control begins, with the composer also advocating for the version of the story he thinks will sing.

THE TREE OF ETERNAL YOUTH(Music by Andy Teirstein; Libretto by Julian Crouch): In an orchard, on one particular tree, hangs a peach - but no ordinary peach. At the foot of this same tree, an elderly couple, who long ago made love beneath its branches and carved a heart into its bark, consider their options: To grow old together, or choose eternal youth.

Featured guest artists performing as part of InsightALT: Opera in Eden include soprano Summer Hassan, mezzo soprano Maya Lahyani, mezzo soprano Margaret Lattimore, tenor David Margulis, baritone Brian James Myer, baritone John Tibbets, bass baritone Ryan Kuster, and pianist/music director Gloria Kim.

"These one act operas have been developed through a workshop taught by composer/librettist Mark Adamo," explained Edelson. "The writing teams are provided with a thematic scaffold upon which they develop their operas. Using the same outline and structure, each team develops a unique work. Over the past ten years, this workshop has not only helped to foster robust collaboration between composers and librettists while strengthening dramaturgical skills, but has also yielded a wide array of exciting one-act operas, many of which have gone on to full production. It is always exciting to see what the writers will come up with, and to get a first glimpse at the new collaborative relationships being fostered at ALT."

Launched in 2007, ALT's Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) is the most intensive mentorship initiative for opera composers and librettists in the country, with a highly-credentialed faculty and proven track record for developing the skills of gifted artists, incubating successful operas, and fostering lasting collaborations. The CLDP has served as a model of innovation for other training and new works initiatives around the country, but remains the only full-time training program for both opera composers and librettists in the country. This season, ALT has established a new apprenticeship for an emerging opera dramaturg, integrated into the proven CLDP curriculum. While there are training programs for dramaturgy in theater, this apprenticeship at ALT is the first dedicated to opera dramaturgy in the United States.

At the center of the CLDP is ALT's core-curriculum, which consists of classroom training and hands-on workshops with some of the country's leading working artists. For the 2017-18 season, principal faculty mentors have included composer/librettist Mark Adamo; librettist Mark Campbell; dramaturg Cori Ellison; and composer Jake Heggie. In addition, several internationally recognized composers and librettists are invited each season to be guest artists within the classes and workshops of the core-curriculum. Recent and upcoming guest teachers and lecturers include composers Ricky Ian Gordon, David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Paul Moravec, Kaija Saariaho, and Stewart Wallace, and librettists Michael Korie, Donna DiNovelli, Gene Scheer, and Royce Vavrek (one of the most prominent alumni of the CLDP).

2017-18 COMPOSER LIBRETTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM RESIDENT ARTISTS

COMPOSERS

SHUYING LI

Praised as "a real talent here waiting to emerge" and with her "skillful orchestral writing, very colorful language and huge waves of sound," (Seattle Times) Shuying Li is an award-winning composer who began her musical education in her native China. In her sophomore year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she won a scholarship to continue undergraduate study at the Hartt School in Connecticut. She holds a master's degree from the University of Michigan, where she is completing her doctorate degree. Most recently, Shuying has been commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to write a new piece for a Carnegie Hall premiere in December 2017. In 2015, Shuying's orchestral work, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, was named a winning work to participate in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Edward T. Cone Composition institute, where it was performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the baton of JoAnn Falletta in July. In 2013, Shuying's orchestral work, Overture to "The Siege," was selected as the winning composition in both IAWM's Libby Larsen Prize and the Seattle Symphony's Celebrate Asia Composition Competition, resulting in premiere by the Seattle Symphony. In 2014, after performances by the Hartt Wind Ensemble and the University of Cincinnati CCM Wind Orchestra, Shuying's work for band, Slippery Slope, won the biennial ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize. Other recognition include awards from The American Prize, the Michigan Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer Competition, the NAfME Composers Competition, the Melta International Composition Competition, the Florence String Quartet Call for Scores, the Foundation for Modern Music's International Robert Avalon Composition Competition, the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee Young Composer Competition, and the International J. Dorfman Composition Competition, among others. Shuying's compositions have been performed by Seattle Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Orkest de ereprijs (Netherlands), Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Finland), ICon Arts Ensemble (Romania), Cecilia Quartet (Canada), Opera From Scratch (Canada), Donald Sinta Quartet, 15.19. Ensemble (Italy), Ascanio Quartet (Italy), Atlas Ensemble (Netherlands), University of Cincinnati Wind Orchestra, Hartt Wind Ensemble, etc.

ANDY TEIRSTEIN

Andy Teirstein composes for the concert hall, film, theater, and dance. His music theater works include The Vagabonds, A Blessing on the Moon, Secrets of the North, Papushko (Richard Rodgers Award), The Wild, Winter Man (NEA Award) and Skels (NEA Award). Teirstein studied composition with Henry Brant at Bennington College, with Tania Leon, Bruce Saylor, and David del Tredici at the Graduate Center (Ph.D, 2010), and with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents at NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. He has expanded his musical background by learning fiddle tunes in Ireland, performing as a musical clown with a Mexican circus, and collecting traditional music in Romania and Bulgaria. His CD, Open Crossings (2009), draws inspiration from Balkan, Appalachian and Jewish influences, the music of Bartók, and the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and Robert Service. Teirstein's eclectic background has led him to successful collaborations with choreographers including Liz Lerman, Donald Byrd, Stephen Petronio, and Phyllis Lamhut. The Village Voice has said that his music "seems to speak in celestial accents of some utopia whose chief industry is dancing." His work has been heard at BAM, The Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, as well as abroad. Film scores include Men for the BBC and Margaret Sanger for PBS. He was a music consultant/composer for the critically acclaimed documentary series The West. Other film scores include A Little Tour of Manhattan, directed by Alister Sanderson, The Mind's Journey, directed by Peter Way, and Welcome to Willieworld, directed by Scott Saunders. Teirstein's music is recorded by the Alaria Ensemble, the Cassatt Quartet, the Kiev Philharmonic, the Cygnus Ensemble, and others. His CDs Open Crossings and Mannahatta have been featured on National Public Radio's "New Sounds" program. A collaborative CD, Welcome to Willieworld, is a musical landscape which accompanies the poetry/memoir of Maggie Dubris, a Manhattan paramedic. As an actor, he was an original cast member of the Broadway hit show Barnum and appeared in the TV series Search for Tomorrow and the film Sophie's Choice. Most recently, he plays a number of roles in Woody Sez Off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theater, and previously at the Arts Theatre in London's West End, the A.R.T. in Cambridge, MA, and in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Berlin, and Belfast. He is a member of the touring folk and modern dance/music troupe The Vanaver Caravan. Teirstein has received awards from Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and ASCAP. He is currently an Arts Professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Study Working Group Translucent Borders, which explores the role of dance and music at cultural and geographic borders.

LILIYA UGAY

Described as "particularly evocative," "fluid and theatrical... the music [that] makes its case with immediacy" (The Arts Fuse) as well as both "assertive and steely," and "lovely, subtle writing" (Kozinn, Wall Street Journal) the music by the award-winning composer and pianist Liliya Ugay has been performed in many countries around the globe. Recipient of a 2016 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a 2017 Horatio Parker Memorial prize from the Yale School of Music, Ugay has collaborated with the Nashville Symphony, Albany Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Yale Philharmonia, Raleigh Civic Symphony, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Molinari Quartet, Antico Moderno, Omnibus ensemble, and Paul Neubauer among others. Her music has been featured at the Aspen, American Composers, New York Electroacoustic Music, June in Buffalo, and Darmstadt New Music festivals, as well as the 52nd Venice Biennale. Liliya received numerous competition prizes as a composer and pianist including the Edward Grieg International Composition Competition (Oslo), Pre-Art International Composition Competition (Zurich), International piano competition Verfemte Musik (Schwerin, Germany), International competition for young composers under the Union of Composers of Russia/Moscow Conservatory, International competition of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, as well as a National winner title of the MTNA Young Artist composition competition, to mention a few. Born in the USSR in what is a modern-day Uzbekistan in a Russian-Korean musical family, Liliya combines elements of various cultures in her works while prioritizing harmonic clarity, structural complexity, and dramatic completeness. One of Liliya's strongest passions is the music of the repressed composers from the Soviet era; she regularly appears with lecture-recitals on this topic both as a soloist and chamber musician with the help and guidance of Boris Berman. This year Liliya is organizing a concert series, 100 years: Silenced Music, marking a century since the Russian Revolution with masterpieces by less-known Soviet composers. Ugay came to the US as a Woodruff scholarship recipient to study piano with Alexander Kobrin at the Columbus State University. She received her MM in composition at the Yale School of Music, and is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate and Teaching Fellow at Yale, where she studies with Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, and David Lang.

LIBRETTISTS

LORENE CARY

Lorene Cary works to find meaning and to share it: by observing, researching, reporting, and creating stories, and through organizing, teaching, civic engagement, spiritual practice, and family life. The hardest part is figuring out how, at each stage in life, to do both - the writing and the living (mostly in Philadelphia) - with the attention that love demands. Cary's best-selling boarding-school memoir, Black Ice, was published in 1991. Arthur Rampersad called it "probably the most beautifully written and most moving autobiographical narrative since Maya Angelou's celebrated I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Cary wrote two novels in the 1990s while raising two daughters with her husband, Robert C. Smith. She also began teaching writing at UPenn, where she has received two Provost's Awards for Distinguished Teaching. In 1998, Cary founded Art Sanctuary to create programs of excellent African-American arts and letters in urban Philadelphia. It opened with The Roots and grew to involve 15,000 participants a year. In 2012, Cary created a partnership with Opera Philadelphia that has produced We Shall Not Be Moved, by Daniel Bernard Romaine, scheduled for premiere this season. In 2003, The Price of a Child, Cary's first novel, was chosen as the inaugural One Book One Philadelphia. Conversations with teachers about the fugitive at the center of the novel led Cary to write a non-fiction middle-school book, Free! Great Escapes from Slavery on the Underground Railroad. Her last novel, If Sons, Then Heirs (2011), recounts a searing Jim-Crow era love story that Essence magazine called "a triumph." Her scripts for LED-screen presentations for The President's House on Independence Mall commemorate the lives of enslaved Africans in the Washington household for up to five million visitors each year. Cary served as Philadelphia School Reform Commissioner from October 2011 to January 2013 and later created SafeKidsStories.com, a movement for "stealth culture change," edited by former New York Book Review editor Rebecca Pepper Sinkler. Current works in progress include a play about Harriet Tubman, commissioned by Philadelphia's Arden Theatre, and a book under contract to Norton Books about end-of-life care for Cary's grandmother. Cary has received The Philadelphia Award, her city's highest honor. She lectures nationwide and has received six honorary doctorates, the most recent from Swarthmore College in 2013.

JULIAN CROUCH

Julian Crouch is a Brooklyn-based independent director, designer, writer, maker, teacher, illustrator and musician, whose career has spanned theatre, opera, ballet, film and television. Initially a mask and puppet maker, and with much of his life based in London, in the mid- 1990's co-founded London's Improbable Theatre Company. Improbable's productions, which included Animo, 70 Hill Lane, Lifegame, Spirit, Sticky, The Hanging Man, The Wolves in The Walls, and Panic, have gained far-reaching national and international recognition. His final production for Improbable, which he conceived, directed and designed, was The Devil And Mister Punch. Julian co-created, co-directed and designed the multi-award winning Shockheaded Peter. His opera work has included set design and associate direction for Satyagraha for the ENO and The Met Opera, and creating The Enchanted Island, Doctor Atomic and staging the 125th Gala for the Met. Other major projects include Jerry Springer: The Opera and A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To The Forum for the National Theatre, The Magic Flute for the Welsh National Opera and Cinderella for the Dutch National and San Francisco Ballets. On Broadway Julian designed The Addams Family Musical and Big Fish. Most recently Julian co-directed, co-composed and designed Jedermann for the Salzburg Festival. His recent set design for Hedwig And the Angry Inch on Broadway earned him a Tony Nomination. Most recently he designed and co-created The Aging Magician for BMP at the New Victory Theater, designed The Nutcracker for Christopher Wheeldon and The Joffrey Ballet, co-directed and designed King Arthur for the Berlin Staatsoper. He was also Director and Designer for the Met Opera's 50 Years of The Met at Lincoln Center Gala.He is currently designing Hansel and Gretel and Ernani for La Scala Opera, Milan, Nico Muhly's Marnie for the English National Opera and the Met Opera, and The Barber Of Seville for the Dutch National Opera. His production Birdheart, co conceived with Saskia Lane, played for the Dalai Lama in Brussels and has toured as far afield as Zimbabwe and Abu Dhabi. Julian was recently Artist in Residence at New York's Park Avenue Armory and was the first commissioned artist for the BRIC House Fireworks Residency Program in Brooklyn, NY. He has illustrated 2 books - Jedermann, and Maggot Moon.

LILA PALMER

Lila Palmer is a dramatist, facilitator and classically trained soprano. After taking first-class honors in History at Cambridge University, Lila joined book packager Working Partners as a Junior Editor, moving to literary agency Pollinger as house editor before vocal training in the US. She holds an M.M. in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory and is an alumnus of English National Opera and Aspen Opera Theatre Training programs. She has twice been a vocal fellow of the Vancouver International Song Institute. Lila was a founder member of The Sounding Board, a Boston-based collective commissioning interdisciplinary arts performances with a social change agenda, (past partners include the UN; Boston Children's Chorus, late Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Gunther Schuller and members of the TV show Glee) and was an administrator of the El Sistema Fellows USA program. Lila received a second M.A. with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as a writer, supported by the Goldsmiths Scholarship. She is now a Creative Artist Fellow of the Guildhall School. Her first chamber opera Harbour (2015) was hailed by the London Times as a work of "strange celtic beauty" which "turns anguish into art." An early short, Two-Step, received its North American premier with Boston Opera Collaborative in November 2016. Her second chamber opera Dead Equal (2016) with composer Rose Hall was praised as "urgent, lean and dramatically flawless" by David Pountney, and "deft" by Judith Weir after performances hosted by ENO & Helios Collective. Her most recent works include three chamber operas commissioned by immersive opera company workshOpera, created in response to and performed inside exhibits at the London Transport Museum. Recent directing credits include Bluebeard's Castle (Royal Philharmonia Orchestra) for which she also wrote a new prologue, and a collection of new opera shorts by other young creatives for The Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Future plans include a new musical play Heard (writer and soprano) with Roman River Music Festival and The Jewel Merchants, a partnership with the Bethlem Mental Health Trust to create a service-users opera on the subject on resilience. She co-runs the music theatre development collective Not White Noise with director Adam Lenson.

FEATURED GUEST PERFORMERS

SUMMER HASSAN, SOPRANO

Soprano Summer Hassan is a recent alumnus of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist program. She made her company debut in 2014 as the Second Lady in Barry Kosky'sDido and Aeneas. Her LA Opera appearances have included Ghost Quartet Soprano in The Ghosts of Versailles, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Dama in Macbeth, Daughter inAkhnaten as well as several roles in Hercules vs. Vampires. In 2018 Summer makes a role debut as Tisbe in J.A. Hasse's Piramo e Tisbe with Little Opera Theater of NY and returns to LA Opera to reprise her role as Virginia in The Canterville Ghost in summer of 2018. In 2019 she debuts with Chicago Opera Theater as Pip in Jake Heggie's Moby Dick. Recent performances include Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle under the baton of Placido Domingo, as well as Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Strauss's Four Last Songs with the Colburn Orchestra.Summer made her role debut as Musetta in Wolf Trap Opera's 2016 production ofLa Bohème and in recital with Steven Blier at The Barns, returning to sing roles in Rossini'sThe Touchstone, Musto's Bastianello and Glass/Moran's The Juniper Tree. Additional credits include her Carnegie Hall debut as Second Niece in Britten's Peter Grimes with the St. Louis Symphony, and Second Lady in The Magic Flute at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist. Other roles include Mimì in La Bohème, Betty in The Threepenny Opera, and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito. She received her master of music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and her bachelor of music from the Oberlin Conservatory.

GLORIA KIM, PIANIST & MUSIC DIRECTOR

Pianist Gloria Kim has performed across the globe as a collaborative pianist and soloist. Recent appearances include a concert of opera excerpts by alumni of American Lyric Theater's critically acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, Carnegie's Weill and Zankel Halls, the Stanis?aw Moniuszko International Vocal Competition in Poland, and the East Coast premiere of the new chamber opera, Middlemarch in Spring. Career highlights include being on the music staff for the Charlottesville Opera (formerly Ash Lawn Opera), Glimmerglass Festival, International Vocal Arts Institute (for the production of Jake Heggie's Three Decembers), Opera Omaha, Sacramento Opera, Savannah Music Festival, Virginia Opera, and serving as music director for projects with American Lyric Theater, Heartbeat Opera, International Fringe Festival (NY), and The Muses Creative Artistry Project. Also a fan of chamber and orchestral music, Gloria frequently collaborates with Elspeth Davis (mezzo-soprano), American Trombone and Winter Summer Trombone Workshops. An advocate for music in higher education, she has held faculty positions at The Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College (CUNY) for the New York premiere of Svadba, New York University, Montclair State University, Concordia University (adjunct violin), and gave master classes at Ithaca College, The University of Texas, University of Missouri-Columbia, and University of Memphis. A native of Austin, TX, Gloria received her degrees in Performance at The University of Texas, and her doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota. Also an accomplished violinist, she was in the symphony orchestras at both universities, and was active in the orchestral and chamber music scenes in Austin and Minneapolis. Upcoming engagements include a collaboration with Nitzan Haroz on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, as well as joining the music staff of Opera Saratoga in Summer 2018.

RYAN KUSTER, BASS BARITONE

Bass-baritone Ryan Kuster is gaining national recognition for his recent appearances as Escamillo in Carmen, with Virginia Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Grand Rapids, Florida Grand Opera, and Knoxville Opera. Colorado's Daily Camera wrote, "Baritone Ryan Kuster possesses a swaggering virility in the role of Escamillo. The character has the most famous of all the opera's many great tunes, and Kuster's delivery does not disappoint," and the Community Digital News said, "Mr. Kuster plays Escamillo as a self-confident showman who also displays a cool, cynical approach to love. It's a marvelous performance of this small yet key role." This season, Kuster returns to Dallas Opera as Dr. Grenvil in La traviata and Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila, and performs Theseus in A Midsummer Nights Dream with Virginia Opera. He also performs Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with Marywood University and Northeast Pennsylvania Choral Society. Last season, Kuster performed the role of Escamillo in Peter Brook's La tragédie of Carmen with San Diego Opera, Don Basilio in On Site Opera's production of Le nozze di Figaro, Colline in La bohème with The Charleston Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with Florida Grand Opera, a concert titled "Arias and Ensembles" with Dallas Opera, and a concert with Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, Mr. Kuster has performed the title role in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera; Angelotti in Tosca with Dallas Opera, Madison Opera, Pacific Symphony, and Orlando Philharmonic; Alidoro in La Cenerentola with Nashville Opera and Opera Saratoga; multiple roles with Arizona Opera including Coline in La bohème and Masetto in Don Giovanni, which he also performed with Cincinnati Opera and in his début with Los Angeles Philharmonic, directed by Christopher Alden; and in Dallas Opera's production of Turandot. Recent concert engagements include a performance of St. Matthew's Passion with Boulder Philharmonic; Brutamonte in Fierrabras, Schubert's hidden gem, with Bard Music Festival; Händel's Messiah with Milwaukee Symphony; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in his début with National Symphony.

MAYA LAHYANI, MEZZO SOPRANO

Hailed by the Maine Classical Beat for "a voice to die for (combined) with acting ability, beauty, and stage presence," Israeli mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani is fast-becoming one of today's most sought-after young singers. Ms. Lahyani's 2017-2018 season starts covering the role of Dalila in Samson and Dalila at The Dallas Opera. She later makes her Latin America debut as Charlotte in Werther with Ópera De Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico. Lahyani appeared at The Metropolitan Opera as the Second Serving Woman in Elektra under the baton of Yannick Nézét-Séguin and as Dorothée in a new production of Cendrillon. She joins the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as the Soloist in Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony. She closes her season singing Maddalena in Rigoletto at the Berkshire Opera Festival in August.In the 2016-2017 season, Ms. Lahyani returned to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Flora in Willy Decker's production of La Traviata. She also returned to Seattle Opera as Varvara in a new production of Janá?ek's Katya Kabanova, as well as Flora in Peter Konwitschny's production of La Traviata. Concert appearances included Mahler's Second Symphony with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and a recital with the Sun Valley Opera. Lahyani was also the featured vocal soloist in a world premiere performance by the Alonzo King LINES Ballet.Ms. Lahyani sang over 50 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, making her debut during the 2013-2014 season in Anthony Minghella's production of Madam Butterfly as the first Israeli born to ever sing on that stage. Other appearances at the Met included Massenet's Werther, Dvorak's Rusalka, the role of the Palestinian Woman in John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer, Flora in La Traviata, Rosette in Manon, and a Serving Woman in Strauss' Elektra. Recent career highlights include the title role of Carmen with Opera Maine, Opera Las Vegas and Wolf Trap Opera. Lahyani is an alumna of the prestigious Adler Fellowship of the San Francisco Opera, where she made her debut in 2010 as Wowkle in La Fanciulla del West.

MARGARET LATTIMORE, MEZZO SOPRANO

Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore has been praised for her "glorious instrument" and dubbed an "undisputed star...who has it all - looks, intelligence, musicianship, personality, technique, and a voice of bewitching amber color," by the Boston Globe. While she began her career singing the florid works of Händel, Rossini, and Mozart, Ms. Lattimore expanded her repertoire in recent seasons to include the works of Mahler, Verdi and Wagner, making her one of the most versatile mezzo-sopranos performing today. Most recently, she played the role of Marcellina in Marcos Portugal's Il matrimonio di Figaro with On-Site Opera and Ms. De Rocher in New Orleans Opera's production of Dead Man Walking. This season, Ms. Lattimore reprises the role of Mrs. De Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Opera on the Avalon; sings Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Pacific Symphony, Costa Rica National Symphony, and Bozeman Symphony; and returns to The Metropolitan Opera for Les contes d'Hoffmann, The Exterminating Angel, The Merry Widow, Faust, and Romeo et Juliette. Last season, Ms. Lattimore performed the role of Dame Marthe in Faust with Houston Grand Opera, La Frugola in Il tabarro with Bard SummerScape, and sang Brahms' Alto Rhapsody at Alice Tully Hall, Beethoven's Missa Solemniswith Toledo Symphony, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle with The New Choral Society, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with The Washington Chorus, and an alumni recital and masterclass with The Crane School of Music. Ms. Lattimore has become an audience and critic favorite for her one-of-a-kind portrayals throughout her repertoire. Of her performance in Verdi's Requiem The Houston Chronicle wrote: "Mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore's vocals were distinguished by her rare intensity, gleaming pure tone, and strong dramatic instincts." Ms. Lattimore was praised for her singing at Des Moines Metro Opera where, of her performance in Rossini's Le comte Ory, Opera Today said:"Margaret Lattimore was luxury casting in the role Ragonde, her plummy mezzo as rich as chocolate mousse. An added bonus is that Ms. Lattimore's perfectly tuned comic timing and her subtle bits of registering dismay never failed to elicit a laugh."

DAVID MARGULIS, TENOR

David Margulis has established himself as a strong lyrical singer and actor on domestic and international opera stages alike. He has been called "radiant voiced," and been praised for his "clear, pleasing tenor." Of his portrayal of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in his mainstage debut at Arizona Opera, Opera Today raved: "David Margulis was an energetic Tamino who was only momentarily laid low by Pollard's iconic monster. He sang with sumptuous lyrical sounds conveyed on a well-honed legato." This season, Mr. Margulis sang in Ballet Tucson's concert, A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein, performed as the tenor soloist with Buffalo Philharmonic in selections from Cosí fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Le Nozze di Figaro, and performed the role of Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Arizona Opera. He also sings Arigirio in Tancredi Riffatto with Teatro Nuovo. Recently, Mr. Margulis reprised the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Bar Harbor Music Festival, which he performed previously for the inaugural season of Opera Orlando. He also performed the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Grand Rapids, Will in Middlemarch in Spring with Ash Lawn Opera, Florville in Il signor Bruschino with Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi and Torquemada in L'heure espagnole both with Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, France. In recent seasons, he joined the prestigious Internationales Opernstudio at Opernhaus Zürich where he demonstrated his refined dramatic sensibilities in a variety of operas including Jonathan Dove's musical fairy tale The Enchanted Pig,Rossini's colorful comic opera Le comte Ory, Haydn's rarely seen "heroic-comic drama" Orlando paladino, Mozart's hilarious comic singspiel Der Schauspieldirektor, and Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. Additional operatic engagements include the role of Borsa in Rigoletto in his main stage debut with Opera Santa Barbara; a double bill of Der Schauspieldirektor/Le rossignol in his main stage debut with Santa Fe Opera; the inaugural New York Festival Song at North Fork program; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Phoenix Symphony.

BRIAN JAMES MYER, BARITONE

Baritone Brian James Myer has been praised as a stage animal of "both voice and character to make him stand out in the crowd" (Sarasota Observer). Mr. Myer's 2017 activity includes his debut with Opera Naples as Papageno in The Magic Flute, his debut with Hawaii Opera Theater as Le Dancaïre in Carmen, a return to Opera Orlando as Schaunard in La bohème, and his return to Opera San José as the Minister in Alma Deutscher's Cinderella (US premiere). In 2018, Mr. Myer makes his Hawaii Symphony debut as baritone soloist in Carmina Burana, his Henderson Symphony debut as Maximilian in Candide, rejoins Opera Las Vegas as Dandini in La Cenerentola and makes his debut with the Grand Teton Music Festival as Snowboy and Big Deal in West Side Story.During the 2016-2017 season Mr. Myer was engaged as a Resident Artist with Opera San José, performing Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ponchel in the West Coast premiere of Kevin Puts' Silent Night, and Schaunard in La bohème. Additional recent engagements include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Florida Grand Opera; Silvio in Pagliacci with Sarasota Opera; Le Dancaïre in Carmen, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera Las Vegas; and the Marchese in La traviata, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Yakusidé in Madama Butterfly, and Albert in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Chautauqua Opera. He has recently made his Opera Orlando debut as part of their Opera in the Park summer concert series, performing as a member of "The Three Baritones" to sold-out audiences. The group has since released a new album entitled "Christmas Around the World".An active composer, Mr. Myer's choral octavo "Go, Lovely Rose", a setting of the poem of Edmund Waller, is published by Santa Barbara Music.

JOHN TIBBETTS, BARITONE

Georgia native, John Tibbetts, baritone has been praised for his "mature voice and sensitivity" in the arena of concert and opera. Tibbetts is a 2018 finalist for the International Lotte Lenya Competition. This past February he made his Kentucky Opera debut as Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. This summer he will return to Opera Saratoga to sing Cascada in The Merry Widow and Prince Gabriel III of Belgium's Trainer's Son in David T. Little's Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera. Last summer he sang the role of Yasha in Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock with acclaimed conductor John Mauceri at Opera Saratoga, which was recorded for commercial release on Bridge Records this June. In February, Tibbetts made his debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra singing songs of Aaron Copland. Recent solo engagements include Haydn's The Creation with The Burnt Hills Oratorio Society of Upstate NY, Orff's Carmina Burana with The NY Choral Society, and Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Atlanta Master Chorale. Tibbetts' young artist credits include Opera Saratoga, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Central City Opera, and Kentucky Opera. He received his MM in Voice from CCM and his BM from Georgia State University.

ABOUT AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER

Great Operas Don't Just Happen. American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded in 2005 by Lawrence Edelson to build a new body of operatic repertoire by nurturing composers and librettists, providing an incubator for their collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon. Many opera companies commission and perform new works; but ALT is the only company in the United States that offers extensive, full-time mentorship for emerging operatic writers. While the traditional company model focuses on producing a season, ALT's focus is on serving the needs of composers and librettists, developing new works, and collaborating with larger producing companies to help usher those works into the repertoire. In 2012, ALT was the first company dedicated to artist mentorship rather than operatic production to be recognized by OPERA America as a Professional Company Member - a testament to ALT's service to the field.

For more information about the Composer Librettist Development Program, Resident Artists, works by CLDP alumni, and upcoming public events at ALT, please visit www.altnyc.org/

American Lyric Theater's mentorship programs for composers and librettists and public programs in New York City are made possible by generous lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, The Amphion Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Howard Gilman Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New Music USA's Impact Fund (made possible with funding from The Scherman Foundation's Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund), OPERA America Innovation Grants (with support from The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation), Howard & Sarah D. Solomon Foundation, and The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

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