Florida Grand Opera Announces New Roster of Young Artist Program Take-Ons

MIAMI - August 2, 2016- Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is pleased to announce the members of its 2016-17 class for its Young Artist Program. These artists, consisting of both new and returning members, were selected from more than 600 singers who auditioned for the coveted program.

Philip Pierce, Director of Artistic Administration at Florida Grand Opera, stated, "We are very excited to welcome these young artists into the FGO family for the coming season. This is an impressive group, featuring many artists with international experience, and we think that our audience will be excited to discover them."

Please note that most artists' names have been hyperlinked to their professional websites, which will provide additional biographical information and other resources.

Tenor Dominick Corbacio makes his debut with Florida Grand Opera this season. He has most recently appeared as an apprentice artist at Opera Saratoga in the American premiere of Phillip Glass' The Witches of Venice in the role of The King (2016), as well as the Sailor in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas(2015) both directed by Karole Armitage. Praised by the New York Times as having given "One excellent performance after another of the sublime Du bist die Ruh...", Dominick was featured in Lee Mingwei's Sonic Blossom at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Other recent credits include Prince Sou Chong (Das Land des Lächelns), Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Steven Todd/Arnold Murray (The Life and Deaths of Alan Turing), with companies such as Venture Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and American Lyric Theatre. This season at FGO he sings El Remendado in Bizet's Carmen, and Triquet in Tchaicovsky's Eugene Onegin.

Filipina-American Mezzo-soprano Melissa Fajardo makes her debut with Florida Grand Opera this season. She has been a member of numerous young artist programs including The Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Portland Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera North, and The Crested Butte Music Festival. Recent roles include Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto, Lady with a Hat Box in Argento's Postcard from Morocco with Portland Opera, Paula in Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas with Tulsa Opera, Rosina in Rossini's IL Barbiere di Siviglia, Lucretia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and Mother in Stravinsky's Mavra with the Princeton Symphony. She is also a recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. Melissa earned her bachelor's degree from Westminster Choir College and her master's degree from The Eastman School of Music. This season at FGO, she sings Filipievna in Eugene Onegin, Mother/The Sea in Before Night Falls, and will study-cover the title role of Bizet's Carmen and Olga in Eugene Onegin.

Praised for her "voice [that] shines with a winsome, lyric luster" (Opera News), soprano Elena Galván, is a native of Ithaca, NY. Elena Galván just concluded a summer as an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera for the summer of 2016 covering the role of Amour in Orphée et Eurydice. The 2015-2016 season found Elena at Florida Grand Opera as a Young Artist, performing the role of Norina in Don Pasquale and Yvette in The Passenger. Also in 2015, Elena joined Kentucky Opera as a Studio Artist to perform Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.
In 2014, Elena returned to the Bay Area, making a role debut as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with Lamplighters Music Theatre, and performed the role of Countess Ceprano, while covering the role of Gilda in Livermore Valley Opera's production of Rigoletto. Returning as a Teaching Artist for San Francisco Opera's Opera Guild, Elena performed Musetta in La bohème.
Elena was a 2013-2014 Virginia Opera Emerging Artist, performing the Education Outreach tour of The Adventures of Pinocchio's Sister and community concerts. She was also a 2012-2013 Studio Artist at Opera Santa Barbara, where she study-covered Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale. After completing her Graduate studies in San Francisco, Elena performed the role of Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with Livermore Valley Opera, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera a la Carte in Bay Area Schools and Phyllis in Lamplighter's Music Theatre's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe. In the summer of 2012, Elena was a Studio Artist at Opera Saratoga, where she covered Grittly in Offenbach's Le 66 and performed in the other mainstage productions.
Other roles include Dalinda (Ariodante) Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) Nannetta (Falstaff), Lucy (The Telephone), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) Le feu (L'enfant des Sortilèges), Clarice (Il Mondo della Luna), and The Fox in the collegiate premiere of The Little Prince.
Elena was awarded Second Place in the Lois Alba Aria Competition in Houston, TX in 2014. She won an Encouragement Award from the Los Angeles District and in the San Francisco Districts of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2013 and 2011. Other vocal competition awards include the Nate and Nora Schoenfield Award in Palo Alto, CA, and the Bea and Irving Solomon Award and the Ernst Bacon Prize in Syracuse, NY.
She holds degrees from Ithaca College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). She studies with Catherine Cook.

Calvin Griffin, a native of Colombus, Ohio, just graduated as a third year member of the Marion Roose Pulli Arizona Opera Studio, where he performed the roles of Captain in Florencia in el Amazones, Zuniga in Carmen, and Pistola in Falsaff. In previous seasons, his roles included Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Speaker/2nd Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte, Hortensius in La fille du régiment, Colline in La bohème, and Dr. Grenville in La traviata. Last March, Mr. Griffin will made his Opera Colombus debut as Colline in La bohème.
This summer, Mr. Griffin is making his Glimmerglass Festival debut singing Fabrizio and covering Gottardo in La gazza ladra. He is also very excited to be covering the title role in Sweeney Todd. Last summer, Mr. Griffin returned as an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera where his assignments included Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Hortensius in La fille du régiment. Mr. Griffin sang the title role in Gianni Schicchi at the Aspen Music Festival, and he covered the role of Leporello in Don Gionvanni as an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera. He was a Studio Artist at The Wolf Trap Opera Company, as wel as a participant at the Brevard Music Festival.
In competition, Mr. Griffin was the 2015 winner of the Igor Gorin Memorial Award. He was awarded a Western Region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Encouragement Award in 2014, 1st place winner in the Tuesday Musical Club Competition in San Antonio in 2012, 1stplace winner in the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition in 2011, and was awarded a Central Region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Encouragement Award in 2010. He was also a winner in the Cincinnati College-Conservatory's Corbett Competition and was awarded the Linda Candler Award at the Brevard Music Center.
Mr. Griffin received his Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King.

Tenor Michael Kuhn debuts with Florida Grand Opera this season. Recent credits include an Off-Broadway debut as Basel in ¡Figaro 90210!, Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia with Loft Opera, Mr. Erlanson in A Little Night Musicwith The Princeton Festival, Padre in Man of La Mancha, Sancho in Don Quixote and the Duchess and the title role in The Prodigal Son, all with Central City Opera. Other favorite roles include Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Tobias (Sweeney Todd), Piquillo (La Périchole), Hot Biscuit Slim (Paul Bunyan) and Candide (Candide). Michael has been a young artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Central City Opera and Virginia Opera. He is an alumnus of The New England Conservatory (Master of Music, Vocal Performance) and Syracuse University (Bachelor of Music, Music Industry and Communications Studies). This season at FGO, Michael can be seen as Remendado in select performances of Carmen, and as Lazaro in Before Night Falls.

Cuban soprano Laura León returns to Florida Grand Grand Opera as a second year Young Artist Last season, she study-covered the roles of Norina in Don Pasquale and Yvette in The Passenger along with performing at numerous outreach events. This past summer, Ms. León was featured in a variety of concerts in Madrid and Badajoz, Spain and Lubeck, Germany featuring Cuban and Spanish Zarzuela pieces. Her most recent roles include La Princesse Laoula in Emmanuel Chabrier's L'étoile and Marguerita Fiorentino in Weill's Street Scene with FIU Opera Theater, Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflötewith the Miami Summer Music Festival, Musetta in La bohème and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Nyack College Opera. She has also appeared with the new company Opera Fusion in performances of "The Sopranos" and "Dueling Divas," and as the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with FIU. Also a performer of zarzuela repertoire, Laura sang Charito in Reveriano Soutullo/Juan Vert's La leyenda del beso with the Sociedad Pro-Arte Grateli, and performed as a soloist in a tribute concert at FIU featuring rarely heard works of Ernesto Lecuona. at FIU. This season at FGO Laura will perform the roles of Frasquita in Carmen and Mother of Peasant in Before Night Falls, and can be seen in numerous regional outreach performances.

Mezzo-Soprano Courtney Miller debuts with Florida Grand Opera this season. She will sing Mercédès in Carmen and Olga in Eugene Onegin. During the 2015-16 season, her schedule included Hannah in The Passenger with Michigan Opera Theatre, Meg in Little Women with Madison Opera and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and The Wind in The Witches of Venice with Opera Saratoga.Ms. Miller made her Odyssey Opera debut as Mrs. Ford in Sir John in Love in 2015. As a Virginia Opera Emerging Artist 2013-15, her roles included Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Page in Salome, Meg Page in Falstaff, Flora in La Traviata, and Mercédès in Carmen. As a Young Artist with Glimmerglass Festival in 2014, Ms. Miller sang Suzuki in Madame Butterfly and covered the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. An art song enthusiast, Ms. Miller has performed Ravel's Shéhérazade with theBrevard Sinfonia, selections of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne with the Chautauqua Symphony, and has won first place in the National Federation of Music Clubs' Young Artist Competition in Women's Voice and the American Prize in Art Song for Women's Voice. Other role highlights include Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking, the title role in L'enfant et les sortilèges, and Concepción in L'heure Espagnole. A Wisconsin native, Ms. Miller holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Boston Conservatory.

Soprano Sarah Payne, a native of South Florida, will be joining Florida Grand Opera for a second season as part of their 2016/17 Young Artist Program. This season, Ms. Payne will be study-covering the role of Micäela in Bizet's Carmenas well as study-covering Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Last season, Ms. Payne sang the role of Clotilde in Bellini's Norma, and study-covered the title role of Norma as well as Marta from Weinberg's The Passenger.
This summer, Ms. Payne reprises the role of the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw under Maestro Caren Levine of the Metropolitan Opera as part of the 2016 Miami Music Festival. She will also be participating in the festival's Wagner Institute run by leading Wagnerian soprano, Christine Goerke and Wagnerian expert Kathleen Kelly, covering the role of Helmwige in Wagner's Die Walküre.
Recently, Ms. Payne won First Place in the 2015 St. Petersburg Opera Guild Voice Competition, was a Regional Finalist for the 2014/15 Metropolitan Opera National Council and was a Semi- Finalist for the 2015 Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition.
In the summer of 2014, Ms. Payne performed the role of Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) with the Miami Music Festival under Michael Rossi. Ms. Payne then spent two weeks in Salzburg, Austria studying with renowned American Soprano, Helen Donath at the Mozarteum University. During her time in Salzburg, Ms. Payne was named a Finalist in the International Richard Strauss Competition and was invited to take part in next year's International Wagner Competition in Bayreuth, Germany.
Other performing credits include: The First Lady (The Magic Flute) with the Siena Music Festival; Anna Maurrant (Street Scene), Poppea (Agrippina), and the Governess (The Turn of the Screw), all under Maestro Grezgorz Nowak of the Royal Philharmonic of London as part of Florida International University's Opera Theater.
Ms. Payne has a Bachelor's Degree in Vocal Performance from Florida International University.

Alex Soare has been praised as a "stand out" - Opera News, "rich and elegant" - Palm Beach Arts Paper. Alex has been a finalist for the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, The Marcello Giordani Vocal Competition, an award recipient of The National Society of Arts and Letters, The Metropolitan Opera National Council and The Bel Canto Foundation. Last season, Mr. Soare was a Young Artist with Florida Grand Opera where he performed Don Basilo in IL Barbiere di Siviglia, First SS Officer in The Passenger, and study-covered the title role in Don Pasquale. He is currently performing Sulpice in Daughter of the Regiment with Opera North. This season, Mr. Soare performs the role of Zuniga in Carmen, Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, will study-cover Victor in Before Night Falls, and will sing Tom in Un ballo in maschera all at Florida Grand Opera. Alex has recently performed with Des Moines Metro Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Saratoga and the Aspen Music Festival. Alex received his education at Universitatea Transilvania (Brasov, Romania), Universität Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria) and Northwestern University.

Benjamin C. Taylor, baritone, just completed his final year at the Boston University's Opera Institute, where he studied with Penelope Bitzas. Benjamin received a BA from Morgan State University and an MM from Boston University. Benjamin was a District winner and Regional Finalist in the New England Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition. Benjamin's recent performances include Prior Walter in Angels in America, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Escamillo in La Tragédie de Carmen with the BU Opera Institute, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos as a Resident Artist at Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Fiorello in IL Barbiere di Siviglia as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Figaro in IL Barbiere di Siviglia with OTSL's Opera on the GO! program. This summer he returned to OTSL to perform Cowardly Giant in the world premiere of Shalimar the Clown by Jack Perla, covering the Music Teacher in Ariadne auf Naxos and Marcello in La Bohème, as well as performing Marcello with Crested Butte. This season, he will be performing the Dancaïro in Carmen, as well as The Captain in Eugene Onegin and study-covering the role of Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls.

Baritone Nicholas Ward returns to Florida Grand Opera this season for a second year in the Young Artist Program. Last season on the FGO stage, he was seen as Fiorello in IL Barbiere Di Siviglia, and study-covered the roles of Figaro in Barbiere and Tadeusz in The Passenger. This summer, he sang the role of Pish-Tush in The Mikado at Union Avenue Opera, and debuted in two new works at Thompson Street Opera in Louisville, KY. He was a member of the young artist program at Central City Opera for three consecutive seasons, where his roles included the Elder Son in Britten's The Prodigal Son, Marchese D'Obigny in La Traviata, and the Trio Baritone in Trouble in Tahiti. He has also participated in the young artist programs of Toledo Opera, Opera Saratoga, and the Seagle Music Colony. Nicholas is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a winner of the Ohio District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. This season at FGO, he appears as Morales in Carmen and Silvano in Un Ballo in Maschera.

Tenor Benjamin Werley debuts at Florida Grand Opera this season. He has been part of the Young Artist programs at The Santa Fe Opera (Courier in Fanciulla del West and Diener 3 in Capriccio), Merola Opera Program (Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Steve Hubbell in A Streetcar Named Desire), Opera Colorado (Messenger in Aida and A Farmer in the world premiere of Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter), Virginia Opera (Second Jew in Salome and Giuseppe in La Traviata), and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. A graduate of the Indiana University Jacob's School of Music, he appeared as Rodolfo (La Bohème), Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), and Fenton (Falstaff). Werley also was one of twenty singers in the semifinals of the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. This season at FGO, he sings the Judge and Amelia's servant in Un ballo in Maschera and study covering Don José in Carmen and Lensky in Eugene Onegin.

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