Lyric Opera Of Kansas City Announces 2023-2024 Resident Artists And Apprentice Artists

General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler Kemper today announced the selection of the artists for the Resident Artist and Apprentice Artist programs for the 2023-2024 season. The 2023-2024 Resident Artists include soprano Kelli Van Meter, mezzo-soprano Christine Boddicker, tenor Benjamin Ruiz, bass-baritone Jose Olivares, and pianist/coach Jimin Seo.

Lyric Opera's Resident Artist program was inaugurated in the 2016-2017 season. Postgraduate singers and pianists are chosen following a series of local and national auditions. During their residency, Resident Artists appear in mainstage roles; serve as the performing resources for education and community engagement initiatives; work with visiting guest artists, conductors, and directors; participate in masterclasses and career coaching; receive voice lessons and vocal coaching; and study leading roles. Resident Artists also receive training in acting, movement, and stage combat under the guidance of industry professionals. Many Lyric Opera Resident Artist alumni maintain professional careers in the industry. Complete bios and high-res headshots can be found here.

“We launched the Resident Artist Program in 2016 and it has been an unqualified success,” stated Kemper. “Lyric Opera has joined the ranks of distinguished opera companies in North America who are committed to nurturing the next generation of exceptional artists for opera. Our professional development program involves performance experience and opportunities to work with our field's leading conductors, directors, and principal artists. Our audiences have embraced our Resident Artists and have been touched by their performances. I look forward to another season of productive and engaged experiences with them.”

The Resident Artists Program is sponsored by the Estate of Richard Hill, Charter Sponsor of the Resident Artists Program, and the Polsky Fund of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Foundation.

Soprano Kelli Van Meter's recent engagements include the Charlotte Street Foundation's New Music Compositions concert which showcased original scores exploring queer themes, soloist in Handel's Messiah with Kansas City Symphony, and featured soloist with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory Orchestra and Hastings Symphony Orchestra. Notable roles include the title role in Suor Angelica, Judith (Bluebeard's Castle), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Arminda (La finta giardiniera), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Elle (La voix humaine), and Violetta (La traviata). Awards include first place in the UMKC Chancellor's Competition and Naftzger Young Artist Competition. Van Meter received their degrees in voice performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and University of Kansas under the mentorship of Maria Kanyova. 

In the 2023-2024 Lyric Opera season, Kelli Van Meter will appear as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music. 

Mezzo-soprano Christine Boddicker made her professional debut in 2022 with Indianapolis Opera as a fall Resident Artist. Boddicker has been a Young Artist with Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, Opera Steamboat, Miami Music Festival, and Chicago Summer Opera. Notable roles include Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Angelina (Cinderella), Sesto (Giulio Cesare), and Mercédès (Carmen). Boddicker's competition accolades include finalist in the 2022 San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club Young Artist Competition, semi-finalist in the 2022 and 2023 Saengerbund Awards, and the first-place award in the 2021 MIOpera Vocal Competition. She received her master's degree in performance from the University of Houston and her bachelor's degree in performance from Michigan State University.

In the 2023-2024 Lyric Opera season, Christine Boddicker will appear as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana, Sister Berthe/Chant Leader in The Sound of Music, and Stephano in Roméo et Juliette .  

Tenor Benjamin Ruiz made his European debut with Mittelsächsisches Theater as Polizist (Brundibár) and Professor Würchem (Der Vogelhändler). Notable roles include L'Italien (Angélique), John Styx (Orpheus in the Underworld), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Peter Quint (Turn of the Screw), and Young LBJ in the world premiere of Lady Bird: First Lady of the Land. Ruiz was named a first prize winner of the Inaugural Duncan Williams International Voice Competition, an Encouragement Award Winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and an award winner of the 2023 Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition. Ruiz was recipient of the Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation Scholarship in Voice at Manhattan School of Music from 2021-2023. Ruiz holds a master's degree in voice performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

In the 2023-2024 Lyric Opera season, Benjamin Ruiz will appear as Beppe in Pagliacci and Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette. 

Bass-baritone Jose Olivares' recent roles include Simone (Gianni Schicchi), Horace Vandergelder (Hello, Dolly!), Pandolfe (Cinderella), and Holborn Gaines (The Manchurian Candidate) with Seagle Festival, and Dulcamara (The Elixir of Love) and Colline (La bohéme) with Opera Magnifico. Other roles include Dr. Gregg (Gallantry), Kapo (The Path to Heaven), Germano (La scala di seta), Olin Blitch (Susannah), soloist in Handel's Messiah, Dubois' Seven Last Words, and Hayes' Requiem. Upcoming roles include Farfarello in Des Moines Metro Opera's debut of The Love for Three Oranges. Olivares holds a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma. 

In the 2023-2024 Lyric Opera season, Jose Olivares will appear as Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette. 

Performer, conductor, vocal coach, and collaborative pianist Jimin Seo joined Indianapolis Opera as a resident artist in 2018. In 2015, she was a finalist in the American Choral Directors Association Student Conducting Competition. Seo earned her Bachelor of Music in conducting with minors in organ and voice from Yonsei University. She holds a Master of Music in choral conducting, collaborative piano, and orchestral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting and collaborative piano at the University of North Texas. 

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