FEATURED ARTISTS

Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “crystalline sound, perfectly true intonation, glowing warmth, and total presence” and by Opera News as “remarkable, artistically mature… a singer to watch,” American soprano Sarah Shafer actively appears on the leading operatic and concert stages of the world.

In the 2023...

Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “crystalline sound, perfectly true intonation, glowing warmth, and total presence” and by Opera News as “remarkable, artistically mature… a singer to watch,” American soprano Sarah Shafer actively appears on the leading operatic and concert stages of the world.

In the 2023-2024 season, Sarah Shafer joins Pacific Opera Victoria as Nuria in Ainadamar and returns to the Spoleto Festival USA for the premiere of Ruinous Gods by Layale Chaker and Lisa Schlesinger. She returns to Quad City Symphony for the Fauré Requiem and excerpts of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and joins the Florida Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah. In the 2022-2023 season, she joined Quad City Symphony Orchestra as Krystina in Heggie’s Two Remain (Out of Darkness)and Kalamazoo Symphony for the Brahms Requiem.

In the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Shafer joined the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for a performance of Bach’s Cantata No. 51 and other selections. She returned to Opera Philadelphia, first in a program entitled “Larry Brownlee and Friends” and then for a concert of arias hosted at the Mann Center. She also joined frequent collaborator Opera Lafayette as Jeanette in Philidor’s Le maréchal ferrant and presented a virtual recital for Friends of Chamber Music Portland (Oregon).

In recent seasons, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Azema in Semiramide, returned to Opera Philadelphia as Iris in Semele, and sang Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at San Diego Opera. Concert highlights have included Mozart’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Omaha Symphony, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Cincinnati Symphony, and a series of concerts entitled “Emerging Voices” with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. She also presented Wolf’s Mörike Lieder in recital with pianist Martin Katz, through a collaboration with the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan.

An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Ms. Shafer has enjoyed an active collaboration with legendary pianist Richard Goode, having performed Schumann and Brahms lieder with him at Carnegie Hall, Spivey Hall, Chamber Music Sedona, and Chamber Music Society of Detroit as well as other venues in Palm Beach and New York. She has performed Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with clarinetist Anthony McGill at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Five Borough Music Festival. She has also collaborated with such musicians as guitarist Jason Vieaux, Anna Polonsky, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Ms. Shafer was a resident artist at the Marlboro Music Festival for five summers, where she worked with Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, Benita Valente, Sir Thomas Allen, and Martin Isepp. She actively appears with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Mozart and Handel Académie in Aix-en-Provence, Bard Summer Music Festival, and Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

A native of State College, PA, Ms. Shafer holds degrees in voice and opera from the Curtis Institute of Music, and is currently based outside Philadelphia.

Canadian-American mezzo-soprano Vivien Shotwell recently joined the Rai Symphony Orchestra (Turin, Italy) for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, under the direction of James Conlon, of which GB Opera wrote, “The luminous song, Urlicht, which constitutes the 4th movement, flowed easily, full of charm, from the voice of American mezzo-soprano Vivien ...

Canadian-American mezzo-soprano Vivien Shotwell recently joined the Rai Symphony Orchestra (Turin, Italy) for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, under the direction of James Conlon, of which GB Opera wrote, “The luminous song, Urlicht, which constitutes the 4th movement, flowed easily, full of charm, from the voice of American mezzo-soprano Vivien Shotwell.” In the 2020-2021 season, canceled due to Covid-19, she was to have performed in Mahler’s Third Symphony with the same orchestra. She made her L.A. Opera debut as the Second Lady in The Magic Flute, for which she was praised as being “a real standout for volume and vibrancy of tone” (Parterre.com). Of her Ottone in Bare Opera’s Poppea, Opera News wrote, “Shotwell’s portrayal was gripping, her voice rich in its lowest reaches and projecting just enough gender ambiguity.”

She received an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where she performed Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi under the baton of Speranza Scappucci, and sang the title role in The Rape of Lucretia, for which she was described by the Hartford Courant as being “filled with intensities…like the ringing of a haunted bell.” She has received grants from the Olga Forrai Foundation, Early Music America, and the Canada Council for the Arts. She was twice a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and at Yale was awarded both the David L. Kasdon Memorial Prize and the Phyllis Curtin Career Entry Prize. Vivien has given visiting artist recitals and led masterclasses at Williams College and the University of Iowa School of Music. Her debut novel, Vienna Nocturne, about an English singer who loved Mozart, was a Globe and Mail bestseller, and has been translated into seven languages. Editions of Vienna Nocturne include German, Italian, Dutch, Czech, Turkish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian.  The paperback of Vienna Nocturne is on sale now! The book may be ordered here.

Hailed as “heartbreakingly intense”, tenor Dominick Corbacio is a quickly emerging artist with a rapidly growing repertoire spanning opera, oratorio and art song.

During the 2017–2018 season, Dominick returned to Florida Grand Opera for a second year as a member of their studio artist program where he sang ...

Hailed as “heartbreakingly intense”, tenor Dominick Corbacio is a quickly emerging artist with a rapidly growing repertoire spanning opera, oratorio and art song.

During the 2017–2018 season, Dominick returned to Florida Grand Opera for a second year as a member of their studio artist program where he sang the roles of Normanno in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lamermoor, as well as the 4th Jew in Richard Strauss’ Salome. Other roles at Florida Grand Opera have included Le Remendado in Bizet’s Carmen and Monsieur Triquet in Tchaicovsky’s Eugene Onegin, for which he recieved subsequent praise for his “agile instrument” and “impressive legato”. Originally from Syracuse, NY, he has sung a number of roles at Opera Saratoga including Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff (2017), The King of Venice in the American premiere of Philip Glass’ The Witches of Venice (2016) and The Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (2015) directed by renowned choreographer Karole Armitage. In 2015, Dominick was featured as a guest artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Lee Mingwei’s performance art piece, Sonic Blossom, for which the New York Times credited him for having given “one excellent performance after another of the sublime Du bist die Ruh.”. In 2016, he was awarded a grant in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition in New York.

Other recent credits include Prince Sou Chong (Das Land des Lächelns), Ballad Singer (Of Mice and Men), Steven Todd/Arnold Murray (The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing), Castleman (The Long Walk), Mario (Il Postino), Ernesto (Don Pasquale) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni).

A versatile performer, Steven Stull has lived and performed in Ithaca since 1986 and appears regularly in the area with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Society for New Music, Arts at Grace, and Triphammer Arts. He has been a soloist in sixty performances with Symphoria and Syracuse Symphony including nine ...

A versatile performer, Steven Stull has lived and performed in Ithaca since 1986 and appears regularly in the area with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Society for New Music, Arts at Grace, and Triphammer Arts. He has been a soloist in sixty performances with Symphoria and Syracuse Symphony including nine productions with the Syracuse Opera. A frequent performer with the Rochester Philharmonic, he performed with RPO as Sherlock Holmes in 2019 and in seven concerts in 2018, narrating and singing a variety of pieces including Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait, and the Dr. Seuss stories, The Sneetches and Gerald McBoing Boing. Mr. Stull has been a soloist in nearly eighty performances with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and can be heard in their recordings Home for the Holidays and Tales from the West Virginia Hills. His other recordings include Boyz in the Wood with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, The Pulse of an Irishman, Opera Cowpokes, and Christmas from the Heart of New York. Steven has appeared with Glimmerglass Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Artpark, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kyrgyz State Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Oswego Opera, Anchorage Festival of Music, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Ithaca, Erie Philharmonic, Erie Chamber Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and Fredonia Bach and Beyond Festival. Recent and upcoming performances include soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bonhoeffer in Hugh McElyea’s Tenebrae: The Passion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, and Frank Baum in the new opera Pushed Aside by Persis Vehar. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory, Steven is also an actor, producer, director, composer, painter and photographer. Since 1990 Steven and choreographer Jeanne Goddard have presented an eclectic series of music and dance performances on the CRS Growers organic vegetable farm overlooking Cayuga Lake in Ithaca, NY. His numerous recordings are available from operacowpokes.com

Hailed by Kurt Masur as “One of the most talented young conductors of his generations,” THOMAS HONG enjoys the privilege of being one of many successful protégés of the great Maestro. Having won titled positions with the Dallas, Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphony Orchestras as well as Orchestre ...

Hailed by Kurt Masur as “One of the most talented young conductors of his generations,” THOMAS HONG enjoys the privilege of being one of many successful protégés of the great Maestro. Having won titled positions with the Dallas, Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphony Orchestras as well as Orchestre National de France, Hong has conducted countless concerts with those orchestras, ranging from classical, community, education and pops concerts.

Presently, he is the artistic director and conductor of the University of Pennsylvania Orchestras. Recent activities include being principal conductor for the inaugural season of the DSO on the GO series with the Dallas Symphony, performing in neighboring venues of the North Texas area, and a re-engagement with the Utah Symphony, where he was the conductor for the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City.

Orchestras that Hong has conducted in the past include the Utah, Fort Worth, Virginia, Richmond, Spokane and Winnepeg Symphonies as well as the Seoul, Buffalo and Lutosławski Philharmonics. More recent invitations include the Berlin Symphony, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Siciliana and Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Among his operatic and vocal performances are Copland’s The Tenderland, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Donizetti’s L’exisir d’Amore at the Wortham Opera Theatre in Houston. Awards that Hong has received include the Leopold Stokowski Fellowship, the Whitaker Opera Prize and a residency award by the Brahms society of Baden-Baden. His latest recording was from the show “From the Top” with pianist/host Christopher O’Riley and the DSO at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Hong was born in Incheon, Korea and immigrated to the United States with his family. He began his musical training as a pianist with Dr. Samuel Hsu at Cairn University. Later, he went on to earn a masters degree in choral conducting at Temple University and an artist diploma in orchestral conducting from The Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Maestros Alan Harler and Otto Werner Mueller, respectively. He concluded his artistic training with Maestro Larry Rachleff at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Currently, Hong lives in Philadelphia with his wife Rachel Ku and their daughter Esther.

Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a mixed vocal ensemble comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly collaborates with Symphoria, Central New York’s professional orchestra, to perform choral-orchestral masterworks. The Oratorio Society has been directed by John Warren, associate professor of music and ...

Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a mixed vocal ensemble comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly collaborates with Symphoria, Central New York’s professional orchestra, to perform choral-orchestral masterworks. The Oratorio Society has been directed by John Warren, associate professor of music and director of choral activities, since 2011.