Mark Womack Critics have praised Mark Womack s voice as strikingly warm and gracefully honey toned (Opera News). 2015-16 performances include CARMINA BURANA with the Utah, Fargo-Moorhead and Allentown Symphonies, Carl Magnus A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Syracuse Opera, Marcello LA BOHÈME with Opera Birmingham, Danilo THE MERRY WIDOW with The Northern Lights Music Festival and Jochanaan SALOME at Madison Lyric Stage. Mr. Womack is privileged to have performed both Marcello and Schaunard in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of LA BOHÈME under the direction of Baz Luhrmann. In recent seasons he has been heard as Peron EVITA for Opera North (US), Giorgio Germont in Knoxville Opera s LA TRAVIATA, Macheath THE THREEPENNY OPERA with Amarillo Opera, Sharpless MADAMA BUTTERFLY with Sarasota Opera, Guglielmo in Skylight Opera Theater s COSÌ FAN TUTTE, Henry Higgins in Opera North s MY FAIR LADY, the title-role DON GIOVANNI with both Utah Festival Opera and Anchorage Opera, Friedrich Bhaer LITTLE WOMEN with Syracuse Opera, Marcello LA BOHÈME and Enrico LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR with Chatanooga Symphony and Opera, Escamillo CARMEN with Utah Festival Opera, Count Almaviva LE NOZZE DI FIGARO with Mississippi Opera, Lescaut MANON LESCAUT with Dicapo Opera Theater and numerous appearances with Connecticut Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, El Paso Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera. Artist Website
Contact: Robert Gilder Managing Director rgilder@robert-gilder.com Jason Switzer American baritone Jason Switzer made his professional debut with Central City Opera singing the role of Hel Helson PAUL BUNYAN and the Bonze MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Debuts with both Utah Opera and Opera Tampa in the role of Capulet ROMÊO ET JULIETTE quickly followed. Eager to explore contemporary and modern works, Mr. Switzer was seen in Philadelphia as Lord Henry Wotton THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and as Theodore Weiss in the world premiere of THE ALWAYS PRESENT PRESENT, which were both produced by Center City Opera Theater. Last season he made a debut as the title role NABUCCO, which was performed in concert with the Coro Lirico of New Jersey. Since that time he has performed in Bernstein CANDIDE with Musikfest Bremen and the Konzerthaus in Vienna which was later revived with the Munich Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Switzer returned to the Bard SummerScape Festival in the summer of 2010 to perform in Oscar Straus THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER after a successful debut last season in their production of Meyerbeer s LES HUGUENOTS conducted by Leon Botstein. During the 2010-2011 season, Mr. Switzer expanded his concert repertoire by performing Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the National Chorale in New York City at Avery Fisher Hall. This season Mr. Switzer will be singing Don Magnifico LA CENERENTOLA with Lyrique-en-Mer and will be returning to sing Beethoven Symphony No.9 with the National Chorale.
Michael Redding Atlanta-born baritone Michael Redding has been thrilling audiences in the U.S. and in Europe with his vocalism and theatrical presence in roles ranging from Handel to classic American Music Theatre. His recent performances include Belcore L ELISIR D AMORE with Sarasota Opera and Schaunard LA BOHÈME with Virginia Opera, a company to which Mr. Redding later returned to make his debut in the title-role of PORGY AND BESS, later reprising the role with Atlanta Opera. His experience with this wellloved American masterwork began in the summer of 2004 when he travelled throughout Europe with New York Harlem Productions Inc s PORGY AND BESS, playing Crown and Jake; in addition he has performed these roles with the Evansville Philharmonic, Opera Carolina, the Natchez Festival of Music and the role of Jake with New Orleans Opera, eventually malking his debut with Seattle Opera as Crown. Most recently Mr. Redding appeared in an extensive tour of Europe and the U.S. of PORGY AND BESS with York Harlem Theatre including performances in Geneva and Toulouse. Mr. Redding too has performed the concert suite arrangement of PORGY AND BESS with the Belgrade Philharmonic and the La Verdi Orchestra. Contact: Robert Gilder Managing Director rgilder@robert-gilder.com
Oleksandr Pushniak Since January of 2011, Ukrainian baritone Oleksandr Pushniak has been has been a member of the ensemble at Staatstheater Braunschweig, where his roles include Carlo Gerard ANDREA CHÉNIER, Renato UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Miller LUISA MILLER, Don Carlo ERNANI, Amonasro AIDA, Kurwenal TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, Amfortas PARSIFAL, Figaro LE NOZZE DI FIGARO and Scarpia TOSCA. In 2016, Mr. Pushniak made his role debut as Dutchmann DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER with Victoria Theater s RWA production in Singapore. In 2012, he won the First Prize and Audience Favorite at the Wagnerstimmen International Singing Competition for Wagner Voices in Germany and in 2013 made his debut as Donner DAS RHEINGOLD at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. In 2015 he reprised the role of Donner in recorded concert performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, thus making his recording debut for the Naxos label. During the 2010 season, Oleksandr Pushniak enjoyed success in the role of Simone GIANNI SCHICCHI at the Castleton Summer Festival (USA), conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel, and during the same season, he was a finalist in the IVC International Vocal Competition held in s-hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Artist Website
Contact: Robert Gilder Managing Director rgilder@robert-gilder.com Matthew Patrick Morris Matthew Patrick Morris has garnered international recognition for the depth and versatility of his artistry as an actor and singer. He is equally at home on the opera, concert, and Broadway stages as he is on film and television. As Le Monde declared, you really want to hear him in either an opera or a musical. He has a big presence, a warm baritone voice, immense humanity, and the gift of an actor. In the past few years Morris has debuted in The West End, at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris and the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, with the El Paso, Gotham Chamber, and New York City Operas, with the Boston, American, London, and Leipzig MDR Symphony orchestras, starred in the National Tour of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and appeared on LAW & ORDER and in the movie THE PRODUCERS! Upcoming engagements include A.R.T. s world premiere CROSSING by Matt Aucoin and directed by Diane Paulus, role debuts as Marius in LES MISÉRABLES with Amarillo Opera and Betto in GIANNI SCHICCHI for the Savannah Music Festival, and a recording of Libby Larsen s Neruda Songs for SongFest at Colburn s 20th Anniversary celebration CD. In the 2013-14 season, Morris made several important debuts. He sang the role of Schaunard in LA BOHÈME with both El Paso Opera and the Savannah Philharmonic as well as Masetto in DON GIOVANNI for the Savannah Voice Festival. In addition, he debuted as the baritone soloist in Brahm s EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM with the
Memphis Symphony Orchestra, as a solo recitalist at the Kennedy Center as the winner of the 2013 Vocal Arts DC Young Artist Competition, and reprised his roles in CANDIDE with the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig. Recent opera roles include a return engagement to the role of Papageno in legendary director Peter Brook s Moliére Awardwinning adaptation of UNE FLÛTE ENCHANTÉE in Paris, Milan, and on the subsequent international tour. His performance earned him a return invitation to many theatres in Europe, including to France in the Théatre de Caen s double-bill of Bernstein s TROUBLE IN TAHITI and L ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES. In the United States, Morris sang the baritone role of Claude in Gluck s L ARBE ENCHANTÈ for the inaugural season of the Fire Island Opera Festival, returning this past summer for Kurt Weill s DER PROTAGONIST. In England, The East Anglian Daily Times raved about his performance of Le Mari in Poulenc s LES MAMELLES DE TIRÉSIAS at the Aldeburgh Music Festival, declaring it a thoroughly commanding and effortless performance that thrilled a packed house. As an apprentice with Santa Fe Opera, Opera News hailed his performance of Apollo in Gluck s Alcèste as impressive. As a Tanglewood Fellow Morris sang the roles of Dionysus and Théramène in Milhaud s L ABANDON D ARIANE and LA DÉLIVRANCE DE THÉSÉE under the direction of Mark Morris. Highlights of his theatre career include King Charles in CANDIDE at the Barbican in London, Young Scrooge in the National Tour of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Baritone in the Jazz Trio in TROUBLE IN TAHITI at the Théâtre de Caen, George in OUR TOWN with the Aspen Opera Theater, Gus in THE DUMB WAITER and Puck in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM both at the Juilliard School and The Soldier in HELLO AGAIN at the Manhattan Theatre Source. A frequent recitalist, Morris has performed in concert with such artists as Stephanie Blythe, Margo Garrett, Graham Johnson, and Dawn Upshaw. His dedication to art song has led
him to be named a Distinguished Alumnus and as of 2013, Associate Artistic Director of SongFest at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. An avid activist for equal rights Morris has produced and performed in the concert series YOU ARE NOT ALONE alongside Betty Buckley, Lea DeLaria, Aaron Lazar, Ricky Ian Gordon, John Tartaglia and Jeanine Tesori. Morris trained at the Juilliard School, at Bard College Conservatory under the direction of world-renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw, and with legendary director Peter Brook. He was an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera and Tanglewood Music Festival, a Stern Fellow at SongFest, and a finalist of the Metropolitan National Council Middle Atlantic Region Auditions and Liederkranz Song Competition. He was the winner of the 2013 Vocal Arts DC Competition. March 2015 Peter Lindskoog California native Peter Lindskoog made his Los Angeles Opera debut as Scarpia TOSCA in their celebrated 2005 production and has since reprised the role with Tulsa Opera, Opera Southwest, the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in New Orleans and as cover with San Francisco Opera. Last season he portrayed the brutish Oscar Hubbard in Utah Opera s production of Blitzstein REGINA conducted by Keith Lockhart. Of this performance it was noted by one reviewer that, Peter Lindskoog as Oscar gave a stand out performance that should not be missed. Also in 2008-2009 he performed his first Enrico Ashton LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR with Opera Southwest as well as his company debut at Seattle Opera as the Old Servant and
Orestes cover in ELEKTRA. During the 2007-2008 season Mr. Lindskoog made his European debut as Germont LA TRAVIATA with the Macedonian National Opera in Skopje and debuted with Arizona Opera as Frank DIE FLEDERMAUS. Last season included a reprisal of the role of Germont LA TRAVIATA with Tulsa Opera and a return to Utah Opera as the Father HANSEL AND GRETEL. His roles last season included Owen Hart DEAD MAN WALKING and Amonasro AIDA for Tulsa Opera and Sharpless MADAMA BUTTERFLY for Shreveport Opera. Future roles include the High Priest SAMSON ET DALILAH For Tulsa Opera. Artist Website Contact: Robert Gilder Managing Director rgilder@robert-gilder.com Scott Hogsed Scott Harrison Hogsed began his professional training with the San Francisco Opera Merola program singing the title role in DON GIOVANNI. During his five seasons at New York City Opera he sang the roles of Count Almaviva LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Dancairo and Morales CARMEN, Fritz DIE TOTE STADT, Schaunard LA BOHÈME, Peter HANSEL AND GRETEL, Fiorello IL
BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA and Anthony SWEENEY TODD. Other roles have included Schlemil LES CONTES D HOFFMANN at Seattle Opera, Angelotti TOSCA at Atlanta Opera, the Baron LA TRAVIATA at Kentucky Opera and Dandini LA CENERENTOLA at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7h2m0hm08c Contact: Robert Gilder Managing Director rgilder@robert-gilder.com
John Fulton After his debut under the baton of Lorin Maazel as a part of the Castleton Festival 2011, in which he sang the baritone arias of Gershwin s masterpiece PORGY AND BESS John Fulton became a well-known artist on the European scene. He performed the role of Jake PORGY AND BESS with the Royal Danish Opera and was included in the 2014 Austrian and Luxembourg tour of New York Harlem Productions PORGY AND BESS in the same role. Most recently he appeared in concert performances of PORGY AND BESS with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson. During the 2007-2008 season he debuted as a member of the New York Harlem Productions Inc. touring production of PORGY AND BESS. With this company Mr. Fulton has performed the roles of Jake, Crown and Jim in numerous opera houses across Europe, including the Staatstheater Hannover, the Carré Theater in Amsterdam and the Strasbourg Theater. Mr. Fulton has also completed two seasons with the Arizona Opera in the Marian Roose Pulin Young Artist Studio.
Contact: Samuel Krum Vocal & Opera Consultant sam@robert-gilder.com Andrew Fernando International Filipino Baritone Andrew Fernando is the First Prize winner of the prestigious 2003 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in the United States and an alumnus of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program. Also a prize winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions in the Los Angeles district and in the Pacific region, the Grand Prize winner in the Pasedena Opera Guild Vocal competition in 2004, A recipient of the Opera Buffs Inc., scholarship funds, winner in the Palm Springs Opera Competition and a grand finalist in the Licia Albanese Puccini International Vocal Competition held in New York in 2003. Mr. Fernando recently performed the title role in RIGOLETTO in Modesto and has reprised the role this past season with Opera San José. The 2007-2008 season also included participation in the New York City Opera s productions of CENDRILLON and TOSCA as well as Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Ross Benoliel In recent seasons baritone Ross Benoliel added two important international engagements to his already impressive list of credits; with Opera Hong Kong, he debuts as Schaunard LA BOHÈME, and with the Lyrique-en-Mer Festival in France as Guglielmo COSÍ FAN TUTTE. Since then he has returned to Lyrique-en-Mer to perform the roles of Dr. Malatesta DON PASQUALE and Marcello LA BOHÈME. Praised for his warm and well-focused baritone voice, Ross Benoliel was an invited international finalist in Placido Domingo s OPERALIA competition held in Valencia, Spain in October 2006. Following concert engagements in Germany during 2007, he made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall, for which he was praised for his large voice, astonishingly good German and his fresh reading of leider by Hans Eisler. He debuted with New York City Opera as Sciarrone TOSCA during the spring of 2008 and later participated in the company s concert production of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. Also during the 2008-2009 season Mr. Benoliel performed the role of Schaunard LA BOHÈME with Tulsa Opera and with Opera Omaha as well as the role of Marcello in the same opera with Opera East Texas. Recently Mr. Benoliel sang the role of Figaro IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA and was a soloist for the Italian Pops concert at New Jersey State Opera.