Get to know our 2025-26 Artists in Residence
Opera Colorado travels to all corners of its home state through touring productions and other educational programs, in addition to the operas on stage at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Throughout the season, you might begin to recognize the faces of our Artists in Residence. This specialized, nine-month program nurtures and builds the talents of emerging artists. Each year, we audition hundreds of singers from around the world for the program, and some even return for multiple seasons! Get to know the 2025-26 Artists in Residence and find out what music they’re listening to, what their dream roles are, and more!
Come see the Artists in Residence at their first public performance on September 26 at the Artist in Residence Showcase. Tickets on sale now.
Showcase Tickets
Bridget Ravenscraft, soprano
Jordan McCready, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Miller, tenor
Mason O’Brien, baritone
Oliver Poveda Zavala, bass-baritone
Kevin Spooner, bass-baritone
John Morefield, collaborative pianist
Meet the Artist: Bridget Ravenscraft, soprano
Where are you from and what excites you about Colorado? I have moved around a lot, but I was born in (and currently live in) a suburb of Chicago—Hoffman Estates, IL. I’m excited to live outside of the Midwest for an extended period of time. This will be the first time I’ve lived more than a few hours away from home! I can’t wait to explore the hiking and nature that Colorado has to offer. I’d also love to get back into horseback riding!
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? There are so many to look forward to, but if I had to choose one, I’d say I’m most looking forward to playing Juliet in our touring production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet. The music is so lush and beautiful, and I haven’t done any Shakespeare work since high school, but I loved it! I hope there are many more Juliets for me and my career.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I spent six weeks in Petoskey, MI with the BayView Music Festival. I sang the role of Micaëla in Carmen and spent many beautiful days at the lake.
What is your dream role? My dream role is Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor. I’d love to explore a darker character and go through all the emotions during a performance while singing some epic Donizetti coloratura. Christine Daaé in Phantom of the Opera is another dream role.
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? I would show them the iconic “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Chances are, they’ve heard this aria before. It shows people that their preconceived notion of opera perhaps being “stiff” and “boring” is so far from the truth!
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? I like to get in the gym and move my body with cardio and weightlifting. I love a bit of caffeine, too!
What is your favorite sweet treat? I love all the sweet treats. I have to pick one? I’ll go with Oreos. I could eat a whole package with a big glass of (preferably oat) milk.
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? My music taste spans a very, very wide range. Lately I’ve been jamming to pop/dance music and even some symphonic metal! Anything I can move and groove to is fun.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? I would vend peanut M&Ms and some sort of potion that would guarantee a lucky and successful day! It’s a package deal.
Meet the Artist: Jordan McCready, mezzo-soprano
Where are you from and what excites you about Colorado? I am from Anchorage, AK, and I am super stoked to be living in the Denver area giving me the chance to still be close to lots of hiking, skiing, and outdoor activities.
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? I am most looking forward to performing as Ruth in Pirates of Penzance as the show itself is so wonderfully ridiculous and the character Ruth has so many fun qualities to play with.
What have you been doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I have had a very simple summer this year. I went home to Anchorage and have been working as a waitress, spending time with my dog, learning lots of new music (Schubert and Rossini), and spending lots of time outside.
What is your dream role? My current dream role is Elizabeth Cree from Kevin Puts’ opera Elizabeth Cree because I love her ambition and darker characteristics.
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? For someone who is brand new to opera, I would likely show them “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalila or “Non più mesta” from La Cenerentola to get them into opera. However, if I was trying to challenge someone’s prior conceptions of what opera is, I would show them “Yo soy maria” from Maria de Buenos Aires or the opera As One.
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? Normally, I like to make my performance days very chill. I sleep in, go on a short run, likely run through my music once, and then when I get to my first call, I like to be as social as possible as a sort of distraction from any nerves. Then, right before I go on, I like to do some squats and push-ups to ground me and get me into my body and out of my head.
What is your favorite sweet treat? This may be the hardest question, as I have a massive sweet tooth but my favorites are a good chocolate fudge or any of the pralines from Läderach chocolate company.
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? Outside of the classical or musical theatre realm, I have been listening to the bands Poor Man’s Poison, Steam Powered Giraffe, and CAKE a lot recently.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? If I was a vending machine, I would likely still vend chips, because I love them and always have (to the point where that’s frequently what I get for Christmas from my family).
Meet the Artist: Daniel Miller, tenor
Where are you from and what do you love most about it? I’m from Arvada, CO. I love Arvada, it’s where I grew up, it used to be such a beautiful little farming town. I guess I’m a farm boy at heart!
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? I am really looking forward to playing Gastone in La traviata.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I was at Central City Opera this past summer covering Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville! It was a fantastic time—I had so much fun especially because I had a full performance as the Count.
What is your dream role? Tamino from Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a great role with a lot of fantastic music! I’ve loved my time performing that role!
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? Scarpia’s aria from Tosca, “Te deum laudamus,” which closes the first act. It’s so grand, and has cannons in it—who doesn’t like cannons?
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? I don’t think I really have a pre-performance ritual, but I do tend to sit down quietly and just look at my score before the show. It gets me into a good head space.
What is your favorite sweet treat? Oreo ice cream sandwiches from Costco.
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? I’ve been listening to a lot of country lately all different artists!
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? I’d vend 365 days of sunshine and love and happiness.
Meet the Artist: Mason O’Brien, baritone
Where are you from and what do you love most about the Greater Denver Area? I grew up in Memphis, TN! I moved to Denver for graduate school at DU and fell in love with every aspect of Colorado. I absolutely love the weather and the accessibility to the outdoors!
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? I am so thrilled for each of my roles this season, but I am most excited to play the Baron Douphol in La traviata, as the show was the first ever opera I performed in as a chorister with Opera Memphis. I am so excited to revisit Verdi’s timeless score.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I have been trying to improve my golf game as much as I can!
What is your dream role? My dream role is tied between Marcello in La bohème and Emile de Becque in South Pacific.
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? I would show them “Vittoria! Vittoria!…” From Gianni Schicchi because it balances comedy, lush musicality, and has a plethora of emotion and scheming throughout. I haven’t met many people who avidly dislike Gianni Schicchi either…
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? Sleep.
What is your favorite sweet treat? A good southern style banana pudding with plenty of Nilla wafers!
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? I’m a huge fan of rock bands like Turnstile, Modest Mouse, Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend. I’ve also been revisiting the soundtrack from Hadestown lately! One of my favorite musicals.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? I would definitely be an exclusive Dr. Pepper vending machine.
Meet the Artist: Oliver Poveda-Zavala, bass-baritone
Where are you from and what do you love most about the Greater Denver Area? I am from Ecuador. I’ve just recently started learning more about the mural scene in Denver. If you haven’t noticed, I’ll tell you right now, it’s beautiful!
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? I want to say Dr. Grenvil in La traviata, it will be my first role in a Verdi work, and that is exciting.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? Outside from work, I’ve been reading a lot of sci-fi novels and having fun learning about a variety of sciences.
What is your dream role? I think I’d like to play Wotan from Wagner’s Ring Cycle one day, maybe in a couple decades.
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? Prince Yeletsky’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades), “Ya vas lyublyu” (I love you beyond all measure), because it is the most beautiful of them all, in my opinion.
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? It varies, but somewhere in between going over my lines, playing online Catan, and streaming a movie or a show.
What is your favorite sweet treat? I really like kheer, which is like rice pudding.
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? Chrono Trigger piano collections by Yasunori Mitsuda, played by Trevor Alan Gomes.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? Tickets to your favorite show!
Meet the Artist: Kevin Spooner, bass-baritone
Where are you from and what excites you about Colorado? I am from Oneida, NY, which is a small town basically in the center of New York State. I have spent two summers working for Opera Steamboat, but I am extremely excited to move to the Denver Area and take in the beauty of the mountains. I love being in a city with a young, youthful energy, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in that culture. I am also getting into film photography, and I want to take lots of ~artsy~ pictures of the mountains in Colorado.
What role are you most looking forward to performing with us this season? I am most looking forward to performing the role of Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata this November. I had the opportunity to sing this role with Piedmont Opera in Winston-Salem, NC during graduate school, so this is the first time that I will reprise a role at the professional level. Also, Verdi is my favorite composer, so I am excited to be immersed in his music again.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I worked in New York City this summer for Catapult Opera and Teatro Nuovo. At Teatro Nuovo, I made my NYC debut in Verdi’s Macbeth. I also will arrive in Denver right after finishing a cross-country road trip from Central New York to California and then back to Colorado.
What is your dream role? My dream role is Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. The “Te Deum” at the end of act one is so epic!
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? “Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s La bohème, specifically sung by Franco Corelli… the passion in this aria is so beautiful!
What’s one of your pre-performance rituals? I generally like to treat performance days as normal days, so that I can stay relaxed! That said, I love to wake up early and treat myself to a coffee at a local coffee shop. I will have to find a new favorite in Denver.
What is your favorite sweet treat? Coffee ice cream!
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? Bon Iver and Noah Kahan—I love singer-songwriter music and folky stuff.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? I would vend disposable film cameras so that everyone can make memories with a film camera!
Meet the Artist: John Morefield, collaborative pianist
Where are you from and what excites you about Colorado? I come from a town called Woodstock, which is about an hour northwest of Chicago, IL. The landscape there is very flat, so a big part of what excites me about Colorado is being able to live so close to the mountains and experience the natural beauty around Denver!
What are you most looking forward to about this season? Besides getting to work with the other fantastic Artists in Residence, I can’t wait to be a part of a community that loves this art form. To be able to live in the music of La traviata and Madama Butterfly is a reward in itself, but it’s even more gratifying when I get to play a part in letting an audience experience the beauty of these works.
What are you doing this summer before you join us in Denver? I’ve been enjoying a slower pace to the summer after finishing five years and two degrees at the University of Michigan. I worked through a backlog of books I haven’t had time for, reconnected with old friends, and got back in touch with the awesomeness of Bach’s keyboard music.
What is your favorite piano piece to play? If I sat down right now to play anything, it would be the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90. So sweet, with a lovely melody and a lot of soul, I bring it out every now and then because the way it rolls off the fingers is just so satisfying. I’d recommend Igor Levit’s recording to anyone interested in hearing it.
What aria would you show someone to get them into opera? Why? My heart opened to opera when I heard Pavarotti sing “Che gelida manina” on the 1972 recording of La bohème, with Karajan conducting. I’ll never forget it—I’d been around great music all my life, but that performance totally reset my bar for not just what was possible in music, but what we should be setting out to achieve every time we make it.
What is your favorite part of the rehearsal process? That first rehearsal when the singers and orchestra meet, definitely. There’s a lot of work to do, of course, but the room is full of smiles as things finally start to take shape. Even after spending so much time with the music up to that point, it’s like everyone gets to fall in love all over again.
What is your favorite sweet treat? I’m real big on Nerds Gummy Clusters these days, unfortunately for my teeth.
What music have you been listening to lately for fun? I’ve been enjoying my 70’s funk playlist while driving. I like to play bluegrass guitar, so Tony Rice’s albums are usually on at home.
If you were a vending machine, what would you vend? A commemorative photo of your visit to the vending machine.
Welcome!