A Salute to Love

The Oregonian praised soprano Katrina Galka for her recent performance in The Elixir of Love (Adina) and exclaimed, “[she] looked like a young Glenn Close, projecting power over Nemorino as she thrilled with fine coloratura filigree and pure high notes.” In the 2023-24 Season, she makes her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Peter Grimes (First Niece), returns to the Staatsoper Hamburg in Die Fledermaus (Adele), and joins Utah Opera in Thaïs (Charmeuse). She also returns to New Orleans Opera to debut the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and Portland Opera for concerts based on Shakespearean works. Coming seasons include her debuts with San Francisco Opera and Opera Colorado as well as further returns to Opernhaus Zürich and Staatsoper Hamburg.

Her other recent performances include Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blondchen) with Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Staatsoper Hamburg, Atlanta Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera San José; Candide (Cunegonde) with the Glimmerglass Festival and Arizona Opera; Les contes d’Hoffmann (Olympia) with Opernhaus Zürich; Die Weiden (Fritzi) with Wiener Staastoper; Rigoletto (Gilda), The Elixir of Love (Adina), and Sweeney Todd (Johanna) with Portland Opera; Flight (Controller) with Minnesota Opera; Xerxes (Atalanta) with the Glimmerglass Festival; as well as Die Zauberflöte (Königin der Nacht), The Barber of Seville (Rosina), and Das Rheingold (Woglinde) with Arizona Opera.

On the concert stage, she has twice joined the Las Vegas Philharmonic for Handel’s Messiah, Florida Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem and an evening of Bernstein favorites, and the Rhode Island Civic Chorale for Messiah and Respighi’s Laude to the Nativity (Angel).

American tenor Andrew Stenson, praised by The Wall Street Journal for his “vivid tenor that is both beautiful and full of raw feeling,” is a graduate of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program. In addition to singing many of the standard lyric tenor roles, Mr. Stenson has created leading characters in two important world premieres. He left an indelible impression in An American Soldier (Danny Chen) with Opera Theater of St. Louis, had a big personal success in Bel Canto (Gen Watanabe) with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and returned to sing in Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Lyrics Opera of Chicago. Mr. Stenson has sung the title role in Candide, The Magic Flute (Tamino), Don Pasquale (Ernesto), Daughter of the Regiment (Tonio), The Barber of Seville (Almaviva), and Silent Night (Sprink) with the opera companies of Seattle, Minnesota, Dallas, Utah, Palm Beach, Arizona, and Washington D.C. In Europe, he sang with the Glyndebourne Festival, Wexford Festival, and the opera companies of Toulouse and Bordeaux. Mr. Stenson is very much in demand as a soloist in the concert and oratorio repertoires, having appeared with the symphonies of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Kansas City, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also won top prizes in several major vocal competitions. During the pandemic years, Mr, Stenson participated in several virtual productions produced by Seattle Opera. He appeared in their staging of The Elixir of Love, Don Giovanni, and Tosca, as well as a solo recital. In the 2023-24 Season, Andrew returns to the opera companies of Minnesota, Seattle, and the Metropolitan Opera.

Stefano de Peppo was born in Italy and began his career as a boy soprano at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He is known for his powerful bass-baritone, his crisp diction, and his skills as a singing actor. He mostly specializes in roles of the traditional “buffo” style of the Italian repertory of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His roles in Don Giovanni (Leporello), The Barber of Seville (Bartolo), The Marriage of Figaro (Bartolo), the title role in Don Pasquale, The Italian Girl in Algiers (Mustafa), The Daughter of the Regiment (Sulpice), Tosca (Sacristan), the title role in Gianni Schicchi, La bohème (Alcindoro and Benoît), The Secret Marriage (Geronimo), The Elixir of Love (Dulcamara), and Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) have been a great success in most theaters of the USA, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Israel, Italy, Germany, England, and France. Recently, he took part in the premiere of the new opera Tenor Overboard (Petronio) by Ken Ludwig/Gioachino Rossini, directed by Francesca Zambello, which was a great hit at Glimmerglass Festival. He made his debut at Opera Colorado in 2019 in The Marriage of Figaro (Bartolo) and returned in 2021 for Tosca (Sacristan).

American mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook has excelled in a wide range of roles with leading companies throughout the United States. For her performance as the title character in Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Opera Today wrote “to say that Ms. Cook was a revelation is an understatement, since she stamped the part as her own, and experienced a triumph for her sensational performance…Ms. Cook is possessed of a round mezzo tone of great beauty, admirable control and potent power in all ranges and at any volume.” During the 2022-23 Season, Cook returned to Opera Colorado in Cavalleria rusticana (Mamma Lucia) and debuted in Dialogues of the Carmelites (Mère Jeanne) for San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season. During the Carmelites run in November 2022, Cook was awarded the San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Opera Medal, the company’s highest honor, in acknowledgment of her thirty-one years of performance with the company. Later that season, Ms. Cook sang selections from Copland’s Old American Songs for the 60th Anniversary Gala of the Golden State Youth Orchestra, appearing with fellow soloist David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Engagements of note for the 2023-24 Season include Terence Blanchard’s Champion (Kathy Hagen, cover) with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Cavalleria rusticana (Mamma Lucia) with Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

Born and bred in New York City, Monét X Change is an entertainment spitfire and the first double crown winner from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Having earned the title Miss Congeniality on Season 10, she became the first queen of color inducted into the Hall of Fame after winning All-Stars 4. Known for delivering energetic and show-stopping performances, Monét’s showmanship reflects a tireless work ethic. After her initial appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Monét released a début EP, Unapologetically, traveled around the globe with her one-woman show, Call Me By Monét, hosted her own talk show, The X Change Rate, produced by Yahoo! and began focusing her oftentimes sociopolitical humor as the co-host of the popular podcast Sibling Rivalry with Bob the Drag Queen and Ebony and Irony, with the legendary Lady Bunny. During her run on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: All Winners, Monét shocked audiences with her rendition of “Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni” from La sonnambula. Following this performance, Monét has been a featured vocalist with San Francisco Symphony and was recently featured as The Duchess of Krakenthorp in Daughter of the Regiment with Minnesota Opera. This season, she appears with Dayton Opera as a soloist in their concert, Prince Orlofsky’s Grand Masquerade.

Appointed in 2015 as Opera Colorado’s first-ever music director, Ari Pelto’s “breathtaking wizardry in the pit” (The Denver Post) has been widely celebrated, with Pelto in demand at opera houses and concert halls throughout the United States. At the age of 24, Pelto was appointed Assistant Conductor at the Spoleto Festival and he has since gone on to conduct worldwide. International engagements include performances with Bochumer Philharmoniker and opera productions at New National Theatre of Tokyo and the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. In 2004 he made his highly-praised debut with New York City Opera, conducting La Traviata, after which he became a regular, returning for productions of Madama Butterfly, La bohème, and Carmen. Recent successes include Eugene Onegin at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Lucia di Lammermoor at Virginia Opera, and La Voix Humaine at Chicago Opera Theater.

Iranian conductor and pianist, Sahar Nouri, has been Music Director of Lamont Opera Theater at University of Denver since 2019. She has also served at Opera Colorado as Chorus Master & Assistant Conductor since 2016. Ms. Nouri is the founder/director of Dandelion Opera Institute.

At the University of Denver, Ms. Nouri has conducted productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Die Zauberflöte, Alcina, Cabildo, Les mamelles de Tirésias, and The Little Prince.

Her work with Opera Colorado has included productions of Samson and Delilah, The Flying Dutchman, Don Giovanni, Turandot, Die tote Stadt, Rigoletto, Carmen, The Shining, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, The Marriage of Figaro, La traviata, Falstaff, The Barber of Seville, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, and the world premiere of Steal a Pencil for Me (Gerald Cohen).

Previously, Ms. Nouri has been part of the music staff at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra at Bravo! Vail, Opera Parallèle, Opera North Carolina, Glimmerglass Festival, Utah Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre, Opera Steamboat, Merola Opera, Boston Conservatory of Music, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

An active performer, she has given numerous recitals around the US including those alongside international stars Mane Galoyan, Heidi Melton, and Matthew Polenzani. A multi-lingual coach, she has studied in Czechia, Italy, and Austria and is frequently in demand as a language coach.

Ms. Nouri is a former violinist who has performed with Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra and has won several prizes, for both violin and piano, in national music festivals and competitions in Iran.

Born in Ecuador, Chía Patiño’s artistic journey has been an eclectic one. She staged zarzuela, musical theatre, theatre, and opera for numerous companies in the United States, Arab Emirates, Egypt, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador, and in 2009, became the Artistic and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Ecuador. Among her recent opera productions are Tosca, La flauta mágica de los Andes, Faust, Don Giovanni, Transformations, Rusalka, Dido and Aeneas, Carmen, and La traviata. She has also directed Les Misérables, Spring Awakening, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, and Luisa Fernanda. She was the music director for Cruzar la cara de la luna, the mariachi opera commissioned and produced by Houston Grand Opera, which she subsequently performed in Paris, San Diego, Phoenix, Fort Worth, El Paso, Chicago, and Houston, as well as the world premiere of the choral version in Quito, Ecuador. Last season, she directed Ñomongeta, the first Guarani opera by Paraguayan composer Diego Sanchez-Haase for Opera Hispánica and The Embassy of Paraguay. Additionally, she directed Don Giovanni for Opera Williamsburg and La tragédie de Carmen for Chautauqua Opera, and, most recently, La traviata for Florida Grand Opera. Recent engagements also include directing Orfeo ed Euridice for Seattle Opera, Cruzar la cara de la luna for the Butler Opera Center, and Florencia en el Amazonas for Opera de Tenerife. From 2009 to 2019, she was the Artistic and Executive Director of the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador, the most active cultural space in the Ecuadorian capital.