Be Careful Who You Burn

American soprano Alexandra LoBianco, whom the Seattle Times exclaimed “gave an impassioned performance” as the title role in Aida at Seattle Opera, has established herself as a dramatic soprano of unequaled versatility, musicality, and consistency. In the 2023-24 Season, Ms. LoBianco opened the Seattle Symphony’s season, singing Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene in Götterdämmerung, and, in concert, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Female Convict), and covered the title role with Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston and Carnegie Hall. This concert will later be released with Deutsche Grammophon, as well as Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Madison Symphony. Recent seasons have included Die Walküre (Brünnhilde) at Seattle Opera, Die Rosenkavalier (Marianne Leitmetzerin) at the Metropolitan Opera, Falstaff (Alice Ford) with the Santa Fe Opera, Hansel and Gretel (Mother) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rusalka (Foreign Princess) at the Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Turandot with Palm Beach Opera and Maryland Lyric Opera, Cavalleria rusticana (Santuzza) with Seattle Opera, the title role in Tosca with Seattle Opera and Portland Opera, Fidelio (Leonore) and Siegfried (Brünnhilde) with North Carolina Opera, The Love for Three Oranges (Fata Morgana) with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Elektra (Overseer and Confidante) at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the cover of Aida. A native of Saint Petersburg, Florida, Alexandra LoBianco received her education in voice, theater, and clarinet, and currently resides in Chicago, where she trains the next generation of opera singers and advocates for music education.

“A formidable display of vocal power and dramatic assurance,” mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel made her début with The Metropolitan Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor (Alisa), her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Roméo et Juliette (Gertrude), her Carnegie Hall début in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and her New York Philharmonic début alongside Eric Owens in In Their Footsteps: Great African American Singers and Their Legacy.

In the 2023-24 Season, Nansteel has house débuts with LA Opera in Highway 1, USA (Aunt Lou), the Atlanta Opera in Die Walküre (Roßweiße), and she will sing Il trovatore (Azuecena) with Opera Santa Barbara and Hänsel und Gretel (Gertrud) with Opera San Antonio. Nansteel will be seen with the Utah Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and act three of Wozzeck, and she joins the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola for their 150th Anniversary celebration of Verdi’s Requiem.

In the 2022-23 Season, Ms. Nansteel returned to the Metropolitan Opera in La traviata (Annina) and for their concert tour of Otello, and she had her house début with San Francisco Opera in their productions of Eugene Onegin and Dialogues des Carmélites. Nansteel also débuted a role in Aida (Amneris) for both Opera Grand Rapids and Finger Lakes Opera, performed in Hänsel und Gretel (Gertrud) for New Orleans Opera, appeared as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem for Orchestra Iowa, and performed in Suor Angelica (Mother Abbess) for Opera Omaha.

Praised for his “rich baritone and confident stage demeanor,” Puerto Rican baritone Ricardo José Rivera is a 2021 alumnus of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the 2022-23 Season Ricardo, performed in Roberto Devereux (Nottingham) with Washington Concert Opera, Ernani (Don Carol) with Sarasota Opera, Poliuto (Severo) with Teatro Nuovo, and Pagliacci (Silvio) with Opera San Antonio. His other recent engagements include Un ballo in Maschera (Silvano) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti, La bohème (Schaunard) for CulturArte de Puerto Rico, Dialogues of the Carmelites (Marquis de la Force, cover) for the Houston Grand Opera, Carmen (Escamillo) with Opera de Puerto Rico, and concerts with the Mobile Symphony.

In the 2023-24 Season, he made his debut in The Barber of Seville (Figaro) and Florencia en el Amazonas (Riolobo) with Opera San Jose, debuted in Luisa Miller (Miller) with Sarasota Opera, and returned to Teatro Nuovo for Carolina Uccelli’s Anna di Resburgo. Future engagements include a debut with Pittsburgh Opera in Pagliacci (Silvio) and a return to Opera San Jose. For the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mr. Rivera sang in La bohème (Schaunard), La traviata (Baron Douphol), Pagliacci (Silvio), and Madame Butterfly (Sharpless). Notable covers included La bohème (Marcello) and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Recent engagements include Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) at the Aspen Music Festival, Béatrice et Bénédict (Claudio) and the American premiere of contemporary opera Seven Angels (Angel #7) by Luke Bedford, both with the Aspen Music Festival, Così fan tutte (Guglielmo) with the International Lyric Academy of Rome and Un ballo in Maschera (Silvano) with Opera in the Heights. In concert, he has performed with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago in Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and with the Civic Orchestra at the Chicago Symphony Center, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Dominican Republic Symphony Orchestra, and in several concerts with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Rivera has been the recipient of several grants, including the Richard F. Gold Career Grant presented by the Shoshana Foundation, First Prize and Audience Prize winner in the Houston Saengerbund Voice Competition, and Third Prize winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions–Gulf Region. His training includes the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, under the tutelage of Maestro Antonio Pappano, Sherrill Milnes’ VOICExperience, the International Lyric Academy of Rome, and the Aspen Music Festival.

After winning prestigious musical competitions, Roberto made his debut singing in Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo) at the Teatro Donizetti of Bergamo and has been catapulted to the forefront of today’s bel canto tenors. His is known for his “virile, glistening voice” (The New York Times), “appealingly natural sense of Italianate phrasing!” (The Boston Globe), and “fluid phrasing and an exciting, ringing top” (San Francisco Chronicle). He gave two critically acclaimed debuts. One is The Metropolitan Opera in Simon Boccanegra, conducted by James Levine and hailed by critics as“a notable Met debut” (The New York Times); “It’s his house debut, and he couldn’t have provided a better one” (Huffington Post). The other debut was at the Opéra Bastille in Paris performing Luisa Miller. His other notable appearances include Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Lorin Maazel at the Festival Verdi of Parma, La traviata at Teatro La Fenice conducted by Myung Whun Chung and directed by Robert Carsen, and a concert version of Norma with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit at Tanglewood Festival. Roberto has also performed in La traviata at the Opéra de Montréal, Ernani at the MET, Macbeth at Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducted by Roberto Abbado, and Simon Boccanegra at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Musikverein of Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Some of his other season highlights include Nabucco at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La traviata at the Opéra National du Rhin of Strasbourg, Madama Butterfly in the MET production directed by Oscar-winner Anthony Minghella, I due Foscari at The Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, Carmen at Teatro Aurora in Malta, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lucia di Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly in Toulon, as well as recitals in Helsinki and Vienna.

Commanding bass Young Bok Kim has dazzled audiences and critics as the title role in Verdi’s Atilla, The Barber of Seville (Don Basilio), Turandot (Timur), Madama Butterfly (Bonze), Don Giovanni (Commendatore), Rigoletto (Sparafucile), Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro) and Barbarossa in Verdi’s rarely-performed La battaglia di Legnano (Barbarossa) all with Sarasota Opera. Other recent successes include his Opera Colorado debut in Turandot (Timur) and a return to Opera Delaware in Rigoletto (Sparafucile). He will also return to Sarasota in 2024 to sing in Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo). Mr. Kim made his New York City Opera debut in La bohème (Colline) and went on to sing many times with the company, including Carmen (Zuniga), Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro), and, most notably, the 2008 production of Madama Butterfly (Bonze), which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class—Classical Musical/Dance Program. Mr. Kim has also sung with Kentucky Opera, Dallas Opera, Utah Opera, Opera North, Opera New Jersey, Opera Boston, Nashville Opera, Nevada Opera, El Paso Opera, Opera Delaware, Baltimore Concert Opera, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and Teatro Grattacielo, among others. A native of Korea, Mr. Kim appears frequently on Korean stages, appearing in Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) with National Opera of Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Opera, Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro) and Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo) with National Opera of Korea, Semiramide (Nino’s Ghost) with City Opera of Seoul, Curlew River (Abbot) with Seoul Metropolitan Opera, and The Barber of Seville (Don Basilio) with City Opera of Seoul and Kim Sun International Opera.

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 pianist and conductor, Sahar Nouri, returns to Opera Colorado for a sixth season, serving as the company’s chorus master, assistant conductor, and pianist coach. Ms. Nouri is the newly appointed music director of the Lamont Opera Theatre at Denver University. While being based in Denver, she continues to serve as guest coach/faculty with various organizations including San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Opera North Carolina, Opera Steamboat and more.

Previously, Ms. Nouri has been a member of the music staff at Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Utah Opera, Aspen Opera Center, Opera Parallèle, and Opera in the Heights. Her repertoire includes numerous classic operas as well as many world premieres such as: Prince of Players (Carlisle Floyd), O Columbia! (Gregory Spears), Steal a Pencil for Me (Gerald Cohen), and Today It Rains (Laura Kaminsky). A multi-lingual, Nouri has done studies in the Czech Republic, Italy, and Austria, and is frequently in demand as a language coach and recitalist.

Christopher Mattaliano has directed opera productions for The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, and New York City Opera among many others. His international credits include productions for L’Opéra de Nice, L’Opéra de Montréal, Canadian Opera Company, Spoleto’s Festival dei Due Mondi, and Den Norske Opera. Mr. Mattaliano served as General Director of Portland Opera from 2003 to 2019 and was responsible for all artistic, financial, and administrative aspects of the company, alongside directing Pagliacci/Carmina Burana, Il viaggio a Reims, L’heure espagnole, L’enfant et les sortilèges, Albert Herring, Candide, Falstaff, and Die Zauberflöte for the company. Recent productions include The Barber of Seville at Florentine Opera and at Cincinnati Opera and he directed Rigoletto at Opera Colorado in 2022. Mr. Mattaliano recently established a unique new opera company in Portland, Oregon called OrpheusPDX that highlights community engagement, DEIA casting, and having fun!