The Scarlet Ibis Bios
Creative Team
Tianhui Ng: Conductor
The American Prize winning conductor Tianhui Ng is Music Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra (USA), Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra (USA) and the Victory Players (USA). An advocate of new music, he has assisted in and premiered new works by Pulitzer and Rome Prize winners such as Curt Cacioppo, Aaron Jay Kernis, Robert Kyr, David Sanford, and Joan Tower, and many young composers. Tian has conducted orchestras around the world including the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Dartington Festival Orchestra (UK), Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Wallonie (Belgium), and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra (USA).
Greg Smucker: Stage Director
Greg Smucker is a director and teacher of theater and opera. He studied with the late Wesley Balk, a noted pioneer in the field of singer-actor training. Greg was co-founder and artistic director of 15 HEAD, a critically acclaimed experimental theater company in Minneapolis and served as managing director of Theatre for Young America in Kansas City, a professional theater for children. Greg served for seven years on the faculty of the Opera Studies Department at New England Conservatory of Music and is currently a faculty member of the American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. As a freelance director, Greg has directed productions and workshops for theaters and opera companies in Boston and the Twin Cities.
Patricia-Maria Weinmann: Co-Artistic Director
Patricia-Maria Weinmann has worked with many national opera companies and festivals including Utah Opera, Opera on the James, Syracuse Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Seagle Music Colony, Boston Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Boston, Ashlawn Opera Festival, the American Opera Project, Opera Providence, and Mississippi Grand Opera. She has collaborated on a number of premier performances including Daniel Pinkham’s The Cask of Amontillado, the staged orchestral premier of Scott Wheeler’s The Construction of Boston and Wheeler’s Democracy as a work-in-progress for the American Opera Project in New York. Recent directing engagements have included Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night, Hansel and Gretel, Cosi fan tutte, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Cole!, Cenerentola, Carmina Burana, L’elisir d’amore, Sweeney Todd, Don Pasquale and Faust and Marguerite (BOC). Over the past 20 years, Weinmann served on the faculties of both Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music. As a guest director and coach for Utah Opera’s Young Artist Program and a faculty member of American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, she continues to train some of the most promising young singers in the United States and abroad.
Gretchen Werda: Assistant Director
Gretchen Werda holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and is a Certified Specialist in Electronic Music Production through Berklee College of Music. Her recent stage directing credits from NEC Graduate Opera include scenes from Don Giovanni (2017), Carmen (2018), Don Pasquale (2018), and Susannah (2018). Gretchen also stage directed in Hartford Opera Theater's New In November Festival. Her recent Assistant Director credits include Later the Same Evening (2018), and La finta giardiniera (2017), with NEC Graduate Opera. Gretchen also worked as Apprentice Director on Die Zauberflöte in 2017 and 2018 festivals with Berlin Opera Academy.
Gretchen is proud to be on staff at Berklee College of Music and manages at the Berklee Performance Center.
Jean Anderson Collier: Vocal Coach & Pianist
Jean Anderson Collier works often with the Boston Opera Collaborative as a music director, coach, and pianist. She coaches opera, art song and diction at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and also teaches at New England Conservatory. She is organist and choir director at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Scituate, and performs as a collaborative pianist in the United States and Europe. She teaches in the summer at Boston Conservatory’s opera program in Valencia, Spain, and has also taught and concertized in Italy, Austria, and France. Her projects with the Boston Opera Collaborative have included Werther, Our Town, Idomeneo, Mirror, and Opera Bites.
Roxanna Myhrum: Puppetry Director
Roxanna is the Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater and an experienced director of opera, theater, and puppetry. Past puppetry directing credits include the Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage, Company One, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, OperaHub, Wheelock Family Theater, New Repertory Theatre, and others. She has guest-taught puppetry classes at Harvard, Brown, Babson, Suffolk, and BC, and has led workshops throughout the greater Boston area for ages Pre-K to adult. Roxanna is a graduate of Harvard University, and a past stage director and board member of Boston Opera Collaborative. www.puppetshowplace.org
Stefan Weisman: Composer
Stefan Weisman is a composer living in New York City. The New York Times called his music "personal, moody and skillfully wrought." When his song "Twinkie" was featured on the nationally syndicated program The Wendy Williams Show, the host called his work, "Very unique...Fabulous!" His opera Darkling, commissioned by American Opera Projects, was included in the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series, and premiered to great acclaim at the East 13th Street Theater. Following a tour in Europe, Darkling was released by Albany Records. His one-act opera Fade premiered in London and also had successful performances in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Brooklyn. His opera, The Scarlet Ibis, premiered in the PROTOTYPE opera festival in NYC. The Wall Street Journal said it was "subtly subversive, and it's production groundbreaking." Following the Boston Opera Collaborative’s performances, The Scarlet Ibis will receive a new production by the Chicago Opera Theatre in February 2019.
David Cote: Librettist
David Cote is a playwright, librettist and arts journalist based in New York City. Operas include Three Way with Robert Paterson (Brooklyn Academy of Music & Nashville Opera); The Scarlet Ibis (Prototype festival, NYC) and Fade with Stefan Weisman; and the upcoming Blind Injustice (Cincinnati Opera) with Scott Davenport Richards and director Robin Guarino. In February, The Scarlet Ibis will also be produced by Chicago Opera Theater. The original cast album of Three Way was recently released by American Modern Recordings. David also wrote a dating-site song cycle with Paterson, In Real Life, and the Black Lives Matter piece for baritone and orchestra, Invitation to a Die-In, with Nkeiru Okoye. He’s developing a new opera with Weisman for soprano Lauren Flanigan called American Atheist. Plays include Otherland and Fear of Art. Alumnus of Bard College. MacDowell Colony fellow. More at davidcote.com. For Katy, my love.
Cast
Scott Ballantine (Father)
Baritone, Scott Ballantine, returns to Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC) as a member for the 2018-19 season. Previous credits with BOC include Schaunard in La Bohème, Hannah Before in As One, Valmont in The Dangerous Liaisons and Sid in Albert Herring. This season, he looks forward to expanding his specialty in contemporary opera as Father in The Scarlet Ibis. Ballantine’s contemporary resume is built from performances like John Brooke in MetroWest Opera’s Little Women, and as the title role in Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox with Opera Steamboat in Colorado.
Ballantine spent the summer of 2018 with the Janiec Opera Company in Brevard, NC. There, he had his role debut as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and was a Street Singer Soloist in Bernstein’s Mass. The day he returned to the east coast, he jumped immediately into a new performance schedule--joining the Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre as Barone in La Traviata. For more credits and upcoming engagements, please visit www.scottballantine.com.
Britt Brown (Mother)
Mezzo Soprano Britt Brown is excited to return to BOC for another season. In Fall 2018, Britt sang in Bernstein’s Jeremiah symphony with the Indian Hill Orchestra and toured with the Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart for their holiday tour. In Spring 2019, Britt looks forward to debuting two roles, "Gretchen" in Guerilla Opera's Rumpelstiltskin in Boston and NYC, and "The Leading Player" in Pippin with Music on Norway Pond. Other recent performances have been with Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, and Boston Midsummer Opera.
Wei En Chan (Doodle)
Remarkably pure, magnificently controlled, and completely effortless” are praises often attributed to Wei En Chan, countertenor, from Singapore. Wei En has sung in concerts internationally, and highlights include Bernstein's Chichester Psalms with the NEC Philharmonia and Concert Choir, conducted by Hugh Wolff, alto solos in B minor mass with the American Bach Soloists, and Malaysia Bach Festival, Messiah with MIT Concert Choir, Haydn's Mass in Time of War with RICCO, Carmina Burana with Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with ATCECM, Toronto. Wei En has been a winner and finalist at various vocal competitions in the US and was awarded the Ernst Bacon Prize for “Outstanding Performance of an American Song” at the 38th Annual Competition for Singers, organised by Civic Morning Musicals.
Like Wei En on facebook @ChanWeiEnCountertenor
Lucas Coura (Doodle)
Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Brazilian-American countertenor Lucas Coura is thrilled to make his debut with Boston Opera Collaborative. In April of 2017, after nearly a decade of study as a tenor, Lucas sang as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Simon Carrington conducting. Later that year, he sang Nerone in Stetson University Opera Theatre’s production of L’incoronazione di Poppea. In the Spring of 2018, he took first place in his categories at both the Stephen and Jeanie Foster Vocal Competition and the Southeast Regional NATS Audition. Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Lucas will also sing alto soloist in Händel’s Messiah at Memorial Congregational Church in Sudbury. Lucas holds a BM in Performance and Theory from Stetson University.
Ann Fogler (Brother)
Ann Fogler, mezzo-soprano, has performed with Opera Hub, Boston Art Song Society, Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, OC Ars Vocalis Academy in Rome, Italy, and the Music Festival of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy as a soloist. Recent roles include: Olga (Eugene Onegin), Mrs. Patrick DeRocher (Dead Man Walking), Ruth (Dark Sisters), and Bradamante (Alcina) with The Boston Conservatory. Ms. Fogler has also participated as a young artist in the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation program at Central City Opera for the past two summers, where she performed the role of Announcer (Gallantry), and was featured in scenes as Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), the title role in La Cenerentola, and Dorabella (Così fan tutte).
Ms. Fogler earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Dickinson College (‘15) and her Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee ('17) under the tutelage of Marilyn Bulli.
Shannon Grace (Mother)
Soprano Shannon Grace obtained her MM from The Boston Conservatory in Vocal Performance in 2013 and her BM in Voice from Ithaca College in 2010. This season, she will be performing with BOC as Mother in The Scarlet Ibis (Winter 2019). Past performances include: BOC’s Opera Bites as Lucy in Lucy, Dangerous Liaisons (Madame de Volanges), From the Diary of Virginia Woolf (Virginia Woolf), Opera Bites ‘16 (Mona in American Flag), Opera Bites ‘15 (Soprano in Tempo Fuori del Tempo; Soprano in The Act) and Our Town (Mrs. Webb) in 2015. Regionally, Shannon has performed with MetroWest Opera in Hansel and Gretel (Sandman, Dew Fairy cover), NEMPAC in Die Fledermaus (Chorus, Adele cover), and was a Resident Artist at the Atlantic Music Festival singing partial roles including Gilda in Rigoletto and Adina in L’elisir d’amore. She was also a top 20 finalist for the Classical Singer Competition – Young Artist Division.
Emily Harmon (Auntie)
Mezzo-soprano Emily Harmon has appeared with companies including Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Beth Morrison Projects, Boston Opera Collaborative, MetroWest Opera, and the Worcester Youth Symphony Orhestra. Some of her favorite past operatic roles include Amastre (Xerxes), the Marquise de Merteuil (The Dangerous Liaisons), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), the Old Lady (Candide), Cherubino and Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), Mercédès (Carmen), and Ruth (Dark Sisters). In concert, Emily has performed the alto solos in works including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater. An avid performer of new music, Emily has frequently appeared as a featured soloist with the Time's Arrow New Music Ensemble and made her Jordan Hall debut singing the world premiere of Kati Agòcs' Hyacinth Curl with Hub New Music. She holds both an M.M. and a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Boston University.
Katherine Maysek (Brother)
Known for her vivid and touching vocal performances, mezzo-soprano Katherine Maysek is an artist equally at home on the stage and in the concert hall. Ms. Maysek loves the challenge of portraying many vastly different characters, be they within song, oratorio, or opera. Operatic roles include Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti), Dog (The Cunning Little Vixen), Lisbé (Grétry’s Zémire et Azor), Meg Page (Falstaff), Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). Concert repertoire includes Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Vivaldi’s Gloria and numerous Bach oratorios including the Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion and Mass in B minor. Katherine has appeared with The Glimmerglass Festival, Odyssey Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, American Symphony Orchestra, Opera Saratoga, MassOpera, Concord Chorale, Blanche Moyse Chorale and The Orchestra Now. Ms. Maysek received her bachelors degree from McGill University and her masters degree from Bard College Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program. www.katherinemaysek.com
Andrew Miller (Father)
American Baritone, Andrew Miller, is known for his "warm, robust baritone" and "fine comic sensibilities". Andrew made his BOC debut as Vicomte de Valmont in The Dangerous Liaisons. Previous credits include: Escamillo with Opera Theater Cape Cod; Fiorello with Boston Midsummer Opera; Hannah before and Marcello with Boston Opera Collaborative; The Inquisitor with Odyssey Opera; Ogre and Dr. Rappaccini with OperaHub; Don Pizarro, Don Magnifico and Alcindoro/Benoit with NEMPAC Boston; The Steward, The Marquis, Antonio, Schaunard, and Papageno with The Boston Conservatory; The Marquis at Teatro Magnani in Fidenza, Italy; Beethoven 9 soloist with New Hampshire Philharmonic; Mozart and Brahms Requiem soloist; the title roles of Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi, King Melchior and multiple engagements with the Janiec Opera Company and Fort Worth Opera. Andrew trained as a young artist at the Brevard Music Festival, and at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Andrew is a native of Arlington, TX.
Susannah Thornton (Auntie)
New England based mezzo-soprano Susannah Thornton is equally at home performing operatic roles and interpreting art song. While earning her undergraduate degree at the University of New Hampshire, Thornton performed the role of L'Enfant (Ravel, "L'Enfant et les Sortileges") as well as studying Hermia (Britten, "Midsummer Night's Dream"), Dorabella (Mozart, "Cosi fan Tutte"), and Cherubino (Mozart, "The Marriage of Figaro"). She graduated magna cum laude with a Master's of Music in Vocal Performance at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in 2016 where she studied with Carol Mastrodomenico. While at Longy, Thornton performed the roles of Miss Todd (Menotti, "The Old Maid and the Thief") and the mezzo roles in Argento's "Postcard from Morocco" with Longy Opera Workshop. In March 2016, Thornton performed as the alto soloist in a program of Schubert and M. Haydn as a winner of Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra's 10th Annual Collegiate Vocal Competition. She is a roster artist with Boston Opera Collaborative and performed the role of Suzy in Puccini's "La Rondine" in a new 'remixed' production during May 2017. She currently resides on the South Shore and serves as the alto section leader at Second Parish Unitarian Universalist in Hingham, Massachusetts.
Orchestra
Mayu Isom: Oboe
A native of Los Angeles, Mayu Isom has recently earned her MM at Rice University, the Shepherd School of Music with Robert Atherholt. She received her BM at Indiana University under Linda Strommen, where she was awarded the prestigious Jacobs Scholarship. Mayu frequently performs with the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet, and has been invited as a substitute for the New World Symphony. She has performed in a variety of summer festivals including the Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra, and the National Orchestral Institute. She is currently working on a Performer's Diploma at Boston University with John Ferrillo.
Yhasmin Valenzuela: Clarinet
Yhasmin Valenzuela, native of Peru, earned her bachelor’s degree at the Lima Conservatory "Josafat Roel Pineda" in both clarinet performance and music education. She continued her studies in the United States at Texas Christian University, where she received her Master’s Degree in clarinet performance. Following this, she obtained a Graduate Performance Diploma with distinction at the Longy School of Music. Yhasmin is an active chamber music and orchestral performer. Currently, she can be heard playing with the New Bedford Symphony, Waltham Symphony Orchestra and The Boston New Music Initiative.
Bohdan Shevchenko: Bassoon
Ukrainian born Bohdan Shevchenko is a Boston based bassoonist who has established himself as a versatile musician with broad musical interests. As a soloist, he has been awarded Second Prize from the Volodymyr Antonov Competition (2011) and Honorary Diplomas from VI Moscow Conservatory Competition for Woodwinds and Brass (2014) as well as the VII Carl Maria von Weber Competition (2016). Recently he won the Concerto Competition at Longy School of Music of Bard College. As an orchestral musician, for 5 years he was a member of the K&K Philharmoniker, a professional touring orchestra based in Austria as well as working with Ensemble Nostril Temporis, Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra, and I, CULTURE orchestra. Bohdan is currently a post-graduate student at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA.
Olga Patramanskaya: First Violin
Olga Patramanska-Bell was born and raised in Ukraine, where she received her musical education. After finishing her Bachelor's degree at the R.M. Glier Kyiv State Higher Music College and studying a few years at the National Musical Academy of Ukraine, she came to Boston to continue her education at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. She received her Masters of Music degree under the guidance of Mr. Mark Lakirovich. Olga is an active performer and participant in numerous concerts, projects and festivals. She is a winner of Concerto competition and Honors competition at the Longy School of Music, and has performed as a soloist with the Longy Chamber Orchestra, National Pops Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonia Orchestra in Ukraine. Olga is a winner of several competitions in Ukraine and has travelled through Europe performing solo recitals and playing in violin ensemble.
In addition to teaching violin at Winchester Community Music School, Olga is currently a member of Zefira trio, Grand Harmonie, and Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and is an assistant member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony New Hampshire. Olga has performed with such groups as Boston New Music Initiative, Equilibrium Ensemble, Walden Chamber Music Players, ECCE ensemble, and Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. She has served as a concertmaster for Boston Opera Collaborative, Harvard's Lowell House Opera, and Commonwealth Lyric Theater. This year's engagements include performances with Juventas New Music Ensemble and Sound Icon.
Jessica Tsang: Second Violin
Chinese-Canadian violinist Jessica Tsang was born in Hong Kong and developed her love of music at an early age growing up in Toronto, Canada. She appears regularly as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician and has performed in a variety of venues across Canada, China, Europe, and the United States, most notably at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, Massacusetts. Jessica is a recent graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, where she studied psychology. She currently is a Master of Music candidate at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she is a student of Mark Lakirovich.
Kathryn DeLaMare: Cello
Kathryn DeLaMare is in her first year of graduate study at the Longy School of Music. She grew up in Kaysville, Utah, where she learned to play the cello in the sixth grade orchestra. She enjoyed opportunities to play in various youth orchestras and many solo and ensemble festivals. Kathryn obtained her Bachelor’s of Arts from Southern Virginia University. There, she helped create an internship to bring music to senior care facilities and taught music to children in the community. In her spare time, Kathryn enjoys art, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.
Ben Silverstein: Double Bass
Ben Silverstein is an accomplished double bassist from Beverly Massachusetts. He enjoys playing and learning from all styles of music and fusing them into new and exciting compositions. Silverstein is also skilled at the electric bass, mandolin, trombone, tuba, and cello. He attended the University Of Massachusetts Lowell and graduated with a Bachelors of Music Performance in 2017. Silverstein is currently a freelance musician, playing with various local acts and theaters in the New England area. Most recently he has been working with the Lowell-based blues outfit Sons Lunaris and the Shirley group Safehill.
Mike Williams: Percussion
Hailed by The Boston Globe as “one of the city's best percussionists,” Mike Williams has performed throughout North America and Europe and is based in Boston. An advocate for contemporary music, he is a member of Sound Icon, Callithumpian Consort, and is artistic director of Guerilla Opera. Williams has worked with leading composers of our time including Pierluigi Billone, Philippe Leroux, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gunther Schuller, and Roger Reynolds. He was a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and has performed at festivals including the Festival de Mexico, Gaudeamus Music Week, Monadnock Music, Festival Internacional Cervantino and SICPP at New England Conservatory. Williams studied at Boston Conservatory, winning top prize in the concerto competition, and the Amsterdam Conservatory during which time he performed with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra under Peter Eötvös. Williams is on faculty at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Production Team
Brittney Page Whatley: Stage Manager
Brittney Page is thrilled to be back with Boston Opera Collaborative after working on Opera Bites in 2017. Previous production credits include Road Show (Lyric Stage Company), Lost Tempo (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Twelfth Night of the Living Dead, and The DARE Project (Anthem Theatre Company). Brittney thanks her husband and family for their steady patience and support. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University.
Emma Cooney: Assistant Stage Manager
Emma Cooney is a stage manager for opera, theatre, and dance. Recent local credits include the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker and Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere of Schoenberg in Hollywood. Originally from Nebraska, she has returned close to home for summers at Des Moines Metro Opera and Central City Opera. In May, Emma will earn her BFA in Stage Management from Boston University. She looks forward to working on the BU Opera Institute’s upcoming productions of Dolores Claiborne and The Cunning Little Vixen. The Scarlet Ibis is her first show with the Boston Opera Collaborative.
Andy Nice: Scenic Designer
Andy Nice holds an M.F.A in Scenic Design from Boston University's School of Theatre, Boston, MA. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Notable designs: Cortland Repertory Theatre's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WEST END HORROR, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (Astoria Performing Arts Center), the Boston University Opera Institute's DON GIOVANNI built by the Huntington Theatre Company, FAUSTE ET MARGUERITE (Boston Opera Collaborative) ROCK OF AGES (Des Moines Playhouse), Boston Center for American Performance's THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN IN THE MOON MARIGOLDS and THE IMAGINARY INVALID at the Virginia Wimberly Theater in Boston's South End. Andy is resident scenic designer at Boston Opera Collaborative.
Chris Bocchiaro: Lighting Designer
Chris Bocchiaro is excited to return to Boston Opera Collaborative, having previously designed Albert Herring, Rinaldo, Our Town, Idomeneo, Family Feuds, Faust et Marguerite, and As One Chris’ work can be seen throughout the greater Boston Area, most recently at: Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Hub Theatre of Boston, imaginary beasts, and Apollinaire Theatre. Chris was the recipient of the 2013 IRNE award for Hairy Tales. He holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Emerson College. www.chrisbocchiaro.com
David Orlando: Production Manager
David returns to Boston Opera Collaborative after working as the Lighting Designer for La Boheme and production electrician for La Rondine. Other recent work includes designing Sweets by Kate and Eurydice at Boston University and Classic Repertory Company’s Othello and To Kill a Mockingbird. He has had the recent pleasure of assistant designing at Boston Conservatory, Berkshire Theater Group, American Repertory Theater, and Boston Lyric Opera. He also formerly served as the resident lighting designer of the New Classics Company. David received his BFA in Lighting Design from Boston University. He is originally from Marstons Mills Massachusetts. He is looking forward to working on BOC’s Don Giovanni this March.
Chloe Moore: Costume Designer
Chloe Moore is excited for her second collaboration with the BOC team to help bring The Scarlet Ibis to life. She previously worked as the designer on Boston Opera Collective’s La Boheme, as well as Boston University's Angels in America Parts 1 & 2. She is in her second year in BU's MFA program for costume design. For more of her work, please visit chloemooredesigns.com.
Jessica Pizzuti: Technical Director
Jessica Pizzuti returns to BOC after working with As One and La Bohème last season. She is the technical director at Tufts University and works as a freelance technician in the Boston area. PizzutiScenery.com.
Hannah Solomon: Master Electrician
Hannah is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University. She is a freelance lighting designer and electrician in the Boston area. She had a great time working on this production and hopes you all enjoy it, as well. Happy New Year to the BOC community! Recently, she designed Angels in America Part 1 at Boston University and worked as the Assistant Lighting Designer for the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of a Doll’s House Part 2. Upcoming she will be assisting on Ragtime at Wheelock Family Theatre, and designing Laughs in Spanish at Boston Playwright’s Theatre.
Maria Whitcomb: Supertitle Operator
A native of New York State’s beautiful Catskill Mountain region, Maria is an MM candidate in Opera at the Longy School of Music, where she is a pupil of Jayne West. She holds both an M.A. from Syracuse University’s Janklow Arts Leadership Program, and a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Syracuse’s Setnor School of Music, where she studied under the tutelage of Janet Brown. Pursuing a passion for new music, Maria will be thrilled to create the title role in Bruno Faria’s Voices Followed (The Illumination of Joan of Arc) on March 22nd in Pickman Hall.