October 27, 2017     7:30pm
October 29, 2017     2:00pm

Festival Concert Hall, NDSU

Stephen Sulich has performed as piano soloist and collaborated with singers in concerts from coast-to-coast.  He has conducted opera for 20+ companies in the U.S. including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and The New York City Opera, with such artists as Felicity Lott, Mark Elder, Mirella Freni, Josephine Barstow and Catherine Malifitano. He boasts a broad repertoire of almost 50 operas that include:  The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, La Cenerentola, The Rape of Lucretia Capriccio, and Carmen.

Mr. Sulich has been a full-time faculty member at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN since 2012.  In the past, he has been a faculty member at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Vietri sul Mare, Italy, The Eastman School of Music, The Crested Butte Music Festival and at Hunter College in New York City.  Mr. Sulich has also served as Musical Director and Conductor for the Pine Mountain Music Festival Young Artist's Program in Houghton, MI. 

No stranger to operetta and the American Musical, Mr. Sulich made his New York City Opera debut with The Pajama Game.  As Music Director of The New England Lyric Operetta he conducted productions of The Mikado, The New Moon, South Pacific, and Brigadoon.

Eric Gibson is a stage director residing in Flagstaff, AZ who is equally comfortable with opera and music theatre and who has a particular passion for educating young singers.

In 2002, Gibson took over the artistic directorship of LOOK Musical Theatre (formerly Light Opera Oklahoma) where he directed a wide range of repertoire for the company including musicals from Broadway's Golden Age, operettas from the European and American repertoire and many of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan.  He is renowned for his ability to add a unique and personal stamp on these productions in particular.  

Mr. Gibson has been tapped to direct original productions of The Mikado for both Wichita Grand Opera and Mobile Opera, and also staged original productions of The Light in the Piazza and Sweeney Todd in Mobile, AL.  Other guest appearances include working with: Mid-Atlantic Opera Company, Opera Vivente, Boheme Opera New Jersey, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis.

Gibson received a bachelor of music education at the University of Michigan and his masters in the stage director of opera from Indiana University.  He is currently the Director of Lyric Theatre at Northern Arizona University and returns to FM Opera again this season after having successfully directed last season’s production ofThe Pirates of Penzance.

Elizabeth Lewis is the recent recipient of the Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for 2017 awarded by the Australia Council for the Arts.  She was also the winner of the 2015 Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship from Opera Foundation for Young Australians and the 2015 Sydney Opera House Award.  Elizabeth is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU).  After completing her Bachelor of Music in 2008, she continued to complete a Master of Music Studies in 2010, also at the QCGU.  Elizabeth was a 2017 Gate City Bank Young Artist with FM Opera and was featured in “Speed Dating Tonight!” as well as appearing as Edith in “The Pirates of Penzance” last season as part of the program.

Christopher Burchett’s rich, no-holds-barred voice and committed stagecraft have earned him a place on the stages of opera companies throughout the United States and Europe including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, the Estates Theatre, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Worth Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Virginia Opera, Prototype Festival, Opera Omaha, Opera Saratoga, Eugene Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis.  Most recently, Opera News described Christopher as a “fearlessly vulnerable” performer “who gave an unflinchingly, heroically human performance that will linger long in the memory.” 

Roles this season include a Chicago Opera Theater debut as John Cree in Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's opera “Elizabeth Cree”, return engagements with Boston Lyric Opera singing the role of Macheath in their production of “The Threepenny Opera” and Fort Worth Opera singing the role of El Gringo in the world premiere of “La Reina”.

Christopher returns to Fargo-Moorhead Opera having last been seen here in the 2013 World Premiere production of “The Poe Project”.  He will also be in the 2018 spring FM Opera production of “Soldier Songs” by David T. Little – a captivating tour-de-force one man show that highlights the struggles and challenges of the life of a soldier.

Minnesota born soprano Julia Lamon is returning to Fargo-Moorhead Opera after having been last seen as the Dew Fairy in “Hansel and Gretel”.  Since that time, Julia has appeared with Miami Summer Music Festival, Manhattan School of Music, New York City Opera Theatre & Loon Opera.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Music in Vocal Performance from Concordia College and an M.M. in Voice from Manhattan School of Music.

Nicholas DeMeo was a 2017 Gate City Bank Young Artist with Fargo-Moorhead Opera.  While in the program he was featured in “Speed Dating Tonight!” and appeared in“The Pirates of Penzance”.  In the 2015-16 season, Nick was a member of Pensacola Opera’s Artist-in-Residence program.  There he was seen in main-stage productions of “La Traviata” (Gastone) and “The Merry Widow” (St. Brioche), as well as a workshop production of Jake Heggie’s “Out of Darkness”.  His previous engagements include Borsa in “Rigoletto” with Opera in the Heights (Houston) and Pang in “Turandot” with Shreveport Opera.  

Nick has also spent summers as a young artist with Central City Opera, Caramoor, Brevard Music Center, and Seagle Music Colony.  Other previous roles include Fenton in “Falstaff”, Rinuccioin “Gianni Schicchi”, Tamino in “Die Zauberflote” Camille in “The Merry Widow”, Valere in “Tartuffe”, Ulises in “Salsipuedes” and Valzacchi in “Der Rosenkavalier”.

Mr. DeMeo is an alumnus of Stetson University (B.M.) and the University of Houston (M.M.).

Baritone Colin Levin returns to Fargo-Moorhead Opera after previously appearing as Marco in Gianni Schicchi, Hortensius in La filled du Regiment, and covering various roles in the world premiere of The Poe Project as a Gate City Bank Young Artist.  Appearances in the 2017-2018 season include Schaunard in La Boheme with Opera Roanoke,  Papageno in The Magic Flute with Opera on the James, Silvio in Pagliacci with the Martha Cardona Opera, Merriman in Castelnuovo-Tedesco's The Importance of Being Earnest with Odyssey Opera and leading roles in Le Nozze di Figaro and Fidelio. Previous performances include the Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Fayetteville, Taddeo in L'italiana in Algeri with Opera Company of Middlebury, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Winter Opera St. Louis, Marullo in Rigoletto and Dancairo in Carmen with Opera on the James, Thomas Brown in Sullivan's The Zoo with Odyssey Opera, the cover of the title role in Hindemith's Cardillac with Opera Boston, and various covers in Baden-Baden 1927 with Gotham Chamber Opera.

In concert, Colin has appeared with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, as Manfred Lewin in the East Coast professional premiere of Jake Heggie's theatrical song cycle For a Look or a Touch with the Boston Gay Men's Chorus at Jordan Hall, and with the Boston University Tanglewood Young Artist Orchestra and Chorus in the Mozart Requiem under the baton of Ken-David Masur at the Tanglewood Theater and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms at both Ozawa Hall and the Koussevitzky Music Shed.  In addition to Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Clin has fulfilled young artist residencies with Opera on the James, the Caramoor Festival, St. Petersburg Opera, Sugar Creek Opera and Opera New Jersey.  

Anthony Leathem has been applauded for his wonderful stage presence and warm bass-baritone voice. He has most recently appeared in Hartford Opera Theatre’s production of David Wolfson’s, The Faith Operas and has also been featured as a soloist with the New Haven Symphony, Farmington Valley Chorale, Commonwealth Opera, and The Schola Cantorum of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph’s in Hartford, CT. The 2017-18 season will see Anthony singing in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus for productions of the Verdi Requiem under the baton of James Levine, and Parisfal under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 

Called “winningly wily and dauntless” by Boston Classical Review, American Mezzo-soprano, Kate Jackman, is multifaceted musician and actress who excels in a variety of musical expression.  As a2017 Gate City Bank Young Artist, Kate was seen as the Waitress in “Speed Dating Tonight!” as well as the Sergeant of Police in FM Opera’s recent production of “The Pirates of Penzance”.  She also sang the role of Giovanna this summer in Ash Lawn Opera’s production of “Rigoletto”.  Other roles that Kate has performed include the lead role in Oliver Knussen’s “Higglety Pigglety Pop” at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Hansel in “Hansel and Gretel”, the title role in “Carmen”, Dorabella in “Cosi fan tutte”, Bloody Mary in “South Pacific”, and Dinah in Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti”.

An avid performer of new works, Kate has premiered roles in “Piecing It Apart” by Paul Matthews and “Lux et Tenebrae” by Douglas Buchanan for The Figaro Project’s Contemporary Opera Trio. She also premiered the role of Megan 2 in Robert Patterson’s “The Whole Truth” with Urban Arias, and Patricia Hutton in Joshua Bornfield’s“Camelot Requiem”, in which she “expressed emotional intensity with the weight of her soothing mezzo-soprano voice” (Maureen L. Mitchell, Opera Today)

Ms. Jackman holds a Master of Music Degree from the Peabody Institute and a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of North Texas.

Frederic Heringes has appeared on Broadway in the San Francisco & Toronto companies of “The Phantom of the Opera” (Ubaldo Piangi); in New York City in Brya Putnam’s new musical “The Toymaker” and played the role of Artiste in Moliere’s “The Learned Ladies”.  Regional Theatre credits include Agent Rank in “Unnecessary Farce”, Saunders in “Lend Me a Tenor”, and premiere productions of “Stonewall’s Bust” by John Morogiello and “One Golden Moment” by Wm. S. C. Coleman.

In Opera, Mr. Heringes has been heard with Florida Grand Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Anchorage Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Fargo-Moorhead Opera.  He studied acting at The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in California and was a member of the repertory acting company there for five seasons, appearing in over thirty plays and musicals.  He returns to the FM Opera stage, having most recently appeared as Goro in “Madama Butterfly” and as St. Brioche in “The Merry Widow”.  In addition, Mr. Heringes serves as the stage director for the Gate City Bank Young Artist Program with FM Opera.

Blind / Isaiah Burkel

Originally from Grand Forks, ND, Hannah Noyes is a senior Vocal Performance major at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, where she studies with Anne Jennifer Nash. Ms. Noyes has performed in scenes from La Traviata, (Violetta), and Le Nozze di Figaro, (Susanna), at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, and Arabella, (Zdenka), at W. Stephen Smith’s Naked Voice Institute at Northwestern University. Upcoming opera performances include Die Fledermaus, (Rosalinda), with Concordia Opera. After graduation, Ms. Noyes plans to attend graduate school and pursue further study in voice and opera.