Announcing the Glimmerglass 2023 Young Artists

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Glimmerglass Festival is pleased to announce the 48 members of its 2023 Young Artists Program. This year’s roster includes singers, conductors, pianists, and directors from across the United States as well as countries such as the Philippines, Germany, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, and China. More than 1,000 Young Artists applied to the Festival this season and were all carefully selected through a competitive pre-screening and audition process by Director of Artistic Administration, Lauren Bailey, Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley, and Young Artists Program Director, Andrea Grant. This is Grant’s first year working with The Glimmerglass Festival, and we are excited to bring her talents as an educator, vocal coach, and collaborative pianist on board. “It has been a joy and an honor to join the fantastic team at The Glimmerglass Festival,” says Grant, “and we are thrilled to welcome such a dynamic and talented group of young artists this season.”

The Glimmerglass Festival 2023 Young Artists

Soprano
Kailee Brandt**, Honolulu, HI
Keely Futterer*, Dover, AR
Madison Hertel**, Traverse City, MI
Hayley Maloney, Covington, KY
Amanda Sheriff, Houston, TX
Emilie Kealani, San Francisco, CA
Alicia Russell Tagert, Richmond, VA
Ethel Trujillo, Philadelphia, PA
Johanna Will, Dresden, Germany 

Mezzo-Soprano
Taylor-Alexis DuPont*, Orlando, FL
Edith Grossman, Elma, NY
Emily Harmon, Barrington, NH
Lisa Marie Rogali*, Hawley, PA
Elizabeth Sarian, Long Island, NY
Emma Sucato**, Dallas, TX
Pauline Tan, Tarlac City, Philippines

Countertenor
Nicholas Kelliher, Cincinnati, OH
Kyle Sanchez Tingzon, Manila, Philippines

Tenor
Carlos Ahrens, Cincinnati, OH
Henry Benson, Marinette, WI
Nathaniel Catasca, Fort Worth, TX
Ryan Johnson, Muleshoe, TX
Peter Murphy, Lowell, MA
Zachary Rioux*, Grand Falls, Canada
Jonathan Pierce Rhodes*, Orlando, FL
Hayden Smith, Quakertown, PA
Truman Tinius**, Syracuse, NY
Tianchi Zhang, Suzhou, China

Baritone
Justin Burgess, Silver Spring, MD
Joseph Goodale*, Dallas, TX
Grant Jackson, Columbus, OH
Jonathan Patton, Durango, CO
Korin Thomas-Smith, Toronto, Canada
Schyler Vargas*, Denver, CO
Olivier Zerouali, NYC, NY

Bass-Baritone
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson**, Copperas Cove, TX
Nan Wang, Handan, China
Jason Zacher, Livingston, NJ

Bass
Sergio Martinez*, Bogotá, Colombia
John Mburu, Atlanta, Georgia

Pianist
Laura Bleakley, Honolulu, HI
Yueqi Zhang, Nanjing, China

Conductor
Micah Gleason, Chapel Hill, NC
Robert Kahn*, Bryn Mawr, PA

Director
Taylor Rachel Carnes*, Escalon, CA
Mario Pacheco, Toronto, Canada
Amanda Testini, Vancouver, Canada

*Indicates returning Young Artist
**Indicates Musical Theater/Dancer

The Young Artists Program (YAP) was established at Glimmerglass in 1988 as an important component of the company’s mission to promote an artistically challenging environment for young performers. The program provides training and performance experience for talented singers at the beginning of their professional careers. The program accepts opera singers, musical theater singers/dancers, coaches/accompanists, conductors, and stage directors and focuses on education through performance. Members of the Glimmerglass Young Artists Program receive opportunities to perform and cover appropriate roles in all four mainstage productions and to work with world-class directors, designers, and conductors.

Glimmerglass Young Artists also receive musical coaching, attend classes in diction and acting, and are given instruction in such skills as audition techniques, role preparation, and the business aspects of managing a career. In 2011, Glimmerglass Young Artists worked with world-renowned soprano Deborah Voigt, who joined the company as the inaugural Artist-in-Residence. American bass-baritone Eric Owens, who has performed to critical acclaim at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, and Washington National Operas, joined the company as the 2012 Artist-in-Residence, and returned again in 2015 and 2018. Julie and Nathan Gunn served as 2013 Artists-in-Residence, and Christine Goerke served in the role for the 2014 season.  Jay Hunter Morris was the 2016 Artist-in-Residence, and William Burden in 2017. The Glimmerglass 2019 Artist-in-Residence, John Corigliano, was the first composer to serve in this capacity. The Artist-in-Residence for 2020 and 2021 was Isabel Leonard, and our 2022 Artist-in-Residence was Denyce Graves. Our 2023 Artist-in-Residence is GRAMMY-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo.

The 2023 Season

Repertory for the 2023 season embraces this moment of transition for Glimmerglass, honoring the Festival’s past with exhilarating revivals, exploring the infinite variety of the art form with reimaginings of beloved classics, and shaping opera’s future with a world premiere. 

The 2023 Festival will open with revivals of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, celebrating the success of the company’s past decade. New takes on Charles Gounod’s masterwork Romeo and Juliet and G.F. Handel’s groundbreaking Rinaldo round out the Festival’s mainstage offerings. The season continues the company’s tradition of staging three operas and one work of American musical theater, performed with full orchestra and no sound amplification.

In addition to the four mainstage productions, Glimmerglass is proud to present the world premiere of Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes’s The Rip Van Winkles, featuring the Glimmerglass Youth Chorus performing alongside members of the company’s Young Artists Program. Throughout the season, the company will also host a slate of events, including concerts conceptualized and performed by 2023 Artist-in-Residence, Anthony Roth Costanzo. These events expand upon the themes of the mainstage productions, offering the chance for dialogue and conversation in engaging venues and formats.

About The Glimmerglass Festival — The Glimmerglass Festival is a professional non-profit summer opera company dedicated to producing new productions each season. Rob Ainsley was appointed Artistic & General Director in 2022, and the 2023 season will be his first with Glimmerglass. The company continues its tradition of four new fully staged productions, now including three operas and one work of American musical theater, performed with full orchestra, large cast, and no sound amplification. These four productions are supplemented by special performances, cabarets, concerts, lectures and symposiums throughout the season. The company continues to attract an international audience to the scenic Cooperstown area, where the talent of singers, directors, designers and staff from around the world converges in the Alice Busch Opera Theater to produce world-class opera and musical theater.

Mission Statement — Produce new, little-known and familiar operas and musical theater in innovative productions; Provide professional training and performance opportunities for emerging artists and interns; Engage important artists who inspire the highest standards of achievement; Inspire dialogue around meaningful issues of the day through song and story; Collaborate with regional organizations, schools and businesses to enhance life in Central New York.

Land Acknowledgement — The Glimmerglass Festival would like to acknowledge the Mohawk and Oneida, members of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), the original stewards of this land. We take this time to pay tribute to those who were forcibly removed from their homelands due to colonial and genocidal agendas, and those who continue to inhabit the land today. To learn more about how you can act in solidarity, visit www.nativegov.org today. (Sources: www.nativegov.org; www.native-land.ca)