For Virginia Opera he has recently designed Carmen. He also works frequently with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Atlanta Opera, New Orleans Opera, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Indiana University, and many more. For Opera San Jose his 34 designs include the West Coast Premieres of Anna Karenina, Silent Night and the American premiere of Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella.

In NYC his work Off-Broadway has been seen at Second Stage Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, Fellowship for the Performing Arts, York Theatre Company, Mint Theater Company, 47th Street Theatre, New Worlds Theatre Project, The Shop, The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Playwright’s Realm and Keen Company where his 11 productions include the Off-Broadway revivals of Tick, Tick…Boom!, Ordinary Days, John and Jen, Marry Me a Little and the new, award-winning world premiere of Adam Gwon’s All the World’s a Stage.  Other NYC credits include work at 59e59, HERE Arts, Clubbed Thumb, Studio 42 and 15 productions for New School For Drama.

His international credits include designs for the West End in London and the current tours of Sesame Street Live!, Peppa Pig Sing Along, Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour, as well as Baby Shark Live!, PJ Masks Live! and Nickelodeon Takeover at the Feria de Leon 2025. He has designed regionally at Pasadena Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Antaeus Theatre Company, Bucks County Playhouse, Royal George Theatre, Stages Houston, Hudson Stage Company, Gulfshore Playhouse, Catholic University of America and multiple productions for Norwegian Cruise Line.

Steven also worked extensively as an Associate Designer for Robert Brill and David Gallo on Broadway, national tours, The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Disney Theatricals, Dreamworks, and a multitude of other regional theatres and companies.  Additional work has included Associate Design credits for Jesse Poleshuck, Walt Spangler, Christopher Acebo, and Assistant Design for Christopher Oram, Alexander Dodge and exhibit and broadcast design with Clickspring Design, Gallagher & Associates and Jack Morton Worldwide.

His design for Candide at Des Moines Metro Opera won Honorable Mention at the 2021 Golden Trezzini Awards for Architecture and Design. Falstaff was selected as a finalist in the World Stage Design 2017 exhibit in Taipei, Taiwan. His work was selected for exhibition in the USA student exhibit in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial and he was the 2008 USITT Rose Brand Scenic Design award winner and was the 2013 Live Design Broadway Master Class speaker for associate set design. For more, follow Steven @stevenckempdesign and www.stevenckemp.com.

Christine is a distinguished graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a B.F.A. in Dance & Choreography. She graduated with honors, receiving several awards, research fellowships, and VCU’s Black History in the Making Award (2017) for academic excellence and volunteer work. Her undergraduate training, shaped profoundly by the leadership of E. Gaynell Sherrod, Ed.D., was informed by a lineage of artists and programs, including Urban Bush Women and its Summer Leadership Institute (founded by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar), that foreground movement as a tool for telling undertold stories of women, building community, and contributing to social change. Her exposure to and direct experience with artists, during her time at VCU, such as Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange, MK Abadoo, nora chipaumire, Maria Bauman, Camille A. Brown, Johnnie Mercer/The RED Project, Jelani Taylor, and Paris Cian continue to inspire her interest in dance that explore risk, identity, and place.

Christine’s development as a choreographer, educator and dancer have been shaped by her collaborative mentors like MK Abadoo, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford Wates, Mari Andrea Travis, Kevin Lamar Jones, Alicia Díaz/Agua Dulce Dance Theatre, Cristina Leoni-Osion and sehay sun. She has taught and performed across theatres in Virginia, choreographed for University productions across the country and has a portfolio that includes musicals, classic works reimagined, devised Black theatre and original dance works. Intelligence is her first choreographic contribution to Virginia Opera’s repertoire, but she is no stranger to the world of Opera. She made her operatic debut as a featured dancer in Richard Kennedy’s Touch of Elegance (2019), a new opera commissioned by the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA).

After graduating from VCU, Christine apprenticed with Urban Bush Women, under the artistic direction of Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra (Samantha) Speis, while holding Artistic Residence at Gibney Dance. Christine made her New York performance debut in 2020, in her self-choreographed solo “Ti’ed” a reimagining of her senior thesis project. Later that summer, she was featured in Alicia Diaz’s “Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance shall not be moved”, a collaborative dance film honoring women’s resistance during labor movements connecting the histories of resistance against US colonialism and capitalism in Puerto Rico and Richmond, Virginia. This film was featured in a mixed media exhibit at the ICA in 2020, featured in the virtual Afrikana Film Festival (2020) and has since been featured in dozens of Film Festivals internationally, winning several awards.

In 2021, Christine, a founding company member, became the Rehearsal Director and Company Manager of MKArts, MK Abadoo’s intergenerational, community building, dance company that amplifies the lives and wisdom of Black/Queer Women and gender expansive folks, established in 2016. She has performed many of Abadoo’s works including Octavia’s Brood: Riding the Ox Home (2018, 2022), Hoptown (2023) and the site-specific production Untold RVA Presents: BROTHER GENERAL GABRIEL (2019) in Shockoe Bottom, blending historical memory and embodied storytelling at the African Burial Grounds in Richmond, VA. Christine and MK’s creative and administrative collaboration transcends traditional and colonial methods of working together by centering ancestral honoring, sistering technologies, and uplifting Black communities through strategic partnership and art making. This work informs Christine’s personal mission of continuing legacies of resistance, equity and care through Black Art and liberated practice.

A significant influence in deepening the applicability of Wyatt’s perspective in her practice is her ongoing creative partnership with Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph, D, Professor of Graduate Pedagogy in Acting and Artistic Director of The Conciliation Project. Christine has served as Choreographer and Embodiment Coach on several shows under Pettiford-Wates’ direction, including For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf (2024), Whitesplaining (2022), Get Up, Stand Up (2022) Les Blancs (2021), and Passing Strange (2018). Their collaboration deepens Christine’s liberated practice through ritual, embodiment, and socially engaged performance; refining the exploration of her values and techniques for achieving goals of self empowerment, communal sense of belonging and authentic creativity.

Following the philosophical lineage of Pearl Primus, Christine approaches dance as a catalyst for truth-telling, human connection and embodied liberation. Her dance work utilizes improvisation, African American Vernacular dance alongside neo classical and contemporary African movement to honor traditions of the African Diaspora. Christine’s artistic practice is also informed by her study of care and grief work, so she centers opportunities for commemorative justice to tell stories of joy and resistance, and opportunities to explore the expansive power of Black movement traditions that impact audiences beyond the proscenium seats. Her full presence as a Black woman artist is neither secondary nor symbolic—it is central and essential. Christine’s choreography is ancestral memory, contemporary urgency, and future‐building hope through dance with every step.

Last season, Mr. Thompson joined Florentine Opera as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Washington Opera Society as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Opera Southwest for Verdi’s Requiem, Eureka Symphony for Messiah, and Bard Music Festival for Martinů’s Julietta. This season, he returns to Washington National Opera as Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, he joins Tulsa Opera as the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, and he brings his signature Bonze to Fort Worth Opera for their Madama Butterfly.  

In recent seasons, the acclaimed bass performed as Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni for Opera Colorado, the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette for Dallas Opera, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Opera Grand Rapids, the King/Baobab/Hunter in The Little Prince with Utah Opera, Timur in Turandot with Fargo Moorhead Opera, and on the Mobile Symphony’s annual Christmas concert. He also joined The Atlanta Opera to sing Church Jenkins in a workshop of Forsyth County is Flooding as part of their new works festival, and he sang Father Truelove in The Rake’s Progress with Lakes Area Music Festival. Mr. Thompson made house débuts with Washington National Opera as both Der Pfleger des Orest and Ein alter Diener in Elektra, with Fort Worth Opera as Il Re in Aida, and with Utah Opera as Sparafucile in Rigoletto. In concert, Mr. Thompson returned to Opera Omaha for an Opera Outdoors Concert with scenes as the title role in Boito’s Mefistofele; he sang with Roanoke Opera for their Opera Gems Gala Concert; he sang Verdi’s Requiem with Eureka Symphony; and with Odyssey Opera, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Troika: The Old Gyspy in Aleko, Ivan in The Miserly Knight, and The Ghost of Virgil in Francesca da Rimini. Thompson also joined Bard Music Festival for two rarely heard works, singing Canterbury in Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII and Pistol in Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love. He performed Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with San Antonio Opera; the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila with Bob Jones Opera; Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Nashville Opera; the First Nazarene in Salome with Tulsa Opera; Oroveso in Norma with Festival Opera; and he was seen in the world premiere of Southern Crossings by Zaid Jabri at Barnard College in New York City. Concert engagements included Verdi’s Requiem with Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Florida Orchestra, and performances with Roanoke Opera.

In the pandemic season of 2020/21, Mr. Thompson made his début in Bulgaria with State Opera Ruse singing the role of Polonius in the world premiere of Hamlet by Joseph Summer. In the same season, Thompson was seen in Rigoletto twice: as Sparafucile with Shreveport Opera and as Monterone with Tulsa Opera. Thompson also joined Tulsa Opera for their Greenwood Overcomes concert, in addition to engagements with Pocono Mountains Music Festival and Opera Omaha.

Mr. Thompson has performed under the baton of many an esteemed conductor in opera houses and concert venues throughout the world, including Austria, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, South America, Switzerland, and the United States. Thompson has made débuts with New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Carolina, Bard Opera, National Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, Opera Santa Barbara, Odyssey Opera, Hannover Staatsoper, Fundación Teatro Nacional Sucre in Ecuador, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Hong Kong Opera, Teatro Regio di Parma, State Opera Ruse, Theater Kiel, the Gasteig in Munich, and the Wexford Opera.

Mr. Thompson’s previous roles include: Ramfis and Il Re (Aida); Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail); Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte); Mephistophélès (Faust); Oroveso (Norma); Sparafucile and Monterone (Rigoletto); Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos); Banco (Macbeth); Lodovico (Otello); Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni); Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor); Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia); The Old Gypsy (Aleko); Colline (La bohème); Judge Turpin (Sweeney Todd); Ned (Treemonisha); El Capitán (Florencia en el Amazonas); Hans Schwartz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg); and Stefano Colonna (Rienzi). On the concert stage, Thompson’s engagements have included Verdi’s Requiem; Mozart’s Requiem; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater; Haydn’s The Creation and Lord Nelson Mass; and Stravinsky’s Les Noces.

Mr. Thompson was born in Washington, D.C. He is an alumnus of The Juilliard School in New York, San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola program, and the Santa Fe Opera program. Recordings include Verdi’s Requiem with Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, Dessau’s Haggadah shel Pesach with the American Symphony Orchestra, Rice’s Thy will be done with the National Choral Society, Polonius in Joseph Summer’s Hamlet with Navona Records, and King Soliman in Gounod’s La reine de Saba with Odyssey Opera.

This season, Mr. Martinez makes house débuts at Virginia Opera as the King of Egypt in Aida and Opera Southwest to sing the role of Cesar Chavez in Dolores. Additionally, he will return to his expressive Baloo for Resonance Works’ production of The Jungle Book at the Andrew Carnegie Music Hall in Pennsylvania. Last season, Mr. Martinez made several company débuts across the country, joining Des Moines Metro Opera as the Second Soldier in Salome, portraying Zuñiga in Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s production of Carmen, and joining the Spoleto Festival to sing the role of Palémon in Thais. In addition, he portrayed the role of Osvaldo in Washington National Opera’s AOI presentation of Tati, a new commission by Kyle Brenn and Lex Brown.

Mr. Martinez’s other notable engagements as a Cafritz Young Artist at Washington National Opera include a Look-In performance of Banquo in Macbeth, in addition to appearances as the Judge Advocate General in the world premiere of Grounded and the Innkeeper/Ox in The Lion, Unicorn, and Me. Moreover, his engagements at The Glimmerglass Festival include Frère Laurent in Romeo et Juliette, Zuñiga in Carmen, and covering Don Petronio in Tenor Overboard. Mr. Martinez’s repertoire further includes roles like Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Colline in La Bohème, and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In 2023, Martinez composed, produced, and performed his first opera in four acts entitled ¡Dime! in collaboration with librettist Bailey Merlin. In addition, Martinez recently premiered three of his newest compositions: Mestizaje (mezzo-soprano and piano), Mundane (bass voice, electronics, and piano), and Canciones Campesinas (bass voice and piano).

Mr. Martinez graduated with his MM from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his time in Illinois, Martinez was the recipient of the Stotler Fellowship, the Golden Lyre Award, and the Sara de Mundo Lo Award. Mr. Martinez also graduated with his MMA in opera from Yale University, where he was awarded the prestigious Phyllis Curtin Award. He also received first prize and the Linus Lerner prize at the first international singing competition of Colombia.

This season brings several exciting engagements for Ms. Nansteel including a return to The Metropolitan Opera as Teresa in La Sonnambula, a house début with Minnesota Opera for the world premiere production of B.E. Boykin and Harrison David River’s My Name is Florence, Mrs. Miller in Douglas J. Cuomo and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt for Opera Parallele, and a return to North Carolina

Opera to sing her acclaimed Azucena in Il trovatore. On the concert stage, she will début at the San Juan Symphony as a featured soloist in Edward Elgar’s The Music Makers and return to the Kalamazoo Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No.3.

Last season, Ms. Nansteel created the role of civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer in White Snake Project’s world premiere production of Is This America?. She also joined Chicago Opera Theater to sing the role of civil rights pioneer JoAnn Robinson in the world premiere of Jasmine Barnes and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s She Who Dared. In addition, Ms. Nansteel made her house début with Opera Colorado as Azucena in Il trovatore, returned to Dayton Opera as Amneris in Aida, and returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to perform Baba in The Rake’s Progress and Mama Cordero in the world premiere of Derek Bermel and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street.

Nansteel recently had house débuts with Los Angeles Opera as Aunt Lou in Highway 1, USA and The Atlanta Opera as Roßweiße in Die Walküre. She also performed the roles of Azucena in Il trovatore with Opera Santa Barbara and Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel with Opera San Antonio. As a concert soloist, Nansteel was seen with the Utah Symphony in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and act three of Wozzeck, she joined the American Symphony Orchestra as the Israelitish Man in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus under Mo. Leon Botstein, and she appeared in the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s Fire and Blue Sky commissioned by Russell Thomas for Los Angeles Opera.

Previous engagements included a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Annina in La Traviata and for their concert tour of Otello, and her house début with San Francisco Opera in their productions of Eugene Onegin and Dialogues des Carmélites. Nansteel also débuted the role of Amneris in Aida for both Opera Grand Rapids and Finger Lakes Opera, performed Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel for New Orleans Opera, appeared as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem for Orchestra Iowa, and performed the role of Mother Abbess in Suor Angelica for Opera Omaha.

She made her début with The Metropolitan Opera as Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, 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. She performed the role of Mother in the world premiere of Blind Injustice with Cincinnati Opera and participated in Glimmerglass Opera Festival’s digital production of Jungle Book as Raksha.

Since her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she has returned for Nabucco, Il Trovatore, as Siegrune in Die Walküre, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She originated the role of Lucinda in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s adaptation of Charles Frazier’s thrilling novel Cold Mountain at Santa Fe Opera. Other notable engagements include Granma in The Grapes of Wrath with Michigan Opera Theatre, a reprisal of the role of Lucinda in Cold Mountain with North Carolina Opera, the role of Grace in The Summer King with Michigan Opera Theatre, Second Lady in The Magic Flute with the Pacific Symphony, The Mother in The Consul with Opera Saratoga, Jake Heggie’s The Work at Hand for the Mainly Mozart Festival, Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Elvira Griffiths in An American Tragedy, and Mary in Der fliegende Holländer with Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Berta in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program.

Ms. Nansteel completed the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, where she performed many roles including Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Curra (cover Preziosilla) in La forza del destino, Paula (cover) in Florencia en el Amazonas, as part of a world-premiere performance of Douglas Pew and Dara Weinberg’s new opera Penny, as well as The Cat in Tony Award- winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me. As a mainstage artist, Nansteel returned there as Flora in La Traviata, Dame Marthe in Faust, which she also performed at Dayton Opera, as Emilia in Otello, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, and as the Marquise of Berkenfield in La fille du regiment with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which is featured in the documentary film RBG.

Sought after for her performances on the concert stage, Ms. Nansteel has performed Händel’s Messiah with the Memphis Symphony and Charleston Symphony; John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs with the Oregon Mozart Players; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Seattle Symphony and Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico in Milan under the baton of Maestro Xian Zhang; the role of Brigitta in Bard Music Festival’s Die tote Stadt in concert; and various additional concerts including Stravinsky’s Les noces, Penderecki’s Credo, and Israel and Egypt.

A house favorite of Seattle Opera, Ms. Nansteel made her main stage début as La suora infermiera in Suor Angelica, sang Juno and Ino in Semele, and Foreign Woman in The Consul. As a former member of Seattle Opera’s young artist program, she sang Giulietta in Un giorno di regno and Maddalena in Rigoletto.

Ms. Nansteel is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where she earned an Artist Diploma in Opera and a Master of Music in Voice. At CCM, she performed the roles of Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Marguerite in La damnation de Faust, Mother Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites, Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, and Mother Goose in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. She also received Bachelor of Music degrees in both Vocal Performance and Vocal Jazz Studies from East Carolina University and currently studies with Diana Soviero.

Recent awards include Second Place in the Sun Valley Opera competition in Seattle, the Andrew White Award and Seybold/Russel Award in the Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition, and a National Orpheus Vocal Competition Award. She also recently earned the highly esteemed Betty Allen Award and a grant from the Sullivan Foundation.

For her performance as in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Opera News wrote, “The incandescent Indira Mahajan as Bess performed an unforgettable performance. Mahajan’s experience shows, not only in her detailed acting, but also in the exquisite way she shapes her vocal lines. It is a wonderful instrument.”

Ms. Mahajan is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Marian Anderson Award, alongside notable performers such as Denyce Graves, Angel Blue, and Lawrence Brownlee. She is also the recipient of the Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award from Dallas Opera and New York City Opera’s Debut Artist of the Year.

Recent performances include her debut with Atlanta Opera in Water Memory by Kitty Brazelton, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Thumbprint by Kamala Sankaram. Operatic highlights include leading roles in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, I Vespri Siciliani, Aida, La Traviata,  Puccini’s Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Suor Angelica, La Bohème, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Lucia di Lammermoor.

Indira Mahajan has performed on the stages of many of the world’s premier opera houses, including Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra Comique and Théâtre de Caen in France, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Frankfurt, Hannover Staatsoper, Teatro Massimo Bellini, Oper Leipzig, Komische Oper Berlin, Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, she has performed with New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Dayton Opera, Virginia Opera, Orlando Opera, Portland Opera, and has been on the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Her concert appearances include performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, l’Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gustavo Dudamel’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela, and the Dallas Symphony at Carnegie Hall.

She can be heard on the Naxos recording with the Dallas Symphony conducted by Jaap van Sweden, and has been heard live as Aida, Madame Butterfly, Mimi in La Bohème, and Nedda in I Pagliacci on Public Radio, and has been seen in performance on “Live From Lincoln Center”

Born in New York City, Indira Mahajan began her musical journey as a violinist at the age of five. She later studied with her mother and first voice teacher, Juilliard-trained soprano Barbara Ann Mahajan, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father was born in Dalhousie, India, and emigrated to the United States as an Engineering Student, where he studied at New York University and later worked for CBS.  Indira holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, a Master of Music and Advanced Professional Studies diploma from Mannes College of Music, and diplomas from the Accademia Musicale Ottorino Respighi in Italy and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art in New York City. Ms. Mahajan currently serves on the voice faculty at Wagner College in New York.

Last season, Mr. Graves made his Metropolitan Opera debut as 1st Armored Man in The Magic Flute and returned to cover the roles of 1st Armored Man and 2nd Priest in Die Zauberflöte. He also sang Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera in Williamsburg, Rodolfo in La bohème with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Anchorage Opera. This season, he joins Houston Grand Opera as Robbins in their 50th anniversary production of Porgy and Bess, Opera Omaha as a soloist for their Opera Outdoors concert, and Harmonia Orchestra & Chorus as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. He returns to Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera as Alfredo in La traviata and tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He will also make his début with Virginia Opera as Wilson in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Intelligence and Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Haydn’s Theresienmesse.

Mr. Graves recently made a series of notable role and company débuts, including the Duke in Rigoletto with Opera San José, Alfredo in La traviata with Opera Tampa, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. He also performed with the Virginia Symphony in Messiah, the Detroit Opera as Policeman 2 in Blue, and the Berkshire Choral International as the title role in Judas Maccabaeus. He earned critical acclaim as Anatol in Barber’s Vanessa at the Spoleto Festival USA, and his appearance in the Merola Opera Program’s What the Heart Desires earned a San Francisco Chronicle rave for his “superbly bright, clarion sound.”

Edward was a 2022 San Francisco District winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, a 2024 fifth place winner in the Loren L. Zachary Competition, a 2024 second place winner in Cedar Rapids Opera’s Esther & Myron Wilson Vocal Competition, and a 2025 third Place winner in Opera Columbus’ Cooper-Bing Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Towson University and a Master of Music and Performer Diploma in Voice Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

Opera début singing the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance and Giove in La Callisto. He also brought his Pirate King to Knoxville Opera’s Pirates of Penzance, made a role and house début as Kenny Kencaid in Shawn Okpebholo and Mark Campbell’s The Cook Off with Nashville Opera, made his role début as Tonio in Pagliacci, performed Maximillian and Captain in Candide with Opera Tampa, sang Thalasso in the premiere of The Pigeon Keeper with Opera Parallèle, and made concert appearances with the Des Moines Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Grand Rapids Symphony.

Mr. Irvin recently returned to The Atlanta Opera in his role début as Jack Torrance in The Shining, to Madison Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, and reprised his Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Annapolis Opera and his Pirate King in The Pirate of Penzance with Kentucky Opera. Recent engagements also include his role début as Jochanaan in Salome with Madison Opera, his role début as Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Knoxville Opera and Permian Basin Opera, Maximillian in Candide with The Atlanta Opera, the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods with Tulsa Opera, and an appearance with the New West Symphony in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

In recent seasons, he reprised of one of his signature roles – The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance at both The Atlanta Opera and Utah Symphony and Opera. Additionally, he joined Orchestra Iowa for Handel’s Messiah and the Cincinnati May Festival for Candide. During the COVID-affected 2019 and 2020 seasons, Mr. Irvin appeared in concert with Omaha Symphony, and was slated to appear as the title role in Sweeney Todd at Utah Festival Opera and Music Theater, Marcello in La bohème at The Atlanta Opera, in Carmina burana with San Antonio Symphony. Other recent engagements include the revival of his Dan Packard in Dinner at Eight with the Wexford Festival, Lt. Horstmayer in Silent Night with Austin Opera, Valentin in Faust with Opera Omaha, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Portland Symphony, singing Dominik and covering Mandryka in Arabella with Canadian Opera Company, Handel’s Messiah with the Jacksonville Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem with Music Worchester, Stubb in Moby Dick with Utah Opera, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Orlando, and Frank in Die Fledermaus with Des Moines Metro Opera.

While in residence with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, Mr. Irvin was seen as Angelotti in Tosca, Zuniga in Carmen, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sam in A Masked Ball, Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly, Doctor/ Professor in Lulu, and Ashby in La fanciulla del West. Additionally, he covered the roles of Bottom, the title role in The Mikado, the title role in Hercules, Escamillo

in Carmen (a role he sang in the student matinee performance), Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and Brander in Damnation of Faust. Other recent engagements include Lieutenant Horstmayer in the world premiere of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night with Minnesota Opera and subsequent performances with Opera Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and The Atlanta Opera. Additionally he has sung Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Utah Opera, Dan Packard in Dinner at Eight, Mandryka in Arabella, and Peter in Hänsel und Gretel with Minnesota Opera, made his role debut as Macbeth with LoftOpera, sang Escamillo in Carmen with Fort Worth Opera, debuted with Sarasota Opera as Marcello in La bohème and Anchorage Opera in the title role of The Mikado, sang Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance with Nashville Opera and Pensacola Opera, sang Dandini in Pensacola Opera’s La Cenerentola, and performed the Villains in The Tales of Hoffman and Leporello in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera. In addition, he has sung Betto in Gianni Schicchi and 1st Nazarene and Jochanaan/cover in Strauss’ Salome with Canadian Opera Company, covered Paolo in Simon Boccanegra with Los Angeles Opera, sang Orff’s Carmina burana with the Phoenix Symphony, performed Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Saratoga, Ramphis in Aïda with Pensacola Opera, and Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Intermountain Opera and Knoxville Opera.

A winner of the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Award sponsored by Orlando Opera, Mr. Irvin spent a season with the company as a Resident Artist. With Orlando Opera he has sung the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Abimelech in Samson et Dalilah, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Elder Ott in Susannah, and Angelotti in Tosca. While in Orlando, Mr. Irvin also sang the role of Gaston in over 700 performances of Beauty and the Beast at Walt Disney World, MGM. In the course of his graduate work at The University of Tennessee, he performed with the Knoxville Opera as Pooh Bah in The Mikado, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, and Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Reverend Blitch in Susannah and the title role in Sweeney Todd with the Knoxville Opera Studio. A native of Iowa, Mr. Irvin completed his undergraduate study at the Simpson College in Indianola under the tutelage of Dr. Robert L. Larsen.

Maureen’s 2024-2025 season featured a return to one of her signature roles, Gretel in her house debut with Utah Opera for Hänsel und Gretel. She returned to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, essayed Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Jeffrey Kahane and the San Antonio Philharmonic, and joined the Symphony of the Americas for a series of holiday concerts, led by Luke Frazier.

Maureen’s 2023-2024 season featured multiple assignments with The Metropolitan Opera, singing the Shepherd in Tannhäuser, and covering Lisette in La Rondine and Laura Brown in The Hours. Maureen also performed with The American Pops Orchestra at the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Leadership Awards honoring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During the 2022-2023 season, Ms. McKay created the role of Laila in the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns at Seattle Opera, based on the critically acclaimed novel. She also joined The Metropolitan Opera to sing the Second Niece in Peter Grimes and covered Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Adina in L’elisir d’amore. Her many assignments with the Metropolitan Opera in the prior season included singing Echo in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos and covering the leading roles of Pamina in The Magic Flute, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress. Other recent highlights include multiple collaborations with Maestro Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony for Mahler’s 4th Symphony performed in New York City, and Beethoven’s  9th Symphony at Bravo!Vail. She was also seen in an appearance on the PBS Television series One Voice: The Songs We Share.

After making her much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel in the 17/18 season, Ms. McKay returned the following season as Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica. Her other recent notable engagements include her debut with Lincoln Center for their Mostly Mozart Festival as Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of Die Zauberflöte, her mainstage debut with Seattle Opera in her role debut as Léïla in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, appearances with San Diego Opera as Nannetta in Falstaff and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Opera Colorado as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Despina in Così fan tutte, Virginia Opera as Rose in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in returns to Gran Teatre del Liceu and Komische Oper Berlin, as well as The Chekhov International Theatre Festival at The Bolshoi Theatre in the production where she originated the role in 2012 with Barrie Kosky and “1927”.

As a previous member of the ensemble at the Komische Oper Berlin, McKay sang leading roles in the premieres of several new productions that include Blanche in Dialogues des carmélites, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Marzelline in Fidelio. Also with the company, she sang Mozart’s Requiem in performances conducted by music director, Henrik Nánási, as well as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Musetta in La bohème. She returned as a guest to reprise the role of Elisa in a concert performance of Il re pastore.

Among her other previous engagements are Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Philadelphia, Portland Opera, and Tulsa Opera, Nannetta in Falstaff with the Saito Kinen Festival, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Gran Teatre del Liceu, Washington National Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, Portland Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Opera Colorado, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress with Portland Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Cleveland, a return to the Opera Company of Philadelphia for Eurydice in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, Lightfoot McLendon in Cold Sassy Tree and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with The Atlanta Opera, Lilla in Una cosa rara and Elisa in Il re pastore with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Zerlina in Don Giovanni with New Orleans Opera, Despina in Così fan tutte, and Caroline Gaines in Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner with New York City Opera, Opera Saratoga in her debut as Zémire in Zémire et Azor, Musetta in La bohème with Opera Omaha, Norina in Don Pasquale with Anchorage Opera, Lisa in La sonnambula with Washington Concert Opera, and Laurey in Oklahoma! with Central City Opera. She joined Seiji Ozawa for the Sandmännchen and Taumännchen in Hänsel und Gretel in his Ongaku-juku Opera Project throughout Japan and made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Leonard Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl.

The soprano’s concert performances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with The Cleveland Orchestra, Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra for performances of Händel’s Messiah and the Choir and Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice in Génova for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, both under the baton of Fabio Luisi, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Mozart’s Requiem and Debussy’s La demoiselle élue with the Utah Symphony, a program of Viennese music by Lehár and Johann Strauss with the Saint Louis Symphony, Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the Oregon Symphony and Louis Andriessen’s The New Math(s) with the Seattle Chamber Players. With Seattle’s Music of Remembrance, she premiered Lori Laitman’s song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly and sang Aninku in Tony Kushner’s adaptation of Hans Krasa’s Brundibár; a recording including both Brundibár and Laitman’s song cycle is available on the Naxos label. Ms. McKay joined Judith Clurman for The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Festival at the Mozarteum in Salzburg to perform a program of Rogers and Hammerstein classics.

Ms. McKay is a former member of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program and was a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera Company, where she sang Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Ismene in Telemann’s Orpheus, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia (summa cum laude) and her Master of Music at The Ohio State University.

Other recent performances include the Witch in Hansel und Gretel with Opera Saratoga, and Principessa in Suor Angelica and Lady Catherine DeBourgh in Pride and Prejudice with Peabody Opera. On the concert stage, Ms. Byrd recently joined the Metropolitan Opera for their NYC Summer Stage Recital series, appeared as a featured soloist in Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee on the Neck with New York Choral Society, and as Medoro and Alcina in a concert production of Furiosus, a new opera in two acts in collaboration with New York University’s Casa Italiana under the baton of Robert Tweeten. She also joined New Jersey Youth Symphony for Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony,  joined the LyricFest Philadelphia for Cotton, and Peabody Chamber Orchestra for de Falla’s El Amor Bruno.

Ms. Byrd was named a winner of the inaugural Duncan Williams Voice Competition, a voice competition presented by New York City Opera and Manhattan School of Music. She is a grant winner from the Gerda Lissner Voice Competition, a finalist of the Lotte Lenya Voice Competition, winner of the Legacy Award from the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Vocal Competition, a finalist in Opera Ebony’s Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition, and winner of the Peabody Artist Excellence Award. She is an alumna of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera’s apprentice artist program, and Opera Saratoga’s young artist program. She holds degrees from Ohio State University and the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with legendary mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves.