Hampton Roads, Richmond, Fairfax, VA (August 22, 2024) – Virginia Opera is proud to announce the talented artists selected for the prestigious Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Program for the 2024-2025 season. This year’s cohort features four outstanding vocalists: soprano Chase Sanders, mezzo-soprano Aria Minasian, tenor Daniel Esteban Lugo, and baritone Patrick Wilhelm. Each artist brings a unique blend of talent, experience, and passion to the program, furthering Virginia Opera’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of operatic talent.
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor, Adam Turner, conveyed his eagerness to welcome the incoming Emerging Artists – “Every season, we have the privilege and distinct honor to receive over 700 applications for the Herndon Foundation Emerging Artist Program. From a highly competitive field of exceptionally promising young performers, we select over 150 for an in-person audition, and after painstaking consideration, with a sense of great responsibility we select the best performers for our program. This season’s incoming talent represents the cream of the crop, and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to Virginia Opera. Our audiences across the Commonwealth will enjoy getting to know these incredibly talented individuals throughout the season, as they’ll be performing in our mainstage productions as well as appearing in several engaging community events.”
Chase Sanders, Soprano
Soprano Chase Sanders joins Virginia Opera with a rich background of performances. Sanders was most recently seen at Sarasota Opera as an Apprentice Artist. In 2022, she was a young artist with Opera Saratoga where she performed the role of Elder (Sky on Swings) and covered the soprano soloist in Rossini’s Petite messe Solennelle. In the summer of 2023, Chase was a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. There, she covered the title role of Treemonisha. She returned as a GYA this summer to sing the role of Berta/A Notary (The Barber of Seville) and cover Musetta (La bohème).
Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Chase is an alumnae of West Chester University (B.M.) and Indiana University (M.M. and PD). Sanders has also been a recipient of two Laffont Competition encouragement awards at the Michigan and Idaho-Montana Districts. At Virginia Opera, Chase will be singing the role of Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Frasquita (Carmen), role studying Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and will perform in the ensemble as well as cover Mildred Jeter Loving (Loving v. Virginia).
Aria Minasian, Mezzo-Soprano
Hailing from Bainbridge Island, WA, mezzo-soprano Aria Minasian brings her extensive stage experience to the Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Program. Ms. Minasian recently spent the summer as a Studio Artist with Wolf Trap Opera covering Anna 1 in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins and Madeleine in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, as well as performing various opera scenes and mainstage choruses throughout the season. Recently, Aria was the Alto Soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Dexter Community Orchestra for their Bicentennial Concert and debuted with Pacific Symphony as Giovanna in Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Ms. Minasian’s awards include the George Shirley Award (2024), Grand Prize Winner of the Patricia Crump Competition (2023), 1st Place Winner of the Friends of Opera Competition (2021), 2nd Place Winner of the Seattle Opera Guild’s Singers’ Development Awards (2020), Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition Encouragement Award Winner (2020), Region Finalist (2020), and District Winner (2019). Aria studied as a classical pianist for over a decade and received several awards before finding her love of opera as she entered college. Aria recently graduated with her Specialist of Music in Vocal Performance (2024) and Master of Music in Vocal Performance (2022) from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, & Dance receiving a Full Merit Scholarship for both degrees, while studying with mezzo-soprano Freda Herseth. Aria graduated with her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music receiving the Presidential Scholarship, studying with soprano Joanne Bozeman. At Virginia Opera, Aria will perform in the ensemble and cover the role of Zerlina and study cover Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), sing the role of Mercédès (Carmen), role study Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and will perform in the ensemble as well as cover Lola Loving (Loving v. Virginia).
Daniel Esteban Lugo, Tenor
Daniel Esteban Lugo is a first generation Mexican-American tenor from El Paso, Texas. He began his singing career doing opera choruses, including Tosca and Carmen, as a high school student at the El Paso Opera. In the summer of 2023, Daniel joined the Apprentice Artist program at Des Moines Metro Opera where he performed the role of El Remendado in Carmen under the baton of Kelly Kuo. Daniel has since joined Tri-Cities Opera as a resident artist for their 2023–2024 season where he played the Sergeant while covering the Count Almaviva in Barber of Seville, and sang the titular role in the touring outreach opera, Papagayo. Daniel was an emerging artist at the Seagle Festival during their 2021 and 2022 summer seasons where he performed the roles of Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers, Hermosa in Offenbach’s The Island of Tulipatan and covered the role of Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon by Massenet. Most recently, Daniel performed the role of Oronte in Alcina with Lawrence University.
Daniel completed a BM in Vocal Performance (‘20) at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee under the tutelage of Monique Phinney. During this time, Daniel performed a variety of comprimario roles, as well as covered the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale. At Virginia Opera, Daniel will sing the role of Remendado (Carmen), role study Ferrando (Così fan tutte), and will perform in the ensemble as well as cover the roles of Philip Hirschkop, Sheriff, and Judge (Loving v. Virginia).
Patrick Wilhelm, Baritone
Baritone Patrick Wilhelm’s sound has been praised as “ardent” and “burnished” (Broad Street Review), as well as having a “distinctive timbre” (Philadelphia Magazine) and “gorgeously plush color” (Parterre Box). This summer, Patrick works with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, covering the roles of Schaunard in La bohéme and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville. In the 2023-24 season, Patrick returned to the Curtis Institute of Music to give performances of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Angélica Negrón’s Dóabin with Ensemble 20/21. He also returned to Wolf Trap Opera last summer as a Studio Artist, where he covered Valentin in Gounod’s Faust. In 2022, Patrick was engaged by Wolf Trap Opera as Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata and Elder McLean (cover) in Floyd’s Susannah. Following this, he appeared with the Greater South Jersey Chorus as the soloist in Vaughn Williams’ Five Mystical Songs.
Among many highlights of Patrick’s studies at Curtis are a film adaptation of Blitzstein’s Triple-Sec in the role of Hopkins, directed by Alek Shrader; Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte; Paul in Rene Orth’s Empty the House (a co-production between Opera Philadelphia and Curtis); and a concert appearance of Mozart opera ensembles under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. At Virginia Opera, Patrick will be performing in main stage productions of Don Giovanni (Masetto) and Carmen (Le Dancaïre). Additionally, he performs in the ensemble and covers the roles of Richard Loving and Bernard Cohen in the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia.
The Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Program, one of the most competitive in the nation, offers unparalleled training, performance opportunities, and industry connections to its artists. This year, the program received over 700 applications for a select few contracts. Emerging Artists participate in mainstage productions, educational tours, recitals, and special events, while receiving mentorship from Virginia Opera’s Artistic Director Adam Turner and other distinguished professionals throughout the season.
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Virginia Opera, the official opera company of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is one of the finest regional opera companies in the nation and is the only company to perform regularly in three separate main stage venues: the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, the Carpenter Theatre at the Dominion Energy Center in Richmond, and Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax. Organized in 1974, Virginia Opera is respected nationwide for the identification and presentation of the finest young artists, for the musical and dramatic integrity of its productions, and for the ingenuity and variety of its education and outreach programs.
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