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Photography of front cover artwork by Tyree Guyton, "Cover
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AS OF JANUARY 1, 2026
CHAIR
Ethan D. Davidson
VICE CHAIR
Mary Kramer
VICE CHAIR
Denise J. Lewis
VICE CHAIR
Don Manvel
PRESIDENT/CEO
Patty Isacson Sabee
SECRETARY
Gene P. Bowen
TREASURER
Bharat C. Gandhi
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
R. Jamison Williams
Naomi André
Lisa S. Applebaum
Bettye Arrington-Martin
Richard A. Brodie
Kevin Dennis
Lisa M. DiChiera
Shauna Ryder Diggs
Enrico DiGirolamo
Maria C. Duey
Fern R. Espino
Paul E. Ewing
Mary Ann Fontana
Ellen Hill Zeringue
Julie Hollinshead
John W. Ingle III
Barbara Kratchman
Arthur C. Liebler
Dexter Mason
Ali Moiin
Donald Morelock
Allan Nachman
Ann Nicholson
Sara Pozzi
Carrie Pryor
Paul Ragheb
Irvin D. Reid
Evan D. Ross
Nedda Shayota
Terry Shea
Matthew Simoncini
Richard A. Sonenklar
Lorna Thomas
Jesse Venegas
Barbara Walkowski
Gary L. Wasserman
Michael Wellman DIRECTORS EMERITI
Shelly Cooper
Marianne Endicott
Marjorie M. Fisher
Herman Frankel
Dean Friedman
Jennifer Nasser
Charlotte Podowski
C. Thomas Toppin
Richard Webb
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
AS OF JANUARY 1, 2026
Lourdes V. Andaya
Naomi André
Lisa S. Applebaum
Harold Mitchell Arrington
Bettye Arrington-Martin
Barbra Bloch
Gene P. Bowen
Richard Brodie
Charles D. Bullock
Thomas Cohn
Ethan D. Davidson
Gretchen Davidson
Kevin Dennis
Cristina DiChiera
Lisa M. DiChiera
Shauna Ryder Diggs
Enrico DiGirolamo
Kathleen DiGirolamo
Debbie Dingell
Mary Jane Doerr
Linda Dresner
Maria C. Duey
Kenneth Eisenberg
Fern R. Espino
Paul E. Ewing
Mary Sue Ewing
Margo Cohen Feinberg
Robert Feinberg
Carl Fontana
Mary Ann Fontana
Bharat C. Gandhi
Lynn Gandhi
Mara Ghafari
Yousif Ghafari
Toby Haberman
Gregory Haynes
Julie Hollinshead
John Ingle III
Tara Ingle
Patty Isacson Sabee
Stephanie Germack Kerzic
Ellen Hill Zeringue
Meredith Korneffel
Mary Kramer
Barbara Kratchman
William Kupsky
Ed Levy Jr.
Denise J. Lewis
Arthur C. Liebler
Nancy Liebler
Marian Loginsky
Stephan Loginsky
Mary Alice Lomason
Don Manvel
Jack Martin
Dexter Mason
Benjamin Meeker
Ronald Michalak
Ali Moiin
Donald Morelock
Antoinette Benjamin Morelock
Allan Nachman
Joy Nachman
Linda Orlans
Myrna Partrich
Spencer Partrich
Margaret Pehrson
Sara Pozzi
Waltraud Prechter
Carrie Pryor
Ted Pryor
Amy Ragheb
Paul Ragheb
Irvin D. Reid
Pamela Trotman Reid
Evan Ross
Kelsey Ross
Anthony Rugiero
Sabrina Rugiero
David Sabee
Bret Scott
Nedda Shayota
Terry Shea
Thomas Short*
Matthew Simoncini
Mona Simoncini
Sheila Sloan
Richard A. Sonenklar
Mary Ann Stella
Lorna Thomas
Jesse Venegas
Yesenia Venegas
Amy Voigt
Jeff Voigt
Barbara Walkowski
Gary L. Wasserman
Michael Wellman
Karen Williams
R. Jamison Williams
Jeremy Zeltzer
TRUSTEES EMERITI
Augustin Arbulu
Dodie David
Larry David
Dede Feldman
Aviva Friedman
Mary Happel
Ellen Kahn
Robert Klein
Wally Klein
Charles Powdowski
Marjorie Sandy
Roberta Starkweather
Bernie Toppin
Mary Lou Zieve
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Lynn & Ruth Townsend*
Avern & Joyce Cohn*
John & Mardell* De Carlo
David DiChiera*
Karen VanderKloot DiChiera*
Aaron & Bernice Gershenson*
Donald & Josephine Graves*
Roman & Katherine Gribbs*
John & Gwendolyn Griffin*
Harry & Jennie Jones*
Wade & Dores McCree*
Harry J. Nederlander*
E. Harwood Rydholm*
Neil & Phyllis* F. Snow
Richard & Beatrice Strichartz*
Robert & Clara “Tuttie” VanderKloot*
Sam & Barbara Williams*
Theodore & Virginia Yntema*
KEY
*Deceased
FREEDOM OF ’76
Director’s Note
John Cage wrote Apartment House 1776 for America’s bicentennial in 1976. The work brings together music from the Revolutionary era in a collage-like way, with singers performing overlapping songs connected to their spiritual or cultural traditions. At the same time, an orchestra—represented in this production by 33 members of the Detroit Opera Orchestra— selects and plays from a collection of Cage’s arrangements of period music, including popular songs, dance tunes, and military marches.
In our production, Apartment House 1776 is reimagined as an operatic installation in which four singers become “guides” on dream-like spiritual journeys, criss-crossing and converging through four connected galleries in the Cranbrook Art Museum. During our development process, we interviewed the singers about 1776 through the lens of 2026. The phrases you see on the walls were their responses as they meditated on the question: What does 1776 mean to you?
Cage dreamed of a space where performer and audience alike would be accorded a revolutionary amount of freedom. Rather than layering my own meaning onto the piece, I have sought to illumine the deeper layers of memory, legacy, desire, and dream latent in each individual singer. Their journeys intertwine in an abstract landscape of historical America, a country George Washington referred to as “the last great experiment.”
—Alexander Sulen Gedeon
BY
PHOTO
AUSTIN T. RICHEY
SCAN TO SUPPORT THE FUTURE OF OPERA
John Cage’s Apartment House of Sound
What forms of listening become possible when hierarchy loosens, and the edges of the frame begin to speak?
By Austin T. Richey, PhD
John Cage is one of those artists whose name often arrives before the music does. For many listeners, he is already a myth: the composer of silence, chance, mushrooms, prepared pianos, noise, and happenings; the man who supposedly threw open the doors of classical music and let chaos pour in. That myth is not entirely wrong. Cage did more than perhaps any major 20thcentury composer to unsettle inherited ideas about music, authorship, beauty, intention, and control. But it is also incomplete.
Cage was not simply interested in randomness, and he was not an apostle of disorder.
BY
PHOTO
AUSTIN T. RICHEY
He was interested in what happens when control is redefined. His work does not abolish structure; it redistributes it. It asks whether music can be organized without being dominated, whether listening can become more open without becoming passive, and whether sound can reveal forms of life that are usually edited out of attention.
Detroit Opera’s presentation of Apartment House 1776 at Cranbrook
Art Museum offers a vivid way into these questions. The work, created for the American bicentennial in 1976, is not a patriotic pageant or a neat historical tableau. It is a piece built from simultaneity: overlapping sounds, shifting proximities, separate musical strands encountered in motion. Audiences do not sit before a single stage and receive a fixed dramatic line. They move through space. They choose routes. They hear one voice clearly while another slips away. They turn a corner and the whole acoustic balance changes.
The title is one of Cage’s most revealing images. An apartment house is not a monument. It is not a palace, a cathedral, or a perfectly unified national symbol. It is a shared structure made of separate rooms, thin walls, adjoining lives, overheard sounds, and partial knowledge. Someone sings down the hall. A radio hums in another room. A conversation drifts through a doorway. Nothing is fully isolated, and nothing belongs entirely to one listener. For Cage, that becomes both a musical and social metaphor: America not as a single voice, but as
a building full of adjacent voices. That image has particular force in relation to 1776. Much music about the United States has reached for anthem, declaration, or broad national sweep. Cage chose something stranger and more revealing. His America is not one perfectly tuned chorus. It is an architecture of coexistence, filled with memory, ritual, contradiction, silence, and echo. Rather than forcing historical materials into agreement, Apartment House 1776 lets them occupy the same acoustic world without pretending they mean the same thing.
This is where the frequent charge of chaos begins to fall apart. Cage famously used chance operations throughout his career, often drawing on the I Ching to make compositional decisions. From the outside, this can sound like surrender: the composer steps back and lets accident replace craft. But Cage’s use of chance was something different: a disciplined method for loosening the grip of personal taste. The composer still designs the conditions. The work still unfolds within a frame. Surprise is built into the system, but the system matters.
Unpredictability is not the same as formlessness.
Apartment House 1776 is associated with Cage’s “musicircus” idea, in which multiple musical events happen simultaneously without being forced into exact coordination.
The result may feel open, mobile, and unpredictable, but that openness has been composed. The order no longer looks like one line moving from beginning to end. It looks more like a city, a building, or an ecosystem: patterned, dense, porous, and alive. Opera has always known something about multiplicity. Mozart’s great ensembles allow characters to sing conflicting truths at the same time, with the music holding them together without erasing their differences. Verdi brings private feeling into contact with public life through the chorus. Wagner builds orchestral worlds in which layers of meaning press against one another. Even opera’s most chaotic scenes are usually organized from above with extraordinary precision. Confusion is represented, but the composer remains in command.
Cage changes the terms. Instead of standing above the field and sculpting total coherence, he permits coexistence without full synthesis. There is still design, but it is a design of independence. Apartment House 1776 can feel both operatic and anti-operatic at once. It uses voices, space, ritualized listening, and theatrical encounter— things opera knows well. But it releases them from the centralized command structure that opera often depends on.
At Cranbrook Art Museum, the work can unfold as an environment rather than a conventional event. Museums teach a particular kind of attention. You move, pause, compare, return. You notice something from a distance, then encounter it differently up close. Meaning accumulates through movement and juxtaposition.
Cage’s music works beautifully in that mode. Space is not merely the container for the sound; it becomes part of the composition.
Cranbrook has an important place in Cage’s Michigan story. Cage’s connections to this region began early. Born in Los Angeles in 1912, he moved with his family to Detroit in 1919. His father, John Milton Cage, was an inventor whose work ranged from submarine devices to automotive engineering. His mother, Lucretia “Crete” Cage, was active in many women’s civic organizations. The young Cage’s Detroit years placed him near two powerful forms of modern life: machinery and civic conversation. His father’s work in engineering and acoustical technology, including the hydrophone and sonobuoy, made sound part of the family’s atmosphere in a practical and experimental sense. His mother’s world of women’s clubs gave him another model of social organization: gatherings, forums, public speech, shared rooms, collective listening. It would be too simple to say that these experiences directly explain his later art. But they form a suggestive background for a composer who would spend his life asking how sound, society, and attention might be rearranged.
Cage returned to Michigan repeatedly as an established artist. In the 1960s and 1970s, he performed and taught in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Interlochen, and Cranbrook.
He appeared with Merce Cunningham, performed with David Tudor, and participated in events that brought his work into contact with students, dancers, visual artists, and experimental audiences. At Interlochen in 1972, he redirected a composition workshop toward silence, listening, and even mushroom foraging. At Cranbrook in 1974, he worked with visual artists, foraged in the gardens, opened the exhibition Music-Mushrooms-Manuscripts, and presented a concert titled John Cage Listens to John Cage.
That title is funny, but it is also serious. Cage’s art is often about the act of listening as much as the production of sound. His most famous work, 4’33” , premiered in 1952, instructs the performer not to play during its three movements. The piece does not present silence as emptiness. It reveals that silence, in any actual room, is full of life: coughs, air systems, shifting bodies, traffic, nervous laughter, the weather outside. The point is not that “anything is music” in a lazy sense. The point is that listening can change the status of what is already there.
This idea continued to develop across Cage’s career. In works like Child of Tree, premiered in Detroit during a Merce Cunningham Dance Company engagement at Music Hall in 1975, Cage turned toward plant materials as instruments: cactus spines plucked or brushed, pods rattled, organic matter made audible. The piece is sparse, subtle, and
philosophical. It asks the performer to clarify time through fragile sounds rather than dominate it through conventional musical force. Even here, Cage’s attention to nature is not sentimental. It is procedural, curious, and exacting.
Seen from this wider perspective, Apartment House 1776 is not an isolated provocation. It gathers many of Cage’s central concerns: chance, coexistence, silence, space, non-hierarchical listening, and the refusal of a single authoritative perspective.
No listener can grasp the whole work at once. That is not a failure of communication. It is the communication. You hear from where you are. Someone else hears differently. The work exists among those partial experiences.
That may be one reason Cage still unsettles classical music. Much of the classical tradition prizes strongly authored objects: symphonies, sonatas, operas, works that develop, argue, return, and resolve. Cage does not reject those achievements: He shows that they are not the only model for serious art. Meaning can emerge from attention rather than domination. Structure can appear as openness. Form can be built from relationships rather than commands.
This matters especially as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary. Cage’s bicentennial work feels less like a commemorative object than a provocation. What does it mean to hear a nation not as a single story, but as overlapping rooms? What happens when voices do not collapse into agreement?
What forms of listening become possible when hierarchy loosens and
the
edges
of the
frame begin to speak?
For Detroit Opera, these questions also expand what opera itself can be. Opera is not only plot, character, spectacle, and frontal grandeur. It can also be immersion, encounter, distance, memory, and the drama of sounds sharing space. In Apartment House 1776, voice remains central, but it moves through a field of relations. It becomes something to find, lose, overhear, approach, and remember. The opposite of chaos, in Cage, is not order in the ordinary sense. It is not control from above, and it is not a patriotic unison. It is coexistence with form. That is a harder kind of order to perceive. An apartment house of sound is not tidy. It is porous, layered, unfinished, and shared. That is exactly what gives it life. Rather than asking everyone to sing the same tune, Cage asks whether we can hear one another across rooms. In that question, Apartment House 1776 remains startlingly current: a disciplined, generous, and deeply American experiment in listening.
Austin T. Richey is a musician and multimedia artist based in Detroit. His research and practice explore Afrofuturist improvisation, Detroit’s sonic heritage, and DIY synth-making as a tool for deep listening and self-expression.
Richey has published original research in African Music, Sonic Signatures: Music, Migration and the City at Night, and has contributed research to the award-winning Public Broadcasting Service digital series Sound Field. His visual work has been published in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Ebony, The Wall Street Journal, among others. His research is supported by the Frederick Douglass Institute, the Society for American Music, Humanities New York, the Knight Foundation, and the Presser Foundation.
Richey is the Storyteller for Detroit Opera, a member of the Liberal Arts faculty at College for Creative Studies, and an instructor at Western Michigan University’s Gilmore School of Music.
ONE SEVEN SEVEN SIX. TWO ZERO TWO SIX. YOU WALK THROUGH THE ROADS OF A COLONIAL SETTLEMENT. ACROSS THE STREET, FROM THE WINDOW OF THE APARTMENT HOUSE, SOMEONE IS SINGING WHILE THEY WORK. SOON, THE RENT WILL BE DUE. FROM ANOTHER WINDOW: ANOTHER APARTMENT HOUSE, ANOTHER SINGER, ANOTHER SONG. ON YOUR PATH: THE TWO VOICES CONVERGE IN A SPACE THAT IS NEITHER HERE—NOR THERE—NOR THERE—BUT SOME PLACE IN BETWEEN—
ON YOUR WAY TO THE PERFORMANCE TODAY YOU READIED YOURSELF FOR THE SOUNDS YOU WERE GOING TO HEAR. AN OPERA, BUT NOT. A COMPOSER YOU’VE HEARD OF, AND KNOW. A COMPOSER YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF, AND DON’T KNOW. YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO THE OPERA. YOU CAME EARLY AND READIED YOURSELF. IN YOUR CAR: THE MUSIC OF YOUR STREAMING SERVICE, THE HUM OF THE TIRES SPINNING OVER THE ROAD, THE RUSH OF THE WIND PASSING OUTSIDE, LIKE AN ACCIDENTAL CHORUS OF VOICES. YOU KNEW THAT YOU WOULD HEAR SOMETHING NEW. YOU KNEW THAT YOU WOULD SEE SOMETHING NEW— YOU LISTEN, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WILL HEAR. YOU LISTEN, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WILL SEE. YOU LISTEN, AND DRAW COMFORT AND ASSURANCE THAT YOU WILL LISTEN IN THE RIGHT WAY. YOU REST EASY, KNOWING THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE JOURNEY AHEAD, ONE SEVEN SEVEN SIX. YOU ARE ASSURED THAT YOU HAVE THE TOOLS TO EXPERIENCE THE JOURNEY THE RIGHT WAY. YOU WILL ENCOUNTER THE FAMILIAR. YOU WILL ENCOUNTER THE
UNFAMILIAR. BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU’LL BE ABLE TO WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND WHERE YOU’VE BEEN. YOU’LL BE ABLE TO APPREHEND WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. YOU’LL BE ABLE TO CAPTURE IT INTO WORDS—
THE FIRST PLAN FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE WAS CONCEIVED FIVE ZERO YEARS AGO IN ONE NINE SEVEN SIX. THE PLANNER WAS THINKING ABOUT THE TIME TWO ZERO ZERO YEARS BEFORE. THOUGH THE PLANNER WAS A COMPOSER, FOR THIS PLAN, HE WROTE NO MUSIC. THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR FOUR SINGERS TO CHOOSE THEIR SONGS BASED ON THEIR SPIRITUAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITIES. THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR THE SINGERS TO SING THE SONGS THEY WANTED WHEN THEY WANTED TO SING THEM, AS IF THEY WERE ALONE, AND NOT WITH EACH OTHER, SINGING AT A CONCERT. THE RADIO, THE WIND, THE SOUND OF THE TIRES ON THE ROAD, THE CAR HORN HONKING BEHIND YOU: SEPARATE BUT EQUAL, EQUALLY SEPARATE AND SIMULTANEOUS—
THE ORCHESTRA PLAYERS WOULD ALSO CHOOSE WHAT MUSIC THEY WOULD PLAY ON THEIR INSTRUMENTS. THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR THE ORCHESTRA PLAYERS TO CHOOSE MUSIC THAT WHITE MEN WROTE AROUND THE TIME OF ONE SEVEN SEVEN SIX , AND PLAY IT AS IF THEY WERE ALONE, AND NOT WITH EACH OTHER, PLAYING AT A CONCERT—
THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR A FIELD OF SOUND IN WHICH THE MUSIC THE MUSICIANS PLAYED AND THE SONGS THE SINGERS SANG WOULD EXIST SEPARATELY BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY, TOGETHER AND EQUAL—
THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR THE AMERICAN INDIAN VOICE TO BE HEARD, BUT THE PLANNER DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE INDIGENOUS VOICE AND THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE INDIGENOUS BODIES BURIED BENEATH THE VOICE. THE PLANNER PLANNED FOR THE NEGRO VOICE TO BE HEARD BUT DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE BLACK VOICE AND THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE BLACK BODIES BURIED BENEATH THE VOICE. THE VOICES WERE TREATED EQUALLY, WHICH MEANS THEY DID NOT HAVE SPECIAL TREATMENT WITH REGARD TO THE OTHER VOICES IN THE FIELD: THE EXPLOSION OF FIREWORKS, THE SNAP OF THE ROPE, THE CRACK OF GUNFIRE, THE SCREAM, AND THE SCREAMS BURIED BENEATH THE SCREAM, THE SOUND OF THE SILENCE, AND THE SILENCING, TOGETHER AND EQUAL, SEPARATE AND SIMULTANEOUS—
SILENT, TOGETHER, SEPARATE, SIMULTANEOUS: YOU WONDER WHERE THIS IS GOING. YOU WONDER WHERE YOU ARE GOING. YOU WONDER WHAT THIS WILL ALL MEAN. TWO ZERO TWO SIX. A SPEAKER IS SPEAKING AND THE SILENCE BENEATH THE SPEAKER IS SPEAKING. THE SPEAKER CANNOT TELL YOU WHAT THIS MEANS. THE SPEAKER WILL HAVE SPOKEN, AND YOU WILL BE ALONE. THE PLANNER AND THE SPEAKER KNEW YOU WOULD EVENTUALLY BE ALONE, MAKING SENSE OF ALL OF THIS—
ALONE, TOGETHER, SEPARATE, SIMULTANEOUS: YOU WILL SOON FIND YOURSELF ON ONE OF FOUR PATHS. ON THE PATH YOU WILL ENCOUNTER A GUIDE. THE PATHS, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, BEGIN SEPARATELY. YOUR GUIDE WILL LEAD
YOU ON THE PATH, BUT BEFORE LONG THE PATHS WILL BEGIN TO CROSS. WILL YOU STAY WITH YOUR GUIDE, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR? OR WILL YOU ALTER COURSE AND CHANGE TRAJECTORY ONTO A NEW PATH, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE? WHERE WILL YOUR INTUITION LEAD YOU?—
AS THE CLOCK TICK-TICK-TICKS DOWN THREE TWO MINUTES, ALL PATHS WILL CONVERGE: TWO, ZERO, TWO, SIX, ONE, SEVEN, SEVEN, SIX—
WHAT WILL YOU SEE? WHAT WILL YOU NOT SEE? WHAT WILL YOU HEAR? WHAT WILL YOU NOT HEAR? WHERE WILL YOU LOOK? WHERE WILL YOU NOT LOOK?—
WHAT WILL ONE SEVEN SEVEN SIX MEAN TO YOU?
WE WANT TO KNOW. AFTER THE JOURNEY, STAY WITH US, TELL US, AND EACH OTHER. SHARE WHAT YOU HEARD, WHAT YOU SAW. TELL WHAT THEY SAID, WHAT THEY DID, WHAT YOU THOUGHT, HOW YOU FELT—
IN ONE ZERO MINUTES, THE TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICKTICK WILL BEGIN—
IN OBSERVANCE OF THE REVOLUTION, IN RECOGNITION OF THE URGE TO BE LIBERATED FROM TYRANNY, AS PAST MERGES WITH PRESENT MERGES WITH FUTURE, WE WELCOME YOU IN JOY AND GRATITUDE TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY—
[a bell rings four times]
TEXT BY ALEXANDER SULEN GEDEON & KEE-YOON NAHM
These performances of Apartment House 1776 are presented with support from:
This activity is supported in part by an award from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.
CONCEPT JOHN CAGE DIRECTOR ALEXANDER SULEN GEDEON
WORLD PREMIERE:
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, PERFORMED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH CAGE'S RENGA , SEPTEMBER 29, 1976
PRODUCTION PREMIERE:
DETROIT OPERA, CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM, MAY 21, 2026
SCENOGRAPHER LENA SANDS DRAMATURG KEE-YOON NAHM
POST-SHOW FACILITATORS
STEPHEN A. BERREY
BETHANY HUGHES
KEE-YOON NAHM
No photography or video is allowed during the performance. Please silence all phones.
RUN TIME: 90 MINUTE EXPERIENCE
PRE-SHOW TALK AND PATH SELECTION: 30 MIN
PERFORMANCE: 32 MIN
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: 30 MIN
DETROIT OPERA ORCHESTRA
Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local #5, of the American Federation of Musicians
SECTION 1
Velda Kelly
Violin 1
Anna Bittar-Weller
Violin 2
Ivana Biliskov
Cello (Principal)
Scott Stefanko Viola
SECTION 2
Eric Stoss Timpani (Principal)
SECTION 3
Daniel Stachyra Violin (Concertmaster)
SECTION 4
Molly Hughes
Violin
Bryan Johnston Violin
Benjamin Maxwell
Cello
Jacqueline Hanson Viola
SECTION 5
Collin Stavinoha Flute (Principal)
Andrea Velasquez Piccolo
SECTION 6
Derek Weller
Bass (Principal)
Clark Suttle Bass
SECTION 7
Yuri Popowycz
Violin (Acting Asst. Concertmaster)
Henrik Karapetyan Violin
Andrea Yun Cello
Chloe Thominet Viola
SECTION 8
Andrew Wu Violin
Jenny Wan Violin
SECTION 9
Eli Stefanacci Oboe (Principal)
Mark Doerr Oboe
SECTION 10
Colin Bianchi Horn (Principal)
Natalie Sweasy Horn
SECTION 11
David Ammer Trumpet (Principal)
Elijah Leonard Trumpet
SECTION 12
Jordan Dove
Trombone (Principal)
Dustin Nguyen Trombone
SECTION 13
John Dorsey Percussion (Principal)
SECTION 14
Beth Henson Harp (Acting Principal)
SECTION 15
J. William King Bass Clarinet
SECTION 16
John Madison Viola (Principal)
SECTION 17
Emelyn Bashour Violin (Principal Second)
ALEXANDER SULEN GEDEON
DIRECTOR
Alexander Sulen Gedeon is a multidisciplinary artist and critically acclaimed director of opera and concert-theater based in New York City. Embracing a multitude of forms and genres, his work has been called “provocative, visually stunning” and “a perfect, experimental approach to opera” (The San Diego Union-Tribune). His production of Everything Rises at BAM’s Next Wave festival was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.
Directing highlights include two Rolling Stone video premieres for Grammy-winning vocalist Judith Hill (Dame de la Lumière and Black Widow); co-directing both Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis (New World Symphony) and This Ghost of Slavery (National Museum of African American History and Culture), written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith, with Yuval Sharon; Concerto for Having Fun with Elvis on Stage (REDCAT); La tragédie de Carmen (San Diego Opera); and Sanctuaries, a new opera about gentrification at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum, of which Oregon ArtsWatch wrote: “If one of art’s essential fronts is to make us feel and to understand others on a deep, indescribable level, then Sanctuaries succeeds.”
As a bandleader and theater artist, Alexander has presented work at Joe’s Pub (New York), REDCAT, and The Ford (Los Angeles). He previously led the musical group Trick & the Heartstrings—with a live show that London’s New Musical Express called “a supertight howl of righteous rhythm and blues with jaw-dropping pop twists”—working alongside legendary U.K. producer Paul Epworth and receiving airplay on BBC Radio. He will release new music and unveil an untitled concert-theater work in 2026.
Alexander has guest directed at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and New York University, and guest lectured at the University of Southern California and Harvard. He graduated summa cum laude from New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
SELENA KEARNEY
Selena Kearney is a Coast Salish artist working across performance and photography. Raised on the Chehalis Reservation, she grounds her practice in cultural continuity and the transmission of song, centering the ways sound and image are carried within systems of relation, and how Indigenous presence moves between what is shown and what is held back. In the collaborative performance Speak to the House, Speak to the Object, developed with Camille Casemier, voice, projected images, and spoken text engage Coast Salish objects stored in museum collections. Here, song carries memory and responsibility while examining how Indigenous material ancestors sit dormant in institutional spaces.
Song enters her work through her grounding in Coast Salish practices. She is a member of the elder-led canoe family, Spirit of the Raven, from the Suquamish Tribe, and has maintained this relationship since 2014. Selena was honored to serve as the skipper prior to relocating to Chicago. Within canoe journey, songs are learned and carried as part of a collective tradition. They guide movement and mark time, given in relation to others. Song, as a living system of coordination and offering, informs how she understands performance. As a collective technology of timing and relation, voice travels across multiple bodies, with ritual and attention moving through space.
Alongside performance, Selena works with photography and archival materials. In the series Object/Ritual she considers how Indigenous representation is manufactured and staged. The monograph Every Object Has a Ritual (Minor Matters, 2023) accompanied a solo exhibition at the Suquamish Museum. Selena holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Instagram: @latchselena Website: selenakearney.com
MIA MANDINEAU
French soprano Mia Mandineau is quickly becoming recognized for her beautiful voice, sensitive artistry, and compelling stage presence. During the 2024–25 season, Mia performed a concert of Mozart arias with the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Fiordiligi in Hillman Opera’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Micaëla in the Washington National Opera Orchestra and City Choir of Washington’s concert production of Bizet’s Carmen , Flora Bervoix in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert production of Verdi’s La traviata , Irene Adler in the world premiere of Glen Cortese’s 221B: A Sherlock Holmes Opera , and Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music at the Rockefeller Arts Center (New York).
Mia was a District Winner and Regional Finalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. That same season, she joined the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Studio Artist and performed a principal role in the world premiere of Nicholas Bentz and Robert Feng’s opera Having Guests for Dinner. Mia’s passion for arts education led her to found the successful YouTube channel L’Opéra et ses Zouz , where she has partnered with the Opéra national de Paris, Festival d’Aix-enProvence, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Detroit Opera, OperaVision, and French national radio and television. Mia was awarded a fellowship to SUNY Fredonia’s School of Music and obtained her master’s degree in vocal performance in 2025 under the tutelage of Don Marrazzo, with whom she also completed her bachelor’s degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and her artist certificate at the Musical Horizons Conservatory in Athens.
In January, Mia received the Dr. David DiChiera encouragement award at the Michigan District Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. This year she will participate in the Althafen Foundation’s Talent Studio for early- to mid-career artists, where she will study with soprano Mané Galoyan. Instagram: @mia.mandineau.soprano YouTube: @LOpéraetsesZouz
BRIANNA J. ROBINSON
Soprano Brianna J. Robinson, whom The Boston Globe proclaimed as “a radiant voice and presence,” is a native of Ravenna, Ohio. During her first year as a Resident Artist with the Detroit Opera in the 2024–25 season, her featured role debuts included Annina in La traviata and Antron’s Mother/Kevin’s Mother/Ensemble in Anthony Davis’s The Central Park Five. Brianna is in her second year as a Resident Artist at Detroit Opera, where she performed the role of Moira in Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale in March. In April 2027, she will make her role and house debut as Countess Almaviva in Tacoma Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro. Brianna is a former Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, where she had two successful jump-ins—as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’s Pulitzer Prize–winning opera, Omar, and as Léontine in Chevalier de Saint-Georges’s The Anonymous Lover.
In December 2023, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall with The Cecilia Chorus of New York in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem . In May 2024, she was awarded First Prize in the George Shirley Vocal Competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brianna has performed in the Handel and Haydn Society’s immersive concert experience Crossing the Deep, and with such ensembles as the Akron and the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestras. Brianna was a finalist in Opera Ebony’s Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition and was awarded first prize at the Getting to Carnegie competition in 2020. She made her international debut in Ruse, Bulgaria, in 2021, creating the role of Ophelia in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s Hamlet.
Brianna is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Eastman School of Music. Instagram: @brianna.jashai
TRAVIS LEON WILLIAMS
Travis Leon Williams is an American tenor hailing from Lansing, Michigan. His love for classical voice blossomed when his parents introduced him to Universal Pictures’ 1943 film version of The Phantom of the Opera at age seven. He made his Detroit Opera mainstage debut in March as Luke in Poul Ruders’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale. His professional credits also include Spoletta in Tosca and soloist in Opera Legends in Black at Opera Las Vegas, Holiday Pops soloist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, soloist in Opera Grand Rapids’ season-kickoff gala, Roland Hayes in Black Swan Radio Hour at Vegas City Opera, and Mr. Jefferson (and other roles) in Rent at The Dio.
Travis was the Division I winner of the 2019 Opera Grand Rapids Collegiate Competition (VanderLaan Prize). In 2019 he attended the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS), where he won second prize in the Meistersinger Competition. He received a 2022 Encouragement Award in the Oregon District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. Travis served as a voice coach at DeWitt High School and is a member of the Verna D. Holley Project. He is an adjudicator for the Sutton Foster Awards and a teaching artist with the Disney Musicals in Schools program at the Wharton Center. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Western Michigan University in 2020 and Master of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2022. Instagram: @bravotravissimo
LENA SANDS
SCENOGRAPHER
Lena Sands is an award-winning practitioner and teacher of costume design recognized for her innovative theatrical work. Lena’s past collaborations with director Alexander Sulen Gedeon include the New York Times Critic’s Pick Everything Rises (Royce Hall, BAM), Sucktion by Anne LeBaron, and an operetta based on Dostoevsky’s The Double (Boston Court, Pasadena). Designs for new operas also include Four Larks’ Frankenstein (The Wallis, Beverly Hills) and visual album Homeric Hymns (Getty Villa); and Minute to Midnight by Dante De Silva, and Sally Ride by Dana Kaufman (Synchromy, Los Angeles). Other notable costume designs include Center Theatre Group’s American Idiot revival (Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles), SITI Company’s The Bacchae (BAM, Guthrie, Getty Villa), Pat Benatar’s Invincible—The Musical (The Wallis), and the new musical Menstruation: A Period Piece (Los Angeles LGBT Center). She designs for Los Angeles’s Critical Mass Performance Group including Mariology (Boston Court; Mixed Blood, Minneapolis), Ameryka (Kirk Douglas, Culver City), Untitled Communion (REDCAT, Los Angeles), and After Iphigenia (Getty Villa). Lena’s work has been featured in Vogue magazine, as worn by Jinkx Monsoon. Her work was also displayed in the exhibition Innovative Costume of the 21st Century: The Next Generation . She holds a BFA from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Website: lenasands.com
KEE-YOON NAHM
DRAMATURG / POST-SHOW FACILITATOR
Kee-Yoon Nahm is an interdisciplinary dramaturg, translator, and theater scholar. In the United States, his work has been presented at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Significant Productions, Theatreworks Colorado Springs, Coalescence Theatre Project, Illinois State University, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, Texas State University, and Yale Cabaret, among others. His work has also been presented in South Korea at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival, National Theater Company of Korea, National Gugak Center, National Dance Company of Korea, and Vaeda Theatre. From 2019 to 2024, he oversaw the Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative at Illinois State University, a program for the development of new plays by BIPOC playwrights. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, where he also received his MFA and DFA degrees.
STEPHEN A. BERREY
POST-SHOW FACILITATOR
Stephen A. Berrey is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor of American Culture and History at the University of Michigan. He is the Chair of the James W. Loewen Foundation, and the Director of the Sundown Towns Project and website, a public engagement initiative begun by James W. Loewen to document places that have intentionally excluded some racial groups. He is the author of The Jim Crow Routine: Everyday Performances of Race, Civil Rights, and Segregation in Mississippi (2015). Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice, a collaboration with music scholars and performers, coming out in fall 2026. He is continuing to research the history of sundown towns, and conducting research on the history of Jim Crow in small-town America.
BETHANY HUGHES
POST-SHOW FACILITATOR
Bethany Hughes (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan in the Department of American Culture, and Director of the Native American Studies Program. She is a performance scholar and cultural historian, and her work focuses on the representation of Native Americans in theatrical performance and contemporary Indigenous theater. Her book Redface: Race, Performance, and Indigeneity, published by New York University Press, articulates the aesthetic, racial, and political implications of the “Indian” in live theater. It won the Outstanding Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and the Labriola National American Indian Data Center’s Book Award, and co-won the George Freedley Memorial Award from the Theatre Library Association. Bethany teaches classes on Native American studies; Indigenous performance, race, and musical theater; American performance; and critical university studies. Her writing can be found in Theatre Journal, American Periodicals, Theatre Survey, Mobilities, and Theatre Topics, and on HowlRound Theatre Commons.
Thank you to our donors Contributors to Detroit Opera
Detroit Opera gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our corporate, foundation, government, and individual donors whose contributions were received between July 1, 2024, and December 19, 2025. Your generosity is essential to sustaining Detroit Opera as a vibrant cultural resource for our community.
Foundations, Corporate & Government Support
$500,000-$999,999
William Davidson Foundation
John. S. and James L. Knight Foundation
State of Michigan
$250,000-$499,999
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Ford Foundation
$100,000-$249,999
Ford Philanthropy
General Motors
Gilbert Family Foundation
Mellon Foundation
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
$50,000-$99,999
J. Addison Bartush and Marion M.
Bartush Family Foundation
Max M. & Marjorie Fisher Foundation
Milner Hotels Foundation
$25,000-$49,999
The Fred and Barbara Erb
Family Foundation
Hudson-Webber Foundation
Kresge Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
The Ruth F. Rattner and Ann F. & Norman D. Katz Charitable Foundation
Kurt Weill Foundation For Music
Matilda R. Wilson Fund
$10,000-$24,999
DTE Energy Foundation
MGM Grand Detroit
Oliver Dewey Marcks Foundation
OPERA America
Penske Corporation
Ralph L. and Winifred E. Polk Foundation
Ida and Conrad H. Smith Endowment for MOT
The Mary Thompson Foundation
Burton A. Zipser and Sandra D. Zipser Foundation
$5,000-$9,999
C&N Foundation
Co-Ette Club, Inc.
Aaron Copland Fund For Music
Gerson Family Foundation, Inc.
James and Lynelle Holden Fund
The Karen & Drew Peslar Foundation
Louis and Nellie Sieg Fund
Donald R. and Esther Simon Foundation
Somerset Collection Charitable Foundation
Strum Allesee Family Foundation
The Samuel L. Westerman Foundation
$1,000-$4,999
ABM Janitorial Services
John A. & Marlene L. Boll Foundation
Joyce Cohn Young Artist Fund
Detroit Children’s Choir
The Gilmour-Jirgens Fund
Marjorie & Maxwell Jospey Foundation
Josephine Kleiner Foundation
Warsh-Mott Funds
Individual Support
The National Circle
Introduced in 2024, the National Circle unites Detroit Opera’s foremost supporters at a pivotal moment in our history. With annual contributions of $25,000 or more, these visionary donors affirm their belief in the transformative power of live performance to inspire meaningful change—both in our city and across the nation.
$100,000+
Ethan & Gretchen Davidson
Linda Dresner & Ed Levy Jr.
David & Christine Provost
Matthew & Mona Simoncini
Richard Sonenklar & Gregory Haynes
Barbara A. Walkowski
$50,000-$99,999
Richard Alonzo
Enrico & Kathleen DiGirolamo
Patricia Isacson Sabee & David Sabee
Mary Kramer
Denise J. Lewis
Lorna Thomas, MD
Jesse & Yesenia Venegas
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
$25,000-$49,999
Lisa A. Applebaum
Richard and Joanne Brodie
Alex Erdeljan
Carl & Mary Ann Fontana
Barbara Lucking Freedman*
Jane Iacobelli
Barbara & Michael* Kratchman
The Hon. Jack & Dr. Bettye Arrington Martin
Susanne McMillan
The DiChiera Society
Ali Moiin & William Kupsky
Allan & Joy Nachman Philanthropic Fund
Ann & James B. Nicholson
Ebbie & Ayana Parsons
Mrs. Ruth F. Rattner*
Barbara Van Dusen
KEY * Deceased
DiChiera Society members honor the legacy and vision of our founder, David DiChiera, while advancing Detroit Opera’s future as one of the nation’s most significant and innovative opera and dance organizations. Their commitment supports our ongoing focus on community engagement, accessibility, and bold artistic exploration under the leadership of Barbara Walkowski Artistic Director Yuval Sharon.
$10,000-$24,999
Gene P. Bowen
Mr. Thomas Cohn
Kevin Dennis & Jeremy Zeltzer
Dr. Raina Ernstoff & Mr. Sanford Hansell
Maxine & Stuart Frankel Foundation
Bharat & Lynn Gandhi
Toby Haberman
Jody & Tara Ingle
Nancy & Bud Liebler
Ms. Mary C. Mazure
Donald & Antoinette Morelock
Mr. Cyril Moscow*
William & Wendy Powers
Dr. & Mrs. Samir M. Ragheb
Dr. Irvin D. Reid & Dr. Pamela Trotman Reid
Evan & Kelsey Ross
Salome E. Walton
Prof. Michael Wellman
$5,000-$9,999
Nina Abrams
Ms. Christine Ammer
Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya
Dr. Harold M. Arrington
Gregory & Mary Barkley
Wayne Brown & Brenda Kee
Albert & Janette Cassar
Sue Cutler & Jeff Fessler
Ms. Violet Dalla Vecchia
Reverend Bill Danaher
Walter & Lillian Dean
Lisa DiChiera
Maria & David Duey
Nell Duke & David Ammer
Marianne Elrick & Kenneth Myers
Fern Espino & Tom Short
Mr. Michael Fisher
Joseph Fontana & Nada Jurisich-Fontana
Ralph & Erica Gerson
Andrew Glancy
James & Nancy Grosfeld
Beverly Hall Burns
Barbara Heller
Ellen Hill Zeringue
Julie & Peter Hollinshead
William Hulsker & Aris Urbanes
Addison & Deborah Igleheart
Andy Levin & Mary Freeman
Don Manvel
Mrs. L. William Moll
Robert & Susan Morris
Mr. George & Mrs. Jo Elyn Nyman
Joshua & Rachel Opperer
Ms. Linda Orlans
Sara A. Pozzi, Ph.D.
Waltraud Prechter
Carrie & Ted Pryor
Janice Ross
Anthony & Sabrina Rugiero
Leon & Debbie Saperstein
Mrs. Rosalind B. Sell
Terry Shea & Seigo Nakao
Simmons & Clark Jewelers, Michael & Stacey Simmons
Christopher Stavrou
Ned & Joan Winkelman
$3,000-$4,999
Thomas & Gretchen Anderson
Sandra & Doug Bitonti Stewart
Paul & Lee Blizman
Bob & Rosemary Brasie
Dr. & Mrs. Ronald T. Burkman
Carolyn Demps & Guy Simons
Marla Donovan
Marjory Winkelman Epstein
James & Margo Farber
Sally & Michael Feder
Ms. Laurie R. Frankel
Dr. Glendon M. Gardner & Leslie Landau
Mr. Lawrence Glowczewski
Mr. & Mrs. Robert & Christine Hage
Ms. Carole Hardy
Richard & Involut Jessup
Roberto Kalb & Mane Galoyan
Ann Katz
Max Lepler & Rex Dotson
Mary B. Letts
John & Arlene Lewis
Stephan & Marian Loginsky
Mr. Loreto A. Manzo
Ms. Mary McGough
Patrick & Patricia McKeever
Benjamin Meeker & Meredith Korneffel, MD
Brian & Lisa Meer
Ms. Evelyn Micheletti
Eugene & Lois Miller
Phillip Minch
Van Momon & Pamela L. Berry
Brian Murphy & Toni Sanchez-Murphy
Geoffrey Nathan
Friends of Detroit Opera
George & Nancy Nicholson
Brock & Katherine L. Plumb
Lois & Mark Shaevsky
Susan Sills-Levey & Michael Levey
Susan A Smith
Frank & Susan Sonye
Sharon Tevis Finch
Buzz Thomas & Daniel VanderLey
Joseph & Rosalie Vicari
Stanley Waldon
Dr. John Weber & Dr. Dana Zakalik
Bret & Susanna Williams
Dr. Lucia Zamorano
Every gift helps ensure that opera and dance continue to flourish in our community, bringing to life the indescribable magic that begins when the curtain rises. Friends of Detroit Opera—among our most loyal and essential supporters—sustain this work through annual contributions of $500 or more & enjoy exclusive benefits in recognition of their generosity.
$1,000-$2,999
Ms. Geraldine Atkinson
Mr. Jason Batke
Martin & Marcia Baum
Ms. Kanta Bhambhani
Mr. Stanislaw Bialoglowski
Constance Bodurow
Ms. Nicole A. Boelstler
Mrs. Marlene L. Boll
Marsha Bruhn
Ilse Calcagno
Mrs. Judith Christie
Harriet Clark
John & Doreen Cole
Tonino & Sarah Corsetti
Cristina DiChiera & Neal Walsh
Ms. Mary J. Doerr
Mr. David Egner
Ms. Judith Ellis
Burke & Carol Fossee
Carol Gagliardi & David Flesher
Marcelo Ganasevici
Arline Geronimus
Mr. Nathaniel Good
Rober & Ann Greenstone
Kimberly Hastie
Fay & Allen Herman
Adriana Herrera
Christina Hopkins
Joel Howell
Mary Ellen Hoy & Jim Keller
Paul Jednak & Tim Kasunic
Marc Keshishian & Susanna Szelestey
Mr. & Mrs. Gerd H Keuffel
Sam Logan Khaleghi
Justin & Joanne Klimko
Gregory Knas
Jennifer Lindsay Kott
Ms. Vera C. Magee
Federico Mariona & Clara Sumeghy-Mariona
Ms. Janet Groening Marsh
Mr. Ronald Michalak
Mary F. Miller
Ms. Maryanne Mott
Iuliana & Ovidiu Niculescu
Ms. Pamela Patton-Cone
Margaret Pehrson
Mark & Kyle Peterson
Ankur Rungta & Mayssoun Bydon
Professor Alvin* & Mrs. Harriet Saperstein
Mary Schlaff & Sanford Koltonow
Kingsley & Lurline Sears
Anthony & Theresa Selvaggio
Timothy & Kelli Shaheen
Ms. Brenda Shufelt
Joe Skoney & Luisa Di Lorenzo
Ms. Theresa Spear & Mr. Jeff Douma
Gabriel & Martha Stahl
Ms. Mary Anne Stella
Andrew J. Sturgess
Manuel Tancer & Claire Stroker
Mr. Jon Teeuwissen
Dr. Jewlee Weah Tweh
Jeff & Amy Voigt
Gary L. Wasserman & Charles A. Kashner
Eileen Weiser & Richard Caldarazzo
Erica White
Katina Zaninovich
$750-$999
David A. Agius
Eric Alonas
D.L. Anthony, Ph.D.
Frank & Jenny Brzenk
Mr. Michael Clyne
Murray & Alice Ehrinpreis
Dr. Anne Missavage & Mr. Robert Borcherding
Maury Okun & Tina Topalian
Mr. Carl R. Smith
Dr. Andrew James Stocking
Dennis & Jennifer Varian
$500-$749
Antonia Abbey & James Lee
Wallace Ayotte
Ms. Allison Bach &
Mr. Michael Cool
Ms. Mary Anne Barczak
Marceline Bright
Ms. Susan Burns
Stephen Calkins & Joan Wadsworth
Oliver & Susan Cameron
Paula Lisa Cole
Gerald Davis
Mr. John R. DiLodovico
Manisha Dostert
Daniel H Ferrier
Barbara Fisher & William Gould
Yvonne Friday & Stephen Black
John Gierak & Dona Tracey
Joseph & Lois Gilmore
Gil Glassberg & Sandra Seligman
Ms. Anita DeMarco Goor
Philip & Martha Gray
Henry Grix & Howard Israel
Ms. Rosemary Gugino
Beth Hoger & Lisa Swem
Ms. George-Ann Howell
Lawrence John & Lilian Lai
Kimberly Johnson
Carol Johnston
Geraldine & Jacqueline Keller
Ms. Lee Khachaturian
Ms. Cynthia Kratchman
William & Jean Kroger
Mary Jane & Jeff Kupsky
Albert Kurt
Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth Levin
Mr. John Lovegren & Mr. Daniel Isenschmid
John & Kimi Lowe
Mrs. Marsha Lynn
Jane Panikkar
Bertram & Elaine Pitt
Elaine & Bertram Pitt
Garry Post & Robert Hill
Shawn Rieschl Johnson & Christian Kirby
Adam D. Rubin, M.D, Lakeshore Professional Voice Center
Mr. Richard Lee Ruby
Mr. Rodney Michael Rusk
Charles & Pamela Schiffer
Demetrius Shields
Anthony Smith & Leland Calloway
Catherine Strumbos
Mr. Bruce Tackett
Frank Tenkel
Dr. Gretchen Thams
Pete Tully
Maria Urquidi
Salvatore Ventura
Ms. Janet Beth Weir
Meredith Weston-Band & Jeffery Band
Elliot & Dr. Susan Zeltzer
Gifts in Tribute
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who have made generous gifts to Detroit Opera in honor or in memory of loved ones. The names of those being honored or remembered are listed in bold below.
IN HONOR OF
Ethan D. Davidson
Reverend Bill Danaher
Carl Fontana
Mrs. Nina Dodge Abrams
Paul & Orvilla Ashely
Thomas E Barron
Michael J Bartoy
Beverly Anne Bloomberg
Andre Boulanger
Wilson Curle
Mary Jo & Donald Dawson
David Feeny
Pamela Fontana
Cynthia Gitt
Peter Gude
Patricia Isacson Sabee & David Sabee
Theresa Johnson
Mary Kramer
Allen A Lewis
James Peggs & Margaret Talburtt
Sarah Siwek
Teresa Taranta
Sara Valenti
Rick Warner
Robert Wittenberg
Patricia Isacson Sabee
William Austin
Juliano Bitonti Stewart
Katrina Fasulo
Angela Nelson-Heesch
Brenda Kee
Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky
Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky
Mary Jane & Jeff Kupsky
William & Elizabeth S. Kupsky Household
Jon Teeuwissen
Manisha Dostert
Lorna Thomas, MD
Paul & Lee Blizman
Barbara Walkowski
Neal S. Goren
IN MEMORY OF
Wickam Allen
Beth Buzzelli Carlson
Betty Brooks
Ethan & Gretchen Davidson
Cathy Mosseau
Nicoangelo Corsetti
Tornino & Serafina Corsetti
Armando Delicatio
Patricia Bentley
Judith Gordon & Lawrence Banka
Jacqueline Shuster
Carol DeVore
Mr. Mark S. DeVore
Shirley DiGirolamo
Enrico & Kathleen DiGirolamo
Sandy Duncan
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
Grant Eldridge
Tracy Barr
Drs. Julie B. Finn & Bradley Rowens
Heather Gehring
Shawn Rieschl Johnson & Christian Kirby
Joseph Katulic
Stuart Grigg
Alphonse S. Lucarelli
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
George & Ann Marisl
Thomas Dickson & Carol Dick
Ruth Rattner
Jody & Gary Astrein
David & Nancy Barbour Household
Ms. Lori Cohn
Elle Elder
Marianne Elrick & Kenneth Myers
Beth & Earle Erman
Ann Fishman
Amy Folbe
Richard & Eleanore Gabrys
Marilyn Goldberg
Renee Handelsman
David & Rose Handleman
Barbara Heller
Patricia Isacson Sabee & David Sabee
Ann Katz
Richard Katz
Mrs. Barbara Kratchman
Michael* & Barbara Kratchman
Victor Lebovici
Dr. Jay Levinson
Nancy & Bud Liebler
Howard Luckoff
Alex & Lisa MacDonald
Angela Nelson-Heesch
Ali Moiin & William Kupsky
Bluma Schechter
Mrs. Bluma Schechter
Ms. Lisa Schwartz
Grace Serra
Martha Siefman
Mr. Mark Sussman
Mr. William Volz
Gary L. Wasserman & Charles A. Kashner
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
Sharon Zimmerman
Suzann Kaye Ripple
Ms. Catherine Pappas
Miss Alison Piech
Gladys Santiago
Ruth Roby Glancy
The Glancy Foundation
Angeline Rooks
Maria McMullen
Karol Ross
Susan Stepek
William Sandy
Julie & Peter Hollinshead
Tamara Whitty
Phyllis Osler
Every effort has been made to accurately reflect donor, honoree, and memorial names for gifts received between July 1, 2024 and December 19, 2025. Should you find an error or omission please contact Angela Nelson-Heesch at anelsonheesch@detroitopera.org or 313.237.3438.
Avanti Society Members Setting the Stage for Tomorrow
Found throughout Italian opera, the word avanti means “ahead” or “forward.” The Avanti Society— Detroit Opera’s planned giving recognition program—honors a special group of donors whose generosity is guided by vision and foresight. By including Detroit Opera in their estate plans, members ensure that the transformative power of opera and dance will continue to inspire audiences in our community and across the nation for generations to come. With deep gratitude, we thank our Avanti Society members for shaping the future of Detroit Opera.
Douglas* & Sarah Allison
Richard & Mona* Alonzo
Janet Ames
Dr. Lourdes V. Andaya§
Mr. & Mrs. Agustin Arbulu§
Chester* & Emilia Arnold§
George & Joanne Arrick
Dr. Leora Bar-Levav
Lee & Floy Barthel
Brett & Veronica Batterson§
Richard & Gwen Bowlby
Mrs. Doreen Bull
Roy E.* & Ilse Calcagno§
Dr. & Mrs. Thomas & Dorothy* Carson
Dr. & Mrs. Victor J.* & Katherine Cervenak
Father Paul F. Chateau
Mary Christner
Mr. Gary L. Ciampa
Prof. Kenneth Collinson
Douglas & Minka Cornelsen
Dr. Robert A. Cornette§#
Mr. Thomas J. Delaney
Walter & Adel Dissett
Ms. Mary J. Doerr§
Mrs. Helen Ophelia Dove-Jones
Marianne T. Endicott§#
David & Jennifer Fischer
Herbert & Betty Fisher§
Mrs. Barbara Frankel* & Mr. Ronald Michalak§#
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Frankel§#
Byron & Marilyn Georgeson§
William Gipperich
Albert & Barbara Glover
Robert Green
Mr. Ernest Gutierrez
Stephen & Aline Hagopian
Mr. Lawrence Hall§
Jerome & Margot Halperin§
Heather Hamilton
Charlene Handleman
Preston* & Mary Happel
Mr. Kenneth E. Hart§
Eugene* & Donna Hartwig§
Dr. & Mrs. Gerhardt A. & Rebecca P. Hein
Fay & Allen Herman
Derek & Karen* Hodgson
Andrew & Carol Howell
Dr. Cindy Hung§
Eleanor & Alan Israel
Ms. Kristin R. Jaramillo§
Don Jensen & Leo Dovelle§
John Jickling
Patrick J.* & Stephanie
Germack Kerzic
Josephine Kessler
Edward & Barbara Klarman
Robert & Wally Klein#
Erwin H. & Suzanne Klopfer§#
Myron & Joyce LaBan
Max Lepler & Rex Dotson
Linda Dresner & Ed Levy, Jr.
Mr. Hannan Lis
Florence LoPatin
Stephen Lord
Ms. Denise Lutz
Laura & Mitchell Malicki
Ms. Jane C. McKee§
Bruce Miller
Orlando & Dorothy Miller§
Ms. Monica Moffat
Drs. Stephen & Barbara Munk
Harold Munson & Libby Berger
Tiffany Nance
Mr. Jonathan F. Orser
Ms. Julie Owens
Mr. Dale J. Pangonis§
Charles A. & Mary Parkhill
Allison Prost
Mr. Richard M. Raisin§#
Ms. Deborah Remer
Dr. Joshua Rest
James & Marguerite S. Rigby§
Mr. Bryan L. Rives
Ms. Patricia H. Rodzik§
David & Beverly Rorabacher
Dulcie Rosenfeld
Professor Alvin* & Mrs. Harriet Saperstein
Ms. Susan Schooner§
Mark & Sally Schwartz
Arlene Shaler§
Ms. Ellen Sharp
Ms. Edna J Pak Shin
Harold & June Siebert
Mrs. Loretta Skewes
Ms. Anne Sullivan Smith
Richard* & Roberta Starkweather§#
Ms. Mary Anne Stella
Stanford C. Stoddard
Ronald F. Switzer§ & Jim McClure
Lillie Tabor
Peter & Ellen Thurber
Alice* & Paul Tomboulian
Jonathan* & Salome E. Walton
Susan Weidinger
Mr. Andrew Wise
Larry* & Mary Lou Zangerle
We express profound thanks to these Avanti Society members whose planned gifts to Detroit Opera have been realized.
Robert G. Abgarian
Robert & Margaret Allesee#
Mona Alonzo
Serena Ailes Stevens
Mr. & Mrs. J. Addison Bartush§#
Mr. & Mrs. Mandell Berman
Margaret & Douglas Borden
Charles M. Broh
Milena T. Brown
Charlotte Bush Failing
The Gladys L. Caldroney
Mary C. Caggegi
Allen B. Christman
Miss Halla F. Claffey
Ms. Virginia M. Clementi
Hon. Avern Cohn & Ms. Lois Pincus Cohn
Robert C. & RoseAnn B. Comstock
Mrs. Mary Rita Cuddohy
James Danaher
Marjorie E. DeVlieg
Nance Dewar
James P. Diamond
Dr. David DiChiera
Mrs. Karen V. DiChiera
Nina S. Drolias
Charles & Mary Jane Duncan§
Mr. Wayne C. Everly
Dr. Evelyn J. Fisher
Mrs. Anne E. Ford
Ms. Pamela R. Francis§
Mrs. Rema Frankel
Barbara Lucking Freedman
Edward P. Frohlich
The Priscilla A.B. Goodell
Freda K. Goodman
Priscilla R. Greenberg, Ph.D. §#
Maliha Hamady
Ms. Nancy B. Henk
Mary Adelaide Hester
Ms. Patricia Hobar
Gordon V. Hoialmen
Carl J. Huss
Aaron E. Jabbour
Mr. John Jesser
H. Barbara Johnston
Maxwell & Marjorie Jospey
Ida King
Mrs. Josephine Kleiner
Misses Phyllis & Selma Korn§#
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Krolikowski§
Leslie Lazzerin
Mr. Philip Leon
Dores & Wade McCree
Vivien McDonald
Lucie B. Meininger
Helen M. Miller
Ella M. Montroy
Ronald K. Morrison
Ruth Mott
Clarice Odgers Percox
Elizabeth M. Pecsenye
Thomas G. Porter
Magdalena Predeteanu
Mrs. Ruth F. Rattner
Mitchell Romanowski
Ms. Joanne B. Rooney
Concetta Ross
Mr. & Mrs. Giles L. & Beverly Ross
Ms. Merle H. Scheibner
Drs. Heinz & Alice Platt Schwarz§
Ms. Laura Sias
Mrs. Marge Slezak
Ida & Conrad H. Smith
Ms. Phyllis Funk Snow§
Edward L. Stahl
Dr. Mildred Ponder Stennis
Mary Ellen Tappan
Margaret D. Thurber
Mr. & Mrs. George & Inge Vincent§#
Herman W. Weinreich
J. Ernest Wilde
Mrs. Ruth Wilkins
Helen B. Wittenberg
Mr. & Mrs. Walter & Elizabeth Work§
Joseph J. Zafarana
George & Pearl Zeltzer§
KEY
§ Founding Members
# Touch the Future donors
* Deceased
Membership in the Avanti Society is open to all who wish to declare their intention for a planned gift to Detroit Opera. Call Demetrius Shields to learn more, 313.309.8255.
Detroit Opera Honor Roll
Detroit Opera gratefully acknowledges these distinguished donors for their lifetime giving. Their extraordinary generosity has shaped the history of our company—from its founding in 1971 by Dr. David DiChiera as Michigan Opera Theatre, to the opening of the Detroit Opera House in 1996, and to our bold transformation into Detroit Opera in 2022 under the leadership of Barbara Walkowski Artistic Director Yuval Sharon.
Their visionary support sustains the vitality of Detroit Opera today, making possible world-class opera and dance performances as well as acclaimed community programs that inspire and engage audiences throughout our region.
$10,000,000+
The William Davidson Foundation
Ford Motor Company Fund
The State of Michigan
$5,000,000+
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
General Motors
John S. & James L. Knight Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
$2,000,000+
Mr. & Mrs. Douglas* & Sarah Allison
Mr. Lee & Mrs. Floy Barthel
Marvin, Betty & Joanne Danto
Dance Endowment & Marvin & Betty
Danto Family Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Herman & Sharon Frankel
Lear Corporation
Linda Dresner & Ed Levy Jr. Masco Corporation
McGregor Fund
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Skillman Foundation
R. Jamison & Karen Williams
KEY
* Deceased
$1,000,000+
Richard & Mona* Alonzo
AT&T
Bank of America
Mandell L. & Madeleine H. Berman Foundation
Mr.* & Mrs. John A. Boll Sr. Compuware Corporation
Robert & RoseAnn Comstock
Joanne Danto & Arnold Weingarden
Ethan & Gretchen Davidson
DTE Energy Foundation
The Fred A. & Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation
Mrs. Margo Cohen Feinberg & Mr. Robert Feinberg
Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
Mrs. Barbara Frankel* & Mr. Ronald Michalak
Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Frankel*
Hudson-Webber Foundation
JPMorgan Chase
Paul Lavins
National Endowment for the Arts
Matthew & Mona Simoncini
Richard Sonenklar & Gregory Haynes
Dr. & Mrs. Sam B. Williams*
Matilda R. Wilson Fund
Every effort has been made to accurately reflect donor names and gift levels. Should you find an error or omission, please contact Angela Nelson-Heesch at anelsonheesch@detroitopera.org or 313.237.3438
Orchestra
Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local #5, of the American Federation of Musicians
SECTION 1
Velda Kelly
Anna Bittar-Weller
Ivana Biliskov (Principal)
Scott Stefanko
VIOLA
John Madison
Principal
Jacqueline Hanson
Scott Stefanko
Chloé Thominet
CELLO
Ivana Biliskov
Principal
Benjamin Maxwell
Andrea Yun
Open Position
BASS
Derek Weller
Principal
Clark Suttle
HARP
Juan Riveros
Principal
FLUTE
Collin Stavinoha
Principal
Andrea Velasquez
PICCOLO
Andrea Velasquez
OBOE
Eli Stefanacci
Principal
Mark Doerr
ENGLISH HORN
Mark Doerr
CLARINET
Roi Karni
Principal
J. William King
BASS CLARINET
J. William King
BASSOON
Daniel Fendrick
Principal
Open Position
HORN
Colin Bianchi
Principal
Natalie Sweasy
TRUMPET
David Ammer
Principal
Elijah Leonard
TROMBONE
Jordan Dove
Principal Dustin Nguyen
TIMPANI
Eric Stoss
Principal
PERCUSSION
John Dorsey
Principal
Administration & Staff
LEADERSHIP
Patty Isacson Sabee, President & CEO
Yuval Sharon, Barbara Walkowski Artistic Director
Roberto Kalb, Music Director
Daniel T. Brinker, General Manager, Detroit Opera House & Parking Center
Shawn Rieschl Johnson, Chief Programming & Production Officer
Jon Teeuwissen, Artistic Advisor for Dance
Samantha Teter, Chief Marketing Officer
Ataul Usman, Senior Director of Human Resources
ADMINISTRATION
William Austin, Executive Assistant
ARTISTIC DEPARTMENT
Nathalie Doucet, Head of Music & Director of Detroit Opera Resident Artist Program
Elizabeth Anderson, Artistic Administrator
DANCE
Kim Smith, Dance Administrator
DETROIT OPERA YOUTH CHORUS
Twannette Nash, Chorus Administrator
Jane Arvidson Panikkar, Preparatory Chorus Conductor
Rebecca O-G Eaddy, Principal Chorus Conductor
Maria Cimarelli, Preparatory Chorus Accompanist
Joseph Jackson, Principal Chorus Accompanist
DEVELOPMENT
Juliano Bitonti Stewart, Director of Development
Chelsea S. Kotula, Director of Institutional Giving
Angela Nelson-Heesch, Director, Data Analytics & Operations
Valentino Peacock, Manager of Data & Operations
Demetrius Shields, Manager of Individual Giving
Stephani Davis, Development Coordinator
EDUCATION
Branden Hood, Director of Education
Alaina Brown, Program Coordinator: Education & Community Programs
Eliza Beutler, Program Administrator
FACILITIES
Vanessa Boyd, Facilities Manager
Juan Benavides, Building Engineer
Kevie Crumb, Facilities & Event Technician
FINANCE
Kimberley Burgess, Accountant
Rita Winters, Accountant
HUMAN RESOURCES
Denver Harvey, Human Resources Coordinator
MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS
Leah Hill, Director of Marketing
Madelyn Estes, Website Administrator
Position is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Anna Herscher, Lead Graphic Designer
Jennifer Melick, Communications & Media Relations Manager
Austin Richey, Digital Media Manager & Storyteller
Arthur White, Director of Community & Audience Engagement
MUSIC
DEPARTMENT
Katherine Kozak, Chorus Director & Music Administrator
Molly Hughes, Orchestra Personnel Manager
Jean Posekany, Orchestra Librarian
PRODUCTION
Elizabeth Anderson, Production Coordinator
Kathleen Bennett, Production Finance Administrator
Jeff Beyersdorf, Technical Director
Eden Cope, Assistant Technical Director
Monika Essen, Property Master
Suzanne Hanna, Costume Director
Kaila Madison, Technical Assistant
Brodrick Whittley, Assistant Technical Director
COSTUMES
Suzanne Hanna, Costume Director
Michaela Tanksley, Wardrobe Supervisor
Patricia Sova Jr., First Hand
Mary Ellen Shuffett, Fitting Assistant
Eileen Thorna , Tailor
Maureen Abele, Paul Moran, Lupe Vazquez, Stitchers
WIGS & MAKEUP
Erika Broderdorf, Wig & Makeup Crew Coordinator
STAGE CREW
John Kinsora, Head Carpenter
Jerome Bowie, Head Electrician
Pat McGee, Head Propertyman
Chris Baker, Head of Sound
Pat Tobin, Head Flyman
Dee Dorsey, Surtitle Operator
Mary Ellen Shuffett, Head of Wardrobe
IATSE Local #38 Stage Crew
IATSE Local #786 Wardrobe
SAFETY AND SECURITY
Rock Monroe, Director of Safety & Security
Lieutenant Lorraine Monroe
Sergeant Demetrius Newbold
Officer Gary Cabean
Officer A.M. Hightower
Officer Michelle Johnson
Officer Terrence Hunter
Officer Khalil Nalis
TICKETING & BOX OFFICE
Amy Brown, Director of Ticketing and Booking
Stephanie Stoiko, Box Office Manager
Evan Carr, System Administrator
Christopher Lewis, Box Office Associate
Chris Simpson, Box Office Associate
Aaron Tyson, Box Office Associate
Ellen Smith, Group Sales Associate
VENUE OPERATIONS
Alexis Means, Director of Operations & Patron Experiences
Holly Clement, Senior Manager of Events & Rentals
Jennifer George-Consiglio, Manager of Venue Operations
Michael Hauser, Curator of History & Architecture
Kathie Booth, Volunteer Coordinator
USHERS
Max Aghili, Christine Berryman, Ellen Bishop, Kathie Booth, Lori Burkhardt, Randall Davis, Erin Doakes, Suzanne Erbes, Pamela Fergusson, Sue Hargrave, Myrna Mazure, Ennis Mcgee, Steven McReynolds, Heddie O’Connor, Bill Ried, Kim Ried, Edna Rubin, Ida Vance, Sheryl Weinan-Yee
Sip & Stroll at the DOH
Have you ever strolled by the Detroit Opera House and wanted to know what it looks like inside? Join us for a 90-minute “Sip & Stroll” experience at the Detroit Opera House. Tours offer participants the chance to see our beautiful, historic 1922 theater, designed by renowned architect C. Howard Crane, and include the mainstage and backstage areas, plus a visit to the rooftop for spectacular views of downtown Detroit from our SkyDeck (weather permitting). Sip & Stroll tours include a glass of premium red or white wine, bottled water, and snacks. Must be 21 years old with a valid ID. Visit DetroitOpera.org for available dates and to purchase tickets.
