The Atlanta Opera, Die Walkure, April 2024

THE ATLANTA OPERA

Die Walküre

Richard Wagner composer & librettist April 27, 30, May 3, 5, 2024 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Welcome to Die Walküre, the most romantic of Richard Wagner’s four Das Ring der Nibelungen operas, and my personal favorite. As I write this letter, the reality that we are actually producing this masterwork is sinking in. My tireless technical team is sharing pictures of the scenery (built in Cardiff, Wales), my costume team is sharing the new costumes details (built at Seattle Opera) and my artistic team is booking the travel of the marvelous singers participating in this show. The vision is taking shape and I’m realizing—we are midway through the Ring Wagner has always felt like a forbidden fruit to me. Banned in my home country of Israel, Wagner is associated directly with the Nazis and the Holocaust. While it is inaccurate to call Wagner a “Nazi” (he died half a century before Hitler came to power), there is no question about his detestable bigotry and deep hatred for “the other.” However, his remarkable work culminating with the Ring, arguably the most profound, ambitious work in the history of music, creates a real conundrum. How do we reconcile the genius of the man with his abhorrent personality?

Growing up in Israel I had no access to Wagner’s music. I learned his works only when I arrived in America. During my time at Seattle Opera, my mentor, the visionary Speight Jenkins, General Director of that celebrated company, introduced me to these operas almost 20 years ago.

Working on the Ring changed my life. There is something transformational about this music, the deeply human characters and the relationships in the Ring. Yes, there are exciting mythological quests for power, gold, dragons, and one ring to rule them all, but the Ring is really a story about human relationships and the eternal struggle between good and evil. We confront the contrast between the love of power and the power of love. The first opera of the Ring, Das Rheingold, was all about love of power. The production you will see today is about the power of love. Maybe that’s the reason for its immense popularity.

Since my early days at Seattle Opera, I committed to presenting the work of Richard Wagner as often as possible, sharing his tantalizing world of music and stories. Rather than banning his extraordinary works, we should use the opportunity to discuss the dangers of bigotry and specifically antisemitism in our world. My second goal emerged on arriving in Atlanta. I committed to creating a fresh new version of his monumental work for The Atlanta Opera. The Ring, due to its scale and complexity, is a challenging project for any company, musician, and any audience member. Unlocking this marathon of music, subplots, characters, leitmotifs, special effects, and intense emotion offers a unique prize to anyone who experiences it without reservation. I hope you find this experience as meaningful as I have. It is certainly the honor of a lifetime to bring it to you in a fresh, new production.

Tomer Zvulun

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director

2023-24 SEASON

Official Beverage of The Atlanta Opera

THE 2023-24 DISCOVERIES SERIES

The Molly Blank Fund of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM The Livingston Foundation

VETERANS TICKET PROGRAM

THE ATLANTA OPERA IS GRATEFUL FOR PUBLIC SUPPORT FROM

This program is supported in part by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and by the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is also supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency—the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding for this program is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

THIS PRODUCTION OF WAGNERS’S DIE WALKÜRE IS SPONSORED BY

*Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Knobloch, Jr.

Howard Hunter—Gramma Fisher Foundation

Atlanta Music Festival Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

The Halle Foundation

Karina Miller Trust

OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS

Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Gross

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Blackney

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM

Alfredo & Beau Martin

Mr. & Mrs. Steve Paro

Lynn & Kent Regenstein

Mr. & Mrs. William E. Tucker

WENDY BRYN HARMER’S PERFORMANCE IS SPONSORED In memory of Elizabeth Ann Bair *deceased

The Atlanta Opera Orchestra with Arthur Fagen conducting a rehearsal of Das Rheingold in April of 2023.

DIE WALKÜRE An Opera in Three Acts

COMPOSER & LIBRETTIST Richard Wagner

FIRST PERFORMANCE June 26, 1870 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater, Munich, Germany

CONDUCTOR Arthur Fagen

STAGE DIRECTOR Tomer Zvulun

SCENIC & PROJECTION DESIGNER Erhard Rom

LIGHTING DESIGNER Robert Wierzel

COSTUME DESIGNER Mattie Ullrich

LIVE ACTION DESIGNER Ran Arthur Braun

WIG & MAKE-UP DESIGNER Anne Nesmith

FILMED MEDIA Felipe Barral & Amanda Sachtleben

CAST (IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE)

SIEGMUND Viktor Antipenko

SIEGLINDE Laura Wilde

HUNDING Raymond Aceto

WOTAN Greer Grimsley

BRÜNNHILDE Wendy Bryn Harmer

FRICKA Gretchen Krupp†

GERHILDE Julie Adams

HELMWIGE Yelena Dyachek

WALTRAUTE Catherine Martin

SCHWERTLEITE Meridian Prall

ORTLINDE Alexandra Razskazoff

SIEGRUNE Aubrey Odle*

GRIMGERDE Maya Lahyani

ROSSWEISSE Deborah Nansteel

MARTIAL ARTISTS Myric Andreasen, Julianna Feracota, Crystal Yau

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Eric Weimer

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Gregory Luis Boyle

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Nora Winsler*

ASSOCIATE PROJECTION DESIGNER Lauren Carroll

PROJECTION PROGRAMMER Erin Teachman

ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER Christopher Wong

ASSISTANT WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER LaShawn Melton

MUSICAL PREPARATION Elena Kholodova

STAGE MANAGER Gina Hays

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS Caitlin Denney-Turner, Aletha Saunders

PROJECTED TITLES OPERATED BY Brendan Callahan-Fitzgerald

Performed in German with English supertitles.

Approximate running time: 4 hours, 25 minutes plus two intermissions: Act I: 65 minutes + Intermission: 30 minutes | Act II: 90 minutes + Intermission: 15 minutes | Act III 65 minutes

Scenery Constructed by Bay Productions Ltd., Dallas Stage Scenery, Inc., and The Atlanta Opera Productions Studios. Properties constructed by The Atlanta Opera Production Studios. Costume Construction by Seattle Opera Costume Shop. English Captions by Jonathan Dean | English Captions for Die Walküre owned by Johanthan Dean, ©2024

The purchase of equipment for The Atlanta Opera is supported by a gift from Eva & Robert Ratonyi.

*Member of The Atlanta Opera Glynn Studio. Sponsored in name this season by a gift from Beth & Gary Glynn, The Glynn Studio Artists also receive significant support from the Donald & Marilyn Keough Foundation, John & Yee-Wan Stevens, and Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg.

†Alum of The Atlanta Opera Glynn Studio.

Richard Wagner DIE WALKÜRE

Reduced version by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz, Germany.

Synopsis & Scene Structure

WRITTEN BY

Julia Brown Simmons

Over his headset, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore gives an order: “Big Duke Six to Eagle Thrust, put on psy war op. Make it loud. This is a Romeo Foxtrot. Shall we dance?” The camera flashes to a tape player mounted to the floor of the chopper. In this scene from Apocalypse Now, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” blasts from the helicopter squadron’s loudspeakers, and the air assault unit begins its napalm strike on a Vietnamese village. The attendees at the 1870 premiere of Die Walküre including Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and Camille Saint-Saëns—could not have imagined the world of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 epic war film, let alone that part of Wagner’s operatic score would be paired with such a military strike. But, just as that scene is one of the most memorable of Apocalypse Now, it draws on one of the most evocative moments of Die Walküre. Even though

some Wagner fans may tire of the association of Die Walküre with Apocalypse Now, any mention of Coppola’s famous scene will inevitably bring to mind Wagner’s music.

In a way, this iconic scene in Apocalypse Now accomplishes what Wagner himself aspired to in Die Walküre and most all of his operas: a seamless melding of music, written word, drama, set, and stagecraft. This “Gesamtkunstwerk”—to use the term Wagner embraced for “total artwork”—represents an integration of all artistic elements and forms into a cohesive whole. When achieved, the drama depends upon the music just as the music depends upon the drama.

Despite their shared ties to total art, Apocalypse Now and Die Walküre differ in their spatiotemporal setting— or lack thereof. The Atlanta Opera’s Die Walküre, like last year’s Das Rheingold, is not set during, say, the Vietnam War like Apocalypse Now, nor during any specific contemporary moment, as with many modern productions of the Ring. Rather, the opera adopts a modern mythic landscape, reflected in costuming and staging that feature elements divorced from temporality. While the intentional use of technology and other allusions to modernity link the mythos to the audience, The Atlanta Opera’s production insists that a world of timeless mythology speaks the most truth to our world.

In this second opera in Wagner’s world of myth, some time has passed between the end of Das Rheingold, the first of the Ring cycle operas, and the start of Die Walküre. During this interval, there was one pivotal occurrence: Wotan had kids. Between the end of Das Rheingold and the start of Die Walküre, Wotan, ruler of the gods, fathered nine daughters, all likely with the earth goddess Erda, collectively called the Valkyries. He also fathered a set of twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde, with a mortal woman. The twins grew up separated from one another.

Be prepared: The plot of Die Walküre is, to put it mildly, convoluted. The opera opens with Siegmund seeking shelter from a storm. This shelter turns out to be the home of Sieglinde and her husband Hunding. When Siegmund explains to the couple that he is on the run after fighting with the relatives of a girl being forced into marriage, Hunding reveals himself as one of those relatives. Although Hunding allows Siegmund to rest for the night, he insists that they fight the next morning.

During the night, Sieglinde comes to Siegmund and confesses that she herself was forced into marriage with Hunding. She longs to be saved by the hero who can successfully draw the sword that was plunged into a tree during her wedding feast. When Siegmund draws the sword, the two discover that they are twins and declare their not-so-familial love for each other.

At the opening of Act II, we are introduced to one of Wotan’s Valkyrie daughters, Brünnhilde. Wotan orders Brünnhilde to protect Siegmund—her half-brother—in his upcoming battle with Hunding. But Fricka, Wotan’s wife and the goddess of family values, intervenes, arguing that the twins must be punished for their adultery and incest. Wotan ultimately concedes, instructing Brünnhilde to let Hunding defeat Siegmund.

Brünnhilde appears as Siegmund runs away from Hunding with Sieglinde. She informs Siegmund that he will soon die and must follow her to Valhalla. Siegmund refuses to follow without Sieglinde. This devotion touches Brünnhilde, so when Hunding arrives, she defies Wotan and begins to aid Siegmund to victory. But just as Siegmund is about to secure his victory, Wotan appears, shatters Siegmund’s sword, and allows Hunding to kill him. With Sieglinde and Siegmund’s shattered sword in hand, Brünnhilde flees. Wotan, in a fit of rage, kills Hunding and goes after Brünnhilde.

In the third and final act, Brünnhilde and Sieglinde join the other Valkyries on a mountaintop. Brünnhilde tells Sieglinde that she is pregnant with Siegmund’s son, Siegfried. She gives Siegmund’s broken sword to Sieglinde and tells her to protect the child.

Sieglinde leaves just as Wotan arrives to punish Brünnhilde. Wotan decides to turn Brünnhilde into a mortal woman and put her to sleep on the mountain for any man to find. Brünnhilde convinces Wotan to protect her with a ring of fire so that she can only be found by a hero. Wotan bids her farewell, lays her to sleep, has the demigod of fire protect her, and departs.

This messy plot is secondary to the characters and their relationships, which are different in nature—in their essence, their inner lives, their substance—from those in Das Rheingold. Unlike the flashy, sweeping epic filled with the clashes of gods, giants, dwarves, and dragons that is Das Rheingold, almost every

scene of Die Walküre portrays an intimate moment between two characters. Fricka and Wotan fight about the son Wotan had by another woman. Siegmund and Sieglinde sing of their passion for each other. Brünnhilde pleads with Wotan to protect her as a daughter.

The Wotan of Die Walküre is especially different from the Wotan of Das Rheingold. In Das Rheingold, Wotan is powerful, ambitious, and thinks he can (and actually can) control almost everything. But here, Wotan confronts the fact that he cannot control his loved ones. Fricka disagrees with him. Brünnhilde defies him. Wotan fathered almost every character on stage in the opera, and while he may already know how to be a god, here he must learn how to be a husband and father, how to balance duty and love.

“These men who fought with their hearts, who have families, who have children, who are filled with love…” says Colonel Kurtz, in his famous Apocalypse Now monologue, of the men he fought against in Vietnam. Although in a wildly different context, that friction between loving one’s family and confronting life’s conflicts is what we see here. The characters of Die Walküre are asking themselves who they are and what they stand for while navigating human relationships with love in their hearts.

The “Ride of the Valkyries,” that scene from the opera that sticks in our memories, leads us astray from what Wagner is up to in Die Walküre. In Apocalypse Now, the “Ride of the Valkyries” scene gets at some of the core concerns of the movie by using the score to glorify war while juxtaposing it against scenes of the suffering caused by the assault. But in Die Walküre, that scene distracts us from the central ideas of the opera: the moment thrills and overwhelms, but it is not representative of the opera as a whole, which is otherwise intimate and human.

The opera overflows with conversations between loved ones—between parents and children, between spouses, between lovers—all of which resonate with our everyday lives. So, perhaps in this production, revel in the adrenaline rush you’ll have during the “Ride of the Valkyries,” but also find a moment of calm to sit with Wagner’s characters, filled with love, and discover that this mythical world is not so very different from our own.

SIEGMUND

COSTUME RENDERING

BY MATTIE ULLRICH

The Ring & Its Mythology

WRITTEN BY Fred Cohn

In the familiar tale of Sleeping Beauty, a princess falls into an enchanted sleep. A forest of trees and brambles, so thick that no mere mortal can penetrate it, surrounds her castle. She lies sleeping for a hundred years; only then does a valiant prince approach the forest. The brambles and briars part in his path, allowing him to move through the palace to the chamber of the sleeping princess, who awakens at his approach, and pledges her love to him.

The story, retold by Charles Perrault in 1697 and the Brothers Grimm over a century later, is itself an echo of a far earlier myth. In Greek mythology, the titan Prometheus has given stolen fire from Olympus to the mortals. In revenge, Zeus orders him chained to a rock. Only a hero of mortal descent can release him. Eventually Heracles, the son of Zeus by the mortal princess Alcmene, discovers and frees him. The myth lacks the romantic element of the Sleeping Beauty story. But Heracles, like the prince in the fairy tale, is a true hero—he is in the midst of one of his Twelve Labors—and it is his bravery that sets Prometheus loose.

These myths reverberate in Die Walküre and Siegfried, the second and third evenings of Richard Wagner’s four-opera masterwork, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The title character of Die Walküre is Brünnhilde, the daughter of Wotan, king of the gods—the Ring’s Zeus figure. He has commanded her to withdraw her protection from the hero Siegmund. But, moved by Siegmund’s devotion to his lover and sister Sieglinde, Brünnhilde contravenes her father’s orders and shields Siegmund in battle. As punishment for her disobedience, Wotan revokes her immortal status and condemns her to a rock, just as Zeus banished Prometheus. There she can fall prey to any mortal man who comes upon her. Brünnhilde, horrified by the notion, pleads to be surrounded by a ring of fire, so that only a hero can break through. Stirred by her supplications, Wotan sends her into a magic sleep, then summons Loge, the god of fire, to surround her with a conflagration.

Siegfried, the protagonist of the opera that is named after him, is the hero that Brünnhilde awaits—her own valiant prince. He is Siegmund’s and Sieglinde’s son; in

Act III of Die Walküre, Brünnhilde hails the imminent birth of “the world’s most glorious hero.” His parents are the children of Wotan and a mortal woman, which makes him, like Heracles, a half-mortal, free of the contractual chains that restrict Wotan himself. Only he can break through the sea of flames; only he can awaken the sleeping Brünnhilde to the force of love.

The similarity of these myths is no mere coincidence. Myths are in fact a repository of universal truths. They resonate across time and across cultures. They emanate from what Carl Jung labeled “the collective unconscious”: a realm common to all people, populated by the primal symbols he called “archetypal images.” “The gods are without doubt personifications of psychic forces,” Jung wrote.

The folklore scholar Joseph Campbell, in his seminal 1949 book The Hero of a Thousand Faces, noted: “The symbols of mythology are not manufactured; they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psych, and each bears within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source.”

Wagner’s cycle, chronicling the epic struggle for possession of the Ring of the Nibelungs, draws from a plethora of mythological sources. Its libretto, by the composer himself, is chiefly based on a variety of thirteenth-century sources—the Poetic Edda, the Völsunga Saga and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda; the Middle High German epic poem Das Nibelungenlied ; the Old Norse prose epic Thidreks Saga af Bern. But Wagner also incorporated the tragedies of Aeschylus, including the Oresteia and Prometheus Bound ; Das Lied von hürnen Seyfrid, a sixteenth-century version of the Siegfried myth; and the Grimm Brothers’ collected folk tales.

The myths that Wagner assimilated into his cycle have resounded in the century-and-a-half since he wrote his great work. Jung, writing after the rise of Hitler, found in Nazi Germany an awakening of “the ancient god of storm and frenzy, the long quiescent Wotan.” J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, written between 1937 and 1949, clearly connects in a veiled way to the worldwide horrors of his epoch, but the work as a whole would be unimaginable without the Ring as a model. The present-day Marvel Universe recycles some of the same myths that Wagner used for the cycle, and its characters include Odin (the Norse Wotan), Thor (the god of thunder in the comic books and movies, as well as in Wagner) and Loki (Loge).

Ring productions of our time have tended to turn their back on the myths of the Ring, instead treating the work as a kind of contemporary semi-realistic drama. Patrice Chéreau’s hugely influential centenary Ring, first presented at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival in 1976, placed the action in the composer’s own time and redefined it as a quasi-Marxist critique of capitalism.

The Atlanta Opera’s new Ring production, which continues this season with Die Walküre, takes a different tack while still making connections to our own contemporary world. Its director, Tomer Zvulun—the company’s general and artistic director—seeks to restore the power of myth to the cycle within our modern world. Last season, his quasi-cinematic staging of the opening work, Das Rheingold, offered an indication of his overall approach. Erhard Rom’s scenery and projections evoked Wagner’s mythological scenario. The Rhinemaidens—the mermaids whose aquatic play launches the entire cycle— cavorted in a stylized river; an actual rainbow guided the gods to Valhalla, their home. Zvulun’s approach, stripped of directorial editorializing, encouraged the audience to consider Wagner’s myths in their raw form, and to contemplate the universal truths contained within them.

“The common trend is to update the Ring and place it in a specific period,” Zvulun says. “But it is at heart an expression of the human condition.” His Rheingold production did in fact contain a contemporary allusions: Valhalla, just built, loomed as a modern-day skyscraper; a building crane stood in front of it. Directorial decisions like these, as Zvulun sees them, only emphasize the universalism of the Ring’s myths. The production strives to create what the design team has referred to as “a modern mythic landscape.”

“Myth has this ability to compress a huge range of experience,” Zvulun says. “Wotan could be Saddam Hussein—or, in some way, anyone’s father. The struggle for power depicted in the Ring is still with us. Humans are constantly striving to gain power, money, and sex in the hopes they can achieve happiness or even the illusion of immortality. But in the end, it’s all going to pass anyway, just like the gods do in at the end of the Ring.

For Zvulun, the most important concept that the Ring’s myths evoke is that of love, in all its many forms. He cites Wagner’s devotion to Greek tragedy to support his point of view. “In English, there is only one word for love, but the Greeks had eight different words to express the different

facets of love,” he says. “Wagner, who was a great student of the Greeks, truly understood this concept, and his operas are infused with his obsession with different kinds of love. Stories about the human condition stir strong emotions in us, because we are all familiar, as human beings, with these different forms of love—from the moment when we are embraced by our mothers for the first time, as we discover erotic love, as we feel love for our children and our friends. “When the curtain rises on this epic story and the dwarf Alberich flirts with the Rhinemaidens, we are introduced to the most shallow form of love: what the Greeks called ‘Ludos,’ or playful love,” Zvulun continues. “As the show progresses, we learn about the ‘Pragma’ that frames the love between Wotan and his wife Fricka. This is long-lasting love, often based on convenience or partnership. Then there’s the distorted ‘Philia’—the love between friends—between Wotan and Loge, along with the ‘Storge’—the familial love—that defines Wotan’s relationship with his children Brünnhilde and Siegmund.

“The most pivotal and destructive kind of love we see in the Ring is ‘Philautia’: the love for self above all,” says Zvulun. “In order to possess the ultimate power, both Alberich and his arch-nemesis Wotan must renounce love—all types of love. It is a danger to the integrity of the family, to nature, to the world. It can only be conquered through the most sublime form of love: ‘Agape,’ the love of nature, humanity and the world. As we see at the end of Götterdämmerung, the last opera in the cycle, only when the obsession with power and self disappear can the world be redeemed. Compassionate love—“Durch Mitleid wissend” as Wagner says quite literally in Parsifal. Brunnhilde’s love for Siegmund and in the end of Götterdämmerung, her compassion for the suffering of the gods lead her to ultimately save the world from unending pain and the meaningless struggle for power. All of this comes from Schopenhauer, whose thoughts and ideas greatly influenced Wagner.

“In the end, it is Agape that perseveres,” Zvulun says. “The ring is thrown back into the Rhine and world order is restored ... or so it seems ... But the story doesn’t end there. The struggle between Agape and Philautia is pervasive everywhere: from politics to show business; from the corporate world to the clergy. How will the story end? I don’t know. We are left with lots of questions and much to contemplate. But that is why we all love the Ring. There may be no answers, but some of the most extraordinary questions we can ask ourselves are all raised throughout the 15-hour epic.

ARTHUR FAGEN

CONDUCTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

LA TRAVIATA, 2005

Arthur Fagen has been the Music Director of the Atlanta Opera since 2010. Fagen is in great demand as a conductor of symphony and opera in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. He is a regular guest of the most prestigious opera, concert halls, and music festivals at home and abroad. With an operatic repertoire that spans more than 90 works, he has been the Principal Conductor in Kassel and Brunswick, Chief Conductor of the Flanders Opera of Antwerp and Ghent, Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the conducting staff of the Chicago Lyric Opera. From 2002-2007 Fagen was the Music Director of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dortmund Opera. Under his leadership and following his successful concerts with the Dortmund Philharmonic in Salzburg, he was invited to tour with the orchestra through Holland at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Belgium at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and Austria (Salzburg) and China (Beijing and Shanghai). He conducted in that period, among others, new opera productions of Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, and two Ring Cycles. Fagen conducted a new production of Puccini’s Turandot at The Atlanta Opera with enormous success inaugurating the new Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. Following that success, he has conducted the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Holland Sinfonia, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Sicily and Rome’s Symphony Orchestras. In recent seasons, Fagen conducted in Atlanta Beethoven’s Fidelio, Akhnaten by Philip Glass, Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Fagen has recorded for BMG, Bayerischer Rundfunk, SFB and WDR Cologne, and has enjoyed a long-term relationship with Naxos label. Among his recordings he has completed the six symphonies of Bohuslav Martinu and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies with the Staatskapelle Weimar. Fagen is Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

©2021 The Coca-Cola Company.

TOMER ZVULUN PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, 2009

General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera since 2013, Israeli born Tomer Zvulun is also one of opera’s most exciting stage directors, earning consistent praise for his creative vision, often described as cinematic and fresh. His work has been presented by prestigious opera houses around the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, the opera companies of Israel, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Montreal, Wexford, Glimmerglass, Houston, Washington National Opera, Seattle, Dallas, Detroit, San Diego, Minnesota, Boston, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Wolf Trap, as well as leading educational institutes and universities such as The Juilliard School, Indiana University, Boston University, and IVAI in Tel Aviv. Since taking the leadership in Atlanta one decade ago, he personally directed thirty of the company’s productions. He increased the operations of the company from three to six productions per season, while stabilizing the financials and in the course of his first decade tenure, secured Atlanta’s position as one of the top 10 opera companies in the US. Some of his noted achievements includes launching the successful Discoveries series, creating the first young artist program in the company’s history, tripling the company annual fund raising, launching the company’s first Ring cycle, creating The Atlanta Opera Film Studio and building a theatre in a circus tent where performances were conducted safely during the pandemic. His work at The Atlanta Opera attracted international attention by earning numerous awards and prizes including two nominations of The Atlanta Opera for the International Opera Awards in London and the selection of his production of Silent Night as both the Irish Times and Atlanta JournalConstitution production of the year. His focus on innovation led to an invitation to deliver a TED talk as well as a case study that is taught at Harvard Business School. His productions travel the world and bring wide exposure to the company. Next season his production of Rigoletto travels to Los Angeles Opera, his La bohème returns to The Dallas Opera, and his acclaimed production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs will make its Kennedy Center debut at the Washington National Opera.

ERHARD ROM

SCENIC & PROJECTION

DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, 2011

Erhard Rom (Set & Projection Designer from Seattle, Washington) has designed settings for more than 200 productions around the globe. Most recently, he designed a new production of Don Giovanni for the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. He has appeared frequently with the Atlanta Opera including the revival of La bohème in 2024. In 2015, he was named as a finalist in the designer of the year category for the International Opera Awards in London. His designs have frequently been featured in the Prague Quadrennial International Design exhibition. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading directors, working for major companies including: San Francisco Opera (The Marriage of Figaro, Susannah, Lucia di Lammermoor, Nixon in China), Seattle Opera (Semele, Eugene Onegin, La bohème), Washington National Opera (Don Giovanni, Samson and Delilah, and Silent Night), Wexford Festival (Silent Night), Houston Grand Opera (Rigoletto), Vancouver Opera (Dead Man Walking, Otello), Glimmerglass Festival (A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, Later the Same Evening, Silent Night), Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Faust, Jane Eyre, Carmen), Minnesota Opera (The Shining, Dead Man Walking, Rusalka, Romeo and Juliet), and Utah Opera (Moby Dick). Other companies include Boston Lyric Opera, Opéra de Montréal and Wolf Trap, among many others. His 2014 design of the European premiere of Silent Night for the Wexford Festival received two accolades from the 2015 Irish Times Theatre Awards including “audience choice” and “best opera production of 2014.” Future engagements include a new production of Fidelio and Macbeth for the Washington National Opera.

ROBERT WIERZEL

LIGHTING DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, 2011

Robert Wierzel has worked in opera, theater, dance, museums, and contemporary music. Opera credits include productions with the opera companies of Paris Garnier, Tokyo, Toronto, Bergen, Norway, Glimmerglass Festival, Seattle, Boston Lyric, Minnesota, San Francisco, Houston, Virginia, Chicago Lyric, Opera Theatre of Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver, Portland, Wolf Trap, NYCO, and San Diego. Wierzel’s work with dance includes the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Broadway credits include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill starring Audra McDonald, Fela! (Tony Award nomination), and David Copperfield’s Broadway debut, Dreams and Nightmares Off-Broadway credits include productions with the NYSF/ Public Theatre, The Signature Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Playwrights Horizons. Wierzel’s extensive regional theater work includes productions with the Alliance Theater (Atlanta), Goodman Theatre (Chicago), A.C.T. San Francisco, Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, The Guthrie, Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre Louisville, and The Old Globe. He is adjunct faculty at N.Y.U.’s Tisch School and is a Creative Partner at Spark Design.

MATTIE ULLRICH

COSTUME DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

SALOME, 2020

Mattie Ullrich has designed costumes for opera, theater, film, musicals, dance, and print. Opera productions include the world premiere of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK at Fort Worth Opera; Don Giovanni at The Swedish Royal Opera; Das Rheingold at The Atlanta Opera; NY Critics Pick A Silent Woman at Bard SummerScape; La clemenza di Tito at LA Opera; Satyagraha at the Ekaterinburg State Opera and Ballet (Russia); Don Giovanni at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet (Oslo, Norway); I due Foscari for Theater an der Wien (Vienna, Austria), Palau des Artes (Valencia, Spain) and LA Opera; Oresteia for Bard Summerscape Festival; Nabucco productions at the Washington National Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Florida Grand Opera. She has designed many new Off-Broadway plays including The Starry Messenger with Mathew Broderick (The New Group), The Pride directed by Joe Mantello (Wicked), Fault Lines directed by David Schwimmer (Friends), Things We Want directed by Ethan Hawke (The New Group); and the popular one woman show Bad Dates directed by John Benjamin Hickey (Playwrights Horizons). Film projects include Year of the Fish (Sundance), Sovereignty (multi-festival, award winning short) and Shoplifting Chanel

RAN ARTHUR BRAUN

LIVE ACTION DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

DAS RHEINGOLD, 2023

Ran Arthur Braun is one of the world’s most sought-after stunt coordinators and action designers. He has worked on more than 350 live productions with most leading opera houses and festivals. Specializing in large-scale events led him to collaborate world-wide with major production companies, including venues in Asia and the Middle East. He also enjoys a long-standing collaboration with the Bregenz Festival, where he has worked for more than 20 seasons. Ran Arthur Braun has also made a name for himself as a director and set designer: he won the 2014 Music and Theatre Prize for Best Set Design and he was voted 2015 Director of the Year for his production of L’enfant et les sortilèges, both in Poland. He has been a member of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production team since 2017. He teaches stage fighting at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo in Valencia, Bolshoi in Moscow, Opera Studio Warsaw and the Opera Studio in Amsterdam. Braun also manages Action Actors for film, television and stage projects, with recent work provided for Lucas Films, Disney, Amazon Prime, Play Station and Balich Wonder Studio. Winner of Opernwelt 2022 and 2023 award for production of the year, as a member of the artistic team of Christof Loy and Dmitri Tcherniakov. Known as the concierge of Action!, his network provides various services worldwide, including stunt gear, equipment and special effects.

ANNE NESMITH

WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Anne Nesmith is a Washington, DC-based wig designer whose work has been seen at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Philadelphia, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Ballet, Opera Boston, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Wolftrap Opera, Signature Theatre, Maryland Lyric Opera and Washington Ballet among others. She has designed internationally for Seiji Ozawa’s Matsumoto Festival and Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Nishinomiya, Japan. Anne was the Resident Wig and Makeup Designer for the Baltimore Opera Company and has constructed wigs for the Scooby Doo Live! tour and the Asian tour of 42nd Street. Her work has also been seen at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, on MD Public Television in Francis Scott Key and the Songs That Built America, in Smithsonian National Portraits Gallery’s Cultures in Motion programs, Great Planes on the Military Channel, Ice Cold Killers for Investigation Discovery and the US Army’s tour Spirit of America. Her work is part of the 2023-24 season at Signature Theatre (Hair), Seiji Ozawa Festival (Così fan tutte) and Wolftrap Opera.

ERIC WEIMER

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Eric Weimer, conductor, has established himself as one of the preeminent coaches in the international opera world in the course of the past forty years. Through his work at some of the world’s leading companies—primarily his thirty-five seasons as full-time Assistant Conductor with Lyric Opera of Chicago but also work at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth Festival, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and Edinburgh Festival—he has prepared some 230 productions. He has collaborated with most of the world’s greatest opera maestri as well as coached and worked closely with a great majority of the most celebrated singers active on the international opera stage. Recognized as a German specialist, he has prepared no less than seventeen complete cycles of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. A former musicologist, Weimer holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is the author of Opera seria and the Evolution of Classical Style. He is also in demand as a coach of young singers, serving as one of the principal coaches of the Ryan Opera Center (training wing of Lyric Opera of Chicago) since 1990, where he has prepared young singers in their mainstage roles and conducted many of the Center’s summer opera workshops. He has had numerous residencies with other opera training programs: the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artists, and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. Dr. Weimer has also been engaged as cover conductor for numerous productions at Chicago Lyric as well as for the San Francisco Ring cycles of 2011 and 2018. Productions he has conducted in his own right include The Marriage of Figaro and Hansel and Gretel with the DePaul (University) Opera Theatre, Carmen and La fille du régiment with Fargo Moorhead Opera, and Der fliegende Holländer with Washington National Opera.

GREGORY LUIS BOYLE

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, 2016

Gregory Luis Boyle, assistant director, is grateful to have lived and traveled all around the United States to pursue his passion for opera and happily calls Philadelphia his home. Boyle has recently directed La bohème at The Atlanta Opera, Don Pasquale for Inland Northwest Opera in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, and revival directed Michael Shell’s The Barber of Seville at Austin Opera. Additionally, he has directed a concert version of Tosca for Opera Philadelphia’s outdoor series at The Mann Center in Philadelphia. He has also produced a new production of La Favorite at The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and a new production of Mignon, which was postponed indefinitely. Recently, he worked at The Atlanta Opera and The Dallas Opera assisting on Tomer Zvulun’s new production of Das Rheingold. Boyle assisted on Stephan Barlow’s The Barber of Seville production at Santa Fe Opera. He has also worked with the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists at Central City Opera as a director, giving young students the opportunity to explore and develop new roles in opera through a scenes program. Highlights from that summer include Die Fledermaus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Elixir of Love, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and A Little Night Music

Boyle has also worked with young professionals at programs including at The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, The Santa Fe Opera, and the Herndon Foundation of Emerging Artists of Virginia Opera. Previously, Boyle has held associate and assistant director engagements at companies including Opera Philadelphia, the Santa Fe Opera, The Dallas Opera, Central City Opera, and Virginia Opera among others.

NORA WINSLER

GLYNN STUDIO ARTIST

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT THE SHINING, 2023

Nora Winsler is a versatile director who has made significant contributions to numerous productions across the United States. Before her time in the studio program at The Atlanta Opera, Winsler held the position of Resident Assistant Director at Virginia Opera. After touring seven productions with the company over the past two seasons, Winsler returned to Virginia Opera to direct a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia this past fall. Tapped as an assistant director by leading directors, Winsler has worked with Francesca Zambello, Brenna Corner, Joachim Schamberger, and Mary Birnbaum. This upcoming summer, Winsler will assist on a new production of Fellow Travelers at Opera Parallèle in San Francisco.

RAYMOND ACETO HUNDING

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Raymond Aceto, bass, has established an important presence among the world’s leading opera companies and symphony orchestras. His performances continue to gather both popular and critical acclaim. Of his performance as Baron Scarpia, The Houston Chronicle hailed, “Raymond Aceto oozes suave villainy as the evil Baron Scarpia, his voice a dark rumble of menace and lust as he plots to destroy Cavaradossi and conquer Tosca ... intelligent characterization distinguishes Aceto’s Scarpia as more than a cartoon villain. Commanding in voice and presence, implacable in his lust for Tosca, he is nonetheless subtle in his calculations. It’s his smiling ease that confirms how dangerous he is.” Recent highlights include performances in Madama Butterfly (the Bonze) and in Les Pêcheur de Perles (Nourabad) at the Metropolitan Opera and as Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust at Washington National Opera. Aceto returned to the Santa Fe Opera for the 2023 festival season in Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande (Arkel), and continued the 2023-24 season opening the Metropolitan Opera’s season as Warden George Benton in Dead Man Walking Most recently, he appeared with the Dallas Opera for Roméo et Juliette in the role of Frère Laurent, and will perform with the Fort Worth Symphony in Die Walküre

VIKTOR ANTIPENKO

SIEGMUND

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Viktor Antipenko, tenor, praised for his effortless, expansive sound, and excellent technique, continues to sing leading roles to great acclaim and has become a singer to watch in the dramatic repertoire. In the 202324 season, he made his debuts at the New National Theatre Tokyo of Japan in Eugene Onegin (Lensky), at Pacific Opera Victoria and Scottish Opera performing his signature role of Siegmund in Die Walküre and repeats the role here in Atlanta. Last season, Antipenko made house debuts at Seattle Opera in Tristan und Isolde and returned for Das Rheingold, for performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh in Il Tabarro (Luigi) in a production by Sir David McVicar, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut as a Don José in Carmen with Roberto Kalb on the podium. He returned to Staatstheater Kassel for Hermann in Pique Dame conducted by Francesco Angelico and directed by Ariane Kareev and Israeli Opera for his role debut as Manrico in Il trovatore working with a creative team that includes director Daniele Abbado. Previously, Antipenko made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the famous Anthony Minghella production of Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton). He also made his role and house debut performing Radamès in Aida at the Israeli Opera conducted by Giuliano Carella and directed by Stathis Livathinos and debuted at Arizona Opera in Carmen (Don José) under the baton of Christopher Allen.

GREER GRIMSLEY WOTAN

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT DAS RHEINGOLD, 2023

Greer Grimsley is internationally recognized as an outstanding singing actor and one of the most prominent Wagnerian singers of our day. Grimsley’s reign as a leading interpreter of the god Wotan has brought him to myriad esteemed international opera houses; some highlights include his portrayal of the role for a complete cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen with The Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna under Daniele Gatti’s baton, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, New National Theatre Tokyo, the Nikikai Opera Foundation in Tokyo, San Francisco Opera, the Royal Opera Stockholm, and for Seattle Opera in three complete cycles over the past decade. Last season’s engagements included returns to Seattle Opera as the High Priest in Samson et Dalila and Wotan in Das Rheingold, the latter of which he also performed with both The Atlanta Opera and the Orchestra of the Music Makers in Singapore. In addition, Grimsley sang Scarpia in Tosca with San Diego Opera. This season, he returns to The Metropolitan Opera as The Captain in Mary Zimmerman’s new production of Florencia en el Amazonas, Palm Beach Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, and Santa Fe Opera as Paul in the world premiere of The Righteous. Other roles performed throughout the world include the title role in Der fliegende Holländer, Telramund in Lohengrin, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Amfortas in Parsifal, Jochanaan in Salome, Scarpia in Tosca, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, and the title role in Macbeth

WENDY BRYN HARMER

BRÜNNHILDE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano, is heralded by the Seattle Times as “a standout…with a big, radiant voice.” This season, she returns to the Metropolitan Opera (Kitty Hart in Dead Man Walking) and debuts with Santa Fe Opera (Marilyn in The Righteous) and Utah Symphony (Ravel’s Shéhérazade). Future seasons include engagements with Staatsoper Hamburg, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Santa Fe Opera. She has excelled as Chrysothemis in Elektra (Metropolitan Opera), Senta in Der fliegende Holländer (Seattle Opera, Utah Opera); Sieglinde in Die Walküre (Michigan Opera Theater); Leonore in Fidelio (Opera Omaha, Boston Baroque), Ariadne auf Naxos (Palm Beach Opera), and Eglantine in Euryanthe (Bard Music Festival). She previously joined Seattle Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra for operas that comprise Wagner’s Ring cycle—her countless previous performances within the epic work encompass the roles of Sieglinde, Gerhilde, and Orltinde in Die Walküre; Freia in Das Rheingold; and Gutrune and Third Norn in Götterdämmerung. She has also sung Adalgisa in Norma (Palm Beach Opera), Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (Houston Grand Opera), Fata Morgana in The Love for Three Oranges (Opera Philadelphia), Desdemona in Otello (Kalamazoo Symphony), and Susan B. Anthony in The Mother of Us All (Chautauqua Opera). Concert performances include Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (San Francisco Symphony, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra), and Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra). She is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

GRETCHEN KRUPP

FRICKA

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, 2022

Gretchen Krupp, mezzo-soprano, delivers with a voice described as “show-stopping,” “ripe, round” and “searing” and is quickly building a reputation for extraordinary vocalism and theatricality. Her repertoire is wide-ranging and eclectic, encompassing old and new, dramatic and comic. During the summer of 2023, Gretchen made her Santa Fe Opera debut in Der fliegender Holländer (Mary). Her 2024 engagements include a concert with the Hart Institute for Women Conductors, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Elektra with Dallas Opera. The mezzo returns to Santa Fe Opera in 2025 as Waltraute, covering Fricka in Die Walküre, and joins the York Symphony Orchestra as the mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. In 2022-23 Krupp was a Glynn Studio Artist with The Atlanta Opera singing Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Paquette in Candide, and Flosshilde, while covering Fricka, in Das Rheingold. She also sang Mother Earth in the premiere of Amy Leventhal’s new opera Our Sacred World and an opera gala with the Chattanooga Symphony. She has made concert debuts with The Dallas Opera, the National Symphony, Baltimore Concert Opera, and was a Filene Artist at Wolf Trap Opera for two seasons. She is a proud alumna of prestigious programs at Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices.

Laura Wilde, soprano, a 2019 Richard Tucker Foundation career grant recipient, has been praised by Opera News for having “a ravishingly beautiful sound, [and] a fine sense of style and character.” In the 2023-24 season, Wilde made her debut with Utah Opera in La bohème and with The Dallas Opera in Elektra. In concert, she sang with the South Dakota Symphony as soloist in the Requiem by Johannes Brahms. Previously, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, debuted the role of Floria Tosca at Arizona Opera, and performed the title role in Salome at Houston Grand Opera. Career highlights for Wilde include singing the title role in Kat’a Kabanova at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Washington National Opera. Highlights of recent seasons include Mamah Cheney in the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow at Arizona Opera; the title role in Janáček’s Jenůfa at both Santa Fe Opera and English National Opera; Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Agathe at Staatstheater Stuttgart; the title role of Káťa Kabanová at Scottish Opera; Freia in Das Rheingold as well as Ortlinde and the cover of Sieglinde in Die Walküre, in David Pountney’s new Ring Cycle conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Gretel with Sir Andrew Davis at the Edinburgh Festival. Cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic included her Metropolitan Opera debut as Der Hüter der Schwelle des Tempels in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the full Ring Cycle at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Memphis Symphony.

LAURA WILDE SIEGLINDE ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

JULIE ADAMS

GERHILDE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Julie Adams, soprano, was winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant. Adams has been praised by The New York Times for possessing a voice that is “rich, full and slightly earthy in an expressive way.” In the 2023-24 season, Adams made her role debut as Elsa (Lohengrin) and appeared on the concert stage in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Pomona College and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestras). Adams began her 2022-23 season at Opernhaus Zürich, singing the role of Gerhilde in Die Walküre, before singing the role of Sieglinde in the same title at Stadttheater Bern. In the 2021-22 season, Adams returned to Braunschweig for performances of Rusalka, joined the Ann Arbor Symphony for Schumann’s Adventlied, and made her company and role debut as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser in Wuppertal, Germany. The 2020-21 season saw Adams joining Staatstheater Braunschweig, where she was featured in the title roles of Rusalka and Madama Butterfly. In the 2019-20 season, Adams returned to Arizona Opera as Mimì in La bohème after her 2018-19 house debut with Arizona Opera as Anna Sorensen in Silent Night by Kevin Puts. Also in 2018-19, Adams made her house debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Mimì in La bohème, and was featured in recital under the auspices of the George London Foundation. Orchestral engagements included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Phoenix Symphony conducted by Tito Muñoz, and a concert version of West Side Story with the Oakland Symphony.

YELENA DYACHEK

HELMWIGE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Yelena Dyachek, mezzo-soprano, was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2016, receiving praise from The New York Times saying “... memorable as the soprano Yelena Dyachek from California, who demonstrated impressive range, depth, and power in ‘Come scoglio,’ before delivering an emotionally captivating Letter Scene ...” A graduate from Houston Grand Opera’s prestigious studio program and during her time in the HGO Studio, Dyachek appeared in several productions including Musetta (La bohème), Flora (La traviata), and Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Further productions included Norma, Some Light Emerges, and Nixon in China. In the summer of 2019, she made her debut as Marie Antoinette in Ghosts of Versailles at the Glimmerglass Festival. In the 2019-20 season she joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago for productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Dead Man Walking, and was scheduled to make her role debut as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Palm Beach Opera. Other scheduled performances that season were her Houston Symphony debut and a return to the Aspen Music Festival. Dyachek’s recent performances include her singing both the roles of Zemfira in Aleko and the title role of Francesca da Rimini with Odyssey Opera.

MAYA LAHYANI

Maya Lahyani, soprano, has been hailed as “a voice to die for [combined] with acting ability, beauty, and stage presence,” and is quickly becoming one of today’s most sought-after international singers. This season, Lahyani performed Grimgerde (Die Walküre) at Detroit Opera, the title role in Carmen at Portland Opera and Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Xian Zhang. Last season, she sang the role of Dorothée in Laurent Pelly’s production of Cinderella at the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her return in the title role in Carmen at both Arizona Opera and Minnesota Opera. Lahyani was a 2010 grand finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a 2008 finalist in the Joy in Singing Competition. She has been awarded scholarships by the San Francisco Foundation, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the Mannes School of Music in New York. She is married to tenor Viktor Antipenko.

CATHERINE MARTIN WALTRAUTE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Catherine Martin, mezzo-soprano, continues to make an impact in repertoire ranging from Verdi and Wagner to Strauss and Bellini. Last season, Martin made her role debut as Fricka (Dayton Opera’s Das Rheingold), bowed as Santuzza (Opera Colorado’s Cavalleria rusticana), as Mistress Quickly (Maryland Lyric Opera’s Falstaff), and joined Des Moines Metro Opera as Clarice (The Love for Three Oranges). This season, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking and Preziosilla in La forza del destino and makes her Atlanta Opera début as Waltraute in Die Walküre Highlights from recent seasons include covering Marguerite in Berlioz’s Le damnation de Faust with the Metropolitan Opera; Eboli (Maryland Lyric Opera’s Don Carlos); Orfeo in Orfeo ed Eurydice with Kentucky Opera; Witch (Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Hansel and Gretel); Waltraute (Twilight: Gods with Michigan Opera Theatre and Lyric Opera of Chicago); performances in various roles from Wagner’s Ring Cycle with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, the Dallas Symphony, and National Taichung Theatre in Taiwan; Amneris in Aïda with Houston Grand Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Colorado, and Opera Santa Barbara; Adalgisa (Florida Grand Opera’s Norma); Der Komponist (The Glimmerglass Festival’s Ariadne auf Naxos); Hécube and covering Didon in Les Troyens with Lyric Opera of Chicago; Maddalena (Rigoletto with New Orleans Opera and Opera Santa Barbara); Herodias (Dayton Opera’s Salome); Meg (Intermountain Opera’s Falstaff); Leonora (New Amsterdam Opera’s La favorita); Wowkle (Maryland Lyric Opera’s La fanciulla del West); Songs of a Wayfarer with the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra; and Messiah with the Handel Oratorio Society.

GRIMGERDE ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

DEBORAH NANSTEEL

ROSSWEISSE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Deborah Nansteel, mezzo-soprano, is poised for international stardom having already performed in almost all of the leading opera companies in the US. She made her début with The Metropolitan Opera as Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor), her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Gertrude (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 Première of Blind Injustice with Cincinnati Opera, as well as participated in Glimmerglass Opera Festival’s digital production of Jungle Book as Raksha. This season, Nansteel has house débuts with LA Opera as Aunt Lou in Highway 1, USA and The Atlanta Opera as Rossweise in Die Walküre, in addition to performing the roles of Azuecena in Il trovatore (Opera Santa Barbara) and Mother in Hansel and Gretel (Opera San Antonio). As a concert soloist, Nansteel will be seen with the Utah Symphony in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Act III of Wozzeck, and joins the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola for their 150th Anniversary celebration of Verdi’s Requiem. Last season, Nansteel returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Annina (La traviata) and for their concert tour of Otello and had her house début with the San Francisco Opera in their productions of Eugene Onegin and Dialogues of the Carmelites. Nansteel also debuted the role of Amneris (Aida) for both Opera Grand Rapids and Finger Lakes Opera, performed Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel) for New Orleans Opera, soloist in Verdi’s Requiem for Orchestra Iowa, and performed the role of Mother Abbess (Suor Angelica) for Opera Omaha.

AUBREY ODLE

GLYNN STUDIO ARTIST

SIEGRUNE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

RIGOLETTO, 2023

Aubrey Odle, known for her “warm, plummy” and “luscious” sound, is a competitive up-and-coming mezzo-soprano. She is currently a Glynn Studio Artist with The Atlanta Opera, this season performing roles in Rigoletto (Giovanna) and Die Walküre (Siegrune). For the Summer 2024 season, she will cover the role of Marilyn in the World Premiere of The Righteous at The Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist. Previously, as a Resident Artist with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, she performed roles on the mainstage such as Flora (La traviata), Mercédès (Carmen), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and A Teacher (The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs). Other roles performed include Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, the title role in Carmen, and many others. In competition, she most recently won second place in both the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition and the Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition with the National Opera Association.

MERIDIAN PRALL SCHWERTLEITE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Meridian Prall, mezzo-soprano, is best-known for her vocal ease and golden timbre, recently made her Santa Fe Opera debut as the Third Wood Sprite (Rusalka). During the 2023 season, she was a Sullivan Award recipient and made two additional house debuts as Meg Page (Palm Beach Opera’s Falstaff) and Second Lady (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ The Magic Flute). Prall was featured in the Hart Institute for Women Conductors Showcase Concert as a soloist with Dallas Opera in January 2024. In summer 2024, Prall will return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Cornelia in Julius Caesar. She will return to The Atlanta Opera as Third Lady in The Magic Flute. Prall studied violin from a young age and began taking voice lessons her sophomore year of high school. She followed her voice teacher, Denise Bernardini, to the University of Toledo and graduated in 2018. During her time in Toledo, she sang regularly with the Toledo Symphony and continues to sing masterworks alongside conductor Alain Trudel. She continued her studies at the University of Michigan and graduated in 2020. As a result of winning the University of Michigan Concerto Competition, Prall performed the United States premiere of Verklärtes Jahr, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestra by Joseph Marx, with University of Michigan’s University Philharmonia Orchestra, Adrian Slywotzk conducting. Meridian was a semifinalist in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition.

ALEXANDRA RAZSKAZOFF

ORTLINDE

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

DAS RHEINGOLD, 2023

Alexandra Razskazoff, soprano, was named a Grand Finals Winner in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She is acclaimed by The New York Times as a “richly faceted, slinky soprano,” whose voice is “rich, distinctive of timbre, and penetrating, and possess[es] a lovely bloom on top” (Opera News). Razskazoff made her house debut last season with The Atlanta Opera as Wellgunde (Das Rheingold) and made her role debut at Teatro Municipal de Santiago as Micaëla (Carmen). She recently appeared in a series of concerts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Opera at Florham, Maryland Opera, Washington Opera Society, and Vero Beach Opera. She returned to Palm Beach Opera for their 2023 season to cover Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Alice Ford (Falstaff). Alexandra made some notable house debuts in spring and summer of 2022 including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Bozeman Symphony and Mimì (La bohème) at Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile. She reprised Violetta (La traviata) with Out of the Box Opera, as well as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) with Teatro Grattacielo at the Phoenicia International Festival of The Voice.

MYRIC ANDREASEN

MARTIAL ARTIST

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

JULIANNA FERACOTA

MARTIAL ARTIST

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Myric Andreasen was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She finished her bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts at the University of the East. In 2009, she married and migrated to the U.S. to start a family. She has spent the past five years as a background actress in several movies and television shows. In 2021, she began training as a stunt performer at L.A. Stunts and continued at ATL Stunts, focusing on stage combat performance, wire work, and martial arts. Working recently as an actress, she has appeared on The Secret Life of Amy Bensen and TV commercials for Popeyes and He Gets Us She is currently a student at North Georgia Aerials and the primary educator of her three children.

Julianna Feracota is a professional dancer based in Atlanta. She is a company member with Full Radius Dance and Monica Hogan Danceworks. She also pursues freelance projects and has been lucky enough to work with local choreographers like Julio Medina, Patsy Collins, Meaghan Novoa, and Nadya Zeitlin, among others. Feracota began her training at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park, IL and graduated from the University of Iowa in 2018 with a BFA in Dance and a BBA in Accounting. She has trained extensively in ballet, contemporary, modern, and Graham. She furthered her studies at dance programs with AXIS Dance Company, Orsolina28, and Hubbard Street Dance Company. She has been honored to perform works by renowned choreographers like Alice Sheppard, Monica Bill Barnes, Rennie Harris, Jose Limòn, and Martha Graham. Feracota furthers her involvement with the Atlanta dance community as the Board Treasurer of DanceATL, a non-profit organization that provides resources and programming for local dance artists. In addition to her dance career, Julianna practices Muay Thai, a Thai martial art. She began training seriously in the form in 2021.

CRYSTAL YAU

MARTIAL ARTIST

ATLANTA OPERA DEBUT

Crystal Yau is originally from Hong Kong, and moved to the United States during her high school years. Her father was a Tai Chi master, and she developed a love for Tai Chi and Kung Fu. She studied with her father, and at the Shaolin Institute in Norcross, GA. She worked her way up the ranks, taking on leadership roles and performing Kung Fu all around Atlanta. She has performed Lion Dances, Dragon Dances, Dragon Ribbon, Tai Chi, and Kung Fu at locations like the Georgia Aquarium, Atlantic Station, Delta, and much more. She also has performed for several organizations like the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Chinatown, ADP, and others. In 2024, Yau opened her own school to spread her love of martial arts, combining it with her background in holistic health, forming Phoenix Wellness Arts. Her repertoire consists of studies in traditional Shaolin Kung Fu, WuShu, Tai Chi, Wudang, Yoga, as well as experience with several weapons like staff, fan, broadsword, and straight sword. Based now in Duluth, GA, she continues to train, leading children’s Kung Fu, and teaching Tai Chi classes.

TOGETHER, LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR NATION’S HEROES

The Home Depot Founda tion is proud to partner with The Atlanta Opera to honor our U.S. militar y, veterans and their families.

VIOLINS

Peter Ciaschini

The Loraine P. Williams Orchestra Concertmaster Chair

Helen Kim

Asst. Concertmaster*

Lisa Morrison

Acting Asst. Concertmaster

Fia Durrett. Principal

Second Violin

Jessica Stinson

Acting Asst. Principal

Second Violin

Edward Eanes*

Felix Farrar

Sally Gardner-Wilson

Robert Givens

Patti Gouvas

Shawn Pagliarini

Virginia Respess-Fairchild

Patrick Ryan

Angèle Sherwood-Lawless*

Rafael Veytsblum*

Mary Matthews Burndrett†

Barbara Careaga†

Kevin Chaney†

Chelsea Cline†

Nina Fronjian†

Kim Hain†

Eva Hsu†

Alison James†

Kathryn Koch†

Kim Padgett†

Mayu Sommovigo†

Grace Kawamura Stubbart†

Elonia Varfi†

VIOLA

William Johnston

Principal

Catherine Allain

Asst. Principal

Ryan Gregory

Julie Rosseter*

Karl Schab*

Joli Wu*

Josiah Coe†

Tania Maxwell-Clements†

Shadwa Mussad†

Cody Russell†

Patrick Shelc†

Maggie Synder†

Meghan Yost†

CELLO

Charae Krueger

Principal

David Hancock

Acting Asst. Principal

Mary Kenney

Cynthia Sulko

Barney Culver†

Alexis Lee†

Sarah Kapps†

Grace Sommer†

BASS

Daniel Tancredi

Principal

Emory Clements

Samuel Dugo

Maurice Belle†

Robert Henson†

Jonathan McWilliams†

FLUTE/PICCOLO

James Zellers

Principal

Kelly Bryant double Piccolo

Erica Pirtle† double Piccolo

OBOES/ENGLISH HORN

Christina Gavin

Principal

Ann Lillya†

Kari Kistler† double English Horn

CLARINET/BASS CLARINET

David Odom

Principal

John Warren double Bass Clarinet

Justin Stanley†

BASSOON

Carlos Clark

Principal

Debra Grove

John Grove†

FRENCH HORNS/

WAGNER TUBA

David Bradley

Principal

Andrew Sehman

Associate Principal†

Jason Eklund

James Baker†

Michael Daly†

Eric Hawkins†

Mackenzie Newell†

TRUMPET

Yvonne Toll-Schneider

Principal

Alexander Freund

Brandon Craswell†

TROMBONE

William P. Mann

Principal

Richard Brady

Josh Bynum†

CONTRA BASS TUBA

Donald Strand

Principal

TIMPANI

John Lawless

Principal

PERCUSSION

Michael Cebulski

Principal

Courtney MacDonald-Bottoms†

Scott Pollard†

HARP

Susan Brady

Principal

Ellen Foster†

PERSONNEL MANAGER

James Zellers

ORCHESTRA LIBRARIAN

Phil Parsons

Musicians employed in this production are represented by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

*Core Musician On Leave | †Non-Core Musician

PRODUCTION

Head Carpenter

Head Fly

Tyler Malovoz

Kendrick Roberts

Head Electrician ................................ Jaime Mancuso

Head Properties

Head Video

Head Audio

COSTUME

Elizabeth Guiberteau

Andrew Van Eyechaner

Teddy Murray

Wardrobe Supervisor ............................ Kelly Chipman

Wig & Makeup

DIE WALKÜRE LIVESTREAM

Stagehands employed in this production are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees—Local 927

The Wardrobe Department employed in this production is represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees—Local 859

The Make-up Artists & Hair Stylists employed in this production are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees—Local 798

Jessica Paige

Additional Camera Operators ............ Gioconda Barral-Secchi, Kendra Johnson, Valeriia Luhovska, Carlee Soeder, Adam Khan, Amber Kirchner

Sound Capture & Live Mixing

Sound Monitor

Switcher

Score Cuer

Livestream Technical Operator

Tim Whitehead

Preston Goodson

Felipe Barral-Secchi

Jessica Wax

Gerald Griffith

About the Glynn Studio Artists

Joining The Atlanta Opera are singers

Aubrey Odle, Amanda Sheriff, and Jason Zacher Kameron Lopreore was selected for a second season as a Studio Artist continuing from the 2022-23 season. Joining the vocalists will be stage director Nora Winsler

Each of the Studio Artists is an early career professional with significant training and stage experience, some with lead performances and major concert appearances on their resumé. The program builds on The Atlanta Opera’s commitment to provide opportunities for performers at all stages in their careers. Throughout the season, these artists will have the opportunity to work with established performers and coaches

to improve their skills in all aspects of their field. Master Vocal Teacher

Laura Brooks Rice has been part of the Studio Artist program since 2021 and is an acclaimed performer and voice teacher and acting coach. An experienced group of coaches and clinicians are engaged in the training and support of the Glynn Studio Artists.

The Atlanta Opera is grateful for the support of the young artist program from Beth and Gary Glynn. Significant support is also provided by the Donald and Marilyn Keough Foundation, John and Yee-Wan Stevens, and Jerry and Dulcy Rosenberg.

AUBREY ODLE mezzo-soprano

KAMERON LOPREORE tenor

AMANDA SHERIFF soprano

NORA WINSLER stage director

JASON ZACHER bass-baritone

Meaningful Music, Medicine, & More

Music, passion, and service have defined Dr. Jill Mabley’s life since childhood. Her grandmother was a pianist in the Circuit Chautauqua movement through the 1920s and two of her uncles were classical singers. Mabley was drawn to folk music during her early years, but while in college, she experienced the “revelation” of hearing opera superstars Jussi Björling and Robert Merrill on the radio in George Bizet’s famous Pearlfishers duet. The power and beauty of their voices stirred Jill’s heart and inspired her lifelong love of opera.

Following her medical training, Mabley dove into her professional career as an ER doctor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Dedicated to service, instead of vacationing during the slower months, Jill joined medical mission trips to serve communities in South America, Southeast Asia, and Central America.

When Dr. Mabley relocated to Atlanta in 1997 for a position at Northside Hospital, she wasted no time in supporting The Atlanta Opera with her attendance and donations. In 2001, her life took another unanticipated turn: “When the tragic events of 9/11 happened, I just felt like my calling was not in the private sector.” She quit her job and joined the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services as their medical director, a position she held for twenty-two years. The County Board of Commissioners recently honored her extraordinary service by naming the EMS Wing Dedicated in her honor.

Jill Mabley’s relentless commitment to serving others extends across multiple charities she holds dear. Following her young nephew’s untimely death, Mabley rewrote her will to ensure all her assets were left to nonprofits, including her local animal shelter and The Atlanta Opera. When asked what she loved most about opera, Jill cited “the power of the music–not just the singers, but also the orchestra. Then you add the costumes, lights, dancing, and staging. It offers everything and nourishes my spirit.” She calls the Opera’s digital broadcasts “a dream come true” for her to enjoy repeatedly. By remembering The Atlanta Opera in her will, Mabley finds satisfaction in knowing her planned gift sustains her dream to bring the timeless beauty of opera to future generations.

To learn how to join

Dr. Jill Mabley in the Opera’s Legacy Society, contact Jonathan Blalock at 336-512-6832 or jblalock@atlantaopera.org

COURTESY DR. JILL MABLEY

ANNUAL GIVING

We are grateful for the following donors’ generous support. This list reflects gifts and annual pledges to unrestricted operating expenses, special projects, and/or endowment made between Jul 1, 2022 and Feb 21, 2024.

Director’s Circle

$200,000+

Harold Brody & Donald Smith†

John & Rosemary Brown†

Dr. Frank A. Critz & Dr. Ann Critz†

Beth & Gary Glynn

Mr. Howard W. Hunter - Gramma Fisher Foundation

Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough

*Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Knobloch, Jr.†

Jerry & Dulcy Rosenberg†

Katherine Scott

*Mrs. Lessie B. Smithgall

$100,000+

*Sylvia Halleck, MD

Mr. James B. Miller, Jr.†

John & Yee-Wan Stevens†

Rhys & Carolyn Wilson†

$50,000+

Cathy & Mark Adams†

The Antinori Foundation†

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Blackney†

Laura & Cosmo Boyd

Connolly Family Foundation

The Gable Foundation, Inc†

Mr. John L. Hammaker

Alfredo & Beau Martin†

Mary Ruth McDonald

Mr. William F. Snyder†

Ms. Bunny Winter & Mr. Michael Doyle†

$25,000+

Bryan & Johanna Barnes†

Mr. Robert P. Dean & Mr. Robert Epstein†

Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Gross†

Mr. John Haupert & Mr. Bryan Brooks†

Talia & John Murphy

Victoria & Howard Palefsky†

*Mr. William E. Pennington

Ms. Janine Brown & Mr. Alex J. Simmons, Jr.

Judith & Mark Taylor

Carol B. & Ramon Tomé†

Patron’s Circle

$15,000+

Mr. & Mrs. James Anderson

*Mrs. Elizabeth Bair

Julie & *Jim Balloun†

Mr. David Boatwright†

Dr. Donald J. & Janet Filip†

*Ms. Anne Marie Gary

Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Hardin

The Hilbert Law Firm

Slumgullion Charitable Fund†

Stephanie & Gregor Morela†

Sandra & Peter Morelli†

Mr. & Mrs. Richard P. Nicholas III

Christine & Mark St.Clare†

Larry & Beverly Willson†

The Mary & Charlie Yates Family Fund

Gold $10,000+

Elizabeth & Jeremy Adler†

Mrs. *Phillip E. Alvelda†

John & Wendy Anzalone†

Dr. & Mrs. Asad Bashey

Mr. & Mrs. C. Duncan Beard

Mr. & Mrs. Dante Bellizzi

Natalie & Matthew Bernstein

Anonymous

Mr. Frank H. Butterfield†

Mr. & Mrs. Kate Cook

Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes†

Mr. Tomer Zvulun & Mrs. Susanna Eiland

Dr. & Mrs. Todd D. Ellis

Dieter Elsner†

Ms. Ariana B. Fass

Deborah & Paul Harkins

Roya & Bahman Irvani

*Mary & *Wayne James

Dr. & Mrs. David Kavtaradze

Mr. & Mrs. Steve Paro†

Mr. & Mrs. Michael E. Paulhus†

Norm & Shannon Prestage

Lynn & Kent Regenstein†

Ms. Ana M. Rountree & Mr. Mason Rountree

Mr. Milton J. Sams†

Thomas R. Saylor

Charles T. & Donna Sharbaugh†

Mr. & Mrs. Timothy E. Sheehan

Triska Drake & G. Kimbrough Taylor†

Wadleigh C. Winship Charitable Fund

Silver $5,000+

Mr. & *Mrs. Shepard B. Ansley

Dr. R. Dwain Blackston

Drs. Eda Hochgelerent & Bruce Cassidy†

John W. Cooledge†

Mr. & Mrs. Ron L. Cundy

Dr. Jeannette Guarner & Dr. Carlos del Rio

Mr. & Mrs. Robert G. Edge

Mr. & Mrs. Reade Fahs

Sally & Hank Fielding†

Ms. Rebecca Y. Frazer & Mr. Jon Buttrey

Mr. & Mrs. Ethan Garonzik

Ellis & Cathy Green

Kevin Greiner & Robyn Roberts

Judge Adele P. Grubbs

Gena & Joey Gyengo

Ms. Lynn Hanna

Dr. Thomas High

Donna & *Richard Hiller

Mr. L. D. Holland†

Billy Huger

Mr. Pitak Intrawityanunt

Gail G. Johnson

Mr. & Mrs. Gert Kampfer

Ms. Anne Morgan & Mr. James Kelley

Ms. Elizabeth Klump

Mrs. Dale Levert & Mr. George W. Levert

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Long

Mr. Nicholas Marrone

Dan D. Maslia & Mimi Shetzen Maslia

Belinda & Gino Massafra

Robert & Creel McCormack

Erica McVicker

Clara M. & John S. O’Shea†

Lib & Neal Quirk

Mr. James L. Rhoden

Morton & Angela Sherzer

Baker & Debby Smith†

Lynne & Steven Steindel

George & Amy Taylor†

Mr. & Mrs. William E. Tucker

Dr. & Mrs. Nicholas Valerio III†

Benny & Roxanne Varzi

Thurman Williams

Bob & Cappa Woodward Charitable Fund

Bronze $2,500+

Scott & Betsy Akers

Mr. James L. Anderson

Ms. Casey Armanino

Atlanta Neurology

Catherine A. Binns

Mr. & Mrs. Earl Blair

Mr. Jonathan Blalock

Mr. Sean Bowen

Ms. Donna Burchfield

Ms. Mary Calhoun

Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cohn

T. Dennis Connally

Jean & Jerry Cooper

Jim & Carol Dew

Danica & Milton Dilligard

Mr. Mark du Mas

Drs. Morgan & Susan Horton Eiland

Mr. Thomas Emch

Mark & Mary Eppert

Mr. & Mrs. Lance Fortnow

Mr. Michael D. Golden & Dr. Juliet Asher

Dr. Thomas N. Guffin, Jr.

Ms. Laura Heery

Mr. Brian Henry

Douglas Hooker & Patrise Perkins Hooker

Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey R. Hoopes

Mr. & Mrs. David C. Huffman

Mr. Christopher Kell

Mr. Alfred D. Kennedy & Dr. Bill Kenny

Red Eft Mapping

Mr. & Mrs. Larry Kurlander

Ms. Brenda O. Lambert

Ms. Constance B. Lewis

Linda L. Lively & James E. Hugh III

Dr. & Mrs. Ellis L. Malone

Samantha & William Markle

John S. Metz

Philip & Caroline Moïse

Mrs. Agnes Nelson

Denis Ng & Mary Jane Panzeri Ng

Lucy S. Perry

Mr. Joshua Peyton

Mrs. Betsy Pittman

Margaret & Bob Reiser

Monet Jeanne Roberson

Mr. & Mrs. J. Barry Schrenk

Beverly & Milton Shlapak

Mr. & Mrs. E. Kendrick Smith

Mr. & Mrs. Richard Sproul

Gail & Barry Spurlock

Dr. Jane T. St. Clair & Mr. James E. Sustman

Dr. Tarek Takieddini

Mr. Johnny Thigpen & Mr. Clay Martin

Cynthia Widner Wall

Mr. Mark Westfall

Thomas R. Williams Family

*Dr. & Mrs. R. Craig Woodward

Friend’s Circle

Investor $1,000+

Mr. Paul Anderson, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Robert O. Banker

Ms. Hope M. Barrett

Christine M. Beard

Mr. Walter Carter Bland

Mrs. Jane Blount

Dr. & Mrs. Jerry Blumenthal

Raphael Bostic

Ms. Martha S. Brewer

Mr. Nelson C. Chu

Ms. Alice Sue Claeys

Mrs. Carol J. Clark

Mr. N. Jerold Cohen & Ms. Andrea Strickland

Ms. Lillianette Cook & Ms. Carol Uhl

John & Linda Cooke

Jeremy & Audrey Critz

John & Melissa Critz

Mr. & Mrs. Edward S. Croft III

Ann & Jim Curry

Dr. & Mrs. F. Thomas Daly Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Harold T. Daniel Jr.

Mr. James M. Datka & Ms. Nora P. DePalma

Mr. Trey Duskin & Ms. Noelle Albano

Anonymous

Micah Fortson & Georgia Jarman

Dr. Spencer H. Gelernter

Dr. Richard Goodjoin

James C. Goodwyne & Christopher S. Connelly

Helen C. Griffith

Ms. Louise S. Gunn

Felicia & Isaiah Hale

George L. Hickman III

Richard & Linda Hubert

Cliff Jolliff & Elaine Gerke

Mrs. Cecile M. Jones

Mrs. Peter G. Kessenich

Wadih & Ali Khayat

Ms. Carla Knobloch

Anonymous

Tim & Angela Leveridge

Mr. & Ms. Larry Anderson

Dr. Jill Mabley

Jennifer & Chad Mann

Dr. & Mrs. Steven Marlowe

Mrs. Erin Martin

Mr. Stedman C. Mays Jr. & Mr. Charles Bjorklund

Linda & Don Morris

Barbara & Mark Murovitz

Carol S. Niemi

Kathie & Charles Palmer

Mr. Darryl-Christopher Payne†

Dr. & Mrs. Lawrence S. Phillips

Dr. & Mrs. Donald Reitzes

R.J. & D.G. Riffey, Jr.

Sidney & Phyllis Rodbell

Ms. Hazel Sanger

Stewart & Mary Searle

Adhishesh Sood

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Stansfield

Kay Summers

Ms. Virginia S. Taylor

Mr. Michael Tushman & Mrs. Marjorie Williams

Eldred Veira

Ms. Betsy K. Wash

Alan & Marcia Watt

Rae & George Weimer

Dr. & Mrs. James O. Wells, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Westfall

Ms. Kathy J. White

Dr. & Mrs. Hamilton Williams

Supporter $500+

Judith M. Alembik

Dr. Catherine Allard

Martha Allday

Dr. Raymond Allen

Paula Stephan Amis

Mr. John Baker

Mr. Albert E. Bender, Jr.

Mrs. Marilee F. Betor

Mr. Matt Blackburn

Jill Blair & Fay Twersky

Ms. Mary D. Bray

Stanford M. Brown

Craig & Brenda Caldwell

Mr. Pete Ciaschini

Dr. Lawrence M. Cohen

Mrs. Jan W. Collins

Julianna M. Critz

Maureen & Michael Dailey

Mr. Joseph V. Dawsey & Mr. Frank D. Kubanek

Mrs. Anne J. Ederington

Ms. Ellen J. Evans

Dr. & Mrs. Richard D. Franco

Dr. & Mrs. David J. Frolich

Mr. Glen Galbaugh

*Col. & Mrs. Donald M. Gilner

John Greer

Mr. & Mrs. Richard P. Grodzicki

Mr. & Mrs. Sam Hagan

Debra M. Hulsey

Ms. Lynne Elliott Jones

Mr. J. Carter Joseph

Keith Kellum

Joan & Arnold Kurth

Mr. Scott Lampert

Mr. Sidney E. Linton

Livvy Kazer Lipson

Allan & Vaneesa Little

Dr. Jo Marie Lyons

Jeanie & Albert Marx

Mr. Michael Mayes

Mr. M. Reynolds McClatchey Jr.

Sally & Allen McDaniel

Mr. Bernard McGuinness

Mr. M Sean Molley & Ms. Heidi C. Pritchett

Ciaran Morris

Jane Morrison

Mr. Marvin Moss

Terri & Stephen Nagler

Mr. Allan & Mrs. Twinkle Nelson

Rita Omark

Mr. Lawrence F. Pinson

*Sharon & Jim Radford

Mr. Stephen L. Rann & Ms. Dytre Fentress

Mr. & Mrs. James W. Robbins

Sandra & Ronald Rousseau

Dr. & Mrs. William M. Scaljon

Dr. & Mrs. William E. Silver

Andrew J. Singletary, Jr.

Mr. Fred B. Smith

Mr. Paul Snyder

Sharon Daniels Sullivan

Carolyn & Robert Swain

Stephen Swicegood

Dr. & Mrs. Michael Szikman

Mr. Stephen H. Thompson & Mr. Drew Mote

Mr. Joseph Usher

Ms. Juliana T. Vincenzino

Ms. Brenda D. Jennings

Kelly Weekes

Ed Willard & J. R. Attaway

Kiki Wilson

Contributor $250+

Christine Allen

Mr. Carl H. Anderson, Jr.

Stephan & Laura Anderson

Atlanta Opera Orchestra Players Association

Mr. & Mrs. David S. Baker

Claire & Bryan Benedict

Mr. Edward S. Berkoff

Mr. & Mrs. Sid Besmertnik

Dr. Stephen R. Brandt

James & Nancy Bross

Beau F. Brummett

Dr. & Mrs. Harold L. Chapman, Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. Don S. Coatworth

Carol Cookerly & Robert Beal

Mr. David D’Ambrosio

Carol Comstock & Jim Davis

Mr. & Mrs. John Drucker

Mr. & Mrs. David R. Dye

Allison Fichter & Phillip O’Brien

Judy & Stan Fineman

Mary Anne & Bruce Gaunt

Ms. Pat Godbee

Vasily Goncharu

Ms. Susan Goodman

Drs. Nancy & Robert Griner

Mr. Jamael & Mrs. Rashidah Hester

Mr. & Mrs. Douglas M. Holly, Jr.

Ms. Jan W. Hughen

Mr. Rolf Ingenleuf

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Johnston

Mr. William Johnston

Matthew Katzmark

Mr. & Mrs. David Keller

John & JoAnn Keller

Dorothy Yates Kirkley

Mr. Roy Locklear III

Richard Lodise & Valerie Jagiella

Mr. Simon Miller

Mrs. George E. Missbach Jr.

Berthe & Shapour Mobasser

Mr. & Mrs. George T. Munsterman

The Honorable & Mrs. George A. Novak

Mr. John Owens

Mrs. Polly N. Pater

Mr. & Mrs. John Payan

The Reverend Neal P. Ponder, Jr.

Catherine Popper & Noah Eckhouse in honor of Ms. Faye P. Popper

Misty Reid

Mr. Stephen & Mrs. Elizabeth Rhoden

Virginia Rolfes

Mr. Barry F. Ross & Mrs. Jane M. Rooks Ross

Ms. Anne Schneider

Ms. Regina Schuber

Mr. Karin Schwerd

Clayton & Holly Sparrow

Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel

Steve & Christine Strong

Dr. David E. Sutherland II & Mrs. Sarah F. Yates Sutherland

Barbara & Jon Swann

Mr. & Mrs. Frederick C. Taylor

Ms. Nancy A. Thomas

Ms. Mary Thorpe-Mease

Mr. & Ms. Wolfgang Tiedtke

Ms. Susan Wall

Ms. Jone Williams & Ms. Barbara Robb

CORPORATE PARTNERS

$100,000+

The Coca-Cola Company

The Home Depot Foundation

$50,000+

Gas South Truist UPS

$25,000+

The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation

Price Waterhouse Coopers

Warner Bros. Discovery

$10,000+

Accenture LLP

Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

The Hilbert Law Firm

Homrich-Berg, Inc. - Buckhead

KaneTreadwell Law LLC

KPMG LLP

National Distributing Co., Inc.

Troutman Pepper WestRock Company

$5,000+

CIBC EY

Anonymous

Wallace Graphics

$2,500+

BNY Mellon

FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Foundations

$500,000+

The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

Lettie Pate Evans Foundation

$225,000+

Mr. Howard W. Hunter - Gramma Fisher Foundation

Donald & Marilyn Keough Foundation

$100,000+

Anonymous

The Coca-Cola Foundation

The Halle Foundation

Knobloch Family Foundation

$50,000+

Atlanta Music Festival Association Fund of Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

The Roy and Janet Dorsey Foundation

The Gable Foundation

Livingston Foundation†

Mary & EP Rogers Foundation, Inc.

The Sara Giles Moore Foundation

The Rich Foundation, Inc.

Truist Trusteed Foundations:

Florence C. and Harry L. English Memorial Fund

The Zeist Foundation, Inc.

$20,000+

Connolly Family Foundation

The Jim Cox, Jr. Foundation

The Hertz Family Foundation, Inc.

J. Marshall & Lucile G. Powell Charitable Trust

The Ray M. & Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation

$10,000+

David, Helen, & Marian Woodward Fund

The George M. Brown Trust Fund

JBS Foundation

$5,000+

Camp-Younts Foundation

$1,000+

Atlanta Woman’s Club

The Hills Family Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas D. Hills, Trustees

Kiwanis Foundation of Atlanta

The Mary Brown Fund of Atlanta, Georgia

The Opera Guild for Atlanta

Frances Wood Wilson

Foundation, Inc.

Government

City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

Fulton County Arts & Culture

Georgia Council for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

BARBARA D. STEWART LEGACY SOCIETY

The Atlanta Opera established the Barbara D. Stewart Legacy Society to recognize donors who have designated The Opera as a beneficiary in their estate plan. In honor of Barbara D. Stewart’s many contributions to The Atlanta Opera, our planned giving division, the Encore Society, has been renamed the Barbara D. Stewart Legacy Society.

Cathy Callaway Adams & Mark Adams

Anonymous (5)

Mr. & *Mrs. Shepard B. Ansley

*Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Bair

Mrs. Wallace F. Beard

The Bickers Charitable Trust

Mr. Jonathan Blalock

*Jim & *Nancy Bland

Mr. Montague L. Boyd, IV

Mr. Robert Colgin

*Martha Thompson Dinos

The Roy & Janet Dorsey Foundation

Mr. Richard H. Delay & Dr. Francine D. Dykes

Arnold & Sylvia Eaves

* Ms. Dorothy E. Edwards

*Heike & Dieter Elsner

Ms. Melodi Ford

Carl & Sally Gable

*Ms. Anne Marie Gary

Mr. & Mrs. Sidney W. Guberman

Ms. Judy Hanenkrat

*Sylvia Halleck, MD

Caroline Hardin

Richard & Fern Hartnig

The Hilbert Family Trust

Eda L. Hochgelerent, M.D. & Bruce A. Cassidy, M.D.

Mr. L. Don Holland

Mr. Hilson Hudson

*Mrs. Joseph B. Hutchison

Gail G. Johnson

Mr. J. Carter Joseph

*Mrs. Alfred D. Kennedy, Sr.

*Mrs. Isabelle W. Kennedy

*Donald & *Marilyn Keough

Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Keough

Ms. Corina M. LaFrossia

Mr. & Mrs. John G. Malcolm

Mr. Robert L. Mays

Mr. & Mrs. Allen P. McDaniel

*Peggy Weber McDowell & *Jack McDowell

Mr. & Mrs. Craig N. Miller

*Miss Helen D. Moffitt

Mr. J. Robert Morring

Clara M. & John S. O’Shea

Mrs. Polly N. Pater

Mr. James Paulk

*Mr. William Pennington

*Mr. Bruce Roth

Ms. Hazel Sanger

Mr. D. Jack Sawyer, Jr.

Anita & J. Barry Schrenk

Katherine Scott

Elizabeth N. Shapiro

*Mrs. Lessie B. Smithgall

Elizabeth Morgan Spiegel

Christine & Mark St.Clare

*Ms. Barbara D. Stewart

*Mrs. Eleanor H. Strain

Mr. Tarek Takieddini

Sandra & *Tom Teepen

Dr. & Mrs. Harold Whitney

*Mrs. Jane S. Willson

Rhys & Carolyn Wilson

Ms. Bunny Winter & Mr. Michael Doyle

Mr. Charles R. Yates, Jr. & Mrs. Mary Mitchell Yates

*Mr. & *Mrs. Charels R. Yates, Sr.

Mr. Tomer Zvulun & Mrs. Susanna Eiland

*deceased

TRIBUTES & MEMORIALS

In Memory of Eleonora M. Barson

Colonel John V. Barson, D.O. & Mrs. Gay L. Barson

In Honor of Mr. Jonathan Blalock

Mr. John Thompson, II

Mr. William F. Snyder

Connor Howard

Rae & George Weimer

In Honor of Dr. Hal Brody & Mr. Don Smith

Jonathan Blalock

Connor Howard

In Honor of John & Rosemary Brown

Mr. Barry F. Ross & Mrs. Jane M. Rooks Ross

In Memory of Maria Callas

Jesus Olivas Sierra

In Memory of Suzanne Claeys

Ms. Alice Sue Claeys

In Honor of Rebekah Clark Cooledge

Dr. John W. Cooledge

In Honor of Brother George Councill

Barbara Bonner

In Honor of Ann & Frank Critz

Brenda O’Neal Lambert

Rae & George Weimer

In Honor of Robert Dean & Robert Epstein

Jonathan Blalock

Linda & Don Morris

In Memory of Col. & Mrs. Edgar W. Duskin

Noelle Albano & Trey Duskin

In Honor of Mr. Robert G. Edge

Mrs. Eleanor Crosby

In Honor of Sally & Hank Fielding

Ms. Anne Schneider

In Memory of Sam Hagan

Jonathan Blalock

William Frampton, III

Mr. Alfred Msezane

William Ogden Shropshire

Wayne R. Vason & Lee Harper

Elizabeth Wilson

In Memory of Harriet Harris

Carlquist Harris

Freya Harris

Karen Rajczi

In Memory of Dr. James T. Lowman

The Family of Frank A. Thorpe

Ms. Mary Thorpe-Mease

Mr. Stephen Koger

John & Yee-Wan Stevens

In Honor of Alfredo Martin

Jonathan Blalock

In Honor of Mary Ruth McDonald

Jonathan Blalock

Rae & George Weimer

In Memory of Peggy McDowell

Mr. J. Carter Joseph

In Honor of Julie Meyer

Helen & Steven Kraus

In Honor of Talia & John Murphy

Lib & Neal Quirk

In Memory of Ann Chamlee Payne

Darryl-Christopher Payne

In Memory of William Pennington

Jonathan Blalock

In Memory of Marietta Pompilio

Dan Pompilio & Lark Ingram

In Memory of the Honorable George A. Novak

Jana M. Novak

In Honor of Howard & Victoria Palefsky

Mr. & Mrs. Kate Cook

Donna Burchfield & Penn Nicholson

In Honor of Jerome & Dulcy Rosenberg

Mr. & Mrs. Jay Davis

Dr. & Mrs. William E. Silver

In Honor of Rolando Salazar & The Atlanta Opera Chorus

Ms. Pat Godbee

In Honor of Katherine Scott

Jonathan Blalock

In Honor of William F. Snyder

Jonathan Blalock

In Honor of Paul Warshauer

Helen & Steven Kraus

In Memory of Margaret Williams

Thurman Williams

In Memory of Marya Gabrielle Williams

Jone Williams & Barbara Robb

In Honor of Charlie & Mary Yates

Anonymous (24)

Carol Cookerly & Robert Beal

Mr. Jonathan Blalock

Mr. Pitak Intrawityanunt

Mr. Joshua Peyton

Mr. Stephen & Mrs. Elizabeth Rhoden

Mr. & Mrs. J. Barry Schrenk

Dr. David E. Sutherland II & Mrs. Sarah F. Yates Sutherland

Dorothy Yates Kirkley

Mr. Joseph Usher

In Honor of Mr. Tomer Zvulun & Ms. Susanna Eiland

Sally & Hank Fielding

Mr. Michael D. Golden & Dr. Juliet Asher

Connor Howard

Ms. Elizabeth Klump

Emily Knobloch

Mr. & Mrs. Larry Kurlander

Mary Ruth McDonald

Katherine Scott

John & Yee-Wan Stevens

Mr. & Mrs. William E. Tucker

Rae & George Weimer

In Memory of Henry Zvulun

Mary Jane Burkhalter

Sally & Hank Fielding

Mr. Michael D. Golden & Dr. Juliet Asher

Katherine Scott

Ms. Elizabeth Klump

In Honor of The Atlanta Opera Staff

Rae & George Weimer

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Board Chair

Mr. Rhys T. Wilson

Vice-Chair

Mr. John L. Hammaker

Vice-Chair | Development Committee Co-Chair

Mr. Charles R. Yates, Jr.

Secretary

Mr. John Haupert

Treasurer | Finance Committee Chair

Ms. Bunny Winter

Audit Chair

Mr. Bryan H. Barnes

Community Engagement Committee Chair

Mr. Alex Simmons, Jr.

Development Committee Co-Chair

Mrs. Talia Murphy

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair

Mrs. Stephanie Morela

MEMBERS

Mrs. Elizabeth Adler

Mrs. Susan M. Anderson

Mr. Dante Bellizzi

Mr. Montague L. Boyd, IV

Dr. Harold J. Brody

Mrs. Rosemary Kopel Brown

Dr. Frank A. Critz

Mr. Robert Dean

Dr. Carlos del Rio

Dr. Todd Ellis

Mr. Dieter Elsner

Dr. Donald J. Filip

Mrs. Joanne Chesler Gross

Mrs. Caroline Hardin

Mr. Jamael Hester

Mrs. Laura Lane

Mr. Andrew R. Long

Mr. Alfredo Martin

ADVISORY COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Andrew J.M. Binns

Mr. Kenny L. Blank

Mrs. Inge Bledel

Ms. Mary Calhoun

Ms. Sally Bland Fielding

Facilities Task Force Chair

Mr. Howard Palefsky

Investment Committee Co-Chair

Mr. Frank Butterfield

Investment Committee Co-Chair

Mrs. Sandra S. Morelli

Nominating & Board Engagement Committee Chair

Mr. Kevin Greiner

Strategic Planning Committee Chair

Mrs. Christine St.Clare

At-Large Member, Immediate Past Chair

Mrs. Cathy Callaway Adams

At-Large Member

Mr. Howard W. Hunter

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director, ex-officio member

Mr. Tomer Zvulun

Ms. Kelly Mayall

Mr. James B. Miller, Jr.

Mr. Michael E. Paulhus

Mr. Herbert J. Rosenberg

Mr. Thomas Saylor

Mr. William E. Tucker

Ms. Julia Filson

Mr. Roger Fleming

Mr. Lance Fortnow

Mrs. Beth W. Glynn

Dr. Thomas N. Guffin, Jr.

HONORARY MEMBERS

Mr. Ronald Antinori

The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler

Mr. Robert G. Edge

Mr. Carl I. Gable, Jr.

Mrs. Nancy Hall Green

Mr. Gregory F. Johnson

Mr. Carter Joseph

Mr. Alfred Kennedy, Jr.

Mr. Michael Keough

Mrs. Emily C. Knobloch

Mr. George Levert

Mr. J. Barry Schrenk

Mr. Timothy E. Sheehan

Mr. G. Kimbrough Taylor, Jr.

Mr. Mark K. Taylor

Mr. Thomas R. Williams

Mr. Robert G. Woodward

Mr. Douglas Hooker

Mrs. Erin Quinn Martin

Mr. Robert G. Pennington

Mr. Paul Snyder

EXECUTIVE

Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun

Managing Director

Executive Assistant & Board Liason

Special Projects Manager

ARTISTIC / MUSIC

Carl & Sally Gable Music Director

Director of Artistic Administration

Artistic & Operations Manager

Chorus & Orchestra Manager

Micah Fortson

Misty Reid

Nancy Kritikos

Arthur Fagen

Meredith Wallace

Megan Bennett

Orchestra Librarian ................................

Artistic Services Coordinator

PRODUCTION

Director of Production

Assoc. Director of Production

Production Manager

Technical Director

Lighting Supervisor

Props Supervisor & Artisan

COSTUME

Costume Director

Show Manager

Communications Coordinator

Master Draper / Tailor

First Hand

Chris Bragg

Phil Parsons

Elizabeth Graiser

Robert Reynolds

Meggie Roseborough

Amy Smith

Rick Combs

Matthew Peddie

Paige Steffens

Sarah Burch Gordon

Paula Peasley-Ninestein

Allison Hines

Mary Cruz Torres

Gibron Shepperd

Stitchers Hauzia Conyers, Michelle Lee, Jenn Rogers

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION

Director of Community Engagement & Education

Education Manager

Community Engagement & Education Coordinator

DEVELOPMENT

Development Managing Director

Director of Development—Individual Giving

Associate Director of Development Operations

Development Operations Manager

Individual Giving Manager

Institutional Giving Manager

FINANCE

Jessica Kiger

Amy Williams

Jonesia Williams

Jessica Langlois

Jonathan Blalock

Katy Gardner

Aaron Walker

Luke MacMillan

Marisol Deus

Controller

Inga V. Murro

Staff Accountant Camelia Johnson

Staff Accountant

David Tubbs, Jr.

Bookkeeper Ruth Strickland

ADMINISTRATION

Chief Administrative Officer Kathy J. White

Director of Human Resources Kenneth R. Timmons

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Director of Sales & Marketing

Creative Services Manager

Marketing Project Manager

Sales & Marketing Manager

Senior Manager, Ticketing Services

Ticketing Services Coordinator

COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

Director of Communications & Public Relations

THE ATLANTA OPERA FILM STUDIO

Rebecca Brown

Matt Burkhalter

Emily Crisp

Ashley May King

Renee Smiley

Chauncey Sims

Michelle Winters

Director of The Atlanta Opera Film Studio Felipe Barral

Film Associate

Short-Form Video Editor

GLYNN STUDIO

Master Teacher

Studio Artists ...........

Amanda Sachtleben

Brittany Fontis

Laura Brooks Rice

Kameron Lopreore, Aubrey Odle, Amanda Sheriff, Nora Winsler, Jason Zacher

CONCESSIONS

Concession stands are located in the center of the lobbies on all three levels. Food and beverage items are prohibited inside the theater. Thank you for your cooperation.

RESTROOMS

Restrooms are located on house right and house left of all three lobbies. Family restrooms are also located on house right of all three lobbies. Mobility-impaired patrons may use any of our restrooms.

PREPAID PARKING

On the performance page on the Cobb Energy Centre website there is a link to purchase parking in advance. Day of parking is available for $15 (credit or debit card only). There are 1,000 on-site parking spaces; 700 in a four-level deck and 300 more in a surface lot.

EMERGENCY INFO

In the event of an emergency, please locate the nearest usher who will direct you to the appropriate exit.

ELEVATORS

Elevators are located on each side of the lobbies on all levels.

LOST & FOUND

Items are turned into the Synovus Box Office on the day of a performance. To

inquire about a lost item, please call Public Safety at 770-916-2911.

SMOKING

Smoking is prohibited inside the building.

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE

Persons requiring access assistance are asked to contact the Ticketmaster at 800-982-2787 for advance arrangements.

Audio clarification devices are available to our hearing impaired guests at no charge. This is on a firstcome, first-served basis and are available at the main desk in the lobby.

Wheelchairs are available upon request. All items require a form of identification to be held until the item is returned.

COBB ENERGY CENTRE RULES & REQUESTS

• All patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket in order to be admitted to the performance. Please be aware that not all performances are suitable for children.

• Infants will not be admitted to adult programs. Parents will be asked to remove children who create a disturbance.

• There is no late seating allowed. Closed-circuit monitors are provided in the lobby as a courtesy to

latecomers.

• Please turn off all cellphones prior to the beginning of each performance.

• Please limit conversation during the performance.

• Cameras (including use of cellphone camera) and audio and video recording devices are strictly prohibited at all times.

• Leaving while the show is in progress is discourteous and we ask that you refrain from doing so.

• Please unwrap all candies and cough drops before the performance.

IDENTITY CONFLICT

AN EVENING OF MUSIC & REFLECTION

Featuring Another Sunrise and post-concert panel discussion

WED 1 MAY @ 6:30PM THE TEMPLE | 1589 PEACHTREE ST, NE

ATLANTAOPERA.ORG/ANOTHER-SUNRISE &

The Douglas J. Hertz Family Foundation

Clinton Smith conductor Esther Tonea soloist