FESTIVAL ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL TEAM STEVEN A. DAIGLE, artistic director, is professor of opera and artistic director of Eastman Opera Theatre at The Eastman School of Music. His experience as a stage director—for companies from coast to coast—encompasses over 150 titles and a wide range of opera and lyric theater repertoire: from Handel’s Serse to Massenet’s Manon, from Copland’s The Tender Land to Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox, from Kern’s Zip! Goes a Million to Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot. Steve has served on the faculty of Kent State University and as assistant and acting director of the Opera Theater program at the Oberlin Conservatory. Steve began with Ohio Light Opera in 1990 and in 1999 was appointed artistic director. During this tenure, he has introduced 75 new titles to OLO’s repertoire, supervised OLO’s highly acclaimed series of CD and DVD recordings, created English translations for five Emmerich Kálmán operettas, and received critical acclaim for his commitment to researching, reconstructing, and producing neglected operettas and early musicals. Articles and reviews of Daigle’s work have appeared in Opera News, Opera London, American Record Guide, Gramophone, Fanfare, Classical Singer, and Opera Now. In May of 2015, Steve received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester.
Opera. She can be heard on recordings for the Newport Classic, Albany Records, and Operetta Archives labels. Julie resides in Salt Lake City with her husband, composer John Vasconcelos Costa, and their dachshunds, Freddie, Rose, and Tiny Tim. She is a tenured professor of voice, and voice area head, at the University of Utah School of Music.
WILSON SOUTHERLAND, music director/piano, is in demand throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He first appeared as rehearsal pianist at OLO from 2006-08 and has since traveled the world: he served as pianist, coach, assistant conductor, and recitalist at Opera Africa in Pretoria, the New Israeli Opera, AIMS Graz in Austria, and The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman. He made his conducting debut with Philip Glass’ Les enfants terribles at North Carolina Opera in 2012. For six years, Wilson was the senior coach and primary pianist under Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival, and he went on to accompany the esteemed conductorviolinist in recital at the Kennedy Center. In the fall of 2015 he joined the faculty of the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa as the first faculty opera coach in the university’s 184-year history. In 2016 Wilson joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as assistant professor of opera, where he conducted the revised world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Out of Darkness in 2017. Wilson is JULIE WRIGHT COSTA, as- also artistic director of the Rochester Gay Men's sociate artistic director, is held Chorus, alongside his duties at Eastman. He in high regard as an interpreter holds degrees in piano from Vanderbilt University and director of operetta. She is and The Juilliard School. celebrating her 31st season with SPENCER REESE, choreograOhio Light Opera, for which pher/tenor, is overjoyed to return she has sung in over 100 differfor his eighth summer with Ohio ent productions, performed over Light Opera. Having worked 80 roles, and directed more than 20 titles. This on more than 40 shows with season, she staged The Light on the Horizon OLO, recent onstage favorites for Utah Opera and created a virtual recital of include Frederic in The Pirates British art song for Opéra Louisiane with colof Penzance, Danny Churchill in laborative pianist/conductor Michael Borowitz. Girl Crazy, Valentine Lamar in Babes in Arms, Career highlights include performances with the and Billy Crocker in Anything Goes. While 2020 opera companies of Nevada, Cleveland, Michi- was largely a year of hibernation for live perforgan, Carolina, and Utah. Favorite performances mance, he was delighted to stay connected with include leading roles in Don Giovanni, The Turn so many wonderful friends and colleagues as we of the Screw, Bitter Sweet, La Rondine, Count- traded tap shoes for tech skills. He performed ess Maritza, Camelot, and the title role in Hello, three selections for OLO’s virtual season and Dolly! As stage director, she has collaborated taught countless Zoom voice lessons. He also in productions for the Moab Music Festival, served as music director for Where the Good Nevada Opera, Opera Southwest, The Eastman Songs Go, a new group headed by Ian Silverman School of Music, The University of Utah, Utah and Steven Daigle that researched and recorded Opera, Opéra Louisiane, and Western Plains the earliest shows of important musical theater 22 Box Office: 330.263.2345
