Ainadamar

Grammy Award winning soprano Ana María Martinez has been acclaimed by The New York Times as an artist who creates “theatrical magic.” She is a winner of the 15th annual Opera News Awards, and her international career sees a diverse lineup of opera’s leading ladies at the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls. The 2022/23 season saw her return to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Donna Elvira in a new production of Don Giovanni by Ivo van Hove, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann. Ms. Martinez also returned to LA Opera to sing the Countess in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro conducted by music director James Conlon. Ms. Martinez made appearances at the Toronto Summer Music Festival for a concert with pianist Craig Terry and as a guest teaching artist, as well as a recital with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Society, and as a Mosher Guest Artist with Music Academy of the West.

Performance highlights of the 2021/22 season include the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas with Lyric Opera of Chicago and a role debut as Despina in Cosi fan tutte with Washington National Opera. On stage during 2020/21 season, in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Martínez was thrilled to join San Diego Opera as Mimi in their production of La Bohème, in the world’s first-ever drive-in opera production! Virtual performances during the season included a “Living Room Recital” with LA Opera performed in Ana María’s home and available digitally. She curated two Spanish-themed virtual programs, the first, with pianist Craig Terry for Lyric Opera of Chicago, entitled Pasión Latina, featured a dynamic selection of music from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Argentina and Spain. The second program, created by Ana María for Houston Grand Opera, entitled Suite Española, featured music of Spain, including zarzuela, and starred Ana María alongside HGO Studio artists. Additional performances during the season included her role debut as Tosca with Opera Philadelphia, which she performed again later in the season with Cincinnati Opera, as well as Nedda in Pagliacci with Palm Beach Opera.

The inaugural recipient of the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist Award from Houston Grand Opera and Lynn and Oscar Wyatt, Ms. Martinez’s relationship with HGO goes back to 1994 when she won first prize in the Eleanor McCollum Auditions and Awards Competition, and in 2015 established the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award as part of that same competition. The scholarship is awarded annually to a young singer with great artistic promise, and is to be used towards the furthering of his or her artistic training. On the Houston Grand Opera stage Ms. Martínez continues to portray some of her most beloved characters, often under the baton of Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. It was there that she debuted the title role of Carmen, as well as the role of Cio-Cio-San, which she since has performed around the world. She joined them as the title role in Rusalka, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Nedda in Pagliacci, Mimi in La Bohème, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Liù in Turandot, Lucero in the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes, and as both Rosalba and later the title role in Florencia en el Amazonas, both of which were recorded for commercial release.

Ms. Martínez is delighted to perform season after season with Lyric Opera of Chicago. Recent performances include Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Donna Elvira in a new Robert Falls production of Don Giovanni, her role debut as Desdemona in Otello, as well as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Mimi in La Bohème, Nedda in Pagliacci, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte and Marguerite in Faust. She made her role debut as Elisabetta in Don Carlo with San Francisco Opera, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, and also joined them as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Micaëla in Carmen, as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and as Pamina in The Magic Flute. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Micaëla in Carmen and returned to the house as Musetta in La Bohème and Cio-Cio-San. She joined Washington National Opera as Liù in Turandot and Cio-Cio San, and she made her debut with Santa Fe Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, returning there as Rosina in a new production of The Barber of Seville, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mimi in La Bohème, as Cio-Ci-San, and as the title role in Carmen. Additional leading roles in the United States have taken her for multiples seasons to the stages of Opera de Puerto Rico, Dallas Opera, and Florida Grand Opera, among many others.

Career highlights from stages across Europe include her critically acclaimed role and house debut as Rusalka with the Glyndebourne Festival, which was recorded live and released on the Glyndebourne label. She returned to Glyndebourne in the leading role of Paolina in the United Kingdom’s first professionally staged performances of Donizetti’s Poliuto, also recorded live and released on DVD. She made her debut at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as Rusalka, and her debut with the Opera National de Paris as Amelia in a new production of Simon Boccanegra, returning as the title role in a new production of Luisa Miller, as Mimi in La Bohème, and for her role debut as Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann. She made her debut with the Vienna State Opera as Adina in L'elisir d’amore, and returned there as Pamina in The Magic Flute, Micaëla in Carmen, Mimi in La Bohème, Liù in Turandot, and as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. She joined the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Cio-Cio-San, Luisa Miller, the Countess, Mimi, Rusalka and as Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann. At the Royal Opera House Covent Garden she debuted her Alice Ford in Falstaff, and portrayed Violetta in La Traviata, Cio-Cio-San and Donna Elvira. She sang Liu and Nedda both with De Nederlandse Opera. In the Middle East, she portrayed Mimi with the Abu Dhabi Festival in the United Arab Emirates, for the city’s first ever fully staged opera production.

A celebrated concert artist, Ms. Martinez has appeared with some of the world’s most important orchestras and conductors. She made her debut at Teatro alla Scala with the Filharmonica della Scala, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, performed with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Alan Gilbert, in selections from West Side Story, and has had solo concerts with the Puerto Rico Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Mercury Baroque in Houston, the Seoul Philharmonic, and with the English National Opera Orchestra in London. She has performed with the Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, under the direction of Vladimir Fedoseyev, the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasiliera in Rio de Janeiro, the BBC Symphony at Barbican Hall, and the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic. She joined the Boston Symphony, conducted by Bernard Haitink, Lyric Opera of Chicago for several concerts at Millenium Park conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and the Washington National Opera Orchestra for a concert with Bryn Terfel conducted by Plácido Domingo. She made her debut with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg for Verdi’s Requiem, joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel, and performed alongside baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in a gala concert with the Turkish Opera and Ballet Theatre. She sang with tenor Joseph Calleja in an open-air televised gala concert with the Esterhazy Festival in Austria, the Ravinia Festival in concert performances as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte conducted by James Conlon, joined the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and has appeared on several occasions with the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico.

Ms. Martínez’s recording collection is highlighted by her solo disc, entitled Ana María Martínez - Soprano Songs and Arias, of which she also served as executive producer. Recorded with the Prague Philharmonia and conducted by Steven Mercurio on Naxos, the album was selected by Gramophone as an “Editor’s Choice.” She stars on the soundtrack of Amazon’s season 3 of Mozart in the Jungle (Sony Classical), on the DVD Cosi fan tutte (Decca) filmed at the Salzburg Festival, and appears on Steven Mercurio’s Many Voices (Sony Classical). She performs on the albums of Philip Glass’'s La Belle et la Bête and Symphony No. 5 (Nonesuch), Albeniz's Henry Clifford (Decca), Joaquin Rodrigo’s: Obra Vocal I, II, IV & V (EMI), and Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (Albany). Recorded on Naxos for the Milken Archives and with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, she can be heard on Castelnuovo Tedesco’s Naomi & Ruth Opus 27 (Naxos) as well as Yizkor's Requiem (Naxos) and with the Barcelona Symphony, Marvin Levy’s Canto de los Marranos (Naxos), Julius Chajes’ Old Jerusalem (Naxos) and Hugo Weisgall's Psalm of the Distant Dove (Naxos). Her rendition of Ave Maria is heard on the Aaron Zigman soundtrack in the Denzel Washington film John Q, and her “Je veux vivre” from Romeo et Juliette can be heard in the movie Factory Girl.

In addition to a full performing calendar, Ms. Martinez is also the first ever Artistic Advisor at Houston Grand Opera and as a performing Professor of Voice at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. She has also voiced the role of opera singer Alessandra in season three of Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, and proudly represented her birthplace Puerto Rico as an honoree and performer in the 62nd Annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. Additionally, Ms. Martinez is a contributing editor to Classical Singer Magazine and her reflections were profiled in Latino Wisdom: Celebrity Stories of Hope, Inspiration, and Success to Recharge our Mind, Body, and Soul by Cathy Areu, published by Barricade Books.

Ms. Martínez was the inaugural recipient of the Pepita Embil Prize of Zarzuela at the 1995 Operalia, and in the years since has been honored to regularly share the stage in concert with Plácido Domingo. Highlights of their touring include performances at the White House, HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro for the World Cup Celebration, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, as well as performances at the Abu Dhabi Festival in the United Arab Emirates, Arena di Verona, Chorégies d’Orange, Teatro Real in Madrid, with the LA Opera Orchestra in honor of Domingo’s 50th anniversary, in a special concert event with the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis, and for the inaugural performance at the Dubai Opera House, to name just a select few. Their recordings include a zarzuela DVD recorded live at the Salzburg Festival entitled Amor, Vida de Mi Vida (EuroArts), the Latin Grammy Award-winning recording of Albeniz's Merlin (Decca), as well as the Grammy nominated recording of Bacalov's Misa Tango (Deutsche Grammophon), and the DVD Spanish Night (EuroArts) with the Berlin Philharmonic. Ms. Martínez has also performed on international concert tours with star tenor Andrea Bocelli. Highlights of their collaboration include her appearance on the Emmy-nominated PBS TV special and DVD American Dream: Andrea Bocelli’s Statue of Liberty Concert (WNET/Thirteen) with the New Jersey Symphony, as well as her participation in his star-studded performance in New York’s Central Park which was recorded live, entitled Concerto: One Night in Central Park (Verve). She performs the role of Nedda opposite Andrea Bocelli in the recording of Pagliacci (Decca), and portrays the title role in Manon Lescaut (Decca) recorded opposite Andrea Bocelli with Plácido Domingo conducting the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Born in Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father, Ana María spent her formative years in Puerto Rico and New York City. She graduated from The Juilliard School with both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Martínez won the Pepita Embil Award at the 1995 Operalia II, first prize in the 1994 Eleanor McCollum Auditions and Awards from Houston Grand Opera, and in the 1993 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions she was a first place district and first place regional winner and national finalist. She is the recipient of the National Association of Latina Leaders’ Groundbreaking Latina in Music Award.

Learn more at AnaMariaMartinez.com.

Peruvian and Mexican-American soprano Vanessa Becerra began the 2023/24 season as the featured soloist at Fort Worth Opera’s annual gala. Additional engagements include returns to Opera Omaha for Norina in Don Pasquale, to Minnesota Opera for Adina in L’elisir d’amore and to Arizona Opera for Zerlina in Don Giovanni, as well as a debut with the Phoenix Symphony for Handel's Messiah.

Last season she debuted at Opera Delaware for Opening Night at the Grand, followed by debuts with Florida Grand Opera as Carolina in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio secreto, Opera Omaha for Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Despina in Così fan tutte along with returns to Minnesota Opera for Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment and Houston Grand Opera for Javier Martínez's El Milagro del Recuerdo. On the concert stage, she debuted with the newly formed San Antonio Philharmonic.

Vanessa made debuts at the Metropolitan Opera as Noémie in Cendrillon, Intermountain Opera Bozeman for Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and Boston Lyric Opera for Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. She returned to Washington National Opera in Kamala Sankaram’s Rise, part of the world premiere tetralogy Written in Stone, and she debuted with Austin Opera as Marzelline in Fidelio and Opera Parallèle as Belle in La Belle et la Bête. In concert, she debuted with Minnesota Opera for Ópera Afuera and returned to Fort Worth Opera for Entre Amigos.

She returned to Opera San José for the title role in Il segreto di Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari, debuted with Arizona Opera for the feature length film adaptation and world premiere of The Copper Queen, and debuted with St. Croix Valley Opera in a concert of popular arias entitled Opera on the River. Vanessa debuted at Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo and Washington National Opera as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Additional recent appearances include Maria in Francesca Zambello’s production of West Side Story with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Glimmerglass Festival and Atlanta Opera. She also joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and returned to Opera Omaha for Glass’s Les enfants terribles.

Vanessa debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel as Papagena in The Magic Flute, San Francisco Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas as Paquette in Candide, Lyric Opera of Chicago as Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears, both Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera as Sophie in Werther, Opera Omaha in Medea (Glauce), and Atlanta Opera in Sweeney Todd (Johanna). The winter of 2017 saw Ms. Becerra’s return to Opera San Jose as the title role in Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella (featured internationally on Medici.tv) conducted by Jane Glover.

Ms. Becerra is a graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. During her time with LAO, she appeared in Le nozze di Figaro (Barbarina), Die Zauberflöte (Papagena), La traviata (Annina), Gossip 2 in the GRAMMY Award-winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, and as a featured soloist in a concert with bass-baritone Erwin Schrott. Vanessa enjoys a long relationship with The Glimmerglass Festival where she has been seen in Oklahoma! (Laurey), La bohème (Musetta), and in their Young Artist performances of The Magic Flute (Pamina). Other training programs include Wolf Trap Opera Company, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. She received her master’s degree from The Boston Conservatory, her bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University in her hometown of Fort Worth, TX and is a graduate of the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts.

Learn more at VanessaBecerra.com.

David Henry Hwang’s stage work includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida, Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney’s Tarzan. His screenplays include M. Butterfly and he is currently penning the live-action feature musical remake of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as an Anna May Wong biopic to star actress Gemma Chan. For television, he was a writer and consulting producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair and is now creating two television series, Billion Dollar Whale for Westward/SKG and another for Netflix. Called America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written 13 libretti, including five with composer Philip Glass. He also co-wrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop music icon Prince.

Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, a Grammy Award winner who has been twice nominated, and a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. A professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, Hwang is a Trustee of the American Theatre Wing, where he served as Chair, and sits on the Council of the Dramatist Guild. Recent honors include his 2022 induction onto the Lucille Lortel Playwrights’ Sidewalk and his 2021 induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His newest musical, Soft Power, a collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, opened in New York at the Public Theatre, where it received a 2020 Grammy nomination for best musical theater album and was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

 In 2016, the David Henry Hwang Society was founded by William C. Boles (Rollins College), Martha Johnson (University of Minnesota), and Esther Kim Lee (University of Maryland). The DHH Society is devoted to the scholarly examination of plays by David Henry Hwang.

Learn more at DavidHenryHwang.com.

Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded by classical chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. His blending of genres and seamless integration of voices speak volumes about his approach and style, a musical language that can only be termed “Golijovian.”

Since the early 1990s, Golijov has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet and the St. Lawrence String Quartet; in addition to relationships with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, and Robert Spano; and orchestras including the Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago symphony orchestras. In 2000, the premiere of Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos (St. Mark Passion) took the music world by storm. The Boston Globe called it "the first indisputably great composition of the 21st century.” Golijov has also received acclaim for other groundbreaking works such as his opera Ainadamar and the clarinet quintet The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, as well as music he has written for the films of Francis Ford Coppola.

In recent years, members of the Silkroad Ensemble have toured Golijov’s Falling Out of Time, including a 2022 performance at Carnegie Hall. The 80-minute song cycle, based on the novel by David Grossman, is available on In a Circle Records. The recording was nominated for a Latin Grammy and met with widespread critical acclaim. The Guardian called the work “a Kindertotenlieder for our fragile present.”

Other recent works include Ever Yours for string octet, premiered by St. Lawrence String Quartet and Telegraph Quartet, and Um Dia Bom for string quartet Brooklyn Rider. He is currently composing a new work for violin and orchestra to be premiered by Johnny Gandelsman and The Knights, and the soundtrack for a new Coppola film, Megalopolis.

This fall, Welsh National Opera presents a new critically acclaimed production of Ainadamar by Olivier Award-winning choreographer and director Deborah Colker, co-produced by Detroit Opera, Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera.

Golijov served as the Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall during the 2012/13 season. He is Composer-In-Residence at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he has taught since 1991.

Praised for her "attention to orchestral colors" (OperaWire) and ability to create "lightning changes in tempo, meter, and effect" (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Colombian-American Lina González-Granados has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a talented young conductor of symphonic and operatic repertoire. Her spirited interpretations of the orchestral repertoire, as well as her dedication to highlighting new and unknown works by Latin-American composers, have earned her international recognition, most recently as the recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the third prize and ECHO Special Award (European Concert Hall Organization) of La Maestra Competition, and the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.

She was the winner of the Fourth Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, and became the new Solti Conducting Apprentice under the guidance of Riccardo Muti, beginning in February 2020. She has held positions as Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Seattle Symphony.

Her 2021/22 season highlights include returns to the New York Philharmonic and Rochester Philharmonic, as well as debuts with the National Symphony (USA), Ann Arbor Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Kristiansand Symphony, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Polish National Radio Symphony, Orquesta del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and Tenerife Symphony.

She will also conduct The Barber of Seville at the Dallas Opera.

Recent appearances include performances with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, and Filarmónica de Medellín. She has had the opportunity to work with world- renowned artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, Zubin Mehta, Marin Alsop and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

She is an active and fervent proponent for the inclusion and development of new works for chamber and large orchestra, especially music from Latin-American composers. She is the Artistic Director of Unitas Ensemble, a chamber orchestra she founded that performs the works of Latinx composers, and provides access to free community performances for underserved communities. Her work with Unitas has earned her numerous community awards, most recently a Spark Boston award from the City of Boston. She has also commissioned multiple World, North-American, and American premieres, as well as the creation and release of the Unitas Ensemble album Estaciones, recorded alongside the Latin Grammy-winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano.

Born and raised in Cali, Colombia, Lina González-Granados made her conducting debut in 2008 with the Youth Orchestra of Bellas Artes in Cali. She holds a Master’s Degree in Conducting with Charles Peltz, a Graduate Diploma in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory with Erica Washburn, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University. Her principal mentors include Marin Alsop, Bernard Haitink, Bramwell Tovey and Yannick Nézet- Séguin.

Learn more at LinaGonzalezGranados.com.

Read a feature article about her here.

Read the LA Times review of her 2022 LA Philharmonic debut here.

Brazilian director and choreographer Deborah Colker studied classical piano and played volleyball before beginning dance in 1979, when she was a dancer in the Coringa group (led by the Uruguayan dancer and choreographer Graciela Figueroa, one of the precursors of contemporary dance in Brazil) for eight years. From 1984 to 1994, she was movement director for dozens of theatrical presentations, working with the most important stage directors in Brazil, in addition to working in cinema and advertising.

In 1994, she founded her own company, which in its almost 30 years of existence has traveled to more than 50 countries in all corners of the world. The Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker has gather public and critical acclaim, and has won numerous awards.

In 2001, she won the Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance. She was the first woman to create and direct a show for Cirque du Soleil, entitled Ovo. She was the director of movement for the opening of the 2016 Rio Olympics and has created performances for theaters in Europe. In 2018, she won the Prix Benois de la Danse for the show Cão Sem Plumas.

Jon Bausor is a multi award winning international stage designer and creative director. He studied fine art at Exeter College of Art and music at Oxford University before training on the Motley Theatre Design Course in London. On graduation he was a finalist in the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.

Jon designed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and the kinetic sculpture to light the flame for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Over the last 17 years Jon has designed extensively in dance, opera and theatre for companies worldwide including The Royal Opera House, National Theatre, London, National Theatres of Scotland and Wales, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Toho Stage, Japan, both Finnish and Norwegian National Ballets and for many Broadway and West End stages. He is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Recent theater design includes Bat Out of Hell, the Meatloaf musical (London/Germany/New York/Toronto; nominated, Best Design, What's on Stage awards); Tree with Idris Elba (Manchester International Festival/Young Vic); True West (West End); Knight's Tale (Imperial Theatre/Toho Stage, Tokyo); Fatherland (with the band Underworld and Frantic Assembly for Manchester International Festival); The Band: The Take That Musical (UK Tour); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios; winner Best Design UK Theatre awards); The James Plays (National Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland/world tour); Kursk (Sound and Fury/Young Vic/Sydney Opera House; nominated, Best Design, Evening Standard awards); Ghost Stories (West End/Toronto/Moscow); Peter Pan, The Lord of the Flies (Evening Standard award nomination for Best Design- Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Mametz (National Theatre of Wales; winner, Best Design, UK Theatre awards; winner Welsh Theatre awards); You For Me For You (Royal Court- nominated Best Design Evening Standard awards); I Am Yusuf (Shebbahurr, Palestine/Young Vic, London), Water (Filter/ Lyric/ BAM); Lionboy (Complicité), and Plough and the Stars (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Melbourne/New York/Boston).

His stage design work is currently exhibited in the V&A Museum In London as part of World Stages.

He proudly serves on the board of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.

Born in Ireland, Paul Keogan studied drama at Trinity College Dublin and at Glasgow University. After graduating he worked as production manager for Project Arts Centre Dublin, prior to embarking on a freelance career as a set and lighting designer.

Paul has designed lighting for a number of productions at the Abbey Theatre Dublin including Tales From The Holywell, ​Translations, Portia Coughlan, Walls and Windows, The Great Hunger, Last Orders at The Dockside, Citysong, Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, The Plough and The Stars, Cyprus Avenue, Heartbreak House, The Risen People, Drum Belly, Curse of the Starving Class, The Rivals, B for Baby, No Escape, Ages of the Moon, Marble, Lay Me Down Softly, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Woman and Scarecrow, The School for Scandal, Homeland (also set design), The Electrocution of Children, Amazing Grace, Living Quarters, Making History, The Map Maker's Sorrow, Cúirt an Mheán Oíche, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Bailegangáire, Down the Line, Eden, The Wild Duck, The Cherry Orchard and Heavenly Bodies.

His designs for the Gate Theatre Dublin include The Steward of Christendom, Constellations, The Visiting Hour, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, The Red Shoes, A Streetcar Named Desire, Molly Sweeney (also set design), The Last Summer, The Birds, God of Carnage, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Festen, Performances and The Gates of Gold.

Other lighting designs include Scandaltown and Love Love Love (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London); I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly UK tour); The Big Chapel X (Asylum Productions, Kilkenny Ireland), A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, The Gaul (Hull Truck); Happy Days, Blood in the Dirt Postcards from the Ledge, The Walworth Farce, Breaking Dad, Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, Underneath the Lintel (Landmark Productions, Dublin); A Tale of Two Cities (Royal & Derngate Northampton); Afterplay, Blasted (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); The Epic Adventure of Nhamo, the Manika Warrior and his Sexy Wife Chipo (Tiata Fahodzi, Tricycle Theatre), Novecento (Trafalgar Studios, London); Harvest (Royal Court Theatre, London), Blue/Orange (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and UK Tour) The Stock Da’Wa, Born Bad, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Hampstead Theatre London), Sadie (Lyric Theatre Belfast/BBC), Shirley Valentine, Here Comes The Night, Mixed Marriage, The Blind Fiddler and Ghosts (The Lyric Theatre, Belfast), The Treaty, Duck Duck Goose, Tiny Plays For Ireland 1&2, Strandline (Fishamble, Dublin), The Massacre at Paris (also set design), Quay West, Blasted, Far Away (Bedrock Productions, Dublin), Down onto Blue, Danti Dan and Olga (Rough Magic, Dublin), The Silver Tassie (Almeida Theatre London), The Tempest (Theatre Royal Plymouth and UK Tour), Miracle on 34th Street, The Hudsucker Proxy, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe (Playhouse, Liverpool), Twelfth Night, Intemperance (Everyman, Liverpool).

He has designed set and lighting for Ballads and The Rite of Spring (CoisCéim, Ireland), Chair, Angel Babel, Here Lies (Operating Theatre, Ireland), Trad (Galway Arts Festival), The Sugar Wife (Rough Magic, Dublin), Family Stories, Tejas Verdes (B*spoke, Dublin), Far Away, The Winter’s Tale, Request Programme, Plasticine, medEia, The Hairy Ape, Woyzeck (Corcadorca, Cork), Dead Man Walking, Turandot (Opera Ireland) and Boss Grady’s Boys (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin).

His lighting designs for dance include productions for English National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London, Ballet Ireland and Irish Modern Dance Theatre.

Paul’s lighting designs for opera include Ainadamar, The Gondoliers and Utopia Unlimited (Scottish Opera), 20 shots of Opera (Irish National Opera Film), Elektra and The Marriage of Figaro (Irish National Opera), Falstaff (Vienna State Opera), Powder Her Face (Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao), Maria de Buenos Aires (Cork Opera House), La Bohème, Samson et Dalila, Don Quichotte, I Puritani, Les Dialogues des Carmelites, Eugene Onegin, Idomeneo and The Queen of Spades (Grange Park Opera), La Bohème and Wake (Nationale Reisopera, Netherlands), The Magic Flute (National Opera of Korea), The Makropulos Case, Un Ballo in Maschera and The Flying Dutchman (Opera Zuid, Netherlands). The Queen of Spades, Madama Butterfly, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, The Silver Tassie (Opera Ireland); The Lighthouse (Opera Theatre Company and Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, Montepulciano, Italy); Thérèse, La Navarraise, Cristina Regina di Svezia, The Snow Maiden, The Mines of Sulphur, Maria di Rohan, Pénélope, Susannah, Der Silbersee, Rusalka and Transformations (Wexford Festival Opera).

Paul devised and directed Man of Aran, Re-imagined, and co-wrote the libretto for Quicksilver the Opera.

Paul designed The Wishing Well, an outdoor projection piece for Kilkenny Arts Festival 1999, and the lighting for the Irish Pavilion at the Architectural Biennale in Venice 2004 and 2006. Paul was the recipient of the Gerard Arnhold Bursary at Wexford Festival Opera 2006.

Learn more at PaulKeogan.com.

Artist and creative director Tal Rosner combines multiple layers of sound and visuals to create video installations and live performances. The scope of his output covers a uniquely wide spectrum: from world leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, via rock legends Rolling Stones to London’s V&A Museum, the Commonwealth Games and fashion houses Telfar and Marni. His musical eye has earned him a spotlight on the international stage for video design, as well as critical acclaim for his distinctive approach to rhythm and color.

In 2021 Rosner conceived MYTHOS for Staatsoper Hannover, an entire evening dedicated to Sibelius’ tone poems, incorporating video and lighting design. The show was performed live and streamed globally. In 2020 he created a new video interpretation of Scriabin's Prometheus, The Poem of Fire, commissioned by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to mark their 125th Anniversary.

Other musical highlights include installations for Steve Reich's Tehillim (Psalms), commissioned by the Barbican Centre (2017); for Olga Neuwirth's Disenchanted Island, commissioned by IRCAM and Centre Pompidou (2017); and for Lament, a co-creation with composer Christopher Mayo, commissioned by Nuit Blanche Toronto (2018).

Previous large-scale orchestral work include Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies (2018), commissioned by the New York Philharmonic; Britten's Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia (2013-16), commissioned by the New World Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra; and In Seven Days (Piano Concerto with Moving Image), a collaboration with Thomas Adès, commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2008) and later performed with the New York Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zürich and Cologne Philharmonie.

Most recently, Rosner has been announced as video designer for The Hunger Games: On Stage (directed by Matthew Dunster), which will take place in autumn 2024. In 2022, he designed the video for both the opening and closing ceremonies of the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and for Ainadamar (directed by Deborah Colker) for Scottish Opera, Detroit Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and Welsh National Opera. He is currently working on the video element for The Minority Report (directed by Max Webster) for Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Lyric Hammersmith (2024).

In 2019 he originated a brand new adaptation of Astrid Lingren's Brothers Lionheart for the Royal Danish Playhouse in Copenhagen, which returned for further runs in 2022 and 2023, and commissioned to design and co-direct a new production of Die Walküre for Opéra National de Bordeaux, in collaboration with Julia Burbach.

Rosner co-designed Shopping and F'ing with long-term collaborator Jon Bausor for the Lyric Hammersmith (2016), and co-created 8 Minutes (2017), an hour-long multimedia dance piece, with choreographer Alexander Whitley and composer Daniel Wohl, for Sadler's Wells.

Additional theater and dance credits include Next to Normal at the Donmar Warehouse; Everyman and Husbands and Sons at the National Theatre; You For Me For You and X, The Glow at the Royal Court; The Most Incredible Thing (Pet Shop Boys) for Charlotte Ballet, North Carolina; and Les Enfants Terribles (Philip Glass) at the Royal Ballet.

Learn more at TalRosner.com.

Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for The Clemency of Titus (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.

In partnership with the Getty Villa and LACMA in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., he has curated multimedia recitals which draw connections between the classical vocal repertoire and special exhibits in the museums. He is a frequent collaborator at Wolf Trap Opera as an assistant conductor, chorus master and recitalist. He has been a guest coach at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, in Esterhazy, Austria, and he helped prepare Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. (JeremyMFrank.com)

A dancer and choreographer, Antonio Najarro graduated with honors in Spanish dance from the Royal Conservatory Professional of Dance Mariemma in Madrid.

He has performed as principal dancer in works choreographed by renowned figures including Rafael Aguilar, Antonio Gades, Alberto Lorca, Mairemma, Jose Antonio Ruiz and Jose Granero. 

Antonio began his professional career at the age of 15 when he joined dance companies including Ballet Anthology, Ballet of the Lyric Theater of La Zarzuela, Antonio Márquez Company, José Antonio and the Spanish Ballets and Aída Gómez Company. He quickly rose to first dancer in the programs of Mariemma, José Granero, Alberto Lorca, José Antonio, Antonio Gades, among others

In 1996 Antonio performed as a guest soloist in La Gitana, choreographed by José Antonio Ruiz and Paul Chalmer, with the Ballet del’Arena di Verona under the direction of Carla Fracci.

He joined the prestigious Spanish National Ballet (BNE) in 1997 under the direction of Aurora Pons, Nana Lorca and Victoria Eugenia.  Within three years he rose to the category of first dancer when Aída Gómez took over the artistic direction of the company.

Antonio’s passion for creation led him to choreography and he began participating in various editions of the Certamen Coreográfico de Danza Española y Flamenco de Madrid, a competition where he won first prize in the VIII edition.  

In 2002 Antonio started his own company, Compania Antonio Najarro, where he created four productions, Tango Flamenco (2002), FlamencOriental (2006), Jazzing Flamenco (2008) and Suite Sevilla (2011) that toured throughout Spain, Europe, Latin America, US and Japan. 

Antonio’s talent spread into the sports world where he worked with Olympic and world figure skating champions creating, their competitive and show programs. He created the flamenco program for French ice dancers Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, bringing them to the top of the Olympic podium at the 2002 Olympic Games when they won the gold medal. He also worked with European and world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland as well as Javier Fernandez, who became the first Spaniard to ever win a world figure skating championship. In 2018 Antonio also collaborated with coach Mayu Fujiki to choreograph for the Spanish National Artistic Swim Team. 

Antonio Najarro was named director of the Spanish National Ballet in 2011. To date, he was the youngest director of the Spanish National Ballet. He replicated the classic works of the company including Danza y Tronío by Mairemma, el Bolero by Rafael Aguilar, Ritmos by Alberto Lorca, Medea by Granero and Viva Navarra by Victoria Eugenia, among others. In addition Antonio expanded the company’s repertoire with his new creations including the first production of Ángeles Caídos, reuniting the talent of Rafaela Carrasco, Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Javier Latorre, Manuel Liñán y Rubén Olmo. Antonio introduced his own creations to the Spanish National Ballet including Suite Sevilla, Alento, Eterna Iberia, Icaro and Sorolla, inspired by the collection of “Visions of Spain” by the painter Joaquín Sorolla.

Learn more at AntonioNajarro.com.

Cameron Crosby started working in the entertainment industry in 1971 and became chief technician at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 1972. From 1976 until the mid-1980s he worked as freelance sound engineer, collaborating with bands and musicians including The Who, the Kinks, Bread and Kate Bush. In 1980, he established The Warehouse Sound Services with Allan Brereton, which grew to become Scotland’s largest specialist sound company. Cameron has designed and mixed the sound for Plácido Domingo, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Jersey and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, BBC Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has also designed and mixed the sound for the Edinburgh International Festival’s closing fireworks orchestral concert for 34 years.

Recent engagements include Nixon in China (Denmark, Scotland and Madrid), The 8^th Door, Candide and Ainadamar (Scottish Opera).