Young Artist Program

From: Minot, North Dakota. LA Opera: Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut); Bullfighter in Ainadamar (2025); Borsa in Rigoletto (2025).

Tenor Nathan Bowles is a versatile artist based in Dallas, Texas. Heralded as having a voice “without dross” and for his “flawless vocal technique,” he is quickly earning his reputation as a compelling stage performer.

In 2024, he made his Dallas Opera mainstage debut as Benvolio in Romeo et Juliette. With the SMU Lyric Theatre, he has been heard in such roles as Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Judge Danforth in The Crucible. He has been seen with the Western Plains Opera Company as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, the Baker in Into the Woods, John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld and, most recently, Don Jose in Carmen.

Bowles was a 2024 finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, winning the New Orleans district and Gulf Coast Region. Concert performances include Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Hailstork’s I Will Lift up Mine Eyes, and in the DSO Symphony Gala. Bowles is a graduate from Minot State University and holds a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

Learn more at NathanBowlesTenor.com.

From: Seoul, South Korea. LA Opera: She joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2024/25 season.

South Korean collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Sujin Choi is an active performer known for her appearances in various prestigious venues such as Jordan Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Daegu Opera House, Kumho Art Hall, and Mozarthaus in Vienna, Austria.

Sujin’s musical journey includes serving as pianist and opera coach in Cavalli’s La Calisto , Puccini’s La Bohème, Martin y Soler's L'arbore di Diana, and Jack Perla’s An American Dream at New England Conservatory. She has also had the privilege of serving as an opera coach fellow, contributing to productions such as Mozart's Don Giovanni at Aspen Music Festival and Puccini’s La Bohème at Music Academy of the West. Recently, she joined the staff as a pianist at Boston Conservatory starting in September 2023.

Sujin’s educational achievements are equally commendable, having earned her Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate in Collaborative Piano from the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Cameron Stowe and Jonathan Feldman, with full scholarships supporting her studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance and a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano from Yonsei University.

In the 2024/2025 season, Choi will take part in both the renowned Merola Opera Program and LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn Stein’s Young Artist Program.

From: São Paulo, Brazil. LA Opera: Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly (2024, debut); Duke of Verona in Romeo and Juliet (2024); Jose Tripaldi in Ainadamar (2025); Count Ceprano in Rigoletto (2025).

Winner of the Ralph Vaughan Williams award for best performance of an English song at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, bass Vinícius Costa and his collaborator Pierre Nicolas-Colombat were among the 10 semi-finalists out of more than 120 entries in the most important song competition in the United Kingdom and one of the biggest competitions on the European continent. He was also a first place winner in the Brazilian and Latin American Linus Lerner Singing Competitions.

He has performed with Theater Basel and Bühne Bern in Switzerland and with Teatro São Pedro, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and Sala São Paulo in Brazil. His roles include Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Zuniga in Carmen, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Rodimarte in Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor. On the concert platform, he has been a soloist in works such as Bach's Ich Habe Genug and the Saint Matthew Passion, as well as Symphony No. 5 (“Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya”) by Phillip Glass.

He began his vocal and musical education with the Guri Santa Marcelina Program in 2014 with Naraine Sri Hamsa and Paulo Cavalcante. In Brazil he was a student of Maria Lúcia Waldow and Francisco Campos; graduated with a bachelor's degree in singing in 2021 and in 2023 completed his master's degree in performance with Marcel Boone, with specialized training in song with Jan Schultz at the FHNW Hochschule Für Musik Basel. His training also includes the Old Music Workshop at the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo with Nicolau de Figueiredo and master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ludovic Tezier and Margreet Honi. In 2023, he participated in the Reneé Fleming Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.

From: Seattle, Washington. LA Opera: He joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2024/25 season.

Julian Garvue is a pianist from Seattle, Washington, passionate about music in all its forms. Julian is thrilled to be joining LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program as a pianist/coach, and will help prepare LAO’s productions of Così fan tutte and Ainadamar in the spring of 2025. Julian attended the Merola Opera Program in summer of 2024, where he worked with many luminaries of the vocal piano world such as Carrie-Ann Matheson, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Kevin Murphy, and Mario Marra. While at Merola, he also performed harpsichord continuo for Merola’s production of Don Giovanni, under Maestro Stefano Sarzani and director Patricia Racette. The previous summer, Julian attended Music Academy in Santa Barbara as a fellow of the Lehrer Vocal Institute where he worked as a pianist/coach on the Academy's production of La Bohème. 

Julian graduated with both his MM and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. While at IU, Julian performed dozens of recitals and three opera productions for IU Opera Theater: Sweeney Todd, La Finta Giardiniera, and Don Giovanni. Before beginning his career as a collaborative pianist in 2019, Julian worked for three years freelancing as a jazz pianist in New York City, recorded two albums with The Arsonists, and recorded a free jazz CD with his classmates from the Eastman School of Music entitled Doublefist.

From: Shenyang, China. LA Opera: Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut).

Tenor Yuntong Han earned his master’s degree at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Heidi Grant Murphy and Kevin Murphy. His roles there include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ruggero in La Rondine and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Before coming to IU, he earned his second bachelor’s degree, in vocal performance, at New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of MaryAnn McCormick, and a bachelor’s degree in aircraft manufacturing engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. He was a 2023 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. That same year, he was a vocal fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute. His roles at the New England Conservatory include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Rodolfo in La Bohème and Lucano in The Coronation of Poppea. In addition to his work on the opera stage, he is also active as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation and the NEC Song and Verse art song series.

From: Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. LA Opera: Berta in The Barber of Seville (2023, debut); First Maid in The Dwarf (2024). She joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2023/24 season.

Kathleen O’Mara is the first place winner of Operalia 2024, where she also won the Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner/Strauss. Here appearances in the 2024/25 season include debuts with San Diego Opera as Mimi in La Boheme, with Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Helmwige in Die Walkure and with the Metropolitan Opera as Berta in The Barber of Seville. For the summer of 2024, she was a Gaddes Festival Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she performed the role of Duchess Christina in Galileo Galilei by Philip Glass. She also made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in scenes from Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl.

She graduated from the Juilliard School with a M.M. in 2020 and Westminster Choir College with her B.M. in 2018.

In the summer of 2023, she covered the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for both Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Palm Beach Opera, after previously performing Fiordiligi at the Juilliard School in 2019. Other roles include Zemire in André Grétry’s Zemire et Azor with Westminster Opera Theater. She has covered various roles including the First Lady in The Magic Flute with the CoOPERAtive Program, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro with Music Academy of the West, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Susan B. Anthony in VIrgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All at Juilliard. She has participated in programs including the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera’s Apprentice Program, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, and Music Academy of the West.

Learn more at KathleenOMaraSoprano.com.

From: Seoul, South Korea. LA Opera: Yamadori in Madama Butterfly (2024, debut); Gregorio in Romeo and Juliet (2024); Teacher in Ainadamar (2025); Marullo in Rigoletto (2025).

Baritone Hyungjin Son is an active opera, oratorio and concert singer. He recently made debuts as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with Detroit Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. His other roles include the title role in Don Giovanni, Doristo in Vicente Martín y Soler's L’arbore di Diana, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Mr. Putnam in Jake Heggie's If I were you, Pa Zegner in Missy Mazzoli's Proving up and Sir Thomas in Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park. He also performed as a soloist for Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor with NEC Philharmonia at Jordan Hall and for Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the BU Symphony Orchestra at Boston’s Symphony Hall. As a studio artist at Aspen Music Festival, he covered the role of Ford in Falstaff with international bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role and covered the title role in Don Giovanni as well. He was named a national semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2023, and he was also named a district winner in 2022 and an encouragement winner in 2020 in the Boston district of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

In 2024, he earned his master’s degree at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Bradley Williams. He holds a graduate certificate from Opera Institute of Boston University and a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from Seoul National University.

From: Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. LA Opera: Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly (2024, debut); Voice of the Fountain in Ainadamar (2025); Countess Ceprano / Page in Rigoletto (2025).

In the summer of 2024, she joins Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist, making her debut there as the Slave in Salome and also covering the role of Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande.

She has been a young artist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and was a 2023 finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.

In the spring of 2024, she earned her master's degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she performed the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. She earned an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at the University of Toronto.