Hildegard

LA Opera: title role in Hildegard (2025, debut).

Recognized as an “especially impressive” soprano (New York Times), Australian-American Nola Richardson has been particularly noted for her performances of Bach, Handel and Mozart and has won first prize in all three major American competitions focused on the music of J.S. Bach. Recent highlights include Handel's Samson with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, Bach’s B-Minor Mass with American Classical Orchestra at Lincoln Center, a performance for Leipzig BachFest with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and her Kennedy Center debut in Handel’s Radamisto with Opera Lafayette.

In the 2025/26 season she makes her debut with LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects creating the title role in the new opera Hildegard by Sarah Kirkland Snider. She will perform Handel’s Messiah with the Tucson and Kansas City Symphonies, Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate with Helena Symphony, and make solo appearances with Philharmonia Baroque, Ars Lyrica Houston, and American Classical Orchestra among others.

Nola has performed Messiah with the Colorado, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Helena, Pacific, and Seattle Symphonies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and works of Bach with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Seattle Symphonies, and at the Cincinnati May festival. She frequently appears with major Baroque orchestras and opera companies such as the Boston Early Music Festival, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Voices of Music, Ars Lyrica, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Twelfth Night, and Musica Angelica. Her recent operatic appearances include Hansel and Gretel (Gretel) with Helena Symphony, Amadigi di Gaula (Oriana) with Ars Lyrica Houston, and Hasse's Marc’ Antonio e Cleopatra (Cleopatra) with Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. Nola’s discography includes recordings with the Cantata Collective (Bach's St. John Passion, Easter Oratorio and Magnificat), and Baltimore Choral Arts (Mozart Requiem). She is the first and only soprano to receive the prestigious DMA degree in Early Music Voice from Yale.

Learn more at NolaRichardson.com.
Photo: Catherine Hancock Photography

From: Ottawa, Canada. LA Opera: Richardis von Stade / Angel 3 in Hildegard (2025, debut).

Mikaela Bennett is a celebrated singer and actress praised for her artistic versatility on stage and in concert halls around the world. A recent recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, she is equally at home performing with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall or starring in West Side Story (Maria) at the BBC Proms. Highlights include her solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall; premieres with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony; debuts with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in The Sound of Music (Maria) and with MasterVoices at Carnegie Hall in The Grapes of Wrath (Rosasharn) and Handel’s Israel in Egypt.

In the 2025/26 season, she makes her LA Opera debut in the world premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hildegard (Richardis von Stade), followed by a return to the Prototype Festival in the same production. She also returns to Bard SummerScape for Courtney Bryan’s Suddenly Last Summer (Catherine) and debuts at Emerald City Music in a solo recital featuring the West Coast premiere of a new Molly Joyce song cycle. In December 2025, she appears in holiday pops programs with the Grand Rapids, Toronto, and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras.

In the 2024/25 season, Bennett made her debut at Festival Musica Strasbourg in Ted Hearne’s The Source. Additional debuts included performances with the Orlando Philharmonic (Mahler’s Symphony No. 4), Kalamazoo Symphony (Gershwin), Kansas City Symphony (Celebrate at the Station), and Baltimore and Nashville Symphonies in Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite with the Aaron Diehl Trio. She returned to the 92nd Street Y for Hammerstein and His Sources, debuted at the Prototype Festival in In a Grove (Leona Raines/Leona’s Mother), and returned to the Glimmerglass Festival for The House on Mango Street (Esperanza).

Learn more at Mikaela-Bennett.com. 

LA Opera: Gerta / Angel 1 in Hildegard (2025, debut).

Praised for her “stylish elegance and intensity” (Wall Street Journal), soprano Raha Mirzadegan performs internationally in opera, oratorio, choral and chamber music. Equally at home singing medieval chant and cutting-edge premieres, she is known for her “stirring, soulful tones” (The Post & Courier) and “straight tone [that] soars with opulent richness and resonance” (All Ears).

Highlights from 2025 include a house and role debut as Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Ruckus at Hudson Hall, directed by R.B. Schlather. Her “clear tone and arresting agility” (Times Union) were praised as “the revelation of the afternoon” (Observer). In late winter, she joined Theotokos for a residency in Thiré, France as part of the French Ministry of Culture’s Odyssée artist-in-residency program. Hosted by Les Arts Florissants, the group’s performance featured Raha in pairings of Purcell arias and premieres by Doug Balliett.

Raha’s frequent engagements with new works include her Opera Philadelphia debut as the featured soprano in Karim Sulayman’s Baroque pastiche Unholy Wars. Following the world premiere at Spoleto Festival USA, Seen and Heard International described her as being “totally at ease in the Baroque style.” In 2025 she premiered Doug Balliett’s St. Mark Passion as the soprano soloist. Raha has also performed as Guinevere in Balliett’s opera Gawain and the Green Knight, a role she reprises annually on New Year’s Eve. In 2023, she performed the lead in a workshop of Drift, an opera by Alyssa Weinberg and J. Mae Barizo. Other premieres and records include music by Mary Kouyoumdjian, Owen Burdick, Elliot Cole and Eric Pazdziora.

A devotee of sacred music, Raha was a soloist on The Clarion Choir’s Grammy-nominated recording of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. She was also a standout soloist in Clarion’s 2024 Ockeghem Marathon at the Met Cloisters and their performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in 2025.

Raha is the founder of Hudson Baroque, a nonprofit organization that aims to provide soul-nourishing and accessible concerts for all members of the regional community. In collaboration with award-winning, internationally acclaimed instrumentalists and some of America’s finest early music singers, Hudson Baroque is where passion, virtuosity, and historically informed performance practice foster a culture of excellence and goodwill. In March 2025, the ensemble produced a historical replication of Handel’s final performance of Messiah, and in August, they performed A Voice from Heaven, a program of sacred a cappella music curated in collaboration with Andrew Leslie Cooper.

Learn more at RahaMirzadegan.com. 

From: Beaumont, Texas. LA Opera: General in Judas Maccabaeus (2008); Clementia / Margravine von Stade / Angel 2 in Hildegard (2025).

Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert has established herself as one of the preeminent interpreters of some of the brightest stars of new classical music. A true singing actress, she has received critical acclaim for her interpretations of both new and traditional repertoire in opera, concert, and chamber repertoire. “Gaissert gave a dramatically powerful, vocally stunning portrait of a woman growing increasingly desperate and delusional from lack of contact with the outer world. Gaissert’s development of Loats’s personality was utterly believable, and she gave a virtuoso performance of this very challenging music” (Arlo McKinnon, Opera News on The Echo Drift). Gaissert is known for her warm tone, powerful stage presence, and impeccable musicianship and technical prowess...."Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert was impossible to ignore.....She has a pure, powerful and appealing voice and a forceful stage presence to match." (Denver Post)

In the 2025/26 season, in addition to performances in the world premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hildegard  at LA Opera and at the Prototype Festival, Ms. Gaissert will be performing the world premiere of Sarah in Laura Kaminsky and Elaine Sexton’s The Post Office at BAM, as well as the New York premiere of Kaminsky and Crystal Manich’s Time to Act at National Sawdust, concerts with Sybarite5 in Belle Île, France, and recording her second album with pianist David Jackson, with world premieres by Justine Chen, Curtis Stewart and Matthew Ricketts.

Recent performances include Claire in Laura Kaminsky and David Cote’s Lucidity with On-Site Opera and Seattle Opera, The Soprano in Marc Neikrug's A Song by Mahler with the ARC Ensemble in Toronto, Judd Greenstein's A Marvelous Order at the Center for Performing Arts at PSU, Linda Larson in Laura Kaminsky's Hometown to the World at Santa Fe Opera and at New York Town Hall, Katharine Wright in Laura Kaminsky's Finding Wright for Dayton Opera, Eva Crowley's An American Dream for Opera Idaho, the role of Georgia O’Keefe in the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky and Mark Campbell’s Today It Rains with Opera Parallele and American Opera Projects, Sadie in Ricky Ian Gordon's Morning Star with On-Site Opera, creating the role of Walker Loats in Mikael Karlsson, Elle Kunoss Devoss and Kathryn Walat’s The Echo Drift for the Prototype Festival, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with San Diego Opera and the role of Hannah After in Laura Kaminsky's As One with Atlanta Opera, American Opera Projects, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New York City Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Columbus, Opera Idaho, Opera Memphis and San Diego Opera.

Learn more at BlytheGaissert.com. 

From: Beirut, Lebanon. LA Opera: Samie in Adoration (2025, debut); Volmar in Hildegard (2025).

Tenor Roy Hage is humbled to have grown from a kid in Beirut singing along with opera recordings in his room to drown out the sound of bombs to a man collaborating with those very artists who first inspired his love for the art form.

He is a multi-Grammy-nominated tenor who has performed over 70 operatic and symphonic works in eight languages with the world’s leading orchestras, music festivals, and opera companies.

Some of the ensembles Roy has performed with include the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Teatro Signorelli, Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, and Miami Music Festival.

Roy has worked with conductors of historic importance including Yannick Nezet-Seguin at the Metropolitan Opera, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Richard Bonynge, Sir Corrado Rovaris, Christofer Macatsoris, Caren Levine, George Manahan, Rossen Milanov, Xian Zhang, Stephen Lord, James Gaffigan, David Robertson, and Michael Christie.

Some of the 40+ roles Roy has performed include the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann, Roméo et Juliette, The Rake’s Progress, Candide, La Clemenza di Tito, and Pelléas and Melisande in addition to the Duke (Rigoletto), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore), Alfredo (La Traviata), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Des Grieux (Manon), Ruggero (La Rondine), Prunier (La Rondine), Judge Danforth (The Crucible), Jeník (The Bartered Bride), the Italian Singer (Capriccio), and Chevalier de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites). His performances have been broadcast on US and Lebanese television and radio.

A pioneer of non-traditional forms of vocal expression, Roy’s art consistently challenges expectations and pushes the boundaries of convention. One such example was an immersive adaptation of La Traviata at New York City’s famous cabaret, The Box, in which he performed the leading role of Alfredo alongside celebrated Metropolitan Opera soprano Inna Dukach and star baritone Paul La Rosa. Moreover, Roy created the role of Paul in Georgia Shreve’s rock opera Love Sick which premiered at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust in 2018, and the following year, produced and performed alongside Broadway veterans in Ms. Shreve’s latest musical-opera-play hybrid Dialogues of Travelers, also at National Sawdust. Most recently, Roy received unanimous acclaim performing the leading tenor role of Lensky in Eugene Onegin in Heartbeat Opera’s pared-down 100-minute version of the show directed by Dustin Wills.

Additionally, Roy recently captivated Bay Area audiences with his one-man-show, Finding My Voice, presented on the world-renowned Stanford Live concert series. Roy’s captivating storytelling skillfully weaved together melodies and anecdotes of his past, creating an intimate and immersive experience for the audience. The impact of Finding My Voice was profound, as evidenced by the resounding praise from Stanford Live subscribers: the show was hailed as the highlight of many seasons of the concert series, leaving a lasting impression on attendees. Through Finding My Voice, Roy showcased not only his remarkable talent as a performer but also his ability to bridge gaps and break barriers.

Roy has worked intimately on the development of major artistic projects with artists who have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, MacArthur Fellowships, Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts—including Bill T. Jones, Jennifer Higdon, Steven Stucky, Kevin Putts and Ann Hamilton—and has left his indelible mark on works that have become standard modern repertoire.

Roy won first prize in the WRTI Broadcast of the 2017 Giargiari Bel Canto Operatic Competition, highest score in the 2016 Mario Lanza Competition, and second prize in the Grand Concours de Chant Competition. Roy is humbled to have completed his operatic training at the top program for each of his respective degrees: Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin Conservatory, Yale University, and Curtis Institute of Music. Most recently, Roy, received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and was the sole business student chosen into the prestigious cohort of “Design Leaders” at Stanford’s Graduate School of Engineering (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design – d.school).

Learn more at RoyHage.com.

From: Overland Park, Kansas. LA Opera: Mechtild in Hildegard (2025, debut).

With “purity of tone and ardent, youthful stage presence” (Opera News), tenor Patrick Bessenbacher was raised in Overland Park, Kansas, where he grew up a three-sport athlete and an avid music lover.

Most recently, Patrick sang the role of Consigliere in Catapult Opera’s new production of San Giovanni Battista by Alessandro Stradella, as well as performing the role of Acis in Florentine Opera’s new production of Acis and Galatea. He also recently joined Pacific Opera Company in the role of Count Bandiere in the U.S. premiere of Salieri’s La Scuola de’ Gelosi. Patrick has had the privilege of performing with other wonderful companies, including Opera San Jose, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Birmingham, West Bay Opera, and the Opera Company of Middlebury, among others.

Patrick is represented by Kathy Olsen of Encompass Arts. He received his Bachelor’s in Music at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his Master’s in Music from The Juilliard School. Patrick enjoys spending his free time with family and friends, in the mountains skiing, on the beach having a drink, or just on the couch, enjoying everyones’ company.

Learn more at PatrickBessenbacher.com.

From: Vidor, Texas. LA Opera: The Soldier in Soldier Songs (2018, debut); Tom in Adoration (2025); Abbot Cuno in Hildegard (2025).

Baritone David Adam Moore has garnered worldwide critical acclaim for his ability to breathe life into characters with a rare blend of power and vulnerability. He  performs regularly with the world’s most important opera houses and orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Carnegie Hall, the Salzburg Festival, Grand Théatre du Généve, Théâtre du Châtelet, and the BBC Symphony, with broadcast and recording credits including the BBC, Arte TV, PBS, NPR, Radio France, RAI, Innova, Erato and ORF. His diverse repertoire of over 60 principal roles includes classic characters such as Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, epic song cycles including Schubert’s Winterreise and Brahms’ Die Schöne Magelone, and contemporary figures such as Britten’s Billy Budd, Joseph DeRocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America. Moore is a celebrated interpreter of contemporary music, and has created roles in world premieres for some of today’s most important composers, including Thomas Adès, Peter Eötvös and David T. Little.

Career highlights include Col. Alvaro Gomez in The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Salzburger Festspiele, where he originated the role with Adès; Horatio in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Metropolitan Opera; Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro alla Scala; Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Carmina Burana with the Jerusalem Symphony; Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire at Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Neue Oper Wien; Joseph DeRocher in a new production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for Hungarian State Opera, with designs based on Moore’s documentary photography from Angola Prison; the title role in David T. Little’s monodrama Soldier Songs with LA Opera; Don Giovanni with Staatsoper Hannover and Nationaltheater Mannheim, Billy Budd with Israeli Opera and Pittsburgh Opera; Maximilian in Candide at Teatro alla Scala, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Orchard Hall Tokyo; Papageno in The Magic Flute at New York City Opera; Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Staatsoper Hannover and Seattle Opera; and Judy Fry in Oklahoma!   in a new production at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Other notable appearances include Moore’s staged, multimedia production of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Atlanta Opera, Portland Opera, National Sawdust NYC, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Anchorage Opera; Joseph DeRocher in Dead Man Walking with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Des Moines Metro Opera, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with Virginia Opera; Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America with MüPA Budapest, National Opera Wroclaw (Poland), and Fort Worth Opera; Eugene Onegin with the Atlanta Opera and Arizona Opera; Don Giovanni with Oper Kiel, Nashville Opera, and Chautauqua Opera; Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with Palm Beach Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, and Festival Belle-Ile-en-Mer France; Carmina Burana with Israeli Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Festival Belle-Ile-en-Mer France; the title role in David T. Little’s Soldier Songs with San Diego Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Austin Opera, Atlas Theater Washington D.C., Le Poisson Rouge NYC, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and on a commercial recording for Innova Records that was short-listed for a Grammy nomination; Lucifer in the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’ Paradise Reloaded with Neue Oper Wien; Zurga in Les Pêcheurs des Perles at Seattle Opera; Ford in Falstaff at Arizona Opera; Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with San Diego Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Utah Opera, and Palm Beach Opera; Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon at Israeli Opera; Papageno in The Magic Flute at Austin Opera; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Seattle Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Central City Opera, Utah Opera, and Arizona Opera; Marcello in La Boheme at Pittsburgh Opera; Silvio in Pagliacci for San Diego Opera and New Orleans Opera; Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale at Israeli Opera; Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas at Glimmerglass Opera and Time Warner Center NYC; Ned Keene in Peter Grimes at Israeli Opera; the title role in Kevin Puts’ The Manchurian Candidate at Austin Opera; Starbuck in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick at Utah Opera; Jesus in Elgar’s The Apostles with the Netherlands Radio Symphony; Lord Rivers in Battistelli’s Richard III with Grand Théatre du Généve; Don Carlos in Dargomizhsky's The Stone Guest at Avery Fischer Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra; Lt. Audebert in Puts’ Silent Night with Austin Opera; the Pilot in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince with Tulsa Opera; and Escamillo in Carmen for the Lismore Festival Ireland.

Learn more at DavidAdamMoore.com.

From: Seoul, South Korea. LA Opera: Fong Dun Shung in On Gold Mountain (2022, debut); Otto in Hildegard (2025).

Paul Chwe MinChul An is a Korean-American multi-disciplinary bass singer. Critically acclaimed by the New York Times, Opera News, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and others, he has performed over 80 opera and oratorio roles in a career spanning two decades.

His 2024/25 season highlights include debuts with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Renard, Park Ave Armory in Meredith Monk’s Indra’s Net, Hawaii Opera Theater and Knoxville Opera in Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator, and Opera Theater Saint Louis as part of their New Works Collective. Returning engagements include John Glover and Kelley Rourke’s Eat the Document with the Prototype Festival as well as Messiah with Trinity Wall Street under the baton of Dame Jane Glover.

Recent performance highlights include collaborations with LA Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, Orlando Opera, Nashville Opera, Prototype Festival and Pacific Opera Projects.

YouTube and social handle: @paulchweminchulan

LA Opera: Faceless Woman in Hildegard (2025, debut).

Chloë Engel is a play worker and artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Their studio practice is anchored by an ongoing research project investigating the mistreatment and subjugation of mad peoples in Western European culture.

Chloë has presented performance work at Wavehill, Abrons Arts Center Underground Theater, wild project, Lifeworld, AUNTS, Open Performance at MovementResearch, No Theme Festival, and Little Berlin. They have had the pleasure of working with Jo Warren, Elena Demenyanko, Sam Wentz, Dana Reitz and Juliana May.