Opera Colorado - New Heights in Grand Opera

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2009 Ensemble Artists

Anna Noggle, soprano
Ms. Noggle enjoys a diverse repertoire including appearances as Madame de Tourvel in Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons, Liu in Turandot, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Micaela in Carmen and Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow. She has appeared internationally as Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Rome Festival in Italy, the Königen der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte in Bourgas Bulgaria, and as a guest recitalist at the Teatro Nacional de Panamá in Panamá City, Panamá. Her discography includes Gottschalk’s Escenas campestres cubanas RO 77 for the Naxos classical music label with Richard Rosenberg and the Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. She is excited to sing Fiordiligi in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Tisbe in Cinderella and perform in the Ensemble in The Music Shop.

Donata Cucinotta, soprano
Ms. Cucinotta began the 2008 season with her debut as Adele in Die Fledermaus at Amarillo Opera. A former Resident Artist at Shreveport Opera, she was honored with the Audience Choice Award at the company’s Singer of the Year Competition and has been invited to return as Laurie (The Tender Land) in 2009. Other honors include Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Finalist, and an invitation to sing at Weil Recital Hall as a New Jersey Verismo Opera Competition Finalist. Favorite roles include Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Adina (L’elisir d’Amore) and Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia). She is thrilled to portray Despina in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Clorinda in Cinderella and Masha in The Music Shop.

Wendy Buzby, mezzo-soprano
Ms. Buzby is pursuing the final year of her Master's Degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the studio of Margaret Lattimore. Ms. Buzby received her Bachelor's Degree from Northwestern University, Evanston. This spring, Ms. Buzby placed fourth in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Vocal Competition. Recent roles include Tisbe from Rossini's La Cenerentola, Mrs. Patrick DeRocher and Jade Boucher from Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the title role in Glück's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Dritte Dame from Die Zauberflöte. Ms. Buzby is delighted to perform the roles of Dorabella in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Angelina in Cinderella and sing in the Ensemble in The Music Shop.

Brendan Daly, tenor
Mr. Daly has sung a range of roles on stages across the country. At the 2008 Aspen Music Festival, he created the central character in Mason Bates' new opera California Fictions. He was Almaviva in Boston Lyric Opera's 2007 Barber of Seville tour. In 2006, he appeared as Candide with the Boston Pops, and later that year the New York Times praised his Tanglewood performance in Hindemith's Hin und Zurück. A native of Atlanta, Brendan holds degrees from Harvard and the Longy School of Music. He has been a Tanglewood Fellow and a Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He is looking forward to singing Ferrando in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Prince Ramiro/Herald in Cinderella and Ivan in The Music Shop.

Jeffrey Seppala, baritone
Mr. Seppala is a native of Minnesota and holds a Bachelor's degree from Biola University and a Master's degree from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. Additional training includes the Tri-Cities Opera Resident Artist Program. Most recently he sang Masetto in Don Giovanni with Delaware Valley Opera. Other significant stage credits include the title role in Don Giovanni, Tiridate in Radamisto, the Father in Beauty and the Beast (Giannini), Mr. Webb in Our Town, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, Moralès and Le Dancaïro in Carmen, Mr. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice (Meechem), and Billy Bigalow in Carousel. He is excited to portray Guglielmo in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Dandini in Cinderella and Dimitri in The Music Shop.

Michael Peer, bass-baritone
Mr. Peer was born into a family of professional, concertizing musicians in Tel Aviv, Israel. His talent was discovered by his grandfather, a dramatic bass-baritone, when Michael was only six years old. Michael was surrounded by music from birth, but his formal musical education started at Hunter College, where he studied voice with Susan Gonzalez and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree. He continued his studies at Aaron Copland Music School with Mark Oswald and graduated with Master of Arts in May 2008. Michael has sung in several languages: English, German, French, Italian, his native language Hebrew, and Russian. He has performed widely in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Recently he won the Goliard opera competition and was accepted to Long Island Opera. He is thrilled to perform Don Alfonso in the student matinee of Cosi fan tutte, Don Magnifico/Alidoro in Cinderella and sing in the Ensemble of The Music Shop.

Beth Nielsen, coach/accompanist
Ms. Nielsen, a native of southern California, began her career in Piano Performance and the collaborative arts where she served as the accompanist for the Children’s Chorale of Flagstaff. She was the rehearsal pianist for the Flagstaff Symphony’s production of La bohème, the harpsichordist for Händel’s Messiah and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and the pianist for the musicals Kiss Me Kate and Into the Woods. Ms. Nielsen has also served as music director for Black Bart’s Dinner Theater and coach and staff pianist for Northern Arizona Summer Music Camp in Flagstaff. While completing her graduate studies in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California, Ms. Nielsen has coached and taught vocal literature at Azusa Pacific University. She is finishing her doctoral studies at USC with Dr. Alan Smith and currently is a coach/accompanist at both CU Boulder and Metro State College, as well as beginning her first season with the Colorado Choir. She is excited to be the rehearsal pianist for Cosi fan tutte as well as provide coaching for the Ensemble Artists and provide music for Cinderella, The Music Shop, recitals and other events.


Leigh Holman, Director of Education and Community Programming
Director of the Opera Colorado Ensemble Artists
Leigh Holman is an established stage director in the fields of Opera and Musical Theatre. As Director of the Opera Colorado Ensemble Artists, she stage directs two touring productions per season, concerts and other presentations to promote Opera Colorado and the young artists that are contracted into the program. Holman was previously Chair of the Voice and Opera Studies Area at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before she moved back to Boulder to teach and direct at the University of Colorado (adjunct) and continue on in her professional role at Opera Colorado. She has directed and performed for such companies and opera institutions as Portland Opera, Nashville Opera, National Opera, Wildwood Opera, Opera Theatre of Fort Collins, University of Colorado, University of Arkansas and others. Leigh is a frequent opera lecturer including presentations of the pre-curtain lectures at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Opera 101 presentations on KVOD and holds a graduate Opera Performance degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition to directing over 25 professional and academic operatic and musical theatre productions, she most recently served as assistant director for Ron Daniels (Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in London) in his critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly at Opera Colorado. In Spring of 2009, Leigh will remount her 2007 production of La Cenerentola and premiere Richard Wargo's The Music Shop, both to tour with Opera Colorado's Ensemble Artists.