Be Careful Who You Burn

Praised for her “impassioned performance” (Seattle Times) in the title role of Aida at Seattle Opera, American soprano Alexandra LoBianco has established herself as a dramatic soprano of remarkable versatility, musicality, and consistency. This season, she performs Il trovatore (Leonora) in Opera Colorado’s semi-staged production and appears in concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

LoBianco’s career highlights include Fidelio (Leonore) at Wiener Staatsoper and North Carolina Opera, Die Walküre (Brünnhilde) at Seattle Opera and North Carolina Opera, La fanciulla del West (Minnie) at Des Moines Metro Opera, and Turandot (title role) at Des Moines Metro Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Maryland Lyric Opera. She has also performed Cavalleria rusticana (Santuzza) at Seattle Opera, Falstaff (Alice Ford) at Santa Fe Opera, and Der Rosenkavalier (Marianne Leitmetzerin) at the Metropolitan Opera, featured in the Met’s Live in HD series. Additional roles include Elektra (Chrysothemis, Fourth Maid) and Die Walküre (Helmwige) at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tosca (title role) at North Carolina Opera, Minnesota Opera, Seattle Opera, and Portland Opera, and Un ballo in maschera (Amelia) at Florida Grand Opera.

Recent seasons have included Rusalka (Foreign Princess) at Canadian Opera Company and Hansel and Gretel (Mother) at Lyric Opera of Chicago. LoBianco made a thrilling Wiener Staatsoper debut stepping in as Leonore in Fidelio while under contract for Turandot (title role) and later returned for Die Walküre (Helmwige) and Brünnhilde cover while on tour in Japan. Her repertoire also includes Die Walküre (Sieglinde), Suor Angelica (title role), Madama Butterfly (title role), Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), La bohème (Mimì), The Consul (Magda Sorel), and Jonathan Dove’s abridged Ring Cycle (Brünnhilde).

“A formidable display of vocal power and dramatic assurance,” mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel made her début with The Metropolitan Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor (Alisa), her début with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Roméo et Juliette (Gertrude), her Carnegie Hall début in Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and her New York Philharmonic début alongside Eric Owens in In Their Footsteps: Great African American Singers and Their Legacy. This season, she performed in Roméo et Juliette (Gertrude) with LA Opera and Aida (Amneris) with Dayton Opera.

In the 2023-24 Season, Nansteel had house débuts with LA Opera in Highway 1, USA (Aunt Lou), the Atlanta Opera in Die Walküre (Rossweisse), and she will sing Il trovatore (Azucena) with Opera Santa Barbara and Hänsel und Gretel (Gertrud) with Opera San Antonio. Nansteel will be seen with the Utah Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and act three of Wozzeck, and she joins the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola for their 150th Anniversary celebration of Verdi’s Requiem.

In the 2022-23 Season, Ms. Nansteel returned to the Metropolitan Opera in La traviata (Annina) and for their concert tour of Otello, and she had her house début with San Francisco Opera in their productions of Eugene Onegin and Dialogues des Carmélites. Nansteel also débuted a role in Aida (Amneris) for both Opera Grand Rapids and Finger Lakes Opera, performed in Hänsel und Gretel (Gertrud) for New Orleans Opera, appeared as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem for Orchestra Iowa, and performed in Suor Angelica (Mother Abbess) for Opera Omaha.

Praised by The New York Times for “the evening’s richest instrument—powerful yet capable of softness,” Ricardo José Rivera makes several major Verdi role debuts in the 2024-25 Season, including Macbeth (title role) at Teatro Nuovo, Stiffelio (Stankar) at Sarasota Opera, and Il trovatore (Conte di Luna) in Opera Colorado’s semi-staged production. He also joins Pittsburgh Opera for Pagliacci (Silvio), Florida Grand Opera for Elixir of Love (Belcore), and Colorado Springs Philharmonic for Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), in addition to returning to Opera San José for The Magic Flute (Papageno). Future seasons include debuts with the Metropolitan Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, and Utah Symphony, as well as returns to Sarasota Opera and Opera San José.

A sought-after interpreter of bel canto repertoire, Rivera has performed in Poliuto (Severo) at Teatro Nuovo, Roberto Devereux (Nottingham) at Washington Concert Opera, Ernani (Don Carlo) at Sarasota Opera, and Un ballo in maschera (Silvano) with Riccardo Muti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other recent highlights include Pagliacci (Silvio) at Opera San Antonio, Carmen (Escamillo) at Opera de Puerto Rico, La bohème (Schaunard) and Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio) at CulturArte de Puerto Rico and Dialogues des Carmélites at Houston Grand Opera. With Lyric Opera of Chicago, he sang Madama Butterfly (Sharpless, Yamadori), La bohème (Schaunard), and La traviata (Baron Douphol) as a member of the Ryan Opera Center.

On the concert stage, Rivera has performed Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Carmina Burana with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, and El retablo de Maese Pedro (Don Quijote) at the Casals Festival. He is a recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, a first-prize winner of the Saengerbund Competition, and a third-prize winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Gulf Coast Region).

Roberto De Biasio made his professional debut in Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo) at Teatro Donizetti of Bergamo in 2006 and quickly rose to prominence as one of today’s leading Verdi tenors. Praised for his “virile, glistening voice” (New York Times) and “fluid phrasing with an exciting, ringing top” (San Francisco Chronicle), he has since performed at major houses worldwide, including Simon Boccanegra (Gabriele Adorno) at the Metropolitan Opera, Luisa Miller (Rodolfo) at Opéra Bastille, La Traviata (Alfredo) at Arena di Verona, and Ernani (title role) at Teatro Regio di Parma.

Other notable performances include Messa da Requiem at Festival Verdi of Parma, Norma (Pollione) at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival, and La traviata (Alfredo) at Teatro La Fenice, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung and directed by Robert Carsen. He has also appeared in Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton) at the Metropolitan Opera, La traviata (Alfredo) at Opéra de Montréal and Theatro Municipal São Paulo, and Macbeth (Macduff) at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, directed by Robert Wilson.

Most recently, De Biasio debuted in Simon Boccanegra (Gabriele Adorno) at Wiener Staatsoper and performed at the Musikverein with Wiener Symphoniker, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Before his singing career, he was a professional flautist and taught History of Modern and Contemporary Music at the University of Cassino.

Commanding bass Young Bok Kim has recently dazzled audiences in Attila (title role), The Magic Flute (Sarastro), Rigoletto (Sparafucile), Verdi’s Requiem (bass soloist), and La battaglia di Legnano (Barbarossa) at Sarasota Opera. A favorite with Sarasota audiences, he returned in 2024 for Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo) and reprised Rigoletto (Sparafucile) at Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore. He made his Opera Colorado debut in 2023 in Turandot (Timur).

A native of Korea, Kim frequently performs on Korean stages, including Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) at National Opera of Korea and Seoul Metropolitan Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo) and The Magic Flute (Sarastro) at National Opera of Korea, and Semiramide (Nino’s Ghost) at City Opera of Seoul. In the U.S., he made his New York City Opera debut in La bohème (Colline) and later appeared in Carmen (Zuniga), The Magic Flute (Sarastro), and Madama Butterfly (Bonze), the latter featured in the 2008 Emmy Award-winning broadcast. He has also performed with Dallas Opera, Utah Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Boston, El Paso Opera, and Teatro Grattacielo, among others.

Kim’s extensive repertoire includes Aida (Ramfis), Il trovatore (Ferrando), Don Carlos (Philip II), Simon Boccanegra (Fiesco), Roméo et Juliette (Frère Laurent), La forza del destino (Padre Guardiano), Norma (Oroveso), Faust (Mephistopheles), Eugene Onegin (Prince Gremin), and I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Capellio). He holds degrees from Chung-Ang University, Mannes College of Music, and the Juilliard Opera Center and has performed under conductors such as Julius Rudel and James Conlon.

An esteemed mezzo-soprano, known as one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most celebrated artists, Marcia Ragonetti has been praised for her “captivating” characterizations (Cherubino, Carmen, Augusta Tabor, Rosina, Siebel, Nicklausse, Prince Orlofsky) as well as her “radiant, effervescent” singing over an illustrious forty-three-year career. That career had its start in 1982 as a chorister and quickly evolved under the expert tutelage of Nathaniel Merrill and Louise Sherman, co-founders of Opera Colorado, to her first featured role as Inez in Il trovatore in 1985, with over twenty OC productions to follow. A career highlight was appearing in the gala inauguration concert and stellar opening production of Carmen for the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in 2005. Her international debut was in Sweeney Todd as the Beggar Woman, a role she first sang with Opera Colorado and then toured to four Emilia-Romagna cities in Italy. Her concert repertoire is vast and varied and she is especially proud to claim a twenty-two-time guest appearance record with the Colorado Symphony alone. Musical theatre credits include garnering Henry nominations for “Outstanding Actress” for her virtuosic portrayals of Maria Callas in Master Class and Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Her love of intimate, cabaret-style shows finds her continuing to create and perform bio-based revues of Gershwin, Porter, Kern, Weil, and others. She is delighted and honoured to have come full circle—40 years later—as your insightful guide to this Verdi masterpiece.

For the past twenty-plus years, Rachael Harding has built her career around dance—as a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She received her B.F.A. in Dance and a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Arizona and a M.F.A in Dance from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She began her professional career as a dancer in Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. She is currently the resident choreographer for Denver’s professional jazz dance company, Davis Contemporary Dance Company, a performer with Nu-World Contemporary Danse Theatre, co-owner/director of Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop, and owner/director of Miss Rachael’s Dance in Denver, where she is inspired to share her passion for the arts with young dancers every day. She has had the distinct honor of dancing in past Opera Colorado productions, including Nixon in China, The Pearl Fishers, Rusalka, and Josephine, and choreographing for Rusalka, Aida, The Barber of Seville, Josephine, and The Shining.

Appointed in 2015 as Opera Colorado’s first-ever music director, Ari Pelto’s “breathtaking wizardry in the pit” (The Denver Post) has been widely celebrated, with Pelto in demand at opera houses and concert halls throughout the United States. At the age of 24, Pelto was appointed Assistant Conductor at the Spoleto Festival and he has since gone on to conduct worldwide. International engagements include performances with Bochumer Philharmoniker and opera productions at New National Theatre of Tokyo and the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador. In 2004 he made his highly-praised debut with New York City Opera, conducting La Traviata, after which he became a regular, returning for productions of Madama Butterfly, La bohème, and Carmen. Recent successes include Eugene Onegin at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Lucia di Lammermoor at Virginia Opera, and La Voix Humaine at Chicago Opera Theater.

Iranian conductor and pianist, Sahar Nouri, has been Music Director of Lamont Opera Theater at University of Denver since 2019. She has also served at Opera Colorado as Chorus Master & Assistant Conductor since 2016. Ms. Nouri is the founder/director of Dandelion Opera Institute.

At the University of Denver, Ms. Nouri has conducted productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Die Zauberflöte, Alcina, Cabildo, Les mamelles de Tirésias, and The Little Prince.

Her work with Opera Colorado has included productions of Samson and Delilah, The Flying Dutchman, Don Giovanni, Turandot, Die tote Stadt, Rigoletto, Carmen, The Shining, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, The Marriage of Figaro, La traviata, Falstaff, The Barber of Seville, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, and the world premiere of Steal a Pencil for Me (Gerald Cohen).

Previously, Ms. Nouri has been part of the music staff at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra at Bravo! Vail, Opera Parallèle, Opera North Carolina, Glimmerglass Festival, Utah Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre, Opera Steamboat, Merola Opera, Boston Conservatory of Music, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

An active performer, she has given numerous recitals around the US including those alongside international stars Mane Galoyan, Heidi Melton, and Matthew Polenzani. A multi-lingual coach, she has studied in Czechia, Italy, and Austria and is frequently in demand as a language coach.

Ms. Nouri is a former violinist who has performed with Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra and has won several prizes, for both violin and piano, in national music festivals and competitions in Iran.

Christopher Mattaliano has directed opera productions for The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, and New York City Opera. Internationally, he has worked with L’Opéra de Nice, L’Opéra de Montréal, Canadian Opera Company, Spoleto’s Festival dei Due Mondi, and Den Norske Opera. Past engagements include The Magic Flute at Washington National Opera, The Barber of Seville at Dallas Opera and Cincinnati Opera, Rigoletto at Opera Colorado, and Anna Bolena at AVA in Philadelphia.

He has directed numerous world premieres, including Hugo Weisgall’s Esther at New York City Opera, Fred Ho’s Journey Beyond the West at Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Peter Westergaard’s The Tempest at Opera Festival of New Jersey. As General Director of Portland Opera from 2003 to 2019, he oversaw all artistic, financial, and administrative operations, directing acclaimed productions such as Pagliacci/Carmina Burana, Il viaggio a Reims, and Falstaff. He has also worked extensively with young artists, teaching and directing at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Program.

Mattaliano is the founder of OrpheusPDX, a Portland-based opera company dedicated to producing professional opera on an intimate scale. Now in its third season, OrpheusPDX brings together an ensemble of artists in summer residence to create impactful and innovative performances.