Cynthia Lawrence has sung on five continents and is hailed as one of America’s most exciting singing actresses. She is a regular guest of leading opera companies around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Albert Hall, London; the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin; New Israeli Opera; Opera Pacific; Opera Colorado; Deutsche Staatsoper; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Paris Opera, Prague’s National Theater; Grand Theatre de Geneva; Vlaamse Opera, Belgium; Castleward Opera, Belfast, Ireland; Opera Columbus; Dayton Opera; Minnesota Opera; Opera Ontario; Athens Festival, Theater Megaron; New York City Opera; Lake George Opera Festival; Opera Omaha; Central City Opera; Colorado Opera Festival; and Opera Memphis. While living in Lexington, KY, Ms. Lawrence has been a featured soloist in the 4th of July Celebration at Transylvania University for the City of Lexington; on a KET television broadcasts of the Alltech’s Celebration of Song and the ‘100 year Gala celebration of the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion’.Recently Cynthia sang a CONCERT ‘CARACALLA FOR UNICEF’ as a guest artist at The Baths of Caracalla, Rome for a charity evening in aid of UNICEF along with: José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Carly Paoli, Russell Watson, Andrea Griminelli & Alessandro Safina, accompanied by Roma United Orchestra, directed by David Giménez. Miss Lawrence appeared as Mimi in La Boheme with the National Symphony of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as part of their 40th Anniversary celebration. The previous fall she sang one of her favorite roles of Madame Butterfly in Anthony Minghella’s production, to a sold out crowd at the Guangzhou Opera House in China. In previous years Ms. Lawrence appeared as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana with the National Symphony of Santo Domingo as well as singing Tosca at Opera North Carolina and Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera. She has appeared yearly in the Alltech Celebration of Song, and was a featured soloist in the FEI World Equestrian Games which was held in Lexington, Kentucky and broadcast worldwide.

Her Lady Macbeth at Palacio Das Artes, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and was a smash sell-out and she was a featured performer in the 75th Anniversary Gala of Florentine Opera in Milwaukee. In the fall of 2008 she was honored to be a selected soloist and speaker for the concert and DVD “A Tribute to Pavarotti: One Amazing Weekend in Petra”. The previous December Cynthia sang the Gala Concert with Opera Fort Collins and was also in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she sang four concerts at the “Journey Through Time” festival and exhibition and starred in a gala concert in Lima, Peru. During the past several seasons, she sang Madame Butterfly with the Lithuanian Nation Opera in Spain and Opera Carolina, Maddelena with Ben Heppner as Andrea Chenier with CulturArte de Puerto Rico, Lady Macbeth, with the Metropolitan Opera and the Florentine Opera. The year before she sang Tosca with The Royal Albert Hall, London as well as with The Vancouver Opera. In previous seasons at the Metropolitan Opera she sang as Madame Butterfly, Musetta, Tosca, and Roxanne in Cyrano and Dolly in Sly opposite Placido Domingo. She also sang Elettra in Idomeneo at The Washington Opera, Cio-Cio-San for Connecticut Opera and Tosca for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She also appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Candace in A Wedding, and Opera Carolina, Atlanta Opera and Portland Opera as Tosca.

She appeared over 70 times in concert with the late Luciano Pavarotti; touring cities and countries such as Doha, Qatar; Italy; Chile; Venezuela, Argentina; Germany; Norway; Japan; China; Malaysia; England; Canada; South Africa, and throughout the United States. Her roles include her praised Tosca; Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera; Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac; Dolly in Sly; her celebrated Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly; Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus; Lavinia, in Mourning Becomes Electra; Elettra in Idomeneo; Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito; Musetta in La Boheme,; Micaela and Carmen in Carmen; The First Lady and Pamina, in Die Zauberflöte; Fiordiligi in Cosí fan Tutte; Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth; Die Frau in Schoenberg’s Von Heute auf Morgen; Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro; Liú in Turandot; Marguerite in Faust; Countess Olga in Fedora; The Italian Singer in Strauss’s Capriccio and Mimi in La Boheme.

Recently she and her husband Mark gave joint Master Classes, taught lessons and co-directed scenes at Augusta University’s ‘Opera Initiative Summer Workshop’ for young opera and Music Theater performers. They both taught and directed at ‘Opera Studio do Recife’ in Recife, Brazil; have presented a recital at Silver Lake College, Wisconsin; taught lesson and gave master classes in Guadalajara, México and at The State University of Hidalgo, Mexico; Georgia Regents College and at the 4th International Conference on the Acoustics of Singing held at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

https://finearts.uky.edu/music/faculty-staff/cynthia-lawrence

AMY SHOREMOUNT-OBRA, SOPRANO

Ms. Shoremount-Obra, the Top Prize Winner in the 2018 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition Wagner Division, made her much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera Debut in October 2014 as “First Lady” in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, a role which she reprised at the Met in both 2017 & 2018 in the Julie Taymor English version of the opera. Recent operatic engagements have included “Donna Anna” (Don Giovanni)with Opera Las Vegas, The Savannah Voice Festival, Venture Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera (cvr),   “Marchesa” (Verdi’sUn Giorno di Regno) with Odyssey Opera of Boston, “Fiordiligi” (Cosi fan tutte) with Annapolis Opera, “First Lady” (The Magic Flute) with the Pacific Symphony, “Freia” (Das Rheingold) with the New York Philharmonic (cvr), and “Leonore” (Beethoven’s Fidelio) with Grand Harmonie. Ms. Shoremount-Obra has appeared at Carnegie Hall three times as the Soprano soloist in Fauré’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, and Schubert’s Mass in G. 

She made her David Geffen Hall debut in Lincoln Center with the National Chorale as the Soprano Soloist in Verdi’s Requiem and recently appeared with them again at the same hall in 2018 performing as the Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade for Music. 2018 fall engagements included the role of “Artemis” inPermaDeath, a world premier by Dan Visconti, a solo concert with the Orquesta Filarmónica del Estado de Chihuahua in Mexico, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera as “First Lady” inThe Magic Flute. The spring of 2019 brings Ms. Shoremount-Obra’s debut at the Oregon Music Festival, a recital appearance at the University of Tulsa, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Mass in C with the Scarsdale New Choral Society (NY). Future engagements include her debut in the title role of Puccini’s Turandot. Ms. Shoremount-Obra was a 2004 National Semi-Finalist and NY Regional Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and holds a BM and MM from Manhattan School of Music and an AD from the Juilliard School. She was featured as the SoundBite in the May 2016 issue of Opera News. 

As a teaching professional, she was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College (CUNY) in 2017. She previously held an adjunct position as a professor of vocal methods at The College of New Jersey and several artist-in-residency positions at Lawrence Conservatory of Music (Wisconsin), the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua in Mexico and most recently at the University of Tulsa (Oklahoma). She has given masterclasses and lectures at Lawrence, the NJ Governor’s School of the Arts, the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and at various festivals and workshops throughout the United States. During the summer of 2018 she joined the faculty of Juilliard’s Nord Anglia Vocal Program in Orlando, FL and returned to Mexico for the International Opera Workshop CUU in Chihuahua. During the fall of 2018 she gave a masterclass at Manhattan School of Music’s Pre-College Division and in Mexico again at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. She is also currently the vocal consultant for the Palm Springs (CA) Opera Guild’s OperaTunity Program which has commissioned a world premier opera for teenage voices by composer Michael Ching. She also maintains a private studio in both Manhattan and New Jersey. 

www.amyshoremount-obra.com

EDWIN CAHILL, DIRECTOR

American director, producer, and librettist Edwin Cahill’s unique background as a concert pianist and Broadway actor. “A talented pianist, a first-rate singer, and an engaging stage presence” (New York Times) informs his “joyful and passionate directing” (onmilwaukee.com) that is “light, effortless, and fits the space like a glove” (Music4awhile), leading to a body of work in theater, musicals, and operas that “will make hearts melt” (Broadway World).

Mr Cahill’s directing is described as “seamless…completely engrossing the patron in the idiosyncrasies of Mozart’s music” (dosavannah.com), “achieved the nearly impossible...and staged every scene with urgency, inventiveness and most importantly, a reverence for the music” (The Huffington Post), and reached the pop culture breakthrough of the “brilliant and highbrow approval matrix” (New York Magazine). His work has led critics to acclaim that “Cahill has perhaps invented a new style of opera…punk opera comique” (dosavannah.com) and that he created “by far the most enjoyable and thought-provoking Don Giovanni New York has heard in many a year.” (Opera News).

Highlights of recent seasons include: Into the Woods in Milwaukee at the Skylight Theatre; Carmen starring Jennifer Johnson Cano for Sherrill Milnes’ Savannah Voice Festival; Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Le Nozze di Figaro in Tel Aviv; a new Off-Broadway adaptation/workshop of Chekhov’s The Seagull starring Tony award-winner Judy Kaye; Don Giovanni at Venture Opera in New York City, Don Giovanni and La Bohème with Savannah Voice Festival; newly conceived staged version of Hanns Eisler’s Hollywood Songbook for SongFest in Los Angeles; and as founding artistic director of the Fire Island Opera Festival: the east coast premier of Kurt Weill’s Der Protagonist, Bon Appétit starring Jamie Barton, L’Arbre Enchanté for which he also adapted a new American libretto, Un Amour de Proust, and a touring residency with Marfa Live Arts in Marfa, Texas. 

As an actor, Edwin won a Kevin Kline award for his portrayal of Cosme McMoon in the play Souvenir, co-starred in the feature film My Dead Boyfriend directed by Anthony Edwards starring Heather Graham, and co-starred in the CBS TV series Person of Interest. Broadway productions include LoveMusik, directed by Harold Prince and the national tour of the Tony award-winning revival of Sweeney Todd directed by John Doyle. He has appeared in over ten productions Off-Broadway and his regional appearances include the major theatres of America and Canada. He holds a B.A. in French - Magna cum Laude from Tufts University, a B.M. in voice from New England Conservatory, and has pursued master’s studies in voice at the Manhattan School of Music and in French Literature of the 19th Century at the University of Paris Sorbonne-Nouvelle. He is originally from Maine and lives in New York City.

www.edwincahill.com

MATTHEW PATRICK MORRIS, BARITONE/MOVEMENT/ACTING

Matthew Patrick Morris has performed with the American Repertory Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Theatre on The West End, Les Bouffes du Nord in Paris, Piccolo Teatro in Milan, New York City Opera, The Kennedy Center, Santa Fe Opera, the National Tour of Scrooge: The Musical, on television in Law & Order, and in the feature film The Producers! As the Lead Faculty for Juilliard and Nord Anglia’s summer high school voice programme and Associate Artistic director of SongFest, Matthew directed the vocal performance programs and created a new curriculum, innovating tailor-made courses for complete singing-actors from high school through professional levels. 

He led the Opera Workshop at Brooklyn College where he directed the New York premiere of Ana Sokoloviç’s SVADBA, and co-taught the Professional Development Workshop at Bard College Graduate Vocal Arts. He is currently training to be an Alexander Teacher at the Balance Arts Center with Ann Rodiger. BM voice (Juilliard) and MM vocal arts (Bard College Conservatory). 

www.matthewpatrickmorris.com

ROGELIO RIOJAS-NOLASCO, VOCAL COACH

Rogelio Riojas-Nolasco began his career as a conductor with the da Corneto Opera in Chicago, where he conducted La Favorita. He was invited to conduct Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Izmir State Opera and an Opera Gala with the Istambul Filarmonic in Turkey. With Berlin State Opera he conducted Cenerentola by Wolf-Ferrari. With the Shaker Mountain Festival of New York he conducted Barbiere, Norma, Rigoletto, Faust and Don Giovanni. At Teatro Lirico Andaluz he conducted the Zarzuela Katiuska and at the Stuttgart State Opera el Barberillo de Lavapies in a production by Calixto Bieito. He was also invited to conduct Traviata in Sinaloa and Carmen in Tamaulipas. With the Pan- European Orchestra he has conducted Traviata, Carmen and Chopin piano concertos in Poland. Among others he has work with Orchestras like Swiss National youth Orchestra and Balhtasar Neumann Choir & Ensamble. 

He has been an assistant conductor at theatres like Hannover and Stuttgart State Opera , Dresden Semper Opera, Madrid Teatro Real ( Il Postino with Placido Domingo) , Gran Teatro de Liceu, Bilbao Opera, Plovdiv State Opera, Cape Town Opera, Atlanta Opera, New Jersey Opera, The Bronx Opera, Sirnach Operette and the Metropolitan Opera production of il Barbiere di Siviglia in Baden-Baden Festival and the Deutsche Gramaphon DVD of L'Elisir D'Amore directed and sang by Rolando Villazón , Magic Flute for Berlin Philarmonic. Mr. Riojas has performed as a pianist in several countries, including USA ( White House, Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall) Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Spain, France, Italy, England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Finland, Turkey, Israel, Poland, Greece, South Africa, Japan etc. As an opera coach he has collaborated with many of the best Opera Singers in the world like Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Ramón Vargas, Francisco Araiza, Javier Camarena, Roberto Alagna, Rolando Villazón, Neil Schikoff, Edita Gruberová, Mirella Freni, Renatta Scotto, Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, Mariella Devia, Cecilia Bartoli, Elina Garanca, Agnes Baltsa, Lily Pons, Leo Nuci, Ruggero Raimondi, Nicolái Ghiaúrov among many others. 

Until the fall of 2018 he was appointed musical director at the Opera Studio of Bellas Artes at the Mexico City Opera by Ramon Vargas and has now started the Young Artist Program in Coahuila, México

http://smibelcanto.com/rogelio-riojas-nolasco.html

MARK CALKINS, TENOR

Mark Calkins has appeared in leading roles with opera companies throughout North America and Europe.  Performing Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri, The Prince in La Cenerentola, The Count in Le Comte Ory and Oreste in Ermione to critical acclaim in Opera houses such as: Opera De Nantes, France; Dublin Grand Opera, Ireland; Cologne Opera, Germany; The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Birmingham Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Castleward Opera, Northern Ireland; Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Toledo Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha, Mobile Opera, Central City Opera and Dayton Opera. In 2009 he was awarded the Thursday Musical "Teacher of the Year".  He recently performed in a nationally broadcast Dominican Republic production of La Boheme by Puccini in Santo Domingo under the auspices of the National Theater and National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, conducted by Mo. Jose Antonio Molia. 

Mark joined the faculty at Berea College, Kentucky, U.S.A. in the fall of 2009 where he served as Director of Music from 2012-2015.  A former member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s young artist development program, the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists: Mark was featured as Cassio in Otello on an A&E nationwide production of Spotlight Colorado; starred in a National Public Broadcasting System Television production and World Premiere of Robert Greenleafs’ Under the Arbor, available on DVD; and as the conductor of the Berea College Women’s Chorus recently on the CBS National Broadcast “Listen” aired on Christmas Eve of 2016. International Concert engagements include appearances in Europe’s Music festivals in Salzburg, Bregenz, Villach, Austria; Merano, Italy and Bremen, Germany with Roger Norrington conducting the London Classical Players in Rossini’s Stabat Mater.  He has appeared throughout the U.S. in Broadway touring productions of Phantom of the Opera. 

Recent student’s achievements include: Chicago Lyric Opera, Ryan Opera Center members; a Metropolitan Opera supporting artist; ISing Beijing participant, Holly Flack, coloratura soprano; District and Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition winners; many statewide Kentucky and Minnesota NATS competition winners; 2009 Thursday Musical competition and 2009 Music Teachers National Association winners. His collegiate students perform leading roles in the college productions, soloists and section leaders in the college choirs.  Mark’s students have been awarded Graduate Assistantships in prominent programs such as American Vocal Academy, C.S.U, Fort Collins, I.U. Bloomington, U.K. Lexington, S.I.U. Carbondale and Denver University. 

Mark maintains a private studio of young professional singers has taught master classes in performance regionally, nationally and internationally at: American Opera Initiative, Augusta, Georgia; Head Professor of Vocal Technique and Vocal Pedagogy for the V Opera Studio do Recife, Brazil sponsored by the U. S. General Consulate to Brazil; Head Professor of Vocal Techniques: 1st National Operatic Singing Seminar 2015, (1er Seminario Nacional de Canto Operístico) Pachuca de Soto, Mexico, held in the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo; Conservatorio Nacional de Música, Santo Domingo; Operafestival di Roma, Rome, Italy; the Kentucky Governors School for the Arts; and at the pre-professional level across North America.

Recent opera performances include: Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de Perles with FM Opera, Camille in the Operafestival di Roma production of La vedova allegra (The Merry Widow, Lehar) in Rome, Italy, Count Almaviva in productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Acadiana Orchestra, Louisiana and Opera Fort Collins, Colorado, Don Ottavio in Rome, Italy in the Operafestival di Roma production of Don Giovanni, and as Alcindoro in La Boheme in a natioanllly broadcast production with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic.  Mark and his wife, Cynthia Lawrence, appeared in recital at the 4th International Conference on the Physiology and Acoustics of Singing at the University of Texas, San Antonio.  They are also advocates of philanthropic activities and have appeared in concert engagements such as a Gala Fund Raising Concert for the new Cancer Center at Georgia Regents University and the Columbus Zoo. 

Mark was born and raised in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, earned a B.M. in K-12 Music Education from Concordia College, Moorhead and a M.M. in Voice Performance & Pedagogy from the University of Colorado, Boulder.  He is a recipient of the Ted & Roberta Mann and Berneking Fellowships from the University of Minnesota where he is near completion of his DMA.    

MANUEL CASTILLO, GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Lyric tenor, Manuel Mario Castillo Sapién, is originally from Guadalajara, México. He has been seen performing as a soloist concerts and operas throughout America, Europe and Asia in a wide variety of stages such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Ireland, Dublin, Summer Festival in Gudhjem, Denmark, Peking University Concert Hall and CUCtv in Beijing, Teatro Degollado, Paraninfo Universitario of Chihuahua and the iconic Palacio Alvarado in Parral.

He has performed the roles of  “Rodolfo” La Bohème, (USA’10, Italia ‘12); “Roméo” Roméo et Juliette, (USA‘12); “Alfred” Die Fledermaus, (USA’07, Italia’10) and “il  Messagero” Aida (USA’13) in the fond farewell of the famous conductor Maestro Anton Coppola at Opera Tampa.

Among the teachers and mentors he credits for his career he likes to recognize the impact that Dr. Everett McCorvey, Cynthia Lawrence, Dr. Harlan Snow and Dr. Ricky Little had in his life. Moreover, Manuel was invited by the legendary American baritone Sherrill Milnes to sing in his VOICExperience Program in New York City (2012, 2013) and Savannah, GA (2012), he has also sung in masterclasses for Diana Soviero, Grace Bumbry, Donnie Ray Albert, George Shirley and Clifton Ware.

An avid musician, Manuel studied instrumental conducting with renowned conductors such as: José Guadalupe Flores, Carlos Aransay, Pedro Bocotán and Leonardo Gasparini. He was guest conductor in Buenos Aires Argentina during the VIII Curso, Concurso y Beca Internacional 2003 of the Fundación el Sonido y el Tiempo Internacional. Acted as Assistant Conductor for the Italian production from Torre del Lago, Italy of La Bohème  (2007), guest conductor of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley (2013) with the Lexington Children's Theatre and guest conductor of Shrek, The Musical (2014) with the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Kentucky.

Manuel has been awarded several recognitions such as the Ajijic ¡VIVA La Música!, Martha Dietrich Scholarship, Morehead State University Foundation Scholarship, MSU Senior of the Year 2007, OperaLex (2013) and finalist of the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition 2007.

Manuel is a passionate artist, entrepreneur and teacher with special interest of helping the young musicians for whom he has created festivals including masterclasses of instrumental conducting and voice (GDL 2003-2016). He is the founder of the Haitian Children Choir “Haitian Harmony” (Haiti 2010) which debuted during the World Equestrian Games of the FEI in 2010 in Lexington, KY. He is also the founder and present General Director of Ópera Guadalajara (2013) that annually holds the International Music Festival, which he is bringing to Parral, Chihuahua for its 5th edition.

Dr. Castillo started his music education in his hometown and from 2004-2014 he moved to the USA to further his career getting his BM in Vocal Performance from Morehead State University, and received his MM and DMA in Vocal Performance from the University of Kentucky. Since 2017 he moved to the city of Chihuahua where he is the Head of the Voice Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Manuel is happily married  to Sandra, they celebrated the wedding ceremony singing a concert in the Palacio Alvarado with sopranos Amy Shoremount-Obra and Bonnie McNaughton as their honor guests over the summer of 2018.