Artist Information

Daniel Snyder, Max

Previously with Opera Boston: Jimmy MacIntyre, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007

During the 2007/08 season Mr. Snyder assumed the demanding role of Hoffmann in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Virginia Opera, followed by the Italian Tenor in Die Fledermaus at Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and concerts of Neopolitan Songs with Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra and Murfreesboro Symphony. He then performed Carmina Burana with the Toledo Symphony, followed by the Verdi Requiem with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, the Master Chorale of North Carolina, the North Penn Symphony Orchestra and in a debut at Carnegie Hall with Saint Cecila. He finished the season singing the role of Radames in Aida in debuts with Chicago’s Da Corneto Opera and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brita in the Dominican Republic under the baton of José Antonio Molina. Engagements for the 2008/09 season include Carmen with the National Philharmonic, the Verdi Requiem with the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus and The Bells with the Helena Symphony. As a recitalist, Mr. Snyder has been a regular performer in The Embassy Series in Washington D.C.  He has sung at the Czech embassy, the Hungarian embassy and the Austrian embassy.  In 2006, he helped ring in the New Year at the Seattle Symphony with performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  Other concert credits include Handel’s Messiah with the Kennedy Center Orchestra, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the National Philharmonic, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Winterpark Bach Festival, Mozart’s Requiem with the Washington Bach Consort, and a rare performance of Frank Martin’s In Terra Pax with the National Cathedral Choral Society, as well as many recitals of art song across the country.

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Emily Pulley, Agathe

Opera Boston debut

Emily Pulley’s 2008-09 season currently includes the role of Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites with Austin Lyric Opera, the title role in Susannah and an appearance as soloist in “Songs of the South” with Mobile Opera, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Sacramento Opera, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and an appearance with Albany Symphony Orchestra in a celebration of music by Puccini. Emily Pulley’s 2007-08 season included performances as First Lady in Bernstein’s A White House Cantata with New York City’s Collegiate Chorale,Marguerite in Faust with New Orleans Opera, the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Sacramento Opera, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Kentucky Opera, Love Simpson in Cold Sassy Tree with Amarillo Opera, and performances in Arizona Opera’s production entitled “Gems: Four Decades of Arizona Opera.” She returned to Central City Opera in the summer of 2008 to sing the title role in Susannah. A frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Pulley’s roles in the legendary house include Marguerite in Faust, Nedda in I pagliacci, Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Musetta in La bohème, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Thérèse in Les Mamelles de Tirésias, and First Lady in a new production of Die Zauberflöte directed by Julie Taymor. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Mimi in La bohème.

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Heather Buck, Ännchen

Previously with Opera Boston: Laoula, L’étoile, 2006; The Maid, Powder Her Face, 2003

In 2008-09 Heather Buck joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and sings the role of Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with Florentine Opera. Ms. Buck’s most recent successes include her English National Opera debut singing Queen of the Night, her return to Arizona Opera in the same role, and her debut with Central City Opera as La Fée in Cendrillon. She also gave her first performances of Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Connecticut Opera), and sang Valencienne in The Merry Widow (Florentine Opera). Other recent highlights include performing Salonen’s Five Images after Sappho (Utah Symphony), the roles of Angel in Pascal Dusapin’s Faustus, the Last Night and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Spoleto Festival USA), and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Birmingham. Ms. Buck made her New York City Opera debut as Haroun in the world premiere of Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories and returned the following season as the Comtesse de Folleville in Il viaggio a Reims. She has appeared as Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (De Vlaamse Opera), Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos (Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu), Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aspen Opera Theater), and as Maid in Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face (Opéra-Théâtre de Metz at Aldeburgh Festival, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and London’s Almeida Theatre). Ms. Buck has sung Laoula in L’Étoile (Opera Boston) and Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire (Washington National Opera).

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Andrew Funk, Kaspar

Opera Boston debut

Andrew Funk recently made debuts at Los Angeles Opera in Die Frau ohne Schatten, at Santa Fe Opera in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, and at Seattle Opera for their RING, where he sang Hagen in Götterdämmerung. A frequent guest with Lyric Opera of Chicago, he performed in the world premiere of Amistad, and was recently returned as Pistola in Falstaff, One Armed Man in Die Frau ohne Schatten,and Gremin cover in Eugene Onegin. Mr. Funk was chosen by Philip Glass and Tony award-winning director Mary Zimmerman to sing the world premiere Galileo Galilei in both Chicago and New York. In the 2008-2009 Season, he performs Kaspar in Der Freischutz with Opera Boston, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito with Chicago Opera Theater, and returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago covering Osmin in Abduction from the Seraglio and King Mark in Triston and Isolde.

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Aaron Engebreth, Kilian

Previously with Opera Boston: Bobinet, La vie parisienne, 2004; Maximillian, Candide, 2003

Aaron Engebreth has been featured as a soloist in performances from  Sapporo Japan's Kitara Hall to Boston's Symphony Hall to Le Theatre de la Ville in Paris. He gave his debut at Washinton's Kennedy Center in 2008 as soloist in Faure's Requiem and Carlyle Sharpe's Proud Music of the Storm.  He has been a guest of the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals as well as the Portland, San Diego and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras.  Mr. Engebreth has received significant recognition for his interpretation of early music and is a frequent soloist with many of the country’s finest early-music organizations including the American Bach Soloists, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, Miami Bach Society, Boston Baroque, Boston Camerata, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and Musicians of the Old Post Road .  Mr. Engebreth also appeared as a regular soloist with Emmanuel Music from 2002-2008, where he was a core-member of a thirty-five year tradition of weekly performances of Bach's sacred cantatas under the direction of the late Craig Smith. He considers this experience the highlight of his musical life thus far.  While on the music faculty of Tufts University, he was twice awarded faculty development grants to study music of the French baroque in Paris.  Mr. Engebreth has also served on the music faculty of the Boston Conservatory and is an artistic director of the Florestan Recital Project.  He lives with his wife, Katherine and their two daughters, in Portland, Maine.

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David Kravitz, Ottokar

Previously with Opera Boston: Cadmus/Somnus, Semele, 2008; Mr. Kofner, The Consul, 2005; Thomas Putnam, The Crucible, 2005

David Kravitz has appeared numerous times with Opera Boston, including in last season’s Semele. In the 2007-2008 season he returned to the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Levine for Berlioz’s Les Troyens, to Opera Theatre of St. Louis for Martin y Soler’s Una Cosa Rara, and to Boston Baroque for Purcell’s King Arthur. Mr. Kravitz joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Bernard Haitink; he performed Handel's Messiah in Carnegie Hall; he joined the Lincoln (NE) Symphony under Edward Polochick for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; and he returned to Emmanuel Music for Bach’s B Minor Mass, to the New England Philharmonic for Mahler’s Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, and to the Cantata Singers for Carmina Burana and for the Boston premieres of Kurt Weill’s Flight of Lindbergh and Charles Fussell’s High Bridge. The 2006-2007 season's opera roles included Ko-Ko in The Mikado with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the title role in Wozzeck with the New England Philharmonic. Mr. Kravitz will join the Philadelphia Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah in December.

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Tom O’Toole, Cuno

Previously with Opera Boston: Jago, Ernani, 2008; Alaska Wolf Joe, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007; Gazella, Lucrezia Borgia, 2006

Tom O'Toole has previously appeared with Opera Boston in the roles of Alaska Wolf Joe in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Jago in Ernani, and Gazella in Lucrezia Borgia, as Escamillo in Carmen for Granite State Opera , and Alcindoro/Benoit in La Boheme for both Sarasota Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. With conductor Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Mr. O’Toole recently created the role of John Wilkes Booth in the world premiere of Eric Sawyer’s Our American Cousin- a new opera about events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Additional roles include Mozart's Figaro, Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women, Father in Hänsel und Gretel, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Alidoro in La Cenerentola.

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Herbert Perry, Samiel & Hermit

Opera Boston debut

Herbert Perry is an internationally acclaimed artist who has appeared in major roles with leading opera companies throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, The Washington Opera, New York City Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Vancouver Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Connecticut Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Pacific, Orlando Opera, and Santa Fe Opera in the U.S.A. In Canada, he has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, Edmonton Opera and Vancouver Opera.  In Europe, he has appeared with Opera de Lyon, Opera de Nice, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Teatro Real (Madrid, Spain), Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Italyand the Salzburg Festival. On the concert stage, he has been heard with the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony, Texas Chamber Orchestra, and Tucson Symphony.  Notable conductors with whom he has worked include James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Christoph Eschenbach, Gunther Schüller, Sergiu Comissiona, Michael Tilson Thomas, Christopher Hogwood, and Leonard Slatkin. He is also a frequent guest artist with many North American music festivals, including the Tanglewood Festival, the Cincinnati May Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Chautauqua Festival and the Minnesota Orchestra Summerfest.

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Gil Rose, Conductor

Music Director for Opera Boston

Read full biography

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Sam Helfrich, Director

Previously with Opera Boston: Semele, 2008; The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007

Sam Helfrich has directed theater and opera throughout the US at companies including Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Boston, Spoleto Festival/USA, Opera Omaha, Berkshire Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Ashlawn Opera Festival, and Boston Baroque Orchestra. Recent productions include Anthony Davis' Amistad at Spoleto Festival/USA, Verdi's Aida at Opera Omaha, Handel's Semele at Opera Boston. Previous productions include Rossini's Le Comte Ory at the Juilliard Opera Center, Philip Glass' Orphée, as part of the 2007 Glimmerglass all-Orpheus season, Weill and Brecht's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Opera Boston, Don Giovanni and Agrippina with Boston Baroque Orchestra, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at Glimmerglass Opera, and Donizetti's L’Elisir d’Amore and Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage, both with Berkshire Opera.  In 2002 he formed his own theatre company, Captains of Industry, to produce the play Transparency of Val, by Stephen Belber, which was widely acclaimed during its downtown New York run. Upcoming projects include new productions of Charpentier's Louise at Spoleto Festival/USA, Menotti's The Consul at Glimmerglass Opera, among others.

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Andrew Holland, Scenic Designer

Opera Boston debut

Andrew Holland is excited to be working with Sam Helfrich on this production of Der Freischütz.  Other Opera Credits Include:  What’s Next, Miller Theater (NYC); The Threepenny Opera, Long Beach Opera (CA); Il Sogno di Scipione, Gotham Camber Opera (NYC).  Andrew Has also designed numerous theater productions, including: Romeo and Juliet, Juilliard School (NYC); A Lesson Before Dying, Triad Stage (NC); On Golden Pond, Potomac Theater Company (MD); The Skin of Our Teeth, Chautauqua Conservatory Theater (NY).  For two years Mr. Holland served as interim professor of scenic design at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, NY.  While he was at Ithaca College, Andrew designed sets and costumes for a variety of productions including, The Merry Widow, Urinetown and The Seagull.  Currently Mr. Holland is serving as resident designer/faculty at American University, in Washington, DC, where he has designed sets for Machinal and Do I Hear a Waltz?  Upcoming projects include, La Clemenza di Tito, for Chicago Opera Theater and, Tartuffe, for American University.

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Nancy Leary, Costume Designer

Previously with Opera Boston: Semele, 2008; Pearl Fishers, 2007; Mahagonny, 2007; La Clemenza di Tito, 2006; Lucrezia Borgia, 2005; The Consul, 2004; La vie Parisienne, 2004

Nancy Leary has a theatrical career that spans two decades. Her recent design credits include Handel’s Semele and Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito for Opera Boston, La Finta Gardiniera for Juilliard, Massenet’s Werther and Samuel Barber’s Vanessa for Chautauqua Opera. Additional Opera Boston credits include Lucrezia Borgia, La Vie Parisienne, The Consul, The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny, The Pearl Fishers and Robert Ward’s The Crucible which later traveled to Chautauqua and Mobile Opera. Nancy has also designed costumes for the Regional Premier of Permanent Collection which won an Elliot Norton, and Into The Woods which landed her an IRNE for Costume Design both produced by New Repertory Theater. Other design credits include Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Merrimack Repertory Theater, North Shore Music Theater, American Repertory Theater, Chamber Repertory Theater and Boston Theater Works. Costumer credits include: Stratford Theater, Boston Ballet, Glimmerglass Opera, The Alliance, Huntington Theater Company and PBS and Affiliates. Currently Nancy is working on The Bourgeois Gentleman for ART which will travel to Moscow, as well as teaching Production and Design for the Theater Department at Boston University’s School for the Arts.

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Aaron Black, Lighting Designer

Opera Boston Debut

New York credits including the Drama Desk Award winning revival of Black Nativity at the Duke on 42nd St, King Lear (Audelco Award Nomination), Waiting for Godot, Funny House of a Negro (Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design, Helen Hayes Award Nomination), Trojan Women, Mother Courage and Her Children, and Dream on Monkey Mountain (Audelco Award for outstanding lighting design) for the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Hecuba for Friendly Fire Theatre at 45 Below, Bleecker Street theatre; the world premiere of Almost Blue at the Flatiron Theatre; No Common Thread and Open Field at the Cunningham Studios; the US premieres of Pink for the 2004 Summer Play Festival and Crooked for the 2005 Summer Play Festival at the new 42nd Street Theatres; Soar Like an Eagle at the new 42nd Street Theatres; the US premiere of Benadict Mason’s Asko Paradiso, The Fifth Music: Resume with C.P.E. Bach for Alarm Will Sound;  Alarm Will Sound at Carnegie Halll’s Zankel Hall. His worldwide Opera credits include La Boheme for Minnesota Opera, La Fancuilla del West, for Opera Montreal, A Beggar’s Opera for the Royal Opera House in London, A Flowering Tree, Orlando, Don Giovanni, and The Return of Ulysses for Chicago Opera Theatre, Phillip Glass’s Orphee for Glimmerglass Opera, Ille de Merlin for the Spoletto Festival USA, Abduction from the Seraglio, for Opera Omaha, Aida for Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Fancuilla del West  for Opera Montreal, Madama Butterfly for Opera Bilbao, Spain, Turn of the Screw for Pittsburg Opera, Mirandolina and Risers to the Sea / A Dinner Engagement for the Manhattan School of Music, A Diary of One Who Vanished for the Bard Music Festival.

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Anne Ford-Coates, Hair and Make-Up Designer

Previously with Opera Boston: Ernani, 2008; Semele, 2008

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