Artist Information

Joélle Harvey (Jenifer)
Opera Boston debut

Peter Tantsits (Mark)
Previously with Opera Boston:  Xu Xian, Madame White Snake, 2010

For the 2010/2011 season Peter Tantsits makes debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, the Munich Philharmonic at the Kulturzentrum Gasteig, and the China Philharmonic at the Beijing International Music Festival as well as returning to the New York Philharmonic for Doug Fitch's production of Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen. He sings the central role of Colin McPhee in Evan Ziporyn's opera A House in Bali at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival and Boston's Cutler Majestic Theater with the Bang on a Can All-Stars as well as reprising the high tenor role of Xu Xian (a role he originated with Opera Boston) in Robert Woodruff's production of Zhou Long's Madame White Snake in Beijing and creating the central role in Du Yun's Angel's Bone for Philadelphia's Mann Center for the Performing Arts. He premieres two new works with leading contemporary music groups: Michael LaCroix's adaptation of Aristophanes' The Birds with Eighth Blackbird in Chicago and Marcos Balter's Aesopica at the Morgan Library in New York with the International Contemporary Ensemble. His concert engagements this season also include Carmina Burana (one of his signature roles) with the Oberlin Orchestra. Among his upcoming engagements for 2011/2012, Mr. Tantsits premieres works by Georges Aperghis and David Lang with the International Contemporary Ensemble, and will perform John Worthing for the European premiere of Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest with Thomas Adès at the Barbican in London.  He debuts in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Le Grand Macabre and returns to China for additional performances of Madame White Snake in the opera houses of Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

Mr. Tantsits recently made a successful debut at La Scala Milan singing the high tenor role of Syme in Robert Lepage's production of Lorin Maazel's 1984. A "fearless high tenor" (Opernwelt), he has worked closely with conductors Alan Gilbert, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Slatkin, Kristjan Järvi, Leon Botstein, Emmanuelle Haïm, Gil Rose and Philip Walsh. He made two acclaimed appearances with the New York Philharmonic in 2008 (as Spoletta in Tosca) and 2010 (as the White Minister and covering Piet the Pot in the New York premiere of Le Grand Macabre), both broadcast nationally, and has also performed with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich at Vienna's Konzerthaus, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie at Bremen's Die Glocke, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Mr. Tantsits's repertoire includes roles such as Piet the Pot and the White Minister in Le Grand Macabre, Pellerin in Dallapiccola's Volo di notte, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Harlekin in Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Kudrjàš in Kàt'a Kabanovà, the title role in Rameau's Platée and Kassandra in Xenakis's Oresteia. Frequently performed roles also include Pong TURANDOT, Edmondo, Maestro di ballo and Lampionaio MANON LESCAUT, Spoletta TOSCA, Goro MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Arturo LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Fenton, Caius and Bardolfo FALSTAFF, Gastone LA TRAVIATA, Nathanaël, Andrès, Spalanzani, Frantz and Pittichinaccio LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN, Don Ottavio DON GIOVANNI, Riccardo IL TRIONFO DELL'ONORE, Arbaces ARTAXERXES, Léandre LE MÉDECIN MALGRÉ LUI, Gonzalve L'HEURE ESPANGOLE, Martin THE TENDER LAND, Vierte Jude SALOME, Sailor DIDO AND AENEAS andTacmas in Rameau's LES INDES GALANTES.

Andrew Schroeder (King Fisher)
Previously with Opera Boston:  Richard Nixon, Nixon in China, 2003

Most recent recent engagements for Andrew Schroeder include Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff at Opéra de Rennes,  Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte at Palm Beach Opera, Grand Prêtre in Gluck’s Alceste at the festival in Aix-en-Provence with Conductor Ivor Bolton, Thoas in Iphigénie en Tauride at the Theater An Der Wien conducted by Harry Bicket, Agamemnon in Iphigénie en Aulide with La Monnaie – Brussels under the baton of Christophe Rousset , the title roles in Eugene Onegin at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House, Ulisse in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with the Greenwich Music Festival, Agamemnon in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide with the Opera Du Rhin, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, King Thesee in Enescu’s Oedipus, Mr Astley in Prokovief’s The Gambler with Opera De Lyon, Albert in Werther with Opera Australia, Yoshio in Toshio Hosokawa’s opera Hanjo with Opera De Lyon, Lord Nottingham in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte in Marseille, Barak in Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten as well as Mandryka in Strauss’ Arabella with the Theatre Du Capitole in Toulouse, Kovalyov in Le Nez at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Tarquinius in the Rape of Lucretia at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Scottish National Opera, Valentin in Faust at the Theatre Du Capitole in Toulouse and Count Nevers in Meyebeer’s Les Huguenots with The Bard Summerscape in New York.

Matthew DiBattista (Jack)
Previously with Opera Boston:  Louis, Angels in America, 2006; Jack O’Brien, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007; Yarzhkin, The Nose, 2009.

Matthew DiBattista's 2011-12 season includes singing as Jasper Vanderbilt in the world premiere of Kirke Mechem's The Rivals with Skylight Opera Theatre, and in summer 2011 he sings as Flavio in a concert performance of Norma with Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood Festival under Charles Dutoit. In the 2011-12 season he joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Roméo et Juliette, sang the Valet Tenors in Les Contes d'Hoffman with Florida Grand Opera, Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Boston Lyric Opera, Molqi in The Death of Klinghoffer with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and appeared as soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Providence Singers.
Recent successes include his highly-praised performances of the title role in The Good Soldier Schweik with Long Beach Opera; the role of Coleman in the world premiere of Larry Bell's opera Holy Ghosts at the Berklee Performance Center; singing as soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Assabet Valley Mastersingers; in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra,; his critically-acclaimed performances of Bégearss in The Ghosts of Versailles at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he debuted the previous summer as the Valet Tenors; the roles of Spoletta in Tosca and the Valet Tenors with Opera Colorado; and Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Other recent successes include the Valet Tenors at Boston Lyric Opera, Yarzhkin in The Nose at Opera Boston, appearances as soloist in Britten's Nocturne with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with New Bedford Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Brookline Chorus, and Handel's Messiah with the Worcester Chorus.
Among Mr. DiBattista's many successes on the operatic stage is his return to Opera Boston to sing Jack O'Brien in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, after appearing with the company as Louis in the North American premiere of Eötvös' Angels in America; Martin in The Tender Land with both Opera Omaha and Skylight Opera Theater, later broadcast on PBS' "Great Performances"; as well the role of Wesley in Central Park at Glimmerglass Opera, which was also broadcast on PBS' "Great Performances". He also performed Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore at Skylight Opera; Eisslinger in highlights from Die Meistersinger with Cincinnati May Festival; Nanki-Poo in The Mikado with both Mississippi Opera and Lyric Opera San Antonio; and added the roles of Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Curley in Of Mice and Men, Dr. Caius in Falstaff, and Andrew Johnson in The Mother of Us All to his repertoire while at Glimmerglass Opera.

Deborah Selig (Bella)
Opera Boston debut

Soprano Deborah Selig is quickly gaining recognition for her rich, shimmering voice, her excellent artistic instincts and her fine execution of the lyric soprano repertoire. Ms. Selig has performed operatic roles with a number of US companies including Pittsburgh Opera, Kentucky Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dayton Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Roanoke, Central City Opera, and Mobile Opera.  In concert, she has sung with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cincinnati Baroque, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, the Asheville Symphony, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and Erie Philharmonic.

Last season included a return to Santa Fe Opera to cover Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore and a role/company debut as Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men with Kentucky Opera for which Opera News noted that “she coped easily with the role's high tessitura, acting up a storm as a real slut of a character, yet projecting the emotional desperation behind the façade.”  The season continued with recitals in Boston (Goethe Institut), New York (Calvary Concert Series), and Ames (Ames Town and Gown Chamber Music Association) with pianist Cameron Stowe and baritone Jesse Blumberg; Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Asheville Symphony; both Handel’s Messiah and Kodaly’s Te Deum with Cambridge Chorus; and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 and Faure Requiem with Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus and Pro Arte Chamber Ensemble.  Also this season, Ms. Selig won the Micki Savin Award from the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, First Prize in the Peter Elvins Competition, and was a finalist in the National Opera Association Competition. 

After a summer 2010 fellowship at the Ravinia Festival Steans Program for Singers, Ms. Selig began the fall season with a reprise of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice for Soprano, Piano and Clarinet with the Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York, followed by debuts with Albany Symphony for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Gil Morgenstern’s Reflections Concert Series in New York and Miami, with Chorus Pro Musica for Dvorak’s Mass in D Major, and a return to the Harvard-Radcliffe Choir for Haydn’s Theresienmesse.  After the new year, Ms. Selig will bring her recital with Stowe and Blumberg to the Cosmos Club Music Series in Washington, DC and join reknowned pianist Martin Katz for a recital of Wolf and Schumann songs at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, MI.  In addition, Ms. Selig will make debuts with the Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra for Elsie in Arthur Sullivan’s The Golden Legend, with the Nashoba Valley Chorale for Haydn’s Creation, and with the University of Wyoming Cultural Programs Series for a song recital and Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the University’s orchestra.  Ms. Selig looks forward to a return to Chautauqua Opera in 2011 for a role debut of Pamina in The Magic Flute and a return to Central City Opera in 2012 for Musetta in La Boheme.

Joyce Castle, Madame Sosostris
Previously with Opera Boston:  Leoncadia Begbick, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007

American mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle celebrated her 40th anniversary as a performing artist in the 2010-2011 with performances of a new vocal chamber work, The Hawthorn Tree, written for her by National Medal of Arts and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. In the program note, the composer characterized her artistry, “Joyce Castle is one of time’s most incandescent acting singers; she can make you laugh out loud or scare you to death by turns, as she wishes.” The work was given its premiere with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s chamber players at Morgan Library in New York with additional performances at the Brooklyn Museum, DIA Beacon, and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Hawthorn Tree was also performed at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas and on the Cliburn at the Modern series in Fort Worth, Texas. Reviewing the premiere, Opera News wrote, “Castle is a musician and actor of the highest quality: her ability to convey a thought and its exact opposite at the same time make her delivery of a song compelling and immediate.  Singing from memory, she demonstrated a deep connection to the atmosphere, character and emotion of each text, without ever appearing to deliver a planned reading.” The Hawthorn Tree will be performed again in 2010-2011 in a performance with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. Miss Castle and her frequent collaborator, pianist Ted Taylor, perform a cabaret program with repertoire ranging from Bolcom to Kurt Weill at Café Sabarsky in the accalimed Neue Galerie New York, as well. 

An extraordinarily versatile artist, during the four decades of her professional performing career she has left an indelible imprint on her operatic repertoire which now includes nearly one hundred and forty opera roles in works by composers ranging from Bernstein to Wagner. Critics worldwide have recognized her unique combination of a “richly nuanced voice, profound dramatic skills and a superb sense of musicianship.”

Miss Castle’s portrayal of leading roles in contemporary opera has brought her singular success. Characterized as “a compelling actress in both comedy and pathos” in Michael Torke and A.R. Gurney’s world premiere opera Central Park at Glimmerglass Opera (televised nationwide on WNET – Channel 13 and recorded for release by Ecstatic Records), acclaimed for her heralded as a “chillingly malevolent” Madame Flora in The Medium (performed at Opera Delaware and recorded and released by Cedille Records), and recognized for her “marvelously sardonic” Claire Zakanassian in the New York premiere of Von Einem’s The Visit of the Old Lady (in a New York City Opera production directed by Joanne Akalaitis which was mounted for her), Joyce Castle has employed her formidable vocal and theatrical gifts to sculpt distinctive and memorable characterizations.  

Praised in the Denver Post for her performance as Elizabeth I in the American stage premiere of Britten’s Gloriana, the critic wrote: “…Castle rules the show. Her voice is authoritative with a dark edge to it that makes Elizabeth the commanding presence on stage that she is.” Miss Castle has also performed Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw in Seattle, Fort Worth, and as her Boston Lyric Opera debut last season.  She adds the role of Madame Sosostris in Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage to her repertoire this season in her return to Opera Boston in performances conducted by Artistic Director, Gil Rose. 

Outstanding in her American opera experience, are her now legendary performances as Augusta Tabor in Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe. Joyce Castle was cast as Augusta Tabor in the New York City Opera’s production of the opera by the opera’s most celebrated Baby Doe, Beverly Sills. Having performed the role of Augusta Tabor in seven productions of The Ballad of Baby Doe, and perhaps more than any other mezzo in the history of Douglas Moore’s opera, Joyce Castle performed the role on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opera’s première at Central City Opera House a short distance from Leadville, the actual site of the opera’s story.  She has received critical acclaim from coast to coast for her portrayal of this complex character. Writing of her appearance in the Seattle Opera production, the Seattle Times reported “Castle’s Augusta in Doe is superb… the Augusta of Mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle is the definitive show-stopper of this production. Castle has every nuance of the role clasped in a fist of iron, and she knows how to command your sympathy for this character of missed opportunities. Vocally persuasive, emotionally compelling, this is a portrayal for the books - one in which every note and every gesture is so right that you want to salute her.” 

A popular Glimmerglass Opera guest artist, she returned to Cooperstown in summer 2009 to perform The Mother in Menotti’s The Consul in a production directed by Sam Helfrich with David Angus leading his first performances as Music Director of the company. Miss Castle had previously performed the role with conductor Joel Revzen at Berkshire Opera, Arizona Opera, and recorded her “poignant” portrayal for Newport Classics. They team up together in summer 2011 for New Jersey Opera’s production at McCarter Theatre. 

She performed both Dominick Argento's eccentric Madame d'Urfe in the heralded New York premiere of Casanova and the silent screen siren Alla Nazimova in The Dream of Valentino at the Washington National Opera. As the Old Lady in Candide (performed at the New York City Opera and recorded on a Grammy Award-winning disc for the New World label) and Mrs. Lovett in Hal Prince's critically acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd (in both Houston and New York), Joyce Castle significantly contributed to the acceptance of Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim's masterful scores as appropriate repertoire for the opera house. She has also performed the Baroness in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at the Washington Opera, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam under the auspices of VARA Radio and in Vienna with the Radio-Symphonieorchester. Miss Castle is a champion of the music of Jake Heggie. In addition to the leading role in his Three Decembers which she performed in Central City, she performed the role of Mrs. Bertram in his opera The End of the Affair at Seattle Opera in a Leonard Foglia production conducted by Yves Abel and at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in performances conducted by Artistic Director Ward Holmquist.  The Kansas City performances were recorded for commercial release.

In December 2005, Joyce Castle gave the world premiere of Statuesque, a vocal chamber work composed by Jake Heggie to poetry written by Gene Scheer. The work was commissioned by the University of Kansas and performed with Mr. Heggie at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center), at Roosevelt University and Chicago’s Cultural Center in Chicago, as well as at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas. A recording of Statuesque was completed at the state-of-the art Skywalker Sound Studios in January 2007. Flesh & Stone Songs of Jake Heggie was released on the Americus Records label and is a record-selling disc benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. 

Joyce Castle was an American in Paris for a number of years, and as a result she is in demand as an interpreter of the French repertoire. The multi-talented singing-actress had the unique distinction of appearing concurrently in two modern French-influenced works at Lincoln Center: Les Dialogues des Carmélites at the New York City Opera contrasted with an original work written by Martha Clarke and Charles L. Mee titled Belle Epoque at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Miss Castle performed the Prioress in the Tazewell Thompson production of Poulenc’s opera at the New York City Opera reprising her Glimmerglass Opera performance. She has also performed the role at Central City Opera, at the Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York City as a guest artist of Mannes College/The New School for Music, and has previously performed Mother Marie at Seattle Opera. In Martha Clarke’s theatrical work, Miss Castle portrayed a cabaret singer, modeled after Yvette Guilbert, who inspired French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The chanteuse performed a selection of songs heard in the Moulin Rouge nightclub Paris in the 1890s. Building on this theatrical experience, Joyce Castle and pianist Ted Taylor have performed their French cabaret program as gala benefit evenings for performing arts organizations extending from New Mexico to New York. She also collaborate with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in a performance of cabaret songs at an ‘April in Paris’ gala for Glimmerglass Opera in Manhattan. 

Prior appearances in standard French operatic repertoire include Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon which she first performed at the Washington National Opera. This role has since provided her introduction to the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and at De Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, all in a Robert Carsen production. At the new York City Opera she performed Madame de la Haltière in a Renaud Doucet/Andre Barbe production updated to the 1950s. She recreated the role in the Anne Bogart/Eve Enssler Cinderella-Cendrillon in an Off-Broadway production produced by the Music-Theatre Group. L'Opéra Français de New York’s Artistic Director Yves Abel invited the  mezzo-soprano to perform the role of Geneviève in a production of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York City. At the Washington National Opera, Florida Grand Opera and at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City she was seen as the Marquise in La Fille du Régiment.  She will repeat the role in 2013 at Seattle Opera in a production directed by Tomer Zvulun and conducted by Carlo Montanaro. 

Twentieth-century German repertoire has also served as a vehicle for Joyce Castle. Miss Castle performed Herodias in Salome in the acclaimed Washington National Opera production staged by Sir Peter Hall. Since then she has performed the role at the Calgary Opera, Manitoba Opera, Opera Columbus, Austin Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Florentine Opera and Seattle Opera. Abroad, she performed the role in a Willy Decker production at De Vlaamse Opera. The mezzo-soprano made her role debut as Klytemnestra in Elektra at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee where Opera News characterized her performances as “a gloriously sung, spellbinding portrait of this guilty queen.” Other Strauss operas in which she has appeared include Der Rosenkavalier (Annina) at the Metropolitan Opera and Die Schweigsame Frau (the Housekeeper) at the Santa Fe Opera. In addition to von Einem’s The Visit of the Old Lady mentioned previously, she appeared in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten, and performed Weill’s Emma Jones in Street Scene, all at the New York City Opera. An accomplished pianist, Joyce Castle is perhaps the only singer to play her own piano part while portraying the salty character of Widow Begbick in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. She performed the work at both the Washington National Opera in a production directed by Ian Strasfogel and conducted by Gunther Schuller, and in Opera Boston’s production conducted by Gil Rose and directed by Sam Helfrich. At Seattle Opera, Miss Castle gave her first performances of Fricka and Waltraute in The Ring with great success. She also appeared as Fricka at L’Opera de Montreal.  

The mezzo-soprano participated in the world premiere of Dream of Valentino by Argento, mentioned previously, and the American premieres of A Night at the Chinese Opera by Weir, The Black Mask by Penderecki, and The King Goes Forth to France by Sallinen at the Santa Fe Opera, and the world premiere of Where's Dick at the Houston Grand Opera (directed by Richard Forman). Miss Castle has appeared in the North American premiere of Poul Ruder’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale (role of Serena Joy) which was based on the acclaimed novel by Margaret Atwood. The Eric Simonson production was conducted by Antony Walker at Minnesota Opera. At the New York City Opera, she performed Zeresh in the New York premiere of Hugo Weisgall's Esther, and appeared in twentieth-century works The Rake’s Progress (Baba and Mother Goose), and The Love for Three Oranges (Fata Morgana). Joyce Castle has participated in the development of many music-theater projects including a staged reading of Casanova’s Homecoming. Arthur Masella directed the New York performances of the musical with a book by Edward Gallardo, lyrics by Sarah Schlesinger, and music by Grammy award winner, Mike Reid.  

During her fourteen years at the Metropolitan Opera, Miss Castle performed many of the roles in the standard repertoire for her voice including Die Fledermaus (Orlovsky), Hansel and Gretel (Witch), Il tabarro (Frugula), Gianni Schicchi (Zita), Boris Godounov (Innkeeper), Eugene Onegin (Larina), Faust (Marthe), Andrea Chenier (Countess), Der Rosenkavalier (Annina) mentioned previously. Sixty-five of her performances were under the baton of James Levine and many were broadcast and telecast from the theater. 

In addition to her Metropolitan Opera performances, she has also performed Orlovsky at the Santa Fe Opera in the Charles Ludlam production, at the Seattle Opera, and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the Italian repertoire, she has performed Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at The New Israeli Opera.  She made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as the Principessa in Suor Angelica and Zita in Gianni Schicchi. She repeated the role of the Principessa at Chautauqua Opera and at Utah Symphony and Opera. Honoring her Czech heritage, Miss Castle added Jezibaba in Dvorák’s Rusalka to her repertoire at the Seattle Opera, and she portrayed Eva in the American premiere of Bohuslav Martin’s Comedy On The Bridge in a translation by Tony Kushner and in a production by Maurice Sendak at Chicago Opera Theater. 

Very convincing in ‘cross-over’ repertoire, audiences have enjoyed Joyce Castle’s performances of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Meg in Brigadoon, Lalume in Kismet, Katisha in The Mikado, Buttercup in HMS Pinafore and Ruth in Pirates of Penzance in venues from New York to Vancouver. She performed cello-playing Lady Jane in Patience at Glimmerglass Opera and returned for the role of Public Opinion in Offenbach’s Orpheus and the Underworld. She made her role debut as the Fairy Queen in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe with the San Francisco Symphony in staged performances directed by Patricia Birch and conducted by George Manahan. She also joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in a Gilbert & Sullivan concert with Raymond Leppard, CBE. 

A noted performer of the works of Leonard Bernstein, Miss Castle sang the first performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles with Maestro Bernstein and Michael Tilson-Thomas at the piano. She made her Israeli debut with the Jerusalem Symphony in Songfest, and performed the same work with Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood and in the inaugural Gettysburg Music Festival in Pennsylvania. She appeared in an all-Bernstein program with David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony, with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival, with the Columbus Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall. Joyce Castle performed Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra in her U.K. debut, and On The Town in her San Francisco Symphony debut. She made her Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bryant Park (NYC), Performing Arts Chicago, Wisconsin Union Theater, and her Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) debuts with Kurt Ollmann in a popular program that included Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles, and appeared as soloist in a festival of American works (including Bernstein) sponsored by the Wolf Akademie of Stuttgart. Miss Castle and Mr. Ollmann repeated their Bernstein at the Liceu in Barcelona at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 

In demand as a concert artist, she was heard as guest soloist in an all-Kurt Weill program with the Baltimore Symphony (David Zinman, conductor). Miss Castle gave the New York premiere of Schnittke's Cantata Seid Noechtem Und Wachet with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. She also performed in chamber music programs featuring the work of Charles Ives at the Bard Festival and performed and recorded Wolpe’s Drei Lieder von Bertolt Brecht with the contemporary ensemble Parnassus. Her New York Philharmonic debut performing the challenging Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures by G. Ligeti in the first performances of this work at Lincoln Center.

European performances have included Peter Grimes with Seiji Ozawa at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy and many operas-in-concert for Radio France including Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Die Soldaten, Verdi’s Oberto: Conte di San Bonafacio, The Old Maid and the Thief, Trouble in Tahiti and The Turn of the Screw. She also performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome. 

Joyce Castle has recorded a wide variety of twentieth century music. In addition to the Americus recording mentioned above, her recording of the Mother in Menotti’s The Consul has been released on Newport Classics and The Medium (title role) was released by Cedille Records. Miss Castle may also be heard on the Grammy Award-winning New World Records recording of Candide as the Old Lady, the Book-of-the-Month recording of Sondheim (singing “Send in the Clowns” and Sweeney Todd selections), the Koch recording of The Music of Stefan Wolpe, and the Albany Records album of the Vocal Music of Joseph Fennimore. Michael Torke and A.R. Gurney’s opera Strawberry Fields was recorded with Miss Castle in performance with the Albany Symphony and released on the Ecstatic Records label.  

The mezzo-soprano is a graduate of the University of Kansas where she received a B.F.A. and the Eastman School of Music where she earned a Masters of Music degree. She was honored to receive the 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award from Eastman School of Music. While continuing to pursue her professional career, Joyce Castle is Professor of Voice at the University of Kansas.

For more information, visit joycecastle.com.

Glorivy Arroyo, She-Ancient
Previously with Opera Boston:  Third Secretary to Mao, Nixon in China, 2003; Roggiero, Tancredi, 2009; Francisca, Maria Padilla, 2010.

Bradford Gleim, He-Ancient
Opera Boston debut

During the 2010-2011 season, Bradford Gleim is featured as a soloist with Boston’s premiere period orchestras: the Handel and Haydn Society under the baton of Harry Christophers and    Boston Baroque directed by Martin Pearlman in their respective concert seasons. In October, he will be heard in the U.S. premiere of a new critical edition of the exuberant Magnificat by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachunder the direction of Simon Carrington with the Boston-based ensemble Canto Armonico. He will also perform the role of Lucifer in Arthur Sullivan’s rarely performed cantata, The Golden Legend with the Longfellow Chorus in Portland, Maine and sing the role of Bhaer in Little Women with the Boston Opera Collaborative .

In the 2009-10 season Bradford Gleim performed as a soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society under the direction of Harry Christophers in an all-Bach program in Boston’s Symphony Hall, sang the role of John Proctor in The Crucible with Boston Opera Collaborative, joined the all-male chorus of Tancredi with Opera Boston and was heard in recital in a concert of Hugo Wolf’s Eichendorff Lieder in the inaugural season of the [plain] song. Mr. Gleim also worked with the period vocal ensemble Exsultemus in performances of rarely heard Baroque and Renaissance repertoire and sang the role of Pilate and the bass solos in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Concord Chorus. In the summer he returned to the Connecticut Early Music Festival to sing the bass solos in Bach’s Cantata 194 in and joined the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in their summer concert season.

In past seasons Mr. Gleim was heard in scenes from Don Giovanni and Il barbiere di Siviglia with the New York Summer Opera Scenes, Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War with The Bermuda Festival, Telemann’s St. John’s Passion with Exsultemus, an all Ockeghem concert with Cut Circle and Masses of Haydn and Fux with the Connecticut Early Music Festival.

In April 2008, Bradford Gleim made his Jordan Hall debut as a guest artist with the Borromeo String Quartet where he sang Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach. He did so as a recipient of the quartet’s Guest Artist Award.

In recital, Bradford Gleim endeavors to create new approaches to the presentation of song. In 2007, he created a multi-media format for the performance of Francis Poulenc’s Le travail du peintre which featured projections of the famous paintings that inspired both the music and the poetry of the cycle along with new translations of the text. As an avid proponent of new music, Mr. Gleim has premiered many new compositions, numerous of which have been written by New England composers. In 2005-7, Bradford Gleim premiered Chris Eastburn’s Consent to Gravity, a multi-media performance that incorporates string quartet, vocal soloists and dance with the Island Moving Company in Providence, Los Angeles, New York and Boston.

Gil Rose, Conductor

Music Director for Opera Boston

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Cameron Anderson, Scenic Designer
Opera Boston debut

Cameron has designed extensively for both opera and theater — in the United States and in Europe and South America. She recently designed Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. She has upcoming engagements at Vancouver Opera, Opera Boston, and South Coast Rep. In January she will open West Side Story in Norway, which will be the inaugural production at the new state of the art Kilden Performing Arts Center.

Recent opera credits include: A Triple Bill of Gianni Schicchi, Seven Deadly Sins and Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Three Decembers, A Little Night Music, and West Side Story, all directed by Ken Cazan at Central City Opera. Other projects with Mr. Cazan include The Barber of Seville, at the Opera Theatre of St Louis, and Das Liebesverbot at the Bing Theatre, USC. Other recent opera projects include: La Cenerentola directed by Kevin Newbury at Glimmerglass Opera, Maria Padilla at the Minnesota Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte for the Seattle Opera, Don Giovanni and La Bohème at Wolf Trap Opera, Don Pasquale at Pittsburgh Opera, Scenes of Gypsy Life for Gotham Chamber Opera, The Consul for Opera Boston, and La Bohème for the San Francisco Opera Center.
Recent theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Emilie for South Coast Rep, The Language of Trees, directed by Alex Timbers at The Roundabout Theater Company Underground, A Feminine Ending, directed by Blair Brown, for Playwrights Horizons, Underground for David Dorfman Dance at BAM, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), directed by Kate Whorisky, at LAByrinth Theatre Company, Dead City, directed by Daniela Topol for New Georges, Heddatron, directed by Alex Timbers, for Le Freres Corbusier, Fault Lines, by Stephen Belber, directed by David Schwimmer, The Screwtape Letters, (309 performances at the West Side Theater in NYC), and enjoyed runs in Chicago and Washington D.C. and is still on a National Tour, Dixie’s Tupperware Party, directed by Alex Timbers at Ars Nova, and Escape from Bellevue, directed by Alex Timbers at The Village Theater. Cameron received her M.F.A. in scenic design at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and her B.A. at Wesleyan University.

Learn (and see) more at http://www.cameronanderson.net

Sara Jean Tosetti, Costume Designer
Opera Boston debut

Originally from Paris, France, Sara Jean Tosetti is a New York City-based designer for opera, film, theatre, dance, and special events.

She is bilingual with dual-citizenship, and has studied in Paris, London, and finally New York, where she earned her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she had previously won an Outstanding Achievement Award.

She is a Princess Grace Award recipient.

Christopher Ostrom, Lighting Designer

Mr. Ostrom’s career with Opera Boston spans 14 seasons and nearly 40 productions, most recently Maria Padilla, Cardillac, Fidelio, La Grande- Duchesse de Gérolstein, Tancredi, The Bartered Bride, Ernani, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, The Pearl Fishers, Semele and the North American premiere of Peter Eötvös’ Angels and America. Other credits include Stiffelio, The Crucible, Vanessa, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Once Upon a Mattress, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Consul and Werther (Chautauqua Opera), The Crucible (Mobile Opera), Tosca (Opera Providence) The Magic Flute and Rigoletto (Tulsa Opera), Inventing Van Gogh (Asolo Rep), And Now Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Judy Garland (Backyard Productions), Dido and Aeneas, Hansel and Gretel and Albert Herring (New England Conservatory) and the world premiere of Eric Sawyer and John Shoptaw’s Our American Cousin (Academy of Music, Northampton MA). Other credits include productions for Lyric Stage, New Repertory Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Cape Repertory Theatre, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, Provincetown Repertory Theatre, Boston Ballet, Snappy Dance Theatre, Northeast Youth Ballet, Massachusetts Youth Ballet, Toronto Symphony, National Arts Center (Ottawa), Christmas Revels, The Walnut Hill School, Northeastern University, Quinnipiac University and The Boston Conservatory.