BIOGRAPHIES

Margaret Thompson will perform “Flora” in La Traviata at the Kennedy Center with Washington Opera in their 2008-09 season. She will be heard as “Jo” in Opera Delaware's production of Little Women in May 2008.  She also sings the “Alto Solo” in Händel's Messiah at place Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall Dec 2007. Ms. Thompson covered Roselind Elias as “The Baroness” at New York City Opera November 2007. She sang with Karita Mattila in LA Opera's Jenufa and covered for Lioba Braun as “Venus” in Tannhäuser. She also sang “Hänsel” in Hänsel und Gretel for LA Opera in 2007. She also appeared at the Kennedy Center singing “Suzuki” in Madame Butterfly with the Washington Opera November 2006. For LA Opera's 20th Year Gala, Ms. Thompson performed “Emelia” in Othello with Patricia Racette as “Desdemona” and Plácido Domingo as “Othello”. She sang at Lincoln in April 2006 in Bach's B-Minor Mass at Avery Fisher Hall. She sang ”Octavian” and “Annina” in Der Rosenkavalier for Los Angeles Opera in 2005 as well as “Suzuki” in Robert Wilson's production of Madame Butterfly in 2006. She also performed “Olga” in LA Opera's world premiere of Deborah Drattell's Nicholas and Alexandra with Plácido Domingo singing “Rasputin” and Mstislav Rostropovich conducting.

Ms. Thompson made her Wagnerian debut as “Rossweisse” in Madrid with Placido Domingo, Waltruad Meier and Alan Titus in 2003 and was most recently heard singing the “Flower Maiden” and “Alto Soloist” in Parsifal again with Placido Domingo for LA Opera.

She began her career in the opera houses of Germany and Austria where she sang over 70 operatic and oratorio roles such as Octavian, Charlotte, Eboli, Sesto, Rosina, Composer and Cherubino, and has performed with Vladimir Chernov, Patricia Racette, Matti Salminen, Dolora Zajick, Wolfgang Brendel, Alan Titus and conductors such as Peter Schneider, James Conlon, Julius Rudel, Kent Nagano, Mstislav Rostropovich, Lawrence Foster, Asher Fisch and Gabrielle Ferro.

Her career has expanded into such rarities as “Anna” in Kurt Weill's Die Bürgschaft at the Spoleto Festival from which the first complete recording of the opera was released by EMI Classics. At Carnegie Hall she sang “Charmian” in Antony and Cleopatra with Carol Vaness. She also sang “Nastassja” in the world premiere of Thomas Blomenkamp's The Idiot in 2001. She performed the title role in the first German premiere of Theo Loevendie's Esmée which was recently released on CD, “Margareta” in Schumann's Genoveva, “The Queen” in Heinrich Marschner's Hans Heiling, “Berta” in Judith Weir's The Blond Eckbert, “The Witch” in Rusalka, and ”The Mother/Alto” in Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals.

Ms. Thompson was chosen by Christa Ludwig to receive the “Tirolian Academy” First Prize and was nominated as “Best Young Singer” in the 1999 OPERNWELT Yearbook. She was awarded the "Bielefelder Operntaler", a silver medallion, for "Best Singer of the Year" and was a finalist/prize winner in the IV. International "Sylvia Gezsty" Coloratura Competition held in Luxembourg.

Katherine Ciesinski performs with leading opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. She has also performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Symphonies of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston and Toronto, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. She has been heard in recital across the United States and in Paris, Cologne, Zurich, Milan and at the Aix-en-Provence, Geneva, Spoleto and Salzburg Festivals. Recent engagements include Larina in Eugene Onegin (Cleveland Opera), Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Pacific), Sarah’s Mother in The End of the Affair, Kabanicha in Katya Kabanova, Adelaide in Arabella, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, (Houston Grand Opera), Herodias in Salome (Fort Worth Opera, San Diego Opera), Principessa in Suor Angelica (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis), Cecilia March in Little Women (Central City Opera, Houston Grand Opera), Countess Di Coigny in Andrea Chenier (Metropolitan Opera), and Mrs. Winemiller in Summer and Smoke (Central City Opera).

Grant Youngblood’s career highlights have included Sharpless in MADAMA BUTTERFLY with San Francisco Opera; the title role in DON GIOVANNI, Scarpia in TOSCA, Germont in LA TRAVIATA, Marcello in LA BOHÈME, Sharpless in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Escamillo in CARMEN, and Thoäs in Gluck's IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE with New York City Opera; Dapertutto in LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN with Washington Opera; the title role in RIGOLETTO and Silvio in PAGLIACCI with Florida Grand Opera; Scarpia in TOSCA, Tonio in PAGLIACCI, and Baritone in CARMINA BURANA (staged) with Orlando Opera; Amonasro in AIDA and Michele in IL TABARRO with L'Opéra de Montréal; Germont in LA TRAVIATA with Orlando Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, and Virginia Opera; Scarpia in TOSCA and Figaro in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA with Dayton Opera; the title role in RIGOLETTO and Count Di Luna in IL TROVATORE with Virginia Opera; Enrico in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR with Indianapolis Opera and Cleveland Opera; the Count in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO and Achilles in GIULIO CESARE with Cleveland Opera; Valentin in FAUST with Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Toledo Opera; Tonio in PAGLIACCI, the Four Villains in LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN, John Proctor in THE CRUCIBLE, and Lord Mountjoy in Britten's GLORIANA with Central City Opera; and Marcello in LA BOHÈME with Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Concert highlights have included REYNARD, MASS, REQUIEM CANTICLES, and CANTICUM SACRUM for the Stravinsky Festival with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas; MESSIAH with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Duke University Chapel Choir; and Copland's OLD AMERICAN SONGS with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Christi Amonson is a DMA candidate at UA where she sang Despina in the fall production of "Cosi fan Tutte." She has performed leading roles with Lyric Opera San Antonio, Opera Delaware, Chautauqua Opera, Lake George Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Intimate at Lincoln Center, the Liederkranz Foundation, Taconic Opera and the Opera Company of Brooklyn. Her featured opera roles include Gilda ("Rigoletto"), Nannetta ("Falstaff"), Oscar ("Un Ballo in Maschera"), Adina ("L'Elisir D'Amore"), Zerlina ("Don Giovanni"), Blondchen ("Entfuhrung aus dem Serail"), Lisette ("La Rondine"), Gretel ("Hansel & Gretel"), Monica ("The Medium"), Lucy ("The Telephone"), Yum Yum ("The Mikado"), Adele ("Die Fledermaus"), Coloratura ("Postcard from Morocco"), Babs (Phillip Hagemann's "Roman Fever"), and the title roles in "Naughty Marietta" and "La Perichole." She has been a featured soloist in such concert works as the Brahms Requiem, the Faure Requiem, Handel's "Messiah," Handel's "L'Allegro," Mozart's C minor Mass, Lincoln Center's "Broadway Dozen" and NYSTA's concert of American Song. Christi won second place in the national 2006 Classical Singer Competition, second place in Tucson's 2006 Marguerite Ough Competition, she was a 2004 Liederkranz Competition winner, a 2001 Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a recipient of the Arlene Auger Award.

Abigail Nims, a rapidly rising young mezzo-soprano, just completed her studies with the Yale Opera Program, where she performed as Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, roles which she reprised professionally with Santa Fe Opera and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, respectively.
Abigail Nims's engagements for 2007-2008 include her debut with New York City's Gotham Chamber Orchestra in Maria de Buenos Aires and as Zefka in a staged version of Janácek's The Diary of One Who Disappeared. She sings as soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 at Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile) and as Meg in Little Women with Opera Delaware. She appears in recital to sing a song cycle by Martin Bresnick at Yale University. In concert she is alto soloist in Mozart's Vespare solennes de confessore and Michael Haydn's Requiem with the Masterwork Chorus, in Messiah with the New Choral Society, and in Mendelssohn's Elijah with Cappella Cantorum of Connecticut. Ms. Nims also joins the roster of New York City Opera for the 2007-08 season. In summer of 2008 she returns to Santa Fe Opera.

Other recent operatic appearances include Tessa in The Gondoliers with Opera North, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra, and Beatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict, Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Jo in Little Women with Westminster Opera Theatre. Also for the Yale Opera Program, she performed the role of Popova in William Walton's The Bear.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Ms. Nims has performed with notable orchestras and at festivals including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the New Jersey Bach Festival, and the Rochester Chamber Orchestra. Among her concert engagements are performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 3; Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel by György Ligeti; Handel's Messiah; Magnificat settings by J. S. Bach and Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka; the Duruflé Requiem; and J.C.F. Bach's solo cantata, Ach, dass ich Wassers g'nug hätte.

Ms. Nims was awarded second prize in the 2007 Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition. She also received an honorable mention in the 2006 Bach Choir of Bethlehem Competition and was a finalist in both the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield competitions.

Abigail Nims holds degrees from Yale School of Music, Westminster Choir College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. She was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera in 2007 and a Young Artist with Opera North in 2005. Additionally, she has participated in the Spoleto Festival USA, AIMS in Graz (Austria), the Austrian-American Mozart Academy, and the Austria-Illinois Exchange Program in Vienna.

Elisa Matthews, hailed for her “pure, sweet soprano” is an active soloist in musical theatre, opera and oratorio. Locally, she has appeared with The Opera Company of Philadelphia, OperaDelaware, Center City Opera Theater, The Arden Theatre Company, People's Light and Theatre Company, Prince Music Theater and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops.

Recent performances include Zerlina in Don Giovanni (OperaDelaware), Johanna in Sweeney Todd (Arden Theatre), and the featured soloist in Mozart's Exultate Jubilate (Immaculata Symphony Orchestra). She has premiered numerous musical theatre works, including Young Elizabeth in Winesburg, Ohio, the Cook in Café Puttanesca and A Night in the Old Marketplace.

Upcoming engagements include Beth in Little Women (OperaDelaware) and a featured soloist in Music from a Time of Darkness (Delaware Valley Chorale). She received her Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Pennsylvania State University and studies voice with Dr. Thomas Houser. When not performing, Elisa teaches voice at Valley Forge Christian College and in her private studio.

Benjamin Bunsold has performed the role of Fenton in Falstaff for Fort Worth Opera, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore for Opera in the Heights (Houston, TX), Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance for New Jersey Opera, and Alfredo in La Traviata for Asheville Lyric Opera. Other roles include Laurie in Little Women, Il Duca in Rigoletto, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, and Nico in Mark Adamo’s new opera, Lysistrata, in a concert/lecture presented by the composer with the Van Cliburn Foundations’ “Cliburn at the Modern” series in Fort Worth, TX.  Most recent engagements include Il Duca in Rigoletto for New Opera St. Louis, Arturo in for Opera Company of North Carolina, Laurie in Little Women for Fort Worth Opera.  Upcoming roles include Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte for Shreveport Opera and a return to New Jersey Opera where he will perform the role of Camille in The Merry Widow.  Benjamin has participated in several Young Artist Programs including Utah Festival Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera and was selected as a participant in Sherrill Milnes’ VOICExperience Program.  Concert credits include Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Utah Festival Orchestra, soloist in the National Endowment of the Arts “Great American Voices” concert tour, guest artist in the Kansas City Early Music Festival and tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.  Benjamin has received prizes and recognition from The Harold Haugh Vocal Competition, the Anna Sosenko Artist Assist Trust, and the Opera Columbus International Vocal Competition.

Jesse Blumberg won first prize at the 5th International Hilde Zadek Competition in Vienna.  Highlights for 2007 include the world premiere of  The Grapes of Wrath at The Minnesota Opera and Utah Opera, the title role in Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses with Opera Vivente, performances with American Bach Soloists in the San Francisco Bay Area, a national residency for the Marilyn Horne Foundation in Ames, Iowa, a recital with pianist Thomas Bagwell at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and a guest artist recital with pianist Martin Katz at Songfest in Malibu, California.

Barbara-Jo Vanderkraats sang the role of Mrs. Gobineau in OperaDelaware’s production of The Medium, and the role of High Priestess in Aida. She has performed leading roles Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortileges, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience and Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. She has also been a soloist for performances of The Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and was a soloist with Fred Waring’s Young Pennsylvanians. Ms. Vanderkraats has both a B.S. and a M.M. in Music Education, with concentrations in vocal performance, from West Chester University. She is the Choral Director at Avon Grove High School in Pennsylvania.

Peter Campbell, hailed by The New York Times as “a promising young singer” in the role of Ramfis in Aida, the bass-baritone has garnered praise throughout the United States and Europe in concerts and roles as various as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Colline in La Bohème to Sam in Trouble in Tahiti and Olin Blitch in Susannah.  He began his career as an actor, having studied under the tutelage of Stella Adler in New York before expanding into opera.  He recently sang the roles of Simone (Gianni Schicchi), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and The Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance), all for OperaDelaware, as well as the Marchese (La Traviata) and Bogdanovich (The Merry Widow) for Jefferson Performing Arts Society in New Orleans.  Mr. Campbell can often be found in Philadelphia, singing major roles for Elysium Concert Opera (Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni and Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail), the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (Don Pizarro in Fidelio presented by The Other Company), and Trinity Center Opera (Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia).  He sang Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) for Opera Iowa and the Cappadocian (Salome) and Charles Edward (Candide) for Des Moines Metro Opera.   Other roles he has performed include Méphistophélès in Faust, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Capellio in I Capuletti e i Montecchi, and Oroveso in Norma.  Mr. Campbell was asked to sing the bass solo role from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Works for the opening concert of the prestigious Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, DE.  A regional winner of the MacAllister competition, Mr. Campbell was apprenticed at The Sarasota Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera.
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Additional Information:
http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2420&State_2874=2&WorkId_2874=23697
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women_(opera)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women
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