Welcome to NOI+F at Home!
This year, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center will deliver the National Orchestral Institute + Festival at Home! Throughout June 2020, NOI+F students will continue their orchestral training virtually and audiences will experience in-depth conversations through NOI+F at Noon streams, the virtual SPARK! Lounge and Saturday evening Philharmonic broadcasts.
Relive NOI+F’s semi-staged performance of Ravel’s comedy L’heure espagnole! Vocal artists from Wolf Trap Opera share the story of a respected watchmaker, Torquemada, and his wife Concepción's romantic escapades. Will Concepción hatch a successful plan to deal with Torquemada’s frequent absence? Find out the hilarious consequences with Wolf Trap Opera and NOI+F!
Cast & Creative Team
Conductor
Ward Stare
Director
Emily Cuk
Torquemada, a clockmaker
Ian Koziara, tenor
Concepción, Torquemada’s wife
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano
Gonzalve, a young bachelor
Joshua Lovell, tenor
Ramiro, a muleteer
Joshua Conyers, baritone
Don Iñigo Gomez, a banker
Calvin Griffin, bass-baritone
Assistant Conductor
Joel Ayau
Production Designer
C. Murdock Lucas
Costume Designer
Kristen Ahern
Lighting Designer
Christopher Brusberg
Stage Manager
Julie Marie Langevin
Assistant Stage Manager
Alycia Martin
About the National Orchestral Institute + Festival
The University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival brings together aspiring orchestral musicians from across the country for a month of dynamic music-making and professional exploration. Chosen through a rigorous, cross-country audition process, these young artists present passionate and awe-inspiring performances of adventuresome repertoire at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and in the College Park, MD community. In 2019, conductor David Alan Miller and the NOI+F Philharmonic received a Grammy nomination in the “Best Orchestral Performance” category for their Naxos recording Ruggles, Stucky, Harbison.
About Wolf Trap Opera
Since its inception in 1971, Wolf Trap Opera has provided important opportunities for our nation’s most promising emerging professional opera singers. As one of America’s most highly regarded residency training programs, Wolf Trap Opera perfectly combines two key goals of Wolf Trap Foundation’s mission: to foster the next generation of young artists and to present performances of exceptional quality. Wolf Trap Opera provides aspiring young singers with outstanding training and performance opportunities that are not readily available elsewhere, serving singers of exceptional achievement and potential who are ready to make the transition to full-time professional careers. Each season singers are selected through a highly competitive nationwide audition process, the most extensive talent search of any program of its kind. In addition to the young professional singers, the company also features the work of emerging designers, directors and conductors; and provides opportunities for aspiring stage managers, administrators, coaches, stage directors and technical theatre professionals.
About the Artists
Ward Stare, conductor
Grammy-winning conductor Ward Stare, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a rising-star in the conducting firmament”, was appointed the 12th music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. He has been praised for “inspiring musicians to impressive heights” by The New York Times and as “a dynamic music director” by Rochester CITY Newspaper. In demand as a guest conductor, Stare has conducted the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Sydney (Australia), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Germany), Pittsburgh, Grant Park (Chicago), Atlanta, Detroit, Toronto as well as the New World Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic.
Emily Cuk, director
Emily Cuk has distinguished herself in a variety of creative productions in academic, community and professional venues. In 2018-2019, she staged a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe with the Opera Naples Summer Youth Program. Last year, Cuk also made her debut with Pegasus Early Music directing a semi-staged concert of Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Cuk recently graduated with a Master of Music degree in Opera Directing from the Eastman School of Music, where she directed Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück, Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea and Barber’s A Hand of Bridge. Also a graduate of Bard College, Cuk studied music with an emphasis on opera performance and frequently returns as a guest Stage Director for the Undergraduate Opera Program.
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven is in her third-year of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. This season, she sings Zweite Dame in the Kosky production of Die Zauberflöte conducted by James Colon. Last season she was seen as Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Tebaldo in Don Carlo and the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. As a Filene Artist at Wolf Trap Opera she performed Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Concepción in L'heure espagnole. This season she made her Alice Tully Hall debut, appearing with the American Symphony Orchestra for a concert of Bach arias. Upcoming engagements include a debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Grimgerde in Die Walküre and Mother in Blue, as well as a debut at Finger Lakes Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. In 2020-2021 she will make a role/house debut as Carmen at Opera San José and a house debut at Minnesota Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola.
Photo by Suzanne Vinnik Photography
Ian Koziara, tenor
Chicago native Ian Koziara was a three-year member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, having worked with such notable conductors as Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Bertrand de Billy and Marco Armiliato. He debuted at The Metropolitan Opera as Enrique in Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel, with subsequent appearances in Parsifal, Nico Muhly’s Marnie, The Magic Flute and La Fanciulla del West. Koziara’s recent appearance as Fritz in Franz Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang (Oper Frankfurt) was hailed by the Wiesbadener Tagblatt as “so strong as Fritz that one is amazed at how naturally a sense of beauty and despair can go hand in hand." His performance in the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo yielded accolades from The Washington Post, praising his “striking beauty of tone… His King was royal and haunted and evoked nothing so much as Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes”.
Joshua Lovell, tenor
Canadian tenor Josh Lovell is in his first season in the ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper, performing Lysander in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lurcanio in David McVicar’s production of Ariodante, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola and finally, Ernesto in Don Pasquale. Other opera roles include Don Ramiro with The New Generation Festival in Florence, Gonsalve in L’Heure Espagnol with Wolf Trap Opera and Poisson in Adriana Lecouvreur as part of Salzburg Festival’s Young Singer’s Project. Other engagements include Mozart’s Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony and Victoria Choral Society and Handel’s Messiah with the Victoria Symphony.
Photo by Simon Pauly
Joshua Conyers, baritone
Baritone Joshua Conyers has been hailed by Opera News with “a deliciously honeyed baritone that would seduce anyone” and The New York Times as having “a sonorous baritone” that “wheedled and seduced.” Conyers, a native of Bronx, NY, is quickly being championed for his captivating performances as he continues to be recognized as one the promising young dramatic voices of today. Equally active in contemporary opera, Conyers performed the role of Jason in the world premiere of Matt Boehler’s 75 Miles and Uncle Wesley in Carlos Simon’s Night Trip for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. Conyers covered the roles of Mr. Umeya in the American premiere of Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen in Mandarin Chinese and Walt Whitman in the world premiere of Theodore Morrison's Oscar, both with the Santa Fe Opera.
Web • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter
Photo by Arielle Doneson
Calvin Griffin, bass-baritone
Calvin Griffin, a native of Columbus, Ohio, is a recent alum of the Florida Grand Opera studio where he made his debut with the company stepping in as a cover to sing the role of Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. In addition, he sang Zaretsky and covered Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Victor in Before Night Falls and Samuel in Un ballo in maschera with the company. Griffin recently finished a stint with the Arizona Opera Studio where he performed the roles of the Captain in Florencia en el Amazonas, Zuniga in Carmen, Pistola in Falstaff, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Speaker/2nd Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte, Hortensius in La fille du régiment, Colline in La bohème and Dr. Grenville in La traviata. In 2016, he made his Opera Columbus debut as Colline in La bohème.
Photo by Kristin Hoebermann
Joel Ayau, assistant conductor
Joel Ayau is a graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and has assisted on eleven productions at WNO that include Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Aida and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Ayau has also served on the creative teams of North Carolina Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Memphis and Charlottesville Opera. During his three seasons on the music staff of Castleton Festival, Ayau prepared choruses for Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette under Rafael Payarre, and Lorin Maazel’s productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Ayau also assists in the preparation of operas, musicals and oratorio at the National Symphony Orchestra. He has served as cover conductor for more than 20 Pops and Declassified concerts, assisting such conductors as Gianandrea Noseda and Steven Reineke. Ayau holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from University of Michigan and a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School
C. Murdock Lucas, production designer
Charles Murdock Lucas is a scene and media designer based in San Diego, CA. He has designed for companies across the United States and internationally at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in Bulgaria and the Daejeon Arts Center in the Republic of Korea. Companies in the USA include: The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Barter Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, American Stage, the Duke City Repertory Theatre, the Ohio Light Opera, freeFall Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Gulfshore Playhouse, Flux Theatre Ensemble (NYC), Virginia Stage Company, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, Eastman Opera Theatre, PCPA, Cygnet Theatre and more. In previous seasons he has served as the Resident Scene Designer for the Ohio Light Opera, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Luna Stage and Duke City Repertory Theatre.
Kristen Ahern, costume designer
Kristen Ahern is a Master of Fine Arts graduate of the University of Maryland. Recently, she designed Maryland Opera Studio’s production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. Other credits at University of Maryland include The Amish Project and Love & Information. Locally, Ahern has designed for Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, Monumental Theatre Co. and assisted at Studio Theatre and Ford’s Theatre, among others. In Chicago, she has designed and assisted for Chicago Folks Operetta and DePaul Opera. Also in Chicago, Ahern served as Artistic Director of Strange Bedfellows Theatre, where she produced Inventing Van Gogh and new work Badfic Love. These experiences sparked an enthusiasm in Ahern for teaching history, cultures and human interaction through her work, while also building a stronger foundation for environmentally and socially conscious art.
Christopher Brusberg, lighting designer
Christopher Brusberg is a lighting designer for theater, opera, dance and live events based in New York City. He has worked with the following companies over the past 12 years as a freelance lighting designer: BandPortier (NYC), Cherry Arts (Ithaca, NY), Annapolis Opera, Imagination Stage (DC), Wolf Trap Opera and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, New Rep Theater (Boston), Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Actor Shakespeare Project (Boston), Company One (Boston), Boston Midsummer Opera, ART Institute, Caborca w/ART, Boston Opera Collaborative, Guerilla Opera (Boston), Gotham Early Music Scene (NYC), Northeastern University (Boston), Cal Lutheran University (CA) and Vassar College (NY). Brusberg has also assisted on productions working with Studio Theater Company (DC), One Year Lease (NYC), Opera Boston, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Huntington Theater Company.