Meryl Dominguez (soprano)
Salud
Cuban-American soprano Meryl Dominguez has been praised for her “intensity and warm tone” (Bachtrack). In the midst of her final year as a Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio Artist, she is an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and has been celebrated for her “gorgeous, crystalline highs and a powerful mid-range.” Recent seasons have seen Dominguez in performance with Houston Grand Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival, among others.
Dominguez’s repertoire spans diverse roles, including Violetta (La traviata), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Donizetti’s titular Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2022, she made her return to the international stage in the title role of Maria Stuarda with Musica Viva Hong Kong, where she earned praise for her “Sutherland-like purity in the upper and middle registers, coupled with depth in the lower range” (South China Morning Post).
Dominguez has earned recognition in notable competitions, including as a Finalist in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition and a Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She is the 1st Prize winner of the Vero Beach Opera Competition, a Sullivan Foundation Grantee, and a prize winner with both the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Giargiari Competition.
Passionate and invested in the realm of art song and new music, Dominguez has been involved in the creation and premieres of multiple new operas and recital programs. She was slated to sing Lucy Harper in Santa Fe Opera’s workshop of Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries(canceled due to COVID-19) and later premiered the role of Skyspace Woman in Another City (Beck/Fleischmann) with Houston Grand Opera. Most recently, she covered Callie van Lew in the world premiere of Intelligence (Heggie/Scheer/Zollar) also with Houston Grand Opera.
Dominguez’s recital work has celebrated her versatility, collaborating with LyricFest on the premiere of John Musto's Be Music, Night, Lili Boulanger's clairières dans le ciel, Wolf's Spanischesliederbuch, and several other works. She is in the process of developing a recital combining her passion for fiber arts, the feminist concept of ‘women’s work’, and the narrative trope of madness that pervades the western musical canon.
Alex McKissick (tenor)
Paco
Opera News has hailed American tenor Alex McKissick as possessing a “melting tone and poignant phrasing” and reviewed a recent performance saying “[his] soaring voice brought the evening to a sweeping conclusion.”
Mr. McKissick will sing the role of Don Ottavio, his third production, with the Opera Theater of Connecticut this August. He begins working with the Metropolitan Opera for the first time this autumn and spring, understudying several roles in Grounded by Jeanine Tesori, Ainadamar by Osvaldo Golijov, Antony and Cleopatra by John Adams, and Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky. Alex will return to Ireland this February for a role debut of "Gabriel Von Eisenstein" in a tour of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus with the Irish National Opera.
During the 2023-24 season Mr. McKissick made his Irish National Opera debut singing Narraboth in Salome under the baton of Fergus Sheil with performances in Wexford and Dublin; revisited the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for San Diego Opera led by Yves Abel; joined the Des Moines Metro Opera to sing the role of Nicola d'Inverno in the world-premiere of Damien Geter’s American Apollo as well as revived his portrayal of Narraboth in their production of Salome. Mr. McKissick made a special appearance with the Vallejo Festival Orchestra for an evening entitled: Three Tenors! -The Next Generation.
Mr. McKissick made role and house debuts in the 2022-23 season as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with North Carolina Opera and as Joe in La Fanciulla del West with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. He also performed as tenor soloist in a concert of Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Symphony #9 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with Christopher Taylor in Boston. Additionally, he continued to tour with acclaimed trumpeter Chris Botti to Toronto, Minneapolis, Nashville, and more cities across the United States.
The 2021-22 season was filled with concert and gala performances of Mr. McKissick. Highlights of the season included the world premiere of two Georgia Shreve oratorios, Lavinia and Anne Komnene, at Alice Tully Hall under the baton of Steven Mercurio; an appearance on 21c Liederabend Op. Senses, a collaboration between National Sawdust and Beth Morrison Project, where he sang an excerpt from Edward Tulanecomposed by Paola Prestini with libretto by Mark Campbell; a performance with Camerata Notturna of Beethoven Symphony #9 alongside soloists Meigui Zhang, Siphokazi Molteni, and Matthew Rose; as well as several aria-filled galas with North Carolina Opera, Opera Edwardsville, Berkshire Opera Festival, and Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. He began accompanying Chris Botti on tour in Texas, Arizona, Utah, and California performing favorite selections of Satori and Puccini.
Mr. McKissick was scheduled to make his debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute with Opera San José under the baton of Donato Cabrera before the current pandemic forced its cancellation. In the summer of 2019, he covered the role of Rodolfo in La bohème with the Des Moines Metro Opera conducted by Michael Christie and in 2018 performed the title role in Roméo et Juliette with the Wolf Trap Opera led by Eric Melear. He has sung regularly with the Washington National Opera in such roles as Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, Roderigo in Verdi’s Otello, The Governor of Montevideo in Bernstein’s Candide, the 1st Armored Guard in The Magic Flute, as well as covering the title role in Faust.
Past performance highlights include Alfredo in La traviata at the Aspen Music Festival; concerts with the Georg Solti Accademia in Venice, Italy; the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Richmond Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony #9 with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra; and the roles of Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Le Journaliste in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Ein Soldat in Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Brack Weaver in Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley at the Juilliard School of Music. Mr. McKissick has worked with conductors Eun Sun Kim, Daniele Callegari, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Nicole Paiement, as well as stage directors David Alden, Francesca Zambello, Tomer Zvulun, Octavio Cardenas, Christopher Mattaliano, and Garnett Bruce. He has coached with Richard Bonynge, Carmen Giannattasio, Angela Gheorghiu, and Anthony Legge, in addition to participating in master classes with Fabio Luisi and Emmanuel Villuame.
Mr. McKissick is a highly sought-after recitalist in the Washington, D.C., metro area where he recently appeared at the Renwick Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, the Cosmos Club, the Metropolitan Club, the United States Supreme Court, and a number of private concerts at various embassies and residences of important officials. His recording of Bernstein's Songfest, released on the Naxos label, was under consideration for a Grammy Award nomination, his CD Una notte a Napoli, recorded live at Switzerland’s Victoria Hall in Geneva, is available at select locations, and his production of Salome with the Irish National Opera is now streaming on YouTube under OperaVisionEU. Mr. McKissick is a 2018 Sullivan Foundation Career Grant Winner, a 2017 Sara Tucker Study Grant Winner, a 2018 Operalia quarterfinalist, and a Toulmin Scholar. He received his Bachelor’s of Music and Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School of Music. Mr. McKissick is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera.
Allegra De Vita (mezzo-soprano)
Abuela
Allegra De Vita, hailed by Opera News as a “complex mezzo, [whose] fine-spun vibrato, was lovely in itself, but it also consistently conveyed human utterance.” She was recently seen as "Isabella" in L'italiana in Algeri with Tulsa Opera and as "Meg Page" in Falstaff with The Maryland Lyric Opera.
She has also performed "Maddalena" in Rigoletto with Tulsa Opera, as "Angelina" in La Cenerentola at Dayton Opera, "The Page" in Salome at The Spoleto Festival, "Siebel" in Faust at Washington National Opera, the title role in Carmen with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, "Tancredi" in Erminia with Opera Lafayette, "Agrippina" in Fall of Lehman Brothers with Ballet-Opera-Pantomime in Montreal, "Olga" in Eugene Onegin with Syracuse Opera, and sang "Isaura" while understudying "Tancredi" in Tancredi with Opera Philadelphia. Ms. De Vita spent three summers at the Glimmerglass Festival performing the roles of "Pippo" in La Gazza Ladra, "Fulvio" in Cato in Utica, and "Arsamenes" in Xerxes.
As a 2018 graduate from the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artist Program, Ms. De Vita was seen as "Rosina" in The Barber of Seville (Emerging Artist Performance), "Tebaldo" in Don Carlo, "Ruggiero" in Alcina (Emerging Artist Performance), the title role in The Dictator’s Wife, "Cherubino" in Le Nozze di Figaro (Emerging Artist Performance), and "Kate Pinkerton" in Madame Butterfly.
Ms. De Vita was a 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finalist and can be heard on the Grammy Award winning CD of Wozzeck conducted by Hans Graf with the Houston Symphony. She was a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA, where she performed the roles of "Charlotte" in Werther and "Zerlina" in Don Giovanni. Ms. De Vita holds a master’s degree in voice from Rice studying with Dr. Stephen King, and a BA Magna cum Laude in biology with a neuroscience concentration from Sacred Heart University.
Lauren Carmen
Costume Design
Lauren Carmen is a costume designer, maker, craftsperson, ballet dancer, artist in NYC. She comes to the performing arts first and foremost through a life of dancing, having worked as a professional ballet dancer, dance & pilates instructor, before diving more fully into the world of costume. Originally from Iowa City, IA, Lauren trained at Nolte Academy & across the country at prestigious ballet academies like Houston Ballet, before joining the Joffrey Ballet Academy in Chicago, and ultimately attending the University of Oklahoma, where she received her BFA in Ballet Pedagogy, Minor in French, Emphasis in Costume Design. Upon graduation, she danced professionally, choreographed on the company, and taught ballet at companies and schools in the Midwest, all the while designing &/or constructing costumes for companies like Central Illinois Ballet, Houston Ballet, before being invited to pursue her MFA in Costume Design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Design for Stage and Film, which she completed this past May.
Since moving to NYC, Lauren has been working as a freelance costume designer and dancer. Projects of particular excitement include teaching costume courses to Undergraduate students at NYU, working with dancers of American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet, Sarasota Ballet in various capacities as Costume Designer, Assistant Costume Designer, Draper, etc, at places like Vail International Dance Festival, with Jillian Lewis on Lincoln Center & Joyce Theatre premieres of Jessica Lang pieces, or unique venue like iHeartDance NYC while the theaters were closed due to COVID, etc,; designing for choreographers/companies such as Gabrielle Lamb, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Skyla Schreter, New Chamber Ballet, Wo.Man in Motion, Dance Kaleidoscope, AY Dancers, NYU Tisch Dance Department, and more.
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Though Lauren gravitates most toward dance-centric projects, she has also worked as Assistant Costume Designer in Off-Broadway and LORT productions, as well as currently working as resident Draper at Pace University’s Costume Shop. At present, Lauren is a company dancer with Dances Patrelle, as they mount their annual Nutcracker, and finds that the deep understanding of, and getting to work in both art forms enriches what she can bring to each of them– with special nod to using her experience and understanding of dance aesthetics and costume construction techniques to create comfortable, beautiful, costumes that move with and enhance the dancers’ performances, rather than work against their efforts. Lauren thrives to infuse all her work with not only a collaborative spirit and an understanding of art forms’ traditions while looking to expand those definitions, but also a sense of beauty, whimsy, and joie de vivre whenever possible.
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
Founded in 1983, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana is one of America’s premier flamenco companies with home bases in New York City and Durham, NC. We reach more than 30,000 people nationwide each year through inclusive programs that entertain, educate and empower. Our mission is to promote flamenco as a living art form and a vital part of Hispanic heritage; produce and perform high quality dance works; provide arts education programs that catalyze connections among young people; and nurture the next generations of Spanish dance artists and educators. We believe that the universal spirit of flamenco – with diverse influences from Roma, Arabic, Jewish, Spanish, African and Latin American cultures – gives this art form a unique power to build bridges between people.
UNC's Carolina Choir
Carolina Choir is the UNC Music Department’s select concert choir of 75 singers devoted to the performance of the finest choral literature at the highest level. Its membership is drawn from the entire student body and is made up of undergraduate and graduate students from many different departments.
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​Carolina Choir’s repertoire ranges from sacred and secular a cappella music of all periods to the choral/orchestral masterworks. Under the direction of Professor Susan Klebanow, the ensemble has performed, among other works, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Tallis’ Spem in alium, the Monteverdi Vespers, Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard with the UNC Symphony Orchestra, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with all of the UNC choral ensembles and orchestra, and J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Ensemble Courant, UNC’s original instrument ensemble.
Carolina Choir recently gave the world premiere performance of Stephen Anderson’s oratorio Isaiah, and Marjorie Merryman’s Beauty, Grief and Grandeur, a newly commissioned work written for Prof. Klebanow and the choir for the 10 x 10 commissioning project sponsored by the UNC Music Department and the Office of the Executive Director for the Arts.
In addition to its frequent collaborations with the UNC Symphony and Ensemble Courant, Carolina Choir has been heard with other outstanding instrumental ensembles, including performances of Philip Glass’ A Toltec Symphony with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert with the N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra conducted by David Berger, the Verdi Requiem with the Wheeling Symphony in West Virginia conducted by Rachael Worby, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the European Union Youth Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor, and numerous works with the North Carolina Symphony conducted by Gerhardt Zimmermann, Andrew Litton, William Henry Curry, and James Gaffigan.