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P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
26
|
February 8 - March 13, 2016
DIANA NEWMAN
(
Milliner
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Beatriz/
Bel Canto
,
Clorinda/
Cinderella
(both 2015-16).
A first-year Ryan Opera
Center member, the
American soprano is an alumna of the
University of Southern California (title role/
Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea
,
Pamina/
The Magic Flute
, Miranda/Lee Hoiby’s
The Tempest
, Lauretta/
Gianni Schicchi
, Belisa/
Conrad Susa’s
The Love of Don Perlimplin
).
Newman has also been heard as the Page/
Rigoletto
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Her extensive concert appearances include
Bach Cantatas 211 and 209 (Whittier Bach
Festival), Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate” (USC
Alumni Orchestra), Lukas Foss’s
Time Cycle
(Aspen Music Festival and School), Samuel
Barber’s
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
(American
Youth Symphony), Frank Ticheli’s
Songs of
Love and Life
and
Angels in the Architecture
(both at University of Texas at Austin), George
Crumb’s
Madrigals Book IV
(Music Academy
of the West and Francesco Cilluffo’s
The
Land to Life Again
(world premiere, UCLA
Camarades Ensemble). Newman is an alumna
of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Music
Academy of the West, the Fall Island Vocal
Arts Seminar, the Aspen Opera Theater
Center, and the Oberlin in Italy program.
Diana Newman is sponsored by
Susan Ipsen
and
Mrs. J. W. Van Gorkom.
ALEC CARLSON
(
Animal Trainer
)
Previously at Lyric Opera
:
Ismael/
Bel Canto
, Soldier/
Wozzeck
(2015-16).
A native of Red Oak, Iowa,
and a first-year member of
Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center,
the tenor was an apprentice artist as part of
The Santa Fe Opera’s 2014 program. He also
has participated in Houston Grand Opera’s
Young Artist Vocal Academy and was a studio
artist at Wolf Trap Opera Company in 2013.
Carlson received his bachelor of arts degree
in music from Luther College in Decorah,
Iowa, followed by a master’s degree in voice
performance at the University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music. In his time at
the UCC-CM, Carlson appeared in the roles
of Ernesto/
Don Pasquale
, the Royal Herald
in a concert performance of
Don Carlos
, and
tenor soloist in a staged production of J.S.
Bach’s
St. John Passion
. Last season he was
both a Seybold-Russell Award winner (CCM
Opera Competition) and an encouragement
award winner of the Metropolitan Opera
National Council District Auditions.
Alec
Carlson is sponsored by
Stepan Company.
JESSE DONNER
(
Waiter
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Abdallo/
Nabucco
(2015-
16); Walther/
Tannhäuser
,
Servant/
Capriccio
(both
2014-15).
A second-year Ryan
Opera Center member and native of Des
Moines, Iowa, the tenor will be featured in
May with soprano Christine Brewer in the
Harris Theater’s “Beyond the Aria” series.
Donner completed graduate studies at the
University of Michigan, where his roles
included Bacchus/
Ariadne auf Naxos
and the
title role/Viktor Ullmann’s
Der Kaiser von
Atlantis
. He also holds a bachelor of music
degree in vocal performance from Iowa State
University. In 2015 Donner won the coveted
Luminarts Fellowship for Men’s Voice and
was awarded the Grand Prize in the Bel Canto
competition. Formerly, he received the 2014
George Shirley Award for Opera Performance
and a special encouragement award from the
2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council
Regional Auditions. Other performing credits
include his debut with Opera in the Ozarks
as Pinkerton/
Madama Butterfly
, as well as
concert appearances with the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago, the Toledo Symphony, Adrian
Symphony, and University of Michigan
Symphony Orchestra.
Jesse Donner is sponsored
by
Robert C. Marks
and
Susan M. Miller
.
ANTHONY CLARK
EVANS
(
Waiter
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Eight roles since 2013-
14, most recently Simon
Thibault/
Bel Canto
,
Second Apprentice/
Wozzeck
(both 2015-16);
Jailer/
Tosca
(2014-15).
A native of Owensboro, Kentucky, and a third-
year Ryan Opera Center member, the baritone
will be heard later this season in Lyric’s
Romeo
and Juliet
and in his San Diego Opera debut
as Sharpless/
Madama Butterfly
. Evans debuted
in Chicago in 2013 in Bernstein’s
Songfest
at
Ravinia. The baritone is a former apprentice
artist with Arkansas’s Opera in the Ozarks
(Marcello
/La bohème,
Pish-Tush/
The Mikado
),
and gave his first professional recital in
Lexington, Kentucky. Evans attracted national
attention as a Grand Finals winner of the
2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council
Auditions. Since then he has been awarded a
career grant from the Licia Albanese-Puccini
Foundation, first prize in the Giulio Gari
Foundation Vocal Competition, second prize
in the Opera Index Vocal Competition, a
prize from the American Opera Society, a
Sara Tucker Study Grant, the Men’s Voice
Fellowship from the Luminarts Cultural
Foundation, and, in 2015, first prize in the
Marcello Giordani Foundation Competition
and top prize in The Dallas Opera Guild Vocal
Competition.
Anthony Clark Evans is sponsored
by
Richard O. Ryan
and
Richard W. Shepro
and Lindsay E. Roberts
.
RICHARD OLLARSABA
(
Waiter
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Nine roles since 2013-
14, most recently Second
SS Officer/
The Passenger
,
Cesare Angelotti/
Tosca
,
Lord Rochford/
Anna
Bolena
(all 2014-15).
The bass-baritone’s Lyric credits include a per-
formance of
Don Giovanni
last season in which
he successfully took on the title role at very
short notice. A third-year Ryan Opera Center
member and a native of Tempe, Arizona, Ollar-
saba is a former resident artist at Minnesota
Opera (
Nabucco
,
Anna Bolena
,
Turandot
). He
returned there in 2014-15 as Escamillo, which
he previously sang at Tulsa Opera. An alumnus
of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the
A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ollarsaba
made his professional debut at Opera Cleveland
as Antonio/
The Marriage of Figaro
. He has also
appeared with Piedmont Opera and North Car-
olina Opera. Concert engagements include the
Apollo Chorus of Chicago, the Elmhurst Sym-
phony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival, Kansas
City Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, and
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. A grand finalist in
the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council
Auditions, Ollarsaba is a former participant in
the young-artist programs at Tanglewood and
Music Academy of the West.
Richard Ollarsaba
is sponsored by
Lois B. Siegel
and
Drs. Joan and
Russ Zajtchuk
.
BRADLEY SMOAK
(
Waiter
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Six roles since 2014-15,
most recently General
Benjamín/
Bel Canto
,
First Apprentice/
Wozzeck
,
Antonio/
The Marriage of
Figaro
(all 2015-16).
A native of North Carolina and a second-
year Ryan Opera Center member, the bass-