Cast
Will Liverman
Baritone
PELLÉAS
From: Chicago, Illinois.
LA Opera: debut, after an online On Now recital (2020).
About: Will Liverman is the recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2022 Beverly Sills Artist Award. He opened the Met’s 2021/22 season in the leading role of Charles in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The subsequent recording won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. He will return to the Met to star in Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. His season began as the Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass for the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary, followed by Jeanine Tesori’s Blue at Dutch National Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago premiere of The Factotum, which he starred in and composed with DJ/recording artist K. Rico. Other season engagements include Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at Austin Opera; appearances with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Portland Opera; and solo recital performances at London’s Wigmore Hall. (WillLiverman.com)
WillLiverman.com
Sydney Mancasola
Soprano
MÉLISANDE
From: Redding, California.
LA Opera: debut, after an online On Now recital (2020).
About: After her debut at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2015, she joined the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt for three seasons, where her roles included Gilda in Rigoletto, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. Earlier this season, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Pamina in The Magic Flute and performed Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld with the Komische Oper Berlin. Upcoming engagements include Bess in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at the Opéra Comique in Paris and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Des Moines Metro Opera. Notable recent appearances include Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore at the Opéra National de Paris, the heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Komische Oper Berlin and Bess in Breaking the Waves at the Adelaide Festival Centre in Australia and Edinburgh International Festival.
SydneyMancasolaSoprano.com
Kyle Ketelsen
Bass-Baritone
GOLAUD
From: Clinton, Iowa.
LA Opera: Leporello in Don Giovanni (2007, debut).
About:
Earlier this season, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera to create the role of Richard in the world premiere of The Hours by Kevin Puts. He recently returned to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Kaspar in Der Freischütz and to Dutch National Opera as Adahm in Rudi Stephan’s Die ersten Menschen. In the 2021/22 season, he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in the title role of Don Giovanni and at Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza as Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. He also returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago to make his role debut as Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore and to Canadian Opera Company for his debut in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle, and he performed Escamillo in Carmen with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra in Madrid. He has also previously performed the role of Golaud with the Metropolitan Opera, Opernhaus Zürich and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
Ferruccio Furlanetto
Bass
Arkel
From: Sacile, Italy.
LA Opera: King Philip II in Don Carlo (debut, 2006; 2018).
About: One of the foremost Italian basses of his generation, Ferruccio Furlanetto has performed at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival and Metropolitan Opera, as well as in the opera houses of Paris, St. Petersburg, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Palermo, Madrid, Toronto and Moscow. His vast repertory includes the title roles of Boris Godunov, Don Quichotte, Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Méphistophélès in Faust. His engagements for the 2022/23 season include Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin with San Francisco Opera and Timur in Turandot with the Metropolitan Opera. His appearances in 2022 included Ramfis in Aida at the Arena di Verona, the title role in Mefistofele with Opera Australia and Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino at the Paris Opera. An honorary ambassador to the United Nations, he holds the title of Kammersänger, awarded by the Vienna State Opera.
Susan Graham
Mezzo-Soprano
GENEVIÈVE
From: Midland, Texas.
LA Opera: Poppea in The Coronation of Poppea (2006, debut), Hanna in The Merry Widow (2007); Witch in Hansel and Gretel (2018); Signature Recital (2021); soloist in St. Matthew Passion (2022); numerous recitals. She is Artistic Advisor of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.
About: A Grammy winner and a recipient of France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, she has been hailed as “America’s favorite mezzo” (Musical America). A familiar face at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, she is also at home at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Santa Fe Opera and the Hollywood Bowl, and she has appeared with virtually every major opera house and orchestra in the world. Her roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi’s Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (written especially for her), and she will appear as Mrs. Patrick de Rocher in the Met premiere of that opera next season.
SusanGraham.com
Miah Persson
Treble
YNIOLD
From: Saint Charles, Illinois.
LA Opera: debut.
About: Kai Edgar recently made his operatic debut as Richie in the world premiere of The Hours by Kevin Puts at the Metropolitan Opera. This summer, he will appear with Santa Fe Opera as Yniold and as the Shepherd in Tosca. Musical theater credits include Charlie in the national tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Colin in The Secret Garden (Sacramento’s Broadway at Music Circus); Michael in Billy Elliot (Music Theater Works); Oliver in Oliver! (Marriott Theatre); Ernie in The Secret of My Success (Paramount Theatre); and Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol (Raue Center for the Arts). He has also appeared on television in NBC’s Chicago Fire and in voiceover roles on Disney Junior’s Firebuds and Nickelodeon’s Santiago of the Seas. He thanks his team at DDO Artists and his vocal coaches, Audrey Belle Adams and Tom Vendafreddo.
IG: KaiJosephEdgar
Patrick Blackwell
Bass-Baritone
Physician
From: New York City, New York.
LA Opera: Lt. Ratcliffe in Billy Budd (2014, debut); ten roles to date including Aye in Akhnaten (2016); Noah in Noah’s Flood (2017); Lord Krishna in Satyagraha (2018); Alcindoro in La Bohème (2019); Reinmar in Tannhäuser (2021); Suleiman in Omar (2022).
About: Last year, he performed Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, the Undertaker in Porgy and Bess with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Maecenas in the world premiere of Antony and Cleopatra by John Adams for his San Francisco Opera debut. Other recent engagements include Zuniga in Carmen with San Diego Opera and Méphistophélès in Faust with Valley Opera & Performing Arts. He debuted with the Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg, France) in Mahagonny Songspiel and The Seven Deadly Sins.
