Cast
Angela Meade
Soprano
Turandot
From: Centralia, Washington
LA Opera: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2012, debut); title role in Norma (2015); Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux (2020)
About: Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008, she joined an elite group of history’s singers when she made her professional operatic debut on the Metropolitan Opera stage as Elvira in Ernani. She is now recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart. Upcoming appearances include the title role of Turandot at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Schönberg’s Erwartung at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, and the title role of Lucrezia Borgia at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.)
AngelaMeade.com
Russell Thomas
Tenor
Calaf
From: Miami, Florida
LA Opera: Pollione in Norma (2015, debut); Cavaradossi in Tosca (2017); Titus in The Clemency of Titus (2019); title role in Oedipus Rex (2020); Signature Recital (2021); Radames in Aida (2022); title role in Otello (2024); Fire and Blue Sky (2024). He has been Artist in Residence since 2020.
About: Appearances this season include his role debut as Parsifal at Houston Grand Opera, Radames in Aida with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cavaradossi in Tosca at Covent Garden and Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino with the Norwegian Opera, along with concerts and recitals with the Edinburgh International Festival, Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony and at the Kennedy Center. His recent Verdi performances include Otello in Toronto and London, Ernani in Chicago, Manrico in Munich, Radames in Houston, Stiffelio in Frankfurt, and Don Alvaro in Berlin and Paris.
RussellThomasTenor.com
Guanqun Yu
Soprano
Liu
From: Shandong, China
LA Opera: Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015, debut); Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (2015); Vitellia in The Clemency of Titus (2019); Leonora in Il Trovatore (2021); Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2023).
About: She is a regular guest at international opera houses in Europe and America. This season’s engagements include the title role of Aida at the Frankfurt Opera and Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Hamburg State Opera. Her engagements last season included Verdi’s Requiem at the Dutch National Opera and with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra, Micaëla in Carmen at the Hamburg State Opera and Elvira in Ernani at the Festspielhaus Bregenz. She has performed Liù in Turandot at the Met and in Paris, Hamburg, Zurich, Cologne and Bregenz; Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Met and in Bologna; Desdemona in Otello in Valencia, Berlin and Hamburg; and Mimì in La Bohème in Zurich and Munich.
GuanqunYu.com
Morris Robinson
Bass
Timur
From: Atlanta, Georgia
LA Opera: Sarastro in The Magic Flute (2009, debut); Fasolt in Das Rheingold (2009, 2010); Oroveso in Norma (2015); Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017); Zaccaria in Nabucco (2017); Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo (2018); Parsi Rustomji in Satyagraha (2018); Tiresias in Oedipus Rex (2021); Ferrando in Il Trovatore (2021); Hermann in Tannhäuser (2021); Ramfis in Aida (2022); Lodovico in Otello (2023).
About: He is Artistic Advisor for Atlanta Opera and Cincinnati Opera. He regularly performs at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera, and with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Future roles include both Ramfis and the King in Aida at the Met, Banquo in Macbeth in Atlanta and Hagen in Götterdämmerung (Act 3) in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
MorrisRobinson.com
Ryan Wolfe
Baritone
PING
From: Arlington Heights, Illinois
LA Opera: Jailor in Tosca (2022, debut); roles including Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); title role of Moses (2023); Herald in Otello (2023); Fiorello in The Barber of Seville (2023); Marquis d'Obigny in La Traviata (2024). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program last season
About: Recent appearances elsewhere include Le Dancaïre in Carmen with Des Moines Metro Opera and the premiere of Chris Thile’s Attention! with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He previously made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as the Steersman in Tristan und Isolde. This summer, he will be a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, where he will perform the role of Lt. Gordon in Silent Night by Kevin Puts.
RyanWolfeBaritone.com
Terrence Chin-Loy
Tenor
Pang
From: Coral Springs, Florida
LA Opera: debut.
About: Appearances this season include Roméo in Roméo et Juliette and Victor Frankenstein in the world premiere of Gregg Kallor’s Frankenstein with Arizona Opera and Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road with Virginia Opera. Recent appearances include his Metropolitan Opera debut in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones, Tamino in The Magic Flute with Taiwan’s National Taichung Theater and at Arizona Opera, Don José in Carmen with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center, Acis in Acis and Galatea with Eugene Opera, and concerts with the North Carolina Symphony, Caramoor Festival and Boise Philharmonic.
TerrenceChinLoy.com
Julius Ahn
Tenor
Pong
From: Seoul, South Korea
LA Opera: Gastone in La Traviata (2024, debut).
About: His engagements this season include Goro in Madama Butterfly with Detroit Opera and the four Valet Tenors in The Tales of Hoffmann with Palm Beach Opera. He has performed Goro, his signature role, with companies including San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera and at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Other recent appearances include the lead role in Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator for Nashville Opera, Borsa in Rigoletto with Dallas Opera, Mime in Das Rheingold with Atlanta Opera, Bardolf in Sir John in Love by Ralph Vaughan Williams with Bard Music Festival and his Metropolitan Opera debut in The Magic Flute.
JuliusAhn.com
Alan Williams
Bass
DR. GRENVIL
From: San Bernardino, California
LA Opera: Abe in Omar (2022, debut); ten roles to date including Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Masetto in Don Giovanni (2023). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program last season.
About: Last year, he performed Neptune in Idomeneo with Aspen Opera Theater and King Arkel in Impressions de Pelléas with James Conlon at The Ebell of Los Angeles. He was a 2022 apprentice at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he performed Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He will return there this summer as the First Soldier in Salome and as the Physician in Pelléas et Mélisande.
Ashley Faatoalia
Tenor
Emperor Altoum
From: Los Angeles, California
LA Opera: Crab Man in Porgy and Bess (2007, debut); Sage/Counselor in The Festival Play of Daniel (2010); Habakkuk in The Festival Play of Daniel (2012); the Digital Short We Hold These Truths (2022); Simon/Pharisee in The Three Women of Jerusalem (2022); Amadou in Omar (2022). He works regularly with LA Opera Connects as a teaching artist.
About: He created the role of Antron’s Father in the premiere of Anthony Davis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Central Park Five with Long Beach Opera. Recent appearances include the Crab Man in Porgy and Bess with Seattle Opera, Marco Polo in Christopher Cerrone’s Invisible Cities with The Industry and Remus in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha in Toronto.
AshleyFaatoalia.com
