One of the most accomplished and versatile singers on the international opera stage today, American tenor Gregory Kunde appears regularly at the most prestigious opera houses around the world, working with conductors and orchestras of the highest caliber.
Recent highlights of the tenor’s schedule include his widely acclaimed debut as the title character in Verdi’s rarely heard Stiffelio at the Teatri Piacenza, his groundbreaking debut and interpretation as Captain Vere in Vienna’s production of Britten’s Billy Budd, and his remarkable debut as Dick Johnson in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West in Hamburg. Continuing to explore the world of the Great American Songbook, the tenor performed his swing standards with the Tokyo Philharmonic at Suntory Hall, among other concerts featuring both beloved tenor arias and swing songs. Kunde took on the challenge of three consecutive productions of Giordano’s Andrea Chenier in Parma, Berlin, and Torino, receiving great acclaim for his nuanced portrayal of the tortured revolutionary poet.
Renowned worldwide for his interpretation of the title role of Verdi’s Otello, Kunde has performed to critical acclaim at the Weiner Staatsoper, Teatro dell’opera di Roma, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Communale di Bologna, Semperoper Dresden, Festival Perelada, Teatro Municpal di Sao Paola, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opera National de Paris, Teatro Municipal di Piacenza, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Opera de Monte Carlo, Seoul Philharmonic, and Tokyo Philharmonic. Making his debut in this now-signature role, Kunde first performed it at La Fenice.
Other significant moments include Kunde’s role debut as Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Opera Nice Côte d’Azur; Don Alvaro in Verdi La Forza del Destino for the Verdi Festival, Teatro Regio di Parma, and the Semperoper Dresden; Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci for the Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro Communale di Bologna; the title role of Giordano’s Andrea Chenier in Bologna, Berlin, Parma, Vienna, and Rome; the title role of Britten’s Peter Grimes in Rome, Valencia, and Hamburg; Radames in Verdi’s Aida for L’Arena di Verona, Teatro dell’opera di Roma, Madrid Teatro Real, Teatro Municipal di São Paulo, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and with Maggio Musicale in Moscow; Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca for Rome, Los Angeles, the Puccini Festival; Manrico in Verdi’ Il Trovatore for LA Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Fenice, La Coruna; and Calaf in Turandot in Hamburg, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, L’Arena di Verona, Paris, Madrid; Enee in Berlioz’ Les Troyens in Munich, Paris, Milan; Jean de Leyden in Meyerbeer’s Le Prophete at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; the title role in Verdi’s Don Carlos for Opera Royal de Wallonie-Liege; Samson in Saint-Saens Samson et Dalilah at the Metropolitan Opera, Palau des Arts Valencia, Teatro de Maestranza Seville, Teatro Regio di Torino, and at the Marinsky in Saint Petersburg; and a return to the podium to conduct Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro La Fenice.
On the concert platform, highlights include the title role in Verdi’s Ernani for the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, des Grieux in Puccini Manson Lescaut for Dallas Opera, Verdi Requiem and Calaf in Turandot with the Israeli Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde at the BBC Proms, the title role of Peter Grimes with Sir Antonio Pappano at the Accademia Nationale di Santa Cecilia and Faust in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Charles Dutoit.
Acclaimed throughout his earlier career for his domination of the French and Italian bel canto roles, Kunde has now established himself as the definitive interpreter and leading exponent of many of the Verdi roles and other such dramatic repertory. Since his critically acclaimed debut as Verdi’s Otello at La Fenice in 2012, he has performed this signature role globally. Moving into this dramatic repertory, Kunde has earned the unique distinction of being the only tenor in recorded history to perform both Rossini and Verdi Otello in the same season (2014/15 and 2015/2016).
This season, Alexandra Loutsion debuts with Houston Grand Opera in Hänsel und Gretel (Die Mutter) and returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Medea (title role cover) and San Francisco Opera for Elektra (Overseer, title role cover). Additionally she joins the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California as a guest lecturer.
Last season she joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera to cover the title role in Aida. Other engagements included debuts with Teatro Nuovo for Macbeth (Lady Macbeth) and returns to Virginia Opera for Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Die Walküre (Gerhilde and Sieglinde cover), Washington National Opera for Macbeth (Lady Macbeth cover), and Lyric Opera of Kansas City for Turandot (cover title role).
During 23/24, Loutsion made her role debut as Brünnhilde in Siegfried with Virginia Opera and her Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. She returned to The Dallas Opera for Elektra (Overseer), covered Aida at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and joined Houston Grand Opera’s roster covering Kundry in Parsifal. On the concert stage, she debuted with Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Die Walküre (Gerhilde) under Fabio Luisi and with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra in Tristan und Isolde (Act II, Isolde).
Other recent performances include Brünnhilde in Die Walküre with Virginia Opera and Opera Santa Barbara; house debuts at Washington National Opera in Elektra (Overseer) and Opera Idaho in Macbeth (Lady Macbeth); returns to Pittsburgh Opera in Il trovatore (Leonora) and Austin Opera in Fidelio (Leonore); and Lyric Opera of Chicago covering Macbeth (Lady Macbeth). She also appeared at Bard College in Salome (title role), The Dallas Opera in Opera’s Greatest Hits!, and The Glimmerglass Festival in The Sound of Music (Mother Abbess).
Loutsion debuted at Chicago Opera Theater in Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents (Kayla) and at Lyric Opera of Chicago in Twilight Gods (Brünnhilde), gave a solo recital at Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and made her role and house debut with Minnesota Opera in Elektra (title role), followed by returns to Pittsburgh Opera in Florencia en el Amazonas (title role) and Palm Beach Opera in Tosca (title role). Internationally, she debuted with Canadian Opera Company in Elektra (Overseer), returned to Central City Opera in Il trovatore (Leonora), debuted with New Orleans Opera in Turandot (title role), and appeared at San Francisco Opera in Elektra (Overseer) and Turandot (title role cover).
Puccini remains central to her repertoire. She has performed Turandot with Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and New Orleans Operas; Tosca with Palm Beach Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Central City Opera; and Madama Butterfly with Palm Beach Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera on the James. Other roles include Rusalka (Foreign Princess) with Arizona Opera and Florencia en el Amazonas (title role) with Arizona Opera.
On the concert stage, she has sung soprano solos in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Santa Fe Symphony and Academy Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Cathedral Choral Society, West Virginia Symphony, The Syracuse Orchestra (née Symphoria), Erie Philharmonic, and Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra, and debuted the soprano solos in Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with Cathedral Choral Society.
An advocate for contemporary works, she has performed Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (Almera) with Pittsburgh Opera, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice (Euridice) at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, Veronika Krausas’ The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth (Witch 3) with Vera Ikon Productions, and Lowell Liebermann’s Miss Lonelyhearts (Fay Doyle) in its West Coast premiere.
Marianne Cornetti is an internationally renowned Verdi mezzo-soprano who has appeared as Amneris in Aida, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Princess Eboli in Don Carlos at prestigious opera houses across the world, garnering rave reviews and winning the hearts of audiences globally.
Opera magazine claims, “If her timbre did not sear itself into the memory, her vocal command of this redoubtable role was complete” and Seen and Heard International raves, “[Her] voice is a miracle of power and flexibility from top to bottom. It is the emotion which she imparts into her singing, however, that makes her Azucena so memorable…Cornetti imbues each [role] with an emotional force all its own… The cheers and applause that rained down upon her at the end were well deserved.”
Cornetti has performed to great acclaim the iconic leading Verdi roles of Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona, Bregenz Festival, Teatro Comunale in Florence, National Theatre of China in Beijing, Teatro Municipal in Sao Paulo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, La Coruña in Spain, Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and in the Teatro Comunale di Bologna’s tour in Japan; and Amneris in Aida at the Teatro alla Scala, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Foundation in Tokyo, Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Brussels, Israeli Opera at Masada, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Auditorio de Tenerife, Opera Naples, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Belgium and Choregies D’Orange. Cornetti’s appearance as Amneris for Pittsburgh Opera in 2020 was rescheduled for their 2023 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cornetti’s 2021-22 season opens with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Orchestra Miami. In early spring, she will be seen in the role of Leokadja Begbick in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Teatro Regio Parma Italy and subsequently at the Teatro Emilia-Romagna. She then returns to her native Pittsburgh to sing in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s “The Legends in the Limelight” concert series and to perform the role of Ježibaba in Rusalka with Pittsburgh Opera, where she was last seen as The Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
Highlights of Cornetti’s recent engagements include her debut as Princess Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos in Tokyo as well as performances in Parma, Bilbao, Rome, Vienna, and London; Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and at the Bolshoi Theatre; performances of Gianni Schicchi and L’enfant e les Sortiléges with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya, Japan; her debut as Dame Quickly in Falstaff at the Palacio de la Ópera in La Coruña, Spain, followed by a reprisal of the role at the San Diego Opera; Fidès in Le prophete at the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen; Ježibaba in Rusalka and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel at the Minnesota Opera; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Laura in La Gioconda with the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La Monnaie in Brussels, and at Carnegie Hall in New York City; as the title role in La Gioconda at the Rome Opera and Romanian National Opera; and Abigaille in Nabucco at the New National Theatre Foundation in Tokyo, La Monnaie in Brussels, and at the Metropolitan Opera.
In 2005, Cornetti sang her first Wagnerian role, appearing as Ortrud in Lohengrin at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. She continued her excursion into this repertoire with her debut as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and has since sung the role of Ortrud in Amsterdam, Paris, Sao Paolo, and Palermo, and has appeared as Brangäne in Genoa. Cornetti’s verismo repertoire includes Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, which she performed at Teatro alla Scala; Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, Teatro di San Carlo, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio in Turin, Opera di Firenze, and Dutch National Opera; and Rosa in Cilea’s L’Arlesiana, which she sang to great acclaim at the L’Opera de Montpellier and at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York.
She appears frequently in concert in such works as Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Elgar’s Sea Picture and De Falla’s El Amor Brujo. She has recorded Cilea’s L’Arlesiana and Puccini’s Edgar opposite Plácido Domingo and was recently featured on a Teatro Regio di Parma recording of Verdi’s Don Carlo released in 2017 on the Dynamic record label.
Quickly gaining attention for her “solid technique and heroic timbre” (Opera Today), lyric coloratura soprano Aubry Ballarò continues to build an international profile with notable debuts across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
In the 2025–2026 season, Ms. Ballarò makes her Asian debut as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Musica Viva Hong Kong, marking an important milestone in her growing global career. She begins the season as Micaëla in Carmen with Opera in the Park Portland and the soprano soloist in Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder with the Chautauqua Symphony. Later in the season, she debuts with Portland Opera as Musetta in La Bohème, performs Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and returns to Opera Columbus in a co-production with the Columbus Symphony as Violetta in La Traviata and with the symphony as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Trionfo di Afrodite.
Internationally, Ms. Ballarò made her Spanish debut in a solo gala with the RTV Slovenia Orchestra at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid. She first came to European attention with her debut as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor at State Opera Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, a company to which she later returned as Violetta in their 2023 production of La Traviata. In 2024, she debuted with the Sofia Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem.
In the United States, recent highlights include her role debuts as Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Grand Rapids, Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Columbus, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with The Princeton Festival. She has also been heard as Madame Herz in Mozart’s The Impresario with The Princeton Festival and as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus Symphony.
Ms. Ballarò is recognized for both her “deep lyric color with unflagging flexibility” and her expressive interpretations. With an expanding repertoire that bridges bel canto, lyric roles, and concert works, she continues to establish herself as a versatile and compelling artist on international stages.
Thomas Shivone, a bass-baritone, has received critical acclaim for both singing and acting in opera, concert, and recitals. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and earned a Masters Degree in Voice and Opera.
While at Curtis he performed the roles of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Masetto in Don Giovanni and over 40 more roles and productions.
Professionally, he has performed the roles of Karl Marx/Lister in the World Premiere of Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree, Antonio in Le Nozze Di Figaro, Prison Patient #2 in Oscar, The British Major in the Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night, Marchese D’Obigny in La Traviata and The Notary in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Philadelphia. He also was the First Nazarene in Salome and Jeff in The Long Walk with Pittsburgh Opera.
A frequent recitalist and concert giver Thomas has performed many of Schubert’s works in recital. He sang Prisoner in Fidelio with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah in Concert with James Judd and the Master Chorale of South Florida, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
He has shared the stage with many famous artists of today including Ailyn Perez, Daniela Mack, John Chest, Dwayne Croft, Rachele Gilmore, Stephen Costello, Bill Burden, Kelly Kaduce, Harold Wilson, Troy Cook, Daniel Belcher, Dale Travis, Leah Partridge, David Portillo and Charles Castronovo.
Thomas was awarded a full-scholarship to attend the summer programs of: Glimmerglass, Music Academy of the West, Songfest, Centro Studi Lirica, Opera on the Avalon and Schlern Festival in Italy. He received an “Encouragement Award” in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Philadelphia Region in 2014 and advanced to the Semi-Finals in Washington DC in 2016. In 2007 he was a winner of the National Public Radio show From the Top, Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award and performed with the show on NPR in Texas.
Thomas now lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Karissa Shivone, a cellist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and their two daughters, Lucia and Anna Maria.
One of America’s leading basses, Luiz-Ottavio Faria has appeared with the world’s major operatic and symphonic organizations. He has performed with such renowned companies as the Teatro Alla Scala di Milano, Opera Grand Rapids, Kansas City Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice, New Orleans Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Carolina, Theater Municipal de Sao Paulo, Teatro Amazonas, Knoxville Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, New Jersey State Opera, Theater des Westens, Musikverein of Vienna, The Caramoor Festival, Connecticut Concert Opera, Opera de Quebec, Opera de Montreal, Delacorte Theater of New York City, Teatro Bellas Artes, Teatro Massimo di Palermo. He has been heard in concert repertoire with such leading orchestras as the Orquestra Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, Orquestra Filarmonica de Gran Canaria, Spain, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, among many others.
For 27 years, Gina Lapinski served as a member of the Stage Directing staff of The Metropolitan Opera in New York City and has directed or assisted on upwards of 70 productions for the company, including many of the Live in HD Met Opera presentations which are shown in movie houses throughout the world. Gina has also directed productions for such companies as Teatro Real in Madrid, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Royal Ballet and Opera at Covent Garden, L’Opéra de Montréal, and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She served three times as Associate Director for the acclaimed Seattle Opera Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, conceived and directed by Stephen Wadsworth.
With Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, she has collaborated on new productions including Rigoletto for Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin), Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburger Festspiele and Teatro alla Scala in Milan as well as productions for the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, Otello, Roméo et Juliette, Les Contes d’Hoffmann and L’Elisir d’Amore). She has worked closely with film and stage director François Girard on his productions of Parsifal for The Metropolitan Opera and Der Fliegende Holländer (Opéra de Québec and The Metropolitan Opera.)
Committed to her work with young singers, Gina is privileged to serve as a dramatic coach for the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices program since 2024. She welcomed the opportunity to direct Die Zauberflöte for the Merola Opera Program (2022) and has mounted productions of Die Fledermaus and Madama Butterfly for Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance training program in New York City. In addition to staging opera scenes for the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she has served as dramatic coach for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (now known as the Laffont Competition) and appears in Susan Froemke’s documentary film The Audition. Gina also taught with Sewanee Opera Intensive and OperaFest Sewanee (2021), the vocal component of the Sewanee Music Festival. For nearly 10 years she was a regular faculty member of the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster in Princeton, NJ, a program focused intensely on audition preparation for young opera singers.
Gina was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and has lived in New York City since 2001.
Equally at home on the concert stage and in the opera house, American conductor Christopher Franklin has been praised for his keen theatrical instincts and vibrant performances. His continued success in the Italian operatic repertoire is a natural result of having launched his career in Italy, where he lives actually.
M° Franklin is Principal Conductor of Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis since 2024 and the appointment was renewed until the end of season 2028/29.
He has conducted in most of major Italian venues including Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Torino, Arena di Verona, and he has also performed in several world leading venues as the Musikvereinssaal and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Herculessaal in Munich, Teatro Real de Madrid, Musikhalle Hamburg, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, Palau de les Arts Valencia.
A sought-after guest conductor, Mr. Franklin has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Münchner Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic Prague, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Verdi di Milano, Filarmonica Toscanini di Parma.
Among his highligths Turandot and Hansel und Gretel at San Francisco Opera, Peter Grimes and Turn of the Screw at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Die Fledermaus at New National Theatre Tokyo, I Puritani and Otello at Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Attila at Opera de Tenerife, L’Occasione fa il ladro at Royal Opera House in Oman, Il turco in Italia at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at Macerata Opera Festival, La sonnambula at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Over the years Mr. Franklin has established a collaboration with Juan Diego Flórez, appearing with him on tour in many concert venues around the world.
M° Franklin was first-prize winner of the Gino Marinuzzi International Conducting Competition. He began studying the violin at the age of six in his hometown Pittsburgh, while his conducting studies began with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock (USA), then he earned his MM in conducting at the University of Illinois and his DMA at the Peabody Conservatory with Frederik Prausnitz. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he worked with Seiji Ozawa, Robert Span, and Gustav Meier, and subsequently a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken. He also attended the conducting class of Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded the “Franco Ferrara” Prize.
Recent highlights are: Così fan tutte in Minneapolis; La cambiale di matrimonio at Rossini Opera Festival; Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci in Saint Etienne; Verdi’s Otello in Novara and Rovigo; Roméo et Juliette in Minneapolis; Die Zauberflöte and Adriana Lecouvreur at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège; Massenet’s Manon at Opera de Tenerife.