An Evening Under the Stars with OUR Stars

American soprano Caitlin Aloia enjoys a flourishing career in opera, chamber music, and art song, with particular recognition for her work in contemporary music.

This season, Ms. Aloia was awarded a Career Grant at the Pasadena Vocal Competition and was named a District Winner in the Houston District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. She appeared as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor with the Woodlands Chorale and joined Des Moines Metro Opera as an Apprentice Artist, where she covered the soprano soloist in Szymanowski’s King Roger and performed scenes as Magda (La rondine), the title role in Rusalka, and Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann. Earlier in the season, she starred in the world premiere of Theo Chandler’s So You May Breathe in Light with Loop38 at MATCH Houston, presented two solo recitals on the Music at the Meeting House series with pianists Chelsea de Souza and James Palmer, covered the soprano soloist in Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Houston Ballet, and appeared in a Houston Laffont Competition-sponsored recital alongside baritone Luke Sutliff.

A committed advocate for new music, Ms. Aloia premiered Patrick Hawes’ Son of Man with the Houston Symphony and Houston Chamber Choir and created the title role in the U.S. premiere of Daniel Knaggs’ Zita di Lucca. She also gave the world premieres of Upon Further Reflection at Rice University and Karim Al-Zand’s Your Letter Pleased Me Greatly in 2024.

In the 2023–2024 season, Ms. Aloia performed Musetta in La bohème with Opera in the Heights and participated in the workshop of So You May Breathe in Light. She made her professional and role debut at the Santa Fe Opera as Proserpina in Nico Muhly’s orchestration of L’Orfeo and appeared in the choruses of Rusalka, Tosca, and The Flying Dutchman. Other operatic credits include La Fortuna (L’incoronazione di Poppea), the Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Poppea (Agrippina), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), and La Princesse (L’enfant et les sortilèges).

In 2022, she was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, performing in Carmen, Falstaff, and the world premiere of M. Butterfly. She is also the inaugural recipient of the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance and first prize winner of the 2022 NOA Vocal Competition.

An ardent recitalist and chamber musician, Ms. Aloia was a 2021 fellow at Marlboro Music Festival, where she performed with internationally acclaimed artists in works by Villa-Lobos, Brahms, and John Harbison, including the premiere of a new movement from In the Early Evening. She also made her Houston debut in Knaggs’ Two Streams with the Houston Chamber Choir and KINETIC alongside mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, under the production of Grammy® Award-winning producer Blanton Alspaugh.

Ms. Aloia is a three-time Encouragement Award winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recipient of numerous honors, including the Margot Bos Stambler ’84 Professional Development Scholarship, Becky and Ralph S. O’Connor Artist Diploma Fellowship, Mary Root Kirkland Prize in Voice, Stephen Dannemiller Scholarship, and the Oberlin Conservatory Dean’s Scholarship.

She has participated in SongFest at the Colburn School as a Colburn Fellow, performing in recitals curated by Jake Heggie, Lydia Brown, and Liza Stepanova, and working closely with composer John Harbison on his Mirabai Songs.

Ms. Aloia holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and both a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Victory Brinker is a 14-year-old internationally recognized classical singer. She is best known as the Guinness World Record’s Youngest Opera Singer and America’s Got Talent finalist, where she made history as the first-ever Group Golden Buzzer winner.

Victory has performed on global stages in cities such as Milan, Rome, Paris, and Frankfurt. In the United States, she has graced the prestigious Carnegie Hall and Apollo Theater stages, and has appeared on major platforms including NBC’s Little Big Shots, Dr. Phil, Tamron Hall Show, CBS Mornings, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, Good Morning LA, Nickelodeon’s The Tiny Chef Show, and TED Talks. She has also had the honor of performing the National Anthem for NFL, NBA and MLB teams.

As an actress, Victory made her film debut in the feature film Clean, playing the daughter of Adrien Brody’s character. She is also featured on the film’s soundtrack. She has starred in short films, Helping Izzy and Code Red. Her professional stage debut came at the age of seven when she co-starred in Lights and Legends at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Since then, she has performed lead roles in the operas The Little Prince and Amahl and The Night Visitors.

Victory resides in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Outside of performing, she attends a STEM charter school and enjoys piano, crocheting and skating. She is also an advocate for people experiencing homelessness, working with several organizations to provide support to those in need.

Victor Cardamone has garnered much attention and critical acclaim over the last decade, and continues to do so. His voice has been described by critics as “beautiful,” “bright,” “clear,” “gorgeous,” “heroic,” “ideal,” “lovely,” “penetrating,” “powerful,” “strong,” “sweet,” and “thrilling,” among other descriptors.

Hailing from the northeast outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Victor earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Youngstown State University, with a double major in applied voice and French horn. He took additional coursework at Ball State University, where he served as a graduate teaching assistant in the voice department, before transferring to the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music and earning both his Master of Music in Vocal Performance and his Artist Diploma in Opera Studies. He has trained with Misook Yun, Jon Truitt, and Tom Baresel. He has coached with Hyery Hwang, Eileen Downey, Kathy Kelly, Marie-France Lefebvre, Grant Loehnig, John Churchwell, Bob Mollicone, and Andrew King, among others. He has studied Schubert lieder extensively (including the songs of 1817, Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise, and Schwanengesang) with Ken Griffiths. He has also studied conducting with the late Steve Gage, as well as somatic body movement and The Grief Recovery Method® with Susan Moser.

Victor has bowed with Opera Western Reserve, the Warren Philharmonic (Warren, Ohio), New Castle Lyric Opera (New Castle, Pennsylvania), Asheville Lyric Opera, Brevard Music Center, Cincinnati Opera, the Charleston Symphony (Charleston, South Carolina), Wolf Trap Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, Opera Project Columbus, Opera Columbus, the Merola Opera Program, the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Livermore Valley Opera, the Glacier Symphony, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Western Plains Opera, Opera Naples (Naples, Florida), and the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Portland, Maine). His major role credits include Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Ralph Rackstraw (H.M.S. Pinafore), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Larry Renault (Dinner at Eight), Jeník (The Bartered Bride), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Rodolfo (La Bohème), and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte / The Magic Flute). His major cover credits include Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Chevalier de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Steve Wozniak (The Revolution of Steve Jobs), and Shanty (Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio). His major concert credits include Carmina Burana (Orff), Choral Fantasy (Beethoven), Die erste Walpurgisnacht (Mendelssohn), Jephte (Carissimi), Johannes-Passion (Bach), Magnificat (Bach), Messiah (Handel), and The Creation (Haydn). An advocate and champion of new music, he has lent his voice to a number of significant projects over the past few years. As a member of Opera Fusion: New Works, he was part of the first workshops and studio recordings for Eurydice (co-commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and Los Angeles Opera), Blind Injustice (sponsored by the Ohio Innocence Project), and The Hours (co-commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra).

Victor was a four-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, sole recipient of the Encouragement Award ($1,000) in the 2017-2018 season and Second Place recipient ($3,500) in the 2021-2022 season, narrowly missing his chance to sing on the main stage. He was also a four-time Corbett Competition award winner, receiving the Seybold-Russell Award ($10,000) in 2018, The Corbett Award (top prize, $15,000) in 2019, the Corbett Opera Award ($5,000) in 2020, and the Andrew White Memorial Award ($10,000) in 2021. He was a Semifinalist in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition in 2019. He is a proud recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant ($8,000) from the Shoshana Foundation in 2022. He was a Tier I Finalist and recipient of the Bonnie Bell Encouragement Award ($2,000) in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in 2023. He was a Finalist and Winner of the Prize of the Audience ($1,000) in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition in 2025. He was a two-time Quarterfinalist in the Tbilisi Opera Crown, an international voice competition that takes place in the country of Georgia every 2 years. He was a Quarterfinalist in the 63rd Concurs Internacional de Cant Tenor Viñas in Barcelona, Spain. He was a former finalist for Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Resident Artist Program and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. He is a graduate of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera.

Driven by a voracious artistic appetite, Victor draws from many musical traditions when using the voice that God gave him. He grew up steeped in the sounds of the Baptist church, among a family of deacons, missionaries, and pastors. He views performing as a way of serving his community, while paying forward the love and support he has received.

When not singing or studying scores, Victor can be found making something delicious in the kitchen and chilling with his favorite feline, a black cat named Bill.

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.

Kevin Glavin World renowned and critically acclaimed Bass-Baritone specializing in Italian Opera for over forty years. Highlights include performances with Luciano Pavarotti, Marvin Hamlisch, and most of the major international opera stars, directors, and conductors of the world. Countries including Canada, China, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina Costa Rica, Italy, Spain, France and most states in the USA. Career highlights are performing “live from Lincoln and Kennedy Centers” shown worldwide. The majority of his career focused on the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera company of Philadelphia, and Miami Opera. Known for his vocal and acting skills he is praised by audiences and critics around the world.

Praised for his “chilling refinement in bearing and voice” (Opera Wire), Thandolwethu Mamba has been described as having a “magnificent voice” and “possessing an extraordinary capacity for timbral flexibility, which he exploits with a level of artistic maturity and musical tact” (Classical Voice of North Carolina). Mr. Mamba is a baritone from Eswatini who continues to establish himself on opera and concert stages, showcasing his command of diverse styles and repertoire.

Following his Metropolitan Opera debut in the ensemble of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in November 2023, Thando debuted as Sonora in La Fanciulla del West with North Carolina Opera. As a 2024/25 Opera Orlando Studio Artist, Mamba had role debuts in several productions including Macbeth, Cendrillon, Werther, and Treemonisha. Other roles include title roles in Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro and Gianni Schicchi. Mamba has also appeared as Dancaïro in Carmen, Don Calogero Sedàra in The Leopard (a world premiere later released on Naxos Records to critical acclaim), and Town Magistrate in Signor Deluso with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Frost Opera Theater, and Florida Grand Opera, respectively. He made his John F. Kennedy Center debut as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.

Mamba was a prize winner in the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition Eastern Regionals following emerging as one of the winners of the competition’s New York District. Mamba has also been a finalist and prize winner in the Mary Jacobs Singer of the Year Competition, Pasadena Vocal Competition, Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, Benjamin Mathews Vocal Competition, and Career Bridges Grant Awards. Thando, as he is more commonly known, is committed to developing the growth of opera as a celebrated and sustainable art form in his home country and the continent of Africa at large.

Thandolwethu Mamba is a member of The Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera.

Samantha Sosa is a Venezuelan soprano based in Washington, DC and is a graduate from the Eastman School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. She has been a Resident Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2025 and 2026. She previously performed the role of Lucy in the world premiere of The House on Mango Street and in the ensemble of Tosca. This summer, she performed the role of Ellen in Oklahoma! and was in the ensemble of Così, as well as covered the role of Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers. This season, Sosa will appear as Martha in 1776 with Camden Light Opera, Aparecida in the world premiere of Macabéa by Suzanne Farrin, and as Belinda in The Farolitos of Christmas with Opera Southwest. Last season, she was an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera where she performed the role of Lolo in The Merry Widow as well as in the ensembles of La Bohème, Il Trovatore, and Susannah. Previous operatic roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Music on Site, Oksana in Zaporozhets za Dunayem at Loudoun Lyric Opera, Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Manhattan School of Music and cover of the title roles in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and Handel’s Alcina with the Eastman Opera Theatre. Sosa was awarded 2nd place in the Pittsburgh Festival Opera 15th Annual Mildred Miller International Voice Competition and has won the Encouragement Award at the Pittsburgh District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in both the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. She has also received an encouragement award from the Opera Index Competition and was a semifinalist for the Annapolis Opera Competition. In regards to musical theater, she has performed the roles of Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, and covered Cinderella in Into the Woods, as well as Maria in West Side Story. Offstage, Sosa founded the Latine Student Alliance, an identity-based student organization for Latinx and Hispanic students at Manhattan School of Music.

American Mezzo-Soprano, Alexandria Zallo hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In fall 2024 Alexandria made her debut as Marquise de Berkenfeild in La fille du Régiment with Bel Cantanti Opera. She also sang Mademoiselle Dangeville in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s Adriana Lecourveur. In early 2024, she joined the Apprentice Artist Program Sarasota Opera where she covered the role of Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor. Alexandria was a Studio Artist at Central City Opera as part of the 2023 Bonfils Stanton Artists Training Program. While at Central City, she performed the role of Gertrude in Gonoud’s Roméo et Juliette at the Young Artist Matinee Performance. Alexandria is also a two time participant of Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s Hans and Leslie Fleischner Young Artist Program. During her time with the company Alexandria sang the roles of Megaera/Arete in the highly anticipated production of Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata.

Previous credits also include Der Trommler (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) and Arminda ( La finta giardiniera) with Carnegie Mellon Opera and Juno (Semele) and Dorabella (Cosí fan tutte) with Peabody Opera Theatre. As an avid participant in competitions around the country, Alexandria is a two time Encouragement Award Winner from the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition as well as being named a Finalist in many other competitions including the Annapolis Opera Competition. Alexandria holds degrees from both Carnegie Mellon University and The Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

Praised by Marianne Cornetti as a “war horse,” pianist Tessa Hartle has prepared productions with such companies as Michigan Opera Theatre (now Detroit Opera), Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New Orleans Opera, Opera San Antonio, Austin Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera Southwest, Intermountain Opera Bozeman (now Opera Montana), and Aspen Opera Theater Center.

Recent PFO credits include 2024’s Under the Stars and rehearsal pianist for Adriana Lecouvreur, La gioconda, and PFO’s upcoming Un Ballo in Maschera. Recent and upcoming national credits include Porgy and Bess (Lyric Opera of Kansas City), Dialogues of the Carmelites (New Orleans Opera), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Opera San Antonio), and Szymanowski’s King Roger (Des Moines Metro Opera). Hartle is proudly based in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.