Featuring

Allen Adair is a bass-baritone, tuba player, and piano technician born and raised in Colorado. He holds music degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Colorado and Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Adair has been working as a freelance musician all across the country and has performed with ensembles such as Inland Northwest Opera (Spokane, WA), Roswell Symphony (NM), Opera Colorado, and many more. Recent performances of his include performing as Uberto in La serva padrona with Garden State Opera, and singing the role of Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette at the Quisisana Resort. Mr. Adair currently resides in Philadelphia working as a piano technician and freelance vocalist.

Upcoming engagements of his include singing the role of Henry in The Gift of the Magi with Delaware Valley Opera Company, and being a young artist with Opera on the James in the spring of 2026.

Romanian-born baritone Sebastian Catana has built in recent years an outstanding name in the opera world, mainly as an interpreter of Verdi baritone roles, making him “one of the most appreciated baritones of his generation” (Adnkronos). He made his operatic debut in 2001 as Thoré in Meyebeer’s Les Huguenots at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York. In 2003, he sang Schaunard in La Bohème under the baton of M° Daniel Oren for his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, where he performed many other roles, including Valentin in Faust. In the 2007/2008 season, he made his European debut as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra at the Comunale di Bologna.

Verdi’s roles that have seen him perform on the most important international stages include: Nabucco at Opera di Roma, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Philadelphia Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Israeli Opera and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; Giorgio Germont in La traviata in Rome and at Teatro Massimo Palermo, Pittsburgh Opera, Opéra de Lausanne, Savonlinna Festival and in Tel Aviv; Rigoletto at Royal Opera Copenhagen, in Rome under the baton of Daniele Gatti, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Opéra Royale de Wallonie Liège and Lithuanian National Opera Vilnius; Conte di Luna in Il trovatore at Palau de Les Arts de Valencia with Zubin Mehta, I due Foscari at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Miller in Luisa Miller at Opéra de Lyon and at Teatro Regio di Torino; Macbeth both concert version with Münich Radio Symphony Orchestra and on stage at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Ezio in Attila at Festival Verdi in Parma; Seid in Il corsaro and Don Carlo in Ernani at Klangvokal Music Festival Dortmund; Ford in Falstaff at Opéra de Lausanne and the title role of Falstaff with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-whun Chung.

Apart from the Verdi repertoire, other significant roles include Scarpia in Tosca at Opéra National de Paris, Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Leipzig Oper, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia e Royal Danish Opera; Barnaba in La Gioconda at Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and at Arena di Verona; Tonio in Pagliacci again in Verona and at Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Giovanni in Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Diomede in Lauro Rossi’s Cleopatra at the Macerata Opera Festival.

In addition to his Artist Diploma in Voice Performance from Duquesne University, Sebastian Catana holds honours degrees in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan.

Recent highlights are: Un ballo in maschera at Teatro Comunale di Bologna; Simon Boccanegra (title role debut) at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw; Cavalleria Rusticana e Pagliacci at Pittsburgh Opera; Macbeth (concert version) with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by  Myung-Whun Chung; Simon Boccanegra (Paolo Albiani) at Finnish National Opera Helsinki; Tosca in Rovigo; Il trovatore and La traviata at Israeli Opera Tel Aviv; Il tabarro (Michele) under the baton of Michele Mariotti at Opera di Roma; Falstaff (in concert) with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra conducetd by Myung-Whun Chung; Nabucco at Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires; Tosca at Royal Opera Copenhagen.

Lauded by Opera News as “one of America’s most gifted young singers,” American mezzo-soprano Alice Chung is recognized for her “operatic tonal glamour” (parterre box) and being “a force of nature with a sound both powerful and appealing” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Ms. Chung’s 2025-2026 includes a return to the role of Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Arizona Opera as well as an exciting role debut of Laura in La Gioconda with Pittsburgh Festival Opera.

A graduate of The Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Chung has also performed with Annapolis Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Delaware, Out of the Box Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Tulsa Opera. A few role credits include Amneris in Aïda, Azucena (cover) in Il trovatore, Dame Quickly (cover) in Falstaff, title role of Carmen, Die Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Ježibaba in Rusalka, Hiroko Kobayashi in An American Dream, La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly.

On the concert stage, she has sung with the Annapolis Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Dream Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Protestra, Syracuse Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic. Concert credits include, Beethoven’s Fantasia and Mass in C Major, Bernstein’s Symphony no.1 Jeremiah, Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 and Kindertotenlieder, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël, and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

Ms. Chung is an honored recipient of numerous grants and winner of various competitions, including the 2024 first place winner of the Loren L. Zachary Society Competition, 2022 Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, First Prize and Audience Favorite awards at the Young Patronesses of the Opera, First Place in the Cooper-Bing Competition, Third Place in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, District and Regional Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Olga Forrai Foundation, and the 2021 William Matheus Sullivan Foundation Audition Awards.

A lover of collaboration and chamber music, Ms. Chung has been presented by LiederAlive!, Merola Opera Program, Shoshana Foundation, San Francisco Opera’s Schwabacher Recital Series, to name a few. As the artistic director and co-founder of the arts and advocacy nonprofit Wear Yellow Proudly, Ms. Chung focuses on producing and curating concerts to raise awareness of Asian and AAPI narratives and culture.

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.

Born in Parma, Marco Spotti graduated with honors in opera singing at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in his hometown. He has won numerous international opera competitions including the Riccardo Zandonai Competition in Riva del Garda, the Voci Verdiane Competition in Busseto, the Viotti-Valsesia Competition and Sanremo.

His career began at the Teatro Regio in Parma with his stage debut in a production of UN BALLO IN MASCHERA and in a short time he was singing on stage in many Italian and international theaters.

In 2003 he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Arcas in IPHIGENIE EN AULIDE under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti. Since then he has performed regularly in the Milanese theater interpreting Sparafucile/RIGOLETTO with James Conlon, Il Re/AIDA with Riccardo Chailly and Daniel Barenboim, Ramfis/AIDA and Wurm/LUISA MILLER with Gianandrea Noseda, Loredano/I DUE FOSCARI, Timur/TURANDOT with Valery Gergiev, Colline/LA BOHEME with Gustavo Dudamel and Pistola/FALSTAFF (Dir. Strehler – Cond. Gatti) recent success of early 2025.

Thanks to his dark timbre and generous and elegant emission, Marco Spotti quickly catched on as one of the most sought-after Verdi basses.

He made his debut as Procida/VESPRI SICILIANI at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, as Ramfis/AIDA he performed at the Rome Opera with Daniel Oren, at the Verona Arena and at the Palau des Les Artes in Valencia conducted by Lorin Maazel and Omar Wellber, in Tel Aviv with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, in Naples at the Teatro di San Carlo and at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

He made his debut as Alvise/LA GIOCONDA at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, an opera later sung also at the Arena di Verona, at the Teatro Bellini in Catania and at the Greek National Opera in Athens. He subsequently performed Banquo/MACBETH at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and at the Teatro Perez Galdos in Las Palmas; Sparafucile/RIGOLETTO at the Fenice in Venice with Myung-Whun Chung, at the Bilbao Opera, at the Festival Verdi Parma, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, at the Semperoper in Dresden, at the Palau Les Arts in Valencia; Massimiliano/I MASNADIERI in Las Palmas and at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna conducted by Gatti, Loredano/I DUE FOSCARI at the Theatre Champs Elysees in Paris and at the Teatro Comunale in Piacenza.

In concert he performed Verdi’s MESSA DA REQUIEM at the Macerata Festival and with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden and Rossini’s STABAT MATER at the Rheingau Festival in Germany, Beethoven’s NINTH SYMPHONY at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and as Tiresias/OEDIPUS REX by Stravinsky with the Orchestra Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

In recent seasons he has made numerous debuts including: Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London with Commendatore/DON GIOVANNI, Pimen/BORIS GODUNOV at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Timur/TURANDOT at the Orange Festival, Grande Inquisitore/DON CARLO at the Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, at the Palau Les Arts in Valencia, Walther/GUILLAUME TELL at the Amsterdam Opera, at the Monnaie in Brussels, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Basilio/IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and at the Gran Théatre de Geneve, Oroveso/NORMA at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

With Maestro Pappano he participated in the concerts and recording of AIDA with the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia and in the production of KRÓL ROGER by Karol Szymanowski.

In recent years he has always dedicated himself to the repertoire in national and international contexts such as Ramfis/AIDA in Seoul, Wurm/LUISA MILLER at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, at the Spring Festival in Budapest and at the Gran Theatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Timur/TURANDOT and Papa ClementeVII/BENVENUTO CELLINI at the Opera in Rome, Re/AIDA at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, EnricoVIII/ANNA BOLENA at the Teatro Regio in Parma and debuted Fiesco/SIMON BOCCANEGRA at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Among his most important successes are the performances in Papa Clemente VII/BENVENUTO CELLINI at the Paris Opera, Fernand/Le TROUVÈRE at the Verdi Festival 2018 with maestro Abbado, the debut of the role of MEFISTOFELE by Boito at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, under the direction of maestro Battistoni in November 2018.

Subsequently he was Ferrando/TROVATORE at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.

In September 2019 he debuted the role of ATTILA with maestro Renzetti at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari. In December 2019 he took part in the inauguration of the season of the Teatro la Fenice in Venice playing Grande Inquisitore/DON CARLO directed by maestro Myung-Whun Chung.

In February 2020 he was engaged in Don Basilio/IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.

Since April 2021 the post-Covid recovery has seen him engaged in two important productions, Grande Inquisitore/DON CARLO (Dir. Carignani) at the NNT Theatre in Tokyo and Ferrando/TROVATORE (Dir. Gatti) at the Circo Massimo in Rome. In 2022 important engagements such as Wurm/LUISA MILLER (Dir. Mariotti) and Timur/TURANDOT (Dir. Lyniv) at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and Alvise/GIOCONDA at the Grange Park Opera Festival in London. Following as Don Basilio/BARBER OF SEVILLE at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno and Timur/TURANDOT at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Cappellio/CAPULETS AND MONTAGUES at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, High Priest/LA VESTALE at the Thessaloniki Festival (Maria Callas Centenary), Sparafucile/RIGOLETTO at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and Don Basilio/BARBER OF SEVILLE at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari.

Among the engagements of the immediate future, Collatinus/THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and Grande Inquisitore/DON CARLO at the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari for April and September/October 2025.

Since 2023 he has dedicated himself to teaching Singing (CODI/23) and has gained significant experience in various Italian conservatories as listed below:

• Vittadini Conservatory of Pavia
• Bonporti Conservatory of Trento
• Campiani Conservatory of Mantua
• Peri-Merulo Conservatory of Reggio E. (currently in progress)

Numerous recordings of the artist: DVD MARIN FALIERO with Ottavio Dantone (Hardy Classic 2002), TOSCA conducted by Maurizio Benini (BBC-OPUS ARTE) and by Daniel Oren with Arena di Verona (UNITEL Classica), AIDA produced by La Scala and conducted by Riccardo Chailly (UM 2007). As audio CDs, Rimsky-Korsakov’s SADKO with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice conducted by Isaac Karabtchevsky (Mondo Musica 2001), IL MITO DI CAIN (Bongiovanni 2003), DON GIOVANNI with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta (HELIKON 2011), AIDA and LA BOHEME produced by the Arena di Verona conducted by Daniel Oren and Lui Ja and AIDA with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia (Warner 2015), DVD of LE TROUVÈRE conducted by Roberto Abbado/ Bob Wilson (Dynamic 2019) have been released.

Tenor Victor Starsky, a native of Richmond Hill, New York, received critical acclaim this year for his performance as Mario Cavaradossi in the Princeton Festival’s production of Puccini’s Tosca, as well as his role debut as the title character in Verdi’s Stiffelio with Sarasota Opera. Starsky’s 2024-2025 season also featured role and company debuts as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur with Pittsburgh Festival Opera; Nemorino in L’Elisir D’Amore with Charlottesville Opera; and he performed the role of Jim Casy in MasterVoice’s Carnegie Hall presentation of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath.

Of his performance of Don José with Sarasota Opera in 2024, Your Observer writes, “While possessing a voice that flexes with nuance, the genius of Starsky’s stage performance is how he shares each tiny tear in his moral fabric as he follows and succumbs to Carmen despite every effort to cling to what he knows is moral and right. Watching his slow crumbling into unhinged desperation is unforgettable.”

In the upcoming 2025-2026 season, Starsky looks forward to several new role debuts, including Enzo in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and Manrico in Il Trovatore with Sarasota Opera. He also joins Wichita Symphony Orchestra as the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem, as well as making his debut as Dick Johnson in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West with Wichita Grand Opera.

In 2023-2024, Starsky made his debuts as Radamés in Verdi’s Aïda and George Gibbs in Rorem’s Our Town at Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater. He sang Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with New York City Opera and Rodolfo in La Bohème with Wichita Grand Opera. Starsky was honored to perform The Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass with the premier conductor Maestro Maurice Peress in 2014. As a Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera in 2020 he was awarded the Shoshana Foundation’s Richard F. Gold Career Grant.

Pittsburgh native Benjamin Werley—praised as having a “gleaming, flexible tenor” (Opera News)—has performed at many of the country’s leading opera companies. Recent appearances include performances for El Paso Opera (Roméo, Roméo et Juliette), San Diego Opera (Narraboth, Salome), Virginia Opera (Sheriff Brooks/Judge Bazile, Loving v Virginia) Anchorage Opera (Don José, Carmen), St. Petersburg Opera (Edgardo, Lucia di Lammermoor), Central City Opera (Red Whiskers, Billy Budd), Dayton Opera (Nemorino, L’elisir d’amore).

Werley was last heard in Pittsburgh as a soloist for Verdi’s Messa da Requiem (Pittsburgh Concert Chorale) and as the tenor soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra).

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.