Melissa Arning, Persephone

Melissa hails from Walled Lake, Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Beverly Rinaldi. She has performed the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Sister Maria in The Dialogues of the Carmelites, and the Narrator in Lyric opera Cleveland’s outreach production of Sweet Betsy from Pike. Melissa also appeared as the characters of Thisbe in Cenerentola, Mercedes in Carmen, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Quickly in Falstaff, and Olga in Onegin in various scenes programs as well as playing Prince Orlofsky of Die Fliedermaus and Petra of A Little Night Music in CIM’s spring opera concerts. Melissa can be seen performing regularly with the Cleveland Opera.

Mara Beckman, Pianist

This is Mara’s second tour with Opera for the Young. In 2003, she received her M.M. in Vocal Accompanying and Coaching from UW-Milwaukee, studying with Judit Jaimes, Jeffry Peterson, and Katja Phillabaum. Mara has freelanced in the Milwaukee area, playing for venues such as Skylight Opera ACE Program, Milwaukee Ballet Company and School, UW-Milwaukee Opera Theatre, UW-Milwaukee Symphony Band and Wind Ensemble. She has served on the faculty of Stevens Point Conservatory of Music, Aurora University’s Music by the Lake, and is currently adjunct instructor of piano at the Wausau Conservatory of Music. Mara has attended many art song festivals, most recently Songfest 2004 in which she was coached by Graham Johnson.

Cari Dinglasan, Harp

Chicago soprano Cari Dinglasan is pleased to return for her fourth season at OFY, having previously sung Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and Rosina in The Barber of Seville. She previously sang the role of Mabel at DePaul University where she received her Bachelor's degree in Music Education. While at DePaul, Cari was also seen in Don Giovanni, The Return of Ulysses, The Threepenny Opera, Die Fledermaus, and The Magic Flute. She recently played Mercedes in Bowen Park Opera's production of Carmen. Cari has also appeared in several N.O.V.A. productions. Those roles include Barbarina in the Marriage of Figaro, Musetta in La Boheme and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. In addition to opera, Cari sings with a professional Polish ensemble called the Lira Singers and teaches elementary music.

Summer Ellis, Harp

Summer Ellis received her BM in vocal performance from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Upon graduation she sang and taught private voice lessons for several years before she attended Bowling Green State University where she received her MM in vocal performance. While working on her degree, Summer conducted the middle school and high school choir at a private school in Toledo, Ohio. The summer after her graduation she attended an opera program affiliated with Oberlin College in Urbania, Italy. Currently, she travels to compete and audition for opera programs. Summer has just completed the BASOTI program in San Francisco. This is her debut season with OFY.

Vincent Fuh, Piano

One of OFY’s most veteran performers, Vincent was born in Taipei, Taiwan, but has lived in Madison, Wisconsin since 1983. An MTNA competition winner in the collegiate piano division, Vincent graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in piano performance. Now a leading jazz pianist in the area, Vince performs and records with Madison’s finest jazz musicians. In 1992 he co-founded MadiSalsa, a Latin jazz/salsa group for which he writes and arranges. Vincent runs a classical piano teaching studio, accompanies faculty and students of universities and conservatories throughout the midwest, and serves as clinician for seasonal music programs. His playing has been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio and a television series for PBS. Vincent returns to Opera for the Young for his 10th season, after prior productions of Hanseland Gretel, Barber of Seville, Orpheus Returns, Magic Flute, Elixir of Love, Rusalka, and The Pirates of Penzance.

Kayme Henkel , Piano

Brian Hotchkin, Pluto

Matt Lorz, Orpheus

Matthew Michael Lorz hails from Bartlett, IL. This is his second tour with Opera for the Young, having sung the role of Count Almaviva in last season’s The Barber of Seville.. Matt received his BM from Illinois Wesleyan University and his MM in vocal performance from Illinois State University. He has been a featured chorus member at Opera Illinois for several years and most recently appeared as Nemorino in CandleOpera's production of The Elixir of Love.

Mary Lutz, Persephone

Mary is thrilled to be making her debut with Opera for the Young this spring. A recent graduate of Northwestern University's master's program in voice, Mary was most recently seen with OperaModa in 2006 as Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country. In the Chicagoland area Mary has performed Meg/Little Women and Mariane/Tartuffe with OperaModa; Madame Lidoine/Dialogues of the Carmelites with North Park Opera and Shoestring Opera; Mlle Silberklang/Der Schauspieldirektor with Genesis Opera. She has also won the Greek Women's University Club Music Competition and was a finalist in the Macallister Opera Awards and the Northwestern University Concerto Competition. While at Northwestern she sang Deborah Metcalfe in the world premiere of Slip Knot; Madame Lidoine/Dialogues of the Carmelites; Donna Anna/Don Giovanni; Violetta/La Traviata; Nella/Gianni Schicchi; Mrs. Nordstrom/A Little Night Music; and the Female Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia; other roles include Fiordiligi/Cosi fan tutte and Erste Dame/Die Zauberfloete.

Jessica Medoff, Persephone

Jessica Medoff is a native of Las Cruces, NM. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the University of Colorado and her Master of Music at the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor, Jessica sang Suor Angelica in Suor Angelica and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Maestro Martin Katz. Other roles include Greta Fiorentino (Street Scene), Governess (Turn of the Screw), Mother and Witch ( OFY’s Hansel and Gretel) and Micaela (Carmen). Jessica has been a member of the Aspen Opera Theater Center for 6 years where she has performed in many venues and styles including An Evening of Sondheim and a Bernstein Gala. She joined Lake George Opera in the summer of 2005 where she sang Micaela in Carmen. Also comfortable on the musical theater stage, Jessica has performed roles including Maria (The Sound of Music) and Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz). As a cabaret artist, she and collaborator Steve McGhee have performed their show, “The Truth About Love, and the Usual Lies” in many venues. Jessicca currently enjoys life as a New Yorker where she studies with Mr. Steve Smith.

Eric Miranda, Pluto

Eric Miranda returns to Opera for the Young for his fourth season after touring as the Pirate King/Major General in The Pirates of Penzance, Father in Hansel and Gretel, and Figaro in The Barber of Seville. He has made solo appearances with Chicago A Cappella, Bella Voce and The Janus Ensemble and is a member of the Chicago Symphony and Grant Park chorus as well as the Chicago Symphony Singers. Eric’s opera roles have included King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, a Crony in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and the title role in Traveling with Gulliver. Oratorio solo appearances have included the Fauré Requiem with both the DePaul Community Chorus and Connecticut’s Kent Singers, the Duruflé Requiem and the Pergolesi Magnificat with Chicago Choral Artists, Händel’s Messiah, Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols as well as numerous J.S. Bach cantatas. In 2003, Mr. Miranda appeared as soloist with Urban Baroque on Chicago radio station WFMT and, in 2004, he was featured in the Mozart Mass in C Minor with Northern Illinois University. In addition to his opera and concert schedule, Eric performs regularly in Chicago as soloist at St. Peter’s Church-in-the-Loop and St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church and is frequent guest soloist at First St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Juliet Petrus, Harp

After last being seen by OFY audiences as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance in 2004, Juliet Petrus is very excited to be joining OFY for her second season. Juliet, a Chicago-based singer, most recently portrayed Listaveta in Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country with OperaModa. Also with OperaModa, Ms.Petrus was seen as Amy in Little Women in 2005. Other favorite roles include Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Lucy in The Telephone and Hermia in The Fairy Queen. Highly devoted to contemporary music, Juliet often works with composers to develop new pieces. Most recently, she revised her role of Realist in the 2001 electronic opera, vidGod in Tübingen, Germany. She serves as the primary vocalist for Weave Soundpainting Orchestra, an interdisciplinary performance group which uses Soundpainting, a musical sign-language, to structure improvised pieces. Juliet is a busy recitalist and concert singer, having recently sung in Brava Diva: A Night of Opera in Holland, MI, as well as in the Chicago area. In 2005, she was a semi-finalist and Bravo Award winner for the Monastero Bel Canto Competition. She was an apprentice with Sarasota Opera in 2003, and a young artist with Opera Carolina from 2003-2004. Juliet also enjoys teaching piano, viola and voice to young, and “young,” music lovers alike. She holds her Bachelor in Music from University of Michigan, and a Master of Music from Northwestern University.

Peder Reiff, Orpheus

Peder Reiff returns to OFY after touring as Frederic in 2004’s The Pirates of Penzance, and Count Amalviva in The Barber of Seville. Originally from Superior, WI, Peder now resides in Chicago. As a Master's degree student in voice at Indiana University, Peder studied with former Metropolitan Opera great, Giorgio Tozzi. While there, Peder performed in the I.U. School of Music productions of La Bohème and The Boor as well as Theatre Department productions of Into the Woods and Man of La Mancha. Since moving to Chicago two years ago, Peder has appeared as Freddy in My Fair Lady with the Pheasant Run dinner theater and in productions of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, Light Opera Works, NOVA, L'Opera Piccola, and Highland Park Chorus.

Donna Thorson, Set/Costume/Prop Designer, Artist-in-Residence

This is Donna’s 10th season with OFY, having previously worked on Hansel and Gretel, Orpheus Returns, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, The Elixir of Love, Rusalka and Pirates of Penzance.. One of her greatest challenges and rewards is to incorporate design ideas gleaned from OFY's "Be a Designer" contest (one thousand annual entries from elementary students!) into productions. In addition to designing and building the visual framework for OFY shows, Ms. Thorson has frequent opportunities to delight children with her "Opera by Design" in-school residency. Some claims to Donna's OFY fame: creating the mermaid's sea horse scooter for 2003's Rusalka and inventing Figaro's ingenious motorcycle for The Barber of Seville. When she's not busy with her myriad OFY responsibilities, Donna is the head of the Costume Design Program a Beloit College and a free-lance designer who specializes in miniatures, puppets, masks, and painted fabrics.

Nicholas Dean Towns, Piano

Nick is a native of Princeton, Illinois. He has most recently performed under Simon Carrington with the WCDA Next Direction National Conference. As a soloist, Nick won first prize in the Wisconsin state lever of the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artists Competition and at the Bay View Music Festival Concerto Competition, where he performed the Beethoven Fourth Concerto and the Shostakovich First Concerto. Currently, he is working with multiple composers towards using mathematics in music as well as the possibilities of using computers as compositional devices. He has participated in the International School for the Musical Arts, where he studied with Ka Kit Tam, Kwang-Wu Kim, Marilyn Engle, and Robert McDonald and the Bay View Music Festival. He received his M.M. in piano performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied with Victor Rosenbaum and a B.M. from Lawrence Conservatory of Music. Nick is currently a freelance pianist, accompanist, and teacher in the Wisconsin area.

Dan Weinstein, Pluto

Having performed as Dr. Bartolo in last season’s The Barber of Seville, this is Dan’s second season with Opera for the Young. He is from Peoria, Illinois, graduated from the University of Iowa, and recently completed his M.M. degree in Opera Performance from UW-Madison. As a student, Dan had leading roles in productions of The Marriage of Figaro (Antonio), The Gondoliers (Guiseppe), Cosi fan Tutte (Guglilelmo), Iphigenia at Aulis (Agamemmnon), Vanessa (Doctor), Die Fledermaus (Dr. Falke). He sang Robin Oakapple in Madison Savoyard’s Ruddigore, and Koko in Cedar Rapids’ Opera Theatre’s The Mikado.

Chuck Wolter, Orpheus

Chuck is proud to be in his fifth production with OFY. Previous roles include Fredreic in The Pirates of Penzance, Tamino in The Magic Flute, and Jimmy Reno in The Elixir of Love, and Count Amalviva in The Barber of Seville. Chuck is a busy Chicago-area performer, appearing with Chicago Symphony Chorus, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Grant Park Music Festival & Ravinia. He recently sang the tenor solos in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Mass in G in England & Paris. Chuck also enjoys singing with his octet, Voices to Go.