THE OFTY TEAM
SAIRA FRANK
General Director
Saira Frank began as a touring artist with Opera for the Young in 2008 and, after seven seasons “on the road” as a soprano, joined the administrative staff in 2015. An avid teaching artist and performer, Saira’s credits span opera, stage works, and Broadway recitals across the Midwest and West Coast. She has performed her recital series, An Afternoon on Broadway, over 200 times, bringing opera and Broadway to senior audiences through storytelling and song. As resident teaching artist for Madison Opera, she introduced middle school students to opera and guided small groups in creating their own operatic works.
Since joining Opera for the Young’s administrative team, Saira has worked closely with the Board and staff to deepen the company’s impact on Midwestern students. She spearheaded the creation of OFTY’s tutorial videos and the addition of OFTY’s Spanish-language supplement to teaching materials and children’s chorus music, expanding accessibility for Spanish-speaking students. In 2019, the company premiered its first original opera, Super Storm!, offering students the chance to experience a new work – Diane Garton Edie’s original story and libretto and Scott Gendel’s enchanting music. Saira embraces every opportunity to share the transformative power of opera with children across the Midwest.
Prior to OFTY, Saira earned degrees in voice and french and performed extensively with opera companies and orchestras. She continues to perform, teach, and advocate for arts education while shaping OFTY’s mission to bring high-quality opera experiences to new generations of young audiences.
ISABEL CELATA
Operations Manager
Isabel Celata is a performer and voice teacher based in Madison, Wisconsin. She is frequently seen on both the opera and musical theatre stages. Favorite roles include Elva in the World Premiere of OFTY Music Director Scott Gendel’s opera Everlasting Faint, Kate Monster in Avenue Q, Clara in The Light in the Piazza, Sophie in Mamma Mia!, and Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring. She is also active on the concert stage, performing as the soprano soloist in December Songs with Middleton Community Orchestra and Haydn’s Paukenmesse with Ripon College’s Choral Union.
In addition to her work as Operations Manager, Isabel is an adjunct instructor of voice at Beloit and Ripon Colleges and maintains an active private voice studio. Isabel holds a B.A. in Music and Political Science from Rhodes College, a M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis, and a D.M.A. in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
CALLAND METTS
Stage Director
Calland Metts is a performer, director, and educator whose career spans opera, musical theatre, and symphonic concert work. He joins Opera for the Young as stage director for this season’s production of The Elixir of Love. Cal has appeared in productions of Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, L’Elisir d’Amore, La Traviata, Carmen, and numerous Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with companies including Opera Columbus, Cleveland Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Marin Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and Greensboro Opera.
Equally at home in musical theatre, Cal has performed leading roles such as Emile de Becque in South Pacific, Billy Bigelow in Carousel, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, and Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. He has appeared as a soloist with the symphonies of St. Louis, Milwaukee, Columbus, Madison, Rockford, Sheboygan, Cheyenne, Pensacola, and Walla Walla in works ranging from Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s B Minor Mass to Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Cal and his wife, Sarah Lawrence, are the General Artistic Directors of Lyric Opera of the North (LOON), where he has directed numerous productions. He has also directed for The Duluth Playhouse and the University of Minnesota–Duluth. A partner with Ann Gumpper in the Lyric Opera of the North Scenic Shop, Cal is a faculty member at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College and Lake Superior College, where he continues to mentor and inspire the next generation of artists.
SCOTT GENDEL
Music Director
Scott Gendel is a composer, vocal coach, theatrical music director, and pianist living in Madison, WI. Recently, he recorded his piece At Last with soprano Camille Zamora and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as part of An AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing For Hope, a recording released on Naxos Records and GPR, benefiting amFAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
As a composer, his music has a wide-ranging scope, but Scott is particularly fond of all things vocal, having written sixteen song cycles, fifteen stand-alone songs and duets, five pieces for voices and orchestra, thirty-six choral works, two full-length musical theatre works, and two operas. Scott is the second prize winner of the 2016 NATS Art Song Composition Award. In 2005, Scott was awarded first prize in the ASCAP / Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition, a juried national award in its inaugural year. That same year, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a minor in opera accompanying and vocal coaching. Just after finishing his studies at UW-Madison, Scott served on the faculty for two years, designing and teaching an undergraduate composition curriculum.
As a collaborative pianist, Scott has performed a wide range of repertoire, including performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in operatic productions, professional musical theatre performances with the Barter Theatre and others, a featured performance with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Petrouchka, and recitals with faculty members at various colleges. He has also been Music Director at Endstation Theatre Company and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Theatre. In addition to coaching many singers around the country, Scott is the official staff pianist/coach for Madison Opera, and has worked in that capacity for Opera North and the UW-Madison Opera program.
Some of Scott’s recent commissions include Seven Princesses and a Bear, a full-length original ballet for children, commissioned by the San Angelo Civic Ballet; Advice to Those Like Me, With Hearts Like Kindling for the Carnegie Hall debut of soprano Melody Moore; It Was My Father’s Custom, commissioned by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Madison Youth Choirs; and UNEARTHED, a musical in two acts, incorporating Appalachian folk music and operatic style into an American Musical Theatre context, commissioned by the Endstation Theatre Company.
Scott’s music is published by Classical Vocal Reprints, ECS Publishing, and the Tuba/Euphonium Press. His art songs have been recorded on Albany Records, GPR Records, and Naxos. Scott’s composition teachers have included Daron Hagen, Stephen Dembski, and Joan Tower.
KAREN BROWN-LARIMORE
Resident Costume Designer
Karen Brown-Larimore has been the resident costumer for Opera for the Young since 2008, and is a favorite with Madison Arts organizations including Madison Opera, Madison Ballet, and Madison Savoyards, Madison Repertory Theatre, University Opera, University Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Madison. She has created the designs for two world premier operas, Tight Rope and Esperanza. You might even see her work in your home as she is the designer of the original Molly, Samantha, and Kirsten doll clothes for American Girl Collection.
GREG SILVER
Resident Set Designer
Greg Silver joined the OFTY team in 2020 with nearly 30 years of expertise as a Scenic Designer, Lighting Designer, Technical Director, and Master Carpenter. He began with the Madison Theater Guild in 1992 working in various roles and went on to work with Children’s Theater of Madison and the Madison Repertory Theater. He has worked with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 251 since 2002 and became a member in 2005. Since 2007 he has worked as Technical Director and Scenic Designer/Carpenter for UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and Department of Theatre and Drama, designing sets for many operas including Medea, Beatrice et Benedict, Transformations, Falstaff, A Kurt Weill Cabaret, L’incoronazione di Poppea, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
TERESA SARKELA
Resident Scenic/Prop Artist
Teresa Sarkela is a Madison-based scenic painter and designer. Originally from Montana, she has enjoyed creating for a variety of area groups including UW-Madison Opera, Madison Opera, Children’s Theatre Madison, Capital City Theatre, and many incredible community theatre groups for the past ten years. She is proud to be part of Opera For The Young as they share this important art form with young, creative minds!