Opera Orlando Welcomes its 2024-25 Season Studio Artists

After a competitive and nation-wide search, Opera Orlando is thrilled to announce four talented singers will join the Company’s Studio Artists program in its 2024-25 Destiny + Desire season. 

“I am very excited to welcome this new quartet of singers into the Opera Orlando family,” shares program director and education director Sarah Purser. “The Studio Artists program provides talented young artists the opportunity to hone their craft and learn skills that will serve them throughout their professional careers. They not only perform roles on stage, but are the Opera’s ambassadors, spreading the joy of opera throughout Central Florida.” 

Opera Orlando Studio Artists perform in all MainStage and Opera on Site productions while also engaging with the community through in-school programs, retirement center concerts, and outreach events. Additionally, the singers receive acting, movement, and vocal training as well as work with guest artists throughout the season in one-on-one and masterclass settings. The program is designed to provide these young professionals with the opportunity to receive real world experience, while continuing their performance training to help further their operatic careers.

The 2024-25 Studio Artists will be featured in a number of concerts and events this Fall including the Florida Premiere of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín, the Company’s exclusive Season Sparkler event, and Young People’s Concerts presented by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. The Studio Artists will also perform “opera preview” programs in local high schools and present concerts at several retirement centers throughout the city and surrounding area, as well as participate in Masterclass with the Maestro with Macbeth guest conductor Mark Sforzini on Friday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Broadway United Methodist Church. This event is free and open to the public. Email Info@OperaOrlando.org for more information and to RSVP. 

More about Opera Orlando’s 2024-2025 Studio Artists below:

Black Mexican-American soprano Kristen Marie Gillis is a rising young artist sharing her passion for singing on both opera and concert stages. Most recently, she worked with Finger Lakes Opera as a Tomita Young Artist, performing Nella in Gianni Schicchi and covering the leading role of Florine in B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee’s Two Corners. She has also been a member of Opera Ithaca’s Apprentice Artist program, portraying the roles of First Wood Sprite and Turnspit, as well as covering the title role of Rusalka. Previous credits include Eliza in Dark Sisters, Mother in Hansel and Gretel, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. In concert, she has been the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Missa in C minor, Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem, and Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai. Originally from Central Texas, Ms. Gillis holds degrees from Temple University and Abilene Christian University.

Erika Vasallo is a Cuban-American mezzo-soprano born and raised in Miami, Florida. She has worked with local companies in South Florida including the New Presbyterian Church Concert Series and the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami singing the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah, as well as performing in concerts and operas with Magic City Opera and Orchestra Miami. Last season, she was a Handorf Company Artist with Opera Memphis, where she performed the role of Julia Child in Bon Appétit! and the role of Toledo in The Falling and the Rising. Prior to that, Ms. Vasallo was a Tomita Young Artist with Finger Lakes Opera and has sung notable roles with Taconic Opera. Other credits include singing the roles of Dorabella in Così fan tutte, La Zia Principessa and La Frugola in Suor Angelica and Il tabarro, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, the title role in Luisa Fernanda, and The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas.

Tenor Pedro Valdez holds degrees from Texas State University and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and is gaining attention for his effortless lyrical range. Last summer, he was a young artist with Finger Lakes Opera singing scenes from Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, and La Traviata. Mr. Valdez sang the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème with the Northern Lights Music Festival Apprentice Program. He has also been a member of Madison Opera’s studio program where he sang Don Cruzio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Tenor in the trio from Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Brother in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, and 2nd Nazarene in Strauss’s Salome. Other roles include Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Alberto in La Curandera, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.

Eswatini-born Southern African baritone Thandolwethu Mamba has been described as having a “chilling refinement in bearing and voice.” Recent engagements include his Metropolitan Opera debut in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Il Dancaïro in Carmen with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Frost Opera Theater, Baron Duophol in La Traviata with Opera Wilmington, Town Magistrate in Signor Deluso and Max in Stone Soup with Florida Grand Opera. His creation of the role of Don Calogero Sedàra in The Leopard by Michael Dellaria has been released on Naxos Records. Mr. Mamba is a recent double graduate of the University of Miami and Duke University.

Applications to be considered for the 2025-2026 Studio Artists program are now open. Interested singers should submit their materials by December 1, 2024 via OperaOrlando.org/StudioArtists. To book the Opera’s Studio Artists or for more information about the program, please email education director Sarah Purser: SPurser@OperaOrlando.org. 

The best way to see the Studio Artists this season is to purchase a MainStage subscription, on sale now through the Dr. Phillips Center’s Bill & Mary Darden Box Office (445 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando), online at www.DrPhillipsCenter.org, or by calling (407) 839-0119, ext. 0. 

See YOU at the Opera!

#####

About Opera Orlando:     Celebrating, expanding, and sharing the world’s greatest art form, the 2024-25 season will mark Opera Orlando’s ninth season producing high-quality operatic entertainment and educational programs that engage Central Florida audiences.

Stay up to date with Opera Orlando’s season via their website at www.OperaOrlando.org, and follow and like the Opera’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X accounts to share in all the Company has planned for 2024-25.