Opera Orlando Welcomes 2026-27 Apprentice and Studio Artists

Emerging artists join the Company for a season of professional training, MainStage productions, masterclasses, and community performances throughout Central Florida

ORLANDO, FL — [September 15, 2026] — Opera Orlando welcomes the singers selected for its 2026–27 Apprentice and Studio Artists programs. The Opera is partnering once again with Stetson University School of Music, casting three current undergraduates as this season's apprentice artists: soprano Charlotte Kierstead, mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Lundstrom, and baritone Hank Evans. Returning studio artist soprano Alexandra Kzeski begins her second season with the Company, joined by newcomers mezzo-soprano Sarah Kathryn Curtis, tenor Benjamin Ruiz, and bass-baritone David Kahng.

The Apprentice and Studio Artists programs are part of Operalogie, Opera Orlando's education and training continuum, which connects young singers and emerging professionals with training, performance opportunities, and working artists in the field.

"These seven artists are doing the real thing this season," says education director Sarah Purser. "They're on the Steinmetz Hall stage, they're in the room with our guest conductors, they're meeting audiences all over Central Florida. We get a front-row seat to watching them grow — and so does everyone who comes to see them."

For Opera Orlando's apprentice artists, this isn't a student production. It's the real season. It’s the same stage, the same conductors, the same creative teams, a true professional experience.

Apprentice artists are paid both for the performance they give on stage and for the role they play representing the Company throughout Central Florida, all the while earning college credit and finishing their degrees.

This season, all apprentice artists appear in the Company’s opening MainStage production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. They will then each participate in a public masterclass with one of Opera Orlando’s guest conductors during the season, receiving individual coaching in front of a live audience.

The first Masterclass with the Maestra of the season takes place Friday, September 18, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at the Opera Orlando Studios (3855 St. Valentine Way) with Madame Butterfly conductor Kalena Bovell. The masterclass will feature apprentice artist baritone Hank Evans with all four studio artists. Attendees should RSVP to tickets@operaorlando.org for this free event.

Only four singers are selected each season for Opera Orlando's Studio Artists program — chosen from a pool of more than 600 auditionees nationwide. Studio Artists perform and cover MainStage roles, work with guest artists in workshops and masterclasses, and receive continued training in acting, movement, and vocal technique.

Alexandra Kzeski returns as an Opera Orlando studio artist following a 2025–26 season in which she covered Mimì in La Bohème and performed Madeleine in Silent Night, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow.

She is joined by Sarah Kathryn Curtis, Benjamin Ruiz, and David Kahng, whose collective experience includes performances and training with The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Central City Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

The studio artists also perform throughout Central Florida in schools, retirement communities, concerts, and community events. This season, they are featured in Nestor's Big Beautiful Boost of Confidence, a new adaptation of Donizetti's Elixir of Love created by Opera Orlando artistic director Grant Preisser specifically for young audiences.

The production travels to elementary schools in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties and, for the first time, Volusia County, where students experience live opera in their own schools and interact directly with the artists. A free public performance of Nestor's Big Beautiful Boost of Confidence will take place Saturday, February 6, 2027 at 11 a.m. at Mead Botanical Garden.

Attendees may RSVP to tickets@operaorlando.org.

"Opera Orlando studio artists may spend one week working on a MainStage production in Steinmetz Hall and the next performing for a room full of elementary students who most likely have never heard an opera singer in person before," continues Ms. Purser. "That range of experience matters. These programs allow us to develop the next generation of opera artists while they help us build the next generation of opera audiences."

Opera Orlando's studio artist alumni carry that training onto some of the country's biggest stages. Kyaunnee Richardson, a 2020–21 studio artist, made her Metropolitan Opera debut this past season as the soprano soloist in the ensemble of Porgy and Bess. Fellow alum Thandolwethu Mamba, a 2024–25 studio artist, is now a Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera, where he has appeared in The Marriage of Figaro, The Crucible, and The Little Prince. Also, several studio artists return to the Opera Orlando stage itself: mezzo-soprano Raphaella Medina, a 2022–23 studio artist, returned to make her role debut as Beatrice in the Company's April 2025 production of Beatrice + Benedict / Cavalleria Rusticana, and mezzo-soprano Laura Zahn, a studio artist during the 2021–22 Viva Verdi season, is back this season to sing Mary in Flying Dutchman.

Opera Orlando is currently accepting applications for its 2027–28 Studio Artists program, running September 2027 through May 2028. For more information about Opera Orlando’s Apprentice and Studio Artists programs and upcoming events, visit OperaOrlando.org.

See YOU at the Opera!

ABOUT OPERA ORLANDO

Opera Orlando produces opera in Central Florida — fully, seriously, and for everyone. Now in its eleventh season, the Company presents MainStage productions, educational programs, and community performances rooted in the conviction that this art form belongs to this city. Opera Orlando's Youth Company, Apprentice Artists, and Studio Artists programs develop the next generation of opera talent for and from within the community it serves. (OperaOrlando.org)

###