OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe

2009 SPRING TOUR: January 26 - April 10, 2009

Meet the 2009 OPERA Iowa Troupe!

Tim Bergstrom is OPERA Iowa¹s Technical Director and is from New Ulm, Minnesota. He received his degree in Technical Theater from Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he designed lighting and sets for many productions.  His first job in technical theater was with Virginia Opera Association, where he worked as Technical Director for their educational tour. Tim also worked as an Assistant Technical Director with Troupe America for their national tour of A Christmas Carol.
Stephen Fish, bass-baritone, graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Bachelor of Music in Performance. He has performed as the Big Bad Wolf in Into the Woods, John Proctor in The Crucible and Uberto in La Serva Padrona. Last year Stephen was selected as a finalist in the annual Schubert Club Competition in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was a James Collier Apprentice Artist with DMMO.
Lucas Goodrich, tenor, has his Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Illinois University and Master of Music from the University of Colorado. Recent credits include the Messenger in Aïda, Robert Livingston in 1776, Tony in West Side Story, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Lun-tha in The King and I, Benvolio in Romeo ét Juliet and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. He appeared in Oklahoma! and Cosi fan tutte with Natchez Festival of Music and in nearly 40 performances with the Utah Festival Opera.
Roland Hawkins, tenor, received his Bachelor of Music degree from Simpson College. While there he performed in major roles in several operas including Die Fledermaus, The Crucible, Cosi fan tutte, Gianni Schicchi and I Pagliacci. Roland participated in the James Collier Apprentice Artist Program in 2007 and 2008. He was in the 2008 season of the Minnesota Opera Company and is scheduled to be in their 2009 season. Roland is currently finishing his first year of postgraduate study at the University of Minnesota.
Patrick McNally, baritone, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Music degree in voice from the New England Conservatory. Recent performances include Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, and Gianni Schicchi in Gianni Schicchi with New England Conservatory; Taddeo in L'Italiana in Algeri with CMU Opera; Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Longwood Opera and Malatesta in Don Pasquale with OPERA Iowa in 2008.
Joshua Pepper is OPERA Iowa¹s Music Director and has a Masters in Piano Performance from Louisiana State University. In 2006, he attended the AIMS program in Graz, Austria, for singers and pianists and was the rehearsal pianist for the 2007-2008 LSU opera season. Josh has been a private piano instructor, accompanist and church musician since the beginning of his undergraduate studies at Tennessee Tech University, where he also studied clarinet performance.
Jami Rhodes, mezzo-soprano, has a Bachelor of Music degree from East Carolina University, Master of Music in vocal performance from the University of South Carolina and is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at Louisiana State University. She was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has performed the roles of Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Baba in The Medium, Madame de Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Jo in Little Women, Charlotte in Werther, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Florence Pike in Albert Herring and the title role in Carmen.
Aaron Sorensen, bass, has degrees from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the University of Houston. Recently, Aaron sang at Houston¹s Opera in the Heights as Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Oroveso in Norma, and Ferrando in Il Trovatore. Other roles include Bob Beckett in H.M.S Pinafore and Juan Paublo in the world premiere of Bloodlines, the Hermit in Der Freishütz, and the Cook in The Love for Three Oranges. Aaron recently completed his fourth season with Des Moines Metro Opera as a member of the James Collier Apprentice Artist Program.
Kristin Titus, soprano, received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, where she performed Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel and Lady Billows in Albert Herring with Westminster Opera Theatre. She participated in The CoOPERAtive Program, The Florence Voice Seminar, New York Opera Studio and the Opera Nuova Intensive and has received recognition and awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the New Jersey National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Ami Vice, soprano, is a recipient of the Fellowship Award at The Music Academy of the West, where she performed Lieschen in Bach's Kaffeekantate as well as recital work in Warren Jones' Tuesdays @ 8 Concerts. Recently, she performed the role of Bo-Peep in Babes in Toyland at Avery Fisher Hall with The Little Orchestra Society. She competed as Miss Maine at the 2005 Miss America Scholarship Pageant. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Oklahoma and completed her Artist Diploma in Voice on a Dean's Scholarship at Oberlin College.

 

Click here to see a schedule of OPERA Iowa's 2009 performances.

OPERA Iowa is a past recipient of the 2002 Iowa Arts Council's Arts Build Communities "Arts in Education" Award

For 22 years OPERA Iowa has created magic - in rural schools, city classrooms, "cafetoriums", community centers, concert halls and gymnasiums - offering nearly 600,000 young people and adults a quality arts experience today while building new enthusiastic audiences for opera tomorrow. One of the most innovative programs of its kind in the country, this successful 13-week regional arts education tour features comprehensive study guides and curriculum-based education workshops as well as performances designed especially for young people. The seven-member OPERA Iowa Troupe are young professionals whose sole goal is to captivate their audiences.

Des Moines Metro Opera gratefully recognizes the following corporations and foundations for their generous support of OPERA Iowa and the other programs of the Education Division:

             

  

For booking and performance information contact Michael Egel, Artistic Administrator at (515) 961-6221.