Gregory Buchalter, Music Director and Conductor

Gregory Buchalter is the Artistic Director and conductor of Opera Fairbanks, Opera Camerata of Washington, and Music Director for Opera Las Vegas. During his leadership with these companies, he has brought in many of the world’s leading singers, including Paul Plishka, Sandra Radvonovsky, and Richard Bernstein.  Maestro Buchalter is also an active symphonic conductor. Currently an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, the position of Maestro di Banda was created there for him.  Buchalter has worked extensively with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, serving as Chorus Master for many productions, including telecasts.

For Opera Las Vegas, Maestro Buchalter has previously conducted Tosca, Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Madama Butterfly. In Fairbanks, he has conducted La bohème, Carmen, L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, La Cenerentola, and a Gala performance celebrating Alaska’s 50^th Anniversary, as well as Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances.  Internationally, has conducted in Finland, in Vienna, and at Italy’s Spoleto Festival. He was the first Westerner to conduct at the Kazakhstan State Opera. He has been Chorus Master of Santa Fe Opera, Austria’s Bregenz Festival, Berlin’s Theater des Westens, and with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. He recently made his debut in Russia, leading Eugene Onegin.

Cynthia Stokes, Stage Director

American stage and opera director Cynthia Stokes has devoted her professional career to creating provocative and thrilling productions across America.  She Artistic Director of San Diego CITY Opera the city’s newest opera company dedicated to encourage San Diegans to see their community in new positive ways by presenting opera in site-specific locations throughout the city. CITY Opera’s first production, Queen of Carthage, a contemporary retelling of Dido and Aeneas was part of La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival in October 2015. This spring she staged Dominic Argento’s song cycle The Andrée Expedition with three singers in an abandoned factory.

Upcoming productions include: Silent Night for Piedmont Opera, Cenerentola and La hija de Rappaccini for Alamo City Opera; an untitled improvisational opera for Rhymes with Opera, and The Andrée Expedition with Vermont Opera Project.

Directing highlights include: South Pacific, Madama Butterfly and The Crucible for Piedmont Opera; Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus & Euridice, Robert Xavier Rodriguez La Curandera for San Antonio’s Alamo City Opera; The Italian Straw Hat for Amarillo Opera; Le nozze di Figaro for San Antonio Opera; and Pagliacci for Opera San Jose. An accomplished theatre director her work has been seen at American Conservatory Theatre, The Old Globe, The Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theatre, Diversionary Theatre and North Coast Rep.

Michael Chioldi, Rigoletto

The baritone was recently the cover photo story of the national magazine Classical Singer.  He has quickly gained the reputation as one of the most sought-after dramatic baritones of his generation. Praised for his “warm, rich tone” (Opera News) and “deeply communicative phrasing” (The Baltimore Sun), he has received unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences around the world for his portrayals of the dramatic baritone roles of Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss. His recent debuts include the title roles in Verdi’s Rigoletto with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, Macbeth with Palm Beach Opera, and Nabucco with Lyric Opera Baltimore; as Conte di Luna (Il Trovatore) with Utah Opera; and as Rodrigo (Don Carlo) with Austin Lyric Opera.

Chioldi has performed at nearly every major American opera house, including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera. Signature roles include Scarpia (Tosca) with Hawaii Opera Theater, Ft. Worth Opera, New York City Opera, Toledo Opera, and Spain’s Opera de Oviedo; Jochanaan (Salome) with Utah Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan; Macbeth with Michigan Opera Theatre and Palm Beach Opera, Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) with Washington National Opera, Utah Opera, and New Orleans Opera; and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) with Washington National Opera and in a nationwide broadcast on the PBS television series Live from Lincoln Center, which received an Emmy Award in 2008.

So Young Park, Gilda

A native of Pusan, South Korea, the soprano is a graduate of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist program with the Los Angeles Opera, where she recently performed Blondchen (The Abduction from the Seraglio) and Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann).  She has performed the Queen of the Night with Boston Lyric Opera, Aspen Music Festival, New England Conservatory, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Opera Colorado. She triumphed as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Kirk Dougherty, Duke of Mantua

The tenor just completed the season as a Resident Artist with Opera San Jose, where he performed Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rodolfo (La bohème), Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and Sprink in the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Kevin Puts, Silent Night. In previous seasons at OSJ, Kirk performed the Duke in Rigoletto.  He recently performed Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, and Rodolfo in Wichita Grand Opera’s La bohème. For Anchorage Opera, he was Don José (Carmen), and has appeared at Sarasota Opera and Opera Lousiane.

Rubin Casas, Sparafucile

The bass-baritone from Pasadena, Texas makes his company and role debut as Sparafucile.  His Banco in Macbeth (Opera Company of Middlebury) was acclaimed as “solid and beautifully sung.”   He was the Commendatore in Don Giovanni (Cedar Rapids Opera Theater), performed Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) for Opera in the Heights and Opera New Jersey, and returns to Virginia Opera as Abimélech in Samson et Dalila.   Casas has sing with Tacoma Opera, Di Capo Opera Theatre, New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.  He is alumnus of Yale University.

Danielle Marcelle Bond, Maddalena

Brava! for her performance in Long Beach Opera’s The Death of Klinghoffer. She played the title role in the US premiere of Marilyn Forever, prompting Opera News to declare: ”she sang sumptuously, expressively.”  She has charmed and moved audiences in roles such as Carmen, Dido (Dido & Aeneas), Hermia  (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Siebel (Faust), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), and the Reporter in the world premiere of Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon (Opera Santa Barbara).

Opera Las Vegas is a Nevada nonprofit corporation. Its purpose is to promote and encourage interest in operatic music through performances and community outreach. Because Opera Las Vegas is a 501(c)(3) organization, your donation may be tax deductible; please contact your tax advisor.

© 2017 Opera Las Vegas | 7435 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 105 – #128, Las Vegas, NV 89123