🦋 Who's Who 🦋

---

Hailed by Manhattan School of Music as "sophisticated and full of  intention" and Opera Seabrook as "a talent that promises to be  incredibly important," Susanne Burgess, a full lyric and budding spinto  soprano from the United Kingdom, has received acclaim for her remarkably warm voice with  a unique penchant for dramatic coloratura, emotional expression, and stage  presence appreciation for world cultures.

This year, Susanne made her debut with New York  City Opera as Hannah in the World Premiere of Dear Erich by Ted Rosenthal.  She returns to the company to debut the role  of Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème.    

In  summer 2018, she made her international debut as Anna in Le Villi and Lauretta in Gianni  Schicchi with the Festival of the Aegean in Athens and Syros Greece.  In her young career, Susanne has performed  roles with several regional opera companies and Artist Programs including Des  Moines Metro Opera, MidAtlantic Opera, Dicapo Opera Theater, Tanglewood Festival,  Tuscia Opera Festival, MidAmerica Productions, New York Lyric Opera and Opera  in the Ozarks, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Cary Hall.

Ms. Burgess has also won a number for post-graduate awards and grants for  operatic excellence. These include: Operatic Merit Scholarship from the Denver  Lyric Opera Guild, Encouragement award from The Metropolitan Opera National  Council, The Martha Mack Award for Operatic Excellence from the National  Federation of Music Clubs, Semi-Finalist with the Opera Theater Pittsburgh  Mildred Miller Competition, Semi-Finalist with the Jensen Foundation Opera  Competition.

Soprano, Dr. Julianne Olson, has performed in over a dozen countries as a professional singer.  Performing with such companies as Lyric Opera of Chicago in the world premiere of The Property, Hungarian National Theater of Szeged and Pac, Princeton Festival, Ashville Lyric Opera, Seattle International Artists Series, in concert with Ravinia Festival, Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, Peoria Symphony, and concertized throughout South Korea, China, Africa and Indonesia.  Julianne has twice been awarded from the Metropolitan Opera National Council and has performed such roles as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Butterfly in Madame Butterfly, Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Antonia in Tales of Hoffman, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd.  As a processor of voice, Julianne was the Coordinator of the Contemporary Vocal Arts Program and Lecturer of Voice in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Currently, Julianne is an adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice and Musical Theater at Elon University and Averett University.  Julianne holds a Doctor of Musical Arts with a Cognate in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and holds degrees from Boston Conservatory (BM), New Jersey City University (MM), and Indiana University (PD). 

As one of the most sought after and emerging tenors, Chinese tenor Yongxi Chen is quickly gaining international recognition. After his training in the Maryland Lyric Opera Young Artist Institute this past season, he made his debut as Edgardo in their new production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Based on his phenomenal performances, he was invited back in MDLO’s concerts “An Evening of Verdi” and “An Evening of Puccini” in 2019.

Beginning with the competition circuits, Mr.Chen has won various awards.  In 2015, he won the First Prize at the 2015 “Terasa Belloc” International Vocal Competition in Italy.  In 2017, he won the Second Prize at the 51st Netherland’s Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition prize in the Province of North Brabant.  In 2018, he won the First Prize at the Italian Verdi Voice International Vocal Competition and also the First Prize at the Gigli International Vocal Competition in China.

Mr.Chen received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Wuhan Conservatory of Music where he currently is a voice teacher. s

Mr. Li was a 2014 graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance, and since then has received a Master’s in Music from Yale University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in opera from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music and also a Doctorate in Music Arts from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2019. His capable tenor voice has led him to a series of prizes in both China and the United States. He has received Young Artist training at notable entities such as Opera Idaho, Savannah Opera, American Institute of Musical Studies, Opera Maya (Mexico) and the Aspen Music Center. Despite his youthful age, Mr. Li has sung soloist roles in nearly fifteen operatic productions. 

A graduate from Adelphi University (Australia) with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Voice in 2014, Mr. Huang came to the Indiana University of Indianna and received his Master of Music degree in 2017 and also received further training at the Georg Solti Academy. A series of wins at American voice competitions culminated in his First Prize at the Alfredo Silipigni Competition in 2019. Prior to his appearance as the Ambassador for Ms. Butterfly, Mr. Huang has sung major soloist roles in ten major operatic productions, including Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, La Boheme, Faust, Le Nozze di Figaro, L’elisir d’amore, Carmen and others.

Ms. Clark was a graduate of Taylor University and later received her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. Jenna’s lush mezzo-soprano voice and her natural and comfortable acting ability have landed her soloist parts with the Colorado Ballet, the Evans Choir, Colorado Repertory Singers and the Lamont Opera Theater. 

Born in Colombia, Pedro came to the University of Denver and recently obtained his Master in Music Performance.  His undergraduate studies were in Bogotá, Colombia at the Universidad Central, where he started his career as a baritone.  Between 2011 and 2015 he was member of the Opera Workshop from Universidad Central.  With Opera de Colombia, he has performed in La Cambiale di Matrimonioand Fidelio.  Pedro has also been finalist twice at the National Singing Competition in Colombia, organized by Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá.  With the Lamont Opera Theatre, he recently appeared as Luigi in Puccini’s Il Tabarro. 

Mr. Tracy was a graduate of the Lamont School of Music in 2015 and received his Master degree in opera from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 2018. He has been a studio artist at the Central City Opera and is currently a Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Known for this magnificent bass voice, Griffen Tracy has performed soloist parts in nearly twenty roles at the Lamont Opera Theatre, the Central City Opera, the UT Opera Theatre and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He has received special recognition for competitions at the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Denver Lyric Opera Guild and Pikes Peak Opera League Competitions, including a Second Prize at the 2019 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition.

Ms. Qi is currently a Master degree student in vocal music at the Beijing Normal University. In 2010, she was a silver award winner at Rome International Opera Singing Competition, and in 2011, she was winner of a Gold Medal at the Singapore Ducasse Vocal Competition. In 2019, Ms. Qi won a First Prize at the 6thAsian International Art Competition.

From 2011-2014, Ms. Qi was a contracted artist of Beijing’s Law Brothers Chinese Performing Arts International, and in 2015, she sang the principal soprano role for the show, Senses-Las Vegas Ed., for a two month run in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. Later that year, Ms. Qi sang the principal role for Terracotta Warriors 3D for Sight, Sound & Action at the Newman Center for Performing Arts at the University of Denver. In addition to musical theater, Qi Xiazhu has made many appearances as soloist on Chinese televisio

-WONDERBOUND; DENVER

Sydney Armstrong        Will Clayton

Isaac Huerta                 Henry McCall

Deanna Lefton              Damien Patterson

Morgan Sicklick

-CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE; DENVER

Edgar Aguirre              Alyssa Baker

Martez McKinzy           Tianna Morton

Mariel Ruelas               Mohammed York

Topaz Van Wood

-LAW BROTHERS CHINESE PERFORMING ARTS INT'L; BEIJING

Cao Lijun                     Chen Jiao

Alyssa Wang Law        Zhang Mengxue

-COLORADO BALLET; DENVER

Tyler Humphrey           Alejandro Perez

Marty St. Pierre

-UNAFFILIATED

Antonio Tashkovski      Esther Pinales