Our 2023 Faculty
MARC SANDERS
Conductor- Dogfight
Marc Sanders serves as the collaborative pianist for Abilene Christian University. He has previously held positions at Hardin-Simmons and McMurry universities. He maintains a prolific performance schedule around the region, including undergraduate, graduate, and faculty recitals, operas, masterclasses, and musicals. In previous years at Red River Lyric Opera, he has collaborated on productions of Hansel and Gretel and Britten's The Turn of the Screw.
Dr. Grace Edgar
Stage Director- Alice: An Operatic Wonderland
Dr. Grace Edgar holds a Doctorate in Vocal Performance with a minor in Directing from the University of Houston, a Graduate Performance Diploma in Opera from Longy School of Music, a Master of Arts in Theatre from Western Washington University, and a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music from Centenary College of Louisiana. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she performed with Arizona Opera, Opera New Jersey, Austin Lyric Opera, Key West Pops Symphony, and The Belleayre Music Festival. As an actress, she has performed with The Traveling Lantern Theatre Company and The Growing Stage. Directing credits include
The Magic Flute, Marry Me a Little, Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years and Seussical. Music Directing credits include 1940’s Radio Hour, Christmas Gala, Working (2012), Rocky Horror Show, Twelfth Night, and Ordinary Days. Last month, she was the vocal music director for Freaky Friday at Bigfork Summer Playhouse. In the Fall of 2022, Dr. Edgar will join the faculty at Midwestern State University as Assistant Professor of Theatre where she will direct The Glass Menagerie and The Merry Wives of Windsor and music direct Peter and the Starcatcher. Her article “The Practical Applications of Viewpoints for Collegiate Opera and Musical Theatre” will be published in the September/October edition of The Journal of Singing. Additionally, she is certified to teach yoga, is an Intimacy Choreographer studying with Theatrical Intimacy Education, and has served several churches as a music minister.
Michael Lomeka
Stage Director- The Light in the Piazza
Michael Lomeka graduated from The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy. Upon graduating, he joined the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival cast of "The King & I" with Lou Diamond Phillips, Donna vMurphy, Faith Prince
and Marie Osmond. ff-Broadway credit includes, "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden, choreographed by Susan Stroman. Michael Lomeka toured the United States, Europe and Asia with Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project. In Las Vegas, Lomeka performed live and can be seen in the DVD of Celine Dion's A NEW DAY... directed by Franco Dragone with choreography by Mia Michaels. Lomeka performed with Cirque du Soleil's Viva ELVIS, directed by Vincent Paterson and choreographed by Tabitha and Napolean. Lomeka was an original cast member of Lincoln Center's Broadway national tour production of "The King and I," directed by Bartlett Sher with choreography by Christopher Gattelli.
JAMIE VAN EYCK
Voice
With polished, elegant vocalism and committed dramatic portrayals on-stage, mezzo-soprano Jamie Van Eyck appeals to audiences and critics alike as a compelling artist in opera and concert. As a teacher, she works with a variety of singers, from those in the early stages of vocal study, to those in the midst of professional careers.
She aims to help singers release vocal tension and inhibition to find a completely individual and easily produced sound that is capable of power, projection, and broad artistic expression.
CHUCK CHANDLER
Voice
Award winning teacher and established authority on the integration of fitness training and the singing voice, Dr. Chuck Chandler serves on faculty at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, IL. He is a highly sought-after presenter, master clinician, consultant, and published author having presented and published on numerous pedagogical topics at both national and international conferences and in per-reviewed journals. His students have performance credits at The Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Santa Fe Opera among many others. Chandler has garnered acclaim performing in oratorio, opera, and recitals throughout the U.S. and abroad in venues such as the Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Scorca Recital Hall at Opera America. He holds a doctorate from University of Kentucky and certifications in levels I and II Singing Voice Specialist training.
JAMES RODRIGUEZ
Voice
Praised for his “authoritative and rich baritone”, James D. Rodriguez has appeared as Escamillo (Carmen), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Don Profondo (Il viaggio Reims), Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Captain Magallanes (Salsipuedes), Dr. Rappaccini (La Hija de Rappaccini), Baron de Gondremarck (La Vie Parisienne), Harašta (TheCunning Little Vixen), Vicar (Albert Herring),Nardo (La finta giardiniera), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Tonio (Pagliacci) and as the title roles in Don Giovanni and Rigoletto with such companies as Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera IOWA, Opera in the Heights, Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, the Natchez Festival of Music, and the Moores Opera Center. Concert appearances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony & Mass in C , Fauré’s Requiem , Handel’s Messiah , Carlisle Floyd’s Pilgrimage , Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen , and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Houston Camerata, Fort Bend Symphony, and San Antonio Symphony, among others. He has performed recitals with PianoTexas Festival, the Festival of American Song (with composer Libby Larsen), the Phil Kramer Recital Series, Memorial Classic Music Series (Houston), and Austin Chamber Music Center, for which he was awarded an Austin Critics Table Award for his participation in “Black Composers Concert: The Black Female Composer”, with pianist, Dr. Artina McCain. He was also the first place winner of the Young Texas Artist Vocal Competition in 2012. An active researcher and clinician, Dr. Rodriguez has presented at various conferences, including the TEXOMA NATS Artist Series, TEXOMA National Opera Association, Texas Music Educators Association, NATS National Conference, the Voice Foundation Symposium, and the Pan American Vocology Association. His research interests include the works of underrepresented composers, particularly black females (with an article in the NATS Journal of Singing ), interdisciplinary studies across genres, and the pedagogy of repertoire assignments as it relates to vocal health. Rodriguez holds the Doctor of Musical Arts
and Master of Music degrees from the University of Houston, a Bachelor of Music from Southern Methodist University, and is a Certified Vocologist from the National Center for Voice and Speech where he studied under the guidance of Dr. Ingo Titze.
Dr. Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy at Texas Christian University, where he teaches applied voice and oversees the graduate pedagogy program.
Before his appointment at TCU, he taught at Galena Park ISD (Houston), Vivaldi Music Academy (Houston), the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and Interlochen Center for the Arts (Michigan).
ELLIOTT ARCHER
Voice
Elliott Archer, tenor, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the School of Music at the University of Maryland, College Park. He went on to perform with the choir at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. where he was frequently featured as a soloist including a televised performance of Handel’s Dixit Dominus. Elliott has also appeared with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra in performances of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins alongside soprano Carmen Balthrop, and as the Narrator in Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. More recently, he completed his Master’s degree at Teachers College, Columbia University where he studied vocal pedagogy and conducted research centered on identifying effective practices in the applied voice studio. He currently teaches voice in BFA programs for the CAP21 Conservatory at Molloy University and the Boyer School of Music and Dance at Temple University. Elliott studies acting at The Barrow Group, musical theater singing with Mary Saunders-Barton, classical singing with Dr. Julian Kwok, and is a member of The National Association of Teachers of Singing where he serves as a mentor teacher. His students have been featured in regional, touring, and Broadway performances.
Casey Keenan Joiner
Stage Director- Dogfight
Casey Keenan Joiner, a native of Dallas, is a Virginia-based performer, director, and composer whose original work has been showcased in New York at Lincoln Center, Feinstein's 54 Below, The Duplex, and The West End Lounge. Recent directing projects include Hello Dolly at Lubbock’s Moonlight Musicals and A Little Night Musical with Texas Tech’s School of Theatre and Dance.
As a performer, Casey has performed in numerous shows in the New York tri-state area, including Matti Kovler's lauded "Drumf and the Rhinegold" with the Floating Tower Theatre group. Other roles include Madame Flora in Menotti’s “The Medium,” The Baker’s Wife in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” Smitty in “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and the titular role in Annie Get Your Gun. Internationally, she has performed in Scotland, Ireland, England and Germany with more international performances planned for 2024.
Casey is a member of the National Opera Association and the National Association of the Teacher of Singing. She is currently serving as Chief Communications Officer for the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance.
She received formal piano training from Berklee College of Music and later attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy where she received a Certificate in Musical Theatre Performance. Her subsequent work in New York City earned the original cast of her musical, "Glass," the title of Lincoln Center Artist of the Year in 2015, and "Glass" was performed in its entirety at the Women's Work Festival in June of 2016. Casey participated in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Composing Workshop from 2014 to 2016 and served as the Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Texas Tech University from 2019 to 2023.
Claire Choquette
Stage DIrector- Poppea
Stage director, critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano, and versatile visual artist Claire Choquette (she/her/hers) is an artistic force of nature. She is a 2022 recipient of OPERA America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer prize for a cult-centric production concept of Strauss' Salome. Ms. Choquette most recently directed a contemporary narco-trafficking concept of Handel’s Rodelinda for American Baroque Opera Company in Dallas; she’ll join them next season for Giulio Cesare.
After co-founding Opera Amici in 2020, Claire served as the executive producer for their inaugural production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in Oklahoma City, which was performed for three sold-out audiences. Choquette was the resident assistant director at Painted Sky Opera for its 2021–2022 season, working on productions of Pagliacci, Carmen, and Scalia/Ginsburg. While pursuing her master’s degree at Louisiana State University, she assistant directed Massenet’s Manon and sang the roles of Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti), Dot (Sunday in the Park with George), Olga (Eugene Onegin), and Zosia (Two Remain), among others.
As the assistant director at The Dallas Opera Outreach, Claire worked on productions of The Elixir of Love and The Billy Goats Gruff, also appearing as a singer on their roster. She recently finished a residency at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she served as the Apprentice Assistant Stage Director.
Bernard McDonald
Conductor
A native of Dumbarton, Scotland, Maestro Bernard McDonald has worked with major opera companies in North America, Europe, and the Far East. International appearances have included engagements at the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Netherlands Opera, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Dutch National Opera Academy in Amsterdam and The Hague, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and productions of Carmen, La Bohème, Die Zauberflöte, and Le Nozze di Figaro for Opera Kelowna in British Columbia.
Professional training at the San Francisco Opera Merola Program led directly to an invitation to join the music staff of the New York City Opera. He was subsequently Head of Music and Chorus Master at the Florida Grand Opera in Miami and at Glyndebourne, where he prepared over twenty-five productions to great critical acclaim for a host of internationally renowned conductors including Idomeneo with Sir Simon Rattle, Die Zauberflöte with Sir Charles Mackerras, and Otellowith Vladimir Jurowski.
Maestro McDonald has conducted the US staged premiere of Montemezzi's L’incantesimo for Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, where he also conducted productions of Gianni Schicchi and Le Nozze di Figaro. Upcoming engagements include La rondine at Mobile Opera, where he has also conducted La Bohème, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro, and Tosca. Additional appearances include work for the Aspen Music Festival, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, the Central Iowa Symphony, and Bay View Music Festival.
He has worked as a vocal coach at the Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University Opera Theater, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). He studied piano and collaborative piano at the RCS; opera coaching and accompanying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and CCM; musicology at the University of Glasgow; and conducting at Indiana University.
Maestro McDonald's 2023-24 season includes
Rigoletto
and
Le Villi
with Mobile Opera,
Rusalka
with Opera Orlando, and
Il barbiere di Siviliga,
The Cunning Little Vixen, and
Glory Denied
at Florida State University.
Kristin Roach
Conductor- Alice
KRISTIN ROACH
is a Grammy-nominated pianist and international conductor with 37 new operas and 21 world premieres under her baton. She is committed to the ongoing evolution of opera in the 21st century by leading newly composed works, championing underrepresented artists and creators, and training the next generation of performers.
Upcoming conducting engagements include the world premiere of
.
Her high level of artistry, comprehensive knowledge of operatic repertoire and performance practices, and strong communication, management, motivational, and organizational skills place her in demand as a conductor, pianist, and vocal coach across the nation. She serves as Assistant Professor of Opera at
Lawrence University, and maintains a busy private practice as vocal coach and award-winning pianist with extensive collaboration. As Founding Music Director of
Alamo City Opera , where she served from 2012 to its closure in 2019, Ms. Roach conducted 17 productions of operas, including many South Texas premieres. A San Antonio native, she partnered with founder and General Director, the late Mark Richter, to help ACO establish an atmosphere of intimate opera. With diverse and often ground-breaking programming including fresh, energetic takes on Dido and Aeneas, Acis and Galatea, Cenerentola and the Star Trek version of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio,Trouble in Tahiti, The Medium, and Laura Kaminsky’s
As One, Alamo City’s productions drew hundreds, boasting an average audience age under 35, many of whom were first-time opera-goers. In recognition of the area’s wealth of Spanish speaking residents, Alamo City also presented San Antonio’s first full-length opera in Spanish,
La hija de Rappaccini by Mexican composer Daniel Catan; followed by rave reviews for Piazzolla’s “operita” Maria de Buenos Aire. ACO also developed signature collaborations which featured Ms. Roach at the piano, including Opera vs Broadway I, II, and III
(featuring a wealth of local opera and musical theater talent), Opera in the Park
(a free concert series in beautiful Travis Park), and Songs by Dvorak and Brahms
in collaboration with Alamo Arts Ballet Theater. Additional conducting credits include
Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, A Little Night Music, La Bohème, The Pirates of Penzance, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Don Pasquale, The Medium, Bastien und Bastienne/La Curandera, The Italian Lesson, Gianni Schicchi, Buoso’s Ghost, Bon Appetit, Gallantry, Prince Orlovsky’s Ball, Liszt’s Christus, and The Consul. Ms. Roach has prepared productions for the
San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Tulsa Opera, Utah Opera, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Brevard Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, Breckenridge Music Institute, Taos Opera Institute, Opera Theatre of Rochester, Eastman Opera Theater, Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Spotlight on Opera, and Texas Concert Opera Collective. Acclaimed for her “revelatory” and “infectious high spirits” at the keyboard, Ms. Roach has appeared as a soloist with the San Antonio Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, San Antonio Wind Symphony, and Eastman Philharmonia; and as chamber musician with Camerata San Antonio, Chamber Music Amarillo, Olmos Ensemble, Musical Offerings, and Cactus Pear Music Festival. She has toured Europe with the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, performing on the historic organs of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Church of the Madeleine, Ely Cathedral, Bristol Cathedral and York University. Her recordings include the Trinity Jazz Project , a self-produced collection of her original arrangements of hymn tunes, and classical works with the New World Symphony for Decca Records and with the Eastman Wind Ensemble for Sony Classical Records. Her newest recording, released in April 2018, features her collaboration with violinist Daniel Kobialka. Her recording of chamber works by Miguel del Aguila with Camerata San Antonio, Salon Buenos Aires, was nominated for two Latin Grammy® Awards.
Ms. Roach is in demand as a vocal coach whose studio includes numerous opera singers with both professional companies and apprentice programs, university faculty and students, chamber music groups, and church musicians. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music , where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Applied Music (Piano) , the
Performer’s Certificate in Piano, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance/Literature and Piano Accompanying/ Chamber Music.
Ms. Roach currently resides in Appleton, WI with her ridiculously laconic Staffordshire Terrier, Princess Leia.
Nomin Samdan
Pianist
Born into a family of musicians, Nomin Samdan has performed as a recitalist and a chamber musician in Russia, Italy, Slovenia, Shanghai, France, US, Austria, Lithuania, and Mexico. She has won top prizes from piano competitions in Mongolia, Russia, France, and Spain.
Ms. Samdan began her education at the Mongolian Music and Dance College. She later received an International Baccalaureate diploma, after attending the United World College of the Adriatic in Italy. There she had the privilege of studying with Alberto Miodini and Igor Cognolato as well as being coached by the prestigious Trio di Trieste and the Trio di Parma.
In 2008, Ms. Samdan entered the Boston Conservatory under the guidance of world-renowned pianist and pedagogue YaFei Chuang and received her bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in 2012, and in 2014 she completed her Graduate Performance Diploma studies. And in 2017, Nomin received her master’s degree in Collaborative piano from Boston University.
In 2013, Ms. Samdan was invited to “Vivace Vilnius International Music Festival” in Lithuania to perform with faculty and students, and in 2014 she was a guest artist in Leon Chamber Music Festival in Mexico. She has served as a piano faculty at Mongolian State Conservatory and as a pianist at the Mongolian State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet. Nomin is now a fellow in Bard’s Collaborative Piano Fellowship Program.
Stephen Dubberly
Stephen Dubberly is a faculty member in the division of vocal studies at the University of North Texas, where he coaches singers and teaches courses in diction and vocal repertoire. He served as UNT Opera’s music director for 19 years. He has conducted for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Fort Worth Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Knoxville Opera, San Antonio Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Abilene Opera, Amarillo Opera, Utah Lyric Opera, Red River Lyric Opera, Opera Breve, American Bel Canto Opera, Teatro Goldoni (Venice), Teatro Accademico (Castelfranco, Italy), University of Tennessee, Webster University, and Collin College.
At UNT, he conducted performances of Alcina , Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, La traviata, Roméo et Juliette, Die Fledermaus, The Bartered Bride, The Pirates of Penzance, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Falstaff, Pagliacci, La bohème, Cendrillon, Werther
, Madama Butterfly, The Merry Widow, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi , The Threepenny Opera , Street Scene , Albert Herring, The Mother of Us All, Regina, The Turn of the Screw, Les dialogues des Carmélites, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Crucible, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Our Town, and Tom Cipullo’s Josephine , After Life , and Glory Denied
.
From 2001 to 2011 he conducted frequently for Amarillo Opera, including productions of
Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Barber of Seville, Don Pasquale, Rigoletto, The Pirates of Penzance, Falstaff, I pagliacci, La bohème, Gianni Schicchi
,
The Italian Straw Hat , the regionally-broadcast production of Gene Murray’s The Wage of Sin , and Carmen
.
Stephen currently serves as artistic director of Dallas-based Opera in Concert and Opera in Concert in Italy. He has taught and coached extensively throughout the United States as well as in Canada, México, Costa Rica, Italy, and South Korea. He was associate conductor and chorus master for Fort Worth Opera for 8 years. He has frequently lectured for The Dallas Opera.
Stephen has collaborated with numerous singers, including Larry Alexander, Kelly Anderson, Kevin Anderson, Natalie Arduino, Audrey Babcock, Thomas Barrett, Elizabeth Beers, Jennifer Black, Michelle Bradley, Stephen Mark Brown, Donna Bruno, Betty Buckley, Kevin Burdette, Jon Burton, Josué Bustos, Elizabeth Caballero, Kirstin Chavez, Martin Luther Clark, Christopher Clayton, Rachel Cobb, Terry Cook, Edward Crafts, Duane Croft, Richard Croft, Barbara DeMaio, Jennifer Dudley, Mary Dunleavy, Mignon Dunn, Rachelle Durkin, Herbert Eckhoff, Kaaren Erickson, Kallen Esperian, Molly Fillmore, Carole FitzPatrick, Carroll Freeman, James Daniel Frost, Elizabeth Futral, Gabrielle Gilliam, Christine Goerke, Denyce Graves, Joyce Guyer, Brenda Harris, Keith Harris, Paul Hartfield, Kathryn Henry, Clay Hilley, Weston Hurt, Ana Caridad Hurtado, Isaac Hurtado, Daisy Jackson, Shelley Jameson, Kristine Jepson, Anita Johnson, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, William Joyner, Jon Jurgens, Richard Lalli, Jennifer Lane, Guido LeBron, Victoria Livengood, Katherine Luna, Bethany Mamola, Percy Martinez, Jeff Mattsey, Michael Mayes, Everett McCorvey, Robert McPherson, Matt Morgan, Stephen Morscheck, Karen Nickell, Marco Nisticò, Sarah Nordin, John Packard, Phyllis Pancella, Kevin Park, Leah Partridge, Kay Paschal, Mary Paul, Jossie Pérez, Mary Phillips, Susanna Phillips, John Pickle, Ava Pine, Elizabeth Pojanowski, Matthew Polenzani, Jerrold Pope, David Portillo, Tyler Putnam, Scott Quinn, John Riesen, Jami Rogers, Megan Roth, Mark Rucker, Mark Schnaible, Roy Cornelius Smith, Jeffrey Snider, Melanie Sonnenberg, Edward Sooter, Carol Sparrow, Mary Henderson Stucky, Thomas Studebaker, David Sundquist, Joseph Tancredi, Lynette Tapia, Todd Thomas, Clay Thompson, Kara Shay Thomson, Veronica Tyler, Mark Walters, Jeffrey Wells, Andrew Wentzel, Julia Ann Wolf, Arthur Woodley, Darren Keith Woods, and Stella Zambalis.
Stephen began his musical training in Mercedes and Montevideo, Uruguay, and received MM and DMA degrees from Yale University. He has studied vocal repertoire with Lois Alba, Nico Castel, and Gérard Souzay.
Gwendolyn Alfred
Praised for her “bright and passionate tone” (Houston Chronicle), soprano Gwendolyn Alfred made her Houston Grand Opera debut in a newly-commissioned work which landed her in the prestigious Texas Monthly magazine. Her Houston Symphony debut featured her as a soloist in their touring Summer Community Concert Series and she additionally sang the soprano solos in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Houston Civic Symphony & Fort Bend Symphony) and Carmina Burana (Fort Bend Symphony). Her most notable opera roles include: Emeline (What Wings They Were), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Magda (The Consul), Contessa Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Madama Cortese (Il Viaggio a Reims), Mrs. Gobineau (The Medium), Cinna (Lucio Silla), and Maria Corona (The Saint of Bleecker Street) with such companies as HGOco, Opera in the Heights, Miami Music Festival, and The Moores Opera Center. Alfred recently made her off-Broadway debut as a soprano soloist in the original dramatic work The Women Have Something to Say.
Dr. Alfred is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Texas Christian University. She previously worked at Texas Southern University where she served as Associate Professor and Area Coordinator of Voice. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston, Master of Music from Lamar University, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Houston. As a scholar, her research on William Grant Still’s opera, Troubled Island, was recently published in Black Americans in Higher Education: A Review or Social Science Research, Volume 8. Alfred has performed recitals on “The Black Female Composer” nationally and has presented her research at the Texoma NATS Regional Conference. Her most recent presentation of this material was featured at the 2020 NATS National Virtual Conference, the Spring 2021 Edition of the NATS Journal of Singing, and The International Florence Price Festival. Her mission is to influence and build well-rounded musicians from diverse backgrounds with her love for a wide array of genres, and her eclectic experience with various musical styles.
Rebekah Tempelmeyer
Rebekah Tempelmeyer has just recently graduated from Midwestern State University, with a degree in Theatre Education. This is her first year working with Red River Lyric Opera, and has had a wonderful time with the company.
Nikki Anderson
Costume Design
This is Nikki's first Costume Design position, this is the second time she has worked with RRLO, the first time was in 2019 as a costume shop assistant. She graduated from MSU in the fall of 2021 with a BFA with and emphasis in tech/design.
Prior Faculty 2019-2022
Esme Wong
Paul Houghtaling
Stephen Austin
Copeland Woodruff
Dr. Darla Diltz
Executive Director
Soprano, Darla Diltz has performed a variety of repertoire including Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Lucia di Lammermoor and Suor Angelica (Knoxville Opera), Violetta (La Traviata), Pamina and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Nella and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel), Mimì and Musetta (La Bohème), the water (The Little Prince), Countess (La Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Madama Butterfly, Tallulah Carter (The Hotel Casablanca), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Older Alyce (Glory Denied). Praised by The New York Times as “a commanding presence, who brought a firm, focused tone and emotional depth to the arias Tom Cipullo gave her in Chelsea Opera’s production of Glory Denied,” Diltz later reprised her role as Older Alyce in eight performances with the Vulcan Opera Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Opera News called her performance of Tallulah Carter on Albany Records’ recording of Thomas Pasatieri’s The Hotel Casablanca “soaringly sung.” Some of her solo oratorio and concert credits include the soprano solos in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Te Deum, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Gorecki’s (Sorrowful Songs) Symphony No. 3 with the Adelphi Symphony Orchestra, and the tone-poem Luonnotar by Jean Sibelius which was performed with both the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine) and Adelphi Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Diltz is a proud graduate of Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She received her Master’s degree from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she was a member of the Knoxville Opera Studio and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from University of Kentucky. Most recently, Dr. Diltz lived in New York City for 14 years. At Adelphi University, she taught all styles of singing, vocal pedagogy, diction, song literature and jazz history and was the director of Adelphi Opera Theatre. She served on the Board of Directors for the NYC Chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) for 8 years and is a member of Opera America and the National Opera Association.
Darla served as Executive Director of Opera Breve in New York City and Wichita Falls, Texas from 2012-2016. She has also served as program coordinator for the Harrower Summer Opera Festival (Atlanta, GA) and as voice faculty of the U Artists Music Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2018 and 2019. In 2022, she Diltz is the Founder and Executive Director of Red River Lyric Opera, a summer young artist program in Wichita Falls, TX.
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