Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season September-October 2015 | Page 28

{ program notes

Lisa Steltenpohl last appeared as a
soloist with the BSO in March 2014,
leading J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg
Concerto No. 6.

Andrea Dorf McGray

Andrea Dorf McGray is a freelance
stage director whose recent work
includes year three of American Opera
Initiative: Twenty Minute Operas for
Washington National Opera (WNO)
at the Kennedy Center, a semi-staged
Candide for Ash Lawn Opera, scenes
from L’elisir d’amore with the Apollo
Orchestra and WNO, and remounting
Francesca Zambello’s production of
Salome for The Dallas Opera.

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Upcoming projects include Don
Giovanni for Maryland Opera Studio,
year four of American Opera Initiative, and
the fourth remounting of her production of Amahl & the Night Visitors for
Ash Lawn Opera. She is also an adjunct
professor at the University of Maryland’s
School of Music.
Ms. McGray received her BA in
English, magna cum laude, from Amherst
College, studied with the Shakespeare
Programme in London, holds an MFA in
Directing from Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and is a graduate of
Washington National Opera’s DomingoCafritz Young Artist Program.
Andrea Dorf McGray is making her
debut with the BSO.

Morgan Smith
Don Giovanni
N I CO H U DAK

Curtis Symphony Orchestra and the
Haddonfield Symphony, now Symphony
in C. Ms. Steltenpohl has also performed
with such ensembles as the Philadelphia
Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra
of Philadelphia. She began her musical
studies on viola at age eleven and while
a student in high school was one of the
youngest members of the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago.
Ms. Steltenpohl made her Orchestra
Hall debut performing Bartók’s Viola
Concerto with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2001. In addition to
her orchestral career, she has participated
in many chamber music concerts and festivals, performing alongside such notable
musicians as Arnold Steinhardt, Leonidas
Kavakos and others.
Originally from North Barrington,
Illinois, Ms. Steltenpohl comes from a
musical family. She and her twin sister
Anna, who plays oboe and English horn,
have been featured on the educational
series “Musical Encounters” and have performed many recitals together highlighting the viola and oboe repertoire. Prior to
joining the BSO, Ms. Steltenpohl was a
member of the Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra. Her teachers have included
Misha Amory, Roberto Diaz, Desiree
Ruhstrat and Stephen Wyrczynski. She
made her BSO solo debut performing
Bach’s Sixth Brandenburg Concerto in
the 2013 –2014 season.

This season, Morgan
Smith makes his role
debut as Sharpless in
Madama Butterfly with Opéra de Montréal. He travels to Los Angeles Opera to
revive his role as Starbuck in Moby-Dick
and returns to his home company, Seattle
Opera, for Le Nozze di Figaro, playing
Count Almaviva. He repeats the title role
in Don Giovanni at Arizona Opera and
joins Madison Opera for his role debut as
Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
Recent successes include Escamillo at
Vancouver Opera and Pittsburgh Opera
and the title role Don Giovanni at Austin
Lyric Opera. He finished the season at Cincinnati Opera as Aaron in Morning Star.
A graduate of Columbia College and
Mannes College of Music in New York
City, Mr. Smith became a Seattle Opera
Young Artist 2001–2003 and made his
professional debut as Donald in Billy
Budd, followed by the title role in Don
Giovanni. He made his European debut
at the Berlin Staatsoper in 2009–2010
as Marcello, and at Oper Leipzig as
Rossini’s Figaro, Mozart’s Papageno
and in several other roles.
Morgan Smith is making his debut with
the BSO.

Thomas
Richards
Leporello

A native of Burnsville, Minnesota,
Thomas Richards was named a winner of the 2013 Grand Finals of the
Metropolitan Opera National Council
Auditions and took First Place in the
2013 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor
McCollum Competition. He earned his
master of music degree at the University
of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of
Music (CCM). His roles with CCM
Opera include Leporello in Don Giovanni and Frank Maurrant in Street Scene.
Recently, he performed Colline in La
bohème at the Central City Opera Festival,
Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro with
the Merola Opera Program, The Bonze
in Madama Butterfly, Orville Mason in
An American Tragedy at the Glimmerglass
Festival and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro
with Wolf Trap Opera. In the spring of
2015 he made his company debut as the
Baritone in The Tempest Songbook with
Gotham Chamber Opera, a performance called “riveting” by the New
York Times. He is a recent graduate of
the Houston Grand Opera Studio and
currently resides in Houston.
Thomas Richards is making his debut
with the BSO.

Timothy Bruno

The Commendatore
Bass Timothy J.
Bruno has quickly
become a sought
after performer in the United States.
In the 2015–2016 season, Bruno joins
Wolf Trap Opera’s Filene Young Artist Program, where he will be singing
Louis XVI in John Corigliano’s The
Ghosts of Versailles. He will be making
his debut at The Kennedy Center as
part of Washington National Opera’s
Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. While there, Bruno will perform
as General Howell Cobb and James
Fowler in Philip Glass’ Appomattox
and premiere the role of Judge Judd in