GIANNI SCHICCHI by Giacomo Puccini 

See Yonathan's Bio 

See Kira's Bio 

See Nathan's Bio 

See Hailey's Bio 

See Jose's Bio 

See Kristen's Bio 

Adam Holthaus recently completed his bachelor of music at the Eastman School of Music. He most recently has been seen as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, in Eastman Opera Theater’s production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites as L’Aumônier and Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. He was also selected to represent the Eastman School of Music in a showcase concert in New York City hosted by The Gerda Lissner Foundation and radio station WQXR. He is currently preparing to continue his studies and is pursuing a Master of Music.

Gwen Paker, soprano, is an active performer and teacher across Rochester. An alumna of the Eastman School of Music, she won the 2022 Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition, among other accolades. Gwen has performed with several Rochester-area organizations, including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (Gertrude Stein, The Mother of Us All) and Finger Lakes Choral Festival (Hanne, The Seasons). Currently, she is a voice faculty and staff member at The Hochstein School. Gwen’s connection with FLO runs deep as both a singer and former staff member, so she’s excited to be part of celebrating opera in Rochester. 

Ashton Rapp is a baritone from Lawrence, KS. Some of his biggest accomplishments include singing in the world premiere of Kevin Walzyck’s Symphony No. 5 - Freedom From Fear as a boy soprano in 2018 at The Kennedy Center, and singing at both Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Musikverein in Vienna with the Honors Performance Series choirs. Rapp is now pursuing a B.M. in Vocal Performance at the Eastman School of Music.

Stephanie Perez is a Mexican-American mezzo-soprano from Los Angeles, California. She

attended Mannes School of Music and earned a Professional Studies Diploma and a Master of Music in Voice. Stephanie was an Encouragement Award Winner of the Western Region

Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition 2022-23, prize winner in the IAPMT Concours

International de Musique Online, and of IAPMT Grand Prix. Stephanie’s past engagements

include being a Young Artist at Chautauqua Opera Company & Conservatory and a Studio Artist with Angels Vocal Art.

Bass-baritone Peter Schoellkopff is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Voice Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he also completed a Bachelor of Music degree in 2021. During his time at Eastman, he has studied and performed several operatic roles with the Eastman Opera Theatre, including Uncle in Elizabeth Cree, Sodbuster in Proving Up, Capitán in Florencia en el Amazonas, and Lakai in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. 

Jordan Bachmann is a 2017 graduate from SUNY Geneseo with a BA in Voice Performance. For the past 6 years he has worked as the Bass Soloist/Section Leader at Asbury First UMC in Rochester. Jordan works full-time as a software engineer at Paychex and serves as the President of Pittsford Musicals, a local community theater non-profit. Past FLO productions include La Traviatta, Tosca, Little Red's Unusual Day, and Il barbiere di Siviglia. 

Elizabeth Healy is an operatic baritone graduated from CU Boulder and Eastman School of music, having studied under Baritone John Seesholtz and Baritone Andrew Garland and Tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. She has worked closely with Central City Opera on multiple occasions as both lead and Chorus roles with shows such as Billy Budd and Turn of the Screw. Elizabeth Healy has also been offered lead roles in Italy with La Musica Lirica with La Boheme as well as several closer to home at her university with roles in shows such as Beatrice et Benedict and Hansel und Gretel and Florencia en el Amazonas 

She has performed for over 12 years professionally and has won many national competitions for her singing including the Hal Leonard, National Association of Teachers of Singing and University of Colorado Undergraduate Competitions.

Elizabeth has made it her goal in life to share her art and show other transgender people around the world that it is okay to be themselves. Through her performance she strives to break any barriers remaining in this deeply conservative field through beautiful music dramaticism and kindness. Through this she hopes to make an easier more accepting path for other transgender people looking to make their way in the beautiful world of opera.

Dominic is a graduate of Nazareth College, earning his bachelors in 2022 and his masters in 2024. He began performing opera with Nazareth’s 2021 production of Dido and Aeneas as Aeneas, followed by playing Pan in Nazareth’s 2022 production of Daphnis et Chloe. He also performed with FLO in the ensemble of The Barber of Seville and Aida. Outside of opera, he is a woodwind doubler and jazz musician, standing out as a jazz bassoonist. 

BIO TO COME

Gerard Floriano is an accomplished choral and orchestral conductor who has worked extensively in opera.  Maestro Floriano maintains a busy schedule as artistic director, music director and guest conductor, having led concerts throughout Europe and the United States. He is the visionary force and Artistic Director of Finger Lakes Opera.  Now in its ninth season, FLO is the premier summer opera experience for audiences in western New York and the Finger Lakes region of New York State.  Floriano has been described by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle as “nothing less than a virtuosic conductor” who leads his orchestra “with color, precision and a welcome degree of sweep.”   FLO’s production of L'elisir d'amore garnered this acclaim from Rochester City Newspaper, "...Musical director and Finger Lakes Opera artistic director Gerard Floriano paced the whole show to perfection, and the orchestra had every Donizettian detail in place.”   ​

Award winning stage director Stephanie Havey is consistently lauded for her eye-popping stage pictures, brisk dramatic pacing, and convincing theatre that makes the most of every minute. Ms. Havey has staged productions for Seattle Opera, Opera de Montreal, The Dallas Opera, Utah Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Arizona Opera, Opera Omaha, Madison Opera, New York City Opera, and Hawai’i Opera Theatre, among others, and has created new productions for Boston Lyric Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Lyrique-en-mer International Festival de Belle-Ile, The Curtis Institute of Music, and Manhattan School of Music, among others.

Chinese-American soprano Molly Chun is a rising third-year Voice Performance Major pursuing her Bachelor’s degree at Oberlin Conservatory. She currently studies under the instruction of lyric-dramatic soprano Mathilda Edge. As a Kentucky native, Ms. Chun is a graduate of the distinguished Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. She recently made her opera debut at Oberlin Opera Theater as Harry in Britten’s Albert Herring directed by Stephanie Havey and conducted by Michael Sakir. Through Oberlin’s Opera Scenes program, Ms. Chun has sung the roles of Miranda from Hoiby’s The Tempest, as well as Cobweb in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Molly was the recipient of the Matinee Musicale Nancy F. Walker Scholarship and was a Semifinalist in the Cincinnati Arts Association Overture Awards. In addition to performing, Ms. Chun works behind the scenes as an Ensemble Manager for the Oberlin College Choir, Stage Manager for Oberlin Conservatory Productions, and as an Assistant Stage Manager for Oberlin Opera Theater.

See Brock's Bio 

Andrew DG Hunt is a Lighting Designer particularly interested in storytelling, whose work spans across dance, theater, opera, and architectural lighting. 

In Architecture he looks to uncover the narrative of a space and understand how light reveals the uses and aspirations of a room, with the aim of helping people comfortably inhabit their spaces, while remaining grounded. 

In performance he is excited by new work, and stories that look at the commonplace through a slanted point of view, looking for elegant solutions to any design problem.

Mary Farmer currently works as the costume shop manager at Nazareth College and holds a BFA in costume technology from Wright State University. Farmer has designed for Garth Fagan Dance, Blackfriars Theatre, The Jewish Community Center, Roberts Wesleyan College Community Players, and Nazareth College. Design credits include A Few Good Men, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, Les Misérables, and Beauty and the Beast, and Finger Lakes Opera‘s production of Die Fledermaus.

Adriana Lipomi has had the privilege of working in theater since 2018, and is thrilled to be a part of her first production with Finger Lakes Opera. Previous projects were through Geva Theatre Center, Blackfriars' Theater, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, and Syracuse Stage. She continues to be amazed by how truly rewarding it is to help actors fully realize and step into their characters through hair and makeup. Outside of theater, Adriana works as a freelance makeup artist and teaches clients about makeup at a local spa. 

Kasi Krenzer Marshall holds her BA in Theatre Directing and returns to FLO for her 4th season. Recent credits include costume designs for two high school productions of Little Shop of Horrors, The Impresario, and Daphnis & Chloe (Nazareth College Opera), Calendar Girls (Blackfriars Theatre), as well as Into The Woods (The Gatesinger Company Ltd.) which earned a TANYS Award for Excellence in Costume Design. Kasi’s recent directing credits include Urinetown, Company, Oklahoma, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, and the US premier of Belonging(s). 

Lutin Tanner, from Mankato, Minnesota, received a BA in Dance and Theatre from Western Michigan University. He danced with Garth Fagan Dance from 1995-2000, and then transitioned to resident Lighting Designer & Production Manager for Dance New Amsterdam in NYC. Using his unique dance lighting perspective Lutin has worked with a wide range of artists from Rasta Thomas, Nathan Trice, Ronald K. Brown Evidence, and Eglevsky Ballet to name a few. Lutin is Garth Fagan Dance’s Resident Lighting Designer & Production Stage Manager.

Rick Haug has been working in professional theatre for over 15 years and worked on over 75 productions around the world.  He is currently the Scene Shop Supervisor with the University at Buffalo’s Theatre and Dance Department. Professional credits include national tours of The Wizard of Oz, Shrek the Musical, Spring Awakening, and The Gazillion Bubbles Show. Rick is a proud union member with IATSE local 10 in Buffalo and the United University Professionals.

Beverly Bauman is extremely honored to be working with FLO again, having previously worked as assistant stage manager for productions of The Barber of Seville and Aida, and the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Young Artist Program . Some of her favorite credits working as a stage manager in Rochester are Blackfriars Theatre's Cabaret, Imagination Station with Mrs. Kasha Davis, Once on This Island, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, and Next to Normal. Other notable credits in Rochester include serving as stage manager of Pittsford Musical’s Beauty and the Beast, and OFC Creations's Oliver, Spring Awakening, and Sister Act. In addition to her theater work, Bev spends her days educating young minds as a preschool teacher at the Children’s Center of Brighton.

Riley J. Israel (he/him) is a student at Ithaca College working toward his BFA in Stage Management. He is very excited to be working with FLO for the first time! Recent credits include: Regional: Good People, Toliver & Wakeman (Franklin Stage Company), Do You Feel Anger? (The Kitchen Theatre Company), and Voices of Ukraine (The Cherry Artspace), Educational: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Ithaca College). He would like to thank his family and his partner for always supporting him.