Tosca Cast Bios   ON-LINE PROGRAM SUPPLEMENT

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Performer Bios and Websites

Kartik Ayysola - Spoletta - www.katen0r.com

Boston-based tenor Kartik Ayysola is currently an active performer in the Greater Boston Area. Most recently, he has been seen as the Ziegfeld Tenor in Funny Girl and Fakir in The Secret Garden, marking his first foray into Musical Theatre. In the past, he has sung the title role of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld with Longwood Opera, the title role of Le Comte Ory (cover), Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos with Lowell House Opera, Alfred in Die Fledermaus with Opera 51, and Oronte (cover) in Alcina with Opera Del West. He has also been seen as Borsa in Rigoletto, Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro, as well as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte. He has also performed as the tenor soloist in Mass in C Major by Beethoven and Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns, singing with the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Mr. Angel in The Impresario with the Carlisle Chamber Orchestra. He currently holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University, studying with Jerrold Pope, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, studying with Joseph Baunoch. Kartik is currently studying voice with Bradley Williams.

Margretta Beaty - Tosca - www.margrettabeaty.com

Margretta is thrilled to be returning to Opera51 as Tosca after her performance last year as Turandot. She most recently appeared in the Club Cafe recital series sponsored by Opera on Tap as well as the Witch in Opera51’s Hansel and Gretel. Margretta also has appeared as Xenobia in Whole Tone Opera’s La Zombiata, as Marthe in Opera51’s Faust, as Lise In Theatre @ First’s Magic Fire, as well as throughout the area with Opera on Tap.  Margretta is the Artist in Residence for 51 Walden.

Ashley Becker - Tosca - www.ashley-becker.com

Allyson Bennett - Tosca cover - www.allysonbennett.com

Ethan Bremner - Cavaradossi - www.ecbremner.com

Since his arrival in Boston, Ethan Bremner has become one of the city’s most sought-after tenors. He made his local debut with Boston Opera Collaborative in 2006 as Achilles in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide, and then sang with the company as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. He also had an auspicious debut as Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir D’amore, Don José in Carmen and Lt. Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly with Longwood Opera. He performed the premier performance of Odyssey Opera of Boston as Baroncelli in Wagner’s Rienzi, Sir Robert Shallow in Sir John in Love with Odyssey Opera, and Manrico in Windham Orchestra’s Production of Il Trovatore. Mr. Bremner was a Finalist in the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (New England Region) and earned his Master of Music in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin.

David Bozon - Cavaradossi - www.drbtenor.com

Carlo Miguel C. Bunyi - Angelotti - www.sbcatholicacademy.org/people/mr-carlo-bunyi
www.youtube.com/channel/UCw-sE6kUaPcahD8XcVf-oJQ

Len Giambrone - Spoletta, Vizzini

Lance Levine - Roberti, Jailer cover

With Opera51, Lance played Frosch in Fledermaus, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, and ensemble roles in Carmen, Amahl and the Night Visitors, L’Elisir d’Amore, La Traviata, and The Merry Widow. Other roles include the Constable in Fiddler on the Roof with Greater Lowell Music Theatre, and King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar with The Umbrella in Concord. Lance has soloed with the Boston Pops, Longwood Symphony, and the Paul Winter Consort. He has performed at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and Fenway Park. Lance sings regularly with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and New World Chorale.

James C. S. Liu - Scarpia - www.jamescsliu.com/performance_resume.html

Baritone James Liu is excited to return to public singing with Opera51, having appeared in their productions of Roméo et Juliette (Capulet), Fledermaus (Falke), Amahl and the Night Visitors (King Balthasar), Faust (Valentin), and Hansel and Gretel (The Father). He is a physician who has announced and produced classical music programming at WHRB, and sings with Cantata Singers. He has sung with the Choir of First Church in Boston and appeared with Indian Hill Music, Lowell House Opera, Harvard Early Music Society, Opera del West, Longwood Opera, NEMPAC, Boston Opera Collaborative, and Opera Boston. Roles include The Magic Flute (Second Man in Armour, Papageno), The Marriage of Figaro (Antonio, Bartolo, Almaviva), Così fan tutte (Guglielmo, Alfonso), Verdi's Otello (Montano) and Falstaff (Pistola), Ariadne auf Naxos (Music Teacher), Fidelio (Don Fernando), Orpheus in the Underworld (Jupiter), and John Eccles's Semele (Jupiter). He is indebted to his voice teacher, Frank Kelley, and to his infinitely patient wife, his real-life Papagena, who makes all of this possible. http://www.jamescsliu.com

Christopher T Loschen - Sciarrone, Angelotti cover

While I was a student in Vienna, I was waiting in line for standing room at the Wiener Staatsoper, and I started chatting with a little girl near me in line. She asked me to tell her an opera story, but there are very few operas with stories you can tell children. I started telling her the story of The Magic Flute, with its serpents, flying queens, wise leaders, and challenges which must be passed to gain entrance to the temple of wisdom. Unfortunately, I blanked on Tamino’s name, and the little girl (with the ingenuity of an 8-year-old) decided that we should call him Fred. The story made just as much sense (or not!) with Fred as the young prince. To this day, while I find Papageno just as utterly charming, and the coloratura acrobatics of the Queen of the Night just as thrilling, I always think of the young prince looking for love and wisdom as Fred.

Michael, who studies with Pamela Wolfe, began his professional career at 9 singing treble with the Choir of Men and Boys of Trinity Church, New Haven, CT. As a mechanical engineering undergraduate at MIT, he studied voice and was a founding member of the MIT Chamber Chorus. A longtime member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, his local solo appearances include Brahms' German Requiem, Carmina Burana, Belshazzar’s Feast, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the Pirate King from the Pirates of Penzance with Claflin Hill Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem with the Lexington Symphony and Boris Godunov with Longwood Symphony under Jonathan McPhee. He made his solo debut in Tanglewood in Stravinsky's Les Noces with Charles Dutoit. His Opera51 appearances include Colline in La Boheme, 2 of the kings in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore and Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust.

Max Rydqvist - Sacristan - www.maxrydqvist.com

Max Rydqvist, baritone, graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the College of Fine Arts at Boston University (2018) and with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the State University of New York at Binghamton (2016. Recent stage roles include Angelo in Wagner’s “Das Liebesverbot,” Pandolfe in Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” Papageno in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”, Ben in Menotti’s “The Telephone”, David in Samuel Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge” and A-Rab in Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”. Recent concert appearances include baritone soloist in a Nordic Art Song Recital, chorus and bass soloist from Handel’s “Messiah” as well as baritone soloist in Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes” with Church on the Hill, and an American Art Song Recital at the Bay View Music Festival. Residing as a freelance singer and also as an associate member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and aspiring voice teacher in the Boston area, Max presently engages as ensemble member and soloist in both the concert series and chamber series of Boston’s Cantata Singers, as ensemble member with Odyssey Opera, and as section leader and soloist at Church on the Hill of the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem. He is additionally a former soloist with Opera on Tap Boston. In the upcoming months he will be making an appearance as The Speaker in “Die Zauberflöte” and is endeavoring to produce an independent art song recital that will delve into a continued exploration of Nordic repertoire. He continues his vocal studies with Professor Sharon Daniels of Boston University.

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Last updated 6/11/2023