Met Opera Appoints Matthew Rose as Artistic Consultant to the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program

Nine Young Artists Join the Program This Season

Six Lindemann Young Artists Return to the Program to Continue Their Training

New York, NY (July 31, 2018) – Matthew Rose has been appointed as the Artistic Consultant to the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the company’s elite program for artists on the cusp of international opera careers. An acclaimed bass, Matthew Rose has sung at leading opera houses around the world, including the Met, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and English National Opera. He is an advisory member of the Mahler Foundation and has coached young singers at the National Opera Studio and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program. In his new role, he will work closely with the new director of the program, Sophie Joyce, to implement a series of one-on-one and group coaching sessions, as well as master classes.

Yannick Nézet‐Séguin, the Met’s incoming Jeannette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, said, “One of the things I’m most looking forward to at the Met is the opportunity to nurture exceptional new talents in the opera world. The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is central to that, and I’m excited to work with Sophie Joyce and Matthew Rose in shaping the future of the great singers of tomorrow.”

Ms. Joyce said, “As I take up my new role at the Met, I’m so pleased Matthew Rose will be joining our team. His insights and experience working at the highest level of the profession will be invaluable to the Lindemann artists as we help them navigate the early stages of their careers. I am excited to start work with these inspirational young artists.”

Matthew Rose said, “As a student studying singing in Philadelphia, I was able to attend opera performances at the Met, introducing me to great opera, great singing, and great orchestral playing. So it is with much joy that I take on this position with the Lindemann Young Artist Development program. Enabling the next generation of singers is very important to me and to do it at the world’s leading opera house is an honor beyond measure.”

Beginning in the 2018‐19 season, the Met welcomes nine new young artists into the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. They join six returning participants receiving specialized training in music, language, dramatic coaching, and movement from the Met’s own artistic staff and invited master teachers. The Met recently announced that Sophie Joyce has been appointed the new Director of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. For ten years until 2016 she worked at English National Opera (ENO), where she was Head of Casting, and Director of the ENO Harewood Artist Program. She had earlier been Administrator of the company’s Young Singers Program and Assistant Company Manager. In her new position, Ms. Joyce will report to the Met’s Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and to Diane Zola, the incoming Assistant General Manager who will be heading the Met’s artistic administration.

The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, named after Mr. and Mrs. George Lindemann in recognition of their generous support, was founded in 1980 to help young artists transition to careers in opera. Since then, 181 artists have graduated from the program, with notable alumni including Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, Nathan Gunn, Mariusz Kwiecien, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Dawn Upshaw. The program is considered one of the most prestigious of its kind because of the quality and scope of resources it makes available to the young singers, coaches, and pianists.

This year’s participants starting the program are Mario Bahg, tenor, (Busan, South Korea); Jessica Faselt, soprano, (Iowa City, Iowa); Derrick Goff, coach/pianist, (Charlotte, North Carolina); Megan Grey, mezzo-soprano, (Cedar Falls, Iowa); Leah Hawkins, soprano, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Brian Michael Moore, tenor, (Cincinnati, Ohio); Katelan Terrell, coach/pianist, (Fort Worth, Texas); Arseny Yakovlev, tenor, (Moscow, Russia); and Meigui Zhang, soprano, (Chengdu, China).

The roster of young artists returning to the program are Kidon Choi, Baritone, (Seoul, South Korea); Emily D’Angelo, mezzo-soprano, (Toronto, Canada), Ian Koziara, tenor, (Chicago, Illinois); Nate Raskin, coach/pianist, (Boston, Massachusetts); Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez, soprano, (Meriden, Connecticut); and Adrian Timpau, baritone, (Chisinau, Moldova).

Along with access to daily rehearsals and advanced studies, singers are presented with the unique opportunity to perform on the Met’s stage and serve as covers for featured artists. Pianists are considered for assistant conductor duties on the company’s music staff.

During the 2018‐19 season, all returning young artists and several incoming artists will be featured in the following productions: Choi will sing José Castro in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West and the Herald in Verdi’s Otello; D’Angelo will sing the Second Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Suor Mathilde in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites; Faselt will sing the Novice in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Helmwige in Wagner’s Die Walküre; Hawkins will sing the Alms Collector in Puccini’s Suor Angelica and the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida; Koziara will sing the roles of Postiglione in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, Derek in Muhly’s Marnie, and the First Armed Man in Mozart’s The Magic Flute; Moore will sing the Song Seller in Puccini’s Il Tabarro and the Second Priest in Mozart’s The Magic Flute; Raskin will be on the music staff for Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Siegfried; Reyes de Ramírez will sing the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, Nella in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and the First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute; Timpau will sing Larkens in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West and Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen; Yakovlev will sing the Messenger in Verdi’s Aida.

2018-19 Met Opera Lindemann Young Artist Biographies:

Mario Bahg: Tenor, 1st year

(Busan, South Korea)

Tenor Mario Bahg graduated from Korea National University of Arts where he sang the role of Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and recently completed a master’s degree from Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. He has appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Christmas Oratorio at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Konzerthaus Berlin. He has also performed in a gala concert of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Verdi’s Requiem with Bergen Symphony Orchestra, and at Kirsten Flagstad Festival in Norway.

He is the winner of first prize and opera aria award in the aria division at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and first prize at the 2017 Queen Sonja International Music Competition. Other notable recognitions include first prize at the 2016 Citta di Alcamo Competition (Italy), second prize at the 8th DEBUT European Opera Singing Competition (Germany), and second prize at the 2016 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition (Sweden).

Kidon Choi: Baritone, 2nd year

(Seoul, South Korea)

Baritone Kidon Choi made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2017–18 season as Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly. This summer he is performing the title role of Rigoletto at Wolf Trap Opera. He sang the same role at the Chautauqua Opera Company last summer, returning to the company following his 2016 debut as Marcello in La Bohème. While at Mannes School of Music, he performed Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore. At the Manhattan School of Music, he was heard as Rodomonte in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino and Peter in Hänsel und Gretel.

Mr. Choi received second prize in the 2018 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, first prize in the 2017 Alfredo Silipigni Vocal Competition, third prize in the 2017 Opera at Florham Vocal Competition, second prize in the 2016 Gerda Lissner Competition, the Major Award in the 2016 Opera Index Vocal Competition, and was also a grant winner in the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation IVC 2016.

Mr. Choi earned his professional studies diploma from Mannes School of Music, completed his master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music, and received his bachelor’s degree from Hanyang University in Seoul.

Emily D’Angelo: Mezzo-soprano, 2nd year

(Toronto, Canada)

Canadian-Italian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo will make her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2018-19 season as The Second Lady in The Magic Flute. This summer she made her role debut as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello. She made her professional operatic debut in 2016 at the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of James Conlon. She has been seen as The Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte with the Canadian Opera Company, Annio in La clemenza di Tito at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and as The Second Lady in excerpts of Die Zauberflöte with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel.

A winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. D’Angelo has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: the 2018 George London Foundation Award; first prize at the 2017 Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, the Innsbruck Baroque Opera Competition, the 2017 Canadian Opera Company Quilico Awards Competition, the 2016 American National Opera Association Competition, and the 2015 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition; and second prize at the 2017 Neue Stimmen Competition.

Ms. D’Angelo is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and was a two-time fellow at the Ravinia Festival Steans Music Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto.

Jessica Faselt: Soprano, 1st year

(Iowa City, Iowa)

A winner of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, American soprano Jessica Faselt will make her Met debut in the 2018-19 season singing the roles of Helmwige in Die Walküre and the Novice in Suor Angelica. She was a Studio Artist with the Florida Grand Opera during the 2017-18 season and covered the roles of Salome in Richard Strauss’s Salome and Florencia in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Previously, she was a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for two summers and an Apprentice Artist at the Des Moines Metro Opera. She has also sung with the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices for two summers. She has performed the roles of Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Hanna in The Merry Widow, and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus.

Ms. Faselt was a Semi-Finalist in the 2017 Elizabeth Connell Prize International Vocal Competition and the 2016 Eleanor McCollum Voice Competition. She was awarded second prize at the 2017 Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing International Voice Competition and an Encouragement Award at the 2017 Marcello Giordanni International Voice Competition.

Ms. Faselt received a Masters of Music Degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Iowa.

Derrick Goff: Coach/pianist, 1st year

(Charlotte, North Carolina)

Prior to joining the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, coach/pianist Derrick Goff was an Apprentice Coach and Pianist at Florida Grand Opera for the 2017-18 season. He has been a coach, pianist, and chorus master for Bel Canto at Caramoor for the past six seasons, and continues his work with Maestro Crutchfield at Teatro Nuovo. He has also worked at Opera Theatre of St. Louis where he prepared and accompanied their Opera Tastings series.

He served as Director of Music at St. Thomas' Church in suburban Philadelphia for nine years where he played the organ and conducted a semi-professional adult choir and chorister program. As Artistic Director of the Princeton Opera Alliance, he conducted performances of Idomeneo, Don Pasquale, Faust, L'elisir d'amore, and I Capuleti e i Montecchi, among others, in the Princeton area, and has also conducted Don Giovanni in Lawrence, Kansas.

Megan Grey: Mezzo-soprano, 1st year

(Cedar Falls, Iowa)

Originally from Cedar Falls, Iowa, mezzo-soprano Megan Grey is joining the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program for her first season. A Grand Finalist of the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she is a recent graduate of the University of Northern Iowa where she completed her Masters of Music in voice performance and performed the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. In summer 2017, she sang Proserpina in the U.S. stage premier of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo orchestrated by Respighi at the Chautauqua Opera Company, where she spent two summers as a Studio Artist. Her other roles have included L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Mrs. McLean in Susannah, and Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

A recipient of numerous competitive honors, Ms. Grey has been distinguished in competition by Classical Singer, National Opera Association, and National Association of Teachers of Singing Central Region, and the Presser Foundation. This summer she is a Young Artist at the Merola Opera Program and participate in the Schwabacher Summer Concerts.

Leah Hawkins: Soprano, 1st year

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

A native of Philadelphia, soprano Leah Hawkins will make her Met debut in the 2018-19 season singing the roles of the Alms Collector in Suor Angelica and the High Priestess in Aida. She recently completed the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera where she sang the roles of Voce dal cielo in Don Carlo, Cousin Blanche/Sadie Griffith in Champion, and Mrs. Dorsey/Amelia Boynton in the premiere of the revised version of Philip Glass’s Appomattox, among others.

On the concert stage Ms. Hawkins has appeared with Yale Philharmonia in Mahler Symphony No. 2, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven Symphony No. 9, the National Symphony Orchestra in Songfest by Leonard Bernstein, the Philadelphia Orchestra in A Space Odyssey, and as Serena in Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

She is the 2018 recipient of The Richard F. Gold Career Grant from Washington National Opera and was awarded a 2016 Career Development Grant from The Sullivan Foundation. She has received awards from The Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Competition, the Chautauqua Opera Guild, Yale School of Music, George London Foundation, Marcello Giordani Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Ms. Hawkins received her Master of Music in Voice from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts in Music from Morgan State University.

Ian Koziara: Tenor, 3rd year

(Chicago, Illinois)

Tenor Ian Koziara made his Met debut last season singing the role of Enrique in the U.S.-premiere production of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel and later sang the Fourth Esquire in Parsifal. This summer he returned to Wolf Trap Opera to sing the title role of Idomeneo.

Following an acclaimed performance of Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda at Weill Recital Hall in the 2016-17 season, he was featured in recital in New York City under the auspices of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series. He sang Tito in La Clemenza di Tito last summer at the Aspen Opera Center, and the previous summer debuted at the Glimmerglass Festival as Ezekiel Cheever in Ward’s The Crucible. He has also appeared with Wolf Trap Opera in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, sang with the Rice University Opera Program as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and was a participant in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.

Mr. Koziara has been a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition. He earned his master’s degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music.

Brian Michael Moore: Tenor, 1st year

(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Tenor Brian Michael Moore will make his Met debut singing the role of the Song Seller in Il Tabarro. He completed the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera, where he was seen as Le Remendado in Carmen, The Governor in Candide, Spoletta in Tosca, and Nathanaël in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. During the summer of 2017, he performed the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with James Conlon at the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi and The Prince in Luke Bedford's Seven Angels at the Aspen Music Festival. He made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in 2017 singing the First Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel.

Other recent appearances include the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex at the Cincinnati May Festival, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with the New York Opera Exchange, several roles in Conrad Susa’s Transformations as part of the Merola Opera Program, and the Animal Tamer in Der Rosenkavalier as a young artist at the Cincinnati Opera. In 2015, he performed the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto at the Asheville Lyric Opera and the Brevard Music Festival.

Mr. Moore is a winner of the 2018 Sara Tucker Study Grant, and was recognized as Una Finestra Sui Due Mondi from the 2017 Spoleto Festival Dei Due Mondi. This summer, he returned to the Merola Opera Program to participate in the Schwabacher Summer Concerts.

He completed his bachelor and master degrees at the Manhattan School of Music.

Nate Raskin: Coach/pianist, 2nd year

(Boston, Massachusetts)

Coach/pianist Nate Raskin from Boston, Massachusetts, will join the Met music staff for Das Rheingold and Siegfried in the 2018-19 season. This summer he prepares Idomeneo and Rigoletto at Wolf Trap Opera and returns to the Chautauqua Institution Voice Program for his third summer on the coaching faculty.

Also a passionate interpreter of song repertoire, this past season Mr. Raskin performed in recital for audiences at the Park Avenue Armory and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, in addition to at the star-studded Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the invitation of Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour. As a coach and educator, he has previously spent time on the music staff of North Park University and the faculty of the Merit School of Music, the latter where he taught courses in art song and diction to young singers.

Mr. Raskin was trained at Northwestern University, where he earned degrees in music as well as German, and at the Juilliard School, where he obtained a master’s degree in collaborative piano. He continued German studies at the Middlebury College Language Schools and piano studies as a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.

Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez: Soprano, 2nd year

(Meriden, Connecticut)

Nicaraguan-American soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez recently made her Met company debut in the Met’s Summer Recital Series and will make her house debut in the 2018-19 season singing the High Priestess in Aida. Last season she sang the First Lady in excerpts from Die Zauberflöte with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Gustavo Dudamel, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and also debuted as a soloist with New York Choral Society and in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to arriving at the Met, she completed a year’s training at Boston University’s Opera Institute where she sang the soprano in Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox, the title role in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Minskwoman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, and a Greek Woman and Priestess in Iphigénie en Tauride. In the summer of 2016, she debuted in OperaHub’s production of Montsalvatge’s El Gato con Botas as La Princesa and was selected by Houston Grand Opera to participate in their Young Artists Vocal Academy.

She was a grand finalist in the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received her bachelor’s degree from Boston Conservatory.

Katelan Terrell: Coach/pianist, 1st year

(Fort Worth, Texas)

A New York-based collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Katelan Terrell is an alumna of SongFest, the Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, and Marilyn Horne's The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall. A passionate advocate for art song, she is a coordinator of Songs from the Cellar, a song recital series as part of Arts at Blessed Sacrament in Manhattan.

Ms. Terrell received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music. She then completed her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School under Jonathan Feldman, Margo Garrett, and Brian Zeger.

Adrian Timpau: Baritone, 2nd year

(Chisinau, Moldova)

Baritone Adrian Timpau recently made his company debut in the Met’s Summer Recital Series and will appear as Larkens in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West and Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen in the 2018-19 season. Last season he sang the role of Escamillo in Opera Philadelphia’s production of Carmen and in concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He also made his Glimmerglass Festival debut as Eustachio in Francesca Zambello’s new production of Donizetti’s Le Siège de Calais. In addition, he was heard in New York in concert at St. Thomas Church in Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem.

He is a graduate of Opernhaus Zürich’s Opernstudio, where he sang Schaunard in La Bohème and Dancaïro in Carmen. He made his professional debut at Moldova’s National Opera as Robert in Iolanta and later sang the title role of Eugene Onegin, Escamillo, and Prince Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades with the company. He received his artist diploma and master’s degree from Moldova’s Academy of Music.

Arseny Yakovlev: Tenor, 1st year

(Moscow, Russia)

Russian tenor Arseny Yakovlev will make his Met debut in the 2018-19 season singing the role of the Messenger in Aida. In 2012, he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. He was also heard in a number of other supporting roles in La Traviata, Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Maid of Orleans, and Iolanta.

He sang his first performance of Lensky in Eugene Onegin in Belgrade in 2016 and later made his debut with the Latvian National Opera in the same role.

He made his Spanish opera debut in Mallorca last spring as Macduff in Macbeth. In June of 2017, he was heard at the Dutch National Opera in an operatic concert. He also made his German operatic debut in the fall of 2017 as Lensky at the Frankfurt Opera. Other roles in his developing repertoire include Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Prince Vladimir in Prince Igor, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Mr. Yakovlev studied voice at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory and continued his vocal studies at the Academy of Choral Arts. He then joined the Young Artists Program at the Bolshoi Opera.

Meigui Zhang: Soprano, 1st year

(Chengdu, China)

Chinese soprano Meigui Zhang recently sang the role of Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress at Mannes School of Music and will make her debut with Merola Opera Program this summer in the same role. Last summer she participated in the Bel Canto at Caramoor Young Artists Program. Previously, she studied at the Chautauqua Institute where she sang the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Her other roles include Despina in Così fan tutte, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Roméo et Juliette. She has also performed the role of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia (Asian premiere) with the Tianjin Grand Opera in China.

Ms. Zhang earned her master’s degree from the Mannes School of Music and completed her bachelor's degree at Shanghai Conservatory and Sichuan Conservatory.