2017 Mainstage Performing Artists
Jenny Cresswell
Soprano
It is thrilling to welcome Soprano Jenny Cresswell to our Resonanz Opera family. Ms.Cresswell will be joining the incredible Kathleen Kelly to present Thomas Pasatieri’s one woman opera Before Breakfast at the Resonanz Opera 2017 Singing Artist Festival this summer. Soprano Jennifer Cresswell was last seen on the operatic stage as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Ms. Cresswell has been a frequent performer with Toledo Opera, including appearances as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Liu in Turandot. Passionate about singing in her native tongue, Ms. Cresswell has enjoyed success as the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, and in Pasatieri’s Lady Macbeth. On the concert stage, Ms. Cresswell has served as soloist for large works including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. In addition to performing, Ms. Cresswell is an opera librettist, having rewritten the texts for six operas condensed for young audiences, and one original work, Respectable Woman, with music by American composer Kristi Fullerton. Jennifer recently joined the faculty as Director of Music at St. Ursula Academy in Toledo Ohio.
Lindell Carter
Tenor
Lindell O. Carter, has been noted as a “promising young tenor … who lacks nothing in power and carry” (Classical Voice of North Carolina), and praised for “his rich timbre and ringing, easy top” (London Herald). Singing a wide repertoire on the stage, operatic credits include the title characters in Massenet’s Werther , Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann , and Debussy’s L’enfant Prodigue. Other notable appearances include Il Duca (Rigoletto), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Des Grieux (Manon), Jenìk (Smetana’s Prodaná nevesta), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Alfredo (La Traviata), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera), Rodolfo (La Bohème) and several other leading tenor roles. Engagements this season include debuts as Enzo Grimaldo (Ponchielli’s La Gioconda , Vaudémont (Tchaickovsky’s Iolanta), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Canio (Pagliacci), and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor).
Just as at home on the concert stage, Lindell has appeared in recitals and concerts in New York City, across the United States, London, Italy, France, and Spain in a concert of singers selected by Montserrat Caballé. His concert credits include tenor solos in Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, Choral Fantasy, and Symphony No. 9; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; Verdi’s Messa di Requiem; Händel’s Messiah; Dubois’ Les Sept Paroles du Christ; and Mozart’s Requiem in D and Coronation Mass. A native of the Bronx, NY, Lindell holds a BM in Vocal Performance and BA in French Language from the University of North Carolina.
John Ramseyer
Tenor
Resonanz Opera welcomes John Ramseyer to our mainstage as the priest in our production of Dialogues of the Carmelites.
John Ramseyer, tenor, is an emerging artist in the New York opera scene. In 2016 he received his Master’s in Music at Mannes College The New School for Music where he studied with Metropolitan Opera tenor, Dan Marek. With the esteemed Mannes Opera, John performed the roles of Laurie in Mark Adamo’s Little Women and Bill in Jonathan Dove’s Flight under the baton of Joseph Colaneri (Met Opera/NYCO/Glimmerglass).
Before relocating to New York City, the Midwestern tenor received his Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance at Illinois State University under the tutelage of John Michael Koch. At ISU, he sang the role of Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was also a sought after soloist in many concerts and events including the university’s commencement ceremonies. In 2011, John began a multi-year relationship with the Midwest Institute of Opera. From 2011-2016, he performed many roles such as Tamino (Die Zauberföte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), and most recently, Fenton (Falstaff).
Mr. Ramseyer frequently performs with companies in the greater New York area. This season, he will be making debuts with Brooklyn’s LoftOpera in Rossini’s Otello, as well as The Bronx Opera Company in Verdi’s Falstaff.
Augusta Caso
Mezzo-soprano
Augusta Caso, mezzo-soprano, made her mainstage debut this season at the Spoleto Festival USA as Gilade in the US premiere of Vivaldi’s Farnace, and performed the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Hélène in La Belle Hélène with Opera North. In the 2017-2018 season, Augusta will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as one of the Flowermaidens in Wagner’s Parsifal under the baton of Maestro Nézet-Séguin. She will sing Child Madeline/First Otis Twin in Getty’s Usher House / Canterville Ghost with Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City this fall, roles she will reprise next summer with LA Opera. In 2016, Augusta sang the title role in Louis Andriessen’s Anaïs Nin with Center for Contemporary Opera, then making her European debut in the same role at the Musiekgebouw aan’t IJ in Amsterdam, performances which the New York Times called “compelling” and “courageous” and Amsterdam’s Volkskrant “a star role.” Other recent performances include Dorabella in Così fan tutte; Prince Charming in Cendrillon; the title roles in Carmen and La Cenerentola; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle; Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder; Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été; and Handel’s Messiah. Augusta holds degrees from Williams College and the University of Oklahoma. She grew up in Phoenix, Maryland and studies with Andrea DelGiudice.
Mary Katherine McNamara
Spinto and Dramatic Soprano
Ms. McNamara is an artist known for her interpretations of spinto and dramatic soprano repertoire. Career highlights include Helene in Les Vespri Sicilienne in Sarasota, Donna Anna in Belgium, Irene in Rienzi with Opera Orchestra of New York, Verdi Requiem with the Chautauqua Symphony, Rossini Stabat Mater in Jacksonville, Brahms Requiem with the Adelphi Orchestra and concerts in Montevideo. Ms. McNamara has performed in concert with the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Trenton Symphony, New York Horizon Concert Series and the Spartanburg Symphony. This wonderful soprano has received various awards including the OMTI fellowship, NYC Regional Metropolitan Opera Finalist and a grant from Resonanz, the predecessor of Resonanz Opera. Ms. McNamara maintains a thriving voice studio in New Hampshire, New York City, and Boston.
Heidi Skok
Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Heidi Skok performed in numerous productions at the Metropolitan Opera as a soprano from 1992 to 2003. Ms. Skok is renowned as a recitalist and concert presenter. Recent engagements have included her first Sesto with Upstate Chamber Opera, a concert for Gay Pride at the Spectrum premiering new mezzo and flute song cycle by American composer Gerald Busby in New York City, a St. Paul’s Cathedral appearance, concerts with the Octavo Singers including an appearance at Proctors Theater in Schenectady, NY, a concert in Princeton, NJ premiering songs of American composer Gerald Busby, her first Messiah, several Saint Rose Camerata Series concerts, a concert celebrating the music of American composer Gerald Busby at the Massry Center for the Arts in Albany, NY, and the premiering of one of American composer Martin Hennessy’s songs at The National Opera Center in New York City. Heidi reprized her role as Croissy last summer for Resonanz Opera in the production of Dialogues of the Carmelites.
