ANDRES ACOSTA, Javier, her son / Clay
San Diego Opera debut. Recent engagements by Cuban-American tenor Andres Acosta include appearances at Madison Opera for his role debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and to Houston Grand Opera for the world premiere of The Snowy Day. He made house debuts with Bard SummerScape Festival, San Antonio Opera, and Florentine Opera, and his debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the world premiere of Awakenings. Other engagements include his Ravinia Festival debut in Bernstein’s Mass, his Atlanta Opera debut as Alejandro in Frida, the role of Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas in his house debut with Pittsburgh Opera, his Houston Grand Opera debut as Father Matias in El Milagro del Recuerdo, the role of Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers in his house debut with Madison Opera. Other appearances include Timothy Laughlin at Minnesota Opera, and Arcadio with Pensacola Opera. He was part of Theatre Latté Da’s national tour of Peter Rothsteins’s All is Calm as Victor Granier.
JASON BIEBER, Lighting Designer
American lighting designer Jason Bieber made his debut in 2018’s Maria de Buenos Aires. He designed the USD productions of Antigone, Fathers and Sons, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Uncle Vanya, Marat/Sade, and Richard III. His credits at The Old Globe include The Mystery of Irma Vep and Since Africa. His San Diego design credits include Cowboy Versus Samurai (2007 Patté Award), Permanent Collection, Night Sky (2008 Patté Award), Good Boys, Yellowface, Stick Fly, Kita y Fernanda, Extraordinary Chambers, and The Amish Project (Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company), Topdog/ Underdog, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Eurydice, Bluebonnet Court, and Bleeding Kansas (MOXIE Theatre), Facing East, No Exit, Scrooge in Rouge, and The New Century (Diversionary Theatre), among others.
JOHN DE LOS SANTOS, Director / Librettist
Director/choreographer John de los Santos made his Company choreography debut in 2016 with Great Scott and his Company directorial debut with 2018’s Maria de Buenos Aires. He has staged the world premieres of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun (Santa Fe Opera), Pure Country (Lyric Stage), and The Astronaut Love Show (Kraine Theater, NYC). Other productions include Le Comte Ory and Otello (LoftOpera), Cag + Pag, and L’heure Espagnol (New Camerata Opera), La Cage Aux Folles (Skylight Music Theatre), La Fille du Regiment (Minnesota Opera), Kinky Boots(Uptown Players), Carousel (Charlottesville Opera), and Maria de Buenos Aires (Arizona Opera). As a librettist John de los Santos’ first collaboration with composer Clint Borzoni, When Adonis Calls, had its stage premiere under John’s direction at Asheville Lyric Opera. His second collaboration with Borzoni, The Copper Queen, premiered as a feature film in October 2021, and had it staged premiere at Marble City Opera under John’s direction. His latest libretto with Borzoni, The Christmas Spider, will premiere with The American Opera Project. In 2015, he was commissioned by Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative to create an original work with composer Christopher Weiss. The resulting piece, Service Provider, premiered at The Kennedy Center, and has since had over a dozen productions. Over the summer of 2020, John and composer Marc Migó were commissioned by UrbanArias to write an operatic film as part of Decameron Opera Project. The film, The Roost, was directed by John and was recently included in the archives of the Library of Congress. John is a librettist with Minnesota Operas New Works Initiative. John has also written and directed opera for The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.
EMILY FONS, Woman
American mezzo-soprano Emily Fons made her Company debut as Zerlina in 2015’s Don Giovanni and returned as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro in 2018, and Rosina in The Barber of Seville in 2021. Notable appearances include: Ruby Thewes in Cold Mountain for the world premiere at Santa Fe Opera and again for Opera North Carolina, Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking for Kentucky Opera, the title role in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges, with the Berlin Philharmonic, and in Japan as part of the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya, the title role in Cinderella for Opéra de Lille, Stéphano in Roméo and Juliette with the Santa Fe Opera, Cherubino for the Canadian Opera Company and The Dallas Opera, Dorabella in Opera Omaha’s Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Florentine Opera, the title roles in Handel’s Susanna and Faramondo with the International Händel Festspiele, Sièbel in Faust with the Atlanta Opera, Prince Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus, and Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann with Chicago Opera Theatre. She made her European debut in the role of Megacle in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade with Garsington Opera. She also appeared as Sesto in Michigan Opera Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar. From 2010-2012 Fons was a member of the Ryan Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago where she portrayed, among others, Fyodor in Boris Godnuov, Mercedes in Carmen, and Peep Bo in The Mikado.
FAITH A. JAMES, Costume Designer
San Diego Opera debut. Puppet and Costume design experiences for Faith A. James range from MALA produced by The Old Globe; Cinderella with the The Rose Theatre; Lying With Badgers produced by Native Voices at the Autry; Azul at Diversionary Theatre; The Niceties at Moxie Theatre; Beehive: The Sixties Musical at New Village Arts; and a specialization in wire bending at Trinidad & Tobago Carnival. She has worked as a craft artisan at The Old Globe and LA Opera. She earned her MFA in Design & Technology from the School of Theatre, TV and Film at San Diego State University.
MICHAEL VEGAS MUSSMAN, Librettist
Dormir
San Diego Opera debut. Michael Vegas Mussman is a playwright, lyricist, and composer. Michael wrote the lyrics for a 15-minute musical called Against the Grrrain, which premiered at the Hollywood Fringe in 2018. He also wrote the book and lyrics for In Security, a full-length musical that premiered at the 2017 San Diego International Fringe Festival. Michael earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from San Jose State University and currently lives in San Diego with his husband and a street dog named Mathilde.
ANN MCMAHON QUINTERO, Yadira / Caregiver
San Diego Opera debut. Ann McMahon Quintero has filled the 2022/23 season with new works and old favorites. She joins Boston Baroque and Alabama Symphony for Messiah and Charleston Symphony for Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky Cantata. She was thrilled to join Santa Fe Opera in 2022 in one of her signature roles, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff. In the 2021/22 season, she portrayed the titular role in Lizbeth with Opera Orlando and Madame Flora in The Medium with Chelsea Opera, with whom she enjoyed a successful run as the inimitable Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit! in June, 2021. Ms. Quintero also enjoys a rewarding relationship with the Defiant Requiem Foundation, performing their special presentation of the Verdi Requiem in Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín. She has performed the piece with Mo. Murry Sidlin over a dozen times throughout the U.S., sharing the story of Rafael Schächter and the brave artists of Terezín.
NICOLAS REVELES, Composer / Librettist
San Diego Opera debut. Composer, opera educator and pianist Nicolas Reveles began his composing career at the age of 8 by entering a Young Composer’s Competition for the San Diego Symphony in 1956, taking away second place and having the honor of his composition (Arabian Dance) performed by the symphony at a Young People’s Concert. His compositions were featured during the visit of Pope John Paul II to California (Monterey) in 1987. Many of his sacred works, including The Passion According to St. John for chorus, soloists, string quartet and percussion, were published by Cooperative Ministries in Washington, DC. His first two operas, with librettist J. Sherwood Montgomery, The Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin, were written for family audiences and were performed over four touring seasons by the San Diego Opera Ensemble (2004-2008). His theatre credits include scores and musical arrangements for The Old Globe Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre and Arizona Repertory Theatre, where his mariachi score for Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro was cited ‘Best Musical of the Year’ by The Arizona Republic. His opera Sextet: A Queer Opera in Six Scenes for Six Singers was produced by Diversionary Theatre in 2010 through a grant given by the Irvine Foundation (2010). A fully orchestrated version of Rumpelstilstkin was produced by Lyric Opera San Diego the same year. His opera Aftermath (music and libretto both by the composer) was produced by Bodhi Tree Concerts for the San Diego International Fringe Festival in June 2022.
MICHAEL SOKOL, Mr. Costello
Company appearances by baritone Michael Sokol include Sergeant of Police, The Pirates of Penzance (2017), Ensemble, All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 (2018); soloist, When I See Your Face Again (2021); Maestro Spinelloccio, Gianni Schicchi and Sacristan, Tosca (2023). He has been seen in opera and music theatre with appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Mr. Sokol grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where as a child he was a member of the Phoenix Boys Choir for many years. He received his university degrees from Arizona State University, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University. As a performer in theatre and opera, he has performed roles from Mozart’s, Count in The Marriage of Figaro, Marcello in La bohème, and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. Very active in the creation of new music theatre, he created the role of Frank Lloyd Wright in the world premiere of Darren Hagen and Paul Muldoon’s opera Shining Brow, directed by Stephen Wadsworth, and the role of the Magician in the American premiere of Stephen Oliver’s Mario and the Magician, directed by Francesca Zambello. An expert in the comic masterpieces of Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach, he has appeared in and directed over 17 of their respective works. He is a respected pedagogue and teacher in San Diego and is proud of his association with SDSU, PLNU, Grossmont College, Canyon Crest Academy and Visionary Dance La Mesa.
BRUCE STASYNA, Conductor
Conductor Bruce Stasyna made his Company conducting debut with As One in 2017, returned to conduct Maria de Buenos Aires in 2018, and conducted One Amazing Night with Stephen Costello and Stephen Powell in 2019, the holiday sing along concert for All is Calm in 2020, One Amazing Night: When I See Your Face Again, The Barber of Seville in 2021, and Così fan tutte in 2022. He has been on the conducting rosters of the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Sugar Creek Opera, and has held positions as Chorus Master for New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and Des Moines Opera. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Green Mountain Opera Festival, and Head of Music and Director of the Young Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera. He has collaborated on many notable North American premieres including Anna Nicole, The Handmaid’s Tale, Orazi e Curiazi, and Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man. As a pianist he has concertized with such artists as Marcello Giordani, Deborah Voigt, J’nai Bridges, Irene Roberts, Marina Costa-Jackson, and Richard Troxell. The Canadian born conductor is currently Resident Conductor and Chorus Master for San Diego Opera, Assistant Conductor for Washington Concert Opera, and Music Director of Vero Beach Opera.
TIM WALLACE, Scenic and Projection Design
Tim Wallace has been a scenic artist, theatrical environment and concert tour designer. Currently, he is the Technical Director for the San Diego Opera where he designed sets for All is Calm in 2018, The Barber of Seville in 2021, Cosí fan tutte in 2022, and The Puccini Duo earlier this year. He started his scenic career as a shop person and became the Charge Scenic Artist in 2011 and moved to Technical Director in January 2019. He has worked on many productions seen on stage for the San Diego Opera. Tim started his design career with the local rock band Rocket From the Crypt in 1995 doing their stage backdrops and scenery. With the band, his work has been seen on stages around the world. His most recent design/creative work has been for the San Diego Zoo, designing themed holiday decorations for HalGLOWeen, Jungle Bells and Aurora. Tim is a member of IATSE Local 800 Art Directors Guild.