InsightALT - May 2026

MEET THE
COMPOSERS AND LIBRETTISTS

Sam Norman is an award-winning librettist and lyricist for operas and musicals. His work has been called “well-paced and keenly sharpened” (The Washington Post), “delightfully funny” (Buzzfeed), and “witty, hilarious and completely delightful” (The Huffington Post). Recent operatic projects include CONSTANCE, A CONFESSION (HERE Arts Center), ELECTRIC (Birmingham Opera), MUCKRAKERS (NYU/American Opera Projects) and HAIRPIECE (Kennedy Center). He won the 2025-6 MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award with composer Eliza Randall. Sam is a resident artist at American Lyric Theater and member of the Experiments in Opera Writers’ Room 4.0, as well as a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter, an American Opera Initiative Fellow, a winner of the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation, a Broadway Future Songbook writer, and a four-time finalist for the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Prize. He is currently developing a concept album, Girl Goes to the Underworld, with songwriter Bela Konstancja. His screenplay GAMESTOP won the ScreenCraft TV Pilot Fellowship 2024, and his book of comic poems, A Teen’s Guide to Modern Manners, was published by Little, Brown. Sam is a proud member of Mercury Musical Developments, the Dramatists Guild and the BMI Advanced Bookwriting Workshop. BA, Oxford University; MFA, New York University.

Ivette Herryman Rodríguez – composer, educator, and pianist – was born in the Island of Youth, Cuba, in 1982. As a composer, Ivette is interested in writing soulful music that combines elements from different musical traditions. Her music has been described as “absolutely exquisite” and “breathtakingly beautiful” by conductor Kevin Noe. She is the composer of a bestseller piece for women’s choir, a Resident Artist in American Lyric Theater’s Composer and Librettist Development Program (2024-2025), and the winner of a 2023 Fromm Foundation Commissioning Grant, the 2023 President’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities at SUNY Potsdam, a 2021 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant, a Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition (2015), and a Cubadisco Special Award (2010), among other awards. Ivette feels fortunate to receive commissions regularly by distinguished performers and ensembles in the U.S., and to have her music performed frequently by highly esteemed performers, including the LA Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Her music has been featured in commercial CDs and DVDs released by Neuma Records, Colibrí Productions, Mark Records, and MSR Classics. She is passionate about composing, musical storytelling, the power of the human voice to communicate emotions, and the study and performance of music from Cuba and Latin America. She finds great reward in helping her students thrive, and a big part of her time is spent teaching composition, theory, aural skills and Latin music at the Crane School of Music. She enjoys watching movies based on real life stories and strongly believes in always treating others with kindness.

John de los Santos has been called a “brilliant combination of literary insight and choreographic creativity” (D Magazine). John’s first libretto with composer Clint Borzoni, When Adonis Calls, was selected for inclusion in Fort Worth Opera’s 2015 Frontiers showcase and OPERA American’s 2017 New Works Forum.  It had its world premiere at Asheville Lyric Opera in 2018, directed and choreographed by the librettist.  John’s second collaboration with Borzoni, The Copper Queen, won the top prize in Arizona Opera’s commission program, Arizona SPARK and premiered in 2021 as an award-winning feature film.  John and Clint also collaborated on the holiday opera, The Christmas Spider.  John 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 in 2015, and has since been performed by Urban Arias, Opera Memphis, Hawaii Opera Theater, Virginia Opera, Opera Idaho, Westminster Opera Theater, and was selected as the first opera performed by the Lake George Music Festival.  In 2019, his one-act collaboration with Scott Bradley Joiner, The Shower, premiered at the Vienna Summer Music Festival.  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 then included in the archives of the Library of Congress.  John is a co-librettist for Ghosts, composed by Nicolas Reveles, and he directed the premiere at San Diego Opera in 2023.  John has also collaborated with composers Robert Patterson, Tony Solitro, and Lingbo Ma.  John has served as librettist and stage director at The Juilliard School, The Yale School of Music, and The Manhattan School of Music.

Jorge Sosa is a Mexican-born composer based in New York City. His music has been praised by The Boston Globe, Opera News, and I Care If You Listen for its stylistic range and powerful storytelling. His operas—Monkey, Alice in the Pandemic, and I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams—have premiered with White Snake Projects and received national acclaim.  In 2024, Sosa was awarded OPERA America’s IDEA Grant to develop Generación Perdida, an opera addressing the intersections of migration and violence in Mexico resulting from the failed war on drugs. The work premiered in New York, produced by Teatro Grattacielo, and in Mexico, produced by Escenia Ensamble, in 2025. Sosa won Best Original Score at the Vesuvius International Film Festival for his score to the film Acceptance.  His opera Ofrenda, with libretto by John de los Santos and commissioned by Austin Opera, was awarded an OPERA America Repertoire Development Grant and is scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2026. Other performances this season include the Mexican premiere of “Monkey,” an artistic residency with Heartland Sings, and a performance with Amity Trio.  Jorge Sosa is a Professor of Music at Molloy University, and also teaches at Wintergreen Music Festival. Jorge is an alum of the Composer Librettist Development Program at American Lyric Theater and has been recently appointed Director of White Snake Digital, the digital arm of White Snake Projects.

MEET THE PERFORMERS

Caribbean-American Mezzo-Soprano Eliza Bonet has garnered acclaim for her “sparkling, uninhibited delivery” (SF Classical Music Examiner) and “a warmly robust sound” (The New York Times). Ms. Bonet’s career has spanned engagements with The Atlanta Opera, Washington National Opera, Carnegie Hall, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Norwalk Symphony, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Southwest, The War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, and The San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Her work in contemporary opera includes the world-premiere recording of Three-Way with Nashville Opera and American Opera Projects, in which she starred in two leading roles. She also starred in the world-premiere of Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at The Kennedy Center where she “showed richly dark colors in her voice and used her every moment to great dramatic effect” (DC Theatre Scene).

Maria Brea is a Venezuelan-American soprano and recording artist recognized for her radiant tone, versatility, and compelling stage presence. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she has performed at leading venues including Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, and Palais Garnier. Her debut album Alba: Beyond Borders (Lexicon Classics), created with pianist Dror Baitel, explores Latin American and Jewish art song and launched an acclaimed U.S. tour. Equally active in opera, concert, and new music, she has appeared with companies such as Arizona Opera and Opera San José, and with orchestras including the Boston Philharmonic and Tucson Symphony. A laureate of major international competitions, she represented Venezuela at Operalia and was a finalist in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and the Paris Opera Competition. Ms. Brea is also an educator and advocate for underrepresented repertoire.

Phillip K. Bullock is an operatic and multi-genre baritone praised by Opera News for his “appealingly suave baritone.” He has been featured in operas, recitals, and concerts throughout the United States and Europe. Noted by the Los Angeles Times for a voice that can “travel from airy falsetto heights to basso profundo depths,” Phillip brings his artistry to a wide range of performance styles, from contemporary gospel to both traditional and modern opera. Recently, Phillip reprised his role as the God of Love in the studio recording of The Romance of the Rose, an avant-garde opera from Kate Soper, and the Wet Ink Ensemble. He also made his debut appearances with two of New York City’s most renowned arts organizations: Jazz at Lincoln Center in the poignant contemporary opera Blind Injustice, which chronicles the stories of six exonerated individuals as part of the Ohio Innocence Project; and the Metropolitan Opera in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. In 2025 Phillip also premiered Loving v. Virginia with Virginia Opera, an opera by composer Damien Geter based on the U.S. Supreme Court case. 

Costa Rican-American Soprano Teresa Castillo has been hailed by the San Francisco Gate as a “standout, bringing [vocal] power and florid elegance,” and by Opera News for exhibiting “a clean, concentrated sound, and a lovely, intelligent musicianship.” Ms. Castillo has been seen on stages around the world including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Carnegie Hall, Houston Grand Opera, The Kennedy Center, Opera Omaha, The Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Opera Southwest, Opera San Jose, Chicago Opera Theater and with The War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco while at Merola. Ms. Castillo has placed in many competitions including the Lois Alba Aria Competition, Opera Index, The Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, The Anita Cerquetti International Competition, Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition, Classical Singer Magazine Competition, and the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition. She was also a finalist in the George London Foundation Competition and is on the roster at The Metropolitan Opera.

Adrinelle Chiesa García is a Puerto Rican soprano and oboist, recognized by Opera News for her “technical brilliance and dramatic abandon.” She has performed at Lincoln Center as Alice in Unsuk Chin’s Puzzles and Games and as a soloist in Berio’s Sinfonia, both with Mannes Opera and Mannes Orchestra. Her recent work includes the New York premieres of David T. Little’s Vinkensport and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hildegard with Mannes Opera and the Mannes Orchestra. She portrayed Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Brooklyn-based opera company The Opera Next Door. She was featured on WQXR in the recital From Canon to Creation: A Celebration of Mannes Opera. Chiesa has also appeared twice as a soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Deeply committed to her artistic roots, Chiesa highlights modern and contemporary Puerto Rican vocal repertoire in her performances, including original works.

French-born, Indian-American conductor Kamna Gupta is an American Prize-winning conductor known for her versatility, nuanced interpretations, and collaborative style. With experiences that span operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires, she is a widely sought-after artist with a unique range. Recent highlights include debuts with Vancouver Opera, Madison Opera, leading the creation of a reduction of The Handmaid’s Tale at The Banff Centre. A champion for new music, she has also conducted several world premieres at Los Angeles Opera (In Our Daughter’s Eyes, 2022), Spoleto Festival USA (Ruinous Gods, 2024), and the Glimmerglass Festival (Jungle Book, 2023), among others. Equally at home in the orchestra repertoire, Ms. Gupta has been a guest conductor at Wintergreen Festival and frequently works with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. She has been a cover conductor with institutions such as the New York Philharmonic and Washington National Opera. In 2026, she will be one of three conductors invited to conduct in a masterclass led by Fabio Luisi and the International Conductors Guild. She has also participated in masterclasses with Stéphane Dénève, Mark Stringer, and Tito Muñoz. 

Baritone Michael J. Hawk recently completed an Artist Residency with the Seattle Opera and is a graduate of the esteemed Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. For the 2025-2026 season, Michael is engaged with the Metropolitan Opera for a series of workshops on Huang Ruo's The Wedding Banquet, he returns to Seattle Opera for their concert production of Strauss' Daphne and sings Angelotti & covers the role of Scarpia in Port Angeles Symphony's presentation of Puccini's Tosca. He will also sing the role of Gary in the workshop of American Lyric Theater’s workshop of Ofrenda. During the 2024-2025 Season, he sang Silvio in Pagliacci, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte and covered Scarpia in Tosca with the Seattle Opera. He led the cast of a revival of Doulgas Moore's Giants in the Earth as Per Hansa with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with PBS. To round out the season, he sang the title role in Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox with Opera Omaha. In the 2026-2027 season, he will return to Opera Omaha as the loveable Harlequin in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos.

Kristen Kemp is a vocal coach and pianist who serves as Head of Music Staff in Opera for Vocal Arts at the Manhattan School of Music. A seasoned collaborator across the United States and abroad, she has worked with companies including Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Opera North, among others. A longtime partner of Sherrill Milnes’ VOICExperience, Kristen has contributed to programs in New York, Florida, and Savannah since 2010. She was Studio Artist Director at Sarasota Opera from 2010–2015 and a member of its coaching staff beginning in 2003. In 2025 she served as diction coach at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s This House. She will return this summer for a second year with the Denyce Graves Foundation to work with the Shared Voices artists. Kristen holds a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano and an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Currently Music Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Associate Artistic Director of American Lyric Theater, Kelly Kuo has consistently championed the development of the next generation of musical talent and demonstrated a commitment to innovative programming, creative initiatives and advocacy of underrepresented voices in the concert hall. Praised by the Cincinnati Enquirer as “a leader of exceptional musical gifts, who has a clear technique on the podium and an impressive rapport with audiences,” Maestro Kuo’s recent season highlights include productions with Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival.

American collaborative artist Justina Lee has served as assistant conductor, pianist, and coach for such companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Castleton Festival, and Wolf Trap Opera Company. She is a frequent collaborator with acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee, and has appeared with him on National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concert series. Recital highlights include collaborations with Alyson Cambridge, Gordon Hawkins, Kate Lindsey, Linda Mabbs, Lisette Oropesa, Dimitri Pittas, and Tamara Wilson. Ms. Lee has appeared under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation residency program and on recital series that include On Wings of Song at Carnegie Hall, the Harriman-Jewell Series, the Washington Performing Arts Series at The Kennedy Center, and on Renée Fleming’s VOICES recital series. She can also be seen on medici.tv as a pianist for Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute masterclasses with Joyce DiDonato. Ms. Lee is an alumna of the distinguished Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera and holds degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Manhattan School of Music. She served as Principal Coach of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, College Park from 2008-2022, and faculty at Prague Summer Nights Music Festival and the International Opera Performing Experience summer program. She joined the faculty at the Juilliard School in 2022, as Associate Artistic Director of Vocal Arts with a focus on the Bachelor of Music degree program.

GRAMMY®-nominated countertenor Daniel Moody makes “a profoundly startling impression” (The New York Times) and is praised for his ability to “pierce hearts” and “utterly silence a room” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). He has appeared with leading opera houses and orchestras including The Metropolitan Opera, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Symphony, Boston Early Music Festival on tour in Germany, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony, Les Violons du Roy, Minnesota Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and Vancouver Opera. Noted for his interpretations of Handel, Moody is also known for premiering several contemporary works by composers George Benjamin, Peter Knell, Hannah Lash, Aribert Reimann, Elena Ruehr, and Jorge Sosa. A passionate teacher, Mr. Moody received his degrees from Peabody Conservatory and Yale School of Music/Institute of Sacred Music. He has given vocal masterclasses at Peabody Conservatory, Augustana University and currently serves on the voice faculty of the University of British Columbia.

“A standout soloist” and “vocally protean” (The Wall Street Journal), Gina Perregrino’s artistry blends tradition with the unconventional. She has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Philadelphia, The Atlanta Opera, The Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Ópera de Guatemala, OperaDelaware, and Central City Opera. This season, she appears with American Lyric Theater in both their 20th Anniversary Gala and reprises the role of Beylke in Tevye’s Daughters. She joins Serafin Ensemble for multiple concerts, sings the alto solo in Mozart’s Requiemwith the Savannah Philharmonic, and makes her title-role debut as Mélisande in Opera Baltimore’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Drawn to poignant works old and new, she has collaborated with authors including Salman Rushdie and Khaled Hosseini to bring their literary works to the stage. Though trained primarily in opera, she is deeply rooted in the folk music of Mexico and Latin America, with original Spanish-language songs forthcoming on the Global Music Partnership label.

GRAMMY®-nominated for Best Classical Vocal Solo and praised by The New York Times for her “sensual” and “strong” voice, mezzo-soprano Devony Smith bridges classical opera and contemporary music with equal mastery. A committed advocate for new work, she has premiered pieces by Jennifer Higdon, Jake Landau, Eve Beglarian, and Luna Pearl Woolf. She originated the role of the Designer in Woolf’s Number Our Days at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, performed Kate Soper’s Here Be Sirensacross four seasons, and has collaborated extensively with the Albany Symphony on more than a dozen world premieres. Her operatic credits include Cherubino, Hansel, Rosina, Dido, Clorinda in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, the title role in La Cenerentola, and Tilly in the live premiere of Nico Muhly’s The Glitch. She has appeared with New York City Opera, Opera Modesto, Teatro Comunale di Narni, and Opera Freiburg.