Phillip Towns
Phillip is 10 years old and is in 5th grade. He is a member of the Raleigh Boychoir and has performed with the choir in the Polar Express with the NC Symphony. He has competed in the NC-NATS Musical Theater and Classical competitions winning the state event for Classical in his age group in 2022. He has performed with the Apex Regional Theatre in their productions of The Little Mermaid Jr., The Lion King Jr., Shrek Jr., and Schoolhouse Rock Jr. Phillip is a vocal student with the LaBelle Vocal studio and a piano student with the Thomason Piano Studio. When he isn't performing, he is an active member of his Cub Scout pack and a member of the Leadership team at his school. Phillip is excited about the role of Amahl and is thankful to NYOS and COT for the opportunity and his family for their support.
LaToya Lain
Applauded for her "wonderfully rich," "powerful," and "captivating" voice, American singer LaToya Lain, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a member of the voice faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as the Metropolitan Opera Chorus.
Equally at home in the teaching studio and on the performance stage, LaToya continues to perform solo recitals, oratorio, and opera worldwide. She was recently a member of the GRAMMY Award-winning cast of Porgy and Bess at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City and last season, she returned to The Met for performances in Terrance Blanchard’s jazz opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem.
Ms. Lain’s operatic roles include “Clarissa Davis” in Sanctuary Road, “Brünnhilde” in Die Walküre, “Countess Almaviva” in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in Carmen, “Suzuki” in Madame Butterfly, “Polinesso” in Ariodante, “La Principessa” in Suor Angelica, “Baba” in The Medium, and “Ježibaba” in Rusalka.
Dr. Lain’s research also includes the intensive study and performance practice of Negro Spirituals. She has performed her lecture recital “Narrative of a Slave Woman: Songs of Hope, Justice, and Freedom” on concert stages and at universities throughout the world. Consequently, she was one of 57 voice professors and singers invited to author a short chapter in The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook: Creative Recipes for Teachers of Singing.
Recent and upcoming engagements include Mahler’s Symphony #4 and Wagner’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde with the Worthington Chamber Orchestra in Ohio, “Amahl and the Night Visitors” with the New York Opera Society and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, and “Sanctuary Road” with Penn Square Music Festival in Lancaster.
Gustavo Ahualli
Hailed for his rich and powerful baritone, Mr. Gustavo Ahualli has become well known for his dramatic portrayals in a myriad of leading roles of standard operatic repertoire as well as new works by contemporary composers. The Houston Press extolled, “As Macbeth, Argentinian baritone, Gustavo Ahualli proved he has an ideal voice for Verdi, beautiful, full, rich, and powerful. His singing was effortless, with excellent control, and ripe with machismo.”
Mr. Ahualli has over 48 roles under his belt including leading roles in most of Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Donizetti operas. He has sung throughout the US, South America and Europe and had the privilege to sing for both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
Mr. Ahualli was born in Tucuman, Argentina where he began his musical training at age of seven. He received a bachelors in Music from UNA-Universidad Nacional de las Artes and his Master in Vocal Performance from ISA- Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a Voice Faculty for the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art-CUA and is the Director for the Latin American Music Center for graduate studies for the same institution.
Jarrod Lee
Jarrod Lee, hails from Sylacauga, Alabama. As an opera singer, Jarrod has performed with Annapolis Opera, Atlanta Opera, Baltimore Opera, IN Series, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Maryland Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Opera Delaware and Washington National Opera (WNO). Past roles and covers include: Kaboom and Pastor in Fire Shut Up In My Bones, Angelotti in Tosca, Henry Davis in Street Scene, Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Le Bailli in Werther, SNCC Man in Appomattox, Marchese in Traviata and Undertaker in Porgy and Bess. An advocate for new works, Jarrod premiered the role of Joe Louis in Shadowboxer by Frank Proto and John Chenault, and Levi in the Afro-Futurist opera ballet Cloud Nebula by composer Scott Patterson. Jarrod has been featured as a soloist for former President Barack Obama and in community outreach works in D.C. and Baltimore. Jarrod’s been a finalist in the Annapolis Opera, Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competitions and a semifinalist in Austria’s Meistersinger. In concert with his performing career, Jarrod is a librettist with commissions from Alliance for New Music-Theatre, American Opera Initiative/WNO, Finger Lakes Opera and IN Series with collaborations with composers B.E. Boykin, Dr. Timothy Amukele, Ronald Walton and playwright Sybil Roberts. For more information: JarrodLee.com.
Vale Rideout
Vale Rideout has sung major roles with San Francisco Opera (Alfred in Die Fledermaus), Opera Colorado (The Shining), Palm Beach Opera (Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni), Boston Lyric Opera (Quint in The Turn of the Screw), Kentucky Opera (Roméo in Roméo et Juliette), Central City Opera (Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor), Tulsa Opera (Tamino in The Magic Flute), and Nashville Opera (Frank Shallard in Elmer Gantry). He has sung with major symphonies including the New York Philharmonic (Maazel/War Requiem), Los Angeles Philharmonic (War Requiem), Seattle Symphony (Messiah), Jacksonville Symphony (War Requiem), Nashville Symphony (Messiah), Detroit Symphony (Beethoven 9), Washington Chorus (Missa Solemnis), New Orleans Philharmonic (Messiah, Christmas Oratorio), Trinity Church Wall Street (Britten - Serenade, Stravinsky - Les Noces) and Toledo Symphony (Verdi Requiem). He can be heard on World Premiere recordings of Elmer Gantry, Prince of Players & Wuthering Heights (Floyd), Rio de sangre (Davis), The Inspector (Musto), as well as recordings of Philip Glass’ Fifth Symphony (Trinity Church Wall Street), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Central City Opera), Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Detroit Symphony), Carmina Burana (New Jersey Symphony) and his first solo CD of Britten and Finzi songs on the ACIS label. www.valerideout.com
Daniel Dunlow
Actor & Concert: Off-Broadway, Tours, Lincoln Center, NYPL, Town Hall, YouTube Studios, Commercials.
Producer & Presenter: Josh Groban, Katharine McPhee, Lillias White, Kathleen Turner, Eva Noblezada, and more.
Business: VenueTix
Education: NYU Tisch School of the Arts; Insta: @danieldunlow
Life: Daniel was just engaged this month to the love of his life, Christina.
Barry McNabb
Barry graduated from the University of Oregon Bachelor of Social Science June 1981in Dance. Made his professional debut in July of that same year for Bob Fosse in his production, Dancin', for which he was also the dance captain (acting supervisor). He then went on to work with Agnes DeMille, Juliet Prowse, Michael Bennett, Peter Genarro, Mike Ockrent, Harold Prince and Gillian Lynne amongst others. Barry also appeared in the original Broadway casts of Me and My Girl and The Phantom of the Opera and on television for Saturday Night Live and Late Nite with Conan O'Brien.
As a Director and/or Choreographer, Barry's work has been seen in numerous Off-Broadway, Regional, International, as well as major New York theatres including the Majestic, St. James, The Broadway, Winter Garden, Lincoln Center and on Film and Television including Saturday Night Live, Late Nite with Conan O'Brien, Howard Stern and various commercials. His productions have garnered many nominations and awards: Connecticut Critics, MAC, Bistro, Barrymore, Emmy, and Premio (Spanish Tony, 2 times).
He also was instrumental in the development of Broadway Cares, a theatre charity that has to date awarded over $20,000,000 to AIDS research and care facilities. He ,produced/wrote/directed/choreographed what has become their largest annual money-raiser: Broadway's Annual Easter Bonnet Competitions. He was also a member of the first Mentoring group from the professional theatre community to work as individual mentors to inner-city children. He has served on multiple committees for the theatrical director's union, The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC) and currently is the chairman of the Callaway Award. This award is the only peer award given in the NYC theatre community. It is given each year by a panel of 12 directors and choreographers for outstanding work in the New York Theatrical season. Barry has been its chair for 3 years.
Miguel Ángel Milán
Miguel Ángel Milán (Madrid, Spain 1972) is a professional with more than 25 years of experience in costume design for Film, Theater and Television in Spain. From a very young age he was immersed in creative cultural movements that have left their mark on the historical and cultural heritage of his native country. His first foray into opera as a costume designer was in "Las Horas Vacías" 2021 by Ricardo Llorca sponsored by the Teatro Real de Madrid. Miguel Ángel worked as Head of Costumes for the acclaimed television series "Amar en Tiempos revueltos" 2005 (TVE, Spanish national television) for more than ten years. Many theater productions in which he has designed the costumes have been awarded with the National Theater Award in Spain such as "La Geometría del Trigo" or "El Viento es Salvaje". His particular eclectic vision of colors, textures and shapes gives a special meaning to each design and each garment that comes to life as a character in each of the plays. He is currently immersed in new Spanish television projects that will lead him to revisit the period dramas in which he has worked for so many years.
New York Opera Society
The New York Opera Society (NYOS) develops new audiences for opera by commissioning, creating, and funding exemplary productions. To that end, NYOS serves as a conduit to the public by disseminating important messages, musical inspiration, and seminal artistic performances via partnerships with major performance venues, corporations, nonprofits and governments to present the work of our artists.
In its most recent season, NYOS commissioned and co-presented the world premiere of Upon this Handful of Earth with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space in NYC and a highly lauded excerpted world premiered staged reading of Letters from Ruth at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; both works by Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull. NYOS has also commissioned the first operatic version of Tres Sombreros de Copa by Ricardo Llorca which premiered in Brazil and will have its Spanish premiere at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid in November 2019.
Previously, NYOS has produced the Lincoln Center and United States premiere of its contemporary Spanish opera, Las Horas Vacias, by Guggenheim fellow and Juilliard faculty member Ricardo Llorca; three tours and world premieres of NYOS’ commissions from Gisle Kverndokk’s and Wiik’s Max & Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks and Supersize Girl. Other notable NYOS evenings have taken place at the National Gallery of Art, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Embassy of Italy, New York’s World Financial Center, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and the United Nations. Audiences have included the Royal Couple of Norway, the Undersecretary of Defense in Washington, D.C., Queen Sofia of Spain (at a gala in her honor), Barbara Walters, Stanley Tucci/Martin Scorsese (at a gala in their honor), and nearly every European and South American Consulate. NYOS has been favorably featured in The Washington Post, on PBS, in a feature article in The Wall Street Journal, and Opera News. NYOS is led by Executive Director Jennifer Cho and a dedicated Board of Directors chaired by philanthropist, Lesley Silveste.
UNC Chamber Singers
The UNC Chamber Singers is an ensemble of 25 voices whose repertoire encompasses vocal chamber music of all periods and styles, with emphasis on Renaissance, Baroque and 20th/21st-century music. Members are music majors and non-majors alike.
In recent seasons, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Susan Klebanow has led the Chamber Singers in performances of Charpentier’s Caecilia, Virgo et Martyr and Schütz’s Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz with the UNC Viol Consort, Vivaldi Gloria with the UNC Baroque Ensemble, numerous Bach Cantatas and Handel anthems with Ensemble Courant, UNC’s original instrument ensemble, and a cappella music from Dufay, Josquin, and Gesualdo to Anton Webern, Elliot Carter and Stephen Jaffe. The Chamber Singers have premiered new works of Allen Anderson, Scott Warner, James Carlson, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Chia-y Hsu and most recently, Thomas Kessler and slam poet/hip-hop artist Saul Williams.