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Cast
Kyle Marrero holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan, where he worked extensively with George Shirley, Martin Katz and Jerry Blackstone. He currently is the Director of the School of Fine and Performing Arts and Chair of the Music Department at the University of West Florida and serves as General and Artistic Director of Pensacola Opera. Past affiliations have included eleven years as an Associate Professor of voice at Louisiana State University, Production Director for Nevada Opera and Artistic Director of Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Committed to the development of young singers, Dr. Marrero has served on the staff of Des Moines Metro Opera’s summer festival for ten seasons as a stage director for the apprentice artist program. As Artistic Director of Pensacola Opera, Marrero has led the company tripling its annual budget and doubling its patronage in eight years. This growth was acknowledged by Opera America recognizing Pensacola Opera as one of the fastest growing Opera Companies in North America for three years in a row. Mainstage productions continue to garner critical acclaim and have helped facilitate granting opportunities with the National Endowment of the Arts and Opera America. Demonstrating his commitment to education, he founded the Artist-in-Residence program at Pensacola Opera. The program, encompassing thirteen weeks of residency, provides training to young artists newly out of graduate school and delivers outreach and educational programs reaching over 30,000 children in Northwest Florida and South Alabama. As a singer, Dr. Marrero has performed around the world including Kuwait, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkey, Chile, and Bolivia as an Artistic Ambassador presenting American Composer Recitals for the United States Artistic Ambassador Program. His live recording of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with soprano Patricia O’Neill was produced on the EGAMI label. Operatic performances in the United States have included the San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Tour and Merola Opera Program, Chautauqua Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, New Orleans Opera, Mobile Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, Natchez Opera, Pensacola Opera, Toledo Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Southwest, Jefferson Performing Arts Society, Tulane Summer Lyric, Four Corners Opera, and Papageno Opera. In Europe he appeared with the Biel Staatsoper in Switzerland as Guglielmo in Cosí fan tutte and Figaro in "Le nozze di Figaro". In addition, he is the recipient of the 1993 Ara Berberian Award, the 1989 Levy memorial Award (San Francisco Opera), and the Rackham Merit Fellowship at the University of Michigan. As a Stage Director recent engagements include Nevada Opera’sRigoletto, Tosca, La Traviata and Aida, Jacksonville Symphony’s Don Giovanni and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mobile Opera’s Turandot andMadama Butterfly, Shreveport Opera’s La Boheme and Tosca, Pensacola Opera’s Tosca, The Merry Widow, Madama Butterfly, Carmenand La Traviata, and Opera Southwest’s The Magic Flute. Upcoming engagements include stage direction for Pensacola Opera’s Aïda, Nevada Opera’s Manon and Jacksonville Symphony’s Cosí fan tutte.
Conductor Jerome Shannon has lead orchestras around the country to wide acclaim in versatile repertoire including opera, operetta, musical theatre, ballet and symphonic programs. The New York Times praises his “skill and verve,” and Opera News says he “controlled his forces with assurance, propelling the music with subtle rhythmic pulse.” He served as the Mobile Opera’s General Director and Principal Conductor for over 10 years, and currently is the Music Director and Conductor of Pensacola Opera. Most recent engagements from the past two seasons include H.M.S. Pinafore with Nashville Opera, Tosca with San Antonio Opera, Porgy and Bess with the Fresno Grand Opera, Street Scene with Chautauqua Opera, Aida and Cosi Fan Tutte with the Pensacola Opera, The Merry Widow at Northwestern University, and Mobile Opera’s productions of La Traviata, Andrea Chenier, and a Valentine’s Rodgers & Hammerstein Concert. Next, he conducts H.M.S. Pinafore at Opera Carolina and Andrea Chenier with the Nashville Opera. Additional noted engagements include his Mobile Opera’s Gala Celebration with Denyce Graves, Marta Domingo’s production of Tales of Hoffman and Andrea Chenier (covering Maestro Placido Domingo) with the Washington National Opera, new production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers with Chautauqua Opera, a return to Lake George Opera for La Bohéme, Amahl and the Night Visitors and Handel’s Messiah for the Virginia Symphony, Lucia di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly, Porgy and Bess, and Carmen for Pensacola Opera, a return to Chautauqua Opera for a new production of Robert Ward’s The Crucible, H.M.S. Pinafore and Mikado, and a return to Shreveport Opera for Rigoletto, Tosca, and La Boheme. Mr. Shannon was the Associate Artistic Director and Associate Conductor for Virginia Opera from 1992-1996, conducting performances of Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, West Side Story, La Bohème, Die Fledermaus, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carousel, Die Zauberflöte and Oklahoma! From 1987-1992, he was the Musical Director and Principal Conductor of Opera NorthEast, conducting over 350 performances of this national touring company’s productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Carousel, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Kismet, Kiss Me Kate, Show Boat, The Merry Widow, Cosi Fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor and L'Elisir d'Amore. Mr. Shannon is a frequent judge on panels for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, national opera competitions, and is an adjunct faculty member of the University of South Alabama. He is a graduate of the College of Creative Arts of West Virginia University, where he was a student of Metropolitan Opera soprano Frances Yeend and her husband, coach/pianist James Benner.
Additional previous engagements for Ms. Dukach include a highly acclaimed Mimì in La Bohème at New York City Opera, a reprisal of her house debut there the previous year. She also has performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with both Orlando Opera and with Opera Carolina; Xenia in Boris Godunov for San Diego Opera; Mimì with Lake George Opera, Sarasota Opera, Dicapo Opera and National Lyric Opera; Caroline Gaines in Margaret Garner with Opera Carolina; Dorotea in Conte's Don Chisciotte with the Caramoor Festival; and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Opera North. She made her Alice Tully Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra as Aljeja in Janáček's From the House of the Dead, and her Carnegie Hall debut in a program of Rutter's Magnificat and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem. Other concert highlights have included a concert of Gluck arias with Opera de Oviedo in Spain; Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder with Theater Pforzheim in Germany; Songs of Yiddish Poetry with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; the Verdi Requiem with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; the Brahms Requiem with the Greenwich Choral Society; the Mozart Requiem with the Saratoga Choral Festival; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Smith College Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; and Barber's Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 with Bay Shore Lyric Opera. Inna Dukach was a winner of the 2005 Liederkranz Competition, a winner of the 2004 Dutka Arts Foundation Competition, and a New England regional finalist of the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She received her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from Mannes College of Music, and her Bachelor's Degree from Smith College.
Dinyar Vania has recently emerged as one of the country's most exciting young tenors. With a voice which combines both power and beauty, he has earned critical acclaim portraying several of the most beloved roles in opera. In the 2010-11 season he performs as Don Jose in Carmen in his debut with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Duke in Rigoletto with Opera Grand Rapids, Rodolfo in La bohème with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, returns to the roster of New York City Opera for its production of L'elisir d'amore, appears as soloist in an evening of opera arias with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and in Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. In season 2011-12 he sings as Rodolfo in La bohème with Dayton Opera. Recent highlights include his debut with the Utica Symphony Orchestra as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana; a return to Sacramento Opera to make his role debut as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore; to Mercury Opera (Rochester, NY) to sing Alfredo in La traviata, a role which he immediately reprised in concert with Symphony of the Mountains; to Knoxville Opera as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor; his role debut as Edgardo with Mobile Opera; his Mercury Opera debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca; a return to Knoxville Opera for his role debut as the Duke in Rigoletto; performing as soloist in Cavalleria Rusticana in concert with the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra; and his return to the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra for concert performances of Tosca. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, which he has also sung with the Harrisburg Symphony. Other concert appearances include singing as soloist with the Naples Philharmonic in a gala holiday series, and with the Jacksonville Symphony in an all-Verdi evening. Mr. Vania was awarded Syracuse Opera's "Artist of the Year" award, as well as First Place in the Giulio Gari Vocal Competition, Second Prize in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, and was a semi-finalist in Placido Domingo's Operalia in Madrid, Spain.
Noted engagements from the past few seasons include a return to the Santa Fe Opera in 2009 performing Masetto in Don Giovanni and covering Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with the Arizona Opera and Tulsa Opera; Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Indianapolis Opera; Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figarowith Opera Cleveland and Opera Birmingham; Valentin in Faustwith Opera Carolina; Marcello in La Bohème with the Nashville Opera; Pish-Tush in The Mikado with Arizona Opera; Ping in Turandot and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Birmingham; and Morales in Carmenand Silvio cover in I Pagliacci in his New York City Opera debut. An active concert performer, Mr. McKern recently made his Carnegie Hall debut as the baritone soloist in the Faure Requiem, as well as Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder with the Missoula Symphony, and performances with the New Choral Society in Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana, which he also performed with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra. His oratorio credits include Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and a concert of operetta highlights with the Indianapolis Symphony. Mr. McKern is a former grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation, as well as the first place winner of Opera Birmingham, Shreveport Opera, and Mobile Opera competitions of 2005. He holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, and Bachelor of Music Education from Mississippi State University.
Born in Louisiana, Mr. Jacobs attended Loyola University in New Orleans, and The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music before finished his education in New York at SUNY Stony Brook. He is a two-time Metropolitan Opera regional finalist and winner of the Orpheus National Vocal Competition. Regarded for his “strong, bright voice”, Mr. Jacobs has performed principal roles with opera companies throughout the United States, including: New Orleans Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Fresno Grand Opera, Mobile Opera, Pensacola Opera, Amarillo Opera, Berkshire Opera, Light Opera Oklahoma, Bronx Opera, ConcertOPERA Philadelphia, and many others. From villains to comic characters, and everything in between, Jacobs has been equally praised for his characterization “as Carl-Magnus, Jacobs was the embodiment of pompous, oblivious and dangerous masculine vanity,” and vocal skill “Jacobs sang with power and confidence.” Mr. Jacobs made his debut as a soloist at Carnegie Hall in a program of sacred music in 2009, and has performed as a soloist in concerts with companies including: the Berkshire Choral Festival, Tulsa Oratorio Chorus, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, New Orleans Symphony Chorus, Choral Society of Pensacola and Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Jacobs is the Voice Faculty Chair and Director of Opera at the University of Mobile.
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Kyle Marrero, Director
Jerome Shannon, Conductor
Inna Dukach, Soprano - Cio-Cio San
Dinyar Vania, Tenor - Pinkerton
Corey McKern, Baritone – Sharpless
Elise Quagliata, Mezzo Soprano – Suzuki
Joseph Shadday, Tenor - Goro
Patrick Jacobs, Baritone - Bonze
Mitchell Hutchings, Baritone - Yamadori/Commissioner 
Jennifer Juilfs, Soprano - Kate Pinkerton