Board of Trustees Chorus President: Staff Kyle Marrero, General and Artistic Director 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’s Rigoletto, Tosca, La Traviata and Aida, Jacksonville Symphony’s Don Giovanni and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mobile Opera’s Turandot and Madama Butterfly, Shreveport Opera’s La Boheme and Tosca, Pensacola Opera’s Tosca, The Merry Widow, Madama Butterfly, Carmen and 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 Erin Kelley Sammis, Director of Development and Marketing Before transitioning into the field of arts administration, Sammis trained extensively as a singer and pianist, holding a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Furman University and Master of Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University. Sammis also participated with Opera Theatre St. Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist in 2004. Erin continues her musical career as a private voice instructor and musician at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church. Chandra Egger McKern, Director of Education & Community Outreach Since launching her career, Mrs. Egger McKern has won praise in roles as both a lyric-mezzo-soprano and a soprano. Chandra is a versatile performer succeeding in a broad range of styles including opera, operetta, concert, and musical theater. On the Operatic Stage she has performed such roles as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Antonia in Tales of Hoffman, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and the Erste Dame in Die Zauberflote. Recently she performed Mrs. Barnaby in a production of Babes in Toyland with the Little Orchestra Society of New York at Avery Fischer Hall, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflote with Tulsa Opera, Berta in Il barbiere di Sivilgia with Opera Birmingham and Diana in the "Orpheus in the Underworld" with Nevada Opera. Chandra has participated in the young artist programs with Central City Opera and Chicago Opera Theater. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Music from Indiana University. Geoffrey Bleeker, Patron Services Manager Jennifer Knisbell, Office Administrator |
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.
Erin Kelley Sammis joined the staff of Pensacola Opera as the Director of Development and Marketing in 2006. Prior to that, Sammis served as the Development Associate for Chicago Opera Theatre and the Annual Giving Specialist for Girl Scouts of Tulip Trace Council. She has over four years of experience in the field of non-profit and arts administration. Sammis is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Leadership Pensacola Class of 2009. 
Chandra Egger McKern, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa, is excited to be joining Pensacola Opera as the new Direction of Education/Outreach. 
Geoffrey comes to Pensacola Opera with a strong background in customer service and arts administration. He was the Assistant Company and Box Office Manager for West Virginia Public Theatre, where he helped make an eight-show summer season – in a tent – one of their most successful years to date. A Houston native, Geoffrey graduated from The University of Texas with a degree in the Plan II Honors Program. He is also astage director and actor, and has worked with companies and universities in Houston, Austin, Las Cruces, NM, Cincinnati, OH, and Pensacola.
Jennifer Knisbell, a Pensacola native, is the new Office Administrator for the Pensacola Opera. She comes to the company after serving three years in the theatre industry in San Francisco, California. While in San Francisco, she was featured in a world premiere musical, as well as worked for Theatre Bay Area in Development and Box Office. Jennifer attended the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, earned an Associates degree in Theatre at Pensacola Junior College and a Bachelors degree in Communications at the University of Central Florida. Prior to her time in Orlando and San Francisco, Jennifer appeared in numerous productions with Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola Junior College and St. Mary’s Productions.