TENORS

Ben Davidson (Remandado): Tenor Benjamin Davidson is from Tasmania, Australia, and has performed widely in the US. He has performed the title role in Les contes d'Hoffmann with Opera New England, Camille in the Merry Widow, and Richard Dauntless in Ruddygore with the Simsbury Light Opera Company, Spoletta in Tosca and Remendado in Carmen with the Opera Theater of Connecticut, and Arminio in I Masnadieri with the Connecticut Concert Opera. In addition, he has sung the roles of Tamino in The Magic Flute, Nemorino in l'Elisir d'Amore, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, and the Count in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He has been tenor soloist with New York City Choral Society, Cappella Cantorum, Willimantic Symphony, Connecticut Summer Music Festival, Wesleyan Singers, Middletown Chorale, Concert Choir of Northeastern Connecticut, and Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale.

Aaron Estes (Don Jose): A native of Kansas City, Aaron Estes, is an established performer of straight theatre, musical theatre and opera. A graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts-Theatre program at the College of Santa Fe, Aaron also achieved an Acting Diploma from the prestigious British American Drama Academy, B.A.D.A., making his European debut at the Royal Court Theatre as King Atticus in Swetnam the Woman Hater. In spite of considerable professional success as an actor, Aaron made the decision to pursue music, voice and operatic studies at McGill University in Montreal where he earned his Masters of Music. Here he achieved similar success in the roles of Hoffmann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, The Director in Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Gerontius in The Dream of Gerontius with the McGill Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Recently, Aaron has been seen as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Elder Gleaton in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah with Lake George Opera, as well as Remendado and the cover of Don José in Opera Columbus' Carmen.

Sean Fallen (Almaviva): Tenor Sean Fallen made his New York City Opera debut in 2003 in Strauss' Salome, and since has continued his Lincoln Center debuts as Agenore in the Mostly Mozart Festival's Il Re Pastore and in Avery Fischer Hall soloing with the National Chorale. His roles include Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Nemorino (L'Elisir d'Amore), Tamino (Die Zauberflaute), Ottavio (Don Giovani) and Camille (The Merry Widow) with Sante Fe and Minnesota Operas, among others. Mr. Fallen is a winner of the Friedrich Schorr Competition and an Adams Fellowship recipient.

Joseph Pokorski (Faust): Lyric tenor Joseph Pokorski has delivered acclaimed performances around the world in such roles as Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Rodolfo (La Boheme) and Anthony (Sweeney Todd). He has been a mainstay with the Michigan Opera Theatre singing the roles of Parpignol (La Boheme), Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro) and the Jailor (Tosca) among others. He also appeared in the role of Leader in the American Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Czar Has His Photograph Taken in Cincinnati. Sought after on the concert stage, Mr. Pokorski has been a featured soloist with the Grosse Pointe Symphony, Kentucky Symphony and in 1999 had the privilege of performing as soloist under the baton of maestro Seiji Ozawa. Joseph's extensive experience in musical theater includes over 40 performances of Raoul (Phantom of the Opera) in Hamburg, Germany; Tony (Master Class); Curly (Oklahoma) and Che (Evita).

OPERA FACT

The stereotypical image of a fat woman in a horned helmet screaming in a foreign language is not really seen much anymore.

Today's trend in opera is for singers to be believable in their roles in size, stature, voice and dress.