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THE BAILEY APPRENTICE ARTIST PROGRAM

2019-2020 Season Apprentice Artist Program

The Cornelia T. Bailey Apprentice Artist Program offers recent music school graduates valuable performance experience alongside Palm Beach Opera’s intensive training curriculum. The Bailey Apprentice Artists act as Palm Beach Opera’s community ambassadors, singing throughout the region in education and community engagement concerts, while also covering supporting roles, studying leading roles, and adding strength to all mainstage production choruses.

The Bailey Apprentice Artist Program is part of a unique three-tiered training system at Palm Beach Opera that includes the Studio Program and the Benenson Young Artist program.

The Bailey Apprentice Artist Program is sponsored by The Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation. Palm Beach Opera is deeply grateful to Cornelia T. Bailey for her immense support, and will miss her greatly. Learn more about Cornelia T. Bailey’s legacy with Palm Beach Opera here. Additional funding is also provided by the Gladys and Sy Ziv Foundation.

  • Suzannah Waddington
    Suzannah Waddington
    Soprano
  • Emily Helenbrook
    Emily Helenbrook
    Soprano
  • SarahAnn Duffy
    SarahAnn Duffy
    Mezzo-Soprano
  • Jenny Anne Flory
    Jenny Anne Flory
    Mezzo-Soprano
  • Maire Carmack
    Maire Carmack
    Mezzo-Soprano
  • David Anderson
    David Anderson
    Tenor
  • Juan Hernández
    Juan Hernández
    Tenor
  • Philippe L’Esperance
    Philippe L’Esperance
    Tenor
  • Eric Smedsrud
    Eric Smedsrud
    Baritone
  • Matthew Soibelman
    Matthew Soibelman
    Bass
  • PG Hazard
    PG Hazard
    Pianist

Would you like more information about auditions?

For more information about our Apprentice Artist Program and auditioning, click here.

2018-2019 Season Apprentice Artists

Sooyeon Kang, Soprano
Suzannah Waddington, Soprano
Maire Carmack, Mezzo-Soprano
Jenny Anne Flory, Mezzo-Soprano
Michael Anderson, Tenor
Anthony Ciaramitaro, Tenor
Pavel Suliandziga, Tenor
Robert Gerold, Baritone
Michael Miller, Baritone
Christopher Carbin, Baritone

2017-2018 Season Apprentice Artists

Maria Brea, Soprano
Sooyeon Kang, Soprano
Brooklyn Snow, Soprano
Kelsey Robertson, Mezzo-Soprano
Emily Spencer, Mezzo-Soprano
Matthew Greenblatt, Tenor
Elliott Paige, Tenor
Robert Gerold, Baritone
Samuel Hinkle, Baritone
James Wright, Baritone

Suzannah Waddington
Soprano

Sponsored by Ms. Anne Bazik

A native of New York City and Philadelphia, Suzannah Waddington is a young soprano pursuing a career in opera performance studying under soprano Angela Meade. Performing since the age of 12, Suzannah has taken on roles in the operatic and musical theater repertoire. In 2015, Suzannah won her category at the CNYFL-NATS competition, and soon after was awarded the Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan National Council Awards. In 2014, she had the honor of being the soprano soloist cover at Carnegie Hall for the National Sacred Honor Choir’s world premiere. Most recently Suzannah was selected as a participant in Joyce DiDonato’s Master Class series at Carnegie Hall. In the summer of 2018, Suzannah will be singing Pamina with Blooming Voce Summer Opera Workshop and will be an apprentice artist with Teatro Nuovo (formerly Caramoor). This fall, she will be an apprentice artist with Palm Beach Opera and will cover Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Suzannah currently resides in Philadelphia.

Emily Helenbrook
Soprano

Sponsored by Linda Taub

23-year-old soprano, Emily Helenbrook, has performed several times as a featured soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the direction of JoAnn Falletta. Emily performed on From the Top at the Chautauqua Amphitheatre and again as an alumni in Kodak Hall at the Eastman School of Music. She has studied at the Oxford Lieder Festival led by Roger Vignoles, Imogen Cooper, Ann Murray, and Robert Holl. She received her B.M. in Vocal Performance and B.A. in Political Science at the Eastman School of Music and University of Rochester Dual Degree Program. She has performed with the Eastman Opera Theatre as Suor Genovieffa and Suor Cristina in Suor Angelica andMese Mariano and as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. Last summer, Emily spent the summer as a vocal fellow at the Aspen Opera Center covering the roles of La Bergère and La Chouette in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. She performed as the soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate with the Livermore-Amador Symphony in California. Miss Helenbrook also premiered the song cycle, Tippet Rise Songs by Antón Garcia-Abril at the TippetRise Art Center in Montana with pianist Christopher O’Riley. Emily recently won the Getting to Carnegie Competition which was held at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall. She was then invited to the Water Island Music Festival in the Virgin Islands, where she performed in various concerts at the festival.  Emily will soon be performing Adele in Die Fledermaus at the 2018 Opera in the Ozarks summer festival. Emily is pursuing her Master’s of Music in Vocal Performance at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University with Dr. Stephen King.

SarahAnn Duffy
Mezzo-Soprano

American mezzo-soprano SarahAnn Duffy is a passionate interpreter of opera, oratorio, and contemporary music.

In the 2018-2019 season, SarahAnn joins Teatro Nuovo, directed by William Crutchfield as a Studio Artist where she will be covering the role of Lucia in Rossini’s La gazza ladra. In the fall, SarahAnn will be an Apprentice Artist at Palm Beach Opera for their 2019-2020 season.

SarahAnn has most recently appeared as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, as the mezzo soloist, Maria, in Ottorino Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity with the Bard College Conservatory’s Vocal Arts Program curated by Dawn Upshaw, the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Classics on Hudson, and Star Wars: The Last Maestro, as Rose, with the Albany Symphony and David Alan Miller. In the 2018-2017 season SarahAnn appeared as the alto soloist in a staged production of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Other recent performances include Valetto in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble.

An avid performer of new music, SarahAnn made her debut at the National Sawdust performing two New York premieres this past April. Alongside members of the Bard College Conservatory’s Vocal Arts Program, SarahAnn sang the role of Ljubica in the Serbian Opera, Svadba (Ana Sokolović, 2015) as well as the premiere performance of Christopher Theofanidis’ Cows of the Apollo at the Aspen Opera Theater Center in 2015.

SarahAnn received her bachelor of music from the New England Conservatory and her master of music from the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory under the mentorship of Dawn Upshaw and Kayo Iwama. She currently studies with Lorraine Nubar.

Jenny Anne Flory
Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Jenny Anne Flory, from Dayton, Virginia, graduated with her MM in Opera Performance, as a member of the University of Maryland Opera Studio (May 2017).  She holds a BM in Vocal Performance from James Madison University (May 2015).

Jenny Anne was an Apprentice Artist at Palm Beach Opera for their 2018-2019 season.  While there she worked with coaches Ksenia Leletkina and Timothy Cheung.  Flory did outreach programs in the West Palm Beach County, and sang in multiple concerts for donors and the general public.  She also participated in the choruses of La traviata, Don Giovanni, and Die Fledermaus.

This past summer, Jenny Anne attended “Si Parla, Si Canta” in Arona, Italy for the month of June.  There she sang La Suora Infermiera in Suor Angelica, along with performing scenes from Cenerentola and Il Crociato in Egitto.

Over the 2017-2018 summers, she participated in the Wintergreen Music Festival Vocal Intensive where she sang the alto solo in the Mozart Requiem, and worked with conductor Erin Freeman.  She also traveled to Italy in 2017 to participate in the BelCanto in Tuscany Emerging Artist Program.

Ms. Flory sang Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orfée aux enfers, and the title role in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia last season with the Maryland Opera Studio.  She recently performed the role of Flora in Charlottesville Opera’s La traviata, and participated in the chorus of MOS’s productions of Regina and Don Giovanni.  She also sang with her classmates in the MOS New Work reading and the MOS Opera Scenes (Spring 2016).  Some of her previous roles at JMU include Lady Angela/Patience, Buttercup/HMS Pinafore, Third Lady/Die Zauberflöte, and Edith/Pirates of Penzance.

Flory has performed as the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah (Ovation Singers, St. Anne’s Episcopal, JMU), Mozart’s Requiem (JMU), Haydn’s Maria Theresa Mass (First Pres. Charlottesville) and Vivaldi’s Gloria (JMU).  She also sang the soprano solo in the Dvořák Mass in D Majorand Te Deum.  Ms. Flory was the first recipient of the Maryland Opera Studio Scholarship, started in 2015.  She sang the National Anthem at the inauguration of University of Maryland Chancellor Robert L. Caret, and at the school wide 2015 graduation at James Madison University.  Ms. Flory previously studied voice with, Delores Ziegler, Linda Mabbs, Elizabeth Bishop, and Arianna Zukerman.  She currently studies with Dr. Carrie Stevens.

 

Maire Carmack
Mezzo-Soprano

A native of Seattle, Washington, Mezzo Soprano Maire Therese Carmack most recently served as a 2019 Young Artist with Opera Saratoga. The fall of 2019 will find her returning to the Palm Beach Opera, having been selected to serve a second season as a Bailey Apprentice Artist.

Equally at home in repertoire old and new, Ms. Carmack performed the role of Prima Donna in the world premiere of Philip Blackburn’s multi-media hyper-opera, The Sun Palace, which became a 60-minute Indie film that was premiered at New York’s prestigious Anthology Film Archives. In a 2018 collaboration with Parisian composer Jean Luc Lenoir, she presented the American premiere of Songs of the Hebrides: a unique collection of Hebridean Gaelic folk songs arranged for voice and ensemble.

Ms. Carmack’s role credits include Empress Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea and Margaret Johnson in Light in the Piazza, both with Eastman Opera Theatre. With Si parla, si canta, she performed as Maddalena in Rigoletto and La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, in Urbania, Italy. As a 2018 Bailey Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera, Ms. Carmack covered the role of Flora in La Traviata and study covered Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. The upcoming Palm Beach Opera season will afford her the study cover opportunities of Olga and Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin, and Berta in The Barber of Seville, and the cover assignments of the Witch and Mother in Hansel and Gretel. With Opera Saratoga, Ms. Carmack covered the delightful role of the Marquise of Berkenfield in La Fille du Regiment.

Maire Therese Carmack holds double Bachelor of Arts degrees in Philosophy and Music from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, summa cum laude, as earned in 2016. From the world-renowned Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, she earned her Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature in 2018. Ms. Carmack is first place winner of the 2019 Rochester International Voice Competition, second place winner of the 2018 Friends of Eastman Opera Aria Competition, third place winner of the Pikes Peak Opera League Young Voice Competition, and 2016 winner of the Pikes Peak Opera League Young Artist Career Grant. Ms. Carmack currently resides in Syracuse, New York and studies with Robert Swensen.

David Anderson
Tenor

 Sponsored by Drs. Marsha & Henry Laufer

Juan Hernández
Tenor

Puerto Rican Tenor Juan Hernández Mercado began his professional singing career with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and has since been part of many local and international productions in the US and abroad. In the 2019 season he has been selected as a Young Artist at the prestigious Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist Program where he will be covering in La Fille du Regiment as well as performing in various concerts throughout the program. He made his professional Italian debut as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Accademia Lirica Internazionale Umberto Giordano in Foggia, Italy 2018. Other recent engagements include Gofreddo in Handel’s Rinaldo, Monostatos in Mozart’s Magic Flute, L’arithmétique in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Gastone in Verdi’s La Traviata, and Basilio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Recent awards include first place at the 2019 NATS NYC district competition, Audience’s Choice in the 2015 Opera on the Avalon aria competition and first place in the 2013 Ricardo Morales Sáez competition. Juan began his Music Studies at the Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini, Alma Mater of some of the most recognized Puerto Rican artists. After graduating with Honors, he continued his training in Vocal Performance at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of the late William Woodruff. Juan is currently a voice student of Raymon Geis.

Philippe L’Esperance
Tenor
Eric Smedsrud
Baritone

Eric Smedsrud, baritone, is excited to join Palm Beach Opera for the 2019-2020 season! He grew up in Eden Prairie, MN and is currently based in the Minneapolis area. He received his Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University and his Master of Music from Indiana University. Favorite roles from his time at Indiana University include Abdul in Menotti’s The Last Savage, Joseph De Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In 2016, he was a featured soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, performing in a concert series that showed children the various facets of classical music.

In 2017 he was an Apprentice Singer with Charlottesville Opera (formerly Ash Lawn Opera), singing the Herald in Rigoletto, covering Will Parker and performing Ike Skidmore in Oklahoma!. He returned to Charlottesville Opera this past summer as a Young Artist this where he was a featured soloist in the Encore! Concert, perform Escamillo in La Tragedie de Carmen, and cover Sir Lancelot in Camelot.

Eric is equally passionate about musical theatre and recently performed as Squash Bernstein in MN Artistry’s production of the rarely performed musical Victor/Victoria.

Outside of singing and performing, Eric Smedsrud enjoys staying active by lifting weights, running, playing basketball, and biking. He is an avid fan of Minnesota’s professional sports teams.

Matthew Soibelman
Bass

A Los Angeles native pursuing a BM in Vocal Performance at California State University Northridge. Recently, he was awarded the Ben DeBolt Memorial Scholarship at the Henry and Maria Holt Memorial Scholarship Competition, Regional and National Scholarship Winner fromNational Society of Arts and Letters Shirley Rabb Winston Voice Scholarship Competition, he received theS. Livingston Mather Scholarship from The Singers Club of Cleveland Competition , 2ndin Center Stage Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Competition and honored to receive the LA Opera Encouragement Award. He was a Finalist in the Kristen Lewis Foundation Scholarship Competition, as well as the Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition at the 2017 National Opera Association, also taking first place with Pepperdine University in NOA’s Opera Scenes Competition and first place in the Cal-Western Freshman Division of NATS in 2016.

Matthew has had the honor of participating in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, OperaWorks and the past several years in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. He is excited to start this summer participating in Songfest followed by Chautauqua Institute’s Voice Program.

Roles performed include Falstaff in Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Surin in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Mr. Slocum in Nice Day for the Races, The Speaker/2ndArmored Guard in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Giorgio in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliersand several other productions. Matthew can also be heard on the film soundtracks of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakensand Transformers: The Last Knight.

PG Hazard
Pianist

A Florida native, PG Hazard is excited to return to her home state as an Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera. In the 2018-19 academic year Ms. Hazard held a staff pianist/coach position with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  There she prepared Werther with Maestro Antony Walker, Rodelinda with Grammy-award winning conductor Stephen Stubbs, and was the assistant conductor for Piedmont Opera’s production of La bohème with Maestro James Allbritten. While pursuing her Master’s degree at UNCSA, Ms. Hazard held the inaugural Fletcher Fellowship in collaborative piano. Ms. Hazard’s training has included summers at festivals such as Music Academy of the West, Si Parla Si Canta, Songfest, and the Miami Music Festival. While at Music Academy of the West she received the 2017 Shirley and Seymour Lehrer Full Scholarship. She has appeared in masterclasses with Marilyn Horne, Speranza Scappucci, William Bolcom, Libby Larsen, Jake Heggie, Warren Jones, Wu Han, Jeanne-Michelle Charbonnet, Harolyn Blackwell, and Renée Fleming. PG received her Bachelor’s degree at FSU where she collaborated with The University Singers undergraduate choir, accompanying concerts in the U.S. and Europe and was given the opportunity to music direct the Student Opera Society’s productions of A Little Night Music as well as their outreach production of The Magic Flute.

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