Click HERE to see clips of Performers featured in Opera Frontier's ReMiX8 on March 2008


Skye Atman (Pianist) performs regularly as pianist with many leading Bay Area soloists and ensembles and is a highly regarded vocal coach and accompanist. She is a versatile musician who enjoys working with theatrical companies such as Berkeley Repertory Theater, Berkeley Opera, North Bay Opera, the Mendocino Music Festival, the Youth Musical Theater Company, and the Marin Theater.  She has been Assistant Music Director at Oakland Opera Theater for the past 7 years.  Skye completed her graduate studies in accompanying with Jean Barr at the University of Southern California and worked as a free-lance musician in Los Angeles and London before moving to Berkeley in the ‘90s.

Carmichael Blankenship (Baritone) has experience in an unusual variety of disciplines ranging from acrobatics to Polynesian music and dance. His theatrical work includes major roles in musicals such as Dessa Rose, CATS, Carousel, West Side Story, Dreamgirls, Guys and Dolls, and Oklahoma! (for which he won a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics' Award for Best Actor in a Musical). He has toured nationally and internationally with San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Na Hula 'O Moku'aina, and Moving Arts Dance Company. He sang as a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus in the world premiere of Appomattox, and in the same season he was a featured dancer in the San Francisco Opera Ballet Corps for Samson and Delilah and The Rake’s Progress. He performed as a featured soloist with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, and is currently performing with several bay area dance and theatre companies. 

John Kendall Bailey (Conductor) is Principal Conductor and Chorus Master of the Trinity Lyric Opera, Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of Voices of Musica Sacra, and Artistic Director of the San Francisco Song Festival. In 1994, Mr. Bailey founded the Berkeley Lyric Opera and served as its Music Director and Conductor until 2001. Since then he has been a guest conductor with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Oakland Youth Orchestra, and Oakland Ballet, and music director and conductor for productions with North Bay Opera, Mission City Opera, Goat Hall Productions, Solo Opera, the Crowden School and Dominican University. From 2002-2006 he was the Chorus Master of the Festival Opera of Walnut Creek. Mr. Bailey is also a composer, and his works have been performed and commissioned in the Bay Area and abroad.  Mr. Bailey has been a pre-performance lecturer for Oakland East Bay Symphony and San Francisco Opera, a critic for San Francisco Classical Voice, a writer of real-time commentary for the Concert Companion, and has taught conducting at the University of California at Davis.

D. Courtney Bryson (Tenor) retuned to singing recently after a 24 year hiatus. Upon graduation from Shenandoah University he was vote Virginia’s “Singer of the Year” by NATS. He gained fame for his Lieder concerts and when heard by Eugene Talley-Schmidt was offered a fellowship to Florida State to study with Talley-Schmidt and Elena Nikolaidi. While preparing for a Fulbright Grant to study/sing in Mr. Talley-Schmidt’s old company in Germany, Mr. Bryson was drafted into the military. Stationed in Hawaii he sang with Honolulu Opera Theatre. In Hawaii he was selected by Italo Tajo of the Met to perform the world premiere of a newly discovered opera by Purcell, The Judgment of Paris.  He then left the stage for a business and family life. While living in New Mexico he joined a new opera company conducted by the founder/conductor emeritus of the Santa Fe Opera, Robert Baustian who encouraged Doug to resume singing. Since moving to the Bay Area he has been a soloist in opera and oratorio with the Festival Opera, the Oakland  Lyric Opera, Peninsula Cantare, California Chamber Orchestra, Moraga Choir, Rossmoor Chorus, and the San Francisco City Chorus.

Sarah Bush (Choreographer) actively seeks out cutting edge collaborations with talented artists--musicians, DJs, designers, filmmakers, visual artists--to create performances that get closer to movement truth and give audiences pure experiences of emotion. Currently, Sarah is the Director of Sarah Bush Dance Project.    She studied Modern Dance at the University of Utah, and has trained in all styles of dance including Modern and Hip Hop in New York, Los Angeles, and of course, the Bay Area.  She has choreographed for venues as diverse as her stylistic training: schools, churches, nightclubs, music videos, musical theater productions, dance teams, music artist tours, and cruise ships. Recent credits include choreographing and dancing in Joshua Klipp's MTV/LOGO Top 10 single "Rescue Me" directed by Margaret Cho, and appearances on the Tyra Banks Show.  As a dancer, Sarah has trained and performed with New Style Motherlode, Loose Change and as a long-time Taiko-playing member of Dance Brigade. She has been a guest performer with Bill T. Jones, a Golden State Warrior’s Warrior Girl, and played parts in theatrical productions--San Jose Repertory Theatre’s Iphigenia at Aulis and Zeola Gaye’s My Brother Marvin at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Learn more about Sarah’s work at  www.myspace/sarahbushdanceproject.

Chris Corley (Tenor) Christopher Corley (Tenor) has extensive solo and choral experience and is a sought after tenor for both opera and oratorio.  He has performed with the San Francisco Opera Company, Arizona Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, North Bay Opera, Berkeley Opera, the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, San Mateo Masterworks Chorale, Stockton Symphony and Scola Cantorum as well as other Bay Area organizations.  Mr. Corley made his debut with San Francisco Opera in L’incoronazione de Poppea in 1998.  Opera roles include the Duke of Mantua, Don Ottavio, Rodolfo, and Alfredo.  He has appeared as tenor soloist for the Marin and South Peninsula chapters of the San Francisco Opera Guild, Opera a la Carte, Santa Cruz Symphony, Santa Clara Chorale, San Jose Symphonic Choir and Cantare Con Vivo and the Peninsula Symphony.  He has been the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s 9th, Verdi’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah.  Mr. Corley has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus since 1993.

Zachary Gordin (Guest Baritone) Achieving international acclaim for his intense stage personality and a voice noted for its versatility, Zachary is a noted interpreter of the 18th century coloratura bass repertoire, Bel Canto works of Bellini and Donizetti, as well as works of contemporary composers. Formerly one of the leading operatic countertenors of his generation, he has sung in concert and opera in the United States and Europe, performing the roles of Cesare, Oberon, Orfeo, Rinaldo, Serse, Sesto, Tancredi, The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, and many others.  Recently focusing his career on the baritone repertoire, Zachary’s praise from the press and public has been unanimously outstanding.  Among his many awards and accolades are: Winner of the 2006 Pacific Musical Society Competition, Winner of the 2005 East Bay Opera League Vocal Competition, Winner of the 1999 Bellini International Voice Competition, Winner of the 1999 Ibla Grand Prize Baroque Music Competition, Recipient of the Irene Patti Swartz Encouragement Award for the 2001 Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition, and Grantee of the Vocal Arts Foundation in San Francisco in 2002. He was also World Finalist for the Academia at Teatro alla Scala in 1999, Regional Finalist for the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the youngest candidate selected for the ORFEO 2000 World Competition of International Finalists hosted by Hannover Staatsoper. 

Lane McKenna (Soprano) trained on the East Coast in acting and singing (Brown University, HB Studios) and currently works under vocal coach Gualtiero Negrini.  Lane is a performing chameleon, equally comfortable singing classical, musical theatre and pop music, and acting/dancing in musicals as well as dramas and comedies.  In the classical realm, she frequently joins the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with which she has sung eight concerts including Orff’s Carmina Burana, Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.   Favorite musical stage roles include Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (Foothill Music Theatre), Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music (TheatreWorks), Marguerite in The Scarlet Pimpernel (Diablo Light Opera Co.), Martha Jefferson in 1776 (Woodminster), Lily in The Secret Garden (Hillbarn Theatre), Christine in Phantom (Amer. Musical Theatre  of San Jose, U/S) and Mrs. Lyons in Blood Brothers (Palo Alto Players).  Her favorite acting role: Claire in A Delicate Balance (Actors’ Ensemble of Berkeley).  By day, Lane teaches singing and acting at her San Mateo studio.  

Maria Mikheyenko (Soprano), a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, is actively involved in bringing Russian repertoire to audiences of all backgrounds.  She has sung with the Russian Chamber Orchestra of Marin, was a guest artist at the annual Russian Festival of San Francisco, and performs recitals of Russian Romances around the Bay Area.  Maria has performed with local companies such as Pocket Opera, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Mendocino Opera, and Oakland Opera Theater.  In the world of contemporary opera, Maria has had the opportunity of premiering three roles written for her: Salai (Leonardo da Vinci’s lifelong servant and pupil) in Leonardo’s Notebooks, and Lucifer and Onesta Donati in Machiavelli’s Belfagor, by composer Lisa Scola Prosek.  Maria's training includes a BM in Voice from the University of Michigan, a graduate degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, and the Austrian American Mozart Academy in Salzburg.  She has also been a guest artist with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, the Fortnightly Music Club of Palo Alto, and the national radio show West Coast Live! with host Sedge Thomson.   To find out about Maria's upcoming performances, please click on her name to visit her website. 

Kelcey Jay Poe (Mezzo-Soprano) is thrilled to be involved with Opera Frontier, and is looking forward to meshing her training in both dance and singing.  She has been a professional dancer and singer for many years, but never at the same time!  As a dancer, Kelcey trained locally as well as at the San Francisco Ballet School and The Joffrey Ballet in New York City.  She then went on to delve into the folk dance and singing world, performing world dance and song with Westwind International Folk Ensemble and Russian dancing with Neva Russian Dance Ensemble (headed by Moiseyev’s premier dancer, Vladimir Riazantsev).  Her classical voice performances began in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with Lamplighters Musical Theater and she has gone on to perform with Berkeley Opera and Pocket Opera.   She also sang and danced in “Khovanshchina” for conductor Kent Nagano.  In musical theatre, Kelcey has worked often at Altarena Playhouse, and frequently for her favorite director, Phil Lowery.  She has choreographed and coached dancing for North Bay Opera, Lamplighters Musical Theatre, and the Altarena Playhouse.  She currently studies voice with Pamela Hicks-Gailey, and is involved in the training workshops Singer’s Gym in San Francisco

Sarah-Nicole Ruddy-Carter (Mezzo-Soprano) studies with Cathy Cook at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is a second year graduate student and recipient of the Dorothy Steinmetz Vocal Scholarship. Recent operatic performances have included Second Lady in The Magic Flute, The Squirrel and White Cat in L’enfant et les Sortileges, Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte, Amastre in Serse, and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel at the Conservatory, as well as Mme. Pernelle in Tartuffe with BASOTI. Upcoming performances include Volupia and 3rd Ore in Cavalli’s L’Egisto at the Conservatory and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with BASOTI.  Past masterclasses have included Lotfi Mansouri, Patricia Craig, William Bolcom and Joan Morris, and Pierre Valet. Sarah-Nicole is the graduate assistant for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s musical theater program, and has received departmental honors for her frequent musical theater performances. Recent roles have included Desiree in A Little Night Music, and Little Red in Into the Woods. Also active in opera and theater production, recent directing credits include The Magic Flute with Livermore Opera, The Impresario at the San Francisco Conservatory, and numerous scenes for the SFCM Opera workshop scenes program. Assistant directing highlights include The Rape of Lucrecia, The Magic Flute, The Tales of Hoffman, and the current production of La BohemeTrouble in Tahiti with San Francisco Lyric Opera, in addition to at the San Francisco Conservatory of music.

Gail Simpson (Producer, Artistic Director, Soprano)  People who know Gail are not surprised to find her exploring the frontier of opera.  Prior explorations have put an eclectic array of bullet points on her resume, such as working two years in Ethiopia on a UN drought relief project, getting a PhD in economics, founding an Inc 500 company, serving as a hospital chaplain, and running a non-profit that supports socially responsible investing.  But her soul always pulls her toward song and dance.  She is enormously grateful to her teacher/mentor, Lillian Loran, who encouraged her as she added these performance credits to her resume:  Gail won critical acclaim in her local debut -- a Jerome Kern review called A Fine Romance at the late, great Valencia Rose Theater;   at the Edinburg International Festival Fringe she was Katie in Joseph Lilis’ Cole Porter review Some Like It Cole;  locally she perform Magnolia in Showboat, Cunegonde in Candide and the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and as soprano soloist sang Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach’s Hunting Cantata.  In addition to performing, she has produced her own critically acclaimed cabaret show at the Plush Room, and two operettas with Bay Area director Ross Halper.  Opera Frontier was hatched in Gail’s mind while daydreaming in Roger Dilahunty’s dance class instead of concentrating on the jazz-blues routines he so ardently wanted her to master.   She currently studies with Zachary Gordin, whose talent and passion for fabulous singing make opera a truly fascinating frontier.