Again and Again and Again

A versatile composer on the faculty of the Juilliard School Extension, Conrad Cummings writes operas, instrumental music, and music for amplified instruments and voices. His work – “music that reveals the unexpected joys and shadowy depths of the American experience” (The New Yorker) – is heard in venues from Carnegie Hall and BAM to alternative clubs (le) Poisson Rouge and The Knitting Factory.

Opera productions range from the three-act, grand opera exploration of the Vietnam War Tonkin, commissioned and premiered by Opera Delaware, to a three-week Off-Broadway run of the electoral campaign opera Photo-Op by Ridge Theater at New York’s legendary La Mama ETC.

Positions 1956, a self-help opera with Tony-nominated librettist Michael Korie, was commissioned and premiered by Washington DC’s UrbanArias. “Thoroughfare,” a theatrical song cycle with Pulitzer-winning librettist Mark Campbell, written for Met Opera tenor Keith Jameson, was premiered at the National Opera Center. “At the Window” commissioned by the Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and “avant-diva” Amy X Neuburg, received its premiere at Cal Performances.

Recent projects include commissions from the Five Borough Music Festival, HERE Arts Center and mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn, the Yale Guild of Carrilloneurs, New York Philharmonic associate principal bass Max Zeugner, and fortepianist Yi-heng Yang.

Cummings trained at Yale, Stony Brook, and Columbia, did post-doc work at IRCAM in Paris, taught at Oberlin Conservatory for ten years where he directed the music and media program, and since 2003 teaches composition in The Juilliard School Extension.

Honors include selection of The Golden Gate as one of Opera News Magazine’s “Best New Operas of the 21st Century,” fellowships to the MacDowell and Djerassi Foundations, and grants from the NEA, Opera America, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Mark Campbell’s work as a librettist is at the forefront of the contemporary opera scene in this country. A prolific writer, Mark has created 39 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and the text for 6 song cycles and 2 oratorios. His works for the stage have been performed at more than 90 musical venues around the world and the names of his collaborators comprise a roster of the most eminent composers in classical music and include three Pulitzer Prize winners.

Mark’s best-known work is Silent Night, which received a Pulitzer Prize in Music and is one of the most frequently produced operas in recent history. The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, an audience favorite, received a 2018 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording. Mark's other successful operas include The Shining, Stonewall, Later the Same Evening, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, The Manchurian Candidate, As One, The Other Room, Empty the House, Approaching Ali, A Letter to East 11th Street, Dinner at Eight, Volpone, Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World, Bernadette's Cozy Book Nook, Stone Soup, and Bastianello/Lucrezia.His musicals include Songs from an Unmade Bed, The Audience and Splendora. He has also created a successful new adaptation of  Stravinsky/ Ramuz's The Soldier's Story.

Mark has received many other prestigious prizes for his work, including the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Recording, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Drama Desk nominations, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pelliciotti Award, and a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.

Recordings of his works include: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Pentatone), Sanctuary Road (Naxos), Silent Night (Naxos), As One (Bright Shiny Things), Volpone (Wolf Trap Records), Bastianello/Lucrezia (Bridge), Rappahannock County (Naxos), Later the Same Evening (Albany) and Songs from an Unmade Bed (Ghostlight).

Mark is also an advocate for contemporary American opera and serves as a mentor for future generations of writers through such organizations as American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theatre, and Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. In 2020, he created and is funding the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first and only award for opera librettists. The award is given annually and administered by OPERA America.

Future premieres include The Secret River for Opera Orlando (Stella Sung, composer); A Nation of Others for the Oratorio Society of New York (Paul Moravec, composer); Edward Tulane for Minnesota Opera (Paola Prestini, composer); A Sweet Silence in Cremona for the Villa la Pietra–Continuum Theater, Florence (Roberto Scarcella Perino, composer); Supermax for Saratoga Opera (Stewart Wallace, composer; Michael Korie, co-librettist); A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera (Kristin Kuster, composer) and the book for the musical Les Girls (Cole Porter, composer).

Baritone André Chiang has been described as “vocally commanding” (Oregonian), “handsome of voice” (Opera News), and lauded with “let’s hear more from this singer” (Washington Post). Chiang’s engagements include Ping (Turandot) with OperaDelaware, Marcello (La bohème) and Artist Martinez/Ecce Homo (Behold the Man - world premiere) with Opera Las Vegas, and Escamillo (Carmen) with Opera Western Reserve. Chiang has also been seen with the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Philadelphia, the Atlanta Opera, Portland Opera, Virginia Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Las Vegas, Mobile Opera, and other American opera companies.

As an educator, Chiang was a 2018 NATS Intern and in the first cohort of Pan American Vocology Association – Recognized Vocologists (PAVA-RV). Chiang is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Emory University, an Instructor of Voice at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, and runs a private online and in-person studio teaching acoustic and amplified styles.

Erin Gonzalez has performed with UNLV Opera Theater, Pacific Symphony, Sin City Opera, Florentine Opera, Martina Arroyo Foundation, Opera Las Vegas, Nevada Opera Theatre, Eastman Opera Theatre, and Opera Chapman. Role highlights include Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hermia (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Secretary (The Consul), Angelina (La Cenerentola), and Dorabella (Così fan tutte).

Winner of the 2015 and 2016 Nevada District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition and Bramledge Opera Award and Robert Kuntz Scholarship, Erin received a Bachelor in Music from Chapman University Conservatory of Music and Master in Music from Eastman School of Music.

In July and August of 2017, Erin was a member of the Opera Studio at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. While in attendance, she won first place in the elite Meistersinger Competition.

In April 2019, Ms. Gonzalez was named the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year for the College of Fine Arts.

She graduated with her Doctorate in Musical Arts; Voice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in May 2019.

Xavier Prado is a Chilean-born tenor who has received numerous accolades for his exceptional singing. An “Accademia Rossiniana Alberto Zedda 2023” alumnus, he was a finalist and grant winner at the 2023 Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition, finalist at the 2023 Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition, and has won numerous awards including Second Prize at the 40th anniversary Palm Springs Opera Guild 2023 Vocal Competition as well as the Audience Choice Award and Third Prize at the 2023 edition of the same competition. He has also been recognized as a finalist at the 2024 and 2024 Pasadena Vocal Competition where he also received the audience choice award, and as a finalist and Robinson/Tyrrell award winner at both the 2023 and 2024 Mary Jacobs Singers of the Year Competition. In 2019-20, he won the Beverly Hills National Auditions.

Mr. Prado's performances have been internationally praised and described as possessing "truly stunning acting and vocals” and as a tenor who “marque par la vigueur d’une voix bien posée” [marked by the vigor of a well-posed voice]. He has starred in leading roles in various new works and world premiers such as Don Quixote in the opera Dulcinea XL by Juan Colomer, performed in January of 2019 with the Los Angeles Grand Ensemble under the direction of maestro Ignazio Terrasi. He made his film debut in 2018 with the lead role in an American television miniseries, and performed the role of Ruodi in Guillaume Tell with Opera Southwest, which was broadcast across the United States.

As a Studio Artist in Sarasota Opera during their 2016-17 season, he performed dozens of concerts and lead role covers as well as the role of Le Premier Commissaire in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites. At Opera San Jose he sang roles in Le Nozze di Figaro and Streetcar Named Desire, as well as the role of Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri.

Mr. Prado has performed as a soloist in a wide range of repertoire with various opera companies and orchestras worldwide including the Rossini Opera Festival in Italy, Palms Springs Opera Guild, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Buffs, California Philharmonic, The Lyric Opera of Orange County, Golden State Pops Orchestra, the Santiago Canyon Symphony, Pocket Opera, The Rousse Philharmonic in Bulgaria, Livermore Valley Opera, Santa Barbara Choral Society, Cameretta of Los Angeles, Mission Opera, The Valley Opera and Performing Arts, The Huntington Beach Symphony, Antelope Valley Symphony and Master Chorale, Ridgecrest Opera Guild, Pacific Palisades Symphony, Opera en Castellano, Barskaya Independent Opera Company, and the Pacific Lyric Association.

In 2020, through the Consortium of Music Presenters of Southern California, he presented a recital series throughout Southern California. His last public appearance in 2020 was in March, as the tenor soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at The Soraya Hall with the CSUN Symphony and a grand union of chorales. In late 2021 he made his return to the post-pandemic opera stage in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as Count Almaviva with the Huntington Beach Symphony & in the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kaschey The Deathless with Barskaya Independent Opera Company and the title role in Gounod's Faust with Huntington Beach Symphony.

Recent performances include Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Barskaya Independent Opera Company, Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette in several productions, including those by Mission Opera, Valley Opera and Performing Arts, and the Lyric Opera of Orange County, Rodolfo in La Boheme with VOPA; his participation in the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy, in the opera Il Viaggio a Reims singing Zefirnino, this past Summer of 2023, and the title role in the opera Zorro by Hector Armienta with Opera Santa Barbara in 2024.

In 2025, baritone Justin Burgess returns to Washington National Opera (WNO) to sing the role of Paul in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. This fall, he makes his Opera Las Vegas debut in the world premiere of Conrad Cummings and Mark Campbell’s Again & Again & Again, and will join Lyric Opera of Kansas City to cover Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia. In summer 2024, he joined Des Moines Metro Opera, also covering Figaro. Last season, as a Cafritz Young Artist at WNO, he was seen as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Donkey in Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me and A Mobster/The Guide in Songbird.

In his first season with WNO, he sang Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème. In summer 2023, he sang Schaunard and covered Martin/James in Candide at the Glimmerglass Festival. In summer 2022, at Santa Fe Opera, he sang Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde and covered Morales in Carmen. He spent three summers with Wolf Trap Opera where he sang the roles of Fiorello in Il barbiere di Sivigliaand Zerbin in L’ile de Merlin, as well as covering Figaro, Merlin, Toby in Sweeney Todd, and Baron Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon.

A rising star in the world of contemporary opera, he has appeared in several workshops, including as Ty in A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera and Walter in The Hours for The Metropolitan Opera.He has also premiered two new operas through WNO’s American Opera Initiative.

In competition, he was a two time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a finalist for the McCammon Vocal Competition at Fort Worth Opera, and an Emerging Artist Award Winner in the Opera Index Vocal Competition. As a concert artist, he will join the Richmond Ballet and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra as the Baritone soloist in Carmina Burana. He also sang in the North American premiere as Pilatus in Sixten’s Johannespassionen with the University Choir at the University of Cincinnati.

Justin received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and his master’s degree and artist diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He has been a Young Artist with Santa Fe Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Soprano Kayla Wilkens is delighted to return to Opera Las Vegas after appearing as Littler Zegler in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up and as Teen Zelda in Evan Mack and Joshua Snyder’s The Ghosts of Gatsby. Most recently, she joined Vegas City Opera at Meow Wolf's Omega Mart in Prokofiev's The Love For Three Oranges and in Kings & Queens: Madness, Mayhem & Macabre, and as the soprano soloist in The Light of Hope Returning with Desert Singers Las Vegas. An enthusiastic supporter of developing new works, she appeared in the premiere and national tour of the musical We’ll Meet Again (Millie O’Brien), and opera premieres of Diary of a Madman (Sahfee), Vía Láctea (Peggy cover/featured soloist), Culture, Culture! (Page), and O Pioneers! (Marie Shabata). Other contemporary concert soloist credits include Stephen Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Lincoln Choral Artists, John Muehleisen’s Pietà with Abendmusik, and the premiere of Libby Larsen’s Moabit Sonnets with the Linfield Chamber Orchestra.

Athena Mertes, Soprano, is one of the Valley’s most celebrated sopranos, whose opera and concert credits include Marie (The Daughter of the Regiment), Mimi (La Bohème), Musetta (La Bohème), Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Lucy (The Telephone), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Gianetta (L’Elisir d’Amore), Morgana (Alcina), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Abigail (The Crucible), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Waldvogel (Siegfried) and soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Brahms Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Beethoven's 9th and Honegger’s King David. She has performed as a guest soloist with the Burbank Philharmonic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Henderson Symphony, Opera Las Vegas, Vegas City Opera, Lexington Opera Outreach and the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. Some of her recent credits include Sylvia in the World Premiere of Behold the Man, Zelda in the West Coast Premiere of Ghosts of Gatsby and Alice B. Toklas in the West Coast premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek’s 27 with Opera Las Vegas and she portrayed Mimi in Vegas City Opera’s La BoDead.

She is also the Chorus Master of the Opera Las Vegas Youth Chorus and the Director of Choirs at Thurman White Academy of the Performing Arts where she has 400 students. In 2020, she received the Teacher of the Year Award from Magnet Schools of America and is also a National Board-Certified Teacher. In March of 2024, her Choir was  featured at the American Choral Directors Association Regional Conference in Pasadena, California and in April of 2024, her contemporary a cappella group was featured at the National Magnet Schools of America Conference in New York City.

Peter Barber is an American bass-baritone and graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts. He is currently a member of the Arizona Opera Studio, where he has performed Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Capulet in Romeo et Juliette, and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

While at AVA, Peter performed numerous roles, including; the title role in Don Giovanni, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Gremin in Eugene Onegin. Some of Peter’s other role highlights include: Colline in La Bohème, Escamillo in Carmen, Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Stobrod/Blindman in Cold Mountain, and Sarastro in The Magic Flute.

Outside of the opera world, Peter has grown a substantial audience on YouTube, surpassing 160,000 subscribers via videos with music analysis of contemporary music, as well as musical covers. He is also a member of award-winning musical group, The Bass Gang. They have released three EPs, as well as numerous singles, amassing over 10 million views/streams between YouTube and Spotify alone.

Praised for conducting with "steady acumen and considerable aplomb" and "awesome control” (Opera Today), Joshua Horsch is an extremely versatile operatic and symphonic conductor.  A two-time winner of the American Prize in Opera Conducting, Joshua serves as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Las Vegas. Joshua’s recent and upcoming conducting engagements include appearances with Washington National Opera, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Orlando, Opera Idaho, Opera Baltimore, Greensboro Opera, Mobile Opera, Pacific Opera Project, and Tri-Cities Opera.  With a diverse repertoire of over sixty operas and a broad spectrum of orchestral and choral works, Joshua has recently held positions as a conductor and pianist/coach on the music staff of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Austin Opera, Detroit Opera, Florida Grand Opera, North Carolina Opera, Opera Saratoga, Pensacola Opera, the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Newport Music Festival. Joshua studied conducting and piano at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Pennsylvania State University, and Ithaca College.

Marc Callahan is a multi-award-winning director and designer, having won both the Charles Nelson Reilly Award for directing and multiple first prize awards for opera production from the National Opera Association. He has received critical acclaim from The Guardian for his production of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, saying it was “designed and directed with jaw-dropping invention.” His work has taken him around the world with productions at the Royal Opera House, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Holland Festival, Scottish Opera, Miami Music Festival, the New World Center, Théâtre du Châtelet, the Théâtre du Capitole, and Opera Las Vegas. Recent productions include: From the towers of the Moon, Approaching Ali, The Marriage of Figaro, Cendrillon, The Blue Forest, Help, Help, the Globolinks!, Der Jasager, Lohengrin, Alcina, Die Walküre, Il Sogno di Scipione, Atlas, and L’incoronazione di Poppea, for which he was praised in reviews for “…devising a brilliant production of remarkable dramatic intimacy.”).

Timothy Accurso is the Principal Pianist for Opera Santa Barbara, joining the company in the fall of 2018. Tim has been on music staff with Utah Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Saratoga, and the Seagle Music Colony. Originally from Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania, he completed his undergraduate studies at Susquehanna University in Vocal and Piano Performance. To further his studies in opera, Tim received a Master’s of Music in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Dr. Julie Jordan Gunn. Following his studies, Tim was a resident artist with Utah Opera from 2015-2017. In his work with Opera Santa Barbara, he plays all mainstage rehearsals, serves as chorus master of the Opera Santa Barbara chorus, directs the Chrisman Studio Artist program for emerging singers, and performs in community concerts throughout Santa Barbara and the central coast. In addition to his work at the opera, Tim was named the Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Gay Men’s Chorus in the fall of 2022.

Catherine M. Pratt is a theatrical, dance, and opera Lighting Designer based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Her recent design credits with Opera Las Vegas include Approaching Ali, A Capacity for Evil, Letters to Lily, and Proving Up. Catherine has also worked on various other lighting design projects that include Alice\'s Adventures in Wonderland (Rainbow Company Youth Theatre), Elf the Musical (Sierra Repertory Theatre), La Canterina & Der Scheuspiedirektor (UNLV Theater Opera & Nevada Conservatory Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Nevada Conservatory Theatre), Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (UNLV Department of Dance), This Moment of Movement (UNLV Department of Dance), Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Nevada Conservatory Theatre), and DramArt (a collaboration between UNLV and Cirque du Soleil).

Catherine holds a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre with emphasis in Lighting Design from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a B.A. in Theatre from Mount Marty University in Yankton, SD.