WHERE ARE THEY NOW

Melissa Jean Chávez, soprano

Melissa Jean Chávez, Castleton Artist Training Seminar Alumna, has been acclaimed by the Washington Post for her “voluptuous voice” and “cooly exemplary production”. She has sung for Supreme Court justices, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and performed as a soloist with the United State Army Chorus. For four years, Ms. Chávez has been a young artist at the Castleton Festival, under the direction of the late Maestro Lorin Maazel. Performances at the Castleton Festival include roles and covers in A Little Night Music, Otello, and Britten’s Les Illuminations. She sings with multiple opera companies in the greater Washington DC area, recent and upcoming roles include Beatrice (Béatrice et Bénédict), Adriana (Adriana Lecouvreur), Carmela (La Vida Breve), Maddalena (Andrea Chenier), Libby Norton (Norton: A Civil War Opera), Beatrix (Les Bavards), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Desdemona (Otello), Giorgetta (Il Tabarro) and the title roles in both Suor Angelica and Princess Ida. She also appears regularly as a recitalist, soloist, and with DC Opera on Tap, a performing group who entertains in DC area bars and wineries. Ms. Chávez is a two-time winner of the Bach-Handel Competition, has placed in numerous NATS competitions, and received multiple grants for performance and study including the Marion Park Lewis Foundation grant.

Castleton Career:

“Toujours l’amour” featured soloist 2015
Ensembles: Carmen, A Little Night Music, Otello, Madama Butterfly, Roméo et Juliette.
Kate Pinkerton (cover) – Madama Butterfly
Viva la Musica gala 2015

Kira Dills DeSurra, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Kira Dills-DeSurra is one of the CATS’ particular success stories. Joining the CATS in 2014, Ms. Dills-DeSurra merely covered a small role, La Zia in Madama Butterfly, however she grew so much in that time that she was invited back the following summer, still as a CATS participant, to perform the role of Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette. 

Dills-DeSurra’s competition and award wins include National Finalist in the Classical Singer Music Vocal Competition, first place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, Chicago, first place in the Evanston Music Club/North Shore Musicians Club Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council St. Louis District Encouragement Award, Central City Opera John Vivian Richard Award, and Central City Opera Guild Award. 

Notable Performances with:
• Roosevelt University
• Chicago Opera Theater
• Cedar Rapids Opera Theater
• Lyric Opera of Chicago
• Sonoma First Look (Original Opera Hand to Mouth with John Dukers)

Aubrey Odle, mezzo-soprano

“Following my time at Castleton’s Vocal Immersion Program, I finished my residency with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where during that time I also won 2nd Place in the Opera Birmingham Vocal competition. I attended Des Moines Metro Opera for the 2023 summer season where I covered Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle. In the fall, I moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work as a Studio Artist with The Atlanta Opera, where I work currently and it has been an incredible experience thus far. I had the opportunity to sing the role of Giovanna in Rigoletto this fall, and I will sing the role of Siegrune in my first full Wagner opera this spring, Die Walküre. For the 2024 summer season, I have the incredible opportunity to attend The Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist, where I will cover the role of Marilyn in the World Premiere of The Righteous. It’s been a busy, but very fulfilling time!”

Aubrey Odle, known for her “warm, plummy” and “luscious” sound, is a competitive up-and-coming mezzo-soprano. She is currently a Glynn Studio Artist with The Atlanta Opera, this season performing roles in Rigoletto (Giovanna) and Die Walküre (Siegrune). For the Summer 2024 season, she will cover the role of Marilyn in the World Premiere of The Righteous at The Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist.

John Overholt, tenor

Tenor John Overholt considers Castleton a vital part of his career growth. In his own words, the “CATS Program is fantastic for any artist looking to bridge the gap between the educational environment of university and the professional world.” Mr. Overholt began his CATS journey in 2014 as ensemble in Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly. He was invited back for the title role in the world premiere of Scalia/Ginsburg in which he received much acclaim. Mr. Overholt recently graduated from CCM and his summers in Castleton have had a major impact on his success.

Notable roles:
John Overholt as Scalia with Ellen Wieser as Justice Ginsberg
• The Witch (Hänsel and Gretel)
• Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore)
• Jenik (The Bartered Bride)
• Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi)
• Scalia

Davone Tines, bass-baritone

Bass-Baritone Davone Tines, deemed a “…charismatic, full-voiced bass-baritone…” by the New York Times, is an example of how quickly a CATS participant can grow. As a first year student in Castleton in 2012, Mr. Tines was assigned a small comprimario role in Rosssini’s The Barber of Seville. He was invited back in 2013 for main roles in two separate productions: La fanciulla del West and Otello. Growing up near Castleton, Mr. Tines earned degrees from both Harvard and Julliard. Since his time spent in Castleton Mr. Tines’ career has continued on an upward trajectory, making a name both internationally and here at home. This coming season, Mr. Tines will debut with the Dutch National Opera in Kaja Saariaho’s Only the Sound Remains, directed by Peter Sellars. He will reprise the role with the Ojai Music Festival and the Finnish National Opera. In Fall 2016, Mr. Tines will make his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and the LA Philharmonic in John Adam’s El Niño, to be reprised with the New York Philharmonic in 2017. He will continue his collaboration with John Adams and Peter Sellars in a new work for San Francisco Opera in the Fall of 2017.

Notable Performances with:
• Dutch National Opera
• Royal Opera House
• Munich Philharmonic
• The American Repertory Theater (world premiere)
• Finnish National Opera
• Royal Opera House Oman
• Boston Pops in Symphony Hall
• Tanglewood
• LA Opera
• BAM

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano

• Soprano Joyce El-Khoury came to Castleton to sing Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi in 2010 and stepped in last minute for the title role in Suor Angelica. In 2011 Castleton mounted a new production of La Bohème specifically to feature Ms. El-Khoury as Mimi. This production was invited to Oman and performed in concert with the Munich Philharmonic. In 2013 Ms. El-Khoury returned to Castleton to sing her first Desdemona in Glyndebourne’s prestigious production of Othello. These challenging roles with the Festival and international debuts with Castleton productions helped launch Ms. El-Khoury into a major international career.

Notable Awards:
• Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program
• Competition Winner: Loren L. Zachary Competition, Opera Index C. George London Foundation, Mario Lanza Vocal Competition
• International Opera Award

Notable Performances with:
• Dutch National Opera
• Welsh National Opera
• Opéra Théâtre Saint-Etienne
• Muscat Opera, Oman
• Palm Beach Opera
• Santa Fe
• Bayerische Staatsoper
• Munich Philharmonic
• Korean National Opera Vancouver Opera

Tyler Simpson, bass-baritone

Bass-baritone Tyler Simpson began with smaller roles at Castleton. Over multiples summers he grew into main stage roles at the festival and has most recently celebrated his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. His work with Castleton includes Gianni Schicchi, Seven Deadly Sins, Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’heure espagnole, Roméo et Juliette, and La Bohème (his European debut with the Munich Philharmonic).

Notable Awards:
• Lotte Lenya Competition (First Prize)
• Woolsey Hall Concerto Competiiton (First Prize)
• Phyllis Curtin Career Grant from the Yale School of Music.

Notable Performances with:
• The Metropolitan Opera
• Lyric Opera of Kansas City
• Dallas Opera
• Atlanta Opera
• Florida Grand Opera
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Lidiya Yankovskaya, conductor

Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya is a special story for Castleton.

As a Conducting Fellow at Castleton in 2014 she conducted multiple rehearsals, assisted Maestro Maazel and shared the duties of conducting a symphonic concert. She serves as Artistic Director of Juventas New Music Ensemble and is the Music Director with Commonwealth Lyric Theater. Current projects include the world premiere of Leo Hurley’s The Body Politic, San Francisco performances of Iolanta and scenes from Boris Godunov with New Opera NYC, The Ouroboros Trilogy with Beth Morrison Projects, Little Women with Metro West Opera, and a concert program that features robotic instruments and audience cell phone interaction with Juventas. Prior engagements include five seasons as Music Director of Harvard’s Lowell House Opera, conducting with Center for Contemporary Opera in NYC, and serving as Assistant Conductor for Gotham Chamber Opera and Assistant Conductor/Chorus Master with Opera Boston.
This season, Lidiya is also conducting with Beth Morrison Projects, Metro West Opera, and American Lyric Theater and has been invited to take part in Dallas Opera’s inaugural Institute for Women Conductors.

Notable work:
• Dallas Opera – Women Conductors Institute Concert
• Juventas New Music Ensemble – Artistic Director
• Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra – Chorus Master
• Lowell House Opera – Music Director
• Contemporary Opera – Music Director

Matthew Worth, baritone

Baritone Matthew Worth considers his time at Castleton one of his career highlights. As Tarquinius in Castleton’s production of The Rape of Lucretia in 2006, 2009 and 2010 (CAL Performance Series, Berkeley, CA) Mr. Worth developed as a notable performer. Since his time at Castleton Mr. Worth has made a distinct name for himself in opera, with an emphasis on new works. Mr. Worth has been praised by the New York Times as “simply superb, singing with exquisite sensitivity.” This season he will lead another highly anticipated world premiere with Fort Worth Opera as John F. Kennedy in “JFK”.

Notable Performances:
• Gugliemo in Cosi fan tutte at Tanglewood under Maestro James Levine
• World premiere and recording of Mark Neikrug’s Healing Ceremony with Susan Graham
• World premiere of Douglas Cuomo’s Doubt with Christine Brewer
• New Production in the title role of Soldier Songs with Atlanta Opera
• Work with Wexford Festival Opera, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, America Lyric Theater, Chautauqua Opera, Minnesota Opera, Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago

Erica Intilangelo, soprano

Soprano Erica Intilangelo is quickly becoming a sought-after performer. As a first time CATS participant in 2015 she was intrusted the cover of Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. She also performed scenes of Le Nozze di Figaro and quickly impressed with her brilliant voice and stage presence. In 2016 Ms. Intilangelo returned, still as a CATS participant, but also in a main stage role, as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. Since her first summer in Castleton Ms. Intilangelo has become a sought after soloist around Cincinnati (where she attends school) and the greater United States.

Notable Performances:
• Soloist with Atlanta Opera (“Opera with an Edge”)
• Soloist with Kentucky Bach Choir (Mozart’s Vesparae solennes)
• Soloist with CCM Choral (Haydn’s The Creation, etc)
• Westminster Opera Theater (Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi)

Noteworthy Award:
• Winner of Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition of the Kentucky Bach Choir

Eric Silberger, violinist

Violinist Eric Silberger still links himself firmly to the Castleton “family,” even as his career takes him to internationally renowned fame.

After an informal audition as a teenager for Maestro Maazel in Castleton Mr. Silberger joined the festival orchestra for many years as lead violinist and soloist. As an avid chamber musician, he co-founded the Castleton Chamber Players. He performs as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and around the world. Among numerous television and radio appearances in the United States, Asia and Europe, he was featured on Radio France, STV in China, KBS in Korea, and WQXR, WFYI, FOX 59, WISH-TV and NPR.

Notable Awards:
• XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition Prize Winner
• Michael Hill International Violin Competition

Notable Performances with:
• St Petersburg Philharmonia Chamber
• Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
• Munich Chamber Orchestra
• Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
• Danish National Symphony
• Lincoln Center
• Kennedy Center
• Shanghai Grand Theater in China
• Carnegie Hall

Allegra Lilly, harpist

Harpist Allegra Lilly was selected in 2005 as harpist for the inaugural performances at Castleton’s Theatre house in a Britten Chamber Opera series – an endeavor which ultimately led to the formation of the Castleton Festival, where she since enjoyed four summers as principal harpist. Ms. Lilly joined the St. Louis Symphony as Principal Harpist in 2013. Since making her solo debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1997, she has earned distinction as an award-winning and versatile performer of solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire.
Ms. Lilly has appeared with the New York Philharmonic; the Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, under such celebrated conductors as Maazel, Eschenbach, Haitink, and Dutoit.

Notable Solo Performances with:
• Juilliard Orchestra
• International Symphony
• Metro Chamber Orchestra

Notable Orchestral Performances with:
• St. Louis Symphony (Principle Harpist)
• New York Philharmonic
• Boston, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit and Charlotte Symphonies

Notable Chamber Work with:
• Argento Chamber Ensemble
• ACJW (Carngie Hall Ensemble – Guest Artist)
• Washington Square Ensemble

Javier Arrey, baritone

Baritone Javier Arrey is graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. Following an acclaimed debut as Iago in Castleton’s production of Otello under Maazel, a performance Washington Post described as “menaced and connived but [Arrey] did so subtly and with a voice so lovely to listen to that his scheming seemed all the more threatening,” Javier returned there the following summer in the title role of Don Giovanni. He will make his Wiener Staatsoper debut next season.

Notable Awards:
• Cardiff Singer of the World Finalist
• CulturArte Prize at Operalia Competition in Moscow

Notable Performances with:
• Vienna State Opera (upcoming debut)
• Washington National Opera
• Teatro Muncipal de Santiago
• Washington Concert Opera
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Will Kerley, director

Director Will Kerley attributes much of his  success to the support of the Castleton Festival.  From 2007 to 2012 he was resident stage director  which marked his US debut. A renown Britten expert Mr. Kerley directed Castleton’s new productions of  The Rape of Lucretia, Beggar’s Opera, Albert Herring and  Turn of the Screw, as well as Rossini’s Barber of Seville,  Carmen, Puccini’s Trittico, La Bohème, A Soldier’s Tale,  Master Pedro’s Puppet Show, L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and  Seven Deadly Sins. Many of these productions travelled to other opera companies such as the Royal Opera House of Muscat in Oman, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the NCPA in Beijing, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy and CAL Performances in Berkley, California. Mr. Kerley directed prose theatre at the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, the Alemeida Theatre.  Fall 2015 Mr. Kerley shot his first feature film.

Notable Opera Work with:
• Glyndebourne Festival
• Birmingham Opera Company
• Royal Opera House Covent Garden
• Opera North
• Scottish Opera
• Welsh National Opera
• National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (Castleton production of The Barber of Seville)
• Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy (Castleton production of Carmen)
• Aldeburgh Festival (directed 50th anniversary production of Gloriana at the Snape Maltings)

Rafael Payare, Castleton’s principal conductor

Castleton’s Principal Conductor
Rafael Payare

In July 2012, Maestro Payare was personally invited by his mentor, the late Maestro Lorin Maazel, to conduct at Castleton Festival where he then returned every summer to master increasingly challenging repertoire such as Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. This led to a close association and he was honored to accept the position of Principal Conductor as Maazel’s successor in 2015 and conducted performances of Gounod Romeo and Juliette and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Developing into one of the most sought after young conductors, Payare has made recent debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, London Symphony and the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. Other highlights have included the City of Birmingham Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and the Los Angeles and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras. 2014-15 also saw his acclaimed opera debut conducting Madame Butterfly at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.

Highlights of Payare’s 2015-16 season include the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Zurich Opera Orchester and the Bamberg Symphony; as well as return visits to the Cincinnati Symphony, CBSO, Rotterdam and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras. With the Ulster Orchestra, as well as continuing their Beethoven and Tchaikovsky cycle and exploring a variety of repertoire, he will lead the players in a busy schedule of education and outreach projects in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland.

Born in 1980 and a graduate of the celebrated El Sistema in Venezuela, Payare began his formal conducting studies in 2004 with José Antonio Abreu and has conducted all the major orchestras in Venezuela, including the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, both in Caracas and in Toronto as part of their 2009 Canadian tour. Having also served as Principal Horn of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, he took part in many prestigious tours and recordings with conductors including Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle and Lorin Maazel. As an assistant conductor, he has worked under Claudio Abbado for his performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and in September 2012 was invited by Daniel Barenboim to assist on his production of Siegfried at the Berlin Staatsoper.

In May 2012 he was awarded first prize at the prestigious Malko International Conducting Competition.