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Lester Lynch, an established dramatic baritone, is making his mark in some of the world’s leading opera houses. Known for his charismatic portrayals and commanding voice, he is receiving rave reviews as he masters some of the most important baritone roles from Scarpia to Rigoletto to Count di Luna. Opera Today recently enthused, “It was booming baritone Lester Lynch who served notice that he is now in consideration for admittance to the Scarpia Preferred Pantheon - when he needed to pour it on he had the Puccinian fire power and the dramatic heat to raise the hair on the back of your neck.” The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote, “Lester Lynch made a superb Macbeth, delivering an authoritative performance with a firm, powerful voice and wonderfully communicating both tragedy and madness.”

His most recent performances include Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Crown in Porgy and Bess with the Opéra de Montréal, as Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida with Pittsburgh Opera, as Carbon in Cyrano de Begerac with San Francisco Opera, as Herald in Lohengrin with Lyric Opera of Chicago, as Gérald in Andrea Chénier with the Bregenzer Festspiele, as Nottingham in Roberto Devereaux and Count Di Luna in Il Trovatore with Minnesota Opera. His latest debuts include a back-to-back engagement with the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Portugal where he was featured as Iago in Verdi’s Otello and in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff.

Upcoming performances include Nabucco with the Welsh National Opera, Amonasro with the Bergen National Opera in Norway, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice with the Warsaw National Opera. Upcoming recordings include Iago in Verdi’s Otello, Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and a Verissimo French Aria CD to be recorded by Pentatone Classics.

Mr. Lynch has worked with some of the world’s most renowned conductors and directors. Under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, he has sung the role of Crown in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and the Bauer in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. He has also appeared with conductors Sir Andrew Davis, Placido Domingo, Larry Foster, Ulf Schirmer, and John DeMain, and performed under eminent directors Sir Richard Eyre, Christopher Alden and Francesca Zambello.

His performance of Crown with San Francisco Opera ‘s production of Porgy and Bess was recently released on DVD. Pentatone Classics has released his recordings of two operas by the contemporary composer Gordon Getty – the title role in Plumpjack, and Cauchon in Joan and the Bells. Another important release is a recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

Mr. Lynch’s regular repertoire includes Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata, Count DiLuna in Trovatore, the tile role of Rigoletto, Iago in Otello, the tile role in Verdi’s Falstaff, Guglielmo in Puccini’s Le Villi, Paolo in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Flint in Britten’s Billy Budd, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Tonio in I Pagliacci, Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca and the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth.

An accomplished concert artist, Mr. Lynch has performed a wide and varied repertoire with orchestras across the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and the American Symphony Orchestra. His recent Carnegie Hall solo debut of Karl A. Hartmann’s Gesangsszene with the American Symphony Orchestra received rave reviews.

Mr. Lynch has received many distinguished awards, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the George London Vocal Competition, and the Sullivan Awards. His work with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis earned him the Richard Gaddes Award.

His recent volunteer work includes two engagements with the Harare International Festival of Art in Zimbabwe in 2012 and 2013 where he produced a night of arias and ensembles with a group of his colleagues.

American tenor Jonathan Burton has been praised for having “thrilling power and beauty” (Baltimore Sun) and for being “an engaging all-around singer with a powerful, full-bodied sound.” (Opera News) For his recent turn as Calaf in Turandot, (Opera News) proclaimed that he “produced a wonderfully shaded ‘Nessun Dorma’ that included brilliant top notes” and the (Herald Tribune) raved “a tenor who can add substantial flesh to Calaf as well as deliver the most famous aria of Italian grand opera to satisfaction is a rare find...Burton hit the jackpot with his delivery of ‘Nessun dorma’ that could stand confidently next to our worn recordings of Corelli, Domingo and Pavarotti.”  Mr. Burton begins the 2018-2019 season with his role debut as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera. Other performances include Calaf in Turandot with Knoxville Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Dayton Opera, Sarasota Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Welsh National Opera, Manrico in Il Trovatore with Central City Opera, Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West with Maryland Lyric Opera, and Canio in Pagliacci with Opera Omaha. He then performs on a double bill of Il Tabarro and Pagliacci as Canio and Luigi with Maryland Lyric Opera before he takes on Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur with Knoxville Opera. Mr. Burton will be singing the role of Turiddu from Cavalleria Rusticana in concert with Knoxville Opera after performing with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra for their Look at the World concert, as well as a concert with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. During the 2016-2017 season the tenor bowed as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Central City Opera, and as Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West with Opera Colorado, where “he proved once again his credentials as a Puccini tenor.  Johnson is not the easiest character to love, but Burton imbued him with sympathy, and his long scene with Citro in Act II is easily the high point of the evening.” (Daily Camera). Additionally, he took the stage as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera with Florida Grand Opera, as Calaf in Turandot with Des Moines Metro Opera, Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West with New York City Opera, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Omaha, and as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Welsh National Opera.   He took the role of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Steamboat for concert performances, and joined the Dayton Opera and Opera Louisianne in concert performances.    Highlights from the 2015-2016 season include his performances of Calaf in Turandot with Nashville Opera, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Knoxville Opera and Radamès in Aida with Sarasota Opera where he “showed his heroic bona fides in the opera’s opening minutes tackling “Celeste Aida”–one of the most tortuous arias in the repertoire–with clarion tone, easy projection and ringing top notes. . . Burton sang strongly and passionately throughout in an arduous role.” (The Classical Review)  During the 2014-2015 season Mr. Burton took the stage as Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West with Des Moines Metro Opera where (Opera Today) raved “Jonathan Burton poured out impassioned, emotionally generous phrases as Dick Johnson (Ramerrez). Mr. Burton has an exciting squillo in his full-bodied tenor that is riveting. But Mr. Burton can also exude a persuasive charm as he croons gentler phrases and caresses them with a knowing legato.”  Additional engagements during the season included Manrico in Il Trovatore with Knoxville Opera, the title role in Don Carlos with Sarasota Opera, and both Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West and Florestan in Fidelio with Kentucky Opera. Past highlights have included appearances at Dayton Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Naples, Castleton Festival, Sinfónica de Galicia under the baton of Lorin Maazel, Kentucky Opera, Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, Annapolis Opera, Opera New Jersey, Utah Festival Opera, Opera on the James, Central City Opera, Lyric Opera of Virginia, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Southern Ohio Light Opera Company, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Southern Ohio Symphony

Hailed as "fearless" (Opera News) and “masterful” (Tulsa World) with a “powerful…and gorgeous voice" (MinnPost), Greek American Soprano Alexandra Loutsion continues to be recognized for her passionate performances and vocal versatility on the operatic stage.

In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Loutsion makes her role and house debut with Virginia Opera as Brünnhilde in the Johnathan Dove reduction of Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) and returns to Opera Santa Barbara in the same role later in the spring. She makes her Washington National Opera debut as The Overseer, Confidante and Elektra cover in Strauss’ Elektra, as well as her Opera Idaho debut as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth. She returns to Washington Concert Opera debuting Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco, and also returns to Pittsburgh Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore. She finishes the season debuting with Austin Symphony Orchestra of Minnesota in both a solo recital and Wagner selections in concert. Last season, she made her debut with Pittsburgh Festival Opera kicking off their solo recital series Legends in the Limelight: Pittsburgh Festival Opera Live at Carnegie Music Hall, returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago covering Sondra Radvanovsky as Lady Macbeth in their new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, and debuted with Austin Opera singing Leonore in Fidelio: A Celebratory Gala Production. She made her Dallas Opera debut singing excerpts from Macbeth and Aida in their Opera’s Greatest Hits! concert, and debuted in the title role of Salome at the Fisher Center at Bard College. Alexandra returned to the University of Southern California (her alma mater) for a short coaching residency and joins the USC Symphony to sing Strauss’ Four Last Songs (Postponed due to COVID-19). She closed the season in her company and role debut with The Glimmerglass Festival singing Mother Abbess in Rogers & Hammerstein’s "The Sound of Music. Ms. Loutsion’s 2020-2021 season included a surprise debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Brünnhilde in Yuval Sharon’s Twilight: Gods, a reinterpretation of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. She also made her debut with Chicago Opera Theater singing the leading role of Kayla in Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was to join the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago in its production of Verdi’s Attila covering the leading role of Odabella, return to Pittsburgh Opera singing the title role in Verdi’s Aida, and debut with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra as the title role in excerpts from Puccini’s Tosca. All were cancelled due to COVID-19. Her 2019-2020 season included her role and company debut with Minnesota Opera singing the title role in Strauss’ Elektra, a return to Pittsburgh Opera singing the title role in Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas, a debut with Austin Opera (cancelled due to COVID-19) and return to Palm Beach Opera singing the title role in Puccini’s Turandot, and a debut with the Chicago Philharmonic (cancelled due to COVID-19) performing excerpts from Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents. She also joined Austin Opera as a soloist for the Serenata Wine Gala and was to join Chicago Opera Theater for its Season Reveal Gala (cancelled due to COVID-19). She finished the season with Pittsburgh Festival Opera as a featured soloist with Christine Goerke and Marianne Cornetti for the “Gathering of the Goddesses” benefit gala (cancelled due to COVID-19).In the 2018-2019 season, she made her international debut with Canadian Opera Company singing the Overseer and covering the title role of Strauss’ Elektra, offered a “career-defining interpretation” of Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore with Central City Opera, and debuted as Turandot with New Orleans Opera. She also debuted with San Francisco Opera singing the Overseer in Elektra and covering Turandot.

Puccini has become a staple of Ms. Loutsion’s repertoire. In addition to singing Turandot with Pittsburgh Opera, Tulsa Opera, and New Orleans Opera , she has also brought her Tosca to Palm Beach Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Fort Wayne Philharmonic,  and Central City Opera, and her Cio-Cio San/Madama Butterfly to Palm Beach Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera on the James. Other role highlights include the Foreign Princess/Rusalka with Arizona Opera, Florencia/Florencia en el Amazonas with Arizona Opera, Donna Anna/Don Giovanni with North Carolina Opera, Lady Macbeth/Macbeth with Raylynmor Opera, Gertrude/Hansel and Gretel with Dayton Opera, and the leading role of Isabella in Wagner's Das Liebesverbot as part of the Ring Festival LA. She also covered the Lady-in-Waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti.

On the concert stage, Ms. Loutsion has sung the soprano solo in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Santa Fe Symphony and the Academy Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, as well as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Cathedral Choral Society, West Virginia Symphony, Syracuse Symphoria, Erie Philharmonic and as a guest soloist with the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra. She recently debuted the soprano solo in Hadyn's Mass in Time of War with the Cathedral Choral Society of Washington D.C. An advocate for living composers and contemporary works, Ms. Loutsion has also given performances of Almera in Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters with Pittsburgh Opera, Euridice in Ricky Ian Gordon's Orpheus and Euridice at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center, Witch 3 in Krausas' The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth with Vera Ikon Productions, and Fay Doyle in the West Coast Premier of Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts. She can be heard as the soprano soloist on the soundtrack of the film Lucir Y Sombra as well as the leading role of Kayla on the Chicago Opera Theater Spotify recording of Sankaram’s “Taking Up Serpents”.

Ms. Loutsion spent two summers as an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera, covering Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Tosca and the leading role of Anna in Rossini’s Maometto II. Ms. Loutsion also spent two seasons as a Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera where she was seen as Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo and Gertrude and the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, among others. As an Apprentice Artist with Central City Opera, she was heard as Cio-Cio San/Madama Butterfly and as Melissa in Handel's Amadigi di Gaula.



Ms. Loutsion represented the United States as a quarterfinalist in the Francisco Viñas International Singing Contest in Barcelona, Spain. She was a winner of the Metropolitan National Council District Auditions and the Long Beach Mozart Competition, as well as a finalist in the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition, McCammon Voice Competition, and Dallas Opera Competition. She is the recipient of the Catherine Filene Shouse Education Fund Career Grant from Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera’s Donald Gramm Memorial Award and Anna Case MacKay Award, the Shoshana Foundation Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the Central City Opera John Moriarty Award, and the Aspen Music Festival New Horizon Fellowship. She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College. Ms. Loutsion was also recently awarded a place in the Greek America Foundation's "Forty under 40" Class of 2018, which celebrates the professional excellence and philanthropic endeavors of North Americans of Greek descent

Marianne Cornetti is internationally recognized as one of the leading Verdi mezzo-sopranos of her generation. She has appeared as Amneris in Aida, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Princess Eboli in Don Carlos at prestigious opera houses across the world, garnering rave reviews and winning the hearts of audiences globally. Opera Magazine claims, “If her timbre did not sear itself into the memory, her vocal command of this redoubtable role was complete” and Seen and Heard International raves, “[Her] voice is a miracle of power and flexibility from top to bottom. It is the emotion which she imparts into her singing, however, that makes her Azucena so memorable… Cornetti imbues each [role] with an emotional force all its own… The cheers and applause that rained down upon her at the end were well deserved.”

Acclaimed performances of iconic leading Verdi roles include engagements as Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona, Bregenz Festival, Teatro Comunale in Florence, National Theatre of China in Beijing, Teatro Muncipal in Sao Paulo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, La Coruña in Spain, Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and in the Teatro Comunale di Bologna's tour in Japan, and as Amneris in Aida at the Teatro alla Scala, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Foundation in Tokyo, Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Brussels, Israeli Opera at Masada, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Auditorio de Tenerife, and Choregies D'Orange.

Engagements in the 2017-2018 season include performances as Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo; Gianni Schicchi and L'enfant e les Sortiléges with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya, Japan; Un Ballo in Maschera with the Bolshoi Theatre; and a chamber concert at the UK's North Norfolk Music Festival with violist Simon Rowland-Jones and pianist Gary Matthewman in songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Copland.

Highlights of Cornetti's recent engagements include her debut as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos in Tokyo as well as acclaimed performances in Parma, Bilbao, Rome, Vienna, and London; Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden; her debut as Dame Quickly in Falstaff at the Palacio de la Ópera in La Coruña, Spain, followed by a reprisal of the role at the San Diego Opera; Fidès in Le prophete at the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen; Jezibaba in Rusalka and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel at the Minnesota Opera; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Laura in La Gioconda, and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera with the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La Monnaie in Brussels, and at Carnegie Hall in New York City; as the title role in La Gioconda at the Rome Opera and Romanian National Opera; and Abigaille in Nabucco at the New National Theatre Foundation in Tokyo, La Monnaie in Brussels, and at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2005, Cornetti sang her first Wagnerian role, appearing as Ortrud in Lohengrin at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. She continued her excursion into this repertoire with her debut as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and has since sung the role of Ortrud in Amsterdam, Paris, Sao Paolo, and Palermo, and has appeared as Brangäne in Genoa. Cornetti's verismo repertoire includes Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, which she performed at Teatro alla Scala; Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro di San Carlo, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio in Turin, Opera di Firenze, and Dutch National Opera; and Rosa in Cilea's L'Arlesiana, which she sang to great acclaim at the L'Opera de Montpellier and at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York.

She appears frequently in concert in such works as Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Elgar's Sea Picture and De Falla's El Amor Brujo. She has recorded Cilea's L'Arlesiana and Puccini's Edgar opposite Plácido Domingo and was recently featured on a Teatro Regio di Parma recording of Verdi's Don Carlo released in 2017 on the Dynamic record label.

Cornetti began her professional career singing supporting roles in such important theaters as the Metropolitan Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. Marianne is now the Artistic Director for Pittsburgh Festival Opera and on the Voice Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. For more information, visit www.mariannecornetti.com.

The New York Times hailed Ashraf Sewailam’s début at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall as a “stand out performance” and Opera News described his voice as “purring and velvety with an easily produced Ramfis-like top range with a majestic tone,” and his stage presence as “strong, mysterious and with mesmerizing intensity.” 

Last season, Sewailam made his mainstage Metropolitan Opera debut in The Magic Flute and joined their production of Ariadne auf Naxos.  In addition, he returned to Seattle Opera as Colline in La bohéme, joined Tulsa Opera for their production of Salome, took on the title role of Maometto II for Washington Concert Opera, and rejoined Opera Carolina as Commendatore in Don Giovanni. As a director, Sewailam headed Opera Louisiane’s production of Lucrezia. In concert, he was seen at the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra in their performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Choral Fantasy. 

Emily Richter is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, her roles include Second Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Ginevra in Ariodante, and Ines in Il Trovatore.

Emily just recently finished her summer as an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera where she covered the role of Micaela in Carmen and sang as Fiordiligi in their scenes program. Emily just recently graduated with her Master’s from McGill’s Schulich School of Music studying with Dominique Labelle. She received her BM in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University where she studied with Steven Paul Spears. 

During her time with Opera McGill, Emily sang as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and participated in the workshop of new operas Vanishing Point and Limit of the Sun. A lover of art song, in Song Interpretation she has sung cylces by Duparc, Schumann, and Boulanger. At Lawrence University she sang the role of Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2021, she was an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival where she sang the roles Noémie in Cendrillon, Hucklebee in The Fantasticks as well as a wide collection of scenes. 

Emily was a 2021 winner of the Wirth prize, which awarded her a generous scholarship that has enabled her to start the next phase of her career.  She was recently named a 2020 MONC Illinois District Winner and a 2022 MONC Minnesota Encouragement Award Winner.  She is thrilled to be joining the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Program. 

​Ms. Richter’s Residency is generously sponsored by John and Virginia DiPucci and Alice Victoria Gelormino.

Daniel O'Hearn is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, his roles include both Basilio and Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, Lurcanio in Ariodante, and Ruiz in Il Trovatore.

Daniel O'Hearn is an emerging full lyric tenor with a powerful Italianate ring.  ​In May of 2023, Mr. O'Hearn will debut the role of The Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto with Vashon Opera in Vashon, WA.

Mr. O'Hearn spent two summers as an apprentice at Santa Fe Opera. There, he covered the roles of Remendado in Bizet's Carmen, both The Sailor and The Shepherd in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Tom Snout in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Peasant in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He also sang in the chorus.

He was also with Utah Opera in Salt Lake City, UT for two seasons as a resident artist, singing Bill in Dove’s Flight, Spoletta in Puccini’s Tosca, and Peter Grey in Horovitz's Gentleman's Island, as well as covering Count Almaviva in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. ​

In June of 2020, he graduated with a Master of Music in performance from DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, IL.

Mr. O’Hearn has also competed in several singing competitions, winning a Metropolitan Opera National Council 2021-2022 Grand Finalist prize. He was also the winner of the 2019 American Prize from the American Prize Oratorio Society of Chicago and placed first in the 2019 Kleinman Competition.

​Mr. O’Hearn’s Residency is generously sponsored by John and Nancy Traina.