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Hailed by Opera News as “a very promising high tenor” Cuban-American Fran Daniel Laucerica has been praised for his clarity, agility and musical versatility as a rising star on the operatic and concert stages.

Mr. Laucerica joins Virginia Opera as an Emerging Artist for 2022-2023 season singing Alfredo/La Traviata (Emerging Artist Performance) as well as Gastone, and covers Frederic/The Pirates of Penzance and Timothy Laughlin/Fellow Travelers. Later in the season, he joins the Grammy-award winning new music ensemble The Crossing debuting Hearne’s Farming, and making his New York Philharmonic debut singing the premiere of unEarth by Julie Wolf. Other role/house debuts include Opera Ithaca as Pluto and Aristeus/Orpheus in the Underworld and First Coast Opera as Silvio/Le docteur miracle. He also joins Lawrence University as a guest soloist in the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52 and debuts with Madison Bach Musicians in a concert of Latin American Baroque Music.

Last season, he was a young artist with The Glimmerglass Festival, premiering the leading role of Dante/Tenor Overboard, a newly fashioned Rossini pastiche by Ken Ludwig, and covered the tenor roles in both Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents and the premiere of Geter’s Holy Ground. He was also a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera, where he sang Count Almaviva in a touring production of The Barber of Seville, Ferrando/ Cosí fan tutte (Resident Artist Performance) and Gastone in La Traviata. Additionally, Mr. Laucerica joined Seaglass Theater Company to perform scenes from Les pêcheurs de perles and Arrieta’s Marina.

Amidst the shutdown, he joined Wolf Trap Opera for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons as a studio artist where he covered the roles of Adolfo Pirelli/Sweeney Todd, Comte Barigoule/Cendrillon, and Satyavan in Holst’s Savitri, and performed scenes from Billy Budd and Fellow Travelers.

Mr. Laucerica's other recent opera credits include Tamino/Die Zauberflöte with Miami Music Festival, Miguelín in the premiere of Omar Najmi's En la ardiente oscuridad with Catalyst New Music Ensemble, 2nd Seigneur in Saint Saëns’ Henry VIII with Odyssey Opera, The Vain Man/The Snake in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince as well as Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni (cover) with NEMPAC Opera, and Peter Quint/Turn of the Screw (cover), Reverend Samuel Parris/The Crucible, and the title role in Albert Herring with Chicago Summer Opera. Other roles include Ernesto/Don Pasquale, The Magician in The Consul, and Chevalier de la Force/Dialogues des Carmélites (cover) with Boston Conservatory.

On the concert stage, Mr. Laucerica has been the tenor soloist in varied works including Orff’s Carmina Burana with Lexington Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Callipygian Players, Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes with Glencoe Union Church, as well as Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria as a guest soloist with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. A passionate advocate for new music, Mr. Laucerica has premiered several works including Samuel Carl Adams’ Light Readings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra MusicNOW initiative and David Lang’s a house with the Bienen Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.

Mr. Laucerica is a recent Encouragement Award Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, as well as a semi-finalist in the SAS Performing Arts, Camerata Bardi and Music International Grand Prix competitions. He graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a Master’s in Opera Performance and a Bachelor’s from Northwestern University.

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.

Brandon Bell is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, his roles included Hunter in Rusalka and Boy in Denis & Katya. 

Brandon Bell is a baritone hailing from Suffolk, Virginia, currently in his first year as a Lesley Resident Artist with Fort Worth Opera.  After an exciting 2020/21 season, including performances with Utah Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Mr. Bell's upcoming season sees his debuts with White Snake Projects, Cape Symphony, Fort Worth Opera, and Houston Grand Opera.

Mr. Bell has appeared on numerous stages across the country, including the California Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Chautauqua Opera. Mr. Bell has received national awards and recognition from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Mondavi Center Young Artist Competition, the Orpheus National Music Competition for Vocalists, and the East Bay Opera League Young Artist Competition.

​Mr. Bell’s Residency is generously sponsored by Robert J. and Sharon E. Sclabassi.

Julia Swan Laird is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, her roles include First Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro, and Dalinda in Ariodante. 

Delaware native Julia Swan Laird holds a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Arizona State University (ASU). While at ASU's Music Theatre and Opera program, Julia performed as Romilda in Serse, Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride, First Spirit in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Les Mamelles de Tirésias and The Fairy Queen. She is an alumna of the Accademia della Lirica Italiana in Bari, Italy, and the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Opera Studio where she performed scenes from Don Giovanni, The Ghosts of Versailles, and Carmen. In March of 2020, she made her professional operatic debut with Opera West! in Santa Fe performing Suor Dolcina and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica. She made her OperaDelaware debut as a young artist, performing in "Drive Thru Arias" concerts as a way to connect to the community during socially-distant times. Julia was a Filstrup Resident Artist with Tulsa Opera in the fall of 2020, where she covered Gilda and sang Giovanna and Page in an exciting and innovative new production of Rigoletto, the first live opera in the US since March 2020. She made her North Carolina debut in Piedmont Opera's production of Viardot's Cinderella as Fairy Godmother in March 2021. Julia performed Berta in a joint production of Il barbiere di Siviglia with OperaDelaware and Baltimore Concert Opera (now Opera Baltimore). 

Julia placed fourth in the 2019 AIMS Meistersinger Competition and placed third in the 2019 American International Czech and Slovak Competition in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She has been a finalist with the Saltworks Opera Competition,MIOpera Competition, and the Pittsburgh Festival Opera Mildred Miller Competition, and the first place winner at Arizona NATS, Cal-Western Regional NATS, and North Carolina NATS.

​Ms. Laird’s Residency is generously sponsored by Steven Seibert. 

Jazmine Olwalia is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, her roles include Third Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Ariodante in Ariodante, and Girl in Denis & Katya.

Jazmine made her Portland Opera debut as Sharonne Salaam in Anthony Davis’s The Central Park Five. She also joined Opera Theater of St. Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist singing Mercedes in Carmen and covering Miriam H. in the world premiere of Awakenings by Tobias Picker, then headed to West Edge Opera as Miss Forcible in their new production of Coraline, based on the award-winning children’s novel. 2021 credits include Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera and a new work reading of Sunder with Annapolis Opera.

Third-prize winner of the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society Career Grant Competition, Jazmine was named a semi-finalist for the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She returned to Wolf Trap Opera for her second year as a studio artist in 2021, performing in a double bill of Cendrillion/Savitri and a concert version of Sweeney Todd, where she covered the role of Mrs. Lovett. In her 2019-2020 season, Jazmine portrayed the title role in the Maryland Opera Studio’s Ariodante, as well as making a role debut with Bel Cantanti Opera as Giovanna in Rigoletto.

Jazmine was a Finalist in the 2020 Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Lone Star Vocal Competition, and in 2019 was awarded third place in the Pre-Professional Division of the George Shirley Vocal Competition, and recipient of the Hilda Harris Mezzo-Soprano prize. Recent roles include Iman/Xochitl in the world premiere of Hajar with the Maryland Opera Studio, and Ayah in The Secret Garden as well as Princess Peyai in Amazing Grace with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre. Other credits include Tituba in The Crucible, Agafia Milhailovna in Anna Karenina, and Grace Ansley in Roman Fever with the Moores Opera Center. A participant in the National Music Festival’s 2019 Voice Apprentice Program, she performed scenes and arias from Così fan tutte and Carmen.

Jazmine is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s Opera Studio and received her BM degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston.

Ms. Olwalia’s Residency is generously sponsored by The Haley and Huff Family Fund.

Evan Lazdowski is a first-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2022-23. This season, his roles include Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro and Rè di Scozia in Ariodante. 

Praised in Opera News for his “warm, hearty bass-baritone,” Lazdowski’s recent engagements have included The Magic Flute (Papageno, cover; Speaker) at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gaddes Festival Artist, and Don Giovanni (Il Commendatore) at the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist.

2021-22 highlights included Lazdowski’s debuts at Madison Square Garden, singing the national anthem for the New York Rangers; and at Alice Tully Hall, singing selections from Songs of Travel for Juilliard’s Wednesdays at One series. He was a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias and the Dallas Opera National Vocal Competition, and performed Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress with Juilliard Opera.

Other full operatic credits include Figaro/Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro/I due Figaro, Capellio/I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Theseus/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nourabad/Les pêcheurs de perles, and Guglielmo/Così fan tutte. Lazdowski was a 2021 Encouragement Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Upper Midwest Regional Round). He holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music. Lazdowski has received additional training at Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy.

Mr. Lazdowski’s Residency is generously sponsored by Leslie Fleischner.