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SOPRANO
- Saundra DeAthos
- MEZZO-SOPRANO
- Stephanie Rodousakis
- TENOR
- Michael Boley
- Harold Meers
- BARITONE
- Greg Frens
- Ryan Kinsella
- David Templeton
- BASS
- Bradley Smoak
- CONDUCTOR
- Louis Salemno
- Allan R. Scott
- STAGE DIRECTOR
- Alexander Gelman
One of the most acclaimed American conductors of his generation, Maestro Louis Salemno is renowned for the brilliant intensity, orchestral detail, sonority and rhythmic drive that are the signature of his performances. Critically acclaimed for his mastery of the grand Italian and French lyric traditions, OPERA MAGAZINE extolled, “Louis Salemno, whose tempos and dynamics were perfectly judged, is a conductor with a solid grasp of his repertory and the ability to translate his knowledge into a well-integrated performance.” OPERA MAGAZINE further praised the conductor’s “welcome vitality of spirit but suitably lyric phrasing when required, achieving a cohesive warmth of texture."
A frequent guest of the most important venues in North America, Maestro Salemno has appeared with Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, L’Opera de Montréal, Vancouver Opera, Manitoba Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, New Orleans Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Pacific, Baltimore Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, among others. At Houston Grand Opera, he has led new productions of Aida, Dialogues des Carmélites and Hänsel und Gretel, in addition to repertory productions of L’Elisir d’Amore and Falstaff. As a regular guest conductor at New Orleans Opera, Maestro Salemno has conducted acclaimed productions of L’Elisir d’Amore, La Fille du Régiment, Faust, Roméo et Juliètte, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Macbeth and La Traviata. Additional guest appearances include South Africa’s Capetown Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Columbus Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Carolina, and Madison Opera.
Maestro Salemno has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Serbian National Theater at Novi Sad, and Artistic Director of Canada’s Manitoba Opera, where he helmed productions of La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot and Macbeth. Serving as Music Director of the Portland Opera, he conducted productions of Don Pasquale, La Fille du Régiment, I Pagliacci, Barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Aida, Rigoletto,and Carmina Burana, while as Principal Conductor of the Texas Opera Theater, he led touring productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Fille du Régiment, La Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Rigoletto. As an Associate Conductor of the Dallas Opera, Maestro Salemno conducted performances of La Fille du Régiment, Andrea Chénier, Don Carlo, Otello and La Traviata.
On the symphonic stage, Maestro Salemno has led the Krakow Philharmonic as a guest of Krzysztof Penderecki in a program that included Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin and Daphnis et Chloé (Suite No. 2), and Debussy’s L'apres-midi d'un faune. With South Africa’s Capetown Symphony the maestro conducted Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 and the Scheherazade of Rimsky-Korsakov. Further symphonic concerts include appearances with the Houston Symphony, Madison Symphony (Prokofiev, Ravel, Saint-Saens), Louisville Symphony (Dvořák, Strauss) and the Youngstown Symphony (Mozart Requiem and Symphony No. 29).
A native of Philadelphia, Maestro Salemno began his career as musical assistant to Max Rudolf at the Curtis Institute. He was a recipient of the Walter Damrosch Memorial Award for Conductors, which included studies with Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau, France. He made his public debut as a conductor at the age of 15, leading the Harrisburg Symphony, which then was followed by conducting appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Curtis Institute Orchestra. He garnered his first position as an Assistant Conductor at Barcelona’s Teatro del Liceo, followed by Teatro Real de Madrid and the Teatro Principal de Valencia. Subsequent assignments included Assistant Conductor posts with the Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago (under Bruno Bartoletti), San Francisco Opera (under Kurt Herbert Adler) and Teatro alla Scala di Milano, as Penderecki's assistant.
A consummate teacher, Maestro Louis Salemno is constantly in demand for master classes having taught at the Manhattan School of Music, The Mannes School of Music, Houston Opera Studio, Dallas Opera Young Artists Program, Atelier of L'Opera de Montreal, Vancouver Opera Studio, Santa Fe Opera, and Washington Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.
Maestro Salemno’s interpretations of more obscure works prompted OPERA INTERNATIONAL to praise his “secure leadership and great sense of expressive sweetness,” while adding that Maestro Salemno is “an excellent interpreter of works that remain unknown." His acclaimed collaborations include many with the most celebrated vocal artists of our time including Jaime Aragall, Renato Bruson, Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Fiorenza Cossotto, Justino Diaz, Mignon Dunn, Lauren Flannigan, Renee Fleming, Leyla Gencer, Eva Marton, Waltraud Meier, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris, Juan Pons, Katia Ricciarelli, Vicente Sardinero, Renata Scotto, Diana Soviero, Tatiana Troyanos, and Carol Vaness.
