Laura Smalley is passionate about expanding the reach of opera and championing the art form for modern audiences. She has worked in marketing and development with many prominent arts organizations, including internships with Des Moines Metro Opera and Stage 773, and currently works as Communications Coordinator at Chicago Opera Theater.

She has worked with Chicago Fringe Opera since 2016, and previously served as Development Director (2017-2019), where she oversaw the expansion and growth of the company’s fundraising activities and grant writing. She is also an alumna of the 2018 Hart Institute for Women Opera Administrators, a professional development program at The Dallas Opera.

A lifelong lover of music, Laura holds a BM in Vocal Performance from DePaul School of Music and works regularly as a singer and performer in the Chicago area.

George is the Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera (called “the city’s alt-opera company” by the Chicago Tribune), which produces experiential, immersive, and site-specific productions of operas composed in English. At CFO, George has directed The Rossini Project (workshop), The Long Christmas Dinner, The Great God Pan (world premiere), Lucrezia, In the Penal Colony, The Turn of the Screw, Trouble in Tahiti and The Rape of Lucretia.

In addition, George has directed opera scenes at Wolf Trap Opera and Chautauqua Opera, and new productions with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival, Chicago Folks Operetta, and Chicago Opera Vanguard. An enthusiastic mentor, George has taught acting, auditioning and scene study at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, North Park University, and DePaul University.

Now in its fourth season, George hosts Opera Box Score, America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera, heard every Monday night on WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago. The show tackles the week’s opera headlines and discusses them in a sports talk radio format.

A recipient of the 2015 American Prize in Directing, George’s production of Silent Night was chosen as a winner of Opera America’s 2013 Director-Designer competition. As one of ten Americans to receive the 2011-12 German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, George served as a Regieassistent at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.

George’s training includes the Resident Artist Stage Director program at Pittsburgh Opera, serving as the Apprentice Stage Director at the Merola Opera Program, and as the Directing Fellow at Wolf Trap Opera. He holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University and a BA in Theatre Studies and English from Yale University. A dual US-UK citizen, George is a proud ensemble member of Steep Theatre Company (Chicago) and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

He lives with his wife, their two children, and their cat, in Chicago.

A resident of Chicago, Illinois, Catherine O’Shaughnessy is an active orchestra and opera conductor both in the United States and abroad. In 2010, she made her international professional conducting debut as music director of the Mittelsächsisches Theater’s production of Pyramus und Thisbe in Freiberg, Germany; she has also conducted the Moscow Philharmonic and the Rousse Philharmonic (Rousse, Bulgaria) in concert. Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic opera scene, she founded Windy City Opera and conducted its first production (La bohème) in 2015. Additionally, she just completed her first collaboration with The Floating Opera Company and 42nd Parallel as conductor and music director for Don Giovanni. Catherine, a student of William Reber at Arizona State University, holds a B.M. from the University of Michigan and a M.M. from Bowling Green State University. In addition to her musical pursuits, Catherine is passionate about the role of the arts in philosophy and society. She currently serves as co-organizer for two philosophy meet-up groups and presented a paper on the philosophy of passion at the 2013 Humanities Conference at Lincoln University, PA.

Since moving to Chicago in 2011, Gabriel Di Gennaro has had the pleasure of working with many of the vibrant companies in and around its neighborhoods. In 2018 Gabriel dives into two characters as Roderick & Sam in Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with Chicago Fringe Opera. In 2017 Gabriel was featured in the role of Ignacio, a less than savory father-to-be, in Bolcom’s Lucretia with Chicago Fringe Opera.

Chicago audiences have witnessed Gabriel in several military roles including the titular role of Johnny Johnson (Folks Operetta), Colonel Calverley in Patience (Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company), and General Pervoyedov in Bobok (Thompson Street Opera). Other highlights include Figaro in Petite Opera Productions’ The Barber of Seville as well as the world premieres of Rhys Williams in Evanston Chamber Opera Company’s For Those in Peril and Jimmy in The Floating Opera Company’s composite opera War and Peace. Gabriel is an alumnus of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, the University of Delaware, OperaWorks, the College Light Opera Company, and the young artist programs of Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and Chicago Summer Opera.

Julia Elise Hardin, a native of Lawrence, KS, has been touted as a “powerful” and “expressive” singer drawing from her extensive acting background. She is a founding company ensemble member of Chicago Fringe Opera, and was previously Co-Company Manager and Manager of Finance (2014-2015).

As a singer, Ms. Hardin has performed principal and featured roles as a coloratura mezzo-soprano with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Opera in the Neighborhoods, Chicago Opera Theater, the Castleton Festival (founded by the late Maestro Lorin Maazel), Florentine Opera, Central City Opera, the Fondazione Lirico in Bari, Italy, and more. Orchestral engagements have included regional performances with the Milwaukee Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Rockford and Ft. Wayne Symphonies. Ms. Hardin garners accolades and awards from foundations such as NATSAA, Neue Stimmen, Chicago Union League, Bel Canto Foundation and the Friends of Austria. Julia performs regularly with Chicago groups Music of the Baroque, Aestas Consort and William Ferris Chorale. In 2011, she joined in celebrating the Grammy wins of Florentine Opera’s recording of Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry from the Naxos label, on which she is featured as Mrs. Baines.

In addition to her Executive Directorship with Chicago Fringe Opera, Hardin has worked the head of Development and Engagement and Fest Manager for Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival located in Huntsville, AL.

Beginning with a career primarily based in theater and acting, Julia Elise Hardin followed with strict vocal training at Northwestern University. She continues study with Julia Faulkner. Hardin holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s from Northwestern University. She currently resides in Chicago with her husband.

Mezzo-Soprano Giovanna Manilla Jacques has been actively involved in the Chicago opera scene. She has appeared in several of DePaul Opera Theater productions, portraying such roles as Bianca in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Mrs Peachum ThreePenny Opera, Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring, The Duchess in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and the witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She will next be heard singing the role of Mrs. Grose in the Chicago Fringe Opera’s production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

She is the head of Development for the Chicago Fringe Opera and is also a founding member of the Chicago women’s ensemble Caritas, as well as a yearly participant in the PianoForte association’s Schubertiade. A native French speaker, she also served as the French language coach for CUBE’s production of La Tragédie de Carmen. She just returned from Los Angeles, where she was a part of the OperaWorks Emerging Artists Program. Though she was born and spent her childhood in San Francisco, Ms. Jacques spent her formative years in the South of France where she studied at the Conservatoire National de Toulon. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from DePaul University.

Brad Caleb Lee is a designer and assistant director whose collaborators, among others, include Chicago Fringe Opera, Filament Theatre, Hell In A Handbag, Pride Films & Plays, Theatre Tuscaloosa, Music Theatre Wales, ELANFrontoio, and Welsh National Opera. He co-designed the award-winning British Pavilion Make/Believe for the 2015 Prague Quadrennial and the subsequent exhibition at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Brad’s design for The Richard Burton Theatre Company’s Dogville was selected as part of World Stage Design 2017. He holds an MA w/Merit from The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and is a member of OISTAT, USITT, and SBTD.

Lyric soprano Jessie Lyons is one of the most promising performers of opera’s new generation. The Iowa native has been enthusiastically received by audiences in numerous productions in Italy and throughout the United States.

Jessie has been described as “an amazingly talented young lyric soprano [with] a unique voice that is strong and warm throughout her range,” and her “poise and natural stage presence put her at the top of the list among her current peers.”
(Matthew Chellis, international performing artist).

Of one performance, Stage West Des Moines director Paul Dieke said, “Jessie has an exciting voice, brilliant and powerful, with secure, well-developed high tones. She was musically accurate and approached her roles with sensitivity and expressiveness. Dramatically, she was superb. Her anger/fight scene was mesmerizing.”

Jessie has performed numerous roles with various opera companies. Among her finest achievements to date are her performances of Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with La Musica Lirica in Italy. She has also performed as Alice Ford in Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring at Luther College, and Mimi in American Chamber Opera’s production of La bohème. In addition, she has sung with the Taos Opera Institute in Taos, New Mexico. Following that, Jessie performed with the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera in their 40th anniversary season, singing in Puccini’s La Rondine and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and scenes from Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Mozart’s Cosí Fan Tutte, and Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.

Jessie holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Luther College and a Master’s Degree from Roosevelt University’s “Chicago College of Performing Arts.” After finishing her Master’s Degree, Jessie spent a summer in New York City participating in the Manhattan School of Music Summer Festival.

Most recently, Jessie took part in Madison Opera’s 2013-14 resident artist program in Madison, Wisconsin, where she covered the title role in Puccini’s Tosca and sang Sister Catherine (and covered Sister Rose) in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

Ted Nazarowski has worked in many facets of theater throughout his career. In addition to his day job as a music and theater teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, Mr. Nazarowski has worked as a director, musician, and designer throughout the Chicago area. Recent lighting design credits include A Fool’s Journey (Misfit Circus), Lucrezia and Songs from the Uproar (Chicago Fringe Opera), The Violet Hour (South Shore Opera) and The Consul (Main Street Opera). He is thrilled to be working with such an amazingly talented cast and crew!

Soprano Jenny Schuler has earned praise in recent seasons for her powerful vocalism and compelling stage artistry. In 2019 Ms. Schuler returned to Oregon Symphony to perform the role of Mother in Hänsel und Gretel, she also made her New Jersey Festival Orchestra debut in the title role of Tosca. In 2020 Ms. Schuler will make her Lyric Opera Unlimited debut as the lead female role in Lyric Opera’s Wagner Companion, which showcases selections from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

In 2018 Ms. Schuler joined Indiana University as a guest artist in the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos as well as debuting the comic role of Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Sugar Creek Opera. She also appeared as a soloist with Chicago Folks Operetta in their Reclaimed Voices Series. In December 2018, Ms. Schuler made her Oregon Symphony debut as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

In 2017, Ms. Schuler debuted the title roles of Ariadne auf Naxos and Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, both with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and covered the role of Leonore in the Princeton Festival’s production of Fidelio. Additional roles in her repertoire have included Micaëla in La tragédie de Carmen, Anaide in Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and Alice Ford in Falstaff.

Ms. Schuler was the first place winner of the 2018 Lyra New York International Vocal Competition, second place winner of the 2018 Lyra New York Online Mozart Competition, finalist in the 2017 Marcello Giordani International Voice Competition, a semi-finalist in Shreveport Opera’s 2017 Mary Jacobs Smith Competition, and first prize winner in the 2016 Heafner–Williams Vocal Competition.

Clarissa Parrish Short is returning to the operatic world after transitioning from mezzo-soprano to soprano. She has sung with opera companies and choruses throughout the United States and Germany, including the Mittelsächsisches Theater, Theater Plauen-Zwickau, Portland Opera, Florentine Opera, Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, the Basilica of St. Josaphat, St. John Cantius, and St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

A native of Sterling, Virginia, Clarissa is an alumnus of the Manhattan School of Music and James Madison University. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband tenor Aaron Short. She works at Northeastern Illinois University as the Business Manager for the College of Arts and Sciences and sings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

Mezzo-soprano Bridget Skaggs has swiftly gained the attention of Chicago audiences as “a compelling force” with an “agile, expressive voice” (Chicago Classical Review) equally at home in opera, art song, and oratorio.  Critics have noted the way she “lights up the scene” (Chicago Reader) in performances with Chicago Fringe Opera, where she debuted the role of Austin in the world-premiere production of Rossa Crean’s The Great God Pan in 2018, and sang Christopher Cerrone’s Naomi Songs with “warm and plaintive mezzo” (Chicago Classical Review) as part of Love Wounds, a multi-disciplinary exploration of the composer’s works, in 2019.

Bridget is increasingly recognized for her excellence in the musical and movement styles of Baroque repertoire, having performed Giunone in Cavalli’s La Didone with Haymarket Summer Opera Program in 2018, Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina with Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium in 2019, and performed numerous Bach cantatas as a Festival Artist at the Baroque on Beaver Island Festival (MI) in summers 2014 and 2015.

Nationally, Bridget has appeared as the Fox in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen with Opera Steamboat, and Charlotte in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, where she served as Young Artist.  Internationally, she has toured Bruckner’s Te Deum as alto soloist with Blue Lake International Symphony.  Her vast concert and oratorio repertoire includes the Ravel Shéhérezade, Duruflé Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria, Handel Messiah, and Bach Magnificat.

A passionate advocate for art song, Skaggs is a founding member of vocal chamber quartet Fourth Coast Ensemble, and was recently named Vocal Arts Associate for Chicago Fringe Opera. She has twice been awarded the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago’s vocal chamber fellowship.  This season she records music by composer Lori Laitman, and has recorded the American premiere of Paul Abraham’s 1932 jazz operetta Ball at the Savoy for future release.  A native of Southlake, Texas, Bridget received her education at Oklahoma City University’s Wanda L. Bass School of Music, and resides in Chicago.

Lauded for his versatility as a performer and accomplished in Musical Theater, Opera, Oratorio and Concert repertoire, critically acclaimed tenor, Jonathan Zeng, has performed throughout the United States with companies such as Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, and the Princeton Festival. With a voice described by Chicago publications as “valiant”, “stunning”, “vibrant”, and “rich”, Jonathan is based in Chicago and has appeared as soloist with The William Ferris Chorale in the American premiere of John Joubert’s Five Songs of Incarnation and Bonaventura Somma’s Missa Pro Defunctis. You may also have seen him singing with the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, in Johnny Johnson or The Csardas Princess with Chicago Folks Operetta, or performing in Chicago Fringe Opera productions The Long Christmas Dinner, Trouble In Tahiti, Turn of the Screw, and Song From the Uproar. Roles elsewhere range from Goro in Madama Butterfly & Beppe in I Pagliacci to Prince Charming in Cinderella, Chip Tolentino in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance.  An avid proponent for arts education and vocal instruction, Jonathan has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Preparatory Department at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has maintained a private voice studio for more than a decade. Jonathan received a BA in Music Education from the School of Music at Western IL University and an MM in vocal performance from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Jonathan also writes and records his own music.