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The Company

We Value Artistic Integrity, Musical Excellence, Collaboration, Community Engagement & Inclusion

Our Mission

Chicago Fringe Opera is dedicated to presenting innovative vocal works with an emphasis on new and contemporary styles, engaging with the Chicago community through intimate and immersive performance experiences, and fostering and empowering local artists.

Furthermore, Chicago Fringe Opera is committed to fostering a culture that values and respects all people, their identities and their histories. We denounce harm against any individual based on their identity, including race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, immigration status or ability. We want to support, engage, and lift up those who have had their power diminished for the privilege of others.

We recognize that Chicago Fringe Opera operates on Native land. The areas on which our rehearsals and performances take place are the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, including the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa. Although for over 200 years Native Nations have been forcibly removed from this territory, we acknowledge that the people of the Council of Three Fires, while facing on-going settler colonialism, continue to claim their place and act as stewards of their ancestral lands, which remain home to over 100,000 tribal members in the state of Illinois.

Our recognition is an expression of gratitude and appreciation and is intended to honor the indigenous people who have been living and working on this land from time immemorial.

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Executive Director

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Executive Director, Creative Director & Conductor

Catherine O’Shaughnessy is a rising orchestral and opera conductor in the United States and abroad. Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic musical scene, she is currently the music director of Chicago Fringe Opera, the assistant conductor of Opera Festival of Chicago, and has appeared conducting productions at Chicago Opera Theater and DePaul University. In 2020, she helped produce Fringe’s contribution to the Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales From a Safe Distance—winner of the “Best Collaboration” award from 360° of Opera. A semi-finalist in the 2016 Spazio Musica International Conducting Competition, Catherine made her New York debut conducting Antonio Salieri’s La Cifra with the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. She has also music directed Pyramus and Thisbe in Freiberg (Mittelsächsisches Theater) and conducted Don Giovanni and La Traviata in Orvieto (Teatro Mancinelli). In 2013 she conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra at a sold-out performance in Tchaikovsky Hall.

George Cederquist

Producing Artistic Director

George Cederquist

Producing Artistic Director

George is the Producing Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera.  In addition, George has directed new productions and scenes with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival, Chicago Folks Operetta, Wolf Trap Opera, and Chautauqua Opera.

Digital opera shorts include ‘Telekinetik’ for Catapult Opera, later screened at the 2025 Prototype Festival, and called “a place where David Lynch would have felt right at home” by the New York Times.

An inspiring mentor, George is the Theatre Department Chair and Artistic Director of Opera at North Park University.  He also teaches at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and has taught at DePaul University and Roosevelt University/CCPA.

Now in its tenth season, George is the executive producer of ‘Opera Box Score’, America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera, heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago.

George is the recipient of a National Opera Association award, a Best Music Video Award at the Aladerri International Film Festival, two American Prizes in Directing, Opera America’s 2013 Director-Designer competition award, and the German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

George’s training includes residencies with Pittsburgh Opera, the Merola Opera Program, the Staatstheater Darmstadt, and Wolf Trap Opera, and three improvisation intensives at the Annoyance Theatre.  He holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern and a BA in Theatre Studies and English from Yale.  George is a member of Steep Theatre Company and the American Guild of Musical Artists, and is a dual US-UK citizen.

George lives with his wife, their two children, their cat, and their five chickens.

He proudly uses zero social media platforms.

Dana Campbell

Soprano

Dana Campbell

Soprano

Soprano Dana Campbell made her professional debut with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and has since been a guest artist with Virtuosi di Toronto, Toronto Classical Singers and Talisker Players, and a featured artist with the West Suburban Symphony, Southwest Symphony Orchestra, and Kenosha Symphony Orchestra.

With Toronto Operetta Theatre, she sang the title role in the Canadian première of Gonzalo Roig’s zarzuela Cecilia Valdes. For the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ms. Campbell appeared in their revered productions of Porgy and Bess, and understudied the role of Addie Parker in their production of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird. With Maestro Robert Treviño and his Millennium Chamber Players, she undertook, among others, the roles of Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and Mimì in La Bohème. Ms. Campbell appeared in concert in Austria, under the baton of Edoardo Müller, and reprised Mimì in Italy for Maestro Joseph Rescigno. Ms. Campbell is a member of the celebrated Adrian Dunn Singers, and performs frequently with the South Shore Opera Company of Chicago, including turns in two of that company’s acclaimed productions: as Rachel Ross in Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, and as Claire in Troubled Island. Other operatic favourites include Donna Elvira and Countess Almaviva, both for Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Micaëla for American Chamber Opera, and Violetta for South Shore. Ms. Campbell is thrilled and honoured to have worked with her friend and colleague Khary “K. F. Jacques” Laurent, singing the role of Maddalena on his exciting OperaTronic project: L’Assassino, for Resonance Works Pittsburgh.

Fizz & Ginger marks Ms. Campbell’s third engagement with Chicago Fringe Opera, previously appearing on the company’s staged recital program Chicago Currents, and as understudy in Jake Heggie’s Two Remain: Out of Darkness, taking the stage on opening night as Krystyna Zywulska.

Khary Laurent

Artistic Producer

Khary Laurent

Artistic Producer

Shortly after completing his Masters in opera performance, bass-baritone Khary Laurent took to producing his own material and creating a brand-new genre on the forefront of hip-hop and opera music under the pseudonym K. F. Jacques. From tours in exotic destinations around the world to The Rosie O’Donnel Show (Oprah Winfrey Network), Mr. Laurent has advanced from a chauffeur day job to captivating audiences worldwide with his exceptional fusion of rap, opera, and pop; dubbed OperaTronic. He’s performed multiple times as a headliner at House of Blues Chicago, and has performed his classic solo rendition of the national anthem at United Center, U. S. Cellular Field, and Soldier Field. Born and raised in Chicago, this new creative expression has clearly developed a following and paved his way to legendary status!

Jenny Schuler

Marketing, Brand & Web Director

Jenny Schuler

Marketing, Brand & Web Director, Soprano

Soprano Jenny Schuler has earned praise in recent seasons for her powerful vocalism and compelling stage artistry. She has been hailed as a “sumptuous soprano,” with a voice “rich in nuance” and “a vivid presence on the stage.” Her 2020/2021 season highlights include a debut with Chicago Opera Theater as Isabela in La Hija de Rappaccini (originally Matilde in Catan’s Il Postino), a debut with Opera Festival of Chicago in the role of Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, in addition to her role as a featured artist in the Dante 700 recital series also with Opera Festival of Chicago..

In the 2019/2020 season Ms Schuler made her Oregon Symphony debut as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and returned as Mother in their production of Hänsel und Gretel, in addition to debuting the title role of Tosca with New Jersey Festival Orchestra. Productions canceled due to Covid-19 include Louder, Longer, Wagner! (Valerie/Brünhilde) with Lyric Unlimited, Lyric Opera of Chicago & Second City, and Songs from Letters recital with Chicago Fringe Opera.

Recent season highlights include the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos as a guest artist with Indiana University, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Sugar Creek Opera, Ariadne auf Naxos and Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, both with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and Leonore* in the Princeton Festival’s production of Fidelio.

Ms. Schuler was nominated as finalist for the 2019 Richard Tucker Career Grant, she was the second place winner in the 2019 Classical Singer Competition, first place winner of the 2018 Lyra New York International Vocal Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2017 Premier Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition, a semi-finalist in Shreveport Opera’s 2017 Mary Jacobs Smith Competition, a finalist in the 2017 Marcello Giordani International Voice Competition, and first place winner in the 2016 Heafner–Williams Vocal Competition. Ms. Schuler earned her Artist Diploma from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute and her Master of Music from Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Jonathan Zeng

Tenor

Jonathan Zeng

Tenor

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 robust private voice studio. He teaches voice at Loyola Academy on the north side of Chicago. 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). For more info, visit www.JonathanZeng.com or follow on Instagram: @jonathan.zeng

Giovanna Jacques

Member-at-large [on sabbatical]

Giovanna Jacques

Member-at-large [on sabbatical], Mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Giovanna Manilla Jacques is a founding member of Chicago Fringe Opera, serves as Secretary on the CFO Board and is also the PR Director. Though she was born and spent her childhood in San Francisco, she spent her formative years in the South of France where she studied at the Conservatoire National de Toulon. She moved to Chicago in 2009 to complete her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the DePaul School of Music. She graduated with her Master in Education with a focus in Higher Ed Leadership in 2021, also from DePaul. She served as Assistant Director of Admissions for the DePaul School of Music from 2017-2022, and is currently the Assistant Director of Admissions for the Evening & Weekend MBA at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern). Though she is no longer an active performer, she is a committed audience member and is thrilled to still be a part of Chicago Fringe Opera!

Bridget Skaggs

Mezzo-soprano [on sabbatical]

Bridget Skaggs

Mezzo-soprano [on sabbatical], Mezzo Soprano

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.

Board Members

Matt Boresi
Member-at-large
Sarah Geocaris
Member-at-large
Joshua Taylor
Member-at-large

Artistic Ally

Matthan Ring Black
Baritone
Cody Michael Bradley
Pianist
Katherine Bruton
Soprano
John Cockerill
Pianist
Gabriel Di Gennaro
Bass-baritone
Daina Fischer
Soprano
Julia Elise Hardin
Mezzo-soprano
Jacquelyn Kress
Mezzo-soprano
Brad Caleb Lee
Designer
Jessie Lyons
Soprano
Ted Nazarowski
Technical Director
Clarissa Parrish Short
Soprano
Laura Smalley
Soprano
Supported by The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture, the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is member of Opera America, the nation's advocacy organization for the art form of opera.

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