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About
Cast

Chicago Fringe Opera will once again be featured in the Moods + Foods outdoor Performance Series at Woodard Plaza, which will be transformed into a community gathering spot for food and entertainment. 

Cast

Megan Fletcher

Soloist

Megan Fletcher

Soloist

Megan Fletcher is a soprano and voice teacher based in Chicago. As an avid choral singer, she can be seen performing with the Grant Park Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and William Ferris Chorale. She debuted with Chicago Fringe Opera in 2018 as Leonora in Paul Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner. As an advocate for social justice in the arts, Megan has appeared performing as a soloist and chorister with Hearing In Color, a Chicago arts organization seeking to highlight underrepresented music written and performed by people of color and other minorities.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Sounds of Pride 2020 Soloist 2020
Sounds of Pride Soloist 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Leonora 2018

Bridget Skaggs

Soloist

Bridget Skaggs

Soloist

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.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Two Remain Zosia 2022
Ear Taxi Festival – Spotlight Series Concert: Songs From Letters Soloist 2020
Love Wounds Soloist (Naomi Songs) 2019
The Great God Pan Austin 2018

Laura Smalley

Soloist

Laura Smalley

Soloist

Laura Smalley is a producer, actor, and singer in the Chicago area. She has worked in arts administration with many prominent arts organizations, including Des Moines Metro Opera, Stage 773, The Lyric Opera Chicago, and Chicago Opera Theater. She is also an alumna of the 2018 Hart Institute for Women Opera Administrators, a professional development program at The Dallas Opera.

Laura’s recent performing credits include A Christmas Carol (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre), How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Hunchback of Notre Dame (Music Theater Works), Big Entrance (Forte Chicago), Love Wounds (Chicago Fringe Opera), Grant Park Music Festival, Merrie England (Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company), Pirates of Penzance (The Savoyaires), Pascagoula: A Folk Opera (Singing River Productions), Old Maid and the Thief (MOE), and Sorry/Grateful (Slotted Spoon Initiative). 

Her cabaret performances include Sleep/Creep/Leap and Reunion: A Night of Sondheim. She is a founding member of the vintage vocal trio The Peppermint Patties, with recent shows including Won’t You Be My Galentine? (2020), Home for the Holidays (2020), and Holiday Cabaret (2021).

She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from DePaul School of Music. 

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Two Remain Executive Producer 2022
The Heroes Project – The Widow’s Will Executive Producer 2021
A City of Works Executive Producer 2021
Corsair Executive Producer 2020
Love Wounds Echo Cover; "I WIll Learn to Love a Person" Soloist Cover 2019
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds Soloist 2019
Fringe at the Taproom Soloist 2018

Michael R. Oldham

Pianist

Michael R. Oldham

Pianist

Michael R. Oldham (b. 1989 Braidwood, IL) is a composer and pianist who weaves artwork, story, and imagination into his work. Whether experimenting with looping videos on Instagram as the “parts” of a piece that anyone can play (Music In Segments – 2018), utilizing repeating gif images of old silent films as inspiration for a twelve-movement work (Music In Gifs – 2019), or translating great works of art into music (Suggestion Box: Art – 2020, The Egon Schiele Pieces – upcoming), Michael’s thirst for unusual storytelling through music is never quenched.

One of the many projects keeping Michael busy over quarantine is a weekly art song series entitled, Lugubrious Portraiture, or, Art Songs for Those on the Peripheries of Love. Michael virtually gathered eight of his friends in the Chicago opera scene and beyond to create this series, which has premieres on his Instagram (@WhoaItsMichaelO) and YouTube channel every Sunday through April 2021.

Continuing this trend, his work as composer-as-storyteller is ever-present in the albums, EPs, and singles he has self-released. Recent albums include In Select Theaters (2019), which is his first full-length album of piano solos based on imagery of cinema past, Three Vignettes (2017), which is a work with short stories for violin and piano, The Los Angeles Miseries (2016), which is a set of pieces for solo piano on perspectives attained while driving across America from Chicago to Los Angeles, Grand Delusions on a Small Scale (2015), which features early solo piano works, as well as Fantasies for Piano (2014), which is a six-movement dissection of some of his favorite songs by artists including Fiona Apple, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, and Sufjan Stevens. Follow Michael R. Oldham now on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream music.

Michael earned his Bachelor’s degree in Film Scoring and Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied briefly at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He also keeps quite busy as a collaborative pianist in and around Chicago, including work with Chicago Fringe Opera and Chicago’s illustrious improv institution, Second City.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

A City of Works Pianist/Composer 2021
Sounds of Pride Pianist 2019
Sounds of Pride 2020 Pianist/Composer 2020

Jonathan Zeng

Soloist

Jonathan Zeng

Soloist

Lauded for his versatility as a performer, critically acclaimed tenor, Jonathan Zeng, has performed as a soloist with opera companies, theaters, and symphony orchestras throughout the United States. With a voice described by Chicago publications as “valiant”, “stunning”, “vibrant”, and “rich”, Jonathan is based in Chicago and has soloed with choral ensembles The William Ferris Chorale and Vox Venti. You may also have seen him serving as cantor at the historic St. Michael Church in Old Town, singing with the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, as Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore with The Gilbert  & Sullivan Opera Company or in multiple productions with Chicago Folks Operetta & Chicago Fringe Opera. 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.

Jonathan’s cabaret, SONGS THAT SPEAK!, has had success throughout the Midwest. Its next iteration will be on Saturday, Aug 3, 2024 at the Venus Cabaret Theater in Chicago.

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. 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 him on Instagram: @jonathan.zeng

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Sounds of Pride 2020 Soloist 2020
Sounds of Pride Soloist 2019
Love Wounds Narcissus 2019
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds Soloist 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Charles 2018
Fringe at the Taproom Soloist 2018
The Great God Pan Clarke and Meyrick Cover 2018
Song from the Uproar Ensemble 2016
The Turn of the Screw Miles 2015
Chicago Fringe Opera’s Lakeside Soiree Soloist 2015
Voices in the Dark, Jazz & Trouble in Tahiti Tenor, Jazz Trio 2015
Supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, & the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is an Opera America Partner.

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