Highlighting the music of Charles Ives and music from esteemed living American composers Jake Heggie, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Robert Livingston Aldridge, this program will offer a snap shot of American life through the perspective of these composers.

Mezzo-soprano, Nicole Asel, serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Colorado State University where she teaches Voice and Vocal Pedagogy. A finalist in the 2010 Rocky Mountain Regional Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, Nicole is a devoted operatic performer and recitalist who has a passion for new American opera and art song and has been active in creating and promoting new works.  She has collaborated with some of today’s most accomplished living composers including Mark Adamo, Kirke Meachem, Robert Livingston Aldridge, Hershel Garfein, Daniel Kellogg, and Robert Spillman. Her recording of Robert Livingston Aldridge’s LoveSongs is available on the Centaur label with pianist Robert Spillman. 

Soprano Catherine Compton has performed throughout the United States and Germany. A frequent recitalist, she is especially dedicated to advancing the works of female composers with special focus for the songs of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Catherine was a Fulbright fellow in Leipzig, Germany, where she sang with the Leipzig Bach Festival, Mendelssohn Haus Museum, and Gewandhaus zu Leipzig as well as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Fulbright Kommission in Berlin. Recent performances in the US include Lili Boulanger’s Clairières dans le ciel at Indiana University, the Brahms Requiem with the Truman Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Cantata 51 with the Brownsville Chamber Orchestra, and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Central Iowa Symphony. Operatic roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Magic Flute), Erste Dame (Magic Flute), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and Gretel (Hansel & Gretel), among others. She was a winner in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition in 2011. Catherine served on the voice faculty of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from 2015-2018, where she taught applied voice, diction, music entrepreneurship, and opera workshop. She holds an MM in voice performance and pedagogy from CU-Boulder, and was a 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing Teaching Intern. Catherine is currently associate instructor of voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she also serves on the production staff of IU Opera Theater.

American tenor John Lindsey, who has been noted for his “clarion tone” and “blazing tenor” by Opera News, has gained a reputation as a budding dramatic tenor with a connection to German, English and new works repertoire.

In the 2019/2020 season, Mr. Lindsey will return to Pacific Opera Victoria to make his role debut as Bill in Flight by Jonathan Dove. He will also make house debuts at Opéra de Montréal as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte and at Opera on the Avalon as Edward in Ours by John Estacio. In 2018/2019 season, Mr. Lindsey appeared in Madison Opera’s annual Opera in the Parks concert, in anticipation of a role and company debut as the Prince in Rusalka, and returned to Austin Opera for a reprisal of Jonathan Dale in Silent Night, a role he originated for the world premiere at Minnesota Opera. In the 2017/2018 season, John Lindsey made his Canadian debut with Pacific Opera Victoria as Steva in Jenufa, followed by a role debut as Froh in Das Rheingold with Arizona Opera. Other notable roles include Narraboth in Salome, Nick/cover for Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West, and Don Jose in Carmen.

Mr. Lindsey was an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera in 2015, a Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera from 2011-2014, and a studio artist with Central City Opera in 2011. He received his Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Colorado State University in his hometown of Fort Collins. In 2015, he was invited to participate in the International Competition for Wagnerian Voices at Bayreuth. He currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he serves on the voice faculty at Colorado State University.

Daniel Hunter-Holly, baritone, is an Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and serves as the South Texas District Governor of NATS. An active recitalist, having performed throughout North and Central America, he is also an acclaimed educator, receiving a University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2015; in 2018, he was selected by NATS as an Emerging Leader for the Texoma Region.  Recent presentations and workshops at international and national conferences include topics such as “Projected Imagery in Opera” and “Pastiche Productions: Making Opera Personal for 21st Century Students”  (National Opera Association National Conferences, 2018 & 2019), “Assessment Tools for Applied Voice Teachers” (International Congress of Voice Teachers, 2017, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference, 2016), and “Incorporating Movement and Vocal Improvisation Training into the Undergraduate Voice Curriculum” (College Music Society National Conference, 2017).  He holds degrees in vocal performance from The Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and the University of California Santa Barbara, with additional studies at SongFest and OperaWorks.

Pianist and vocal coach Allan Armstrong is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  Previously he was a member of the applied piano faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where he co-directed the nationally award-winning UTRGV Bravo Opera Company.  Since 2015 Allan has been the official accompanist for the Metropolitan National Opera Competition for both the Colorado district and Rocky Mountain Regional rounds. In 2019 he was selected to be a collaborative pianist at the prestigious National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program at the New England Conservatory of Music. Allan has been a principal production coach at Eugene Opera, Opera Colorado, St. Petersburg Opera, Summer Opera Tel Aviv, Opera on the Avalon, and Opera Tampa. Since 2015 Allan has been the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for both the Colorado/Wyoming district an Rocky Mountain Regional rounds.