TheShining

Paul Moravec, recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music, has composed over 200 orchestral, chamber, lyric, choral and operatic works. Frequently commissioned by notable ensembles and music institutions, Mr. Moravec’s next premiere is A Nation of Others, an oratorio about Ellis Island to a libretto by Mark Campbell for Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall in November. Other recent premieres include The Shining for Minnesota Opera, and Sanctuary Road for North Carolina Opera. A graduate of Harvard and Columbia universities, he holds the distinguished rank of University Professor at Adelphi University, and has served as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as well as Composer-in-Residence at the American Academy in Rome. His website is www.paulmoravec.com and his works are published by www.subitomusic.com.

The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning operas of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon. Mark has written 40 opera librettos, 7 musicals, 8 song cycles and 4 oratorios. His works include Silent Night (Kevin Puts), The (R)evolution of Steve Job (Mason Bates), As One (Laura Kaminsky; Kimberly Reed, co-librettist), Elizabeth Cree (Puts), Sanctuary Road (Paul Moravec), The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare (Julian Grant), Stonewall (Iain Bell), Later the Same Evening (John Musto), Today It Rains (Kaminsky/Reed), Bastianello/Lucrezia (Musto) and Songs from an Unmade Bed. In 2020, he created and funded the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize the first award for opera librettists in the history of the art form and administered by Opera America, and in 2022 co-created the True Voice Award to help with the training of transgender singers, administered by Washington National Opera.

Conductor, Nicole Paiement is the Founder and General & Artistic Director of Opera Parallèle (OP). Recently for OP, Paiement conducted Glass’ La Belle et la Bête and Everest: An Immersive Experience by Talbot, a work she originally premiered on stage at The Dallas Opera, where she is Principal Guest Conductor. An active guest conductor, Paiement has performed with companies including the Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Atlanta Opera. In 2020 Paiement made her debut with L’Opéra de Montréal with Benjamin’s Written on Skin, returning in 2023 to conduct Golijov’s Ainadamar. This season Paiement also made her UK debut with the English National Opera conducting Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, and conducted a series of concerts with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo, Italy. Upcoming engagements include a return to London to conduct Talbot’s Everest with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican Center. The 2023/2024 season will include 2 world premieres with OP, a return to The Dallas Opera, followed by a debut with the Volksoper Vienna conducting both a symphonic concert and an opera by John Adams. Photo Credit: Cory Weaver

Brian Staufenbiel is the creative director for Opera Parallèle where he has directed and spearheaded the conceptual designs of the company’s productions since it was founded in 2010. Specializing in multimedia, immersive, and interdisciplinary productions, he actively works across a wide range of artistic disciplines collaborating in film and with media designers, choreographers and dancers, circus and fabric artists, and designer fabricators. His progressive approach to stagecraft has garnered critical acclaim for many of the company’s productions, including Wozzeck, Orphée, Champion and Dead Man Walking. Most recently he finished the Cocteau Trilogy with Opera Parallèle’s acclaimed production of La Belle et la Bête, and the first fully immersive opera experience of Talbot and Scheer’s Everest. On film Staufenbiel recently directed pieces for the online festival season of the Sun Valley Music Festival, a film of Dove/Angelis’ Flight for Seattle Opera, a graphic novel opera film of Talbot/Scheer’s Everest with Opera Parallèle, and a feature length film of Gordon Getty’s opera Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Upcoming film projects include a documentary about the life of Frederica von Stade with Paper Wings Films, and Out of the Darkness, a dance film about Japanese incarceration camps in the United States during World War II. Staufenbiel recently directed Golijov/Hwang’s Ainadamar at L’Opéra de Montréal which will be reprised at Victoria Opera next season. Other upcoming directing engagements include Das Rheingold for Seattle Opera and Calgary Opera and The Shining for Atlanta opera. Photo Credit: Cory Weaver.

Y. Sharon Peng is pleased to be reprising at Opera Parallèle after its tremendous run of La Belle et La Bête. A member of IATSE 706, her works range from stage to editorial to film & television. Recent stage productions include Into the Woods (Foothill Musical Theatre), Failure: A Love Story (Castilleja School), and The Producers (Hillbarn Theatre). She can also be found at San Francisco Opera, both in the wig shop and as a show foreperson, as well as heading Wigs & Makeup for the Merola Opera Program. She stewards the Wig & Makeup Department at Opera San José. For more of her work, visit her online portfolio at ysharonpeng.net.

Jim French designs lighting for the performing arts and live events, with work seen in twenty-five countries around the globe. Highlights of Jim’s work in dance include over fifteen world premieres for San Francisco Ballet, nine seasons as resident designer for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, premiere works for Finnish National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and long-running collaborations with the choreographers Val Caniparoli, Pascal Rioult, and Amy Seiwert. At home in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has collaborated with Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Merola Opera Program, Shotgun Players, Kronos Quartet, Joe Goode Performance Group, Bandaloop, ODC Dance, Post: Ballet, SF Danceworks, Imagery, Sacramento Ballet, Marin Theater Company, West Edge Opera, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, and has been house LD at SFJazz. Jim designed lighting for the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, and volunteers for Dancers Responding to AIDS and Bike East Bay.

A native of the great state of Oklahoma, Jaymes Kirksey has become a national presence as a violinist, pianist, and conductor. He serves as Conductor of Orchestras and is the Director of Classical Music Studies at Oakland School for the Arts, while also a faculty member of the string and piano department. As a conductor and educator, Jaymes has created high-quality musical interpretations ranging from Baroque to modern symphonic repertoire. He has performed in venues across Europe and the US and remains a steadfast performer in the Bay Area where he brings versatility, precision, and an exciting stage presence to audiences. Continuing as Music Director/Conductor of the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra for his seventh season, Kirksey continues to strive for exposure with young musicians and create access to classical music for communities of color.

Latino American director, David Radamés Toro, applies his backgrounds in music and mime to create innovative opera productions. He has worked at companies such as Minnesota Opera, the Wexford Opera Festival, Opera Colorado, and Cincinnati Opera. An admirer of modern era opera, David has had the privilege of directing 21st century works including Dead Man Walking (Opera Idaho, 2022), The Shining (Opera Colorado), Glory Denied, (Opera Fayetteville, 2020) and Flight (Minnesota Opera, 2020). In 2015, He directed the premiere of Rose Made Man: An Inside Out Opera for the Cohen New Works Festival in Austin, TX. Future productions include: Das Rheingold (assistant director, Seattle Opera), Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (director, Minneapolis Opera & Austin Opera), and The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me (assistant director, Washington National Opera). In addition to directing, David teaches movement and acting for singers using his extensive background in physical theatre and Gestural Mechanics.