Opera Santa Barbara (OSB) has named four outstanding young vocalists Chrisman Studio Artists for the 2019/20 season. The Studio Artist program, which began in 2007, provides opera singers with high-level performance opportunities and training.
The singers work with top industry directors, conductors and coaches in master classes, individual coachings, and public performances including mainstage role assignments. All singers will be performing and covering roles in this season’s Madama Butterfly, Il Postino, and Romeo & Juliet.
Named in recognition of the support from Roger and Sarah Chrisman, Opera SB Chrisman Studio Artists are: soprano Julia Meztler, mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra, tenor Chandler Johnson, and baritone John Allen Nelson. Their residencies will run through May 2020.
Metzler, a Los Angeles-based soprano, is in demand as an opera singer and concert soloist. Recent roles include Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro with Pacific Opera Project, and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites with San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
A frequent opera competitor, Metzler was a 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards national semi-finalist. She will be making her OSB debut as Matilde in Il Postino. She was a 2017 Vocal Fellow at Music Academy of the West and holds degrees in vocal performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UCLA.
Johnson will be covering roles in all three productions and singing Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet. This past season, Johnson was featured in a fully staged scenes program as a studio artist with Chautauqua Opera. He also sang Goro in Madama Butterfly with Opera Columbus, Geppetto in Pinocchio with St. Petersburg Opera, and covered the title role of Candide with The Knights NYC.
Chandler is a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory (CCM), where he received both his bachelor of music and master of music degrees.
Peruvian-American mezzo-soprano Guerra was most recently noted as a “standout” in the Wall Street Journal for her performance at Tanglewood Music Center as Mrs. Doc in Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place. She has been featured at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Bard Music Festival.
Guerra has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, and Garden State Philharmonic. She will be singing Stephano in Romeo & Juliet for her OSB role debut. Guerra is in candidacy for her DMA in vocal performance at UCSB.
A native of St. Paul, MIN, baritone Nelson is an audience favorite with a “deliciously hearty sound” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). He recently made his New York City Opera debut as Giordano in the world premiere of Stonewall, an opera commissioned as a 2019 Pride Initiative production.
He will make his OSB debut as Yamadori in Madam Butterfly, and later sing Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet.
Nelson completed his residency at Boston University Opera Institute in spring 2016. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Bachelor of Arts in vocal performance from St. John’s University.
“We are pleased to welcome these four exceptionally talented young artists, and look forward to introducing them to audiences all across the Santa Barbara community,” said Kostis Protopapas, Opera Santa Barbara artistic and general director.
Opera Santa Barbara is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. For more about Opera Santa Barbara, visit www.operasb.org.
— Joyce Familara for Opera Santa Barbara.