Ravinia 2023 Issue 4

EMILY FONS (LAU); KALEIGH RAE GAMACHE (DRACKLEY); KRISTIN HOEBERMANN (BOYER); ELLIOT MANDEL (LEE) I ; I ; I I ; I ADAM LAU American bass Adam Lau has been leading a busy and active opera career with a wide range of engagements across the 2022–23 sea- son, including debuts with four companies. In the autumn, he made his first appearance with New Orleans Opera in one of his signa- ture roles, Don Basilio in Rossini’s The Bar- ber of Seville . Next came Lau’s San Francisco Opera debut portraying Dr. Grenvil in Ver- di’s La traviata , which he then reprised at the Metropolitan Opera, where he debuted last season with performances in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Puccini’s Tosca . Appearances as Colline in Puccini’s La bohème marked his Opera Company of Philadelphia debut in the spring, and a return to the role of Don Basil- io was the vehicle of his Florentine Opera of Milwaukee debut. In addition to his Met debut, Lau highlighted the 2021–22 season with two roles at Dallas Opera, the Bonze in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Don Basilio, also portraying the latter with Utah Opera, essaying Colline with North Carolina Opera, singing Kobun in Mason Bates’s The (R)evo- lution of Steve Jobs with Atlanta Opera, and returning to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Sarastro in The Magic Flute . A top prize winner of the 2016 Jensen Vocal Competi- tion and 2015 George London Competition, as well as a finalist in the 2016 Dallas Op- era Competition, Lau has cultivated further credits with such companies as Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Portland Opera, as well as several summer programs, including San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Aspen Opera The- ater, and Santa Fe Opera. In concert, he has appeared with the Charlotte Symphony, Cin- cinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmon- ic, National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and San Diego Symphony, as well as at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Adam Lau is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. PETER SCOTT DRACKLEY Tenor Peter Scott Drackley was recently awarded a grant by the Olga Forrai Founda- tion, and he began last season as an ensemble artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, appear- ing as Pirelli in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and also singing Chekalinsky in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades while covering the role of Herman. He also made role debuts as Radamès in Verdi’s Aida with Opera Carolina and Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot with Opera Grand Rapids, and made his international de- but Nevill Holt Opera in London as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème . During the 2019–20 season, Drackley made his role debut as Ca- varadossi in Puccini’s Tosca with Opera in the Heights and also portrayed Rodolfo in Puc- cini’s La bohème with Opera Idaho and the male lead of Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg with both Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids, a role and work he performed the first excerpts of at the Supreme Court for the titular justices—a concert that was later broadcast on National Public Radio. He later joined Opera Omaha for a radio broadcast of their Opera Outdoors concert series, singing excerpts from Turandot and Verdi’s Ernani and Otello . Drackley’s career highlights also include appearing as Rodolfo with both An- chorage Opera and Utah Festival Opera as well as portraying Pollione in Bellini’s Nor- ma with Winter Opera Saint Louis, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana with Bo- heme Opera New Jersey, the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Anchorage Opera, Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth with LoftOpera, and Riccar- do in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera with Opera in the Heights. A frequent concert soloist, he has sung Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Helena Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Nor- walk Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem with the Lancaster and Richmond Symphonies, and Schubert’s Mass in G at Carnegie Hall. Orig- inally from Lancaster, PA, Drackley is an alumnus of the Peabody Conservatory and has been a Studio Artist with Sarasota Opera and Apprentice Artist with both Des Moines Metro Opera and Santa Fe Opera. Among other vocal competition honors, he is a win- ner of Michael Ballam Concorso Lirico Inter- national Competition. Peter Scott Drackley is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. EVAN BOYER An alumnus of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, bass Evan Boyer has been a guest artist on concert and opera stag- es around the world. During three seasons at the Lyric, he was heard in over a dozen productions, including Puccini’s La bohème , Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Lohengrin , Bizet’s Carmen , and Verdi’s Aida , Macbeth , and Rigoletto . Since departing the studio program, Boyer has returned to the Lyric as Lodovico in Verdi’s Otello and on the company’s annual concert at Millennium Park. He began the 2022–23 season singing Sciarrone in Puccini’s Tosca with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and he recently ap- peared as Lodovico with Austin Opera and as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Louis- ville Orchestra and in Handel’s Messiah with Lexington Baroque Ensemble, Peoria Sym- phony Orchestra, and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago. Recent highlights have also included his role and company debut as Don Basilio in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at Opera North, a semi-staged production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Kalamazoo Symphony in which he portrayed both the Commendatore and Masetto, and a concert performance of Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with the Pacific Symphony. Boyer made his Chicago Opera Theater debut in 2010 as Oreste in Ca- valli’s Giasone , returning as Créon in Char- pentier’s Médée , and he has debuted with such companies as Cincinnati Opera (as Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca ), Seattle Opera (as Maset- to in Don Giovanni ), Palm Beach Opera (as Colline in Puccini’s La bohème ), and Canadi- an Opera Company (in Strauss’s Salome and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites , returning as Samuel in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera ). While a resident artist of Wolf Trap Opera, Boyer performed Ramfis in Aida and The Bonze in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly , and at the Tanglewood Music Center he sang Alas- ka Joe Wolf in Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and Captain Petrovich in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin . He is also an alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and the Curtis Institute of Music. Evan Boyer made his Ravinia debut in 2014, performing multiple roles in Strauss’s Salome , and is making his first return to the festival. KATELYN LEE Based in Chicago, soprano Katelyn Lee regu- larly appears with ensembles and companies across the city and throughout the United States, commanding a versatile voice in op- era, art song, musical theater, and oratorio. She has been featured in several productions by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, including in the title role of Gretel in Humperdinck’s Han- sel and Gretel , and she has also sung with Op- era Theatre of Saint Louis, Haymarket Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, Ozarks Lyric Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, and Folks Operetta, among other companies. High- lights of Lee’s repertory include Romilda in Handel’s Serse , Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville , Doris Parker in Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird , Antonia in Leigh’s Man of La Mancha , Cunegonde in Berstein’s Candide , Madame Goldentrill in Mozart’s The Impresario , Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovan- ni , and the Female Narrator in the world pre- miere of Gregory Spears’s Jason and the Argo- nauts . A specialist in Baroque performance and repertoire, Lee is a frequent guest of Mu- sic of the Baroque, recently singing the role of Angel in Handel’s Jephtha . In April, she ap- peared alongside Nathan Gunn and Ann Ha- rada with the New Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert performance of Rodgers’s South Pacific , singing the role of Nellie Forbush. Lee has also been a guest of the Grant Park Sym- phony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Indi- anapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Northwest Indiana Sym- phony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Cham- paign-Urbana Symphony, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, and she has been a member of the vocal group Chicago a cap- pella. Originally from Springfield, MO, Lee completed a Bachelor of Music at the Cincin- nati College-Conservatory of Music—where her stage repertoire included the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute , Fire in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges , and Diana in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld —and a Master of Music at Indiana University’s Ja- cobs School of Music. Passionate about shar- ing music education, she has been a featured artist with Lyric Unlimited and Opera for the Young, among other organizations. Katelyn Lee is making her Ravinia debut. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 31 – AUGUST 14, 2023 30