Merola Opera Program Reveals 29 Selected Artists

San Francisco’s acclaimed Merola Opera Program has selected 29 artists from a pool of more than 1,300 international applicants to participate in its 2024 program. This year’s cohort of participants hail from Australia, China, France, Georgia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States and Canada.  

“We look forward to welcoming these 29 talented artists to San Francisco to experience what Merola has provided for nearly 70 years, a transformative summer of artistic development and growth,” said San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson and San Francisco Opera Center General Manager Markus Beam (Merola ’02). “At Merola, the selected young artists not only receive musical, dramatic, and linguistic training from our outstanding faculty, but will also be given access and exposure to real-world experiences that will build a foundation for managing their future careers.”   

Public performances by these artists in the 2024 Merola Summer Festival will be announced on March 26. Tickets will be available to Merola members March 26, 2024, at 10am PST and to the public April 9, 2024, at 10am PST, online at merola.org or by calling the San Francisco Opera Box Office at 415-864-3330. 

The 2024 Merola Opera Program artists include:  

Sopranos  

Moriah Berry, Atlanta, Georgia 

Hannah Cho, Seoul, South Korea 

Alexa Frankian, Oakville, Ontario, Canada 

Viviana Aurelia Goodwin, Tulsa, Oklahoma 

Lydia Grindatto, Tijeras, New Mexico 

Elizabeth "Hanje" Hanje, Vestavia Hills, Alabama 

Mary Hoskins, Saratoga Springs, New York 

Tessa McQueen, Loveland, Colorado 

Mezzo-sopranos  

Lucy Joy Altus, New York, New York 

Simona Genga, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

Lindsay Martin, San Diego, California 

Kara Morgan, Andover, Minnesota 

Tenors  

Nathan Bryon, Geurie, Australia 

Michael John Butler, Bowie, Maryland 

Giorgi Guliashvili, Rustavi, Georgia 

Angelo Silva, Houston, Texas 

Samuel White, Columbia, South Carolina 

Baritones  

Sihao Hu, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China  

Hyungjin Son, Seoul, South Korea 

Olivier Zerouali, Middletown, Delaware 

Bass-baritones  

Donghoon Kang, Seoul, South Korea 

Benjamin R. Sokol, Westbury, New York 

Justice Yates, Leesburg, Florida 

Pianists/Coaches  

Sujin Choi, Seoul, South Korea 

Julian Garvue, Seattle, Washington 

Hyemin Jeong, Seoul, South Korea 

Yedam Kim, Paris, France 

Ji Youn Lee, Seoul, South Korea 

Stage Director  

Anna Theodosakis, Vancouver, B.C., Canada 

The Merola Opera Program is widely regarded as the foremost opera training program for aspiring singers, pianists, and stage directors. Merola nurtures the opera stars of tomorrow through master classes and private coaching with opera’s most accomplished singers, conductors, and directors. Participants also receive training in operatic repertoire, languages, diction, acting, stage movement, and professional development. Offered free of charge to all participants, the Merola Opera Program is unique in the industry in many ways. It is the only young artist program to provide financial support to developing artists for five years following their participation, offering aid for essential career development expenses including coaching, language classes, and audition travel. Since Carrie-Ann Matheson and Markus Beam formed the new Merola artistic team in 2021, the program has redoubled its efforts to provide exciting new curriculaand added focus on preparing the burgeoning artists for extramusical aspects of a performance career. Learn more at merola.org.    

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