San Francisco Opera Center Announces 2020 Adler Fellows

San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the 12 recipients of the 2020 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship. Selected from participants of the Merola Opera Program, the ten singers and two pianists/apprentice coaches begin their fellowships in January 2020. The performance-oriented residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Since its inception in 1975, the prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 180 young artists, introducing many budding stars to the international opera stage and launching active careers throughout the world as performers, production artists, arts professionals and educators.

The singers selected as 2020 Adler Fellows are sopranos Anne-Marie MacIntosh (Langley, British Columbia, Canada), Elisa Sunshine (San Clemente, California) and Esther Tonea (Buford, Georgia); mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh (Vancouver, Canada); tenors Zhengyi Bai (Linyi, China), Christopher Colmenero (Burlington, Vermont), Christopher Oglesby (Woodstock, Georgia) and Victor Starsky (Queens, New York); baritone Timothy Murray (Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin); and bass Stefan Egerstrom (Brooklyn Center, Minnesota). Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Elisa Sunshine, Esther Tonea, Victor Starsky, Timothy Murray and Stefan Egerstrom are incoming first-year fellows. 2019 Adlers Simone McIntosh, Zhengyi Bai, Christopher Colmenero and Christopher Oglesby continue in the program as second-year fellows.

The pianists selected for Apprentice Coach Fellowships are first-year fellow Andrew King (Syracuse, New York) and returning second-year Adler Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad (Kyiv, Ukraine). The Adler Fellow apprentice coaches work closely with Mark Morash, Director of Musical Studies of the Opera Center, and John Churchwell, Head of Music Staff at San Francisco Opera. The coaches participate in the musical activities of both San Francisco Opera and the Opera Center and are involved in all aspects of the Adler Fellows' training by acting as pianists for master classes, working with master coaches and preparing the Adler Fellows for concerts and mainstage roles.

Adler Fellows gain valuable professional experience by participating in roles of increasing importance in San Francisco Opera's repertory season at the War Memorial Opera House and via a variety of performance opportunities throughout their fellowship. Upcoming engagements for the 2020 Adler Fellows include the Eureka Chamber Music Festival on January 24 (Eureka, CA); a concert with Brava! Opera Theater on January 26 (Ashland, OR) and the Santa Rosa Chamber Series on March 13 (Santa Rosa, CA). Select Adler Fellows will also be featured in the 2020 Schwabacher Recital Series (January-April 2020), and all of the 2020 Adlers Fellows will take the stage for the annual The Future Is Now concert on November 27, 2020.

The 2019 Adlers concluding their fellowships at the end of this year are sopranos Mary Evelyn Hangley and Natalie Image, mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, baritone SeokJong Baek, bass-baritone Christian Pursell and pianist César Cañón. The 2019 Adler Fellows' season culminates with the annual showcase concert The Future Is Now on Friday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The program of arias and operatic scenes features the 2019 class of Adler Fellows accompanied by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and conducted by Eun Sun Kim, who made a "company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance" (San Francisco Chronicle) last June leading Dvořák's Rusalka. For tickets and more information, visit sfopera.com.

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