San Francisco Opera Center Announces The 2024 Adler Fellows

San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson and General Manager Markus Beam announced today the 11 recipients of the 2024 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship.

The cohort of talented young musicians begins the 2024 Fellowship in January, receiving individually tailored musical and performance training and a wide range of professional and personal development instruction. Since its inception in 1977, the prestigious Adler Fellowship has nurtured more than 180 young artists, launching the careers of many performers, conductors, vocal coaches, stage directors, arts professionals and educators throughout the industry.

The artists selected as 2024 Adler Fellows are sopranos Georgiana Adams (Chicago, Illinois), Caroline Corrales (St. Louis, Missouri), Arianna Rodriguez (Fairfax, Virginia) and Olivia Smith (Penticton, British Columbia, Canada); mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz (Oakland, California); tenor Thomas Kinch (Cardiff, Wales); baritone Samuel Kidd (Ann Arbor, Michigan); bass-baritones Jongwon Han (Seoul, South Korea) and James McCarthy (Pleasantville, New York) and coaches/pianists Julian Grabarek (Acton, Massachusetts) and Yang Lin (Shanghai, China). Georgiana Adams, Caroline Corrales, Julian Grabarek, Thomas Kinch, Samuel Kidd and James McCarthy are incoming first-year fellows. Arianna Rodriguez, Olivia Smith, Nikola Printz, Jongwon Han and Yang Lin continue in the program as second-year fellows.

San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows are trained in musical technique and preparation, foreign language skills, acting technique and movement, as well as financial management, leadership development, mental and emotional resilience, physical health and wellness and other skills necessary for a musical career in the twenty-first century. Adler singers are often cast in mainstage roles and leading cover assignments, while Adler pianists work closely with San Francisco Opera music staff to help prepare mainstage operas.

The 2023 Adlers concluding their fellowships at the end of this year are soprano Mikayla Sager, mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag, tenors Victor Cardamone, Edward Graves and Moisés Salazar and pianist Marika Yasuda. The 2023 Adler Fellows' season culminates on Saturday, December 2 at 7:30 pm at Herbst Theatre with the annual showcase concert, The Future Is Now. The program of arias and operatic scenes features the current Adler Fellows and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra under the baton of Ramón Tebar, who is also scheduled to conduct the Company's performances of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (November 19–December 9). For information and tickets, visit sfopera.com.

 

2024 ADLER FELLOW BIOGRAPHIES

FIRST-YEAR ADLER FELLOWS:

 

Georgiana Adams                    
(Chicago, Illinois)

American soprano Georgiana Adams is an artist committed to passionate and esteemed musical storytelling. This summer, she participated in the 2023 Merola Opera Program, singing Anna in scenes from Kevin Puts' Silent Night in the Schwabacher Summer Concert, covering the role of Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and performing operatic scenes by Wagner and Mozart with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra at the Merola Grand Finale.

A recent graduate of the Juilliard School, Adams earned her master's degree in music in the spring of 2023 and was awarded the Stephen Novick Grant for Career Advancement. During the 2022–23 Season, she made her Alice Tully Hall debut singing songs by Respighi and made multiple role debuts including Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, Littler Sister in Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up and Ciesca in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and covered the titular role of Suor Angelica with Juilliard Opera Theater.

Adams is a proud winner of the Encouragement Award in the Eastern Region Division of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition and was the winner of the 2020 Casa Italia Vocal Competition in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois.

Caroline Corrales           
(St. Louis, Missouri)

Praised for her "robust and luxuriant tone” (San Francisco Chronicle), American soprano Caroline Corrales is an operatic star on the rise.  As a 2023 participant in the esteemed Merola Opera Program, she performed the role of Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and in scenes as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. This December, she appears as a featured singer in the Holiday Pops Concert Series with The Boston Pops Symphony.

Corrales is a former apprentice singer of The Santa Fe Opera, where she was featured in scenes as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. As a former young artist of the Boston University Opera Institute, her roles included Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up, Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress and scenes as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role of Rusalka.

A three-time District winner and two-time Region Encouragement Award winner of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Corrales is also a Career Grant winner of the Pasadena Vocal Competition, a finalist in the McCammon Voice Competition, Second-Prize winner in the Orpheus Vocal Competition and a Grand Finalist in the Concurso Internacional de Canto Tenor Vinas.

Caroline holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Webster University.

                                                          

Julian Grabarek             
(Acton, Massachusetts)

Pianist Julian Grabarek is a recent graduate from the collaborative piano program at the University of Michigan. He was an apprentice vocal coach and pianist in the 2023 Merola Opera Program where he worked on Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Act II from Verdi's Otello and appeared in the Metamorphosis recital. This fall he was a guest coach and chorus master at the University of Houston for a double bill of Offenbach's Monsieur Choufleuri and Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges. This past year he coached Mozart's Don Giovanni and Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen at the University of Michigan.

As a recitalist, Grabarek is equally at home with vocalists and instrumentalists. He enjoys performing a wide range of music, from Schubert lieder to Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. In October 2023, he will perform works by Poulenc, Britten, Butterworth and more in recital with fellow Michigan alum and upcoming Adler Fellow baritone Samuel Kidd in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In previous seasons, Grabarek was an instrumental collaborative pianist at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and performed in a cello recital at the Bellingham Music Festival.

Before his graduate studies, Grabarek achieved a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Samuel Kidd         
(Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Baritone Samuel Kidd is quickly establishing himself as a young singer of note. A graduate of The Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Gerald Martin Moore, his recent highlights include singing Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia as a participant in the 2023 Merola Opera Program, Belcore in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, Tarquinius with Yale Opera and the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Music Academy of the West. He has participated in several prestigious young artist programs and festivals, including Houston Grand Opera's Young Artist Vocal Academy, Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Music Academy of the West and Merola Opera Program.

While at home on the opera stage, Kidd's first love is art song and recital singing, in particular German lieder. This fall he returns to the New York Festival of Song performing on their season opening “Perennials” concert. His recent performance in Merola Opera Program's Metamorphasis recital was praised for its “cohesive blend of caressing phrases and dynamic intensity” by San Francisco Classical Voice. Last season, he appeared with the Cincinnati Song Initiative performing Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. In April 2021 he participated in the Caramoor Rising Star program, directed and curated by Steven Blier, and gave two performances of Schubert's Winterreise; as well as Kindertotenlieder with the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Michigan.

Thomas Kinch               
(Cardiff, Wales)

Thomas Kinch is a Welsh tenor quickly establishing himself as an exciting young performer. A 2023 Merola Opera Program participant, Kinch performed the title role of Otello in the opera's second act for the Schwabacher Summer Concert. He has also recently performed Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth with Paisley Opera/Scottish Opera, returning after performing Turiddu in their 2022 adaptation of Cavalleria Rusticana (A Paisley Kiss). Later this year, Kinch will make his American professional debut as Licinio in Spontini's La Vestale with Teatro Grattacielo in New York.

Kinch was a 2022 Associate Artist for Welsh National Opera, where he sang the First Armed Man in their new production of The Magic Flute and covered Vítek in The Makropulos Case. He participated in Dolora Zajick's Institute for Young Dramatic Voices and was a 2021 new generation artist with Iford Arts, performing Canio in their double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, where he was described as a “remarkable Canio with emotion and strength to knock you out of your seat” (Opera Scene). In this double bill, Kinch jumped in at the last minute as Turiddu alongside Susan Bullock as Santuzza and Paul Carey Jones as Alfio, giving a performance of “raw emotion and power” that “defied his years” (Opera Scene).

In 2022, Kinch returned to Opera Bohemia to sing Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and in 2019 he made his international debut as Turiddu with Sri Lanka Opera. In 2020, Kinch toured the UK with Opera Up Close as Pinkerton, where his vocally powerful performance “stole the first half” (View from the Cheap Seat). Other recent engagements have included Turiddu with Edinburgh Grand Opera, Alfredo in La Traviata and Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Opera Bohemia and Cavaradossi in Tosca and Turiddu with North Wales Opera.

James McCarthy  
(Pleasantville, New York)

Bass-baritone James McCarthy has been nationally recognized for his “robust, booming bass voice” by the Rochester City Newspaper and as a presence on stage which remains “ever commanding” by San Francisco Classical Voice.

Endlessly curious about exploring the different styles and periods of opera, McCarthy has performed the roles of Seneca and Mercurio in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Il Commendatore and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Thomas Brockwiller in Lehár's Die Juxheirat and Frank Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene.

Most recently in San Francisco, McCarthy performed the role of Collatinus in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with Merola Opera Program under the baton of Maestro Judith Yan. He has worked with other leading conductors including Gary Thor Wedow, Steven Osgood and Timothy Long.

McCarthy holds a Master of Music degree from Rice University, where he studied with Dr. Robin Rice. Additionally, he holds bachelor degrees in music and audio/music engineering from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester.

 

SECOND-YEAR ADLER FELLOWS:

Jongwon Han                          
(Seoul, South Korea)

Bass-baritone Jongwon Han was recently named as third-prize winner of the 2022 Operalia The World Opera Competition and one of Operawire's Top 10 Rising Stars of 2022. Currently a first-year Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera, he sang the role of Colline in Bohème Out of the Box, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly and Watchman in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. This season also saw his debut as the Bonze at Palm Beach Opera.  

In 2022, Han was an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, covering the role of Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Other recent operatic credits include the title role of Don Giovanni and Masetto in the same piece, the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro and Baron Douphol in La Traviata. Having a deep connection to sacred music, Han has been featured in Handel's Messiah, Bach's Cantata BWV 140, Mozart's Sparrow Mass and Haydn's Theresienmesse.

Han was a Grand Finalist in the 2021 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and other recent accolades include multiple awards during the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, Giulio Gari Competition and Vero Beach Opera Competition.

Han received his bachelor's degree from Seoul National University and his master's degree from Mannes School of Music and studied at the Juilliard School.

Sponsored by The Diana Dollar Knowles Fund for Emerging Artists

Yang Lin
(Shanghai, China)

Pianist/coach Yang Lin is currently a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow where this past season's assignments included Bohème Out of the Box and Madama Butterfly. He is currently working on productions of Mason Bates and Mark Campbell's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels' Omar.

A passionate performer of Wagner, he worked closely with renowned soprano Jane Eaglen, joining her in recitals since 2018, prompting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to write, “Mr. Lin played with unfailing accuracy and attention to color and detail that went far to compensate for lack of an orchestra in the big scenes.” He was awarded a scholarship to train at the prestigious 2023 Bayreuth Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.

Lin served on the music staff of Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he joined productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors, La Traviata, Carmen, Tosca and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. He has joined other companies across North America and China, including Cincinnati Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Canadian Vocal Arts Institute, I Sing Beijing, National Center for the Performing Arts and Shanghai Theater Academy.

Lin's operatic repertoire also includes Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, The Bartered Bride, La Clemenza di Tito, Dinner at Eight, Cendrillon, Hansel and Gretel, Gianni Schicchi, La Bohème, Otello, Lohengrin and Die Fledermaus.

Born into a family steeped in the Western operatic tradition, Lin's parents and grandparents served as principal conductor, mezzo-soprano, violinist and chorus pianist for the Shanghai Opera. Lin received his training from the Merola Opera Program, Aspen Music Festival, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory and Shanghai Conservatory.

Nikola Printz
(Oakland, California)

Known for their “sheer stylistic range … full-throated vocalism and raw emotional honesty” (San Francisco Classical Voice), artistically fluid performer Nikola Printz is currently a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow. San Francisco Chronicle recently named their solo Schwabacher Recital Series debut as one of San Francisco's Best of 2022, writing, “Listeners reveled in the beauty of Printz's singing – their lustrously dark chest tones, their elegant phrasing … such commitment and tonal splendor.”

Prinz participated in Merola Opera Program in 2021 and 2022 and made their mainstage debut in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, also performing Musetta in the Company's production of Bohème Out of the Box. This season, they return to Opera San José for Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Festival Opera for their acclaimed portrayal of Carmen.

Recent career highlights include the title roles of Carmen and Dido and Aeneas with Opera San José, L'Italiana in Algeri with Opera Memphis, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein with Pocket Opera, Freschi's Ermelinda with Ars Minerva, Orfeo ed Eurydice with West Edge Opera and The Rape of Lucretia with Green Mountain Opera Festival. They have also appeared as Rosina, Elle in La Voix Humaine, The Fox in Cunning Little Vixen, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha.

Printz first established themselves onstage in jazz and cabaret venues and are well-versed in genre bending, crossover styles, creating the role of Velma Louise Cole in Boxcar Theater's immersive Speakeasy SF and joined San Francisco Symphony for their annual queer variety show, Holiday Gaiety. An accomplished aerialist, Printz has also developed and performed on spinning trapezes in both grand concert halls and smoky cabaret clubs.

Sponsored by James A. Heagy, in memory of Jayne Heagy

Arianna Rodriguez
(Fairfax, Virginia)

Poised and playful soprano Arianna Rodriguez has been praised by San Francisco Chronicle as “crystalline” for her performance in Merola Opera Program's 2022 Grand Finale concert. Her performance as Musetta with Opera North's La Bohème was described by the Eagle Times as “a delight … a brilliant soprano delivering her wit with flair.” Currently a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, Rodriguez made her mainstage debut in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, performed the role of Musetta in Bohème Out of the Box and this season makes her role debut as Giannetta in L'Elisir d'Amore.

Rodriguez performed excerpts in the title role of Amadeo Vives' Doña Francisquita in the Merola Opera Program's Schwabacher Summer Concert after joining her Merola colleagues in A Celebration of American Song, curated by pianist Craig Terry. Other recent performances include Ask Your Mama, a multimedia work based on poetry by Langston Hughes and originally composed for Jessye Norman and a staged production of Bernstein's MASS under the baton of Marin Alsop.

During her master's studies at Peabody Conservatory, Rodriguez appeared as Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and as Krysia in Jake Heggie's Two Remain, based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Krystyna Żywulska.

Of Guayanese and Puerto Rican heritage, Rodriguez was a District winner and Regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a finalist in the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition and received encouragement awards from the Vero Beach Opera Rising Star Vocal Competition and Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition.

Sponsored by Helen Berggruen, for Five Arts Foundation

Olivia Smith

(Penticton, British Columbia, Canada)

Canadian soprano Olivia Smith is currently a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, where last season she made her mainstage debut as the Voice of the Falcon in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. This fall she sings the role of Chrisann Brennan in Mason Bates and Mark Campbell's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Smith was a participant in the 2022 Merola Opera Program, where she appeared as Margarita Xirgu in scenes of Golijov's Ainadamar and as Leila in an except from Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles and covered the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.

A recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Smith performed the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw with Curtis Opera Theater and Marguerite in excerpts of Gounod's Faust with Curtis Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Additional roles include Cathleen in Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas and Mrs. Gobineau in Menotti's The Medium.

Smith has received recognition from Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition, where she received both the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award and the Online Viewers' Choice Award. She was the First-Place winner in Opera Grand Rapids' VanderLaan Prize competition and received an encouragement grant from the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.

Initially founded as the San Francisco Opera/Affiliate Artists program in 1977, the Adler Fellowship Program is one of the nation’s most prestigious performance-oriented residencies for advanced young singers and pianists. San Francisco Opera Center was created in 1982 by then General Director Terence McEwen to oversee the operation and administration of the education and training programs initiated by Kurt Herbert Adler in 1954.

 

Under the guidance of San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson and General Manager Markus Beam, San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows are trained in musical technique and preparation, foreign language skills, acting technique and movement, as well as financial management, leadership development, mental and emotional resilience, physical health and wellness and other skills necessary for a musical career in the twenty-first century. Adler singers are often cast in mainstage roles and leading cover assignments, while Adler pianists work closely with the San Francisco Opera music staff to help prepare mainstage operas.

 

Each year, Adler Fellows are sponsored by individual donors and institutional funders to help cover the cost of their fellowship, and sponsors affiliated with the Adler Program have the opportunity to attend exclusive training sessions, such as master classes and workshops. Alumni of the Adler Fellowship Program include sopranos Julie Adams, Amina Edris, Elza van den Heever, Patricia Racette, Nadine Sierra, Ruth Ann Swenson and Deborah Voigt; mezzo-sopranos Daniela Mack, Zanda Švēde and Dolora Zajick; countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen; tenors Brian Jagde, David Lomeli, Amitai Pati, Pene Pati and Stuart Skelton; baritones Alfredo Daza, Mark Delavan, Joo Won Kang and Lucas Meachem; bass-baritones Philip Skinner, Philippe Sly and John Relyea and bass Kenneth Kellogg.

 

The Merola Opera Program was founded in 1957 and named in honor of San Francisco Opera’s first general director, Gaetano Merola. The Merola Opera Program, under the artistic direction of San Francisco Opera Center, is widely regarded as the foremost summer opera training program for young professional singers, coach/pianists and stage directors. Over the course of 12 weeks, Merola participants are offered numerous performance opportunities, including a fully staged opera, an orchestral scenes program, a recital and a gala concert at the War Memorial Opera House. In addition to master classes with internationally renowned artists, each participant receives daily individual coaching in the area of their discipline, classes in diction, acting and stage deportment, movement, financial planning, mental health/wellness, physical health/wellness and public relations/branding from leading professionals in the opera field. The Merola Opera Program is a financially independent organization with a separate 501(c)3 which operates in close collaboration with San Francisco Opera Center and San Francisco Opera. All Merola alumni are considered for participation in the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship Program and are eligible for career grants for five years after they leave the Merola program. 

 

For more information on the San Francisco Opera Center, Adler Fellowship and Merola Opera Program, visit sfopera.com and merola.org.