Music Director

Parker Konkle is a pianist, coach, and music director based in State College, Pennsylvania. Previous engagements with Opera Saratoga include music director of Frida Kahlo and the bravest niña in el mundo, Stone Soup; 2024 Festival Artist pianist/coach for Guys and Dolls, Così fan tutte, a mad scramble for crumbs; and music director of the 2024 Family Show.

He has worked with the Holy City Arts and Lyric Opera, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Opera d’Arte, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Bucknell University Vocal Lab, the George Shirley Vocal Competition, the Cincinnati Youth Choir, and the Cincinnati Song Initiative, among others.

He currently serves as Lecturer of Collaborative Piano and Vocal Coaching at Penn State, where he is the music director of Penn State Opera.  

Parker received his education from Penn State University, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Music Academy of the West Lehrer Vocal Institute. 

Calandra Damouras (soprano) earned her Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Ms. Jane Eaglen, and her Bachelor of Music degree from the Crane School of Music, in the studio of Dr. Colleen Skull. Most recently Calandra has sung with The Janiec Opera Company of The Brevard Music Center, The Boston Wagner Institute (now The American Wagner Festival), Excelsior Vocal Ensemble, and Opera Saratoga. 

Her notable roles include Valeria in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s MAYO, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), and Governess (cover, The Turn of the Screw).

Carla Fisk is a regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions. Carla has performed in many operas in Europe and the United States. She has played the roles of Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote, Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelia, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Mimi in Puccini’s La boheme, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and The Thief. 

After moving to New York City, Carla started a non-profit group called Opera on Tap, an educational and cultural outreach organization that seeks to bring opera to unconventional performance spaces like bars. Opera on Tap has been written about in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Time Out Magazine, as well as NPR’s “All Things Considered”, WNYC “Soundcheck”, and Current TV. Since moving to the Albany area, Carla teaches private voice instruction and has performed as soloist in oratorio works such as Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and more.

Tenor Michael González has been praised as “visually and sonically stunning” and celebrated for his “beautiful tenor voice,” described as “the aural equivalent of silk” (BMI). Known for his bright, forward tone and exceptional diction, González is rapidly emerging as a distinguished artist in opera, solo, and choral performance.

Recently, González captivated audiences at the National Opera Center in New York, where his recital earned acclaim from New York Concert Review, which hailed him as “one of the evening’s best” and “an emerging artist destined to go far.” He also served as Tenor Soloist for the world premiere of Richard J. Clark’s Te Deum, a five-movement work for orchestra, soloists, and choir commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of Francis Bardot’s Chœur d’Enfants d’Île-de-France. The premiere took place at the stunning L’Église Saint-François de Sales in Paris, France.

SAVANNAH GORDON is a mezzo-soprano from Clifton Park, New York. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University at Albany (SUNY) in 2018, and her Masters in Music from Ohio University in 2021 where she studied under the tutelage of Andrew Ryker. Savannah made her Metropolitan Opera House debut in 2024 in two
productions: Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones—the first staged opera at the Met by a Black composer—and Orfeo ed Eurydice. She most recently performed with the Met in the 2025/2026 production of Porgy and Bess. Gordon has also performed with the Harlem Opera Theater, Moon River Opera, and Romanza Lyric Opera. She recently performed with Opera Saratoga in the opera workshop of Drift by Alyssa Weinberg. This fall, Savannah will make her house debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago, in their production of Rhiannon Giddens’ Omar.

Edda Roemelt is a soprano from Glenville, New York. She graduated from The Sage Colleges with a B.S. in Nutrition Science and works locally as a Registered Dietitian. Edda has studied classical vocal technique with Derek Stannard and has always held an immense love for singing and performing across different genres. Most recently, she appeared as Violet in the Glens Falls Community Theatre’s production of 9 to 5: The Musical. Some of her other favorite theater roles include She in Stage Kiss (Confetti Stage), Maria alternate in The Sound of Music (Home Made Theater), and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Schenectady Light Opera Company). Edda has also performed as a soloist for major oratorio works, including Vivaldi's Gloria and John Rutter's Requiem. Off-stage, Edda is a mom to three children and works part-time in private practice, offering compassionate nutrition care for disordered eating and eating disorder recovery.  

Katherine Skovira, D.M.A., is a nationally recognized mezzo-soprano, pedagogue, and curator. The Philadelphia Inquirer praised her "diabolical enthusiasm," calling her work the "artistic equivalent of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft." Katherine has performed alongside legendary conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Barbara Hannigan, and Lorin Maazel, as soloist at the Lucerne Festival Academy, Castleton, Aspen, and others. Her performing career bridges new music, bel canto, and vocal identity, including over 35 commissions of living composers, as well as roles spanning Donna Elvira and Giovanna Seymour to Das Lied von der Erde and Shéhérazade.

An innovative artist, she is co-librettist for the contemporary opera The Other Side of Silence, which was recently awarded a 2026 Creator Fund through NewMusicUSA. This is her third collaboration with co-librettist Mark Steidl and composer Robert Whalen, with whom she has collaborated on 12 world premieres.

Dr. Skovira advances voice science research on accessibility, identity, and the sfogato voice. She holds degrees in voice from Cornell University, Westminster Choir College, and the University of Minnesota.

SYLVIA STONER has performed across the country in opera and theater. Regional opera credits include the Des Moines Metro Opera, Shreveport Opera, Opera Omaha, Union Avenue Opera, Kentucky Opera, Mobile Opera, Lake George Opera and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. She toured nationally in Terence McNally’s “Maria Callas: Masterclass” in the role of Sharon Graham. Internationally, she performed in Italy with Orvieto Musica and the InterHarmony International Music Festival.  Recent soloist engagements include the Schenectady Symphony, Saratoga Voices, the Battenkill Chorale, the Northern Berkshire Chorale, and the Skidmore Orchestra.

She is a founding member of SALT, a collective that values the strength, spice, and preservation of our narrative as told by our female ancestors, and tells stories through the medium of micro-operas.

She obtained her Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree with honors in Voice at the University of Kansas and is currently the Senior Artist-in-Residence in Voice at Skidmore College.

Daniel Washington, baritone, resides in Voorheesville, NY and is part of the Capital Region’s arts community. He studied at Duquesne University with Claudia Pinza, where he developed his foundation as a vocalist. Daniel has performed beneath the batons of esteemed conductors, including José Daniel Flores-Caraballo with Albany Pro Musica and David Alan Miller with the Albany Symphony, as well as maestros Fabio Luisi and Yannick Nézet-Séguin with The Philadelphia Orchestra. Outside of his musical work, he is employed by the New York State Department of Health, balancing public service with artistic passion. A fervent champion of the arts, Daniel is thrilled to make his Opera Saratoga debut, bringing both heart and voice to the community that inspires him.