Mary Birnbaum is a New York based director of opera and music theater. In 2024, she directed critically acclaimed productions of Rigoletto (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Guys and Dolls (Opera Saratoga), and ÉMIGRÉ (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic). Other credits include new productions of La bohème (Santa Fe Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Juilliard, Opera Holland Park, Opéra de Versailles), L’Orfeo (Juilliard, NYTimes “Best of Classical Music 2021”), Otello (National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan), L’elisir d’amore (National Theater of Costa Rica) and many more.

In demand for her collaborative skills, Birnbaum has directed world premieres by Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky (The Classical Style), Frank London and Elise Thoron (Hatuey), Mark Campbell and Kristin Kuster (Kept), and Chris Cerrone and Stephanie Fleischmann’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera (2022) and Prototype Festival (2025). On Juilliard’s faculty since 2011, she is Dramatic Advisor to the MMGD program and coaches at the Lindemann Young Artists Program at The Metropolitan Opera. In 2023, she became General and Artistic Director of Opera Saratoga. A Harvard graduate, Birnbaum trained in physical theater at L’École Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

Andrew Burger is a Regionally recognized Choral-Orchestral Conductor and Baritone from Schenectady NY. He is Artistic Director of the Octavo Singers, Founding Artistic Director of Excelsior Vocal Ensemble, and Director of Music Ministries at the Niskayuna Reformed Church. Most Recent appointments include Director of Music, Academy of the Holy Names, and Guest Artist, Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony. Formerly Artistic Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale, Adjunct Professor at Skidmore and RPI, Section Leader for Albany Pro Musica, and Chorus Director for the Albany Symphony. Andrew studied conducting at Bard College under James Bagwell, where he served as Assistant Conductor and Administrator, conducting the Bard Chamber Singers, Bard Symphonic Chorus, and The Orchestra Now, and was a Conducting Fellow with Chorus America in Los Angeles.

Carl DuPont's "rich, nuanced" (Columbus Underground) voice has held center stage at the New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Leipzig Opera, and El Palacio de Bellas Artes. Recent roles include Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Leporello in Don Giovanni, and the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah. DuPont can be heard on world premiere recordings of the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, The Reaction, and The Best Cuisine. Beyond the stage, he serves on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as Associate Professor of Vocal Studies at the Peabody Institute and Executive Education Faculty at the Carey Business School, where he bridges artistic excellence with leadership development. He is co-author of The Presence Principle: Embodying Executive Presence to Lead with Impact, a leadership guide that draws from his performance expertise.

Hailed for his “hearty, luxurious baritone,” Gregory Feldmann is a rising presence on opera and recital stages. Upcoming engagements include Le Dancaïre in Bizet’s Carmen at Opernhaus Zürich, where he previously appeared as Elviro in Handel’s Serse and Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. A 2025 Sullivan Foundation Award winner, he recently debuted the title role in Thomas’ Hamlet at the Buxton International Festival and sang Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Blackwater Valley Opera Festival.

On the concert stage, Feldmann performs regularly with conductor Annedore Neufeld, appearing with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Basler Münsterkantorei, and has recently sung works by Honegger, Boulanger, Schubert, and Haydn.

A dedicated recitalist, he collaborates closely with pianist Nathaniel LaNasa, exploring culturally reflective programs such as Degenerate Music and American Icons. Feldmann lives in Brooklyn and frequently appears with the Brooklyn Art Song Society. He is represented by IMG Artists.

Bolivian soprano Shelén Hughes Camacho began her artistic career as a Bolivian folklore singer and dancer before pursuing classical music. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, she is a winner of the 2025 George and Nora Foundation Competition, the 2024 Opera Index Competition, a first prize winner in the 2024 Gerda Lissner Zarzuela Competition, third in the 2025 Gerda Lissner Opera Competition, was a finalist in the 2025 Renata Tebaldi Competition and was a semi-finalist in the 2024 Geneva Voice Competition and the 2023 Alfredo Kraus Competition. She has performed leading roles such as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Teatro Nacional de Chile), Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito (The Juilliard School) and Pr. Sonia Gonzales in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier (Perelman Performing Arts Center, NYC). She debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2019 and with the New York Festival of Song in 2022. In 2025 she has made her debut at Opera Frankfurt and with the Cleveland Orchestra. Beyond the stage, Ms. Hughes is the founder of Voices for Bolivia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting impoverished elderly people through classical music.

Pianist Adam Nielsen enjoys a diverse career as a collaborative pianist, répétiteur, coach, and artistic administrator. He is Associate Artistic Director of the Marcus Institute of Vocal Arts at The Juilliard School. After an era of guesting at most major regional opera houses of the United States, he joined the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera in 2018 and serves there as répétiteur and assistant conductor. Up next for Adam are several recital engagemens with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green. Their collaboration began in 2017 with a debut at Ravinia’s Martin Theater, and has since taken them to The Kennedy Center, The Wallis, and numerous beloved venues across the United States leading up to their debut at Carnegie Zankel Hall in January 2025. Their recital in Austin, TX was captured for a television special on Austin PBS. Adam also enjoys a career as a recording artist for film and television. His playing can be heard in “The Upside” (STX/Lantern Entertainment), “The Chaperone” (PBS), “The French Dispatch” (Wes Anderson), “The Staircase” (Netflix), “Marvelous Miss Maisel” (Amazon Prime), “The Unforgiveable” (Netflix), and a new Martin Scorsese film, still untitled.

Hailed by onStage Pittsburgh for his “pure and true, distinctly timbered tenor voice,” Daniel O’Hearn is an exciting lyric talent in opera and concert. In the 2025–26 season, he returns to Pittsburgh Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème and to Utah Opera as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, and makes his Seattle Opera debut as Remendado in Carmen. He also appears in a special concert with Opera Saratoga. Recent highlights include a role and house debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Matteo in Arabella; performances at The Metropolitan Opera in Il trovatore and The Queen of Spades; Don José in Carmen at Wolf Trap Opera; and covering the Duke in Rigoletto at Lyric Opera of Chicago. A 2024 Belvedere Competition 2nd Prize winner and 2022 Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finalist, O’Hearn holds degrees from DePaul University and is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Joseph Parrish, winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, is a Baltimore native with degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. He made his NYC recital debut at Merkin Hall in a performance co-presented by WPA with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir as a follow up to his Kennedy Center debut the previous season. Joseph made his European opera debut with the Salzburg Festival as Potapitsch in Prokofiev's The Gambler and his European solo recital debut at the Usedomer Music Festival. He’s appeared with Cincinnati Opera, singing Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Parlando NYC in Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart e Salieri, as Salieri. During the 25-26 season Joseph will appear in recital with Ashmont Hill Chamber Music, New York Foundation of Song, Baruch PAC, and Weinberg Center for the Arts. He’ll also appear as soloists with the Maryland Symphony, Anchorage Symphony, Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He’ll also appear alongside members of The Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a tour throughout the five boroughs of NYC. Joseph has served as a Music Advancement Program chorus fellow, Gluck Community Service Fellow, Morse Teaching Artist, and was part of the inaugural cohort of Shared Voices, a program promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and top conservatories in the US.

Soprano Kayla Rae Stein is a recent Master of Music graduate of The Juilliard School, and will be joining Palm Beach Opera as a Bailey Apprentice Artist in the 2025-2026 season. This past summer, Kayla was a Renée Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she performed Mimì in La Bohéme alongside Matthew Polenzani conducted by Mo. Enrique Mazzola. Last season, Kayla appeared with Juilliard Opera for Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) and Turn of the Screw (Mrs. Grose). She made her Lincoln Center debut in Alice Tully Hall with the AXIOM ensemble in Knussen’s Requiem: Songs for Sue. In the 2024 Summer, Kayla performed Micaëla in Carmen at Music Academy of the West, where she won second place in the Marilyn Horne Song Competition. That same year, Kayla was a New York District winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Kayla also holds a Bachelor's degree from Eastman School of Music, and is a proud recipient of The Juilliard School’s Novick Career Advancement Grant.