Following her debut with the Hong Kong Arts Festival in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber, Ms. Ho reprised the role of Princess Jia in her San Francisco Opera debut. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Meretaten in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten and Apparition in Macbeth. She sang Liù in Turandot with St. Petersburg Opera and Tosca in Hong Kong at the More Than Music Festival, under the direction of Nic Muni. She also sang staged performances of La Traviata as Violetta at the Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater with the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Leon Botstein, in Ernst Krenek’s Der Diktator as Maria.

Other engagements include, performances with Hawaii Opera Theater in Madama Butterfly and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra in the “Yellow River Cantata” and Strauss’ Op. 27, along with operatic selections of Verdi. Ms. Ho was presented in concert with the American Composers Orchestra in Washington, D.C. in music by Chinese composer Li Shaosheng and appeared in concerts with both the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in China. She has also performed concerts with the Musical Olympus Foundation, San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in music by Tysen Hsiao, and Philharmonia Orchestra of New York in Mozart’s Requiem.

Ms. Ho was a finalist in the Belvedere Competition and the Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona. She received First Prize in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, was the Second Prize winner of the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition, and was awarded a Sergio Franchi Music Foundation Grant.

Ms. Ho was also a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Ho was a member of the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera where she was featured in the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, under the direction of James Darrah. Winner of the prestigious Renee Fleming Award from the Eastman School of Music, she holds music degrees from the Universities of TNUA and Tung-Hai in Vocal Performance, a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.

Last season, Sledge was involved in projects at the Metropolitan Opera including covering the title role in Wagner’s Lohengrin and the role of Sergei in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mzinsk.

In previous seasons, Mr. Sledge’s engagements included performing as tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with Seattle Symphony, a reprisal of the role of Paolo Erisso in Rossini’s Maometto Secondo with Washington Concert Opera, and his role debut as Don José in Opera Colorado’s Carmen. He also returned to the Metropolitan Opera covering the title role in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos. He was the tenor soloist in The Parnassus Society’s annual operatic concert at Soka University.

In the 2019-20 season, Sledge made his role debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in a Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” transmission seen live by over 350,000 viewers in over 70 countries worldwide. He was also seen at UCLA’s Royce Hall as a tenor soloist in Rachel Fuller’s Animal Requiem.

In recent seasons, Sledge returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for performances of Jean in Le Prophète and to the Welsh National Opera as Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice and Macduff in Macbeth. He was praised by Opera Wire for his “dramatic versatility” for his portrayal of Bacchus in the Santa Fe Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and Opera Canada raved that his “radiant, voluminous tenor and ease with language” as Lord Riccardo Percy in Anna Bolena with the Canadian Opera Company was “spot-on.” A regular roster member of the Metropolitan Opera, Sledge made his debut as Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, followed by performances as Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and King of Naples in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest.

Sledge counts among his career highlights singing the role of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with companies including Vancouver Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera and in Avenches, Switzerland; Paolo Erisso in Rossini’s Maometto Secondo with the Canadian Opera Company and Santa Fe Opera; Leicester in Maria Stuarda with the Minnesota Opera, Welsh National Opera and Swedish National Opera; Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Tulsa Opera; Leicester in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra with the Rossini Opera Festival; and Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Comunale di Bologna and New York City Opera. He performed the role of the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Léopold in La Juive at La Fenice; Alfredo in La Traviata at the Royal Danish Opera; Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte at the Pittsburgh Opera; and as Tonio in La Fille du Régiment on the Teatro Comunale di Bologna’s tour to Savonlinna. As Vladimir Vladimirescu and the Fisherman in the double-bill of Mozart’s The Impresario and Stravinsky’s Rossignol at Santa Fe, Sledge “sang with appealing lyricism” and “performed to glorious poetic effect” (Opera News).

As a concert soloist, Sledge has performed in The Defiant Requiem in Asheville, NC and Vienna, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Spoleto USA Festival and the Radio Television Ireland Orchestra in Dublin, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the National Symphony, Schubert’s Mass No. 6 with the San Diego Symphony, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Berkeley Symphony, and he has sung with the Risca Male Choir in Wales and Opera Companies of Tampa, Atlanta and Hong Kong. Several appearances with the San Francisco Symphony have included Mozart’s Requiem, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, and singing as the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex and soloist in Schubert’s Mass No. 6 under Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas. With the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, he has performed concerts of Bartok’s Cantata Profana and Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus, and sang Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer with the New York City Ballet. Sledge appeared in recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in celebration of Marilyn Horne’s 75th Birthday.

Bruce Sledge recorded the role of the Fox in Spanish and Catalan versions of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen for the BBC with Kent Nagano, has been seen on the NBC sitcom Scrubs, and can be heard on the soundtrack of the motion picture The Sum of All Fears.

Sledge was a finalist in the 2002 World Voice Masters Competition in Monte Carlo, a finalist in Placido Domingo’s Operalia 2000 World Opera Contest, and a national finalist in the 2000 Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition. In 1998, he was a Western Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and was awarded first place in the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition. Bruce Sledge received his master’s degree in vocal arts from the University of Southern California.

“In 2024 Mr. Sledge returns to the Metropolitan Opera roster for Madam Butterfly, and the Chicago Lyric roster for Fidelio. In 2025 Mr. Sledge will sing the title role in Verdi’s Don Carlo with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.”

Season in 1998 and the Opera Pacific Guild’s Diva of the Year in 2005. The International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade, Serbia, has established a special prize for “the best young mezzo-soprano” in Kitic’s name.

Her talent and incredible career in music earned her the inaugural Artist-in-Residence Award given by Chapman University in Orange, California, where she is an adjunct professor and master class instructor. She also works closely with the Orange County High School of the Arts and many universities and music organizations in Southern California.

Kitic currently serves as chair of artistic excellence at LA Opera with whom she most recently performed the role of Carmen, Albine in Thais (with Placido Domingo), Mrs. Noah in Noah’s Flood, and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly (both conducted by J. Conlon). Among other recent performances are her roles in Carmen and Amneris in Aida with the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa, CA, the grand opening concert of Chapman University’s Musco Center for the Arts, the role of The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with the Symphonic Society of Orange County, and the Alto part in Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Madison Symphony and Pacific Symphony Orchestras.

In the past year, Kitic has joined the Board of the Parnassus Society, which is committed to the growth of cultural advancement in Orange County, has established The Milena Kitic Outstanding Mezzo-Soprano Award at The Mentoris Vocal Competition in Pasadena, started mentoring students from Newport Harbor High School in opera and music, and was recognized by the Loren L. Zachary Society for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles for her work as a professional Opera Singer, Educator, and Contributor to the opera community.

Kitic presently resides in Newport Beach, California and runs her private vocal studio.

Nmon made his role and company debut as Crown in the English National Opera/Metropolitan Opera co-production of Porgy and Bess, preceded by a gala opera concert with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in excerpts from Aïda (Amonasro), his role and festival debut at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival as The Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, Iago (Otello) with the Atlanta Symphony, Jochanaan (Salome) at Pittsburgh Opera, and the Celebrant (MASS) at Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus with the Salzburg Mozarteumorchester. He appeared with the Dallas Symphony in Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater in the title role of a new production of Ernest Bloch’s Macbeth, Atlanta Symphony at Carnegie Hall (Brahms’ Requiem), St. Louis Symphony (Carmina Burana), and Milwaukee Symphony (Brahms’ Requiem). After performing Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL) conducted by John Axelrod, Nmon was immediately re-engaged by the ONPL for Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Fauré’s Requiem.

Nmon’s Italian debut occurred at Ancona’s Teatro delle Muse in the title role of a new production of The Emperor Jones directed by Henning Brockhaus and conducted by Bruno Bartoletti (for which he received the Premio Franco Corelli for the outstanding debut of the season), his company debut with Cincinnati Opera as Riolobo in Francesca Zambello’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas, and his role debut as The Traveler in a new production of Death In Venice at Hamburg State Opera. He appeared with Michigan Opera Theater as Zurga in Zandra Rhodes’ production of Les pêcheurs de perles, Teatro Comunale di Bologna in the title role of Pier Luigi Pizzi’s production of Don Giovanni, and the Szeged Open-Air Festival in Hungary as Escamillo (Carmen). Nmon gave his first performances at Italy’s Sferisterio Festival in new productions of Attila and Juditha Triumphans, preceded by Don Giovanni in Ancona. He debuted the roles of di Luna (Il trovatore) with Virginia Opera and Thoas (Iphigénie en Tauride) with Hamburg State Opera, and bowed as Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Washington National Cathedral with the Cathedral Choral Society conducted by J. Reilly Lewis.

In previous seasons Nmon sang both Scarpia (Tosca) and the title role in a new production of Billy Budd with Hamburg Opera; with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano he recorded Jennifer Higdon’s Dooryard Bloom (written for him) and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music for Telarc. He made his Ravinia Festival debut with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony in Shostakovich’s Symphony #13 (“Babi Yar”), which he also performed with Maestro Conlon and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Additional engagements include Carmina Burana with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and covering the role of Amfortas with Los Angeles Opera in Robert Wilson’s production of Parsifal starring Plácido Domingo and conducted by Kent Nagano. He received critical acclaim at Spoleto Festival USA as the title role in Don Giovanni, in a production by Günter Krämer conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.

Having begun his musical training in piano at age three, Nmon has since appeared with–in addition to the previously mentioned companies–San Francisco Opera, Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, Utah Opera, Portland Opera, and Opera Memphis in roles such as Iago (Otello), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Amonasro (Aïda), Germont (La traviata), and the High Priest (Samson et Dalila). Other roles include Telramund (Lohengrin), Posa (Don Carlo), and Carlo (Ernani).

Nmon has worked with conductors Louis Langrée, James Conlon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Bruno Bartoletti, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, Emmanuel Villaume, John Wilson, John Adams, and Simone Young. His concert appearances include the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society (Boston, MA), and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He made his New York recital debut under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation.

In addition to his Grammy-winning Naxos and Telarc releases, Nmon has recorded for Universal Music Group/Decca (Vai DaCapo – Songs of Delight, Billboard Top 20 Classical and Classical Crossover) and Koch International (Villa-Lobos’ Symphony #10, “Amerindia”). His awards include First Place in the Wagner Division of the Liederkranz Foundation of New York Competition, as well as major prizes from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the George London Foundation. He earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in music from the University of Southern California, where he graduated with honors for both degrees.

and jazz studies from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in opera performance from California State University, Long Beach.

In addition to her work in education, Dr. Lazarova has more than 20 years of performance experience as a soloist in opera, recitals, as well as chamber and choral works. She has performed as a soloist at numerous venues, including Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Barclay Theatre, Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Ahmanson Theatre, Soka Performing Arts Center, Musco Center for the Arts, and the Hollywood Bowl. Awards in competitions and scholarships include the Marilyn Horn Scholarship, International Liszt Competition, Long Beach Mozart Festival Vocal Competition, the Brentwood/Westwood Symphony Orchestra Competition, and the Young Musicians Foundation Solo Competition.

During her tenure as Director of the Classical Voice Conservatory, Dr. Lazarova was also a member of the Voice Faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. As part of her continuing interest and pursuit of excellence in the field of education, Dr. Lazarova has been invited to lecture at the International Society of Music Educators World Conferences in Malaysia, Italy, China, Greece, Brazil, and most recently, Scotland.

Since arriving at OCSA in 2017, Dr. Reithmeier has overseen, produced and directed numerous seasons of Classical Voice Conservatory opera productions, scenes programs, virtual projects, concert seasons and International tours, which have exposed hundreds of students to an exceptional education in the vocal arts. His private students have gained acceptance to study in leading vocal arts studios at USC, the San Francisco Conservatory, Chapman University, in addition to consistently earning high honors in adjudication and competitions.

Regarded as a versatile performer, Dr. Reithmeier has distinguished himself with notable opera, operetta, and concert organizations throughout California. Upcoming projects will include Faure’s Requiem as well as Bach Cantata 88 with St. John’s Concerts, Orange, as well as a return to CAT Corona to provide vocal direction for their production of Pirates of Penzance.  Highlights from recent seasons include Pacific Opera Project’s critically-acclaimed post-pandemic production of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, as well as serving as baritone soloist for the St. John’s Bach Cantata Vespers in Orange, Calif. Dr. Reithmeier has performed more than 25 baritone roles in opera, oratorio, musical theatre and operetta. Recent performances include Ich habe genug (BWV 82), Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11), as well as Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis the requiems of Duruflé and Faure, in addition to numerous productions of Handel’s Messiah. Other appearances with the Operetta Foundation, Opera a La Carte, Soka Performing Arts Center, and Kallisti Ensemble have been met with high acclaim.

In addition, Dr. Reithmeier is a two-time winner of the Beverly Hills National Consortium Auditions, a winner of the NATS-LA Gwendolyn Roberts Auditions, and was a Western-Regional finalist in the NATS-AA competition and has given recitals throughout Southern California. Dr. Reithmeier is a sought-after competition judge, having served on the adjudication panel for the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Awards, California Music Educators State Solo and Ensemble Festival, and National Association of Teachers of Singing Los Angeles Chapter Collegiate Auditions and Student Evaluation Program as well as regular invitations to adjudicate collegiate competitions and present master classes. Since 2016, Dr. Reithmeier has served on the Executive Board of NATS-LA, the nation’s largest chapter of the National Association of the Teachers of Singing. Prior to coming to OCSA, Dr. Reithmeier served on the faculties of Azusa Pacific University and Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Mr. Norman has performed in over 70 professional operatic productions in over 45 roles. He has performed principal roles with Los Angeles Opera, Opera San Jose, Dayton Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, and Opera Orlando, among others. A specialist in the operatic character tenor repertoire, Mr. Norman’s favorite roles include Goro in Madama Butterfly, Loge in Das Rheingold, Pedrillo in Abduction from the Seraglio, Beppe in Pagliacci, Nika Magadoff in The Consul, and Toby in Sweeney Todd. For more visit: robertnormantenor.com“

His artistic leadership was visible in collaborations between Opera Memphis and other Memphis arts organizations. His proposal to pair Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Milhaud’s Le bœuf sur le toit resulted in a fruitful collaboration with the New Ballet Ensemble and School. The following season, the company premiered its commission, conceived by Makino, of Mark Robson’s arrangement for two pianos of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole. Following this, he worked with the leadership of the PRIZM Ensemble on establishing the PRIZM Chamber Orchestra, leading their debut performances from the continuo keyboard in Le Nozze di Figaro. In his final season, Makino initiated a broad multi-organization collaboration exploring religious themes in twentieth-century music titled Fractured: Music and Spirituality in a Time of Upheaval, organized by the Memphis Theological Seminary and including the participation of Opera Memphis, the Rhodes College Master Singers, Luna Nova New Music and St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, culminating in Opera Memphis’ multimedia presentation of Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal Pierrot lunaire.

Beyond working with Memphis’ most prominent performing arts organizations, Makino was also deeply involved with the Memphis Slim Collaboratory, a membership-based community recording studio in the historic Soulsville Neighborhood, home of Stax Records and the Stax Music Academy. With Leni Stoeva of Community Lift, he managed a collaboration between Opera Memphis and the Slim House on a grant project that allowed the Memphis Slim House to expand its footprint, building a community stage on which Opera Memphis was one of the first arts partners to perform, offering an art song recital featuring Langston Hughes settings by Margaret Bonds and Memphis composer Robert Patterson.

During his tenure, Makino also became a regular collaborator with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, leading numerous concerts. From 2014-2017, he appeared with Ballet Memphis, conducting their annual production of The Nutcracker. In 2015, he conducted the Memphis Symphony before an audience of over four thousand at the Levitt Shell in Memphis Renaissance, a program produced by the New Ballet Ensemble and School, including Duke Ellington’s Harlem and Margaret Bonds’ Three Dream Portraits. Following the incredible success of that performance, he was asked to join the company for their annual NutRemix featuring Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley, to which he returned the following season.

Committed to exposing young people to the great works of the twentieth century, Makino programmed and conducted Young Person’s Concerts with the Memphis Symphony featuring works of Toru Takemitsu and Witold Lutosławski for audiences of Memphis fifth graders. He also led the Memphis Youth Symphony Orchestra in a side-by-side performance with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra of Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, celebrating the Youth Symphony’s fiftieth anniversary season.

Before joining Opera Memphis, Makino was the Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master at Long Beach Opera, where he conducted productions of David Lang’s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Ernest Bloch’s Macbeth, Michael Gordon’s Van Gogh and the U.S. premieres of Gavin Bryars’ The Paper Nautilus and Stewart Copeland’s Tell-Tale Heart. He also assisted productions of Nixon in China, Akhnaten, The Cunning Little Vixen, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Die Kluge, Medea, and the U.S. premieres of Vivaldi’s Motezuma and Gabriela Ortiz’ ¡Únicamente la Verdad! He recently returned to the company in Frank Martin’s The Love Potion (Le vin herbé) for which he was praised in the Los Angeles Times for being “consistently sensitive to the work’s exquisite timing and placement of dynamics and color,” making “the most of the composer’s subtle chamber orchestra textures.”

Makino served as the Music Director of the New Opera Workshop at the Writing the Rockies Conference in Gunnison, Colorado, from 2016-18. This unique program complemented and expanded upon the Creative Writing graduate program in Poetry with an Emphasis on Versecraft at Western Colorado State University. The workshop produced performances of new operas set to student libretti and allowed composers and librettists to learn about the collaborative process, from creation through production.

An active pianist, he has performed with members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra under the auspices of the Memphis Chamber Music Society, as part of the ANA Honolulu  Music Week and in recital at Opera Memphis, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, and Rhodes College.

In the field of higher education, Makino has been an active proponent of open educational resources and zero textbook-cost courses in the California Community College system. His work at Porterville College in this area was instrumental in that campus being awarded a $200,000 ZTC Acceleration Grant for its music degree program. Two courses he teaches on music appreciation are currently available to students throughout the state of California through the California Virtual Campus. In addition to his recent work at Porterville College, Makino has also served on the faculties of Cal State Los Angeles and UC Irvine and has been a guest lecturer or instructor in programs at the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Stanford University’s Stanford in Washington program.

Makino holds a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Chapman University, where he was the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship and a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a scholarship student in the orchestral conducting program at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and a recipient of a scholarship from the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington, D.C., for Italian language studies. He was hand-selected by General and Artistic Director Plácido Domingo as one of only three conductors in the history of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera. Opera America has identified him as a future leader in the field of Opera in the United States. He has served on grant review panels for New Music USA and the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2015, in recognition of his contributions to the City of Memphis, he was named one of the Memphis Business Bureau’s 40 Under 40.

He lives in Porterville, California, with his wife, jazz musician and college professor Sarah Rector, who heads the music program at Porterville College, and their daughter.

Philharmonic, L’Orchèstre de la Suisse Romande, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Bach Cercle Genève, International Chamber Ensemble Rome, Los Angeles Master Chorale and Orchèstre de Belgique. Dr. Atherton’s teaching legacy includes current and former students who have won major international competitions, have been accepted into the most prestigious graduate programs and Young Artist Programs in Europe and the United States, and have performed with major opera companies and symphonies throughout the United States and Europe.