La Traviata Performing Artists

Emma Petersen

Lyric coloratura Emma Petersen’s recent roles include Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Contessa di Folleville in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Jean in Brigadoon, Yvettte in the Western Canadian premiere of Weinberg’s The Passenger, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, La Fée in Massenet’s Cendrillon, as well as understudying the roles of Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann. She has performed concert and recital works such as Strauss’ Brentano Lieder, Edvard Grieg’s Sechs Lieder, and Prevost’s Musiques Peintes. She has worked in masterclass settings with Jane Archibald, Barbara Bonney, Sasha Cook, Heidi Stober, Jennifer Johnson-Cano, and Corinne Winters. She has performed in the University of Miami Frost School of music’s summer program in Salzburg, Austria, and in 2018 she was a young artist at Taos Opera Institute. She was the featured soloist in the finale episode of The Amazing Race Canada’s 2022 season, performing Libiamo from Verdi’s La Traviata. She produced and performed in a winter benefit recital titled “Snowfall & Psalms” in Edmonton, AB in November 2023. She will make her company debut as Nannetta in Portland Opera’s production of Falstaff. She received her Bachelors of Music in Voice from the University of Arizona and her Masters of Music from the University of British Columbia.

Jordan Lorealis Wright

Jordan Lorealis Wright recently played Edwin, a video game avatar, with Seattle Opera Outreach’s Earth to Kenzie, and Isabella in Cinderella in Spain. She has sung Musetta in La Bohème and Nedda in Pagliacci with the Bellevue Opera (FKA Lyric Opera Northwest). In New York, she sang dozens of roles including Ophelia in Hamlet, Rosina in Barber of Seville, Susanna in Marriage of Figaro, Gilda in Rigoletto, Amina in L’elisir d’amore, and Norina in Don Pasquale to name a few. Her first through-composed opera, The Day Boy and The Night Girl was produced by the After Dinner Opera company for its 60th year anniversary at Symphony Space!

Alfredo Carrillo

International tenor Alfredo Carrillo, born in Durango, Mexico, has enchanted audiences with his remarkable voice and dynamic stage presence. This year, Alfredo dazzled as Rodolfo in *La Bohème* and as Don José in *Carmen*, performing three consecutive nights in Mexico. He also starred in Wagner’s *Parsifal* at its premiere at the Bicentenario Theater in León, Guanajuato.

Alfredo's career began with his debut in Mozart's *Requiem* with the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Juárez in Durango. He studied under maestros Martha Irene Flores, Manuel Martínez, and Javier Galindo, and completed an artistic residency in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He won the 2015 Olivia Gorra contest for best tenor at the National Center for the Arts in Mexico City, debuting at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 2016. In Russia, Alfredo was named best tenor at the international competition “Academia” in Perm City, performing at the International Amphitheater. He has shared the stage in leading roles with Michael Nim and performed Don José in the Bellevue Opera production of *Carmen* last year under the direction of Pamela Casella and Craig Nim.

Alfredo has received coaching from renowned tenors Agim Hushi, Francisco Araiza, Fernando de la Mora, sopranos Irina Rufovna and Marianne Weltmann, and vocal coach Rogelio Riojas Nolasco in San Miguel Allende, preparing roles such as Alfredo in *La Traviata*, Rodolfo in *La Bohème*, Don José in *Carmen*, and Turiddu in *Cavalleria Rusticana*. His performances have captivated audiences across Mexico, including Durango, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Colima, and Mexico City, and internationally in San José, Costa Rica, and various cities in the United States.

Discover more about Alfredo Carillo: Linktr.ee/alfredocarrillotenor

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Michael A. Nim

International Tenor and Seattle native Michael A. Nim has appeared in numerous Bellevue Opera productions including as Don José and Morales in Carmen, the Artful Dodger in Oliver!, Angelotti in Tosca, Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Goro in Madama Butterfly, Borsa in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Rodolfo in La Bohème.

Since 2019, he has taken to singing internationally, in countries such as England, Sicily/Italy, Spain and most recently, Germany. He has performed roles such as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte and looks forward to singing more roles soon. Michael is also a seasoned concert soloist, having performed all over Washington state, Spain, and now Germany. Aside from singing opera, he also loves teaching private voice lessons. He is excited to reprise the role of Alfredo in La Traviata with the Bellevue Opera.

Tong Xia

Mezzo-soprano Tong Xia is a versatile performer as well as a music educator. She is the New York Opera Society Director, Midwest University Assistant Professor, Shandong University School of the Arts Master's Tutor, has a Berklee College of Music Professional Vocalist Diploma, and has taught at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, China and the Conservatory of Parma, Italy. She has performed as one of the only Chinese nationals in the international music competition in Manhattan and won third place. Tong was invited to participate in the opera performances of Xinghai Conservatory of Music in conjunction with New York Metropolitan Opera and New England Conservatory of Music. She has performed in famous concert halls and opera houses in the United States, such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York. A few of her recent performances include in 2019, she performed in the original opera “Marco Polo" with the Macau Symphony Orchestra at the Guangzhou Grand Theater and toured to Beijing. In 2020, participated in the opening opera "Turandot" with Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in Shenzhen Concert Hall. In 2021, she participated in Donizetti's opera "The Sweetness of Love,” which was performed in Zhuhai Grand Theater and Sun Memorial Hall. In 2022, Tong performed in "Mahler 3 Symphony Concert" with Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra at the national Concert Hall.

Craig H. Nim

International baritone Craig H. Nim has sung leading roles with New York City Opera, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Baltimore and Omaha Opera companies, and toured twice with the New York City Opera National Company, performing Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust and Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto. He sang Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome with Bremen Opera, Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), and Escamillo (Carmen). At Santa Fe Opera, he sang the Dutchman in Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander covering bass James Morris, and covered Michael Devlin as the Kommandant in Strauss's Friedenstag. Critics acclaimed his Verdi Requiem in Basel and Lucerne, leading to engagements at Victoria Concert Hall in Geneva as bass soloist in Handel's Semele, then touring Switzerland with Boris Goldovsky's company in La Boheme and Don Giovanni. He sang Scarpia (Tosca) with Opera Omaha and NYC's Westchester Opera under Eve Queler. He sang Escamillo (Carmen) with Baltimore Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni with Bronx Opera and the University of Washington. Nim received a William Matheus Sullivan Foundation grant (1988), won the Bruce Yarnell Voice Competition of baritones and basses from across the U.S. (1989), and was a prize winner in the Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Competition (1996)! He debuted on Broadway in The Three Musketeers and toured in Joseph Feld's Pirates of Penzance. He spent three seasons with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and in many summer stock, dinner theater, concerts, recitals, oratorios, movies, commercials and broadcasts. After appearances with Seattle Opera (1970's), Nim co-founded and has performed with Lyric Opera Northwest, now the Bellevue Opera, as Escamillo (Carmen), Sharpless and Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Bartolo (Marriage of Figaro), Colline (La Bohème), Scarpia (Tosca), and Brownley (Oliver!).

Vladislav Popov

Baritone Vladislav Popov studied choral performance at Luhansk Regional College of Culture and Arts and then at Donetsk State Music Academy. He worked for 6 years in an opera theater, participated in numerous concerts organized by the music university, and also performed solo parts with the choir.

At the opera theater, he performed in numerous operas such as Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, Falstaff, and Nabucco. Additionally in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème and Turandot, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Georges Bizet's Carmen, Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Gioachino Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, and Iolanta, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride.

He has also performed in Operettas (in Russian) such as Emmerich Kálmán's Das Veilchen vom Montmartre, Die Zirkusprinzessin, and Die Csárdásfürstin, Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus and Franz Lehár's Die lustige Witwe. Vladislav is excited to be back with the Bellevue Opera after performing in their production of Carmen last year!

William Wilson

William Wilson, MD, is a retired Orthopedic Surgeon who enjoyed a very busy practice in Seattle, WA, for almost 30 years. He is also a U.S. Army Veteran, having graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, and serving on active duty for 14+ years, initially as an infantry officer, and later, after medical school at George Washington University, as an Army Orthopedic Surgeon. He is also a veteran of the 1st Gulf War, “Operation Desert Storm”’ having served with the 50th General Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1991.

Dr Wilson’s initial love of music began as a member of the renowned West Point Glee Club which performed coast to coast as well as occasional television appearances and participation in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. His experience with music and the performing arts resumed after his retirement, when in 2022, he performed in the Bellevue Opera Company’s production of “Oliver”. He later appeared in the opera “Carmen”, also with the Bellevue Opera Company, and is delighted to be performing the role of Gaston in Verdi’s classic ‘La Traviata”.

Maria Bykova

Mezzo-soprano Maria Bykova has participated in numerous competitions and concerts in her country-of-origin, Ukraine, including the Donetsk "Romansiada." She has also performed many times at the Donetsk Republican Library both as a contestant and a concert performer, earning first and second place in various competitions. After moving to Washington State, she participated in the opera "Carmen" with the Bellevue Opera last year. She has also been involved in church events. In Auburn, she sang in a Christmas concert, performing Vivaldi’s "Gloria in excelsis Deo" and Heather Sorenson’s "Lullaby Prayer," as well as a duet of "O Holy Night."

Christopher Holmes

With over 40 operatic roles to his credit, baritone Christopher Holmes has been featured by companies such as Austin Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Eugene Opera, Opera Idaho, Phoenix Opera, Juneau Lyric Opera, and San Antonio Opera.

A "powerful, melodious baritone" with "soul and passion" is a small sample of enthusiastic reviews being received by Holmes. As a full-lyric baritone, Holmes is beginning to make his mark in the Verdi repertoire. As IAGO with Winter Opera St. Louis critics commented, Holmes sings Iago “with clarity and power, and with a skilled actor's ability to convey mood and character" and with “control and subtlety.” As RIGOLETTO at St. Petersburg Opera a critic indicates that Holmes “had me crying at points-- an incredibly beautiful lyric baritone with a very clear understanding of who this humiliated and terribly wronged man is.” His GERMONT was praised as “with crystal clear enunciation, truly polished, controlled, professional and superb” and he sang CONTE DI Luna at Opera in the Heights and RENATO at Opera Project Columbus. But his versatility continues to make him adept at the bass-baritone roles of Mozart and Rossini such as DON ALFONSO in Così fan tutte (St. Petersburg Opera), FIGARO in Le nozze di Figaro (Cleveland Opera Theater) and BARTOLO in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Western Plains Opera).

Over the pandemic Holmes was able to support virtual efforts of opera organizations through performances with Intermountain Opera Bozeman and Ohio Light Opera. Additionally, he recorded the role of ANSELMO in a new opera by William Call entitled El Curioso Impertinente and MICHELE in Il tabarro with Social Distance Opera/Barn Opera. Activities in 2022 included singing MARCELLO (Boheme) in the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University’s first inclusion of an opera in their professional concert/theater series, the baritone soloist in Dwight Bigler’s Mosaic for Earth performed by the choirs and orchestras at Virginia Tech, covering SCARPIA at Utah Symphony & Opera, presenting three baritone roles in the workshop of John Massaro's Italian opera Isabella, and soloing in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with Craig Jessop at Utah Valley University. More recently, performances with Jessop have included the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Hodie and Serenade to Music with his American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, followed by performances of Bach's St. John Passion as PILATE and bass soloist. Additional projects in 2023 included the title role of DON GIOVANNI at Painted Sky Opera, and ESCAMILLO at Western Plains Opera.

Performances in 2018/19 included BARONE DOUPHOL in Utah Opera’s La traviata, CONTE ALMAVIVA in Utah Festival Opera’s Figaro, BELCORE in Opera Company of Middlebury’s production and subsequent tour of L'elisir d’amore, ESCAMILLO in Carmen with the Pine Mountain Music Festival, and the PIRATE KING in The Pirates of Penzance at Rimrock Opera/NOVA. Previously he was seen with Gulfshore Opera in their tour of "Grand Opera Nights" singing the roles of FIGARO (Il barbiere di Siviglia), MARCELLO (La Boheme), GERMONT (La Traviata), and the title role of RIGOLETTO.

Mr. Holmes remains active as a concert artist having additionally sung such works as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Faure's Requiem, Mozart's Mass in C Minor and Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G Major, and Verdi's Messa di Requiem.