Upcoming Shows
Teresa Perrotta & Justin Burgess in Recital
A Recital of Arias featuring Instrumental Obbligato
Join Opera Ithaca for its first performance back! Featuring Teresa Perrotta and Justin Burgess, this special recital will highlight the interplay between voice and instruments through a beautiful selection of operatic arias.
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Soprano Teresa Perrotta is a 2023 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and Winner of the 2023 Sullivan Foundation Award. In the 25/26 season, Teresa will make debuts with The Dallas Opera and Cincinnati Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, as well as her role debut as Madame Butterfly with Opera Louisiane. On the concert stage, she will debut with the St. Louis Symphony as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, a soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Rutgers Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Helmwige in Die Walküre conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
In the 24/25 season, she debuted at The Metropolitan Opera as First Lady in The Magic Flute, Opera Omaha as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and returned to Washington National Opera as a guest soloist in their concert, Gods and Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner. On the concert stage, Teresa returned to the Pacific Symphony as Freia in Das Rheingold.
Reviews“...showed total command musically and dramatically and a lovely, pliant voice one would seek out again.” —Opera Magazine - UK
“Teresa Perrotta anchored the show vocally and emotionally with her affecting, impressively detailed Mimì." —Opera News
"Teresa Perrotta, whose big, sunny soprano [performed] with secure, arching lines and melodiously amorous pleading." —Opera Today
"Of the solid quartet of Athenian lovers, the mellow soprano of Teresa Perrotta (Helena) stood out." —Wall Street Journal
"[Teresa Perrotta] seized with a stunning role interpretation and consummate vocalism that garnered deafening applause." —Voche di Meche
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Baritone Justin Burgess returns to Washington National Opera (WNO) to sing the role of Paul in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. This fall, he makes his Opera Las Vegas debut in the world premiere of Conrad Cummings’ Again & Again & Again, and will join Lyric Opera of Kansas City to cover Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia. In summer 2024, he joined Des Moines Metro Opera, also covering Figaro. Last season, as a Cafritz Young Artist at WNO, he was seen as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Donkey in Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me and A Mobster/The Guide in Songbird.
In his first season with WNO, he sang Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème. In summer 2023, he sang Schaunard and covered Martin/James in Candide at the Glimmerglass Festival. In summer 2022, at Santa Fe Opera, he sang Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde and covered Morales in Carmen. He spent three summers with Wolf Trap Opera where he sang the roles of Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Zerbin in L’ile de Merlin, as well as covering Figaro, Merlin, Toby in Sweeney Todd, and Baron Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon.
A rising star in the world of contemporary opera, he has appeared in several workshops, including as Ty in A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera and Walter in The Hours for The Metropolitan Opera. He has also premiered two new operas through WNO’s American Opera Initiative.
Cast & Team
Bill Gregg
Lighting Designer
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Bill Gregg began formal piano lessons when he was five years old. At twelve he began performing jazz and pop standards for various events, starting with the New York State Fireman's Association convention. During his high school years he was keyboard player for a rock band, The Travelers.
After military service, he began studying string instruments, and had the good fortune to learn from several legendary folk musicians, including Lily May Ledford, Slim Bryant, Mike Seeger, and Alan Jabbour.
He has won numerous awards in instrumental contests for folk instruments, and has performed for more than forty years at folk and bluegrass festivals. He is in demand as an instrumental workshop leader at traditional and roots music festivals. Bill has also composed, performed, and recorded experimental electro-acoustic music several albums, and has composed sets of studies for guitar, piano, and violin for his students. Bill has conducted a number of grant supported public classes for guitar, and a well-received series of dulcimer workshops for children.
In 2022 Bill won 2nd place in the National Autoharp Championship in Shippensburg, PA. Also in 2022, he was a featured performer at the North American Fiddlers' Hall of Fame in Osceola, NY.
Over the past twenty years, four of his young fiddle students have had the honor of being selected as featured youth performers at the Fiddlers' Hall of Fame. Many of his former pupils have become professional performers or music teachers. But, his main goal is bring the joy of making music into the lives of everyone, young and old.
He is a member of the Music Teachers National Association and the New York State Music Teachers Association.
Diego Vásquez
Clarinet
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Gretchen Van Valen is a classically trained singer, has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education (vocal/choral concentration) from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Ithaca College. Gretchen was a member of the TCFA faculty from 1989 to 1995 and continued to teach private voice lessons and performing since then while working full time at Ithaca College as an administrator and raising a family. Gretchen’s vocal music expertise areas include opera, Italian and German art song, and musical theater. Her teaching style focuses on breathing, posture, and overall healthy singing techniques. She has been on the TCFA Board of Directors since 2016, retired from Ithaca College as Director of Alumni and Family Engagement in 2022 and is now Managing Director of Opera Ithaca.
Gretchen will be accepting a limited number of students in the 2023-2024 school year.
Jonathan Fenwick
Casting Director
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Jonathan Fenwick is an active performing violinist and music educator. He spent three years playing with The Orchestra Now at Bard Conservatory, where he received an M.M. in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies. He also holds an additional M.M. from the Eastman School of Music and a B.M. from Oberlin Conservatory in Violin Performance.
Jonathan is experienced as a performer of orchestral, chamber, and solo violin music, and has pursued an interest in the music of living and underrepresented composers. He began as a Suzuki student and incorporates the Suzuki Method into his violin teaching. He enjoys teaching violin students of all levels and provides lessons that suit the needs of each individual student.
He began piano at an early age and studied with Michael Salmirs, Patricia Canning, and Molly MacMillan. He is enthusiastic about fostering a joyful and nurturing environment for piano lessons. Jonathan’s piano lessons for beginners take a fun approach to addressing music reading skills and rhythm, and he is also excited to hone the skills of more developed students or those returning to piano. He is passionate and knowledgeable about a wide range of musical genres, from classical and jazz to film scores and pop.
Teresa Perrotta & Justin Burgess in Recital
A Recital of Arias featuring Instrumental Obbligato
Join Opera Ithaca for its first performance back! Featuring Teresa Perrotta and Justin Burgess, this special recital will highlight the interplay between voice and instruments through a beautiful selection of operatic arias.
-
Soprano Teresa Perrotta is a 2023 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and Winner of the 2023 Sullivan Foundation Award. In the 25/26 season, Teresa will make debuts with The Dallas Opera and Cincinnati Opera as Micaëla in Carmen, as well as her role debut as Madame Butterfly with Opera Louisiane. On the concert stage, she will debut with the St. Louis Symphony as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, a soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Rutgers Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Helmwige in Die Walküre conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
In the 24/25 season, she debuted at The Metropolitan Opera as First Lady in The Magic Flute, Opera Omaha as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and returned to Washington National Opera as a guest soloist in their concert, Gods and Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner. On the concert stage, Teresa returned to the Pacific Symphony as Freia in Das Rheingold.
Reviews“...showed total command musically and dramatically and a lovely, pliant voice one would seek out again.” —Opera Magazine - UK
“Teresa Perrotta anchored the show vocally and emotionally with her affecting, impressively detailed Mimì." —Opera News
"Teresa Perrotta, whose big, sunny soprano [performed] with secure, arching lines and melodiously amorous pleading." —Opera Today
"Of the solid quartet of Athenian lovers, the mellow soprano of Teresa Perrotta (Helena) stood out." —Wall Street Journal
"[Teresa Perrotta] seized with a stunning role interpretation and consummate vocalism that garnered deafening applause." —Voche di Meche
-
Baritone Justin Burgess returns to Washington National Opera (WNO) to sing the role of Paul in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. This fall, he makes his Opera Las Vegas debut in the world premiere of Conrad Cummings’ Again & Again & Again, and will join Lyric Opera of Kansas City to cover Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia. In summer 2024, he joined Des Moines Metro Opera, also covering Figaro. Last season, as a Cafritz Young Artist at WNO, he was seen as Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Donkey in Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me and A Mobster/The Guide in Songbird.
In his first season with WNO, he sang Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème. In summer 2023, he sang Schaunard and covered Martin/James in Candide at the Glimmerglass Festival. In summer 2022, at Santa Fe Opera, he sang Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde and covered Morales in Carmen. He spent three summers with Wolf Trap Opera where he sang the roles of Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Zerbin in L’ile de Merlin, as well as covering Figaro, Merlin, Toby in Sweeney Todd, and Baron Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon.
A rising star in the world of contemporary opera, he has appeared in several workshops, including as Ty in A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera and Walter in The Hours for The Metropolitan Opera. He has also premiered two new operas through WNO’s American Opera Initiative.
Bill Gregg
Lighting Designer
-
Bill Gregg began formal piano lessons when he was five years old. At twelve he began performing jazz and pop standards for various events, starting with the New York State Fireman's Association convention. During his high school years he was keyboard player for a rock band, The Travelers.
After military service, he began studying string instruments, and had the good fortune to learn from several legendary folk musicians, including Lily May Ledford, Slim Bryant, Mike Seeger, and Alan Jabbour.
He has won numerous awards in instrumental contests for folk instruments, and has performed for more than forty years at folk and bluegrass festivals. He is in demand as an instrumental workshop leader at traditional and roots music festivals. Bill has also composed, performed, and recorded experimental electro-acoustic music several albums, and has composed sets of studies for guitar, piano, and violin for his students. Bill has conducted a number of grant supported public classes for guitar, and a well-received series of dulcimer workshops for children.
In 2022 Bill won 2nd place in the National Autoharp Championship in Shippensburg, PA. Also in 2022, he was a featured performer at the North American Fiddlers' Hall of Fame in Osceola, NY.
Over the past twenty years, four of his young fiddle students have had the honor of being selected as featured youth performers at the Fiddlers' Hall of Fame. Many of his former pupils have become professional performers or music teachers. But, his main goal is bring the joy of making music into the lives of everyone, young and old.
He is a member of the Music Teachers National Association and the New York State Music Teachers Association.
Gretchen Van Valen
Soprano
-
Gretchen Van Valen is a classically trained singer, has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education (vocal/choral concentration) from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Ithaca College. Gretchen was a member of the TCFA faculty from 1989 to 1995 and continued to teach private voice lessons and performing since then while working full time at Ithaca College as an administrator and raising a family. Gretchen’s vocal music expertise areas include opera, Italian and German art song, and musical theater. Her teaching style focuses on breathing, posture, and overall healthy singing techniques. She has been on the TCFA Board of Directors since 2016, retired from Ithaca College as Director of Alumni and Family Engagement in 2022 and is now Managing Director of Opera Ithaca.
Gretchen will be accepting a limited number of students in the 2023-2024 school year.
Jonathan Fenwick
Casting Director
-
Jonathan Fenwick is an active performing violinist and music educator. He spent three years playing with The Orchestra Now at Bard Conservatory, where he received an M.M. in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies. He also holds an additional M.M. from the Eastman School of Music and a B.M. from Oberlin Conservatory in Violin Performance.
Jonathan is experienced as a performer of orchestral, chamber, and solo violin music, and has pursued an interest in the music of living and underrepresented composers. He began as a Suzuki student and incorporates the Suzuki Method into his violin teaching. He enjoys teaching violin students of all levels and provides lessons that suit the needs of each individual student.
He began piano at an early age and studied with Michael Salmirs, Patricia Canning, and Molly MacMillan. He is enthusiastic about fostering a joyful and nurturing environment for piano lessons. Jonathan’s piano lessons for beginners take a fun approach to addressing music reading skills and rhythm, and he is also excited to hone the skills of more developed students or those returning to piano. He is passionate and knowledgeable about a wide range of musical genres, from classical and jazz to film scores and pop.