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2011-2012 SEASON
Carmen
 A gypsy seductress, a love-struck soldier, a famous toreador, and some of the most famous music ever sung – it’s grand Opera for everyone! Metropolitan Opera artist Katharine Goeldner brings her “smoldering” Carmen to Eugene, joined by international star Jason Collins and Eugene favorite Michael Mayes.
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Cast
 Harry Baechtel
Morales
Interpreting diverse roles from Lorenzo in Federico Chueca’s zarzuela Agua, Azucarillos, y Aguardiente to Lewis in Holst’s The Wandering Scholar, baritone Harry Baechtel also has extensive experience with the oratorio and art song repertory. He will give a recital of Hugo Wolf’s Italianisches Liederbuch as well as a master class at Viterbo University this Spring. Highlights from his time at Boston University’s Opera Institute, include performances of the roles of Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Prince Tarquinius in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Mr. Baechtel was a soloist in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Massenet’s Thais, and sang the role of Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief with The Berkshire Opera Company, repeating the role with Intermezzo Opera and Opera by the Bay. Mr. Baechtel is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Oregon, and is a student of Milagro Vargas. He will give the last of his doctoral recitals in March.
 Brooke Cagno
Frasquita
Brooke Cagno has been singing with the Eugene Opera since 2004. Last season, she sang the role of Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. As a member of the Eugene Opera’s Artist Mentor Program, she has performed the roles of Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Little Red Riding Hood to audiences in Oregon and Northern California. In 2010, Brooke was selected as an Emerging Young Artist for the OperaWorks program in Los Angeles, and recently sung with the Portland Opera Chorus in Carmina Burana. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Oregon School of Music, where she had the opportunity of performing in Berlin, as well as in several productions with the Opera Ensemble. Brooke has also performed with the Astoria Music Festival and the Eugene Symphony Chorus.
 Jason Collins
Don José
Jason Collins makes his Eugene Opera debut in this production. Recent debuts include La Monnaie Brussels in Das Klagenlied, Liege and China in Der Fliegende Holländer, Tel Aviv in Jenufa, San Francisco in Das Rheingold, the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Katya Kabanová, and both the Teatro Communale di Bologna and the Boston Lyric Opera in Idomeneo. He has appeared throughout the U.S. with companies such as the Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Chicago Opera Theater, Bard Music Festival, Arizona Opera and Ft. Worth Opera. He has appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and American Symphony. A native of South Carolina, he received his Bachelor of Music from Juilliard, Master of Music from the Curtis Institute and is a recent graduate of the Pittsburgh Opera Center.
 Jacqueline Echols
Micaëla
Soprano Jacqueline Echols, a Detroit native has appeared with the Cincinnati Opera as a young artist performing roles such as Countess Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto and the First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Jacqueline also appeared with the New York Harlem Productions featured in such roles as Clara and the lead role, Bess of the opera Porgy and Bess. She was also featured in a documentary, Porgy and Me, which was premiered in Germany theatres in January 2010. During her Masters degree studies at CCM, she was featured as The Female Chorus in Brittan’s The Rape of Lucretia and as the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for CCM’s main stage opera production and CCM Spoleto, Italy summer program. She will be performing again with the Cincinnati Opera as Clara in their first production of Gerswhin’s Porgy and Bess during their 2012 season. Jacqueline is currently completing an Artist Diploma at CCM.
 Katharine Goeldner
Carmen
Katharine Goeldner makes her Eugene Opera debut in this production. Recent engagements include Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Madama Butterfly at the Florida Grand Opera; Vanessa at New York City Opera; Die Fledermaus conducted by Seiji Ozawa; and Ariadne auf Naxos at Salzburg’s Festspielhaus. Her many roles at the Metropolitan Opera include the Schoolboy in Lulu, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini), Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette), and the Page in Salome. Concert performances include work with such conductors as Georges Pretre, Sir Charles Mackerras, Dennis Russell Davies, Jésus Lopez-Cobos, Adam Fischer, Marek Janowski, George Manahan and Bertrand de Billy. Ms. Goeldner has presented recitals for the Mozart Festivals at the Kennedy Center and Salzburg, Vienna’s Festival Ravel, and Toulousse’s Théâtre du Capitole. DVD performances include Les contes d’Hoffmann (Opus Arte) and K.A. Hartmann’s Erste Sinfonie: Versuch eines Requiems (Bayerische Rundfunk).
 Bereniece Jones
Mercédès
Bereniece Jones first appeared with Eugene Opera in the mid-1990’s as the first University of Oregon/Eugene Opera Apprentice in Don Giovanni, Die Fledermaus, Lucia di Lammermoor, and The Magic Flute as well as with the University of Oregon Symphony, Northwest Christian College Symphony and Chorus, and Astoria Music Festival. She returned to the University of Oregon in 2008 to pursue a doctoral degree in Musicology and Arts Administration. In between she lived in Chicago, where she performed with the Chicago Opera Theater, Pegasus Players, Goodman Theatre, Evanston ans Grand Rapids Symphonies, the Lake George Festival, and the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys. Her international performing career has taken her to Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Scandinavia, and Latvia, most notably with the New York Harlem Theatre as Bess in Porgy and Bess. Co-founder and functioning as Artistic and Stage Director for Cascadia Concert Opera and Genesis Opera of Chicago; she is also a member of the Eugene Opera board, where she serves as director of the Eugene Opera Academy.
 Stephen Lancaster
El Dancairo
Stephen Lancaster makes his debut with Eugene Opera in this production. His opera roles include the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. Concert credits include Haydn’s Nelsonmesse, the Brahms Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and Five Mystical Songs, and the Duruflé Requiem. A passionate recitalist, he has collaborated with such artists as Martin Katz and fortepianist James Janssen. He was a finalist in the “Grand Concours de Chant: Tribute to Gerard Souzay” in 2009, and made his debut in Carnegie Hall and Taipei’s Chaing-Kai Sheck Memorial Concert Hall the following year. He was a member of the voice faculty of the Franco-American Vocal Academy in Périgord, France in 2009; since 2007, he has taught at the University of Notre Dame, where he is currently Assistant Teaching Professor of Voice.
 Michael Mayes
Escamillo
Michael Mayes made his Eugene Opera debut in Il Trovatore; he returned last season for a “powerful” Marcello in La bohème. Originally from Texas, he has performed with opera companies across the United States, including Gianni Schicchi with the Metropolitan Opera, Don Giovanni with Connecticut Opera, La Bohème with Skylight Opera Theater, Carmen and Dead Man Walking with Fort Worth Opera, and Così fan tutte with Arizona Opera. Recent engagements include La Cenerentola with Connecticut Opera, The Tender Land with the Charleston Symphony, and Hänsel und Gretel with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He covered Edward Gaines in the premiere of Margaret Garner, a new opera by Richard Danielpour at Michigan Opera Theatre and Cincinnati Opera, and subsequently performed the role opposite Denyce Graves. As a Young Artist at The Santa Fe Opera he appeared in Tim Albery’s production of Béatrice et Bénédict. Mr. Mayes has appeared internationally with Venice’s Teatro La Fenice.
 Sandy Naishtat
Zuniga
Sandy Naishtat has performed with Eugene Opera since 1991, first in the chorus, then moving into featured roles in La Bohème, Orpheus in the Underworld, Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, Pirates of Penzance, Die Fledermaus, Susannah, la Traviata, HMS Pinafore, Gianni Schicchi, in concert with Christiane Noll, and in Eugene Opera's Artist Mentor Program in Doctor Miracle; with Cascadia Concert Opera, in Cosi fan tutte, Tales of Hoffmann, and Gianni Schicchi; with the University Opera Ensemble, in Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Il Campanello, and Tobermory; with Oregon Mozart Players, in PDQ Bach’s The Abduction of Figaro, and Barber’s Dover Beach; with OFAM, in Guys and Dolls and The Wizard of Oz, and as soloist with Maria Jette, Dick Hyman, and James Paul; with the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene Symphony, Eugene Chamber Singers, and Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, and earned an MA in Music Theory from the University of Oregon while studying voice with James Miller.
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