About the Production Team

Matthew Recio recently finished his post as the Vanguard emerging composer with Chicago Opera Theater, developing operas with Royce Vavrek and Stephanie Fleischmann. He was recently asked to return as an aperture resident artist with West Edge Opera to further develop “L’autre moi." Current projects include a feature on American soprano Laura Stricking’s CD 40x40, a commission for Stare at the Sun’s Fall concert Returning, and a commission for Queer In(n) dedicated to Chicago elder trans icon, Mama Gloria, featuring trans singer Jalissa Spell. This past spring he composed projects for the Chicago Fringe Opera, Fourth Coast Ensemble’s SongSlam and wrote an interactive choral cantata titled The Hollow for Chicago choir, Stare at the Sun. This Spring he looks forward to his Carnegie Hall Debut with the premiere of Bone Cathedral, commissioned by the Metropolitan Youth Choir. He was a winner of the IU Georgina Joshi Vocal Composition prize, the American Prize in choral writing and the first selected commissioned artist for the Cincinnati Song Initiative. Recio has worked with organizations such as BMP, New Voices Opera Company, Cincinnati Camerata, NOTUS and The Crossing. He was a composer fellow at VIPA, IMANI Festival, Atlantic music festival, The Crossing, and Norfolk Chamber Series.
 
Recio is a G. Schirmer published artist under the Craig Hella Johnson and Dale Warland series. He is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music where he was a Jacobs Fellowship recipient for his DM and MM in composition.

You can further keep up with Recio at www.matthewrecio.com

Royce Vavrek is a Canada-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist who has been called “an exemplary creator of operatic prose” (The New York Times), and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). With composer Missy Mazzoli he wrote Song from the Uproar, premiered by Beth Morrison Projects in 2012. Their second opera, an adaptation of Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, premiered at Opera Philadelphia, co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, and directed by James Darrah to critical acclaim in September of 2016. The work won the 2017 Music Critics Association of North America award for Best New Opera.

No stranger to the stages of Oberlin, Royce Vavrek partnered with composer Du Yun ’01 on the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Angel’s Bone, staged at Oberlin in 2018. Also at Oberlin, Vavrek provided the libretto for Missy Mazzoli’s opera Proving Up in 2019, as well as the libretto for Rachel Peters’s The Wild Beast of the Bungalow in 2020.

Vavrek is currently developing a grand opera for Opera Philadelphia and the Norwegian National Opera based on an original story by two-time Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Jordan Tannahill, for The Metropolitan Opera. He holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal and an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at New York University.

Christopher Mirto is currently on the opera faculty at Oberlin Conservatory, where he created and runs Oberlin’s New Opera Commissioning Program. 

With Norwalk Symphony Orchestra: Carmen, La Bohème, and The Marriage of Figaro.  He has directed operas at Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute, and with the Longfellow Chorus in Portland, Maine. Recent opera productions: the Pulitzer-winning Angel’s Bone by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek; Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up (Oberlin Conservatory); and the world premiere of The Wild Beast of the Bungalow by Rachel J. Peters and Royce Vavrek. Recent theatre productions: Wakey Wakey by Will Eno (Dobama); Musica Extrana (Artist Immersion: Spain).

Some of his career highlights include performing in two of Richard Foreman’s plays at the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre in New York City, playing Christina Crawford opposite Joey Arias in Christmas with the Crawfords, and directing a revival of Dionysus in 69 at The Performing Garage. He co-created The Ophelia Project with soprano Cree Carrico and co-wrote the musical Three Sisters, or The Dormouse's Tale with Brian Valencia. 

Recent projects: an untitled virtual reality/opera collaboration with Du Yun and Hana S. Kim, and workshops for the world premieres of Alice Tierney by Melissa Dunphy and Jacqueline Goldfinger. New York University: BFA; Yale School of Drama, MFA. 

Taiwanese-American conductor Tiffany Chang is recognized internationally for her exceptional artistry, formidable versatility, and unshakable integrity. Her mission is to inspire artists to feel fulfilled knowing their work matters.

After thrilling debuts at Portland Opera and Opera Columbus, her season continues with a debut at NYC’s Teatro Grattacielo conducting Zandonai’s Giulietta e Romeo and returning to guest conduct Dinosaur Annex New Music Ensemble in Boston. She has received a 2020 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance, an OPERA America Grant for Women Conductors, The American Prize in Opera Conducting, and a Category Winner of the Year in the 2021 international LIT Talent Awards.

Chang authors a blog called "Conductor as CEO" where her goal is to increase job satisfaction rates for professional musicians, drawing ideas from industries outside of the arts. Her "refreshing and thoughtful" leadership on and off the podium has led her to be an active panelist, speaker, and contributor. She also completed the altMBA program and joined a unique cohort of global leaders and change-makers.

Chang holds degrees in orchestral conducting, cello performance, music education, composition, and music theory and served on the artist-faculty at Oberlin Conservatory, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Boston University, and Berklee College of Music.

​

You can keep up with Chang at www.tiffanychang.net

Julia Noulin-Mérat is an American, French, and Canadian producer, designer and is the General Director & CEO of Opera Columbus. In addition to being General Director & CEO of Opera Columbus, Julia is the Artistic Advisor of Guerilla Opera, and the Creative Director of Hong Kong based More than Musical. Julia has worked on over 400 opera, theater, and television productions, including 25 new operas and 22 new plays. Other projects include a TEDx talk on site-specific opera productions in the modern age, Neverland (China Broadway): a $20 million, 50,000 square immersive theater piece in Beijing based on Peter Pan directed by Allegra Libonati, which required collaboration with 650 people, an immersive Pagliacci (Boston Lyric Opera) production complete with fair grounds inside an ice rink directed by David Lefkowich and Playground (Opera Omaha) a National touring operatic sound sculpture in collaboration with composer Ellen Reid. Her work has been featured in Opera News, LiveDesign, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to name a few.

You can keep up with Julia at http://www.noulinmerat.com  as well as www.operacolumbus.org 

Inda Blatch-Geib’s work as a costume and production designer for over 1,000 theatrical, commercial, and film releases has spanned 30 years and crossed 4 continents. Production and Costume Design has included commercials for Footlocker, The West Virginia Lottery’s national award winning campaigns, Microsoft, Under Armor, McDonalds, TroyBuilt, and The Original Mattress Factory as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 1970’s and 1980’s themed videos, national spots for the team, and design for on court half-time shows including their mascot shield design and pyrotechnic sword. Live performance and festival design include Machine Gun Kelly’s US
and European Tours as well as ESTFEST and Wolstein Arena productions. Specialty projects include microphone stand designs for MGK and BlackBear. Print designs have included set styling for Harper’s Bazaar UK Scarlett Johansson cover and spread as well as catalogue set styling for Foundations and Kilgore Trout. Additionally, Ms. Blatch-Geib’s designs have been showcased in exhibits at The Smithsonian Institute with film projects including Ohio Art
Direction of The Signal staring Laurence Fishburne and Production and Costume Design of the soon to be released The Con. Theatrical Design includes Production & Costume Design for the special off- Broadway Production of Kris Kringle, The Musical, Costume Design for the Cleveland Play House production of Native Gardens, as well as multiple productions for the Colombian National Opera. Music Video Production and Costume Design includes Machine Gun Kelly’s Alpha Omega and Let You Go releases. Locally, Inda is the 2019/2020 Resident Designer for Cleveland Public Theatre, Karamu House, Magical Theatre Company, New World Performance Lab and Cleveland Institute of Music.

Kevin Duchon graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelors in Theatrical Lighting.  Known for his use of “out of reality” effects, Kevin has worked in the theaters of Ohio, New York City, and Philadelphia on various theatrical shows ranging from new works to children’s productions to traveling caravans.  In 2014 Kevin began designing and building a chandelier line through his company Pure Illumination Lighting, and his works have been featured in NYC monthly publication, Breuckelen Magazine.  His highlighted theatrical designs include The Ophelia Project, The Bearded Ladies Queer RIOT, The Little Mermaid, Pippin, Sherlock Holmes: A Final Adventure, and Ryan Richmond’s Extraterrestrial as well as his six masterpiece chandeliers.  Most recently he worked with Dobama of Cleveland on Hurricane Diane.  His previous designs with Oberlin Conservatory are Angel’s Bone, Seven Deadly Sins, TIMARA’s Kaleidosonic, and The Wild Beast of the Bungalow.

Under the vision of General Director + CEO Julia Noulin-Mérat, Opera Columbus is redefining and reimagining the concept of regional opera with world-class productions that celebrate extraordinary talent and artistic partnerships, engaging a new, diverse audience for this most magnificent of art forms. From groundbreaking collaborations to innovative and breathtaking productions, Opera Columbus is passionate about creating artistic moments for each and every patron. Opera Columbus’s slogan, “Make It Yours,” demonstrates the company’s commitment to inclusivity, and invites everyone in the community to join with us.  

For more information, visit www.OperaColumbus.org, Facebook & Instagram: @Opera.Columbus or Twitter: @OperaColumbus