Sidney Marquez Boquiren’s compositional work and performance activities typically involve multi-disciplinary and/or multi-media collaborations. He and choreographer Trebien Pollard developed and performed The Civilized Captivity of a Primitive Existence (2008). For the premiere of Four Songs (2009), set to poetry by Jacqueline Jones LaMon and composed for tenor and guitar, he designed Last Seen, an interdisciplinary event that explored the issue of “disappearance” through the performance of songs and readings of texts. He has premiered two new works on a double-bill: We Will Not Be Silent (2010), an improvised work for piano and electronics assisted by Bryan Teoh written in response to the recent surge of cyber-bullying, and Odes to Earth and Air (2010), a semi-staged multi-media chamber opera with lyrics by Daniel Neer, and video and direction by Ted Gorodetzky. He has also written the score for Jane Pickett’s short film Cuttlefish (2011). Sidney teaches at Adelphi University.

American bass-baritone Justin Hopkins burst onto the international opera scene in 2010, performing the combined roles of Il Servo, Il Medico and Heraldo Macbeth with Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. He was praised as having "created something very beautiful with the role" and the production was awarded "Production of the Year" by Opernwelt. In the same season Mr. Hopkins performed the roles of Colline La Boheme with the Verbier Festival Academy and Cappadocian Salome under the direction of Valery Gergiev with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. During the 2010-2011 season, he performed Frère Laurent Romeo at Juliette with Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with Fort Worth Opera. more...

Sara Cooper is a graduate of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch (NYU). Book and Lyric credits include: The Memory Show, World Premiere, Barrington Stage Company, William Finn's Musical Theatre Lab (2010), NAMT (2009), Bronfman Artist Fellowship (2009), NYC in 2012!!; Loving Leo, reading, TriArts Sharon Playhouse (2011), workshop, Adirondack Theatre Festival (2010), retreat, Weston Playhouse (2010); October Songbook Series: The Songs of Zach Redler and Sara Cooper, Arts and Artists at St. Paul (2010); The Tenth Floor, (book only), New York Musical Theatre Festival (2010), Talkin' Broadway 2010 Summer Theatre Festival Citations: Outstanding New Musical (2010);  Emergency Contraception!: The Musical, Theater for the New City (2007); We Love You, Johnny Hero, NY Fringe Festival (2006). Short plays/musicals/operas and songs around NYC. As an educator, Sara has worked for Lincoln Center, CUNY City College, and Theater for the New City. Dramatists Guild and ASCAP. http://saracooper.weebly.com

Rachel Peters originally hails from St. Louis, Missouri. Opera: The Wild Beast of the Bungalow (Metropolis Opera Project, AOP/Opera on Tap). Musicals: Only Children (NYU Mainstage, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Dixon Place), Tiny Feats of Cowardice (NYC Fringe, Adirondack Theatre Festival), Write Left (New Georges), f2m, Public Domain (NOMTI). Scores for plays: Stretch (a fantasia) (Living Theatre), The Bacchae (Asolo Rep Conservatory), Unrequited (Public Theater Shakespeare Lab), Veritas (NYC Fringe Festival), The Tale of the Good Whistleblower...Chalk Circle(Theatre Askew), Definite Possibilities. Concert works: Jack's Vocabulary, (Hartt SPASM, AOP/Make Music NY), I Live Here (Galapagos Art Space) Canon I (Two Sides Sounding/ The Duplex). Cabaret songs performed at the D-Lounge, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Don’t Tell Mama, Cornelia Street Café, and many Boston cabarets. Composer in Residence, The Coterie; 2009 Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Award; 2010 New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio; member, ASCAP, Dramatists Guild;. Double B.A., Brandeis University; MFA, NYU. www.racheljpeters.com

Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson writes music for the concert stage, ballet, films, television and pop singers. He is a very active collaborator and genre breaker, drawing from most musical traditions to form a musical language that isn’t just one thing. He is a co-founder and artistic director of Please MusicWorks, and wrote the soundtrack for Battlefield Bad Company I and II (the biggest March video game release in history), and pieces for many of the leading classical soloists of his generation. In 2011 he was included in the Q2 radio list of their listeners’ 100 favorite composers under 40. He was one of the Out Magazine OUT100 most influential people 2007. He has collaborated with Lykke Li, Bruce LaBruce, Claire Chase, Joshua Rubin, Alan Pierson, David Taylor, Wolfram Koessel, Black Sun Productions, Lydia Lunch, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Maria Beatty, Andreas Söderström, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Rob Stephenson and many more. www.mikaelk.com

Composer Robert Paterson's colorful, eclectic and intensely rhythmic music is influenced by visual art, nature, machines, and more, and is inspired by everything from the changing seasons to Dalí's melting clocks. Paterson is currently Music Alive composer-in-residence with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, sponsored by Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras. Honors include the Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation and the Copland Award, as well as awards from ASCAP, Meet The Composer, American Music Center and the American Composers Forum. He has received fellowships to Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and the Aspen Music Festival. Orchestras and choirs that have performed Paterson’s music include the Vermont Symphony, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Chamber Choir of Europe, Volti, Minnesota Orchestra and American Composers Orchestra. Paterson appears on recordings for Mode, Centaur, Capstone, and Riax and American Modern Recordings. (Photo credit: Daniel Dottavio) www.robpaterson.com

Ronnie Reshef is a composer and performer of concert music and music for theatre and films. Ronnie’s works were commissioned and performed by groups such as the Israeli Chamber Project, NY Syzygy Ensemble, and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, throughout the US and Israel in venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, The Tank, Greenwich House, Israel International Festival. Her theatre and film projects include collaborations with the 14 Street Y LABA Theatre, the Juilliard Theatre Department, and the Israeli Cameri Theatre, and awards and nominations from the Berlin International Film Festival, Estonian Parnu Film Festival’s Grand Prize, Midtown International Theatre Festival, and others. Upcoming projects include a commission from the Israeli Chamber Ensemble, and a fully staged NYC premiere of a new monodrama The Waiting Woman. Awards and competitions include the Jorden Berk Prize, Opera Vista Competition, New York Composers Circle, as well as the Sam Spiegel Film School Excellence Prize for film scoring, and the Israeli Shirimon Arrangement Prize. www.ronniereshef.com

Zach Redler is a composer, pianist, copyist, musicologist and musical director in and out of New York City. Zach actively works as a vocal coach and accompanist for students at NYU. He is a copyist for many Broadway and Opera composers. As a part of the Virginia Arts Festival’s John Duffy Institute he has studied with John Duffy, Libby Larsen, David Lang, Bernard Rands, Michael Korie and Mark Campbell. Recent productions as composer: Breakfast (Metropolis Opera Project); The Memory Show (Off Bway 2012; Barrington Stage); Loving Leo (Sharon Playhouse; ATF); Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (Regional; Various NYC Venues). Zach's music has been performed at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Joe's Pub (among others) and has been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, Variety and The Boston Globe. He is a member of ASCAP, Local 802 and a graduate of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. www.zachredler.com

With her "bell-like" voice (Newsday), Amy Shoremount-Obra is quickly being recognized as one of the most promising up-and-coming American sopranos. Recent engagements include three seasons as the cover for the "Queen of the Night" in the Metropolitan Opera's Julie Taymor production of The Magic Flute; An Evening with J. D. McClatchy and The Metropolitan Opera at the 92nd St. Y; "Queen of the Night" in The Magic Flute with New York City Opera; the cover for the Soprano in the world premiere of John Zorn's Monodrama La Machine de l'être at New York City Opera, the role of "Beattrice" in Paolo Prestini's De Deo with New York City Opera VOX, and a workshop performance of Tarik O'Regan and Anna Rabinowitz's new monodrama The Wanton Sublime with American Opera Projects. Other notable debuts include appearances as the Soloist in Brahms' Requiem with The Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, First Fairy in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the New York City Ballet, a recital in London UK at St. George's Bloomsbury; and a recital in Chicago at the Chicago Cultural Center, which was broadcast live on WFMT, Chicago's Classical Music Station. www.amyshoremount-obra.com

Steven Osgood was Artistic Director of American Opera Projects from 2001 to 2008, during which time he created the Composers and the Voice Workshop series, and conducted the world premieres of Paula Kimper’s Patience and Sarah, and Janice Hamer’s Lost Childhood.  He has also conducted the world premieres of Jonathan Sheffer’s Blood on the Dining Room Floor, Tan Dun’s Peony Pavilion, and Xenakis’ Oresteia.  He has been Cover Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera’s productions of Nixon in China, Satyagraha, and the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor.  He most recently conducted Stephen Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon at New York City Opera, and made his debut at Fort Worth Opera conducting Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox in May. http://srosgood.com

Kathleen Amshoff was born in Houston, Texas. With a special interest in original, interdisciplinary projects, Kathleen integrates a progressive aesthetic with the conviction that theater is fundamentally a social event. She has created new pieces in Zimbabwe and Ecuador with Dramatic Adventure Theatre, and in New Orleans with a New Resonance Orchestra. She works with internationally renowned performance company Big Art Group. Kathleen has a BA in English and Drama from Catholic University and an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. She was a Fulbright scholar in Berlin. www.kathleenamshoff.com

Through the power of the ensemble process, Irondale creates and presents theater, performance and educational programs that challenge traditional assumptions about art, and help us to better understand today's challenging world. The Irondale Center, our theater, laboratory, and classroom, is a home for ensemble artists of all disciplines and cultures, and a resource for our community. www.irondale.org

Andrea Arias-Martin, a native from Long Island, is a graduate from the Master's program at Manhattan School of Music and Bachelor’s from C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. While at Manhattan, Andrea performed Mother in Griffelkin and Anna Maurrant in Street Scene. New York Times review stated, “As Anna Maurrant, Andrea Arias-Martin sings with a bright soprano and effectively conveys the character’s disillusionment and unhappiness.” Andrea was part of the Chautauqua Opera Studio Artist for the 2009 and 2010 season. While at Chautauqua Opera, Andrea covered the roles of Foreign Woman in The Consul and the title role of Norma. Andrea just returned from the Glimmerglass Festival where she was Micaela (cover) and Elaine in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening. www.andreaarias-martin.com

An active performer of opera and music theater, Mila Henry is currently a resident artist with American Opera Projects in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where she has delighted audiences in accompanying new vocal works in the most operatic, and un-operatic, of settings.  A regular at their Opera Grows in Brooklyn series at Galapagos Art Space, Mila has worked with both emerging and established composers alike, in venues ranging from Merkin Concert Hall to Don’t Tell Mama.  Notable performances include her Lincoln Center debut with Kamran Ince’s opera Judgment of Midas, the New York Premiere of John Musto’s Later The Same Evening, a collaboration with Libby Larsen on her song cycle Try Me Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII, and an appearance at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Jack Perla’s Love/Hate.  Mila grew up outside Philadelphia, and holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Elizabethtown College.  www.milahenry.com

Praised by Opera News for her “richly focused voice”, young mezzo-soprano Rebecca Ringle recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for productions of Nixon in China, Die Walküre, and Rigoletto. Other recent roles include Ariodante with the Princeton Festival, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Macau International Music Festival in China, and Queen Leda in Der Liebe der Danae with Bard Summerscape. She has performed concert repertoire at Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls, and with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Utah Symphony, and Orchestra Giuseppi Verdi di Milano, and opera with New York City Opera and Washington National Opera, among others. She has performed art song repertoire at the Marlboro and Bard Music Festivals and with art.part.theater.company. In August 2010, she performed with composer Tyondai Braxton and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson in a video to promote the release of the book Listen to This by music and cultural writer Alex Ross. Ms. Ringle is a summa cum laude graduate of Oberlin College (Comparative Literature) and Yale School of Music. www.rebeccaringle.com

Noted for his "sweet, reedy" voice (The Dallas Morning News), American tenor Brandon Snook has collaborated with American Opera Projects in the past, as well as AOP’s Walt Whitman Project. Among his AOP credits include the world premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s song, 1861, set from Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name, which was performed at Manhattan’s Hudson Guild Theatre. His recent performance of Vietnam POW Captain Jim Thompson in Chelsea Opera’s production of Glory Denied received acclaim from The New York Times, admiring his “vocal freshness, tempered with despondency”. He also was recently in Greenville, SC, performing Alfred in Die Fledermaus at Greenville Light Opera Works, where The Greenville News praised him as “a standout, boasting a ringing voice and suave musicianship”. He has additional operatic mainstage and Young Artist credits from Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. A native of Dallas, Texas, Mr. Snook holds Voice degrees from The University of Kansas and The University of Michigan.

Jorell Williams - Praised by Opera News as having a “Solid vocal core” and the ABC News & Entertainment as “smooth-voiced”, American Baritone Jorell Williams is pursuing a versatile performing career. Highlights of Jorell’s work include his Off-Broadway debut as The Villager with the New York City Center Encores! production of Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore (2011) and Fiesque in Maria di Rohan (2010) with the Caramoor International Music Festival, “The Muir” with the Mark Morris Dance Group, recording “Mr. President/Americana” with the Essential Voices USA for NPR, Maximilian in Candide with Coópera: Project Opera Manhattan, and appearing with the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Opera Theatre’s collaborative workshop reading of Nico Muhly’s TWO BOYS (2011) and Michael Torke’s SENNA (2010). Jorell recently took part as a Vocal Fellow at the Steans Music Institute with the Ravinia Festival, and had the honor of performing with the Chorale Le Chateau of New York in “A CELEBRATION OF AMERICA” in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the occasion of the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. www.myspace.com/jorellwilliams

Jeanne-Minette Cilliers - Increasingly in demand as a collaborator, Ms. Cilliers performs across the globe, including festivals and venues such as the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has collaborated with artists such as Frans Helmerson, Janos Starker, Joyce Castle, Lise Lindstrom, Håkan Hagegård, Lester Lynch, David Daniels and actor Zoe Caldwell, among others. Fostering a strong interest in new music, Ms. Cilliers has worked with prominent contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, John Corigliano, Mark Adamo and Sven-David Sandström. Her recording of Mr. Argento’s Andreé Expedition (with Håkan Hagegård) will be released in the upcoming season. Currently, Ms. Cilliers is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, while also music director for the Martina Arroyo Opera Foundation in New York City. She served as principal coach/pianist at Glimmerglass Opera Festival in 2009 and 2010, and at The Santa Fe Opera in 2011. http://jmcilliers.com/

Pianist Kelly Horsted has collaborated on many projects with AOP, including Herschel Garfein's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Mark Morris, Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness, and Paula Kimper's operas The Bridge of San Louis Rey, and Patience and Sarah for the Lincoln Center Festival. Other recent projects have included Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied with Chelsea Opera, music directing several readings of student compositions at the Graduate Music Theater Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School, as well as performances with Opera Company of Brooklyn, Wintergreen Festival, New Jersey Opera Theater, Friends and Enemies of New Music, Quinn Art Cabaret and Five Words in a Line. Kelly has taught at Mannes College of Music, Hunter College, Five Towns College, Intermezzo, and Operaworks. He earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He enjoys an active career as an accompanist, music director, and vocal coach. http://kellyhorsted.com/

John Corigliano continues to add to one of the richest and most widely celebrated bodies of work any composer has created over the last forty years. Corigliano's numerous scores have been performed and recorded by many of the most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world. The Metropolitan Opera commissioned his first opera. Click here for website. Complete bio: www.johncorigliano.com

Along with four symphonies, twelve concerti, over 150 art songs and song cycles, and forty chamber works, Daron Hagen is the composer of five highly-acclaimed, frequently-performed operas: Shining Brow, Bandanna, New York Stories, and Amelia as well as two one-act operas: Vera of Las Vegas and The Antient Concert. Complete bio: www.daronhagen.com

Since 2004, John Musto has seen the production of four operas, most recently Later the Same Evening, at Glimmerglass in July 2011. The recording of his opera Volpone was nominated for a 2010 Grammy. John Musto studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He will be honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award this fall. Complete bio: www.johnmusto.com

Tobias Picker studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University. His principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt. The Santa Fe Opera gave the world premiere of Picker's first opera, Emmeline. His operas include Fantastic Mr. Fox, Thérèse Raquin, and An American Tragedy (commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera). Complete bio: www.tobiaspicker.com

Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish composers and performers who are now, in mid-career, making a worldwide impact. Born in Helsinki, she studied at the Sibelius Academy with the pioneering modernist Paavo Heininen, where she founded the progressive "Ears Open" group. Complete bio: www.saariaho.org

Gene Scheer's work is noted for its scope and versatility, and his music and lyrics have gained enthusiastic admirers among a broad audience. Mr. Scheer has collaborated with the composer Jake Heggie on a number of different projects, including the critically acclaimed 2010 world premiere of Moby-Dick. Complete bio: www.genescheer.com

Stephen Schwartz has contributed music and/or lyrics to Godspell (returning to Broadway this fall), Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife, Working (which he also adapted and directed), Rags, Children of Eden and the international hit, Wicked. His first opera Seance on a Wet Afternoon was developed by American Opera Projects. Complete bio: www.stephenschwartz.com