Daniel Bunting is a student at Mississippi College pursuing his Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. He serves as the graduate assistant for Lyric Stage and is currently playing Laurie in their production of Little Women. He holds a B.M. from James Madison University. Past credits include: Defendant, Trial By Jury; Edward Bloom, Big Fish; Frederic, Pirates of Penzance; Tamino, Die Zauberflöte.
Tjaden O'Dowd Cox is a soprano that holds a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University. She is an alum of several young artist programs including I Sing Beijing (2012), as well as programs in Germany and across the United States. The 22-23 season has seen her compete in several international voice competitions, as well as perform for a touring opera company. This is her first Adele and she could not be more excited. Some of her other roles include Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Susanna (Il Segreto di Susanna), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Frasquita (Carmen), Nannetta (Falstaff), and Elisetta (Il Matrimonio Segreto). In addition to professional singer, she is also a professional aerialist, performing on various apparatuses like those in Cirque du Soleil.
Jay Dean is currently the Artistic Director of Opera Mississippi and the Natchez Festival of Music. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of FestivalSouth. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin. He came to The University of Southern Mississippi in 1988 and was the Director of Orchestral Activities for the USM Symphony Orchestra for thirty years (1988-2018). At USM he also served as the Director of the School of Music, the Associate Dean for Arts and External Relations in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Executive Director of the Arts Institute of Mississippi.
He was the Music Director of the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra for thirty years (1988-2018). His work as a conductor and educator spans orchestras in the United States, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. His recruiting efforts turned the USM Symphony Orchestra into a multinational conglomerate that included students from numerous countries. Unique partnerships developed under his leadership that allowed the orchestra to achieve a spirit and reputation of superior musicianship that brought international acclaim to the university and to the state of Mississippi. The orchestra became known for “Bringing the World to Mississippi.”
The artistic programs that he has directed at Southern Miss and throughout the state are projects that have enhanced the lives of citizens throughout Mississippi. He has received the Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Arts, the Excellence for Global Arts and Culture award from the Mississippi World Trade Center. He has also been inducted into the USM Alumni Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Southern Mississippi Research Council. In 2017, he and the Mississippi Opera received the Governor’s Award for Artistic Excellence, and in 2018 he was honored by the Mississippi State Legislature for his artistic work in Mississippi.
His central mission has always been “to provide life-changing experiences for the musicians that have performed with him and raise the quality of life in the state of which he is a part.”
Jason Detwiler, baritone - With nearly sixty roles to his credit, baritone Jason Detwiler has become well-known for his magnetic and energizing stage performances. His voice and acting have been described as "emotionally fervid", "richly expressive" and "commanding", embodying characters ranging from the comedic Gianni Schicchi to the dramatic Renato (Un ballo in maschera).
Among his most widely acclaimed roles are Eugene Onegin, Il conte di Luna (Il trovatore), Zurga (Les pêcheurs de perles), and Nick Carraway (The Great Gatsby).
His most recent engagements include a debut of Ugo in Jake Landau's Pietà with the Narnia Vocal Arts Festival at the Teatro Comunale di Narni in Italy, reprising the villainous Il conte di Luna with Opera in the Fields, Marcello (La bohème) with Light Opera New Jersey, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) with Gemma Arts. He returns to Opera Idaho for his 36th production as Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking, and then back to the Narnia Vocal Arts Festival to debut Aeneas in a double-bill of Dido & Aeneas and the world premiere of Jake Landau's Aeterna.
The baritone has performed nationally with San Diego Opera, Virginia Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Parallèle, Center for Contemporary Opera, Syracuse Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera San Jose, Shreveport Opera, Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, West Bay Opera, Inland Northwest Opera, Vallejo Symphony Orchestra, the American Philharmonic Sonoma County, the Idaho State-Civic Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic & Master Chorale, Boise Baroque, and in France with the Opéra Théâtre d'Avignon.
His concert credits include Bach's St. John Passion, Cantatas 82 & 140, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's and Faure's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Dvorak's Te Deum, Schubert's Mass in G-minor, Saint-Säens' Christmas Oratorio, Mollicone's Beatitude Mass, staged versions of Schubert's Die Winterreise, Ahab (Bernard Herrmann's Moby Dick) and Jim Cockey's premier of Shalom: a Holocaust Memorial.
Mr. Detwiler has continued to expand his repertory with the musical leads in Carousel, The King & I, Oklahoma!, and South Pacific.
Currently, he resides in Boise, Idaho with his wife, mezzo-soprano Michele Detwiler, and studies with New York City's Andrea DelGiudice.
Ms. Detwiler, mezzo-soprano, has sung over thirty roles with regional companies on the West Coast, favoring Mahler, Strauss, Bel Canto and French repertoire. Critics have described her instrument as "amber-voiced", "a velvety mezzo soprano voice with excellent range", with performances being cited as "riveting" and holding "center stage commandingly".
Since moving to Boise Idaho in 2007 she has performed nearly a dozen characters with Opera Idaho. Roles include Siebel (Faust), Tisbe (La cenerentola), Bloody Mary (South Pacific), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Augusta (The Ballad of Baby Doe), Mother (Hansel & Gretel), Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti), Anna (The King and I), Maddalena (Rigoletto), and Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte).
In the current season, she will debut Jade Boucher in Dead Man Walking with her hometown Opera Idaho, reprise her role as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) in a concert version, and return to the Narnia Festival in Italy to lead the Emerging Artist Program.
Having sung with companies and orchestras across the U.S., the mezzo-soprano has performed lyric to dramatic repertoire. Among her favorite characters are Suzuki(Madama Butterfly), Elizabeth Proctor (The Crucible), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Carmen, Dorabella (Cosí fan tutte), Stephano (Romeo et Juliette), as well as Sister Helen (Dead Man Walking), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), and Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi).
In addition, the mezzo has sung with Sacramento Opera, MidAtlantic Opera, West Bay Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Mission City Opera, the Boise Philharmonic, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Auburn Symphony, the Boise Master Chorale and Boise Baroque and Symphony Silicon Valley as well as guest and resident artist with Opera San Jose (2002-2007).
Her concert credits include soloist in Haydn's Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Saint-Säens’ Christmas Oratorio, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and 2nd Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Herzogenberg’s Die Geburt Christi, Einhorn’s Voices of Light, and her favorite Old Lady in Bernstein's Candide Suite, as well as numerous Bach cantatas.
She and her husband, baritone Jason Detwiler live in Boise, Idaho and study with NYC teacher, Andrea DelGiudice.
Baritone Jason Duika is quickly making a name for himself in the classical music world. Most recently, he sang the title role in Verdi’s Nabucco to great acclaim in October of 2019 with West Bay Opera, in California and in the previous June, he sang the Baritone solos in Vaughan Williams “Dona Nobis Pacem” with Mid America Productions at Carnegie Hall’s 3,000 seat Isaac Stern Auditorium.
In his Spring of 2019 portrayal of Herode in Massenet’s Herodiade, with New Amsterdam Opera, John Yohalem of Parterre Box noted, “Jason Duika has a sizable and remarkably lofty baritone, which should serve him well for Verdi roles - he topped “Vision Fugitive” with an A-flat. And yet his delivery seemed effortless, lyric, a melting, manly sound.” Also, in the previous February, Jason sang his first Verdi title role, Francesco Foscari in I Due Foscari with West Bay Opera. He also sang Marcello in La Boheme there, in October of 2018, where the reviews said, “Jason Duika sang with glorious round tone, and unimpeachable legato.”
In February of 2018, Jason was asked to return to his Alma Mater, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and sing the lead Baritone role of Enrico, Lucia’s brother in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Of his portrayal of Enrico, the critics said, “…A beautiful instrument, manly, generous and assured in timbre. Not only some, but many really stunning, thrilling notes in his delivery. Clearly an ideal role for him. Bravo! Onwards and upwards.” -Martin Snell, and, “Jacobs School alum and baritone Jason Duika returned to sing Enrico, Lucia’s brother. His villainous role was deftly offered, both musically and theatrically.” Peter Jacobi, The Herald Times. Being praised by Oregon music news for having a “big, warm voice” and, “spot-on comic timing…”
Jason makes his home in Dexter Michigan, and he is also under Randsman artist management with Peter Randsman in New York City, where he studies with Andrea DelGiudice. He is a graduate of Alma College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music, with emphasis on Voice in 2006, Portland State University, where he received a Master of Music in Voice performance in 2010, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of music, where he received a Performer Diploma in Voice Performance in 2012.
BETH EVERETT is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Mississippi College where she will conduct the Mississippi College Singers and Choctaw Chorus. Previous appointments include Southwestern University (Texas), LaGrange College (Georgia), Eastern Michigan University, and Bethel University (Tennessee). Dr. Everett holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Masters in Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Music in Church Music from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Choirs under Dr. Everett's direction perform regularly across the United States and internationally. The Bethel University Singers participated in the American International Choral Festival in St. Louis and received a Gold Diploma in adjudication. Most recently, the Southwestern University Chorale presented the Texas premiere of Damien Geter’s Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow.
In addition to her love for choral music, Dr. Everett has an extensive list of opera and musical theater productions in her conducting repertoire ranging from La Traviata to A Chorus Line, from Godspell to Carousel and Into the Woods. She has prepared choruses for Meadows Opera Theater and Southern Opera and Musical Theater productions including Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, Kurt Weill's Street Scene, and Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges.
Dr. Everett spent several years as musical director and chorus master with the Natchez Festival of Music and conducted performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. She conducted Show Boat in 2016 in celebration of the tricentennial of the city of Natchez, Mississippi.
Dr. Everett remains active as a singer and recently performed Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra. She also regularly performs the mezzo soprano solos for such major choral works as Handel's Messiah, Vivaldi's Gloria, Mozart's Requiem, and Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Rose Freeman is an award-winning stage director, teacher, writer, and producer of theatre and opera. A Wolftrap Opera Directing Fellow in 2021 and 2022, Freeman had the honor of working on Floyd’s Susannah, Verdi’s Traviata, Bologne de Saint-George’s L’Amant Anonyme and Holst’s Savitri and Viardot’s Cendrillon while also directing the studio artist scenes program at Wolf Trap Opera in 2020. Additional operatic stage direction credits include Viardot’s Cendrillon with City Lyric Opera, Strauss' Die Liebe Der Danae at Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Stravinsky’s L'Historie Du Soldat at Temple University, and Weber’s Der Freischütz. At Third Eye Theatre Ensemble, of which zie is a founding member, direction credits include Han Lash’s Beowulf, Kamala Sankaram’s The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, Juliet Palmer's Stitch, Daniel Crozier's With Blood With Ink, Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters, Mohammed Fairouz’s Sumeida’s Song, Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium. World premieres include Elisabeth Rudolph’s Petticoats and Sliderules, Alexandra Enyart’s Witness, Evan Kassof’s Ganymede 5, and Eric McDonnell's Cosmic Ray and the Amazing Chris.
Freeman has spoken at the National Opera Association in 2021, participated on the emerging artists panel during the 2011 Chicago Theatre Symposium, participated in the 2012 DirectorsLabChicago, and 2017 La MaMa Umbria Intl. Symposium for Directors. Freeman’s production of Stitch was named Best New Opera Production, and Third Eye Theatre Ensemble was nominated for Best Opera Company by the Chicago Reader in 2019, The Medium (2014) and Sumeida’s Song (2015) were both named top 5 operas by NewCity. Zie is a recipient of the National Opera Association's 2020 JoElyn Wakefield-Wright Stage Director Fellowship and the city of Philadelphia’s 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant.
Freeman received an MFA in Directing at Temple University through the inaugural Music Theatre Collaboration program and is developing a manual on acting strategies for operatic performance Freeman brings great innovation and diverse artistic background to her work having created national fine art shows for M Gallery of Fine Art, serving as managing producing director for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, working a stage manager for 10 years, and production managing a national tour for Feld Entertainment’s Monster Jam Monster Truck Show.
Zie has directed many plays, space generated theatrical events, burlesque events, nationally touring hip-hop concerts, and workshops of new musicals and operas. Freeman is on faculty at Temple University and University of the Arts and has been a teaching artist with the Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium and Columbia College Chicago. Zie is Member Emeritus for the DirectorsLabChicago Steering Committee.
A native of Miami, Florida, Anthony Offerle’s credits include performances with the OperaEstate in Rome, The Cincinnati Opera, Mississippi Opera, Intermountain Opera, Dayton Opera, Wyoming Opera, Pacific Opera, International Chamber Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, Savannah Symphony, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has sung over 30 leading roles including the title roles in Don Giovanni and Don Pasquale. An active concert performer, Offerle served as guest baritone soloist in London’s Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral as well as St. Giles Cathedral in Scotland. The New York Amsterdam News said of his recent recital debut in Manhattan, "Offerle brought to his selections an exceptionally beautiful baritone, fine technical command and considerable interpretive skill. He proved to be a compelling singing-actor."
Offerle is a two-time Metropolitan Opera auditions district winner and regional finalist, a national winner of the Federation of Music Clubs vocal competition, and one of only ten Americans selected to compete in the quadrennial Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition. He has studied with such renowned teachers as Italo Tajo and Andrew White at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Offerle is an Associate Professor of Voice at The University of Florida School of Music and Director of the UF Opera Theatre. Since 2000, he has served on the faculty and been the artistic director of the Operafestival di Roma in Italy.
Tenor Nicholas Perna’s voice has been hailed by the Houston Chronicle as “an impressive sound,” and the South Florida Sun Sentinel praised his “emotionally driven performance.” Perna was a recent finalist for the American Prize for men in opera, and has appeared multiple times in recent seasons with Opera Mississippi. He debuted the one person play Letters to Puccini for Opera Mississippi in 2022. Perna was twice selected as a Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist singer. Additional Operatic credits include Rodolfo in La Bohème, The Duke in Rigoletto, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, & Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Symphonic soloist appearances include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Beethoven's Symphony no. 9, Handel’s Messiah, & Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Dr. Perna is Associate Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy at Mississippi College. He is a Presser Music Foundation awardee, and has presented research on four continents. Perna is Vice President for Outreach for the National Association of Teachers of Singing for the 2022-2024 term. He is the creator and co-host of the VocalFri Podcast, http://www.vocalfri.com, your weekly dash of voice science, pedagogy, and pop culture. Perna holds graduate degrees from the University of Miami & the University of Houston.
CHRIS ROEBUCK (Understudy) is a former education director and resident teaching artist at New Stage Theatre in Jackson. Roebuck was last seen as Sir John Falstaff in Uproar Theatre’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. At New Stage, Roebuck has appeared in A Christmas Carol, Bright Star, Sister Act, Shakespeare In Love, Beauty and the Beast, The Robber Bridegroom, Shrek the Musical, The Foreigner, and The 39 Steps. His directing credits include A Wrinklein Time; Goodnight, Moon; The Cat in the Hat; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; The Weir; Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse; and Dead Man’s Cell Phone at New Stage; Anne of Green Gables and Elf the Musical at Brookhaven Little Theatre; and American Buffalo and Dinner with Friends with Fondren Theatre Workshop.
American soprano Stacey Trenteseaux has sung in concerts and productions with various companies in the US and Germany. She made her German debut in the 2018-2019 season as Luisa in Verdi’s Luisa Miller with Münchens Kleinstes Opernhaus at Pasinger Fabrik in Munich, Germany and at SemperZwei of the Dresden Semperoper in American composer Liam Wade’s opera “Eine Oktoberfest Oper.” Other operatic roles include: Rosalinda in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Juliette from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Hanna in Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe, Angelica in Pucinni’s Suor Angelica, and First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. One of Stacey’s greatest joys is collaborating with artists to present solo concerts that tell a story and express a unique artistic voice including: “A Night of Love Songs” and “Moonlight and Magic!” with Chinese American pianist Zhaolei Xie performed in Jackson and Hattiesburg, Miss.; “Fierce Femmes,” a virtual concert collaboration with Israeli American mezzo soprano Michal Doron sponsored by Opera Mississippi; and “Mondenschein” performed in Dresden with American pianist Ellen Rissinger at the Robert Schumann concert hall in the Coselpalais. One of her fondest concert experiences was singing the 2016 premier of PostSecret: A Song Cycle by award-winning young composer Jonathan Posthuma at the New Music Composer’s Symposium in Hattiesburg, Miss. She serves as Executive Director of Opera Mississippi and works as a coach, teacher, and artistic consultant. Stacey earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Florida and a Master of Music Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Soprano Sarah Wade is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. She received a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology-Sociology from Millsaps College and a Master of Medical Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. In addition to solo and choral performances, past projects include The Sound of Music, Bye Bye Birdie, Hell in Highwater, and Seussical.
Lynn Wentworth became a part of Opera Mississippi in 2016 when he performed the role of Ed Sullivan in the original Opera Mississippi production of The British Invasion. He has been an Opera Mississippi board member since 2017 and is the immediate past President of it. Lynn has been given the opportunity to perform in subsequent productions by Artistic Director Dr. Jay Dean and is extremely grateful for that. With Dr. Dean’s tutelage he has created and performed as promotional video characters in the role of The Emperor of China for Turandot, Inspector Clouseau for La Boheme, and Mickey Mikado for the Mikado. His most recent roles were Ed Sullivan and Major Melbourne P. Davenport in the British Invasion of Hattiesburg and as the Ringmaster in The Magic of Opera. Lynn is the current President of Ballet Mississippi and has been fortunate to perform the role of Councilor Von Stahlbaum in the ballet’s productions of the Nutcracker.