BOARD MEMBERS

OLGA CORRELL is excited to help Boulder Opera in reaching their artistic, educational and financial goals. Growing up in Munich, Germany, she has lived and studied in the UK and Switzerland before moving to the US. She holds a dual Master's degree in Philosophy and Computational Linguistics and is fluent in English, German, and French. Early on she was a very frequent guest at the prestigious Munich Opera House, where student tickets ran half the prize of movie theater tickets. This motivates her to help also make Boulder Opera accessible to everyone. Through her work with Boulder Opera, Olga hopes to not only instill her love of the arts in her four children, but also share with the greater Boulder community.

It was exciting for her to be involved with a new arts organization that was bringing contemporary works to the stage. Lawrie sang in the ensemble with Boulder Opera in Cavalleria Rusticana in 2019 and was so impressed with Dianela's passion for creating a community opera company, that she knew she wanted to be more involved. The Front Range is so rich in its musical culture, but there is room for Boulder to embrace its own Opera Company. Lawrie loves the fact that Boulder Opera was founded on Educational Outreach and has built a strong Young Artists program to nurture local talent.

PRODUCTION TEAM

DIANELA ACOSTA founded the Boulder Opera Company in 2012  with the intention of developing new audiences and making  opera accessible to diverse audiences. Boulder Opera has introduced thousands of Boulder residents of all ages to opera, bringing together music, dance, and art together with a fresh, vibrant approach to this ancient art.

Originally from Barcelona, Spain, she is a classically trained singer with a  M.M in Voice performance from Denver University, and sings locally  as an ensemble artist with Central City, Boulder Opera and Opera on tap. Prior to moving to Boulder Dianela lived in NY  where she was an artist in Residence with the Dicapo Opera, Amato Opera, and performed with NY Opera Forum and New York Opera Lyric Theatre.

Operatic soprano, SABINA BALSAMO has established herself as a passionate advocate for the performance and creation of new opera and vocal chamber music. In December 2023, she started her role as the Director of Artistic Administration and Development Associate with the Boulder Opera in which she leads the Contemporary Opera Program. In addition to her work with Boulder Opera, Balsamo is the co-founder of Sohap Ensemble, an ensemble that presents new chamber music in concert and educational outreach settings. Through Sohap she regularly performs in contemporary music concerts and she directed Green Sneakers, a one-man-opera by Ricky Ian Gordon, performed by baritone John Seesholtz. After winning a grant from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Entrepreneurship Center for Musicians that supported the commission of two new pieces for soprano and cello, Balsamo launched a School Program through Sohap to teach local students about the music Sohap performs. In 2023, Sohap commissioned, workshopped, recorded, and premiered a shadow puppet opera for families called Colorado Sky by Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes with partners Art Song Colorado, Boulder Opera, and Broomfield Council on the Arts and Humanities. Award winning composer Tom Cipullo wrote about the opera “It’s a howl!”

Balsamo has premiered the role of Luna in Colorado Sky with Sohap Ensemble in 2023, Angustias in La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Griffin Candey in Cleveland Opera Theater’s NOW Festival in 2022, and Anne in Verlorene Heimat by Dawn Sonntag in 2018. She has sung several roles in new opera workshops including Portia in Welcome to the Madness with Opera Steamboat in 2023, and Vicky Hobson in Tom Cipullo's opera, Hobson's Choice with CU NOW.

Other performance credits include: Pamina with the Boulder Opera, La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Steamboat; Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Boulder Opera and Opera Fort Collins; Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Clara in It's a Wonderful Life, Governess in The Turn of the Screw, and Maria in West Side Story with the Eklund Opera; Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Elsie in The Yeomen of The Guard, and Rose in Ruddigore with the Pittsburgh Savoyards; Fredrika in A Little Night Music and Micky in Damn Yankees with Pittsburgh Festival Opera; Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Polly in The Threepenny Opera with the Baldwin Wallace Opera.

In 2018, Balsamo won first place in the Honors Competition at CU Boulder and in 2019, she sang Vier Lieder, Op. 27 by Richard Strauss with the University Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in Opera Steamboats’s Opera Artist Institute; CU NOW; Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti Vocal Training Intensive in Lucca, Italy; Pittsburgh Festival Opera; Harrower Summer Opera Workshop; and Resonanz Opera in Cleveland, Ohio.

She received her B.M. in Vocal Performance at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music and her M.M. in Vocal Performance at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Balsamo has a private studio online and in person in Boulder, CO, and is a voice faculty member at the University of Wyoming.

A baritone with a passion for vocal artistry and storytelling, BRANDON TYLER PADGET is a recent graduate of CU’s Artist Diploma and Master of Music programs in vocal performance. His academic credentials also include a Bachelor of Art in Theater and a Bachelor of Music which he received from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Padgett’s performance credentials include Germont in La Traviata, Claudio in Agrippina, Vater in Hänsel und Gretel, Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the title role of Eugene Onegin.

His competitive accolades include being awarded first place in the 2019 NATS National Student Auditions, being named a 2015 Presser Scholar from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and was a finalist of the 2021 Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Competition. Padgett is thrilled to join Boulder Opera’s 2022-2023 season as both a director and performer. The talent, dedication, and artistry that this company brings together makes the vocal storytelling experience a treasure for all audiences and a great reminder for artists of why we love opera.

MACKENZIE GLENN was raised in the nation's capital D.C. Mackenzie Glenn moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to pursue her undergraduate education. She is a recent college graduate with a journalism degree and a minor in business from Colorado State University. Since she was very young Mackenzie has always had a passion for music and theater. Previously she interned for The Lincoln Center located in Fort Collins and is thrilled to be working with a non-profit company that celebrates the arts again! Although she is new to the professional world, Mackenzie is ready to learn and grow at Boulder Opera Company and is excited to see where this spectacular company takes her! More importantly, she is excited to get to know, work and engage with the community. 

MATTHEW CUSHING moved to Colorado in 2010 from Boston, where he grew up with frequent visits to the opera, and studied medicine. Practicing radiology in Denver, he has been coming to Boulder Opera's performances since 2016, and brought his daughter as soon as she could
sit. He loves how Boulder Opera combines unconventional venues and formats with this ancient and eclectic art form, whose stories and narratives are never out of date. He is excited to help Boulder Opera reach its fundraising goals and engage the community.

MELISSA KILBERG is an avid opera fan and supporter of the arts.  With a Master's Degree in Venetian Renaissance art from the Courtauld Institute, and a background in Art History, Melissa has always been enthusiastic about art and music.  She worked at the Santa Fe Opera for half a decade, and fully enjoyed every aspect of the operatic experience.  Now that she has children of her own, it is her passion to promote opera to young audiences and ensure that opera is loved for generations to come

Argentinean-American STEVEN AGUILÓ-ARBUES enjoys his various roles as a conductor, vocal coach, répétiteur, and recitalist. His love for opera has led him to work with Opera Colorado, The Atlanta Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Boulder Opera Company, Colorado Light Opera, Festival Amadeus (Montana), the Crested Butte Music Festival, the Miami Music Festival, and Centro Studi Lirica in Italy. He has coached singers who have gone on to win the National Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as sing at opera companies around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and English National Opera.

Mr. Aguiló-Arbues has also worked and taught at academic institutions including the Manhattan School of Music, Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. He earned his Professional Studies Certificate and Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He currently resides in Colorado with his wife and daughter.

Coloratura soprano ALICE DEL SIMONE, a San Francisco Bay Area native, received her B.A. in Vocal Performance and B.S. in Plant Science from UC Davis in 2014, and is currently pursuing an M.M. in Voice Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Colorado Boulder, studying with Andrew Garland.

Del Simone enjoys performing varied operatic repertoire including recent appearances as La Fée in Cendrillon (Massenet) with Eklund Opera, Clytemnestra in the premiere of Anne Hege’s The Furies with Stanford Laptop Orchestra, The Lady with a Hand Mirror in Postcard from Morocco (Argento) with Eklund Opera, Gilda in Three Feathers (Laitman) with Opera Steamboat, La Princesse, Le Rosignol, and Le Feu in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel) with Boulder Opera, La Feé in Cendrillon (Viardot) with Loveland Opera’s Educational Outreach, and Poppea in Agrippina (Handel) with Eklund Opera. In 2022, Del Simone was a Certificate of Merit recipient in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition.

Del Simone is also a passionate music educator. She previously taught music theory and vocal pedagogy for the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir where she also served as Program Director. She currently maintains a small private voice studio. Del Simone enjoys approaching the challenges of music education with positive energy and optimism and celebrates the differences that make each voice unique. Del Simone is currently undertaking voice science research that explores student-specific effective vocal instruction techniques. She also actively seeks works by female and POC composers for own performance and for her students.

GENE ROBERTS, stage director, returns to Boulder Opera for Il Trovatore, after directing Cavalleria Rusticana, Signor Deluso and Little Red Riding Hood in the 2018-19 season.  In recent seasons Roberts directed Le Nozze di Figaro and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan, was a guest director of Webster University’s opera theater in St. Louis, MO and has served as the scenes’ director for the Naked Voice Institute at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In the fall of 2019 Roberts produced and directed Luisa Fernanda at MSU Denver, where he serves as Director of Opera Theatre. This was the first bilingual production of the beloved Zarzuela in the state of Colorado.  

Roberts began his professional career in Europe, where he joined the Swiss premier cast of Lloyd Webber’s das Phantom der Oper in Basel, Switzerland. Phantom led to many other opportunities throughout Europe in stage and television, including starring as Beast in the German production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (die Schöne und das Biest), a role Roberts performed over 500 times. Altogether, throughout the US and Europe, Roberts sang over 30 roles in musical theater including Tony in West Side Story and Snoopy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and 20 roles in opera including Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Normano in Lucia di Lammermoor and Bardolfo in Falstaff. 

Roberts holds a BM in vocal performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, where he also studied opera stage direction, and a MM in vocal performance from the University of Houston.