Operapalooza! Oct 13 Creative

Stage Director

Benjamin Spierman

Benjamin Spierman’s direction of Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera San José was hailed by Opera Today as “…riveting stuff, and almost faultless in its dramatic shape and emotional impact.” Ben is General Director at Bronx Opera, where he directed NYC première productions of Kirke Mechem’s The Rivals, Vaughan Williams’ The Poisoned Kiss, and the Weber/Mahler posthumous collaboration Die drei Pintos. Regional engagements include Madama Butterfly at Indianapolis Opera; Turandot at Dayton Opera; Norma for St. Petersburg Opera; The Magic Flute for Opera Idaho; and La bohème with Syracuse Opera. Other work in and around NYC includes Falstaff and Cendrillon for Rutgers (both winners of National Opera Association prizes) and a blackbox production of Ariadne auf Naxos for NYC’s dell’Arte Opera Ensemble (winner of the American Prize) and Eugene Onegin for Utopia Opera and Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love for Bronx Opera. Mr. Spierman is a native and resident of The Bronx with his wife and frequent artistic collaborator, soprano Hannah Spierman.

Stage Manager

Holly Thomas

Set Designer

April Bartlett

Costume Director

Eric Lamp

Props Manager

Olivia Ronald

Composer Edward Barnes

EDWARD BARNES is an award-winning producer, composer and public speaker. His work has been seen on and off-Broadway, in concert halls, opera houses and theaters around the world.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, he is the winner of Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships, the Stephen Sondheim Award for “innovative musical theater”, and has been a resident artist at Ucross (Wyoming), Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), and the Instituto Sacatar (Brazil). Edward’s producing credits include Tracy Letts’ play, Superior Donuts, on Broadway, You Are Here for NyLon Fusion Collective off-Broadway, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall (starring Jane Fonda, Nathan Gunn and Victoria Clark), Gordon’s A Coffin In Egypt (starring Frederica von Stade) for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, and recordings of Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday (Ghostlight/Sh-k-boom Records) and The Road of Promise (Naxos Records).

A leading non-profit administrator, Edward has served as Executive Director of Gotham Chamber Opera, Producing Director of MasterVoices, and Managing Director of American Lyric Theater. He additionally leads sold-out seminars on musical theater, rock-n-roll, jazz and other popular music at RoundTable Cultural Seminars in New York, and is a frequent public speaker at many corporate and private events.

edwbarnes.com