Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

In the 2019-20 season, he will celebrate his 75^th birthday year with several of the orchestras he has led over the course of his 50-year career, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, DSO, and ONL. Other highlights include return engagements with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony in Dublin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, and Würth Philharmonic in Künzelsau, Germany; and three weeks in Spain conducting orchestras in Castile-León, Bilbao, and the Balearic Islands.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 33 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017.

Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBCSO); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.

Photo credit: Nico Rodamel

Nicole Cabell, soprano

Nicole Cabell, the 2005 Winner of the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff and Decca recording artist, is one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos of today. Her solo debut album, “Soprano” was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone and has received an incredible amount of critical acclaim and several prestigious awards: the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique and an Echo Klassik Award in Germany.

Nicole Cabell’s current season includes some exciting role debuts: first as Violetta in La Traviata with Michigan Opera Theatre, then as Medora in Il Corsaro with Washington Concert Opera. She will reprise the role of her triumphant San Francisco Opera debut: Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In concert, Ms. Cabell will make her Paris debut in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, will appear several times in Spain, first with the Orquesta de Galicia in a Barber/Mahler program, then on tour with the RPO and Charles Dutoit in Poulenc’s Gloria. In London, she will be heard with the RPO in the same Poulenc piece as well as with the BBC Orchestra in Elgar’s The Apostles with Sir Andrew Davis. Further concert appearances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony and Bernard Haitink at Tanglewood, the Dallas Symphony and Jaap van Zweeden in Vail, CO and the Baltimore Symphony and Marin Alsop, a Barber/Brahms program in Nashville with GianCarlo Guerrero and an evening of French Opera Arias and Duets with Stephen Costello and the Lyric Opera of Baltimore. Nicole Cabell will appear in recital in Chicago. Future projects include a debut with the Paris Opera and returns to the Cincinnati Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre.

Last season started with Ms. Cabell’s much-anticipated role and company debuts as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the San Francisco Opera. The rest of her season featured another favorite role, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, which she sang for her debut at the Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona and for her return to the New National Theatre in Tokyo. Further opera engagements included Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Cincinnati Opera. In concert, Miss Cabell sang the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Bach’s B minor Mass in Chicago and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cleveland Orchestra on tour in Miami.

Ms. Cabell’s previous season showcased her command of Mozart’s music, as she sang the Countess in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro in Montreal, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Tokyo. She was also heard in some of her favorite roles in the French repertoire: Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with the Palm Beach Opera and Leïla in Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Santa Fe Opera. In concert, she appeared in New York, London, Chicago, Cincinnati, Toronto, Atlanta, San Diego and St Petersburg.

Prior to that, Nicole Cabell returned to the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Micaela in Carmen, to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Leila in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and made an exciting role debut: Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Oper Köln and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She also returned to the Cincinnati Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. In concert, she appeared with the Edinburgh Festival as the Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, followed by Gala Opening Concerts in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and their music director, Claus Peter Flor. Nicole Cabell sang solo recitals in Toronto and Louisville, KY.

Other engagements include Musetta in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, as well as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also made debuts with the New Orleans Opera as Juliette in Romeo et Juliette and with the Atlanta Opera as Pamina. In concert, she debuted with three major orchestras: the New York Philharmonic in Opera Aria Concerts in New York and in Vail with Bramwell Tovey, the Boston Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Kurt Masur and the Cleveland Orchestra with its music director, Franz Welser-Möst, in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Nicole Cabell returned to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Markus Stenz, sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, first with the Singapore Symphony and John Nelson, then with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano in Rome. In recital, she was heard in Urbana, IL and Savannah, GA.

Nicole Cabell’s previous season brought her to the Metropolitan Opera for her house debut in two of her most acclaimed roles: Pamina in The Magic Flute, followed by Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore. With her home company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she sang Leïla in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles and an Opera Concert at Millenium Park conducted by the company’s Music Director, Sir Andrew Davis. Other opera engagements included two role debuts: the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cincinnati Opera and Micaëla in Carmen with the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. In concert, Nicole Cabell was heard in Copenhagen, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Ottawa, Indianapolis and Raleigh. Miss Cabell appeared twice in recital at Carnegie Hall, first for Marilyn Horne’s 75th birthday gala concert, then as part of Jessye Norman’s Honor Festival, apart from solo dates in Toronto, Berkeley and Cincinnati. A more unusual event in the soprano’s season was a series of cabaret concerts at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Miss Cabell’s 2007/2008 season began and ended with performances of the role of Musetta in La Bohème with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Washington Opera. Other notable opera appearances included Pamina with Opera Pacific and a concert of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale with the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Nicole Cabell was heard in concert in London, Munich, Lyon, Oslo and Pittsburgh as well as in Christmas concerts with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. She appeared in recital in Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, Omaha, St Louis and Tryon.

Other recent engagements included many exciting debuts, most notably with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Eudoxie in concert performances of La Juive, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall in Poulenc’s Gloria, the Santa Fe Opera as Musetta in La Bohème, the Opéra de Montpellier as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin as Juliette, Ilia in Idomeneo and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, as well as the release of her first solo CD for Decca, “Nicole Cabell, Soprano”. Another important recording project was the title-role of Donizetti’s Imelda de’ Lambertazzi for Opera Rara, which she also performed in concert in London. Notable concert appearances included Carmina Burana and Honey and Rue with the Oslo Philharmonic and Andre Previn, an all-Bernstein evening at Harvard with Judith Clurman, the Gorecki 3rd Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä and a return to the Indianapolis Symphony for a concert of Opera Arias with Mario Venzago. Miss Cabell also appeared in recital in London, Tokyo, Hammond, LA, and for the opening of the new hall at Mount Vernon, VA.

Prior to that, Nicole Cabell made a number of debuts, especially in opera with the Palm Beach and Madison Operas for Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, with Michigan Opera Theater as Musetta in La Bohème and, last but not least, with the Spoleto Festival USA for Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. She appeared in recital in New York City as part of Marilyn Horne’s Birthday Gala at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall as well as in Chicago, Buffalo and Bradford, PA. On the concert stage Miss Cabell was heard in Louisville in both the Poulenc Gloria and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Raymond Leppard in both cases, in Milwaukee in a program of Shakespeare-themed pieces with Nicholas McGegan, in crossover concerts with the Pasadena Pops and in Montreal Opera’s annual gala. She also sang in a Classical Christmas program with the Indianapolis Symphony. Later in the season, Nicole Cabell returned to Rome for concerts of Britten’s Les Illuminations and Mahler’s 4th Symphony with James Conlon and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In the summer, Miss Cabell made her London concert debut at the Proms in Britten’s Les Illuminations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis; she returned to the Ravinia Festival for a crossover concert with James Conlon, to the Bard Music Festival for a recital of Franz Liszt Lieder and a concert of music by Halévy and to the Pasadena Pops for evenings of music from around the Mediterranean. She also made her St Louis debut with more crossover concerts with the Compton Heights Band.

While a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Opera Center for American Artists (now known as Ryan Opera Center), Nicole Cabell had the opportunity to sing the title-role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen in student matinees as well as to cover the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio and Rita Billingsly in the world premiere of William Bolcom’s A Wedding. Miss Cabell made her extremely successful Orchestra Hall debut with the Chicago Symphony in concerts of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Sir Andrew Davis conducting. She also made her European debut in concerts of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Antonio Pappano and Thomas Hampson; she appeared with the Florida Orchestra as the Soprano Soloist in Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Florida Orchestra and Stefan Sanderling and in Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Baltimore Symphony. Nicole Cabell was heard in recital in Little Rock, AK.

The preceding year she sang Barbarina and covered Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and appeared as Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance at the Lyric Opera, having sung with the same company the role of Crobyle in Thaïs in the fall of 2002. In concert, she made her debut with the Oregon Symphony as the Soprano Soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Carlos Kalmar and repeated Barbarina with the Chicago Symphony and Daniel Barenboim at the Ravinia Festival. In the summer, Miss Cabell was also heard live on A Prairie Home Companion in a celebration of Ravinia’s 50th season and sang the role of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with the Grant Park Festival.

In concert, Nicole Cabell was a featured soloist in Ravinia's All Gershwin Concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Alan Miller, and participated in Ravinia's opening day concert, accompanied by Welz Kauffman. Miss Cabell has appeared as a soloist in Chicago's Grant Park Festival and Lyric Opera Center for American Artists Rising Stars in Concert.

Awards include first place in both the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and the Women's Board of Chicago Vocal Competition. Nicole Cabell was a semi-finalist in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and earned first place in the American Opera Society competition in Chicago. She is the 2002 winner of the Union League's Rose M. Grundman Scholarship, and the 2002 Farwell Award with the Woman's Board of Chicago. Nicole Cabell holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music.

Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo soprano

A naturally gifted singer noted for her commanding stage presence and profound artistry, Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim.  During the 2018-2019 season, she returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Emilia in Otello and Meg Page in Falstaff and makes her role debut as Offred in Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale with Boston Lyric Opera. Ms. Cano’s orchestral engagements include Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Symphonies.  A dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, she joins tenor Matthew Polenzani and pianist Julius Drake at Carnegie Hall for an evening of Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms and Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared.  She will return to Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall for a performance of Ravel's Sheherazade and Falla's Psyche.  Ms. Cano will also be part of two world premiere performances this season; Paul Moravec’s A New Country and Gregg Kallor’s Sketches from Frankenstein Suite.

Ms. Cano has given over 100 performances at The Metropolitan Opera, with recent roles including Bersi, Emilia, Hansel, Meg Page, Mercedes, Nicklausse, Wellgunde and Waltraute. Other operatic appearances have included Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Boston Lyric and Arizona Operas, The Sharp Eared Fox in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen with the Cleveland Orchestra, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen with Boston Lyric Opera, Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Des Moines Metro Opera, Diana in La Calisto with Cincinnati Opera, and Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with the Tucson Symphony.  She has recently worked with an impressive array of conductors, such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Manfred Honeck, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, Louis Langrée, Osmo Vänskä and Sir Andrew Davis.  Ms. Cano made her European debut on tour with John Adams’s El Niño including performances in London and Paris with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mr. Adams, and The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest conducted by Markus Stenz at The Royal Concertgebouw. Additionally, she performed this work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Grant Gershon.  

In addition to her continued relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra, Ms. Cano has appeared with such esteemed orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego and Utah Symphonies and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She toured with Musicians from Marlboro singing Respighi's Il Tramonto and Cuckson's Der gayst funem shturem, recorded live for the Marlboro Recording Society. A live recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featured conductor George Manahan, tenor Paul Groves and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in a rare arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn. At the invitation of Mrs. Carol Armstrong, Jennifer Johnson Cano was particularly honored to sing the Anderson/Weill September Song at the private funeral for American icon and astronaut Neil Armstrong. In 2014, she released her debut recital recording with pianist Christopher Cano,  Unaffected: Live from the Savannah Voice Festival, recorded completely live and unedited.  Her most recent recording of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1: Jeremiahwith Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Naxos received high praise from critics. “Jennifer Johnson Cano brings depth of tone and a noble resolve to the concluding Lamentation and just for once Lenny’s cathartic pay-off is deafeningly quiet.” (Gramophone)

Ms. Cano is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and made her professional operatic debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has earned degrees from Webster University and Rice University and was honored as a distinguished alumna and commencement speaker at Webster University last May.  Ms. Cano joined The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, and made her Met debut during the 2009-2010 season. Among her honors are a First Prize winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, Sara Tucker Study Grant, Richard Tucker Career Grant and George London Award.  


Photo credit: Matthu Placek

Ben Bliss, tenor

American tenor Ben Bliss is a 2016 recipient of the Martin E. Segal award at Lincoln Center, awarded by the Metropolitan Opera. He was also the recipient of the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona, receiving 2nd place overall, first prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, as well as a Sara Tucker and Sullivan Foundation grant. Mr. Bliss is also the 2013 Operalia Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Zarzuela prizewinner. Mr Bliss is also the co-founder of classical arts production company Mise-En-Scène Studios (MESS NYC).

In the 2017-2018 season, Mr. Bliss will sing the role of Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, and Oper Frankfurt. He will also make his house debut at Opera Philadelphia as Tamino in The Magic Flute, and sing the role of Cassio in Otello with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he will return to Santa Fe Opera to make his role debut as Robert Wilson in Dr. Atomic in a production directed by Peter Sellars. Concert appearances will include singing the Messiah with the New York Philharmonic in December.

Ben Bliss’ 2016-2017 season included a US recital tour with pianist Lachlan Glen, with stops at Carnegie Hall, the Folly Theater in Kansas City as part of the Harriman-Jewell series, Theater of the Arts at the University of District of Columbia as part of the Vocal Arts DC Emerging Artists series, Hahn Hall at Music Academy of the West as part of the University of California, Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures series, and in Cincinnati with Matinée Musicale. Operatic appearances for Mr. Bliss included a return to the Metropolitan Opera, first as Tamino in The Magic Flute and then as Steuermann in Der Fliegende Höllander, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Other opera appearances included Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Atlanta Opera, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress for a role and house debut with Boston Lyric Opera and Camille, Count de Rosillon in Die lustige Witwe in concert for his house and role debut with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Highlights of Mr. Bliss’ recent seasons include a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, conducted by James Levine, where the The Opera Critic heralded him as, “marvelous” and a “true Mozart tenor.” He also made his European debut in the same role with Glyndebourne Festival on tour. Returning as a principal artist to Los Angeles Opera, the artist appeared as Tamino under the baton of James Conlon, as well as to Des Moines Metro Opera as Belmonte. On the concert stage, Mr. Bliss debuted with the New York Philharmonic singing Tony in Bernstein’s West Side Story Concert Suite No. 1 with Alan Gilbert, Haydn’s Creation and Cassio in Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival with James Conlon, and in holiday concerts with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Lexington Philharmonic. Mr. Bliss has also performed in Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Recital series with pianist Lachlan Glen, and with the New York Choral Society in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at Carnegie Hall. He made his company and role debut at Santa Fe Opera as Flamand in a new production of Capriccio directed by Tim Albery.

While in the Lindemann Program, Mr. Bliss made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by James Levine. In May 2014, he was tapped to fill in as Ferrando in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of Cosi fan tutte under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. As a member of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Mr. Bliss appeared as Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Barbarigo in I Due Foscari, and the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with the Colburn Orchestra under James Conlon. He has been the tenor soloist for Bach’s Magnificat with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the La Jolla Symphony and made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut singing Bach under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

Rod Gilfry, baritone

Rod Gilfry was born and raised in Southern California. He earned degrees from California State University Fullerton, and the University of Southern California. From 1987 to 1989 he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble, and from 1989 to 1994 he was a member of the Zurich Opera ensemble. The two-time Grammy nominee, singer and actor has performed in all the world's music capitals. He is acclaimed world-wide in opera, musicals, recitals and cabaret. He has created 12 leading roles in opera world premieres, most recently in the Brooklyn Academy of Music solo opera by David Lang, the loser; and at the Houston Grand Opera in Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life. Other recent appearances include: Adelaide Festival Brett Dean's Hamlet, Glyndebourne Festival (Hamlet world premiere), Metropolitan Opera (Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel), Brooklyn Academy of Music (Aucoin's Crossing), Los Angeles Master Chorale (Beethoven Missa Solemnis), Edinburgh Festival (Così fan Tutte), American Repertory Theater Boston (Matthew Aucoin's Crossing world premiere), Zurich Opera (Rote Laterne world premiere), NYC Mostly Mozart Festival (Cosi fan Tutte), San Francisco Symphony (The Tempest), Alabama Symphony (Beethoven 9th Symphony), Vienna Volksoper (Kismet), New York City Opera (Anna Nicole), Aix-en-Provence Festival (Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte), Quebec City Festival (The Tempest), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Cosi fan Tutte), London Royal Opera Covent Garden (Anna Nicole), Metropolitan Opera (The Merry Widow), Milwaukee Symphony (Cosi fan Tutte). Recent recordings include Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte, Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life, Great Voices Sing John Denver, Matson's Cooperstown, Stucky's August 4th, 1964. Upcoming appearances include San Bernardino Symphony solo concert, Phoenix Symphony (Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem), CSU Fullerton Elijah, Los Angeles Opera (Crossing, The Loser), Santa Fe Opera (Ariadne auf Naxos, Cosi fan Tutte), Seoul (Cosi fan tutte), San Francisco Opera (It's a Wonderful Life), Metropolitan Opera Dead Man Walking. Rod Gilfry is an Associate Professor of Vocal Arts at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.


Photo credit: Dana Patrick