Valery Ryvkin is one of the leading opera conductors in the United States.

As Artistic Director of Opera Santa Barbara and Greensboro Opera Companies, Maestro Ryvkin has lead many productions over the last few seasons, including Carmen, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Pagliacci, Faust, Don Giovanni, Tosca and Otello among others.

On the guest conducting front, Maestro Ryvkin successfully led the 2007 production of Boris Godunov for San Diego Opera which starred internationally renowned bass, Ferruccio Furlanetto. In 2008 Maestro Ryvkin returned to San Diego Opera for their production of Aida. He made his European debut last year leading a production of The Maid of Orleans at the Theater Erfurt, Germany. This past September Maestro Ryvkin conducted a world premiere of Seance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera written by Stephen Schwartz, composer of Wicked, Godspell, Pippin and many others. Maestro Ryvkin also conducted for many other companies, including San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Portland Opera and Sarasota Opera. For a few seasons he had served on the conducting staff of the Metropolitan Opera assisting such leading conductors as James Levine, Valery Gergiev and Antonio Pappano.

Maestro Ryvkin resides in Los Angeles with his wife Victoria and their daughter Amanda.

Julian Arsenault, baritone, is a 4^th year vocal performance major at UCLA. At UCLA, Mr. Arsenault has performed Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Besso in Cavalli's Giasone, Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and will be singing the Steward in this spring's production Jonathan Dove's Flight. Mr. Arsenault looks to pursue his masters in opera performance after graduation. A native of Lafayette, California, he made his professional debut as Figaro in Le Nozze during the summer of '09 with Open Opera in Berkeley California. Mr. Arsenault recently placed 5^th at the Palms Springs Opera Guild Competition.

Mezzo-soprano Tracy Cox earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice Performance at UCLA on full scholarship from the Gluck Foundation. She has appeared in over ten Opera UCLA productions, most recently as Medea in the West Coast Premiere of Francesco Cavalli's Giasone. In December of 2009, Tracy competed in her second vocal competition, winning 1^st place in the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal Competition. Tracy has performed up and down the West coast as Alto soloist in Handel's Messiah, most recently at the Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington. Tracy will be finishing her MM at UCLA in June, and joining L.A. Opera's Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program in August of 2010.

Soprano Jacquelynne Fontaine is pleased to be performing again in the lovely Palm Springs!  She placed 4^th with the Palm Springs Opera Guild at the Annenberg Theater in December, and, as a Western Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, performed at the venue again in their Opera Showcase this January. An Opera Buffs laureate, Miss Fontaine has performed leading roles in opera in Viterbo, Italy, through the Tuscia Opera Festival, and at the Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, where she is a second year Doctoral Candidate. This season she will be performing with several Southern California Symphony Orchestras. To find out more about future performances, please visit: www.jacquelynnefontaine.net.

Joshua is a newly relocated singer/aspiring performer to Los Angeles. His career as a vocalist has already included singing on the Operatic Stage, the Las Vegas Strip, and Macau, China where he performed everything from Arias and Broadway to Italian Folk songs. Most recently, Joshua was a finalist in the 2009 Palm Springs Opera Competition and a semi-finalist for the LA Opera Young Artists Program. He is eager to continually expand his knowledge and performance experience and looks forward to all that 2010 has to offer.

Jesús León, Tenor, debuted in 2009 at Royal Albert Hall as soloist at the Classical Spectacular, covered Fenton in Falstaff at the Glyndebourne 2009 Summer Festival and with the Glyndebourne Festival tour.

He was an inaugural member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program with LA Opera, participated in Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Singer Program, the Solti Accademia di bel Canto, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the prestigious Boston Opera Institute.

Opera roles performed are Nemorino (L'Elisir d'Amore), Il Duca (Rigoletto), Alfredo (La Traviata), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Lindoro/Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Rodolfo (La Boheme).

Joseph Kyungteak Lim, baritone, is a native of Seoul, South Korea. He began singing within the supportive walls of art middle and high school where he discovered a love for singing and found his outstanding talent. Mr. Lim is currently studying at the University Of Southern California Thornton School Of Music in the graduate certificate program, working with Rod Gilfry and Eric Halfvarson. Mr. Lim received his bachelor of music degree from Seoul National University, South Korea.

After receiving many awards in major vocal competitions in Korea and upon arrival in the United States, Mr Lim took 2^nd Place in the MONC Western Regional and won First Place in the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal Competition in 2008 and in 2009 was a semi-finalist in the Jose Iturbi International Music Competition and also awareded scholarships from The Opera Buffs Inc.

Recently, he was named USC Thornton's Marilyn Horne Scholar. He has performed in some of opera's most demanding roles, including the title role in Don Giovanni, Papageno in Die Zauberflote and Silvano in Un Ballo in Maschera. In 2008, he made his professional debut successfully singing the title role in Don Giovanni with the Seoul Metropolitan Opera. As a concert artist, Mr. Lim was the baritone soloist in Mahler's Symphony No.8, Symphony of a Thousand, Mozart's Missa Brevis in C Major, Mass No.15 in C Major "Coronation", and Handel's Messiah.

Liam is overjoyed that he has been invited to sing again at the Palm Spring Opera in the Park. Liam began singing in his native Australia where he received his Diploma of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane. Then he went on to study a Bachelor of music at the Central Queensland Conservatorium in Mackay. Liam has performed in many productions including Tiger Brown in The Threepenny Opera, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, The Twins in The Venetian Twins and covered the role of Tobias in Sweeney Todd for Opera Queensland in Brisbane Australia.

Liam sings for many groups and organizations throughout Southern California such as the Palm Springs Opera Guild and the Los Angeles Opera Buffs. He recently debuted in his first Operatic Principal role, performing Cavaradossi in Tosca with The Center Stage Opera. He has recently performed the title role in Gounod's Faust and will soon perform Edgardo in their new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Gabriel Vamvulescu, bass, making his LA Opera debut in April, began his musical training while studying Theology and Byzantine Music at Saint Nicholas Theological Seminary in Romania. Upon graduation, he enrolled in the George Enescu National Conservatory in Bucharest (Romania), where he studied voice with professor Julian Baiasu. In 1997 he was awarded First Place in the Ionel Perlea German Lied Competition and the following year he was accepted into the Romanian National Opera Apprentice Program with the role of Sarastro in "The Magic Flute". In 1999 he received a full scholarship from the University of Maryland School of Music where he studied with Professor Francois Loup.

He went on to sing with opera companies in Europe and in the U.S. in La Bohème, The Marriage of Figaro, The Rake's Progress, The Bartered Bride, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte and Fidelio. He has sung in Opera in the Park in Palm Springs and in recital for the Opera Guild of Southern California. He was seen in the role of Mephistofeles in Faust with Center Stage Opera and will be singing in The Stigmatized with LA Opera in April.

American soprano Karen Vuong studied at UCLA, where she performed roles such as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Despina in Così fan tutte. She participated in the Domingo-Thornton LA Opera Young Artist program for two years.

Vuong's 2006/07 debut season at LA Opera included the Voice of Shepherd Boy in Tannhäuser, and Pousette (cover) in Manon. 2007/08 included a student performance as Mimi in La Bohème conducted by Plácido Domingo, First Playmate in The Dwarf, and Yvette in La Rondine. Vuong has been acknowledged in competitions including the 2006 Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition (Culturarte Award), and the 2009 Loren L. Zachary Competition (4^th). Recent engagements are Sophie in Werther at Kentucky Opera, and soprano 2 soloist Mahler 8 in Hong Kong. Upcoming engagements include being a participant at The Music Academy of the West, Trang/Nurse in the world premiere opera Amelia at Seattle Opera, and singing in the soundtrack of the cartoon Adventure Time on Cartoon Network.

Hailing from Somerset, Massachusetts, countertenor Nick Zammit was recently honored by being awarded First Place in the 2009 Metropolitan Opera National Council Western Auditions. He is currently a Masters student at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music where he studies with Michael Dean and has been cast as the lead in both of the mainstage productions for this season. Prior to moving California, Zammit received his Bachelors Degree from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied with his current teacher and Carole Haber.

For Opera UCLA's 2010 season Nick was recently seen playing the title role in Giasone by Francesco Cavalli and will later be seen as The Refugee in Flight by Jonathan Dove, both of which are west coast premiers. Last school year he was the First Witch and Spirit of Mercury in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and also helped fill out the Bass section in the chorus of Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. As a soloist Zammit has recently performed for Opera Showcase of the Desert, the Palm Springs Opera Guild, Pasadena Opera Guild and Opera Buffs, all of which have awarded him scholarships.

Additional awards and honors include competing in the 2009 José Iturbi International Vocal Competition, First Place in the 2006 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition in Boston, MA as well as scholarships from the Society of Singers and UCLA. Zammit's current coaches include Peter Kazaras, Rakefet Hak, Susan McClary, Stephen Stubbs, John Moriarty and Mona Lands. An avid choral singer, Nick currently sings in the tenor section at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown Los Angeles.