Wichita Grand Opera

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Wichita Grand Opera
Century II Concert Hall
225 W. Douglas Ave.
Wichita , Kansas 67202
316.683.3444 Admin Office
316.262.8054 Box Office

H.M.S. Pinafore Stars and Bios

Director and Designer

Opera Story

	JOHN STEPHENS Stage Director / Dick Deadeye American bass and Stage Director John Stephens has sung with opera companies and symphonies for over 30 years, appearing with the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and many others. He has an affinity for character roles, both comic and dramatic, particularly the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, having directed or sung in hundreds of productions.
He has directed Benjamin Britten’s operas Albert Herring, The Turn of the Screw, and The Rape of Lucretia, Carlyle Floyd’s Susannah and Of Mice and Men, and many other works. As director of the voice program at the University of Kansas, he has taught voice and directed operas for the past 26 years. Mr. Stephens directed and sang in WGO’s productions of The Mikado in 2004 and The Pirates of Penzance in 2008.
	*WILLIAM BROWNING, Captain Corcoran.* William Browning, Kansas baritone, spent the summer of 2007 in San Francisco, where he was a member of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program. Last season with Wichita Grand Opera he appeared as Benoit and Alcindoro in La Boheme, Valentin in Faust, and the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance. In previous seasons he performed the roles of the Marquis D’Obigny in La Traviata, Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Yakaside in Madama Butterfly, 3rd Priest in Die Zauberflöte, and 1st Man in Pagliacci. An alum of Wichita Grand Opera’s Young Artist Program, this is his second season as a Resident Artist..
	*PATRICK GREENE, Ralph Rackstraw.* American tenor Patrick Greene made his European debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Heidelberg Opera where he also starred as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. He sang Alfredo in La Traviata at Staatstheater Cottbus, the title role of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at the Bellingham Music Festival, and Rodolfo at the Stadttheater Giessen.
In 1992 he was awarded the Koch Cultural Trust, which partially funded his studies at the Manhattan School of Music. During the 1999-2000 Season, Mr. Greene was the resident lyric tenor at the Staatstheater Braunschweig where he performed numerous roles. He made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in Mozart’s Requiem with John Rutter conducting, and his America opera debut as Alfred in Die Fledermaus with Sarasota Opera. Last season with WGO, Mr. Greene appeared as the Judge in A Masked Ball and starred as Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance.
	CHELSEA ROSE, Josephine She had her professional debut as Mabel in WGO's 2008 production of The Pirates of Penzance. She has appeared with Cimmaron Circuit Opera as a featured soloist and performed the roles of La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, Despina in Cosi fan tutti, and Papagena in The Magic Flute. Chelsea holds a Master's degree from Oklahoma City University and a Bachelor's from the University of Miami. This will be her second season as a WGO Young Artist.
	EARL LEVINE Sir Joseph Porter Earl Levine, American bass, appeared most recently with WGO in 2008’s The Pirates of Penzance as Major-General Stanley. He also starred in WGO’s 2004 The Mikado as Ko-Ko, earning rave reviews. Later that season he appeared as Benoît in La Bohème. His repertoire also includes Papageno in The Magic Flute and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. In 1995 he was a founder of the Great Plains Theatre Festival in Abilene, Kansas. Mr. Levine was in the 1981 Broadway revival of George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones, and he played the Indian in the original Off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks. Mr. Levine has also performed and recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy.
	KAREN ARCHBOLD, Buttercup Karen, from Wichita, recently returned from studies in Bremen, Germany, where she appeared as Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw last year. Karen’s solo appearances in Germany included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, John Rutter’s Magnificat, and Lili Boulanger’s Psaume De Profundis. She has also performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Wichita Symphony.