Felicia Gavilanes – mezzosoprano
Called “sensitive and impassioned” by Opera News, mezzo-soprano Felicia Gavilanes has performed with companies such as Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera, Teatro Lírico Nacional de Cuba, the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Conservatorio Nacional of the Dominican Republic. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, Felicia completed her Bachelor of Arts in Italian Literature and Music from Dartmouth College, her Master of Music with Honors from the New England Conservatory and earned her Doctorate from Florida State University. Recent studio recordings include a solo vocal album of Italian art songs entitled La Sera and the role of Ino in Corigliano’s Lord of Cries with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording 2024. Upcoming engagements include Alto Soloist in Mahler's Symphony No 2 with the Santa Barbara Symphony.
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Olga Lisovska - Soprano
Native of Kyiv, Ukraine, Olga Lisovska holds degrees from Middlebury College, École Normale de Musique d'A. Cortot in Paris, France and L'Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris, France. Hailed as "soprano extraordinaire" by WBUR, Olga is a critically acclaimed classical soprano, whose career involves singing on prestigious concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, teaching & coaching, and producing performances/events/ festivals. Olga produced award-winning operas at Commonwealth Lyric Theater, a Boston-based opera company, and Talents of the World's Annual Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. As a performer, Ms. Lisovska’s concerts have been featured on Ukrainian, Italian and American TV and radio, including on the Today Show and WBUR. Olga is also a founder of a nonprofit organization, Music, Arts and Fashion Productions, whose mission is to promote the arts and to educate. Ms. Lisovska is a sought-after voice teacher since 2001. As voice teacher, diction and public speaking coach she has been working with Tanglewood Festival Chorus at Boston Symphony, AstraZeneca pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, with Odyssey Opera, and New England Conservatory, among others. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Olga co-founded Sky Philanthropy, a non-profit organization, which supports people in crisis. Sky Philanthropy produced two Boston Ukrainian Festivals, which were attended by over 3,000 people (in 2022) and 5,000 people (in 2023) and were featured in major news outlets. Olga’s life purpose is to inspire positive change through connections for life, coaching and art performances. www.OlgaLisovska.com
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Fred Furnari bio – Bass
Lyric Bass Fred Furnari came to singing while mid-career as a Registered Nurse. Under the tutelage of his mentor, Dan Sullivan, he began his singing career by singing the role of Sarastro in Des Moines Metro Opera’s Opera Iowa tour and was awarded placement in that company’s prestigious Apprentice Artist program for two consecutive years. After studying for an Artist Diploma on a full scholarship at the Hartt School, he was awarded a scholarship to study at University of Cincinnati’s Opera Theater and Music Festival of Lucca (Italy) . Fred went on to sing such roles as Commendatore and Alcindoro with Crested Butte Music Festival and Sparafucile, Simone and Un Vieillard Hébreu at Saint Petersburg Opera Company, Florida. Fred now studies with teacher Sharon Daniels and coach Timothy Steele. Closer to home Fred has performed the roles of Timur at The Opera Company of Middlebury, Basilio and Alcindoro at Barn Opera, and many roles at Longwood opera. In addition to singing as the Bass soloist in numerous concert performances, Fred is in regular rotation in Boston Lyric Opera’s chorus and was selected by that company to sing the roles of The Jailer, as well as Zuniga in BLO’s groundbreaking production of “Carmen on The Common”. Fred lives with his partner Steve in Roslindale, Massachusetts. When he is not singing, he can be found cycling and gardening with his partner, growing tomatoes and dahlias in his garden, enjoying time with his family, or “In Cucina” learning new cooking and barbecue techniques.
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Alan Schneider - Tenor
​Mr. Schneider has appeared in opera, operetta, and music theatre productions with many companies in his native New England and elsewhere, including Odyssey Opera, Opera Boston, Sarasota Opera, OperaDelaware, Florida Grand Opera, The Huntington Theatre Company, Opera New England and Boston Bel Canto Opera. Highlights of his 25-year association with Boston Bel Canto opera include the 2000 Verismo Gala, the 2001 Verdi Centennial Gala, Il Conte di Lerma in Don Carlo (announcing the great Jerome Hines’s entrance for his final operatic performance), Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in 2003, and tenor soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in 2004. In recent years, he has begun singing the Heldentenor repertoire, giving complete performances of Tristan in Tristan und Isolde (2019), and Siegmund in Die Walkuere (2023), with the Wagner in Vermont Festival in Brattleboro, Vermont. He will return to Vermont in August of 2025 to reprise Siegmund in the Festival’s first complete Ring Cycle. Concert engagements have included the Kalamazoo, Springfield (MA), Chautauqua and Omaha Symphonies, The Bellingham (WA) Festival of Music, Providence Singers, Albany ProMusica, and the long-running Mohawk Trail Concerts in Charlemont, Massachusetts. Equally at home onstage or backstage, Mr. Schneider has directed a number of productions, including Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams) and Signor Deluso (Pasatieri) at UMass/Amherst, Handel’s Acis and Galatea at Boston University, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera at The Longy School of Music, and Puccini’s La Bohème and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Panopera, a company he founded in Northampton, Massachusetts, and ran for five years.
Recently, most of his theatrical energies have gone into the running of an independent scenery construction business in the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass, where he resides. A proponent and frequent performer of new music, he has created roles in world premieres of works by composers Eric Sawyer, Daniel Pinkham, Paula Kimper and others. Recordings of several of these works have been released on the Albany, Arsis, and BMOP/sound labels. In the summer of 2001, he took part in the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program, appearing in Le nozze di Figaro and Chabrier's L'Etoile. The summer before, he performed roles in La rondine, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Street Scene with the Chautauqua Opera, and was chosen by that company to receive a Shoshana Foundation Richard F. Gold Career Grant. He has also been the grateful recipient of career support grants from Boston Lyric Opera and the Wagner Society of New York. He is an alumnus of The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received his Master's Degree from Boston University. In May 2003, he finished the program at Boston University’s Opera Institute with the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo, which was the subject of a feature article by the late Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe.