Collegiate Vocal Competition

In the 2018-19 season Ms. Summer directs The Little Prince at Tulsa Opera, The Pearl Fishers at Opera Tampa, The Tales of Hoffmann at Opera Orlando, Aida at Boheme Opera New Jersey, The Magic Flute at Opera in Williamsburg, and serves as Staging Advisor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a concert performance of Suor Angelica at Symphony Hall starring Kristine Opolais.

Selected directing credits include Trouble in Tahiti at the Glimmerglass Festival, Così fan tutte at Connecticut Lyric Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor at Boheme Opera New Jersey and Commonwealth Opera, Xerxes at Connecticut Early Music Festival, Carmen at MetroWest Opera, The Magic Flute for University of Hartford, L’elisir d’amore for Opera del West, the world premiere of Larry Bell’s opera Holy Ghosts at the Berklee Performance Center, Suor Angelica for Boston Opera Collaborative, and Le nozze di Figaro for dell’Arte Opera Ensemble and Kaliope Opera.

Ms. Summer’s work has been called “eye-poppingly contemporary,” “a riveting, glorious production from beginning to end,” and “can only be described as brilliant.” Critics raved that her production of Xerxes was “a delight, and a testament to Summer’s gift for banishing stodginess from an art form too often seen as fossilized and elitist”. Her style is naturalistic and modern and rooted in the visceral truthfulness of stage plays where she started her directing career. Her theater productions have included The Merry Wives of Windsor, Extremities, A Midsummer night’s Dream, The Woolgatherer, ‘Art,’ Two Gentlemen of Verona and her own play Neighbors, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Berger.

A former professional ballet dancer and choreographer, Ms. Summer’s choreography credits include a commission to choreograph a new ballet, Jeanne’s Fantasy, by composer Mark Warhol for the premiere with Contrapose Dance and Fort Point Theatre Channel, Elektra at Des Moines Metro Opera, Falstaff at Opera Colorado, and Don Giovanni for Boston Opera Collaborative. She recently collaborated with renowned choreographer Karole Armitage on the critically acclaimed American premiere of Philip Glass’ Opera-Ballet The Witches of Venice at Opera Saratoga. Ms. Summer’s notable assisting engagements also include Francesca Zambello on the world premiere of Ben Moore’s Robin Hood at The Glimmerglass Festival, Julia Pevzner on her widely acclaimed production of Shostakovich’s The Nose at Opera Boston, and Tim Albery on Janáček’s Katya Kabaonova at Boston Lyric Opera.

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A longtime member of the Toledo Opera staff, Mr. Bylsma was formerly Music Director of the Department of Community Programs for the Michigan Opera Theatre and vocal coach, accompanist, and chorus master for OPERA! Lenawee. In recitals and master classes he has collaborated with the great American singers Samuel Ramey, Diane Soviero, Marilyn Horne, Dawn Upshaw, Michelle De Young, Irina Mishura, Katherine Lewek, and Jennifer Rowley. He is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Ann Arbor Festival of Song, and, for the past twenty-five years, he has served the historic Mariners’ Church of Detroit as Associate Organist and Choirmaster.

Dedicated to the education and training of the next generation of operatic talent, Mr. Bylsma is Coordinator of Opera and Repetiteur at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts, responsible for vocal coaching and serving as a collaborative pianist for the school’s large body of young singers. Mr. Bylsma also serves on the artistic staff of OperaWorks, an intensive opera training program, based in Los Angeles, CA.

A native of Grand Rapids, MI, Mr. Bylsma received his musical training at Calvin College, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Michigan—where he received the Robert Glasgow Organ Scholarship. He currently resides in Toledo, Ohio’s Old West End historic neighborhood with his cats: Rex and Dickens!

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In the 2019/2020 season, she will make her Knoxville Opera debut as Kezziah/Harriet Tubman cover in Nkeiru Okoye’s opera entitled Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom. She will also debut with the Virginia Arts Festival in a double bill production of two new hybrid works, Rachel Peters’ Companionship (the role of Viv) and Nkeiru Okoye’s Bre’r Rabbit (as Sister Robin).

In the 2015-16 season, Dr. DuBose performed with Michigan Opera Theater as 4th Maidservant in Strauss’ Elektra and has performed with both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Royal Danish Opera as Annie in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. She also sang 40 consecutive performances as Clara in the 75th Anniversary National Tour of Porgy and Bess where critics raved, “her lovely lyric soprano spun Summertime winningly…she gave unusual stature to Clara as a figure of tragic grandeur” (South Florida Classical Review). As Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Opera Memphis, critics praised her portrayal of the wicked stepsister as one of “incessant vanity”, with both sisters praised for characterization “conceived as zany grotesques…as colorful as their voices” (Memphis Commercial Appeal).

Additionally, Dr. DuBose has portrayed Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, reprised the role of Clorinda with DiCapo Opera, and portrayed Rachel in the world premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s folk opera Harriet Tubman: When I Cross That Line to Freedom with American Opera Projects in New York City. Dr. DuBose has also performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Utah Festival Opera Company. Other performed roles include Pamina in Mozart’s, The Magic Flute, Erisbe in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Nanetta in Verdi’s, Falstaff, and both Susanna and Countess in Mozart’s, The Marriage of Figaro. In the 2018/ 2019 season, Dr. DuBose created the role of Philomena in the world premiere of Nightingale and the Tower, an electronic chamber opera commissioned by the Ojai Arts Council Commission for Ojai Youth Opera Company. The pioneering new work from groundbreaking classical composer Jason Treuting and Grammy Award-winning musician Mikael Jorgenson combines orchestra, synthesizers, and earth harp. She also performed as the soprano soloist in the world premiere of Mark Lewis’ Elegy: In Memoriam of the Emanuel Nine, a work honoring the victims of the 2015 Charleston church shooting.

A versatile actress and crossover artist, Dr. DuBose has performed as Cleopatra in an Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, as Lady in Blue in ArtsCentric’s production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, created the role of Chloe in a New York Musical Theater Festival reading of 7:32, The Musical, and has performed twice as Deena Jones in the hit musical Dreamgirls with ArtsCentric and Toby’s Dinner Theater in Maryland.  She has toured as a soloist with The American Spiritual Ensemble (Dr. Everett McCorvey, Dir.) throughout the U.S. and Spain, and has performed with Chorale Le Chateau (Damien Sneed, Dir.) alongside famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing his work, Abyssinian Mass. She was a finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition, and placed third in the prestigious American Traditions Competition.

A Detroit native, Dr. DuBose received her bachelor’s degree in Music from Morgan State University, a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from George Mason University and an Artist Certificate in Vocal Performance from Manhattan School of Music where she was an All-American Scholar Collegiate Award recipient. Dr. DuBose completed her doctorate degree in Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Maryland College Park. Dr. DuBose is an Assistant Professor of Voice at UNC Charlotte. Her research is centered on the impact of genre fusion and improvisation in 21^st-century operas on vocal pedagogy and performance practice. Her interests span to include many contemporary styles including musical theater and African-American folk music.

Dr. DuBose continues her work as an arts advocate, educator and administrator while maintaining an active concert and performing arts career. She is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the National Association for Teachers of Singing, and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.

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