Madame Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini
Direction

Valéry Ryvkin

Valéry Ryvkin
Conductor / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Conductor / The Barber of Seville
May 2001
Conductor / La traviata
December 2000
Conductor / La Cenerentola
Mar/Apr 2000
Conductor / Le nozze di Figaro
Jan/Feb 2000
Conductor /
Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
October 1999
Conductor / Madama Butterfly
May 1999
Conductor / Il trovatore
January 1999
Conductor / The Merry Widow
December 1998
Conductor / Don Pasquale
February 1998
Conductor / Così fan tutte
January 1998
Conductor / Tosca
September 1997
Conductor / Don Giovanni
January 1997
Conductor / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996
Conductor / Carmen
August 1996
Conductor / La traviata
July 1995 (debut)
Artistic Director
1999–2008

Yefim Maizel

Yefim Maizel
Artists

Shu-Ying Li

Shu-Ying Li

Steven Harrison
Steven Harrison

Mel Ulrich
Mel Ulrich

Layna Chianakas
Layna Chianakas
Carmen / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

J. Raymond Meyers
J. Raymond Meyers
Rémendado / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

James Anest
James Anest
Zuniga / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Marullo / Rigoletto
March 1997
Schaunard / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996
Zuniga / Carmen
August 1996 (debut)

Kirk Eichelberger
Kirk Eichelberger
Secret Police Agent / The Consul
April 2014
The Bonze / Madama Butterfly
October 2003 (debut)

Nikolaus Schiffmann
Nikolaus Schiffmann

Nina Yoshida Nelsen

Nina Yoshida Nelsen
Mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen has been hailed as a “rich voiced, expressive mezzo-soprano” by San Francisco Classical Voice and “appealingly direct and honest in tone and bearing” by Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe. Nina was most recently seen at Opera Santa Barbara as the Secretary in The Consul (2014). Previous performances with the company include both Kate Pinkerton (2003) and Suzuki (2012) in Madama Butterfly. Her Suzuki has also been heard at New York City Opera, Utah Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Sarasota Opera, Manitoba Opera, the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, and at Royal Albert Hall in London. Ms. Nelsen has performed leading roles in the world premieres of several important new operas, including the role of Mama in Jack Perla's An American Dream with Seattle Opera, Khanh in Huang Ruo's Bound and the role of Woman in Marty Ragen's Memory Stone (both with Houston Grand Opera). Other operatic highlights include the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors at Avery Fisher Hall and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Utah Opera. Ms. Nelsen is also in-demand as a concert soloist. She has sung the alto solo in Beethoven’s Symphony #9 at Carnegie Hall, with the Santa Fe Concert Association, the Southwest Florida Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. She has sung Verdi's Requiem with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra and the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Peoria Symphony, and Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with the Grand Junction and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras. Ms. Nelsen has received awards and recognition from the Gerda Lissner, Profant, and Santa Barbara's Performing Arts Scholarship Foundations; she was a National Finalist in the vocal competitions of the Jensen Foundation, the Loren L. Zachary Society, and the Metropolitan Opera. She is a 2009 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, where she studied with Bill Schuman; she is also an alumna of the Opera Institute at Boston University.