Madame Butterfly

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

In a career that has spanned three decades, Stage Director, Mezzo-Soprano, and Voice Teacher, Layna Chianakas has portrayed over 50 leading opera roles across the United States, including over 80 performances of Carmen. Most recently, she was heard with Intermountain Opera, in the role Mme. Larina in Eugene Onegin and with Livermore Valley Opera as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin. She returns to both companies this spring as Emilia in Verdi’s Otello, and Marcellina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. 

 As an award-winning opera Stage Director, her most recent win was the 2021 American Prize for Opera Production for Livermore Valley Opera’s double-bill of Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Pucinni’s Gianni Schicchi and the National Opera Association third prize for Postcard from Morocco for the San José State Opera Theater.  For Opera San José, she directed La Voix humaine, Hansel & Gretel, Carmen and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other directing credits include, Le nozze di Figaro, Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges, Die Fledermaus, Orpheus in the Underworld, as well as a fully-staged version of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.  Rachel J. Peter’s Rootabaga Country marked her third production as the Stage Director for the Vivace Youth Chorus Summer Opera Workshop, which saw her productions of Menotti’s Chip and His Dog, and Krasa’s Brundibar. Opera Santa Barbara presented her Summer Youth Opera production of Ben Moore’s Odyssey, Jake Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus for Soprano Young Artist, Brooklyn Snow, and she returns again this October to stage their double-bill of Falla’s El amor brujo (with choreographer, Cecily MacDougall) and Puccini’s Il Tabarro.

 In addition to a thriving private voice studio, Ms. Chianakas is Vocal Director of Musical Theater for Valley Christian High School Conservatory in San Jose, CA, where her credits include, Hello, Dolly!, Mary Poppins, Godspell, Found: A Musical Revue, and The Addams Family.

She lives in San Jose, CA with her husband, and two children; her greatest productions.

Last OSB Role: Stage Director for OSB’s Young Artist Showcase, At the Statue of Venus by Jake Heggie, Brooklyn Snow, Soprano

Upcoming Opera: Emilia, Otello, Livermore Valley Opera; Marcellina, Le nozze di Figaro, Intermountain Opera

Carmen / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

Rémendado / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

Zuniga / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002

Marullo / Rigoletto

March 1997

Schaunard / La bohème

Nov/Dec 1996

Zuniga / Carmen

August 1996 (debut)

Secret Police Agent / The Consul

April 2014

The Bonze / Madama Butterfly

October 2003 (debut)

In the 2019-2020 season Nina Yoshida Nelsen made her Portland Opera debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She also performed the world premiere of Blood Moon at Prototype Festival in New York City. Nina returned to Chicago Lyric Opera to cover Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and will return to the Santa Barbara Symphony to perform Beethoven's Mass in C. and sings the role of Fricka in Santa Barbara Opera’s Das Rheingold. She also reprised the role of Khanh in Huang Ruo's opera Bound at Juilliard. In October 2021 she makes a delayed debut with Boston Lyric Opera as Suzuki and a debut with Chicago Opera Theater in December, in a new work Becoming Santa Claus and a debut in March 2022 with Kentucky Opera in An American Dream.

In the 2018-2019 season, Nina made her Lyric Opera Chicago debut as Mama in Jack Perla's An American Dream.  She also reprised the same role at Anchorage Opera. Nina returned to Opera Santa Barbara as Tituba in The Crucible and sang in their 25th Anniversary Gala concert.  

In the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Nelsen returned to Seattle Opera singing the role of Mama in An American Dream.  She also made a company debut with Manitoba Opera singing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly.  She performed Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with the Grand Junction and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras and returned to both the Santa Barbara and Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestras to perform the alto solos in Mozart's Requiem.

In the 2016-2017 season, Nina returned to the Santa Barbara Symphony as the Alto Soloist in Beethoven Symphony #9 and debuted with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra as the Mezzo Soloist in the Verdi Requiem. In the 2014-2015 season, Nina was thrilled to return to Utah Opera to perform Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She then made her debut singing the same role with The Atlanta Opera.  She also sang Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Southwest Florida Symphony. Nina made her Seattle Opera mainstage debut summer 2015 singing the role of Mama in the world premiere of An American Dream.
 
Previous seasons include Houston Grand Opera: Khanh in the world premiere of Huang Ruo's new opera Bound.   Opera Santa Barbara:  Secretary in Menotti's The Consul.   Verdi's Requiem with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Suzuki with Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice and Opera Santa Barbara.  Nashville Symphony Handel’s Messiah. The world premiere of Memory Stone, a chamber opera at Houston Grand Opera and Beethoven 9th at Carnegie Hall.

Sarasota Opera Suzuki in Madama Butterfly Avery Fisher Hall as the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Mezzo Soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Santa Barbara Symphony. Beethoven’s Symphony #9 with the Santa Fe Concert Association, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at New York City Opera and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.