Location
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Conductor:
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
Stage Director:
Bodo Igesz
Stage Director / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Stage Director / The Barber of Seville
May 2001
Stage Director / La Cenerentola
Mar/Apr 2000
Stage Director / The Merry Widow
December 1998
Stage Director / Don Pasquale
February 1998
Stage Director / Tosca
September 1997
Stage Director / Rigoletto
March 1997
Stage Director / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996
Stage Director / Carmen
August 1996 (debut)
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Carmen:
Layna Chianakas
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)
Don José:
Ross Neill
Don José / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)
Micaëla:
Barbara Divis
Micaëla / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Nedda / Pagliacci
October 1999 (debut)
Escamillo:
Hector Vasquez
Escamillo / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Count di Luna / Il trovatore
January 1999
Marcello / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996 (debut)
Zuniga:
James Anest
Zuniga / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Marullo / Rigoletto
March 1997
Schaunard / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996
Zuniga / Carmen
August 1996 (debut)
Dancaïro:
Aram Barsamian
Dancaïro / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Doctor Malatesta / Don Pasquale
February 1998 (debut)
Rémendado:
J. Raymond Meyers
Rémendado / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)
Frasquita:
Jessica Rivera
Frasquita / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)
Mercédès:
Kristin Noelle Anderson
Moralès:
Justin Plank
Moralès / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)