L'Orfeo Bios

Cast Biographies

Elizabeth Blood, La Musica

Elizabeth Blood, soprano and composer, earned a degree in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. While she mainly stays within the classical realm, Elizabeth's curiosity leads her to do many unique artistic projects, from singing rock opera in the premiere of a 3D play (Fruition of a Delusion), to singing A cappella as the soundtrack for live dance (DanceCircus), to singing at festivals for social activism and fundraising (FemFest). Elizabeth has been honored to premiere works by many composers, including Amanda Schoofs, Sam Mullooly, Jonathan Smith, Tom Ford, and Alaric Coussons. You may have seen Elizabeth in past Milwaukee Opera Theatre productions like Utterance, or most recently orsa ibernata where she composed and performed her own music for a virtual production in collaboration with Decameron Opera Coalition. Now, for L’Orfeo, Elizabeth is looking forward to embodying the “spirit of music” as “La musica” after a long hiatus from performing live.

Austin Bare, High Priest of Apollo

Austin Bare, tenor, is a Milwaukee area performing artist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is a founding member of the early music ensemble APERI ANIMAM and has been performing with them for nearly five years. Through this ensemble he has had the opportunity to perform concerts for Early Music America in Bloomington, IN, and Madison Early Music Festival in Madison, WI. During his studies at UWM he performed roles in Opera Scenes productions including Franz from Tales of Hoffmann, Don Gomez from La Pèrichole, and The Duke from Rigoletto. Since graduating from UWM, Austin has continued to foster his passion for opera and classical music through Milwaukee Opera Theatre and other projects in the city. His experience with opera in particular has grown through roles such as the Lamplighter in The Little Prince, a Spirit in MOT’s production of Zie Magic Flute, and a performer in Utterance, a collaboration with APERI ANIMAM, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and composer/librettist Amanda Schools.

Jackie Willis, Music Director and Orfeo

Jackie Willis is a mezzo soprano in the Milwaukee area specializing in early music. She is so excited to make both her Music Direction debut and first go at a lead role with the ever enchanting story of L'Orfeo! You may also have seen her as Ancient Knowing (Utterance) with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and APERI ANIMAM, one of the Skylight 12 in the staged production of Carmina Burana with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Skylight Music Theatre, Third Lady (Zie Magic Flute & Zie Magic Flute 2.0), Hecuba (La Didone) with the Haymarket Opera Summer Course, Stag/Turtledove (Handel’s Bestiary) and with MOT, and Chorus (Tales of Hoffman) in a collaboration with MOT and Skylight. As of May 2021, Jackie has stepped into the role of Artistic Director for the Milwaukee based early music ensemble APERI ANIMAM. She is a graduate of UW-Milwaukee and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance in December of 2016. Jackie is, much like the rest of us, putting her energy towards keeping enlightening artistic experiences alive and accessible in Milwaukee.

Kaisa Herrmann, Euridice

Mezzo-soprano Kaisa Herrmann is thrilled to be joining MOT and Aperi Animam as Euridice. A native of Wisconsin, she completed her MM in Vocal Performance at CU Boulder under the instruction of Abigail Nims, having received her BFA from UW Milwaukee. Some past roles include Narciso (Agrippina), Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), the Fox (The Little Prince), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), and Violetta (La Pèrichole). Parial roles Miss Herrmann has performed in scenes programs are Tisbe (La Cenerentola), the Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Zerlina. Over the summer of 2018, she had the opportunity to take part in the Up North Vocal Institute, where she performed the role of Zerlina from Don Giovanni in the Opera Scenes Gala. Taking special interest in early music, she has been a part of various ensembles focusing on this repertoire, including Aperi Animam, CU Boulder’s Early Music Ensemble, and UW Milwaukee’s Collegium Musicum. She can also be seen in Chicago Summer Opera’s upcoming performance of Handel’s Serse, in which she will be playing Arsamene.

Jennifer Jakubowski, The Messenger

Brett Sweeney, Speranza

Jennifer Jakubowski, alto, holds a degree in Exercise Science from Carroll University and a license in Massage Therapy from Blue Sky School of Massage. Having studied voice at UW-Milwaukee, Jennifer has cultivated a love and skill set in early music that has led her to perform with several groups in the Milwaukee area including: The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, The Master Singers, and The Collegium Ladyes, St John’s Cathedral, St Josaphat Basilica, and Milwaukee Opera Theater. From 2012-2019 Jennifer has attended the Madison Early Music Festival, taking part in classes ranging from 13th century Gregorian chant to 17th century Italian motets, further nurturing her knowledge and embodiment of early music. Jennifer is very excited to be performing the role of The Messenger (Sylvia) for this production of L’Orfeo.

Brett Sweeney is a Milwaukee-based performer with credits in opera, theatre, and concert work. Some past highlights include Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (All In Productions), Laurie in Little Women (Forte Theatre), Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio in The Tales of Hoffman (Skylight Music Theatre and Milwaukee Opera Theatre), and as a vocalist for composer George Sarah’s live accompaniment of The Passion of Joan of Arc at The Milwaukee Film Festival. In addition, Brett has performed with Present Music, in collaboration with Danceworks and Chant Claire Chamber Choir, and is a former member of Aperi Animam. Brett holds a BFA in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is an AmSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique.

Jack Rutter, Caronte

Xylia-Sophia Conn, Proserpina

Jack Rutter is a returning bass in Aperi Animam, is playing the role of Caronte and is happy to be a part of the chorus in “L’Orfeo.” He is a 2019 graduate from UW Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts. He was an original member of Aperi Animam and is ecstatic to return to the ensemble. At PSOA, he studied vocal techniques under Dr. Tanya Kruse and conducting under Dr. Zachary Durlam. He went on to win the 2019 Wisconsin Choral Directors Association's Collegiate Conducting Competition. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Choral and General Music Education, he taught Kindergarten through 8th grade general music at Messmer St. Mary Preparatory School for three years. He will be teaching K-8 music at Milwaukee Sign Language School in the upcoming year.

Xylia-Sophia Conn (she/they) is a vocalist and composer with her BFA in Music Composition & Technology as well as their BA in Music: Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Their artistic visions are driven by coloring outside the lines and challenging musical conventions, even as a soprano with APERI ANIMAM. Xy is also seen performing as the lead singer of the progressive dream pop band Angry Fix, a project where she enjoys coloring her voice with electronics. During her senior year at UWM, Xy composed an opera titled “Echo Ascension” under their mentor Amanda Schoofs, who also premiered an original opera in collaboration with APERI ANIMAM and Milwaukee Opera Theatre entitled “Eternal Burning”. Through this project, Xy realized the role of Provocateur, debuting their first contemporary opera role. On the contrary, L’Orfeo is Xy’s first traditional opera production and she is beyond psyched to take her first step into this storied theatrical tradition!

David Guzmán, Pluto

Nicole McCarty, Apollo

Puerto Rican bass David Guzmán is a versatile solo and ensemble Milwaukee-based singer. Upcoming engagements include Zuniga (Carmen, MIOpera), the Duke of Verona (Roméo et Juliette, The Florentine Opera), the Fifth Jew (Salome, Madison Opera), and Don Alfonso (new adaptation of Così fan tutte, The Florentine Opera). Recent engagements include Figaro (excerpts from Le nozze di Figaro, Brew City Opera), the Court Usher (Rigoletto, The Florentine Opera), and Leporello (Don Giovanni, Teatro
América, Puerto Rico).

During his graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, David performed the role of Truffaldin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Pistola (Falstaff), and the bass solo in Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen [BWV 12]. Past roles include Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Harpin in Lully/Le Grand’s La chûte de Phaëton, as well as the bass solos in Bach’s Christ lag in Todes Banden [BWV 4] and Jesu,
der du meine Seele [BWV 78].

As an ensemble singer, David regularly performs with Cincinnati-based ensemble The Union. He also co-founded and directed the Puerto Rico Baroque Singers and formed part of the Junges Stuttgarter Bach Ensemble and the Weimar Bach Cantata Academy Chorus, both in Germany.
David Guzmán holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music Degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Nicole (she/her) has a B.M. in music education from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and a M.M. in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM). Her most recent performances have been as Nan Carter in Exit, Pursued by a Bear with Sunstone Studios, as Joy in Southside Summer with the #Enough project to end gun violence, as Renee in Babel with the Constructivists, and as an ensemble member in Black Nativity with the Black Arts of MKE. Recently, she was the music director and accompanist for an original musical reading of RIP the Musical at Sunstone Studios. Nicole is so excited to work with Aperi Animam and Milwaukee Opera Theatre again as Apollo!

Danielle Gedemer, Ensemble

Deme Hellwig, Ensemble

Danielle Gedemer, soprano, is thrilled to be working with all of the incredible people involved in L’Orfeo! Since graduating from UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in Vocal Performance, she has enjoyed working with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in their Connections program, writing a libretto for the Florentine Opera Company for their children’s show Cinderella, singing at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and annually composing songs with her mother for West Bend Parks and Rec Department's summer theatre show. In her free time, she loves spending time with her incredible family and friends.

Deme Hellwig, soprano, is a graduate of Lawrence University with a Bachelor's of Music in vocal performance. She has performed roles in main stage productions as well as in opera scene performances while studying at Lawrence University. She has been singing choral and early music since she first began in the Milwaukee Children's choir at age 6 and has only become more invested in it as she has gotten older. Since moving back to Milwaukee in June 2018, she has sung with All Saints Cathedral and then St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where she is currently a choral scholar. It is her hope to continue professionally in her passion for early music performance.

Katelynn Rutter, Ensemble

Katelynn Rutter is a former member of APERI ANIMAM returning in the ensemble for this production. She is a 2020 (pandemic) Peck School of the Arts graduate, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with emphasis in Voice. She studied voice under Dr. David Hoffman and conducting/choral education under Dr. Zachary Durlam. She currently works as a toddler teacher at West Allis Community Childcare and participates as a member of the Master Singers of Milwaukee. She is extremely excited to debut in her first theatre show ever with APERI ANIMAM and Milwaukee Opera Theatre.

Amelia Spierer, Ensemble

Amelia Spierer is a member of the music faculty at Cardinal Stritch University, where she teaches voice. She has performed with many local music ensembles, including the Collegium Ladyes and the Concord Chamber Orchestra, and is grateful to be able to collaborate with many talented musicians in the Milwaukee area.

Lee Stovall, Ensemble

An enthusiast of all forms of vocal music, Lee Stovall is thrilled to perform in L'Orfeo with Aperi Animam and Milwaukee Opera Theatre. Stovall currently teaches high school choir at Rufus King High School, and directs an a cappella ensemble at Alverno College. Past performances with the Present Music Hearing Voices ensemble, The Marion Consort, Madison Choral Project, and Madison Opera have highlighted his vocal ensemble singing career. In addition to his work as a classical choral singer, Stovall is an award-winning contemporary a cappella arranger whose work has been commissioned by various groups from middle-school to Broadway performers. Stovall also serves on the executive boards of the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association (membership chair), the Wisconsin Music Educators Association (technology chair), and the Milwaukee Music Educators Association (recruitment chair).

Coltyn VonDeylen, Ensemble

Coltyn VonDeylen is a professional singer in the Southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago areas. He sings with a wide variety of musical groups including lutheran, jewish, catholic, and contemporary churches, his rock band "Mantra," musical theater, and as a solo pop singer. He also teaches singing in-person in Milwaukee and online throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. Coltyn sings for the love of singing, not for any particular genre or style and is thrilled to be a part of this performance.

Orchestra Biographies

Fumi Nishikiori-Nakayama, Harpsichord

Charlie Rasumussen, Viola da Gamba

Fumi Nishikiori-Nakayama earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano and Harpsichord degree from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, and Master of Music in Piano and Early Music/Harpsichord from Indiana University, where she was the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Rudolph Ganz Memorial Award, and Willi Apel Scholarship. She has studied piano with Ludmila Lazar, Shigeo Neriki, harpsichord with David Schrader, Elisabeth Wright, fortepiano with Elizabeth Wright and Kenneth Drake, chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky, early chamber music with Stanley Ritchie, and conducting with Thomas Baldner and Imre Pallo.

As a conductor, she has conducted Indiana University Symphony Orchestra, IU Ad-hoc Orchestra, IU Opera Workshops. Her love for vocal music and theater lead her to remain as one of the opera coaches for Indiana University Opera Theater for 6 years.

Currently, Ms. Nishikiori is an adjunct faculty member of the Carthage Music Department and teaches for the Carthage Arts Academy. She is a Juilliard School Dalcroze Institute certified instructor of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and often gives demonstrations and lectures to music teachers and students in the Midwest. She frequently performs as a member of Cecilia Trio, and also collaborates with greater Milwaukee and Chicago area artists.

Charlie Rasmussen is a cello faculty member and string department co-chair at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. He performs historical cello and viola da gamba with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, New Milwaukee Consort, and Sonata à Quattro. He is currently the Interim Instrumental Artistic Director at Just Bach. Mr. Rasmussen has recorded Tommaso Giordani's Cello Duos (Centaur Records, 2020) and 11 Capricci by Joseph Dall'Abaco (Centaur Records, 2018).

Mr. Rasmussen has previously appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series with the New York Continuo Collective, the VdGSA Gamba Gamut and with Sonata à Quattro. He has also performed as principal cellist with Madison Bach Musicians and in multiple early music recitals at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. He has appeared with ViolMedium for an Early Music Now performance.

Mr. Rasmussen has served on faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival and presented historical performance lecture recitals and masterclasses around the country.

Danur Kvilhaug, Theorbo

Danur Kvilhaug is active as a lutenist and vocalist, performing regularly throughout North America. Recent engagements include performances with the Newberry Consort, Bourbon Baroque, Tonos del Sur, and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed at the Madison Early Music Festival, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and with the Red River Lyric Opera’s 2019 performance of Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto. In addition to performing, he has held several teaching appointments, teaching courses in music history and music theory at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and The University of Oklahoma. He received his MM in Musicology from The University of Oklahoma, as well as an MM and Performance Diploma in historical performance at Indiana University under the tutelage of Nigel North.

Heidi Barker, Violin

Heidi Barker is a Milwaukee based violinist and teacher who is passionate about sharing music through both performance and education. After growing up surrounded by musical parents and siblings, she studied String Pedagogy with Darcy Drexler at UW-Milwaukee and Chamber Music Performance with Dr. Bernard Zinck at the Sorkin International Institute of Chamber Music. Since completing her masters degrees, musical internships and performances have taken Heidi to Tasmania, France, Haiti and around the U. S. She now teaches at the Holy Family Conservatory of music in Manitowoc and at Wauwatosa School of music.

Performance experiences include the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Milwaukee Series, the Silver Lake Concert Series, the Cradle Coast Orchestra of Burnie, Tasmania, the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra, the South Side Casual Classics series, the St. Elmo Piano Trio, the Tuppence Duo, and as a resident violinist in the Sorkin International Chamber Music Institute's string quartet which was hailed as "Powerful" by Milwaukee's Shepherd Express. As a soloist she has appeared with the Covenant College Orchestra and the Launceston Youth and Community Orchestra's Residential String Camp Orchestra in Australia.

Heidi plays on a 1761 Viennese violin made by Johann Georg Huber, a luthier whose instruments, though sometimes critiqued for lacking brilliance, are appreciated today for their clear articulation and gentle, bright tone quality.

Adam Dillon, Sackbut

Adam Dillon is a specialist in historical trombones, recorders, performance practice, and chamber music. Recent performances include concerts with the Ottawa Baroque Consort, ¡Sacabuche!, Washington Cornett and Sackbutt ensemble, Forgotten Clefs, Bloomington Bach Cantata Project, and Las Aves at events such as the American Musicological Society Conference, University of Oregon Musicking Conference, Festival Internacional de Música Sacra de Quito, North Carolina HIP Festival, and the Sackville and Bloomington Early Music Festivals. In January 2018 Adam was featured as an emerging professional in Early Music America’s EMagazine’s Early to Rise series. In addition to his performance experience, Adam is an arts administrator working at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University as its Production and Events Assistant.

Passionate about children’s outreach and education programs, Adam has taught Renaissance dance, music, and history through Shakespeare’s Ear and Shawms and Stories to elementary school students in south/central Indiana and North Carolina. Adam lives in Montreal, QC while pursuing a PhD in Musicology at McGill University. This summer Adam will present research on Vincente Lusitano's use of improvisatory techniques within his own compositions at the MedRen Conference in Uppsala, Sweden. He has also studied at Indiana University and the University of North Texas.

Chris Armijo, Recorder and Cornetto

Christopher Armijo is an instrumentalist specializing in the Baroque and Renaissance recorder. He is a performing member of Forgotten Clefs (Bloomington, Indiana’s Renaissance chamber wind ensemble), Las Aves (a project-based chamber ensemble that produces historically informed programs of early Baroque music), and Echoing Air (a baroque chamber ensemble based in Indianapolis, IN). Christopher can be heard regularly as a chorister and instrumental soloist at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington. A versatile musician, Christopher has performed on the organ, cornetto, shawm, and percussion in various period ensembles. By day, Christopher is a video editor for Arts Laureate, a videography team that provides high-quality audio and video recordings for choral and instrumental ensembles. In his spare time, he enjoys baking and cooking, science fiction, puppies, and relaxing video games that involve building and exploring.

Creative Team Biographies

Danny Brylow, Stage Director

Music Theater Artist Danny Brylow has contributed to the burgeoning field of contemporary opera as a stage director, librettist, translator, performer, and administrator. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of Utterance, a new music theater piece featuring Renaissance music by Orlande de Lassus and contemporary music by Amanda Schoofs; and Orsa ibernata, a ten minute video opera for which he also wrote the libretto (music by Elizabeth Blood; cinematography by Christal Wagner). As a translator, his English-language adaptations of Don Giovanni (with singer Tim Rebers), Wagner's Ring Cycle, The Magic Flute, and Tales of Hoffmann have been performed by such companies as Skylight Music Theatre, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, the East Side Chamber Players, and Arbor Opera Theater.

Danny is a graduate of Bennington College, the Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, and Nautilus Music-Theater's Composer Librettist Studio. He has served as Company Manager at Milwaukee Opera Theatre since 2015.

Dr. William Hudson, Early Music Advisor

As a highly sought after specialist in historical performance, William Hudson has workshopped baroque singing styles and ornamentation throughout the United States. In 2017, he was awarded a prestigious NEH grant to direct the seminar, “Courtly Lyric in the Medieval French Tradition. Poetry as Performance.” He holds a doctorate in Early Music vocal performance from Indiana University and is currently editing 17th-century Italian cantatas for use in the voice studio. He is the director of LIBER: Ensemble for Early Music and teaches voice at Illinois Wesleyan University.

To learn more, visit www.williamhudsontenor.com.