Nancy Gustafson is a prodigious talent who has delighted opera lovers worldwide with one brilliant performance after another. Her astonishing credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, and the Chicago Lyric Opera. She has been acclaimed in the leading opera houses of the world for her captivating stage presence, absolute command and stunning vocal quality.

She enjoys an especially close relationship with the Vienna State Opera where she was honored with the title of Kammersängerin in 2001. In recent seasons, Ms. Gustafson performed the title role in Strauss’ Salome at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and later repeated the role at the Vienna State Opera. During the 2009-2010 Season, she appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of the Final Scene from Salome and at the Koeln Philharmonic in Cologne, Germany. Highlights of the 2010-2011 Season include performances as soprano soloist in the 100th Anniversary of Mahler’s 8th Symphony under the baton of Lorin Maazel in Duisburg, Germany, reprising the role of Julia in 1984 in Valencia, Spain and singing the role of Chrysothemis in Elektra in Warsaw.

Richard Leech has been referred to in the press as a “National Treasure” as a result of his extraordinary performances of the most demanding and well-known roles of the Italian and French repertoire, both on disc and on the stages of the world’s leading opera houses. Following his European debut with Berlin’s Deutche Oper as Raoul in Les Huguenots, the headline of the Berliner Morgen Post read, “A World Star is Born.” After his much anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as Rodolfo in La Boheme, the New York Times wrote, “Other than Pavarotti on his best night, I can’t think of another tenor I’d rather hear in the part.” Since then, Mr. Leech has sung nearly 200 Met performances in a dozen leading tenor roles. In addition to the Met, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the opera companies of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and San Diego, his remarkable career continues to regularly take him to the world’s greatest opera houses, including Covent Garden, Opera National de Paris, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala.

Sylvia McNair has appeared as a regular guest soloist with virtually every major American and European opera house and orchestra, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. She stopped along the way to produce over 70 recordings ranging from Mozart arias with Sir Neville Mariner and the Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields to CDs with Andre Previn of music by Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen. She was honored to accept an invitation to sing the Bach B-minor Mass with the Vienna Philharmonic for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Christopher Holloway is an energetic, vibrant performer who “…acts with waltzlike precision…and is able to sing and act with equal agility.” A much sought after performer, Mr. Holloway has taken the opera stage with distinguished companies including Houston Grand Opera, Orlando Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Amarillo Opera, Fresno Opera, Lyric Opera of Los Angeles, Orange County Opera, Opera in the Heights, Opera in the Ozarks, Brevard Music Center, and Operafestival di Roma. His extensive repertoire of operatic roles includes Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in Don Giovanni, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Morales/Dancairo in Carmen, Lord Ruthven in Der Vampyr, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Lescaut in Manon, Marcello in La Bohéme, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Maximilian in Bernstein’s Candide, and Angelotti in Tosca.

 Leah Summers, mezzo-soprano has performed extensively in opera and concert throughout the United States and abroad. She is a Fulbright scholar and the recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Grant. She holds degrees from the University of Miami, The Manhattan School of Music, the Hochschule für Musik and Darstellende Kunst in Vienna/Austria and the Julliard Opera Center in New York. She is featured on Bridge Record’s recent recording of the songs of Stephan Volpe, as well as Mahler’s 8th symphony on the Delos label.Some of her performances include Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Page in Strauss’ Salome, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, as well as many other roles with the New York City Opera.

Maestro William Noll Conductor/Pianist William Noll is a performance veteran of the major concert halls of the United States and Europe. In the spring of 2000, he made his conducting debut in Beijing, for an outstanding sold-out performance of an all-Tchaikovsky program. From Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York to festivals and tours in Italy, Belgium, and China, Mr. Noll has established excellence in performance standards for almost three decades. He has held positions with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, the Choral Guild of Atlanta, Providence Opera Theatre; and the summer festivals of Aspen, Spoleto and Brevard.

Mr. Noll has also conducted for the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall, the New Mexico Symphony, the Savannah Symphony, and the Opera Orchestra of New York for summer concerts. Recently, Mr. Noll re-established his classical piano career by appearing in New York City, as guest soloist, with the Jupiter Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jens Nygaard in performances of the virtuoso work, Concerto #2, by Xaver Scharwenka. In addition, his catalog of commercial recordings which include classical symphonic and jazz repertoire continues to grow on labels such as Newport Classic, Intersound, Pro-Jazz, Time-Life, and Sony.

Robin Shuford Frank

Robin Shuford Frank is Chorus Master, Director of Educational Outreach, and Music Administrator for Opera Naples.Additionally, she is the Assistant Director and accompanist for The Naples Orchestra and Chorus and freelance pianist with several music organizations including The Naples Philharmonic and The Naples Players. She has recently been appointed Adjunct Professor in the Bower School of Music at Florida Gulf Coast University.    Fond of traveling, Ms. Frank is a frequent guest accompanist for choral festivals.  Ms. Frank has a Masters degree from Westminster Choir College in Accompanying and Vocal Coaching and a Bachelors degree in music education from The Florida State University.