Opera in the Park 2024 Cast
JESSICA BURTON
As a military brat, JESSICA BURTON likes to say she is from everywhere and no where. Most recently she is from Austin, Texas, where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Opera Direction from the University of Texas. She also has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Science in Technical Theatre from West Texas A&M University. During the pandemic, she taught private voice and musicianship classes at Orpheus Academy of Music in Austin. She has worked in almost every aspect of theatre, as director, performer, designer, and administrator. Past directing credits include Charlie Parker's Yardbird (Indiana Premiere), Gallantry, & Veteran Journeys with Indianapolis Opera; Little Women, At the Statue of Venus, Speed Dating Tonight, & Das Lied von der Erde with UT Austin; Cendrillon & Pomme d’api with FAVA France; Angels in America, The Laramie Project, & Bent with Avenue 10; and numerous scenes programs. She has also assistant directed at Austin Opera, Amarillo Opera, LOLA (Local Opera Local Artists), UT Austin, Spotlight on Opera, FAVA France, and now Indianapolis Opera. As a performer, notable past roles have included the Witch in Into the Woods (Stage Right Theatre, Amarillo), Fastrada in Pippin, and Morgana in Alcina (West Texas A&M University). Past costume designs have included The Magic Flute, Dido and Aeneas, Suor Angelica (Texas State University), Metamorphoses, The Who’s Tommy, and Aida (Amarillo Little Theatre). Jessica’s passion is cultivating community engagement among the next generation of opera goers. Jessica would also love to thank Emily Hancock for being a wonderful host and all around fabulous human being during her time in Indianapolis! |
MAESTRO CASEY ROBARDS
Robards’ emerging career as a conductor includes guest conducting with South Bend Lyric Opera, Ensemble Concept 21, MOSI (Music On Site, Inc.) and productions of Die Zauberflöte, La Traviata, and La Bohéme as Main Stage conductor at the Bay View Music Festival. She was music director for Derek McPhatter’s “Water Riot in Beta: A Cyberpunk Rock Opera” a music-theater work that follows a troupe of water rights activists. Grounded in contemporary issues including climate anxiety and eco-grief, Water Riot in Beta draws on the under-acknowledged legacy of Black voices in Punk, Electronic, and experimental contemporary music production. Robards was associate music director of the world premiere of “BOUNCE: The Basketball opera” co-produced with Ardea Arts and Univ. of Kentucky. Pianist/vocal coach and conductor, Casey Robards, has given recitals throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America and Asia. Robards’ 2021-23 recitals include duo programs with Ollie Watts Davis, LaToya Lain, Karen Slack, Charis Peden, Courtney Huffman, Kenneth Overton, Brian Downen, Salley Koo and Bernhard Scully. Recent projects include recording Carmina Burana and Patterson’s Gloria with the National Chorale, premiering This Little Light of Mine - an opera based on the life of Fannie Lou Hamer with Santa Fe and Kentucky Opera. Robards made her Carnegie Hall debut in November 2017 with baritone Christiaan Smith in a program singing popular Top 40 songs as art song. She currently tours with singer LaToya Lain in a “Narrative of a Slave Woman,” a dramatic and moving lecture-recital formatted program of Negro spirituals and Ollie Watts Davis in an art song recital “Toward Justice and Shared Humanity: Art Song of Black Composer as Lens, Language, Vision and Hope.” Robards has special interest in piano and vocal music by Black composers, having experience in Black sacred music genres. She is the foremost expert on the life and music of John D. Carter (1932-1981). Dr. Robards wrote a chapter on collaborative piano for “So You Want to Sing Spirituals” published by Rowman & Littlefield. Interested in the intersection of music and social justice, Robards has created benefit recitals for MUSICAMBIA, a non-profit organization that creates music conservatories in prisons. Currently on the faculty of the University of Illinois, previous appointments include vocal coaching and collaborative piano at Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory (postdoc) and Central Michigan University. She has been on the faculty of the Bay View Music Festival since 2008. |