The Falling and the Rising

San Diego Opera debut. Soprano Teresa Alzadon has performed with Opera in the Ozarks, New York Opera Studio, Knoxville Opera, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Sacred Winds Ensemble, Jenny Wiley Theatre, and Seattle Bach Festival. Opera roles include Violetta in La traviata, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Despina in Così fan tutte, and title roles in The Merry Widow, and Dido and Aeneas. Professional theatre credits include Marian in The Music Man and Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She was the recipient of a Mary Levine Career Performance Grant, an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and a Lori Mayer Fellowship. As a soprano in the Soldiers’ Chorus of the United States Army Field Band, Sergeant First Class Alzadon is a frequent soloist in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and in collaboration with such esteemed musical organizations as the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Pops, and Columbus Pops. She was the recipient of the 2015 Finley R. Hamilton Outstanding Military Musician Award. Originally from the Seattle area, Ms. Alzadon holds a Bachelor of Arts in music and theatre arts from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She earned a Master of Music in voice performance from the University of Tennessee as a Knoxville Opera Studio Artist.

Zach Redler is a music theater composer whose work has been performed in concert halls, opera houses and theaters around the world. In 2014, the American Theatre Wing awarded Zach and Sara Cooper the Jonathan Larson Grant for their work together (The Memory Show, Loving Leo, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, and WINDOWS). Other notable theater compositions include Movin’ Up In The World (Jerre Dye), A Song for Susan Smith (Mark Campbell), ADAM (J Douglas Carlson), Emily Sutton (Jerre Dye), and, their most recent American Prize award winning piece, The Falling and The Rising libretto by Jerre Dye. Currently, Zach is working on a short chamber opera for Houston Grand Opera, a song cycle with travel writer Rick Steves for soprano Tess Altaveros, a two-act music theatre piece Remote (Jerre Dye) for Midnight Oil Collective, a musical with both existing and original songs for BMG with Jerre Dye, a children’s album with their partner Brittney, a jazz album with their father-in-law Bryson Borgstedt, and a few stray instrumental pieces for friends in various ensembles. Zach spent ten years as a music copyist and musicologist working with orchestras and Broadway shows in and out of town. Additionally, Zach teaches at NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and Molloy College; is developing a co-op based production company with fellow writers and actors (Midnight Oil Collective); mentors young opera writers for Seattle Opera’s creation lab; teaches private music, yoga, and meditation; loves cooking plant based meals for their family; and runs ultramarathons when time allows.

Conductor Bruce Stasyna made his Company conducting debut with As One in 2017 and returned to conduct Maria de Buenos Aires in 2018 and conducted One Amazing Night with Stephen Costello and Stephen Powell in 2019. He has been on the conducting rosters of the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Sugar Creek Opera, and has held positions as Chorus Master for New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and Des Moines Opera. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Green Mountain Opera Festival, and Head of Music and Director of the Young Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera. He has collaborated on many notable North American premieres including Anna Nicole, The Handmaid’s Tale, Orazi e Curiazi, and Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man. As a pianist he has concertized with such artists as Marcello Giordani, Deborah Voigt, J’nai Bridges, Irene Roberts, Marina Costa-Jackson, and Richard Troxell. The Canadian born conductor is currently the Chorus Master and Music Administrator for San Diego Opera, Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor for Washington Concert Opera, and Music Director of Vero Beach Opera.

Following several years as a professional singer and teaching stints at the internationally acclaimed Actors Studio Drama School and American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Alan E. Hicks turned his attention to stage direction. He has directed productions for organizations throughout the United States and in Europe including Minnesota Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Franco-American Vocal Academy in Salzburg, and Music Academy International in Italy. Alan has also served on the directing and production staffs of Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Michigan Opera Theatre, New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, and Tulsa Opera. In 2013, he was appointed Director of the Emerging Artist Program at Green Mountain Opera Festival, a position he held until the company’s closing in 2015. He is San Diego Opera’s Resident Director and serves as Assistant Director on San Diego Opera’s productions. His directing engagements for the Company include Tosca, Aida, and All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 and he co-conceived When I See Your Face Again: Unmasking the music of notorious pandemics. Notable work includes Ariadne auf Naxos for Minnesota Opera, The Elixir of Love for Opera Santa Barbara, La Clemenza di Tito for Music Academy International, Albert Herring at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, L’Amico Fritz and L’Italiana in Algeri for the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston, Die Zauberflöte for Shenandoah Conservatory, and The Turn of the Screw for the Miami Music Festival. In addition to his work alongside such venerable operatic performers as Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Silvia McNair, Frederica von Stade, Carl Tanner, and Thomas Hampson as well as rising stars Michelle Bradley, Erin Morley, Kate Lindsey, Hannah Hipp, Brian Jagde, Amber Wagner, and Nadine Sierra, Alan has assisted renowned opera directors Michael Cavanagh, Chris Alexander, Linda Brovsky, Jay Lesenger, Peter Kazaras, and Broadway veterans Susan Stroman and Sam Buntrock. Of Costa Rican-American descent, Alan holds degrees in Music Education, Vocal Performance, and Opera Directing from Mississippi State University, Rice University, and The University of Texas at Austin (respectively). Alan is a member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).