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Opera Theatre & Vocal Performance at �鶹Ů��

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Established in 1966, Florida Atlantic Opera Theatre ranks among Florida’s longest-standing opera training programs. Under the direction of Associate Professor of Voice Dr. Mitchell Hutchings, the program remains focused on strong academic preparation and meaningful performance experience, while preparing students for the demands of 21st-century opera through a balance of tradition, crossover repertoire, modern technology, and active collaborations.

Housed within �鶹Ů��, a Research 1: Very High Research institution ranked among the nation’s top 100 public universities, Florida Atlantic Opera Theatre is also �鶹Ů��’s first international performing ensemble. Through�� , singers can earn college credit in a faculty-led education abroad program integrating vocal performance, Italian language study, lyric diction, opera repertoire, cultural immersion, and international collaboration with the Conservatorio Giacomo Puccini La Spezia.

The program places primary emphasis on solo vocal performance, with students working on operatic, musical theatre, commercial music, and crossover repertoire under the direct guidance of our faculty. Beyond developing vocal expression and technical skills, students receive training in acting, stage movement, dramatic portrayal, and stylistic communication across repertoire.

Collaboration is central to our work. Students rehearse with directors, conductors, dancers, and pianists, creating an environment built on shared artistic growth. Our relationships with opera organizations at the local, national, and international levels support regular master classes and workshops on campus. These visits provide students with direct access to a wide range of artistic approaches and professional insights.

Students in the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Master of Music in Vocal Performance programs receive comprehensive training in voice, opera, lyric theatre, language, and stage performance. Coursework and performance opportunities prepare singers for professional careers, advanced study, or international artistic work.


Vocal Performance Degree at Florida Atlantic
The Vocal Performance curriculum is designed to support the artistic, technical, linguistic, and professional development of each singer. Students focus on solo vocal technique, acting, movement, audition skills, dramatic interpretation, language and diction, vocal pedagogy, and repertoire from the Baroque era through contemporary works. Each semester includes public performances featuring opera, operetta, zarzuela, musical theatre scenes, or fully staged productions.

Voice majors study with experienced artist-faculty and rehearse in a collaborative environment alongside directors, conductors, pianists, choreographers, and guest clinicians. Florida Atlantic singers receive individualized guidance to support artistic growth, technical development, and long-term vocal health.

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21st-Century Vocal Performance Training
Florida Atlantic’s approach to vocal performance reflects the evolving demands of 21st-century singers while supporting a relevant, rigorous academic experience rooted in performance, language, and professional preparation. In addition to traditional opera and lyric theatre training, students engage with language study, diction, vocal pedagogy, arts entrepreneurship, crossover repertoire, and technology-informed performance. These areas support singers as they prepare for graduate study, professional performance, teaching, and creative work across a changing musical landscape.

Through public performances, staged productions, �鶹Ů�� Opera in Italy, and international collaborations, students gain hands-on experience that connects classroom study with artistic practice. This work supports vocal development while also contributing to Florida Atlantic’s broader engagement with arts, culture, creative innovation, and career-ready education.

Latest News
�鶹Ů�� AND ITALY’S GIACOMO PUCCINI CONSERVATORY FORGE AHEAD WITH FIVE-YEAR CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE

�鶹Ů�� PARTNERS WITH TAI ESCUELA UNIVERSITARIA DE ARTES IN MADRID

FLORIDA ATLANTIC PARTNERS IN $7.5 MILLION EUROPEAN-FUNDED PROJECTS INTEGRATING AI AND TECHNOLOGY INTO OPERA

2026 to 2027 Opera Season at Florida Atlantic
To be announced
October 2026
Location: University Theatre (Boca Raton)

To be announced
March 2027
Location: University Theatre (Boca Raton)
Tickets:

Opera in Italy Education Abroad Program
Spend four weeks on the Italian Riviera studying opera, Italian language, diction, and performance while earning up to 10 university credits through �鶹Ů��.
May 18–June 18, 2026
Location: Italian Riviera | La Spezia, Italy

Students study Italian language, vocal performance, diction, and opera repertoire while working directly with faculty from around the world in collaboration with the Conservatorio Giacomo Puccini La Spezia. Participants perform in concerts, attend master classes, and experience Italian musical culture while earning academic credit through �鶹Ů��. The program is designed as an integrated academic experience in which vocal technique, Italian language, diction, repertoire, dramatic interpretation, and cultural context are studied together. This structure allows singers to connect classroom learning with performance practice while earning academic credit through �鶹Ů��.

Students can learn more about the �鶹Ů�� Opera in Italy education abroad program, including dates, academic credit, and program details, at

Guest Artists, Clinicians, and International Collaborators
Recent visitors include international singers, pedagogues, pianists, conductors, and composers

Pedro A. Arroyo, tenor
Lindsey Blackhurst, soprano
Manuel Castillo, tenor
Ray Chenez, countertenor
Rachel Copeland, soprano
Esha Datta, soprano
Jennifer Davison, soprano
Saundra DeAthos, soprano
Sara Duchovnay, soprano
Martha Eason, soprano
Matt Edwards, baritone
Donald George, tenor
Clay Hilley, heldentenor
Kim Josephson, baritone
Joanna Latini, soprano & arts administrator
Marcello Lippi, baritone
Michela Lombardi, jazz vocalist
Desiree Maira, mezzo-soprano
Harold Meers, tenor
Marina Melaranci, mezzo-soprano
Fabio Menchetti, pianist
Andrew Potter, bass
Karen Roethlisberger Verm, pianist
Dilan Şaka, mezzo-soprano
Ana Seixas, soprano
Helen Tintes, mezzo-soprano
Craig Verm, baritone

Recent Opera, Operetta, Zarzuela, and Musical Theatre Productions at Florida Atlantic
, Engelbert Humperdinck
*, Pietro Carlo Guglielmi
, Gian Carlo Menotti
*, Hildegarda von Bingen, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, and Anonymous Texts
, Burnand and Sullivan
, Charles Dibdin
, Claudio Monteverdi
, Rimsky-Korsakov��
, Gian Carlo Menotti
, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
The Impresario, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Distinguished Alumni
�鶹Ů�� vocal performance alumni have built careers with major opera companies, orchestras, universities, professional ensembles, and arts organizations in the United States and abroad. Their achievements include performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Carnegie Hall, and leading European and American opera houses, as well as university appointments, doctoral study, world-premiere performances, conducting, voice science, and operatic scholarship.

Performers, Educators, Conductors, and Arts Leaders

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Internationally active bass-baritone whose career has included engagements with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Cincinnati Opera, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Palm Beach Opera, and Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared with the Vienna State Opera during its tour to Beijing. Peterson created the role of Rucker Lattimore in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree at Houston Grand Opera. His repertoire has included works such as Mefistofele, Faust, Le nozze di Figaro, The Tales of Hoffmann, L’italiana in Algeri, Lohengrin, Don Carlos, Bluebeard’s Castle, and Susannah.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music from Louisiana State University. Her professional affiliations include Boston Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera, Bel Canto at Caramoor, Opera Tampa, Winter Opera St. Louis, Gulfshore Opera, Opera in Williamsburg, First Coast Opera, Seraphic Fire, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Palm Beach Symphony, Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Miami, Master Chorale of South Florida, and Carnegie Hall. She is co-founder of Amelia Island Opera and Executive Director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music from Louisiana State University and the Specialist in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan. She serves as Lecturer of Voice at the University of Michigan, where her teaching and performance activities include collaborations with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Additional performance experience includes LSU Opera, Oakland Choral Society, Detroit Community Chorus, and Starkville Symphony.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music in Opera Performance from the University of Oklahoma. Her professional and training affiliations include Theater für Niedersachsen in Germany, Opera in the Ozarks, the Vienna Summer Music Festival, and the University of Oklahoma Opera Theatre.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Vocalist in the United States Army Field Band’s Soldiers’ Chorus, one of the U.S. Army’s professional touring ensembles.

, M.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music in Vocal Performance from �鶹Ů��. Originally from North Macedonia, he is a baritone with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, one of Croatia’s leading national opera companies. His repertoire includes principal and featured roles in works by Verdi, Massenet, and Zajc, including Rigoletto, Werther, and Nikola Šubić Zrinjski.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Tenor and musical-theatre performer whose professional engagements include Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, and Gulf Coast Symphony. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music in Opera Theater from Rutgers University. Her professional and educational affiliations include Palm Beach Opera, Rutgers Opera Theater, and Carnegie Hall, with performances in productions of ��’O���ڱ��, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Le nozze di Figaro, Alcina, and Dan Shore’s An Embarrassing Position.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music from Florida International University. A tenor, vocal coach, musical director, and educator, he is affiliated with Florida Grand Opera, the University of Miami, and New World School of the Arts. His performance experience includes productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Norma, Salome, Doña Francisquita, and Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as an appearance as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

, B.M. & M.M. in Vocal Performance
Chinese soprano whose professional affiliations include Palm Beach Opera and international vocal competitions in the United States and Austria. Her performance experience includes Palm Beach Opera productions of Roméo et Juliette and Le nozze di Figaro.

Jamile Evaristo, M.M. in Vocal Performance
Brazilian soprano whose concert and choral affiliations include Coral USP, the University of Campinas Symphony Orchestra, and the Master Chorale of South Florida. Her performance career spans Brazil and the United States.

, M.M. in Vocal Performance
Soprano and voice teacher whose performing and training affiliations include Sarasota Youth Opera, Washington National Opera, Berlin Opera Academy, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Singer, composer, conductor, actor, and educator. His stage experience includes the title roles in Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, and The Phantom of the Opera. As a conductor, he has led performances of Handel’s Messiah, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël, and original works for chorus and orchestra.

Susan Dorchin, M.A. in Music
Singer, voice pedagogue, vocal-rehabilitation specialist, and university instructor. Her early performing experience included the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus, The Royal Ballet, New England Opera Center, and Light Opera of Manhattan. Before joining �鶹Ů��, she maintained a private voice studio in New York City for twenty years and taught at Texas Tech University. At �鶹Ů��, she developed courses in vocal pedagogy, vocal literature, and Alexander Technique and wrote and hosted the radio program Opera Theater on WXEL for eleven years.

Stacie Rossow, B.M. in Vocal Performance & M.A. in Music��
Conductor, scholar, and Professor of Music at �鶹Ů��. Her work includes recordings and performances with an internationally recognized Irish ensemble, premieres of works by composers David Rossow and Michael McGlynn, and ongoing artistic leadership. She has led performances and touring projects and was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Ireland for work in choral conducting.

Monica Berovides-Hidalgo, B.M. in Vocal Performance & M.A. in Music
Conductor, music director, singer, and educator. She serves as assistant conductor and artist in residence with Schola Cantorum of Florida, directs the Schola Cantorum Music Academy, and serves as Director of Worship at First United Methodist Church of Coral Springs.

Voice Science, Opera Scholarship, and Doctoral Achievement

, Ph.D. in Comparative Studies
Voice scientist, conductor, pianist, vocal coach, and educator whose work bridges vocal performance, pedagogy, acoustics, and voice research. She is an Associate Professor of Vocal Performance at NYU Steinhardt, has conducted research on the voices of Broadway performers, and currently serves as President of the Pan American Vocology Association.
Dissertation:

, Ph.D. in Comparative Studies
Musicologist, pianist, critical editor, and opera scholar whose doctoral work combined musicology and Italian studies. Her research led to the recovery, reconstruction, critical edition, and modern revival of Pietro Carlo Guglielmi’s Amalia e Carlo. Her work has involved �鶹Ů��, the Castello di Castiglione del Terziere, the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella, and the Conservatorio “Giacomo Puccini” in La Spezia.
Dissertation:

Recent Advanced Degree Placements

, M.M. in Vocal Performance
Accepted into the Doctor of Musical Arts program at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

, B.M. in Vocal Performance
Earned the Master of Music from Louisiana State University and is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of South Carolina.


^{*Funded in part by the European Union and Italy’s Ministry of Education, Universities and Research}