EarRelevant Staff | 28 OCT 2021
ATLANTA, GA— The Atlanta Opera has announced its roster of five for The Glynn Studio Artists, who will apprentice and perform during the 2021-22 season: stage director Bruno Baker, soprano Suzanne Burgess, baritone Sankara Harounam, mezzo-soprano Gretchen Krupp and bass William Meinert.
Each is an early career professional with significant stage experience, some with lead performances and major concert appearances on their resume. This ensemble builds on the company’s commitment to providing opportunities for performers at all stages in their careers.
Throughout the season, these artists will have the opportunity to work with and learn from established performers while participating in this season’s productions as performers and covers.
“We’re excited about this class of Glynn Studio Artists and look forward to being a part of their journey as they grow as artists and human beings,” says TAO general & artistic director Tomer Zvulun. “It has been gratifying to see this program grow since we launched it six seasons ago. As we emerge out of this pandemic, we realize just how vital these kinds of training programs are for young singers and directors.”
Here are brief biographies of each of the five Glynn Studio Artists:
Bruno Baker is a Latinx NYC-based American/Brazilian multidisciplinary stage director. Baker has worked as an assistant director at The Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Madison Opera and is on the staging staff for Santa Fe Opera. He is a recipient of the 2021 Opera America Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. This spring, he will direct a revival of Fellow Travelers at Opera Columbus.
British/American soprano Susanne Burgess has been described as “a unique combination of precision and wonder (Opera Wire)” with “lyric splendor, and a rich, even legato (Parterre Box).” Susanne spent the 2020-21 season with The Atlanta Opera, performing the role of Lucy Brown in The Threepenny Opera. Susanne was named the winner of the Georgia District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Baritone Sankara Harouna portrayed the role of The Officer in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville with Cincinnati Opera in the summer of 2021 and that of Derrick Wheatt in Cincinnati Opera’s 2019 World Premiere of Blind Injustice by Scott Davenport Richards and David Cote. In the summer of 2022, he will return to Cincinnati Opera to be a part of the World Premiere production of Fierce by William Menefield and Sheila Williams.
Gretchen Krupp, “a mezzo capable of searing delivery, powerful and ripe” (Opera Today), is gaining recognition in major competitions and festivals. During the fall of 2021, she will appear as a featured soloist in concerts with Baltimore Concert Opera and The Dallas Opera. This past summer, she returned to Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Artist, where she performed in Boulogne’s L’amant Anonyme and Viardot’s Cendrillon, in addition to her first performance of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.
William Meinert is a recent graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera, where he performed Sarastro in The Magic Flute and the Secret Police Agent in The Consul. He recently debuted at Santa Fe Opera as Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and covered Gremin in Eugene Onegin. He has received praise for his “rich, vibrant bass” (Opera Today) and “charismatic [and] exhilarating comic flair” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).Sponsored in name this season by a gift from Beth and Gary Glynn, The Glynn Studio Artists also receive significant support from the Donald and Marilyn Keough Foundation. ■
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