Aspen Music Festival and School
Robert Spano, Music Director
Alan Fletcher, Munroe President and CEO
Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS
Renée Fleming, Co-Artistic Director
Patrick Summers, Co-Artistic Director
Conductor Enrique Mazzola
Stage Director Katherine M. Carter
Assistant Conductor Paul-Boris Kertsman
Choreographer Sara Erde
Director of Music Administration Myra Huang
and Head Coach
Music Coaches Grant Loenig and Kirill Kuzmin
Rehearsal Pianists Anya Gershtein, Gregory Smith,
Debbie Robertson, Marissa Carlson, Anya Gershtein,
Costume Designer Caitlin Cisek
Lighting Designer Josh Hemmo
Supertitles Coordinator Maya Liu
Mimì
Kayla Rae Stein, soprano
Kayla Rae Stein (Mimì) is a soprano from Chicago, Illinois, pursuing her master’s degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Darrell Babidge. This year Kayla performed Fiordiligi and Mrs. Grose in Juilliard’s productions of Così fan tutte and The Turn of the Screw. Stein has performed Knussen’s Requiem: Songs for Sue with the AXIOM Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall, covered Elaine in Musto’s Later the Same Evening, and played Micaëla in the innovative Carmen Project. She also performed Micaëla last summer at the Music Academy of the West. Kayla earned her bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music.
Musetta
Virginia Mims, soprano
During the 2024–25 season Virginia Mims (Musetta) returned to the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Sarasota Opera after having debuted the role at Brevard Music Center in 2017. She also sang excerpts from La traviata and Rigoletto on Sarasota’s Music of Giuseppe Verdi concert. Virginia made her Carnegie Hall debut this season singing the soprano solos in Taylor Scott Davis’s Magnificat. Role credits include Mimì (La bohème) at the Sachsenwald Forum in Germany and, at Indiana University, Musetta (La bohème), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Mary Bailey (Heggie’s It’s A Wonderful Life), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), and Zemfira (Rachmaninoff’s Aleko).
Rodolfo
Matthew Polenzani, tenor
American tenor Matthew Polenzani (Rodolfo) is lauded as one of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation. His elegant musicianship, innate sense of style, dramatic commitment, and timeless artistry have established his continued presence at leading operatic, concert, and recital venues worldwide. In Mr. Polenzani’s 2024–25 season, he made his role debut as Maurizio in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur at Teatro Real, and brought his acclaimed portrayal of Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly to Gran Teatre del Liceu. Returning to the Metropolitan Opera, Polenzani starred as Rodolfo in La bohème and took on the role of Anatol in concert performances of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda. The season also highlighted his appearances in major titular roles, including Werther at Wiener Staatsoper and Idomeneo at San Francisco Opera. On the concert stage, Polenzani presented Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang at Alice Tully Hall and offered recitals at the Hungarian State Opera and Oper Frankfurt. Matthew Polenzani was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award, the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award, and a 2017 Opera News Award.
Marcello
Yichen Xue, baritone
Yichen Xue (Marcello), a baritone from Anshan, China, is a recipient of the Opera Index Competition 2023 Emerging Artist Award and a finalist and grant winner of the 2024 Gerda Lissner Competition. He graduated from Manhattan School of Music and received his master’s degree from Hunter College, where he studied with Ron Raines. Last summer, he was a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera. Yichen is a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist at Arizona Opera, where he debuted as Schaunard in La bohème. He joins the Aspen Music Festival this summer as a Renée Fleming Artist singing Marcello in La bohème.
Schaunard
Jason Edelstein, baritone
Hailing from Paramus, New Jersey, baritone Jason Edelstein (Schaunard) recently earned his master’s in Opera Performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he studied with Sandra Piques Eddy. He makes his role debut this summer as Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème. His recent credits include Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, John Buchanan in Hoiby’s Summer and Smoke, Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Baritone in Peterson’s Voir Dire, Prince Hérisson in Chabrier’s L’étoile, Steward in Dove’s Flight, Jake in Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Falke in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Giuseppe in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, and Booth in Sondheim’s Assassins.
Colline
Peter Barber,
bass-baritone
Peter Barber (Don Alfonso) is an American bass singer and graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts. He has performed over thirty operatic roles including Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Bottom (Midsummer Night’s Dream), Colline (La bohème), and the King of Egypt (Aida). Peter is currently a studio artist at Arizona Opera and is returning to the AMFS for a second season. By producing music-related content on YouTube, he has built an online following of over half a million people. Peter is also a founding member of The Bass Gang, an award-winning group with over 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Benoît/Alcindoro
Abraham Isai Cruz Ramirez, bass-baritone
Bass-baritone Abraham Isai Cruz Ramirez (Benoît/Alcindoro), a San Francisco native, earned his Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee on a full scholarship. He is currently pursuing his Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy at Texas State University. Abraham’s performance career has included participation in esteemed programs such as the Seagle Music Festival in New York, where he was an Emerging Artist, the Classical Music Institute, where he served as a Teaching Artist Fellow, and Opera San Antonio’s Studio Artist program. This summer Abraham joins the Aspen Opera Theater and Vocal-ARTS program as a Studio Artist.
Parpignol
Brett Hunter, tenor
Brett Hunter (Parpignol) is a twenty-year-old tenor currently living in Charleston, South Carolina. He studies vocal performance at the College of Charleston with his teacher, Harold Meers. Previous roles include Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Marius Pontemercy in Les Misérables, and Raoul de Changy in The Phantom of the Opera. Equally versed in concert work, Brett has been the tenor soloist in Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Bach’s Cantata BWV 140, and Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel. Brett frequently performs alongside the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Brett was a studio artist at the Music Academy of the West in 2023. Brett Hunter is a 2025 Mercedes T. Bass Opera Fellow.
Customs Sergeant
Christopher Gray,
bass-baritone
Christopher Gray (Customs Sergeant) is a bass-baritone from Dallas, Texas in his third year of undergraduate studies in vocal performance at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Stephen Morscheck. Christopher was the alternate finalist in this year’s UNT College of Music Concerto Competition. Recent roles include Masetto (Don Giovanni) with Varna International Music Academy and the Professor (That Hell-Bound Train) with UNT Opera. This season Christopher has sung Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) with UNT Opera, Masetto (Don Giovanni) with Music On Site Inc., and The Sodbuster (Proving Up) and Colline (La bohème) with the Sherman Symphony Orchestra. Christopher Gray is a 2025 beneficiary of the Merle Chambers Fellowships Fund.
A Street Vendor
Joshua Hooker, tenor
Tenor Josh Hooker (A Street Vendor) hails from Midway, Utah, and holds a master’s degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Carol Vaness. At IU he performed roles such as Lensky in Eugene Onegin and Don José in Carmen. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Utah Valley University, where he studied with Isaac Hurtado and performed as Hoffmann in Tales of Hoffmann. He made his professional debut with Lyrical Opera Theater as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. Josh enjoys whitewater rafting, snowmobiling, and going on horseback rides with his wife and two children. Josh Hooker is a 2025 recipient of the Ed Berkeley Fellowship for Opera funded by Linda and Alan Englander.