Coffee with the Creatives of The Marriage of Figaro

April 9 | Noon | Ohio Theatre, Studio Room 4 | FREE

Join us in-person for a FREE Q&A with the creatives of The Marriage of Figaro. They will share all of the backstage "tea" and insider knowledge while we enjoy coffee and sweets.

Stage Director, Bruno Baker

Conductor, Casey Robards

Costume Designer, Neil Fortin

Jorell Williams, Figaro

About Bruno Baker

Bruno Baker is a Latinx NYC-based American/Brazilian multidisciplinary stage director. Mr. Baker has worked as an assistant director at The Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Madison Opera, as a stage manager at the Park Avenue Armory, and on the staging staff for Santa Fe Opera. Previous work on the staging staff includes Guerilla Opera, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and LoftOpera. In the past year of the COVID-19 crisis, Mr. Baker associate directed a new filmed version of La bohème for Hong Kong-based opera company More Than Musical, co-produced with Opera Omaha and Tri-Cities Opera. He spent a few months back home in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil developing an anthology of short operas, inspired by different Brazilian musical genres. He is a recipient of the 2021 OPERA America Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize.

About Casey Robards

Korean adoptee, Dr. Casey Robards is a music director, pianist, and coach possessing sensitive musicality, collaborative leadership, and stylistic versatility. Since 2019, she has music directed Three Decembers, (South Bend Lyric Opera), Carmen (Wichita, KS), Die Zauberflöte, La Boheme, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica (Bay View), Afro-surrealist cyberpunk Water Riot in Beta: (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago); and was pianist for productions with Santa Fe, New Orleans Opera, Opera Columbus). As recitalist, Robards has partnered with singers for the last decade including Karen Slack, LaToya Lain, and Ollie Watts Davis in programs centering on music by Black composers. She co-directs the American Spiritual Intensive with Dr. Everett McCorvey, frequently lecturing on spirituals. Currently Asst. Professor at the University of Illinois and Music Director of Ensemble Concept 21, previous appointments include Indiana University, Oberlin (postdoc), Central Michigan Univ. Robards chairs the Sacred in Opera Initiative (National Opera Association). www.caseyrobards.com

About Neil Fortin

Neil is a graduate of Boston University with an MFA in Costume Production and additionally holds a bachelor's degree in History from Providence College. Fortin is returning to Opera Columbus after designing Tosca in December of 2021. He has most recently designed Opera Omaha’s production of Eugene Onegin in April of 2022 and has constructed a historical millinery for a variety of West End Shows in England as well as the BBC’s Sanditon. As an ongoing project, Fortin has collaborated with his husband and formed Thomas Fortin Menswear, an English silk accessories company. Fortin has also worked with the American Repertory Theater, the Huntington Theater Company, The Boston Conservatory Pegasus Early Music Festival, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Actors Shakespeare Project, The Walnut Hill School, and the Metro Stage Company.

About Jorell Williams

American Baritone Jorell Williams, known for having “a solid vocal core and easy, natural production” (Opera News), and “a deliciously resonant baritone voice” (Broadway World) has been heralded as “a rock-solid singer with a keen understanding of his own expressive depths” (The Washington Post), is gracing the world’s most prominent concert and opera stages.

The 2023-2024 season showcases Mr. Williams in debut engagements with Opera Omaha, Greek National Opera, Catapult Opera, Symphony Nova Scotia, The Ottawa Choral Society, and The Canadian Art Song Project, with returns to the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Tapestry Opera. A Native of Brentwood, NY, Jorell made his Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon’s critically acclaimed Intimate Apparel in January 2022 (co-production with The Metropolitan Opera / filmed for PBS Great Performances).

His career has brought him on tour with the Mark Morris Dance Company, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chorale Le Chateau, American Modern Ensemble, and Essential Voices USA. He had the honor to perform with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in A Celebration of America at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the occasion of the first Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, as well as the European premiere of Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass at the Barbican during the 2012 Olympics in London. Mr. Williams has also worked alongside some of today’s most versatile artists, including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Damien Sneed, Jon Batiste, David Lang, and most recently, Jennifer Higdon for her 2017 Grammy nominated World Premiere Opera Cold Mountain with the Santa Fe Opera.

Jorell has won awards from organizations such as The Jensen Foundation, The Gerda Lissner International Competition, The Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, The Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, The American Traditions Competition, Harlem Opera Theater Competition, The National Association of Negro Musicians [NAMN], The Liberace Foundation, The Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Competition, Civic Morning Musicals Competition, David Adams Art Song Competition, and the Rochester Classical Idol XII Prize.

He is an advocate for artist rights and serves as chair of the artistic arts council of Finger Lakes Opera, is a member of the artistic council advisor for The Denyce Graves Foundation, On-Site Opera, and currently on the New Music Board for the Brooklyn Art Song Society, using his experience to consult with arts organizations on their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

Coffee with the Creatives is supported by Black Kahawa Coffee and Nothing Bundt Cakes

Coffee art by Mary Cecil.

Host or Publisher Opera Columbus