Andrew Eggert is a freelance stage director with extensive experience in opera. In the 2012-13 season, he will direct the US premiere of Clemency by James MacMillan at Boston Lyric Opera and Bluebeard's Castle at Opera Omaha. He recently directed Mosè in Egitto and La Tragédie de Carmen at Chicago Opera Theater after eight seasons with the company as assistant director of Così fan tutte, The Rape of Lucretia, Semele, The Turn of the Screw, Agrippina, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Death in Venice, La resurrezione, Le nozze di Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nixon in China, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and Don Giovanni. As staff of the Young American Artists Program at Glimmerglass Opera, Mr. Eggert worked as assistant director of new productions including Orlando Paladino, Don Giovanni, Patience, and Death in Venice. Other projects include staging Apprentice Scenes at companies including Santa Fe Opera and Wolf Trap Opera, and associate directing Gotham Chamber Opera’s production of Il mondo della luna with Diane Paulus at the Hayden Planetarium in New York. In 2010-11, he worked as associate director on the world première of Death and the Powers at the Opéra de Monte Carlo, as well as US performances at the American Repertory Theatre and Chicago Opera Theater; and worked as associate director of Die Zauberflöte at Canadian Opera Company and Macbeth at Boston Lyric Opera. He has been a regular guest director at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Princeton University, and the Yale Baroque Opera Project, where he developed projects around the operas of Cavalli and Handel. His new production of Mourning Becomes Electra was selected as a winner of Opera America’s 2009 Director-Designer Showcase. Mr. Eggert is a graduate of Yale College, where he studied English with an emphasis on dramatic literature, and is currently pursuing a PhD in the Music Department of Columbia University in New York.

2013 is a season of homecomings to familiar places and old friends. In February, Hal will conduct Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Stage Director Michael Ehrman at Northwestern University where he received his Bachelor in Music . In April, he joins Samuel Ramey and Kara Shay Thomson for Bela Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle at Opera Omaha and in July, he returns to the Central City Opera at the Denver Performing Arts Center for 7 performances of Jerome Kern’s American classic, Showboat. Hal France currently serves as Special Project Director for Why Arts in his home, Omaha, Nebraska.

During a thirty-year professional career as an opera conductor, Hal France has led organizations and performed with opera companies and symphony orchestras around the United States. While conducting throughout the United States and abroad his activities include speaking and advocating for arts education. He has completed tenures as Executive Director of KANEKO (2008–2012), Artistic Director of Opera Omaha (1995–2005), and Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic (1999-2006).

Hal France has guest conducted the Royal Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Richmond Symphony and the Jacksonville Symphony. In 1992, he made his European opera debut with the Royal Opera of Stockholm with a production of Maria Stuarda.

Mr. France has collaborated with many of this country’s opera companies. In 1981, he made his professional debut at Washington’s Kennedy Center. He served the Houston Grand Opera first as Associate Conductor and later as Resident Conductor over a four-year span. He has conducted performances for the New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of St.Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Chautauqua Opera, Minnesota Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opera Carolina, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Tulsa Opera, Portland Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Orlando Opera.

Hal France has been involved in numerous community collaborations that include:

BlueBarn Music Festival which presents exceptional talent in the Omaha area in a melting pot of musical styles, visual arts, young talent and fine cuisine,
Habitat for Humanity Omaha’s Multi-Faith Music Festival, celebrating Habitat’s diverse multi-faith family,
National Hunger Awareness Day Convocation, an annual event with leaders from Omaha’s Faith and Social Service Communities and the Omaha Food Bank,
Why Arts, a provider of arts training and entertainment for audiences including seniors, at risk youth and special needs populations,
Omaha Performing Arts 1200 Series Young Artist Nights, showcasing emerging musical talent in a full spectrum of styles,
Kountze Memorial Lutheran Food Pantry, serving Omaha’s growing population in need of additional assistance.

Hal France served as the first Executive Director of KANEKO a non-profit organization founded by the artist Jun Kaneko and his wife Ree in Omaha, Nebraska. During a four-year tenure he was integrally involved in every aspect of the organization’s creativity based programming and infrastructure. He promoted and helped design an extensive number of community partnerships, the Great Minds Lecture series, performances, exhibitions, workshops and educational outreach programs that brought people into a forum of ideas and collaboration.

Mr. France served as Music Director of the Mobile Opera and Lake George Opera Festival and as Music Director of Opera Omaha before assuming the position of Artistic Director. He has been on the music staffs of the Glyndebourne Festival, Aspen Festival and the Netherlands Opera. He has degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and a fellowship from the Juilliard Opera Center. Recently he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an Admiralty in the Nebraska Navy from the Governor of the state.

For over three decades, Samuel Ramey has reigned as one of the music world’s foremost interpreters of bass and bass-baritone operatic and concert repertoire. With astounding versatility he commands an impressive breadth of repertoire encompassing virtually every musical style from the fioratura of Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo, which was the vehicle of his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 1984, to the dramatic proclamations of the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, which he sang in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera televised by PBS. Mr. Ramey’s interpretations embrace the bel canto of Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti; the lyric and dramatic roles of Mozart and Verdi; and the heroic roles of the Russian and French repertoire.

The combination of Samuel Ramey’s commanding vocalism, exceptional musicianship, elegant stage presence, and uncommon theatrical abilities has enabled him to portray a wide variety of characters from the sharp-witted protagonist of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro to the somber, tortured King Philip II of Verdi’s Don Carlos; from the terrorizing Hun of Verdi’s Attila to the terrorized Tsar of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov; from the capricious libertine of Mozart’s Don Giovanni to the troubled preacher Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah; from the sober and profound Field Marshal Kutuzov in Prokofiev’s War and Peace to the comedic title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi; from the benevolent Giorgio in I Puritani and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor to the sinister incarnations of the devil in Gounod’s Faust, Boito’s Mefistofele, and Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust.

Recognized for the natural beauty of her voice and her sense of dramatic insight, American soprano Kara Shay Thomson is proving herself a versatile and essential artist on the operatic and concert stages. As the Longboat Observer acclaimed of her Tosca, “‘Vissi d’arte’ began as a plaintive, quiet act of desperation and grew to an ardent, fervent plea that was both luminous and luxurious in sound, while maintaining the nuanced vocalism of a true diva. In fact, there wasn’t a moment in the evening when Thomson came even close to over-singing or pushing. Her enormous voice resonated throughout the house yet she never abused her abilities and, by passionate restraint, was able to build a character who was, in every sense, a Great Woman.”

In 2011-12 Kara Shay Thomson returned to Sarasota Opera in the title role of Vanessa, debuted with Opera New Jersey in the title role of Tosca, joined the roster of Santa Fe Opera for its production of Tosca, sung as soloist with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in excerpts from Edward Joseph Collins’ “Daughter of the South,” and as The Marschallin in excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier with Quad City Symphony.

Ms. Thomson resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received her Graduate Diploma in Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Nils Haaland is from Dutchess County, New York. He became a member of Actors Equity at the age of ten when he performed the Role of “Douglas Spaulding” in the play “Dandelion Wine” base on the novel by Ray Bradbury. Nils received his BFA from the Acting Conservatory at State University of New York at Purchase and moved to Omaha to co-found the Blue Barn Theater where he has directed and performed in an abundance of plays. He has also performed in plays with the Omaha Community Playhouse, the National Institute for the Lost, The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis and the ELAN theatre in Italy. Nils has directed voices for the Cartoon “Strawberry Shortcake” and has voiced many characters in the CBS aired Cartoons “Liberty’s Kids”, “Dino-Squad” and “Horse-Land”.  Nils received his MFA from UNL and currently works for Heartland Scenic Studios and Why Arts? Nils is thrilled to be performing again with Opera Omaha!

Allen Hahn has designed productions at City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass, and the Spoleto USA Festival, and internationally for opera companies and festivals in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. He has designed world premiere operas at Juilliard and at the Royal Danish Opera. Regional theatre highlights include several productions in his hometown with Pittsburgh Public Theatre and City Theatre. His designs for several productions were selected for exhibition in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He is Lighting Design Curator for the upcoming 2011 Quadrennial. Allen has worked with the performance company The Builders Association since its inception in 1994. He has also worked with artistTony Oursler on installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark.

S. Katy Tucker is a video and projections designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work in opera, theater, and dance has been seen at a variety of venues including BAM, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Opera, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Amazonas, Wolf Trap Opera, Park Avenue Armory, and The Kitchen. She has collaborated with musicians like John Zorn, Jeffery Ziegler, and Paola Prestini. Recently, Ms. Tucker designed Paul McCartney’s Ballet, Ocean’s Kingdom, at the New York City Ballet, Götterdämmerung, in Francesca Zambello’s Ring Cycle, Zelda, An American Love Story by Frank Wildhorn, and she created a 3D spectacle for Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall. Upcoming projects include The Flying Dutchman at the Sydney Symphony and San Francisco Opera, Listen, Quiet with choreographer Lar Lubovitch and composer Paola Prestini, The Aging Magician, directed by Julian Crouch, and 21c. Liederabend at BAM. Katy is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design, a collective of artists, designers, writers, and thinkers committed to the practice of collaboration in theatrical design.

Julia noulin.mérat is a triple American, Canadian and French citizen. Ms Noulin-Mérat is the principal
designer at Noulin-Merat Studio,a young intrepid NYC production design firm that specializes in Theater, Film & TV, with an emphasis in Opera and immersive theatre. She is the Director of design and production for the Boston based, Guerilla Opera, and is the resident set designer for the New York based, Attic Theatre and Exit, Pursued By A Bear. Ms Noulin-Mérat has designed over 30 operas and 100 productions.

Ms Noulin-Mérat was the assistant scenic designer for Opera Boston on numerous productions including; Ainadamar directed by Peter Sellars and La Duchesse de Gerolstein directed by David Kneuss. She also had the pleasure to work at Derek McLane’s studio for a couple years on such shows as Ruined, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 33 variations, Ragtime, Million Dollar Quartet, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Retributionists.

Ms Noulin-Mérat was nominated for the Rising Star Award in design. She was selected to participate at the USITT Young Designers’ Forum in Houston, Texas. She won the honorable mention/ Barbizon Award for her design of the production First Blush and she was selected to participate at the First Word Stage Design Exhibition in Toronto. Ms Noulin-Mérat also had the privilege of being a lab company designer for the Hangar Theatre and has been a returning mainstage designer since. She has been the set designer for NYC The Drama League for the past 4 years.

In April 2011, Ms Noulin-Mérat launched the Noulin-Merat Studio App. It is the first set design studio portfolio app created.

Ms Noulin-Mérat has a BFA from Concordia University, Montreal, in Design for the Theatre, a MSc in Arts Administration for Performing Arts from Boston University; and an MFA in Scenic Design from Boston University.

Erika Overturff is the founder and artistic director of Ballet Nebraska, the state’s professional ballet company. Under her leadership, Ballet Nebraska enriches the region through an exciting array of professional dance performances and a strong commitment to cultural education and community outreach programming.

Erika began her training in Iowa at the Academy of Ballet, continuing her studies at summer programs including North Carolina School of the Arts, American Ballet Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and the Kirov Academy. Erika earned her B.F.A. in ballet performance and teaching from the University of Utah, which she attended on a full scholarship. She graduated cum laude in just three years and was chosen outstanding senior by the ballet department faculty.

Erika went on to dance with Montgomery Ballet, Alabama Ballet, and Omaha Theater Ballet. She has performed principal and soloist roles in a wide range of classical and contemporary repertoire. Erika has also been a faculty member and guest teacher for schools throughout the United States.

As a choreographer, Erika has received critical praise for her work. She served as répétitrice for Montgomery Ballet and resident choreographer for Omaha Theater Ballet. She is currently working on several collaborations with Opera Omaha and regularly creates new works for Ballet Nebraska. As part of the company’s ongoing collaboration with Joslyn Art Museum for Momentum, Erika has choreographed original ballets inspired by museum artwork or exhibitions, including Connemara and Cleopatra. She also created Ballet Nebraska’s lively and entertaining new version of the holiday favorite The Nutcracker, which has premiered to enthusiastic audiences both at home and on tour.

A founding member of Ballet Nebraska, Natasha Grimm has performed leading roles including Sugar Plum Fairy in Erika Overturff’s The Nutcracker, Titania in Oskar Antunez’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mina in Winthrop Corey's Dracula, and the title role in Overturff's Cleopatra. Natasha began her ballet training at Omaha Theater Ballet School of Dance. She also received a scholarship to Kansas City Ballet, toured with Manhattan Dance, and performed in productions with Omaha Symphony and Opera Omaha. Natasha began her professional career at Omaha Theater Ballet where she danced first as an apprentice, and later as a company member. Natasha returns for her third season with Ballet Nebraska.

Claire Goodwillie is a professional dancer with Ballet Nebraska. She began her ballet training at Omaha Theater Ballet School of Dance and spent summers training with the renowned Pacific Northwest Ballet and Ballet Austin. She has also trained in Banff, Canada. Claire appeared in numerous Omaha Theater Ballet productions as both a student and apprentice, including The Sleeping Beauty, The Firebird and Coppélia. Her favorite roles include young Clara in The Orpheum Nutcracker, Evil Rat Queen in Erika Overturff's The Nutcracker, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a vampire bride in Dracula. She has also performed with Opera Omaha and Omaha Symphony.

Bret Samson began her dance training at Lake Shore Dance in Wisconsin. She continued training with Melissa Anderson and Rafael Delgado in Milwaukee, where she later became a founding member of their performance group. Bret continued her training at Steps on Broadway in New York City. Before joining Ballet Nebraska, she performed with Milwaukee Ballet II, Madison Ballet and Omaha Theater Ballet. Bret has enjoyed performing in works by a variety of choreographers, including Harrison McEldowney, Oskar Antunez, Winthrop Corey, Kennet Oberly, and Jean-Paul Commélin. She was recently featured as a soloist in Mikhail Fokine's classic The Dying Swan during Ballet Nebraska's Momentum. A founding member of Ballet Nebraska, this is Bret's third season with the company.