Lyric soprano Allanda Small is an award winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Gulf Coast Region), the NATSAA Young Artist Award, and the American Prize Competition (opera). Operatic roles include Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Micaëla (Carmen), Mrs. Jenks (The Tenderland), Mrs. Gleaton (Susannah) and Elektra (Idomeneo). She is a graduate of William Carey University and The University of Southern Mississippi having earned her Doctorate of Music Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. As a solo artist, she presents recitals, concerts and master classes throughout the year. In conjunction with the Dream Consortium of Chicago, she presented Vision, a recital celebrating the art songs and spirituals of African-American composers with acclaimed baritone, Robert Sims, as well as a music tour of Spain as soloist with Triumph Chorale. Concert performances include Mozart’s Requiem, Bach Magnificat in D, Handel’s Messiah, Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, multi-city performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah with The Leipzig Youth Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the Carolina Master Chorale and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Tarik O’Regan’s Triptycb with the Choral Society of Pensacola. Recently, Allanda debuted with West Bay Opera’s (Palo Alto, CA) production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida as the Voice of the High Priestess and cover for the title role. In a performance review by Opera News Magazine, the article noted that, “In their debut, Allanda excelled as the High Priestess…” Regionally, she also premiered the opera, The Crossing, a second part of the Slavery Trilogy by Odaline de la Martinez in New Orleans. Allanda is a New York native who resides in Mobile, AL. She serves as part of the music faculty at The University of West Florida.

Hayley Abramowitz, soprano, is dually based in Houston, TX and Washington, DC. They hold degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM ’20, PD ’21) and from the University of Maryland School of Music (BM ’18), where they studied with Carol Vaness and Delores Ziegler respectively.

Hayley spent the 2021-22 season as a chorister with the Houston Grand Opera, performing in Carmen, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Die Zauberflöte, and Turandot. They also presented a recital as part of the Living Arts Concert Series, featuring Mozart’s rarely performed concert aria, Popoli di Tessaglia.

Favorite roles include Romilda (Serse), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Lucy (The Telephone), and Mme. Herz (Die Schauspieldirektor). A third-place winner in the inaugural Cincinnati SongSLAM, Hayley is also a passionate advocate of new music, having presented numerous premieres in the past several years. Particularly dear is William Kenlon’s Longfellow Mosaic for soprano and Pierrot ensemble.

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Kayla Nanto is a dynamic mezzo-soprano with a lush and versatile sound who is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This season, Kayla joined Pensacola Opera as a Jan Miller Studio Artist where she appeared as Nettie Fowler in Carousel and as a featured soloist in various concerts. She is a recent winner in the Georgia District of The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.

During the 2021-2022 season, Kayla was a winner in the Colorado/Wyoming District of The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.  This past summer, sang the title role in Carmen with Painted Sky Opera and was recently a Studio Artist with Fort Worth Opera, with whom she made her mainstage debut as Flora in La traviata. In addition, she returned as a Performing Artist with The Dallas Opera’s Education and Outreach program. 

​Some of Kayla’s other recent engagements include Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas and Eustazio in Rinaldo with American Baroque Opera Company, Alto soloist in Messiah with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Frida Kahlo/Mother in the world-premiere of Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World with Fort Worth Opera, Alto Soloist in Petite Messe Solenelle with University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Suzuki (cover) in Madama Butterfly with Opera Fort Collins, Ulisse in Achille in Sciro with Orchestra of New Spain, and Edith in Pirates of Penzance with Loveland Opera Theatre.

Kayla holds degrees from University of North Texas (Master of Music) and University of Northern Colorado (Bachelor of Music).  During her time at University of North Texas, she performed the roles of Siébel in Faust, Petra in A Little Night Music, and Flora in La traviata.  While at University of Northern Colorado, she performed the roles of Angelina in La Cenerentola and the title role in Carmen.

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Complemented on his “affectionate vibrato” (OperaWire), tenor, Randy Ho is looking forward to joining the team at Pensacola Opera as an Artist in Residence. This season, Mr. Ho will be singing as Parpignol and covering Rodolfo (La bohème), and singing Enoch Snow (Carousel).

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Mr. Ho is a recent graduate of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Ho holds a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration concentrating in Marketing from the University of Denver.

Most recently, Mr. Ho will be showcased in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s scenes program singing excerpts from Faust, La Traviata, and Carmen. Previously, Mr. Ho has been featured as a studio artist at Carnegie Hall’s Song Studio led by world-renowned Soprano Renee Fleming, Peabody Opera Theater productions of La scala di seta (Dorvil), Hin und Zurück(Robert), Postcard from Morocco (Man with old Luggage), Lamont Opera Theater’s production of Il trittico (Rinuiccio), and as a soloist with The National Repertory Orchestra, Denver Opera Collective, and The Denver Spirituals Project.

A native of Statesville, North Carolina, baritone Scott Lee has been praised for his “…substance and velvety bass voice” by the Winston-Salem Journal. In recent years, he has performed with Piedmont Opera, The Princeton Festival, Opera Theater of the Rockies and Magnolia Baroque. In 2020, Lee received the Ron Payne Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Charlotte, NC. His most recent engagement was the role of Antonio in Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix, where “the opportunity to experience a staging of Linda di Chamounix was a rare gift to UNCSA’s audiences, but singing such as Lee’s is still rarer not only in student production but upon all the worlds stages.” (Voix des Arts) Lee received his Bachelor of Music degree and Master of Music degree from UNCSA. In addition to performing, Lee is a seasoned teaching artist, having served as a member of UNCSA’s ArtistCorps. He is a student of Dr. Marylin Taylor.

American conductor Cody Martin was recently named Music Director at Pensacola Opera, where he was previously the Director of Education and Director of the Artists in Residence Program since 2017.  During the 2023-24 season, he leads a production of Lucia di Lammermoor and serves as associate conductor and chorus director for Die Fledermaus, in addition to continuing his work with the company’s nationally respected Jan Miller Studio Artist Program. He also appears as guest conductor for Florida State Opera‘s The Cunning Little Vixen. Recent seasons have seen Cody leading productions of Carousel, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, As One, Florencia en el Amazonas, Man of La Mancha and María de Buenos Aires in Pensacola, in addition to various concert appearances. He made his debut with Fargo-Moorhead Opera conducting Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers in 2019. Other companies Cody has enjoyed working with include Des Moines Metro Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, Virginia Opera, and the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center.

Cody holds degrees from Murray State University and Florida State University. He lives in Pensacola with his former shelter dog, Rosina, a corgi/dachshund mix (@rosinathelongdog).

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