Bass Allen Michael Jones begins the 2022-2023 season as Colline in La bohème for his company debut with Nashville Opera. Additionally in the season, Jones will be heard as Colline with Pensacola Opera, as the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly with his hometown company – Atlanta Opera, and returns to Minnesota Opera as Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. In the summer prior to the season, Jones was a member of the famed Apprentice Artist program at The Santa Fe Opera. During his two summers in Santa Fe, he was heard as the Officer in Il barbiere di Siviglia and as Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, a role he sang with Dallas Symphony under the baton of Fabio Luisi. A former resident artist with Minnesota Opera, Jones was heard in performances as Zuniga in Carmen, Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring, and appeared in concerts and performances specifically produced during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also enjoys a strong relationship with Toledo Opera where he was scheduled to sing Father in Blue, Ramfis in Aida, and was able to perform Ferrando in Il trovatore. Jones was also a Resident Artist with Michigan Opera Theatre where he performed as Masetto in Don Giovanni, Zaretsky, Balthanzar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Maximillian in Candide, and sang multiple roles in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Grapes of Wrath.

Also a gifted composer, Jones is a proud graduate of Morehouse College where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Composition before going on to earn his Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance form Georgia State University.

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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.

Dean Anthony draws inspiration and expertise from a comprehensive career spanning over 35 years and innumerable turns as performer, director, educator, producer and administrator. Most recently, Mr. Anthony was named as Producing Director of Knoxville Opera along with his position as Director of Opera, at the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, producing over 40 productions.

Frequently engaged as a stage director, Mr. Anthony’s artistic process is hallmarked by an energetic, gritty, and physical style. His portfolio stretches across the repertoire from Le nozze di Figaro to Dead Man Walking and includes regular engagements at regional houses across the United States. In 2020, he received the Charles Nelson Reilly American Prize Stage Director Award for his work on Tom Cipullo’s world premiere opera, Mayo.

A major producer and promoter of new opera works, Mr. Anthony has helped facilitate, create and develop numerous projects including Glory Denied, Mayo, Fleecing the Flock, Supper’s Ready, Falling Angel, Sister Carrie, and Change the World, It Needs It! a new cabaret with the Kurt Weill Foundation. In collaboration with composer Michael Ching, Mr. Anthony conceived and created the opera Speed Dating Tonight!, which garnered nationwide attention and has been booked for over 100 different productions to date.

As a character tenor, Mr. Anthony performed over 100 roles on the operatic stage and garnered acclaim for his keen vocal, dramatic, physical, and acrobatic abilities, earning him the nickname “The Tumbling Tenor.”

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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.

Praised for his “skill and verve” (New York Times), Shannon celebrates nearly 30 years as a professional operatic pianist, vocal coach, conductor and administrator. During this time, Maestro Shannon has held leadership positions with Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston (Artistic Administrator, Assistant Conductor, Conductor), Virginia Opera (Artistic Administrator, Associate Artistic Director, Conductor), Pensacola Opera (Music Director and Principal Conductor, Artistic Director), Shreveport Opera (Music Director and Principal Conductor), Mobile Opera (General and Artistic Director, Principal Conductor) and the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center (Resident Conductor and Vocal Coach).

Award-winning baritone Corey McKern continuously earns critical acclaim and accolades in every appearance he makes. Of his performance as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, critics hailed: “Corey McKern… has all the goods to rise to star stature – timing, stamina, vocal heft and an easy-going stage presence – especially telling in Figaro’s signature aria, ‘Largo al factotum della citta.’” Recent engagements include the role of Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Opera Birmingham and performances as a soloist in Carmina Burana with Missoula Symphony, and Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony. Other engagements include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony and a return to the Florentine Opera for a concert of “Opera’s Greatest Hits.” Upcoming, Corey will return to Pensacola Opera as the title role in their production of Don Giovanni.

Of his performance in La bohème, the Santa Fe New Mexican said, “Corey McKern’s resolute, robust-voiced and rambunctious Marcello, a perfect picture of a wannabe Parisian painter, was one of the best I’ve ever heard.” Mr. McKern garners attention at leading opera houses for his charming and dynamic portrayals of his signature roles: Marcello in La bohème in his Asian début at Opera Hong Kong, Santa Fe Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Nashville Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Nashville Opera and Opera Birmingham; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Nashville Opera, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus, Michigan Opera Theatre, Tulsa Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Syracuse Opera; Gabriel von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with Nashville Opera and Florentine Opera; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Omaha, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Tulsa Opera; as Silvio in Pagliacci with Austin Lyric Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Central City Opera.