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Award-winning Stage Director, Producer, Administrator, and Educator Scott Skiba has led 100+ new productions for professional companies, international festivals, and graduate and undergraduate institutions and continues to earn recognition for his imaginative stage direction and dynamic physical approach to storytelling that is “masterful…ingenious…first-rate…vivid and emotionally charged.”  Skiba’s work is recognized with numerous awards from Opera America, The American Prize and The National Opera Association, and he has raised more than $1,000,000 in funds to support excellence in opera, the arts, and arts education.

Skiba serves as Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Opera Theater where his new production of La Traviata was named “the best professional opera production Cleveland has seen in years” and La Bohème – hailed as “Ingenious and talent rich” by the Plain Dealer.  Skiba is the recently appointed Production Director for Opera Western Reserve, and has made multiple company debuts in recent years including an award-winning production of Jake Heggie’s Two Remain (Lyric Opera of Orange County) Sweeney Todd (Helena Symphony Orchestra), Don Giovanni (Indianapolis Opera), Roméo et Juliette (Pensacola Opera), Macbeth (Opera Tampa), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Toledo Opera), Faust and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Natchez Festival of Music), The Student Prince (Opera Grand Rapids), Carmen (Opera Western Reserve), Suor Angelica and La Bohème (Mobile Opera), Don Giovanni, Carmen, Orpheus in The Underworld, Into The Woods, and L’incoronazione di Poppea (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival).

A proponent of developing new works, Skiba launched {NOW} Fest, an annual festival to create, develop, and produce new opera currently in residence with Cleveland Opera Theater.  He serves on the Chamber Opera Composition Committee for the National Opera Association (NOA), and he has collaborated on the development of 18 new operas and counting!

Skiba lobbied for the 2020 NOA national conference to be held in Cleveland, OH and then served as the local host for the 2020 Convention “Opera Rocks” where and directed the Cleveland premiere of Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire’s The Ghosts of Gatsby for The National Opera Association in a co-production between Cleveland Opera Theater, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and The Music Box Supper Club, and organized other collaborations throughout the city including events at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

A pioneer in exploring contemporary approaches to producing opera, Skiba’s work includes directing and producing interdisciplinary collaborations in alternative and site-specific venues to promote immersive gateway experiences to engage the community and new audiences.  Other projects include the professional premiere of Griffin Candey’s Sweets By Kate, which was produced by Marble City Opera and performed in Sugar Mama’s Bakery in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. Skiba directed “The New Opera Project,” which developed and premiered six Micro-Operas in collaboration with Interlochen Arts Academy, Parallel 45 Theatre Company, and Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan. Skiba envisioned and led the iLyric project – an installation of nine different operas throughout the historic piazze of Arezzo, Italy in collaboration with the Oberlin Conservatory, ICASTICA Festival, and the city of Arezzo, Italy.  In June 2022 Skiba produced and directed the world Premiere production La Casa de Bernarda Alba, the new opera by Griffin Candey with libretto by OBIE-Award-winner Caridad Svich. Based on Garcia Lorca’s last play of the same name, this opera with an all-female cast and bi-lingual Spanish/English libretto was a co-commission by Baldwin Wallace and Cleveland Opera Theater that was spearheaded by Skiba in 2016.

A leader in innovative projects to continue artistic collaboration during the pandemic, Skiba devised and directed multiple projects that embraced the realities and intersections of remote collaboration, contemporary technology, and traditional artistic values including: stage direction, production, and live-simulcast direction for Händel’s Alcina outdoors on the steps of Baldwin Wallace Conservatory; Opera ON DEMAND for the Curtis Institute of Music, incorporating green screen, video, and audio technology and remote collaboration; A Taste of Traviata a cinematic production adaptation of La Traviata filmed on site at the historic Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, Ohio, and  Romeo + Juliet, a reimagined telling of Shakespeare’s play and Gounod’s opera for Opera Western Reserve.  The largest of these undertakings, Operas in Place won the 2022 Award for Digital Excellence in Opera from Opera America. This project commissioned nine new short-length “micro operas” in collaboration with Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Cleveland Opera Theater, and On Site Opera in NYC.  For this project, 17 World-renowned composers and librettists including Griffin Candey, Kermit Cole, David Cote, Lisa DeSpain, Jerre Dye, Jake Heggie, Sarah Labrie, Libby Larsen, Caroline V. McGraw, Nkeiru Okoye, Rachel Peters, Kamala Sankaram, Dawn Sonntag, Gene Scheer, Josh Schmidt, Michi Wiancko, and Royce Vavrek composed micro-operas for Baldwin Wallace Voice Performance Students that premiered in a virtual event February 2022 at BWVP.org.

An advocate of arts education, Skiba is a frequent guest master class and workshop teacher throughout the United States and in Europe.  He serves currently as Interim Director of Opera for the University of Tennessee, and Director of Opera Studies for Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, where he has developed numerous collaborative partnerships in Greater Cleveland including Playhouse Square, The Cleveland Museum Of Art, The Cleveland Arcade, Red Space, The Music Box Supper Club, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and The Maltz Center for Performing Arts, and directed numerous productions including the collegiate premiere of Kamala Sankaram and Jerre Dye’s Taking Up Serpents, Nkeiru Okoye and David Cote’s We’ve Got Our Eye On You (2023 NOA 1^st Place Award Winer), Pelléas + Mélisande (Winner of The American Prize for Opera Performance, and The Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Stage Direction), and The Dialogues of the Carmelites (1st Place NOA Collegiate Opera Production Competition).  Additional university directing credits include Tobermory, Trouble in Tahiti, and Roman Fever for Oberlin Opera Theater, Serse and La finta giardiniera for Oberlin in Italy, The Crucible, and Falstaff for Martina Arroyo’s Role Preparation Program at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, La Finta Giardiniera with University of Tennessee Opera Theater, Carmen (in Spanish Language translation) for the University of Texas at Rio Grand Valley, The Dialogues of the Carmelites Penn State Opera Theatre, and The Pirates of Penzance, Dido & Aeneas, The Spider and Orpheus in The Underworld for Interlochen Opera Theater.  An active National Opera Association (NOA) member since 2016, Skiba served as local host for the 2020 “Opera Rocks” National Conference in Cleveland, OH; assisted in overhauling the Collegiate Opera Competition process and created the Google-based form for transition to the online application protocol.  He has presented in NOA plenary sessions and presentations at NOA conferences in Santa Barbara, Salt Lake City and Cleveland; has received multiple awards in the Collegiate Opera Competition; and serves on the Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition Committee.

Skiba serves as Assistant Artistic Director for Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Movement & Acting Instructor for Music Across the Pond, Acting and Movement Teacher, Washington National Opera Institute, and Acting Coach for Jennifer Rowley’s Aria Boot Camp.  Previous appointments include Executive Director of the Oberlin in Italy training program and Arezzo Opera Festival, Instructor of Voice and Opera Theater, Interlochen Arts Academy; Production Designer, East Carolina University Opera Theater; and Associate Instructor of Voice, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Upcoming engagements include:  The Cleveland Premiere of Michael Ching and Dean Anthony’s Speed Dating Tonight in collaboration with Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Opera and the Cleveland Museum of Art (February 2025), Dialogues of the Carmelites (University of Tennessee Opera Theatre April 2025), Le nozze di Figaro (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival July 2025), Faust (Opera Western reserve September 2025) Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Helena Symphony Orchestra May 2026).

Skiba is represented by Marvel Arts Management more info: www.SkibaSkiba.com

“Not only does he sound like God on a good day, but he’s intensely imaginative and adventurous, navigating repertoire that make most singers creep into the wings and weep.” – The Washington Post

Known as a consummate artist, baritone Stephen Salters has performed throughout Europe, Africa, the United Kingdom, Asia & the USA. Most recent successes include Mahler’s Das Lied Von der Erde & Mahler Songs and the Brahms Requiem in New York City. In Boston, he created the title role in Elena Ruehr’s tour de force dance opera Toussaint Before the Spirits for Opera Boston. Recent seasons include performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Wagner’s Rienzi and Walton’s The Bear with Boston’s Odyssey Opera, Phillip Glass’ Symphony #5 at the Kennedy Center & New York City’s Trinity Church, Elena Ruehr’s opera Crafting The Bonds in Boston, and an historic sesquicentennial vocal recital honoring Harry T. Burleigh @ Skidmore College, NY and his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic with conductor Alan Gilbert.

Mr. Salters most recently performed the lead in Gounod’s opera Le Médecin malgré lui with recitatives by Erik Satie to critical acclaim and Julian Wachner’s Epistle Mass in New York City. Other noteworthy career highlights include concerts for children in Monaco with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo; The Cleveland Orchestra; Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Minnesota Orchestra; the symphonies of Houston & San Francisco; appearing in many American & European festivals; Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem, written for Mr. Salters by Ysaye Barnwell; the World Premiere of Dan Sonenberg’s The Summer King; the World Premiere of Philippe Fenelon’s Les Rois for Opera National in Bordeaux; Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Orvieto, Italy; Shostakovich’s The Nose; Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; Gluck’s Alceste; Mozart’s Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and Così fan tutte; Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore; Handel’s Alcina and Guilio Cesare; Rossini’s La Cenerentola; Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci; and Britten’s Peter Grimes at Tanglewood on the 50th anniversary of that work’s U.S. Premiere. Mr. Salters has sung over 40 operatic roles excelling equally in contemporary works and standard repertory with many of the world’s great stage directors – highlights include appearing with the National Opera of Paris, Opéra de Nice, Opéra de Rennes, Opéra du Rhin and the Opéra de Tour in a range of productions that include Alfredo Arias’s production of Carmen, Nicholas Hytner’s Giulio Cesare, Olivier Py’s Der Freischutz, and both Francesca Zambello’s and Colin Graham’s Billy Budd, Alain Garichot’s Penelope, Robert Wilson’s Madame Butterfly, Stein Winge’s and Gunther Kramer’s Tristan und Isolde and Dominique Pitoiset’s Don Giovanni.

Mr. Salters has demonstrated his versatility on the concert stage in such diverse works as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 to Wachner’s Epistle Mass. In the past couple of seasons alone, he was seen in several performances of Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer & Kindertotenlieder; Copland’s Old American Songs; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Vaughan – Williams’ Sea Symphony, Dona Nobis Pacem, Hodie, & Five Mystical Songs; Haydn’s Mass in a Time of War; Britten’s War Requiem; Mendelssohn’s Elijah & Paulus; a concert performance of Der Freischutz; Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater; Zemlinsky’s Symphonic Songs; the Brahms Requiem; and Handel’s Messiah. He has appeared with symphonies in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis, with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra of Monte-Carlo, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Handel & Haydn Society, the National Arts Center Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre Royal de Wallonie, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Nouve Musiche, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege, the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn and countless others. As a skilled stylist, he also appears in Pops programs, including with the Boston Pops on their national holiday tour and twice at Bravo! Vail with the Rochester Philharmonic. His most recent & unique collaborations include a dance/recital program as singer and dancer under the combined auspices of Ravinia with Welz Kauffman and the Luna Negra Dance Theatre premiering a piece in honor of Cervantes’ Don Quijote including a commission by Mexican composer Ana Lara, as well as having performed Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder again as a singer and dancer with the Joffrey Ballet with superlative reviews. Stephen Salters has also appeared in a dance opera with choreographer Nicola Hawkins as well as appearing many times and premiering programs with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Mr. Salters is a sought-after interpreter and an advocate of ‘New Music’ and often engages composers to write music for him to enrich the vocal repertoire. In the past years, he has sung many commissions including a fantastic cycle by William Bolcom; French composer Pierre Ruscher; and started a new recital program entitled The Black Russian. He has begun commissioning composers for 2 new recitals 1) Wonderful Woman and 2) Underrepresented/Unsung Heroes both to debut in the 2024 & 2025 seasons.

Not only has Mr. Salters conducted masterclasses world-wide for the past 25 years, he has for approximately 15 years had a private teaching studio in Europe, & the USA and now teaching in Australia. Mr. Salters has also spearheaded a highly successful & creative residency called Until Now for young singers and the general public across the globe and has also begun to appear on International Competition Juries. Mr. Salters has always embraced his African-American background – breaking boundaries and continuing to press forward in the footsteps laid out by other great African-American artists.

A celebrated recitalist, known for his musically distinctive and intensely moving performances, Mr. Salters has thrilled and engaged audiences all over the world, including leading venues in New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, Milan, Tokyo and throughout Benelux. Mr. Salters has also been a sought-after chamber musician working with many string quartets including the Biava, Shanghai, Borromeo, & Lark over the past decade. Due to his musicianship, precision and artistry, he was asked to be one of the Lark Chamber Artists for several years. Through these collaborations, he has expanded this repertoire with approximately 15-30 new pieces/arrangements written for his voice and this pairing with more to come.

Baritone Stephen Salters first gained worldwide attention in 1996, when he won First Place in Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth International Competition of Singing and became the first American to win the Grand Prix of one of the most important vocal competitions in the world. Also that year, he captured First Place in the 1996 International Puccini-Licia Albanese Competition; National Finalist of the 1996 Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions; first place winner of the Leontyne Price Competition; recipient of the Esther B. Kahn Career Entry Award; candidate of the Marian Anderson Award; and a George London Foundation Award in memory of Bruce Yarnell. It was indeed no surprise when Mr. Salters next obtained America’s most prestigious vocal award, the 1999 Walter W. Naumburg International Competition becoming the first and only musician to win both the Queen Elisabeth & Walter W. Naumburg International Competitions in their combined approximate 180 year illustrious history.

Stephen Salters has worked with leading conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Bobby McFerrin, James Conlon, Nicholas McGegan, Martin Haselbock, Keith Lockhart, Ivor Bolton, Will Crutchfield, Leonard Slatkin, Hugh Wolff, Jane Glover, Julian Wachner, Marc Soustrot, Maurizio Benini, Pinchas Steinberg, Gary Bertini and Martin Isepp. In addition, Mr. Salters has sung at leading Festivals worldwide, including Aldeburgh, Banff, Edinburgh, Pietrasanta, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Vail, and BAM’s Next Wave.

Stephen has made several CDs including one of French melody, German lieder and spirituals with pianist Shiela Kibbe for Cypres, and Telarc’s award-winning recording of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride with Boston Baroque and Christine Goerke. His most recent recordings include Spirit: Are You There? You Are There; several world premiere performances and recordings, including William Bolcom’s Billy in the Darbies written for Mr. Salters and the Lark Quartet; and 3 different CDs of Elena Ruehr’s music all written for Mr. Salters – Toussaint Before the Spirits; Averno & Gospel Cha Cha; Song of the Silkie with the Borromeo Quartet/Cypress Quartet. The summer before COVID-19 began, he was a featured soloist on a DVD & CD recording of Phillip Glass’s epic 5th Symphony with Maestro Julian Wachner and the Trinity Choir. We are joyfully awaiting the release of Julian Wachner’s Epistle Mass “Live” recording created expressly for Mr. Salters & Songs for Stephen by Elena Ruehr being recorded this summer. Stay tuned!

Mezzo-Soprano noted for her “commanding and dramatic presence” (Opera News), mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum continues to garner recognition in the most demanding of operatic repertoire. In the 2022-23 season, Ms. Tatum returns to the Metropolitan Opera for Rigoletto, performs a debut recital with The Boston Wagner Society, sings Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Palm Beach Opera, sings a recital with the Needham Concert Society, Mozart’s Missa Brevis and Vesperae solennes de confessore with the Masterworks Chorale, and ends the season with Mahler’s Rückertlieder. Future seasons include Flosshilde and Waltraute in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in concert with The Dallas Symphony.

Last season, Ms. Tatum made her Atlanta Opera debut as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, followed by a recital with the Boston Artists Ensemble. Later in the season, she debuted Fricka in Das Rheingold with Nashville Opera and Margret in Wozzeck with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also continued her long relationship with The Metropolitan Opera in their new production of Rigoletto and Ariadne auf Naxos. Ms. Tatum’s relationship with The Met spans 11 years and has included nearly 100 performances including Fenena in Nabucco, 3rd Lady and 2nd Lady in The Magic Flute, Emilia in Otello, Inez in Il Trovatore, Adonella in Francesca da Rimini, and Waltraute and Flosshilde in Robert LePage’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Tatum began the 2019-20 season as Flosshilde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with The National Theater in Taiwan, followed by her role debut as Kundry in Parsifal for Indiana University Opera Theatre. She also returned to The Metropolitan Opera as the Third Lady in The Magic Flute, Azucena in Il Trovatore with Pensacola Opera, and joined Rochester Philharmonic for The Mother of Us All. Scheduled performances in that season and in the 20-21 season included Giulio Cesare and The Champion with Boston Lyric Opera, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Jacksonville Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Mill City Summer Opera, and productions of Giulio Cesare and The Magic Flute at The Met. She has recently been heard as Flosshilde and Waltraute in San Francisco Opera’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Flosshilde in Das Rheingold at The Tanglewood Festival, Francisca in West Side Story at Grand Tetons Music Festival, Jenny in Threepenny Opera for Boston Lyric Opera, and Parsifal at The Metropolitan Opera. Concert performances included Penderecki’s Credo with Indianapolis Symphony, Durufle’s Requiem with Back Bay Chorale, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with The Cecelia Chorus of NYC. She was also heard in concert with Warren Jones at Manchester Music Festival and in a concert presentation of Das Rheingold with New York Philharmonic.

She has appeared as Flosshilde and Grimgerde in Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Seattle Opera, Götterdammerung with the Houston Grand Opera and The National Taichung Theatre in Taiwan, Olga in Eugene Onegin with Boston Youth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Pacific Symphony, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Pacific Chorale, Mozart’s Requiem with Omaha Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with San Diego Symphony. Additionally, she has been heard as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Toledo Opera, Flosshilde and Waltraute for Washington National Opera, Flosshilde in Gotterdammerung with Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Grimgerde in Die Walküre at Houston Grand Opera. Ms. Tatum also joined The Hyogo Performing Arts Festival in Japan as Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata, sang Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with The Eastern Music Festival, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Boston Symphony Orchestra at The Tanglewood Music Festival. Additional concert appearances include Salome with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Santa Cruz Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with The Indianapolis Symphony, NY Philharmonic and Orange County Philharmonic Society.

Ms. Tatum holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and California State University Fullerton. She was also an Adler Fellow with The San Francisco Opera and a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program at The Metropolitan Opera. She has taught voice through the Office of the Arts at Harvard University, was an Artist in Residence at the Longy School of Music in Boston and is a regular masterclass presenter.

Her discography includes: Der Ring des Nibelungen on The Avie Label with Seattle Opera as well as a film version of Handel’s Giulio Cesare with The Atlanta Opera. Ms. Tatum has also appeared in Die Walkürie, Francesca da Rimini, Otello and Rusalka, all part of The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD Series released on Decca.

Andrew Skoog, tenor, is Professor of Voice and Voice Area Coordinator. Professor Skoog is also conductor of the University of Tennessee Men’s Chorale.

Professor Skoog made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall as tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Rutter, internationally acclaimed composer and conductor.  He returned to Carnegie Hall as tenor soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  In addition, Skoog has sung the piece with the American Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.  In demand for orchestral engagements, Skoog made his international debut singing Carmina Burana with the Bergen Philharmonic in Bergen, Norway.

Critics hail him as ideal in Carmina Burana because of his “full, lyric delivery in the demanding, high tessitura.” As a Carmina specialist, Skoog has performed this role forty-seven times in his career, including with the Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Albany Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Midland Symphony and Valley Symphony Orchestras. Other engagements include Rachmaninoff’s The Bells in a return appearance with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Berlioz’ Requiem with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances of Britten’s Saint Nicolas, Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, Mozart’s Requiem and Ramirez’s Misa Criolla.  Prior to the COVID pandemic, he appeared in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the University of Tennessee Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Knoxville Handel Society, Turandot with Knoxville Opera where he sang the role of Pong, and five performances of Carmina Burana with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Atlanta Wind Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Ballet and Delta Symphony Orchestra.

Also sought after for Messiah, Skoog has performed this work with the Duke University Chapel Choir and Symphony Orchestra, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and with numerous orchestras throughout the United States.  He has performed Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Choral Society of Durham at Duke University, Franck’s Die Sieben Worte Jesu am Kreuz, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solonnelle, Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge and Mass in C Major, and Dvorak’s Mass in D.

Skoog is recognized for his moving performances of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.  Other orchestral appearances include Mozart’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Dallas, Corpus Christi, Victoria, and East Texas Symphony Orchestras.  He appeared for two seasons at the OK Mozart International Festival, and as tenor soloist with the Canterbury Choral Society in Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Coronation Mass.  Mr. Skoog’s passionate, artistic performances of Benjamin Britten works have attracted attention, with praise for his performances of the Canticles, Abraham and Isaac with the Dallas Opera Project, and Saint Nicolas with members of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Twice a Metropolitan Opera regional finalist, Skoog made his professional operatic debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Lyric Opera of San Antonio.  His operatic credits include such roles as Sam Polk in Susannah, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Camille in The Merry Widow, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Pong in Turandot, Satyavan in Savitri, The Prince in The Love for Three Oranges, The Teapot in L’Enfant et Les Sortileges, as well as roles in Carmen, The Pirates of Penzance, Rita, and Werther.  An alumnus of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program, Skoog was a finalist in the Dallas Opera Career Development Grant Auditions, and coached in master classes with John Wustman and the late Jerry Hadley.

In 2011, Skoog was the recipient of a Sandra G. Powell Excellence Professorship. Earlier that year, he received the Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching awarded by the student body of the UT School of Music. Skoog has served as faculty advisor for the Theta Omicron chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity since 2006. He is a charter member and past-president of the Tennessee chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing and is past-president of the UT chapter of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Before his appointment at the University of Tennessee in 2003, Skoog was Instructor of Voice and Choral Music at Tyler Junior College (1995-2003) and the University of Texas at Tyler (1993-1995). During his tenure in Texas, his choirs performed at Carnegie Hall, Westminster Hall in London, England, the 2000 London New Year’s Day Parade, and for the Texas Music Educators Association.

During her international career, leading soprano Cecily Nall performed in a variety of venues throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. Highlights of her performing career include leading and supporting roles with the San Francisco Opera, Baltimore Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Opera Memphis, West Palm Beach Opera, among others. In Europe, Ms. Nall was engaged as a principal artist with the Stadttheater Aachen and Staatstheater Darmstadt and appeared as a guest artist with numerous German theaters including Leipzig, Dortmund, Mannheim, Hannover, Wiesbaden, Würzberg, and Bielefeld, to name a few. Additional international appearances included performances as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy and Charleston, South Carolina, and as Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile.

On the concert stage, Ms. Nall appeared with several orchestras, including the Cincinnati, Kentucky, Dayton, Nashville and Columbus, Ohio Symphony Orchestras. In 2006, she was the soprano soloist with the Point Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, led by Efraín Amaya, for its tour of Italy. Additionally, she has sung recitals in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Cincinnati.

Cecily Nall first attracted attention as a winner of the Metropolitan Opera, Baltimore Opera, Rosa Ponselle, and Eleanor Steber vocal competitions. She began her professional performing career as a member of the Cincinnati Opera Young American Artists Program (YAAP), and the Ensemble Company of the Cincinnati Opera (ECCO!). A native of Georgia, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia, a Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and received additional vocal training at the Brevard Music Center, Brevard, North Carolina, and the American Institute of Musical Studies, Graz, Austria.

From 2004-2007, Ms. Nall was Assistant Professor of Voice at the College of Music, Florida State University. While there, she performed several solo and collaborative recitals at the College of Music and appeared as soloist with the Tallahassee Community Chorus and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. Cecily Nall was Artist-in-Residence at the Musical Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio from 1997-2004.

Eileen Downey is currently Vocal Coach and Distinguished Lecturer of Collaborative Piano at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she also works frequently in collaboration with the Knoxville Opera Company. This year, Downey will be performing at the College Music Society National Conference in Washington, D.C., teaching a residency at Vanderbilt University, and coaching and performing as a faculty member of the Adult Chamber Music Intensive with the Knoxville Chamber Music Society.

During the 2022-23 season, Downey was a featured performer at the African American Art Song Alliance Conference, a guest clinician for events with the National Association of Teachers of Singing at the University of South Carolina and Austin Peay State University, and performed in Opera Roanoke’s production of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. She joined the faculty of SongFest at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN, and returned to her position as opera coach at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

Downey was chorusmaster, vocal coach, and Music Director for the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center for six summer seasons between 2013 and 2019, and is frequently contracted to be a pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition.

Downey is an alumna of the Merola Opera Program and has participated in numerous other programs including Opera North, SongFest, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Project Canción Española, and the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. Downey received a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and a Master’s Degree in Collaborative Piano from Michigan State University.