BIOS

Theo Popov (Composer, Producer) is a senior in the Department of Music from Sofia, Bulgaria. He studies composition with Steve Mackey, Dmitri Tymoczko, Paul Lansky, and Barbara White, and specializes in the music of antiquity. Theo spent this past summer travelling around libraries, museums and excavation sites in Europe in an attempt to reconstruct the lost cultural tradition of Ancient Rome and then incorporated the results of his research into the music of Nero Artifex. He also studies theremin with Lydia Kavina, voice with David Kellett and piano with Edmund Niemann.

David Kellett (Stage Director) has performed over 45 principal and secondary roles in opera and operetta. As composer David Amram's tenor of choice, David has sung in his opera, Twelfth Night, and performed his songs in concert including an appearance at Lincoln Center celebrating the 50th anniversary of Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare Festival. Other new music endeavors include premieres by Peter Westergaard: his operas Alice in Wonderland, The Tempest and Moby Dick and his cantata, To the Dark Lady. David appeared in Zoe Caldwell's production of A Christmas Carol on Broadway featuring Christopher Plummer, and Richard Kiley. Since 1995, David has taught private voice at Princeton University. He made his directing debut with the university production of Mozart's Magic Flute in 2002. Since that time he has directed Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.

Izzy Kasdin (Production Manager/Stage Manager) is a freshman at Princeton University hailing from Princeton, New Jersey. This production will be her eighth as a Stage Manager. She is the Assistant Technical Director for the Princeton University Players. She also sings in the Princeton University Chapel Choir, performed with the Westminster Conservatory Actors Company, and studies voice with Linda Mindlin.

Mariah Junglan Min (Librettist) is a Class of 2010 graduate of the Department of English, with a certificate in Creative Writing. She is currently working as a script and materials translator at Myeongdong Theater in Seoul, Korea.

Veronica Shi (Librettist, Translator, Historian) is a senior in the Classics Department. Her interests lie in classical literary history, including the social and performative contexts of Greek and Latin drama, as well as in Greek and Latin composition. Outside of Classics, she is an avid creative writer, painter, and pianist. She hopes to become a classical scholar and novelist and will continue her studies next year at the University of Oxford, England.

Tim Keeler (Music Director) is a senior in the Music department. He is pursuing certificates in Vocal Performance and in Applications of Computing. He serves as assistant conductor of the Glee Club, and sings with the Chamber Choir and the Katzenjammers. Always excited about new music, he conducted Max Mamon's senior thesis opera Rosaleen in Richardson last year.

Flannery Cunningham (Assistant Music Director) is a music major from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Her primary musical love is composition, and she's been involved in composition programs including the Minneapolis Schubert Club's composers' mentorship, the Junior Composers Institute, and the New York Youth Symphony's Making Score workshop. However, she also loves singing, piano, and coaching other musicians and hopes never to be divorced from the process of actually creating sound. Most of all, Flannery is excited to be involved in bringing this story to life.

Taotao Liu (Rehearsal pianist and vocal coach) has played with the Princeton Festival, New York Opera Studio, Westminster Symphonic Choir, Westminster Opera Theater, the New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, and Princeton University Opera Theater. This May, she will complete a MM in Piano Accompanying and Coaching at Westminster Choir College, where she studies with JJ Penna. Taotao graduated from Princeton in 2009 with a degree in Mathematics. She is originally from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and hopes to be accompanying in Seattle by the end of this year.

Kerry Brodie (Costume Designer) is very excited to be designing and creating the costumes for this fantastic opera. Kerry has worked on various professional and student run productions while at Princeton. This year she is working on Family Fuedalism, Carousel, Garden District, Chefetz and Strange Faces.

Emi Nakamura (Publicity) After serving one term as publicity chair for Glee Club, Emi is happy to hop on board to help publicize Nero Artifex. She is a pre-concentrator in music with an emphasis on composition, composing in various genres from classical to avant garde electronic. Recent projects include writing a score for harp and electronics for The Skriker, an experimental trio for clarinet, cello and piano, and collaborations with fellow writers from Words from Music Perhaps? (ATL496). Emi also is a member of Princeton University Glee Club, Triple 8 Dance Company, Undergraduate Composers Collective and Manna Christian Fellowship.

Matthew Walsh (Nero) is a junior in the German department, pursuing certificates in Linguistics and Engineering Marketing Systems. He has performed several times on the Richardson stage including the roles of Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte) and Papageno (Magic Flute) in a collection of Mozart scenes this past fall and created the role of Cale in a student written musical drama last spring. He is extremely excited to have the opportunity to create the title role in this new interpretation of the life of Nero. He would like to thank his voice teacher, David Kellett, for his guidance and direction, and his a cappella group, the Nassoons, for their support.

Lieve Hendren (Poppaea) is a soprano from Goshen, Kentucky. She currently sings in the Princeton University Chamber Choir and Lux Choir. She would like to thank her voice teacher, Margaret Cusack, and coach, Akiko Hosaki, for all of their support.

W. Kevin Zhu (Seneca) is a junior from Houston, TX studying engineering at Princeton. He has been involved with choirs and a capella groups for 4 years, and he currently sings for the Glee Club as well as the Princeton Nassoons. Recently, Kevin sung as Sarastro, Don Alfonso, and the Count in the opera scenes production "A Mozart Evening." He studies voice with the director of the opera, David Kellett.

Stephen Daniel (Petronius) from Freeport, New York, is currently completing his Bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance at Westminster Choir College. There he coached with Dr. JJ Penna, and Dalton Baldwin. In 2011, Stephen participated in a masterclass with Metropolitan Opera Diction Coach, Nico Castel. He will also partake in the French art song Festival held at Westminster Choir College. He studies with soprano Sharon Sweet.

Saumitra Sahi (Tigellinus) is an Economics Major from Princeton, NJ. He attended Princeton High School where he acted in various plays and musicals. Saumit initially studied voice with Tracey Chebra at the Westminster Conservatory and now studies with David Kellett at Princeton. He is part of the Princeton Triangle Club, having acted in two musicals, the Princeton University Glee Club and Princeton’s signature all male a cappella group, the Tigertones.

Erin Winker (Agrippina) is currently completing her MM in Voice Performance at Westminster Choir College where she studies with Margaret Cusack. Recent credits include Donna Elvira in the Westminster Opera Gala, Franca in The Light in the Piazza with Westminster Theater, and Betty in The Threepenny Opera with The Princeton Festival. Erin holds an undergraduate degree from Ithaca College and teaches voice at Farrington’s Music school in Princeton.

Katie Dubbs (Epicharis) is thrilled to be part of this wonderful project. She is soprano section leader in and Vice President of Princeton University Glee Club, sings in Princeton University Chamber Choir, and plans to pursue a vocal performance certificate. Katie studied solo voice and opera scenes at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Vocal program for four years and at Tanglewood’s Young Artists Vocal Program during the summer of 2009. She was music director of PUP’s fall production, Sex On Broadway, and performed in their winter production, Carousel. She studies voice with Ron Cappon. Katie is currently starting an undergraduate opera society at Princeton. Outside of music, Katie plans to be an architecture or an art history concentrator.

Soprano Allegra Wiprud (Poppaea understudy) began her musical education at the age of three and has pursued a passion for music ever since. Allegra performed Emily in scenes from The Ballad of Baby Doe at Washington National Opera's 2010 Opera Institute and participated in New York City Opera's 2010 Vocal Seminar. She is a current member of the Princeton University Glee Club and Opera Theatre and a former member of the Dessoff Choirs, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and New York City Opera Children's Chorus. Allegra plans to major in the Wilson School and complete a Certificate in Musical Performance.

Katie Buzard (Agrippina understudy) is a Freshman who is currently studying with Sarah Pelletier. She sings in Glee Club, Chamber Choir, Lux Choir at ECP, and at Trinity Episcopal Church, along with singing solo repertoire. She plans on majoring in Music and getting a Certificate of Performance in Voice.

Raks Odalisque (Oriental dancers) is Princeton University's Bellydance Troupe, dedicated to the many forms of dance that stem from the traditional Middle Eastern Raks Sharqi, ranging from Traditional and Cabaret styles to American Tribal and other fusion. Raks performs at various University events and presents a full-length original show every spring.

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