BSO debut*

Praised for his “rich and nuanced” sound and “riveting” acting, tenor Nathan Snyder has built a reputation for excellence across genres. His energy and impressive versatility make him an outstanding presence on any stage. This season, Mr. Snyder has brought that energy to the operatic stage, performing Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette along with many of opera’s legendary “bad guys,” including Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Il Duca in Rigoletto, and Don José in Carmen.

After premiering the role of Dewey Noyes in Staggerwing by Rachel Peters and Lisa DeSpain with Opera Kansas in 2021, Mr. Snyder has become advocate for contemporary opera and embraces new works alongside traditional repertoire. He continues to seek out contemporary works, including leading roles in Blind Injustice with Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Proving Up with Opera Steamboat, and Glory Denied at the United States Air Force Academy.

Mr. Snyder is also known for bringing the same energy and drama from the opera stage to the concert hall and has appeared as the tenor soloist in Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, and Haydn’s The Creation. Recently Snyder made his Carnegie Hall Debut singing the Tenor Solo in the World Premier of Mark Hayes’ Psalmos in April 2026. This summer Mr. Snyder will be joining the Bravo Vail Festival Chorus in their collaboration with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s production of Madama Butterfly in Vail Colorado.

nathansnydertenor.com/ | @nathansnydertenor

Previous BSO appearances: Gilda cover in Rigoletto

Abigail Orr is a soprano from Montgomery, Texas. Her most recent performances include singing The Controller in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi at Boston University’s Opera Institute. This past fall Abigail has recently made her Symphony Hall debut, singing Cunegonde (Candide) in Music’s Next Generation concert. Abigail has also recently performed Fiordiligi in Utah Vocal Arts Academy’s production of Così fan tutte and was a recent alumna of Songfest as a Colburn Fellow recipient.

Abigail is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received her Certificate in Opera Performance from Texas Tech University. During her time at TTU, Abigail performed as a Young Artist at Amarillo Opera where she covered the role of Gilda in Rigoletto and performed in outreach performances of Davies’ The Three Little Pigs under the guidance of Dr. Rebecca Hays and Mary Jane Johnson. Abigail has recently received her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance at Boston University.

Abigail is currently enrolled in the Boston University’s Opera Institute under the tutelage of Dr. Lynn Eustis.

abigailorrsoprano.com | @absabmeister

Previous BSO appearances: Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Marullo in Rigoletto, Masetto in Don Giovanni

Dalton Rowe, baritone, is a 2025 graduate of the Boston University School of Music, where he earned his MM degree in Vocal Performance with Dr. Lynn Eustis. Dalton is from Oxford, Alabama, and received a degree in Music Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2022. In 2024, Dalton made his operatic debut as Le Premiere Ministre in BU Opera Institute’s productions of Massenet’s Cendrillon. At BU, he would go on to perform the roles of Bartley (Riders to the Sea), The Captain (Siren Song), and Marco (Gianni Schicchi).

Beyond the world of opera, Dalton is an avid choral singer and soloist in the Boston area, having been a full-time member of the all-professional choir at Church of the Advent since 2023. At the Advent, Dalton has been the bass soloist in Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G Minor, Schubert’s Mass in C Major, and Mozart’s Vesperae and Mass in F Major. He has also been a soloist with Choral Arts Society of the South Shore, Cape Cod Chorale, and the BU Graduate Vocal Ensemble.  

@dalty.d

BSO debut*

Baritone Scott Ballantine has maintained a busy performing schedule in New England and across the United States. He has worked with companies such as Dayton Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Connecticut Lyric Opera, Opera Wilmington, Opera Steamboat, and the Janiec Opera Company. ​​Some of his more familiar roles / operas include Marcello & Schaunard in La bohème, the title role in Don Giovanni, and Silvio in Pagliacci. In addition to many full productions and roles, Ballantine has an abundance of experience with opera outreach, having spent three seasons touring the Midwest with Opera for the Young. ​​​​Ballantine has an affinity for contemporary opera as well - some of his favorite roles performed include Hannah Before in As One, Father in Scarlet Ibis and the title role in Fantastic Mr. Fox.​ Equally at home in musical theatre, Ballantine was a recent guest artist at the College Light Opera Company (CLOC), singing Mr. Lindquist in A Little Night Music. He was also a festival artist with the Natchez Festival of Music in 2019 and with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre in 2017. During these engagements, he sang the role of Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Oliver Hix in The Music Man and Captain Phoebus (cover) in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. ​A native of Colorado, he left the mountain west in pursuit of his Master's of Music in Voice Performance at The Boston Conservatory in 2015. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Voice Performance from Northern Arizona University in 2013. Ballantine is currently based in Boston, MA.

scottballantine.com | @sbbaritone

Previous BSO appearances: Mabel cover in The Pirates of Penzance

Soprano Sophie Urquhart is happy to be joining Boston Summer Opera for L’elisir d’amore! Hailed for her “exquisite technical proficiency,” Sophie’s recently performed roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Sophie Urquhart is a graduate of Boston Conservatory and a student of Kathleen Wilson.

Previous BSO apperances: Conductor for Rigoletto & Don Giovanni

A versatile conductor with a passion for creating community through music, Luca Antonucci is equally at home in orchestra, opera, and new music. He has performed and assisted in the US, Europe, and Latin America, in halls such as Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Argentina’s Centro Cultural Kirchner, Cape Town City Hall, Soweto’s historic Regina Mundi Church, and many others. 

He currently serves as the Director of Orchestras at Oklahoma State University, Music Director of Boston Summer Opera and Artistic Director of the Open Door Ensembles of Boston, cover conductor for the Portland Symphony, and Assistant Conductor and Chorusmaster of the Berkshire Opera Festival. This spring, Luca conducts the Tulsa Symphony and Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestras in education concerts.

Recent appearances include as guest conductor with the Spectrum Orchestra in Bloomfield Hills, MI and as Assistant Conductor with The Washington Chorus on its concert tour to Buenos Aires, where he prepared the Orquesta Juvenil “San Martin”, Argentina’s premiere training orchestra, for its performances of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” with baritone Will Liverman under the direction of Eugene Rogers.

An experienced educator and a passionate advocate of amateur music-making, Antonucci has brought dynamic leadership to many collegiate and community ensembles, including the University of Michigan Campus Orchestras, the Michigan Life Sciences and Pops Orchestras, the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, the Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra, and the Pioneer Valley Symphony, Chorale, and Youth Orchestra. 

Recipient of a Fulbright grant, Luca is the winner of numerous academic awards and a graduate of the Hartt School, the University of Michigan, and Amherst College. 

lucaantonuccimusic.com/ | @lucaantonucci_conductor

Previous BSO appearances: Maddalena in Rigoletto, Soloist in a Bel Canto Evening, Fight Choreo for Rigoletto & The Pirates of Penzance

Praised for her warm, versatile voice and dynamic acting skill, Becca Allen is a mezzo-soprano based in Boston, MA. ​An accomplished crossover artist in both opera and musical theater repertoire, her recent engagements include Bradamante (Alcina), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Carmen, Jo, Meg, and Cecilia March (Little Women), The Narrator/Mysterious Man (Into the Woods), Hucklebee (The Fantasticks), among others. She was recently selected to be a Fall 2026 Tyler Young Artist with Opera on the James.​

Becca was named a District Encouragement Award winner in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a finalist in Boston University's 2024 Soloist Competition, and a 2024 Departmental Award winner by BU’s prestigious Opera Institute. She received a Performance Diploma from Boston University and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology with a minor degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Redlands. ​​

beccaallenarts.com | @mezzosoprano_oh

BSO debut*

Gretchen Struckmeyer is a Boston based mezzo-soprano and singing actress. Hailed by the Boston Music Intelligencer as both “...emotionally affecting and comically brilliant,” her most recent appearances include Tessa in The Gondoliers (The Sudbury Savoyards) and Der Sandmann in Hänsel und Gretel (Boston Opera Collaborative). Previously, she appeared as Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Soprano 1 in Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox, and Lady in the Balcony in Ned Rorem’s Our Town, all at Boston University’s Opera Institute. Previous roles outside BU include Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief as well as Papagena in The Magic Flute, both at Appalachian Opera Theatre. Ms. Struckmeyer graduated from Boston University with a masters in vocal performance, also having won the prestigious Voice Department Award. She is the winner of the Hayes School of Music Concerto/Aria Competition (Boone, NC) as well as a semifinalist for the Heafner/Williams Competition (Lincolnton, NC). When not singing, Ms. Struckmeyer spends her days working as a grants administrator and maintaining an impressive roster of unfinished craft projects.

gretchenstruckmeyer.com/ | @gretchsings

Previous BSO appearances: Conductor for The Pirates of Penzance, Assistant Conductor for Rigoletto & Don Giovanni

Julian Gau is a conductor and pianist based in Boston. He serves as music director of the Horizon Ensemble, the Providence Medical Orchestra, and the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York. He is also the Assistant Conductor of the New England Philharmonic. He has been music director for The Pirates of Penzance with Boston Summer Opera, Alcina with MassOpera, Die Fledermaus with The Opera Company, Katie the Strongest of the Strong with Opera Saratoga, and Cabaret at Brown University. He has also acted as assistant conductor for Let's Celebrate and Is This America? with White Snake Projects, as well as Rigoletto and Don Giovanni with Boston Summer Opera.

Julian has performed as a pianist in concert with Opera on Tap, NEMPAC, Boston Summer Opera, and West End Lyric. Sometimes he is a cellist, composer, arranger, or critic. Outside of music, Julian enjoys stories, noodles, and time with friends. He hopes that "Bel Canto Summer" takes off as a trend on the same level as "hot girl summer".

juliangau.com | @suikunkun

Previous BSO appearances: Chorus in The Pirates of Penzance

Olympia is a Boston-based director and soprano. She has previously appeared with Boston Summer Opera as chorus in The Pirates of Penzance. She sings with the choir of the Church of the Advent and studies voice with Emily Siar, faculty at Boston Conservatory. She was a finalist at the 2026 Carolyn Bailey Argento vocal competition and a semifinalist at the 2025 Camille Coloratura Awards. She is a 2024 graduate of Harvard College, where she served as stage director of The Merry Widow with Harvard College Opera, wrote and directed several short films, and was president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players. She also sang with the Harvard University Choir and appeared onstage as Natasha in Great Comet, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and Maria in West Side Story. When not singing, she is a research technician in the Burns Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute studying mobile DNA, and she will pursue a PhD at Yale University in Biological and Biomedical Sciences in the fall.

@olympia.hatz

Previous BSO appearances: Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, Stage Manager for Rigoletto & Don Giovanni

Vanessa Moya is a Latina mezzo-soprano based in Boston who can regularly be seen and

heard singing everything from contemporary opera to Handel oratorios.

Vanessa has done justice to several difficult roles in the operatic canon, including Ruggiero (Alcina), Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Candelas (El Amor Brujo/Manuel deFalla), and Gertrude Stein (After Life/Tom Cipullo). She has also performed Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Mamma Lucia (Cavalleria Rusticana), Arsamene (Serse), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), and L’enfant (L’enfant et les sortilèges).

As an oratorio soloist, she has performed The Messiah, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and in a staged production of J.S. Bach’s Phoebus und Pan as Mercurius.

In the technical theatre realm, Vanessa has stage managed Rigoletto and Don Giovanni with Boston Summer Opera, as well as Die Fledermaus with The Opera Company. She was previously the assistant stage manager for Così fan tutte with the Utah Vocal Arts Academy Summer Opera Festival.

Up next, she will premiere Clíodhna, Fear (The Ninth Wave/Laura Nevitt) with Voice of Iris Ensemble, cover Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore) with Boston Summer Opera, and stage manage La Traviata with the New Opera Company of Boston.

Vanessa holds a Master of Music from Longy School of Music of Bard College and a Bachelor of Music from Stetson University, where she was awarded the Orestes Santos Music Scholarship for outstanding Cuban American music students in 2018.

vanessamoyamezzo.com/ | @v_the_mezzo