Meet the Artists- Houston Grand Opera Studio Artists
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Katherine Martin, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Catherine Martin sang Suzuki in performances of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly this fall. A second-year Studio Artist, she appeared last fall at HGO as Giannetta in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and last spring as the Governess in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. The San Antonio native has sung Koukouli in Chabrier’s L’Étoile at Wolf Trap Opera and the mezzo-soprano solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Asheville Symphony Orchestra. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of North Texas, and a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She was a member of the 2009 Chautauqua Opera Studio. Ms. Martin participated in the 2009 Marilyn Horne Foundation: The Song Continues master class at Carnegie Hall. She won second place at the 2009 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. This summer she is a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, performing the roles of Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Zaida in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia led by former HGO Associate Conductor Eric Melear.
Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone
Second-year Houston Grand Opera Studio Artist Michael Sumuel appeared this Fall as Sharpless in performances of Madame Butterfly. Later this season he will sing Antonio in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, a Lackey in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Motorcycle Cop and a Prison Guard in Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally. Last season he sang Doctor Dulcamara in performances of The Elixir of Love, a Noble in Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Narumoff in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. Mr. Sumuel is the recipient of the 2010 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. An alumnus of the 2009 Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera Center, he placed first last year in both the Fielder Grant for Career Advancement and Houston Tuesday Music Club competitions. The bass-baritone was also a first place winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. Mr. Sumuel holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Columbus State University, and a master’s degree in music from Rice University. The Odessa, TX native placed third in the 2009 Eleanor McCollum Competition at Houston Grand Opera. Last summer he was a Filene Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera.
Stephanie Rhodes, pianist
Stephanie Rhodes, a native of American Fork, Utah, holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Utah State University and a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Michigan. Ms. Rhodes has participated in several music festivals, and received fellowships at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Cincinnati Conservatory’s Opera Festival in Lucca, Italy. She also served as staff accompanist for the Scuola per cantici lirici in Urbania, Italy. She recently joined the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv as pianist for Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz and participated in the 2009 Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. Her principal teachers have included Gary Amano, Richard Bado, and Martin Katz.