Festival Symphony Concert: For the Love of Music

American soprano Alexandra LoBianco, whom the Seattle Times exclaimed, “gave an impassioned performance” as the title role in Aida at Seattle Opera, has established herself as a dramatic soprano of unequaled versatility, musicality, and consistency. An international presence, Ms. LoBianco recently stepped in for an ailing colleague as Leonore in Fidelio for her debut with the Wiener Staatsoper while under contract for the title role in Turandot. Subsequent appearances with the Wiener Staatsoper have included performances as Helmwige in Die Walküre, as well as the cover of Brünnhilde, while on tour in Japan.  

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Kara Morgan is a singing actress seeking out and lending her artistry to projects that broaden minds and inspire others. Her dedication to studying the art, languages, and characters of opera has been showcased on stages across the United States. Career highlights include apprenticeships with the Sarasota Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Merola Opera Programs; mainstage credits with Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Pacific Opera Project, and An Opera Theatre; and recognition from the Schubert Club and Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competitions.

This fall, Kara begins her second year as a Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera after a successful 2024-25 season debuting the roles of Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in addition to appearing in several concerts featuring art song and opera favorites. In Minnesota Opera’s 2025-26 season, Kara returns to the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte, creates the role of Jane in the world premiere of My Name is Florence by B.E. Boykin & Harrison David Rivers, and debuts as Tigrana in a concert production of Puccini’s rarely-heard Edgar. In February 2026, Kara makes a role and company debut with Opera Tampa as Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte and at the end of the season, will debut with the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra as the mezzo soprano soloist in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

Recently, Kara graduated from the Master of Musical Arts program at Yale University, where she was a member of the opera studio. Roles performed include Cherubino, Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Charlotte (Werther), Isolier (Le comte Ory), Lucretia, Mother Goose (The Rake’s Progress), and Anna 1 in Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden. As a winner of the 2023 Woolsey Concerto Competition, she enjoyed the privilege of performing Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Philharmonia as part of the final concert in their 2023-24 season. Before graduation, she won first place in the D’Angelo Young Artist Vocal Competition and made her title role and company debut with Salt Marsh Opera in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. ​She joined the world-renowned Merola Opera program in 2024, singing scenes from Cendrillon and Werther.

Kara returned to Sarasota Opera as a Resident Artist for the 2021 winter festival as pandemic restrictions began to ease. During this residency, she appeared as Mercury in Purcell’s Dido & Æneas and sang in Resident Artist productions of Dido (in the title role) and Rossini’s one-act farce, Il signor Bruschino (as Marianna). In October 2021, Kara made her west coast and company debut with Pacific Opera Project as Hansel in Hansel & Gretel. The following April, she was home in Minneapolis debuting the title role in The Rape of Lucretia with An Opera Theatre.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kara was a Young Artist with Fargo-Moorhead Opera, debuting the roles of Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Mercédès in Carmen with the company. Following the residency in Fargo, Kara covered Dorabella in Mill City Summer Opera’s summer production of Così staged in the Mill City Museum ruins in Minneapolis. She also sang with Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN covering the the title role of Offenbach’s La belle Hélène, before returning to Fargo Moorhead Opera to make her mainstage and role debut as Hansel.

Kara earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from Drake University and her Masters in Voice Performance at the New England Conservatory. As a student, she was heard as Mrs. Soames (Rorem’s Our Town), Katisha (The Mikado), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues des Carmélites), Grimgerde (Die Walküre), and Ottone (Agrippina).

A lover of art song, Kara enjoys programming lesser-heard and contemporary works with a focus on songs written by and about women. Past recitals have included repertoire by Montsalvatge, Debussy, Mahler, Hahn, Heggie, Margaret Bonds, Mel Bonis, Clara & Robert Schumann, Alaina Ferris, and Cheryl Frances-Hoad, among others. In Summer 2022, Kara partnered with longtime collaborator Carson Rose Schneider and Minnesota nonprofit organization, OOPS MN (Opera-Oriented Project Sponsorships), to create Ladies, Lyrics, & Lagers: a recital that was taken on tour to three popular Twin Cities breweries with the purpose of promoting song sets by two living women composers based in Minnesota, Linda Tutas Haugen and Edie Hill, and bringing well-sung art to a more relaxed, casual setting.

Kara also enjoys collaboration in choral and orchestral works, appearing as a soloist with the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, the Bach Roots Festival, the CBA Orchestra, the Minnesota Saints Chorale & Orchestra, the Drake Choir, and singing Alcibiades and Phaedrus in an unconducted performance of Erik Satie’s Socrate with the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra in Boston’s historic Jordan Hall.

Kara is based in Minnesota with her partner and dogs. Outside of music, she enjoys hiking, crafting, and cooking.

Tenor Michael Deshield recently was recognized by the Wagner Society of New York as a Third Prize winner for their International Singers Competition as well as singing in the Semi-finals of the Butler Opera International Competition.

In the spring of 2026, Mr. Deshield will return to Sarasota Opera, covering the role of Manrico in Il trovatore where he previously covered Raffaele in Verdi’s Stiffelio, and will make his Madison Symphony Orchestra debut as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In 2024, Mr. Deshield made his Des Moines Opera debut, singing the role of the Second Jew in Strauss’s Salome and covering Walter in Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo.

A graduate of the Jacobs School of Music, he performed the roles of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, The Governor in Bernstein’s Candide and Nate in Still’s Highway 1, USA. He also made his debut at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra during their 2022 “Greetings from Japan” concert singing B.F. Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

Mr. Deshield holds a Master’s of Music in Voice from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s of Music in Voice Performance from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania.

Craig Irvin brings a vibrant sound and commitment to character to a wide variety of repertoire. Opera News has praised his “rich, resonant baritone” while the Dallas Morning News has noted his “truly commanding baritone.” This season, Mr. Irvin makes exciting returns to Utah Opera as Jack Torrence in The Shining and Opera Tampa as Papageno in The Magic Flute. In addition, he makes house débuts with Virginia Opera as Travis Briggs in Intelligence and Florida Grand Opera as the French General in Silent Night. Last season, Craig made his Glimmerglass Opera début singing the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance and Giove in La Callisto. He also brought his Pirate King to Knoxville Opera’s Pirates of Penzance, made a role and house début as Kenny Kencaid in Shawn Okpebholo and Mark Campbell’s The Cook Off with Nashville Opera, made his role début as Tonio in Pagliacci, performed Maximillian and Captain in Candide with Opera Tampa, sang Thalasso in the premiere of The Pigeon Keeper with Opera Parallèle, and made concert appearances with the Des Moines Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Grand Rapids Symphony.

Mr. Irvin recently returned to The Atlanta Opera in his role début as Jack Torrance in The Shining, to Madison Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, and reprised his Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Annapolis Opera and his Pirate King in The Pirate of Penzance with Kentucky Opera. Recent engagements also include his role début as Jochanaan in Salome with Madison Opera, his role début as Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Knoxville Opera and Permian Basin Opera, Maximillian in Candide with The Atlanta Opera, the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods with Tulsa Opera, and an appearance with the New West Symphony in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In recent seasons, he reprised of one of his signature roles – The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance at both The Atlanta Opera and Utah Symphony and Opera. Additionally, he joined Orchestra Iowa for Handel’s Messiah and the Cincinnati May Festival for Candide. During the COVID-affected 2019 and 2020 seasons, Mr. Irvin appeared in concert with Omaha Symphony, and was slated to appear as the title role in Sweeney Todd at Utah Festival Opera and Music Theater, Marcello in La bohème at The Atlanta Opera, in Carmina burana with San Antonio Symphony.

Other recent engagements include the revival of his Dan Packard in Dinner at Eight with the Wexford Festival, Lt. Horstmayer in Silent Night with Austin Opera, Valentin in Faust with Opera Omaha, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Portland Symphony, singing Dominik and covering Mandryka in Arabella with Canadian Opera Company, Handel’s Messiah with the Jacksonville Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem with Music Worchester, Stubb in Moby Dick with Utah Opera, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Orlando, and Frank in Die Fledermaus with Des Moines Metro Opera. While in residence with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, Mr. Irvin was seen as Angelotti in Tosca, Zuniga in Carmen, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sam in A Masked Ball, Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly, Doctor/ Professor in Lulu, and Ashby in La fanciulla del West. Additionally, he covered the roles of Bottom, the title role in The Mikado, the title role in Hercules, Escamillo in Carmen (a role he sang in the student matinee performance), Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and Brander in Damnation of Faust. Other recent engagements include Lieutenant Horstmayer in the world premiere of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night with Minnesota Opera and subsequent performances with Opera Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and The Atlanta Opera. Additionally he has sung Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Utah Opera, Dan Packard in Dinner at Eight, Mandryka in Arabella, and Peter in Hänsel und Gretel with Minnesota Opera, made his role debut as Macbeth with LoftOpera, sang Escamillo in Carmen with Fort Worth Opera, debuted with Sarasota Opera as Marcello in La bohème and Anchorage Opera in the title role of The Mikado, sang Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance with Nashville Opera and Pensacola Opera, sang Dandini in Pensacola Opera’s La Cenerentola, and performed the Villains in The Tales of Hoffman and Leporello in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera.

In addition, he has sung Betto in Gianni Schicchi and 1st Nazarene and Jochanaan/cover in Strauss’ Salome with Canadian Opera Company, covered Paolo in Simon Boccanegra with Los Angeles Opera, sang Orff’s Carmina burana with the Phoenix Symphony, performed Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Saratoga, Ramphis in Aïda with Pensacola Opera, and Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Intermountain Opera and Knoxville Opera. A winner of the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Award sponsored by Orlando Opera, Mr. Irvin spent a season with the company as a Resident Artist. With Orlando Opera he has sung the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Abimelech in Samson et Dalilah, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Elder Ott in Susannah, and Angelotti in Tosca. While in Orlando, Mr. Irvin also sang the role of Gaston in over 700 performances of Beauty and the Beast at Walt Disney World, MGM. In the course of his graduate work at The University of Tennessee, he performed with the Knoxville Opera as Pooh Bah in The Mikado, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, and Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, as well as Reverend Blitch in Susannah and the title role in Sweeney Todd with the Knoxville Opera Studio. A native of Iowa, Mr. Irvin completed his undergraduate study at the Simpson College in Indianola under the tutelage of Dr. Robert L. Larsen.