Masters of Operetta
Don't Miss It!
Bass Hall, Peterborough
3:00pm, 16 April 2023
Tickets on sale now!
Meet the Artists
Gabriel Feldt (Tenor)
Gabriel Feldt, tenor, is originally from Osceola, WI. Gabriel has performed as Pelléas in Impressions de Pelléas, Gabriel von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Temple University Opera Theater. Currently based in Philadelphia, PA, Gabriel is a frequent member of the Opera Philadelphia Chorus appearing in their productions of Carmina Burana, Rigoletto, and Oedipus Rex. Other notable roles include Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd.
Gabriel is also a champion of recital and cabaret performances helping to develop NotSoOpera, a concert series stemmed from the NotSoLatin series based in Philadelphia. He has also been featured in Gemini Voices Co. cabaret series performing songs from the musical theater canon.
Evangelia Leontis (Soprano)
Evangelia Leontis, soprano, has extensive experience on the opera, concert and recital stages. She has been seen on the operatic stage in roles including Woglinde in Das Rheingold, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Frasquita in Carmen, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Lucy in The Telephone, Zweite Dame in Die ZauberflÓ§te, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Le Feu in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges with companies including Barn Opera, Tundi Productions, MassOpera, Opera del West, Longwood Opera, Riverside Theater Works, Odyssey Opera, and Opera Boston. Also a frequent soloist on the concert stage, Dr. Leontis has been the soprano soloist in works by Berlioz, Britten, Haydn, Fauré, Rossini, Bach, Bizet, Mozart, Grieg, Orff, and Handel with Albany Pro Musica, the Keene Chorale, Greensboro Opera, the Greensboro Oratorio Society, the Newburyport Choral Society, Newton Choral Society, Clear Lakes Chorale, Fine Arts Chorale, Polymnia Choral Society, and the UTRGV Master Chorale and Orchestra, among others.
Dr. Leontis was a finalist in the American Prize in Voice Professional Art Song Division Competition in 2020, won the Bel Canto Award in the 2015 Orpheus Competition, was a finalist in the 2015 Kentucky Bach Choir Competition, and was a winner of the 2010 Greek University Women’s Club Music Competition. She holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from UNC Greensboro, a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Boston University, and a Bachelors of Music degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Leontis is also a dedicated voice teacher and currently serves on the voice faculties of Keene State College and Castleton University. She lives in beautiful southern Vermont with her husband, twin toddler daughters, and dog.
More information can be found at evangelialeontis.com.
Claire McCahan (Mezzo-Soprano)
Mezzo soprano Claire McCahan has been applauded for her clear tone and engaging stage presence in operatic and concert performances. Recent performance highlights include her New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the American premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, and alto soloist in J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Colorado Bach Ensemble. Additional opera credits include covering Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (Handel & Haydn Society), Orfeo in an adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Renegade Opera), the title role in Handel’s Ariodante, Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Prince Orlofsky in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Eklund Opera). An avid performer of contemporary works, she workshopped the role of Brittomara in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s opera If I Were You and has premiered new works including Ben Morris and Laura Fuentes jazz opera The Fall of Man and Other Tales and Lisa Neher and Bea Goodwin’s song cycle she conjures with Catalyst New Music’s FUSE: Collaborations in Song. Alongside collaborative pianist Barbie Noyes, she co-founded Horizon Duo, dedicated to the creative programming of contemporary and classic art song repertoire. The duo recently performed at the 2022 NATS National Conference in Chicago. Ms. McCahan is the winner of the 2022 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition and the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, as well as the 2020 World of Bach Competition and the 2020 Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition. She also received the 2019 Frances MacEachron Award from the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition in New York.
Vladimir Odinokikh (Pianist)
Vladimir Odinokikh began lessons at an early age and received training at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Gnessin Institute of Moscow where he earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees, also the Artist Diploma. In the earlier years of his career, he participated and won prizes in numerous collaborative competitions including the Tchaikovsky, David Oistrach, and Henry Schering competitions; also the Russia National Competition and Chamber Music Competition of Soviet Composers.
Sought out for his collaborative expertise and sight-reading ability, Vladimir also participated in the first Rachmaninov International Piano Competition, The International Ponce-Scriabin Festival, and the first Bach Festival in Peru, as well as the Isadora Duncan Festival in London, England.
Prior to coming to the US, Mr. Odinokikh performed for over a decade with Rosconcert and the Moscow Philharmonic organization, and has concertized in the concert halls of Europe and South America. He premiered works by noted composer Alfred Schnittke, and recorded for radio and television in the former USSR, Mexico and, later, in the Unit-ed States.
In addition to current college appointments with Keene State College, as collaborative pianist, and Franklin Pierce University as piano teacher, Mr. Odinokikh has taught at the Ippolitov-Ivanov College of Music in Moscow, the Alicia Urreta Center for the Arts in Mexico City and the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelios, Mexico. Several of Vladimir’s students have won international competitions, including Keene’s Miles Walter.
Andy Papas (Baritone)
Native Bostonian Andy Papas has been applauded by the Albany Times-Union for his “irresistible hijinks” and by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for being “delight-fully ridiculous”. He was most recently seen onstage as The Major General in The Pirates of Penzance for Anchorage Opera. Andy last appeared with Raylynmor in May ’22 as Magnifico (à la Anna Wintour) in “The Couture Cinderella”. Special-izing in Buffo roles, he has performed Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola from Coast to Coast: from Oklahoma to Alaska, North Dakota to Connecticut, and Milwaukee to Maine. This summer Andy will continue his buffo reign as Don Pasquale in upstate New York for Opera Saratoga, as well as in St. Louis for Union Avenue Opera. A frequent performer in the Pacific Northwest, he was seen last fall as MusikLehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos with Vashon Opera, and will return to the Seattle area as the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff in 2024 for Pacific Northwest Opera. In his hometown, Andy has appeared as Mr. Bumble (Oliver) with The New Rep, in My Fair Lady with The Lyric Stage, and in The Threepenny Opera with Boston Lyric Opera, among others. He had the great honor of performing for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at The 2018 2nd Circuit Judicial Conference, where RBG remarked “Your Major-General was terrific.” Offstage, Andy teaches students around the globe, as well as for Keene State’s CALL pro-gram, in opera courses such as The British Operas are Coming and Strauss in the Haus, and he recently welcomed operatic greats Christine Brewer, Katherine Ciesinski, and Anthony Dean Griffey as special guests. Andy is an avid downhill skier, having skied 100 days in the 2021 season.
andypapas.com