An ensemble company with a core group of exceptional artists...
Soprano Misha Penton’s diverse performing career includes opera and multidisciplinary performance projects. A new music specialist, she recently sang the principal role in Divergence Vocal Theater’s world premier opera, Selkie, a sea tale, composed by Elliot Cole; and the role of Leah in Ofer Ben-Amots’ contemporary multimedia chamber opera, The Dybbuk, presented by the Jewish Community Center Houston’s Maurice Adamo Music Foundation Residency. She has also created the roles of Isabelle and Brooklyn in the world premieres of The Masque by Roger Keele for Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival and James Norman’s opera Wake… with Opera Vista, respectively; and Marguerite in Norman’s Incline, O Maiden, a monodrama for soprano and chamber ensemble, with Audio Inversions, a new music ensemble in Austin, Texas.
Misha is the founder, artistic director, and ensemble lead artist of Divergence Vocal Theater, a Houston-based opera and multi-performing arts company. In 2008-09 she sang Ottavia in Divergence Vocal Theater’s The Ottavia Project, Sapho in The 10th Muse, and was a featured soloist in Autumn Spectre, a multimedia evening of staged arts songs, piano works, and dance. The most recent Divergence Vocal Theater project was the world premier of Selkie, a sea tale, composed by Elliot Cole, a setting of Misha’s libretto. Additional performances include Voix et Harpe, a performance of French art song, poetry and dance, in the galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Misha has created original soundscapes and sound design for contemporary dance performances at DiverseWorks Arts Space (Houston), the University of Houston Center for Choreography, and for New Orleans contemporary dance company, Happensdance. She has spearheaded projects such as her adaptation of George MacDonald’s children’s classic, At the Back of the North Wind, a fusion of music, dance and text, which appeared in Houston’s Big Range Dance Festival. Upcoming projects include Selkie, a sea tale, performances in Austin, Texas in May 2011; and the opera dance theater work, Klytemnestra, with composer Dominick DiOrio, another musical setting of Misha’s words, premiering in Spring 2011.
Elliot Cole composes music that cuts across traditional, social and institutional territories. Skeptical of traditional concert spaces, he performed his chamber-pop opera Babinagar in living-rooms across Texas. His interest in re-imagining the music drama also led him to co-found the NY-based avant hip-hop trio The Oracle Hysterical, who, in collaboration with the Metropolis Ensemble, will present their hip-hopera The Rake’s Progress with orchestra at the 2011 MATA festival. Raised in Austin, he spent seven years in Houston, collaborating on theater projects with Mildred’s Umbrella, Main Street Theater, the UH Center for Creative Work, Rice University and the Parnassus Performance Band. He has degrees in both cognitive linguistics and music composition from Rice, and is presently a doctoral student at Princeton University.
Dominick DiOrio (b. 1984) is one of the most recognized young composers of vocal music of his generation. He has been the recipient of many recent awards including the 2009 Young New Yorkers’ Chorus Nathan Davis Prize, the 2007 Allen E. Ostrander International Trombone Composition Prize, the 2006 Cantate Chamber Singers Young Composers’ Competition, and the 2006 Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Prize given annually to one young composer by the American Choral Directors Association. He has received recent commissions for new music from Divergence Vocal Theater, Commonwealth Youth Choirs, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the Cornell Chorale. Upcoming performances are planned for 2011-2012 with Houston Chamber Choir, Divergence Vocal Theater, and Juventas New Music Ensemble. His work is published by Alliance, Lorenz/Roger Dean, and Oxford.
A noted choral conductor, Dominick is director of choral activities and associate professor of music at Lone Star College-Montgomery. He is pursuing the DMA at Yale University, and has also received the MMA and MM in Choral Conducting from Yale and a BM in Composition from Ithaca College. In October 2009, he was one of only twelve conductors from around the world invited to Sweden to participate in the Eric Ericson Award, the top international competition for young choral conductors. A serious advocate of new music, he has conducted premieres of new music by Zachary Wadsworth, Tawnie Olson, Santana Haight, Dewey Fleszar, Kevin O’Neill, and his own compositions, as well as acclaimed performances of contemporary works by Stravinsky, Penderecki, Rautavaara, Pärt, and James MacMillan. A tenor, Dominick sings professionally with the Houston Chamber Choir.
Meg Brooker is a multidisciplinary performing artist and choreographer whose background ranges from Isadora Duncan dance (Lori Belilove & Company) to avant-garde theatre (Richard Foreman’s Ontological-Hysteric Theatre). Credits include numerous New York City venues as well as international festivals in Moscow, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Ukraine. Located in Austin, Texas, Meg is a sought-after guest artist, specializing in early modern dance history and techniques. Meg has presented scholarship on early modern dance for the Congress on Research in Dance, the Society of Dance History Scholars, and Moscow State University. Meg also collaborates with musicians, visual artists, and other contemporary choreographers and was nominated for a 2008 Austin Critics Table Award for her performance of “Isabella.” Meg is currently working with painter Linda DeHart on a dance video project designed for large-scale projection in public architectural spaces (www.colorsinmotion.com). She is on faculty of Tapestry Dance Academy and Sundara Yoga Therapy in Austin, and she has taught on the faculties of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation and the School at Steps on Broadway in New York. She holds an MFA in Performance as Public Practice from UT Austin and a BA in Theatre Studies from Yale.
Michael Walsh, baritone, received his Master of Music degree from Rice University. The recipient of Rice’s Carlton Prize in Opera, Mr. Walsh has been a studio artist with Central City Opera where he covered Dancaïro (Carmen) and sang Archie Kramer in Hoiby’s Summer and Smoke, which was broadcast on National Public Radio’s ‘World of Opera.’ A former apprentice artist with Amarillo Opera, Michael has performed as Fiorello (II Barbiere di Siviglia), Wagner (Faust), and the Sergeant (Manon Lescaut) with Opera in the Heights. As a member of Houston Grand Opera‘s Opera to Go!, Michael created the title role in Mary Carol Warwick’s The Velveteen Rabbit and also sang Figaro in The Barber of Seville.
As an apprentice with Utah Opera, he sang Hlas (Jenufa), Bolito (Illusions), and performed in concerts of operatic highlights with the Utah Symphony. Last autumn, Michael was an artist-in-residence with Amarillo Opera where he sang recitals throughout the Texas panhandle region. He has sung with Ars Lyrica and also in Mercury Baroque’s productions of Pygmalion and Dido and Aeneas. He created the role of Jason for the premiere of James Norman’s Wake… and sang in Trouble in Tahiti for Opera Vista. He is a current member of the Houston Chamber Choir, is a staff singer at Christ Church Cathedral, and is an adjunct faculty member of Lonestar College, Montgomery. He is also the company baritone for Houston Grand Opera’s Opera to Go! and is presently appearing in touring performances of Strega Nona. This season, Mr. Walsh sang the roles of Ottone in Divergence Vocal Theater’s, The Ottavia Project and Phaon in The 10th Muse.
Natasha Manley, soprano, is an artist who received her master of music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. She was a member of the NEC Opera Studio Program under the direction of John Moriarty. In June of 2010 she premiered her first production as part of the HopeWerks Emerging Artist Residency Program entitled Stand by…and go, incorporating original music for voice, cello, piano, and percussion as well as modern/contemporary dance. Other recent collaborative efforts have included voice over work for choreographer jhon r. stronk’s Swinging ____ in the Dark, vocal soloist for choreographer Anneke Hansen’s We Should Call it Many Things and voice and movement for choreographer Leslie Scates’ The Billies. She is has been teaching private voice for 14 years.
Alison Greene, soprano, is a native of Houston, Texas. Alison appeared in Opera in the Heights Fall 2008 season as Norina in Don Pasquale, and the title role in the first act of Lucia di Lammermoor. Last summer, she sang the role of Elsie in Yeomen of the Guard with the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society, where in past seasons she has performed Rose Maybud in Ruddygore, Josephine and Angelina in their double bill of HMS Pinafore and Trial by Jury, and Lady Psyche in Princess Ida. Other recent performances include appearances with Opera Vista at Bayou Bend and Café Brasil, and the soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Bethany Oratorio Society in Lindsborg, Kansas.
She has performed with Houston Grand Opera as Barbarina with members of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in the alternate cast of Le Nozze di Figaro, and a Madrigal Singer in HGO’s Manon Lescaut. Regional credits in Texas include Dew Fairy in Amarillo Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel and Sister Genevieve in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the St. Cecilia Chamber Opera Series. Some of her other favorite roles performed include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Olympia in the Tales of Hoffman, and Musetta in La Boheme. Alison recently sang Glycère in Divergence Vocal Theater’s The 10th Muse.
Miranda is is a graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Loyola University Chicago, and the University of Houston (MFA), and was recently seen in Divergence Vocal Theater’s production of Selkie: A Sea Tale. Other recent performances include work with the Fan Factory’s production of The Stronger and Mildred’s Umbrella Museum of Dysfunction series. Additionally, Miranda is adjunct theater faculty for Lone Star College - CyFair, a teaching artist for HITS Theatre, and manages her performance company, Houston Pirates for Hire.
David A. Brown is husband, father, photographer, entrepreneur and adventurer. He studied at the University of Houston under Paul Kittleson and Luis Jimenez, and he received his BFA in 2001, graduating Magna Cum Laude. In 2010, Houston Business Journal Honored him with a 40 Under 40 Award and the Houston Press awarded him with the ” Best 2010 Houston Photographer”. He is currently in Leadership Houston Class XXIX, the best class ever. David is the founder of Spacetaker, a 501(c)3 professional organization and Artist Resource Center located in Houston’s First Ward whose mission is to provide artists and small non-profits access to economic development, continuing education, and networking opportunities to support their professional growth. His works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions at DiverseWorks, Fotofest, space125gallery and Darke Gallery. David received an Individual Artist Grant Award in 2009. David created set and media design for Divergence’s Selkie, a sea tale.
Shelley Auer, mezzo-soprano, has been performing in opera and musical theater in Houston for the past six years. Most recently, Ms. Auer performed the role of Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti at Bayou Bend with Opera Vista. This summer she performed with Etc Theater in Galveston the role of Amy in Company. Other recent roles include Mary in Cabildo at Bayou Bend and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd with Houston Community College Southwest. Last fall, she performed two Frank Loesser review shows and two original musicals at University of Houston. Ms. Auer has been a member of the Houston Grand Opera Chorus for five seasons. In 2006, she was chosen as a Madrigal Singer in Manon Lescaut with HGO.
From 2005-2006, she performed several roles with HGO’s Opera to Go, an educational outreach program. She performs weekly at First Presbyterian Church in Houston. Currently Ms. Auer teaches at Houston Community College and Alvin College. She is also the current Artist Liaison for Opera Vista. Before moving to Houston in 2002, Ms. Auer received her Masters in Vocal Performance at Baylor University. She then moved to Fort Worth, Texas where she taught and performed with the Fort Worth Opera Chorus and Educational Outreach Program for three years. Ms. Auer sang the role of Nerone in Divergence Vocal Theater’s inaugural performance, The Ottavia Project, and was a featured soloist in The 10th Muse.
Pianist Stephen W. Jones of Charleston SC began playing the piano at the age of seven and has since performed extensively as a solo and collaborative pianist regionally and nationally. He has been heard and seen on nationally broadcast radio and television programs including KUHF and KUHT. Mr. Jones has been a participant and prize winner in piano and concerto competitions, including the recipient of the Ruth Burr Award in the 2007 Nina Wideman International Piano Competition. He is also scheduled to make his orchestral debut with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in the summer of 2009 under the baton of Maestro Hector Aguero.
Aside from solo piano, Mr. Jones collaborates extensively, specializing in vocal music and opera. He has played for numerous recitals, master classes, and recordings for singers in all voice parts. Recently, Mr. Jones was an assistant opera coach and staff accompanist for La Fabbrica, an opera festival held in Tuscany, Italy, where he collaborated with renowned American composer, Ricky Ian Gordon. He recently finished his last season as the principle pianist for the Moores Opera Center, where his performances ranged from La Finta Giardineira and A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Saint of Bleeker Street. He continues to work with the Moores Opera Center and will be performing in Mozart’s Lucia Silla and Grapes of Wrath this season. Mr. Jones played for Divergence Vocal Theater’s inaugural season in The Ottavia Project and The 10th Muse
Megan M. Reilly is a lighting designer and visual artist whose work explores the boundaries between installation art, performance art, new media, multimedia, theatrical design and design-driven performance. Based out of Austin, Texas, her credits there include Black Snow and Ophelia (Tutto Theatre Company), Orestes (Cambiare Productions), Mister Z Loves Company (Rubber Repertory and the Fusebox Festival), Trouble in Tahiti (Butler Opera Center), Well Suited (Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance), The King and I (Forklift Danceworks), Minus Tide (Bayou Radio Theatre), and Portrait (Cohen New Works Festival).
Her performance art piece Rapunzel (created with Los Angeles designer Kim Gritzer) received recognition for Excellence in Design as Performance from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and an invitation to be performed at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial in the Czech Republic. In the spring of 2007 Megan studied in the UT Austin ACTLab under Sandy Stone, where she began creating installations with video and light. Outside of Austin her work has been seen at the University of New Hampshire, Lakes Region Summer Theatre (Meredith, NH), New Conservatory Theatre Center, The Actor’s Collective, Lunatique Fantastique, and the EXIT Theatre (all in San Francisco, CA). She has assisted at the Cincinnati Opera, the Butler Opera Center, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Surflight Theatre in New Jersey.
Toni Leago Valle received a BA in Theatre from the University of Houston in 2000. Ms. Valle has received two Individual Artist Grants from Houston Arts Alliance to produce It’s All Relative in 2002 and in 2007 for her third evening-length work, Tetris, to premiere at Barnevelder in January 2009. Ms. Valle premiered CRACKED in 2006 as a recipient of the DiverseWorks Artist Residency.
Her choreography has been seen at DiverseWorks, the Jewish Community Center of Houston, University of Houston, San Jacinto College and throughout the city of Houston. As a dancer, she has performed with Becky Valls & Company, Dancepatheatre, Psophonia Dance Company, Suchu Dance, and Travesty Dance Group. Ms. Valle is the Project Manager of Dance Source Houston. Ms. Valle served as choreographer-in-residence this season for Divergence Vocal Theater’s The Ottavia Project and The 10th Muse.