Molly Dunn

Soprano

American soprano, Molly Dunn, is gaining recognition for her full lyric voice and striking stage presence.

In the 2021 season, Ms. Dunn made her debut as La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro with the International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia, in Morelia, Mexico under the baton of Maestro Jorge Parodi. She also performed scenes as Mimì from La Bohème with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán in the Morelia Opera Gala. 

To complete this season, Ms. Dunn will be performing Violetta in La Traviata and singing Mimì in La Vie de Bohème with Opera at Florham. She is the creator of Zombie Opera, a gory Halloween musical extravaganza in the heart of Jersey City.

A true crossover performer, Ms. Dunn began her performing career in musical theatre with credits such as: Amalia Balash in She Loves Me, Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Johanna u/s in Sweeney Todd, Babette in Beauty and the Beast, and Carlotta u/s in Maury Yeston’s Phantom.

She was a Finalist and Special Award Winner in the 2017 Lotte Lenya Competition. She is a winner of the 2019 Vienna Summer Music Festival Competition and made her international debut as Suor Angelica in Suor Angelica at the Wiener Kammeroper in Vienna, Austria under the baton of Maestro Keith Chambers. Ms. Dunn is also the Founder and Artistic Director of LUX Performing Arts. More...

Frederick Schlick

Tenor

Frederick Schlick, praised for his “tender power” (Opera Wire) is a New York City based performer with a Master’s in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory. In the summer of 2016, Frederick became a member of Brevard Music Center’s Janiec Opera company. There, he sang the roles of Lysander in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and the role of Ethan Krusemark in the world premiere of Falling Angel. He was also one of the tenor soloists in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. Immediately after Brevard, Frederick made his professional debut as Young Jim Thompson in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied with Pensacola Opera in the fall of 2016. Frederick reprised the same role in Glory Denied with Tri-Cities Opera the next year.

2018 marked Frederick’s NYC debut when he joined City Lyric Opera as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and returned in 2019 to sing Don José in La Tragédie de Carmen. These roles sparked an enormous shift toward the Italian and French lyric tenor repertoire, which led to future engagements like Alfredo in La Traviata (City Lyric Opera), Percy in Anna Bolena (dell’Arte Festival). However, due to Covid-19, these engagements were postponed.

2020 kicked off with Frederick singing Rodolfo in Lancaster Opera’s La Bohème, and performing with Opera at Florham in Un Pomeriggio. In 2021, he became a resident artist with Nashville Opera. Frederick is also an active voice teacher in the Greenwich, Ct area. 

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Jaime Webb

Coloratura Soprano

 Jaime Marie Webb is the Soprano Holland Community Opera Fellow at Opera Omaha where she was scheduled to sing scenes as Lucia and Cunegonde in Opera Omaha's Season Opening. Previously, Webb served as the Resident Artist Soprano for the University of Georgia Opera Theatre where she performed Norina in Don Pasquale under the baton of Maestro Hilary Griffiths, and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia under the direction of Nic Muni.

During the 2020-2021 season, Webb made her debut as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in the International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia (ISOFOM) with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán under the baton of Maestro Jorge Parodi. She also sang the role of Musetta with ISOFOM and performed in masterclasses with Ailyn Pérez, Danielle Orlando, and Kristine Opolais, and studied privately with Jennifer Rowley.

Webb currently studies with internationally renowned artist Julia Faulkner, Director of the Ryan Opera Center. Additional operatic credits include Micaëla in Carmen, Hanna Glawari in Die lustige Witwe, Casilda in The Gondoliers, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. A champion of female composers, Webb partnered with the Lied Center for Performing Arts to make her solo concert debut in a tribute concert for Justice Ginsburg, performing the works of composers Patrice Michaels, Lori Laitman, Stacy Garrop, and Vivian Fung, as the first soprano other than Justice Ginsburg’s daughter-in-law to have the rights to perform the collection. More...

Matthew Ciuffitelli

Baritone

“Truly an anthem of our times” said Classic FM in regards to Matthew Ciuffitelli AKA Matthew Choof’s ‘Figaro’ parody.  He appeared as Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Bob and Ben in The Old Maid and the Thief, Sergeant Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, the Sacristan in Tosca with Eastern Opera, Papageno in Nyack, Eisenstein in Amore Opera’s Die Fledermaus, Prince Yamadori in New Jersey Festival Orchestra’s Madama Butterfly as well as Angelotti in Tosca.

Ciuffitelli has performed in The Telephone with Light Opera of New Jersey, Die Zauberflöte in New York’s Pardington Hall, and at Sarasota Opera as a featured resident artist singing the Official Registrar in the company’s production of Madama Butterfly. He has also covered Valentin in the St. Petersburgh Opera’s production of Faust. 

Matthew could be seen singing in the Broadway’s 10th Anniversary Concert of A Tale of Two Cities as Gabel and the Male Principal understudy. While in Chicago, Ciuffitelli had the unique opportunity to perform with the Rolling Stones at Chicago’s United Center and to appear in the U.S. premiere of the mixed-media work, Mountain Top, by Dutch avant-pop composer Jacob Ter Veldhuis.

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Matthew was the recipient of the 2018 Career Bridges Grant as well as the winner of the 2018 New Jersey State Opera Competition Award. He can be seen touring internationally with the world-renowned Sharpe Family Singers.  You can find him on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as @MatthewChoof

Zachary Elmassian

Bass -baritone

Michigan native Zachary Elmassian has been praised for his “terrific vocals” and notable acting abilities. A graduate of the Merola Opera Program, the bass-baritone most recently sang the role of Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Sherrill Milnes, in Prague, Czech Republic, as part of the Prague Summer Nights Music Festival. 

Zachary has been a resident artist with Florida Grand Opera, where he appeared as the Notary in Don Pasquale, the Officer in The Barber of Seville, and SS Man #2 in The Passenger. Other stage credits include the title role in Gianni Schicchi; Simone in Gianni Schicchi; Jeronimus in the Chicago premiere of Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade; Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte; Gustl in The Land of Smiles; Pooh-Bah in The Mikado; and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance.

In the summer of 2014, Zachary attended Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival, where he sang the role of Official Registrar in Madama Butterfly and covered Leporello in Don Giovanni.

A graduate of Northwestern University and Denison University, Zachary’s vocal teachers have been Armen Boyajian, Marc Embree, Sunny Joy Langton, and Winifred Faix Brown.

MARY PINTO

Artistic Director & Piano Accompanist

Mary Pinto, an accompanist and vocal coach, has worked with international opera singers and major American opera companies for the past 25 years. 

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Ms. Pinto's career began as a rehearsal pianist for noted opera companies:  Dallas Opera, Chicago's Lyric Opera, Omaha Opera, and others. In 2012, Ms. Pinto coached and was rehearsal pianist for Metropolitan Opera star and international soprano Deborah Voigt as she prepared for the three Brünhilde roles for the Met's production of Wagner's ​Ring Cycle​ which was featured in the documentary Wagner’s Dream: The Making of the Met's Ring Cycle ​and premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

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In 2014, she performed with Opera Noire's Ensemble in the American Embassy in Moscow and St. Petersburg; spent last three summers as coaching staff at Masterclass d' Ischia, Italy. 

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Since 2007 Ms. Pinto has been on the faculty of Montclair State University as a private coach, accompanist, and to prepare students for opera productions. She serves as the Vice-President and Artistic Director for Opera at Florham while maintaining coaching studios in New Jersey and New York City.

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Mary received her Bachelor’s degree in Music for piano performance from DePauw University and a Master’s in Music degree for piano and voice accompaniment from University of Illinois.

MARIANA KARPATOVA

Narrator and Vocal Instructor

Mariana Karpatova, mezzo-soprano, appeared “Live from Lincoln Center” in Maurice Sendak’s Hänsel und Gretel as the Mother and the Witch while studying at Juilliard. At her debut with Sarasota  Opera, was praised for “acting and singing with passion and power.” She was an Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Award recipient and cited by the New York Times under the headline, “A Debut with Signs of the Future.”

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Opera appearances include Sarasota Opera as Cuniza in Oberto, Michigan Opera as Quickly in Falstaff, Metropolitan Opera as Maid in Elektra and Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, the Bulgarian National Opera as Azucena in Il Trovatore, and many more. Her concerts include Symphony No. 8, Verdi’s Requiem, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, Shoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Ravel’s Scheherazade, Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Durufle’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and others.

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In the summers of 2018 & 2020, Ms. Karpatova helped organize and performed in the “Unbeaten Path” chamber music festival in her native country, Bulgaria. In 2018, she performed songs by Brahms and Bulgarian and American composer. In 2020, during COVID times, she performed virtually Dobrinko Tabakova's Songs for the Seasons: Summer and Autumn.

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Ms. Karpatova is a recognized specialist training youth and advanced professional singers for contemporary and classical music. She has a private practice (Mariana Voice Studio) and is on the vocal teaching staff at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison.