San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship — named for the late SF Opera General Director Kurt Herbert Adler — has selected participants for the next season in the program. The fellowship has assisted scores of young artists on their way to important careers.
Selected from participants of the Adler-initiated Merola Opera Program, 10 singers and two pianists/apprentice coaches will begin their fellowships in January. The residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching, and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities, including SF Opera mainstage productions.
2020 Adler Fellows named today are:
Sopranos
Anne-Marie MacIntosh (Langley, British Columbia, Canada)
Elisa Sunshine (San Clemente, California)
Esther Tonea (Buford, Georgia)
Mezzo Simone McIntosh (Vancouver, Canada)
Tenors
Zhengyi Bai (Linyi, China)
Christopher Colmenero (Burlington, Vermont)
Christopher Oglesby (Woodstock, Georgia)
Victor Starsky (Queens, New York)
Baritone Timothy Murray (Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin)
Bass Stefan Egerstrom (Brooklyn Center, Minnesota)
Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Elisa Sunshine, Esther Tonea, Victor Starsky, Timothy Murray, and Stefan Egerstrom are incoming first-year fellows.
2019 Adlers Simone McIntosh, Zhengyi Bai, Christopher Colmenero, and Christopher Oglesby continue in the program as second-year fellows.
Current fellows will perform at their program-concluding concert on Dec. 6.
Since its inception in 1975, the fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 180 young artists, introducing many budding stars to the international opera stage and launching active careers throughout the world as performers, production artists, arts professionals, and educators.
Among such Adler alumni are sopranos Patricia Racette, Nadine Sierra, and Deborah Voigt; mezzo-sopranos Daniela Mack, Renée Tatum, and Dolora Zajick; countertenors Ryan Belongie and Gerald Thompson; tenors Brian Jagde, Sean Panikkar, Alek Shrader, and Noah Stewart; baritones Eugene Brancoveanu, Alfredo Daza, Mark Delavan, Austin Kness, and Lucas Meachem; bass-baritones John Relyea, Philip Skinner, Daniel Sumegi, and Dale Travis.
