DIRECTORS
Kathryn Hartgrove
Artistic Director
Kathryn Hartgrove has been described as “a mezzo-soprano of precision, range and sheer splendor” and has been heard throughout the United States, South America and Europe. Her many roles include Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Thisbe in La Cenerentola, Siebel in Faust, Emilia in Otello, and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana with such companies as the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera’s National Tour, Chicago Opera Theater, Łodz National Opera of Poland, Chamber Opera of Chicago, Piedmont Opera Theater, and Opera Maine. She has performed as soloist with Istanbul National Symphony, Pesaro Chamber Orchestra in Italy, Grant Park Symphony of Chicago, Hinsdale Chamber Orchestra, Lake Shore Symphony, Millikin-Decatur Symphony, and Beloit-Janesville Symphony. Other concerts include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Germany and at the Dimitria Festival in Greece; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the Pasqua Festival in Italy; concerts in Poland at the Krakow Opera House; concerts at the Trujillo Bach Festival in Peru; opera galas in Macerata Feltria and Pesaro, Italy; a recital for the Atelier Concert Series in Paris, France; as well as recitals in Bauru, Campinas, and São Paulo, Brazil, Italy, and the United States. She has been heard on radio and television in Brazil, Turkey, and the United States.
Ms. Hartgrove is an active stage director and has staged Dido and Aeneas at the Festival Música das Esferas, Cagnoni’s Don Bucefalo, Il Mondo della Luna, and Rita for Voci nel Montefeltro in Italy. Pizza con Funghi with the Boston Opera Cooperative, Too Many Sopranos and Pizza con Funghi for Milwaukee Opera Theater, and Die Zauberflöte for the University of Campinas in Brazil. In November 2016, she was an artist in residence for Universidade Federal de Uberlândia and Opera MINAZ.
Ms. Hartgrove presented masterclasses in Brazil, Italy, Peru, and Greece, and at the universities of Montana, Utah, Hawaii, and Tennessee, as well as New England Conservatory, Tufts University, Butler University, Southwestern University, Ithaca College, and Drake University.
Ms. Hartgrove is a Professor of Voice at Georgia State University and the Artistic Director of the Festival of International Opera of the Americas.
Adriana Kayama
General Director
Brazilian soprano, Adriana Kayama, has performed throughout Brazil, North America and Europe in La Clemenza di Tito, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Die Zauberflöte and Der Schauspieldirektor. Ms. Kayama has also performed with several orchestras, such as the Campinas Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo State Orchestra, Jazz Symphonic Orchestra, and Bahia Symphony Orchestra, among others. She received the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo Young Soloist Award in 1984 and was semifinalist at the XII International Voice Competition in Rio de Janeiro in 1985. She holds Bachelor’s degree in Music from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and Master’s and Doctorate (DMA) from the University of Washington. She was the head of the vocal program and voice professor of the Arts Institute at UNICAMP for over 30 years, where she taught voice, diction, vocal pedagogy, and chamber music. Ms. Kayama has dedicated all of her academic career to the research and performance of Brazilian chamber music and opera. She was one of the coordinators of the project that lead to the publication of the Norms for Brazilian Portuguese Lyric Diction (Published in the Journal of Singing in Nov/Dec 2008). From 2003 to 2007, Ms. Kayama was the president of the National Association of Research and Graduate Studies in Music (ANPPOM). She has offered Vocal Master Classes in Brazil and United States. She is presently a collaborative professor in the Graduate Music Program at UNICAMP.