Staff

Home   ›   About   ›   Staff

Ben Robinson, General Director. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Ben has served as the Artistic Director of Raylynmor Opera (New Hampshire) and Opera Ithaca (New York), the Interim Artistic and Executive Director of Opera Steamboat, and the Managing Director of Lyric Fest, Philadelphia’s art song concert series. As a stage and film director, his work is highlighted by new productions for which he also wrote new English libretti:  Madame Butterfly, Macbeth, Hansel and Gretel, The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus, Bastien and Bastienne, The Impresario, La Cenerentola, Orpheus in the Underworld and Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon.

Recent projects include a soap-opera-inspired Così fan tutte with Cedar Rapids Opera, a new production of Nabucco for the inaugural Opera Ithaca Festival, a fashion world inspired production of La Cenerentola for Salt Marsh Opera, Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Ithaca, and the world premiere of Sally Lamb McCune’s We Wear the Sea Like a Coat with Ithaca College. His “moving, visually daring” (Opera News) film production of Hansel and Gretel featured his English translation which was cited for how its “amusing new lines so perfectly match the music that you can’t imagine how the original German must have fit.” The film will the Opera Philadelphia streaming lineup in February 2023.

Projects this season include productions The Impresario and The Pirates of Penzance for Ithaca College, Hänsel und Gretel with Temple University, Orpheus in the Underworld with Raylynmor Opera, L’italiana in Algeri with St. Petersburg Opera, and Gianni Schicchi with Opera Steamboat. As a singer, Ben appeared at Anchorage Opera in productions of South Pacific, Macbeth, Tosca, The Pirates of Penzance, and Die Zauberflöte. He is moving to Anchorage with his husband, bass-baritone, Michael Scarcelle, and dog, Debbie.

To contact Ben CLICK HERE

KV HeadshotKaylee Wagle, Director of Operations, originally of Oklahoma, is the daughter of a Music Therapist turned Music Teacher and was therefore forced into music lessons as soon as she could sit at a piano. She began as an instrumentalist and plays piano (badly), flute, piccolo, and alto saxophone. It was said, however, that she started singing before she could speak and to this day her least favorite thing in the world is being told to sing quieter. Luckily, she’s not half bad and earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Oklahoma in 2011. She has performed numerous roles in both Musical Theater and Opera such as Maria in West Side Story, Laurie in Oklahoma, Sandy in Grease, Mrs. Grose in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, and Annio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. She has also appeared in other works with OU Opera Theater such as Delibes Lakmé and Orff’s Carmina Burana and was the soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G both with the University and at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. After moving to Alaska in 2014, she began performing with Anchorage Opera Company in choruses such as The Magic Flute and Carmen and was a soloist in The Messiah in 2015 but spends most of her time behind the scenes for AO as the Director of Operations. Without coercion, her friends have reviewed her as being “as kickass and brilliant off stage as [she is] on it.” Her favorite song to sing is Landslide by Stevie Nicks, but only when her dad accompanies her on guitar (he lets her sing as loud as she wants).

To contact Kaylee CLICK HERE

Judy Berry, Marketing & Development Director comes to Anchorage Opera from Binghamton, NY where she last served as Marketing & Development Director at Tri-Cities Opera. Integral to all community outreach & fundraising projects, she also held the positions of TCO’s Assistant Main Stage Director & Stage Director for their touring education program, Opera-Go-Round. As an educator, Ms. Berry was on the music faculty of Binghamton University (German Lyric Diction & Studio Voice) & maintained an active Private Voice Studio. As a guest artist she has performed Masterclasses & workshops in the US & Europe. Her long association with TCO began as a singer in their Resident Artist Training Program from which she launched an international career, gracing the stages of Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Edinburgh Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Los Angeles Music Center, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Baltimore Opera, Knoxville Opera, Mississippi Opera, Virginia Opera Association, L’Opera Francais, Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Ithaca Opera Association, Berkshire Opera, Festival of Perth in Australia, Teatro de la Opera in Puerto Rico, Edmonton Opera in Canada, in the opera houses of Wuppertal, Mannheim, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Nürnberg, Wiesbaden, Bremen, Münster, Regensburg, Osnabrück, Mainz, Coburg, Kiel, Flensburg, Jena, Eutin, & in concert at NYC’s Lincoln Center & Carnegie Hall. She garnered top honors in major vocal competitions including Enrico Caruso Voice Competition USA, Baltimore Opera Competition, Liederkranz Foundation, New York Grand Opera, Queens Opera, New Jersey State Opera, & Loren L. Zachary Society for the Performing Arts. Ms. Berry holds a BA from Swarthmore College & a MM in Opera from Binghamton University. She has recorded on the WSW & Orfeo labels. She was awarded a 2014 Heart of the Arts Award from the Broome County Arts Council and is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation in honor of her artistic accomplishments.

To contact Judy CLICK HERE

Helen Irene Muller – Office Manager/Production Stage Manager, is proud to be an Alaskan working in the performing arts. Born and raised in Anchorage, but working in NYC pre-pandemic, she remains extremely grateful for the chance to call cues in her home state once again. Broadway: A Soldier’s Play. Off-Broadway/Regional: Happy Days (Mark Taper Forum, Theatre for a New Audience, Yale Repertory Theatre). Other favorite credits include domestic and international Sundance Institute Theatre Labs, Midnight Sun Theatre shows at Anchorage Community Theatre, and Little Women with Perseverance Theatre.

To contact Helen CLICK HERE

 

Lauren MillerTechnical Director

Flash MOBpera

Opera when & where you LEAST expect it!
Watch more on YouTube »

Anchorage Opera acknowledges that we gather and are performing on the traditional lands of the Dena’ina Athabascans. For thousands of years the Dena’ina have been and continue to be the stewards of this land. It is with gratefulness and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations, and contemporary perspectives of the upper Cook Inlet Dena’ina.