About this Event
April 9 | Noon | Ohio Theatre, Rehearsal Room 1 | FREE
Join us in-person for a FREE Q&A with the cast + creatives of La traviata. They will share all of the backstage "tea" and insider knowledge while we enjoy coffee and sweets.
Eve Summer, Stage Director
Rossen Milanov, Music Director
Austin Blake Conlee, Costume Designer
Aubry Ballarò, Violetta
Allison Steiner, Emcee + Opera Columbus Board
About Eve Summer
Hailed “a rising star of stage directing [whose] approach to directing refreshes hope for the future of opera,” Eve Summer is a director, producer, and choreographer. She has been described as having “a gift for translating classic symbolism into familiar detail with just enough flippancy to bring out the fun of the opera without skewing the emotional equation.” Recent directing credits include The Glimmerglass Festival, Trouble in Tahiti; Opera Columbus, Tosca, Don Giovanni; Curtis Opera Theatre, Così fan tutte, Albert Herring; Opera Saratoga, The Barber of Seville; Opera Grand Rapids, Così fan tutte, The Mikado, Don Giovanni; Tulsa Opera, The Little Prince; Opera Orlando, The Tales of Hoffmann, Lizbeth; Opera Carolina, Don Giovanni; Connecticut Early Music Festival, Xerxes; A.J.Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA, Volpone; Opera Tampa & Opera in Williamsburg, The Pearl Fishers; MassOpera, Carmen; Boheme Opera New Jersey, Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor; and the world premiere of Larry Bell’s opera Holy Ghosts at the Berklee Performance Center.
Eve’s work has been called “eye-poppingly contemporary,” “a riveting, glorious production from beginning to end,” and “can only be described as brilliant.” Critics raved that her production of Xerxes was “a delight, and a testament to Summer’s gift for banishing stodginess from an art form too often seen as fossilized and elitist”. Critics hailed her recent Albert Herring at Curtis as “exuberant and delightful,” “a drawing room tour de force,” and declared “It is hard to imagine how the performance could have been improved. It was sensational.” Her style is naturalistic, modern, and rooted in the visceral truthfulness of stage plays where she started her directing career. Her theater productions have included The Merry Wives of Windsor, Extremities, A Midsummer night’s Dream, The Woolgatherer, ‘Art,’ Two Gentlemen of Verona and her own play Neighbors, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Berger.
A former professional ballet dancer and choreographer, Eve’s choreography credits include a commission to choreograph a new ballet, Jeanne’s Fantasy, by composer Mark Warhol for the premiere with Contrapose Dance and Fort Point Theatre Channel, Elektra at Des Moines Metro Opera, Falstaff at Opera Colorado, and Don Giovanni at Boston Opera Collaborative. She recently collaborated with renowned choreographer Karole Armitage on the critically acclaimed American premiere of Philip Glass’ Opera-Ballet The Witches of Venice at Opera Saratoga. Eve has served as staff director and choreographer at many opera companies including Boston Lyric Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Colorado, Tulsa Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Opera Boston. www.EveSummerDirector.com
About Rossen Milanov
Respected and admired by audiences and musicians alike, Rossen Milanov is currently the music director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and newly appointed chief conductor of the Slovenian RTV Orchestra in Ljubljana.
Milanov has established himself as a conductor with considerable national and international presence. He recently completed a seven-year tenure as music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA) in Spain. Nationally, he has appeared with the Colorado, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Seattle, and Fort Worth symphonies, National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Link-Up education projects with Carnegie Hall and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and with the Civic Orchestra in Chicago.
Internationally, he has collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de la Suisse Romand, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Aalborg, Latvian, and Hungarian National Symphony Orchestras and the orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic (South Africa), Mexico, Colombia, Sao Paolo, Belo Horizonte, and New Zealand. In the Far East, he has appeared with NHK, Sapporo, Tokyo, and Singapore symphonies, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, and Malaysian and Hong Kong Philharmonics.
Milanov has collaborated with some of the world’s preeminent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, and André Watts. During his 11-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Milanov conducted more than 200 performances. In 2015, he completed a 15-year tenure as music director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C in New Jersey, and in 2013, a 17-year tenure with the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria. His passion for new music has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Derek Bermel, Mason Bates, Caroline Shaw, Phillip Glass, Richard Danielpour, Nicolas Maw, and Gabriel Prokofiev, among others.
Noted for his versatility, Milanov is also a welcomed presence in the worlds of opera and ballet. He has collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk), Opera Oviedo (Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Mazzepa and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle – awarded best Spanish production for 2015), and Opera Columbus (Verdi’s La Traviata).
An experienced ballet conductor, he has been seen at New York City Ballet and collaborated with some of the best known choreographers of our time such Mats Ek, Benjamin Millepied, and most recently, Alexei Ratmansky in the critically acclaimed revival of Swan Lake in Zurich with the Zurich Ballet and in Paris with La Scala Ballet.
Milanov was recipient of an Arts Prize by The Columbus Foundation. Under his leadership, the Columbus Symphony has expanded its reach by connecting original programing with community-wide initiatives such as focusing on women composers, nature conservancy, presenting original festivals, and supporting and commissioning new music.
In Princeton, he celebrated his tenth anniversary as music director, and under his leadership, the orchestra has established an excellent artistic reputation and has been recognized for its innovation and vital role in the community.
Milanov studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship.
A passionate chef, he often dedicates his culinary talents to various charities.
About Austin Blake Conlee
Austin Blake Conlee is a freelance costume designer based in New Jersey / New York City, who designs productions all over the country. He is also the Professor of Costume Design at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
As a Queer artist, Austin enjoys designing innovative works created by or featuring underrepresented groups as well as revamping conventional classics to make them fresh, new, and exciting. He always appreciates the opportunity to work on projects that push artistic boundaries. Skilled in the art of digital rendering, Austin uses innovative programs like Procreate and Photoshop alongside traditional media to create fresh & unique costume designs.
Austin graduated with his MFA in Costume Design from the University of Maryland mentored by Costume Designer Helen Q. Huang. He received his BFA in Technical Theatre & Design from the University of Memphis. Austin recently received a Broadway World Award for his Costume Design of “Cinderella”. He also won the Costume Industry Coalition’s Design Challenge for his work on “Hamlet: Replayed”. Select costume renderings of his will soon be featured in the upcoming textbook “Digital Painting and Rendering for Theatrical Design” by Jen Gillette, to be published in 2024.
Austin has worked at a variety of theatrical venues in various capacities such as costume designer, associate/assistant costume designer, wig designer, wig master, fabric shopper, and artistic collaborator on new works. These credits include The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Northern Stage, Opera Columbus, Cumberland County Playhouse, Arena Stage, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Sierra Repertory Theatre, Ohio Light Opera, Studio Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Imagination Stage, Constellation Stage, Urban Arias, Maryland Opera Studio, Willamette University, Stagedoor Manor, Emory & Henry College, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, Opera Memphis, Porthouse Theatre, Memphis School of Music, Hattiloo Theatre, Germantown Theatre Company, New Moon Theatre Company, and the Tennessee Shakespeare Company.
About Aubry Ballarò
Quickly gaining attention as a singer possessing a lyric and dramatic voice with good bel canto technique (Indie Opera/Town Topics New Jersey), soprano Aubry Ballarò recently made her international debut as the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with State Opera Stara Zagora. Soon after, Ms. Ballarò joined The Princeton Festival to sing the role of Madame Herz in their 2022 production of The Impresario.
Under the baton of Steven Mercurio, she has appeared twice at the Festival de Musique de Saint Barthélemy, singing Micaëla in their 2020 production of Carmen and popular operatic selections in their 2021 concert with orchestra. Ms. Ballarò was a Finalist in the 2021 Vincerò World Singing Competition in Napoli, a winner of the 2019 Bologna International Vocal Competition, as well as a District Winner of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
Ms. Ballarò is a recent graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, where she was seen performing roles such as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La bohème, Juliet in Roméo et Juliette, and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera.
In 2023, Ms. Ballarò will be returning to State Opera Stara Zagora to debut the role of Violetta Valéry in Verdi’s La Traviata, and will be joining Opera Columbus to debut the role of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Coffee with the Creatives is supported by Black Kahawa Coffee and Nothing Bundt Cakes
Coffee art by Mary Cecil.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Ohio Theatre, Rehearsal Room #1, 39 East State Street, Columbus, United States
USD 0.00
