About this Event
February 4 | Noon | Ohio Theatre, Studio Room 4 | FREE
Join us in-person for a FREE Q&A with the creatives of The Anonymous Lover. They will share all of the backstage "tea" and insider knowledge while we enjoy coffee and sweets.
Kenneth Overton, Stage Director
Dr. Everett McCorvey, Principal Guest Conductor
Neil Fortin, Costume Designer
Julia Noulin-Mérat, General Director + CEO + Emcee
Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, Valcour
About Kenneth Overton
Kenneth Overton is lauded for blending his opulent baritone with magnetic, varied portrayals that seemingly “emanate from deep within body and soul.” Kenneth Overton’s symphonious baritone voice has sent him around the globe, making him one of the most sought-after opera singers of his generation. Kenneth is a 2020 GRAMMY AWARD WINNER for Best Choral Performance in the title role of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta This season, Overton will lead two productions for the Welsh National Opera’s new season. The new work Migrations, and in the world premiere of The Shoemaker. Overton will reprise his most celebrated role in Porgy and Bess as Porgy, co-produced by Opera Carolina and North Carolina Opera. Concert engagements will include Handel’s Messiah at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, a concert staging of Porgy and Bess with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, a solo recital for the African American Music Festival at Pennsylvania State University, a solo recital with the Howland Chamber Music Circle, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and a return to The Kennedy Center with The Washington Chorus as the soloist for Duruflé’s Requiem and Undine Smith Moore’s Scenes from the Life of a Martyr.
About Dr. Everett McCorvey
Dr. Everett McCorvey, tenor, is a native of Montgomery, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of Alabama, where he earned a Doctorate in Musical Arts. His career highlights include performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Kennedy Center, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. He has performed in over 23 countries. Recently, with Opera Columbus, Dr. McCorvey conducted Carmen and led the OC All-Star Master Class Concert at the Lincoln Theatre. In February 2024, he was appointed as Opera Columbus’ Principal Guest Conductor. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble and the Artistic Director of the National Chorale of New York City. He also serves as the Chairman of the Kentucky Arts Council and an advisory panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Additionally, Dr. McCorvey is on the Board of Trustees of the Sullivan Foundation of New York, supporting young opera singers. Dr. McCorvey holds the OperaLex Endowed Chair of Opera Studies and is a Professor of Voice at the University of Kentucky. Alongside his wife, soprano Alicia Helm, he has given concerts, master classes, and workshops across the globe.
About Neil Fortin
Neil is a graduate of Boston University with an MFA in Costume Production, and additionally holds a Bachelors degree in History from Providence College. He designed Opera Omaha’s production of Eugene Onegin in April of 2022 and has constructed historical millinery for a variety of West end Shows in England as well as the BBC’s Sanditon. As an ongoing project Fortin has collaborated with his husband and formed Thomas Fortin Menswear an English silk accessories company. Fortin has also worked with the American Repertory Theater, the Huntington Theater Company, The Boston Conservatory Pegasus Early Music Festival, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Actors Shakespeare Project, The Walnut Hill School, and the Metro Stage Company.
About Julia Noulin-Mérat
Julia Noulin-Mérat has been the General Director + CEO of Opera Columbus for the past 4 seasons. With OC, Noulin-Mérat is redefining the very concept of regional opera, with original productions that celebrate emerging talent, fresh perspectives, and modern technology, engaging a new, diverse audience. Julia was named the “2024 Nonprofit Executive of the Year” at the Medical Mutual Pillar Awards. Previously, Noulin-Mérat was for 8 years the Associate Producer at Boston Lyric Opera and was the co-Artistic Director of Guerrilla Opera, having begun her tenure as their Producer + Director of Production for 11 years. She is the creative director for Hong Kong-based More Than Musical. In addition, Noulin-Mérat has worked on over 400 opera, theater, and television productions, including 26 new operas, 22 new plays. Other projects include a TEDx talk on site-specific opera productions, Neverland (China Broadway): a $20 million, 50,000 square immersive theater piece in Beijing, a PPE friendly outdoor Fall Festival (Atlanta Opera), an immersive Pagliacci(Boston Lyric Opera) production complete with fairgrounds inside an ice rink and Playground (Opera Omaha) a National touring operatic sound sculpture. She has served on the panel for OPERA America, adjudicating the Tobin Director-Designer showcase, and is actively involved in the Women’s Opera Network, first as a mentee (General Director distinction) and now this year as a mentor. Noulin-Mérat is a part of the OA Leadership Intensive cohort and currently serves on the OPERA America Board of Directors. With over 20 years of experience in the performing arts industry and a big advocate for cultural equity in opera, she is a graduate of Boston University with a Masters in Business Arts Administration, an MFA in Set Design, a Diversity Inclusion certificate from ESSEC Business School, a social media marketing specialization from Northwestern University, a Fundraising Development Specialization from UC Davis, a Finance & Leadership certification from Harvard Business School. Her work has been featured in Opera News, LiveDesign, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
About Jonathan Pierce Rhodes
With his mellifluous “honey-voice,” Tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes has emerged as an exciting young presence in the world of opera, drawing attention and admiration from audiences and critics alike. In the current season, Mr. Rhodes makes his role debut as Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears with Opera Parallele. Shortly after, he makes his highly anticipated house debut with The Lyric Opera Chicago, where he is set to reprise his role as Policeman 2, as well as cover The Son, in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s critically acclaimed opera, Blue. Additional appearances this season include concerts with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Apollo’s Fire, as well as his Carnegie Hall debut with the Oratorio Society of New York, where he will appear as the soloist in the world premiere of Moravec’s All Shall Rise and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang.
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, Studio Room 4, 39 East State Street, Columbus, United States
USD 0.00
