Detroit Opera has announced the five singers who will train in Detroit Opera’s Resident Artist Program during the 2024–25 season.
The company’s new Resident Artists are Soprano Brianna J. Robinson, mezzo-soprano Kendra Faith Beasley, tenor River Guard for a second year, and baritones Cole Bellamy and Cameron J. Rolling. The five were chosen from more than 830 artists who applied to the program, which is spearheaded by Detroit Opera’s Associate Artistic Director, soprano Christine Goerke, and Head of Music Nathalie Doucet.
The Resident Artists have committed to an intensive program while living in Detroit from September 2024 through May 2025, training directly with Goerke, Doucet, and guest faculty in specially crafted and individualized curricula of voice, movement, language and career guidance. In addition to their hands-on training and performances in Detroit Opera in mainstage productions, Resident Artists work with guest artists, directors, and conductors. Professionals who have worked with Resident Artists in the past two years include sopranos Wendy Bryn Harmer, Ana Maria Martinez, and Janet Williams; mezzo-soprano Susan Graham; bass-baritone Alfred Walker; conductors Valerio Galli, Roberto Kalb, and Francesco Milioto; coaches Ellen Rissinger, Ricardo Herrera, and Timothy Cheek, and Yuval Sharon, Detroit Opera’s Artistic Director.
In keeping with Detroit Opera’s longstanding focus on making opera accessible to the surrounding community, Resident Artists forge direct ties to Detroit through recitals, concerts, and other collaborations with local schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other institutions. They perform regularly in local hospitals, in public concert series at Christ Church Cranbrook and The War Memorial.
This is the third season of Detroit Opera’s Resident Artist program, which builds on the strong foundations of the Studio Artist program founded in 2015 by Dr. David DiChiera, the company’s founder.
