15th Anniversary Gala

The Hudson Valley International Festival of the Voice participates with more than 50 opera companies in Opera America’s OPERA PASSPORT program. Ask us about this program

The Opera Cowgirls are an alt-country band where grand opera meets the grand ole opry. Founded by Caitlin McKechney (mezzo-soprano/guitar/banjolele), the group also includes Sarah Beckham-Turner (soprano/cello), Maria Maxfield (soprano/dulcimer/egg shaker or tambourine), Mila Henry (not a soprano/mini-keyboards/percussion) and Sarah Moulton Faux. By blending the greatest operatic hits with some country flavor, the Cowgirls have proven that they can truly cover Puccini to Parton.
They have performed at venues ranging from dive bars to cabaret halls, including the New York-based BAM Lepercq Space, Pete’s Candy Store, Le Poisson Rouge and The Slipper Room, and trips to Avaloch Farm Music Institute (NH), Dr Petersburg Opera (FL), Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre (IA), Delaware Valley Opera (NY), Magic City Opera (FL), NightBlue Theater (IL), Opera North (NH), Painted Sky Opera (OK), the San Francisco Ballet (CA), and West Texas A&M University (TX). Digital albums include Pearlsnaps and Pearls and A Very Merry Cowgirl Christmas, available online through all major music platforms. OperaCowgirls.com

Mezzo-Soprano, Guitar, Banjolele by Caitlin McKechney

Founding Cowgirl, rocks the guitar and banjolele (a hybrid of a ukulele and a banjo). You often hear her singing Carmen while flirting with unsuspecting beer-drinkers, or belting out some Patsy Cline. She has performed multiple times in both Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, but primarily on Mozart, Rossini and Bizet. She buys a new pair of boots each time she’s there, and now owns an impressive collection.  Caitlin is mom to “Mikey”, her little half-Greek, half-Irish, all-cowboy Covid baby.

Soprano, Cello – Sarah Beckham-Turner
Brings us her cello skills AND her Texas street cred, providing us with bass lines and baselines galore. In addition to her star power and spell-binding ability to work a crowd, she is also mom to “Sweet Baby James” Turner and little Caleb Vance.  She currently lives in Amarillo where she is molding the future generation of opera singers at West Texas A&M University.

Soprano – Sarah Moulton Faux
Is lauded for her “full, silvery soprano” (Opera News) and “mesmerizing” performances (Brooklyn Spectator) in repertoire ranging from opera’s most famous heroines to contemporary works.  She is the 2022 Winner of the America Prize for her debut album “Where Should This Music Be? Songs of Lola Williams” produced by Grammy award winning Executive Producer Judith Sherman, composer Laura Kaminsky and American Opera Projects (AOP) and released by New World Records: “Sarah Moulton Faux is stunning: her devotion to this music shines through her every syllable…a glorious disc” (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine).  An ardent champion of new work particularly by women composers, Sarah received the 2023 Opera America National Opera Trustee Recognition Award for her service as Co-President of the Board of Directors of AOP.

Soprano – Sarah Joy Miller,

praised by The New York Times as “vivacious and fearless” is widely acknowledged as one of the industry’s foremost emerging talents. Ms. Miller first began turning heads at her New York City Opera and BAM débuts to great critical acclaim singing the title role of Anna Nicole Smith in the Royal Opera House commissioned opera Anna Nicole by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Recently, Ms. Miller returned to The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Orfeo et Eurydice and performed the title role of Thaïs for Maryland Lyric Opera. She Is currently playing Christina Nillson on the television series “The Gilded Age”.

Operatic highlights include her début at Michigan Opera Theater singing Gilda in Rigoletto, with subsequent returns as Leila Les pêcheurs de perles, a role début as Marguerite in Faust, and Roxanne in David DiChiera’s Cyrano; Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Violetta in La traviata with Palm Beach Opera; and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at Opera Grand Rapids, Opera Carolina, Opera Tampa, and Lyric Opera Baltimore. Additionally, Ms. Miller joined the esteemed roster of The Metropolitan Opera for their productions of Rigoletto, Thaïs, L’elisir d’amore, Gianni Schicchi, and Adriana Lecouvreur in which she performed the role of Mile. Jouvenot in her mainstage début. Ms. Miller is frequently a guest artist on domestic and international concert stages including the Bolshoi Theater: Slovak Sinfonietta: the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra; the New York Choral Society: the Marcello Giordani Foundation; the Sergio Franchi Music Foundation; in Verona, Italy in collaboration with the Veronalirica Associazione; and is a frequent soloist with the St. Bart’s Music Festival. Concert engagements include performances of Carmina Burana with Dallas Symphony Orchestra; a “Puccini to Pop” concert with Tulsa Opera; Eternal Light: A Requiem at Carnegie Hall; and selections from Faust at St. Bart’s Music Festival. An advocate of bridging the gap between opera and musical theatre, Ms. Miller made her professional operatic début singing Mimi in Baz Luhrmann’s acclaimed Broadway production of Puccini’s La bohème and went on to reprise the role at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.

Baritone – Kevin Glavin
Kevin Glavin world renowned and critically acclaimed bass-baritone specializing in Italian Opera for over forty years. Highlights include performances with Luciano Pavarotti, Marvin Hamlisch, and most of the major international opera stars, directors, and conductors of the world. Countries including Canada, China, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Costa Rica, Italy, Spain, France and most states in the USA. Career highlights are performing “live from Lincoln and Kennedy Centers” shown worldwide. The majority of his career focused on the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Pittsburg Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Miami Opera. Known for his vocal and acting skills he is praised by audiences and critics around the world.

Mezzo-Soprano – Marianne Cornetti
is internationally recognized as one of the leading Verdi mezzo-sopranos of her generation. She has appeared as Amneris in Aida, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Princess Eboli in Don Carlos at prestigious opera houses across the world, garnering rave reviews and winning the hearts of audiences globally. Opera Magazine claims, “If her timbre did not sear itself into the memory, her vocal command of this redoubtable role was complete” and Seen and Heard International raves, “[Her] voice is a miracle of power and flexibility from top to bottom. It is the emotion which she imparts into her singing, however, that makes her Azucena so memorable… Cornetti imbues each [role] with an emotional force all its own… The cheers and applause that rained down upon her at the end were well deserved.”
Acclaimed performances of iconic leading Verdi roles include engagements as Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona, Bregenz Festival, Teatro Comunale in Florence, National Theatre of China in Beijing, Teatro Muncipal in Sao Paulo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, La Coruña in Spain, Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and in the Teatro Comunale di Bologna’s tour in Japan, and as Amneris in Aida at the Teatro alla Scala, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New National Theatre Foundation in Tokyo, Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Brussels, Israeli Opera at Masada, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Auditorio de Tenerife, and Choregies D’Orange.
Engagements in the 2017-2018 season include performances as Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo; Gianni Schicchi and L’enfant e les Sortiléges with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya, Japan; Un Ballo in Maschera with the Bolshoi Theatre; and a chamber concert at the UK’s North Norfolk Music Festival with violist Simon Rowland-Jones and pianist Gary Matthewman in songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Copland.

Tenor Soloist – Aaron Blake
The recipient of a 2017 George London Foundation Award, tenor Aaron Blake has earned international recognition for his performances in repertoire ranging from Martinu to Rossini. In 2022, he was recognized by the recording academy with a Grammy Award for his role as the High Priest of Amon in The Metropolitan Opera’s Grammy Award Winning Album of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten. His creation of the role of Timothy Laughlin in the Cincinnati Opera world premiere of Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers brought both critical and international acclaim. The live recording of these performances was captured on the Cincinnati Symphony Fanfare Label and was released in 2017 where it was named one of the top 10 classical recordings of the year by New Yorker Magazine. In addition, Mr. Blake made a critically acclaimed debut with New York City Opera in Peter Eötvös’ operatic adaptation of Angels in America.

The 2023-24 Season boasts to the Metropolitan Opera from their new production of Carmen, the Season Opening Gala of the Israeli Opera, Recitals in Prague and Berlin, Don Giovanni at the Cicinnnati Opera as well as a debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Haifa Symphony.

During the 2022-23 season, Mr. Blake made his Canadian debut as Nadir in Les pêcheurs de Perles, a debut with the Haifa Symphony as Tamino and his Italian debut in recital with pianist Maria Nikitin at Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also covers the role of Henry in Die Schweigsame Frau with Bard Summerscape, performs a concert of arias, songs, and duets at Walt Disney Concert Hall and covers Don Ottavio in the Met’s new production of Don Giovanni.

Mr. Blake began his 2021/2022 season with a return to the Cincinnati Opera as Il Conte Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, followed by a concert of operatic duets, arias, and Neapolitan Songs with the Los Angeles Symphony. He then returned to The Israeli Opera to open their season as Tamino in Barrie Kosky’s critically acclaimed production of Die Zauberflöte and made his role debut as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with the Jerusalem Opera. He continued his season at the Komische Oper Berlin as Tamino and made his recital debut with the Crystal Valley Recital Series. He also covered Tamino with the Houston Grand Opera, and in the spring of 2022, Mr. Blake made his debut with the Des Moines Metro Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the High Priest of Amon in Akhnaten.

During the COVID19 pandemic Mr. Blake created and produced the video series Tosti Tuesdays, with his longtime collaborator Cris Frisco.  The video series chronicled the songs of Tosti and his contemporaries throughout 25 episodes, which received thousands of views via online platforms and social media. He also joined White Snake Projects for their virtual production of Death by Life: an homage to George Floyd through celebrating the lives of incarcerated persons and demonstrating the incredible ability of human beings to change for the better.

2019-2020 season engagements for Mr. Blake included his German and European debut as Michel in Bohuslav Martinu’s Julietta with Oper Frakfurt and a return to the Metropolitan Opera as The High Priest of Amon in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten. He made his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut with the LA Symphony in a concert of Duets and Arias with soprano Stefania Dovhan and later in the season returned with the LA Symphony for a concert of Holiday Favorites and Arias.  He debuted at The Israeli National Opera as Il conte Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper Berlin. He was slated to make his debut with Opéra de Montréal as Tamino and return to the Cincinnati Opera for their 100th Anniversary with performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard.

In the 2018-19 season, Mr. Blake returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Dialogues des Carmélites and made his debut in the company’s Summer Recital Series at Brooklyn Bridge Park with Nathan Gunn and Ying Fang. He made his role debut as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Tulsa Opera. Mr. Blake created the Role of Mila in Andrea Clearfield’s Mila, Great Sorcerer with the Prototype Festival. He also reprised his role of Tamino with The Komische Oper Berlin on tour in Australia and New Zealand earning him a Helpmann Award nomination for best male artist. He made his Mostly Mozart Festival debut at Lincoln Center in the same role in July of 2019 and made his Bangor Symphony debut as Candide, returned to Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra as Michel in the US Premier Bohuslav Martinu’s The Key of Dreamsand for a concert of Sacred Music with John Rutter conducting.

Baritone – Corey Crider
Celebrated in the leading dramatic and classic music theatre roles, baritone Corey Crider’s 2022-2023 season included Germont in La Traviata with ElPaso Opera, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana with Toledo Opera and a return to Paducah Symphony Orchestra as featured soloist in their holiday concert.
Corey recently joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Don Carlos. Recently, the baritone also performed his lauded Scarpia in Tosca with Gulfshore Opera, and appeared as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Evansville Philharmonic. In the 2019-2020 season, Corey returned to Opera Roanoke as Tonio in Pagliacci, to the Dallas Opera as Prince Affron in The Golden Cockerel, and was slated to debut with Manitoba Opera in his signature role, Sweeney Todd (COVID-19 cancellation). The 2018-2019 season saw him as Dancaïro in Carmen with Dallas Opera, the Captain in Florencia en elAmazonas with Pensacola Opera, Germont in La Traviata with Opera on the James, and Lancelot in Camelot with Charlottesville Opera.