Friday, February 28, 7:30PM - National Sawdust, 80 N 6th St, Brooklyn

Composer, Librettist, Piano 2.

Pedro Halffter, a member of the celebrated Spanish musical family, has conducted in prestigious venues, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Tchaikovsky hall in Moscow, the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, the Staatoper in Munich, the Munich Opera Festival, the Lyceum in Barcelona, the Aalto Musiktheater in Essen, the National Theater in Mannheim, the Theater du Capitole in Toulouse, among others. He has occupied the podium of important orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, New Japan Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest and Orchester Symphonique de Montreal, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orquesta del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as well as the most important Spanish symphony orchestras. His extensive lyrical repertoire covers various operatic styles, from Mozart to Berg, through the Italian opera of Puccini, Bellini or Verdi or the most representative titles by Wagner, Zemlinsky, Falla and Weill. He has premiered operas in Spain such as Dr. Faust, by Busoni, Die Schweigsame Frau by Richard Strauss or Der Ferne klang by Schreker, which he also conducted with great success at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, as well as Salomé by Strauss. Among his successes as a composer and director, he highlights the premiere at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2016 of his new orchestration of Viktor Ullmann's opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis.​

Director, Choreographer.

Richard Stafford   

Director/Choreographer/Educator

Credits include: Broadway—In My Life, Choreographer, CATS—dance supervisor; Off Broadway—Castle Walk, Director/Choreographer, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Choreographer. He has directed and/or choreographed for New York City Opera (Los Elementos, Pygmalion, Dear Erich, Stonewall) and for Opera Hong Kong (Turandot.) Additionally, he has directed and choreographed internationally and regionally in the U.S over 150 musicals at such premier theaters as Paper Mill Playhouse, the Walnut Street Theatre, Theatre under the Stars, the Riverside Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Sacramento Music Circus, the North Carolina Theatre, Casa Manana and Westchester Broadway Theatre. He has taught ballet, jazz, tap and theatre dance across the country and internationally and in NYC at STEPS, BDC, NYU, NYFA and Marymount College. For a complete list of credits visit his website RichardStafford.net 

Soprano. 

Hailed by Opera News as "charming," soprano Ashley Bell has performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia. She most recently made her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera singing Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte and singing Cio Cio San with Boheme Opera New Jersey and Daytona Beach Symphony. 2022 highlights include her debut with the Teatro Maestranza in Seville as Violetta in La Traviata, singing Mimi in La Bohème with California's Opera Modesto, Violetta in La Traviata in La Rioja and soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Orchestra Madrid Symphony, and originating the title role in Pedro Halffter's opera Klara in Spain and Harvard University. During the pandemic, Ashley produced and starred in the documentary film Rival Queens with music by Maria Stuarda, which has won 20 awards at international film festivals, including Best Documentary at the Tokyo Film Festival. In recent seasons, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soprano soloist in Hadyn's "Nelson" Masse and Schubert's Misa in C, debuted as Madam Butterfly with California Townsend Opera, Mimi in La bohème with Mississippi Opera and Natchez Festival and in L'amore de tre re with New York City Opera. Ashley graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and is fluent in five languages. Her upcoming engagements include Klara at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Gran Canaria and the lead role in the opera La traviata at the Música en Villafranca festival.

Piano 1.  

An ardent, multifaceted Mexican artist, Silvia Santinelli has performed in concert halls worldwide, including at the Chopin International Music Festival in Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic; the International Piano Festivals at Valle di Blenio, Switzerland; and the Rachmaninoff International Festival in Tambov, Russia, to mention a few. Hailed as a “musician of great depth” (San Antonio Express-News), she continues to dazzle audiences in concert, whether in solo, chamber, or duo performances. 

Highlights of her most recent engagements include performances at the International Piano Festival in Óbidos, Portugal; the RONDO - Vanguard Competition Winners Concert at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; the Tuesday Musical Club Artist Series in San Antonio, Texas; the Griffin Concert Hall, Colorado State University School of the Arts; the salon concert series for the San Antonio International Piano Competition; and performances with the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (now Classical Music Institute) at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, where she championed the rarely heard Sinfonia da Camera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. 

In addition to receiving multiple awards and recognitions, Santinelli has been featured in various television and radio broadcasts, including National Public Radio (Performance Today), Texas Public Radio, KWEX (Univision), Televisa, and KMFA (Classically Austin), which featured her performance of the Ravel Concerto for the Left Handunder the baton of Kevin Noe.

 Santinelli in an avid proponent of early 20th century music of Spain with a particular focus on repertoire steeped in the Franco-Iberian tradition.

With the Marjory Powel Zachary Keyboard Endowment from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Silvia earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance under Busoni winner Valeri Grokhovski, while receiving additional interpretive instruction through the late Alexander Alexandrov from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow.

Santinelli is also a recipient of the FONCA/CONACULTA Grant sponsored by Fulbright in Mexico and a Teaching Assistantship from the University of Texas at Austin where she obtained a Doctorate in Musical Arts with internationally acclaimed pianist Anton Nel. Dr. Santinelli is the Co-Founder of Classical Music Institute, a Tobin Center for the Performing Arts resident company created for cultivating classical music education and performance.

Set and Projection Design.

John is currently the Director of Production  for New York City Opera. Since starting this position in 2015, he has  been responsible for all the aspects of the physical production of the  company as well as the resident Scenic Designer.
In New York was the  resident designer for Dicapo Opera where he has created over ninety  productions from 1992-2013. At Radio City Music Hall, he was the scenic  supervisor for the Spring Spectacular Easter Show for two years and the  Christmas Show for one. Radio City productions outside New York were the  Christmas shows in Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles as an associate  designer.
Mr. Farrell was the  exclusive Set and Illusion designer for the Magician Criss Angel from  1993-2015. During that time, he has done three television specials;  MindFreak for ABC Family, SuperNatural for The Sci-Fi Channel, and Mr.  Marick vs. Criss Angel for Tokyo Broadcasting. Following those, six  seasons of Mindfreak for A&E totaling nearly 100 episodes. MindFreak  was also an off-Broadway production in New York that ran for over a  year with nearly 600 performances. The production Criss Angel Believe  produced by Cirque du Soleil at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in which John  is the Director of Illusions ran from 2005 for seven and a half years  then became Mindfreak Live for three years before moving to Planet  Hollywood. For Criss, John was also the Production Manager for four  years which included two live touring productions in addition to a TV  series and the Vegas show all running concurrently.
Other television  credits include Supervising Art director for America' Got Talent seasons  7 -10, Gossip Girl the final season, For What it's Worth for VH1  Classics, Toys “R: Us (commercial), The Dream Team-1996 Olympic Special  for NBC, 1994& 1995 Tony Awards, HBO’s Earthly Possessions and for  MTV; Get Late with Kennedy and Squirt TV.
In  Mexico City John has designed three productions for Morris Gilbert:  Fiddler on the Roof, Sweet Charity, and Besame Mucho. He has designed  regionally in the US for such theatres as The Walnut Street Theatre,  Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, PA; Theatre Under the Stars, The Fifth  Avenue Theatre, WA; Tampa Bay performing Arts Center, Sarasota Opera,  FLA; Chatauqua Opera, NY; and Maine State Music Theatre, ME. John has  designed touring Productions with Theatreworks USA, Eric Krebbs, Jeffrey  Finn, Troika, and National Lyric Opera.

Costume Designer. 

Noted for producing “particular marvels in imaginative fashion”, returns to Opera Hispánca with this exciting new production of KLARA, after his company debut with Fernanda. Mr. Lamp has over 30 years experience in NY Theater as a wardrobe professional at the Metropolitan Opera, NYCOpera, NYCBallet, American Ballet Theater, and Broadway and touring companies. As Costume Designer his  work has been seen as Resident Designer with Opera in Williamsburg VA (Rigoletto, Figaro, Barber, Carmen, Traviata, Magic Flute, Pearl Fishers, virtual Orfeo, Cosi, Elixir, Boheme, Giovanni, Fledermaus, Fernanda, Hoffman, Lucia); Bronx Opera (Mikado, virtual Impresario, virtual Trial by Jury, Lady in the Dark (co-Director), Bruschino/Schicchi, Iolanthe); Brooklyn College Conservatory (virtual Carmen); Vital Opera (Four Hands of Bridge); Rutgers College (Medium); Oswego Opera ( Pinafore, Golden Cage, Traviata, Cox in Box/Trial by Jury); Gulf Shore Opera (Giovanni); Prelude Opera (Magic Flute, Operapalooza); Middle Church (Amahl), and with Utopia Opera NY, 22 productions including Musical Theater (Assassins, Passion), Operetta (Iolanthe, Princess Ida, Patience, Grand Duke), Opera(Cendrillon, L’enfant, Der Freischütz, Don Quichotte, Dido, Martha, Baby Doe) and works of modern composers (Harriet Tubman, Some Light Emerges, Hydrogen Jukebox). Mr. Lamp also has a busy career as a Tenor/Actor/Dancer/Director. Notable venues include his Metropolitan Opera debut (Parade/Acrobat); his Broadway debut in the Tony-winning La Cage aux Folles (Palace Theater/Lo Singh, original cast); two World Tours (USA/Europe/Asia/Australia) of the iconic Wilson/Glass Einstein on the Beach (Ensemble/Engineer); Natchez Opera (Traviata, La Mancha), Bronx Opera (Sir John in Love, Trial by Jury), Opera in Williamsburg VA (Lucia, Barber, Carmen, Figaro, Traviata, Elixir, Boheme), Oswego Opera (Pinafore, Golden Cage, Traviata, Trial by Jury); BAM NextWaveFestival (Lost Objects), Little Orchestra Society (Amahl), American Symphony Orchestra (Der Vampyr), 24 productions as singer and VP of NYC’s Utopia Opera, 16 years with the Bard Summerscape Opera Chorus., and in Delphic Forge’s recent World Premiere of Gracchus. In addition to KLARA, 2025 sees Mr. Lamp’s designs featured with Opera in Williamsburg VA (Butterfly, Orfeo); Bronx Opera (Hansel, Cosi), and Oswego Opera (Lady in the Dark). He resides in Manhattan with his husband, Angel Betancourt.

Dancer and 

Choreographer Assistant.

Laura Elizabeth Henning trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas and has been dancing professionally since the age of 18. She performed with the CATS National Touring the role of Cassandra, danced as a Rockette in the Christmas Spectacular for 6 seasons, and performed in many regional musicals. Some of her favorites include Victor/Victoria (TUTS), All Shook Up (Miller Outdoor Theatre), and West Side Story (The 5th Avenue). Laura has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from NYU and has also begun to work as a director and choreographer. Many thanks to the ineffable Richard Stafford for bringing her along on this inspiring exploration!

Dancer. 

Jordana is a New York City-based dancer, singer, actor, and teacher originally from Vineland, New Jersey. Jordana began her professional training at the school of the Atlantic City Ballet. She then danced at Princeton Ballet School/American Repertory Ballet as a trainee and second company member where she performed notable roles including the Pas de Trois in Swan Lake and Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty. Upon leaving the company, Jordana danced around the world on Mein Schiff 3 of Tui Cruises and then moved to New York. Most recently, Jordana has performed as a principal dancer for Marguerite Derricks on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the new Amazon Prime show Etoilé and as a Radio City Rockette. In her spare time, she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Environmental Science at Southern New Hampshire University.