Robin Follman (born December 9, 1969) [1] , also known by her married name Robin Follman-Otta, is an American operatic soprano and business woman. She had an active international performance career until her retirement from performance in 2012. She is the current CEO of Markall Inc.which has its headquarters in Santa Ana, California [2]
Robin Follman began her professional performance career in musical theatre at the age of 16 in Orange County, California. She studied business at Saddleback College, and after completing her two-year associates degree went to Tokyo where she starred in a musical entitled Fairyland that featured singing animatronic robots alongside human performers. After returning to the United States she pursued vocal training at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington, [3] and graduated from that university with a degree in psychology. [2] While a student there she began her professional opera career performing with the Indianapolis Opera; making her debut in The Merry Widow . [3]
Her opera credits include performances with Houston Grand Opera, [4] Los Angeles Opera, [5] New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, [6] Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Pacific, [7] Florentine Opera, [8] Singapore Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera Malaysia, Hawaii Opera, and Opera Carolina among others. Her concert work includes performances with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the International Italian Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Alabama Symphony among others. [9]
In 2012 Follman retired from performance. In a 2018 interview with music journalist Anne Midgette in The Washington Post she stated that Florentine Opera Company's General director, William Florescu, had "subjected her to nonconsensual sexual acts" during the rehearsal period for that company's 2008 production of Madama Butterfly for which Follman portrayed the title role. According to Follman, this negative experience played a significant role in her decision to cease her performance career. [10] After an investigation, Florescu abruptly left his position with the Florentine Opera Company. [11]
Angela M. Brown is an American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her portrayal of Verdi heroines.
Kevin Burdette is an American bass who has worked as a soloist with the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Spoleto Festival USA, as well as many regional opera companies including Florentine Opera, Opéra de Québec, Portland Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Atlanta Opera, Virginia Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Memphis, Gotham Chamber Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, and the Lyric Opera of San Antonio. He has created multiple roles, including Beck Weathers in Joby Talbot's Everest, Eric Gold and the Ghost of Bazzetti in Jake Heggie's Great Scott, Papinou in Talbot's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Ob in Mark Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus, all with Dallas Opera, and Blindman and Stobrod Thewes in Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, Manuel Toulon in Huang Ruo's M. Butterfly, Correspondent in John Corigliano's Lord of Cries, and Henry B. Isaacson and Justice Wills in Theo Morrison's Oscar, all with Santa Fe Opera.
Nicole Cabell is an American opera singer. She is best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Stephanie Woodling is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer and actress with Deutsche Oper am Rhein in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Florence Quivar is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who is considered to be "one of the most prominent singers of her generation." She has variously been described as having a "rich, earthy sound and communicative presence" as "always reliable" and as "a distinguished singer, with a warm, rich voice and a dignified performing presence." From 1977 to 1997 she was a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera where she gave more than 100 performances.
Joseph Rescigno is an American conductor best known for his work in opera in North America and Europe. He served as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, WI for 38 seasons beginning in 1981. He also served as Artistic Director of l'Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, in Quebec, Canada, for four seasons. His commitment to young musicians and singers returns him each year to La Musica Lirica, a summer program for singers in Northern Italy, where he has been Music Director since 2005., He has mentored Solti Foundation U.S. Award recipients as part of the Foundation's residency project since the 2014–2015 season, first at the Florentine and later elsewhere. In this program, award recipients apprentice through an entire rehearsal and performance cycle.
Mary Dunleavy is an American soprano who has performed with major opera companies and orchestras around the world.
Marilyn Cotlow is an American lyric coloratura soprano best remembered for creating the role of Lucy in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone in both the original Broadway and West End productions. She sang professionally during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and Europe, performing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Theater Bremen, Theater Basel, and the Wexford Festival Opera. After 1957, Cotlow mainly retired from performance to devote time to teaching voice and being a mother; although she continued to perform periodically in recitals, on the stage, and on disc up into the 1990s. She has taught vocal music on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and Catholic University of America in addition to teaching privately from her home in Northern Virginia. Several of her students have had successful careers, including Alessandra Marc and Jennifer Wilson.
Ellen Shade is an American operatic soprano.
Jennifer Wilson is an American soprano known especially for her Wagnerian opera roles. She is the daughter of Newton Wilson and Katherine Still. The daughter, granddaughter and niece of professional singers, instrumentalists and music educators, Wilson grew up steeped in music from opera and oratorio to rock 'n' roll and bluegrass. She began tap dance lessons at age 3, ballet at 8, piano at 10, and solo classical singing at 12. Wilson attended Cornell University for several years, eventually departing on a leave of absence which she filled with advanced training in acting, languages, and vocal studies with former Metropolitan Opera coloratura soprano Marilyn Cotlow. During this time, Wilson supported herself as a news bureau assistant and wire editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The consolidation of US international broadcast services in 1995 caused Wilson to lose her position with RFE/RL, forcing her to find other employment. At this point she took up singing full-time, though her breakthrough to the elusive ranks of international soloist was still several years away.
Alyson Cambridge is an American operatic soprano. In addition to opera, she sings classical song, jazz, and American songbook and popular song. She is also known for her work as a model, actress, and host.
Geraldine McMillian is an American soprano who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the mid-1980s.
Wendy White is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international singing career in operas and concerts since the late 1970s. She has performed annually with the Metropolitan Opera since her debut with the company in 1989, and as of April 2011 has appeared in a total of 505 performances at the Met.
Hanan Alattar is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career in concerts and in operas since the early 2000s. She has performed with many leading opera companies and orchestras in the United States and Europe, collaborating with such notable conductors as Plácido Domingo, James Conlon and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
Deborah F. Rutter is an American arts executive. She is the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Rutter is the first woman to head the Center, overseeing the Center's operations in presenting theater, dance, music, awards, and the affiliated, National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. She came to the Center from serving as the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2003–2014), an American orchestra commonly referred to as one of the "Big Five".
Audrey Babcock is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who has performed in many opera houses throughout the world. Babcock is best known for her title role in the opera Carmen. She is represented by ADA Artist Management.
Julianna Di Giacomo is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international singing career since 1999. She has performed leading roles with several major opera houses, including La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and the Teatro Real in Madrid. On the concert stage she has appeared with several notable orchestras, including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Tamara Wilson is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international opera career since 2007. She has performed leading roles at the Canadian Opera Company, the English National Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Liceu, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Sydney Opera House among others. She is particularly known for her performances of heroines in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. In 2016 she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and was awarded the Richard Tucker Award, an award described by Opera News as "one of the most prestigious prizes in opera".
Heidi Stober is an American operatic soprano who has performed leading roles in major opera houses internationally, including the Dutch National Opera, the Garsington Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the Municipal Theatre of Santiago, the Semperoper, and the Vienna State Opera. She has been particularly active with the Houston Grand Opera where she has performed in more than a dozen operas since 2004, including the world premieres of Daniel Catán's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004), Mark Adamo's Lysistrata (2005), and Ricky Ian Gordon's The House without a Christmas Tree (2017). She has also performed in more than ten operas with the San Francisco Opera since 2010. Since 2008 she has been a resident artist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she has primarily performed roles from the lyric soprano repertoire. Also active as a concert soprano on the international stage, she has performed with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest among other orchestras. She is particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Amber Wagner an American soprano who has performed internationally to critical acclaim. She has often performed in the operas of composer Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.