Alumni Class Notes

New York Festival of Song released Black & Blue, the debut solo album of British-American tenor Joshua Blue ’16 on its in-house label, NYFOS Records. The album explores themes of racial equality and human resilience, in songs that cover a mix of jazz, blues, spirituals, and other songs, spanning more than five decades. 

In May Blue appeared as Rodolfo in Opera Philadelphia’s production of Puccini’s La bohème. It’s Yuval Sharon’s reconceptualization of the opera, performed in reverse. The review on Bachtrack gives a rave of Blue’s performance, stating he “offered an immensely satisfying performance as Rodolfo, thoroughly immersed in his role from start to finish. In the final act, Blue’s spine-tingling ‘Che gelida manina,’ right through to the exit duet with Mimì, made any of the compromises in this production worthwhile.”

During the 2022-23 season, Olivia Boen ’17 made her debut as Gretel at the Staatsoper Hamburg, where she joined the International Opera Studio. She also made role debuts as Musetta (La bohème) and Anna (Nabucco).

Soprano Magdalena Kuźma ’19 made her Metropolitan Opera debut this season singing Giannetta in the production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore. She also appeared as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Opera Orlando. As part of her prize winning package at the 2022 Concert Artist Guild, she also gave solo recitals this season at Wigmore Hall and Merkin Concert Hall.

The May 2023 issue of Opern Welt profiled American opera director Lydia Steier ’00 and her latest project as stage director of Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten (“The Woman without a Shadow”). This was performed in April 2023 as part of Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Germany. Of her direction for this production, Opern Welt writes, she “has no qualms about side glances for entertainment, when art that is too high is grounded and enjoyable as a result.” 

Steier has made an international career directing productions around the world. She is currently based in Germany. After completing studies in stage directing and vocal performance at Oberlin Conservatory, she moved to Germany as a Fulbright student. She got her start working as an assistant at the Komische Oper Berlin. By 2009, Steier was named by Deutschlandradio Kultur as their “New Discovery of the Year,” based on her productions of Busoni’s Turnadot and Leonvallo’s Pagliacci. Her notable work includes stage direction of the Swiss premiere of Stockhausen’s Donnerstag aus Licht, chosen by critics as Opern Welt’s 2016 “Best Production of the Year.” In 2018, she became the first woman to stage Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival, for the opening performance of the festival. In Le Monde, her unique staging—a play within a play—was praised: “It takes a real temper to dare to tackle this emblematic opera, which flourishes in traditional staging. But the American…is obviously unafraid and takes up the challenge with a real scenic idea….”

It’s been a big year for dramatic tenor Limmie Pulliam ’98—with debuts and appearances on both operatic and concert stages. And for several of them, he’s performed with fellow Oberlin voice alumni. Fresh from his December 2022 debut as Radamès in The Metropolitan Opera’s “Aïda,” he performed a concert version of it with the Tulsa Opera in February 2023. There he collaborated with fellow Oberlin alumnus and baritone Todd Thomas ’84, who performed the role of Amonasro. Pulliam’s season also featured his Carnegie Hall debut in January, where he performed as soloist with the Oberlin Orchestra and choral ensembles in another Oberlin alumnus’ work, “The Ordering of Moses” by R. Nathaniel Dett (1908). Fellow alum Chabrelle Williams ’11 joined Pulliam in the solo quartet for that performance, making her Carnegie Hall debut as well. Of the performance in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, a few days before the Carnegie appearance, Cleveland Classical’s review raved that Pulliam “wowed from the get-go with vivid passion and gleaming tone.” For his recent recital performances across the middle of the U.S., Pulliam has presented a program of Negro Spirituals with pianist Mark Markham titled, “Make Them Hear You: A Spiritual Journey.” And in May 2023, he appeared in The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert staging of Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” as Dick Johnson. Joining him were fellow Obies, baritone Kyle Miller ’19 as Jim Larkens, bass-baritone Joseph Barron ’08 as Happy (a role he sang at The Met in 2018), and baritone Joseph Lattanzi ’10. This was a return engagement to The Cleveland Orchestra for Pulliam, after last season’s triumphant portrayal of Otello in their semi-staged concert version of the Verdi opera in 2022.

After graduating from Oberlin with the prestigious 2016 Rubin Scholar award, Juliana Zara ’17 moved to Berlin, Germany, where she finished her master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and began making connections in Europe. She was first accepted into the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and she has now been a member of the ensemble at Staatstheater Darmstadt since the 2021-22 season. In spring of 2022, she appeared in the role of Bubikopf on the recording Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Viktor Ullmann) with the Munich Radio Orchestra (BR Klassik). This season Zara has sung the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni and debuted in the three-act version of Alban Berg’s Lulu, a piece that is notoriously demanding for a singer.

Zara shares, “We were met with rave reviews and, to my surprise, I landed on the cover of the May 2023 Opern Welt magazine! I am very grateful for the tons of learning I did at Oberlin. I have strong connections with my professors.”