Muses Performance Troupe

The Muses Creative Artistry Project employs professional artists, musicians, and teachers from within the state, and across the country, to create diverse performance opportunities, and presentations in all genres of highest quality artistic collaboration: instrumental and vocal music, fine art, literature, poetry, drama, and dance.

DELEEN DAVIDSON is a classically trained Soprano formerly with the New Orleans Opera, who relocated to Hot Springs in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She is the President and General Director of TheMuses Creative Artistry Project , a non-profit organization dedicated to excellence, inspiration, and wellness, preserving classical art & music through performance and education. Recipient of both Rotary International and Fulbright Scholarships, Ms. Davidson pursued European music and Fine Arts studies in Germany and Austria, including internships at the Feldkirch Musik Hochschule, and the Karlsruhe Opera House. She holds an honors degree in History from the University of New Orleans, with minor studies in Music, Fine Art and German. In 2008 Ms. Davidson was named "Arkansas' Treasurer of the Arts" by the Bebee administration, and her Muses Project travels the state, and partners regularly with other Arts Organizations to enhance the cultural life of the region and help grow the Creative Economy.

Steven Michael Suter is a native of New Orleans and currently resides in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans (B.M.), and Northwestern University of Chicago (M.M.).

Having played with such diverse and varied groups such as the Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown Big Band, the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maxim Shostakovich, Bonerama, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow, the Millar Brass Ensemble, and the Al Belletto Big Jazz Band, it is quite evident that Steven’s expertise crosses all musical genres.

Steven has also played with Pete Fountain, Natalie Cole, Rita Moreno, Bobby Vinton, Bob Hope, Ray Charles, the Temptations, the O’Jays, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, Don Rickles, and Mel Torme, to name a few.

He has recorded with Bonerama, Jill Scott, Solomon Burke, Al Martino, Barry Manilow, Al Belletto, Gatemouth Brown, The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, and the Millar Brass Ensemble. Steven has made television appearances on MSNBC with the “Mississippi Rising” telethon for Katrina victims, and on NBC with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. He played in the house band for HBO’s “Comic Relief in ‘06”, featured at the ’07 Sugar Bowl, and performed on “Late Night with David Letterman” with Bonerama and Damien Kulash.

He was a member of Bonerama when the group received awards from Offbeat magazine and the Big Easy Awards, both of New Orleans, for outstanding performance. Steven received special recognition by NAJE for jazz education in 2000 and in 2006 Steven was named one of New Orleans Magazine’s “JazzAll-Stars”.

In addition to a busy schedule of performing, teaching, and writing music, Steven is currently the Programs and Services Counsel for The Muses Creative Artistry Project.

GLORIA KIM joins The Muses for the first time, after spending a second season with Ash Lawn Opera. Recent appearances include recital collaborations with Weston Sprott of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and serving as music director for Heartbeat Opera. She has been a part of the music staff for the International Fringe Festival (NY), International Vocal Arts Institute, American Lyric Theater, Sacramento Opera, Opera New Jersey, Glimmerglass Opera, collaborates frequently with the Juilliard School’s low brass studio, and is the official accompanist for Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW auditions. She has also served on faculty at Montclair State University, Concordia University (Violin), New York University, and taught master classes at the University of Texas, University of Missouri-Columbia, and University of Memphis. A native of Austin, TX, Kim completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in collaborative piano and coaching at the University of Minnesota, received her B.M. and M.M. in piano performance at The University of Texas. An accomplished violinist, she was an active member of The University of Texas and University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestras.

Stacey Murdock, an accomplished baritone, has performed with the Muses Project in various opera and musical theatre productions. In 2016 in the title role of Don Giovanni and most recently as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. He has performed extensively throughout Oregon and the Northwest appearing in Opera, Oratorio, and Musicals. He often performs with Portland Opera, and has been a member of the Portland Opera to Go outreach program for 11 seasons. Originally from Idaho Falls, Idaho, Stacey now resides in Beaverton, Oregon with his wonderful wife and three beautiful children.

Alexander Boyd "melded a firm baritone with moody acting" (Classical Voice America) as Moruccio, in Sarasota Opera's production of the rarely seen D'Albert opera, Tiefland. In 2017, he made his international debut in Cyprus as King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Kyrenia Opera. On the more modern side, he performed in The Little Opera Theater of NY's double bill of Carlisle Floyd's operas Slow Dusk and Markheim, and also performed selections of Joel Feigin's operas in concert, each with the composer in attendance. Recent engagements include performing Dr. Carrasco/Knight of the Mirrors (Man of La Mancha) with The Muses Project in Arkansas, Barone Douphol (La Traviata) with St. Petersburg Opera, and singing Donner and covering Wotan (Das Rhinegold) with Pittsburgh Opera Festival.

Hanna Brammer - After earning a Bachelor's Degree in vocal performance from Manhattan School of Music in New York, and a Master’s Degree from Indiana University, Hanna made her professional debut as Rose Maurrant in Opera North’s production of Street Scene. Since then, she has gone on to sing leading roles with Opera Columbus, St. Petersburg Opera, Sarasota Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Tampa, Mississippi Opera, Opera Memphis, Festival Amadeus, Indianapolis Opera, Opera North, Opera Project Columbus, Painted Sky Opera, and Wichita Grand Opera.

Tenor Timothy Stoddard, is an award-winning vocal musician and actor who focuses his time and interests in new music, works for the stage, and oratorio. His repertoire spans that of early music, chamber music, Broadway, traditional opera, and world premiere pieces, being engaged in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia. He is an Idaho native and New York resident.

Tenor, Nicholas Huff’s “unabashed” (Voix des arts) take on performance has led him to leading roles across North America. He has performed as Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Lucano (Il coronazione di Poppea), Joseph Treat (Mrs. President), Peter Quint (Turn of The Screw), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), created the role of Fabian Hart in Jake Heggie’s newest Opera, If I Were You, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Florida Grand Opera, and most recently as Tonio in La fille du régiment at the Kenosha Opera Festival. He will next perform as Prince Charmant in the little performed Viardot Version of Cendrillon, and Mitch in Streetcar Named Desire in a return to FGO.

Mr. Huff has also concertizes widely, singing Mozart’s Requiem with the New York State Ballet, Mozart’s Missa Solemnis, Rutter’s Psalmfest, Britten’s Rejoice in The Lamb, aria soloist with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Florentine Opera, as well as perform Handel’s Messiah with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra.

Nicholas attended Carthage College where he earned his BA in Vocal Performance, and the Eastman School of Music, where he took an MM in Vocal Performance and Literature.

Find Nicholas online! @NickHuffTenor | www.NicholasHuff.pw

British-American Soprano Elizabeth Novella will sing Adele in Die Fledermaus with The Muses Project in September 2022. In 2023, she will return to Sarasota Opera to sing Giovanna in Ernani and cover Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Ms. Novella recently covered the roles of Leïla in Les Pecheurs des perles and Marie in La Fille du Regiment with Sarasota Opera in the spring of 2022. In the Winter of 2020, she performed both Giannetta in L'Elisir d'Amore and Musetta (c) in La Bohème "with a rich voice and fine comic timing" with Sarasota Opera. Ms. Novella was Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with the Aspen Music Festival, for which the press hailed, "Novella dazzled with rich sound and impressive intensity". Comfortable in traditional and contemporary repertoire alike, Ms. Novella performed the role of Maia in the first fully-staged production of Theofanidis' The Cows of Apollo. She also covered the role of Peg in Carlisle Floyd's Prince of Players with Little Opera Theatre of New York. Ms. Novella is a native New Yorker and is currently based in Manhattan.

ANNA HASHIZUME (she/her): Anna is a Japanese-American singer-actor based in the Twin

Cities. Previous credits include: Theater Latté Da: La Bohème, Scotland, PA (workshop), Johnny Schicchi (workshop); Artistry Theater: Mary Poppins; Open Eye Theatre: LOG JAM! A Paul Bunyan Musical Spectacular; Theatre Elision: Of Art and Artists; Lyric Arts: Sense and

Sensibility; An Opera Theater: The Sky Where You Are, In The Midst of Things; Collective Unconscious Performance: Into the Darkness; Mixed Precipitation: The Clemency of Tito’s

Tennis Club, Dr. Falstaff and the Working Wives of Lake County, Philemon and Baucis: Planet in

Peril; Minnesota Opera: La Traviata, Thaïs; Fargo-Moorhead Opera: Don Giovanni, Speed

Dating, Tonight!; Lyric Opera of the North: Rigoletto. In 2017 she was a Schubert Club

Competition Winner.

TRAINING: M.M., University of Minnesota; B.S.O.F, Indiana University

Jacobs School of Music. Anna also teaches voice and is on faculty at the MacPhail Center for

Music and Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.

www.annahashizume.com | @annahashizume

Michelle Pretto , a classically trained soprano, is a first generation American, born in New York City. In a monthly series of performances at Via Emilia in New York City, she has, in the past year, performed the roles of Nedda (Pagliacci), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Violetta (La Traviata), Mimi (La Bohème) and the title roles in Madama Butterfly and Tosca. She most recently performed the role of Mimi from La Bohème with Amore Opera in New York City. The dramatic soprano’s current and prospective roles include Manon (Manon Lescaut), Suor Angelica, Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), and Aida.

Actress & mezzo – soprano Jeanne Bennet, is a veteran performer of Music Theater. As a member of Broadway National Tours she has appeared as Fantine in Les Miserables, Edwin in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, South Pacific and Brigadoon. In New York she performed in the off-Broadway productions of Starting Here, Starting Now and Three Postcards at the Circle Rep Theatre. In Florida, she was in the original musical Waist Watchers and Stella Deem Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. Jeanne will be Miss Kagen on Nickelodeon’s upcoming I am Frankie and has recently been seen in commercials for Walgreens, Outback Steak House and AutoNation. She lived in N.Y.C. for many years before moving to West Palm Beach FL where she lives with her husband Rabbi Richard Chapin. Their daughter Daisy is an actress in N.Y.C. and their son Josh is a reporter for KHOU 11 news in Houston, TX.

KATIE BIEBER, spent this past summer performing with Music Academy International. In the beautiful Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, she performed Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Nancy in Albert Herring. She also had the distinct honor of singing for world-renowned soprano Renata Scotto. The previous summer she performed the title role in La tragédie de Carmen with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. Under the tutelage of Joyce Castle, she recently completed her Master's Degree at the University of Kansas where she reprised the title role of Carmen and portrayed a steampunk Lucy Lockit in The Beggar's Opera. She was also a featured performer in the first ever staged production of Leonard Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles. Other notable roles include Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann, Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, and La Libellule and Le Pâtre in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Katie also spent a year traveling with Reach Out Kansas, Inc. where she performed the Announcer in Gallantry. This one act opera was performed for underserved and minority populations throughout the state of Kansas.

Soprano Jessica Sandidge has been described as having a "genuinely beautiful sound throughout her voice." Her 2016/17 season peaked when she joined the Metropolitan Opera, covering the role of “Jano” in Janácek's Jenufa. She also made her second appearance at Lincoln Center in David Geffen Hall as the Soprano soloist in the National Chorale's Messiah (Händel) Sing-in in December. Of her recent performance as Mimì with Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote: "...these young singers understand Puccini’s characters, especially Jessica Sandidge, who brings a melting soprano voice and vulnerability to Mimi, the winsome seamstress stricken with tuberculosis." She will be making her debut with the Muses in the lead as Anna in The Merry Widow and will be returning to the Met this winter covering the role of Sylvainne in The Merry Widow.

Christina Lamberti, a critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano from New York. Recognized internationally, Christina has been hailed for a sound that ranges from "a full-throated performance, riveting in sound and fury" to "such delicate nuances that only the greatest masters can portray." She has performed for some of the world’s leading organizations, including San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Delaware, Buffalo Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Estonian National Opera, Slovenian National Theatre, Singapore Lyric Opera, Singapore Symphony, Teatro Comunale di Atri, and Stattheater Regensburg, where she enjoyed three seasons as the resident leading soprano. Her operatic roles have included Eboli (Don Carlo), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Amneris (Aida), and the title role in Carmen

Mezzo-soprano, Margaret “Max” Potter, is a dynamic artist whose experience allows her to successfully perform a wide variety of repertoire. Previous engagements include her role debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at The Sheen Center in Manhattan, and covering the role of Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking with Des Moines Metro Opera. Max spent multiple summers as a featured soloist with the Aspen Opera Theater Center, and is an alumna of the renowned Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program, the International Vocal Arts Institute, and the esteemed CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College.

Kirsten Scott has been described as a “creamy toned mezzo-soprano with charm to burn.” She has sung throughout the U.S. as well as abroad, and is thrilled to be making her debut with Opera in Williamsburg. After earning a B.A. at Wellesley College in Massachusetts followed by a Masters in Music from Mannes College in New York City, she was a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera Eastern Region National Council Auditions in New York City. This past March 2018 she made her Carnegie Hall debut in the iconic Stern Hall as a soloist with Choirs of America. She is a founder and the artistic director of Bare Opera, a boutique opera company based in New York City specializing in immersive, approachable, site-specific opera performances in unconventional spaces.

Dancer, Lelia Rosenkrans started dancing at the age of four at Rhythm and Shoes Dance Studio in Springdale, Arkansas. This past May, she excitedly completed her undergraduate degree and graduated from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and minor in Chemistry, and was named UALR’s outstanding graduate. Her professional performance credits include Legends of Rhythm II with Untapped, Inc., Peter Pan, The Nutcracker, and Alice in Wonderland with Arkansas Festival Ballet, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra's Home for the Holidays, and The Merry Widow and “Opera Classics Plus!” with The Muses Project.

Elsen Portugal is an experienced pianist and music director for a variety of styles, and a missionary. He was born in Brazil in 1963, received his B.M. in Piano Pedagogy from East Texas Baptist University and his M.M in Piano Performance from the University of Central Arkansas. In his over 30 years of professional experience he has taught and performed in the US, Germany, and Brazil. Elsen and his wife live in Hot Springs area where he is involved in various collaborative piano opportunities, academic teaching, and missions’ mobilization.

Kristen Marie La Madrid received a B.A. in Piano from La Sierra University & an M.M. in Collaborative Piano from the University of Miami. After relocating to Central Arkansas from California, she accepted a teaching position at National Park College for piano & music theory. Steadily establishing herself as a collaborative pianist in the Hot Springs music community, Kristen is a collaborative pianist for the Muses Project, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkansas School of Math, Sciences, & the Arts, and the Hot Springs Village Chorale. Currently, she is also the pianist/organist & choir director at Bonnerdale Seventh-Day Adventist Church & Westminster Presbyterian Church. Besides being a cat enthusiast, she spends her free time teaching private piano lessons, and music classes at Ewing Adventist Junior Academy, in addition to playing keyboard for the Stardust Big Band. She has also been a music director for the Pocket Theatre’s musical productions & a Piano Associate for the Hot Springs Music Festival.

BOBBY CAMPO, trumpeter, leader and composer, was also a founding member of La’s LeRoux and has performed and recorded with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Kerry Livgren (of KANSAS), Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Seranaders, Pete Fountain, The John Mahoney Big Band, Matt Lemmler, Delfeao, Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra and most recently Dr. John. Bobby also worked in the Baton Rouge Sym-Sphony for 19 years.

428 Orange St., Hot Springs, AR 71901 | 501-609-9811