Called “America’s most wired composer” by The Los Angeles Times and a “musical visionary” by The New York Times, Tod Machover is recognized as one of the most innovative composers active today, and he is celebrated for inventing new technologies that expand music’s potential for everyone, from celebrated virtuosi to musicians of all abilities. Machover studied with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and was the first Director of Musical Research at Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM in Paris. He is Academic Head of the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge USA), where he is also Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media, and Director of the Opera of the Future Group. Machover is also Visiting Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Visiting Professor of Composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. Machover is particularly known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning operas, from the Tolstoy-inspired Resurrection to the “robotic” Death and the Powers, and for his collaborative City Symphonies that “have rethought the symphony as a community event” (Mark Swed, Musical America).

Simon Robson studied Politics and Philosophy at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge and Acting at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His first play The Ghost Train Tattoo was premiered at the Royal Exchange in 2001, and his collection of short stories The Separate Heart was published in 2004 and short-listed for the prestigious Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. His first novel Catch appeared in 2010. Both are published by Jonathan Cape. Since then, he has adapted Purcell’s The Indian Queen for Les Arts Florissants and written the narration for Carolyn Samson’s Marie Fel concerts with Ex Cathedra. His most recent commission was to both curate and perform a concert of Shakespeare songs and speeches with Anne-Sofie von Otter and Julius Drake for the Oxford Lieder festival. He has just completed work on his second novel.

Braham Murray was a Founding Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre Company for whom he directed over 70 productions. The final one was Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with The Halle Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder in the pit. In 1964, his Oxford production of Hang Down Your Head and Die transferred to the West End and Broadway. From the Century Theatre, where he was Artistic Director, he became a Founding Director of the ‘69 Theatre Company; credits include She Stoops to Conquer and Charley’s Aunt (with Tom Courtenay) and Mary Rose (with Mia Farrow).

Karole Armitage, Artistic Director of the New York- based Armitage Gone! Dance Company, is renowned for pushing boundaries to create contemporary works that blend dance, music, science and art. She performed in Balanchine’s Grand Théâtre de Genève Company and in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company prior to founding her own company in New York City in 1981. She directed MaggioDanza di Firenze at the Teatro Comunale in Florence; the Biennale of Contemporary Dance in Venice; and served as resident choreographer for the Ballet de Lorraine in France. She has directed opera at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; Het National Opera in Amsterdam; Opera Saratoga; and choreographed two productions for the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Ms. Armitage also choreographed the Broadway productions of Passing Strange and Hair (the latter earning her a Tony Award Nomination), videos for Madonna and Michael Jackson, and the Cirque du Soleil production Amaluna. She has collaborated with physicist Dr. Brian Greene and biologist Dr. Paul Ehrlich. She is currently an MIT Media Lab Directors Fellow.

David Angus is Music Director of Boston Lyric Opera, following a very successful period as Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera. He conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra every Season and is also Honorary Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, where he was Chief Conductor for many years and built the orchestra into one of the most exciting young orchestras in Northern Europe. Maestro Angus now conducts all over Europe and North America. He began his career working at Glyndebourne, where he conducted a wide range of operas, and he went on to work in Italy and then across Europe. In the concert hall, he performs particularly in the UK and Scandinavia, and this Season, apart from conducting all productions at BLO, includes further work in the recording studio with the London Philharmonic, and performing with the orchestra of Opera North (UK) where he began his career.

Ben Bloomberg is a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, where he was a 2017 Marvin Minsky Fellow. He specializes in the conception and implementation of interactive music systems, but has also created work ranging from custom electro-acoustic musical instruments to AI-driven performances. He joined Mr. Machover’s research group as an undergraduate student in 2007, and has been helping to imagine the sound and performance systems for Mr. Machover’s works ever since. Most recently, he collaborated with Tod Machover on his six City Symphonies and before that, his robot opera Death and the Powers. He has also designed customized interactive technology for Jacob Collier, Ariana Grande, Björk and others. Mr. Bloomberg is very passionate about finding human-centric experiences even when technology is abundant and predominant. This is his Boston Lyric Opera debut.

Simon Higlett has numerous credits in the West End, at all the major theatres in the UK and designs for opera worldwide. Forthcoming, current and most recent designs include The Price with David Suchet (Theatre Royal Bath), An Ideal Husband (West End), Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Chalk Garden and The Midnight Gang (Chichester Festival Theatre), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Some Mother’s Do ‘Ave ‘Em (both UK tours). Other highlights include Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labour’s Lost, Singer, A Russian in the Woods and Thomas More (Royal Shakespeare Company), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West Yorkshire Playhouse and UK tour), The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni (Scottish Opera), Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury (West End and USA), The Force of Change (The Royal Court), Hayfever with Judi Dench (West End), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Donmar Warehouse), Enemies, Whistling Psyche and The Earthly Paradise (Almeida Theatre), and Kean directed by Sam Mendes. Mr. Higlett is the winner of two UK Theatre Awards for Best Design and the Helen Hayes Award in the US.

Nancy Leary is a Costume Designer whose visionary work for opera and theater has spanned several decades and graced various stages in the United States. From 2000 to the present, Ms. Leary has worked on operas including several new pieces for BLO, Virginia Opera, The Pittsburgh Symphony, Opera Saratoga, Utah Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Mobile Opera, Juilliard Opera, LSU Opera, Opera Boston, New England Conservatory, The Boston Conservatory, and Boston Musica Viva. Theater credits include Weston Playhouse, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, New Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Chamber Repertory Theatre, Boston Children’s Theater, North Shore Music Theatre and Knife Edge Productions, New York. She is also an Assistant Professor of Design and Production for Boston University School of Theatre.

Pablo Santiago’s lighting design spans theater, opera, dance and gallery work. His work has been seen at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), the Paramount Center (Boston), Skirball Center (New York City), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse (both in Los Angeles), Los Angeles Theatre Center, and more. Recent highlights include War of the Worlds with the LA Phil, Pélleas et Mélisande at Cincinnati Symphony, Breaking the Waves for Opera Philadelphia and PROTOTYPE Festival, Destiny of Desire at the Goodman Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Flight and Pagliacci for Opera Omaha, Ted Hearne’s Place at BAM, as well as the professional World Premiere of Proving Up at Opera Omaha and the Miller Theatre (New York City), Eugene Onegin at The Boston Conservatory, The Threepenny Opera at BLO, and Boris Godunov at San Francisco Symphony. Upcoming projects include: Mother Road and Macbeth at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Peter Torpey combines light, image, music, interactivity, and storytelling. As the founder and principal creative at The nth Art, he collaborates with theater-makers, orchestras, museums, educational institutions, and other artists to create experiences that connect audiences and participants with stories and each other. By incorporating new technologies and techniques as part of his artistic palette, he explores novel modes of representing expression (Death and the Powers, 2010; Lilith, 2015; Fensadense, 2015) and presence in live performance (Remote Theatrical Immersion: Sleep No More, 2012; Powers Live, 2014; Ipomoea, 2017). Throughout his work, Mr. Torpey addresses the technological needs of complex performances and exhibitions, as well as the design of visual and experiential languages for each project. His media, lighting, and interactive works have appeared worldwide, including: Virginia Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Chicago Opera Theater, Dallas Opera, 7 Stages Theater, Curious Encounters Festival, Best of Atlanta, Google, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Festival, MIT Media Lab, and CalIT2 IDEAS San Diego, Boston Cecilia, Rockport Music, and The Boston Camerata. This is his Boston Lyric Opera debut.

Jason Allen has been Boston Lyric Opera’s resident Wig and Makeup Designer since 2003. A fixture of the Boston performing arts community, he also works with Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Ballet, and many other organizations in Boston and throughout the country.

Omar Ebrahim has been involved with many contemporary opera and concert performances, including Osborne’s The Electrification of the Soviet Union, Tippett’s New Year and Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs. Kong for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Berio’s Un Re in Ascolto, Birtwistle’s Gawain for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Hans Jürgen von Bose’s 63 Dream Palace and Peter Lieberson’s King Gesar for the Munich Biennale and Tanglewood; and many more. He sang in the highly acclaimed performance of Birtwistle’s The Mask of Orpheus at the South Bank Centre’s Birtwistle Festival, and concert performances of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha at SBC London and the title role in Laman’s Agamemnon at the Holland Festival. As an actor, he has performed Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic; he also played Archie Cannibal in Chips with Everything at Leeds Playhouse, and Alan Yentob in the new musical Committee at the Donmar Warehouse. Recent highlights include Liza Lim’s Tongue of the Invisible with Ensemble Musikfabrik, Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro for English Touring Opera, and Danaos in a new version of Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women with the Actors Touring Company. This is his Boston Lyric Opera debut.

Sara Womble is a BLO Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artist alumna, where her recent roles have include Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro (while covering Susanna), the Shepherdess in Tosca, and Gretel in an educational production of Hansel and Gretel. Other recent engagements include Ilia in Opera NEO’s Idomeneo, Countess Ceprano in North Carolina Opera’s Rigoletto, Susanna in Point Loma Opera’s Le Nozze di Figaro, St. Margaret in Odyssey Opera’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, and Zerlina in Opera NEO’s Don Giovanni, and her North Carolina concert debut as a soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Winston-Salem Symphony. This spring, Ms. Womble will return to BLO to sing Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and will appear as Frasquita in North Carolina Opera’s Carmen. She received a Master of Music in Voice from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music Performance from Duke University, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.

Jesse Darden returns to BLO as the Company’s first Principal Artist-in-Residence, performing in all four operas of the 2018/19 Season. This summer, Mr. Darden returned to Santa Fe Opera singing the Officer in Ariadne auf Naxos and covering the role of Robert Wilson in Doctor Atomic; he previously served as an Apprentice Artist with the company in 2017, and has also completed apprenticeships with Chautauqua Opera and Opera North. Mr. Darden was a New England Regional Finalist with the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, won Third Prize in the Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, and was a recipient of the Chautauqua Opera Studio Artist Award. He has performed roles and solos with Odyssey Opera, Dartmouth College, Piedmont Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and the Chautauqua Symphony. Mr. Darden is also a BLO Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artist alumnus.