We are proud to announce our Featured Alumni Artists for the Virtual Launch of CLA’s first programs in the US. Mezzo-Soprano Briana Hunter (Italy ‘10, ‘11; France ‘13) and Bass William Guanbo Su (Italy ‘15; France ‘17) will join us on June 3 at 7pm to share their musical gifts, as well as insights into their CLA experiences.

Click here to watch the Facebook Live event, RSVP, and join the discussion!

Briana Hunter

http://www.brianaelysehunter.com/

Briana Hunter has been hailed by Opera News as “a mesmerizing mezzo-soprano with a fiery theatrical presence and dynamic vocalism”. Ms. Hunter began her 2019-2020 season in performances of Augusta Read Thomas’ Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun with the Santa Fe Opera. Following her acclaimed performances creating the role of Mother in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival, she reprised the role for her debut at the Washington National Opera. Ms. Hunter also recently debuted under the auspices of New York City Opera and American Opera Projects as Hannah Before in Laura Kaminsky’s As One at the Kaufman Music Center in New York. Additional recent performances include creating the role of Dee Dee Reyes in Hillard and Boresi’sThe Last American Hammer with UrbanArias in Washington, D.C.; Annie and Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Giovanna in Rigoletto and Gertrude Stein in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 at Michigan Opera Theatre, for which she won the EncoreMichigan award for Best Performance in an Opera. At the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, she performed the role of Flora in La Traviata for Patricia Racette’s directorial debut, as well as Pvt. Stanton in the world premiere of An American Soldier. She made her Lincoln Center Theater debut in a gala performance of Camelot starring Lin Manuel Miranda, and a few months prior joined LCT for a workshop of Intimate Apparel by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage, directed by Bartlett Sher.

William Guanbo Su

https://www.sempreartists.com/william-guanbo-su

Heralded by the New York Times for “musical taste, honest execution of Handelian ornaments and bel canto filigree, and a solid voice,” William Guanbo Su is a 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals winner.  

A member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. Su made his mainstage debut as the Usher in Rigoletto last season before his performances of Sparafucile in outdoor performances of Rigoletto, Second Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte were cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, as were this season’s engagements of Zuniga in Carmen, Second Knight in Parsifal, and the Sadistic Sailor in Breaking the Waves. In the 2020-21 season, he performed excerpts of Enrico in Anna Bolena and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni in the Studio Showcase and later presented Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39; both programs are presented on HGO Live/Marquee TV.  He will return for a third season at Houston Grand Opera for a number of roles on the company’s mainstage after making his debut with Austin Opera as Angelotti in Tosca and returning to the Aspen Music Festival as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Garibaldo in Rodelinda: all role debuts.