Studio Artist Program

Alexander Elliott

Baritone Alexander Elliott is an emerging young singer who is currently in demand across the United States. This season, Alexander can be seen performing with Tulsa Opera in mainstage performances of The Corporal in Donizetti’s The Daughter of The Regiment, and The Mailman in Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella. He will be covering the role of Joey in The Most Happy Fella. As an apprentice during the 2012 summer season Alexander made his debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Perichaud in Puccini’s La Rondine, and as The Captain in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. While there, he also covered John Michael Moore in the title role of Eugene Onegin-a role that Alexander performed earlier in the season under special invitation from the Florida State Opera.

Equally at home on the concert stage, recent performances have included Handel’s Messiah with the Pensacola Symphony and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with the Albany Chorale. Other concert engagements have included performances with the Tallahassee Symphony and the Epiphany Concert Series in South Carolina.

As a member of Des Moines Metro Opera’s Opera Iowa troupe, Alexander participated in over 70 performances of Papageno in The Magic Flute and The Strongman in Sid The Serpent Who Wanted To Sing. Alexander was also an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera during the summer of 2011.

Alexander is a graduate of Florida State University where he studied with David Okerlund. While there he performed the roles of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Pish-Tush in The Mikado, among other roles. He is a native of Florence, South Carolina and currently resides in New York City.

Zac Engle

Up-and-coming tenor Zac Engle received his M.M. in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory performing roles such as Don Ottavio, Nanki-Poo, and Gonzalve in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole.

A native of Ponca City, Oklahoma, Zac received his B.M. from Oklahoma State University where he sang roles such as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and Bastien in Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienna. His light lyric sound with high extension enables him to perform roles spanning much of the bel canto repertoire.

Zac spent the last two summers at The Seagle Music Colony singing Laurie in Adamo’s Little Women and performing in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. This season, Zac performs Giuseppe in The Most Happy Fella and covered Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment with Tulsa Opera. Zac also performed with Tulsa Opera’s Opera on Tour! Outreach Program as Mooch in Mooch the Messy. He is excited to be a part of the 2013 Fort Worth Opera season by making his debut as Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos and by covering Young Thompson in Glory Denied.

Elizabeth Fischborn

This summer Ms. Fischborn performed Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and covered the roles of Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore) and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) with Crested Butte Music Festival as part of the Marcello Giordani Young Artist Program. She sang as a young artist with Wichita Grand Opera covering Adele and Norina in the mainstage productions of Die Fledermaus and Don Pasquale and performed Norina at a young artist performance of the production in McPherson, Kansas.

Last spring, she performed the role of the Coloratura in the Tulsa Opera Studio’s production of Postcard from Morocco. In the summer of 2011 she sang in scenes programs and various performances with Taos Opera Institute and Atlantic Music Festival. During her time at the University of Oklahoma, she performed Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito) and the title role in Le Rossignol. Various leading roles with Cimarron Opera include Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves), Rose Maybud (Ruddigore) and the role of Me in the school tour of the educational operetta The Owl, the Tree and Me. She also performed the title role of La Perichole with the University of Central Oklahoma.

Her undergraduate degree in music education is from Southern Nazarene University. Ms. Fischborn just completed her master’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma.

Stefan Barner

Stefan Barner is quickly gaining recognition in the lyric tenor repertoire. In the current 2011-2012 season, notable performances include Trin in Nashville Opera’s production of La Fanciulla del West, a return to Knoxville Opera as Romeo in the company’s inaugural education tour of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Bartlesville Choral Society. Upcoming engagements include Ciccio in Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella and the Messenger in Verdi’s Aida with Tulsa Opera as a member of the 2013 Studio Artist Program.

In 2011, Mr. Barner was a member of Nashville Opera’s Mary Ragland Young Artist Program. With Nashville Opera he performed the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro and El Remendado in Carmen along with the role of Wilhelm Grimm in the American premiere of The Brothers Grimm for the outreach tour. Mr. Barner has also performed with Knoxville Opera as Borsa in Rigoletto and Normano in Lucia di Lammermoor and was a member of the 2010 Young American Artists with Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York. Mr. Barner made his international debut in 2009 singing B. F. Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy.

A native of Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mr. Barner has been selected numerous times as a finalist in both the NATS and MTNA Iowa competitions. He was awarded second place in the Baru Atlanta Competition in 2009 and in 2010 was a winner at the Metropolitan National Council Auditions, East Tennessee district. Mr. Barner completed his Bachelor of Music degree at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa; and his Master of Music at The University of Tennessee-Knoxville.