Suliman Tekalli

Violin 1

Top prize winner of the 2015 Seoul International Music Competition, violinist Suliman Tekalli has performed on big concert stages throughout the North America, Europe, and Asia such as Carnegie Hall, the Seoul Arts Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center.  His performances have been broadcasted on live KBS TV in Korea, Montreal Canada's CBC Radio 3, WQXR and NPR. Mr. Tekalli has performed at Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, and the Banff Centre, collaborating with artists such as Donald Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, Paul Watkins, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, and Wu Han. He also frequently concertized with his sibling pianist Jamila Tekalli whom he has recorded an album entitled "Duality". Mr. Tekalli has given the world premiere of his composition “Mephistoccata” at the 2013 Montreal International Music Competition, receiving the Maurice and Judith Kaplow Prize for Uncommon Creativity from the Cleveland Institute of Music the same year. A native of Daytona Beach, Florida, Suliman Tekalli attended the Juilliard School's B.M. program studying with Hyo Kang, as well as Sergiu Schwartz at the Schwob School of Music, and received a M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Joel Smirnoff.

Patrick Doane

Violin 2

Described as a ‘Compelling Violinist’ by the New York Times, Patrick Doane has performed with ensembles including Orchestra of St. Luke's, Harrisburg Symphony, Hotel Elefant, and American Contemporary Music Ensemble.  Patrick has appeared alongside artists such as Savion Glover and Keith Lockhart, and members of the Muir, Haven, and Portland String Quartets.  He received his Bachelor and Masters degrees from Juilliard and as a composer has had works commissioned and performed for string quartet and chamber orchestra.  A first year DMA student at CUNY Graduate Center, Patrick currently studies with Daniel Phillips.

Anne Lanzilotti

Viola

A fierce advocate of contemporary music, Anne Lanzilotti has distinguished herself premiering works by and collaborating with composers of her generation. An active composer-performer, Lanzilotti has been a guest artist with Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Échappé, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Lanzilotti teaches at NYU Steinhardt and will be joining the faculty at University of Northern Colorado School of Music in the fall. A native of Hawai‘i, she is a co-founder and Artistic Consultant for Kalikolehua — El Sistema Hawai‘i, a free orchestra program for underserved youth. For a complete bio, please visit: http://annelanzilotti.com

Luke Krafka

Cello 1

Luke Krafka (BM '07, MM '09 in Cello Performance at the Boston Conservatory and Certificate at Aaron Copland School of Music '15), has given both chamber and solo recitals in Boston, New York City and Western Europe. Mr. Krafka has attended numerous music festivals around the world including the Heifetz International Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Salem New Music Festival and the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy. Along with a very active orchestral, chamber and teaching career, Mr. Krafka is the founder and artistic/director of the Halcyon Chamber Series, a classical chamber series featuring some of the top performers in NYC with a focus on bringing performances to spaces and audiences that would never have the opportunity. 

Paul Brantley

Cello 2

Composer, cellist, and conductor, Paul Brantley is a five-time MacDowell Colony Fellow who has also received fellowships from Banff Centre and The Anderson Center. He has recently enjoyed performances of his music by Horszowski Trio, Flux Quartet, New Esterházy Quartet, and Memphis Symphony. Brantley recently composed a cello concerto, The Royal Revolver, for Eric Jacobsen (The Knights). He co-founded the Seal Bay Festival and was artist faculty at Yellow Barn Music Festival. In addition to positions at Syracuse University and Washington and Lee University, Brantley was a Manhattan School of Music artist faculty from 2000 to 2014.  He was invited to give a composition seminar at Yale University in 2012. He is director and cellist of the newly formed Mercury Chamber Players. www.billholabmusic.com/composers/paul-brantley/

Tomina Parvanova

Harp

Based in New York City, Bulgarian harpist Tomina Parvanova has performed with a myriad of major orchestras and ensembles, including Boston Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Boston Ballet and Albany Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Parvanova is a two times winner of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular audition.  On Broadway she regularly performs for the Fantasticks, as well as Amelie. She is the principal harpist of New York Repertory Orchestra, and performs frequently with Albany Symphony Orchestra, TŌN The Orchestra Now and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 Ms. Parvanova was a harp fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center where she performed under the baton of world renowned conductors, such as Jaap van Zweden, Kurt Masur, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Charles Wourinen. She has performed at some of the most prestigious venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Seji Ozawa Hall. Ms. Parvanova has premiered works by some of America's most celebrated composers, including Charles Wourinen, Gunther Schuller, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Boykan, George Tsontakis, and has performed with new music groups, such as Grammy awarded Boston Modern Orchestra Project, as well as Sound Icon. Ms. Parvanova is also featured on recordings with Albany Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Providence Singers. Under a full tuition scholarship, Ms. Parvanova received her Masters and Bachelors Degree from Boston University College of Fine Arts, and The Boston Conservatory.

Leah Liotta

Assistant Director

Leah Liotta is a theater artist and director. She graduated from Yale University with distinction in 2015, where her directing credits included Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, a radical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and two shows for the Yale Dramatic Association. Leah also studied theater at the Moscow Art Theater School, film at Prague’s FAMU, and apprenticed at the Orchard Project. She’s excited to work with Heartbeat Opera again after production assisting on Queens of the Night. She wants to thank her parents for teaching her early on about the unique power music has to transform and elevate dramatic storytelling.

Peregrine Heard

Dramaturg 

Peregrine Heard is an actor and the artistic director of The Associates, a devising ensemble that has so far written and performed two original plays. The most recent, Black Protagonist, was nominated for Outstanding Original Script by the New York Innovative Theater Awards. Peregrine has performed at Ars Nova's ANTFest, Ice Factory at the New Ohio, Dixon Place, and The Flea. She holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Yale.

Emma Jaster

Movement Director

Emma is a choreographer, teacher, and generative artist.  In NY, she has choreographed operas for Heartbeat, Loft Opera, and Juilliard SVA.  She has worked with U-Theatre in Taiwan, the Natanakairali Institute in India, Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, LaMama’s Directors’ Symposium, and the Grotowski-based Teatr Zar in Poland, among others.  She is the recipient of multiple fellowships and residencies in the US and abroad to develop original cross-disciplinary work.  She is currently running an international collective of artist mothers whose work can be found under #mamaisamaker.  She attended the Lecoq school for physical theatre in Paris.  www.emmajaster.com

Reid Thompson

Set Designer

Reid Thompson is a Brooklyn-based scenic designer for plays, musicals, and opera. Previously for Heartbeat Opera: Lucia Di Lammermoor, Dido & Aeneas, Miss Handel, Kafka Fragments, Daphnis & Chloe, The Fairy Queen. Recent NYC credits: Among The Dead and House Rules (Ma-Yi); The Electric Baby (Fordham); Empathitrax (Colt Coeur); Tartuffe (Atlantic Theater School) Dust Can’t Kill Me, Lisa and Leonardo (NYMF 2016); Half Moon Bay (Lesser America); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm). Recent regional: Too Heavy For Your Pocket (Alliance) Into The Woods (Princeton/McCarter); Lucretia (Stony Brook Opera); Little Shop of Horrors, The Homecoming, Bells Are Ringing (Berkshire Theater Festival); Disgraced (Asolo Rep); Fault (Theater Squared); Merrily We Roll Along (Yale Dramat); A Streetcar Named Desire (Yale Rep). Upcoming: Speech & Debate (Barrington Stage) Too Heavy For Your Pocket (Roundabout) Gloria (Asolo Rep). BFA: School of the Art Institute of Chicago; MFA: Yale School of Drama. Reid is a proud member of Wingspace and USA-829. www.reidthompsondesign.com

Valérie Thérèse Bart

Costume Designer

Selected credits: RHINOCEROS (The Pearl; dir. Hal Brooks); VANITY FAIR (The Pearl; dir. Eric Tucker); THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS (TFANA, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Guthrie, Arts Emerson Boston, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre; dir. Christopher Bayes); TWELFTH NIGHT and WHAT YOU WILL (Bedlam, Central Square Theatre; dir. Eric Tucker); MACBETH (The Acting Company; dir. Devin Brain); BONES IN THE BASKET (Araca Project; dir. Devin Brain); TINA PACKER’S WOMEN OF WILL (costumes/sets, natl/intl tour; dir. Eric Tucker); SHE, AFTER (costumes/sets, Urban Arias); VOLLEYGIRLS (NYMF); SONG OF A CONVALESCENT AYN RAND... (A.R.T., Joe’s Pub, IRT); DIE FLEDERMAUS, BRAHMS’ LIEBESLIEDER (NYU Steinhardt); GOODBYE NEW YORK, GOODBYE HEART (sets, HERE Arts Center; dir. Oliver Butler); POP! (sets, Yale Repertory Theatre; dir. Mark Brokaw). M.F.A. Yale University School of Drama. Valeriebart.com

Caroline Spitzer

Assistant Costume Designer

Caroline Spitzer is an NYC based costume designer. She has assisted on Broadway shows including Shuffle Along, The Front Page, and the current revival of Hello, Dolly! Caroline holds an MFA in costume design from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where she fell in love with opera. 

Jon Carter

Hair & Make Up Designer

Jon Carter is a hair and makeup designer who works in film, television, and on Broadway.  His recent credits include The King and I and Gigi on Broadway,  the films  Little Men, Complete Unknown, Patti Cake$, A Woman, a Part, and the television series The Breaks, Match Game, A Crime to Remember.

Oliver Wason

Lighting Designer

Oliver is thrilled to be back with Heartbeat, having previously designed Lucia di Lammermoor, Dido and Aeneas, Kafka Fragments, Daphnis and Chloe, as well performances on the Highline and at National Sawdust. Recent designs include:Agrippina (Juilliard Opera); Peer Gynt and the Norwegian Hapa Band, Among the Dead(Ma-Yi); Sagittarius Ponderosa (NAATCO); Stones in his Pockets (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center); Little Shop of Horrors, Bells Are Ringing, A Little Night Music (Berkshire Theater Festival); Wonderland (Atlantic for Kids); peerless (Yale Rep, Barrington Stage); Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep); Empty the House (Curtis Opera).

Jakob W. Plummer

Stage Manager

Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George (2017), Oslo, A View From the Bridge (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play), The Crucible. Other credits include productions with The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The U.S. Open, TEDTalks, Weston Playhouse, The Actors' Fund, Playhouse Square, Cain Park, The World Science Fair, and Civic Entertainment. 

Sarah Martens

Assistant Stage Manager

Sarah is overjoyed to be working with Heartbeat again! Sarah began working with Heartbeat last year as Assistant Stage Manager for Dido and Aneas. She recently concluded working on Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical at JAGFest, and has also enjoyed working with The Utah Shakespeare Festival, Sierra Repertory Theatre, and The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Sarah is grateful for the love and support of her super awesome teammate. Love!

Christianne Bakewell

Hair & Make-up Artist

Christianne Bakewell is an MFA Costume Design student at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts and will be completing her thesis in the fall. She enjoys working with both hair and costume to bring characters to life. Her recent work includes: Into the Woods at Lewis Center for the Arts (Second Costume Assistant/Hair Assistant), Sister Act at Omaha Community Playhouse (Wig Design), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Rutgers Theatre (Costume Design). 

Momo Suzuki

Japanese Movement Consultant

Momo Suzuki (Japanese Folk Dance) started studying classical Japanese Dance at the age of seven, with the Fujima School of Yamagata, Japan. She studied traditional Japanese Folk dance at the Toriko Ogawa School under Sensei Ogawa who was also the Folk dance instructor for Japan Victor Corporation. As a member of the Kamioka Japanese Folk Dance Company of Tokyo (as both a student and a teacher) she taught special dance workshops throughout the Tokyo area. After coming to New York in 1983, she performed at La Mama and Marymount theaters with the Hibiki Performing Arts Group. She also performed with Louis Johnson (choreographer for the 'WIZ') at the Henry Street Settlement. In 1992, Ms. Suzuki founded The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York Inc. to promote and preserve traditional folk dances of Japan. She has performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The University of Idaho Jazz Festival (with Lionel Hampton). She has performed at various social, cultural and educational events and is available for booking through Lotus Music & Dance Studios.

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