About

Winter Opera St. Louis, a non-profit organization, was founded in August of 2007 with the goal of staging our first production in February 2008. In order to better exemplify our mission, we changed our name to Winter Opera St. Louis in January 2010. Our mission is to provide the people of St. Louis an evening of opera during the winter months. Furthermore, we will highlight local artists and invest in the local artist community by providing an opportunity to perform with world-class talent. We are committed to enhancing public appreciation of opera in St. Louis through public participation, community outreach programs, and artists’ workshops.

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Gina Galati, Artistic Director

Gina Galati, soprano, is the recent recipient of the Historical Society of St. Louis County’s James O’Flynn Community Service award for founding New Opera Saint Louis, now called Winter Opera St. Louis. Gina received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Music from Washington University and later received a Masters of Opera from the University of Kansas and earned an Artist Diploma from the Academia Verdiana in Bussetto, Italy. Studying under Carlo Bergonzi, Gina performed numerous concerts throughout northern Italy. Ms. Galati has performed major roles in several operas such as Rosina in The Barber of Seville with Winter Opera, Amici Opera and the Southern Illinois Music Festival, Musetta in La Bohéme with Witchita Grand Opera, and she has performed frequently with the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival, singing Nedda in I Pagliacci, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Norina in Don Pasquale. She has also performed Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte and Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. Gina sang the role of Giorgetta in Union Avenue Opera’s production of Il Tabarro and made her Powell Symphony Hall debut December 2008 as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the St. Louis Bach Society. Gina recently performed the role of Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Washington University Opera and Alexandria in the world premier of O Pioneers by Barbara Harbach in St. Louis. She performed the roles of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Gilda in Rigoletto, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Nedda in I Pagliacci with Winter Opera St. Louis. Gina covered the role of Lucia with Opera Naples in January 2011 and will make her debut singing the role of Gilda in Rigoletto with Miami Lyric and Brooklyn Opera in 2011.

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Steven Jarvi, Music Director

Visit Steven Jarvi’s website at www.stevenjarvi.com

Described as an “eloquent and decisive” conductor by the Wall Street Journal and praised for his “uncommonly expressive and detailed” performances by the Miami Herald, Steven Jarvi is recognized as a dynamic talent with an equal passion for the concert hall and the opera house. Mr. Jarvi returns to the Kansas City Symphony for his third season as Associate Conductor. Recently the winner of the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, he came to Kansas City after spending several years as the Conducting Fellow with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach and as an Associate Conductor for the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.

As Associate Conductor, Mr. Jarvi leads the Kansas City Symphony’s Family, Young People’s, Pops and Chamber Players concerts along with selected classical performances throughout the season. In the spring of 2010, he made his official Classical Series debut. A frequent performer with the New World Symphony, Steven has shared subscription concerts in Miami with Michael Tilson Thomas, Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Mark Wigglesworth and Alasdair Neale, conducted on the NWS Charles Ives: In Context Festival and developed and lead the orchestras popular Concerts for Kids and Symphony with a Splash. Mr. Jarvi has also served as a cover conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic as a competitor in the 3^rd Sibelius International Conducting Competition in Helsinki, Finland. Upcoming engagements include the Rochester Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony and a production of Phillip Glass’ Orfee with Virginia Opera.

Mr. Jarvi was the first conductor ever invited to be a member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera, a position he was personally selected for by Plácido Domingo. He has held conducting positions for over 30 opera productions with companies including the Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Baltimore Lyric Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn and Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble in New York City.

At the age of 21, Steven traveled to Austria at the invitation of Claudio Abbado for observation and study with the maestro and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Salzburg Easter Festival. He was later selected by former New York Philharmonic Music Director, Kurt Masur, to appear on a concert with Masur at Manhattan School of Music as part of a week long master class. In 2005, as the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Steven was one of two conductors selected to study under Boston Symphony and Metropolitan Opera Music Director, James Levine, and conducted critically praised performances with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. A frequent performer of new music, he has collaborated with many of the world’s most celebrated composers including Henri Dutilleux, John Adams, John Zorn, Augusta Read Thomas, Steven Mackey, Jennifer Higdon and Leon Kirchner, has conducted at Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music, and has lead performances at New York City Opera’s annual VOX Festival Showcasing American Composers.
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Nancy Mayo, collaborative pianist

Nancy has been a prize winner in several solo competitions, including the South Carolina Music Teachers Association (SCMTA), Music Teachers Southern Region Association, the Clara Wells Competition in Pittsburgh, and the Columbia (S.C.) Philharmonic Young Artist Competition, which included a
performance with the Columbia Philharmonic. After graduating summa cum laude with a BA and MA in piano performance from Bob Jones University, she worked as a repetiteur at the Columbia (S.C.) Lyric Opera and Hamburgische Staatsoper (Germany), and also served as ballet and orchestral pianist at the Staatsoper and Hamburgische Philharmonic. Mrs. Mayo has taught at Newberry College, Columbia College, and Columbia International University, and is presently adjunct professor in piano and accompanying at Webster
University. In St. Louis, she has served as rehearsal and orchestral pianist for the Saint Louis Women’s Chorale, Sheldon Chorale, Union Avenue Opera, Winter Opera Saint Louis, LyriCo, and as a keyboard extra for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. At Opera Theatre St. Louis, she is a staff accompanist for summer festivals and a vocal coach in the OTSL Artists-In-Training program. She maintains a private piano studio, and enjoys both solo performing and collaborating.