Semiramide Performers

William G. Ludtke has been a member of the staff and faculties of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, Marin Opera, Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, CA and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. While living in Chicago, Bill formed his own grass roots opera company which performed over 50 operas covering repertoire from Mozart to Hindemith during the company’s existence. He is currently musical and artistic director of the Handel Opera Project in Berkeley, California and music director and organist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, also in Berkeley, California. His compositions have received broad public and critical acclaim in performances by many Bay Area musical organizations including the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Diablo Symphony, the Oakland Civic Orchestra and such choral organizations as the San Francisco Chorale Artists, San Francisco Chamber Singers, Piedmont Children’s Choirs and the Cantabile Choral Guild. His Symphony No. 3, which received a Mu Phi Epsilon award, was premiered by the Oakland East Bay Symphony and received a subsequent performance by the Cascade Symphony in Seattle, Washington. His works have also been performed throughout America and in Europe (Austria, France, Germany and England) and have been aired on the local radio stations KDFC, KQED, KKHI and most recently on KUSF. He has received awards from The American Composers Forum, the Meet the Composer Program, the American Guild of Organists, ASCAP, Mu Phi Epsilon, the American Music Center in New York City, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Irvine Foundation, San Francisco Art Commissions, the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.

She is a soprano with a voice described by Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) as a “magical gift” and “glorious,” based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has performed leads with Opera San José, the San Francisco Opera Guild, West Edge Opera, Golden Gate Opera, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Pocket Opera, West Bay Opera, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, and Opera Cultúra singing the roles of Mimi (La Bohéme), Musetta (La Bohéme), Nedda (I Pagliacci), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Die Königen der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Mariana (Das Liebesverbot), Melisande (Ariane et Barbe-Bleue), Phyllis (Iolanthe), Princess Ida (Princess Ida), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Sara (La Llorona), among others. Alexa has been a concert soloist for the San Francisco Symphony, Apollo Symphony, Gradus ad Parnassum, Ukiah Symphony, Santa Clara Chorale, and Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico. She is known for authenticity, flexibility of style, a strong technical foundation, and the ability to sing a wide range of roles with confidence and distinction. An active recitalist, Aléxa often performs in collaboration with composers premiering new works and served on the curatorial staff for West Edge Opera’s Aperture project, an opera commissioning residency resulting in several new operas. She appears regularly in the Voices of Hope concert series for the ALS Hope Foundation. As an instructor and director, Aléxa has served as a Lecturer of Music at San Francisco State University, several Bay Area Schools, and maintains a studio of private voice and piano students. Passionate about vocal technique and equality, Aléxa has created and implemented educational musical programming to foster, at-risk, and incarcerated youths. As a Teaching Artist with the Opera Guild, Opera Cultúra, West Bay Opera, and many other fine organizations, she has opened children’s eyes and ears to the wonders of opera and choral singing.

Praised for her “unusually rich and resonant voice” (Opera News), contralto Sara Couden (“SA-ra COO-den”) is a premiere interpreter of operatic, concert, and song repertoire. Opera engagements for 2024 include Baba the Turk with Lakes Area Music Festival, as well as her San Francisco Opera debut as Rita in The Handmaid’s Tale (and Serena Joy cover). Concerts include Beethoven 9 with Seattle Symphony, Mass in B Minor with Santa Cruz Symphony, Duruflé Requiem with the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, and a concert of art songs and piano chamber music with Jenny Lin and Philip Setzer at the Manchester Music Festival.

Jefferson Packer has been a Bass Soloist and Section Leader at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco since 2019. He has performed as soloist with California Bach Society, Sonoma Bach, Marin Baroque, Soli Deo Gloria, and the Queer Chorus of San Francisco. Jefferson was also a member of the Philharmonia Chorale, the American Bach Choir, the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. He is an active vocal accompanist and coach who holds degrees in Piano Performance from San Francisco State University and Music and Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. Jefferson leads the Sequoia Voices choir of residents at the Sequoias San Francisco and serves as accompanist for the Young Women’s Choral Projects. He and his husband Marcel, a violist, live in San Francisco with their dog Figaro.

Matt Hidalgo is a well-known leggiero tenor soloist who performs regularly throughout the Sacramento region, Nevada, & Bay Area. He is an Extra Chorus Member with the San Francisco Opera and is skilled in oratorio, opera, and concert music. Matt has performed various works by JS Bach, W.A. Mozart, James DeMars, Joseph Haydn, George F. Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, and Camille Saint Saëns. A competition winner, Matt performed Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Horn & Tenor and was a featured soloist in SCSO's CD recording, Lest we Forget. Matt made his operatic debut with Sacramento Opera in 2015, and has since performed in many operatic roles. He currently studies with the internationally renowned Mezzo-Soprano, Susanne Mentzer, and teaches voice lessons in Sacramento, CA.

Courtnee Rhone, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from California State University, East Bay and a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Dillard University. Her vocal achievements include performances with Handel Opera Project, Livermore Opera, Lamplighters Musical Theatre, Golden Gate Opera, Festival Opera, and Contra Costa Musical Theatre. She performed the role of Donna Elvira in Vienna Summer Music Festival’s production of Don Giovanni. Additional operatic roles include Clarice in The Card Game and Papagena in The Magic Flute with the Handel Opera Project. Her repertoire also includes Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Lizzy Splendor in The Boy Who Grew Too Fast, Mère Supérieure in La Fille du Tambour-Major, and La Cadette in Isabelle Aboulker’s Cendrillon.

William Weidner, a native of San Francisco, California, is a Baritone whose passion for operatic music has earned him a musical career with a busy performance schedule spanning over twenty years, both with companies across the United States and overseas. Mr. Weidner was introduced to the world of classical singing as a child while enrolled in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Just Seven years later, he made his professional Debut as Nanki Poo in The SF Lamplighters production of The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. Recent opera credits include Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana) with San Francisco Opera On Tap, Frank (Die Fledermaus) with Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte), and Rambaldo (La Rondine) with Opera in the Ozarks, Zito Yakuside (Madame Butterfly) with Opera West, and Masetto (Don Giovanni) with Berlin Opera Akademie. Mr. Weidner also performed as One Death in the 2019 new works premiere of Cindy Cox and John Campion's The Road to Xibalba with West Edge Opera.

Wayne Wong was last seen as the Imperial Commissioner in Pocket Opera's bilingual production of Madame Butterfly. Other engagements include Opera Parallele, Ars Minerva, Berkeley (West Edge) Opera, Festival Opera, Lamplighters, and Island City Opera. Roles include Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Benoit and Alcindoro (La boheme), Frank and Frosch (Die Fledermaus), Angelotti, Sciarrone and the Jailer (Tosca), and Gideon (Little Women). He recently made his Berkeley Rep debut as in Grandfather Loi in Mother of Exiles.

Rita Haronian has been active in the Bay Area classical music scene since 1981 when she arrived in San Francisco. Her operatic roles include the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta (in Russian) and Giulietta in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman. She has performed as a recitalist at San Francisco's Community Music Center, the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco, Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church and the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. Rita has also performed throughout the Bay Area as a volunteer with Bread & Roses, an organization that brings live music to audiences in institutional settings.

Ash Hurtado is a proudly Mexican and Irish American singer and actor, praised for his “youthful, chorus piercing soprano” (Theatre Eddys) that “soars to the heights with arpeggios and leaps, both in terms of range and volume” (Cordell Reports). Ash studied Vocal Performance at The University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana and The Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins and has since performed with companies in and out of the Bay Area, including Pocket Opera, Opera Southwest, West Edge, Lamplighters, Opera Cultura, Opera Modesto, and Thompson Street Opera. Some of Ash’s recent role highlights include Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Luz in Farolitos of Christmas, Rooster in Cunning Little Vixen, Sara in La Llorona, Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld, and Adele in Die Fledermaus. www.thisisaliciahurtado.com

Kristen Campbell is a Sacramento based soprano who graduated from California State University, Sacramento. She has worked as a soloist, chorister, and percussionist for Schola Cantorum, Sacramento Chorus and Orchestra, Vox Musica, Sacramento Ballet, Festival Opera, and Opera San Jose. This is her debut with the Handel Opera Project, and she is very excited to come back to singing after a hiatus. When not performing, Kristen is an active makeup artist whose work has been televised, photographed, and viewed in collaboration with companies such as Broadway Sacramento at Music Circus, Opera San Jose, Festival Opera, San Francisco Opera, and San Francisco Ballet. She also loves eating delicious food with friends, reading, and slaying dragons one at a time.