Berkshire Opera Festival was founded in 2016 by Artistic Director Brian Garman and Director of Production Jonathon Loy. The mission of Berkshire Opera Festival is to entertain and enrich the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds throughout the Berkshire region by providing accessible and affordable performances of a broad range of operas while adhering to the highest artistic standards. For more information about this event, please visit Much Ado About Shakespeare | berkshireoperafestival.

American soprano, Jasmine Habersham is a versatile and dynamic performing artist.  She received her bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance at Shorter College and her Master’s and Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music.  Ms. Habersham has performed as a featured soloist in numerous concert productions, and she is well versed as a crossover artist in opera and musical theater.

Jasmine’s 2019-20 season included performances of Adina in L’elisir d’amore at the Phoenicia Festival of Voice, Sarah Ruth in Edward Tulane with Minnesota Opera, and Frasquita in Carmen at Gran Teatre del Liceu.  Her 2018-19 season included singing Pip in Moby Dick with Opera San Jose,  the world premiere of Katie Jackson in The Fix with Minnesota Opera, Clara in Porgy and Bess and Adina in L’elisir d’amore  at The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice.  An avid performer of new works, Jasmine has premiered the role of Mariola in Jake Heggie/Gene Scheer’s Out of Darkness: Two Remain with Atlanta Opera.  She has also appeared as Pip in Moby Dick with Utah Opera, Pamina in The Magic Flute with the Opera Theater St. Louis: Opera on the Go, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte at Cincinnati Opera and Glimmerglass Festival, Yum Yum in the The Mikado with Kentucky Opera,  Esther in Intimate Apparel with Cincinnati Opera Fusion, and Clara in Porgy and Bess with Utah Festival Opera.

Hailed for her “deliciously over the top” and “powerful mezzo” by Opera News, Alissa Anderson wields her comic prowess, striking features, and her “powerful vocalism” to great acclaim. Ms. Anderson achieved a considerable success and was celebrated for being “impeccably prepared” and “splendid in every way” when she stepped in as Florence Pike in Santa Fe Opera’s Albert Herring under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis. The 2019-2020 saw her debut with Opera Philadelphia as Princess Clarissa in The Love for Three Oranges, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd with the Royal Danish Opera, and a return to Opera Birmingham as Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon (cancelled). The 2018-2019 season included Ms. Anderson’s return to San Diego Opera as Maddalena in Rigoletto, her debut with Opera San Antonio as Marthe in Faust, and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and Mrs. Andrews/The Bird Woman in Mary Poppins in a return to Utah Festival Opera. Additional highlights include The Witch in Into the Woods with Utah Festival Opera, La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Birmingham and Opera Louisiana, Frugola/La Zia Principessa in Il trittico with Opera Delaware, and Tisbe in La Cenerentola with San Diego Opera. The 2021/2022 season and beyond brings Erda in Das Rheingold with Opera Santa Barbara, Dame Quickly in Falstaff with Berkshire Opera, and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with Austin Opera as well as performances with Angers-Nantes Opera, and Opera Philadelphia.

Tenor Jonas Hacker regularly receives high praise for his “attractive tenor voice” and his ability to convincingly portray characters across genres from Mozart to Glass.  Mr. Hacker hails from Lake Delton, Wisconsin and completed his studies at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.  He received his Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and his Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.  In the 2019-20 season, Jonas made his Arizona Opera debut returning to the role of Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers and returned to Washington Concert Opera to sing Laertes in Ambroise Thomas’ rarely performed operatic version of Hamlet. Concert appearances include his Canadian debut with the Orchestre Métropolitain singing the Tenor Soloist in Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Bach’s B minor mass with Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque and again with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin.  In April, Jonas makes his European debut with the Theater St. Gallen singing the Boy/Young King in George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence.

Baritone Thomas Glass is a Grand Prize winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recent alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.  Born in Edina, Minnesota, Thomas earned his Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Music Business.

In the 2019-2020 seasons, he returned to Houston Grand Opera for a role debut as Papageno in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute, under the baton of Jane Glover. He makes house and role debuts with Atlanta Opera as Dandini in La Cenerentola, and Arizona Opera as John Lassiter in Riders of the Purple Sage. On the concert stage, he joined Ars Lyrica Houston for a program of Bach and presented a solo recital with the Nantucket Musical Arts Society.  Glass made his role debut as Marcello in La bohème with Houston Grand Opera, and subsequently made his Des Metro Opera debut in the role. At Houston Grand Opera, he also sang Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas and covered the title role in Don Giovanni.

Career highlights include multiple assignments with Houston Grand Opera including role debuts as Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Baron Duphol in La Traviata, and Officer Krupke in Bernstein’s West Side Story, as well as covering the role of Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. He joined Wolf Trap Opera to sing Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette and was the baritone soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

Grammy-nominated pianist Christopher Koelzer hails from the San Francisco Bay Area and performs and coaches regularly in the New York City and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.  He has worked as a vocal coach and pianist with many opera companies, including Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, and Northern Lights Music Festival, and coached and performed with the Maryland Opera Studio from 2013-17.  He has performed and recorded several new musicals in New York City by Blake Allen, as well as world premieres of operas in Washington, DC and South Carolina.  He was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award for his work with the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic on the album Ruggles, Stucky & Harbison: Orchestral Works with conductor David Alan Miller. Mr. Koelzer began collaborating in opera, musical theater, and chamber music at age 13, and he has performed around the world both as a solo and collaborative pianist.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Brigham Young University, holds a Master’s degree in collaborative piano from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is currently a Doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland.