LAUREN CARROLL A PAGE
Iowa native, Lauren Carroll, is a blossoming young soprano, becoming one to watch. Houston Press hailed her as,“ impressive and flawless in execution.” Ms. Carroll is a first-year Cafritz Young Artist with the Washington National Opera, where she made notable debuts as Abigail Williams( The Crucible), High Priestess( Aida) and Barbarina( Le Nozze di Figaro). Carroll also made her debut as Mimì in La bohème with the Alexandria Symphony in February 2026. During her 2024-25 season as a Young Artist with the Palm Beach Opera, Carroll covered the roles of Violetta( La traviata) and Juliette( Roméo et Juliette). Carroll spent the summer of 2025 singing Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte under the baton of Patrick Summers and directed by Renée Fleming. Ms. Carroll won Third Prize in Houston Grand Opera’ s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition and was a National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in 2025. In the summer of 2024, Ms. Carroll was a Renée Fleming Artist in the Aspen Music Festival’ s Opera Theatre and VocalARTS. While there, she sang the titular role of Gretel in Humperdinck’ s Hänsel und Gretel, under the baton of Maestro Patrick Summers. In the summer finale, she also sang the role of Gerhilde in Act 3 of Wagner’ s Die Walküre under the baton of Robert Spano alongside Christine George and Greer Grimsley. Ms. Carroll has also spent two summers as an Apprentice Artist at Des Moines Metro Opera.
Ms. Carroll graduated with her Master’ s degree in Vocal Performance from the Shepherd School of Music in 2024, and while there, she performed the roles of Belinda( Dido & Aeneas), Fiordiligi( Così fan tutte), and Rose Maurrant( Street Scene).
J’ NAI BRIDGES MADDALENA
Two time GRAMMY ® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’ Nai Bridges, known for her“ plush-voiced mezzo-soprano”( The New York Times), and“ calmly commanding stage presence”( The New Yorker) has been“ marked out at an early stage as a singer headed for top flight”( Financial Times), gracing the world’ s leading operatic and concert stages“ with a voice both voluptuous and statuesque”( The New York Times).
This season, Ms. Bridges makes her house debut in the title role of Carmen at Teatro Real in Madrid alongside Michael Fabiano and Charles Castronovo, conducted by Eun Sun Kim, reprising the role later in the season at both Seattle Opera and Cincinnati Opera. She reprises Maddalena in Rigoletto in her debut at San Francisco Opera, conducted by Eun Sun Kim, and returns to Washington National Opera as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Robert Spano. In concert, she reprises Maddalena in Rigoletto alongside Quinn Kelsey in the title role with Baltimore Symphony conducted by Jonathon Heyward, joins Nashville Symphony for Brian Field’ s Hymn for the Hurting, with text by Amanda Gorman, and Julia Perry’ s Stabat Mater, and joins the Gulbenkian Orchestra for their New Years Concerts, including repertoire by Berlioz, Rossini, Bizet, and Offenbach. In recital, she presents an all-French program at Boston’ s Celebrity Series, The Morgan Library in New York, and Wake Forest University. She also presents Damien Geter’ s COTTON alongside Justin Austin and Laura Ward at La Jolla Music Society, and a program of Coleridge- Taylor, Libby Larsen, Elgar, and others with Terrence Wilson and the Catalyst Quartet at the Library of Congress and Emory University.
21