Rising young soprano
Madison Leonard
is a 2018 winner of
the Metropolitan
National Council
Auditions, where
she sang arias from
Rigoletto and Hänsel
und Gretel with
Bertrand de Billy
conducting. This
season, she joins
Seattle Opera as
Chrisann Brennan in
Bates’ The Revolution of Steve Jobs and Frasquita
in Carmen. She sings Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro
in a return to Inland Northwest Opera and a solo
recital at Washington Adventist University.
Last season, she returned to Wolf Trap Opera for
two role debuts, Ilia in Idomeneo and Juliette in
Roméo et Juliette, following a season at Washington
National Opera where she sang the High Priestess
THE FLORIDA OR 60 CHESTRA | 2018-2019
in Aida, The Rose in Portman’s The Little Prince,
Morgana in the young artist performance of
Alcina, and Little Zegner Sister in Missy Mazzoli’s
new opera, Proving Up, all while a member of the
Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. She also
made her National Symphony Orchestra debut with
Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and returned
as soloist in Vaughan William’s Symphony No. 3
under the baton of Sir Mark Elder. She also sang
performances of Fauré’s Requiem with the Apollo
Orchestra, returned to The Florida Orchestra for
Orff’s Carmina Burana, and joined Dallas Opera for
Der Ring des Polykrates.
She is a first place winner of the Houston
Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition.
Additionally, she received the Women’s Voice
Fellowship from the Luminarts Cultural Foundation
and scholarships from the Lynn Harvey Foundation
and the Musicians Club of Women. Leonard earned
her master’s of music degree from Northwestern
University and her bachelor’s of arts degree from
Pepperdine University.
American-Canadian
Zach Finkelstein
has quickly
established himself
as a leading tenor
soloist in North
America and abroad,
from Seattle’s Benaroya
Hall to New
York’s Lincoln Center
to London’s Sadler’s
Wells to the National
Arts Center in Beijing,
China. Finkelstein’s debut album, Britten and
Pears: the Canticles, was launched on October 1,
2017, with release recitals in Seattle, Toronto, New
York and Vancouver.
In the concert world, Finkelstein is known for his
“refined” and “elegant” (Vancouver Observer) interpretation
of the works of Bach, Mozart and Handel,
among others. In the spring and summer of 2018,
he was heard in such works as Handel’s Samson, Israel
in Egypt and Alexander’s Feast from Maryland
to Ontario. Of special interest was his appearance in
Guadalajara in Comala by Zohn-Muldoon. Recitals
claimed his attention for the Brooklyn Song Society,
Resonance in Seattle and as a UC Davis Artist
in Residence. Highlights of this season include Messiah
for the Portland Chamber Orchestra, Elijah for
the Grand River Chorus and Bach’s Johannespassion
for Calgary’s Luminous Voices. Finkelstein is
also an evangelist for new and contemporary classical
works, an oeuvre he discovered as a two-time
Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Finkelstein holds an artist diploma in voice from the
Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School
in Toronto and a bachelor’s of arts in political science
from McGill University in Montreal. As a young
artist, he participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival,
Banff Opera as Theatre, the International Vocal
Arts Institute and the Britten-Pears Young Artist
Programme.
MADISON LEONARD
Soprano
ZACH FINKELSTEIN
Tenor