Lauren Salazar, mezzo-soprano, is a graduate of the Graduate Artist Certificate program in Voice & Opera at the University of North Texas, where she studied with Dr. Carol Wilson. She also holds a Master of Music from UNT and a Bachelor of Music from The University of Texas at Austin, and currently studies with Dr. Mark Tempesta. Praised for her versatility and dramatic presence, Ms. Salazar has performed a wide range of roles including Carmen, Hänsel, and Dido. Additional credits include Despina (Così fan tutte), The Witch (Into the Woods), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Third Wood Sprite (Rusalka), Dorothée (Cendrillon), and Annio (La clemenza di Tito). Her professional experience includes collaborations with Fort Worth Opera, Austin Opera, Opera Arlington, the Dallas Bach Society, the TEXAS Outdoor Musical Company, and Opera in the Ozarks. With the Dallas Bach Society, she has appeared as an alto soloist in concerts such as Il Concerto delle Donne, Merrie England, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. In the summer of 2025, she joined Opera in the Ozarks as an Emerging Artist, performing as the Witch in Into the Woods and Carmen.

This past fall, Ms. Salazar opened Opera Arlington’s season as the mezzo-soprano soloist in their Masquerade Soirée concert and made her Wichita Grand Opera debut as Consuelo in West Side Story. She also returned to Opera in the Ozarks in December for their holiday outreach production Lucinda y las flores de la Nochebuena, as the title role. Upcoming engagements include a reprise of Carmen with Opera Arlington, and she will be a Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist with Fort Worth Opera for their 2026-2027 season.

Mezzo-soprano Kaswanna Kanyinda has been praised for her dramatic presence, vocal warmth, and as a “talent to keep a sharp lookout for.” She returns to Opera Arlington after appearing as the Mother in Hansel & Gretel and as a concert soloist in Royals. This past season, she finished her second year as a Resident artist at Fort Worth Opera and had success as a finalist and semi-finalist in competitions by Austin Music Club, Opera Ebony, Young Texas Artists. Shreveport Opera, Lorne Zachary, MIOpera. and Annapolis Opera. Kaswanna has worked with companies such as Chicago Opera Theatre, Opera Theatre Saint Louis, Finger Lakes Opera, Toledo Opera, Detroit Opera Theatre, Opera Grand Rapids, Spoleto Festival, and Long Leaf Opera. As more contemporary operas have blossom in the industry, she has been cast in modern operas such as Blue, Omar, and Stinney: The American Tragedy with Opera Toledo, Spoleto Opera Festival, and Opera Grand Rapids, respectively. During the 2020 pandemic, she played the role of Flosshilde in Detroit Opera Theatre’s Twilight: Gods after winning a Wilde Award for her performance as the Mother in Opera MODO’s production of The Consul the previous year. Her participation in summer programs such as Pittsburgh Festival Opera, FAVA, CoOperative, and Amalfi Coast Festival furthered the education and experience she received from University of Michigan and UNC Chapel Hill. Under the tutelage of Professor George Shirley and Dr. Louise Toppin, respectively at these institutions, Kaswanna experienced unforgettable moments in her career such as performing at the Kennedy Center and performing the national anthem for President Barack Obama. A North Carolina native, she resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as a free-lance performer after working with Chicago Opera Theatre in their production of She Who Dared.

Jordan Hammons, tenor, makes his Opera Arlington debut as Don Josè. This season he joined Sarasota Opera as an apprentice artist where he performed the Messenger in Verdi’s Il Trovatore and covered Elder Gleaton in Floyd’s Susannah. While at Sarasota Opera, he also performed excerpts of Verdi’s I Lombardi alla prima crociata, I masnadieri, and Un ballo in maschera. At The Dallas Opera, Jordan made his mainstage debut as the Young Servant in Elektra by Richard Strauss. He has appeared in multiple The Dallas Opera Education and Outreach performances including The Little Prince, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Bremen Town Musicians. Last summer, he performed Princ in Dvořák’s Rusalka with LAH Summer Opera Workshops in Philadelphia. On the concert stage, he has appeared in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2: Hymn of Praise, Britten’s Canticle III: Still Falls the Rain, Handel’s Messiah, and Dubois’s The Seven Last Words of Christ. In 2022 he was named a winner of the Houston District in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. Jordan completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, and continued his studies at Southern Methodist University, where he earned a Performer’s Diploma and Master of Music Degree. During his time at SMU, he was honored to receive the Roy and Sue Johnson Award for excellence in opera.

Tenor Matthew Corcoran is quickly gaining recognition as a compelling Jugendlicher Heldentenor, praised for his powerful, gleaming sound and the lyricism to shape even the most intimate lines. Recent performances include Don Jose in Carmen, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Jimmy in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer, Danilo in Die lustige Witwe, and Sam in Susannah. He has appeared with the Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, Dallas Winds, Boston Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Painted Sky Opera. This is Matt’s first time performing with Wichita Grand Opera

An avid recitalist, Corcoran has been a fellow at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival and the Cincinnati Song Initiative, specializing in contemporary American composers such as Steven Mark Kohn and Tom Cipullo, while also performing works like Griffes’ Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod, Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit, Burleigh’s Five Songs of Lawrence Hope and Britten’s Holy Sonnets of John Donne.

Most recently, Matt made his film debut in director Sam Davis’s short film The Singers, which won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards. In the film, Matt performs “Vesti la Giubba” from I Pagliacci.

Erik Danielson is an in-demand bass-baritone artist who has been described as “commanding attention” with a “barihunk instrument” and “silvery tone,” appearing as a soloist on such prestigious stages as Des Moines Metro Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Opera West. He made his Opera Arlington debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in 2023. Erik’s repertoire spans opera, oratorio, and musical theater, including Escamillo in Carmen, Silvio in Pagliacci, as well as Don Giovanni, Leporello, and Commendatore in Don Giovanni. Erik has also appeared as the Bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his vocal and acting work, Erik is an accomplished church musician and a skilled collaborative pianist with over twenty years of experience, having begun accompanying high school clarinet students before the age of ten. Erik obtained his Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University in Vocal Performance and Piano Performance in 2014, where he was a National Merit Scholar, the recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship for academic excellence, and a finalist for the Nordan Scholarship as both a vocalist and pianist. He then earned a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Conducting from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2017, before completing the Opera Institute Program at Boston University, ending in 2021. 

Isaac Carlin is an operatic baritone based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In 2024, Isaac travelled to southern France to perform the role of Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) with Opéra Bastide where he performed the role in the medieval French dialect of Occitan. In 2023, he performed as Escamillo (Carmen) with the University of North Texas Opera, singing the role in French, English and Spanish. Isaac most recently performed the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with UNT Opera, and he also made his debut with Opera Arlington singing Peter in Hänsel und Gretel. Other recent roles include Schaunard (La bohème) in concert with the Sherman Symphony Orchestra and Sacristan (Tosca) with the UNT Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming roles include Wotan in a reduced version of Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Berlin Dramatic Voices Program. Isaac is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of North Texas studying under the tutelage of Stephen Morscheck.

Cherisse Williams is a soprano from Brooklyn, New York who has been a frequent performer with Opera Arlington since its inception. A rising presence in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, Cherisse is known for her silky, versatile sound and heartfelt interpretations of a wide variety of roles.

Last season, Cherisse sang the role of Marie in Cendrillon with Opera Arlington. Past roles include Manuelita (Pépito) in the Winspear Opera House with The Dallas Opera’s Educational Outreach, Micaëla (Carmen) and Adina (L’elisir d’amore) with UNT Opera, Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) with Once Upon an Opera, Nannetta (Falstaff) with the Midwest Institute of Opera, as well as the Princess (L’enfant et les Sortilèges) and Susanna in (Le nozze di Figaro scene) with The Manhattan School of Music. Cherisse also sang the role of Sally Hemings in the world premiere of Dana Wilson’s The Wolf by the Ears. Her other credits include Beth (cover) in Little Women, and Mademoiselle Silberklang in The Impresario.

Cherisse is a member of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music from Ithaca College, a Professional Studies Certificate in Opera from The Manhattan School of Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts and MBA in Music Business from the University of North Texas. Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor of Music Industry Studies at the University of South Carolina.

Soprano Heather Hawk from Killeen, Texas, has musical honors that include winning first prize at the AIMS Meistersinger Vocal Competition in Graz, Austria and fourth place as National Finalist in the NATS Artist Award Competition in Chicago.  She also won first prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition.  She has won first place in the Texoma National Association of Teachers in Singing “Singer of the Year” Young Artist vocal competition.  Recent operatic roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title role in Handel’s Alcina, Katisha in The Mikado, and Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors.  

She made her Carnegie Hall solo debut with the New York International Music Festival and returned for a second solo performance two years later. Other notable solo appearances include Rutter’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She earned a DMA in Vocal Performance from University of North Texas, a Master of Music in Vocal performance from Baylor University, and a BA in Music from Tarleton State University, where she is a recipient of the Distinguished Tarleton Alumni award. 

Heather currently serves as Associate Professor of Music (Voice) at Tarleton State University, and lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her husband, Ben, and eight-year-old son, Ben, Jr.  Upcoming engagements include serving as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana as well John Rutter’s Requiem, the role of Milada in Unbroken with Atchley Opera, and her debut as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with Opera Arlington. 

Maryn West is a lyric soprano from Houston, Texas. Maryn was recently awarded second place in the San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club Competition in Voice. She is a past finalist in the Schmidt Undergraduate Vocal Competition and the Mobile Opera Madame Rose Palmai-Tenser Voice Scholarship Competition. Maryn was a semi-finalist in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition and the MiOpera International Vocal Competition University Division. An enthusiastic enjoyer of sacred music, Maryn has performed as the soprano soloist in Faure’s Requiem in D minor and Vivaldi and Bach’s Magnificats. Recent operatic roles include Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Littler Zegner Daughter (Proving Up) with UNT Opera, Monica (The Medium) with Chicago Summer Opera, and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at Varna International Music Academy. Upcoming roles include Frasquita (Carmen) with Opera Arlington. 

Anastasia Nelson, a soprano from Austin, TX, is a passionate young performer and music educator. She previously appeared with Opera Arlington as a chorus member in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (covering La Fée) and Mozart’s Don Giovanni (covering Zerlina), also serving as Production Assitant for the season. She is excited to reunite with her Opera Arlington family. 

Anastasia is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Northern Arizona University studying under Dr. Ricardo Pereira. In her first year of graduate studies, she performed opera scenes as Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La bohème), Blanche (Dialogues of the Carmelites), and Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring). She also performed her first title role as Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. Anastasia has a passion for all types of vocal music and is involved in NAU’s Shrine of the Age’s choir, performing works like Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds.

When she’s not making music, Anastasia can be found at home with her cat reading fantasy books, watching scary movies or playing video games.

Dallas-based mezzo-soprano Susannah Woodruff is a versatile performer with a diverse repertoire, ranging from baroque Spanish zarzuela to contemporary electro-chamber opera. Upcoming engagements include Mercédès in Carmen with Opera Arlington and a premiere of new works by Eugene Drucker with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for NYC Climate Week. She made her Dallas Opera debut as Sister St. Charles in Dialogues of the Carmelites in November 2025. Her debut album Turning Into Song: A Celebration of American Composers was released in 2023 by Musica Solis. She has extensive experience on the operatic and concert stage, performing with the Berkshire Symphony, ensembleNEWSRQ, Market Square Concerts, Orchestra of New Spain, Opera Amici, and Miami Music Festival. Role highlights include Dafne (Apolo y Dafne), Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Anna (The Prodigal Child), Bradamante (Alcina), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and Giulietta (Les contes d’Hoffmann). In the choral realm, Susannah sings regularly with Verdigris Ensemble, Church of the Incarnation, Bach’s Lunch, and the Compline Choir, and was recently a featured soloist on BBC Radio 3’s "American Roadtrip" special with Orpheus Chamber Singers. She attended Florida State University and University of North Texas for Vocal Performance. In addition to music, Susannah is passionate about nature and is an Education Coordinator at the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center and a North Texas Master Naturalist.

Dallas-based mezzo-soprano Basil Ceniseros

Adeniyi Samuel, bass-baritone, is recognized for his commanding stage presence, resonant tone, and stylistic versatility across operatic, sacred, jazz, and cross-cultural repertoire. In Opera Arlington’s 2026 season, he will appear as Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen and Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Recent operatic roles include Le Baron de Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with Sunnyside Opera and Temple University Opera Theater, Baron Campo-Tasso in Offenbach’s The Brigands, and Arkel in Impression de Pelléas. He has also covered Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Frank in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and performed Blitch in scenes from Floyd’s Susannah, among others.

Beyond opera, Samuel’s artistry bridges Western classical traditions with African musical heritage, gospel, and jazz influences. He performed as Onochie in Ije the Musical (Los Angeles), the Psalmist in Cry Innocent (Salem, MA), Caesar in In Open Rebellion, and Alabi in Journey to Africa (New York).

As a composer, playwright, and producer, Samuel founded the Fort Worth–based nonprofit SamOye Musical Consort, Inc. His original works—including Renewal: A Two-Man Musical, We Need a Savior: A Christmas Musical, and the Spirit and Truth Worship Series—blend classical technique with African rhythm, gospel, and dramatic storytelling, touring multiple U.S. states. Samuel is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Southwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary, where he also works as an Adjunct Voice Instructor. He also maintains an active private virtual studio. He holds degrees from Temple University, Gordon College, and MUSON (Nigeria). A First-Place winner of the 2021 Greater Philadelphia Chapter NATS Adult TTB Classical Voice Competition.

Evan Stark

Alan Hollinger is a baritone from Killeen, Texas. He completed his undergraduate studies at Baylor University, majoring in Church music and studying voice under Dr. Kimberly Monzón. During his time at Baylor, he participated in the Baylor Opera Theatre, with which he sang the roles of Papa Bear in Goldie B. Locks, Wolfgang Bigbad in The Three Little Pigs, and Colonel Cavalry in Patience. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Theory at Baylor, continuing to study with Dr. Monzón. Major roles include Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni with ISOFOM, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Music on Site, Vater in Hänsel und Gretel with the Baylor Opera Theatre, and Gianni Schicchi in Gianni Schicchi with Atchley Opera. He has sung in the chorus of Monsieur et Madame Denis with Baylor Opera Theatre and in the chorus of Iolanthe with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston. Upcoming engagements include King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Music on Site, Orfeo in La favola d'Orfeo with Baylor Opera Theatre, and El Dancaïro in Carmen with Opera Arlington.

Brandon Gibson is a dynamic baritone celebrated for his resonant tone and commanding stage presence across opera, oratorio, and concert repertoire. He joins Opera Arlington for his third role after performing Leporello in Don Giovanni and the Father in Hansel & Gretel, following recent appearances with The Dallas Opera as Sergente dei doganieri in La Bohème and Un commissionario in La Traviata. A frequent soloist with the Dallas Bach Society, Gibson has performed major Baroque works including Bach’s BWV 62 and Charpentier’s In nativitatem, and has been featured in multiple oratorio performances at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, including Fauré’s Requiem, Chilcott’s St. John Passion, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.

Notable operatic roles include Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Apollon and Pluton in Charpentier’s La descente d'Orphée aux enfers with American Baroque Opera Company, and Simone in both Gianni Schicchi and Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost with Amarillo Opera. Earlier in his career, Gibson performed with Opera in the Heights, Opera in the Ozarks, and The Living Opera in signature roles such as Don Pasquale, Colline in La Bohème, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. Brandon holds a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Music from Rice University.