ELSPETH FRANKS is a former Young Artist with Florida Grand Opera.  This season, the British born lyric mezzo-soprano has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s B minor Mass; will be a featured soloist at the Carmel Bach Festival; sings the role of Berta with Sacramento Opera and makes her debut with the Santa Rosa Symphony in November.  Last season’s highlights included the role of Stefano in Sacramento Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliet, and the alto soloist in the St. Matthew Passion for the San Francisco Bach Choir.  She debuted with Virginia Opera as Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) in 2003 and returned to the Carmel Bach Festival as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow for the second year, an honor not usually given for more than one season.  She made her New York debut in the role of Commere (Four Saints in Three Acts) with the Mark Morris Dance Group, a role that she will reprise during the 2005/06 season.