RICHARD BYRNE (Hoffmann) has sung roles with some of America’s leading opera companies. His New York City Opera debut was in 1988; since then he has appeared there in over 250 performances. He has also sung with the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Diego Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, and many more.  His European debut was as Gabriel von Eisenstein with L’Opéra de Nice in 1997; he has also sung with Le Grande Théâtre de Genève, Opéra de Marseille, Thèâtre du Capitôle in Toulouse, and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Most recently, he sang the role of the Stage Manager in the West Coast premiere of Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Festival Opera in Walnut Creek.