BARNABY PALMER has conducted in Michigan, the Czech Republic and San Francisco Lyric Opera's productions of Das Rheingold, La Traviata, Die Walküre, Madama Butterfly, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Pasquale, L'Elisir d'Amore, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, La Cenerentola, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Abduction from the Seraglio, Tosca, The Rape of Lucretia, Il Trovatore, Die Zauberflöte, and Romeo & Juliet.  Mr. Palmer also conducted L'Elisir d'Amore for the Livermore Valley Opera.  Mr. Palmer received his B.M. from Cleveland Institute of Music, and his M.M. from University of Michigan.  Mr. Palmer studied with acclaimed conductors including Alan Gilbert, Rossen Milanov, Larry Rachleff, and is currently working with Michael Morgan.

HEATHER CAROLO is very honored to be directing for San Francisco Lyric Opera.  As a Bay Area native, Ms. Carolo received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was twice honored with a certificate of excellence for her work as a performer, director, and choreographer.  As a performer, she has been seen on stages both in Europe and America with leading roles in such productions as Carousel, The Music Man, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Fantasticks, Carmen, La Bohème, Daughter of the Cabinet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Into the Woods, City of Angels, The Sound of Music, The King and I, South Pacific, Transformations and The Boyfriend.  Her more than 25 productions as a director/choreographer have been performed with the San Francisco Conservatory’s Opera Program and Musical Theatre program, San Francisco Opera Center, Western Opera Theatre, Holy Names College, Peninsula Teen Opera, and Festival Opera.  Heather is a collegiate professor at SFCM. 

E.E. “CHIP" GRANT IV earned his Master of Music degree in conducting at New England Conservatory in Boston. While there he conducted Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat with dancers from the Boston Ballet and traveled to Rome to be assistant conductor with Opera Festival de Roma in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. In the summer of 1996 Mr. Grant moved to San Francisco and began singing baritone with Volti, a professional chamber ensemble that specializes in performing 20^th/21^st century compositions. With Volti he conducted performances of Virgil Thompson’s Four Saints in Three Acts. Chip has served as Chorusmaster with San Francisco Lyric Opera for six seasons.

JULIAN LEISERSON graduated from the University of San Francisco in December and has been working full-time with the Lyric Opera as both stage manager and production manager.  She has worked on La Cenerentola, Un Ballo in Maschera, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Tosca, The Rape of Lucretia, Il Trovatore, Die Zauberflöte, and Romeo & Juliet. Ms. Leiserson made her directorial debut with the USF College Players’ production “White Trash” and more recently directed the popular “Red Is Dead” in October, as well as making film appearances in TIKI and The Choke.  She helped in the completion of the scholar score for Rossini’s Un Cambiale di Matrimonio for Ricordi Publishing. She is also published in Metropolitan’s Who’s Who for Young Executives and Professionals Honor’s Edition 2007/2008.

PAUL LORTON, Jr. teaches information systems at the University of San Francisco but has the qualities needed to be property manager – he shops with imagination and speed. Mr. Lorton has been involved in multiple Lyric Opera productions, beginning as a volunteer on Rigoletto and advancing to the property role with La Cenerentola. His prior work with opera began in the ticket office for various cultural events including Opera workshops, films of Russian Operas and a road tour to Los Angeles of the San Francisco Opera while a student at UCLA in the middle of the last century. For the past 9 years he has offered a course in Opera to freshmen entering USF.

DEAN G. LOUMBAS created choreography and movement for its recent repertoire including Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo & Juliet, The Magic Flute, Carmen, L’Elisir d’Amore and La Traviata.  Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Nominee for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography"  (A Little Night Music and Oh, Kay!), he has choreographed for TheatreWorks, Ray of Light, Lamplighters, San Francisco State, University of San Francisco, Iowa State, University of Illinois, City College of San Francisco and Sonoma State.  He has danced classical ballets and sung in musicals and opera.  He holds a Bachelor of Science from Iowa State in Speech, Theater and Communication Education and a Master of Science from Bradley University in Speech and Hearing Sciences.

MEGHAN MUSER is working on her ninth production with San Francisco Lyric Opera, the others being Madama Butterfly for which she received numerous plaudits, Carmen, which required the fitting of some three hundred garments, and most recently Abduction from the Seraglio, Tosca, The Rape of Lucretia, Il Trovatore, The Magic Flute, and Romeo & Juliet.  Ms. Muser graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a BFA in Fashion with an emphasis on textile design. Having worked for other designers, she recently created her own line of jewelry and T-shirts that are sold throughout San Francisco as well as directly through her website.

DAVID RANSOM started with San Francisco Lyric Opera as a supernumerary but shifted to production work, starting with the design of the dragon in Wagner’s Siegfried. He handled the lighting design and production of Das Rheingold and special effects and scenic elements for Die Walküre. His other lighting and set design efforts with the Lyric Opera include La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan Tutte, L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, La Cenerentola, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, The Rape of Lucretia, Il Trovatore, The Magic Flute, and Romeo & Juliet.

MARIANNE KRUZE teaches Computer Science and Computer Graphics at a Silicon Valley middle school. As an active volunteer for San Francisco Lyric Opera, Marianne manages the “front of the house” for each performance along with Al Chavez. She contacts and schedules all of usher volunteers. Marianne, involved with the Lyric Opera for over 4 years, thoroughly enjoys being part of the team and eagerly looks forward to every performance. She is currently taking classes in Mandarin and US/China Relations at Stanford. Marianne recently traveled to China and hopes to return next summer to teach English. Marianne is also an active volunteer with the Muscular Dystrophy Association in San Francisco and San Jose.