IHC Music is proud to present “Opera: Unstuffed!”, a hilarious take on opera classics featuring graduate students from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. You won’t want to miss this fun, musical Mother’s Day treat! This program is generously sponsored by the Marks Family Fund, in memory of Sophia Marks.
Read below to learn more about the performers for “Opera: Unstuffed!”.
Tiffany Choe, soprano
Tiffany Choe is a Korean American soprano born and raised in Southern California. She has received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in vocal performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She is currently pursuing her Performer’s Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Kevin and Heidi Grant Murphy. She is the recipient of the Georgina Joshi Fellowship for the 2021-2022 school year. With the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she was an Encouragement Award winner in the Western Region earlier this year, winner of the district region in Indianapolis in 2020, and an Encouragement Award winner in the Southeast Region in 2019. Miss Choe attended the Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute as a fellow this past summer and as an apprentice in the summer of 2019. With IU Opera Theater, she has been in 11 productions. Most recently, Miss Choe was seen as Mimì in the IU Opera Theater production of La Bohème. She was also seen as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Rosalia in West Side Story, and Laoula in L’Étoile. Most recently she was seen as Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine. Ms. Choe is excited to announce that she will be joining Arizona Opera’s Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio for the 2022/2023 season.
Deepa Johnny, mezzo-soprano
Born in Muscat, Oman, Mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny has been gaining recognition in major competitions and festivals on the operatic scene. In 2020, Deepa was chosen as a winner in the Western Canada District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In her 2019-2020 season, Johnny sang the role of Rosina in IU Opera Theatre’s production of Il Barbiere di Sivilgia, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Carmen in Arden Opera’s production of The Tragedy of Carmen. In 2021, Deepa made her role debut with IU Opera Theatre’s production of Handel’s Xerses singing the title role, Serse and Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea. During the summer of 2021, Deepa was invited to join 14 other singers from around the country at the world renowned Ravinia Steans Vocal Institute as a fellow presenting art song repertoire. In the winter of 2021, Deepa made her West Virginia Symphony Orchestra debut with the Sounds of the Seasons concerts, guest conducted by Luke Frazier from the American Pops Orchestra. Deepa’s upcoming 2022 season features her Carnegie Hall debut at Renee Fleming’s SongStudio in January, performing Suzuki with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of Madame Butterfly, followed by a role debut at the Aspen Music Festival and School with Meg Page in Falstaff as a Renee Fleming Studio Artist. With a passion to give back to her community, Deepa has recently partnered with A Better World Canada to raise money for local projects and fundraisers associated with education reform.
Cody Boling, tenor
Cody Boling, tenor is a second year Master of Music in Vocal Performance candidate studying with Dr. Brian Horne. Cody has been privileged to perform several roles on the IU Jacobs’s stage including Peter Quint from The Turn of the Screw, First Armored Man from Die Zauberflöte, and most recently Prunier from La Rondine. Prior to attending the Jacobs School of Music, Cody was an active performer in his hometown as a frequent chorus member with the Knoxville Opera and performed in various productions at the Clarence Brown Theater with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Tennessee Valley Players. Notable roles include Herr Vanderdendur in Candide, Mr. Thenardier in Les Misérables, and the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance. Mr. Boling has also enjoyed professional solo opportunities in oratorios such as Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah with the Knoxville Handel Society and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Cody holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Bruno Sandes, baritone
Known for his “ability to engage deeply with any audience” (Herald Times) and his “warm, refined, and mature voice” (NUVO), Brazilian baritone Bruno Sandes earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Jacobs School of Music and is currently in the final stages of his doctorate in Voice under the tutelage of soprano Carol Vaness. With a long concert repertoire, Sandes has also sung a vast and diverse number of roles, including Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Sergeant Sulpice in La Fille du Regiment, Ali Hakim in Oklahoma!, Doctor Falke in Die Fledermaus, Emile de Becque in South Pacific, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algieri, and Sùng Ông in the world premiere of P. Q. Phan’s The Tale of Lady Thi Kính, among others. Sandes has been seen on stages and theaters in the United States, Europe and South America. He has received many awards, including a Joshi International Fellowship from the Georgina Joshi Foundation, first place in the XI Maracanto International Voice Competition, a winner of the 2013 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, semifinalist in the IX Maria Callas International Voice Competition, and selected as one of six singers from around the world in the 42nd International Winter Festival of Campos do Jordão. He was chosen as the grand winner of the 2014 IU Latin American Music Center Recording Competition and was a semifinalist of the 2018 Liszt International Competition. He served as an Associate Instructor of Voice at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and was the assistant director of Carol Vaness’s Graduate Opera Workshop.
Dr. Allan Armstrong, piano
Pianist and vocal coach Allan Armstrong is assistant professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he specializes in art song literature and opera coaching. In 2021 he received the prestigious IU Trustees Award for outstanding teaching. He is the official accompanist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for both the Colorado/Wyoming District and the Rocky Mountain Region.
Armstrong was previously a member of the piano faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he co-directed the Bravo Opera Company. At UTRGV in 2016-2017 he conducted and prepared Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, which won 1st place in the National Opera Association’s collegiate production competition.
In 2005, Armstrong coached and recorded the newly revised version of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle under the direction of the composer’s son, Peter Bartók. In 2010, he was a featured solo pianist in a recital of the complete piano works of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici at New York University Steinhardt. Armstrong has been a principal production pianist and coach at Eugene Opera, Opera Colorado, St. Petersburg Opera, Opera on the Avalon, Sugar Creek Opera, Tel Aviv Summer Opera Program, and Opera Tampa.