Soprano Melissa Heath enjoys a varied career of opera, concert and recital work.  Hailed as a “soaring, sparkling soprano” with “vivacious stage presence,” recent opera roles include Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen. Recent concert work includes Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and both Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in c minor with the Temple Square Chorale and Orchestra at Temple Square, Handel’s Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and both Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Sinfonia Salt Lake. With the Utah Symphony, Ms. Heath has performed both Nielsen’s Symphony no. 3 and Handel’s Messiah. In 2017 she was the soprano soloist with Ballet West in choreographer Nicolo Fonte’s world premiere of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. She reprised this role with both Ballet West (2022) and Nevada Ballet Theater (2022 and 2023). 

Ms. Heath is a frequent soloist on Salt Lake City’s NOVA Chamber Music Series and has performed on the Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival. In 2019 she sang the role of The Water in Utah Opera's Production of The Little Prince, Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with Salt Lake Symphony, and soloed with Utah Symphony in their Deer Valley Concert Series. In 2023, she appeared again with Ballet West in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and with Utopia, Utah’s premiere early music ensemble. Ms. Heath was a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, and was a two-time regional finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing’s biennial art song competition. 

Ms. Heath is an Associate Professor of music and the Voice Area Coordinator in the Department of Music at Utah Valley University. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in voice from Brigham Young University and her Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in voice from the University of Utah.

Christopher Holmes returned to his home Provo after obtaining degrees in opera at the Oberlin College Conservatory (B.M., M.M.), Temple University (M.M.), teaching voice at Texas State University, and performing throughout the States. With over 40 operatic roles to his credit, Christopher has been featured by companies such as Austin Opera, Central City Opera, Eugene Opera, Opera Idaho, Phoenix Opera, and San Antonio Opera.

As a full-lyric baritone, Holmes is beginning to make his mark in the Verdi repertoire. As Iago with Winter Opera St. Louis critics commented, Holmes sings Iago “with clarity and power, and with a skilled actor’s ability to convey mood and character” and with “control and subtlety.” As Rigoletto at St. Petersburg Opera a critic indicates that Holmes “had me crying at points– an incredibly beautiful lyric baritone with a very clear understanding of who this humiliated and terribly wronged man is.” His Germont was praised as “with crystal clear enunciation, truly polished, controlled, professional and superb,” and he sang Conte di Luna (Trovatore) at Opera in the Heights, and Renato (Un ballo in maschera) at Opera Project Columbus.

Over the pandemic Holmes was able to support virtual efforts of opera organizations through performances with Intermountain Opera Bozeman and Ohio Light Opera. Additionally he recorded the role of Anselmo in a new opera by William Call entitled El Curioso Impertinente and Michele in Il tabarro with Social Distance Opera/Barn Opera. Activities in 2022 included singing Marcello (Boheme) in the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University’s first inclusion of an opera in their professional concert/theater series, the baritone soloist in Dwight Bigler’s Mosaic for Earth performed by the choirs and orchestras at Virginia Tech, covering Scarpia at Utah Symphony & Opera's Tosca, presenting three baritone roles in the workshop of John Massaro's Italian opera Isabella, and soloing in Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with Craig Jessop at Utah Valley University. More recently, performances with Jessop have included the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Hodie and Serenade to Music with his American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, followed by performances of Bach's St. John Passion as Pilate and bass soloist.

Projects over the summer of 2023 included the title role of Don Giovanni at Painted Sky Opera, and Escamillo at Western Plains Opera.

Previously he was seen as Barone Douphol at Utah Symphony & Opera, Conte Almaviva at Utah Festival Opera, Belcore at Opera Company of Middlebury, Rossini’s Bartolo at Western Plains Opera, and Escamillo at the Pine Mountain Music Festival.

Christopher developed a love for the Italian people and culture having lived in the central area of Italy for two years. Major influences on his teaching philosophy come from renowned author, pedagogue, and tenor Richard Miller with whom he studied at Oberlin, and Italian coach/conductor Nicolas Giusti with whom he works and collaborates frequently.

Mr. Holmes remains active as a concert artist having sung such works as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, Mozart's Mass in C Minor and Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G Major, and Verdi's Messa di Requiem.

Isaac Hurtado has drawn critical acclaim for performances of important tenor roles across the United States. Since making his leading role debut in with Festival Opera in the title role of Roméo et Juliette, his portrayals of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Don José in Carmen, Alfredo in La Traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto among others, have been noted for “money notes worth every penny” and “wonderful acting.”  He has appeared with companies including Utah Opera, Opera North, Piedmont Opera, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Opera San Jose, Phoenix Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Central City Opera, the Bay Area’s Midsummer Mozart Festival, Utah Lyric Opera, and Sun Valley Opera. 

This season Mr. Hurtado made his Carnegie Hall debut as tenor soloist in Nunes-Garcia’s Missa de Requiem and performed the tenor solos on the award-winning recording of Dwight Bigler’s Mosaic for the Earth, released on the Tonsehen label. He also appeared in recital for Opera Orlando’s Summer Concert Series, as tenor soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Salt Lake Choral Artists, "A Night in Seville" with Amelia Island Opera, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, with the choirs and orchestras of Brigham Young University, and "Opera Gems" with Opera Roanoke. Other recent appearances include the role of Don José in Carmen for Utah Festival Opera and covering the role of Cavaradossi inToscafor Utah Opera, wherehe also sang Don José in La Tragédie de Carmen. He performedMozart's Requiem with Millennial Choirs and Orchestras in Salt Lake City, sang Handel's Messiah with the Southwest Symphony, and made recital debuts in Pesaro and Iesi, Italy. 

In 2024, Mr. Hurtado will star as the Prince in Dvorak's Rusalka for Opera Orlando, and as Don José in Carmen for Opera Southwest.

Serena Kanig Benish succumbed to the lure of the stage in Kindergarten when she was chosen to sing the only solos in the Kanab Elementary production of The Mother Goose Tales. Later she followed her Muse to the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati Ohio, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance, and then on to New York City where she studied with John Bullock (father of Sandra Bullock) and performed with orchestras and in numerous recitals and oratorios as a soprano soloist. She sang the role of Olga von Sturm in the New Jersey premiere of Nine and the role of Marcello in the American debut of Scarlatti's opera Eraclea. She was in graduate studies at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and she graduated from SUNY Purchase, Purchase, New York, with an MFA in Vocal Performance and Sacred Music. While raising her two young girls, she continued her solo performing throughout the New York metropolitan area until she moved back to her native Utah with her family. In Utah she continues to perform, notably with the Park City Chamber Music Festival and in venues around Utah. For 17 years she has been an Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Utah Valley University, where she received the 2019 Excellence in Teaching Award.