ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Mexican soprano Judy Yannini joined Portland Opera’s Resident Artist program in 2022, where she made her company and role debut as Frasquita in Carmen. This year, Judy also made her Kennedy Center debut singing the role of Sara Morales in IN Series’ world premiere of Brian Arreola and Anna Deeny Morales’s opera ZAVALA-ZAVALA. She was also recently seen with IN Series as Mimí in a Spanish-language reimagining of Puccini’s La Bohéme, Bohème in the Heights. She will return in 2023 to sing the role of Consuelo in John Adams’s I was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky. 

A recent graduate of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, Judy performed a number of roles with the university, including Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante and Rima in Hajar. In 2021, Judy was named a District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 2020, she won first prize in the American Opera Idol Competition with Opera Connecticut, and she was also named the overall winner of the Hartt Vocal Division Competition in 2018. 

Before immigrating to the United Stated, Yannini made a name for herself singing onstage with internationally renowned Mexican tenor Fernando de la Mora in the 122nd Anniversary Concert in her native Tijuana, Mexico. She was also part of Ensamble Lírico Juvenil and Centro Cultural Tijuana’s group Opera Ambulante, performing opera flash mobs across Mexico, Canada and the USA. Yannini holds a master’s in music in Opera Performance from University of Maryland-Maryland Opera Studio as well as a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from University of Hartford-The Hartt School. 

Throughout the course of the 23/24 season, Yannini will sing the roles of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro; soloist in Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song; Amy in The Snowy Day; soloist in Play On! Shakespeare in Music (at the Walters Cultural Art Center in Hillsboro), soloist in the spring Resident Artist recital; and soloist in Puccini: In Concert. She will also participate in the company’s workshop of The Factotum. 

Antonio Domino, tenor, is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He has received his bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance at the Loyola University School of Music and his master's degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, studying with Dr. Robin Rice. As a graduate student at the Shepherd School of Music, Mr. Domino has performed as Dick McGann in Street Scene and in a scenes program as Count Almaviva from The Barber of Seville and Don Curzio from Le nozze di Figaro. Last summer, with LAHSOW, he performed the role of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. He is an alum of Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. 

Throughout the 2023/24 season, Domino will sing the roles of Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, soloist in the fall Resident Artist recital, soloist in Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song; Jasper/Ensemble Tenor in The Snowy Day; soloist in Play On! Shakespeare in Music (at the Walters Cultural Art Center); and soloist in Puccini: In Concert. He will also participate in the company’s workshop of The Factotum.

Minnesota born and raised; tenor Roland Hawkins II is educated not only in the classroom but on the stage. Roland has gained a wide range of musical experiences both in the Midwest as well as nationally. On the operatic stage, he has recently been seen in Minnesota Opera’s production of La Fille du Regiment, Opera Reading Project’s performances of Once Upon a Wind and Balls, Mixed Precipitation’s Pickup Truck Opera performances of The Magic Flute, and in Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess. On the musical theater stage, he has recently been seen in Theater Latté Da’s We Shall Someday, as well as in Minneapolis Musical Theater Company’s productions of Analog and Vinyl and Hands on a Hard Body.  

Crediting early operatic training, Hawkins has worked with international directors and conductors on personal vocal coaching and character development. Hawkins has performed at concert venues and theater halls around the nation, and has been awarded contracts, medals, and accolades in a variety of musical styles from classical to karaoke competitions.  

This season, Hawkins will perform the roles of Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro; soloist in Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song; Papi/Ensemble Tenor in The Snowy Day; soloist in Play On! Shakespeare in Music (at the Walters Cultural Art Center); soloist in the spring PORA recital; soloist in Puccini: In Concert; and will participate in the spring workshop of The Factotum. 

Baritone Sankara Harouna hails from the Southside of Chicago, Il, and studied music at Kentucky State University. He began his musical journey in the traditional arts of West African culture, music and drumming, and has had the opportunity to perform across the country singing different styles of music from jazz to gospel to classical.

Recently, in the summer 2023, he portrayed the roles of Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen and Homecoming Soldier in Redler’s The Falling and the Rising with Des Moines Metro Opera. He also was a part of the Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Artist Program with DMMO.  

He has had the great pleasure of joining several wonderful companies across the country; Atlanta Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Dayton Opera.   

In the 2023/24 season, Harouna will sing the roles of Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro; soloist in the fall Portland Opera Resident Artist recital; soloist in Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song; Daddy/Ensemble Bass in The Snowy Day; soloist in Play On! Shakespeare in Music (at the Walters Cultural Art Center); soloist in Puccini: In Concert. He will also participate in the spring workshop of The Factotum.  

Claire Forstman is a pianist and vocal coach passionate about bringing new stories to the operatic stage. Drawn to contemporary opera, she has worked on premieres by Nicolas Benavides, Carla Lucero, Whitney George, Andrea Clearfield, and Leanna Kirchoff, in addition to productions of works by Missy Mazzoli and Julian Wachner. Claire has held studio residencies at the Florentine Opera (’21-’23), Opera Steamboat (’23), and Finger Lakes Opera (’21) and coached at Chicago Summer Opera (’23, ’22), dell’Arte Opera Ensemble (’22, ’20, ’19), and Sarah Lawrence College (’19-’21).  

In the traditional operatic repertoire, she has enjoyed coaching and playing for productions of Rigoletto (Florentine), Massenet’s Cendrillon (Chicago Summer Opera), L’enfant et les sortilèges (Florentine), La bohème (Florentine), Gianni Schicchi (Opera Steamboat), Roméo et Juliette (Florentine), Agrippina (CSO), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Florentine; Finger Lakes Opera), among others. She earned her M.M. in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and a B.M. in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music. 

This season, Forstman will work as a member of music staff for The Marriage of Figaro, Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song, The Snowy Day, The Factotum workshop, and Puccini: In Concert. She will serve as the primary pianist for coachings, voice lessons, and rehearsals for Resident Artist performances and events, as well as collaboration and performance in Play On! Shakespeare in Music (at the Walters Cultural Arts Center) and the Resident Artists Recitals. She will train with Nicholas Fox, Portland Opera’s Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master, emphasizing the colorful, narrative, orchestral, collaborative style of music-making that is unique to the pianist working in the field of opera.