Christmas at St. Louis
December 13, 2015

Meet the Artists

Colleen Daly, soprano

Colleen Daly is rapidly emerging as a “dramatically powerful” (The Washington Post) singer in today’s operatic arena. Miss Daly’s most recent performances include Musetta in La Bohème with Annapolis Opera, Lyric Opera of Baltimore and Des Moines Metro Opera; Violetta in Opera Delaware’s production of La traviata, which she also covered at New York City Opera; Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Intermountain Opera; Micaëla in both La Tragédie de Carmen with Syracuse Opera and in Carmen with Baltimore Concert Opera; the Countess in Annapolis Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro; and the title role of Thaïs at Opera Company of Middlebury. This winter, Miss Daly will be returning to one of her signature roles, Micaëla in the Maryland Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of Carmen.

Ms. Daly’s work as a concert and recital soloist has been widely recognized in performing such works as the Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, and Rutter Requiem Masses, Mendelssohn’s Elijah,  Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation and Missa Solemnis, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Davide Penitente, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces. Colleen has appeared with the Master Chorale of Washington in her Kennedy Center debut, Washington Concert Opera, the Washington Chorus, the Cathedral Choral Society in her National Cathedral debut, the Post-Classical Ensemble, the New Dominion Chorale, and the Maryland Philharmonic Orchestra, the Händel Society of Dartmouth, and the Columbus Symphony, among others. The 2015 season was marked by her professional recital debut; Ms. Daly presented a program of art song inspired by works in the permanent collection at the Phillips Collection, and reprised a portion of her program at the Kennedy Center, which was streamed live worldwide. This fall, Ms. Daly will return to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall as a soloist in the Washington Chorus’s presentation of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.

A native of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Ms. Daly is frequently called upon to appear as a featured soloist at embassies and political events; to date, she has performed at the Italian, Austrian, Irish, and Columbian embassies, and has performed for Vice President Biden, Maryland Governors Martin O’Malley and Larry Hogan, and Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Roberts.

Colleen Daly has been the recipient of awards from the Vocal Arts Society of Washington, D.C., the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Liederkranz Foundation, The Washington International Competition, and Annapolis Opera. Ms. Daly holds a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, a Master’s degree from the Opera Studio at the University of Maryland in College Park, and an Artist Diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts. 

Madelyn Wanner, mezzo

Hailed by The Washington Times as a "marvelous mezzo…truly a talent who deserves greater notice," Madelyn Wanner has enjoyed critical acclaim for her work on the operatic stage. Her portrayal of Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito was lauded as “eye-opening” and "masterful" (The Washington Times) and "shining with radiance" (DC Theater Scene). Her voice was praised as “…convincing and secure, her ornamentation tight and accurate…her voice itself was clear, robust, emotional, yet fearless, possessing just the right qualities to address this opera's peculiar blending of the classical and the baroque” (The Washington Times). Her Sesto also earned her recognition as one of the Best Scene Stealers of the Year by DC Metro Theater Arts. Recently, Ms. Wanner was an apprentice artist at the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York City.

Other operatic credits include Mallika/Lakmé (Opera Delaware), Hansel/Hansel and Gretel (Hub Opera Ensemble), Dorabella/Così fan tutte (Baltimore Concert Opera), Carmen/Carmen (Carroll County Summer Opera), Siebel/Faust (Baltimore Concert Opera), Prince Orlovsky/Die Fledermaus (Carroll County Summer Opera), Rosina/Il barbiere di Siviglia (Maryland Opera Studio), Paula/Florencia en el Amazonas (Maryland Opera Studio), Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro (Peabody Conservatory), L’Enfant/L’Enfant et les sortiléges (Peabody Conservatory), Second Lady/Die Zauberflöte (Peabody Conservatory), and Iolanthe/Iolanthe (Young Victorian Theatre Company).

She has been a winner in the Annapolis Opera competition, a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a finalist in the National Opera Association Competition.

Concert credits include the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah at the Kennedy Center for their holiday sing-along, Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's outreach concert series at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Manuel DeFalla's El corregidor y la molinera with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra at the National Gallery of Art, Vivaldi’s Gloria under the direction of Robert Shafer (Washington Summer Sings!), Handel’s Messiah (New Castle Music Club), and Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore and Requiem (Central Maryland Chorale).

An advocate of new music, she has sung the role of Bobachino with Wolf Trap Opera for their reading of John Musto’s opera The Inspector, and has premiered and recorded several new works. Upcoming engagements include the “Angels and Demons” concert series with Annapolis Opera, and the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Frederick Children’s Chorus. She is delighted to make her debut with the St. Louis Concert Series. 

Alec Feiss, tenor

Alec is in his final year with the University of Maryland Opera Studio member studying under the tutelage of Gran Wilson. During this season Alec will portray Don Ottavio in UMD’s Fall production of Don Giovanni, as well as Leo and William Marshall in the American Operetta Regina, to be performed in 2016. In Spring, 2015, he performed as Milo in A Family Reunion, and covered Count Alberto in L’occasione fa il ladro and Le théière in L’enfant et les sortileges. In 2013 he was a CATS member at the Castleton Music Festival where he covered Harry, and in 2012 he performed in Die Zauberflöte as the First Armored Man, the Second Priest, and Monostatos with the Astoria Music Festival. He completed his undergraduate degree at the Oberlin Conservatory in 2012 studying under Julien Robbins.

Andrew Adelsberger, baritone

Andrew performed most recently as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance with Young Victorian Theater in Baltimore. Other roles include Gianni Schicchi/Gianni Schicchi (Hubbard Hall Opera Theater), The Duke of Plaza-Toro/The Gondoliers (Young Victorian Theater), Dr. Bartolo/Il barbiere di Siviglia (Ash Lawn Opera, Opera Fort Collins, Hubbard Hall Opera Theater) and Don Magnifico/La Cenerentola (Opera Bel Cantanti). He has performed with Chautauqua Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera Lafayette, and with the late Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival. He holds a Bachelor of Music from The Catholic University of America and a Master of Music from The University of Maryland where he has performed extensively with the Maryland Opera Studio. Concert credits include; Shubert’s Die Winterreise, Raphael and Adam/The Creation, as well as the bass solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Nelson Mass, and the Bruckner Te Deum.