Josh Lovell

Tenor
California State University-Northridge

Josh Lovell is a tenor in his second year of study for a Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan. He made his Canadian national operatic debut in 2013 with Pacific Opera Victoria as Bardolfo in Falstaff.

Victoria Times columnist Kevin Bazzana wrote “Josh Lovell…is still an undergraduate student, and that is scarcely believable — he seems fully at home among all these distinguished pros.”

He has recently performed A Viennese New Year’s with the Victoria Symphony, Zelenka's Lamentation of Jeremiah with the Victoria Baroque Players, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Victoria Philharmonic, Beethoven’s An die Freude with the North Island Choral Society, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Vesperae solennes de Confessore with the Capriccio Vocal Ensemble. He was a winner of the 2015 and 2016 Michigan District Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and received an encouragement award at the 2016 Great Lakes Regional MONC auditions.

Brandon Scott RusselL

Tenor
University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music

Brandon Scott Russell received bachelor’s degrees, Music Education and Vocal Performance, from the University of Missouri Kansas City – Conservatory of Music and Dance. He now studies with William McGraw at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, and will receive his Artist Diploma in Opera Performance in 2018.

He has performed in numerous opera and oratorio roles at both universities, and with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Cincinnati Opera. He has completed programs with Des Moines Metro Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Houston Grand Opera’s young artist vocal academy. In 2017, he can be seen as Idomeneo in the CCM Main Stage production of Mozart’s Idomeneo and in the CCM Philharmonia’s Valentine’s Day concert as Roméo in a Roméo et Juliette scene.

Daewon Seo

Case Western Reserve University

Baritone
Oberlin conservatory
Daewon Seo, a baritone from South Korea, is a first year Artistic Diploma student at Oberlin conservatory studying with Daune Mahy. He earned a master degree in music from The University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor degree in music from Seoul National University.

He has performed in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and in Puccini’s La Bohème with the Butler Opera Center in Austin, TX. At the Seoul National University National Opera Theater, he performed in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He was awarded the first prize at the “Korean Art Song” competition and the third prize at the Ewha Kyunghang competition in Korea.

Tayte Mitchell

Tenor
Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Tayte Mitchell is from Vulcan, Alberta, Canada. He is pursuing Bachelor of Music degrees in Voice Performance under Lorraine Manz and Opera Directing under Jonathon Field at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduating in 2018. Recent operatic engagements include the roles of Ben in Menotti's The Telephone, The Son in Michael Torke's Strawberry Fields, and Oronte in Handel's Alcina with Oberlin Opera Theater.

During the summer of 2016 he held a scholarship to study at the Taos Opera Institute in Taos, New Mexico. He also performed in numerous theater and musical theater roles prior to arriving at Oberlin. Tayte has been a member of Calgary Opera Chorus and as Calgary Opera’s Opera in the Village productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. He will once again be a featured soloist in Oberlin’s Sing Along Messiah during the 2016-2017 season.