Zach Redler, Composer

Matt Foss, Co-Librettist & Stage Director

Kelley Rourke, Co-Librettist

Michael Sakir, Conductor

John Maclean, Speaker

This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.

‍ABOUT ZACH REDLER, COMPOSER

Zach Redler is a composer, musicologist, music director, pianist, and educator whose work has been performed in concert halls, opera houses, and theaters around the world. They are the recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Award, ASCAP’s Max Dreyfus Award, and the American Prize for Opera Composition. As a musicologist, Zach’s research on and publications of Marcel Tyberg’s music has culminated in multiple premieres and recordings. Zach spent fifteen years working on the music teams of musicals on Broadway, regionally, and globally. Zach has received commissions from Opera Memphis, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera Montana, Arizona Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera on the James, American Opera Projects, and the United States Army Field Band and Soldiers Chorus. Zach has served on the music faculties of New York University, Manhattan School of Music, and Molloy College. Currently, Zach mentors opera writers as a part of Seattle Opera’s Creation Lab and is the music program director at the Dublin School in New Hampshire.

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‍ABOUT MATT FOSS, CO-LIBRETTIST & STAGE DIRECTOR

‍Matt Foss is a professional playwright and screenwriter whose credits include The Meyerhold Center (Moscow, Russia), Red Tape Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Oracle Theatre, American Blues Theatre, The Jewish Ensemble Theatre and Tipping Point Theatre. He has worked as an actor, director and writer with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks for the past twenty years. In 2016, his touring production of The Glass Menagerie performed at Russia’s Moscow Art Theatre. He is a recipient of the Kennedy Center’s David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award and his adaptations and productions have won multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards-Chicago’s top theatre prize. Foss was the co-writer and producer of the award-winning short film, Sons of Toledo (2021) and feature film Lone Wolves (2024) and was named one of the Austin Film Festival and Movie Maker Magazine’s Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch. He is a member of the WGA-East.

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ABOUT KELLEY ROURKE, CO-LIBRETTIST
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Kelley Rourke is a librettist, translator and dramaturg. Libretti include Eat the Document, Right Now, Lucy, and Stay (John Glover); The Beekeeper (Wang Lu); The Emissary (Kenji Oh); Jungle Book (Kamala Sankaram); Wilde Tales and And Still We Dream (Laura Karpman); and Odyssey and Robin Hood (Ben Moore). She is the recipient of Opera America’s 2024 Campbell Opera Librettist Prize. Her work has been commissioned and performed by the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opera Australia, Welsh National Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chicago Opera Theater, Seattle Opera, American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Carnegie Hall, Met LiveArts, Opera Parallèle, On Site Opera, American Opera Projects, Detroit Opera, and Calgary Opera, among others. Kelley is resident dramaturg for The Glimmerglass Festival and Artistic Advisor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. 

ABOUT MICHAEL SAKIR, CONDUCTOR

Conductor Michael Sakir has served as Artistic Director of Opera Montana since 2020 where the innovative programming, community partnerships, and robust education programs under his leadership have led to record-breaking ticket sales and company growth. Sakir previously served as Music Director of Opera Memphis where he was deeply involved in the company's groundbreaking civic practice programs and commissioning projects. In the 2025-2026 season, Sakir makes guest conducting debuts with the Manhattan School of Music in L'elisir d'amore, as well as in the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky's Time to Act with Pittsburgh Opera. Other recent guest conducting engagements include Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Opera Baltimore, and Opera Idaho. Sakir has held music staff positions with Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, among others. He holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Boston Conservatory.

ABOUT JOHN MACLEAN, SPEAKER

An award winning author and journalist, John Maclean spent thirty years at the Chicago Tribune, most of that time as a Washington Correspondent, before taking up a second career as an author. Since then, he has written five nonfiction books about wildland fires – Fire on the Mountain, Fire and Ashhes, The Thirtymile Fire, The Esperanza Fire, and River of Fire – that are considered a staple of fire literature as well as training material for firefighters. Maclean is the son of Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It, the acclaimed novella about life in early twentieth century Montana. "Turning a well-known literary – and movie – classic like A River Runs through It into an opera is a challenging undertaking. The reward is a fresh perspective from a talented cast and writers who explore themes of love, loss – and fly fishing, of course – to bring the familiar characters to new life. My father would have been delighted to see his story on stage and his words, often only a heartbeat away from poetry, turned to song."

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ABOUT NEILL CAMPBELL, PIANIST

Neill Campbell (Pianist) is a New York City-based pianist who has traveled the U.S. as a performer, coach, chorus master, and music director. A passionate advocate for new music, Neill has collaborated in productions such as Scalia/Ginsburg (Charlottesville Opera), Eurydice (Opera Grand Rapids), Glory Denied (Opera Company of Middlebury), and the premiere of Touch (Opera Birmingham). He has also worked with companies including the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, Shreveport Opera, Pensacola Opera, Gulfshore Opera and served as program director for the Gate City Bank Young Artist Program at Fargo-Moorhead Opera for four seasons, making his conducting debut with Bastien and Bastienne and Trouble in Tahiti. Recently, Neill joined the Mannes School of Music staff for La Passion de Simone, as well as a workshop of Hildegard in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects. Neill has been a coach/music director at Seagle Festival since 2021, leading shows including Fellow Travelers, the world premiere of Harmony, and various workshops of new operas in development.

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ABOUT BRIAN WALLIN, NEAL

Praised for his “finely focused and well-mannered” voice (Dallas Morning News), Brian Wallin is a “gifted tenor. . . who [takes] the stage with flair and commitment” (Opera Today). Recent role debuts include Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with both Arizona Opera and Salt Marsh Opera, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Annapolis Opera, and Younger Thompson in Glory Denied with Permian Basin Opera. Quickly becoming his signature role, he also recently performed as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opéra de Montréal and Annapolis Opera. The 2025-2026 season sees Mr. Wallin making another role debut as Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore with Opera Las Vegas, returning to the role of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with Salt Marsh Opera after having received praise for his recent performance of the role with the Pacific Opera Project, and joining the Minnesota Orchestra as Pang in Turandot.

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ABOUT TREVOR MARTIN, NORMAN

‍INTERNATIONAL: The Sound of Music (Captain Von Trapp) - Broadway International Group. REGIONAL: Titanic (Thomas Andrews), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), The Pirates of Penzance (The Pirate King) Beauty & the Beast (Beast), Les Misérables (Javert), Next to Normal (Dan Goodman), My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins), White Christmas (Bob Wallace), Beautiful (Low Righteous/Nick), Guys & Dolls (Sky Masterson), Camelot (Arthur), West Side Story (Riff), End of the Rainbow (Anthony), See What I Wanna See (Man #1), Jekyll and Hyde (Jekyll/ Hyde U/S) The Sound of Music (Captain Von Trapp). SELECTED OPERA: Muse (When Adonis Calls, world premiere), Professor Milton (Voir Dire, world premiere), John (House of Legendary, world premiere), Cor (Miranda, world premiere), Mark Twain (TESLA, world premiere), JFK cover (JFK, world premiere). ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition Winner, American Traditions Vocal Competition Semi-Finalist, MM University of Houston. @trevor_andrew_martin.

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ABOUT CRISTINA MARÍA CASTRO, JESSE

A San Antonio, TX native deeply connected to her Puerto Rican roots, Cristina María Castro is a sought-after performer equally at home in classical music and musical theatre. During the 2025/26 season, she reprises the role of Sunny in Kaminsky’s Lucidity with Opera in the Heights and makes her Carnegie Hall debut as soprano soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Forrest’s Requiem for the Living with MidAmerica Productions. Recent engagements include Maria in West Side Story (Indianapolis Opera), Johanna in Sweeney Todd (Opera Montana), Frasquita in Carmen (St. Petersburg Opera), and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Northern Lights Music Festival). A champion of new music, she has originated multiple roles and appeared in numerous world premieres, including Lucidity with On Site Opera and Seattle Opera. Castro also serves as Associate Director of Music at Co-Cath (MACC) curating reimagined, multicultural sacred music through modern choral theater. She is proudly represented by Musica Grande Artists. @cristinamaria_castro

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ABOUT KATE MORTON, HEIDI

Kate Morton, mezzo-soprano, is a Cherokee Nation citizen from Tahlequah, Oklahoma with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School. At Juilliard, she performed as a soloist with New York Festival of Song, La Chatte/L’Ecureuil in L’enfant et les Sortilèges, and Sœur Mathilde in Dialogues des Carmelites.  In 2026, Morton will be a Resident Artist with the Glimmerglass Festival performing in their productions of Oklahoma! as Ado Annie and in Madame Butterfly. Morton was a Schwab Vocal Rising Star at New York Festival of Song’s Caramoor Residency and a summer Festival Artist with Opera Saratoga in their productions of She Loves Me (Ilona Ritter) and La vie Parisienne (Madame de Folle-Verdure). Morton has performed with Opera Saratoga, Opera Montana, Caramoor, National Sawdust, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and Canterbury Voices. She recently premiered the role of Loksi’ in Jerod Tate’s historic Loksi’ Shaali’ with Canterbury and the OKC Philharmonic. Morton has been a guest artist with the Seagle Festival, Alexandria Summer Nights, and the Castleton Festival. Morton’s other credits include Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and Sor Andrea in With Blood With Ink. Morton is also a proud recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Grant, Timothy Long Award, and Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears Award.

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ABOUT PATRICK BESSENBACHER, TENOR

With “purity of tone and ardent, youthful stage presence” (Opera News), tenor Patrick Bessenbacher was raised in Overland Park, KS, where he grew up a three sport athlete and an avid music lover. Most recently, Patrick performed the role of Mechtild in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s world premier of Hildegard as well as Camille de Rossillon in Sarasota Opera’s new production of The Merry Widow. Patrick has had the privilege of performing with other wonderful companies, including Florentine Opera, Opera San Jose, Pacific Opera Project, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Birmingham, Lincoln Center Theatre, West Bay Opera, and the Opera Company of Middlebury, among others. Patrick is represented by Kathy Olsen of Encompass Arts. He received his Bachelor’s in Music at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his Master’s in Music from The Juilliard School. Patrick enjoys spending his free time with family and friends, in the mountains skiing, on the beach having a drink, or just on the couch, enjoying everyone’s company.