Operatic Feminisms

Anne Midgette

Facebook: Anne Midgette Instagram: @classicalbeat Twitter: @classicalbeat

Anne Midgette was the classical music critic of the Washington Post for 11 years. A graduate of Yale University, where she majored in Classical Civilization, she lived in Germany for 11 years after college, writing about music, the visual arts, theater, dance and film, as well as several travel guidebooks. In 2001, after moving back to New York, she became the first woman to review classical music for The New York Times on a regular basis. She has also written about the arts for The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She is co-author of the memoirs “The King and I” (about Luciano Pavarotti and his manager) and “My Nine Lives” (about Leon Fleisher) and is currently working on a historical novel about the woman who built pianos for Beethoven.

Eugenia Forteza

www.eugeniaforteza.com, www.360ofopera.com Instagram: @fortezaeugenia @360ofopera

Eugenia Forteza is an Opera Singer, Actor, Writer, and Influencer based in NYC. She was born in Paris, France and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She relocated to the USA to pursue studies and a career in opera and the performing arts.

Eugenia holds a Master of Music from the Opera Institute at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, Summa Cum Laude, from the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia.

She is the Founder, Host and Lead Editor of 360° of Opera, a staff writer for Classical Singer Magazine and serves as an Ambassador for the Barcelona Festival of Song, The Musical Athlete, as a Board Member for Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra and as Vice-President of the Board for Frisson Films.

She is represented by Spotlight Artists Management for classical music and CPM Talent for acting.

Megan Gilils

 Megan Gillis is the co-founder and Executive Director of City Lyric Opera. She believes in creating art that is engaging, affordable, and accessible to all people and is thrilled to be at the helm of a company that works to create a welcoming platform for young opera singers and invites all audiences to be a part of their artistic process. Megan is an active arts administrator having worked with organizations such as Steinway & Sons and World Music Projects, and organized events for BeethovenHaus, Carnegie Hall, Kristen Chenoweth, Lincoln Center, The Drama Desk Awards, Chamber Music America, and ASCAP. Megan is also a highly collaborative clinician and speaker having given master classes and talks in collaboration with The University of Florida, Georgia College and State University, Newberry College, and Coker University. She continues to expand her passion for music on the stage as well. Megan graduated from the University of Georgia (’13) and Manhattan School of Music (’15) with degrees in Vocal Performance and has performed roles such as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Gertrude Stein in The Mother of Us All. Megan made her international debut in 2012 at the Gottisher Saal in Salzburg, Austria performing Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. She also travels and collaborates frequently with The Masterson Ensemble, a musical group comprised of herself, baritone Thaddaeus Bourn and pianist Sarah Masterson. Her music making has also brought her around the world and across various genres. In the fall of 2018, Megan traveled to Iceland to perform with 40 other musicians with Apartment Sessions, a Brooklyn-based multi-media artist collective and has performed at House of YES and Rockwood Music Hall.

Lauren Shepherd

Bio coming soon!