creative team

AESOP'S FABLES
​A Special ROK Premiere
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Composer and Librettist   Tony Plog
Transcriber   Chris Neiner
Stage Director   Meaghan Deiter
Curriculum Guide   Amanda Russo Stante
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SPIRITS​
A New ROK Commission

Composer and Librettist   Tony Plog
Engraver   Chris Neiner
Stage Director   Meaghan Deiter
Curriculum Guide   Amanda Russo Stante

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ROK Founding Director, Kimberly Carballo

Production Manager, Alejandra Martinez
Arts Administrator, Jessica Harris
Production Assistant, Sylvester Makobi
Communications Assistant, Satsu Holmes
Social Media Intern, Amy Williams
Videography Intern, Sarah Deboer

Tony plog, composer & Librettist

Anthony “Tony” Plog is a composer, conductor, teacher, and performer whose body of work spans many genre of music: in addition to opera, he has written prolifically for brass, himself a trumpeter; as well as for symphonies and chamber groups.  Prior to devoting himself to full-time composing in 2001, Plog performed with symphonies around the globe, and toured and recorded as a solo artist internationally.  He currently splits his time teaching between the US and Europe.  Visit his website to learn more and view his work.

Chris neiner, Transcriber & engraver

Chris Neiner (b. 1994) composes music infused with a rich sense of harmony, clarity of ideas, and energy described as engaging, exciting, and fresh.  These qualities originate from his passion to foster collaborative works with instrumentalists.  His latest collaboration is Playtime, a new work for horn, violin, and piano commissioned by a consortium of collegiate horn professors across the United States.  Previous collaborations include New Music for Horns, a multidisciplinary project that facilitated music making between hornists, composers, conductors, and recording artists studying at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 

His works have appeared on programs by the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Sinfonia, the Copper Street Brass Quintet, the American Modern Ensemble, loadbang, the Red Hedgehog Trio, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, the Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Cochran Chamber Commissioning Project, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music, and more.

Neiner is currently pursuing a master's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Keith Fitch.  Previously, he studied composition and horn performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with composers Claude Baker, Aaron Travers, P. Q. Phan, Don Freund, and hornist Richard Seraphinoff.  He is an alumnus of the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, RED NOTE New Music Festival, Mostly Modern Festival, and New Music on the Point Festival.

www.chrisneiner.com

meaghan deiter, stage director

Meaghan Deiter is starting her third year in the MFA acting program at IU.  She has performed in the IU Theatre productions of Dancing at Lughnasa (Maggie), The Exonerated (Sunny), The Tempest (Queen Alonso), Noises Off (Dotty/Mrs. Clackett) and Hedda Gabler (Miss Tesman). She is looking forward to performing her thesis role as Olga in Three Sisters this fall.

Equally versed in opera, Meaghan directed a double bill of new opera works with New Voices Opera last spring and co-directed and performed in the 2016 productions. She has participated in several workshops developing newly composed music including Frontiers with Ft. Worth Opera, A Composer’s Workshop with Jake Heggie at Kentucky Opera, and The John Duffy Composers Institute with the Virginia Arts Festival.

Meaghan has worked as a young artist with several regional opera companies including Virginia Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Saratoga Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, New Opera St. Louis, and The Seagle Music Colony.  Her three seasons with Forth Worth Opera included a world premiere and original recording for which The Wall Street Journal complimented her “strong work” and The Dallas Morning News admired her “imperious and sonorous” performance.

Additional career highlights include HMS Pinafore (Buttercup) with Virginia Opera; Gypsy (Mama Rose), Julius Caesar (Marullus/Titinius), and Fox on the Fairway (Muriel) with Festival 56; The Mikado (Katisha), Lysistrata (Kleonike), and Julio Cesare (Nireno) with Fort Worth Opera; The Romeo and Juliet Project (Anita) with Chautauqua Opera and Chautauqua Theatre Co.; The Barber of Seville (Berta) with The Santa Fe Concert Association; Fiddler on the Roof (Yente) with Ash Lawn Opera and The New Theatre Restaurant; Candide (The Old Lady), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly Levi), and The Marriage of Figaro (Marcellena) with The Seagle Music Colony.
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Meaghan is originally from Sabetha, Kansas, a rural farming community, and received her BFA in Theatre/Voice and her MM in Voice from the University of Kansas.

amanda russo stante,
​curriculum guide

Amanda Russo Stante is an experienced and versatile mezzo-soprano, known for her ability to master both feminine and pants roles on the operatic stage.  From Octavian to Cendrillon, Amanda has been recognized for her “highly theatrical, vocally persuasive” performances, which are “nothing short of stunning” (Peter Jacobi, Herald Times).

Her experience has taken her to The Glimmerglass Festival, Indiana University Opera Theater, Central City Opera, and concert stages across the United States and Europe.  Amanda has appeared as a soloist with the Budapest Concert Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Orchestra, and the Wooster Symphony Orchestra.

Amanda holds a Doctor of Music degree in voice performance and literature from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she also received her Master of Music degree.  She began her studies in higher education in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a minor in German.
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In addition to performing, Amanda maintains a private voice studio in Bloomington, Indiana and teaches classes at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in the Music in General Studies Department.  Teaching allows Amanda to share her love and passion for music and performance with all ages, abilities, and interests.

KIMBERLY CARBALLO, FOUNDING DIRECTOR

Founder and director of Reimagining Opera for Kids (ROK), Kimberly is Coordinating Opera Coach for Indiana University’s (IU) Opera and Ballet Theater, and an active international performer and educator.  She has previously worked as the mainstage and young artists’ program coach for the Compañía Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, and music theory instructor and vocal coach at the Conservatorio Musical de Alajuela, the Escuela de Artes Musicales de la Universidad de Costa Rica, and the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica.  In addition to her duties at IU, she maintains a private studio as a freelance coach, collaborator, and piano teacher.  Kimberly also forms part of the inaugural and ongoing team for Tunaweza Kimuziki (Through Music All is Possible), a project promoting exchange among music educators, scholars, and performers in Kenya and the USA.

​Actualmente Kimberly Carballo es pianista de ópera en la Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater de Indiana University, profesora en el departamento de Música de Cámera y Piano Colaborativo, ejecutante, y educadora con trayectoria internacional.  Ha trabajado como pianista y coach para la Compañía Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, profesora de teoría y pianista en la Universidad de Costa Rica, el Conservatorio Musical de Alajuela, y la Universidad Nacional.  Además de estas actividades profesionales, en el taller Tunaweza Kimuziki forma parte del equipo inaugural que ha seguido hasta hoy en día; el taller, cuyo nombre significa “A través de la música, todo se puede hacer,” provee oportunidades de interacción e intercambio cultural para músicos y educadores de música, con bases en los EEUU y en Kenya.

alejandra martinez,
​production manager

Alejandra Martinez, soprano, is a native of Southern California and specializes in Spanish and Latin-American music.  Concert credits include performances at the National Council de la Raza, the Cleveland One World Festival, and the world premiere of Juan Orrego-Salas' Ash Wednesday with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.  Favorite opera roles have been La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Salud (La vida breve), and Lady Billows (Albert Herring).  Ms. Martinez was recently honored by the National Society of Arts and Letters and regularly performs with Reimagining Opera for Kids in Bloomington, Indiana, where she resides with her husband, baritone Nicholas Farmer.  This summer she performed with the Long Beach Opera in production of Frida by Robert Xavier Rodriguez.  She is dedicated to furthering opera education, which she does with her podcast, the Opera Avengers, and her work throughout Bloomington with ROK, the Musical Arts Youth Organization, and the BloomingSongs Project.

Jessica harris, arts administrator

Jes Harris is a musician, stage manager-turned-arts administrator, and passionate arts advocate.  An Atlanta native, she has worked in technical theatre all over the southeast, including Opera Memphis, Capitol City Opera, OnStage Atlanta, Process Theatre Company; and as a Technical Intern with the Walt Disney World Company. 

In Indiana, Jes has had the pleasure of working with IU Opera and Ballet Theater and the IU Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance.  She has served as Marketing Director for New Voices Opera and as a Marketing Intern for IU Summer Theatre.  Upcoming this season, Jes will Assistant Stage Manage Chabrier’s L'Étoile and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with IU Opera Theater.

sylvester makobi, production assistant

Sylvester Makobi hails from Nairobi, Kenya.  Makobi has a commitment to community engagement and as such has worked as a volunteer both in Kenya and Bloomington, Indiana: He was a volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club, Lincoln Street music program, Giving Back to Africa, KILEO Taste of East Africa and has been an active volunteer with ROK.  In the 2014-15 ROK Season, he performed all three tenor roles in the world premiere of The Firebringers, by Chappell Kingsland.  

Before moving to Bloomington, Makobi served as a soloist and Productions Manager with the Kenyan Boys Choir.  He co-founded and was Director of the men’s a cappella group Taifa Mziki; he was the Recitals Coordinator Assistant at the Department of Music and Dance, Kenyatta University; and he was the Productions Assistant with OPERAtion Classics/ Opera for School Fees.  His performances with these and other organizations have taken him to cities in East Africa and other countries including the UK, France, China and the US, one of the highlights being a performance at the first inauguration of former President Barack Obama.  As a member of the Ravenna Festival Chorus in Nairobi, Makobi performed with Ricardo Muti.  He also appeared as a featured artist with Nairobi Voices of The Hospice; ‘Music for Peace and Togetherness’ with the Tunaweza Kimuziki project; as well as the celebration of the conclusion of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

His concert experiences include tenor soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Requiem Mass and Coronation Mass, Haydn’s Creation, and Handel’s Messiah.  His operatic roles include Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte, Second Priest in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Rev. Horace Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes, and Elder in Ondieki the Fisherman by F. Chandler.  He has sung in the ensembles for Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Menotti’s The Last Savage, and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.  Makobi has also performed as Gilbert and in the ensemble of the musical Hairspray by Marc Shaiman.  In 2010, he competed in the National Kenya Music Festival, winning in both the opera and art song categories for University students/ professors. 

​Makobi recently completed his Performer Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music, as a student of Professor Marietta Simpson.  He has also studied with Dr. Thomas King.  Currently, Makobi is the Administrative Assistant of Camp S.O.U.L and Road Manager with IU African American Arts Institute.

satsu holmes,
​communications assistant

Satsu Holmes is a dancer based in New York City.  She received her Bachelors degrees, in Dance and Theatre and Drama, from Indiana University, and diplomaed at the Laban Conservatory in London, UK.  She has worked as a choreographer and teacher, including a year as an English assistant in northern France.

amy williams, Social media Intern

Amy Williams​ holds a BFA with a focus in Vocal Performance from the University of Central Arkansas, where she studied with Robert Holden, and an MM Vocal Performance from Winthrop University, where she studied with John Fowler.  She made her debut with Mosaic Arts, singing the role of Apollonia in Hardyn’s ​La Canterine in the Spring of 2015​.  

Amy has enjoyed singing the roles of the 2nd Lady in Mozart’s ​Die Zauberflöte at Winthrop University, Gertrude in Humperdink’s ​Hansel and Gretel at Central Piedmont, and Musetta in Puccini’s ​La Bohème with Opera Experience Southeast.  In the summer of 2013, Amy participated in Opera Experience Southeast’s Summer Emerging Artist Program where she worked with Arlene Shrut, sang in a recital, and sang the role of Lauretta in Puccini’s​ Gianni Schicchi.  Amy attended the Franco-American Vocal Academy’s summer program in Perigueux, France in 2011.  She participated in Master Classes with composer Isabella Aboulker and Prof. Frederick Burchinal, sang in recitals around France, and performed the role of Amelie in Offenbach’s ​Le Grande Duchess de Gerolstein.  

Amy has had the privilege of singing the soprano soloist in Rutter’s Requiem and ​Mass of the Children with Winthrop University’s University Chorus and Orchestra, and in Dubois’ ​Seven Last Words of Christ and Vivaldi’s ​Gloria with Quail Hollow Presbyterian Choir.  

Amy is a second year vocal performance doctoral student at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Alice Hopper.  This is her second year with ROK.

Sarah deboer, Videography intern

Sara Deboer is a junior at Bloomington High School North, class of 2019.  Her goal is to attend a great film school for college, and hopefully pursue a career as a producer or director.  As videography intern, Sara will make a short documentary about ROK, and will manage ROK's YouTube account.  She has a cat named Nugget and has played the violin for seven years.