creative team
​

RUFUS AND RITA
​A New ROK Commission
​
Composer   Lauren Bernofsky
Librettist   Kelsea Webb
Stage Director   Alejandra Martinez
​Costumes   Becky Underwood
​Set   Amber McKoy
​Curriculum Guide   Laurie Staring
​​

WORKING TITLE
A New ROK Commission
​
Composer   Benjamin Dean Taylor
Librettist   Kelsea Webb
Stage Director   Alejandra Martinez
​Costumes   Becky Underwood
​Set   Amber McKoy
​Curriculum Guide   Laurie Staring

​
ROK Founding Director, Kimberly Carballo

Production Manager, Alejandra Martinez
Intern, Alexandra Lucas

lauren bernofsky, Composer

Lauren Bernofsky is a violinist, composer, and conductor.  In addition to having played in many ROK productions, she has written two shows for them, Mooch the Magnificent and Rufus and Rita.  Her music has been performed across the United States as well as internationally in major venues from Carnegie Hall in the U.S. to Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.  She is published by The FJH Music Company, Hal Leonard, Grand Mesa Music, Balquhidder Music, Fatrock Ink, Theodore Presser, Alfred Publishing, and Boosey & Hawkes.  She holds degrees from The Hartt School, New England Conservatory, and Boston University, where she earned a DMA in Composition.  She has taught at Boston University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, The Peabody Institute, and Interlochen. She conducts at regional festivals and serves as a clinician at schools, festivals and national conferences.

Benjamin dean taylor, composer

The music of Benjamin Dean Taylor (born 1983), has been described as “elegant and energetic” (Kenneth Thompson) and “powerful and direct with delightful surprises in each work” (Marilyn Shrude).  Having grown up as a performer in jazz, rock, ska, country, and concert bands as well as in choirs and orchestras, Taylor is driven to write music that highlights the strengths of each performing ensemble.  His catalog of more than 100 works covers a large range of styles and genres including music written for orchestra, wind band, opera, choir, jazz big band, gamelan, chamber ensembles, and soloists with live electronics.

Taylor has received commissions from ensembles including the Calidore String Quartet, Omaha Symphony, Solaire Saxophone Quartet, New World Youth Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Wind Symphony.  As a sought-after composer for wind band, Taylor has been commissioned by over 75 band directors of players at all educational levels.

Taylor’s prizes and honors include Winner in the 2013 Ticheli Composition Contest, a grant from the Indiana Arts Council (2015), Dean’s Prize in Composition from Indiana University (2013), BMI Student Composers Award (2011), Winner in the American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings (2012), and an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award (2011).  His compositions have been featured on the radio and television including NPR’s “Says You.”

Taylor completed a doctorate degree from Indiana University and holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (MM) and Brigham Young University (BA).  His principal teachers have included David Dzubay, Don Freund, Claude Baker, Jeffrey Hass, Marilyn Shrude, Elaine Lillios, Christian Asplund, Neil Thornock, and Steven Ricks.  When not composing, Taylor can be found playing in his Dixieland jazz band, leading community bucket drumming groups, hiking, running, cooking, and camping with his family.

benjamintaylormusic.com

Photo by Karjaka Studios

Kelsea webb, librettist

Hailing from the booming metropolis of Anderson, Indiana, Soprano Kelsea Webb is currently a life-long student.  She is an active member of ROK, having performed the roles of Unicorn in Mooch the Magnificent, Ana/Yeya in Ana y su sombra, and the soprano roles in The Firebringers.  Her favorite past roles include the scheming mother in Falstaff, the slightly-less-scheming, but much more terrifying mother in Hansel and Gretel, and the sad damsel-in-distress in Die Zauberflöte.  In her spare time, Kelsea enjoys coloring, writing poetry, and playing with her dog brother, Indiana Jones. 

​www.kelseawebb.com  

alejandra martinez,
Stage director & 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.  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.

Photo by Lynn Wayne (http://www.lynnwayne.com)

laurie staring, curriculum guide

Laurie played the role of Mooch in Mooch the Magnificent in ROK's 2012-2013 season, and the Witch in their abridged production of Into the Woods during the 2011-2012 season.  She completed her undergraduate degree at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Paul Kiesgen.  After that, she moved to Boston and earned her master's degree from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Carole Haber.  In 2008, she returned to the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music to pursue her doctoral degree.  She studied with Paul Kiesgen until his passing in April of 2011.  Since then, she has studied with Patricia Havranek.  Some of the roles Laurie has performed include the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Sophia in Tom Jones by Philidor, Nora in Riders to the Sea, Amalia in She Loves Me, Praskowia in The Merry Widow, and the role of Glauco in Acis y Galacea by Antonio de Líteres with Opera Nova Costa Rica, in what was the premiere of this Baroque zarzuela for the Americas.  Laurie enjoys teaching private voice lessons, watching movies, reading, and spending time with her husband and two cats.

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.

alexandra lucas, intern

Alexandra Lucas is excited to begin her fourth year with ROK, previously being the Narrator in Ana y su Sombra, the Child Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires, and a Super in ​The Firebringers.  Alexandra studies voice with Heather Narducci, and has played piano for six years, currently studying with Susan Schoch.  She is also a member of Sounds of South, the award-winning choir at Bloomington High School South, where she is playing the role of Christine in their production of Phantom of the Opera.  Previously, she was a three-year member with the Indiana University Children’s Choir, appearing in the following IU operas: La Boheme, Der Rosenkavalier, Cendrillon, and Falstaff.  She has also appeared in theatre productions with Cardinal Stage, Bloomington Playwrights Project, and MCCT.