Listen, Wilhelmina!

Director, Nedra Dixon
Nedra Dixon is an actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. Critical acclaim credits include Bubblin’ Brown Sugar, Tintypes, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Into the Woods, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oklahoma, Annie, Children of Eden, Anything Goes, And the World Goes ‘Round, Jerry’s Girls, Little Shop of Horrors, The King and I, Man of La Mancha, Songs for A New World, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has worked with Stephen Schwartz, John Caird, Susan Stroman, Jerry Zaks, Richardo Khan, Luther Henderson, Charles Strouse, and Lee Adams. Director/Choreographer credits include Hair, Then and Now, In The Heights, Once On This Island, Grey Gardens, Sophisticated Ladies, Children of Eden and Beehive. Dixon currently serves on the Kansas City Actors Theatre Board of Directors and Artistic Committee, and is a proud member of Spinning Tree Theatre’s Reimagining Team and Scholarship Team.

Conductor, Carolyn Watson
Carolyn Watson returns to Lyric Opera of Kansas City as conductor for Listen, Wilhelmina!. Recent engagements include Fellow Travelers and As One with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Hansel and Gretel with Amarillo Opera. In 2020 she conducted And Still we Dream with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, which was featured in the Emmy-Award winning PBS documentary, Higher Octaves: Leading Women in the Arts. In 2019, she conducted the world premiere of Gordon Getty’s The Old Man at Festival Napa Valley, and in 2017 was one of six conductors selected for the Hart Institute for Women Conductors. Watson’s 2022-2023 season sees debuts with Cape Symphony, Monash Academy Orchestra, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and returns to Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Kansas City Ballet. Watson currently serves as Director of Orchestras at the University of Illinois.

Wilhelmina, Krista Renée Pape
Soprano Krista Renée Pape made her professional debut in 2020 as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with Opera North. In 2019 she made her role debut as Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio (Opera in the Ozarks), and her virtual debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in 2021 (MIOpera). She has won prizes from The Metropolitan Opera Laffont National Council, National Society of Arts and Letters, MIOpera Vocal Competition, Lewisville Lake Symphony International Competition, Pasadena Vocal Competition, top prizes in the MTNA Young Artist Performance Competition in Voice, and the Tuesday Musical Club Young Artists Competition. Pape graduated with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Houston. She was a Vocal Institute Fellow at the Music Academy of the West in summer 2022.

Winston, Wayd Odle
Tenor Wayd Odle returns for a second season as a Resident Artist with Lyric Opera of Kansas City. This season he will perform as Remendado (Carmen), Gastone (La traviata), King Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and Delbert Grady (The Shining). He will cover Don José (Carmen) and Alfredo (La traviata). Past seasons have seen him employed by Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Omaha, and Knoxville Opera. Notable roles include Rodolfo (La bohème), Don José (Carmen), and Nemorino (The Elixir of Love). He was a soloist with National Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Utah Philharmonic Orchestra, and Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra. He is winner of The American Prize Award (2021) and earned an Encouragement Award at The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2020). He won the Utah Philharmonic Concerto Competition (2022) and was a semi-finalist for the Orpheus Vocal Competition (2022).

Wallis, Aubrey Odle
Returning for a second season as a Resident Artist with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, mezzo-soprano Aubrey Odle’s upcoming roles this season include Mercédès (Carmen), Flora (La traviata), and returning to the Lyric’s annual production of Amahl and the Night Visitors as Mother. Other notable roles include the title role in Carmen, Mistress Quickly (Falstaff), Gertrude (Roméo et Juliette), and La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica). Odle was recently featured as a soloist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Mass in C. In recent years, she has won accolades from the Houston Saengerbund Awards, Orpheus Vocal Competition, American Prize, and the Utah Opera AriaFest. She is a graduate of Utah State University (B.M.) and Brigham Young University (M.M.).

Mister Nat, Luke Harnish
Bass-baritone Luke Harnish earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and Wichita State University. Notable roles include Papageno (The Magic Flute), title role in Eugene Onegin, Walter Beech and Roy McPhetridge (world premiere of Staggerwing), Jailer (Tosca), and Henry B. (The Mother of Us All). Harnish has performed on the stages of Nashville Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Neo, and Opera Kansas. Concert credits include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. In summer 2022, Harnish was a studio artist with Chautauqua Opera and is a 2022 district winner of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Mister Nat, Joseph Park
Bass-baritone Joseph Park is a recent graduate of the University of Kansas (M.M.). Notable roles include Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Friar Lawrence (Roméo et Juliette), Colline (La bohéme), and Simone (Gianni Schicchi). Park was the first prize winner of the Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization Vocal Competition and received the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont competition. He has also earned prizes at the Yangsan Eum Jung Huang Vocal Music Competition and Ewha & Kyunghyang Concours. He has appeared as a soloist in Fauré’s Requiem, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Park attended Aspen Music Festival in 2022 as a Studio Artist.