Studio Artists Program

The Sarasota Opera Studio Artists are members of the more advanced level of Sarasota Opera’s two training programs. The Studio Artists receive the same intense training as the Apprentices, but they participate in main stage productions by performing supporting roles and covering principal roles. With many roles needing covers each season and our extended performance schedule, Studio Artists are often called on to substitute for an indisposed principal artist, sometimes with little notice. The Studio Artists occasionally augment the Apprentice Artists in choruses for larger productions.

The Studio Artists are often Sarasota Opera's musical representatives outside the Opera House. Serving Sarasota and Manatee counties, they perform in various locations. These outreach initiatives take place in schools, retirement homes, community centers, and at guild meetings as well as other locations.

Studio Artists Program participants have often returned to Sarasota Opera as principal artists, and many have gone on to perform with major companies in the United States and internationally.

2025 Winter Studio Artists

Gabrielle Barkidjija
Gabrielle Barkidjija

Mezzo-Soprano • River Forest, IL
STUDIO ARTIST 
Sarasota Opera Debut
Dorotea, Stiffelio (2025)

Andrew Boisvert
Andrew Boisvert
Bass • Needham, MA
STUDIO ARTIST 
SARASOTA OPERA 
Debut: Il Conte di Ceprano, Rigoletto (2019)

Eric Botto
Eric Botto

Tenor • Houston, TX
STUDIO ARTIST  
Sarasota Opera Debut
Don Basilio and Don Curzio, Le nozze di Figaro (2025)

Jeremy Brauner
Jeremy Brauner

Tenor • Maplewood, NJ
STUDIO ARTIST 
SARASOTA OPERA
Rafaelle, Stiffelio (2025)
Normanno, Lucia di Lammermoor (2024)
Debut: Apprentice Artist (2013) 

Benjamin Dickerson
Benjamin Dickerson
 
Baritone • Milton, VT 
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut

Silvio, Pagliacci (2025)

Jamila Drecker-Waxman
Jamila Drecker-Waxman
 
Soprano • New York, NY
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut

Kyle Dunn
Kyle Dunn
 
Baritone • Leonia, NJ
STUDIO ARTIST 
SARASOTA OPERA
Debut: Apprentice Artist (2024)

Tessa Fackelmann
Tessa Fackelmann 

Mezzo-Soprano • Ottawa, ON, Canada
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut
Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro (2025)

Riley Findley
Riley Findley

Baritone • Kansas City, MO
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut

Steve Groth
Steve Groth

Baritone • Delafield, WI
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut
Antonio, Le nozze di Figaro (2025)

Juan Hernández
Juan Hernández

Tenor • San Juan, Puerto Rico
STUDIO ARTIST
Sarasota Opera Debut

Federico, Stiffelio (2025)

Paul Leland Hill
Paul Leland Hill
Bass • Clinton, UT
STUDIO ARTIST
SARASOTA OPERA

The Imperial Commissioner, Madama Butterfly (2023)
Studio Artist (2023, 2021)
Debut: Apprentice Artist (2020)

Sara Kennedy
Sara Kennedy
Soprano • Austin, TX
STUDIO ARTIST  
SARASOTA OPERA
Lola, Cavalleria rusticana (2025)
Debut: Apprentice Artist (2022)

Alejandro Luévanos
Alejandro Luévanos

Tenor • Durango, México 
STUDIO ARTIST 
SARASOTA OPERA 
Peppe, Pagliacci (2025)
Debut: Resident Artist (Fall 2024)
 
Lauren Paul
Lauren Paul
 
Mezzo-Soprano • Evansville, WI 
STUDIO ARTIST 
Sarasota Opera Debut
Mamma Lucia, Cavalleria rusticana (2025)
Marcellina, Le nozze di Figaro (2025)

John Potvin
John Potvin
Baritone • Aiken, SC
STUDIO ARTIST 
Sarasota Opera Debut 
Fiorello, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2025)

Joylýn Rushing
Joylýn Rushing
Soprano • Philadelphia, PA 
STUDIO ARTIST 
SARASOTA OPERA 
Resident Artist (Fall 2024)
Resident Artist (Fall 2022)
Debut: Apprentice Artist (2020)