Christopher Holloway, as Baron Douphol
Mr. Holloway is an energetic, vibrant performer who acts with waltzlike precision…and is able to sing and act with equal agility.” A much sought-after performer, Mr. Holloway has taken the opera stage with distinguished companies including Houston Grand Opera, Orlando Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Amarillo Opera, Fresno Opera, Lyric Opera of Los Angeles, Orange County Opera, Opera in the Heights, Opera in the Ozarks, Brevard Music Center, and Operafestival di Roma. His extensive repertoire of operatic roles includes Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in Don Giovanni, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Morales/Dancairo in Carmen, Lord Ruthven in Der Vampyr, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Lescaut in Manon, Marcello in La Bohéme, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Maximilian in Bernstein’s Candide, and Angelotti in Tosca.

Robert Swedberg as Dr. Grenvil
Mr. Swedberg is also Stage Director for this production.
Robert Swedberg was general director of Orlando Opera in Orlando, Florida, from 1990 to April, 2007. Prior to that, he held positions as general director of the Syracuse Opera in New York, manager and artistic director of the North Carolina Opera in Charlotte, North Carolina, and director of special educational projects for Seattle opera. He has also been director of opera studio programs at both the University of Central Florida and Syracuse University.
Mr. Swedberg became active as a stage director while on the staff of the prestigious Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival in Seattle Washington, where he was assistant director for Wagner’s Ring Cycle from 1978 to 1982. Since then, he has produced or directed more than 125 productions, and especially enjoys the challenge of the more unusual operatic repertoire, which has included new productions of Abduction from the Seraglio, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Coronation of Poppea, Don Pasquale, The Magic Flute, L’Enfant et les Sortileges, La Clemenza di Tito, H.M.S. Pinafore, Trial by Jury, and Gianni Schicchi, for several companies in the United States.


William Noll, Conductor
From Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York to festivals and tours in Italy, Belgium, and now China, Mr. Noll has established excellence in performance standards for almost three decades. He has held positions with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, the Choral Guild of Atlanta, Providence Opera Theatre; and the summer festivals of Aspen, Spoleto and Brevard.


Melissa Vitrella as Flora
Ms. Vitrella recently began her second season with Orlando Opera as an affiliate artist, a young-artist program that offers training, singing opportunities and career guidance. She also sings in the opera chorus in its mainstage productions and played Isabel in Pirates of Penzance last season. This season she will be in the choruses of Die Fledermaus and Turandot.

She earned a bachelor's degree in music, specializing in vocal performance, from Stetson University in DeLand, FL and has almost completed her master's degree in music, specializing in vocal performance, from Florida State University. Vitrella also teaches voice, beginner guitar and beginner piano at the Mount Dora Center for the Arts and is an art instructor at the Leesburg Center for the Arts.

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Marian Birsa as Annina

Ms. Birsa is a native of California who lived in Italy for 23 years, graduating from the Conservatory of Music of Trieste, Italy, in both cello and vocal performance. She also studied at Salzburg’s Mozarteum regularly for summer courses. She has coached with some of the great voices of the late 1900s, including: Carlo Cossuta, Tito Gobbi, Luciano Pavarotti and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. She was a full-time professional musician abroad, working for several years at the Teatro Communale “G. Verdi” of Trieste, and performed in a vast selection of leading roles, including: Ulrica in Ballo in Maschera, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Eboli in Don Carlos and Cherubino in Nozze de Figaro. She also performed frequently as a soloist in oratorios and concerts in Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. Since moving to Naples, she has performed as a soloist with various local groups, and serves as section leader at Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church and Temple Shalom. She is also a freelance music critic.

Grant Youngblood, as Germont
Hailed as a tall dashing baritone "with a robust sound with ringing top notes.” Recent credits include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with San Francisco Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni, Scarpia in Tosca, Germont in La Traviata, Marcello in La Boheme, Escamillo in Carmen, and Thoäs in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride with New York City Opera; Dapertutto in Les Contes D'Hoffmann with Washington Opera; the title role in Rigoletto and Silvio in Pagliacci with Florida Grand Opera; Tonio in Pagliacci, and Baritone in Carmina Burana (staged) with Orlando Opera; Amonasro in Aida and Michele in Il Tabarro with L'Opéra de Montréal; Germont in La Traviata with Orlando Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, and Virginia Opera; Scarpia in Tosca and Figaro in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia with Dayton Opera; the title role in Rigoletto and Count Di Luna in Il Trovatore with Virginia Opera and Enrico in Lucia Di Lammermoor with Indianapolis Opera and Cleveland Opera

Louis Dall'Ava, as Marquis
Louis Dall’Ava is delighted to return for his second season with Opera Naples. Mr. Dall’Ava both directed and starred in last year’s Gilbert & Sullivan Revue and played the learned judge in Trial by Jury. He has performed 24 principal G&S roles, 17 of those with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. In early January, Louis was seen as Pooh Bah (The Mikado) and Scynthius (Princess Ida) at City Center. He is the 2005-2006 recipient of NYGASP’s Isaac Asimov Award for Artistic Achievement. In Musical Theatre, Mr. Dall’Ava performed the roles of Charles and the Comte de Chagny on three international tours of Phantom of the Opera and was named Best Actor in a Musical by Bravo Pix for his portrayal of Fagin in Commonwealth Opera’s Oliver! in 2000. Other roles include Luther Billis (South Pacific), Olin Britt (The Music Man), and Alfred Doolittle (My Fair Lady).




Bryce Westervelt, as Gastone
Mr. Westervelt is sought after as a soloist with opera companies, orchestras and choral groups. His concert repertoire spans over 30 major works. As concert soloist he has performed with leading ensembles across the country.

On opera stages around the United States, his roles include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ferrando in Cosí Fan Tutte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Idamante in Idomeneo, and Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Mr. Westervelt holds a Master of Music in Opera Performance from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Georgia. 2006-07 season highlights included Handel’s Saul, Haydn’s Creation, Dave Brubeck’s To Hope!, Bach’s Drama per Musica BWV 205 and the Florida premiere of Howard Blake’s Benedictus.