creative team​
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michael shell, Stage director

Michael has directed productions for Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera San Jose, Opera Tampa, Opera North, Virginia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Philadelphia, Houston Grand Opera, and Arizona Opera. 

Michael holds a BM and MM in Music/Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was a Corbett Scholar at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and studied acting and Scene Study at H.B. Studios on a school awarded merit scholarship. He has been a guest faculty member at the UNCSA, FSU, OU, A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and Webster University, St. Louis, teaching Opera Workshop and directing Undergraduate Opera Workshop performances.  Michael is a member of the faculty at the Summer Opera Program at the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute as well as a Visiting Lecturer in Acting and Opera at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  

andrew downs, conductor & Coach

Andrew Downs has been described for his intensity and passion on the podium. Downs grew up in Birmingham, Alabama where he began studying the piano at the age of 9. He soon after picked up the double bass where he saw attention nationally as a soloist. Downs has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with host, Christopher O’Riley and was also selected to be in the inaugural year of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under Valery Gergiev. He has also placed in numerous concerto competitions including the Blount Slawson International Competition and Lois Pickard Competition. He has appeared as soloist with the Alabama Youth Symphony and Indiana University Orchestra. 

Downs is extremely committed to new music and collaborates with composers frequently and is currently serving as assistant conductor of the Indiana University New Music Ensemble. Andrew is extremely passionate about the relevancy of classical music in the future and helping moving orchestras to keep up with the times. He believes constant collaboration with composers is a vital aspect to this commitment.  
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He has completed a bachelor’s degree in double bass performance from Indiana University. He currently studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Orchestral Conducting under Arthur Fagen and Thomas Wilkins with an outside field in Piano Performance under Gregory Sioles.

Kimberly carballo, Executive 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.

​kimcarballo.com

amy williams, production manager

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. 
 
Amy had the pleasure of spending the summer interning at Music in the Mountains in Durango Colorado.  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, Musetta in Puccini’s ​La Bohème with Opera Experience Southeast, and Apollonia in Hadyn’s La Canterina with Mosaic Arts.  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.  

joseph mace, curriculum guide

New York City based singer, actor and music educator Joseph Mace happily returns to ROK!  An emerging crossover artist, Joseph performs a diverse repertoire, spanning from oratorio and opera to contemporary song, jazz and musical theatre.

Having made his Off-Broadway debut in the Drama Desk Award-nominated, The Golden Bride, he also appeared in Off-Broadway and international workshops of Goldfaden’s Yiddish operetta, The Sorceress, bringing the work back to its native Romania in the fall of 2017.  Recent seasons took Joseph to Notre Dame University where he worked with their Children’s Choir singing the title role in Noah's Flood, Les Misérables with Summer Lyric Theatre, and the critically acclaimed Sunday in the Park with George with the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre and his first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera in Meistersinger von Nürnberg. 

In demand as a concert artist, solo engagements include appearances with the Indianapolis, Billings, Monterey and Carmel Symphonies, the San Jose Symphonic Choir as well as with the Fort-Wayne Bach Collegium and Indiana University New Music Ensemble.  A seasoned choral artist, Joseph has performed with the Metropolitan, New Orleans and San Francisco Operas, and appeared frequently with the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale in the Bay Area. 

Joseph holds a Doctor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Master of Music Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  He attended Tulane University for undergraduate studies in Music Performance and French.  He is an active member of Actors Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Joseph is a dedicated teacher. In addition to his private studio, he is a member of the Vocal Technique and Coaching staff with the Broadway Artists Alliance.

satsu holmes,
​Communications Assistant

Satsu Holmes is an integrative arts practitioner and linguist from Honolulu, HI.

Her current work seeks to produce, facilitate, and create spaces that encourage wellness and inspire thriving, by rooting into the connective principles of storytelling and space-sharing as pathways to community-building.