BOARD MEMBERS

MELISSA ARAGON, PRESIDENT

As a longtime resident of Boulder county and the surrounding area, MELISSA ARAGON holds a deep appreciation for the indispensable role Boulder Opera plays in shaping and enriching the cultural landscape of the community. She feels honored and is eager to help Boulder Opera execute its mission and fulfill its vision. She hopes her experience working as a grant writer and event coordinator for non profit organizations and social justice films will prove to be an asset in her efforts to help grow the opera. Melissa received both her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and her Masters of Public Administration from the University of Colorado.

A lifelong lover of music and the arts, Melissa has been particularly drawn to opera. Opera and music as a whole is magical in that not only does it move and heal the spirit but it also acts as a social glue that bonds us to one another. Through it’s productions, Boulder Opera creates safe spaces for the human condition to be explored and revealed. The work is powerful and relevant; it evokes emotion and provides us with an opportunity to connect deeply with ourselves and each other. Melissa is inspired by Dianela Acosta’s and the Boulder Opera’s commitment to continually deepen their roots in the community by creating jobs for opera singers and musicians and by making opera affordable and accessible to all, by fostering a welcoming environment, and by providing education and opportunities to the next generation of opera enthusiasts and singers. Melissa is elated to have been given this opportunity to provide support and what she hopes to be productive and meaningful contributions to the team as the Boulder Opera Company continues to build its legacy of community, excellence, and exceptional opera.

MELISSA KILBERG, TREASURER - SECRETARY

MELISSA KILBERG is an avid opera fan and supporter of the arts. With a Master's Degree in Venetian Renaissance art from the Courtauld Institute, and a background in Art History, Melissa has always been enthusiastic about art and music. She worked at the Santa Fe Opera for half a decade, and fully enjoyed every aspect of the operatic experience. Now that she has children of her own, it is her passion to promote opera to young audiences and ensure that opera is loved for generations to come.

MATTHEW CUSHING, DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY

MATTHEW CUSHING moved to Colorado in 2010 from Boston, where he grew up with frequent visits to the opera, and studied medicine. Practicing radiology in Denver, he has been coming to Boulder Opera's performances since 2016, and brought his daughter as soon as she could sit. He loves how Boulder Opera combines unconventional venues and formats with this ancient and eclectic art form, whose stories and narratives are never out of date. He is excited to help Boulder Opera reach its fundraising goals and engage the community.

JULIANNE DAVIS, OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

JULIANNE DAVIS, soprano, values the wealth of performing arts in Colorado, especially around Boulder and Longmont, where she has lived since 2015. Before her recent debut with Boulder Opera, she appeared locally with the Boulder Symphony, the Boulder Chorale, and in several public recitals.

With a BA in music education from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS, and a MM in vocal music from the University of Northern Iowa, Julianne’s music life has spanned teaching public school vocal music, working as a graduate assistant in group teaching and collaborative piano, teaching private piano and voice lessons, and leading church music and children’s choirs. As a music educator and mom to three, she understands the impact of music on the lives of young people and is passionate about growing a diverse audience for all the live classical music in our local area, especially opera. Unique as an art form that combines the disciplines of vocal and instrumental music, literature, drama, and the visual art of set and costume design, opera has the power to simultaneously draw us into history and meet us in our present time, connecting all of us in the deeply human experiences of expression and relationship. Boulder Opera manifests these ideals by engaging local schools, presenting an array of new and well-known works, and drawing from the depth of our local talent and resources. Julianne is thrilled to be a part of it.

RUBEN MARTIN, BOARD MEMBER

RUBEN MARTIN is a Chicano singer and writer who is currently training to be an opera singer. He sang in the Boulder Opera’s 2023 production of the Magic Flute. Ruben loves all forms of opera, especially Chinese (both Peking and Cantonese) and Cai Luong (Vietnamese Opera). Ruben’s greatest opera influences are the legendary singers: Maria Callas, Mei Lanfang, Bo Bo Hoàng, and Manh Quynh. Ruben is excited to help Boulder Opera reach all of its goals and plans on devoting his entire life to preserving the art of opera in all its facets.

PRODUCTION TEAM

DIANELA ACOSTA, EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

DIANELA ACOSTA founded the Boulder Opera Company in 2012 with the intention of developing new audiences and making opera accessible to diverse audiences. Boulder Opera has introduced thousands of Boulder residents of all ages to opera, bringing together music, dance, and art together with a fresh, vibrant approach to this ancient art.

Originally from Barcelona, Spain, she is a classically trained singer with a M.M in Voice performance from Denver University, and sings locally as an ensemble artist with Central City, Boulder Opera and Opera on tap. Prior to moving to Boulder Dianela lived in NY where she was an artist in Residence with the Dicapo Opera, Amato Opera, and performed with NY Opera Forum and New York Opera Lyric Theatre.

BRANDON TYLER PADGETT, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

A baritone with a passion for vocal artistry and storytelling, BRANDON TYLER PADGET is a recent graduate of CU’s Artist Diploma and Master of Music programs in vocal performance. His academic credentials also include a Bachelor of Art in Theater and a Bachelor of Music which he received from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Padgett’s performance credentials include Germont in La Traviata, Claudio in Agrippina, Vater in Hänsel und Gretel, Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the title role of Eugene Onegin.

His competitive accolades include being awarded first place in the 2019 NATS National Student Auditions, being named a 2015 Presser Scholar from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and was a finalist of the 2021 Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Competition. Padgett is thrilled to join Boulder Opera’s 2022-2023 season as both a director and performer. The talent, dedication, and artistry that this company brings together makes the vocal storytelling experience a treasure for all audiences and a great reminder for artists of why we love opera.

GENE ROBERTS, STAGE DIRECTOR

GENE ROBERTS, stage director, returns to Boulder Opera for Il Trovatore, after directing Cavalleria Rusticana, Signor Deluso and Little Red Riding Hood in the 2018-19 season. In recent seasons Roberts directed Le Nozze di Figaro and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan, was a guest director of Webster University’s opera theater in St. Louis, MO and has served as the scenes’ director for the Naked Voice Institute at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In the fall of 2019 Roberts produced and directed Luisa Fernanda at MSU Denver, where he serves as Director of Opera Theatre. This was the first bilingual production of the beloved Zarzuela in the state of Colorado.

Roberts began his professional career in Europe, where he joined the Swiss premier cast of Lloyd Webber’s das Phantom der Oper in Basel, Switzerland. Phantom led to many other opportunities throughout Europe in stage and television, including starring as Beast in the German production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (die Schöne und das Biest), a role Roberts performed over 500 times. Altogether, throughout the US and Europe, Roberts sang over 30 roles in musical theater including Tony in West Side Story and Snoopy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and 20 roles in opera including Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Normano in Lucia di Lammermoor and Bardolfo in Falstaff.

Roberts holds a BM in vocal performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, where he also studied opera stage direction, and a MM in vocal performance from the University of Houston.

STEVEN AGUILÓ-ARBUES, MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR

Argentinean-American STEVEN AGUILÓ-ARBUES enjoys his various roles as a conductor, vocal coach, répétiteur, and recitalist. His love for opera has led him to work with Opera Colorado, The Atlanta Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Boulder Opera Company, Colorado Light Opera, Festival Amadeus (Montana), the Crested Butte Music Festival, the Miami Music Festival, and Centro Studi Lirica in Italy. He has coached singers who have gone on to win the National Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as sing at opera companies around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and English National Opera.

Mr. Aguiló-Arbues has also worked and taught at academic institutions including the Manhattan School of Music, Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. He earned his Professional Studies Certificate and Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He currently resides in Colorado with his wife and daughter.

ALICE DEL SIMONE, EDUCATION DIRECTOR

Coloratura soprano ALICE DEL SIMONE, a San Francisco Bay Area native, received her B.A. in Vocal Performance and B.S. in Plant Science from UC Davis in 2014, and is currently pursuing an M.M. in Voice Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Colorado Boulder, studying with Andrew Garland.

Del Simone enjoys performing varied operatic repertoire including recent appearances as La Fée in Cendrillon (Massenet) with Eklund Opera, Clytemnestra in the premiere of Anne Hege’s The Furies with Stanford Laptop Orchestra, The Lady with a Hand Mirror in Postcard from Morocco (Argento) with Eklund Opera, Gilda in Three Feathers (Laitman) with Opera Steamboat, La Princesse, Le Rosignol, and Le Feu in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel) with Boulder Opera, La Feé in Cendrillon (Viardot) with Loveland Opera’s Educational Outreach, and Poppea in Agrippina (Handel) with Eklund Opera. In 2022, Del Simone was a Certificate of Merit recipient in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition.

Del Simone is also a passionate music educator. She previously taught music theory and vocal pedagogy for the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir where she also served as Program Director. She currently maintains a small private voice studio. Del Simone enjoys approaching the challenges of music education with positive energy and optimism and celebrates the differences that make each voice unique. Del Simone is currently undertaking voice science research that explores student-specific effective vocal instruction techniques. She also actively seeks works by female and POC composers for own performance and for her students.

MACKENZIE GLENN, MARKETING MANAGER

MACKENZIE GLENN was raised in the nation's capital D.C. Mackenzie Glenn moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to pursue her undergraduate education. She is a recent college graduate with a journalism degree and a minor in business from Colorado State University. Since she was very young Mackenzie has always had a passion for music and theater. Previously she interned for The Lincoln Center located in Fort Collins and is thrilled to be working with a non-profit company that celebrates the arts again! Although she is new to the professional world, Mackenzie is ready to learn and grow at Boulder Opera Company and is excited to see where this spectacular company takes her! More importantly, she is excited to get to know, work and engage with the community.

carmel soriano, MARKETING AND ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR

Carmel earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, majoring in Financial Management. After graduation, she worked as an associate in various businesses, including a grocery store, a pawnshop, and a bank. These experiences helped her develop strong skills in customer service, sales, and administrative tasks.

In 2024, Carmel took on a new challenge by joining Boulder Opera Company, stepping into the arts industry for the first time. Although this field is new to her, she is eager to learn and grow. Her work experience allows her to bring fresh ideas to the company, and she is dedicated to helping the organization succeed. Carmel is excited about the opportunities ahead and is ready to make a positive impact at Boulder Opera Company.