2026 La traviata

Jessica Voutsinas is a coluratura sporano from Richmond, Virginia. She's performed with companies along the East Coast, including Opera Ithaca, Classical RVA, and Commonwealth Concert Opera in beloved roles Susanna in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Dorothée in Massenet's Cendrillon, and Musetta in Puccini's La bohème.

Jessica has also sung in the chorus for I Pagliacci and performed in the choral works Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Messiah by George Frideric Handel, and Prayers of Kierkegaard by Samuel Barber. She graduated from Ithaca Conservatory in 2018, and has studied with renowned singers Dawn Pierce and James Taylor. 

Helena Nuckols, coloratura-lyric soprano, is delighted to make her appearance as Flora in La traviata. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, Helena has performed roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte with CCO Opera, as well as Miss Sweetsong in The Impresario, and Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief with VCU Opera.

A dedicated member of the Richmond musical community, Helena studies with Margaret Taylor Woods and Melanie Kohn Day, Helena performs with the Richmond Symphony Chorus and has served as a soprano section leader and soloist with several Richmond area ensembles. She is passionate about music education and currently teaches voice through Veronica Rose Music Studio.

Her honors include recognition in Virginia and Regional NATS competitions, the VCU Department of Music Senior Award, and awards for art song performance. Helena is excited to continue growing as an artist and is grateful to share the stage with this production of La traviata.

Lisa Ruth Niemeier is a composer, a pianist, an opera singer, a musical storyteller, a recording artist, and a podcast host. The thwarting of her youthful, yet well-founded dreams of an opera career, single motherhood, and a 30-year career in wealth management have fueled a relentless, renewed pursuit of a performance and composition career.

Since discovering composition in May, 2023, her works have gained national and international recognition. They have enjoyed premiers in the US and across the globe by renowned artists. Lisa Ruth performed alongside members of the Richmond Symphony for the 2025 and 2026 Richmond Chamber Players seasons. premiering two of her works. The Davenport Chamber Players premiered her Piano/Cello piece Breaking the Walls in New York State the fall of 2025. Two of her piano works and her debut album Whitewater may be found through Oclassica Records on all streaming platforms. Her Oclassica artist page may be found here: Lisa Ruth Niemeier – Oclassica  She also hosts an artist talk podcast called “Talking Shop,” available on any podcast source and through Substack. A second album will be released in the fall of 2026. She was recently invited to be the Virginia Music Teachers Association (VMTA) Commissioned Composer for 2027.

Returning to her operatic roots, Lisa Ruth debuts in the role of Annina in La Traviata with Opera Richmond.

Fredrick Newhouse is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He has studied vocal performance at VCU and is currently a student of James Taylor. After a long hiatus, he is making his return to opera to debut his first lead role as Rodolfo. Fredrick has performed in the chorus with VCU Opera in Lehár’s The Merry Widow and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He has also performed the joyous role of Lippo Fiorentino in the “Ice Cream Sextet” from Kurt Weill’s Street Scene.  

Fredrick has participated in a workshop for Damien Geter's Loving vs. Virginia with Virginia Opera, and has performed as Rodolfo in La bohème and as Beppe in Pagliacci with Opera Richmond. He is extremely excited to be performing opera again and eagerly anticipates the future.

Kirkland Fenerty, baritone, is a Richmond, VA based performing artist and musician. At home and abroad, Kirkland has tackled roles including the titular character in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Marcello and Schaunard (Puccini - La Bohéme), Nick Shadow (Stravinksy - The Rake’s Progress) and Silvio (Leoncavallo - Pagliacci). Chorus credits include Bizet's Carmen, Gounod's Faust, Heggie's Dead Man Walking, and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. Kirk holds a Bachelor's degree in Music - Voice Performance from James Madison University.

Current and future engagements include a role in Damien Geter’s Loving V. Virginia (World Premiere) with the VA Opera Chorus, the role of Silvio in Commonwealth Concert Opera's production of Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, and a return as Don Giovanni in CCO's Don Giovanni in September 2025.

Joshua Smith is thrilled to make his return to opera with his Opera Richmond debut.  Richmond area theater-goers may recognize him from his work with Homefront Players (including Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, William Barfee in Spelling Bee, and Lt. Cable in South Pacific), Yes And! Theatrical Company (Rocky in The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Concert) and HATTheatre (Daniel in Snapshots).  Favorite opera roles performed include Nemorino in L'elisir D'Amore, Michele in The Saint of Bleecker Street, and Cosmic Ray in the world premiere of the complete Cosmic Ray and the Amazing Chris.

James Lynn, a native of Richmond, VA, has recently been seen on stage singing the roles of Commendatore in Commonwealth Concert Opera's Don Giovanni and Sarastro in VCU Opera’s The Magic Flute and appearing in the world premiere of the new Baroque opera, Julie, Monster, produced by RVA Baroque and The Firehouse Theater in which he created the role of Dr. Bortigali. He has enjoyed operatic performance experiences from San Francisco to Lisbon, Portugal for such companies as Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Virginia Opera, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, and San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater. He has performed a wide variety of repertoire from such beloved standards as The Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto, and The Elixir of Love, to more modern operas, Wozzeck and the world premieres of Emmeline and Seasons in Hell.

He is exploring new musical endeavors with his talented wife, Arden, in their Old Time/Celtic band, Lyricalynn, and performing historical Americana with the Cigar Box String Band.

He holds holds a BFA in Music from Carnegie Mellon University and a Masters degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

He cherishes the abundant musical community of the greater Richmond area. During the day, he gets to show off his professional skills as an Agent and Account Manager for McArdle & Associates Insurance Agency in Ashland, VA.

Connor Terrell is a dramatic tenor based in the Richmond area. He holds a Bachelor's of Music Performance with a concentration in voice from VCU and a Master's Degree in Music and Worship from Liberty University. Previous opera credits include Pagliacci {Opera Richmond) (chorus), Opera Highlights (Opera Richmond) (chorus), The Pirates of Penzance (VCU Opera) (chorus/Major General Stanley cover), Le Nozze di Figaro (VCU Opera) (Don Curzio/Chorus), and Gianni Schicchi (VCU Opera) (Maestro Spinelloccio). Other stage credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood (James Throttle), Jolly Holidays with OTARP (Judge Horace
Hooker/Chief/Urchin/Announcer #2), and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Gad/Baker).

Connor is also a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society and sings with The Virginians Barbershop Chorus and his quartet, Return to Fourm. He can also be seen at the new Carmax Park with the Richmond Flying Squirrels Entertainment Team and at Kings Dominion in various entertainment positions. When he is not onstage, he teaches voice, guitar, and piano in private lesson settings.

William (Bill) Hicklin, a retired attorney, has sung on and off in church choirs for most of his life, but was primarily a trombonist.  He took up studying voice essentially as a retirement hobby, and has sung major choral works with the Richmond Symphony Chorus and the Richmond Choral Society. Il Commendatore is his first solo role, to which he brings the gravitas of age and a basso profondo timbre.

James Taylor, M.M. (Yale University), is an internationally celebrated performer. At home in opera, concert, recital, and musical theatre, he has appeared with numerous opera companies, symphonies, and theatres, including the New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Carolina, Göttigen Handel Festspiele, Theatre Augsburg, and the Nederlandse Reisopera. In his earlier roles as a baritone, Mr. Taylor performed the title roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Le Nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Boheme, as well as thirty-three others. As a tenor, his performances have included Siegmund in Die Walküre, the title roles in Lohengrin and Parsifal, Don Jose in Carmen, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. 

His many concert performances include Handel's Messiah, Bach's Magnificat, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mozart's Requiem. An avid recitalist, Mr. Taylor has presented programs in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Breda, and Groningen in the Netherlands, Munich, Augsburg, and Dusseldorf in Germany, Klagenfurt, Linz, and Vienna in Austria, and Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, as well as several universities and colleges across the United States.  He has sung Schubert's "Winterreise", "Die schöne Müllerin", and "Schwanengesang", Schumann's "Dichterliebe", "Liederkreise" Op. 24 & Op. 39, Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesange", "Ziguenerlieder" and "Die schöne Magelone", and Wagner's "Wesendonk Lieder".

A talented and sought-after educator, he has served as Director of Opera at Drake University and the University of Alabama and has been on the music faculties of VCU and the University of Virginia. His students have gone on to such prestigious schools as the New England Conservatory, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the Royal College of Music. Several of his students perform regularly with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Semperoper, Glyndebourne, the Opera Comique, Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Landestheater Niederbayern, Opera Frankfurt, and the Oldenburgisches Staatsoper.

Mr. Taylor has had the pleasure to work with many of the top Artist Teachers in the business, such as Jon Fredric West, Sherrill Milnes, Richard Cross, Doris Yarick-Cross, Jackson Sheats, Andrew Gainey, and Seth Riggs. He has also participated in Master Classes with Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, and Regine Crespin.

Alexander Wilkerson is a conductor, arranger and musician from Richmond, Virginia. Since 2021 he has served as director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Large Brass Ensemble.  As director he traveled with the ensemble to perform in the opening night of the Delaware Contemporary Art Museum as a part of the exhibit Through a Glass Darkly, in which musical visualizations were created with lasers and mirrors mounted on brass instruments responding to vibrations.  He also has served as assistant conductor with the Bay Youth and Richmond Youth Symphony Orchestras. Internationally he has served as Director Invitado of Fundacion Tocando Puertas’ Festival in Cartagena, Colombia.  For the last two years he has participated in this global education program where he performs and conducts in the festival.  Through the festival he also teaches underprivileged Colombian students from beginner to advanced.  An avid lover of opera, he has served as assistant conductor for the Saluzzo Opera Academy's production of Handel's Guilio Cesare in 2024.  As a performer he has performed and taught across Virginia in a wide variety of ensembles, venues, and schools.

Justin Lee is an in-demand collaborative pianist across the Richmond area and is currently an adjunct faculty member in University of Richmond’s Music Department. In addition to his duties at UR, he also maintains a large piano studio at Salisbury Presbyterian Church and serves as music director at Lyndale Baptist Church in Chesterfield, VA.

A Richmond area native, Justin holds two degrees in piano performance: a BM from Virginia Commonwealth University (2015), and an MM from University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2018). Past teachers include Buckner Gamby, Yin Zheng, and Dmitri Shteinberg.