James Patterson, whose “beautifully expressive bass just keeps getting better and better” (San Francisco Examiner), has been praised by some of the most respected critics in the United States, including Andrew Porter, who called him “a bass to watch — sonorous and beautiful in timbre.” (New Yorker) Mr. Patterson has given over 150 performances with the San Franscisco Opera over the span of 20 years including Fafner in the widely acclaimed Ring Cycle and the King of Egypt in Aida with Leontyne Price. Canadian credits include leading roles with the opera companies of Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. Mr. Patterson’s career has also taken him throughout the United States, with highlights including leading roles with Chicago Lyric Opera, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera and San Diego Opera.

Ava Pine, soprano, is an artist-in-residence with Dallas Opera. She is praised for "sheer vocal beauty, ease and eloquence," “vocalizing in shimmering cascades of coloratura” by the Dallas Morning News. A specialist in baroque and Bel Canto repertoire, she has also performed with Arizona Opera, Boston Baroque, Florentine Opera and the Wolf Trap Summer Festival. Ms. Pine's awards and honors include first prize from the metropolitan Opera National council Auditions, Tulsa District (2006), as well as the Audience Favorite and Female encouragment Awards in the 2006 Fort Worth Opera McCammon Voice competition.

Colm Fitzmaurice returns after playing Ralph Rackshaw in Opera Naples' HMS Pinafore, December 2008. He has been making his mark in Operetta, Opera and Music Theater throughout the United States and in Europe. His leading man looks and vocal charisma have been welcomed in the light opera repertoire.This season, he premiered a number of leading roles with New York’s Gilbert and Sullivan Players at New York’s City Center, including Ralph in HMS Pinafore, Frederic The Pirates of Penzance, Hilarion Princess Ida and Marco The Gondoliers.

Corinne Schaefer is a graduate of Indiana University, where she received a BM in vocal performance in 2004. That same year, she was awarded the Mary Dibbern Mélodie Prize in Honor of Paul Vellucci from the Lotte Lehmann Cyber Sing competition. She then moved back to the east coast where she performed as a member of the Pacific Opera Company in NYC. As a member of Pacific Opera, Corinne performed concerts in New Jersey, Washington DC, and New York City. Highlights include the role of Gretel, in Hansel and Gretel and making her Carnegie Hall debut (Weil Hall). Corinne has performed with the Amadeus Opernensemble Salzburg in Salzburg, Austria. With this opera company, Corinne performed the roles of Die Königin der Nacht, in Die Zauberflöte, and Adele in Die Fledermaus. While in Salzburg, she performed her concert Mozart: Friends and Enemies, the music of Mozart, Paisiello, and Salieri. An avid performer of art song, Corinne has performed a variety of concerts and recitals in Austria, Italy, Indiana, and New Jersey. In January of 2008, she won 2nd place in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition in LA. Other programs she has participated in include EPCASO (Enzio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera) in Oderzo, Italy, the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program in Italy, and the Westminster Choir College's Solo Artist Program. Additional roles include, Beth in The Tenderlands, Marion in The Music Man, and Kate in Kiss Me Kate. Ms. Schaefer studies voice with Ashley Putnam and coaches with Earl Buys.

Educated at both the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School, baritone Graham Fandrei has performed in venues across the United States, Europe and Asia. Recently he performed Baron Duphol with Florida Grand Opera and with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, he performed a concert of American songs, including pieces from composers Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer and Kurt Weill. Mr. Fandrei performed both Marcello and Schaunard in director Baz Luhrmann’s (Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet) production of Puccini’s La Boheme on Broadway. In 2003, he made his European debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in Rotterdam, Holland.
Mr. Fandrei has performed several seasons with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In the fall of 2001, he traveled with OTSL to Tokyo, Japan to perform Suzaku in the Japanese premiere of Minoru Miki’s opera The Tale of Genji, directed by Colin Graham. The following year in St. Louis, he played multiple roles in the world premiere of Cary John Franklin’s The Loss of Eden.

Mr. Fandrei has performed over 20 different operatic roles throughout the U.S. including the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, both Demetrius and Starveling in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Apollo in Cavalli’s L’Egisto and Mr. Peachum in Weil’s Three Penny Opera.
Mr. Fandrei is from Miami, Florida and one of his major goals is to bring opera to his mother’s native country, Belize.

Tenor Calvin Ellis Lee who recently made his debut in Paris at the Opera Comique and at Theatre Caen in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess has performed worldwide in numerous productions of the opera. Notably, he toured with Houston Grand Opera's international production that performed in such notable opera houses as La Scala,  Paris National Opera Bastille and Japan's Bunkamura Theater in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya with the Japanese Philharmonic. Recently, Mr. Lee recorded Porgy and Bess for Decca Records with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Maestro John Mauceri.
In recent seasons, Mr. Lee performed with Tulsa Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Memphis, Orlando Opera, and Connecticut Opera in roles such as Pang in Turandot, Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors featuring soprano Kallen Esperian, Mingo, Peter, and Robbins in Porgy and Bess, the Four Servants in Les Contes D'Hoffmann, and Dritte Jude in Salome featuring internationally acclaimed performers such as soprano Marquita Lister, tenor Gary Lakes, baritone Greer Grimsley, and conductors Maestro Frantz Vote and Maestro Willie Anthony Waters. 
Other roles performed by Mr. Lee include The Sailor in Dido and Aeneas, The Circus Manager in The Bartered Bride, Victor in Los Bohemios, Joe in Blue Monday, Von Asterburg in The Student Prince, Cascada in The Merry Widow and Littore in L'Incoronazione di Poppea.
He also was co-developer of a one-man show that he performed for FBN Opera for Kids called Characters Through Song, which introduced children to opera. 

One of Opera Naples' favorites, Artistic and Management Consultant Carl Ratner returns again this season after serving as Stage Director and also as Benoit/Alcindoro in Rigoletto, March 2009.

He learned his craft assisting directors, including eminent composer Gian Carlo Menotti, at the world's major opera houses, including the Royal Opera (Covent Garden) in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, among many others. He served as Artistic Director of Chicago Opera Theater from 1994-1999, and previously held the same post at Chamber Opera Chicago from 1985-1993. For Opera Naples, he directed Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Prodigal Son, Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly. Also accomplished as a baritone, he has performed the title roles in Verdi's Falstaff and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, as well as Papageno in The Magic Flute and John Proctor in The Crucible. A frequent soloist for oratorio, he has sung Handel's Messiah and Bach's Magnificat with The Bach Ensemble of Naples and Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Aaron Copland's Old Amercian Songs with the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale. He received his Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University and currently serves as Director of Opera at Western Michigan University.

Lucy Arner is an Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. She joined the company’s music staff during the 1994-1995 season specializing in Italian repertory. Ms. Arner has been featured as the recitative accompanist in recent productions of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Armore as well as preparing the Met’s telecast production of Giordano’s Fedora with Mirella Freni, Placido Domingo and Roberto Abbado conducting.

Ms. Arner became the Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Opera in November 2000, making her debut with the company conducting an exciting and controversial production of Britten’s Rape of Lucretia.
Born in Cuba, Ms. Arner began her musical studies at the age of twelve. She attended Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana University, revceiving her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees and continued her doctoral studies at the University of Miami.

Ron Bowman
Music and the educational process have played major roles in the life of Ron Bowman, who holds two baccalaureate degrees from Georgia State University, in vocal performance (classical baritone) and foreign languages; a master’s in voice from the University of Tennessee, and a doctorate in music from Florida State University. Prior to moving to Naples, Dr. Bowman was a Professor at Auburn University in Alabama for seven years teaching voice and opera. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Student Development and Dean of Students of Hodges University, a private nonprofit institution. In addition to his administrative duties, Ron teaches a popular course in music appreciation and he is a frequent music lecturer for the Francis Pew Hayes Center for Lifelong Learning and other non-profit organizations. Dr. Bowman also plays the piano, and he enjoys accompanying and working with young singers locally. Ron Bowman is the president of the Naples Opera Society, serves on the advisory board of Opera Naples, and is a “Star in the Arts 2007”, as announced by the United Arts Council of Collier County. Recent performances include roles in Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Trial by Jury for Opera Naples.