Handel in Focus

Synopsis

PART ONE 
Bradamante has landed on Alcina’s magical island in search of her fiancé Ruggiero. She  will disguise herself as Ricciardo and has brought Melissa, Ruggiero’s most trusted friend. The island is ruled by the sorceress Alcina, who has taken Ruggiero as her latest lover.  Oronte, Alcina’s loyal captain of the guard (in love with Alcina’s sister, Morgana)  discourages Ricciardo from remaining too long on this island: Alcina destroys her lovers  when she tires of them, using her magic to turn them into rocks or beasts of the forest.  

Ruggiero is under a deep spell and dismisses Melissa’s warnings. Bradamante’s rescue  plan seems destined to fail, but the disguise has worked a bit too well — Morgana has fallen  in love with the stranger, abandoning Oronte for Ricciardo. She will persuade her sister to  keep Ricciardo alive.

Oronte, enraged, encourages Ruggiero’s jealousy towards Ricciardo in hopes Alcina will rid  them both of a rival, but Morgana saves Ricciardo, only to be betrayed by “him” when “he”  is revealed as Bradamante. Ruggiero, with the aid of a magic ring from Melissa, sees the  error of his infatuation and makes plans to escape, bidding a poignant farewell to the island  that is only illusion.  

PART TWO 
Alcina struggles with betrayal and loss, and seeks revenge, but the ring Ruggiero now wears  protects him from Alcina’s enchantment. Morgana, humbled, desperately tries to regain  Oronte’s trust. Before Ruggiero, Bradamante, and Melissa leave, they set about to destroy  the urn which is the source of Alcina’s power and liberate all the former lovers imprisoned  by magic. Now very much alone, Alcina bids farewell to her beloved Ruggiero. 
 

Back To Program ^

About the Program

Opera Connects 2026  
Handel in Focus

As an educator and artist, I have long been committed to bringing the music of George Frideric Handel into our programming and curriculum as an essential pillar of operatic training. Written in the early 18th century, at the height of the Baroque era, Handel’s operas offer extraordinary richness: intricate vocal writing, profound emotional depth, and a dramatic architecture that continues to challenge and inspire performers centuries later.

For singers, pianist-coaches, and directors alike, Handel presents a rare and invaluable opportunity. The music demands stylistic precision, imagination, and flexibility; the drama invites us to seek contemporary relevance and human truth within stories shaped by myth, magic, and desire. These works are not only historically significant, they remain deeply alive.

Opera Connects grew from a simple but powerful question: how can performers connect more viscerally, more honestly, to the text and drama of an opera? In this project, recitatives and spoken dialogue are treated as living theatrical tools. Each performer speaks these moments in their own mother tongue, allowing the text to be embodied at its most fundamental level—through the natural rhythms, instincts, and emotional resonance of one’s first language.

This approach encourages a deeper internalization of character, dramaturgy, and story. By working through the immediacy of spoken language, performers engage with the material in a more instinctive, personal way, strengthening the connection between thought, emotion, and action. In this sense, Opera Connects becomes both a pedagogical exploration and an artistic statement.

With Alcina, one of Handel’s most psychologically rich masterpieces, we invite our singers, pianists, and directors to rethink tradition, embrace vulnerability, and collaborate across languages and disciplines. My hope is that Handel in Focus—Alcina will allow Opera Connects to take flight within the Butler School of Music, growing into a curiosity-driven, experimental performance avenue—one that encourages us to dream boldly, create fearlessly, and connect not only with this repertoire, but with one another and with the world.

– Dr. Tamar Sanikidze
 

Back to Program ^

About the Artists

Joohyun Kim

Joohyun Kim (Melissa),  is a second-year D.M.A. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. She holds an M.M. and a professional studies diploma from the Mannes School of Music. Her operatic credits include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon, Flora in La traviata, Susanna in The Ghosts of Versailles, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice. In 2025, she received an encouragement award at the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition (Colorado–Wyoming district).

Xinshu Li

Xinshu Li (Alcina), is a second-year D.M.A. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. She previously earned her performance diploma from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. In 2025, she appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Music Academy of the West and as Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at the Butler Opera Center. Additional Butler Opera Center credits include Gossip in The Ghosts of Versailles. Other operatic roles include Tosca (New York Conservatory Opera) and La traviata (Molise Opera). She was awarded third place in the 2024 NSAL Voice Competition.

Wen Liu

Wen Liu ( Ruggiero),  is a second-year D.M.A. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. She earned her M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music and her B.M. from the Minzu University of China. Her operatic roles include the Child in L’enfant et les sortilèges; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and The Ghosts of Versailles; Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro; Tisbe in La Cenerentola; Mandelva in The Legend of Mudiao; She has also appeared as mezzo-soprano soloist in Stabat Mater by Nunes Garcia.

Yuxin Liu 

Yuxin Liu (Morgana), is a third- year D.M.A. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. She earned her M.M. at the New England Conservatory.  At Butler Opera Center, she has performed Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Violetta in La traviata, and Lan in Tea: A Mirror of Soul. Other credits include Sandman in Hansel and Gretel (NEC), Amor in L’arbore di Diana (NEC). She was a two-time district winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Arkansas district, 2024, 2025) and the recipient of inaugural American Art Song Prize at SongFest (2024). Yuxin is also a resident star of Austin Opera and outreach artist of OPERA San Antonio this season.

Kayla Suter

Kayla Suter (Oronte), is a second-year M.M. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. At the Butler Opera Center, she appeared in Cendrillon and The Ghosts of Versailles. She earned her bachelor's degree at Liberty University, where she performed Despina in Così fan tutte, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. She was recently seen in Sleepy Hollow (Brian Clowdus Experiences); Suor Angelica (Opera on the James). She furthered her operatic training in Italy with Opera Lucca, where she performed the role of Suor Dolcina in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
 

Ziqi Wang

Ziqi Wang (Bradamante), is a second-year D.M.A. student in opera performance, studying with Leah Crocetto. At Butler Opera Center, she has performed Prince in Cendrillon and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. She earned her M.M. at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she appeared as Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Alice in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Fidalma in Il matrimonio segreto. Awards include district encouragement in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Puerto Rico district, 2026), first prize in the Beethoven Young Musician Competition, fourth prize at the International Music Competition Vienna, and second prize in the National Vocal Music Leading Talent Training Program.

Vakhtang Zaalishvili 

Vakhtang Zaalishvili (piano),is a second-year M.M. student in opera coaching, studying with Tamar Sanikidze. He holds a B.A. in piano performance from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. At Butler Opera Center, Vakhtang worked on The Ghosts of Versailles, La traviata and Le nozze di Figaro. Other credits include Falstaff (Conservatorio Arrigo Boito, Parma) and Dido and Aeneas (Tbilisi State Conservatoire). He served as music director and chorus master for Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Delaware Valley Opera). Vakhtang won first place at the Music Without Limits International Competition.

Tamar Sanikidze

A “technically nimble and supportive pianist” (The New York Times), Dr. Tamara Sanikidze has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages and serves as the head of voice division, director, producer, and principal coach of the Butler Opera Center and artistic director of the Butler Opera International Competition. As an active recitalist, she partners with Nadine Sierra, Thomas Hampson, Leah Crocetto, Lianna Haroutounian, and Quinn Kelsey. By special invitation, Dr. Sanikidze performed at the White House for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. She frequently coaches for the Merola Opera Program, Wolf Trap Opera Center, as well as Young Artist Programs at Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro De’ll Opera di Roma, and Los Angeles Opera. In 2015 she joined the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West as Faculty Artist and Audition/Casting judge. Dr. Sanikidze is the recipient of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award for Excellence in Vocal Accompanying. She holds her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is an alumna of the Wolftrap Opera Center, Merola Opera Center, as well as the Music Academy of the West, Aspen Opera Center, Cleveland Art Song Festival, and SongFest.

Yingmeige Xiong

Yingmeige Xiong (stage director)，is a second-year D.M.A. student in opera directing at The University of Texas at Austin, where she previously completed her D.M.A. in opera performance. At the Butler Opera Center, she has appeared as Polina in The Queen of Spades, Mercedes in Carmen, Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore, and Lu in Tea: A Mirror of Soul, among others. As a director, she made her directorial debut with the world premiere of Audition Fever. She has served as assistant director for La Bohème and Le nozze di Figaro, and has also worked on the stage management teams for Cendrillon and The Ghosts of Versailles. She is currently pursuing dual careers as a mezzo-soprano and opera director, and will direct Il Tabarro for Butler Opera Center in April.

Garnett Bruce

Known especially for his large-scale work of opera’s most well-known productions, Garnett Bruce (stage director) has created stagings of Turandot, Carmen, Tosca, Aida, Pagliacci, and La bohème that have been seen coast to coast. Bruce's body of work includes directing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. From 2008 to 2011 he was at Opera Omaha, where he led a cycle of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. He began directing for the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University in 2004, receiving a faculty appointment in 2006. Bruce regularly participated at the Aspen Music Festival and School from 1993 to 2019. Recently, Bruce became Artistic Advisor to OPERA San Antonio.  Born in Washington, D.C., Bruce was a choirboy at Washington National Cathedral and holds degrees in English & Drama from Tufts University. After internships with Harold Prince and Leonard Bernstein in the early 1990s, he joined the staffs of the The Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, and Opera Colorado.  has recently staged Don Giovanni at Ravinia with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Turandot for Los Angeles Opera, Le Comte Ory for Merola/San Francisco Opera, and in July returns to Prague to stage Die Zauberflöte

Back to Program