2019 Fellows
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Briana Sosenheimer
​Assistant Director

Briana Sosenheimer has directed and assistant directed over 20 different productions with Indianapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Ball State University, Anderson University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and Georgia Southern University. Recently directed productions include Talk Opera by Milton Granger, the United States premiere of Choir Practice by Stephen Chatman, and Street Scene by Kurt Weill. With a passion for opera outreach, she has pastiche composed four operas for children which have been performed across the country. She has sung internationally in Austria, Canada, Italy, South Africa, and throughout the United States. This includes performing principle roles in full productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La Boheme, Werther, and Carmen. She has also appeared as a soprano soloist in oratorios including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Coronation Mass. As a former member of In Sync Dance Theatre, Briana had the opportunity to perform with Chicago Tap Theatre. Recent choreographed productions include GREASE The Musical, The Little Mermaid, and South Pacific. She has served as the Stage Director for the Resident Artist Ensemble and the Resident Assistant Director at Indianapolis Opera. Dr. Sosenheimer is currently the Director of Opera at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. 

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Alex Paul
​​Assistant Director

Alex Paul is a stage director based in New York. Paul was a young artist director at Brevard Music Center, and will be the resident director at North Shore Music Festival for 2019. Directorial credits include Cosi Fan Tutte (abridged)/ Florida State Opera, Patience/ Long Island Light Opera, The Very Best of Gilbert and Sullivan/ Brevard Music Center. Assistant directing credits include: Of Mice and Men (Matthew Lata, Director)/ Florida State Opera,, Don Pasquale (David Gately, Director), Le Nozze di Figaro and Street Scene (Dean Anthony, Director) /Brevard Music Center, The Fairy Queen/ Hofstra Opera Theater, Romeo et Juliette (Buck Ross, Director)/ Moores Opera Center. As a stage manager credits include Anna Karenina (David Carlson)/ Moores Opera Center and La Boheme/ Florida State OperaPaul is currently pursuing a masters in Opera Production (Stage Directing) from the Florida State University under the mentorship of Matthew Lata. Paul also holds degrees from The University of Houston and New England Conservatory. Paul joins the Chicago Summer Opera as a directing fellow for the summer of 2019 to direct Menotti’s The Medium.



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Alexandra Saulisbury
Assistant Director

Alexandra Saulsbury is a native of Sioux City, Iowa pursuing a Master of Music Performance degree in Opera Directing from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was recently awarded the Butler Excellence Scholarship. She is joining Chicago Summer Opera after completing a Directing Fellowship with Opera Saratoga. In 2018, Alexandra stepped in to direct Handel's Partenope at Opera NEO in San Diego, California. The production was lauded by critics as being "a Handel triumph" and "as dramatically engaging as its rich musical score" (San Diego Story). Alexandra is the resident Assistant Director with One Ounce Opera in Austin, Texas where she has directed regional premieres of She’s Fabulous and The Boy Who Wanted to be a Robot. Recent directing credits also include selections from La traviata for the Butler Opera Center’s fall scenes program and scenes from Italian opera at Opera Viva! in Verona, Italy and the Interharmony Chamber Music Festival in Acqui Terme, Italy. Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa. 



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Diane Machin
Assistant Director

Diane Machin hails from California, but has made New York her home for the past six years.   Select past productions include; Theresa Rebeck’s Spike Heels, KISS:Disambiguation a collaboration with Emily Duncan, Bert V. Royal’s Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, and an abridged As You Like It. Next up, she is working on Young Gods with playwright Ruth Tang that will premiere in New York in October and will direct Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life Spring 2020. She will complete her MFA in directing at the New School of Drama in Spring of 2020.






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Mario Pacheco
​Assistant Director

Mario Pacheco is a young, emerging Canadian stage director hailing from Hamilton, Ontario. He is a graduate of Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program and will continue his education this coming September pursuing the University of Toronto’s Artist Diploma in Operatic Stage Direction under the mentorship of Michael Albano. Most recently, Mario assisted Theodore Baerg at the University of Western, Ontario on their winter production of Le nozze di Figaro. Before coming to Chicago Summer Opera for their 2019 season, Mario will be assistant directing Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Brian Deedrick at Opera NUOVA. Having studied music theatre performance for his undergrad, previous performance credits include shows such as How to Succeed in Business, Footloose, Les Misérables, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Rent. Mario joins Chicago Summer Opera as a directing fellow, assistant directing Handel’s Giulio Cesare.


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Jen Stephenson
​Assistant Director 

A born storyteller, Jen Stephenson has directed productions with Music On Site, Inc., Harrower Summer Opera, Druid City Opera Workshop, Lawrence Opera Theatre, The University of Alabama Opera Theatre, and Tabor College Opera, which she founded in 2015. Favorite directing credits include Amahl and the Night Visitors, Captain Lovelock, La favola d'Orfeo, Hansel and Gretel, The Medium, Patience, and The Telephone. In the summer of 2015, she was the recipient of the prestigious National Opera Association JoElyn Wakefield-Wright Stage Director Fellowship. The East Wichita News praised Stephenson’s production of The Medium and The Telephone with Music On Site, Inc., saying, “The double bill was a Broadway hit in 1947, running for 212 performances, and director Jen Stephenson’s clear, straightforward approach to the works allows one to see why… The opera is 70 years old, but the comedy felt fresh and current, thanks in part to a clever introduction that Stephenson wrote.” Equally comfortable as a conductor, Stephenson has served as chorus-master for the Wichita Grand Opera, The University of Alabama Opera Theatre, and the University of South Florida Opera Workshop, and has conducted operas and musicals for The Actors Charitable Theatre (AL), Arts in Motion (FL), and The University of Alabama Opera Theatre. An avid scholar, Stephenson has presented numerous clinics, masterclasses, and lectures throughout the United States.  In 2017, Stephenson’s DMA dissertation, “Luigi Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and Gian-Carlo Menotti’s The Consul: A Comparative Study,” was named the winner of the prestigious National Opera Association’s biennial Dissertation Competition. Dr. Stephenson is currently Department Chair and Director of Vocal Studies and Opera at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas.

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Yael Front
Assistant Conductor

Originally from Israel, Yael Front has been living and working in the United States since 2013. In 2014, Ms. Front was named music director and principal conductor of the Cincinnati Chamber Opera. With CCO, she has conducted a diversity of productions, including Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Ariodante, Il Matrimonio Segreto, and The Little Prince. In 2017-2018, Ms. Front held the positions of conducting fellow with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and guest assistant conductor with the Cincinnati Ballet. Ms. Front was awarded third Prize in the London Classical Soloists Conducting Competition and was named music director of the University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2015 and, in 2016, served as assistant conductor for the National Music Festival (MD) and the Atlantic Music Festival (MA). She is a recipient of the International Peace Scholarship from P.E.O. International and the John L. Magro Foundation Scholarship. Yael Front is completing her doctoral studies in orchestral and operatic conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. At CCM, Ms. Front has led a wide range of works, notably Così fan tutte, Cendrillon and Giselle. In 2019-2020, Ms. Front is slated to conduct symphonic, operatic, choral and music theater works across the United States.

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