Claire Griffin (Mabel) is a soprano and actress from Brevard, NC, whose upcoming 2026 engagements include Ilia (Idomeneo) with A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, Soprano Soloist (Mahler, Symphony No. 4) at the Washington National Cathedral, Créuse (Milhaud’s Médée), and Sylvie (Gounod’s La colombe). She recently appeared as Adina (L’elisir d’amore) with the Janiec Opera Company, Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) with Piedmont Opera, Mag (Richard Wargo’s Ballymore) and Adele (Die Fledermaus) with A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, and as Marie (The Bartered Bride) with the UNCG Opera Theatre.
In addition, Claire sang Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera and covered Musetta and Tina in La bohème and Jonathan Dove’s Flight, respectively with the Janiec Opera Company. She sang at the Aspen Music Festival Opera Theatre and VocalARTS in 2022 and portrayed Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers with the Utah Vocal Arts Academy in 2021.
Ms. Griffin won the Encouragement Award in the 2024 and 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition NC District and was a Finalist in Opera Grand Rapids Collegiate Vocal Competition in 2021 and the YoungArts winner in 2018.
American tenor Grant Knox (Federic) has appeared with leading opera companies including Cincinnati Opera, Atlanta Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Chautauqua Opera, and Indianapolis Opera, among others. He has a particular passion for operetta, having recorded four full operettas for Albany Records and performed the entire Gilbert and Sullivan canon. This experience informs his dynamic work as a director and educator. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Voice, Director of Opera, and Vocal Area Coordinator at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where he received the Alester G. Furman Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching. His stage direction credits at Furman’s Sarah Reese Lyric Theatre include Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Hansel and Gretel, Dido and Aeneas, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, She Loves Me, and Brigadoon.
In the summer, Dr. Knox serves on the voice faculty at SongFest, where he will direct the festival’s next chapter, as it moves to Furman University, continuing its legacy as America’s premier art song festival.
Baritone Boyd Mackus (Major General Stanley) has enjoyed success in a wide variety of operatic, theater, and concert repertoire throughout the United States. He has appeared in major roles with the Goldovsky Grand Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Southwest, Akron Lyric Opera Theatre, and the Urbana Symphony. Earning particular acclaim in the operetta and musical theater arena, Mr. Mackus has performed in over 90 leading and featured roles in works of Kalman, Lehar, Offenbach, Romberg, Strauss, Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Bernstein, and others. His operatic roles include Rossini’s Figaro, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Tonio and Silvio in I Pagliacci, and the title role in Gianni Schicchi.
Mr. Mackus has recorded on the Newport Classics and Albany Records labels.
Baritone Boyd Mackus (Major General Stanley) has enjoyed success in a wide variety of operatic, theater, and concert repertoire throughout the United States. He has appeared in major roles with the Goldovsky Grand Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Southwest, Akron Lyric Opera Theatre, and the Urbana Symphony. Earning particular acclaim in the operetta and musical theater arena, Mr. Mackus has performed in over 90 leading and featured roles in works of Kalman, Lehar, Offenbach, Romberg, Strauss, Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Bernstein and others. His operatic roles include Rossini’s Figaro, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Tonio and Silvio in I Pagliacci, and the title role in Gianni Schicchi.
Mr. Mackus has recorded on the Newport Classics and Albany Records labels.
No stranger to Greensboro Opera audiences, bass-baritone Donald Hartmann (Sergeant of Police), last appeared as the Commendatore in GO’s 2024 production of Don Giovanni. His professional career began in 1978 in Germany with the Stadttheater Regensburg and a debut with Greensboro Opera in 1979. He has been described as possessing a, “big, rich voice with an amazing timbre” and “… his flair for comedic bel canto is major-league-worthy.” Having performed in over 160 operatic productions, in over 60 operas singing over 70 different roles, he is “one of the best character singers on any opera stage anywhere.” Notable performances include William Jennings Bryan in the 60th anniversary production of Ballad Baby Doe for Central City Opera in Colorado, and the Sacristan in Tosca in the historic reopening of New York City Opera’s return to Lincoln Center. Some of the best-loved portraits in Mr. Hartmann’s gallery of characters are Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, which he sang for Greensboro Opera in 2018, and Dr. Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro which he also sang for Opera Roanoke. A frequent presence on stages throughout the United States, he has appeared with the Michigan Opera Theatre, Toledo Opera, Opera Delaware, Arizona Opera, Madison Opera, Piedmont Opera, Opera Carolina, North Carolina Opera, Florentine Opera, Chattanooga Opera, Nashville Opera, and Virginia Opera.
Amber Guest (Ruth), COMING SOON!
Pirate King, COMING SOON!