The BARN OPERA Artistic Team
Joshua Collier (Artistic Director)
American tenor, Joshua Collier, praised for his “thrilling high range” and “passionate commitment to character,” was hailed as “a great Italian tenor on the make” by Boston’s Classical Scene as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette.
A graduate of The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Bachelor of Music - Vocal Performance) The New England Conservatory (Masters in Music - Vocal Performance), he has performed throughout New England and beyond in roles including: Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca - BARN OPERA), Rodolfo (La Bohème - Opera Ithaca), Nemorino (L’Elisir D’Amore - Opera Company of Middlebury), Chevalier de La Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites - Sarasota Opera), Calaf (Turandot - Opera Company of Middlebury), Macduff (Macbeth - Raylynmor Opera) B. F. Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly - Opera West), Camille (The Merry Widow - Opera Wilmington), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte - Opera New Hampshire), Tony (West Side Story - Asheville Lyric Opera), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Lowell House Opera), Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia - Opera Brittenica), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance - Opera Providence), Fabrizio (The Light in the Piazza - Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre), among others.
In addition to the lyric stage, Mr. Collier has performed the tenor solos in much of the symphonic and oratorio repertoire including Requiem by both Verdi and Mozart, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings (op.31), Rejoice in the Lamb, Abraham and Isaac - All by Benjamin Britten, Elijah and Paulus of Mendelssohn, Handel’s Messiah, as well as Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the Coronation Mass of Mozart. He was the tenor soloist for the New England premiere of Robert Aldridge’s Parables: An Interfaith Oratorio with Bennington Choral Society.
Throughout his career he has been fortunate to work with such conductors as James Albritten, Nicolas Giusti, Stephen Lord, Lidiya Yankovskaya, John Moriarty, Emmanuel Plasson, Andy Anderson, Michael Sakir, Francisco Noya, among many others.
Mr. Collier founded the Bostonian opera company, Opera Brittenica, championing the works of Benjamin Britten, in 2013, and is currently is the founder and Artistic Director of BARN OPERA (www.barnopera.com) based in Brandon, Vermont. Mr. Collier is a professor of Voice at Castleton University and is represented world-wide by Berger Artist Management. for more information, please visit jrctenor.com
Cailin Marcel Manson (Music Director)
Baritone and conductor Cailin Marcel Manson, a Philadelphia native, has enjoyed an international career as an operatic/concert soloist, conductor, and master teacher with many organizations, including the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Taipei Philharmonic, Bayerische Staatsoper - Münchner Opernfestspiele, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro San Carlo, Konservatorium Oslo, and the Conservatoire de Luxembourg.
Mr. Manson has held positions as Music Director of the Vorarlberger Musikfest, Music Director and Conductor Laureate of the Chamber Symphony of Atlantic City, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra, Chair of Vocal Studies at the Hazleton Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and as Director of Music at The Putney School. He has also served as a member of the faculty of the Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts and the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary.
Mr. Manson is currently Director of Choral Activities and Music Performance at Clark University in Worcester, MA, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Germantown Concert Chorus in Philadelphia, PA, Music Director of the Bennington County Choral Society in Vermont, and Music Director of The Keene Chorale in New Hampshire.
A recognized advocate for community-based classical music organizations, Mr. Manson serves on the Board of Directors for Choral Arts New England, the Wagner in Vermont Festival, on the Board of Trustees for the Gift Passion Purpose Project, and is a member of the International Conductors’ Guild, League of American Orchestras, Opera America, American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Negro Musicians.
Mr. Manson studied voice performance at Temple University, and opera performance and orchestral conducting at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg.