Don Pasquale, A Live Drive-In Opera

Kostis Protopapas was named General Director of Opera Santa Barbara in December 2017, after two-and-a-half seasons as Artistic Director. 

During his time as Artistic Director and principal conductor, Kostis brought a unified vision to OSB’s musical and production values, strengthening the orchestra and chorus, engaging some of the country’s most promising young directors and singers, building a high-performing production team, and increasing focus on contemporary American opera. As General Director Kostis assembled a team of enthusiastic overachievers with a passion for innovation and the desire to strengthen the company’s bond with the community, who consistently deliver programs and communications far greater than what can be expected from the size of the company.

Performance highlights from Kostis’ tenure include grand opera classics like Madama Butterfly, Manon, and Eugene Onegin as well as contemporary works like Daniel Catan’s Il Postino, the mariachi opera Cruzar la cara de la luna,  and Robert Ward’s The Crucible, which the Santa Barbara Independent called “one of the season’s most exciting performances of any kind in Santa Barbara”.

Between March 2020 and June 2021, under Kostis’ leadership Opera Santa Barbara remained active and fully staffed.  It was the first performing arts organization in Santa Barbara to offer streaming programming, and one of only two opera companies in California to present three live operas in the 2020-21 season.  Additionally, Opera Santa Barbara became an advocacy leader for the reopening of the performing arts, and funded live performances by local musicians through “Operation Eurydice”.   

Before coming to Santa Barbara Kostis was the Artistic Director of Tulsa Opera since 2008.  He previously  was an Assistant Conductor with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera and Santa Fe Opera. At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, he also served as Assistant Chorus Master under Donald Palumbo for two seasons..

Born in Athens, Greece, Kostis Protopapas studied Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Athens before coming to the United States in 1993, on an Onassis Foundation scholarship, to study piano at The Boston Conservatory and conducting at Boston University. He became an American citizen in 2011.  He loves living in Santa Barbara, and enjoys downtown restaurants, the Funk Zone’s tasting rooms, and sailing on the Santa Barbara Channel.

Named as one of Musical America’s Top 30 Innovators in Classical Music, Josh Shaw is the Executive and Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Project (POP), which has been described as "L.A.'s most exciting new opera company." Over the past ten seasons, Mr. Shaw has directed over 35 productions at POP, including The Rake’s Progress, Ariadne auf Naxos, La Calisto, Tosca: A Moving Production; and La Boheme: AKA “The Hipsters”.  Mr. Shaw’s reimagining of Die Entführung aus dem Serail as an episode of Star Trek has gained national attention and has been produced with record-breaking numbers.

Since turning his attention to directing in 2011, Mr. Shaw has directed over 80 productions at companies including New Orleans Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Orlando, Intermountain Opera, Opera in the Heights, The Southern Illinois Music Festival, Opera Neo, Gulfshore Opera, Queen City Opera, and Salt Marsh Opera. Mr. Shaw's Barber of Seville at Opera Santa Barbara was described as "riotously funny" and "thoroughly amusing from overture to final bow." His work as a director has been described as "Brave and unflinching," "Ingenious," "Relentlessly and adorably rambunctious," "with enough good comic ideas for at least three productions." As a producer, he has been praised for his "supreme savvy" and "high level of production quality" with "the power to enthrall and captivate audiences."

Recent projects include US premieres of Gluck’s La Corona and Il Parnaso confuso, a new 2020 inspired English adaptation of Cosi fan tutte, a drive in Don Pasquale, and Bizet’s little-known Italian opera buffa, Don Procopio. In 2018 Mr. Shaw directed Tabasco: A Burlesque Opera, a newly rediscovered operetta by G. W. Chadwick, last performed in 1894, which was described as "delightful, packed with humor, and a feast for all the senses" by The New Orleans Advocate. In addition to directing the production, Mr. Shaw also wrote a new book and additional lyrics for the project that celebrated the McIlhenney Company’s 150th anniversary.

In addition to the rewrite of Tabasco and the new book and lyrics for Abduction from the Seraglio, Mr. Shaw has written several English version librettos including a Wild West setting of Die Lustige Witwe, a contemporary setting of Die Schauspieldirektor, a production of Die Zauberflöte set in the world of 1980s video games, and a groundbreaking production of Madama Butterfly sung in Japanese and English, a co-production of POP and Opera in Heights (Houston).

Some career highlights include critical acclaim for her portrayal of Andromède in the American premiere of Ibert’s Persée et Andromède which made the New York Times “Best Classical Music of 2016;” her professional debut as the Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice alongside Anthony Roth Costanzo and Kiera Duffy in an installment of “Orphic Moments” with Brooklyn’s National Sawdust Theater under the baton of Matthew Aucoin; as well as performing in the west coast premiere of Jonathan Scheffer’s Blood on the Dining Room Floor (Rose 1) at age 19.

Miss McIntyre won first prize in the Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Competition which gave her the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires to sing a series of concerts at various venues including El Salon Dorado at the Teatro Colón. She is an award winner from the Jensen Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, George London Foundation, Art Song Preservation Society, Metropolitan National Council, among others. She is a Richard F. Gold grant recipient from the Shoshana Foundation, and the winner of the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition at Manhattan School of Music.

Jana has been an apprentice with Tulsa Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Merola Opera Program. She did her academic work at the University of California, Los Angeles in Psychology (B.A.) and Music (B.A.). She received her Masters in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Andrew Potter, bass has garnered increasing demand across the country for his larger than life stage presence and voice to match. Of his recent performance in L’elisir d’amore, Opera Today hailed, “With his huge, all-encompassing bass voice and precise comic timing he nearly stole the show.” This past summer, Potter performed the role of The Bonze in Madama Butterfly with St. Petersburg Opera, reprised the role of Hunding in Die Walküre with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, sang Vodnik in Rusalka with Steamboat Opera, and performed Escamillo in Carmen with Mid-Ohio Opera. Upcoming engagements include Prince Gremen in Eugene Onegin with Livermore Valley Opera, Poo-Bah in Mikado with Opera Grand Rapids, Sulpice in Daughter of the Regiment with Winter Opera St. Louis, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Indianapolis Opera, Ramfis in Aïda with Raylynmore Opera, and Pastor Avery in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline with Tulsa Opera.

Recent engagements have included Osmin in Die Entführung with Opera Orlando, Colline in La bohème with Anchorage Opera and Indianapolis Opera, his Tulsa Opera début as The King in The Little Prince, Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Pacific Opera Project, Dr. Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Winter Opera St. Louis, Fafner in Das Rheingold and Colline in La bohème with Pittsburgh Festival Opera, the role of Death in the world premiére of Rick Sowash’s Death and the Everyman and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Mid-Ohio Opera, and Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Ferrando in Il trovatore with Southern Illinois Music Festival.

Additionally, Andrew has performed across the country proficiently demonstrating the vocal power and sonority to sing such roles as Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, the range and physicality to perform buffo roles like Don Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Alfonso in Cosi? fan tutte, Don Magnifico in Cenerentola; and the flexibility and agility to sing challenging Handelian roles including Zoroastro in Orlando, Ariodate in Serse, and Argante in Rinaldo.

With years of studying under renowned teachers such as Rick Christman, Braeden Harris, and Kenneth Shaw; Andrew became a standout in mainstage roles at several of the nation’s most prestigious Young Artist programs such as Des Moines Metro Opera, St. Petersburg Emerging Artist Program, and the Tyler Young Artist Program.

The San Francisco Chronicle exclaims, “For theatrical charisma and musical bravado, it would be hard to top the performance of baritone Efraín Solís.” He is a recent graduate of the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship and while with the company, sang his first performances of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Dandini in La cenerentola, Schaunard in La bohème, Silvano in Un ballo in maschera, Sciarrone in Tosca, and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly. In the 2020-21 season, he joins Opera San Jose and Florida Grand Opera as Charlie in Heggie’s Three Decembers and Utah Opera as Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen. Future engagements include Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera San Jose and a return to Opera Southwest, originally scheduled for this season. Last season, he returned to Utah Opera as Lieutenant Audebert in Puts’ Silent Night and Virginia Opera as Di Cosimo in Catán’s Il postino in joining the Cincinnati Song Initiative for a program of songs by Granados and Turina. His debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the Peasant in Schönberg’s Gurrelieder and return to the role of Schaunard in La bohème with Fort Worth Opera were unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

He joined Houston Grand Opera’s HGOCo, New York City Opera, and El Paso Opera as Mark in Martinez’s Cruzar la cara de la luna. Other recent performances for the baritone include Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Utah Opera, Opera Carolina, Virginia Opera, and Toledo Opera; Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Memphis and Livermore Valley Opera; Slook in La cambiale di matrimonio with Nicholas McGegan conducting Philharmonia Baroque; El Payador in Piazzola’s Maria de Buenos Aires with Opera Southwest, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande and Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox with West Edge Opera; Fiesque in Maria di Rohan with Washington Concert Opera, Gaspar in Rita with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and Dick in Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock with Opera Saratoga. He joined both Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera for concerts of opera favorites.

Mr. Solis sang his first performances of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Palo Alto Philharmonic and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem as a guest artist at Concordia College. He joined the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra for Britten’s War Requiem and both Las Vegas Philharmonic and New Choral Society for Handel’s Messiah. An active recitalist, he has previous joined the New York Festival of Song for multiple programs of Spanish repertoire and has been presented in a Schwabacher Debut Recital in San Francisco and offered an additional recital program at the El Camino College Center for the Arts.

He is an alumnus of the prestigious Merola Opera Program in association with San Francisco Opera, at which he sang Junius in The Rape of Lucretia and covered Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. He is also a former member of Opera Santa Barbara’s Studio Artist Program. In 2013, he was a Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and sang arias from Rodelinda and Le nozze di Figaro on the famed company’s stage with Marco Armilianto conducting. He was also a finalist in Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition and the Loren L. Zachary Society for the Performing Arts National Vocal Competition. He holds a Master of Music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, at which he sang Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and while at Chapman University, his performances included Beethoven’s Mass in C and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria.

Opera News exclaims that in San Francisco Opera’s Sweeney Todd, “Tenor Matthew Grills made the strongest impression, delivering Tobias’s ‘Not While I’m Around’ with touching tenderness.” In the 2020-21 season, he returns to the roles of Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Opera Santa Barbara and Ramiro in La cenerentola with Nashville Opera as well as joins Santa Fe Opera as Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His return to Seattle Opera as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, his role and company debut as Gonsalve in L’heure espagnole with the Israel Philharmonic, the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex with Opera Philadelphia, and Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus Symphony were cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic as were his returns to Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Utah Opera and the Sacramento Philharmonic last season. Earlier in the 2019-20 season, he returned to Seattle Opera for his role debut as Ramiro in La cenerentola. He also made company debuts with Metropolitan Opera as the First Waiter in Der Rosenkavalier in addition to joining the company for its production of Die Zauberflote.

Recently he made house debuts with both Opera San Jose singing his first performances of Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and with New Orleans Opera in a return to his beloved characterization of Pedrillo in the same opera as well as sang his first performances of Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Berkshire Opera Festival. He returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper to reprise Kedril in From the House of the Dead and to Portland Opera for the company’s “Big Night” concert as well as joined Dallas Opera for a debut as the Dance Master in Manon Lescaut and for the company’s production of Falstaff. On the concert stage, he sang Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Houston Symphony, a concert celebrating Bernstein’s Broadway with the Florida Orchestra, as well as Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and excerpts of L’elisir d’amore with Das Musikkollegium Wintherthur.

Sought after in classical musical theatre repertoire as well, he recently returned to San Francisco Opera as Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd. In the realm of bel canto repertoire, he made company debuts with Seattle Opera as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Opéra national de Lorraine as Idreno in Semiramide, and the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul, Korea and Portland Opera for Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. He is a former member of the ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper, where his roles included further performances of include further performances of Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos as well as Kedril in From the House of the Dead, Danieli in Les vêpres siciliennes, and Vierter Knappe in Parsifal, all new productions; Don Gaspard in La favorite, among others. Other recent performances for the tenor include Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Atlanta Opera, David, Jeremiah, and the Voice of God in Weill’s The Road of Promise with Kristjan Järvi conducting the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Fenton in Falstaff with Wolf Trap Opera, as well as Almaviva in family performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Nathaniel in Les contes d'Hoffmann with San Francisco Opera in addition to joining the company for its production of Così fan tutte.

Prior to joining the ensemble at the Bayerische Staatsoper, he was a member of the company’s prestigious Opernstudio and sang title role of Le comte Ory and Fabrizio in Martin?’s Mirandolina in the historic Cuvilliés Theatre, Ernesto in Donizetti’s Il giovedì grasso at the Schloss Nymphenberg, as well as his first performances of Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail on the company’s mainstage. He sang a solo recital at the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center presented by the Vocal Arts D.C. and the Washington Performing Arts Society and recently joined the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah. He is a former Resident Artist with Portland Opera and Apprentice Artist of Santa Fe Opera. At the Seagle Music Colony, he sang Ferrando in Così fan tutte.

Mr. Grills is the unprecedented winner of both grand prize in Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and first prize in the Lotte Lenya Competition in the same year, 2012. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music.