About our Guests

German-American soprano, Christina Parson has been seen on stage as Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Mother (Hänsel und Gretel), Chrysothemis (Elektra), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Blanche (Dialogue of the Carmelites) und La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi). Upcoming performances include heroines of Strauss and Wagner with OpéraFest Toronto as well as Helmwige with the American Wagner Festival. 

As a Fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival and a Young Artist as the Lotte Lehmann Akademie, Christina has performed in scenes as Arabella (Arabella), Agathe (Der Freischütz), Magda (La Rondine), Frau Fluth (Lustigen Weiber), Eva (Meistersinger), Christine (Intermezzo), Eudoxie (La Juive), and Marschallin (Rosenkavalier). In addition to opera, Liederabende (song evenings) play a large role in Ms. Parson’s artistic activity, featuring repertoire of many romantic composers, as well as a plethora of songs by living American composers.

Kristin Clark, mezzo-soprano, has been lauded for her “technical prowess” and “approachability” (classical.net).  She appears as Electre on the GRAMMY-nominated recording of Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle, for which Opera News described her voice as “slicing the air unassailably,” and she has recently released her solo album, Fate & Fury: The Mythological World of Franz Schubert. Dr. Clark made her solo debut in Carnegie Hall in 2015, singing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Blue Period Ensemble.  Since then, she has performed twice more as a soloist in Carnegie hall, performing Duruflé’s Requiem in June of 2024 and Mozart’s Coronation Mass in April of 2026 with Manhattan Concert Productions.

Particularly at home on the concert stage, Dr. Clark has appeared as a guest soloist across North America and Europe. She has performed with organizations such as the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, the Bozeman Symphony, the Oakland Choral Society, the University Musical Society, the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, and the Adrian Symphony. Other notable concert appearances include the world premiere of Susan Botti’s Tagore Madrigals at the American Academy in Rome and a Canadian Tour of Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning. Frequently performed works include Handel’s Messiah, Duruflé’s Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Mass in C.

Opera audiences have seen Dr. Clark on stage with Michigan Opera Theatre, Arbor Opera Theatre, The Metropolitan Baroque Ensemble, the University of Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Blue Lake Summer Arts Festival.  Favorite performances include the role of Dritte Magd in Elektra with Christine Goerke and the title roles in Dido and Aeneas, Hansel and Gretel, and Gluck’s Armide.  Dr. Clark’s other operatic roles include Vlasta in The Passenger, Jo in Little Women, the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance.  Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mercedes in Carmen, Madama Rose in Il Campanello, and Florence Pike in Albert Herring.  

Dr. Clark completed her doctorate in vocal performance at the University of Michigan, where she also received Master’s degrees in vocal performance and choral conducting.  As a graduate student in conducting, she led the University’s Orpheus Singers and Residential College choirs, and she received the honor of conducting in master class with Helmuth Rilling. As a graduate student vocalist, Dr. Clark made solo appearances with every major choral and orchestral ensemble on campus, performed in recital with Martin Katz, and was selected to sing in master classes with Jessye Norman, Ann Baltz, and David Daniels.  Dr. Clark also performed as a cover to Jessye Norman in a workshop of Laura Karpman’s Ask Your Mama. As an alum, she has returned to her alma mater to perform works by De Falla and Gubaidulina with the University Symphony Orchestra and Band.

Dr. Clark is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Performing Arts at Adrian College, where she was the 2024 recipient of the Ross Newsom Award for Outstanding Teaching. She has previously held positions teaching voice for the University of Michigan musical theatre program and at Concordia University.  In the summer, she has taught on the voice faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, MPulse Vocal Arts Institute and Musical Theatre Workshops, and the Interlochen Adult Choir Camp. Graduates of Dr. Clark’s studio have gone on to perform leading and supporting roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in national tours, to pursue graduate studies in vocal performance, and to teach music at all levels.

Cameron Barrett Johnson is an operatic American tenor originally from California. He received his bachelors degree from Cal State University, Fullerton as well as his masters and specialist degrees from the University of Michigan. Cameron has had the honor of studying voice under esteemed tenor George Shirley for the past 6 to 7 years. He has also had the pleasure of performing with the Detroit Opera Chorus and the Cincinnati opera Chorus for the past five seasons.

Praised by Opera News for his “dark bass and strong dramatic energy,” Brian Kontes’ 2025-26 season includes the Commendatore in Don Giovanni with The Florentine Opera, Benoitin La bohème and Elder McLean in Susannah with Sarasota Opera, and bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Dearborn Symphony.

Recent highlights include Sacristan in Tosca and The Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Pittsburgh Opera; Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with Sarasota Opera; bass soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Colorado’s Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra; Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Pittsburgh Opera, a cover assignment of Bonze in Madame Butterfly with The Metropolitan Opera, as well as productions of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Die Zauberflöt, Manon Lescaut, and HD productions of Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg under the baton of Maestro James Levine, Der Rosenkavalier under the baton of Maestro Sebastian Wiegle, and The Nose led by Maestro Valery Gergiev.

Concert highlights for Mr. Kontes include Mozartʼs Requiem, Haydnʼs Paukenmesse, Faureʼs Requiem, Mozartʼs Coronation Mass, Beethovenʼs 9th Symphony, Bachʼs Magnificat and Rossiniʼs Stabat Mater with various orchestras and conductors in Carnegie Hall. He has been a guest soloist with the Charlotte Symphony on numerous occasions, including Beethovenʼs Mass in C. Recently, he has been a bass soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Colorado’s Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra; a soloist with Boston Baroque as Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio; the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park for Dvorakʼs Stabat Mater; and was a guest soloist with The New Choral Society of New York’s Verdi Requiem.