Lisabeth Miller became Artistic Director of Hartford Opera Theater in 2012. In 2010, she made her debut with HOT as the Widow Douglas in the world premiere of Tom Sawyer. Miller made her professional opera debut during the summer of 2009 in Opera Theater of Connecticut’s production of Suor Angelica as Dolcina. During the Fall of 2009, she sang the title role in Handel’s Alcina with Hillhouse Opera in New Haven and excerpts from Madama Butterfly with the Nutmeg Symphonic Pops Orchestra. She sang Valentine (Les Huguenots) and Konstanze (The Abduction from the Seraglio) as a part of Hillhouse Opera’s Spring 2009 opera scenes concert. Other roles include Nella in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica with Hartt Opera Theater, Rosina in scenes from The Ghosts of Versailles (Opera New Jersey), and Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore) at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. Other highlights of the summer of 2009 were “Opera in the Meetinghouse” at First Church in Windsor, and Konstanze at the Music by the Brook festival in Armonk, NY.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Lisabeth Miller has been the soprano soloist in Trinity Methodist Church of Windsor’s Messiah, and has been honored to perform premieres of new music written specifically for her by local composers Nolan Stolz and Edward Knoeckel. Lisabeth received her master’s degree in voice performance from the Hartt School of Music and a bachelor’s with honors in music from Brandeis University. She was a finalist in Opera Theater of Connecticut’s Amici vocal competition in 2007 and 2009 and is an alumna of OperaWorks in Los Angeles, CA. She is on the music faculties of Manchester Community College and Loomis Chaffee School and is Director of Music at Old St. Andrew’s Church in Bloomfield, CT.

Joseph Hodge is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting at the Hartt School, where he studies with Edward Cumming, Interim Director of Orchestral Activities. Hodge was appointed Music Director of Hartford Opera Theater in 2010. He is also the Assistant Conductor and Orchestra Manager of the Hartt Symphony Orchestra. Last summer, he served as the Assistant to the General Director of Ash Lawn Opera in Charlottesville, VA, and he is the Assistant Conductor for the Hartt Vocal Studies Division (past productions include Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Copland’s The Tender Land). Graduating magna cum laude from the University of Virginia in 2009, Hodge has worked with orchestras throughout both Virginia and Connecticut, including the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville and Albemarle, the Wintergreen Academy Chamber Orchestra, the Hartt Symphony Orchestra, and the Hartt Independent Chamber Orchestra. He has previously studied conducting with Christopher Zimmerman, Kate Tamarkin, Kenneth Kiesler, and Joseph Gifford.

Michelle Hendrick is a professional actor and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Trinity College, where she teaches acting and directs. Recent projects at Trinity College include directing Romeo and Juliet and Eurydice. Ms. Hendrick was an Associate in Opera at The Hartt School of Music from 1998-2008, where she taught acting to undergraduate and graduate students in the vocal department. Directing credits at Hartt include The Three Hermits and The Lantern Marriage. Directing credits for Intermezzo Opera Festival include The Chatterboxes and Lantern Marriage. Ms. Hendrick currently serves as the Artistic Director for Hartford Opera Theater. With HOT, she has directed Rape of Lucretia, Tom Sawyer, Hansel and Gretel, and The Old Maid and the Thief, among others.

Professional work as an actor includes roles in Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, The Laramie Project, Cymbelline, Othello, As You Like It, The Nutcracker, The Threepenny Opera, Arcadia, Beauty and the Beast, and A Little Night Music. Ms. Hendrick has worked with Hartford Stage, Theaterworks, PlayMakers Repertory Company, The Ko Festival, and New World Theater. She has an MFA in acting from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-professional acting training program.