Convention Presenters & Judges

Telly Leung was born and raised in New York City. He grew up in a traditional Chinese home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He is a proud alumni of New York’s prestigious math & science specialized high school, Stuyvesant High School. After Stuyvesant, Telly was admitted to Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama (CMU), where he received most of his formal training in acting, singing, and dance. In June 2017, Telly Leung began his star turn as the title character in Disney’s ALADDIN on Broadway. He would continue to play the role for two years, and his caricature would eventually earn a coveted spot on the wall of New York’s historic Sardi’s restaurant.

Telly has performed live all over the world. Notable venues include Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Hollywood Bowl, Tokyo’s Theatre Orb, The Baltimore Symphony, the St. Louis MUNY, The Shakespeare Theater (DC), Pittsburgh CLO, Paper Mill Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Philadelphia Theater Company, Sacramento Music Circus, the Old Globe, Fords Theater, North Carolina Theater, Four Seasons Theater, North Shore Music Theater, Ogunquit Playhouse, The Coterie in Los Angeles, The Magic Castle, NYC’s Feinstein’s / 54 Below, Birdland Jazz Club, and London’s Crazy Coqs.

Nathan Gunn is widely acclaimed for his career as a performer, creator, advocate and teacher.

As a performer, Nathan has performed many of opera and musical theater’s greatest roles on the world’s most prestigious stages, and in television, radio, video, and live simulcast performances, Nathan believes that music is a living art form and has championed dozens of new works in a multitude of venues, often with the Gunns’ production company Shot in the Dark.

Nathan is Professor and Swanlund Chair at the University of Illinois where he is co-director of Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, a comprehensive program embracing a broad continuum of opera and musical theatre.

Julie Jordan Gunn has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious recital series, with major opera, musical theater and classical artists, and her husband and artistic partner Nathan Gunn.  As co-Director of LyricTheatre@Illinois, she produces several operas or musical theatre works a year at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.  She enjoys teaching performance, composition, and production, and conducting sung theatre.  She is particularly committed to new works as a co-producer, a pianist, or as a conductor.  The Gunns’ production company, Shot in the Dark Productions Inc, engages with communities all over the United States to celebrate American music.

Carol Vaness launched her professional singing career at the New York City Opera, where she appeared regularly from 1979 to 1983. Since then, she has sung on the world’s biggest stages and at premier music festivals, collaborated with today’s foremost conductors in operatic and symphonic repertoires, appeared on numerous television broadcasts throughout North America and Europe, and compiled a distinguished catalog of recordings.

Her interpretations of Mozart’s dramatic heroines, including Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Elettra in Idomeneo, and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, have been hailed as definitive, and she has become especially identifiable with the role of Floria Tosca. She performed the title role of Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in 2004 opposite Pavarotti in the legendary tenor’s final operatic performance.

Vaness made her professional debut as Vitellia for the San Francisco Spring Opera and has been acknowledged as the world’s leading interpreter of this role. She has appeared as Vitellia at the Met Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera and Gran Teatro del Liceo and at the Salzburg Festival and other leading theaters.

 

Penelope Shumate

Praised by The New York Times for singing with “bell-like clarity and surpassing sweetness,” The New York Concert Review for “her sparkling coloratura perfection,” and in Opera News magazine, “the mellifluous soprano Penelope Shumate puts her lines across with sincerity and attractive lucidity,” Penelope Shumate’s engagements include numerous soprano soloist appearances at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. She can be heard on “Messiah Refreshed” (Signum Records) recorded at historic Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, performing the title role on “Kassandra” (Navona Records), and as the soprano soloist on “As the fireflies watched . . . chamber music of James M. Stephenson” (Klavier Records). She has performed with opera companies, orchestras, and music festivals across America including Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Roanoke, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opéra Louisiane, Opera on the James, Muddy River Opera Company, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma Philharmonic, Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Paducah Symphony Orchestra, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, Distinguished Concerts International New York, Berkshire Choral Festival, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Kennett Symphony Orchestra, among many others. She is an award winner with the Gerda Lissner Foundation, The American Prize, the MacAllister Awards, and the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, among others. She is represented by Encompass Arts management in New York. In addition to her professional performance career, she serves as Director of Opera and Associate Professor of Voice at Austin Peay State University. She has been a presenter with the National Opera Association, the National Association of the Teachers of Singing, the College Music Society and has published articles in Classical Singer Magazine. Visit www.penelopeshumate.com to learn more.