Rising star, Lauren Decker, possesses a booming contralto with “amber low notes” that is in a league of its own. She is lauded for “pouring out a dark, chocolatey sound with a plushness of tone and amplitude of voice rarely heard in a young singer”.

Ms. Decker most recently covered the role of Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung, and performed Schwertleite in Die Walküre as a part of David Pountney’s “brilliantly imaginative”, new Ring Cycle at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Lauren made her Lyric Opera debut as Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte and went on to perform as Jade Boucher in Dead Man Walking, First Maid in Elektra, Inez in Il trovatore, Enrichetta di Francia in I puritani, and Annina in La traviata. While there, she also covered the roles of Madame de la Haltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Hécuba/Anna in Les Troyens, and Marthe Schwertlein in Faust. Outside of the mainstage, Lauren was seen as Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief at the Grant Park Music Festival.

In summer 2019, Ms. Decker made a triumphant debut with the San Francisco Symphony in Elgar’s Sea Pictures, a signature work for her. She has also performed in concert with the South Dakota Symphony in Mahler 8, the Apollo Chorus/Elmhurst Symphony in the Verdi Requiem, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe.

Additional roles in her repertoire include Ulrica from Un ballo in maschera, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Azucena in Il trovatore, and Dame Quickly in Falstaff.

Lauren was a quarterfinalist in the 2019 Operalia competition in Prague. She is a recent recipient of the Richard F. Gold career grant and was a national semifinalist in the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, having previously been a two-time recipient of an Encouragement Award at their Upper Midwest Region. Winner of the 2019 Edith Newfield Scholarship from the Musician’s Club of Women of Chicago and 2018 Lola Fletcher scholarship in voice with the American Opera Society of Chicago, Decker has been featured in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Christine Goerke and Eric Owens and, later, Michael Fabiano and Zachary Nelson.

In addition to her four year tenure at the Ryan Opera Center, Decker has participated in the Britten-Pears Program at Snape Maltings, United Kingdom, Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the American Wagner Project (Washington, D.C.) and the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto (Italy). The Wisconsin native holds a B.F.A. in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She currently resides in Milwaukee.

In the 23/24 season tenor Jonathan Johnson returned to Opera Colorado as the Steersman in Der Fliegende Höllander and made his debuts with Washington Concert Opera in La Rodine and North Carolina Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata. He appeared at Opera Colorado in Die Todt Stadt, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in Harvey Milk, the Tulsa Opera as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicci,and Opera Omaha as Anthony in Sweeney Todd. Other notable recent appearances have included the Prince in The Love for Three Oranges at Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O19, Jonathan Dale in Silent Night at Utah Opera, Beppe in I Pagliacci at Opera Colorado, the title role of Bernstein’s Candide with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, and Des Moines Metro Opera; Anna Bolena at Canadian Opera Company<, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Fenton in Falstaff at San Diego Opera, and Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri at the Portland Opera. A graduate of the Patrick G. & Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s professional artist-development program, he appeared in the house’s main productions of Les Troyens, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Merry Widow, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio, The Magic Victrola and Mieczysław Weinberg’s Holocaust opera The Passenger.

Jonathan Johnson performed The Messiah with Camerata Chicago in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Jonathan Johnson performing with Camerata Chicago in 2019. Photo Credit Dan Andersen.

Josefien Stoppelenburg performed several times for Dutch Royal Family. She is currently performing all over the United States as a specialist of Baroque Music and as a concert singer. Stoppelenburg performed most major oratorio works by Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, including Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Mass in B minor, and many of his cantatas. By the end of this season, Josefien will have performed all Bach’s cantatas for solo soprano.

She frequently performs Mozart’s Requiem, the Mass in C minor, Handel’s Messiah, Dixit Dominus, La Resurrezione and many of Handel’s other vocal works. She performed The Creation and The Seasons by Haydn, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and appeared as a soloist in countless oratorio works by Schubert, Gounod, Rossini, Fauré, Britten (War Requiem), Poulenc(Gloria), Carissimi (Historia di Jephte) Telemann, Vivaldi (In furore Iustissimae Irae) and Buxtehude.

​Concerts this season include performances with the Dayton Opera, Newberry Consort, Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar, Fort Wayne Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Bach Festival, St Louis Bach Society, Rembrandt Chamber Musicians, Boulder Bach Festival, Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Bach Ensemble, Evansville Symphony Orchestra, and with Camerata Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

​In October, Josefien performed the role of Anne Frank in James Whitbourn’s oratorio Annelies to great acclaim, with players of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in the presence of the composer.Stoppelenburg performed as a soloist in Europe, the United States, Asia, South America, and the Arab Emirates.

​Her appearance on Chicago’s classical radio program“Live from WFMT” was selected as one of the 10 best performances in 2016. She won the Chicago Oratorio Award, the National Princess Christina Competition (Netherlands) and second prize in The American Prize Opera Competition.

Josefien gave vocal masterclasses about Baroque Music at Indiana University, (Jacobs School of Music) University of Colorado and Illinois State University and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

From 2005 until 2007, Stoppelenburg was part of the Young Opera Ensemble of Cologne, Germany. Leading operatic roles have included Aci in the Haymarket Opera Company’s acclaimed production of Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Tirsi in Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine in the International Chamber Opera Festival (The Netherlands). She has appeared with Camerata Amsterdam, Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Haymarket Opera Company, Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, Fulcrum Point and Music of the Baroque, Bloomington Bach Cantata Project.

Ensemble Brothers and Sisters (vocal duo Charlotte and Josefien Stoppelenburg and piano duo Martijn and Stefan Blaak) recently appeared live on Radio 4, the Dutch classical radio station for Classical Music and just made their ensemble debut in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. As a vocal duo, Charlotte and Josefien have performed in nearly every concert hall in The Netherlands.
An advocate for new music, Josefien inspired many composers to write especially for her voice. She performed works by Jacob TV, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stacy Garrop, Lita Grier, Eric Whitacre and William Neil, as well as works by Dutch composers, including her father, composer Willem Stoppelenburg.

Stoppelenburg’s second love is painting. She paints frequently on commission. In 2018 the Peoria Symphony Orchestra used her paintings for Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The paintings were shown on a big screen during the performance. Her colorful art has been used as opera sets, cd booklets, music festival posters and as note cards.