Adolphus Hailstork, Composer
The project marks the Cincinnati Opera debut of award-winning American composer Adolphus Hailstork. His symphonic, chamber, and choral works have been performed by major orchestras all over the nation, including Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York, and have been led by leading conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, and Kurt Masur.

Recognized for his range of compositional styles, this is Dr. Hailstork's third opera. In 1995, Dayton Opera commissioned the new one-act opera Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground. In 1999, the composer's second symphony (commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), and his second opera, Joshua's Boots (commissioned by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Kansas City Lyric Opera), were premiered. In 2002, James Conlon conducted Hailstork's oratorio Done Made My Vow at the renowned Cincinnati May Festival. A CD of Hailstork's Symphonies No. 2 and 3, recorded by David Lockington with the Grand Rapids Symphony, was recently re-released. In 2006, the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus premiered Hailstork's deeply moving Earthrise. His career also has included professorships at Youngstown State University in Ohio, Norfolk State University in Virginia, and Old Dominion University, also in Norfolk, Virginia, where currently he is Eminent Scholar and Professor of Music.

David Gonzalez, Librettist
Broadway playwright and librettist David Gonzalez has created numerous productions including The Frog Bride, nominated for a 2006 Drama Desk Award for "Unique Theatrical Experience," and critically acclaimed shows ¡Sofrito! with Larry Harlow and The Latin Legends Band, and MytholoJazz with the D.D. Jackson Trio. All three of these productions have enjoyed sold-out runs at Broadway's New Victory Theater. His work Double Crossed: The Saga of the St. Louis, was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution's Discovery Theater and has toured nationally including at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2004, Mr. Gonzalez's Finding North, a one-man play with music by Marvin Sewell, based on the Underground Railroad, premiered at the Tony-award winning Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. His poetry has been featured at Lincoln Center's Out-of-Doors Festival in 2001, Bill Moyers' documentary Fooling with Words on PBS, as well as NPR's All Things Considered. He received his doctorate in Music Therapy from New York University's School of Education.

James R. Cassidy, Conductor
Music Director and Executive Director of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (KSO) since 1992, James R. Cassidy has many years of experience as an educator, arts administrator, and conductor. Under his leadership, the KSO has become the fastest growing orchestra in the United States. The KSO has grown more than tenfold in budget, launched summer and education programs, and has expanded the orchestra's musical offerings by creating several Symphony-sponsored subsidiary groups. Recognized throughout the country for his innovative programming, Mr. Cassidy remains passionate about making symphonic music attractive, accessible, and affordable. A Florida native, Mr. Cassidy has been music director of the Florida Ballet Theatre and the Tampa Chamber Symphony. He has conducted the St. Petersburg Opera, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra. Mr. Cassidy holds degrees from the University of South Florida and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music.

Sheila Ramsey, Director
Sheila Ramsey, founder and artistic director of Dayton's The Dream Keeper Theatre Company, has a long history with the Dayton arts community. One of the original resident artists with the Human Race Theatre Company, she also spent many years with Dayton's nationally acclaimed education program, The Muse Machine, and has performed with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Ms. Ramsey is faculty associate in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures at Wright State University where she has directed a diverse selection of important contemporary plays including The Colored Museum, Home, A Soldiers' Play, Inherit the Wind, From the Mississippi Delta, and Biloxi Blues. She was named Best Collegiate Production and Best Director 2004 by the Dayton City Paper for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Mary Tensing, Dramaturg
Cincinnati-based actor, playwright, director, and teacher Mary Tensing serves as dramaturg, assisting the team with historical research. In Cincinnati, she has performed in numerous productions including: The Christmas Carol (Playhouse in the Park), Durang Durang (The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati), and Ironmistress (The Women's Theatre Initiative). A number of theatres have commissioned her to write new works: Rapunzel, Thanksgiving Eve, The Rockin' Adventures of Peter Rabbit, Hansel and Gretel (The Children's Theatre), Tales of the Baba Yaga, Placing Out (The School for the Creative and Performing Arts). And she has directed One Flea Spare by Naomi Wallace for The Women's Theater Initiative, Neat by Charlayne Woodard for The Know Theatre Tribe, and her own version of Androcles and the Lion for The Children's Theatre, as well as a number of touring productions for Cincinnati Opera's Education Ensemble and Theatre IV.