Bravo Nights | Opera Guild of Rochester

Bravo Nights is a performance series we began in 2018 to introduce opera to newcomers in a friendly and accessible way. Now virtual, we invite emerging and seasoned local opera talent to perform beloved opera arias and musical theatre selections.

Bravo Nights are appreciated by both seasoned opera fans and newcomers who enjoy the casual atmosphere and the chance to see top local talent. You can show your appreciation of our performers by contributing to our virtual tip jar.

View our recent virtual Bravo Nights Performance featuring
ROCopera Collective
on this YouTube link.

ROCopera was created to broaden opera’s reach in the Rochester area by reimagining and reinterpreting existing classical vocal music through a contemporary lens; by promoting new works for the classical voice; and by bringing opera out of the concert hall and into everyday spaces.

Kerri Lynn Slominski performs for our virtual Bravo Nights. View Trailer here.

Eleanor Steinmetz, soprano

Rochester-based soprano Eleanor Steinmetz recently graduated from the Fredonia School of Music where she studied vocal performance with Dr. Angela Haas and participated in masterclasses with Liz Callaway, Libby Larsen, Jake Heggie, and Mark Trawka, to name a few. Performance highlights at Fredonia include Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon and scene performances of Rose in Weill’s Street Scene, Adina in Donizetti’s L'elisir d‘amore, Mrs. Ford in both Verdi’s Falstaff and Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Susannah in Le nozze di Figaro, as well as the title role in Madama Butterfly. Eleanor made her Italian debut in 2017 at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico. Steinmetz won or placed at both the 2017 and 2019 Central New York-Finger Lakes NATS Auditions. Steinmetz currently studies with GRAMMY-winning mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski.

Click the tip jar to support our Bravo Nights performers.

Yoshiko Arahata, pianist

Yoshiko Arahata enjoys a multifaceted career as an internationally active pianist, educator, composer, and improvisor. Her performance highlights include solo engagements throughout the US, Asia, and Europe and concerto appearances with both traditional orchestras and contemporary ensembles. A sought-after collaborator, she has performed with the renowned violinist Charles Castleman, musicians from Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Rochester Philharmonic, and percussionist Joshua Graham on “Music after 2000” Midwest tour through the LuminArts Cultural Foundation grant. Her chamber music engagements include the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival, Ensemble-in-Residence Texas tour as the founding member of the Elgin Trio, and radio broadcasts such as k-Mozart 105.1 FM.

Dedicated to paving pathways in new music, Arahata actively performs contemporary music. She also improvises and composes in a variety of styles and contexts, including jazz and frequent collaborations with dancers and choreographers such as the QuickSilver Dance Company. During the pandemic, she produced a virtual Rochester Fringe Festival show with the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jessica Ann Best featuring a contemporary opera and art songs. For this, Arahata was praised for “playing with a vibrancy not often heard" and staging that “isn’t just a standard recital presentation” (Rochester CITY Newspaper).

A committed educator, Arahata has held diverse teaching, coaching, and collaborative piano positions at Northwestern University, Nazareth College, University of Rochester, SUNY Geneseo, Hochstein School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music, where her teaching was recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Assistant Award. She currently serves on the

creative music making committee of the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy and will begin teaching at Alfred University as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music from the fall.

Arahata holds degrees in Piano Performance at the Eastman School of Music (B.M., D.M.A.) and Northwestern University (M.M.), and a degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences (B.S.) from the University of Rochester.

Sara Noble, soprano

A passionate supporter of contemporary classical music, Sara Noble has premiered works by Griffin Candey, Christian B. Carey, Elliot Cless, Whitney George, Blake Henson, Joule L'Adara, Mary Prescott, Jon Magnussen, Martin Sedek, and Pamela Stein. From 2017-2020, Sara was a core member of Opera on Tap NYC's contemporary music collective, New Brew, which performs eclectic programs of contemporary art song in Brooklyn bars. She was also a founding member of Guided Imagery Opera, an experimental music-theater company led by Joule L'Adara that presented works that integrated the process of Guided Imagery and Music (The Bonny Method) with sound meditation techniques incorporating therapeutic instruments, performed live by professional opera singers, actors, and musicians. Sara is an alumna of New Music on the Point and OperaWorks, and a graduate of Westminster Choir College.

When not performing, Sara works as a life coach, supporting individuals to embrace their weirdness so they can share their brilliance with the world and create joyful, purposeful lives. Over the past ten years, Sara has fostered the growth of innovative opera and theater projects across NYC and the tri-state area, serving organizations including Opera on Tap and the Chautauqua Opera Company as an arts administrator, project manager, and producer. saranoblearts.com

Kerri Lynn Slominski, soprano

Lyric coloratura soprano, Kerri Lynn Slominski captivates her audiences with her voice and presence. As a talented singing actress, Slominski dominates the stage with commanding force, delightful comedic timing and provides memorable performances. She has been praised for having a lovely, warm voice and outstanding presentation.

Ms. Slominski is the Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director/Artist of ROCopera. She is also currently an Artist with Opera on the Rocks. In 2020, she received a grant from the Jensen Foundation and in 2019, she received a performance grant from the Opera Guild of Rochester. She was a semi-finalist in the 2018 Southold Opera Singing Competition and a finalist in the 2018 Elaine Malbin Vocal Competition. Additional accolades include the Philip Y. Cho Scholarship Fund, Howard Olian Memorial Fund and the Lillian Mann Prize in Voice.

Ms. Slominski strives to make opera accessible to all generations by providing “no-holds-barred” performance experiences at the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival. Her initial debut at the festival was in 2017, with her own operatic cabaret show: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Audition. Jack Garner (Democrat and Chronicle) praised it as an “amusing opera memoir”. In 2019, Ms. Slominski single handedly produced and sang the role of Lucy in a modern, social media interactive interpretation of Menotti’s comic opera, The Telephone. The production received CITY Newspaper’s: 2019 Critics’ Pick.

Ms. Slominski has served as a Young Artist with Brooklyn Opera Institute, Connecticut Lyric Opera,Opera Breve, Trentino Music Festival of MAI (Italy), and an Apprentice Artist with Opera in the Ozarks Additionally, she was an opera chorus member with Mercury Opera Rochester.

She has graced the stage singing the roles of: Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Queen of the Night and First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen), Lucy (The Telephone), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Giannetta (L'elisir d'amore), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) and the Mother (Hansel and Gretel).

Ms. Slominski holds a Professional Studies Certificate in Opera and a Master’s in Music for Opera Performance from the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University. She also received her Bachelor’s in Music in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

Dr. Alex Kuczynski, pianist

Dr. Alex Kuczynski holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (MA and PhD, piano studies in the studio of Rebecca Penneys) and Vassar College (BA in music and cognitive science). A collaborative pianist since the age of twelve, Alex had an early career accompanying in school choirs, music festivals and the church. Under real-time pressure at a young age, he quickly sharpened a diverse set of musical skills including sight reading, sight singing, playing an open score, improvisation, basic music theory, and the coordination of timing and interpretation while playing with other musicians.

Currently, Alex serves as pianist, organist and music director at Trinity Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Rochester, principal pianist of the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus, staff accompanist for the Geneseo Central School District, and freelance pianist for opera singers, voice studios, and collegiate instrumental soloists. Alex also serves as pianist and frequently music director for numerous theater groups such as the Off Monroe Players, Rochester Association of Performing Arts, The Lyric Theatre, the Geneseo Community Players, the First Light Players and more. Since 2014, he has played piano for shows including but not limited to The Sorcerer (2014), Cox and Box (2016), Pirates of Penzance (2016 and 2018), Patience (2017), 42nd Street (2017), The Mikado (2017), Thespis (2018), Ruddigore (2019), The Zoo (2020), On Shore and Sea (2020) and others, frequently conducting a pit orchestra from the piano. Additionally, Alex continues to enjoy performing solo piano music in a range of styles from the 17th - 21st centuries, particularly the music of Liszt and Beethoven.

An expert teacher in both music theory and piano, Alex has served as Visiting Instructor of music theory at Nazareth College (2013 – 14) and previously as Graduate Instructor at the Eastman School of Music during the length of his graduate studies, where he taught the whole undergraduate music theory and aural musicianship curriculum. Currently, in addition to performing and music directing, Alex teaches about 30 piano students of all ages, providing a solid music education for individual pianists as they reach and exceed their goals and dreams.