Artist Group: 2024-2025

C. Andrew Blosser, a native of Belle Center, Ohio, has performed roles in opera and musical theatre, and presented master classes and recitals throughout the United States, Ireland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Czechia, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. Blosser received a Bachelor of Music in vocal music education from the Conservatory of Music at Capital University, a Master of Music in voice performance and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Ohio State University.

Blosser has been a featured soloist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Lakeside Symphony, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra for concert and oratorio performances. A few highlights include Ralph Vaughn Williams’ On Wenlock Edge with the Carpe Diem String Quartet as part of the Marble Cliff Music Festival, Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and was the soloist for the world premiere performance of Te Deum, by British composer Patrick Hawes, at the Lancaster Festival. He served as cantor for services at the Berlin Cathedral, as well as the soloist for the Mozart Missa Longa at the Salzburg Cathedral. Blosser most recently performed on the recital Singing Our History, a chronological story of American history told through the works of American composers at the National Association of Teachers of Singing conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Blosser currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Teaching in voice Ohio State, where he teaches applied voice, voice literature, opera history, and diction courses. He is also the Director of Music at First Community Church in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to this appointment, Blosser served on the faculties of Terra State Community College, Ohio Christian University, Capital University, and Muskingum University. He has presented sessions on vocal production and hygiene at OMEA and ACDA professional conferences, most recently in Pasadena, Denver, Omaha, and Spokane. Blosser holds professional memberships with the National Association of Teachers of Singers (NATS), the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society, and Phi Mu Alpha.

Known for his stage savvy, Robert Kerr’s foundation in opera began in musical theater. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote of his Falstaff: “He made words matter and conveyed the self-delusion of this likable laughingstock… “

Recent and upcoming: Mr. Kerr was heard as Germont with the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York at Lincoln Center; and sang the King in Aida with Opera Columbus. This past season Mr. Kerr sang solo engagements with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Ohio Song Project and Denison University. In addition he participates in Opera Columbus’s world première of The Flood by Korine Fujiwara directed by Stephen Wadsworth; he was soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Philharmonia Orchestra of New York; and was the title role of Rigoletto with Opera Projects Columbus. This season he played the title role in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Columbus.

Robert Kerr returned to Rose Theater with Maestro Atsushi Yamada and the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York in a Verdi concert and sang Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Performance Santa Fe!; and, was the title role in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Project Columbus. He returned to Japan for engagements in performances of Requiem by Minoru Miki in Natori and reprising the work at Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. He was the Germont in La traviata with the Arroyo Foundation; concerts with the Columbus Symphony; covered the role of the King in El Gato con Botas with Gotham Chamber Opera; was soloist with the New York City Opera Orchestra in a Japan tour of Carmina Burana and sang Tonio in Pagliacci with Opera Columbus.

Other engagements include his appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors along with Sondra Radvanovsky and Joseph Calleja in an Aida tribute to honoree, Martina Arroyo. He sang the title role of Falstaff with the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s “Prelude to Performance” with Willie Waters conducting and was engaged with the Lancaster Festival in Ohio. Mr. Kerr was Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Columbus and made his Indianapolis Opera debut this season as Peachum in The Threepenny Opera. He sang Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Sinfonia da Camera in Illinois and was soloist with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Große Messe in c-Moll; he reprised the role of Peachum with Amarillo Opera.

Past roles include: Scarpia in Tosca, Secret Police Agent in The Consul, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Germont in La traviata, Ford in Falstaff, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, Marullo in Rigoletto, Danieli in Das Liebesverbot, Commissario in Madama Butterfly; and, Keeper of the Madhouse in The Rake’s Progress. Mr. Kerr has sung King Hildebrand in Princess Ida with So. Ohio Light Opera; he was engaged by Opera Memphis as the Sacristan and Jailer in Tosca; and sang Carmina Burana with the Las Cruces Symphony and El Paso Chorale.

He has appeared in summer stock with The Barn Theater and Huron Playhouse; and in past productions with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Opera Theater and the Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. For three seasons he was a member of the Glimmerglass Opera where he participated in the Young American Artists program. In addition, he was a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program where he received advanced training.

Reviews

La traviata, Prelude to Performance

“Robert Kerr, the baritone singing the role of Germont evinced a full rich voice and did justice to his character and his emotional shifts. His Act II arias bore intense charges. His shame for his son in Act III was palpable. When he embraced Violetta as his daughter in Act IV, we could literally feel his remorse.”

— Meche Kroop, Voce di Meche

“The hearty baritone Robert Kerr began his career in musical theater, and that experience showed in his performance of Falstaff. He made words matter and conveyed the self-delusion of this likable laughingstock, a character convinced that his girth is actually an imposing physique with natural appeal for cultured women.“

— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

 

Carolyn Redman, mezzo-soprano, is originally from Bellevue, Ohio and received a MM and DMA in vocal performance from the Ohio State University.  She has performed operatic roles as well as musical theater roles with various professional companies including Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera/Columbus, Opera Project Columbus, Columbus Light Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Weathervane Playhouse, and Lyric Opera Cleveland.  She was selected as an apprentice artist with both Des Moines Metro Opera and Cincinnati Opera Young Artists programs and was also chosen to perform in masterclasses and performances at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She has been a winner or finalist in four competitions, including a first-place finish in the Opera/Columbus vocal competition.  Recent roles include La Badessa in Suor Angelica, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette,  Martha/Ayah in The Secret Garden, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Jo in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, and Countess Charlotte Malcolm in A Little Night Music.  She has also been a featured soloist in oratorios and other concert works with groups such as Cantari Singers, Denison University, Columbus Bach Ensemble, Marion Civic Chorus, Master Singers, Inc. Chorale, New Albany Symphony, Saint Joseph Cathedral, Westerville Symphony, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.  In addition to performing, she serves on the voice faculties of Kenyon College and Denison University.

“Her voice is like a cello, with such a deep and beautiful resonance!” – Libby Larsen

“The climaxes are wonderfully secure and exciting to hear. . . and what is also wonderful is her dramatic involvement, which is total — she lives every line.” – Roger Pines (Lyric Opera of Chicago)

Chelsea Hart Melcher has been described as “cooly captivating,” “ethereal and sublime,” and “a woman to be reckoned with” onstage. A national finalist in Sherrill Milnes’ “Opera Idol” competition, Melcher earned a Performance Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University. She has worked with numerous symphonies and opera companies across the nation, and was the soprano soloist for the American premiere of Requiem Novum by Mårten Jansson. Melcher has also performed as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mass in C and Choral Fantasy, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, and others. Her operatic roles include Micaëla and Frasquita in Carmen, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, Violetta and Annina in La Traviata, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Maria in The Sound of Music, Adina in L’Elisir d’amore, Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Butterfly in Madama Butterfly, Norina in Don Pasquale, Mariuccia in I Due Timidi, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Melcher is director of Opera and Musical Theater at the Capital University Conservatory of Music, and serves on the faculty of Columbus Children’s Theatre. She is the Founder of Vocal Career Academy and Nerves Be Gone Academy, and Co-Founder with her husband Paul Melcher of Red School of Music in suburban Columbus.

To access Chelsea’s album, “So Smooth, So Sweet – Songs of Allen Sapp,”  CLICK HERE.