04/28/2026
STARR KING WAY PERFORMANCE SERIES
Sunday, May 3, 2026
1:30 PM
Praised by Opera News for her “unusually rich and resonant” voice, contralto Sara Couden is a premier interpreter of operatic, orchestral, chamber, and song repertoire. Her 2025-2026 season includes a debut with Detroit Opera as Rita in Poul Ruders’ THE HANDMAID’S TALE, a debut with the Houston Symphony in selections from LA VIDA BREVE, a role and house debut as Ježibaba (RUSALKA) with Pacific Northwest Opera, Die Hexe/Die Mutter (HÄNSEL UND GRETEL) with Lakes Area Music Festival and appearances with the St. Louis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Tucson Symphony as the Alto Soloist in Händel’s MESSIAH.
Hailed as “an artist of impressive talent” with “soaring high notes” (Piedmont Post), Lila Khazoum is a coloratura soprano who performs frequently in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the 2025 season, Ars Minerva featured her as Iole in the world's first staging of Antonia Bembo's Ercole Amante. She also sang the role of Nedda in Festival Opera’s Pagliacci in the Park, and she constructed and performed Winging It, an immersive bird-themed show, with the Gregangelo Museum.
Baritone Zachary Gordin is redefining what it means to be an operatic performer in the 21st Century; praised for his “arresting musical insights” and a voice that is “commanding and intense without ever descending into coarseness” (The Seattle Times), he has an active performance schedule while also maintaining his passion for fitness, community engagement, artistic consulting, and mentoring. His debut disc: Amour sans ailes - Songs of Reynaldo Hahn on the MSR Classics label was named Best Lieder Recording of 2017 by Voix des Arts. Recent engagements have included Marcello in La Boheme with Tacoma Opera, Manfred in For a Look or a Touch - act 3 of A Jake Heggie Triptych, Silvio in Pagliacci and Brother in Seven Deadly Sins with Festival Opera, Escamillo in Carmen at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, a recital at the Green Music Center in Sonoma, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 and a Master Class for the vocal program at CSU Chico, Mozart’s Requiem with the Camellia Symphony, and “Mozart at the Opera” with the YOSA Philharmonic in San Antonio.
