Jazmine Saunders is a soprano from Rochester (NY), currently in her first year in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. She made her company debut as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro this past May, covered Pip in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, and covered two of the voices of the Unborn Children in Die Frau ohne Schatten. She already has been booked to make her role debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess, and cover Lisa in La sonnambula during the Met’s 2025-26 season. Other operatic engagements include covering the role of Claire Devon in the US premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners at Opera Philadelphia, originating the role of Shannon in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’s The Righteous at Santa Fe Opera, and covering Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Wolf Trap Opera.

On the concert stage, Saunders has appeared as soprano soloist in Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Bach’s Magnificat with The New Choral Society, Mozart’s Requiem with Glens Falls Symphony, and was a participant in both Renée Fleming’s SongStudio and Joyce DiDonato’s Master Class series at Carnegie Hall. Saunders holds degrees in voice from the Eastman School of Music, where she received the William Warfield Scholarship and graduated with Highest Distinction, and the Juilliard School, where she was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. 

With his mellifluous "honey-voice," tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes has emerged as an exciting young presence in the world of opera. This season, he joins the Oratorio Society of New York as soloist in the world premiere of Moravec’s All Shall Rise and in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, and makes an exciting debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago reprising his role of Police Buddy 2 and covering The Son in Tesori’s Blue. He also makes a return to Washington National Opera as Mingo in Porgy & Bess, makes his Baltimore Symphony debut as the Messenger in Aida, joins InSeries for a workshop of Damien Geter and Jarrod Lee’s Delta King Blues, and sings a concert with Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra.

Rhodes recently sang Timothy Laughlin in the West Coast premiere of Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers with Opera Parallèle. Other roles include Pong in Puccini’s Turandot (Washington National Opera and Houston Grand Opera), role debuts as The Hippo in The Lion, the Unicorn and Me, A Priest in Songbird (Washington National Opera), Police Buddy 2 (Washington National Opera), The Son in Blue (New Orleans Opera), and Frank in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson (Washington National Opera and Glimmerglass Festival.) With Glimmerglass, he sang Cacambo, covered the title role in Candide, sang Man in Armor and Priest #1 in The Magic Flute and Cherubiel in the world premiere of Holy Ground.

Grammy-nominated baritone Joshua Conyers has been singled out by Opera News for his “deliciously honeyed baritone that would seduce anyone”; by The New York Times as having “a sonorous baritone” that “wheedled and seduced,” and by The Washington Post for giving a "show-stealing" performance. A native of The Bronx (NY), he is known for his captivating performances and recognized as one the promising young dramatic voices of today.

Conyers’s busy 2023-24 season included performing and covering Reginald in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in productions with Seattle Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic; Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera; Hollis in the world premiere of B.E. Boykin and Jarrod Lee’s Two Corners (FLO), and his role debut of Scarpia in Tosca with Opera Wilmington. During the current season, Conyers has sung the role of Hassan in Edmond Dede’s Morgiane in a special presentation with Opera Lafayette in collaboration with Opera Creole and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, was seen with Piedmont Opera as Pierre Cauchon in The Trial at Rouen, and will make his role debut as Falstaff. Concert appearances will include the Crumb American Songbook ll with the New American Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Phoenix Symphony, and a recital with the Brooklyn Art Song Society. 

Holden James Turner, a baritone from Rochester (NY), was a 2024 Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival and has performed in numerous productions with Eastman Opera Theatre. In addition to his work with FLO over the past three seasons, he has been a frequent soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Oratorio Society, Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman-Rochester Chorus, and Ithaca College Symphony. Turner has worked with renowned artists such as Jon Batiste, Dawn Upshaw, and Andris Nelsons and is a recipient of the William Warfield and “Young Black & Gifted” Scholarships. 

 In demand as both an instrumental and vocal collaborator, pianist Brock Tjosvold has performed throughout the United States with many up-and-coming musicians as well as established ensembles. In addition to his new position as Head of Music at FLO, he is an Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching at the Eastman School of Music and Minister of Music at First Universalist Church in downtown Rochester.  Prior to his position at Eastman, Tjosvold was Music Director and Vocal Coach of the Crane Opera Ensemble at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.

During his time as a DMA student at Eastman, Tjosvold won the Ann C. Fehn Memorial Award (1st Prize Pianist) at the 2021 Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition. He was also awarded the 2020 Excellence in Accompanying Award. Tjosvold enjoys playing organ and directing the choir in addition to his work as a pianist. He has formerly been the organist at Liberty Christian Church (Martinsville, IN) and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral (Laramie, WY).

Tjosvold earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wyoming, magna cum laude, under the tutelage of Dr. Theresa Bogard. He completed his master’s degree at the University of Michigan with Martin Katz and a Performer’s Certificate at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, studying with Anne Epperson and Kevin Murphy. He received his DMA in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Dr. Jean Barr and Dr. Andrew Harley. In addition to his primary studies, he received a minor in sacred music and a minor in solo piano, studying with Dr. Douglas Humpherys.