Music That Tells a Story

Soprano TONI MARIE PALMERTREE is rapidly becoming recognized as one of America’s most riveting performers of Puccini and Verdi heroines. She has recently been heard on the stage of San Francisco Opera in the title role of Madama Butterfly; of her performance, Janos Gereben from San Francisco Classical Voice wrote: “The young soprano not only met the challenge, but she claimed her place among the finest vocal interpreters of the role heard here recently.” Other roles at San Francisco Opera include Nedda in I Pagliacci and Liù in Turandot. She also made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in the 2019-20 season, stepping into the title role of Luisa Miller. Last season, she returned to the role of Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, both with West Bay Opera and with Lakeland Opera, and she also joined Arizona Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. This season, she returns to the roster of The Metropolitan Opera to cover Tosca, a role which she then goes on to sing with the Princeton Festival. She is also seen in concert with Opera Delaware.
 

Soprano EMILY MARGEVICH is “a star in the making (Bachtrack), acclaimed for her “charismatic and commanding” performances (The New York Times). This “poised and fearless Prima Donna” (Musical America) has been on stage since age two, performing professionally in Musical Theatre throughout her childhood in the Midwest. Emily continues to earn praise as a “luminous soprano” (Wall Street Journal) with “a voice of liquid beauty” (Opera Magazine) that is “big and luxurious, with a cascading quality, like a bolt of silk dropped from a balcony” (Parterre). Now a Company Artist at OperaDelaware, Ms. Emily is most known for her portrayals of Tatyana, Musetta, and Donna Elvira.

To find out more about Toni Marie Palmertree and Emily Margevich's connection with Opera Delaware, visit the company artists' page at operade.org.

LUKE NORVELL is currently a fourth-year resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he studies under the esteemed Bill Schuman. A gifted tenor, Mr. Norvell has been recognized for his "dramatic intensity and evenness of line, along with a big-house sense of amplitude" (Parterre Box). This season, Norvell performs the title role of Faust at AVA, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Roanoke, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in Philadelphia, and Mozart’s Requiem at the Irvine Memorial Chapel.  This summer, he will join the prestigious Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Germany.

Soprano ROCHELLE ELLIS, DMA Voice, is a Lecturer of Voice at Princeton University and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. She made her New York City Opera  debut as "Serena" in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and has also performed operas with Chamber Opera Chicago and Skylight Opera Theatre. Internationally, she has performed the Verdi Requiem with the National Opera of China in Beijing, sung opera favorites at the Prague (Czech Republic) Autumn Music Festival, and performed solo recitals in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. 

In addition to maintaining voice studios at Princeton University and Westminster Choir College, Dr. Ellis is active in both Rider University and community outreach in music. She teaches in the Rider Educational Opportunity Program summer pre-college program, as well as in the Westminster Conservatory High School and Middle School Summer Vocal Institutes. She conducts the Chorale, the performance choir for the Trenton Children’s Chorus.