Nicole Asel, D.M.A., mezzo-soprano, serves as an assistant professor of music at Colorado State University. A finalist in the 2010 Rocky Mountain Regional Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, she is a devoted operatic and concert performer and recitalist. She has sung with Opera Carolina, Central City Opera, Opera Fort Collins, Greensboro Opera, Long Leaf Opera, The Martina Arroyo Foundation, and Colorado Light Opera, and with the Piccolo Festival del Friuli Venezia Giulia in Friuli, Italy.

After working with Mark Adamo, she was selected by the composer to represent his opera Little Women in the G. Schirmer New Opera Sampler CD in the role of Jo March. She has collaborated in new opera workshops with some of North America’s most accomplished living composers, singing the role of Elizabeth Bennett in Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice, and the role of Carrie Madenda in Sister Carrie by the Grammy Award-winning compositional duo Robert Aldridge and Hershel Garfein. In addition to new operatic repertoire, Dr. Asel has a passion for contemporary art song, including the intersection of popular and classical music. Scholarly works include the history and tradition of Cabaret Song in the early Twentieth Century and the Music of Living American Song Composers Ricky Ian Gordon and Rufus Wainwright.

An advocate of body wellness in the voice studio, Dr. Asel is passionate about bringing her experience with yoga, body mapping, and the Alexander technique and scholarship in voice pedagogy into her teaching. She is an active member of the NATS organization where her students have been selected as finalists and won in local and national competitions. Her students have received master’s degrees in voice performance, choral conducting, and opera direction. Dr. Asel also enjoys her work as a guest adjudicator and clinician for vocal competitions.

She was previously a faculty member at Sam Houston State University where she was an assistant professor of voice and the University of Texas Brownsville and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where she taught applied voice, and diction, and directed the award-winning opera company. She holds a D.M.A. in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an M.M. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a B.M. from Ithaca College.

Praised by Opera News Online for her “…truly virtuoso performance….immaculate tone, good support and breath to spare.”, soprano, Dr. Tiffany Blake, received her D.M.A. in Vocal Performance with a minor in Opera Stage Direction from the Eastman School of Music, where she also earned her M.M. and was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate.

Dr. Blake's operatic roles include Desdemona in Otello, Marguerite in Faust, the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, and Mercedes in Carmen among others. Solo engagements have included appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Fort Collins. Dr. Blake has a special interest in song literature, and has given several recitals in Scotland, France, Salzburg, and across the U.S., appearances with Chicago’s Arts at Large and the Odyssey Chamber Music concert series in Columbia, Missouri, and a vocal chamber music recital with Salzburg International Chamber Music Concerts.

Students of Dr. Blake have been accepted at major conservatories and music programs across the United States, including the Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the University of North Texas. She has served on the faculties of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Syracuse University, Alfred University, and Sonoma State University.

She currently serves as associate professor of voice and director of the Charles and Reta Ralph Opera Program at Colorado State University.

American tenor John Lindsey, noted for his "clarion tone" and "blazing tenor" by Opera News, has gained a reputation as a budding dramatic tenor with a connection to German, English, and new works repertoire.

In the 2019-2020 season, Mr. Lindsey returned to Pacific Opera Victoria to debut as Bill in Flight by Jonathan Dove. He will also make house debuts at Opéra de Montréal as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte and at Opera on the Avalon as Edward in Ours by John Estacio.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Lindsey appeared in Madison Opera’s annual Opera in the Parks concert, in anticipation of a role and company debut as the Prince in Rusalka, and returned to Austin Opera for a reprisal of Jonathan Dale in Silent Night, a role he originated for the world premiere at Minnesota Opera. In the 2017/2018 season, John Lindsey made his Canadian debut with Pacific Opera Victoria as Steva in Jenufa, followed by a role debut as Froh in Das Rheingold with Arizona Opera. Other notable roles include Narraboth in Salome, Nick/cover for Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West, and Don Jose in Carmen.

Mr. Lindsey was an apprentice artist with Des Moines Metro Opera in 2015, a resident artist with Minnesota Opera from 2011-2014, and a studio artist with Central City Opera in 2011. He received his Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Colorado State University in his hometown of Fort Collins. In 2015, he was invited to participate in the International Competition for Wagnerian Voices at Bayreuth. He currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, serving on the voice faculty at Colorado State University.