About the performers

Crystal Kim, Soprano

Soprano Crystal Kim performed the roles of Poppea in Monteverdi's L'incoronatione di Poppea, Sister Catherine in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Mother in Pasatieri's The Woman, A Lady with a Cake Box in Argento's Postcard from Morocco, Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème and Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute. Ms. Kim has been a Young Artist at OperaWorks and is thrilled to be performing the role of Almirena in Handel's Rinaldo at Opera NEO this summer. A frequent concert soloist, Ms. Kim's recent performances have included Handel's Messiah, Stravinsky's Mass, Mozart's Coronation: Mass and Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass. She completed an M.M. and is completing her Post-Graduate Diploma at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Crystal holds a B.M. from Han Yang University in Korea.

Woojeong Lee, Tenor

Woojeong Lee is an outstanding singer, performer, and director who has acquired many vocal and performing skills during his two-year tenure at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His voice has developed a mature, resonant and full-bodied timbre, capable of many styles and periods of music, that has resulted in outstanding and beautiful accomplishments in opera and oratorio. He has performed such roles as Don Ottavio inDon Giovanni, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Nemorino in L’elisir D’amore, Ruel in Scarf, and Alfred in Die Fledermaus. Able to  navigate musical and technical difficulties with ease and skill, Mr. Lee performed the “Ode to Joy" Cantata by Tchaikovsky (in Russian) in 2013 to a standing room only audience  with the Saratoga Symphony.

Leroy Kromm, Piano

Leroy Kromm specializes in oratorios of all eras, having performed most bass and baritone oratorio roles in concert throughout the United States and Europe. A strong advocate for new music, he has worked closely with many prominent composers of our day including, George Crumb, Lou Harrison, Jake Heggie, Kirke Mechem, Henry Mollicone, and Ned Rorem.  Mr. Kromm has been an advocate of singing “Nature’s Way” as it has been taught by his teacher and mentor of 30 years, William H. Miller (University of Illinois). He has performed with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Anchorage Festival of Music, Carmel Bach Festival and Midsummer Mozart under Maestro George Cleve. Among his numerous opera roles are the title roles in Mechem’s Tartuffe and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, as well as musical theatre and one-act contemporary operas produced for PBS television. Mr. Kromm has recorded on various labels including harmonia mundi and Musical Heritage Society, and he continues to serve nationally as a clinician and consultant in academia, as well as for the film industry in Hollywood.

Henry Mollicone, Piano

Henry Mollicone has worked actively as a free-lance conductor of opera, symphonic, and new music, while holding various university teaching posts. He is known especially for his work on The Face on the Barroom Floor: The Poem, the Place, the Opera (2013) and The Premonition (1976). A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Mollicone has studied composition with Donald Martino, Ron Nelson, Daniel Pinkham, Gunther Schuller, and Seymour Schifrin. He has been a professor at Santa Clara University (1985-1999) and is currently teaching at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. In addition to opera, Mr. Mollicone has written for orchestra, voice, chorus, ballet, and various chamber combinations, as well as music for film, television, and theater. Mr. Mollicone continues to conduct regular concerts as Music Director of both The Winchester Orchestra of San Jose and The South Valley Symphony.