About the Artists
Mezzo-soprano "falcón" Evgeniya Khomutova is a graduate voice performance student of Dr. Christine Anderson at Boyer College of Music and Dance. During her studies at Temple University, she sang the roles of Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Offred in The Handmaid's Tale on the stage of Temple Opera Theater under supervision of José Luis Domínguez, Ellen Rissinger and Brandon McShaffrey.
Prior to that, Khomutova graduated from Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Russia and participated in the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo opera studio in Valencia, Spain where she worked with Lawrence Brownlee, Carlo Rizzi, Marc Albrecht, Robert Carsen, and Laurent Pelly.
Khomutova participated in Operalia competition and featured on Piotr Beczała’s album Vincerò! She also coached with Renee Fleming and Silvana Bartoli and was a member of Gstaad Vocal Academy in Switzerland.
Gabriel Locati, a Philadelphia-based mandolinist, has been deeply engaged with the city’s rich mandolin tradition since his earliest training, performing with ensembles such as the Munier Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra and the Philadelphia Mandolin Ensemble and in high school studied classical and orchestral mandolin performance with multi-instrumentalist Pat Mercuri. His career includes solo appearances, chamber collaborations, and orchestral performances on mandolin, mandola, liuto-cantabile, and mandocello including performances with Opera Philadelphia.
Lucati plays mandola for the Atlantic Mandolin Quartet, a group dedicated to advancing the art of classical mandolin chamber music in the 21st century. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and is pursuing a Master’s degree in mandolin performance at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, where he studies with classical guitarist Allen Krantz.
In addition to playing the established and historical mandolin repertoire Lucati has a focus on producing and performing new arrangements, transcriptions, and compositions for the mandolin family of instruments.
Pianist and coach Ellen Rissinger came to European attention in December of 2008, when she accompanied a performance of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf on one hour's notice. She spent a great part of her career in Germany, including nine years on the music staff of the Sächsische Staatsoper (Semperoper) in Dresden, Germany, returning to the United States full-time in 2019.
Rissinger joined the faculty of Temple University in the fall of 2024, after four years on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked in opera houses in both the United States (with Detroit Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Kentucky Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Baltimore Opera) and Germany (Semperoper, Bregenz Opera Festival, Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper am Rhein), and has given master classes with several summer music programs in Europe, including: The International Performing Arts Institute (IPAI) in Kiefersfelden, Germany; The International Music Festival of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy; University of Miami's summer program in Salzburg, Austria; AIMS in Graz, Austria; as well as at many universities in the United States including: The School; Boston Conservatory; Oklahoma City University; Murray State University and the Boston NATS Chapter.
In recital, Rissinger has performed with such artists as Toni Marie Palmertree, Troy Cook, Jane Henschel, Kenneth Riegel, Mirko Roschkowski and Rachel Willis-Sørensen. As the founder of The Diction Police, she has led the way for classical singers and coaches from all over the world to hone their foreign language skills. Rissinger is fluent in German and English, is conversant in Italian, French, Spanish and Modern Greek, and continues to work on her conversational ability in Russian. Together with Toni Marie Palmertree, she also hosts the podcast So Lit Song Lit, to introduce lesser-known song repertoire and expand the art song canon.
Growing up in a multi-generational musical family in Indianapolis, Indiana, Levi Rozek has been surrounded by music his whole life. Citing Count Basie, Stevie Wonder, and Sammy Davis Jr. amongst his earliest influences, by eleven years old he had started to play the trumpet and compose, and by fourteen he was already performing professionally. Rozek currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attends Temple University under the tutelage of world-renowned trumpeter Terell Stafford. During his career he has performed and recorded with Randy Brecker, Terell Stafford, Melissa Aldana, Sean Jones, Jazzmeia Horn, Christian Sands, and more. He has toured around the globe performing at venues including Carnegie Hall, Billboard Live and B-Flat in Tokyo, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Indy Jazz Fest, and the Vail Jazz Festival to name a few.
Amongst other accolades, Rozek won first place in the National Trumpet Competition’s Tom Williams Jazz Division and the National Jazz Festival’s Jazz Trumpet Division, was named a YoungArts Finalist in Jazz, and was awarded Outstanding Trumpet Solos in the Essentially Ellington and Jack Rudin competitions. He also has participated in many honor bands, such as NYO Jazz, The Vail Jazz Workshop, the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, the IJEA All-State Jazz Ensemble and Combo, and Hamp’s Jazz Ambassadors.
Rozek believes that music has the power to bring everyone together, and his mission in life is to do just that.
Born in Frederick, Maryland and raised in central Pennsylvania, pianist Roman Wyatt began shaping his musical language early. From ages eleven to fourteen, he taught himself classical repertoire entirely by ear, and without formal instruction. This led to Roman’s development into a primarily ear driven player, which would serve well for his future in becoming a professional improviser.
A pivotal moment came in the summer before his senior year of high school, when he attended a jazz camp at Messiah University. There, he met important Temple faculty including saxophonist Tim Warfield and drummer Justin Faulkner, who were greatly encouraging and served as early role models for him. After the camp, Roman spent time studying with pianist Kirk Reese, who helped accelerate his understanding of the study of improvisation. Practice became a much more disciplined routine for him. Soon after, he was accepted into Temple University’s jazz program, where he has since met several important mentors including Bruce Barth, Vicente Archer and Joe Block.
Within the jazz tradition, Wyatt draws particular strength from the lyricism of Paul Bley, the architectural wit of Thelonious Monk and the virtuosity of Art Tatum both in technique as well as harmonic foundation. From classical music, he carries forward the structural clarity of Bach, the harmonic atmosphere of Debussy, the abstractions of Schoenberg and the visceral emotionality of Rachmaninov.
With the convergence of these inspirations, Wyatt hopes to develop a genuine artistic vision; one with an emotionality that communicates an array of personal truths, while simultaneously convicting its listeners.
