MAtteo Mangialetti | Artistic Director
After hearing a radio broadcast of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at age 10 -- Matteo Mangialetti was smitten! From that moment his passion for opera has remained an obsession. He became an avid recording collector in his teen years, collecting every voice of opera's illustrious Golden Age: from Luisa Tetrazzini, Claudia Muzio, Rosa Ponselle, Enrico Caruso, Tita Ruffo to Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Franco Corelli, Dame Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Aprile Millo, Leontyne Price. Discovering the operas of Verdi and subsequently the bel canto Greats of Bellini, Donizetti & Rossini was a revelatory experience that left him forever changed...
Matteo is a sought-after ballet pianist throughout the Washington metropolitan area. After piano studies with Leilani Fenick and then Sonia Vlahcevic, he began a career at the Richmond Ballet. He has played for and with Virginia Commonwealth University Dance, BalletNova, The Washington School of Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, George Mason University Dance, Chamber Dance Project, and The Kennedy Center among others. Joining The Washington Ballet for their 2018/2019 season, he rehearsed Fokine's Les Sylphides, Balanchine's Serenade, and Kent's The Sleeping Beauty all under the direction of acclaimed ballerina Julie Kent. Inaugurating The REACH at The Kennedy Center, Matteo played in a series of masterclasses with New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck. He has worked with Victor Barbee, Julie Kent, Connor Walsh and played for the ballet classes of Ethan Brown, Elaine Kudo, Victoria Simon, Irina Dvorovenko, and others.
In 2021, he made his musical directing & conducting début in performances of the 1970 version of Sondheim's Company with DreamWrights Theatre followed by Menotti's opera The Telephone in performances with Opera Susquehanna. Matteo also co-created The Divas in Drag Italian Opera Company, a YouTube opera 'company' which seeks to promote the giants of the Golden Age through drag as medium. Inspired by Ira Siff's La Gran Scena Opera Company and the series Who's Afraid of Opera?, The Divas in Drag Italian Opera Company seeks to reach, create, and educate a new generation of opera lovers.
Currently, Matteo is the founding artistic director of Little City Opera (previously Opera D’Oro) which commences with inaugural performances of Donizetti's masterwork Lucia di Lammermoor in 2023.
Under the guidance of renowned soprano Aprile Millo, Matteo is preparing for a summer in Italy at the OperaVision Academy d'Oro.
Nicholas Cowden | ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Nicholas Cowden has always been captivated by the magic of the theatre and its ability to express our human experience. Whether it be through dancing, directing, choreographing, costuming, or producing, he has found himself drawn to the artistic process.
In opera, Mr. Cowden is most known for his co-creation of The Divas in Drag Italian Opera Comapny, which showcases brilliant costumes against digital sets, and superb acting. The drag performers bring to life excerpts of classic recordings such as Maria Callas' 1953 Cetra La Traviata, the 1930 recording of Rigoletto featuring Mercedes Capsir, the 1940 Lina-Bruna Rasa Cavalleria Rusticana, and many more. The work of the Divas in Drag has been called, "a true Gaysamtkunstwerk," by parterrebox's La Cieca. Mr. Cowden has directed The Telephone for Opera Susquehanna in York, PA and choreographed the overture of Verdi's La forza del destino for the Washington Ballet performed at The National Cathedral. He also coaches opera singers on movement, acting, and expression and will be on faculty at Aprile Millo’s Opera Academy d'Oro in Italy next summer.
Currently, Mr. Cowden is a Company Dancer at The Washington Ballet under the direction of Julie Kent and Victor Barbee. In his time with the company he has performed a variety of classical and neoclassical ballets including Fredrick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, and Merce Cunningham’s Duets.
Headshot Photography by Gilles Delellio
Banner Photography by Jessy Dick
Rachel Scherer | Production Manager
Rachel found a love for theatre in high school after her gymnastics career came to an end. Over the years, that love has expanded to include more forms of live entertainment including ballet and, of course, opera. Whether in the audience or backstage, Rachel enjoys new, experimental works, as well as the standard repertory.
Rachel is currently the resident Assistant Stage Manager and Assistant Company Manager for The Washington Ballet. She has been stage managing professionally since 2018, and is grateful for all the friends, lessons, and experiences it has brought and will continue to bring.
Notable productions she's worked on include Tony-award winning director Marcia Milgrom Dodge's staging of Evita, and prima ballerina Julie Kent's stagings of Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Some of her favorite productions/events to have been a part of include the full-length production of
Matilda the Musical (Stage Manager, Riverside Theatre), Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's annual Howl-O-Scream (Tech Manager), and The Nutcracker
(Deck Stage Manager & Calling Stage Manager, The Washington Ballet)."
Photo by XMBPhotography