Fort Worth Opera Names 2025–26 Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artists

Four Rising Stars Will Sharpen Skills and Bring the Power of Opera to Stages, Schools, and Celebrations Across North Texas

(Fort Worth, Texas) – Four exceptional young singers have been named Fort Worth Opera’s 2025–26 Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artists. During their Fort Worth residency, these emerging professionals will take on lead and supporting roles in the company’s season and carry the torch of opera into classrooms, community festivals, and public spaces across North Texas — creating the same transformative encounters with opera that once changed their own lives.

“We have a wonderful group of Resident Artists this year,” said Fort Worth Opera General & Artistic Director Angela Turner Wilson. “I’m looking forward to experiencing their confident explorations of the canon — from the romanticism of French opera to the shimmering pulse of American minimalism, and the drama and beauty of Puccini — and sharing their excitement about opera in school programs and events throughout our community.”

Established in 2015 with a grant from the Hattie Mae Lesley Foundation, the Resident Artist (RA) program offers early career opera singers an immersive blend of professional training, stage experience, student mentorship, and community engagement.

The RAs for the 2025–26 season are:

• Melissa Martinez (soprano): A Colombian-American artist from Miami, Melissa earned her master’s at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a Max Bierman Prize winner and Shari Bierman Fellow. She loves everything French and Romantic and Juliet’s aria from Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet has been a beautiful obsession since her undergraduate years. She is eager to step fully into the role through Fort Worth Opera’s Project: Opera in local high schools.

• Madeline Coffey (mezzo-soprano): Originally from rural Indiana and now based in New York City, Madeline earned her master’s degree from Indiana University and has experience in opera, light opera, and musical theater. She recently transitioned to the mezzo repertoire and is enjoying newly available “pants” roles. This season, she’ll get her swashbuckle on as Stéphano and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.

• Jose Olivares (bass-baritone): With interests in performance and education, Jose earned a music education degree before completing graduate studies in opera at the University of Oklahoma. He has built a rich resume with companies including Seagle Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Opera Magnífico. As a Fort Worth native, Jose is eager to share his knowledge of the city with his fellow RAs, and his love of opera with the community where it all began.

• Coleman Dziedzic (tenor): A native of South Georgia, Coleman earned his master’s in voice at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he now lives. A self-described “singing actor,” he’s looking forward to playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and diving into the drama of Madama Butterfly. He’s also primed for the youthful honesty of the students he’ll meet and mentor here in Fort Worth: “When kids hate something, they tell you. So, if they say they love it, that’s real.”

Each of the RAs can point to a moment when opera became real for them — the first teacher who made the world expand with her voice, the televised performance that opened a door, the unexpected summer program that turned curiosity into commitment. This season in Fort Worth, they’ll be the ones holding those doors open for others: bringing Three Little Pigs (with music by Mozart) to elementary schools, performing an exciting new bilingual opera in community spaces, and headlining Project: Opera, the centerpiece outreach program, in Fort Worth ISD high schools.

The bilingual opera Anam the Witch and Beatrice the Beautiful marks the professional company premiere of this work by local composer Mary Alice Rich and librettist Claudia Navarro Jameson. Based on a Mexican folk tale, Anam trades the wicked witch for a misunderstood curandera whose magic goes sideways — before everything ends in found family and forgiveness. 

Directed by TCU’s David Mejia, who first staged the piece, the 30-minute opera bursts with humor, heart, and vibrant Latin culture. Featuring bilingual RAs, English-Spanish dialogue, and a sing-along in Spanish (with full translations for everyone in the program) it’s headed for Día de los Muertos at the Rose Marine Theater, ¡Celebramos! at the Botanic Garden, and the Art Worth Festival at Clearfork. “The first time I did this show,” Mejia recalls, “a little boy screamed when he heard the first words. He was so happy to hear people singing opera in Spanish. Moments like that make everything worth it.”

Project: Opera, the centerpiece program of the RAs’ year in Fort Worth, takes the in-school residencies of previous seasons to a whole new scale — expanding from one to three FWISD campuses: I.M. Terrell, Northside High School and Benbrook High School. 

Spending over 30 hours in each school, the RAs will lead students through an abridged, English-language version of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet — unpacking the play, tackling the music, and helping the students create everything from costume masks to zine-style programs. The work builds to RA-led performances at each school and a citywide finale at TCU’s Van Cliburn Concert Hall, where all three casts join forces with TCU opera students for a one-night public event.

“Project: Opera is the pinnacle of what an education program can be,” said Anthony Pound, Fort Worth Opera’s Director of Education and Community Engagement. “It’s access, engagement, creation — all rolled into one. We’re giving young people an avenue to tell a story out loud and in their own voice, while exploring the remarkable possibilities ahead of them right here in Fort Worth.”

While leading classes and building productions in schools, the RAs will also be honing their own craft through professional instruction and performances around town at community events and with seasoned professionals on Fort Worth Opera’s mainstage.

Mainstage productions include:

• Oct. 10, 2025 – Dinner with the Stars gala, TCU

• Nov. 21 & 22, 2025 – La Belle et La Bête, Ridglea Theater

• Feb. 5, 2026 – Cowboys & Culture, Amon Carter Museum of American Art

• April 10 & 12, 2026 – Madama Butterfly, Bass Performance Hall

Around town, you can find the RAs performing at:

• Fall 2025 – Anam the Witch and Beatrice the Beautiful

  • Oct. 11, 2025 – ¡Celebramos! at Fort Worth Botanic Garden

  • Oct. 24–26, 2025 – Art Worth Festival at Clearfork

  • Nov. 1, 2025– Día de los Muertos at Rose Marine Theater

• Dec. 13 & 14, 2025 – Amahl and the Night Visitors, Stage West

• Dec. 20, 2025 – Wintersong, First Presbyterian Church

• Apr. 18, 2026 – Project: Opera finale performance of Romeo and Juliet, TCU Van Cliburn Concert Hall

For more information about Fort Worth Opera’s community outreach and the Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist program, or to purchase single or season tickets for the 2025–26 season, visit fwopera.org. 

ABOUT FORT WORTH OPERA

Founded in 1946 by three visionary women — Eloise MacDonald Snyder, Betty Berry Spain, and Jeanne Axtell Walker — Fort Worth Opera is the oldest opera company in Texas, and one of the oldest opera companies in the United States. The organization has received local and national attention from critics and audiences alike for its artistic excellence, pioneering spirit, and long history of community-based cultural engagement. In addition to producing traditional repertoire with rising stars and inspirational young talents, the company is known throughout the operatic world as a champion of new American works.

With a dedication to the community both on and beyond the operatic stage, Fort Worth Opera proudly supports opera education through the Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist program and a robust statewide initiative that brings in-school performances and educational programs to 16,000 schoolchildren each year across Texas.

Fort Worth Opera is committed to producing opera of the highest possible artistic quality and integrity; to identifying and training talented young singers; to serving as a crucible for creating new American operas; to joining forces with other arts organizations in significant collaborations; and to enriching the community by stimulating cultural curiosity and creativity in people of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Visit fwopera.org for more information.