Jarrod Lee, bass baritone, hails from Sylacauga, Alabama and presently resides in Maryland. He has received rave reviews for his “effortless acting” and “vocally assured” performances from Broadway World, MD Theater, Opera News, Opera Today, and The Washington Post.  This season Jarrod was a featured soloist in the ensemble of Porgy and Bess with the Metropolitan Opera and made a debut as the Undertaker in Porgy and Bess with Atlanta Opera.  Past roles include: Giulio Cesare in an excerpt from Giulio Cesare with the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) Festival Orchestra in Austria, Henry Davis in Street Scene with the Maryland Opera Studio, Angelotti / Jailer in Tosca, Marchese in Traviata with Annapolis Opera, Bailli in Werther with Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera, L’horloge comtoise / Le chat in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Benoit / Alcindoro in La bohème with the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Baron’s Father / Señor / Judge in Candide, Inmate #4 in Dead Man Walking, Paulus / Hlabeni in Lost in the Stars, and SNCC Man in Appomattox with the Washington National Opera.  Jarrod is a winner of the Todd Duncan and William Watkins Memorial Awards from the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, a finalist in the Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competition in New York, and a semi-finalist Meistersinger Vocal Competition in Austria. Jarrod also participated in Renée Fleming’s American Voices at the Kennedy Center, lead by Eric Owens.  Jarrod has performed with the Air Force Strings, Baltimore Musicales, and In Series D.C. in concerts ranging from topics of race, religion, and politics.  Jarrod was a featured soloist for visits by President Barack Obama and elected dignitaries to the historic Metropolitan A.M.E Church in D.C. As an advocate for new works, Jarrod premiered the roles Joe Louis in Shadowboxer: an opera based on the life of Joe Louis by composer Frank Proto and librettist John Chenault with the Maryland Opera Studio, and Levi in the Afro-futuristic opera ballet named Cloud Nebula by composer Scott Patterson, choreographer Preston Patterson, and associate artistic director Eric Sykes with Afro House Baltimore.  Jarrod was featured in community outreach programs by playwright Tom Minter and commissioned by the Washington National Opera called Just out the Window and co-created In the Smoke of the Sting which included excerpts from Shadowboxer by Frank Proto, Champion by Terence Blanchard, and Approaching Ali by D.J. Sparr.  In addition to performances of traditional operas, new operas, concerts, and cabaret, Jarrod serves as a contracted Project Manager for the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) and continues to tell stories as a librettist.  Jarrod enjoys creating works that are rooted in the experience of being black, gay, and American; adding to the cannon of stories in opera written by Black Americans which are rarely seen on the operatic stage.

Louisa Waycott is a mezzo-soprano from Sun Valley, Idaho.  She grew up in the rainforest in Venezuela and Brazil before spending her teenage years in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. She is currently based out of Washington D.C. Ms. Waycott has a deep love with music that started with her studies of cello, piano, and musical theater at a young age.  She continued to study both instruments and played cello for The Sao Paolo Youth Symphony Orchestra in Brazil.  She was incredibly lucky to spend high school in a beautiful small town that devoted lots of energy to the arts and participated with Caritas Chorale, St. Thomas Playhouse, Summer Valley Music Festival, Nexstage Theater, Shakespeare Theater, and Community School. Just in four years she performed roles in Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Wizard of Oz, Pippin, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat, Annie, Boys from Syracuse, Pirates of Penzance, Kiss Me Kate, Gypsy, The Fantasticks, and The Who’sTommy.

Louisa attended The University of Mississippi where she was able to be in the voice, cello, and piano studios. She participated in Chamber Singers, LOU Symphony Orchestra, and was a collaborative pianist. She performed Tessa in The Gondoliers, Mercedes in Carmen, Estrella in La Perichole, and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi. During her summers she studied with Opera in the Ozarks where she performed Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte, The International Lyric Academy, The American Institute of Musical Studies, The Neil Semer Vocal Institute, Bel Canto in Tuscany, and Songfest. 

Louisa found her love of opera while living in New York City interning for Gotham Chamber Opera and performing with many local companies. Some of her favorite performances include Lady Saphir in Patience and covering Meg in Falstaff with Utopia Opera, covering Martha in Iolanta with New Opera NYC, Kate in Pirates of Penzance with Village Light Opera and La Zia in Madama Butterfly with Amore Opera.  She moved to Washington D.C. to join The Maryland Opera Studio. In her two years there she sang Shepherd in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges, covered Ms. Todd in Menotti’s The Maid and the Thief, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and the title role in Blitzstein’s Regina. She fell in love with Washington D.C. and when she completed her masters degree she decided to make it her new home.

Since her graduate studies Louisa has performed all over the United States and in Europe. Highlights have included performing Madame de la Haltière with Miami Summer Music Festival in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and covering Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Prague Summer Nights Festival in the Czech Republic, Emma Goldman in a brand new jazz opera Love Songs, Mermaid in Weber’s Oberon and the Drummer in Ullmann’s Emperor of Atlantis with The In Series, Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata with Opera Camerata, and she made her debut with Inscape Chamber Orchestra in 2018 by performing Mahler’s Das Lied Von Der Erde. Louisa has been singing with The Washington National Opera for SIX straight seasons! Making her role debut and ensemble debut in the same year. She performed as a red bedazzled sheep and many other fun characters in Bernstein’s Candide and has sung in the ensemble of Aida, Don Carlo, La Traviata, Otello, Faust, Samson et Delila, Il Trovatore, Carmen, Cosi Fan Tutte, and Tosca. During Covid Louisa was lucky enough to work with Annapolis Opera on their virtual production of Acis and Galatea. During 2021/22 season she made her role debut of Tisbe in Cenerentola with Annapolis Opera.

In the 23/24 season Louisa performed with Maryland Lyric Opera in their productions of Macbeth, Un ball in Maschera, and Falstaff. Louisa made her debut with Washington Concert Opera in their productions of Nabucco, and Roberto Devereux and sang with Washington National Opera in their productions of Il Trovatore and La Boheme at the Kennedy Center. She sang with In Series in their production of I was Looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky where she played the role of Tiffany. Louisa spent her summer in Ohio performing 3 lead roles with Ohio Light Opera. She played Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Pauline in No, No, Nanette, and Lona Farrell in Arizona Lady.

This past season Louisa made her role debut with Washington Concert Opera as the Madrigal in Manon. She returned to the In Series to perform Sister Mister, The Cop, President Prexie, and Sadie in The Cradle Will Rock. She is making her debut with Wolf Trap in their production of Carmen and will return to Washington National Opera this coming season in Aida.

Soprano Ashlyn Rock is based in the Washington D.C. area. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Gerda Lissner Foundation in April of 2025. Roles and performances include Cincinnati Opera's Aida;Wolf Trap Opera’s La bohème and Carmen at the Filence Center; Isabela in Daniel Catán’s La hija de Rappaccini, Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers (Gregory Spears), Sister Constance de St. Denis in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, and Marie Celeste/Duchess Christina in Philip Glass’s Galileo Galilei with CCM Opera; Micaëla (Carmen) with Bel Cantanti Opera,Juliette in Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) with Shakespeare Opera Theatre, and Première Prêtresse in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride with Washington Concert Opera. Ashlyn is an active recitalist and has also performed concert works with Trinity Chamber Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, and soloed in John Mackey's Songs from the End of the World for soprano and wind symphony.

Awards include: Judges' Special Prize (Sponsored By Michele T. Classe), Gerda Lissner Art Song Competition (2025); 3rd Place National Finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS, NSA); Judges Special Award and Finalist in Partners for the Arts Competition (2023); First Prize, DC Chapter in Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Vocal Awards, National Society of Arts and Letters (2023). Rock completed her Masters and Artist Diploma in Opera at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Praised for his “beautiful and powerful tenor with exceptional high notes” (Opera Today) and homogeneous voice across the tesstiura” (OBD Opèra), Lance Fisher is an emerging voice on the Washington, D.C. opera scene. Recent engagements include Andriy in Zaporozhets za Dunayem (Loudoun Lyric Opera) and Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking (Opera AACC). Lance is a member of the Washington National Opera Chorus where he has performed in several productions such as Aïda and the world premiere of Grounded by Jeanine Tesori.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Lance has performed as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the New Orchestra of Washington, Schubert’s Mass in G and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at St. David’s Episcopal Church, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Peabody Conservatory Concert Choir. He regularly performs with leading ensembles such as Washington National Cathedral Choir, Washington Concert Opera, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra showcasing his versatility across opera, oratorio, and ensemble repertoire.

A passionate chamber musician and advocate for vocal harmony, Lance is a respected singer and arranger in the Barbershop Harmony Society and a past International Quartet Semi-Finalist with Praxis Quartet and Medalist Chorus Alexandria Harmonizers. He is the recipient of the Lou Perry Vocal Arranging Scholarship and the Sylvia Friedberg Nachlas Endowed Scholarship, and was a First Place Winner in the Mid-Atlantic NATS Classical Division.

Lance holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with William Sharp.