American vocalist Katerina Burton, acclaimed for her “rich and warm” singing (Opera Wire) is a recent graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist program at Washington National Opera where she made her role debut as Micaëla in Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed production of Carmen. This season features many principal role debuts, including Mimì in La bohème with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Violetta Valéry in La traviata with Annapolis Opera, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Madison Opera. Ms. Burton has seen much success as a competitor, having most recently been selected a winner of the 2024 George and Nora London Foundation Awards.

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As a National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and Winner of theMario Lanza Competition, tenor Sahel Salam currently serves as a Cafritz Young Artist of Washington National Opera. Sahel recently performed with WNO as Pang in Turandot and Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, also covering Roméo. He has also performed as Arturo in Luciadi Lammermoor, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Fernand in La Favorite. Mr. Salam is an alumnus of The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, Merola Opera Program, Glyndebourne Festival Opera as a Jerwood Young Artist, and The Music Academy of the West. In Santa Fe Opera’s 2024 summer season, Sahel covered Alfredo Germont in La Traviata, The Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, and Eli in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ The Righteous. This 2024-25 season, Mr. Salam returns to WNO where he will perform as Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio and as Shere Khan in Kamala Sankaram’s Jungle Book.