LISA GRAHAM, Music Director
Lisa Graham is in her twentieth season as Music Director of the Metropolitan Chorale. Under her leadership, the Chorale’s membership has grown in size to 100 members who hail from communities throughout the Boston area. Dr. Graham has shaped the Chorale’s programming to include contemporary, American, and lesser-known programs, alongside the masterworks of the repertory. She has enhanced the reputation and reach of the Chorale through collaborations with acclaimed vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as established composers of our day. In a review of her guest appearance conducting the Metropolitan Chorale and the Boston Pops, Broadway World praised Dr. Graham as “a spellbinding maestro, balletic in her direction … a great connection with her performers on stage.”
JULIA SCOTT CAREY, Collaborative Pianist
Julia Scott Carey began her music training at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where she received the Lanier Prize for Most Outstanding Graduating Senior. She was one of the first students admitted to the Harvard-New England Conservatory joint degree program, through which she received a master’s degree in composition. She received a second master’s degree in collaborative piano from Boston University.
Artists in Residence
SOPHIE CARPENTER, Soprano
Boston-based artist Sophie Carpenter is a zealous young singer dedicated to the constant amelioration of the arts industry. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Longy School of Music.
With an aptitude for singing cross-genre, from Baroque opera to contemporary musicals, Sophie works diligently at maintaining a versatile outlook on creating music. Recent engagements include Spirit (The Magic Flute); Momus (Phoebus und Pan); River (In Pieces); June Jenkins (An Embarrassing Position); Cornelia (Giulio Cesare in Egitto); Caroline (Angels of the House; a new opera); Audrey (Little Shop of Horrors); Armida (Rinaldo).
Sophie was a semi-finalist at the 2023 Hal Leonard Competition in the Young Adult Musical Theatre division, district qualifier for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition 2023 and an Honorable Mention at the Calliope’s Call Competition 2022. She was an Artist in Training with MassOpera 2022-2023 and with Boston Opera Collaborative from 2021-2022.
A skilled writer of librettos and dedication toward working backstage, she finds herself at home in a plethora of theatrical positions. Recently stage managing with Cambridge Chamber Ensemble, Moonbox Productions and Boston Opera Collaborative.
Sophie works interminably to make sure she is becoming the best modern musician possible while actively focusing on providing space for women in the arts. In June 2021, she produced her first full opera production entitled Angels of the House. This show raised over five hundred dollars in ticket sales, all of which were donated to the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. Additionally it was fully funded by Carnegie Mellon University Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier and endorsed by Carnegie Museum of Fine Arts.
Her excitement for singing, creating music and writing, coupled with her ambition toward making the arts more accessible, drives her fondness and connection to the musical world. She is ecstatic to be joining the Metropolitan Chorale this season and to sing alongside an incredible group of musicians.
LISA BARONE, Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano and native of Methuen, MA, Lisa Barone completed her Professional Studies Certificate, Master and Bachelor of Music degrees in Classical Voice Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. Previous credits include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Raylynmor Opera, Mirabella in Johann Strauss II’s Der Zigeunerbaron, Thètis in Jacques Ibert’s Persèe et Androméde, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Deuxieme sorcière in Bloch’s Macbeth, Melloe in Cavalli’s La Doriclea and Despina in Così fan tutte, with the MSM Opera Theater program.
She has performed in the Verdi Square Festival of the Arts, the William Bolcom Festival at New England Conservatory and the New England Conservatory Contemporary Music Festival.
She has performed in the Verdi Square Festival of the Arts, the William Bolcom Festival at New England Conservatory and the New England Conservatory Contemporary Music Festival. She made her debut as Maria Aegyptiaca in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at St. John the Divine under the baton of Kent Tritle. Other choral repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Oratorio Society of New York, as the Alto Choral Scholar. She is currently the alto section leader at First Parish in Brookline.
MICHAEL MERULLO, Tenor
Noted for his “flexible and expressive voice”, tenor Michael Merullo is a Boston-based performer rooted in the local opera, musical theater, and choral communities. Michael is thrilled to rejoin the Metropolitan Chorale after a few years away focusing on his real estate career. Recent engagements include performing as a tenor soloist in BWV 93, the Cantata titled “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten.”
Michael enjoys working with many local companies including Boston Lyric Opera, Concord Players, and the Cantata Singers, among others. Recent role highlights include Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music; Arbace in Idomendo and Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro.
Michael was awarded second place at the 2014 Piccola Opera Vocal Competition and also received the Chancellor’s Talent Award at his alma mater all four years of his studies.Michael’s joy for storytelling is also shared through his nationally recognized professional real estate services.