Sasha Gerritson is a highly sought after opera and musical theater stage director who directs shows for many local and regional companies, specializing in traditional productions of believed repertoire. For the Opera Festival of Chicago, Sasha received rave reviews for her production of Assassinio nella Cathedrale (2023). She also is regularly involved with Music Theater Works where she recently directed Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (2023) and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2022) both to great critical acclaim.

Sasha served as the Opera and Music Theatre director of Northeastern Illinois University from 2010-2022, has directed for Musica Nelle Marche (Urbino, Italy), Opera Piccola, DePaul University, the Cherub Music Theatre program for Northwestern University, in addition to various other summer programs in the area.

In addition to her stage direction work, Sasha is a choral conductor and singer, serving as the Director of Music Ministries for the Park Ridge Community Church. She also proudly serves on a number of boards city wide, including The Brookfield Zoo, the Navy Pier Foundation, the Goodman Theatre and DePaul University, for which she is Vice Chair.

Sasha lives in Glenview with her husband Eugene Jarvis and their two sons.

Educated in the rich musical tradition of the Rome’s Conservatory as a conductor, composer, and pianist, Maestro Andrizzi, whose conducting has been praised as “admirable” by the Chicago Tribune and full of “spirit and thoughtfulness” by the San Diego Union Tribune, has become a versatile musician with a vast experience in the symphonic and operatic repertoires and a passion for the many areas of the musical arts. As a conductor, he has worked with world-class companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Chicago Philharmonic, Orchestra della Città di Ravenna, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Chicago Opera Theater, and New Philharmonic. He has also collaborated with important music festivals, including Millennium Park, Pitchfork, Ravinia, and Latino Music Festivals. Many international artists, including Ferruccio Furlanetto, Frederica Von Stade, Maurizio Baglini, Frank Almond, and Joyce Castle have performed as soloists with Maestro Andrizzi in concertos, operas, recitals, and recordings.

In addition to being a passionate conductor, Maestro Andrizzi is a dedicated educator. In fact, he has led the Orchestral Program at the prestigious Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University for several years and has often collaborated with international artist programs, including the Ryan Opera Center, Mediterranean Opera Festival and Studio, and the Chicago Opera Theater Young Artist Program. In addition, he has guest conducted in various university music programs, such as at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Finally, Maestro Andrizzi has collaborated with several orchestras to create and lead their Family, Education, and Holiday programs, ultimately creating a special relationship with the Chicago Philharmonic and conducting the orchestra’s outreach and side-by-side programs for several years.

Mo. Andrizzi is a recipient of the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2021 Conductor of the Year Award (college/university), Honorable Mention Award at the International Competition for Conductors of Contemporary Music “4X4 Prize,” and a winner of the “P. Barrasso” International Competition for Chamber Music. Previous positions include: Music Director and Conductor of the Cervantes Orchestra of Chicago, an orchestra dedicated to the divulgation of Hispanic and Spanish Classical music. He also served as assistant conductor of Maestros Andrew Davis and James Conlon. He has recorded for Albany records.

Baritone Franco Pomponi made his European debut in the title role of Hamlet at the Liceu in Barcelona and success followed worldwide. He created a sensation in Paris as Pentheus in The Bassarids by Henze at the Théâtre du Châtelet and has returned to sing the title roles in new productions of Nixon in China (broadcast on Mezzo) and Sweeney Todd. His Italian debut came at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, as Nick Shadow in Cesare Lievi’s production of A Rake’s Progress. He debuted at Opernhaus Zürich in a new production of Les pêcheurs de perles as Zurga (dir. Rizzi), the title role of Don Giovanni for his debut at Bolshoï Opera (dir. Currentzis) and in Budapest in a new production of The Tempest as Prospero at Hungarian State Opera.

Mr. Pomponi was a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago and made his Chicago debut as Germont in Verdi’s La traviata. He made his New York debut as Escamillo in Carmen at New York City Opera. Other debuts: Ford in Falstaff for The Santa Fe Opera (dir. Arrivabeni), ‘Four Villains’ in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Finnish National Opera (dir. Fournillier). He made his Carnegie Hall debut as Pater Ecstaticus in Symphony Nº 8 of Mahler with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Additional highlights include: Ezio, Attila, Seïd, Il Corsaro, OFC Chicago; Tebaldo, Giulietta e Romeo (Zandonai), New York; Prigioniero, Il Prigioniero (Dallapiccola), Chicago; Pangloss, Candide, Metternich, L’Aiglon, Lausanne; Hamlet, Barcelona, Marseille, Brussels, Kansas City; Don Giovanni, Bolshoi, Moscow, Geneva, Athens, Montpellier, Guangzhou; Eugene Onegin, FGO, Miami, Spoleto Festival; Escamillo, Carmen, L.A. Opera, NYCO, Helsinki, Bremen; ‘Four Villains,’ Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Golaud, Pelléas et Mélisande, Reisopera Netherlands; Paolo, Simon Boccanegra, Grand Théâtre de Genève; Germont, La traviata, Grant Park Music Festival; Ford, Falstaff, Canadian Opera; Count di Luna, Il trovatore, Austin Lyric; Michele, Il tabarro, Opera Festival of Chicago; Jack Rance, Fanciulla del West, KYO; Marcello, La bohème, Opéra de Lausanne, Opéra Vichy; Schaunard, La bohème, Count Dominik, Arabella, Metropolitan Opera, New York; Valentin, Faust, Opéra de Toulon; Hérode, Hérodiade, Silvio, Pagliacci, Dorset Opera; Frank/Pierrot, Die tote Stadt, Teatro Massimo, Palermo; Guglielmo, Così fan tutte, Belcore, L’elisir d’amore, Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg; Argante, Rinaldo, NYOpera Fest; Ping, Turandot, Mercutio, Roméo et Juliette, Malatesta, Don Pasquale, Lyric Opera of Chicago; Carbon, Cyrano, Teatro Real, Madrid. Mr. Pomponi has sung leading roles under Abell, Abbassi, Andrizzi, Bartoletti, de Billy, Eschenbach, Gergiev, Guidarini, López Cobos, Luisotti, Mehta, Minkowski, Levine, Mazzola, Nagano, Nelson, Niquet, Olmi, Ōno, Pappano, Pidò, Schwarz, Soltész, Villaume, de Waart.

Franco is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Opera Festival of Chicago