The Department of Voice & Opera, in conjunction with the University Musical Society, is pleased to present four separate Master Classes, Friday, December 5, 2025, 10:30am-12:20pm at the Earl V. Moore Building.

Each class will be led by a soloist from this year’s UMS presentation of Handel’s Messiah, each working with four of our SMTD voice students. The master clinicians are Sherezade Panthaki, soprano; Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, counter-tenor; Miles Mykkanen, tenor; and Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone.

All classes are open to the public to come and observe. Class locations are as follows:

Sherezade Panthaki, soprano - McIntosh Theatre
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, counter-tenor - Watkins Lecture Hall
Miles Mykkanen, tenor - Hankinson Rehearsal Hall
Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone - Kevreson Rehearsal Hall

GUEST ARTIST BIO

Filipino-American bass-baritone ENRICO LAGASCA is an in-demand vocalist – having performed more than a hundred oratorios, new-music works, opera roles, song cycles, and collections. His “smooth, dark bass voice” can be heard on six Grammy Award-nominated recordings.

Amid the wide-ranging demands of his repertoire, critics note Enrico’s larger-than-life presence. “Bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca summoned nearly as much volume as everyone else onstage put together.” Storytelling is at the center of his artistry. He has been described as having “an oratorio voice that strikes fear of God in the hearts of the audience.” His performance of St. Matthew’s Passion at Saint Thomas’s Church was described as “an outpouring of devotion and grief as elegant as it was moving.”

Soloist highlights of recent seasons include Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Voices of Ascension in New York, Handel’s Messiah at Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society and at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Washington Bach Consort, and Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht with the St. Louis Symphony. Enrico has collaborated with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Pablo Heras-Casado, Nicholas McGegan, Jane Glover, John Butt, John Nelson, Matthew Halls and Carl St. Clair.

Enrico’s passion extends beyond performing. He is dedicated to advocacy for the Queer community and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, a musical group committed to diversity and social justice, he participates in creative outreach programming for various communities with limited access to the arts. His performances of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard reflect Enrico’s dedication to works that address the LGBTQ+ community.