Artists
Toni Marie Palmertree
Soprano
Soprano Toni Marie Palmertree has become recognized as one of America’s most riveting performers of Puccini and Verdi heroines. She has recently been heard on the stage of San Francisco Opera in the title role of Madama Butterfly; of her performance, Janos Gereben from San Francisco Classical Voice wrote: “The young soprano not only met the challenge, but she claimed her place
among the finest vocal interpreters of the role heard here recently.” Other roles at San Francisco Opera include Nedda in I Pagliacci and LiuÌ€ in Turandot. She also made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut during the 2019-20 season, stepping into the title role of Luisa Miller for an indisposed colleague.
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Recent and planned engagements for the 2024-2025 season include covering Tosca with The Metropolitan Opera and singing the same role with the Princeton Festival, Mimi in La bohème with OperaDelaware and Opera Baltimore, and covering Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with San Francisco Opera. Ms. Palmertree is also participating in a number of recitals and programs with OperaDelaware throughout the current season as one of their inaugural Company Artists, a vital part of an innovative and groundbreaking pilot program aimed at transforming the traditional employment model for artists and freelancers in the performing arts industry.
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Engagements during the 2023-2024 season included Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with both West Bay Opera and with Lakeland Opera and an Arizona Opera house and role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. The previous season, Palmertree sang the role of Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly at Palm Beach Opera and the title role of Tosca at Florida Grand Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera, she performed the role of Voce dal cielo (house debut) and covered the roles of Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlo and the title role of Cherubini’s Medea (which she would go on to cover for the Canadian Opera Company, as well). Further recent performances included Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with OperaDelaware, Nedda in I Pagliacci in her return to Festival Opera New Zealand, Carmina Burana with Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Reno Philharmonic.
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In the 2018-2019 season, Toni Marie sang in The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductor’s concert and made debuts in the title role of Tosca with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and in Verdi’s Requiem with New Mexico Symphony and Allentown Symphony.
Temirzhan Yerzhanov
Piano
Temirzhan Yerzhanov — American pianist and conductor hailing from Kazakhstan — launched his international career by winning the Gold Medal at the International Robert Schumann Piano Competition in Zwickau, Germany. He now continues to perform both as a pianist and as an emerging conductor.
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Mr. Yerzhanov has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall), London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Paris’s Salle Gaveau, Dresden’s Sempergalerie, Grand Halls of the Moscow Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. His performances have been broadcast on Deutsche Radio Berlin, Hong Kong Radio, Radio Russia, and Orpheus Radio. He has recorded for the RCD and Con Brio Recordings labels.
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A versatile and collaborative artist, Mr. Yerzhanov has worked with numerous opera singers, instrumentalists, and opera companies. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Kazakh Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Google Orchestra, Capital Philharmonia Brasília, Kazakh National Abai Opera, Astana Opera, Orchestra Gradus ad Parnassum, and the Kyzylorda Orchestra.
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In the United States, Mr. Yerzhanov serves as Music Director at Ópera Cultura (San Jose, California), where he conducted La Llorona, Cuentos, the West Coast premiere of Bless Me, Ultima by Héctor Armienta, and Tres Minutos by Nicolás Benavides. As Resident Guest Conductor at the Shymkent Opera, he conducted Cavalleria Rusticana and premiered Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
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A graduate and former faculty member of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Mr. Yerzhanov studied piano under Professor Mikhail Voskressensky. Later he studied conducting with Imant Airea. He was named "Best Performer of 2007" by San Francisco Classical Voice. In his native Kazakhstan, he has been awarded the title Yenbek Sinirgen Qairatkeri, the nation’s highest honorary distinction for cultural contribution.