Opera News aptly praised Courtney Miller’s “fluent musicality.”  Known for her “captivating stage presence” and “excellent sense of comic timing,” Courtney had garnered awards in opera and art song.  In the 2023-24 season Courtney joins Opera San José as a Resident Artist singing Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Giovanna in Rigoletto. 

Across the Bay Area, she performs Tell me the truth about love a solo recital about modern love.  In the 2022-23 season, she made her San Francisco Opera solo debut as Sister St. Charles in Dialogues of the Carmelites, along with covering Flower/Lady 3/Solo Maid in Dream of the Red Chamber.  She also made her Pocket Opera debut as Nancy in Albert Herring and was an inaugural fellow of the Somatic Song Institute with 3340 Recital Series.  Career highlights include Hannah in The Passenger (Detroit Opera); Mercédès in Carmen (Florida Grand Opera); Meg in Little Women (Madison Opera); Meg Page in Falstaff (Virginia Opera); and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Saratoga).

Instagram @mezzomiller

Turkish-American violinist Ertan Torgul has enjoyed an eclectic musical path as a recitalist, chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster, and teacher, touring around the world and collaborating with some of today’s most sought-after musicians, conductors and ensembles. Currently serving as a Lecturer of Violin & Chamber Music at University of California-Santa Barbara, he has also been on faculties of University of Houston Moores School, University of Texas, and Florida International University. He has conducted masterclasses, lectures, and workshops across the U.S. as well as in Turkey, Iceland, and Italy.

As soloist, guest concertmaster, and orchestral musician Mr. Torgul has performed with orchestras including San Francisco, Indianapolis, Houston, Sacramento, Phoenix, Tucson, Fort Worth Symphonies and Dallas Opera orchestra among others. He served as Associate and Acting Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony for 17 seasons. Mr. Torgul has also been a member of the ASCAP award-winning SOLI Chamber Ensemble since 1996 and until recently, had been serving as its Managing/Artistic Director. He has commissioned over 100 works with SOLI and recorded six CDs featuring American composers. He was the recipient of Austria’s Prix Mercure, a prize winner in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and a laureate of the Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition.

Lauded soloist, chamber musician and recording artist, Aileen Chanco has been recognized for her “intense virtuosity and sensitivity” [Music-Web International] and described as “steeped in expressiveness to the core!” [Mercury News.] She made her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony at the age of thirteen and subsequently engaged by conductor Kent Nagano to appear with him and the Boston Pops. Since then, she has appeared as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and her native country of the Philippines. “It was a shining moment for our country,” The Manila Times reported after she debuted with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. The accolades she received resulted in an invitation to return, at the request of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, to perform the Philippine premiere of John Adams’ Century Rolls with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra to which the Philippine Star described her as “an astonishing pianist”.

Ms. Chanco received her Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees from the Juilliard School under Herbert Stessin. She received numerous awards including the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts Award, Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and 1st place in the Young Keyboard Artist International Competition among others.

In 2005, she founded the chamber music series Music at the Mission, based in Fremont, CA where she serves as both its Executive Director and Artistic Co-Director.

Michael Graham has been hailed by the San Francisco Classical Voice for his “almost panfully pretty…expressive richness”, and by the San Jose Mercury News as “super-good”. He has toured and recorded with Van Morrison, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg , and John Densmore of the Doors, and has appeared and performed on ABC’s Regis and Kelley and NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He is currently a member of the Oakland Symphony, and appears frequently with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Midsummer Mozart Festival, and other ensembles throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Graham can be heard on New Century’s recently released albums “Live” and Together”, and on Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks Live from Hollywood Bowl.”