Creative Team
Lara Bolton
Artistic Director
Lara Bolton is a pianist, vocal coach, conductor, and arranger. A multi-faceted artist, the majority of her work centers on vocal collaborations across many genres. Operatic affiliations include San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Florentine Opera, Quad Cities Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, Out of the Box Opera, West Bay Opera, Opera Colorado, and Amarillo Opera. In 2022, Ms. Bolton conducted Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia for An Opera Theatre, and has led musical preparation for projects at the Guthrie and Jungle Theaters, and Theater Latté Da. She is the Artistic Director for the Opera Reading Project, and former Head of Music for Mill City Summer Opera, as well as an official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Ms. Bolton is the interim Professor of Collaborative Piano and Coaching at the University of Minnesota, and maintains an active concert and recording career. In addition to classical music, she also regularly collaborates as a rock keyboardist, and arranges and co-creates various conceptual and genre-bending fusion projects. Her most recent fusion project was music directing Macbeth and the Weïrd Sisters, a conceptual piece centering the opera Macbeth, by Giuseppi Verdi.
Ms. Bolton is a former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist at Washington National Opera. She helped develop a Young Artist Program for Opera Santa Barbara. Summer festival engagements include the Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West, Brevard Music Festival, and Interlochen Arts Camp. As an alumna of Interlochen Arts Academy, she received a Bachelor of Music Theory degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the University of Maryland-College Park.
Hear about ORP from our Artistic Director, Lara Bolton.
Colleen O’Shaughnessy
Executive Director
After working as an opera singer in the New York area for over 10 years, Colleen O’Shaughnessy is thrilled to be back in her home state, collaborating and performing with her Minnesota colleagues. In 2022-23, Ms. O’Shaughnessy made her debut with Skylark Opera, singing Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin and covering the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Since returning, she has covered Micaëla with the Lakes Area Music Festival and performed with Journey North Opera, Garden of Song Opera, Really Spicy Opera, Opera on Tap, Thursday Musical and the Holy Child Schola. In 2020, Ms. O’Shaughnessy won an Artist Relief Grant from Springboard for the Arts for outstanding outreach video singing work with Alzheimer’s patients.
During her time on the East Coast, Ms. O’Shaughnessy sang with numerous ensembles, including the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Opera Theatre, Empire Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, Apollo Opera and the Schubert Club of Connecticut. She premiered the role of Prudence Peergroup in Gilbert and Sullivan on Wall Street at The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Signature operatic roles include Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Lady Billows (Albert Herring), Georgetta (Il tabarro), La Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), La badessa (Suor Angelica), Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Mrs. Gobineau (The Medium) and Josephine (HMS Pinafore). Awards include placing at the Amici Competition, the Eleanor Lieber Awards and the Jenny Lind Competition. She received professional training at OperaWorks and Lyric Opera Studio Weimar and performance degrees from Boston University and St. Olaf College. Besides her passion for performing, Ms. O’Shaughnessy also believes in creating community and cultivating opera talent within her local artist network, resulting in the inspiration for Opera Reading Project.
Eric McEnaney
Creative Advisor
Eric McEnaney enjoys a multifaceted career as a distinguished pianist, vocal coach, and artist teacher whose Grammy-nominated work has been heard on stages throughout the country. He has assisted on the musical preparation of more than 100 productions for companies throughout the country and is currently a Master Coach for Minnesota Opera. Dr. McEnaney has also worked as a guest coach for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Central City Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera Southwest, Skylark Opera, Theater Latté Da, and Lyric Opera of the North, among others, and served as Principal Production Pianist & Coach at Florentine Opera Company for four seasons, where he oversaw the musical preparation of a dozen shows and two world-premiere recordings, Sister Carrie (Aldridge/Garfein) and Prince of Players (Carlisle Floyd).
As a recitalist, Dr. McEnaney has collaborated with singers from the rosters of the nation’s leading opera houses. He serves as an official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in the Minnesota and Wisconsin districts, regularly works as an orchestral keyboardist for Minnesota Orchestra, and has appeared with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Civic Symphony, and the orchestras of Minnesota Opera and Central City Opera. Dr. McEnaney’s performances have been broadcast locally and nationally on PBS, Great Performances, Minnesota Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, Twin Cities Public Television, KSTP-TV's Twin Cities Live, WCCO-TV’s Mid-Morning, and American Public Media. He has assisted many of the most renowned classical vocal artists of our time in masterclasses and private sessions. Dr. McEnaney holds advanced degrees in piano performance and collaborative piano and maintains a private vocal coaching studio in Minneapolis, where he also resides.
Elena Stabile
Administrative Assistant
Tara Priolo
Diversity Consultant
Brian R. Pollack, Legal Advisor
Founding Board Members
Colleen O’Shaughnessy Pollack, chair
Julie Taylor Bardon, secretary
Joseph O’Shaughnessy, treasurer
Eric McEnaney, director
Lara Bolton, director