2026-2027
SEASON

Jeanie Darnell is Professor of Music and Head of Vocal Studies and Director of Opera Theater at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Bower School of Music. As a concert artist, Darnell has been hailed by critics throughout the United States and in Europe. As regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1998, she has been in demand as soprano soloist of major concert and oratorio repertoire. She has been a featured soloist with the Orquesta de Trujillo (Perú), Gesellschaft für Musiktheater (Vienna), Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, the Southwest Florida Symphony, Opera Naples, Patronato Peruano de la Música Centenarios, Operafestival di Roma, Corsi Internazionali di Musica, Omaha Symphony, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Denver Bach Festival, Lindsborg Messiah Festival, and Colorado Music Festival. A champion of new music, she has presented many concerts of works by composers Robert Boury, Richard Hundley, Lori Laitman, and Z. Randall Stroope.

More on Jeanie.​

Over a twenty-year professional career, Gerritt VanderMeer has appeared in feature film, national television, commercials, national tours, off-Broadway and regional theatres across the U.S. and in Europe. Gerritt is currently based in Southwest Florida, where he has appeared in over 25 Equity productions since 2013. A classically-trained baritone and concert soloist, Gerritt is a graduate of the professional actor training program (MFA) from UCLA. Proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association.

More on Gerritt.​​​​

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Heather Ivy, Internationally acclaimed Soprano, has made a career dazzling audiences on both land and sea with Broadway, Opera and Pop favorites. Her extraordinary talent and genuine warmth shines through everything she does. Her professional career began on the concert stages of New York City and the Broadway International Tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. She has performed in multiple musicals around the US such as including the Off-Broadway gem Christmas Wrappings, and classics like The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, and Little Women, as well as operas Don Giovanni, Elisir D'amore, and Le Nozze di Figaro.

More on Heather.​​

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Connor Landers joined the Naples Philharmonic as associate principal/utility horn in 2024. He is a graduate of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Connor also received a Bachelor of Music and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

In addition to the Naples Philharmonic, Connor has performed with the Orchestre Métropolitain, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, Festival Orchestra Napa and Sarasota Music Festival Orchestra.

More on Connor. ​​​​​​

Angela Massey is an internationally award-winning flutist, having received recognition in the Gheorghe Dima International Competition in Romania, the Tiziano Rosetti Competition in Switzerland, and the Alexander and Buono International Competition, among others. She is invited to perform over sixty recitals each year as a soloist and as the flutist/director of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble.  She has received invitations from leading concert series in the US, including the Tryon Concert Association, Artist Series of Tallahassee, Kosciuszko Foundation in NYC, and Chamber Music Raleigh.  She received degrees in flute performance from Carnegie Mellon University, UNC at Chapel Hill, and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Based in Fort Myers, Massey holds a flute position with the Fort Myers Philharmonic and is the flute instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

More on Angela.

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A NYC native now living in Naples, Fl, Carolann has toured as Marian in the first national tour of The Music Man and internationally as Maria in the European and Asian tours of West Side Story. Some favorite credits include singing back-up to Linda Eder at the Palace Theatre on Broadway, Encore’s No, No Nanette at New York City Center, Les Miserables at Flat Rock Playhouse, Mack and Mabel and The Boy From Oz at TheatreZone, Beauty and the Beast at Artpark, A Little Night Music at South Coast Repertory, Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Cape Playhouse, Urinetown at the Geva Theatre, Maria in West Side Story at Sacramento Music Circus and Lady of the Lake in Spamalot at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Carolann has been a soloist with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jack Everly, as well as the Gulfcoast Symphony Orchestra, the SWFL Symphony Orchestra and most recently the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra, where she premiered the Judy and Liza at the Palladium concert with Maestro Michael Berkowitz and singer Joan Ellison.  More on Carolann.