Coffee Milk Opera

Krista Wilhelmsen

Co-Founding Artistic Director

Krista Wilhelmsen, ABD, Assistant Professor of Music at CCRI, teaches Music Theory I, Sight Singing/Ear Training I, Music Foundations, Introduction to Music, Voice Class, Opera Workshop, and applied voice. She has taught a diverse student population with schools ranging from the HBCU environment to the community college network. Her unique skill set has helped her garner the ability to successfully direct fully staged productions, scene-workshop productions, as well as large-scale concerts.

Hailed by the Charlotte Observer for “her beautiful soprano,” she “gave chills” to famed soprano, Heidi Grant-Murphy. In 2010, she premiered Tatiana in Micheal Ching’s workshop production, Midsummer Night’s Dream- opera a cappella at Opera America. Indiana University JSOM Performances include: Lady Billows, Albert Herring; Donna Anna, Don Giovanni; Countess, Le Nozze di Figaro; and Zweite Dame, Die Zauberflöte. Praised for cross-over abilities, she performed Patsy, Girl Crazy-Utah Opera Festival and Musical Theatre, Antonia, Man of La Mancha-Natchez Opera Festival, and Johanna, Sweeney Todd-Augusta Opera. Under the direction of Carol Vaness, she performed Zemfira in Rachmaninov’s Aleko and the title role of Suor Angelica. A supporter of arts education, she has sung over 100 performances of various children’s operas with Opera Carolina, Opera for the Young, and Augusta Opera. Other favorite performance credits: Nedda, Pagliacci; Mimi, La Boheme; and Anna, Talk to me like the Rain (world premiere at Marble City Opera.) Musical awards and scholarships include: Metropolitan Opera Competition District Winner, Indiana University Associate Instructorship (full scholarship), Long Leaf Opera Competition Award, Heafner-Williams Vocal Competition Award, and Bev-Sellers Women-in-Music Award.

Kate Norigian

Co-Founding Executive Director/Marketing

Kate Norigian has a Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance from Rhode Island College and has participated in several summer training programs including the Crittenden Program in Boston, MA, the V.O.I.C.Experience Program in Tampa, FL with Sherrill Milnes and Friends as well as at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the tutelage of famed Italian soprano, Renata Scotto.Kate’s roles have included Nedda from I Pagliacci with Opera Providence, the World Premiere of William Sprague and His Women, (a new work by composer Geoffrey Gibbs), in which she performed the title role of Kate Chase Sprague. Kate’s other roles include Mrs. Gobineau from The Medium with Corsara Artists in Peabody, MA, Pamina from The Magic Flute with Encore Opera, Cathleen from Riders to the Sea with Contemporary Theater in Wakefield, RI and has covered both the roles of both Carmen and Micaëla from Carmen with Commonwealth Lyric Theater in Newton, MA. Kate’s voice instructors include Maria Spacagna, Margaret Lattimore, and Lori Phillips. Kate’s voice has been described by Grammy nominated mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore as sounding, “Old school and throwback”, and similarly was described as “Sounding like a Golden Age singer” by the Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone, John Relyea.

Kate’s awards have included Second Place in the Annamaria Saritelli- Di Panni Bel Canto Competition, a Finalist in the Talents of the World Competition in Newton, MA, a Finalist in the recent Music International Grand Prix Competition as well as Second Prize in the MCO International Competition organized by Opus Artis Paris.