Jarrod Lee (Hello, Star Librettist) creates works that are rooted in the experience of being Black, Gay, and American, adding to the canon of stories written by Black Americans, which are rarely seen on the operatic stage. His works include several commissions by the Alliance for New Music-Theatre. Future commissions include premieres at Finger Lakes Opera and at Washington National Opera with their American Opera Initiative. Lee is a co-founder of the Black Classical Music Archive, which strives to preserve and lift everything Black in classical music.

Carla Lucero (Hello, Star Composer) graduated from CalArts in 1986 with a BFA in Composition. Her first opera, Wuornos, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2001, and her second opera, Juana, premiered at Theater Artaud in 2007. Her work has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, Madrid, Havana, and Calgary, among others. She is also the US Director for the international music consortium ComuArte. Lucero has received awards and commissions from San Francisco Arts Commission, la Festival Contemporania de Habana, California Arts Council, Creative Work Fund, the Zellerbach Foundation, the Getty Foundation, Meet the Composer, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo, OUT Magazine, the Advocate, ComuArte, International, Theater Bay Area, the Mexico City Philharmonic, Orquesta del Instituto Politécnico, and many others.

L. Peter Callender (Hello, Star Director) is an American theatre director and actor, best known as Artistic Director of the African‑American Shakespeare Company since 2009. Born in Trinidad and raised in England and New York, he honed his craft at Juilliard, London’s Webber Douglas Academy, and Japan’s Tadashi Suzuki Company of Toga. Over four decades, he’s performed on Broadway, Off‑Broadway, and at major regional theaters—including Cal Shakes and American Conservatory Theater—and earned multiple accolades such as Theatre Tampa Bay Awards and Bay Area Critics Circle honors. As a director, he’s helmed classical and contemporary works across the U.S., including August Wilson’s Jitney and Shakespeare’s Richard II, and debuted his original play, Strange Courtesies, in 2020. A respected educator, Callender has taught Shakespeare and directing at Stanford, Emory, and the San Francisco School of the Arts.

Nicole Paiement (Opera Parallèle, Founder and General & Artistic Director) has gained an international reputation as a conductor of contemporary music and opera. Her numerous recordings include many world premiere works. Also Principal Guest Conductor at The Dallas Opera, Director of the New Music Ensemble at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and an active guest conductor, she has conducted companies across the US, including Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Atlanta Opera. In 2022, she debuted with the English National Opera conducting Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, returning in 2023 to conduct Talbot’s Everest with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican Center. In 2024, she debuted with the Vienna Volksoper, conducting both a symphonic concert and John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary.

Brian Staufenbiel (Opera Parallèle, Creative Director) has directed and created the conceptual designs for the company’s productions since its founding in 2010. Specializing in multimedia, immersive, and interdisciplinary productions, Staufenbiel works across a range of disciplines, collaborating with film and media designers, choreographers and dancers, circus artists, and designer fabricators. His progressive approach to stagecraft has garnered critical acclaim for many of OP’s productions, including Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking; Philip Glass’s Orphée, Les Enfants Terribles, and La Belle et la Bête; Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar; Alban Berg’s Wozzeck; Terence Blanchard’s Champion; and Jonathan Dove’s Flight.

Rebecca Seeman (Sacred and Profane Artistic, Executive Director) is a conductor, music educator, and nonprofit leader. She is a faculty member in the Performing Arts and Social Justice Department at the University of San Francisco, where she conducts the Classical Choral Ensembles and teaches private voice and music theory. A Bay Area native, Rebecca specializes in the music of Sweden music, particularly the music of the composer Karin Rehnqvist. She is committed to the intersection between the performing arts and social justice and to socially relevant and artistically compelling performance. Collaborations include programs with the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, the Venezuelan V-Note Ensemble, Haitian percussionist Jeff Pierre, the Oakland Youth Chorus, and the William Winant Percussion Group. Commissions have included works by composers Trevor Weston, Karin Rehnqvist, Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, Loretta Notareschi, and Karen Siegel, and she has conducted multiple U.S. and world premieres.