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Hope Briggs, Robert Mollicone Bios
Sunday, 4pm
Hope Briggs, soloist
A native of New Jersey, [Hope Briggs]drew a rave review from Opera News for her San Francisco Opera debut as the Duchess of Parma in Busoni’s Doktor Faust “… Hope Briggs was stellar, delivering one of the evening’s highlights with her lusciously intoned, lovelorn aria.”
Most recently, Ms. Briggs sang the role of Lucinda in Opera San Jose's workshop of Jake Heggie's newest opera, Intelligence, and made her debut with Reno Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven's Ah! Perfido. She also appeared as Marschallin in excerpts of Der Rosenkavalier with Fremont Symphony Orchestra, performed Bruckner’s Te Deum with Oakland Symphony, returned to Baton Rouge for Opéra Louisiane’s 10th Anniversary Gala, and made two important role debuts: Nedda in I Pagliacci with Festival Opera and the title role in Joplin’s Treemonisha with Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. She also sang Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Opéra Louisiane, debuted at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, and sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the San Francisco Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall.
2021 performances included: solo recitals with St. Ignatius Parish's Virtual Virtuoso Concert Series, Opera San Jose's Workshop of Jake Heggie's Intelligence, Ah! Perfido with Symphony Parnassus, and The Messiah with Pacific Chamber Symphony. In 2022 she will perform the soprano solos in Paul Moravec’ oratorio Sanctuary Road with Oakland Symphony, Norcal MLK Towards Justice: MLK Freedom Concert, Bear Valley Music Festival, and Majesty of the Spiritual at Herbst Theater.
As a critically acclaimed Verdi soprano, Ms. Briggs is known for the depth and beauty of her voluptuous voice. Ms. Briggs is hailed as “an artist of vocal sensitivity, theatrical wisdom, and integrity.” Her commanding stage presence and moving interpretations have brought her to great success singing the title role in Aida with Nevada Opera, Sacramento Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera and Leonora in Il Trovatore with El Paso Opera, Opera Roanoke and Festival Opera of Walnut Creek as well as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera with Festival Opera of Walnut Creek.
Other career highlights include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and The First Lady in Die Zauberflöte at Frankfurt Opera, the Duchess of Parma in Busoni’s Doktor Faust at Staatstheater Stuttgart, the role of Paula in the world premiere of Hector Armienta’s River of Women/Rio de Mujeres with Theater Artaud San Francisco, Donna Elvira with Opera San José and Opera Company of Brooklyn, Serena in Porgy and Bess with Tulsa Opera and New Orleans Opera as well as the title role in Suor Angelica with Pacific Repertory Opera and Opera Company of Brooklyn.
Ms. Briggs is featured nationally on PBS performing the role of Emma Hyers in the multi-award-winning documentary film, Voices for Freedom, The Hyers Sisters' Legacy. She is also featured as a soloist in IDAGIO Global Concert Hall Series in Masters of the Spiritual.
On the concert stage, Ms. Briggs has performed: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras, Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Hanna in scenes from The Merry Widow with Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes with the San Antonio Symphony and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Marin Theater Company, Redwood Symphony and Symphony Parnassus).
As a featured soloist, Ms. Briggs’ numerous performances include The Opening Night Gala Concert with Oakland East Bay Symphony, The Symphony Parnassus at Herbst Theater, The Wondrous Sounds of Christmas at the San Francisco Symphony, Hope Briggs and Friends: A Musical Valentine at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, and the world premiere of Marion J. Caffey’s Three Mo’ Divas at the Lyceum Theater. A highly-acclaimed recitalist, she has performed for Oberlin Conservatory, African-Americans for Los Angeles Opera, Madewood Music Festival, Afrosolo Music Festival at the Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center, Concerts at the Abbey in Seattle, and Caio Melissa in Spoleto (Italy). By special invitation, Ms. Briggs performed for Jessye Norman at Alliance Française Trophée des Arts Gala and Rev. Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Crusade.
Hope Briggs is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Finalist, Metropolitan Opera International Vocal Competition Award Winner, and recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. Hope Briggs is also an ABC KGO-TV 2012 African American Salutes Honoree, Marion Anderson Historical Society Scholar, and a 2013 Heritage Keeper Award Recipient from Friends of Negro Spirituals. Ms. Briggs is featured on PBS nationally performing the role of Emma Hyers in the documentary film: Voices for Freedom - The Hyers Sisters' Legacy.
Robert Mollicone, piano
Sought after for his ‘finely-calibrated leadership’ and ‘ebullient performance[s]’, conductor, recitalist and coach Robert Mollicone has become an established presence in North American concert halls and opera houses. As a member of San Francisco Opera’s music staff, he has worked on 50+ productions spanning the breadth of the repertoire, including Rusalka, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Les Troyens, and Don Carlo. Equally committed to the development of the American operatic canon, he has helped bring several new operas by composers such as Jake Heggie, Tobias Picker, and John Adams to life. This season, he conducted the company’s inaugural Pride Concert featuring Saphira Crystal, Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan and Nikola Printz.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, he has conducted performances with Opera San Jose (Where Angels Fear to Tread, Silent Night), San Francisco Opera (Opera in the Park 2014/2019, Christmas with Sol3 Mio), Festival Opera (Carmen, La voix humaine) and West Edge Opera (L’arbore di Diana, Elizabeth Cree), where he “presided [...] with a fine feeling for pacing and detail”. He debuted with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony at the opening of their 2024-25 season.
Other regional credits include Austin Opera (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Florentine Opera (L’enfant et les sortilèges, Songbird, Scalia/Ginsburg). Additionally, he served as cover conductor for the European premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West and has appeared as cover with St. Louis Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. Mollicone also performs in recital with collaborators including Amina Edris, Pene Pati, Melody Moore, Ailyn Pérez, Nicholas Phan, and Jamie Barton, with whom he was lauded for ‘miracles of sensitive expression’. He is also regularly engaged to train emerging artists as faculty member of the Adler Fellowship, Boston Wagner Institute, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he is Principal Coach and Head of Music of the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies.