Eight returning members and three new artists
comprise the prestigious training program next season
HOUSTON—March 10, 2025—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to introduce the newest class of talented emerging artists selected to train with the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio for the 2025-26 season. Eight returning members and three new additions will join the company and undergo rigorous training to refine their craft and prepare for professional careers in opera. These gifted singers and pianist/coaches earned their place in the prestigious Butler Studio—one of the most esteemed and competitive artist-development programs in the world—after an extensive global selection process.
First-year Butler Studio artists include:
- Luka Tsevelidze, tenor (second-place winner at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias)
- Geonho Lee, baritone (first-place and Audience Choice winner at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias)
- Tzu Kuang Tan,pianist/coach
Returning Butler Studio artists include:
- Alissa Goretsky, soprano
- Elizabeth Hanje, soprano
- Michael McDermott,tenor
- Shawn Roth, tenor
- Demetrious Sampson, Jr., tenor
- Sam Dhobhany, bass-baritone
- Ziniu Zhao, bass
- Jenny Choo, pianist/coach
“These emerging artists are possessed of an astounding level of talent,” says HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “All have demonstrated the potential for major, international careers in opera. Investing in the future of our art form by helping them to hone their extraordinary gifts is at the heart of what we do at HGO. In the season to come, they will not only build upon the storied legacy of our Butler Studio program, but they will also bring joy and inspiration to thousands.”
“The Butler Studio is built on a commitment to excellence, and that commitment starts with searching the world for the most compelling talent,” says Butler Studio Director Colin Michael Brush. “This class—drawn from auditions across the globe—represents a thrilling mix of artists, each ready to take the next step in their artistic journey. I look forward to guiding them as they hone their craft, make their mark here at HGO, and transform into the stars of tomorrow.”
About the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio
The Butler Studio offers intensive, personalized training for exceptional artists in classical singing, piano, and opera coaching. From August through May, these artists reside in Houston, immersing themselves in a rigorous program designed to refine their skills. Over a residency period of up to three years, Butler Studio members receive specialized instruction in voice, movement, and languages, along with extensive performance opportunities. They are cast in both major and supporting roles in mainstage productions at the Wortham Theater, collaborating closely with internationally renowned artists, directors, and conductors. They also perform at venues across Houston and throughout Texas, broadening their experience and community engagement.
With almost 50 years of history, the Butler Studio is recognized as one of the world’s premier young artist programs. It provides a dynamic, hands-on learning environment that immerses artists in the professional opera world, offering regular coaching with industry leaders, roles in HGO productions, recital performances, and diverse concert engagements. In 2023, the program was renamed to honor longtime HGO supporters Sarah and Ernest Butler, following their historic $22 million gift to the company.
2025-26 Butler Studio Artist Biographies:
FIRST-YEAR ARTISTS
LUKA TSEVELIDZE
(GEORGIA)
TENOR
A first-year Butler Studio artist from Tbilisi, Georgia, Luka Tsevelidze won second place at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. He made his operatic debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Tbilisi State Conservatoire Opera Studio. He also performed as Alfredo (Act III) in La traviata at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater, as Nemorino in scenes from The Elixir of Love, and as Malkhaz in Daisi. In 2024, Tsevelidze performed in a concert in Kassel, Germany, and in 2023 he performed in a Laureate Concert in Prague. Tsevelidze pursued his Bachelor of Music from Tbilisi State Conservatoire.
GEONHO LEE
(SOUTH KOREA)
BARITONE
A first-year Butler Studio artist from South Korea, Geonho Lee won first place and the Audience Choice Award at HGO’s 2025 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. Lee was a 2024 semifinalist in the renowned Operalia Competition. He is currently pursuing advanced studies at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, where he participates in frequent performances and productions. He is an active member of the August Everding Academy and holds a prestigious scholarship from the Bühnenverein. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Seoul National University, where he won several prestigious competitions.
TZU KUANG TAN
(MALAYSIA)
PIANIST/COACH
Tzu Kuang Tan is a first-year Butler Studio artist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Performance highlights include a 2023 song recital with Joanne Evans at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, after being named winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2022. Tan was a 2024 participant in Renée Fleming’s Carnegie Hall Song Studio, during which he made his Carnegie Hall debut in Zankel Hall with Ruby Dibble. In addition to appearing on the concert stage, Tan coaches and works as a rehearsal pianist, serving the Butler Opera Center at UT Austin during productions of La bohème, Tan Dun’s Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Queen of Spades, La traviata, L’enfant et les sortilèges, John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, and The Marriage of Figaro. Tan is pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at UT Austin. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.
RETURNING:
ALISSA GORETSKY
(UNITED STATES)
SOPRANO
Second-year Butler Studio artist from Los Angeles, Alissa Goretsky was the third-place winner of HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. Goretsky is a 2025 Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, where she is covering the role of Mimì in La bohème and Helmwige in Die Walküre. During the 2024-25 season she made her HGO debut as Clorinda in Cinderella and performed the role again for the company’s English-language Family Day production. She made her operatic debut as Gismonda in Ottone at Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall under the baton of Corey Jameson in 2019. In March 2024 she performed the role of Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, also at Caroline Hume Hall. Goretsky was named a National Finalist in the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In 2023, she won the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, and in 2022, she took First Place in the Palm Springs Opera Guild competition. Goretsky holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
ELIZABETH HANJE
(UNITED STATES)
SOPRANO
Second-year Butler Studio artist Elizabeth Hanje, a Tanzanian-American soprano from Vestavia Hills, Alabama, was the first-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. She is a 2022 alumna of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and a 2023 alumna of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program. Hanje is a 2025 Apprentice Singer for Santa Fe Opera, where she is covering the role of Musetta in La bohème and Gerhilde in Die Walküre. In fall 2024, she made her mainstage debut with HGO as Ines in Il trovatore. In April 2022, she performed the role of Lyra in Alice Tierney in her debut with Opera Columbus. Hanje has sung in masterclasses with director Michael Capasso, soprano Christine Goerke, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, and soprano Harolyn Blackwell. She is a winner of the 2023 Duncan Williams Voice Competition and the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition. In 2021, she received the Richard Miller Award for Fine Singing and a YoungArts Award. In spring 2024, she received her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory.
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT
(UNITED STATES)
TENOR
A third-year Butler Studio artist from Huntington Beach, California, Michael McDermott is the third-place winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a 2021 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. During HGO’s 2024-25 season, he performed as Messenger in Il trovatore, Don Ramiro in student and Family Day performances of Cinderella, and Rodolfo in La bohème. During HGO’s 2023-24 season, he performed the roles of Bardolph in Falstaff and 4th Esquire in Parsifal. In 2022, he covered the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Aspen Music Festival and returned in 2023 to perform Arbace in Idomeneo. In summer 2024, McDermott sang the role of Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow at the Glyndebourne Festival. His recent competition wins include first prize in the 2024 Grand Concours Vocal Competition, first prize in the Schmidt Vocal Competition, and first prize in the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. McDermott received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and pursued his master’s degree at Rice University.
SHAWN ROTH
(UNITED STATES)
TENOR
Second-year Butler Studio artist Shawn Roth, from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, will make his HGO debut in the 2024-25 season as Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser. Also this season, he competed in the final round of the Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh, Germany, and was named a finalist in the Houston Saengerbund Awards. He will make his debut with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra as Don José in Carmen, and will return to Des Moines Metro Opera to perform Pásek in The Cunning Little Vixen and cover Erik in The Flying Dutchman. In the 2023-24 season, he won the Pittsburgh District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, covered the role of Narraboth in Salome at Des Moines Metro Opera, and took the top prize in the Wagner Society of New York’s 2024 Grant Awards. In spring 2024 Roth earned his artist diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he performed the roles of Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and is a three-time fellow of Music Academy of the West, where he won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2021.
DEMETRIOUS SAMPSON, JR.
(UNITED STATES)
TENOR
A third-year Butler Studio artist from Albany, Georgia, Demetrious Sampson, Jr. performed the roles of Ruiz in Il trovatore and Parpignol in La bohème during HGO’s 2024-25 season. This year, Sampson also performs the role of Macduff in Macbeth at Atlanta Opera and Steuermann in The Flying Dutchman at Des Moines Metro Opera. In HGO’s 2023-24 season, Sampson made his HGO debut as 3rd Esquire in Parsifal. The second place and Audience Choice Winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, Sampson is a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. He made his professional debut with Atlanta Opera at the age of 20 as Crab Man in Porgy and Bess, a role he reprised at Des Moines Metro Opera in 2022 as an apprentice artist. In 2023, Sampson joined the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, and in 2024, he made company and role debuts with Cincinnati Opera as Gastone in La traviata and with Wolf Trap Opera as the Kronprinz in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night. A previous Encouragement Award winner, he was named a National Finalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Sampson received his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in 2023.
SAM DHOBHANY
(UNITED STATES)
BASS-BARITONE
A second-year Butler Studio artist from Brooklyn, New York, Sam Dhobhany received the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. He is a 2022 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. In HGO’s 2024-25 season, he made his company debut as Alidoro in HGO Family Day Presents Cinderella and this spring, performs the role of Terry in Breaking the Waves. In the summer of 2025, Dhobhany will perform the roles of Zuniga in Carmen and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro at Wolf Trap Opera, where in 2021, he was a member of the Studio Artist Program, covering the role of Doctor Grenvil in La traviata. In 2024, Dhobhany sang the role of Angelotti in Tosca with Dayton Opera. He was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera in 2023 and 2024, performing roles including Un Médecin in Pelléas et Mélisande and Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata. Dhobhany was the second-place winner in the 2024 Rocky Mountain Region of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
ZINIU ZHAO
(CHINA)
BASS
A second-year Butler Studio artist from Shandong, China, Ziniu Zhao was the second-place winner at HGO’s 2024 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias. During the 2024-25 season, he made his HGO debut as Don Magnifico in the company’s Family Day production of Cinderella and this spring, sings the role of Reinmar von Zweter in Tannhäuser. Zhao was a member of the Opera Talent Training Program of the China National Arts Foundation and has won several prestigious awards, including first prize at the Colorado International Music Competition, the Rossini Singing Award at the Fiorenza Cedolins Opera Competition in Italy, and the Maria Callas Award at the Vincerò International Opera Competition, also in Italy. In 2023, he performed a solo concert in Shandong. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where his operatic roles included Don Pasquale (title role), Colline in La bohème, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte.
JENNY CHOO
(UNITED STATES)
PIANIST/COACH
A second-year Butler Studio artist from St. Louis, Missouri, Jenny Choo serves as assistant coach for Il trovatore, La bohème, and Breaking the Waves during HGO’s 2024-25 season. Choo joined the music staff for Sarasota Opera’s 2024 Winter Opera Festival as assistant conductor for Lucia di Lammermoor and L’infedeltà delusa. In summer 2024, she returned to Aspen Music Festival and School as a coaching fellow. In 2023, she served as a vocal coach for the Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Also in 2023, she served on the music staff for the U.S. premiere of Anchorage Opera’s Missing, a work that addresses the tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Choo’s passion for collaboration has taken her and her musical partners to song competitions including the 2021 Kneisel Lieder Competition, where they brought home second prize, as well as the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition, after which they were invited to London to compete as finalists. She studied collaborative arts at the Eastman School of Music.
PHOTOS: Photos of the 2025-26 Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio Artists can be found here. Photos are courtesy of Houston Grand Opera.