Baritone Ray Liddle was featured in leading roles in all of Opera Circle Bellini productions, Verdi’s La traviata, & many Mozart operas. He has been performing with the company since its inception. He has also performed throughout Ohio and the Midwest, including solo appearances with Cleveland Opera, Detroit Opera, Indianapolis Symphony, Wooster Symphony, Mansfield Symphony, & Youngstown Symphony. He first appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra at the 1992 Blossom Festival and later in Severance Hall performances of Israel in Egypt, Don Carlo, & Elektra. Furthermore, he serves as a soloist & section leader for the choirs of Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church, Fairmount Temple, & Park Synagogue.
Mr. Liddle entered the University of Akron as a French horn player but discovered a talent for singing and soon was a regional finalist in the New York Metropolitan Auditions & the San Francisco Opera Auditions. He holds a Bachelor of Music in horn performance from the University of Akron & both a Master’s in music theory and a Master’s in vocal performance from Indiana University, where he studied with Roger Havranek & James King.
Jeremy Dobbins, Lighting, Recordings, & Supertitles Projection, has been on staff with Opera Circle since the company’s very debut and has been a part of ALL Opera Circle productions. Through his rare combination of talent in both music and electronics, he has made a tremendous contribution to the company.
Mr. Dobbins has experience in virtually every aspect of assembling a performance. He studied viola and music composition at Kent State University and has been involved in various stage productions throughout Northeastern Ohio and beyond. Among the organizations in which he has participated are Ohio Light Opera, Dobama Theater, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland Museum of Art, & WKSU.
Violinist Hristo Popov has led the Opera Circle Orchestra as concertmaster in every production since Verbum nobile in 1999. Born in Bulgaria, he made his orchestral debut at the age of nine and since then has performed throughout the United States, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, & Mexico as both recitalist and concerto soloist. He is a prizewinner at the Kozian International Violin Competition, Silver Medalist at the California Young Artist Competition, winner of the Grand Prize at the International Institute of Music (Germany, USA), & first place at the American String Teachers' Association Chamber Music Competition. He has also appeared as guest artist in numerous festivals such as Park City International Music Festival, Plovdiv International Chamber Music Festival, & the Sofia Musical Weeks Music Festival, and performed in major Performing Arts Centers in the United States including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Severance Hall in Cleveland, John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, & Casa Verdi in Milan, Italy. Mr. Popov is a founding member of the New York Empire Trio.
Currently, he is on the faculty at Kent State University and Western Reserve Academy in Ohio. He performs music from the standard repertoire as well as significant works of the contemporary genre. American composer Thomas Janson has recently composed a number of works specifically for him. He has also premiered works by the American composer and author, Rick Sowash. Dr. Popov performs over twenty violin concerti and he maintains a wide variety of recital programs. His performances have been documented on TV and radio stations in United States, Mexico, and Bulgaria and has recorded albums for TC Recordings and Bravante Records.
Please visit www.hpopov.com