Utah Opera Announces Resident Artists for 2025-26 Season and New Principal Coach

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (October 9, 2025) — Utah Opera is delighted to announce its 2025-26 Resident Artists and new Principal Coach Debbie Robertson. Selected through rigorous national auditions, Stephanie Chee (soprano), Julia Holoman (mezzo-soprano), Aaron McKone (tenor), Rodney Sharp II (baritone), and Jie Fang Goh (piano) will work with Robertson, who comes to Utah Opera after two years of training at The Metropolitan Opera.

During their nine-month residency, the artists will engage in extensive vocal and dramatic coaching, participate in workshops focused on crucial aspects of operatic performance—including stagecraft, movement, and language study—and benefit from master classes led by renowned opera professionals. They will also perform in Utah Opera’s main stage productions at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre, collaborate with the Utah Symphony, and travel throughout Utah for in-school education programs and community concerts.

This residency is designed to prepare emerging artists for successful professional careers while fostering connections with the Utah community by introducing opera to students and residents. Many past Utah Opera Resident Artists have gone on to achieve international recognition—and often return to Utah Opera for principal roles in its productions.

This exceptional group of vocalists were part of the first Utah Opera production of the season, The Shining, at the JQL Capitol Theatre, October 11–19.

2025-26 Utah Opera Resident Artists

Originally from Sunnyvale, California, soprano Stephanie Chee returns to Utah Opera as a Resident Artist for the 2025-26 season, performing Mrs. Grady in The Shining, Marzelline in Fidelio, Gianetta in The Elixir of Love, and Annina in La traviata. Stephanie last appeared with Utah Opera as Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. An accomplished musician, Stephanie was a winner in the Utah District of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She was also awarded an Emerging Talent Award in the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition, first place in the 2022 Fox Valley Collegiate Voice Competition, second place in the 2022 Upper College Treble Voices Division of the National Student Auditions, and the Farwell Trust Award in the 2022 Musicians Club of Women Voice Competition. Stephanie received her master’s degree from Rice University in 2024.

Julia Holoman is a mezzo-soprano from Raleigh, North Carolina, and a recent graduate of the master’s program at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Over the past year, Julia has performed the role Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina and was named a semi-finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias. Other recent roles include The Sorceress and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. This past summer, Julia was a Lehrer Artist at Music Academy of the West where she sang the alto solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Academy Festival Orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. She is greatly looking forward to performing the roles of Mrs. Massey in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining and Flora in Verdi’s La traviata this season with Utah Opera.

Aaron McKone, deemed a “rising star” and praised for his “ardent tenor,” is very excited to return to Utah Opera for the 2025-26 season during which he will perform the roles of Lloyd/Watson (The Shining), Jaquino (Fidelio), and Gastone (La traviata). In past seasons, Aaron was an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, Resident Artist with Opera Naples in Florida, and Vocal Fellow at the Spoleto Festival USA. He also performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Paris’ Opéra Comique and was a featured soloist with the National Orchestral Institute and Festival. Some notable roles Mr. McKone has sung are Faust (Faust), Rinnuccio (Gianni Schicchi), and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus). Aaron received his bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University as well as a master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Tom Baresel and Stuart Skelton.

Rodney Sharp II is a proud native of Fort Worth, Texas, and holds a  bachelor’s degree in music, voice performance from Prairie View A&M University and a master’s degree in opera performance from Arizona State University. Some of Rodney’s favorite roles performed are Peter (Hansel and Gretel), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), and Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress). He has performed as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Kodály’s Missa Brevis, and Schubert’s Mass in G. Praised for his “…deep and robust voice combining strong vocalism and magnetic presence, he is a natural scene stealer.” Rodney is an advocate for classical music by African American composers and strives to present works representing the African American experience. As a second-year Resident Artist at Utah Opera, Rodney will perform the roles of Horace Derwent (The Shining), Don Fernando (Fidelio), and Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata), in addition to performing in schools and communities throughout the state of Utah beside his fellow Resident Artists to spread the good word of opera.

Malaysia-born Jie Fang Goh charts a versatile music career as a pianist, collaborator, and scholar. After earning an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he has worked as an opera pianist, orchestral keyboardist, and vocal coach in renowned programs across the U.S. and abroad, including Opera Lucca, Brevard Music Center, Music On Site, Miami Music Festival, and Vienna Summer Music Festival. Driven by a passion for piano duo music and classical music outreach, he co-founded the LexGoh Piano Duo with Alexander Kostadinov in 2018. Fang’s master’s thesis, Fantasies and Delusions: Billy Joel’s Turn and Return to Classical Music, explores Joel’s creative process in his only solo piano album. As the first Malaysian Resident Artist at Utah Opera, Fang contributes to the company’s statewide education and community engagement programs and mainstage productions. Fang also served as an assistant coach with The Glimmerglass Festival in 2025.

Utah Opera Principal Coach Deborah Robertson

Deborah Robertson is a pianist, coach, and recitalist from Springfield, Missouri. She is passionate about making opera accessible to everyone and is excited to begin work in the Utah community. Her most recent work includes: The Magic Flute at The Metropolitan Opera, and Così fan tutte and La bohème with Aspen Opera Theater, as well as recitals at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, and the Met’s Summer Parks Concerts with the City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage Festival. Robertson is an alumna of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera and the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. She holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Brigham Young University; a master’s degree in collaborative piano from Louisiana State University, where she graduated with honors; and an Artist Diploma in opera coaching from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.