Open Door Ensembles

Hannah Shanefield, Soprano will perform Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 in Variaciones: Music from Argentina and Brazil, presented in its original arrangement for soprano and cello octet! She last performed with Orchestra Without Borders in 2024. 🎶

Hannah's operatic roles include Gilda (Rigoletto, Boston Summer Opera), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni, Boston Summer Opera), Juliette (cover, Roméo et Juliette, New Jersey Lyric Opera), Violetta (cover, La Traviata, New Opera Company of Boston), Giunone (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Brooklyn Telemann Chamber Society), and Suzel (L’amico Fritz, West End Lyric).

Equally as enthusiastic about concert works, recent solos include Amy Beach’s Jephthah’s Daughter (Horizon Ensemble), Rutter’s Requiem (Kearsarge Chorale), BWV 150 and BWV 196 (Arlington Street Church), and premiering several new works in White Snake Projects’ Sing Out Strong concerts.

On top of her performance career, Hannah is a stage director and arts administrator. She serves as Executive Director of Boston Summer Opera, Artistic Director of NEMPAC's Opera on the Prado concert series, Community & Education Manager with Guerilla Opera, and a teaching artist with Boston Lyric Opera.

Her directorial credits include Alcina (MassOpera), The Pirates of Penzance and Don Giovanni (Boston Summer Opera), Die Fledermaus (The Opera Company), and Il Giuoco del Quadriglio/Coffee Cantata (West End Lyric).

A native of suburban Philadelphia, Hannah holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and the Hartt School.

Come hear her on May 20:
https://opendoorensembles.org/tickets

We are thrilled that countertenor Lucas Ludwig Coura is joining Orchestra Without Borders for Variaciones: Music from Argentina and Brazil! He will sing 𝘓𝘶𝘢 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘢 by Chiquinha Gonzaga.

Lucas Ludwig Coura is a Boston-Based countertenor and voice teacher.

Lucas has performed a number of opera roles with companies including WhiteSnake Projects, Boston Opera Collaborative, Cambridge Chamber Ensemble, Promenade Opera Project, and Boston Summer Opera, among others. Recent roles include Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Endimione in La Calisto, and The Pirate King in a reimagined production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Lucas is frequently called upon to perform in immersive and innovative projects—he portrayed Virgil in Boston Opera Collaborative’s Opera Inferno, an immersive operatic experience that used a combination of standard operatic arias and spoken excerpts of literature to drew audiences through the hellish scenes described in Dante’s Inferno. As a choral musician, Lucas frequently sings with Boston’s own Nightingale Vocal Ensemble. Most recently, he was featured in A Cask of Amontillado, where he was praised for his “liquid countertenor” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).

Lucas is deeply passionate about creating new work. In August, Lucas will be traveling to New York City to participate in final workshops for Judith, a new opera by Paul Vasile and Karin Coonrod. In Fall of 2027, he will return to White Snake Projects to create the role of Baby Doll in Spitting Sand. Lucas is most drawn to projects that elevate marginalized voices–especially those that share his immigrant identity.

Coura holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music from Stetson University.

Get your tickets here: https://opendoorensembles.org/tickets