Macbeth Cast Bios
Krassen Karagiozov, baritone, returns to West Bay Opera to sing the title role in Macbeth. He recently performed the role of Amonasro (Aida) at the Teatro Regio in Parma, as part of the Verdi Festival, where he has been singing for the past two seasons. He made his West Bay Opera debut singing Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) in 2013, and has since sung Belcore (L'elisir d'amore), Conte di Luna (Il trovatore), the title role in Rigoletto, Michele (Il tabarro), Pizarro (Fidelio), Escamillo (Carmen) and Ford (Falstaff). He was born in Bulgaria, where he began his musical studies as a pianist. During the 2008 - 2009 season, he made his debut as a member of Opera San Jose‘s resident principal artists, singing the title role in Eugene Onegin, Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and Escamillo (Carmen). Among the roles that he has performed are Papageno, Conte di Luna, Enrico, Germont, Marcello, Valentin, Figaro, Sharpless, Vronsky, Count Almaviva, Dandini, Don Giovanni, Tarquinius, Silvio, Schaunard, Lescaut, Masetto, Gianni Schicchi, Harlequin, Peter, Daniello, Angelotti, Rambaldo, and Raoul de Gardefeu. Mr. Karagiozov has also appeared at New York City Opera, Caramoor Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Santa Barbara, Lake George Opera Festival, Spoleto Opera Festival, Aspen Opera Theater, and a number of other companies in the US. He has appeared as a soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Bulgarian Radio-Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, an other ensembles. Mr. Karagiozov is a North Carolina district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and First Prize winner of the Charlotte Opera Guild Competition as well as a finalist of the Irene Dalis Vocal Competition and Heinz Rehfuss Vocal Competition.
Christina Major, soprano, returns to West Bay Opera to sing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.  She's also scheduled to sing Abigaile in Nabucco in October. She made her company debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni during the 2011-12 Season. Her most recent company appearance was as Lucrezia Contarini in the Bay Area premiere of Verdi's I due Foscari last February. Prior to that she sang the title role in Norma during the 2017-18 Season, and  reprised that challenging role in December 2018, at the Teatro Colón opera house in Buenos Aires, to critical acclaim. She has appeared with a number of opera companies, including the Midsumer Mozart Festival, Fort Worth Opera, Knoxville Opera, Nevada Opera, Rimrock Opera, Opera Coeur d'Alene, Amarillo Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. She performed Elettra in the well noted Packard Humanities / Opera San Jose production of Idomeneo. She was a resident artist at Opera San Jose for 3 years. She has been a guest artist with symphony orchestras such as the National Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, Fairbanks AK Symphony, Florida Bach Festival, Greenville Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Dallas Symphony Chorus, Duke University Chorale, Winston-Salem Symphony, and Symphony Silicon Valley. Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, the Brahms Requiem, the Verdi Requiem, Carmina Burana, Mozart's Mass in C minor, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and Poulenc Gloria among other works. Ms. Major was a Grand Finalist at the 2012 and 2013 Irene Dalis Vocal Competition, a grant recipient from the Licia Albanese Foundation and the Gerda Lissner Foundation.
Benjamin Brady, bass baritone, sings Banco in Macbeth. He was most recently seen as Zaccharia in Nabucco. He made his West Bay Opera debut as Rocco in Fidelio, and sang Loredano inI due Foscarilast season. He has been living and performing in the Bay Area for over four years. Recent roles include the Police Agent (The Consul) with Just Opera; Malatesta (Don Pasquale) at the Mendocino Music Festival; Polifemo (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo) with Black Box Baroque, and the Mikado in The New Mikado with Lamplighters.  He's the first prize winner in this year's Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions - Western Region. Originally from Denver, Colorado, he received his BM in Vocal Performance at the University of Michigan. Mr. Brady teaches regularly at the Palo Alto Children's Theatre and is a prominent member in the Oakland-based rock band Suits of Steel.
Dane Suarez, tenor, sings Macduff in Macbeth. He made his West Bay Opera debut singing Fenton in Falstaff last May. A 2014 National Semi-Finalist of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Mr. Suarez made his John F. Kennedy Center debut in 2015 with Washington National Opera as Ely Parker in Philip Glass’s Appomattox. Other notable engagements include Mr. Suarez’s New York City Opera debut in his performance as Joe in La fanciulla del West and his highly successful stint as resident tenor with Opera San José where he debuted the roles of Alfredo in La traviata, Ruggero in La rondine, and Erik in Wagner’s early masterpiece Der fliegende Holländer. Subsequently, Mr. Suarez was reengaged by Opera San José to portray such iconic tenor leads as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Greenhorn in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, and Canio in Pagliacci. Recent engagements include a reprisal of Erik with Baltimore Concert Opera, a reprisal of Rodolfo alongside wife Kerriann Otaño’s Mimì with Pacific Opera Project, and role debuts of Idomeneo and Lensky with Opera NEO. This season includes reprising the role of Don José in Carmen with Festival Opera and his appearance as a featured artist in concerts with The Loren L. Zachary Society, Maryland Opera, Il Cenacolo Club of San Francisco, Penn Square Music Festival, and Apollo Arts. Suarez has leading roles with Sarasota Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Opera North, Crested Butte Music Festival, Castleton Festival, Opera in the Heights, and Opera Memphis. 
Jackson Beaman,  tenor, sings Malcolm in Macbeth.  He was previously seen at West Bay Opera as Morales and Dancairo (Carmen),  First Prisoner (Fidelio), Third Jew (Salome), Tinca (Il tabarro), and Ruiz (Il trovatore). Recent engagements for Mr. Beaman include Ralph Rackstraw (H.M.S. Pinafore) with Lamplighters, Nathaniel (Tales of Hoffmann) with Pocket Opera, and Advisor 2 to LBJ (Lady Bird: First Lady of the Land) in a coproduction with Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Mission Chamber Orchestra of SJ, and SJ Symphonic choir. He has also appeared with Pocket Opera as Rabonier (La rondine) and Tonik (Two Widows), and with Island City Opera, covering the role of Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor). He has also sung Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) in scenes directed by Jose Maria Condemi. Mr. Beaman attended U.C. Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he sang the role of Bob (The Old Maid and the Thief). He received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from UCSB in 2008 and his A.A. in Music from De Anza College in 2019.
Kiril Havezov,  bass baritone, sings the role of the physician in Macbeth. Most recently, WBO audiences saw him as the High Priest of Baal (Nabucco), Pistola (Falstaff), Shaunard (La bohème). He has also performed Zuñiga (Carmen) and the title role in Gianni Schicchi as well in the roles of Don Fermando (Fidelio), Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro), Monterone (Rigoletto), Bonzo (Madama Butterfly), Second Soldier (Salome) and Talpa (Il tabarro). A native of Sofia, Bulgaria, Mr. Havezov has performed regularly with the largest opera theaters in Bulgaria, including Sofia National Opera, Bulgarian National Music Theatre among many others. In 2013 he sang the role of Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) in China for Opera Art Lirica. Since his debut on the American opera stage in 2014, he has performed with Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, New Opera NYC, Island City Opera and other Bay Area-based companies. Significant roles performed by Mr. Havezov over the last few years include Conte di Luna (Il trovatore), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Zupan (The Gypsy Baron), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore) and Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) among others. 
Deborah Rosengaus,  mezzo soprano, makes her West Bay Opera debut singing the role of Lady in Waiting in Macbeth. A Palo Alto native, she has gone on to tour internationally with a variety of musical ensembles in concert halls such as Suntori Hall in Tokyo; the Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, with the People’s Liberation Army Orchestra; Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.  In the summer of 2008, she created the role of Principessa Louling under the baton of Bruno Riggacci for the world premiere of his one act opera Dodici personaggi in cerca di voce. She has received critical acclaim for her interpretation of Jo in Mark Adamo's Little Women and was nominated for a Theater Bay Area Award for the role of Ruth in Pirates of Penzance. Other favorite opera credits include Dorothee (Cendrillon), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), the Witch (Hansel and Gretel), the Old Woman (Candide); the mother (The Consul), and the West Coast premiere of the opera Miss Lonelyhearts.  Ms. Rosengaus is the recipient of several awards including the Schoenfeld Award from the Holt Memorial Scholarship Competition and first place in the Pacific Musical Society Competition, made famous by its first winner, violinist Yehudi Menuhin. 
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