Athlone Artists Welcomes

Tenor Orson Van Gay II &

Soprano Ashley Galvani Bell

Athlone Artists is pleased to welcome the “clean, clear, beautiful and magnetic” (Splash Magazine) voiced tenor Orson Van Gay II and the “brains, beauty, heart, soul, humility and immense talent” (Easthampton Star) of soprano Ashley Galvani Bell to our roster of performing artists. “From the moment I heard him sing,” says Athlone’s President and Founder Miguel Rodríguez, “I was struck by the elegant and clarion nature of Orson’s tenor voice. I knew immediately I wanted to work with this brilliant artist.” He continues, “Meanwhile, Ashley Bell has one of those voices that was born to sing the full lyric soprano repertoire. Her voice has a full, warm-honeyed tone throughout the entire range of the voice and a unique beauty that makes you want to hear more.” We’re delighted to share with you these brilliant artists and their personal journeys toward the operatic stage.

Beyond the Bio: Tenor Orson Van Gay II

Staying Connected to Character

Orson Van Gay II has captivated audiences in classical and contemporary opera and concert performances with his charisma and “fine heroic tenor” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Van Gay has garnered acclaim for roles in his home of Southern California and across the United States, with Broadway World declaring, “his sound was fluent and his high notes golden,” and Voix des Arts stating, “The vitality of his work was gratifyingly unflappable.”

Van Gay’s 2023-24 concert season includes solo appearances with the Muse/ique Symphony, Redlands Symphony Orchestra, and performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Modesto Symphony. He also voices the role of Tamino in Pocket Opera’s animated/live-action film version of A Pocket Magic Flute, to be shown in schools and educational programs in conjunction with the San Francisco Opera Guild. His recent roles have included Danilo in The Merry Widow, for which he earned Pocket Opera’s inaugural Hurst Artist of the Year Award in 2022; Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice; Alfredo in La Traviata with Piedmont Opera; the title role of Candide with Angels Vocal Art; Orlando in The Industry’s acclaimed site-specific production of Hopscotch; and both The Athlete in I Can’t Breathe and Rodolfo in La Bohème with Pacific Opera Project. Of his portrayal of The Young Man in The Last Romance with Kansas New Theater, Broadway World wrote, “Van Gay II is one of the finest operatic tenors I have had the pleasure of hearing in a very long time.”

But Orson didn’t discover his love or talent for opera until he was well into his twenties.

Orson grew up in Los Angeles in a family of musicians – his parents met in college, where his father played bass in a Motown-era band and his mother studied opera. As a child, he remembers fondly that his family was “overwhelmingly supportive” of all his endeavors. “I grew up watching the Disney Channel – I loved Kids Incorporated,” he recalls. “And one day, I said, ‘Mom, that’s what I want to do.’ And my mom said, ‘Okay, let’s go ahead and get you an agent and see what happens.’ And that was when I landed my very first gig.” Orson’s first TV credit was a guest appearance in the role of Tyler on that very same Disney show. Orson loved music and theater, but mostly stuck to singing R&B and popular music. He left LA to study science at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

While there, Orson did an audition for a local musical theater company. They suggested he consider singing for Virginia Opera, and he did, snagging an open spot in the opera chorus. It changed his life. “When I saw what the principal artists were doing,” he says, “I knew. That’s what I want to do.” He returned to school and changed his career path to vocal performance. Opera provided a whole new set of challenges for Orson, and he welcomed the study and focus needed for his new operatic journey. He discovered recordings of Pavarotti, Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, and Jessye Norman – and used them as his pillars of inspiration. “Opera is a living and breathing art form and I want to be a part of continuing that narrative.”

When he was ready to make the move away from Virginia, Orson was torn between heading to New York – the oft-traveled path for emerging opera singers – and back to Los Angeles. “My heart was drawn back home,” he says. “It felt like starting from scratch,” but he had to give it a try. In 2015, an audition for the L.A. Opera gave him the affirmation he needed that he was on the right path. He was cast in the company’s world premiere of Figaro 90210, debuting the role of Bernard Curson (aka “Cherubino”). Since then, Orson has performed with the company as The Messenger in Il Trovatore, Ramerrez in The Prospector, and has sung in the company’s “Connects,” “City of Hope,” and “I AM LA” series. He also got connected to Long Beach Opera, where he has performed the roles of Vitaliano in Handel’s Giustino, Gérard in Les Enfants Terribles, and Raymond Santana in Anthony Davis’ Pulitzer Prize winning opera, The Central Park Five, a role Van Gay premiered with the same company in 2019.

The shift in work over the past few years allowed Orson to put some of the pieces in his parallel careers together. “The pandemic revealed how important it is to focus on uplifting the soul to better humanity,” he says. He switched from solely pursuing his classical music career path to simultaneously enjoying success in singing, acting, and voiceover work. “Having started my career as an actor,” he realized, “I have a unique approach that allows me to connect with the audience through the embodiment of a character.” He has been seen on a number of nationally recognized television series and commercials, and even co-starred on the Disney series Coop & Cami Ask the World in 2020. He is appreciative to be able to foster all his talents, and grateful to be “back on television with a full beard instead of as an adolescent with a voice two octaves higher!”

Van Gay as Rodolfo in Pacific Opera Project's La Bohème

This month, Orson self-released his first solo EP, Colors of a Lyric with pianist Lenny Hayes. For the program, he says, “I wanted to share some of the iconic pieces that have helped to shape my musical career. To give listeners an intimate experience of who I am as an artist. I’m so excited to share this special recording with opera fans.”

With a life full of music and theater, Orson has rediscovered the joy and authenticity he first found as a child actor. “In these trying times,” he says, “it is even more important for artists to share their talents and gifts with the world, so that people may, for just even a moment, transcend to a place of positivity, inspiration and light.”

Orson Van Gay II Highlights Video

Beyond the Bio: The Language of Music

Soprano Ashley Galvani Bell

The “delightful” (Opera News) soprano Ashley Galvani Bell has been performing from an early age, debuting as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus at age nine and making her Off-Broadway debut at sixteen. Ms. Bell has since performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia, where she has been celebrated for her “large voice, dark in her low notes and shimmering in her upper register, with a powerful and overwhelming middle voice and furthermore with world class acting that ignite(s) her entire performance with expressiveness” (La Rioja).

This past week, Bell returned to the role of Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, having sung the role previously with both Bohème Opera New Jersey and Daytona Beach Symphony Society. Next month, she will reprise the title character in Pedro Halffter’s Klara at the Teatro Pérez Galdos in Gran Canaria, a role she originated and has performed at Harvard University and in several venues in Spain to great acclaim, with Beckmesser citing her “well-colored timbre, full of attractive vocal substance.”

Ashley adored music from an early age. “According to my mom I was singing in the stroller,” she says. She considers herself fortunate to have grown up in New York City as part of a very close-knit family who enabled her to pursue her dreams. At age nine, Ashley was encouraged to start taking voice lessons and began to sing with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. She auditioned for theatrical productions throughout the city, making her Off-Broadway debut at age sixteen in the world premiere of the musical The Golden Touch. And though she had always loved musical theater, an early invitation to a summer festival in Chiari cemented her love for opera, travel, and all things Italian.

A self-described introvert, Ashley says, “I’ve always been more of a reserved person, but singing was a way that I could connect with people better than I could with talking.” Still, she wasn’t certain that she wanted to pursue music as a career. Though she continued to enjoy life on the stage, Ashley chose to pursue a liberal arts degree, majoring in International Studies and Italian at Yale University. “I’ve always believed languages to be a window to other cultures,” says Ashley, whose study of Latin and French in High School nurtured in her a life-long passion. “I’ve found that I am more outgoing in other languages than in English,” she says. “I always feel like I can establish a deeper connection with people around the world when I attempt to speak in their native language.”

Ashley forged her own path of linguistic and operatic studies throughout college and beyond, starting with her beloved Italy. “My grandfather was Italian,” she explains. “It has always felt like a home away from home – I feel so connected to that country.” And every time she had the chance to explore – be it in Bologna, Pesaro, or Rome – she recalls, “I fell in love with opera even more.” While singing in Rome, she made a connection that led to an opportunity to perform zarzuela in La Rioja, Spain. She jumped at the chance to explore a new country and found a program in Antigua, Guatemala where she could learn and absorb the language. When she started taking on German roles, she found a course of study at the Goethe Institute.

Recently, Ashley’s “poignant, vulnerable” performances (Opera News) have brought her to venues throughout the world. In 2023 she made her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera as Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte where ProOpera highlighted her “superabundance of talent.” Previously, she made her debut with Seville’s Teatro Maestranza as Violetta in La Traviata, sang as soprano soloist with Milan’s Orchestra UNIMI in Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate; and performed the title role in the world premiere of Penelope’s Dream and as soprano soloist in Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony with Festival of Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain. Back in the United States, she was seen as Mimì in La Bohème with Opera Modesto. She always treasures the chance to perform one of her signature roles, Elle in La Voix Humaine, which she has sung at Spain’s Rioja Forum, the Bay Street Theatre, and with New York Opera Fest. She made her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist in Hadyn’s “Lord Nelson” Mass and Schubert’s Mass in C with MidAmerica Productions, and has performed in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid/Titular de Teatro Real, the Festival de Villafranca del Bierzo, and the Gainesville Symphony.

Adding to her artistic life, Ashley started her own opera company, Divaria Productions, with whom she has been performing and producing interdisciplinary, site-specific projects since 2011. This season, she sang the title role in their Giovanna D’Arco/Maid of Orleans at the Bay Street Theatre; during the pandemic, she produced and starred in the documentary film Rival Queens featuring music from Maria Stuarda, which has won 20 awards in international film festivals including Best Documentary at Madrid Art Film Festival and Tokyo Film Festival. 

Ashley looks forward to discovering new places, new languages, and new roles – taking comfort in the human connection that the arts can provide. “Singing is the best way I have found to rouse people’s emotions and connect with them on a deeper level.”

Ashley Galvani Bell sings "Ah! se un giorno da queste ritorte" from Donizetti's Maria Stuarda