TCO Artistic Directors

Peyton Hibbitt  |  Duane Skrabalak  |  Peter Sicilian  |  Carmen Savoca

"They were my influences, my environment and my home, and they will always be a part of me" TCO graduate Richard Leech.

PEYTON HIBBITT, Co-founder/Artistic Director of Tri-Cities Opera, is Conductor and Music Director for TCO and vocal coach for the Resident Artist Training Program. Completely American trained, he attended both the Philadelphia Conservatory and the Philadelphia Music Academy. He was the founder of the New York State Opera League, served in the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on the Education of the Young Singer in Sofia, Bulgaria, and at present is an adjunct professor and co-director of the M.M. program with a specialization in opera at Binghamton University. Mr. Hibbitt made his European debut at the Teatro Regio in Parma, Italy, conducting The Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Europe in 1991 to lead performances (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Bilbao Opera Festival in Spain and returned recently for Verdi's Rigoletto. As a guest conductor in the U.S. his credits include appearances with the Chautauqua Opera Association, Arizona Opera, Syracuse Opera, the Opera Theatre of Greater Lansing, Fort Worth Opera and a critically acclaimed New York debut with the Chamber Opera Theatre of New York. Maestro Hibbitt was called to Cincinnati Opera at the eleventh hour in 1994 to conduct Richard Leech in its production of Romeo et Juliette.

DUANE SKRABALAK, Senior Artistic Director/Director of Music, established himself in the company in 1970 as a young baritone, a pianist and choral director as well. Four years later, he made his conducting debut in a full production of Gounod’s Faust and since then has been a resident conductor. Named as TCO's third Artistic Director in 1995, he is also Choral Director, Music Director of Opera-Go-Round and vocal coach for the Resident Artist Training Program. He has conducted more than 60 productions, as well as numerous chamber productions and excerpt shows. Mr. Skrabalak was the music director for the world premier of Myron Fink's Chinchilla, and serves as host of TCO's Operalogues, which are also broadcast on public radio. His conducting credits include appearances with the Atlanta Civic Opera, the Jerusalem Symphony for the Israel Festival, the Clemens Center and the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. As a sought-after vocal recital pianist, he has toured throughout the U.S. and abroad, accompanying Richard Leech in his recital debut for Cincinnati Opera's 75th Anniversary Gala, with Tony Randall as Master of Ceremonies. Mr. Skrabalak has also taken on the appointment as Adjunct Professor of Music at Binghamton University. With his ascension to the artistic director's post, Duane Skrabalak was chosen as the successor to co-founders Savoca and Hibbitt, and was given the challenge of leading TCO into the next century.

PETER SICILIAN, Artistic Director/Director of RATP, teaches voice, stage movement, and Resident Artist classes. He received critical acclaim for his direction of The Magic Flute, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hansel and Gretel, The Elixir of Love and La Bohème over the last four years and will serve as stage director for all three TCO productions this season. Mr. Sicilian is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Binghamton University. This position holds special meaning for Peter since he was a member of the University’s first graduating class of the M.M. in Opera program. Peter has sung over 40 roles with TCO, including leading roles in The Magic Flute, The Italian Girl in Algiers, The Marriage of Figaro, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Rigoletto. Mr. Sicilian has performed with the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Syracuse Opera, Opera Theatre of Rochester, Sarasota Opera and the Rome Opera Festival in Italy. He appeared in the American Premier of Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade performed in its original Danish with Sarasota Opera in Florida. He also directed Seymour Barab’s The Toy Shop for the Sarasota Opera educational outreach program. Since 1984 Peter has also been the stage director for TCO’s educational outreach program, Opera-Go-Round, directing such favorites as Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing.

CARMEN SAVOCA, Tri-Cities Opera Co-Founder Carmen Savoca succumbed to heart disease in 1998 at the age of 73. For 49 years Carmen Savoca was the Artistic Director of the local opera company he founded with Co-Artistic Director Peyton Hibbitt. He also served as producer and stage director for TCO since its founding in 1949, producing and directing three mainstage productions each season.

During his tenure with TCO he also served as vocal instructor for the Resident Artist Training Program, which enrolls students from all over the United States and Canada in a training program for young opera singers. Many of his students have gone on to international opera careers. A 1950 graduate of the Philadelphia Music Academy, he also studied extensively with Vienna State Opera Director Josef Tornau.

Over the course of his career with Tri-Cities Opera, Savoca directed all but three of the productions presented over 49 seasons including the world premieres of Myron Fink's Jeremiah in 1962 and Chinchilla in 1986, and Ezra Laderman's Galileo Galilei in 1979. His directing credits outside of Tri-Cities Opera include work with Chautauqua Opera Association, Edmonton Opera, Arizona Opera, Oklahoma City Opera, Wichita Opera and the New York City Opera. A gifted singer, earlier in his career he performed title roles in Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville and the world premiere of Jeremiah.

Mr. Savoca also served on music panel of the New York State Council on the Arts and for 20 years was an adjunct professor and co-director of the M.M. program with a specialization in opera at Binghamton University. In 1993, Savoca and Hibbitt were given the University Medal by Binghamton University President Lois DeFleur. One of the highest honors the University can bestow, it is given to persons who perform distinguished service to the University, to higher education or to the community.

In 1992, Savoca and Hibbitt were given a Special Citation by New York Governor Mario Cuomo, "in recognition of their role in forming the Tri-Cities Opera Company and developing the company into an acclaimed cultural institution."

All of us at TCO will miss Carmen, but under the able direction of Duane Skrabalak, with assistance from Peyton Hibbitt and Associate Director Peter Sicilian, we will try to carry on his ideals and carry his teaching principals into the next millennium and into TCO's second half century.

For more information please contact:
Reed Smith,
Executive Director
607-729-3444
Email info@tricitiesopera.com