This event will feature classical singer and Lake County Board Member, Carissa Casbon, renowned singer, Stacey Tappan, and pianist, Jennifer McCabe.
Read more about them below:
Carissa Casbon
Lake County Board Member Carissa Casbon began her career as a classical singer, performing in opera companies across the country, including the Santa Fe Opera, the Minnesota Opera, the Sarasota Opera, and more. Carissa started her own private voice studio in 2007 and has enjoyed playing a part in the musical development of over one hundred young people.
This connection with children led her to run for the Millburn District #24 Board of Education in 2015. She was first elected to the Lake County Board in 2020, where she learned of the Children’s Advocacy Center’s mission to serve some of our county’s most vulnerable children through her work on the Law and Judicial Committee. Carissa earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and a former member of the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Stacey Tappan
Soprano Stacey Tappan is highly sought-after performer of modern works. She recently created the role of Little Stone in Aucoin’s Eurydice at LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, sang Dawn in the premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie at the Met, and made her Proms Debut at Royal Albert Hall singing Wood’s Scenes from Comus. One of Ms. Tappan’s signature roles is Stella in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which she has performed with Los Angeles Opera (opposite Renée Fleming), Opera San Jose and Hawaii Opera Theatre. In close collaboration with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, Tappan created the stage work Once I Was, a monodrama built from 22 of Gordon’s songs, which she subsequently recorded for Blue Griffin Records with the composer at the piano. She has sung 14 productions with Los Angeles Opera, where she was Florestine on the multiple GRAMMY-award-winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles. She played the Charmeuse on the 2021 Juno Award-winning recording of Thaïs with Toronto Symphony. Other recent roles in modern works are Aveline Mortimer in Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree with Chicago Opera Theater, Madam White Snake in Naga, and Queen Tye in Akhnaten at LA Opera.
Her professional debut in 2000 was Beth in the mainstage premiere of Adamo’s Little Women with Houston Grand Opera, also broadcast on PBS, and released on CD by Ondine and on DVD by Naxos. Other career highlights include Adele in Fledermaus at Glyndebourne, Bella in Midsummer Marriage and Nanetta in Falstaff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lucia di Lammermoor with Arizona Opera, and Woglinde and the Woodbird in Ring cycles with Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera, and San Francisco Opera. She teaches voice at Columbia College and DePaul University.
Jennifer McCabe
As a collaborative pianist, Jennifer McCabe has worked with organizations and performed at venues such as The Kennedy Center, DePaul University, Northwestern University, Music Institute of Chicago, Wheaton College, The Musical Offering, Opera on Tap, North Park University, Merit School of Music, NATS, Royal George Theater and ChiArts. She enjoys working with the many wonderful artists of Chicago with a special emphasis on vocal repertoire, classical and musical theater. Many of her collaborators are Chicago-area university faculty as well as Lyric Opera and Grant Park chorus members.
She has been the pianist for several world premiere performances of choral music and an operetta. She was previously managing director and board member of Opera on Tap Chicago and faculty representative on the board of The Musical Offering. She has played master classes for Renee Fleming, Ramsey Lewis, Elizabeth Futral, Jane Bunnell, and Michael Ehrman. She has performed with Nisanne Howell, former violinist with the CSO. An in-demand private piano teacher and music director for over 25 years, Jennifer has also studied voice, acting, writing, clarinet, saxophone, steel pan, and composition. Jennifer was the recipient of “Best of Chicago 2019” for Harmony Piano Studio and was a Sycamore Music Boosters Legacy Award Recipient in 2020 when she was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame at Sycamore High School for her lifetime contributions to music. Jennifer has been an active church musician for over 25 years and is currently a choir director and music assistant at All Saints Parish in Morton Grove and Niles. Jennifer is a 1995 graduate of Northern Illinois University where she majored in piano (B.A.) and continued her education with graduate studies at NIU and MTSU in piano performance and education.