Ladoga Records

Corey Castillo is a freelance bassoonist and educator based in Austin, Texas. Born and raised in California, he received his bachelor’s degree from UCLA and master’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin. He has performed with orchestras including Austin Opera, Central Texas Philharmonic, and Mid-Texas Symphony, and is a collaborative member of chamber ensembles Trio Seria and the Bassoon Haus Quintet. Corey maintains a large studio of middle- and high-school bassoon students and nurtures young musicians as a chamber music coach. 

Away from the bassoon, Corey is a passionate marching arts educator and student leadership clinician. He is a visual staff member of the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and has taught numerous high school marching bands across Austin and Los Angeles. In the digital world, Corey collaborates with Silent Command in hosting and producing The 8 to 5 Club, a podcast for leaders in the marching arts.

Dr. Seonju “Sunny” Jo is a South Korean pianist, collaborative pianist, educator, and researcher based in Texas. She is a member of Trio Seria, where she performs chamber music with a focus on attentive collaboration and ensemble balance.

Jo has performed as a soloist and collaborator at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the International Keyboard Odyssiad Festival, the Austin Flute Festival, and in concert settings across the United States and South Korea. Her performance experience includes collaborations with singers, instrumentalists, choirs, chamber groups, and new music ensembles.

She has been recognized in piano and collaborative performance competitions, including the Sidney W. Endowed Scholarship in Piano Accompanying Competition, as well as other national and international events. Her artistic work includes solo piano, chamber music, vocal and instrumental collaboration, and contemporary music.

Alongside performing, Jo teaches and works in university music settings, with experience in collaborative piano, applied piano, class piano, and keyboard musicianship. She is joining Stephen F. Austin State University as a full-time Collaborative Staff Pianist and has served as Staff Pianist and Adjunct Faculty in Piano at the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor. 

Described by the critics as “magician on the podium” (Performing Arts Monterey Bay), with “the ability to connect with invisible worlds and to bring them alive in the music” (Herald), Farkhad Khudyev, has been recognized by the government of the United States as an Artist of Extraordinary Ability.

Mr. Khudyev is the winner of the Gold Medal “Beethoven 250” Special Prize at the 1st International Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition; the Solti Foundation US 2018 Career Assistance Award; the Best Interpretation Prize at the 1st International Taipei Conducting Competition in Taiwan; the 3rd prize at the 8th International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition in Germany;  the 1st Prize at the Yale Chamber Music Society Competition; and the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2007 National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the US.

He has worked with orchestras worldwide including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Frankfurt Opera Orchestra of Germany, Danish National Symphony Orchestra of Denmark, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra of China and the State Taipei Chinese Orchestra of Taiwan.

 Currently, Mr. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra and the Assistant Professor of Music in Orchestral Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the Music Director of the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

James Maverick has established himself as a versatile pianist, coach, and conductor with engagements across the United States. Since 2020, he has served on the music staff of Cincinnati Opera as Assistant Chorus Master, preparing productions including Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, The Pirates of Penzance, and Il barbiere di Siviglia. He has also collaborated on workshops of new operas through Opera Fusion: New Works and Opera Philadelphia.

In Texas, Maverick is a frequent collaborator with Austin Opera, where he has appeared as pianist for Pagliacci, The Manchurian Candidate, and Verdi’s Requiem, and as music director for the company’s LatinX Residency Workshop.

He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music in 2021, where he teaches vocal accompanying and coaches singers.

Previously, Maverick was Chorus Master and Keyboardist at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he was a Resident Artist (2017–2019) and faculty member at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory. A former fellow of Wolf Trap Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and the Tanglewood Music Center, he holds degrees in piano performance, choral conducting, and collaborative piano from Lawrence University and Indiana University

Lily Guerrero, originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been praised for her vibrant stage presence and expressive artistry. A familiar face with Austin Opera, she recently appeared as Frasquita in Carmen and Diana in Cruzar la cara de la luna, a role she also reprised with Amarillo Opera in 2025. Recent highlights include covering Marzelline in Fidelio, singing the soprano solo in Brahms’ Requiem with the San Antonio Choral Society, and appearing as a Vocal Fellow at Spoleto Festival USA in Yuval Sharon’s innovative “backwards Bohème.”

Guerrero has performed leading roles with companies across the Midwest, including Norina in Don Pasquale (Windy City Opera) and Despina in Così fan tutte (Winter Opera Saint Louis). She has also appeared with Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, and the Franco-American Vocal Academy.

A frequent concert soloist, Guerrero has performed major works by Handel, Bach, Finzi, Rutter, and Haydn. Her competition successes include prizes from NATS, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Pianist and opera coach Tzu Kuang Tan, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is active in both performance and collaborative settings across the United States. In the 2025–26 season, he serves as Assistant Coach for Porgy and Bess, Silent Night, Of Mice and Men (Butler Studio), and Messiah at Houston Grand Opera.

In summer 2025, Tan was a Young Artist with the Merola Opera Program, where he coached and performed in Rossini’s Count Ory, the “Grand Night of Singing – An American Song Fest,” and the Schwabacher Summer Concert. A winner of the 2022 Marilyn Horne Song Competition, he later gave a recital with Joanne Evans at the Music Academy of the West and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2024 at Zankel Hall through Renée Fleming’s Song Studio.

At the Butler Opera Center (UT Austin), Tan has served as rehearsal pianist and coach for La Bohème, Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Queen of Spades, La Traviata, L’enfant et les sortilèges, The Ghosts of Versailles, and The Marriage of Figaro.

Tan holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, with prior degrees from the University of Michigan and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore.

London-born mezzo-soprano Joanne Evans is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program and has held residencies with the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Britten Pears Young Artist Program, Fondation des Treilles, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where she received Le Prix des Amis for Voice.

Upcoming engagements include performances at the Aldeburgh Festival, her role debut as Dorabella with Opera San Jose, a recital with the Ravinia Festival x Ear Taxi Festival, and appearances with Opéra Comique and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

A former Vocal Fellow at Music Academy of the West, Joanne sang Olga in Eugene Onegin and won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition. She is also an alumna of the Opera Colorado Artist-in-Residence Program, where she appeared as Maddalena in Rigoletto.

Joanne won First Prize in the 2022 Handel Aria Competition and was a 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition district winner. She is supported by the Career Bridges Grant, Gerda Lissner Foundation, and Premiere Opera Foundation, and was a 2025 Dallas Opera Lone Star Competition finalist.

She is the co-founder of Loam Music, an artistic partnership developing new works, including Daughter of God, a one-woman chamber opera premiered at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2024.

Nicholas, a San Diego native, is an acclaimed pianist, composer, and educator known for blending virtuosity and innovative musicality. His career includes solo and orchestral performances, prestigious competition wins, and captivating audiences across the U.S. and internationally. He earned a Bachelor of Music from San Diego State University (2018), a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin (2022), and is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts there. His competition highlights include First Place in the San Diego State University Concerto Competition (2018) and the Hong Kong International Music Festival Piano Competition, San Diego Division (2017), and a special prize at the White Nights International Piano Festival in Russia (2019).

Nicholas performs at elite events in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, delivering tailored, high-quality music. His solo recitals and orchestral appearances showcase lyrical sensitivity and electrifying virtuosity. As a composer, he has released albums, including the critically acclaimed 3 Pieces for Piano. As an educator, he has taught over 300 students, many achieving competition success, using a creative, technically precise teaching approach. He also offers masterclasses and workshops in Texas communities.

Soprano Hayan Kim has earned international recognition for her expressive artistry and vocal versatility, performing leading and featured roles across the United States and Korea. Recent highlights include Lan in TEA: A Mirror of Soul (2024), Musetta in La Bohème (2023), Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (2023), Frasquita in Carmen (2022), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (2021), and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (2020).

A two-time Apprentice Artist with The Santa Fe Opera (2019–2020), Ms. Kim was selected to cover principal roles in the world premiere of Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly, and previously appeared in workshops for the opera at Opera America and the Asia Society. Earlier performances include Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, Soo-yeon in From My Mother’s Mother with Houston Grand Opera, and roles with the Aspen Music Festival, where she received the AOC Fellowship in honor of Renée Fleming.

Ms. Kim has been praised by critics for her “silvery tone” (Aspen Times) and “expressive fire” (Voce di Meche). She is a First Place winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (District) and Second Prize winner of the Lois Alba Aria Competition.