ABOUT CASSONDRA

Cassondra is pursuing her master’s degree in opera performance at Boston Conservatory in the studio of Dr. Rebecca Folsom while simultaneously working as a research assistant at the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center.

Cassondra holds a B.M. in classical vocal performance and a B.A. in biochemistry with a minor in Latin from Oberlin College & Conservatory, where she studied voice in the studios of Timothy LeFebvre and Kendra Colton, secondary piano in the studio of Scott Cuellar, and completed her honors thesis in the lab of William Parsons. After completing her M.M., she plans to earn her Ph.D. in a biomedical field.

This spring, she makes her Boston Conservatory Opera debut as Susan Veeder in Whaling Women by Jodi Goble. She also looks forward to covering Dorabella in the conservatory’s production of Così fan tutte, directed by David Gately and conducted by Andrew Bisantz. In the fall of 2024, she sang the role of Dido in the conductor’s choir concert of Dido & Aeneas.

She made her Oberlin Opera Theatre debut in the fall of 2023 as Mrs. Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring under the direction of Stephanie Havey and the baton of Michael Sakir, and she sang the role of Proserpina in Oberlin’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in the spring of 2024 under the direction of Stephanie Havey and the baton of Christian Capocaccia. In scenes programs, she has performed roles such as Cecilio (Lucio Silla), Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), and Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw). Her musical theatre credits include Elizabeth Benning (Young Frankenstein), Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof) and Carrie Pipperidge (Carousel).​

At Oberlin, Cassondra has performed in various masterclasses including for Lisette Oropesa and Jake Heggie. In the fall of 2023, she had the opportunity to coach, workshop, and perform Heggie’s music during his residency at Oberlin.​

In the spring of 2023, she presented a poster of her thesis at the American Chemical Society conference in Indianpolis. Her honors thesis comprises work presented in a paper published by the Parsons Lab in the American Chemical Society Chemical Biology journal and on which she is first author. 

In addition to the Parsons Lab, she also worked in the labs of Catherine Oertel and Shuming Chen. During her time with Dr. Chen, she was a collaborator on two papers in the Nature Communications and American Chemical Society journals. In the spring of 2024, she received the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry award for her work in the Oertel Lab and in the inorganic chemistry classroom. For all of her work in the research lab, she has also been inducted into the research honors society Sigma Xi.​

She was a Young Artist at Songfest in the summer of 2022 where she sang in masterclasses for Graham Johnson and Lydia Brown. She performed in a Slavic Song concert coached by Mark Trawka and Lisa Stepanova, a Schubert Lieder concert curated by Graham Johnson and a cabaret directed by Amy Burton and John Musto. She also had the opportunity to coach with John Harbison and Jennifer Tung.​

In the summer of 2024, she was a Young Artist at Bel Canto in Tuscany where she studied with Timothy LeFebvre and Delores Ziegler. She coached with Elizabeth Koch and Patrick O'Donnell, and she performed in a masterclass for Giovanni Regioli.