RESIDENT ARTISTS

Originally from Sunnyvale, CA, soprano Stephanie Chee returns to Utah Opera as a Resident Artist for the 2025-2026 season, performing Mrs. Grady in The Shining, Marzelline in Fidelio, Gianetta in The Elixir of Love, and Annina in La traviata. Stephanie last appeared with Utah Opera as Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. An accomplished musician, Stephanie was a winner in the Utah District of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Ms. Chee was also awarded an Emerging Talent Award in the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition, first place in the 2022 Fox Valley Collegiate Voice Competition, second place in the 2022 Upper College Treble Voices Division of the National Student Auditions, and the Farwell Trust Award in the 2022 Musicians Club of Women Voice Competition. Stephanie received her Master of Music degree from Rice University in 2024.

Julia Holoman is a mezzo-soprano from Raleigh, North Carolina and a recent graduate of the master’s program at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Over the past year Holoman has performed the role Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina and was named a semi-finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias. Other recent roles include The Sorceress and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. This past summer, Ms. Holoman was a Lehrer Artist at Music Academy of the West where she sang the alto solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Academy Festival Orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Julia is greatly looking forward to performing the roles of Mrs. Massey in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining and Flora in Verdi’s La traviata this season with Utah Opera.

Aaron McKone, deemed a “rising star” and praised for his “ardent tenor,” is very excited to return to Utah Opera for the 2025-26 season during which he will perform the roles of Lloyd/Watson (The Shining), Jaquino (Fidelio), and Gastone (La traviata). In past seasons, Aaron was an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, Resident Artist with Opera Naples in Florida, and Vocal Fellow at the Spoleto Festival USA, as well as performed with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Paris’ Opéra Comique and was a featured soloist with the National Orchestral Institute and Festival. Some notable roles Mr. McKone has sung are Faust (Faust), Rinnuccio (Gianni Schicchi), and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus). Aaron received his bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University as well as a master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Tom Baresel and Stuart Skelton.

Rodney Sharp II is a proud native of Fort Worth, Texas and holds a B.A. in Music, Voice Performance from Prairie View A&M University and a M.M. in Opera Performance from Arizona State University. Some of Rodney’s favorite roles performed are Peter (Hansel und Gretel), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), and soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Kodály’s Missa Brevis, and Schubert’s Mass in G. Praised for his “…deep and robust voice combining strong vocalism and magnetic presence, he is a natural scene stealer.” Rodney is an advocate for classical music by African American composers and strives to present works representing the African American experience. As a second-year Resident Artist at Utah Opera, Mr. Sharp will perform the roles of Horace Derwent (The Shining), Don Fernando (Fidelio), and Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata), in addition to performing in schools and communities throughout the state of Utah beside his fellow Resident Artists to spread the good word of Opera.

Malaysia-born Jie Fang Goh charts a versatile music career as a pianist, collaborator, and scholar. After earning an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he has worked as an opera pianist, orchestral keyboardist, and vocal coach in renowned programs across the U.S. and abroad, including Opera Lucca, Brevard Music Center, Music On Site, Miami Music Festival, and Vienna Summer Music Festival. Driven by a passion for piano duo music and classical music outreach, he co-founded the LexGoh Piano Duo with Alexander Kostadinov in 2018. Mr. Goh’s master’s thesis, Fantasies and Delusions: Billy Joel’s Turn and Return to Classical Music, explores Joel’s creative process in his only solo piano album. As the first Malaysian Resident Artist at Utah Opera, Fang contributes to the company’s statewide outreach program and mainstage productions. Mr. Goh also served as an assistant coach with The Glimmerglass Festival in 2025.