Multi-talented UConn doctoral student to direct THESPIS

     The Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society is pleased to announce that Connecticut native
Spencer Reese will be the artistic director for Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan’s 2019 production of THESPIS. Mr. Reese, who grew up in Enfield, is currently finishing his DMA in vocal performance at the University of Connecticut, studying with Constance Rock.

     In 2013, he received his undergraduate degree in voice at UConn, where he was a University Scholar in the Honors Program. As part of this program he wrote, directed, produced and starred (whew!) in a four act original opera entitled Always Hope. In 2015, he earned a master’s degree in opera stage directing at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Steven Daigle and Jan Opalach. While there, he assistant directed two complete opera seasons, directed a double bill of The Old Maid and the Thief and La voix humaine, and choreographed the musical She Loves Me.

     Spending summers in residence with the Ohio Light Opera since 2014, he has served as the company’s assistant director and choreographer in more than thirty shows, including over half the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. A familiar face on the OLO stage as well, he will appear this summer as Danny Churchill in Girl Crazy, Jack in Into the Woods, and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance.

     Mr. Reese is thrilled to bring his skills in opera production and his experience with the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire to his home state as artistic director for this fall’s production of Thespis.