Opera Staff Biographies

Jamie Johnson (Producer) has been involved in every Temple University Opera Theaterproduction for over twenty years. He has worked as producer, production coordinator, production manager, technical director, tour manager, music director, arts educator, and performer for various professional, religious, and academic institutions, including the Pennsylvania Opera Theater, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Arts for Anyone. Much of Mr. Johnson’s time at Temple University is spent coordinating staff and graduate interns in the construction of the opera sets which are seen in the Opera Theater main stage productions. Mr. Johnson holds Master of Music degrees in Voice and Opera Performance from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, and a Bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television and Film from Messiah College.

M. Michael Montgomery (Costume Design) has opera design credits including productions with Opera Delaware, Curtis Institute of Music, and Pennsylvania Opera Theatre. He has served as resident costume designer with Temple Opera Theater in Philadelphia since 1995. Michael’s work in opera earned him a career highlight in 1997, when he served as costumer for the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition. His design and construction work has been featured in productions by the Philadelphia Drama Guild, American Music Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse. He has worked with the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Theatre of Point Park College, the Jewish Theater of Pittsburgh and Civic Light Opera. Michael’s accomplishments in costume design were acknowledged by the Philadelphia Theater League and the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1994, when he was nominated for the prestigious Barrymore Award (best costume design) for the People’s Light and Theatre Company’s production of Sign of the Lizard.

Adam Macks (Lighting Design) has served as lighting designer for Temple University Opera Theater since 1985. He has also designed the lighting at the Sarasota Opera, OperaDelaware, The Opera Company of El Paso, and Spoleto Festival U.S.A. Mr. Macks has toured nationally and internationally with the José Limon Dance Company, The Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Starlight Express national company. In addition to the performing arts, he designs exhibition lighting for corporations such as Hasbro, Sony, and Sotheby’s, where he was a lighting designer for the estate sales of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Mr. Macks also works as production manager for the Out of Doors Festival at Lincoln Center and the Mellon Jazz Festival.

Dirk Durossette (Scene Design) is a graduate of Temple University’s Department of Theater with an MFA in Scene Design. Before attending Temple University, he designed productions of operas, musicals, and plays for many colleges and professional companies, including the operas Faust, Porgy and Bess, and The Barber of Seville; the musicals Man of La Mancha and Carousel; and the plays Loot, Driving Miss Daisy, and The Tempest. He has designed sets for the Walnut Street Theater and The Prince Music Theater. The set he designed for the Freedom Theater’s production of Black Nativity was nominated for a Barrymore Award. He has also served as prop master for the Prince Music Theater productions of St. Louis Woman and 3hree. He designed sets for many of Temple’s productions, including Dialogues of the Carmelites, Die Fledermaus, Albert Herring, and the award-winning L’Amico Fritz.

Connie Koppe (Costumes) manages the costume shop for the department, and teaches stage makeup class. Connie began costuming while working on a degree in Music Education at Indiana Univ. of Pa., coordinating costumes for productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors and Comedy on the Bridge. During her graduate years in Temple University's Opera Department, Connie worked on several productions including The Old Maid and the Thief and Suor Angelica, as well as sewing for the Theater Department. Connie has designed costumes for Novel Stages Cat's Cradle and Kafka's Smile and has also worked as a seamstress for The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Villanova University, and Drexel University. Recently, Connie has costumed A Servant of Two Masters, "SOTA Celebration", "The Gardner's Dog" and "Hot Mikado" for the University of the Arts, and assisted with Die Fledermaus, Cavaleria Rusticana, and I Pagliacci for the Atlantic Coast Opera Company.

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View a complete listing of the Voice and Opera Department Faculty Biographies