The best production crew in the biz! They make the show happen!

Creative Director - Michael Nutter

Michael Nutter made his Capitol City Opera Company debut in 1998, directing the Ned Rorem one-act The Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, in which the concept for Opera Briefs was created with Donna Angel. Since then, he has directed over 30 operas with Capitol City Opera Company, including The Crucible, Meanwhile, Back at Cinderella's, The Stoned Guest, Wuthering Heights, The Old Maid and the Thief, The Saint of Bleecker Street, Susannah, Cosí fan tutte, The Medium, A Streetcar Named Desire, PDQ Bach's A Little Nightmare Music, Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus, Dido and Æneas, Don Pasquale, and Mozart's The Impresario with Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. His most recent CCOC productions include Riders to the Sea and The Old Maid and the Thief in the spring of 2010. He directed this fall's production of Kirke Mechem's Tartuffe.

Company Administrator - Tafee Patterson

Tafee began with CCOC many years ago as a singer in its educational outreach and Dinner and a Diva programs. Since that time she has expanded her role with the company many times. In 2004 she directed Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing for our school touring shows. In 2006 she became Educational Outreach Coordinator and in 2010 she was promoted to Company Administrator. Her duties include booking and running the school touring shows, creating new works, costume and set developement, as well as administrative and marketing duties. She recently finished writing the newest of the touring shows Sounds like Opera!, and beginning next year will be starting as a Teaching Artist for Capitol City Opera through Young Audiences Woodruff Arts Center. She has an extensive background in performance, having worked as a singer, dancer and actress in the Atlanta area for more than 15 years, as well as working abroad. She has performed for the Alliance Theater, the Springer Opera House, Center Theater, the Shakespeare Tavern, Onstage Atlanta, and many others. Some of her favorite roles have included Josephine in HMS Pinafore, Vi in Footloose, and Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. She continues to tour and perform throughout the country, and is currently in the cast of the hit new musical Food Fight!

Music Director - Catherine Giel

Catherine Giel is in her third year as the Education Manager at the acclaimed Spivey Hall at Clayton State University. She manages the extensive educational programs created and produced by the Education Department, including Young People's Concerts, student and teacher workshops, community outreach initiatives, master classes, and the Spivey Hall Children's Choir Program.

Catherine holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy with an emphasis in piano performance and also completed a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the Florida State University College of Music. She studied piano with Leonidas Lipovetsky and Dr. James Nalley and served as accompanist, vocal coach, and stage manager to the Florida State Opera in addition to recitaling with numerous vocalists, instrumentalists, and ensembles in the region. For five years, Catherine served as the accompanist in concert and on tour with the top collegiate choral ensemble at Florida State, the University Singers, under the direction of Dr. Kevin Fenton.

Singers Director - Stephen W. Mitchell

Stephen W. Mitchell is in his eleventh year as Director of Music at Athens First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia, where he directs the Sanctuary Choir, Chamber Ensemble and two handbell choirs and oversees an extensive choral, instrumental and handbell program. Stephen is also in his seventh year as Director of the Athens Choral Society, an 80 voice, non-auditioned community chorus. Recent concerts with the ACS have included Bach Magnificat, Cherubini Requiem, Rutter Magnificat and Mass of the Children, Rheinberger Star of Bethlehem and Copland Old American Song. A native of Pensacola, Florida, Stephen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Birmingham-Southern College. Stephen was a Choral Scholar at Wells Cathedral in Wells, England from 1992-1996, where he sang daily evensong in the choir of men and boys, recorded several CD's and performed live on radio and television broadcasts and in concerts throughout Europe, South America and the US. Stephen is a member of the Capitol City Opera Madrigal Singers and serves as the group's director beginning in the fall of 2012.

Composer - Curtis Bryant

An Atlanta native, Curtis Bryant (b. 1949) earned his Master of Music Theory from Georgia State University, studying composition with Charles Knox. Bryant’s music has received live performances steadily and has been heard across North America and in Europe, Asia and Australia in concerts, music festivals and on radio and television broadcasts, including National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Composing for virtually all concert media including chamber, choral, opera, art song, and orchestra, his music has been praised for being “immediately attractive and accessible, with an emphasis on beauty of sound, simplicity of means, and expression of feeling” (Atlanta Journal and Constitution). Bryant has also composed music for numerous television series and specials including the award winning Portrait of America series produced by Turner Broadcasting, numerous programs produced on Georgia Public Television, and a number of independent productions including Exploring Two Frontiers: The Neurolab Space Shuttle, produced by Dante James for WPBA–Atlanta Public Broadcasting. He has garnered seven Southern Regional Emmy Award nominations for original music from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), and numerous ASCAP Awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.

Mr. Bryant has compositions published by Neil A. Kjos Music Publications (San Diego), Lux Nova Press (Atlanta), and Transcontinental Music Publications (New York). Bryant is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the American Music Center, the American Composers Forum, the Georgia Production Partnership, the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA), and Opera America. Bryant has served as adjudicator for numerous arts panels and organizations including the Georgia Council for the Arts and the Georgia Music Teachers Association. He has served as composer-in-residence for the Macon Symphony Orchestra and the Fulton County Schools. Bryant is currently a part-time instructor at Georgia State University School of Music and has served as adjunct faculty for Georgia Perimeter College, Clayton College and State University, Atlanta College of Art, and Tri-Cities High School.

Bryant’s first opera, Zabette, based on a libretto by author Mary R. Bullard, premiered in 1999 at Atlanta’s landmark Rialto Theater in a full production by Georgia State University School of Music. The Secret Agent, Bryant’s second operatic endeavor, was completed in 2007 with librettist Allen Reichman. Under the working title The Anarchist, selected scenes from The Secret Agent have been presented by Georgia State University School of Music, helping Bryant and Reichman to shape this classic Joseph Conrad story into a modern music drama that hits home.