Kate Baldwin is a two-time Tony Award and four-time Drama Desk Award nominee who has delighted audiences across the country with performances on Broadway, in concert, and on television. Kate’s starring role in the 2009 Broadway revival of Finian’s Rainbow put her on the map as “a real musical theatre star” (New York Post), garnering Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. She previously starred as Irene Molloy opposite Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce and Gavin Creel in the hit Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, for which she was nominated for the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. She has performed in concert with the American Pops Orchestra, New York Pops, Boston Pops, National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the American Songbook series and has appeared on TV in “The Gilded Age” (HBO), “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC), “Just Beyond” (Disney Plus), and “Live from Lincoln Center: Stephen Sondheim’s Passion” (PBS).

Patricia Racette is known as one of the great singing actresses of our time, and has appeared with leading opera houses and concert halls around the world. However, in St. Louis, she is even more beloved for her work as OTSL’s Artistic Director. Racette made her directorial debut at OTSL with a new production of La traviata in 2018, became the company’s Artistic Director of Young Artist Programs in 2019, and was finally appointed Artistic Director in 2025. Her directorial work includes productions at Arizona Opera, Opera Omaha, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, and Rice University, not to mention upcoming productions at Houston Grand Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Patricia continues to be sought after as a master teacher to foster artistry in the next generation of classical singers. In 2017, she piloted an intensive seminar, Integrative Artistry, at the San Francisco Conservatory; it has since gone on to The Juilliard School, the Washington National Opera, Arizona Opera’s Marion Roose Pullin Studio, and New England Conservatory.

Described by The New York Times as “one of America’s finest artists and singers,” Frederica von Stade continues to be extolled as one of the music world’s most beloved figures. Known to family, friends, and fans by her nickname “Flicka,” the mezzo-soprano has enriched the world of classical music for four and a half decades. Frederica’s career has taken her to the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls, and her recordings have garnered six Grammy nominations, two Grand Prix du Disc awards, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, and Italy’s Premio della Critica Discografica. In 1998 Frederica was awarded France’s highest honor in the Arts when she was appointed as an officer of L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1983 she was honored with an award given at The White House by President Reagan in recognition of her significant contribution to the arts.