Staff - Rising Stars Productions

Rising Stars Directors

Kim Lamoureux, Artistic Director

Praised for her “clarion upper range and delicate tone,” soprano Kim Lamoureux is a dynamic and versatile artist based on the North Shore. Kim has performed with many companies across New England, such as Odyssey Opera, Cape Symphony, Juventas New Music Ensemble, The Savoyard Light Opera Company, the Concord Orchestra, and the Carlisle Chamber Orchestra. Favorite engagements include Silla in Handel’s Silla (Cambridge Chamber Ensemble), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Opera 51, NEMPAC, Riverside Theater Works), Azzurina in the world premiere of DiOrio’s The Little Blue One, and the Fight Captain and role of Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette with Opera51.

Kim has extensive experience in interactive theater, and has performed innovative lead roles with History Alive!, Pastimes Entertainment, Mystery Cafe, and Head First Events. Kim has a niche area of expertise surrounding the history and culture of the Salem Witch Trials, and has been seen in several theatrical shows, TV episodes, and films on the subject, including accused witch Sarah Cloyce (National Geographic Channel) and Ann Putnam, Sr. (The Travel Channel: Legendary Locations and Cinema Salem). In the physical theater arts, Kim has a specialty in stage combat (Renaissance Rapier and Dagger), contact improvisation, and partner acrobatics.

As a pedagogue, Kim maintains a full time studio where she teaches voice students of all ages and ability levels. Her particular areas of specialty include cross training in classical and musical theater, adult beginners, teen and tween voices, and audition prep.

Kim currently teaches voice at Kim Lamoureux Voice Studio and Brookwood School, and is a former Board member of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

Master of Music with Distinction, Longy School of Music

Bachelor of Music, Summa Cum Laude, Gordon College

Ellen Allen, Music Director

A lifelong musician, Boston-based soprano Ellen Allen is a versatile singer whose performance credits encompass oratorio, opera, art song, and new music. Recent solo credits include Poulenc’s Gloria with the MetroWest Choral Artists; Caterina in Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz with the MetroWest Choral Artists; BWV 10 and selections from Mozart’s Davidde Penitente with Calliope; and scenes from Mozart’s Die Zauberflote (First Lady) and Rameau’s Les Boreades (Alphise) with Calliope. She has also performed both as a soloist and chorister with Calliope’s Ensemble-In-Residence program, the Harvard Early Music Society, the MIT Women’s Chorale, the Latin Mass Choir at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Church in Newton, and the Gordon College Symphonic Chorale. Currently, Ellen sings with Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, a collaborative ensemble of singers, conductors, and composers dedicated to performing classical music written within the last 25 years.

Ellen is an active pedagogue, educator, and music director. She maintains a full-time studio of voice and violin students of all ages and levels, and is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). She has served several area schools as a guest teaching artist and production vocal coach, and directed and led a variety of student chamber ensembles. She is the co-founder and music director of Rising Stars Productions, and the director of the Rising Stars Show Choir.

Master of Music in Voice Performance, Longy School of Music of Bard College
Teaching Artist Certificate, Longy School of Music of Bard College
Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, summa cum laude, Gordon College
Member, NATS

Rising Stars Staff 2019

Ashley Yarnall, Choreographer

Ashley is a Triple Threat performer and educator, with a strong background in Dance, Voice, and Acting. A native of the Boston area, she obtained her BFA in Musical Theatre from Pace University in NYC. Upon relocating back to Boston, she pursued a graduate degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and is now pursuing a teaching career, as well as a performance career in live music. She currently owns and runs her own music instruction business based out of her home town in Sudbury, MA, and fronts a handful of bands, including an acoustic Led Zeppelin Orchestra. Ashley has a strong background in dance, including training at the Boston Ballet School, and Jeannette Neill’s in Boston. Ashley focuses on crafting solid actor-singers who are strong and capable movers onstage with a firm foundation in classical dance technique. Her motto? “If you can move, you can DANCE!”

Carla Maniscalco-Giovinco, Stage Manager

Carla Maniscalco-Giovinco is a Boston based soprano performing a diverse array of repertoire. Most recently she has appeared with North Shore Music Theater, MetroWest Opera, the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra, North End Music and Performing Arts Center, New England Light Opera & Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and Longwood Opera. Carla holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York, and a Masters and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.

During her performance studies she developed a love of all aspects of theater, which led her to production management. Carla feels that working behind the scenes can be just as rewarding as being in the spotlight. She has experience working on wardrobe, run crew and stage management with several regional companies, NEMPAC Opera, North Shore Music Theater, and Opera del West being among them. Working on all aspects of a production from the initial idea to the final execution is thrilling and exhilarating.

Ms. Maniscalco-Giovinco is a music educator with a flourishing private studio, where she uses her on stage experiences as well as a strong technical foundation to help her students develop their talents. At Rising Stars Productions she is able to do just that!

Erin Kearney, Stage Manager

Erin is a Boston based stage manager with experience in diverse styles of performance, from ensemble-based devised work, to traditional musical theatre. Most recently, Erin has worked with the Musical Theater BFAs & MFAs and the Contemporary Theater BFAs, at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee on a range of productions including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret, Metamorphoses, The Theory of Relativity, Displaced: A Response to Qurban, and And Speak I Will directed by Shakespeare and Company’s founding artistic director Tina Packer. Other favorite past productions include Billy Elliot, Million Dollar Quartet, Mary Poppins, The Addams Family, From Here to Eternity (Ogunquit Playhouse), The Pirate Princess (American Repertory Theater), Curious George, The Velveteen Rabbit (Boston Children’s Theatre) and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (The Hanover Theatre Conservatory). Erin received her BA as a double major in Mediated Communications and Spanish from Stonehill College.

Anna Carr, Staff Accompanist

Dr. Anna Carr is currently working as a vocal coach, accompanist, soprano, and teacher in the Boston area, including work at Boston University and the Handel and Haydn Society. Having recently completed her DMA in Vocal Performance at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, she also holds an MM in Collaborative Piano from Boston University, and a BA in Music from Principia College. In Champaign, Anna was a professional piano accompanist and coach, and sang many roles in the University of Illinois opera program, including debuting an opera completed in 2012. She has been a member of the St Louis Symphony Chorus as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus with the BSO, and most recently, was a Bella Voce Award recipient through the Bel Canto Foundation

Emily Jones, Staff Accompanist

Long-time lover of musical theater, having been born and raised just north of New York City, Emily Jones is excited for the opportunity to once again accompany the Rising Stars North Theater Intensive this summer. Emily works as a private piano instructor out of her home in Beverly, MA, as well as the Worship Director at Cornerstone Church in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Most recently, she has organized, hosted and accompanied Grace Notes Homeschool Girls Choir, directed by Ellen Allen, for the past 3 years. Emily has been playing piano since the age of 5 and cello since the age of 6 and enjoys the opportunity to play both anytime she is able. While most of her theater experience has been playing cello in the pit orchestra, she is looking forward to gaining more experience in the theater world as a staff accompanist. Emily holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and B.A. in Music, concentration in cello, from Gordon College in Wenham, MA. Most of her time these days is spent as a homeschooling mom to 2 children, ages 15 and 13.

Michael Monroe, Staff Accompanist

Michael Monroe has a wide-range of experiences as pianist, organist, conductor, composer, arranger, writer, and educator. He has conducted fully staged performances of multiple Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and been musical director for productions of Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, The Secret Garden, Oliver!, and more. As part of his DMA from The New England Conservatory, he completed and conducted a new chamber orchestration and English translation of Gounod’s comic opera, The Doctor in Spite of Himself. He has accompanied hundreds of student recitals and collaborated in recital with acclaimed violinists Stefan Jackiw and Ayano Ninomiya and BSO trombonist James Markey at venues such as Jordan Hall and the Gardner Museum. Michael currently serves as full-time director of music at Catholic Memorial, a 7-12 boys prep school in West Roxbury, and he is music director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bedford, MA where his own compositions are often featured. For more than twelve years, he has kept a widely read blog, featuring hundreds of multimedia creations, at MMmusing.blogspot.com.

James Hay, Staff Accompanist

James Hay has a Graduate Performance Diploma (with Distinction) in Collaborative Piano from Longy School of Music. Previously, he studied Piano Performance at New England Conservatory of Music. Mr. Hay is on the faculty as Visiting Lecturer and Staff Accompanist at both Bridgewater State University and U-Mass Dartmouth. He is Accompanist of the Jubilate Chorale, Bridgewater State University Chorale, U-Mass Dartmouth Chorale, South Coast Children’s Chorus and Organist at First Baptist Church in Brockton. He has been an accompanist for the Boston and Rhode Island Chapters of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, McClosky Institute of Voice, Mass Theatrica, Longwood Opera and New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Mr. Hay has performed at the Music Mansion in Providence, Rhode Island and the Longfellow House in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was a winner of the Longy School of Music Honors Competition in 2006.

Hannah Gould, Assistant Stage Manager

Hannah Gould, 18, is in her second year with Rising Stars Production after being introduced in 2018. Quickly, she fell in love and couldn’t wait to work along side this crew this summer. Hannah is no stranger to the stage! She began taking dance classes at the age of four at Paula Meola Dance (PMD) in Sterling, MA. Her heart very soon belonged to the stage. Hannah danced for a number of years at PMD and as a young teen, she began to explore other areas of the performing arts including acting and singing. She fell in love with all things related to the theater. Hannah has been in over twenty theatrical productions ranging from PMD’s yearly production of The Nutcracker to playing Yente in Fiddler On The Roof at the Hanover Theatre Youth Summer Program, to stage-managing her former high school’s yearly Class Plays, to writing and performing her own shows, and, finally, to choreographing routines in several musicals (and one play) at her high school and having a featured dance role as Simon of Legree in The King and I. Hannah has truly done it all! Hannah is now a freshman at the University of Vermont where she studies Nursing. She is very excited to be able to work with Rising Stars Productions this summer!

Jennifer Migotsky, Junior Staff Accompanist

Jennifer, 22, was born in Jaffrey, NH, and has been playing piano since the age of 10, benefitting from the instruction of four wonderful teachers throughout her life. She has even had the opportunity to teach a couple beginners herself. She enjoys playing a diverse variety of music—from Baroque to Classical to Ragtime to Jazz to Musical Theatre to Pop songs. She also has an undying passion for all theatre, as well as singing and dancing. She loves accompanying, and has accompanied for her local church regularly, and for a Homeschool Theatre Program.

A senior at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, she will soon complete her B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature with a double minor in Music Performance and French. After college, she aspires to continue her studies and work as a writer and pianist.

Theater Arts for Teens and Tweens

risingstarsnorth@gmail.com
978-895-2743
1480 Main Street
Reading, MA 01867