FALSTAFF
Cast Bios
Michael O’Hearn (Falstaff) | ACO Debut 2024, Tannhauser
Atlanta native Michael Blake O'Hearn has been hailed by critics for his abundance of personality, his authoritative singing and acting, and his wide impressive range and rich low tones.
Enjoying a full and busy performing career, Michael has appeared in 89 roles to date and greatly anticipates adding to this total in coming seasons. Favorite roles include Pooh Bah in The Mikado, Dr. Bartolo in both Le Nozze di Figaro and II Barbiere di Siviglia, Dr. Dulcamara in L'elisir D'amore, Sulpice in La Fille du Regiment and the title roles of Don Pasquale and Gianni Schicchi; as well as the Oratorios Elijah, Messiah, Creation and the Requiems of Faure, Mozart, Brahams and Verdi. Mr. O'Hearn has previously been featured with the Amarillo Opera, Atlanta Opera, Augusta Opera, Bronx Opera, Chelsea Opera. DiCapo Opera Theater, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Long Island Choral Society, Mississippi Opera, National Lyric Opera, NYCO National Company, Opera Carolina, Opera Orchestra of New York, Oswego Opera, Piedmont Opera, Sarasota Opera Association and Tulsa Opera. He currently holds the Bass Staff Singer position at Fayetteville First United Methodist Church and formerly at Christ Church Bronxville, NY (with Philip Stopford.)
Michael pursued a Vocal Performance Degree at Georgia State University and continued his studies with the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and has been a finalist and prize winner in the AIMS Meistersinger Competition. Michael studied privately in Atlanta with Elizabeth Nohe Colson and participated in the Sarasota Opera Association Apprentice Program. He has also served as Artist in Residence for the Long Island Choral Society and received the Choral Guild of Atlanta Fellowship for 8 consecutive seasons.
August Bair (Ford) | ACO Debut 2019, Le Nozze di Figaro
August Bair is an Atlanta native and graduated with a BA from Bard College’s undergraduate voice program in New York and went on to complete his masters in voice at Manhattan School of Music (MSM) in New York City where he sang the role of Count Carnero in Johann Strauss’s Der Ziguenerbaron. He sang in the Atlanta Opera’s 2019 productions of Dead Man Walking, Eugene Onegin, and La Traviata. With Brevard Music Center’s Janiec Opera Company, he has performed the role of Doctor Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, covered the roles of Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Starveling in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and debuted a major role in J. Mark Scearce’s new opera, Falling Angel. In the summer of 2015, August starred in Jonathan Sheffer’s contemporary opera Blood on the Dining Room Floor at the Napa Valley Music Festival. He was Mercutio in Capitol City Opera’s 2020 production of Roméo et Juliette.