Meet Our Teaching Artists
Our Teaching Artists facilitate the Residency Program and Opera on the Spot!
Valentina Sierra (they/she/ella) is a Colombian-American soprano and educator passionate about providing a space for musical cultivation and expression to students of intersecting identities. Having migrated to the U.S. at the age of nine, they find it crucial to stay connected to popular music of their culture (salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, etc.), despite their formal training in western classical music. As an educator, her main goal is to actively challenge students to think critically and make connections to the world around them through information and communal discussion.
They earned their Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota and Master of Music from Temple University. Her operatic roles include Cendrillon (Cendrillon), Alice 1 (Alice Tierney), Mélisande (Impressions de Pelléas), Presendia (Dark Sisters), and Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro). They are currently a roster member of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Symphonic Choir and the Philadelphia Chorale.
A multilingual educator, Valentina has taught in English, Spanish, and German. Such experience includes work at a German-immersion elementary school in Saint Paul and a US Teaching Assistant position in Viennese secondary schools through Fulbright Austria’s USTA Program. They have supplied translation services in the classroom and co-taught a Spanish-language courses using the lyrics of Reggaeton as a language learning and cultural aid. She is a proud member of the Opera Philadelphia Community Initiatives team as the Residency Program Manager and Teaching Artist, as well as a Teaching Artist at Esperanza’s Artistas y Musicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA).
Chloe Lucente, soprano, is originally from Carrboro, North Carolina. As an educator, she believes in the transformative power of arts education and its ability to ignite creativity and foster self-expression in young learners. Chloe teaches private piano and voice lessons in Philadelphia. Her operatic performance roles include Papagena with New York Lyric Opera Theatre and Pamina with Appalachian Opera Theatre. In concert, she recently performed the soprano solo in David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion with the Temple University Concert Choir. She is a passionate and dynamic choral singer, and has performed with Seraphic Fire at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Chloe earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Appalachian State University and Master of Music degree in Vocal Arts from Temple University. Other recent engagements include Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and the soprano solo in Handel’s Messiah.
Praised by the Houston Press for performances “full of vigor and spirit,” soprano Elizabeth Gautsche made her professional debut in 2017 with Opera in the Heights as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Her repertoire includes Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Armida (Rinaldo), Peep-bo (The Mikado), and the title role in Rusalka. She was also an emerging artist in the Opera Works Summer program in Northern California.
Beyond the stage, Ms. Gautsche is a dedicated Teaching Artist, recently joining Opera Philadelphia. She has held similar posts with Los Angeles Opera and Houston Grand Opera, leading workshops that use music and storytelling to build empathy in communities such as the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, The Women’s Home, and refugee after-school programs. With the Houston Area Women’s Center, she coordinated and performed in the 2018 benefit concert Exultate! Uplifting Women through Song.
An active educator, she has taught as Adjunct Voice Professor at Sam Houston State University and maintains a nationwide private studio. She previously served in administrative roles with Houston Grand Opera and as assistant at the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti in Lucca, Italy.
Ms. Gautsche earned her Master of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and her Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Maedeh Mehdipour (she/her) is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Textile Art from the University of Tehran and recently earned her Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, where she is currently an Adjunct Professor. In addition to her teaching, she also serves as a Program Assistant at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, supporting community-focused arts education and engagement. Her practice engages a wide range of materials, fostering a dialogue between materiality and personal narrative. Through a combination of fiber and sculpture, Mehdipour explores themes of resistance, identity, and freedom. She has exhibited her work internationally, bringing her perspectives on memory, embodiment, and resilience into conversation with diverse audiences across borders. Deeply influenced by her experience growing up under a dictatorship, her work reflects on the impact of political and social pressures on both individual and collective experience, particularly through the lens of womanhood. Often grappling with the tension between public compliance and private resistance, her material processes become acts of questioning, disruption, and quiet defiance against dominant power structures.
With a distinctive artistic vision that bridges classical and contemporary performance, Dicky Dutton is a multifaceted singer and performance artist based in Philadelphia. They have collaborated with prestigious organizations including National Sawdust, the Fourth Wall Ensemble, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, The Bard Festival Chorale, and Bearded Ladies Cabaret among others. Most recently they premiered a workshop of Never Land, a queer cabaret written with collaborators Heather Jones & Michael Lewis produced by Aural Compass Projects. Their innovative approach to performance art is exemplified through their original works, including rituals “Amalgamate” and “UMBRA (EXPECTIT)” commissioned by NYFOS and the Why Collective respectively.
Dicky is dedicated to creating and interpreting new works, frequently collaborating with composer, pianist, and partner Michael Lewis in recitals across New York, Paris, Philadelphia, and Arizona. They maintain an active teaching schedule in the greater Philadelphia area while continuing to explore the intersection of classical music and contemporary performance art. When not performing or teaching, Dicky finds inspiration in the company of their partner, Michael, and three beloved bunnies: Cooper, Oliver, and Lulu.