FOUNDING FACULTY
Corinn Fulton, General & Theatrical Director
Mrs. Bonita Keene, Administrative Coordinator
Mrs. Bonita Keene recently retired from Stafford County Schools where she taught chorus from 2000 - 2022. Most recently the Director of Choirs at Mountain View High School, she hosted Stafford Opera Troupe for its first four years. She has been an integral part of the program since its beginning.
Upon her retirement from SCPS in 2022, she traveled to Nicaragua where she taught music for one semester at the International Bible Institute of Nicaragua. Once she returned home, she joined the faculty of the University of Mary Washington as an adjunct professor of both Private and Class Voice.
In addition to her involvement with choral programs, Mrs. Keene has also been very committed to theater arts in the area, either directing or performing in many crowd-favorite local shows. Each year, her choral program would perform John Rutter’s The Reluctant Dragon, taking the show to young theatergoers in the local elementary schools. She played in the pit orchestra for performances of Into the Woods at UMW, and numerous shows at NSHS, BPHS and MVHS. She was the musical director for Oliver!, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Wizard of Oz (twice!), Crazy for You, Once Upon A Mattress, Anything Goes, In the Heights, Pippin, Beauty and the Beast, and Mamma Mia. She has also been the Music Director for CYT’s Aladdin and Singin’ in the Rain. She has directed various All-County and District choral events, and is also very involved in the music program at her church. She is happy to continue as the Administrative Coordinator for SOT, and is excited to see how the program continues to grow, sharing the beautiful world of opera with artists from our community and beyond.
Mrs. Keene is a lifelong resident of Stafford County, where she resides with her husband, Greg. She has two adult children, Evan Keene, and Corinn Fulton, married to Sam Fulton. All three are teachers in Stafford County.
Upon her retirement from SCPS in 2022, she traveled to Nicaragua where she taught music for one semester at the International Bible Institute of Nicaragua. Once she returned home, she joined the faculty of the University of Mary Washington as an adjunct professor of both Private and Class Voice.
In addition to her involvement with choral programs, Mrs. Keene has also been very committed to theater arts in the area, either directing or performing in many crowd-favorite local shows. Each year, her choral program would perform John Rutter’s The Reluctant Dragon, taking the show to young theatergoers in the local elementary schools. She played in the pit orchestra for performances of Into the Woods at UMW, and numerous shows at NSHS, BPHS and MVHS. She was the musical director for Oliver!, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Wizard of Oz (twice!), Crazy for You, Once Upon A Mattress, Anything Goes, In the Heights, Pippin, Beauty and the Beast, and Mamma Mia. She has also been the Music Director for CYT’s Aladdin and Singin’ in the Rain. She has directed various All-County and District choral events, and is also very involved in the music program at her church. She is happy to continue as the Administrative Coordinator for SOT, and is excited to see how the program continues to grow, sharing the beautiful world of opera with artists from our community and beyond.
Mrs. Keene is a lifelong resident of Stafford County, where she resides with her husband, Greg. She has two adult children, Evan Keene, and Corinn Fulton, married to Sam Fulton. All three are teachers in Stafford County.
Bree Nichols, Co-Founder & Former General Director
Bree Nichols, Co-Founder of Stafford Opera Troupe, is an operatic soprano, vocal educator, an innovator in community opera advocacy. Last season, she traveled to the Czech Republic to perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater before touring the state of Texas as the Fox in Janáček’s Příhody lišky Bystroušky, igniting a passion for Czech opera and art song that began with her 2016 performance as Mařenka in Prodaná nevěsta. Bree recently debuted as Gilda in Rigoletto with Capitol City Opera and is also an avid interpreter of song repertoire, performing Strauss’ Brentano Lieder and Milhaud’s Quatre Chansons de Ronsard in the past season. Her career has taken her to the stages of Symphony of the Mountains, Capitol City Opera, Opera Roanoke, Opera on the James, Appalachian Opera Theatre, and more. Recent roles include Béatrice in Roussel’s rarely performed comic opera Le testament de la tante Caroline, Nedda in Pagliacci, Jennie in Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Despina in Così fan tutte, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow.
Bree Nichols is a passionate advocate for community opera, where her performance expertise informs her leadership in shaping the next generation of musicians. She is a Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas College of Music, where she teaches a studio of undergraduate voice and music majors. She earned her Master of Music degree from University of Georgia and her Bachelor of Music from Liberty University, whose School of Music noted her as an outstanding alumna in 2018 (Liberty News). During her graduate studies, Bree has taught voice lessons at three universities (Appalachian State University, University of Georgia, and University of North Texas) as well as voice classes and vocal diction for music education majors. She currently calls the state of Texas home, where she lives and frequently performs with her husband, Jason Nichols. Visit Bree's website |
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