William Shomos is Director of Opera and Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There he has staged a wide variety of productions ranging from traditional faire (The Marriage of Figaro, Hansel and Gretel) to world premieres (O Pioneers!, The Divine Madness). His staging of Tyler White's O Pioneers! received regional and national acclaim and was aired on Nebraska Educational Television (NETV). His productions of Cosi fan tutte and Street Scene won first place in the National Opera Association's Opera Production Competition. Mr. Shomos makes frequent guest directing appearances throughout the country. In the spring of 2004 he staged productions of Donizetti's Elixir of Love with Pensacola Opera and Nevada Opera. He has subsequently returned to Nevada Opera to stage Puccini's Turandot, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Così fan tutte. Between 2003 and 2005, Shomos spent three seasons with the Des Moines Metro Opera as stage director in the company's Apprentice Artist program, while also assistant directing mainstage productions. In the summer of 2006, he directed the Young Artist program of La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy, staging a production of Donizetti’s Il Campanello. Shomos has also directed outreach programs for both the Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Omaha. This spring he returns to Pensacola to stage Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. As a singer, he has performed numerous leading baritone roles including Marcello in La Bohème, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore, and the title role in Sweeney Todd. In 2002, Mr. Shomos appeared as a faculty artist with UNL Opera's production of The Bohemian Girl featured at the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera in Waterford, Ireland. An active recitalist, Mr. Shomos toured throughout the country as a part of internationally renowned accompanist John Wustman's project to present the Complete Songs of Franz Schubert. In 1999 he sang a performance of the Complete Mörike Songs of Hugo Wolf, which the Omaha World Herald declared to be "a towering accomplishment that will stand as one of the region's musical high points of the year and even the decade." Recent oratorio work has included the baritone roles in Ein deutsches Requiem, Messiah, and Elijah. William Shomos, currently the chair of the UNL School of Music's Voice/Opera division, holds degrees from the University of Illinois (DMA), Northwestern University (MM), and Knox College (BA).

email: wshomos1@unl.edu