Voice Area Faculty

Oliver Worthington, baritone, has performed extensively as an opera singer, oratorio soloist and recitalist. He has appeared with regional opera companies like Indianapolis Opera, South Texas Lyric Opera, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Hill Country Lyric, Austin Opera and Lone Star Lyric in diverse roles from Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus to Mamma Agatha in Viva la Mamma. Other roles include Count Gil in Il Segreto di Susanna, Bruschino in Il Signor Bruschino, Dr. Greg in Gallantry, The Duke of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers, Le Podestat in Le Docteur Miracle and others in more traditional repertoire. He has performed the roles of Raphael and Adam in Haydn’s The Creation with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in the Hilbert Circle Theater in downtown Indianapolis and recently performed the bass solos in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat with the West Virginia Symphony. He is also active as a recitalist, his favorite genre, where he champions the works of living composers often premiering new works.  At Butler Dr. Worthington is the Voice Area Coordinator and the Producing Director of Butler Opera Theatre where he works to help students learn the skills necessary to become convincing singing actors. He performs frequently on campus often championing newly composed works. You can listen to him singing with the Butler Symphony Orchestra, the Butler Wind Ensemble, the Duckwall Artist Series, and even on programs with Butler Ballet.  Dr. Worthington maintains a full schedule as an educator and performer and serves as the President of The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation (www.jensenfoundation.org), a non-profit dedicated to supporting the arts with cash prizes to young opera singers.

Dana Zenobi is equally a  Iccomplished as performer, voice pedagogy scholar, and presenter.  She earned national recognition as an interpreter of art song by women when she was awarded an Honorable Mention for Exceptional Repertoire by The American Prize (2016). She has appeared as concert soloist with ensembles including the Austin Civic Orchestra, the Valley Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, the Austin Chamber Ensemble, and line upon line percussion ensemble. She is featured on Viola by Choice chamber music ensemble’s 2010 debut recording, Florilegium.  Her 2022 recording and annotated score anthology, Joys Abiding: Soprano Baritone Duets by Historical Women Composers , with baritone Oliver Worthington and pianist Chuck Dillard, were released on the Navona label (Parma Records) and Classical Vocal Reprints. The project was featured at the 2022 NATS national conference and received a warm review in the Journal of  Singing. A collaboration with musicologist Dr. John Michael Cooper (Southwestern University) has sparked Dr. Zenobi’s fascination with Margaret Bonds’ art songs; a body of work that remained in manuscript form at the time of Bonds’ death.  Dr. Zenobi has recently performed the posthumous world and regional premieres of Bonds settings of six poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, newly rediscovered and published in a 2021 collection edited by Dr. Cooper (Hildegard Publishing Company).  Zenobi and pianist Jonathan Levin are bringing a concert tour of Bonds’ art songs and cycles to North Carolina in Spring 2024.

On the opera stage, Dr. Zenobi was deemed “the chief vocal pleasure” of Lyric Opera Cleveland’s The Pirates of Penzance, and named “a soprano to listen for” by the Cleveland Press. The Houston Chronicle praised her “emotionally intense and technically inspired singing” as Konstanze [Die Entfürung aus dem Serail]. She has garnered similar success in roles ranging from Mozart heroines to Puccini’s Mimi and Verdi’s Violetta Valery. Dr. Zenobi’s interest in contemporary music has lead to engagements with Austin Lyric Opera in the American premiere of Philip Glass’ Waiting for the Barbarians, and the first production of Mark Adamo’s Little Women directed by the composer. She worked with composer H. Leslie Adams in a concert performance of his song literature, and premiered “Love While You May,” a song cycle by Ashley H. Kraft with trombonist Eileen Meyer in 2014.  She has been a regular performer of new works at the International Music by Women Festival since its inaugural year, and has collaborated with trombonist Megan Boutin to promote  chamber works for voice and trombone. 

Dr. Zenobi was recognized as a Butler University Outstanding Professor of the Year (Research/Scholarly work) in 2022. In addition to studio voice, Dr. Zenobi has taught Vocal Diction, Vocal Pedagogy, Opera and Song Literature and first-year Theory and Ear Training, as well as an interdisciplinary course in Music and Gender Studies. Her studio teaching was nationally recognized in 2014, when The American Prize competition issued her an “Inspiration in Teaching” award. A proponent of teaching technology, her innovative work with the Soundjack low-latency software and real-time visual feedback for singers using VoceVistaVideo software here at Butler has enhanced student learning outcomes and attracted attention from the teaching community.  She spearheaded Butler Voice Area’s Acceptance and Commitment Training , and uses ACT to help students manage performance anxiety.  Dr. Zenobi founded and directed Building Empowered Lives Through Art (BELTA), a nonprofit that provided free crowdfunding services and entrepreneurial support to artists and musicians from 2010 to 2020.  She continues her work in the nonprofit sector as a board member for El Sistema Indianapolis and as the Indiana District Governor for NATS. 

A grateful recipient of the 2020 Voice Pedagogy Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Dr. Zenobi has presented lectures, lecture recitals, workshops and poster presentations at numerous conferences and festivals including national NATS, Texoma Regional NATS, the International Music By Women Festival, The Voice Foundation, Bel Canto Boot Camp, the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), Sam Houston State University’s Art Song Festival, the Indiana Music Educators’ Association, and the Associated Colleges of the South Gender Studies Conference. Her recent collaborative research on Music Performance Anxiety and Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) with Dr. David Juncos, Dr. Margaret Osborne and Joanna Roman was presented at the International Symposium on Performance Science, and will be featured at the 2024 NATS national conference in Knoxville, TN.  

A strong advocate for young artists, Dr. Zenobi directs the Butler University Vocal Competition for high school singers, and is frequently engaged as an adjudicator for regional and national singing events, where she serves as a supportive and constructive presence behind the judges’ table.  Zenobi and Butler Associate Professor Dr. Oliver Worthington recently published their a guide to Audition Green Flags and Red Flags  with CS Music.  A native of Northport, NY, Dr. Zenobi holds a dual BA degree in Music and Women’s Studies from Duke University, as well as both an MM (Opera Performance) and a DMA (Voice Pedagogy and Performance) from The University of Texas at Austin.  Follow her work at @singingatbutler on social media.

Soprano Laura Storm is a devoted pedagogue and an active performer of stage, concert, and chamber repertoire. Opera and musical theater performances include the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Salerno, Italy; Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus; Alice Ford in Falstaff; The Governess in The Turn of the Screw; Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown; Golde in Fiddler on the Roof; Desirée Armfeldt in A Little Night Music; and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.  

She is a former prize-winner in the Concurso Internacional de Canto Lírico in Trujillo, Peru, and has performed concerts with the Trujillo Symphony, the Pine Bluff Symphony and was featured as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Tallahassee Symphony. Dr. Storm is a founding member of the Storm Trio, an ensemble specializing in music for soprano, clarinet, and piano, which has performed throughout the United States including concerts in California, Nevada, Texas, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. 

As a clinician Dr. Storm has worked with students at venues in Texas, California, Nevada, and Kentucky, and in 2019 she presented Master Classes at Hebei Art Academy in Shijiazhuang, China and Guizhou University in Guiyang, China as part of a student/faculty cultural exchange.  

Prior to joining the voice faculty at Butler University Dr. Storm served as Professor of Voice at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas where she taught Studio Voice, Lyric Diction, Vocal Pedagogy, and Voice Methods. As a student of yoga and the Alexander Technique, Dr. Storm loves integrating these disciplines into her teaching and guiding students toward a deeper understanding of their physical and expressive resources as singing artists. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and holds degrees from Florida State University (DM), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM), and Austin Peay State University (BA). 

Grammy nominated Mezzo-Soprano Kirsten Gunlogson’s voice has been described as “rich”, “creamy”and “beautifully dramatic”. Mark Kanny, of the Pittsburgh Tribune, describes her voice as “a beautifully placed mezzo-soprano voice that is rich without ever being heavy.”  Known for her convincing interpretation of trouser roles and charmingly feminine portrayals Ms. Gunlogson has distinguished herself as an impressive singing actress. Ms.Gunlogson has performed with Palm Beach Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Arizona Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Columbus, Baltimore Lyric Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Tulsa Opera, Toledo Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Anchorage Opera, Nashville Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Sarasota Opera.

Recent performances include a solo concert with the OMSK Philharmonic in OMSK, Russia, the roles of Mother, Chinese Tea Cup and Dragonfly in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with Utah Symphony, the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Baltimore Lyric Opera, Nashville Opera, and Opera Columbus as well as the role of Ma Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with Anchorage Opera. Other performance highlights include Maddalena in Rigoletto with both Utah Opera and Austin Lyric Opera, the title role of Bizet’s Carmen with Nevada Opera, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Arizona Opera, a gala celebration concert with Nashville Opera, and Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Indianapolis Opera. In the 2006-2007 Season, Ms. Gunlogson appeared with Nashville Symphony as The Chinese Cup/A Herdsman/The White Cat on their GRAMMY nominated CD of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, recorded and released on the Naxos label. Other recordings include a performance of The Mother in Amahl and The Night Visitors with The Nashville Symphony, also released by the Naxos label. 

In 2005, Ms. Gunlogson debuted at Carnegie Hall as the alto soloist in the Mozart Vesperae solennes de Confessore and Haydn’s Theresienmesse. As an oratorio soloist Ms. Gunlogson has performed with The Nashville Symphony,The Utah Symphony, The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, The Fort Wayne Philharmonic, The Johnstown Symphony, The Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, Charlottesville Oratorio Society, The Cathedral of the Madeleine, The Salt Lake Choral Artists, The Fairfax Symphony, and Utah Chamber Artists in such works as Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mass in C and Missa Solemnis, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Bach’s St. John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Elijah, The Messiah,The Rachmaninoff Vespers and Mozart’s Requiem.

Danielle Cozart Steele enjoys a multifaceted career as a soprano, conductor, researcher, and clinician. She serves on the voice faculty at Butler University, is the Artistic Director of Vox Veritatis Choir Cincinnati, and is the interim director of the Cincinnati MLK Chorale alongside Bishop Todd O’Neal. She holds degrees from Butler University and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in vocal performance, a master’s in music education from Columbia University Teachers College, and is a doctoral candidate in music education at Teachers College.

Danielle formerly served on the music faculty at IU East in Richmond, IN, where she directed the IU East Richmond Chorale, taught conducting and private voice. In 2020, she served the World House Choir as their assistant director alongside Dr. Catherine Roma. Recently the Interim Director of Choral Activities at Earlham College, she directed the Women’s Chorus, Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and Gentlemen’s Ensemble in addition to teaching academic courses. In 2017, Danielle was an interim conductor with MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Chorus.  Ms. Cozart Steele worked with the Dayton Correctional Institute for Women prison chorus, Hope for Harmony. She places priority on featuring women’s and minoritized voices in her classroom and music programming.

Ms. Cozart Steele maintains an active solo vocal career, appearing in recital and with symphony orchestras throughout the Midwest. Her colorful, lyric soprano voice has earned her roles on the stages of Des Moines Metro Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Peach State Opera, Sugar Creek Symphony and Song, and Intimate Opera of Indianapolis. She is a champion of new music and enjoys working with living composers. 

Steven Rickards is the founder and President of Echoing Air, Inc. He has received international acclaim as one of America’s finest countertenors of his generation. His varied career spans music from the medieval period to the present day. Rickards has appeared domestically and internationally with many organizations in the performance of Baroque works. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York. Rickards has also performed with other leading ensembles including the American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, the Folger Consort, the Gabrieli Consort, the New London Consort, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the baroque orchestras of Indianapolis, Seattle, and Portland.His career has included membership in leading proponents of the choral and chamber art, including Chanticleer and Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices. Rickards can be heard on the Chanticleer, Decca, Dorian, Four Winds, Gothic, Harmonia Mundi, Koch, Newport Classics, Smithsonian, and Teldec labels  On the Naxos Label he recorded two solo albums of songs by John Dowland and Thomas Campion with lutenist, Dorothy Linell. Rickards is a published composer and an advocate for new music. In his book Twentieth Century Countertenor Repertoire (Scarecrow Press), he championed the creation and collection of contemporary works for the countertenor. It is the only published resource on the subject. His interest in contemporary repertoire has led to his inclusion in the premiere of many chamber and operatic works. He took part in the premiere of John Adams’s oratorio El Niño at the Châtelet Opera in Paris in 2000. Subsequent performances of the work include the Adelaide Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Malmö Opera, the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society, Norske Opera, the San Francisco Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Tokyo Symphony. 

Rickards received his undergraduate and masters degrees from Indiana University. A Fulbright-Hays Scholarship and Rotary Grant provided funds for additional study in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His doctorate was conferred by Florida State University. He also serves on the faculties of Butler University, Marian University and the University of Indianapolis.  He also  teaches for the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He was a recent recipient of a 2015-2016 Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship presented by the Arts Council of Indianapolis.