Wolf Trap Opera’s Visionary Women

Jun 04, 2025

A free spirit who lives life on her own terms, a countess and maid who conspire to flip traditional power dynamics, and a sisterhood of nuns who unite to stand up for their faith: these are the dynamic female characters at the forefront of Wolf Trap Opera’s 2025 productions.

The conviction and strength of this season’s female characters are similarly found in the influential women who have shaped Wolf Trap Opera’s (WTO) history. That legacy starts with Wolf Trap’s illustrious founder Catherine Filene Shouse, who created WTO (then known as Wolf Trap Company) in 1971.

Leading the Pack

Few understand Mrs. Shouse’s vision better than Ann McKee, former Senior Vice President for Performing Arts & Education at Wolf Trap, whose career at the Foundation spanned from 1975 to her retirement in 2014.

She worked closely alongside Mrs. Shouse and later with the opera department to help prepare each season’s lineup. She remembers Mrs. Shouse as wholly committed to presenting the best of the world’s performing arts at the Filene Center and fostering the next generation of artists. Through the opera company, she aimed to establish a distinctive, pre-professional program that trained and showcased the talents of promising young artists by working beside leading professionals.

Mrs. Shouse’s close friendship with legendary American soprano Beverly Sills ensured high-quality training for company members. A longtime board member and guest artist for Wolf Trap for multiple seasons—once starring in a televised 1974 production of The Daughter of the Regiment from Wolf Trap—Sills was instrumental in championing the development of American opera artists.

According to McKee, Sills “was very involved in the early evolution of the company and working with Mrs. Shouse.” In addition to serving on the programming committee to help choose the early opera productions, she performed side-by-side with company members and would sometimes sit in on group coaching sessions with the singers. Even in the ’80s, after Sills had retired from singing and had become general director of New York City Opera, she would offer to teach master classes for WTO artists.

Shaping the Future of Opera

Another critical figure in WTO’s history was renowned American conductor and director Sarah Caldwell. Named Wolf Trap’s music director in 1979, her notable contributions include an ambitious 1974 production of War and Peace with live animals and a rare midnight performance of Der Vampyr (The Vampire) in 1980. Caldwell’s productions at Wolf Trap meant that many emerging opera artists could participate in and learn from her work, including today’s Artistic Director for Washington National Opera Francesca Zambello. Fresh out of college in 1981, Zambello joined Wolf Trap’s summer opera apprentice program where she worked on three separate productions, including as an assistant director to Caldwell.

However, Zambello claims her “breakout” occurred when she returned in 1985 to direct new productions of Viva la Mamma and Il Signor Bruschino at The Barns, just four years after its opening. In her words, “Having the chance to put together my own shows at an early age as a director is an opportunity that’s very hard for young directors to get today. Being in that leadership role was a wonderful experience.”

Some of Zambello’s fondest memories that summer were forging lifelong friendships with opera artists, some of whom she still works with today, and being invited into Mrs. Shouse’s kitchen to share iced tea, lemonade, and conversations about the founding of Wolf Trap.

“At that age, I certainly didn’t understand what that kind of sponsorship and generosity meant. Mrs. Shouse was truly an inspirational figure because she cared about the artists so much.”

Changing of the Guard

This care and commitment to bettering young artists continued in the ensuing years, and in 1997, Kim Pensinger Witman was appointed head of opera and classical programming.

Witman discovered her passion for piano early on, but her enthusiasm and natural gift for opera coaching emerged later. During her 22-year tenure leading WTO, she cast and produced over 70 productions of 57 operas and, including her time as an associate, heard over 15,000 auditions.

“It was her first foray into [arts] administration, but boy howdy, did she take to it,” says McKee, who worked with Witman for years. “I was just in awe of the scope of her knowledge. There could have been no more perfect person for that role than Kim. She would say she had to grow into it over the years. From my perspective, that growth happened overnight.”

Under Witman’s guidance, in 2004 WTO commissioned its first opera, Mark Campbell and John Musto’s Volpone, which later earned the company a Grammy nomination for Best Opera Recording. Coincidentally, Lee Anne Myslewski was an administrative intern for Witman at the time and an assistant director to Leon Major for the same production. Myslewski would return two years later to join the Wolf Trap Opera team.

“The two of them together made a fabulous team,” McKee recalls. For Myslewski, the years of training and audition tours alongside Witman sharpened her ability to work with young artists as well as directors, conductors, and administrators.

Myslewski reflects, “There is a collaborative aspect in women’s leadership that I find really gratifying. That’s one of the big lessons that Kim and Ann both taught that I’m glad to carry forward: the importance of keeping your ears open, really listening, and being able to communicate and respond.”

Expanding the Program

In addition to the apprentice and Filene Artist programs, in 2007 WTO created the Studio Artists program for singers currently enrolled in a university or conservatory. By 2015, the opera program had more than doubled—something Wolf Trap’s longtime Costume Shop Manager Sue Chiang observed in a very tangible way.

“When I first started working at Wolf Trap [in 2001], we occupied what is now the hair and makeup area in The Barns and we spilled out into the green room…Finally in summer 2015, [after] we did Carmen at the Filene Center, we had three big shows in the shop and we had boxes literally from floor to ceiling,” says Chiang.

Outgrowing their space, the costume shop moved to its current location in the Shouse House—one of Mrs. Shouse’s former residences—near The Barns. With more room came even more opportunities for the program to expand. The following year, Myslewski spearheaded the UNTRAPPED series featuring artistic partnerships with local organizations and furthering performance opportunities for WTO artists around the DMV.

“Interestingly enough, when I was working at the University of Maryland back in the early 2000s, Lee Anne was an opera student there and I costumed her. It’s lovely to be working with her on another level now and see her growth as an artist and administrator,” says Chiang.

“Why I keep coming back [to Wolf Trap Opera] is I love the fact that they are fostering the next generation of artists. That’s really important to me.”

Sue Chiang, Costume Shop Manager

Beyond Wolf Trap Opera

After Witman’s retirement, Myslewski became vice president of Wolf Trap Opera and classical programming in 2019. Not long after, a new opera dream team formed, including Manager of Artistic Administration Arianna Zukerman. With the help of other team members, plus the recent addition of Artist Development Advisor Renée Fleming, they are leading WTO into the future.

In 2024, Myslewski was appointed Board Chair for OPERA America, an organization dedicated to connecting and advancing the opera industry nationwide. In her new position, Myslewski hopes to shepherd the organization into a more contemporary and collaborative era and further WTO’s impact on the industry.

Meanwhile, back at Wolf Trap, Myslewski will continue to honor and advance Mrs. Shouse’s original mission. She shares, “I am proud to be part of this truly visionary line of leaders. Mrs. Shouse created an incredible structure within which opera has continued to thrive, and I’m grateful to be able to steward and expand her vision for current—and future—artists and audiences.”