Austin Opera Teaching Artists

Cristina Flores is a Mexican-American soprano, film, commercial, and theater actress originally from the border town, Laredo, TX. Her performances have been featured in film festivals, audio books, voice-overs, and commercials in Texas, L.A., Tokyo, India, and Nicaragua. Some of her past roles include: Flora in Turn of the Screw, Greta Fiorentino in Street Scene, Maria in West Side Story, and Ben, in Matt and Ben. Most recently she was seen as Lily, in the short film, Pepito, on HBO Latino, and was nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Actress in her role as the bird, Delilah, with One Ounce Opera.

Cristina loves performing in central TX and has a deep background in education through her experience in AmeriCorps, as a Children’s Choir Director at Central Presbyterian Church, and as a Bilingual Early Childhood Music Instructor at Armstrong Community Music School. She has a strong passion for making opera accessible in the community, and currently sits on the board of One Ounce Opera and the Musicians Advisory Panel for Austin Texas Musicians.

Teddi Pinson Iley is an Austin-based soprano, performer, and educator. She has been most recently seen performing with Austin Opera in Pagliacci, The Pearl Fishers, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She is an active performer throughout the Austin area and maintains a thriving voice studio in North Austin. Some of her favorite operatic roles include Adele (Die Fledermaus), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), and Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore). 

Teddi holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from Baylor University. She is also a full member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. As both an educator and performer, Teddi is deeply passionate about nurturing the next generation of artists so she is thrilled to serve as a Teaching Artist with Austin Opera this season!

Mezzo-Soprano Allyssa Kemp is originally a Florida native, currently based in Austin, Texas. For the 2023-2024 season, she has continued singing with the Austin Opera chorus as a section leader, and is an artist with Opera San Antonio’s Outreach Program performing arias and scenes from Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck). Allyssa will be returning to the stage with One Ounce Opera for their 6th Annual Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Opera Showcase. She will be playing the role of Sylvan in the chamber opera What The Spirits Show (Silen Wellington), originally commissioned by the Kennedy Center’s American Opera Initiative.

Allyssa has worked with One Ounce Opera in two previous seasons, singing the role of Deborah in Non Motus (Marc Hoffeditz) and Meg in The Whole Truth (Robert Paterson & Mark Campbell). Prior to Texas, Allyssa worked with Detroit-based Opera MODO for multiple productions, performing the title role in L’enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel), Miles in Turn of the Dcrew (Britten), the title role in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), Meg Page in Falstaff (Verdi), and Nancy in Albert Herring (Britten). While studying at the University of Michigan, Allyssa played the role of La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), and Bao Chai in the University of Michigan Workshop’s concert performance of Bright Sheng’s new opera, Dream of the Red Chamber, commissioned for its world premiere by San Francisco Opera for its 2016-2017 season. The performance was recorded and used by the SFO cast for its preparation.

As well as being an avid opera performer, Allyssa has been a featured soloist with ensembles and choruses performing notable works such as Helios (Timothy C. Takach), Magnificat, BWV 243 (Bach) Hymns for Private Use (Nico Muhly), The little match girl passion (David Lang), The Apparition (Crumb) Coronation Mass (Mozart), Ode to St. Cecilia’s Day (Purcell) and Folk Songs (Berio).

Allyssa received a Bachelor of Music from Stetson University and Master of Music from the University of Michigan, and currently resides in Austin, TX.

Sandra Villwock is a German-American soprano, praised for her “crystal clear coloratura,” “rich lyric timbre,” and emotive portrayals of the characters she embodies. She attained her Bachelor and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California and is the co-founder of non-profit organization, VOCA Music Association. She recently moved from San Diego, CA to Austin, TX and is excited to tap into the city’s dynamic music scene and continue to grow VOCA’s mission to bring classical music to a broader audience.

She has travelled internationally performing concert and operatic repertoire with companies including: Bologna International Opera Academy, L’Opera Piccola, Pacific Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Orange County, Austin Opera, Austin Symphonic Choir, USC Thornton University Chorus, and UCLA Chorale.

Recent notable roles have included Gilda (Verdi’s Rigoletto), Musetta (Puccini’s La boheme), Rosina (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and Juliette (Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette). In the summer of 2024, she will debut the role of Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.

Sandra has performed as the soprano soloist in various oratorio works, including Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass.

In addition to her passion for the vocal arts, Sandra is an accomplished classical pianist, having studied with renowned pianist Dr. Irina Bendetsky for over 15 years. She teaches piano and voice to students of all levels in the Austin area.

A native of Taiwan, collaborative pianist Yu-Hsin Teng received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin under the tutelage of Colette Valentine. She served at the University of Texas as a Teaching Assistant, and was awarded the Butler Excellence Scholarship. She received her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at Boston University where she also served as a Teaching Assistant.

Yu-Hsin has served as rehearsal pianist for the William Lewis School of Opera’s production of Die Fledermaus and the Bulter Opera Center’s productions of L’elisir d’amore and Carmen. She premiered the song cycle Love, Loss and Exile by Juhi Basal at the San Francisco Conservatory.

Yu-Hsin has performed piano recitals, concerts, and competitions of vocal and instrumental collaboration in Taiwan, Italy, and the United States, and is currently on the faculty of Texas Lutheran University.