In the 2026-2027 season, Rhys Burgess will join the music staff of Annapolis Opera as chorus master for Pirates of Penzance and as principal coach of Rigoletto. He will continue to serve on the music staff of Peabody Opera Theatre, coaching the mainstage productions of Gianni Schicchi and The Cunning Little Vixen as well as opera scenes programs. Rhys was on the music staff for Opera Baltimore's productions of Pelléas et Mélisande and Lucrezia Borgia. Last season, he was a guest coach for Hänsel und Gretel at Juilliard, following a year as a Vocal Arts Piano Fellow. In New York, he performed works written by the composer-librettist duo Christian De Grè Càrdenas and Joseph Reese Anderson, including Seven Deadly Sins: JACK of Hearts at the NY Fringe Festival and ORGULLO! at the Public Theater. He has spent the past two summers with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center as a company pianist and coach for their productions of La Bohème and L’Elisir d’Amore. Rhys is a 2023 alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival in the Vocal Collaborative Piano program. Passionate about French music, his DMA dissertation research focused on the mélodies of Jacques Leguerney and included the world premiere recording of the Treize Poèmes de Paul-Jean Toulet.