Alek Shrader The brilliant lyric tenor Alek Shrader made his professional debut as Almaviva in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Opera Theater of St. Louis, where he had spent the previous two summers as a young artist. In the summer of 2007, he performed Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola with the San Francisco Merola Opera and subsequently accepted an Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera for the years 2008/2009. During this season, Alek Shrader will also appear with Opera Cleveland as Conte Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia , before appearing at the Opera Theater of St. Louis in their production of Mozart’s Il Re Pastore. Already engaged for appearances in many major opera houses, Alek Shrader is the Recipient of a Sarah Tucker Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, as well as a grant from the Marilyn Home Foundation.