The Dallas Opera has announced Sara Corriga, Mariana Corichi Gómez, Chi-Yuan Lin, and Rafaela Seywald as the participants in the 2026-27 Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors (HIWC).

The four conductors were selected from 83 applicants after two rounds of adjudication. The adjudicators were TDO music staffer Christopher Devlin, Music Director Emmanuel Villaume, and General Director and CEO David Lomelí.

Virtual sessions for the Institute’s 11th year begin Nov. 9, 2026. During that week, the participants will work with HIWC alumna and Yale Symphony Orchestra director Elizabeth Askren, TDO head of music and chorus director Paolo Bressan, Bayerische Staatsoper general director Serge Dorny, 2026-27 Martha R. and Preston A. Peak Fellow Claire Lewis, and Villaume.

In January 2027, the participants will travel to Dallas for a 10-day in-person intensive that includes rehearsals with The Dallas Opera Orchestra, group trainings, and one-on-one sessions with Askren. The program will conclude with the annual HIWC Showcase Concert on Jan. 30, 2027, at the Winspear Opera House, where each participant will conduct the orchestra and guest singers.

“These women are at the apex of great talent and charisma, who can lead musicians fearlessly,” Lomelí said, per an official press release. “They will do great things in their career, and our monumental program is going to slingshot them into their bright futures.”

Corriga, from Italy, studied at the Milan Conservatory and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she is pursuing a master’s degree in orchestral conducting. She has trained with the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy, the Järvi Academy, and Alan Gilbert, and has worked as an assistant conductor with Estonian National Opera and the Riga Opera Festival.

Corichi Gómez, from Mexico, is the Curtis Institute of Music’s Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow and was a quarterfinalist in the 2026 La Maestra International Competition for Women Conductors. She previously served as music director of the Princeton Camerata and studied at Princeton University and the University of Maryland.

Lin, from Taiwan, is the 2026-28 Taki Alsop Conducting Fellow, music director of the Avanti Orchestra, and the Reno Philharmonic’s inaugural McConnell Conducting Fellow. From 2024 to 2026, she served as conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, the first Taiwanese artist appointed to the program.

Seywald, from Austria, is Bayerische Staatsoper’s Maestra Suggeritrice, stage music conductor, and the chief conductor’s musical assistant. She has conducted the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Szolnok Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Classics Symphony Orchestra, and Bayerisches Staatsorchester. With stage director Adriana Hernandez Flores, she co-created the award-winning mockumentary “Remember Me,” a film-opera rendition of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.”

The Dallas Opera launched the Hart Institute in 2015 to address the gender imbalance on opera podiums. More than 50 conductors have completed the program, which won in the Equal Opportunities and Impact category at the 2025 International Opera Awards. Alumnae have gone on to appointments with organizations including Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Australia, Washington National Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, LA Opera, Seattle Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, English National Opera, and Minnesota Opera.