For five emerging opera singers, months of training, performance opportunities and professional development will soon come together in a concert at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.

The concert, part of the Walnut Creek-based Festival Opera company’s annual Salon Series, will showcase the inaugural class of the Walnut Creek-based company’s Resident Artist Program. The five singers will perform arias and scenes starting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 in the main room of the Piedmont Center for the Arts (PCA), followed by a reception during which attendees can meet the artists.

Zachary Gordin, Festival Opera’s general director, described the “Resident Artist Showcase” as a culmination of the work the singers have undertaken since May — namely, performing and understudying roles as well as participating in coachings, workshops and other professional development activities.

“This is their first opportunity to all get together and sing some of their favorite signature arias at this point in their careers,” Gordin said about their upcoming PCA performances.

The inaugural Resident Artist Program includes soprano Marielle Leiboff, mezzo-soprano Phoebe Dinga, soprano Rachel Nelson, tenor Spencer Greene and baritone Liam Daley. Gordin described the cohort as a relatively young group, with most having recently completed their master’s degrees.

“They’re what I would call emerging artists,” he said. “They’re sort of in that transition between school and really making a professional career.”

For Festival Opera, the PCA has been the go-to venue year-after-year for the group’s Salon Series. Gordin said the PCA’s large main room, which can seat 100 or more people, is one reason the company keeps returning but that the art on the room’s walls is also part of the appeal: The room doubles as a gallery, with a new exhibition rotating in every few months.

“There’s this visual component of us not quite knowing what art installation will be there (and) having that be an exciting part of the experience,” he said.

The PCA board’s ongoing support, including from PCA President Sue Malick, and support from the broader Piedmont community have also helped make the Salon Series an annual fall event at the venue.

“They’ve loved all of the offerings we’ve done in that space, giving that space a really solid classical-based vocal experience that a lot of them can even walk to from their homes,” he said.

The PCA’s other draws include the main room’s top-notch acoustics and its well-maintained piano, both of which Gordin described as “beautiful.”

“So it’s kind of a sweet situation, and it’s affordable for us as a presenting organization — they give us a little community benefit rate because they want the arts in that space,” he said.

As a teacher, artist mentor and an Oakland native with a long history in classical music, Gordin said having the Resident Artist Program’s inaugural class perform in Piedmont feels especially meaningful.

“My heart and my roots are definitely here,” he said. “It just feels so right to bring together these artists and to formalize this opportunity for them in my hometown.”

The program has given him the opportunity to get to know the resident artists as individuals, understand their strengths and areas for growth and help prepare them for professional careers. That work has extended beyond developing their voices and stage roles to include other attributes he sees as essential to navigating life as a working artist.

“As an artist, you can’t just expect to get hired,” he said. “So a large component of this has been business training and entrepreneurial skills so that they have a saleable product and know what to do with it.”

For Leiboff, who lives in San Francisco, the Sept. 27 concert is a monumental occasion: She previously sang at the PCA as part of a recording session, but this will be her first official performance there. Leiboff echoed Gordin’s perspective that the concert is a culmination of what she and fellow resident artists have been working on for the past several months and said she appreciates the thought Gordin put into the program’s components.

“What he has been aiming to do is help us explore different types of repertoire that we may not be used to as well as help grow our technique and our stage presence,” Leiboff said.

Over the summer, she not only understudied a role in Festival Opera’s production of “Alcina” but also performed a full role in its Opera in the Park production of “Elixir of Love” in Walnut Creek and Orinda.

“There’s this weird gap where you’ve just graduated school and then no one will hire you for anything because they haven’t seen that you’ve done anything,” Leiboff said. “So Zach took that opportunity and was like, ‘OK, well, these young people can do it. Why not let them?’”

At the PCA concert, Leiboff will have yet another opportunity: to sing “beautiful music” with fellow resident artists Dinga, Nelson, Greene and Daley.

“It’s a chance to showcase the dramatic parts of our learning that we’ve done and an exploration into new repertoire,” she said, adding that she’s excited to perform some pieces she’s never done before.

Leiboff said that she and the other resident artists are each performing one or two arias, along with some duets and group numbers. The program will start with Giuseppe Verdi’s “Libiamo” from “La traviata,” which dates back to 1853, and will be followed with pieces by George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Strauss, Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet and others, concluding with Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” from “Candide” (1956).

“We move through time in that way,” she explained. “You get to explore light to heavy in terms of repertoire and baroque to modern, which is really interesting.”

Gordin noted that the time travel through classical music masterpieces, including crowd pleasers and the more obscure music choices, is purposeful.

“It’s how I love to program it,” he said. “You might not like everything on the program, but everybody will like something on the program.”

JL Odom is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco who can be reached at jlodomphd@gmail.com. When they’re not covering the Bay Area, they’re usually training for their next marathon.

FYI

The Salon Series by Festival Opera will take place on Sundays, starting with their “Resident Artist Showcase” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, followed by “Mad Scenes” at 4 p.m. Oct. 25 and “Borders of Dreaming” at 4 p.m. Nov. 22. For details online or to buy tickets, visit festivalopera.org/salon-series. The PCA is at 801 Magnolia Ave. in Piedmont.