Yefim Maizel - OAC Summer Program Artistic Director, Stage Director
Yefim Maizel has directed and assisted in the former Soviet Union, in Europe, in Japan and in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera, Kirov Opera, Wexford Opera Festival, Saito Kinen Festival and Opera Santa Barbara. Since 1999, Mr. Maizel has worked as a Guest Stage Director for the Metropolitan Opera where, among other productions, in 2004 he directed Madama Butterfly with Placido Domingo conducting. He also directed The Merry Widow at the Opera Santa Barbara and Little Women, The Impresario and the U.S. Premier of Handel's Silla for the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI). Mr. Maizel has directed productions of: Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Trovatore, Die Fledermaus, Carmen, Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, L'Italiana in Algieri, Tales of the Nutcracker, Manon Lescaut, Luisa Miller, La Traviata, Eugene Onegin, Das Rheingold and many others. He established the Opera Academy of California (OAC), where he serves as Artistic Director and Stage Director, in 2005.
David Ostwald - Stage Director
David Ostwald, a seasoned stage director of over 160 operas and author of Acting for Singers, has directed multiple productions at The Julliard School, Atlanta Lyric Opera, Chattanooga Opera, West Bay Opera and Wolftrap Opera, among others. Some of his favorites include: Postcard from Morocco, La Finta Giardiniera, La Calisto, Der Fliegende Hollander, Tales of Hoffmann, Cosi fan Tutte and Albert Herring. In addition to teaching acting, Ostwald has taught directing and modern drama at University of California, Berkeley, and was head of the opera program at SUNY/ Purchase for 15 years. He has directed over 12 productions for BASOTI, including Idomeneo, Street Scene, Gluck's Orfeo, and Don Giovanni. He directed the Abduction from the Seraglio for San Francisco Lyric Opera, and recently directed Pique Dame, Madama Butterfly and La Forza del Destino for West Bay Opera. His book, Acting for Singers, published by Oxford University Press, is rapidly becoming a standard text for opera workshops around the country.
Richard Harrell - Stage Director
Richard Harrell is an internationally recognized leader in the field of opera training and production. He currently serves as Associate Director of the Orfeo Foundation, an organization based in Amsterdam that promotes young opera singers, and as Director of Heroes’ Voices, a non-profit organization that serves returning veterans through music. Previously he was the Director of the Juilliard Opera, Director of the San Francisco Opera Center, Artistic Advisor and Head of Faculty for the training program of the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Visiting Faculty for the Opera Studio of the Netherlands and Principal Stage Director and Artistic Consultant for Bangkok Opera. He is an active regional stage director and has been a stage director, voice teacher and guest master class instructor at many universities and opera training programs. As well as being a frequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, his essays on artist training and the business of opera appear in many Opera America publications. As a vocalist, Harrell has recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon label and has performed with various national and international opera companies and symphony orchestras.
David Cox - Stage Director
Mr. Cox began his foray into stage directing in 1993 for Pacific Repertory Opera’s Don Pasquale. He has since directed several other shows for PRO including: Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Rigoletto, and Die Zauberflote. He returned to PRO in March of 2007 to direct Verdi’s La Traviata. For his first directing assignment for Opera San Jose, Mr. Cox began with an original language Eugene Onegin followed by two critically acclaimed pieces from the French repertoire: Faust and Pearl Fishers. In the new California Fox Theater he directed sold out performances of Carmen and La Boheme.
In the summers of 2004-2005 Mr. Cox directed Rigoletto and Un Ballo in Maschera for Festival Opera in Walnut Creek to great audience and critical acclaim and was asked to return in 2009 to direct a new production of Turandot. In recent seasons, he has been the principal stage director for Opera Idaho, directing Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Boheme, L’Elisir d’Amore and Lucia di Lammermoor and Cosi Fan Tutte. In the summer of 2008, Cox directed his first musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, for Cabrillo Stage. The show received rave reviews and ran for five weeks. Recently, he made his debut with West Bay Opera with a sold out production of Carmen. He also directed Don Giovanni in February of 2009, his first opera for San Francisco Lyric Opera, as well as making his debut with Livermore Valley Opera in the fall of 2009, directing Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. He finished LVO’s season with Die Fledermaus. In addition to professional opera, Mr. Cox enjoys working with young singers and has directed The Impressario, Gianni Schicchi and Cosi Fan Tutte for the USC Opera Department. Mr. Cox helped initiate, directed and sang in the first opera at the San Luis Obispo summer Mozart Festival. He directed and sang in Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte and assisted with Le Nozze di Figaro.
In the summers of 2004-2005 Mr. Cox directed Rigoletto and Un Ballo in Maschera for Festival Opera in Walnut Creek to great audience and critical acclaim and was asked to return in 2009 to direct a new production of Turandot. In recent seasons, he has been the principal stage director for Opera Idaho, directing Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Boheme, L’Elisir d’Amore and Lucia di Lammermoor and Cosi Fan Tutte. In the summer of 2008, Cox directed his first musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, for Cabrillo Stage. The show received rave reviews and ran for five weeks. Recently, he made his debut with West Bay Opera with a sold out production of Carmen. He also directed Don Giovanni in February of 2009, his first opera for San Francisco Lyric Opera, as well as making his debut with Livermore Valley Opera in the fall of 2009, directing Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. He finished LVO’s season with Die Fledermaus. In addition to professional opera, Mr. Cox enjoys working with young singers and has directed The Impressario, Gianni Schicchi and Cosi Fan Tutte for the USC Opera Department. Mr. Cox helped initiate, directed and sang in the first opera at the San Luis Obispo summer Mozart Festival. He directed and sang in Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte and assisted with Le Nozze di Figaro.
Niels Muus - Conductor
Recognized as an expert in the field of opera, Niels Muus has conducted major productions worldwide. Among others, notable was Rossini`s "L`Assedio di Corinto" for the Culture Olympics in Greece, Dvorak's "Rusalka" for the international H.C. Andersen Year in Moscow and Denmark, and Verdi`s "Aida" at the Worker`s Stadium in Beijing - recorded for CCTV, and a televised production by RAI of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore" from the Macerata Opera Festival (DVD label, ARTHAUS MUSIK), considered the reference recording of this masterpiece.
For Italian opera houses Niels Muus has conducted operas such as Verdi`s "Falstaff", Macbeth", "La Traviata", "Aida" and Nino Rota`s "Il capello di paglia di Firenze". Singers such as Katia Ricciarelli, Luciane Serra, Erwin Schrott, Daniele Barcellona, Adrian Eröd, Markus Werba, Ildar Abdrazakov, Angela Denoke, Werner Hollweg, Maurizio Muraro, Gregory Kunde, Carmen Giannattasio, Steffen Milling and Wolfgang Koch have sung under his baton.
In 1992-1999, Niels Muus was a principal conductor at the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck. Carl Nielsen's "Maskarade" and Ruud Langgaard's "Antikrist", "Critics Choice" for the best opera recording of 2000 in the classical music magazine "Gramophone", are some of the highlights of his activities in the period. In 1999-2003, Niels Muus was engaged as a conductor and a casting director at the Volksoper Wien. Since 2005, Niels Muus is an active music director of Musikfestival Steyr in Upper Austria.
Niels Muus has led many masterclasses worldwide, and has been a guest professor at the Oberlin Conservatory.
For Italian opera houses Niels Muus has conducted operas such as Verdi`s "Falstaff", Macbeth", "La Traviata", "Aida" and Nino Rota`s "Il capello di paglia di Firenze". Singers such as Katia Ricciarelli, Luciane Serra, Erwin Schrott, Daniele Barcellona, Adrian Eröd, Markus Werba, Ildar Abdrazakov, Angela Denoke, Werner Hollweg, Maurizio Muraro, Gregory Kunde, Carmen Giannattasio, Steffen Milling and Wolfgang Koch have sung under his baton.
In 1992-1999, Niels Muus was a principal conductor at the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck. Carl Nielsen's "Maskarade" and Ruud Langgaard's "Antikrist", "Critics Choice" for the best opera recording of 2000 in the classical music magazine "Gramophone", are some of the highlights of his activities in the period. In 1999-2003, Niels Muus was engaged as a conductor and a casting director at the Volksoper Wien. Since 2005, Niels Muus is an active music director of Musikfestival Steyr in Upper Austria.
Niels Muus has led many masterclasses worldwide, and has been a guest professor at the Oberlin Conservatory.
Jun Nakabayashi - Conductor
Jun Nakabayashi has been active in both the symphonic and operatic fields for the past twenty years. Currently Music Director for Taconic Opera (Peekskill, NY), Nakabayashi holds a repertoire of more than 100 symphonic works and 30 operas. He has conducted Bay Shore Lyric Opera (Capitola, CA), Livermore Valley Opera (Livermore, CA), West Bay Opera (Palo Alto, CA), Opera San Jose (San Jose, CA), The South Bay Chamber Ensemble (San Jose, CA), Oakland Lyric Opera (Oakland, CA), and ALEA II Contemporary Music Ensemble (Stanford, CA). In Europe, he has worked with Opera Forum (Enschede, Holland) and Vox Artis Zenei Fesztivál (Miskolc, Hungary). He was Music Director of the Riverside Orchestra (New York, NY) from 2002 to 2007.
Working since its inception, Nakabayashi contributed in ensuring the reputation of Taconic Opera as a company that can present challenging works in the highest quality. Critics and audience especially raved his productions of Macbeth, Otello, and The Medium. Always striving to bring the best out of his performers, Nakabayashi raised the 36-year-old Riverside Orchestra to a level that it had never achieved prior to his appointment. Notable soloists including Phillip Myers, Nancy Allen, and Mindy Kaufman commended his charisma and musical instinct, and enthusiastically returned for subsequent appearances. Strongly interested in working with young musicians, Nakabayashi has enjoyed conducting at San Jose State University (1997-2001), at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute in San Francisco (1999-2001, 2003, and 2008) and at Hoff Barthelson Music School (2001-present).
Working since its inception, Nakabayashi contributed in ensuring the reputation of Taconic Opera as a company that can present challenging works in the highest quality. Critics and audience especially raved his productions of Macbeth, Otello, and The Medium. Always striving to bring the best out of his performers, Nakabayashi raised the 36-year-old Riverside Orchestra to a level that it had never achieved prior to his appointment. Notable soloists including Phillip Myers, Nancy Allen, and Mindy Kaufman commended his charisma and musical instinct, and enthusiastically returned for subsequent appearances. Strongly interested in working with young musicians, Nakabayashi has enjoyed conducting at San Jose State University (1997-2001), at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute in San Francisco (1999-2001, 2003, and 2008) and at Hoff Barthelson Music School (2001-present).
Michel Singher - Conductor
In addition to distinguished careers on the concert podium and as a teacher, Maestro Singher has conducted some 60 operas in hundreds of performances for European and American companies. These include, among many others, Hamburg State Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera San José and Utah Festival Opera. At the specific request of Sir Charles Mackerras, Singher was his understudy for two productions at San Francisco Opera. He returned to West Bay Opera in October 2010 to conduct La forza del destino. In May 2011, he will conduct La fille du Regiment for Opera Idaho.
On the symphonic podium, Maestro Singher has led, among others, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony. Professor Singher was for several years head of the orchestral and conducting curricula at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and also taught at the University of Washington, NYU and San Jose State University, from which he has just retired after five years as Coordinator of Opera. For a decade he maintained a busy vocal coaching studio in New York, where his clients included singers on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. He has previously been a member of BASOTI's faculty in 1996, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
On the symphonic podium, Maestro Singher has led, among others, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony. Professor Singher was for several years head of the orchestral and conducting curricula at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and also taught at the University of Washington, NYU and San Jose State University, from which he has just retired after five years as Coordinator of Opera. For a decade he maintained a busy vocal coaching studio in New York, where his clients included singers on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. He has previously been a member of BASOTI's faculty in 1996, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
Alexander Katsman - Conductor
Five seasons at BASOTI; conductor, Suor Angelica (2002), Old Maid and the Thief and The Telephone (2003). Coach and chorus master, Merola Program; assistant conductor, Rigoletto and L'Italiana in Algieri. Conducted more than 40 musical stage works in the San Francisco Bay Area: Faust (Opera San Jose), A Masked Ball (West Bay Opera); Don Giovanni (Bay Shore Lyric Opera). "La Boheme" (Livermore Valley Opera). Mr. Katsman is the Music Director of the Livermore Valley Opera as well as a member of the coaching staff at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Jonathan Khuner - Conductor
Jonathan Khuner is assistant conductor and prompter at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. Last summer he conducted a condensation of Wagner's epic Ring of the Nibelung at Berkeley Opera. Khuner is music director there, having served as artistic director from 1985 to 2009. Last August he also conducted Don Giovanni for Open Opera at John Hinkel Park in Berkeley. Mr. Khuner has conducted performances of the New Israeli Opera, San Francisco Opera Center, West Bay Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, California Opera, and the Tel Aviv Symphony. He has appeared also with the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Miami Opera, Opera Barga, Italy, and the Israel Philharmonic. For several years, Mr. Khuner taught the Opera Workshop at the University of California, Berkeley, where he re-inaugurated this course at the invitation of the Music Department. He also appears frequently in the bay area as recital accompanist and lecturer, for example giving talks for San Francisco's Opera Guild and that company's pre-curtain lectures.
Brian Asher Alhadeff - Conductor
Brian Asher Alhadeff is an internationally acclaimed American conductor specializing in opera, ballet, symphony, and musical theater. He is the Artistic and General Director of Opera San Luis Obispo and Principal Conductor for Civic Ballet San Luis Obispo, State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, and BRAVA Ballet Arts of Riverside.From 2001-2008, Alhadeff was Artistic Director and founder of the Hradec Kralove International Summer Opera Festival partnering with the Eastern Bohemian Philharmonic and the Czech State Opera and Ballet. In 2010, Alhadeff guest conducted the Albanian National Radio and Television Orchestra in a nation-wide broadcast that included the Albanian premiere of American composer Howard Hanson's second symphony The Romantic. Other positions have included Principal Conductor for Ballet Tucson,Associate Conductor of the Beverly Hills Symphony, and an extensive list of guest conducting appearances that include Ballet Tucson, Opera Pasadena, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Tulsa Ballet, Karlove Vary Sinfonie, Albanian Radio and Television Orchestra, South Florida Opera Company, Eastern Sierra Symphony, Bourgas State Opera, Rio Hondo Symphony, St. Cloud Symphony and Long Beach Opera to name a few.
Sheri Greenawald - Guest Master Voice Teacher
Sheri Greenawald, San Francisco Opera Center Director, has had a distinguished international operatic singing career as a soprano, noted in particular for her enormous range of roles. She has sung featured roles with (among others) San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Venice’s La Fenice, the Munich State Opera, Paris’s Châtelet Theater, Welsh National Opera, Seattle Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, the Netherlands Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Naples’s Teatro San Carlos and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has worked with most of opera’s great conductors and directors, and she is featured on several recordings, including singing the title role of Blitztein’s Regina conducted by John Mauceri and recorded on Decca. A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Greenawald completed the Professional Studies Program at the Juilliard School of Music and has received a Rockefeller Grant, NEA Grant, and was Seattle Opera Association’s Artist of the Year in 1998. She has taught privately, was a visiting artist at the University of Charleston, an Artist in Residence at the University of Northern Iowa, was the vocal coach of the Santa Fe Apprentice Program in 1999 and opera director of the program in 2000, and has given master classes the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She was engaged in 2000/2001 as a professor of voice and opera at the Boston Conservatory, with a full vocal studio, coursework on English and American Song Repertory, and directed for the Opera Studio. Since May 2002, she has been the Director of the Opera Center for the San Franicsco Opera, and Artistic Director for the Merola Opera Program, both of which are young artist training programs.
Erie Mills- Master Voice Teacher
Erie Mills has received critical and popular acclaim throughout the world. She has performed in the world's major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera and many others. As a concert artist, Ms. Mills has appeared with the orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Her performance of Cunegonde at the New York City Opera was seen on a national telecast on PBS’ “Live from Lincoln Center.” From 1998-2008 she was on the voice faculty at San José State University. Since 2004 she has worked as the English diction specialist for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and also works in this capacity for the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. In 2004 she became the first singer to join the board of directors of Opera America. She is a graduate of The College of Wooster in Ohio, the University of Illinois, and the Houston Opera Studio.
Jane Randolph - Master Voice Teacher
Jane Randolph's 25 years of experience teaching voice to students has led her across North America: from L'Atelier de L'Opéra de Montréal and L'Université de Montréal to establishing private studios in San Diego, San Francisco and New York. Her students have sung in major national and international opera companies and have been winners of countless prestigious competitions, such as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the San Francisco Opera Auditions and the Operalia-Domingo Competition. After completing her studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of California at Los Angeles and the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany, Ms. Randolph spent four seasons as a coloratura soprano at the Staatstheater in Luzern, Switzerland. She subsequently enjoyed an extensive career in opera, recital and oratorio in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Ms. Randolph is renowned for her commitment to her students as well as her passion for the art of singing.
Daniel Mobbs - Master Voice Teacher
American bass-baritone Daniel Mobbs has won praise on both sides of the Atlantic for his "solid, resonant voice and boundless energy...his stage presence virtually ensured that he was the focal point of nearly every scene in which he appeared," as written in the New York Times.
During 2012-13, Daniel Mobbs joins the vocal faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, sings Handel's Messiah with the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and returns to Pittsburgh Opera as Dandini in La Cenerentola, conducted by Antony Walker. He returns to Boston Lyric Opera in 2013-14.
During 2012-13, Daniel Mobbs joins the vocal faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, sings Handel's Messiah with the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and returns to Pittsburgh Opera as Dandini in La Cenerentola, conducted by Antony Walker. He returns to Boston Lyric Opera in 2013-14.
John Craig Johnson - Master Voice Teacher
As an enthusiast and mentor of young singers of all genres, Johnson coordinates the Vocal Studies program at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and holds a doctorate in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California. His students are frequent winners of regional and national competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Since 2008, Johnson's students have garnered ten of the thirteen awards given to undergraduate students at the MONC Auditions - San Diego, as well as four first place prizes, three additional encouragement awards by post graduates, and also first place wins from the Colorado-Wyoming, New England, and L.A. districts. His students have also completed apprenticeships and sung roles with Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Aspen Festival Opera, Tanglewood, Opera Academy of California, and OperaWorks.
Johnson's students have current and recent contracts with San Diego Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theatre, Oper Leipzig, Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale Bologna and many others.
Johnson's students have current and recent contracts with San Diego Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theatre, Oper Leipzig, Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale Bologna and many others.
Josephine Gray - Alexander Technique Specialist
Josephine started studying the Technique in 1983 in San Francisco to rescue
her career as a professional violinist from a debilitating repetitive strain
injury. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance from the University of
Auckland, New Zealand.
Josephine has taught the Technique for 5 years to actors at the American Conservatory Theater Summer Congress and to singers at Opera and the Arts for Young Girls. She has also taught the Technique to employees at Chevron/Texaco (IT division) Josephine joined the faculty as Alexander Technique instructor at the Music Department of the University Of San Francisco in 2010.
Josephine was interviewed for National Public Radio Morning Edition in 2011.
Josephine has taught the Technique for 5 years to actors at the American Conservatory Theater Summer Congress and to singers at Opera and the Arts for Young Girls. She has also taught the Technique to employees at Chevron/Texaco (IT division) Josephine joined the faculty as Alexander Technique instructor at the Music Department of the University Of San Francisco in 2010.
Josephine was interviewed for National Public Radio Morning Edition in 2011.
Marcie Stapp - Lyric Diction
Marcie Stapp, author of The Singer's Guide to Languages, is a well-known vocal coach, accompanist and translator whose operatic translations are performed by leading music schools and professional companies across the country. She taught English and French at the Mangold Institute in Madrid, served as conductor/coach for the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Curtis Institute of Music, Indiana University, the Mozart Opera Studies Institute in Austria, Japan's Osaka College of Music and Sakai City Opera, the Gernot-Heindl Opera Studio of Munich, San Francisco Opera Center and Hawaii Opera Theatre among others. Ms. Stapp has accompanied the master classes of Margaret Harshaw, Renato Capecchi, Max Rudolf, Jess Thomas and Gerhard Hüsch, and has appeared in recital with members of the Metropolitan, San Francisco and New York City Opera companies. The Metropolitan Opera's renowned diction coach Nico Castel selected her as the editor of his popular Opera Libretti Series and the two collaborate annually on the Castel-Stapp Master Classes in San Francisco.
Helene Joseph-Weil - Audition Technique Specialist
Helene Joseph-Weil has had a long, extensive performing career in concert, opera, recital, and on music festival stages throughout the United States and Europe. In addition, she is noted for her singing of new music, including performing the world première of When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed by Roger Sessions and the West Coast premières of Berio’s Circles and Babbitt’s Philomel. Joseph-Weil is the originator/author of ASCENCIÓN: An Ethno-Historical Cantata, with music by Benjamin Boone. Her performance of the première with Hatem Nadim was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and The California Report. She has been honored with the Ascoli Piceno (Italy) Music Festival’s “Una vita per la musica” Award for her lifetime of performing and teaching contributions to the musical arts, and the Fresno State University’s Provost’s Award for Research, Scholarly, or Creative Activities. Helene Joseph-Weil is Professor Emerita of Music (Voice & Opera) at California State University, Fresno, where she continues to teach. Earlier academic teaching positions include Visiting Professor of Voice for the Hochschule “Mozarteum,” Salzburg, Austria, and she was the Founding Co-Director of The Mozart Opera Studies Institute (MOSI). Her students perform and teach throughout the world and have won numerous singing competitions, including the Belvedere Wettbewerb in Vienna. In her OAC audition workshops, Helene will be using her Golden Rules of Auditioning, A Singer’s Guide to Vocal Music, and Libretto Intensive Training Techniques (LITT), all developed to help singers gain skills and confidence when auditioning and performing. Her June 25th master class will focus exclusively on Mozart under the title: Mozart, Our Greatest Voice Teacher.
Hatem Nadim - Collaborative Pianist
Mr Nadim was born in Cairo (Egypt). At the age of ten, he visited the Cairo Conservatoire, where he studied solo piano with R. Yassa, V. Fedorovtzew and V. Samaliotow and graduated with honors. Later, as a music scholarship winner at the University at Frankfurt (Germany), he continued his post-graduate studies in chamber music and vocal accompaniment, with Professors Joachim Volkmann and Rainer Hoffmann, where he earned his degree.From 1989 to 1996, he held the position of faculty member at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz teaching solo piano. In 1989, he accepted the coveted position as faculty member at the University of Music in Mannheim, where his responsibilities included those of collaborative pianist, chamber music coach and piano accompaniment teacher. Currently, Mr. Nadim is the appointed staff accompanist at California State University, Fresno - a position he has held since September of 2006. He is a guest artist annually at the Vielsaitig Festival in Füssen, Germany and serves on the faculty of the Opera Academy of San Francisco summer program. Mr. Nadim performs extensively throughout Europe, the United States, Korea and the Middle East. His performances include chamber music with some of the most renowned performing artists including Leslie Parnas, Arto Noras, Michael Flaksman, Susanne Rabenschlag, Jean-Michel Tanguy, Michael Hasel, the Verdi Quartet, Herrmann Voss and Helene Joseph-Weil. Mr. Nadim has several recordings, the latest of which is a complete collection of the Mozart Violin Sonatas and Variations with the German violinist, Susanne Rabenschlag for Avi-Music and Deutschland Radio. He will start recording the complete Violin Sonatas of Beethoven and the German Romantiks (Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn) also with Susanne Rabenschlag.
Louise Costigan-Kerns - Collaborative Pianist
Louise Costigan-Kerns has performed internationally as a concert pianist, accompanist and conductor. Born in Blairmore, Alberta, she began studying the piano at age two and a half with her mother Beatrice Costigan. At age five she gave her first public recital and began competing in Alberta Music Festivals, where she was a consistent winner through high school. Ms. Costigan-Kerns earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she studied piano with Irma Wolpe and Victor Rosenbaum, opera with John Moriarty and Boris Goldovsky and vocal repertoire with Allen Rogers. Besides teaching at New England Conservatory, Ms. Costigan-Kerns maintained an active performing career in Boston as a solo pianist with orchestras and as accompanist. She is also the Founding Director of the New England Conservatory Extension Division Opera Studio. Over the years she was a member of the Opera Department faculty at Boston University, piano faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy and Artist in Residence at Brandeis University. She moved with her family to the San Francisco Bay area and has since worked for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Symphony and Opera San Jose. Ms. Costigan-Kerns is active as a recital pianist, opera coach, conductor, and chamber music performer. She is on the music faculty of Notre Dame de Namur University. Ms. Costigan-Kern’s first solo piano CD “My Favorite Performances” was released in 2004. “Piano With Passion”, her second CD, was released in 2007 and “Into the Light”, her third CD was released in 2011. All are available on iTunes and cdbaby.com. In February 2013, she performed the Lou Harrison piano concerto with the Redwood Symphony. Ms. Costigan-Kerns can be seen performing Chopin Nocturne op. 27 no.2 on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEbx17Pc6RM
Temirzhan Yerzhanov - Pianist & Conductor
Having won the International Schumann Piano Competition in Germany, Temirzhan Yerzhanov of Kazakhstan has toured 12 countries playing in recitals, recording for CDs, radio and TV, soloing with many orchestras at venues such as London Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Paris Salle Gaveau, New York Carnegie Weill Hall, St. Petersburg Grand Philharmonic Halls, Deutsche Radio Berlin, Hong Kong Radio and Radio Russia.Mr. Yerzhanov has also collaborated with more than 100 opera singers and instrumentalists. Awarded ‘Best Accompanist Prize’ at the Tchaikovsky Vocal and Elena Obraztsova Opera Singers International Competitions, he had an experience as a concert accompanist and coach, working at the Opera San Jose, London Telegraph Hill Festival, California Opera and Walnut Creek Festival Opera. He was Assistant Conductor for the World Premiere of Lincoln and Booth at the Golden Gate Opera. Recently Mr. Yerzhanov made a Music Director debut in opera La Llorona at Opera Cultura, San Jose. Upcoming season will include his conducting debut with Kazakh Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in a National Premiere of Mozart’s Idomeneo and Krönungsmesse, and premiere of Tales of Pilgrimage at Opera Cultura.
A graduate and former faculty member of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Mr. Yerzhanov studied piano with Professor Mikhail Voskressensky. Later he studied conducting with Latvian-American conductor Imants Kociņš. He was named ‘Best Performer of 2007’ by San Francisco Classical Voice and has a distinction of “Yenbek Sinirgen Qairatkeri”, the highest Honorary Title in his native country.
A graduate and former faculty member of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Mr. Yerzhanov studied piano with Professor Mikhail Voskressensky. Later he studied conducting with Latvian-American conductor Imants Kociņš. He was named ‘Best Performer of 2007’ by San Francisco Classical Voice and has a distinction of “Yenbek Sinirgen Qairatkeri”, the highest Honorary Title in his native country.
John Ballerino - Pianist & Conductor
An accomplished speaker and performer of Spanish and Latin American music, Dr. Ballerino lectures and performs throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Since 1999, John has been the principal coach and Assistant Music Director for ten different Zarzuela productions at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California. He has also served as a Spanish diction coach for productions by the Los Angeles Opera and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In 2007, John was on staff at Los Angeles Opera as diction coach and pianist for the Zarzuela “Luisa Fernanda,” featuring Placido Domingo in the lead role. In 2010 John was the assistant conductor and Spanish coach for “Rio de Sangre”, a world premier opera by Don Davis that was produced be the Florentine Opera (Milwaukee).
John is a Continuing Lecturer of Collaborative Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. There he teaches Spanish Diction as well as Song and Operatic Literature. He is the former Chorus Master, Principal Pianist and Assistant Conductor for Opera Santa Barbara and has frequently been on the music staffs of the Los Angeles, Florentine (Milwaukee) Utah Festival, Fresno and Sarasota Opera Companies as an Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur.
John is a Continuing Lecturer of Collaborative Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. There he teaches Spanish Diction as well as Song and Operatic Literature. He is the former Chorus Master, Principal Pianist and Assistant Conductor for Opera Santa Barbara and has frequently been on the music staffs of the Los Angeles, Florentine (Milwaukee) Utah Festival, Fresno and Sarasota Opera Companies as an Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur.