Carmine Aufiero made his New York
conducting debut with Chelsea Opera's Suor Angelica and has led performances
of Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci and Menotti's Amahl and the Night
Visitors which was performed in New York and Los Angeles to rave reviews. A
New Jersey native, he became assistant conductor to New Jersey's Orchestra
of St. Peter by the Sea under Alphonse Stephenson in 1999, conducting at the
Festival of the Atlantic, the Trenton War Memorial and in 2001 at Carnegie
Hall. In opera, Maestro Aufiero conducted the premiere of Kyle Gann's
Cinderella's Bad Magic in St. Petersburg, Russia. The summer of 2003, he was
engaged as pianist and assistant conductor for the American Symphony
Orchestra's production of Janacek's Osud under Maestro Leon Botstein. Mr.
Aufiero studied orchestral conducting with Harold Farberman and composition
theory and improvisation with Robert Abramson. He has been a guest conductor
with Regina Opera for Die Fledermaus, and conducted Espresso Opera's second
production, Rigoletto. Maestro Aufiero has acted as conductor for El Dorado
Opera in Los Angeles and is on the faculty of Martina Arroyo's Prelude to
Performance program. He recently made his debut as guest conductor in Dicapo
Opera Theater's production of Beauty and the Beast.
Laura Alley enjoys a distinguished career in opera direction. She has
a current repertoire of over fifty operas, which she has directed throughout
the United States. Highlights include the European premiere of THE GHOSTS OF
VERSAILLES in Hannover, Germany, and the American premieres of KINKAKUJI and
THE DREYFUS AFFAIR for the New York City Opera. Among the opera companies
for which she has directed much of the standard repertoire are New York City
Opera, Syracuse, Kansas City, San Francisco, Austin, Cleveland, El Paso,
Chautauqua and Connecticut Opera and most recently The MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
for the New Orleans Opera.
Miss Alley has taught and directed opera workshop productions at Louisiana
State University, the Kansas City Conservatory, Temple University, Nebraska
Wesleyan University, Converse College, Rutgers University and New York
University. She is currently associated with the Mannes College of Music.
Future engagements include a return for the third season of Martina Arroyo’s
summer program, Prelude to Performance.
Edward
Bak
is an accomplished and internationally respected pianist and vocal coach,
with credits in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia.
He has performed widely in such venues as the Philips Collection, Tanglewood
Festival, Lanaudiere Festival, Monnaie, Kolarac Hall, and Teatro Colón. He
is in high demand as vocal coach and collaborative pianist. He has expertise
in French, German, and Russian, as well as Italian and Spanish. He is
currently on the faculty of The Ohio State University School of Music, and
previously held faculty positions at the Cleveland Institute of Music
Preparatory, the Peabody Institute Preparatory. He has given master classes
at the Escuela Moderna in Santiago and the Instituto Superior de Arte del
Teatro Colón. He was a visiting professor of piano in Seoul, South Korea.
Mihaela Bogdan, a Fulbright Scholar, has recently graduated in Stage
Direction for Opera at IU Bloomington and is currently the founder and stage
director of ExArt organization. She has directed opera and theatre
productions in Romania, Germany and USA, such as The Magic Flute, and
Lakme (National Opera House Cluj Napoca) Horarius with the
T-Bob company, Henze’s Moralities, Susa’s Transformations,
Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and the acclaimed production of
Piazzolla - Maria de Buenos Aires. Her activity as an assistant stage
director includes projects with IU Opera Theater, Vancouver Opera Company,
Indianapolis Opera and her participation in the acclaimed Festival Junger
Künstler in Bayreuth, Germany.
Charles Caine started his
distinguished and illustrious career at the Metropolitan Opera as resident
costume designer. During his 16 seasons there, he worked with many notable
artists, including Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Franco Zeffirelli, Tyrone Guthrie,
Marc Chagall, Callas, Tebaldi, Arroyo, Horne, Price, Scotto, Pavarotti,
Gedda, Tucker, Domingo, Corelli, Bergonzi, etc. His Met designs for Luisa
Miller appeared on PBS-TV. His work has also been seen on the stages of
Chicago Lyric Opera, NYCO, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas
Opera, and Canadian Opera. Recent productions have included Il Trovatore,
Cavalleria Rusticana, Gianni Schicchi, and Le Nozze di Figaro. He is a
member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, NYC.
Steven Horak,
Makeup and Wig Designer, has been on the Makeup Department Staff of the
Metropolitan Opera for twelve seasons, following twelve seasons as a
wigmaker and makeup artist at the San Francisco Opera. Prior to joining the
Met, his many years as a wig and makeup journeyman included seasons as Wig
and Makeup Designer for Chicago Opera Theatre and the Lake George Opera
Festival, and as a wig and makeup artist for the opera companies of
Philadelphia, Miami, and St. Louis. He is currently also principal wig
designer and executor for Studio EIS, a New York City company which
furnishes realistic human figures to museums across North America
Molly Johnson,
soprano, is an active performer-teacher. Professional opera and music
theatre credits include roles with Opera East Texas, Asheville (NC) Lyric
Opera, Baton Rouge Opera, Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Music Theatre of
Wichita, and Lyric Theater of Oklahoma. Favorite roles range from the
maternal to the manly to the maniacal, including The Mother in Amahl and
the Night Visitors, Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus,
Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance
and the Old Lady in Candide. In concert, Ms. Johnson has appeared
as soloist in Handel's Messiah, Rutter's Magnificat,
Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Tippett's A Child of Our Time,
and Mendelssohn's Elijah. Classical recitals, sacred concerts,
musical theatre cabarets, and duo programs with her husband, Mark (a tenor),
are among the smaller forms she enjoys preparing and presenting. The
Johnsons have recorded two CDs of sacred music: Simply Christmas and
The Majesty of Thy Name. When not on stage, Dr. Johnson is in the
classroom or studio at the University of Texas at Tyler, where she teaches
applied voice and related courses and is Director of the Opera Workshop.
Prior appointments include The University of North Carolina-Asheville,
Montreat (NC) College, and Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. Dr.
Johnson holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma City University,
and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Louisiana
State University.
Joan Krueger
was named “2004 Coach of the Year” by Classical Singer magazine. She has
accompanied such artists as Cecilia Bartoli, Sumi Jo, and Vinson Cole
through her association with New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, and was seen
on A&E’s Breakfast With The Arts, accompanying soprano Carol Vaness. Ms.
Krueger has performed collaborative recitals in Avery Fisher Hall, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, The United Nations, Weill Recital Hall, the
Donnell Library, and numerous other venues in the New York City area where
she maintains an active coaching studio. She has been an Assistant Conductor
for the Sarasota Opera, Music Director for NYU’s Opera Workshop, and on the
faculty of the Intermezzo Opera Festival. Ms. Krueger is the pianist for
many prestigious vocal competitions including the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen
Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, and the Chester
Ludgin Verdi Baritone Competition. She was recently a judge for the
Classical Singer Vocal Competition. Ms. Krueger is on the faculty of Martina
Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance, Opera New York’s Making It In Opera, and
the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute. She has been a guest artist at many
U.S. Universities and Conservatories. Currently on the faculty of SUNY
Purchase, Ms. Krueger teaches French and Italian Diction, Operatic Styles
and coaches. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from Michigan State
University and her Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan.
Ronald Land,
a Pennsylvania native, began his career as a child performer in musical
theater and took his first singing lessons at age 8. Academically, he
concentrated on the piano, having studied at the Hartt School of Music, the
University of the Arts and Temple University. He has worked in a number of
American Opera companies, including, Augusta Opera, Dicapo Opera Theater,
Metro Lyric Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra, Opera Company of
Philadelphia, Utah Festival Opera Company, Baltimore Opera, and Connecticut
Opera. He maintains a studio as a freelance coach, gives master-classes, and
serves as a judge on competition juries. Ronald is also a published author
and a frequent guest-lecturer.
Ellen
Rievman has a performing career spanning nearly three decades. For
twenty-four years, as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she
performed in over 100 productions alongside some of our generation's
greatest opera stars. Since leaving the Met in 1995, she has worked with
singers to coach the drama, explore the text, and to incorporate these
skills with gesture, movement, stagecraft, and physical eloquence. She is a
Senior Associate at The Actors' Institute working with business clients
internationally, is a core consultant of New Triad for the Collaborative
Arts, and is on faculty for Martina Arroyo’s summer workshop,
Prelude to Performance. In April, 2006, she was
featured in an interview in Classical Singer Magazine and presented two
Master Classes in May, 2006, for their convention in
Philadelphia. A partial list of her accomplishments includes teaching
Master Classes and directing for Apprentice Artists of the Santa Fe Opera,
Sarasota Opera, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National
and Regional Conventions, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Manhattan School of
Music, the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, UNC, Greensboro, and
New York Singing Teachers' Association (NYSTA) National Symposium. As a
director, she has staged scenes, directed cabaret acts, produced and
directed opera evenings of contemporary composers, directed concerts and
recitals, and worked for 3 years with the Manhattan School of Music's
Baroque Aria Ensemble in their annual productions. Upcoming in 2007, she is
directing a piano recital for New Triad , directs Cosi’ Fan Tutte for
Prelude, and July, 2007, features her in an article in Opera News Magazine.
Sergio
Stefani was born in
Bologna, Italy and grew up in Rome, where he studied Liberal Arts at Liceo
“Pilo Albertelli” and Law at the University of Rome, before coming to the
United States. About twenty years ago, he devised a unique approach for
teaching his native language - the opportunity of learning at one’s own pace
- a teaching program that must be the student’s learning program -
individual lessons to cover grammar or special individual needs -
conversation classes to hone one’s skills - diction and role interpretation
to opera singers. Sergio has enjoyed being a supernumerary at the
Metropolitan Opera and he is proud to have had, among his students, some
members of that company. Today, his activity is concentrated on special
programs
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