Faculty
The distinguished American soprano BENITA VALENTE began serious musical training with Chester Hayden at Delano High School. At 16, she became a private pupil of Lotte Lehmann, and at 17 received a scholarship to continue her studies with Lotte Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where she got her initial professional music experience. From Lotte Lehmann she learned "how music comes to life". There she also met and collaborated with Marilyn Horne. In 1955 she won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Singher.
Upon graduation in 1960, she made her formal debut in a Marlboro (Vermont) Festival concert. At Marlboro Festival she performed with Rudolf Serkin, Felix Galimir and Harold Wright. In October 1960 she made her New York concert debut at the New School for Social Research. After winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1960, she pursued further studies with Margaret Harshaw. She then sang with the Freiburg im Breisgau Opera, making her debut there as Parnina in Die Zauberflöte in 1962. After appearances with the Nuremberg Opera in 1966, she returned to the USA and established herself as a versatile recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and opera singer. Her interpretation of Pamina was especially well received, and it was in that role that she made her long-awaited Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in September 1973. Her roles at the Metropolitan Opera have also included Gilda, Nanetta, Susanna, Ilia, and Almirena. Other roles areEuridice at Santa Fe, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Washington, and Dalilah in Florence. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, Grand Tetons, Santa Fe, Vienna, Edinburgh, and Lyon.
Benita Valente has been especially noted for her collaborations with living composers, she has sung in many chamber music and recital peformances, often in world premieres. She is one of this era's most cherished musical artists.
As the soprano in residence at the prestigious Marlboro Festival her performances and recordings with the legendary pianist Rudolf Serkin won great acclaim. Other major chamber music collaborators have included the Guarneri and Juilliard and Orion String Quartets, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Richard Stolzman, guitarist Sharon Isbin and pianists Peter Serkin, Emmanual Ax, Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Malcolm Bilson and Cynthia Raim. Benita Valente has been orchestral soloist with virtually every important conductor and orchestra in the world. She has sung under the batons of Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernardi, Leonard Bernstein, Comissiona, Conlon, de Waart, Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Shaw, Slatkin and Tennstedt, and with every major symphony in the USA, Canada and Europe.
Benita Valente has been recorded by seventeen recording companies. She received a Grammy Award for her recording of Schoenberg's Quartet No.2 and a Grammy nomination for her recording of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ, both performed with The Juilliard String Quartet. Her recent recordings include music of Vaughan Williams, Debussy, and Bolcom.
Benita Valente was the 1999 Recipient of Chamber Music America's Highest Award: The Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, the first vocalist to receive the award in its twenty-year history.
Mezzo-soprano, LAURA BROOKS RICE has won acclaim on the opera and concert stage for her rich, warm voice, musicality, charm and sensitive acting ability.
Since 1985, Miss Rice has been teaching at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where she is Professor of Voice. In addition to teaching private voice, Miss Rice teaches courses in opera: The Singing Actor: Opera and Opera Auditions: Techniques and Preparation and has also been the coordinator of the Opera program. Along with her teaching at Westminster, Miss Rice has a private New York studio. Her private students are currently singing as regular principal artists at The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Dayton Opera, Minneapolis Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Mobile Opera, Maggio Musicale, Opera Omaha, Portland Opera, Knoxville Opera, San Diego Opera, Lake George Opera, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Opera North, Central City, Atlanta Opera and Aix en Provence.
Notable achievements of her private students include the 2004 Richard Tucker award winner, Matthew Polenzani, Kiera Duffy, winner of the Marian Anderson Competition in Philadelphia as well as the New York Distric MET competition, Elisa Vilbergsdottir, winner of the Heida Herman Competition as well as second place winner of the 2006 Liederkranz Competition (Wagnerian Division) and Disella Larusdottir, finalist in the 2006 Zachary Competition, Liederkranz Competition, Operalia Competition and winner of the Astral Artistic Services auditions.
As co-founder of the Florence Voice Seminar, the 2007 season will be her seventh summer of teaching in Florence. In addition to her teaching in Florence, she is the Co-director of one of Westminster’s newest programs the CoOPERAtive Program, and three week intensive opera training program. In August 2002 and 2005 she conducted master classes and taught private lessons for the Reykjavik Singing School in Reykjavik, Iceland.
In a diverse repertoire, including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Brahm’s Alto Rhapsody and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Miss Rice has appeared from coast to coast in the United States in concerts and recitals. In recent seasons she has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on several occasions in works including Handel’s Messiah, which she has also performed with numerous other orchestras nationwide. Miss Rice has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, Bethlehem Bach Festival and Boulder Bach Festival. She made her Mostly Mozart Festival debut singing the role of Apollo in Mozart’s Apollo and Hyacinth, has been heard in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with San Francisco, Atlanta, San Diego and New Jersey Symphonies with conductors, Kurt Masur, Kurt Sanderling, Robert Shaw and Hugh Wolf.
In the 1992-93 season Miss Rice made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Wowkle in La Fanciulla del West. Following her debut in 1981 with the San Francisco Opera as Grimgerde in Die Walküre she has appeared with that company in several productions, performing such roles as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Varvara in Katya Kabanova and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. She has also performed with the Spoleto Festival (Italy) in Honneger’s King David.
A participant in the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, she sang numerous performances ad an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera Center.
In January 1999, along with her accompanist JJ Penna, Miss Rice recorded her widely performed recital “Madwomen in the Attic”, a program of all American music and American women poets. A CD of romantic German and French repertoire was released in spring 2000.
Last season Miss Wolf performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Central City Opera, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with The Seattle Symphony, and Berta in Barbiere di Siviglia with New York City Opera and Florida Grand Opera.
Engagements this season include Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri with Seattle Opera.
Recent performances by Miss Wolf also include two major Rossini role debuts with Frankfurt Opera: the title role in Semiramide and Amenaide in Tancredi, as well as Elettra in Idomeneo. Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Los Angeles Opera and New York City Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Frankfurt, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Central City Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, and The Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Canadian Opera and Austin Lyric Opera. Miss Wolf also scored a major success recently at Carnegie Hall in New York singing Amalia in Verdi's I Masnadieri with The Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler. She repeated her acclaimed Gunia in Lucio Silla with The Salzburg Festival in 1997 after performances in Frankfurt, San Francisco, and The Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. Miss Wolf appeared with the 1996 Munich Festival as Donna Anna, and also essayed the difficult title role in Norma for Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera and Florida Grand Opera. Her Constanze in Entfuhrung aus dem Serail has recently been heard with Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Opera North in Leeds, England, Netherlands Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Edmonton Opera, Boston Baroque, and Austin Lyric Opera. Her title role in Lucia di Lammermoor has been seen with Seattle Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Colorado, Pacific Opera in Victoria, Canada, Knoxville Opera, Spokane Symphony, and Austin Lyric Opera. Miss Wolf has also performed Violetta in La Traviata with Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, France as well as Utah Opera, Austin Lyric, Pacific Opera, and Grand Rapids Opera. Seattle Opera also recently engaged Miss Wolf for the title role in Ballad of Baby Doe, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Mimi in La Boheme..
Orchestral appearances by Miss Wolf include Mozart's The Impressario with Mostly Mozart in New York, Verdi's Requiem with The Seattle Symphony, Richmond Symphony and The Berkshire Choral Institute, Mozart's Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Gerard Schwartz, Messiah at Carnegie Hall with The Masterwork Chorus, and the Buffalo Philharmonic, Elijah with Palm Beach Masterworks Chorale, Bruch's Das Lied von der Glocke with Seattle Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliette with The New Jersey Symphony, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with The Westminster Choir and Orchestra, and appearances with the San Francisco Symphony in a program of Mozart Concert Arias.
A native of Ravenna, Ohio, Miss Wolf received her training at Kent State University, Curtis Institute of Music, and Indiana University School of Music. She was a student of voice with Donna Pegors and the late Dr. Margaret Harshaw. A versatile performer, Miss Wolf also has extensive experience in the Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire, having performed most of the leading soprano roles with Kent State University and The Ohio Light Opera Company. She was the recipient of a 1981 National Opera Institute Grant, placed first in the 1980 San Francisco Opera Auditions, and was a 1986 winner in the International Pavarotti Competition associated with the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
Miss Wolf has also presented concert recital programs in 2002 and 2004 for the prestigious Silversea Cruise Line for Classical-themed Cruises aboard their ships in the Carribbean and Northern Europe.
Miss Wolf's academic credits include a Bachelor of Music in Voice, awarded by Kent State
University, Kent, Ohio in 1975, a Performer's Certificate in Opera, awarded by The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pa. in 1977, and Special Graduate Student Status at Indiana University from 1977-1981. Miss Wolf has been a member of the voice faculty at the Florence Voice Seminar in Florence, Italy since 2004. Miss Wolf has also given Master Classes, by invitation, for the Apprentice Artists Programs at Seattle Opera in 2003, 2004, 2006, and Portland Opera in 2007, the Festival Lyrique in Belle-Ille, France in 2002, and the Austin Lyric Opera in Austin, Texas in 1999, She has also presented master classes at The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 2000, and the University of Washington, Seattle Wash. in 1999. She also taught voice part-time on the faculty of the University of Washington, at Seattle during the 1999-2000 academic school year, and the faculty of the University of Nevada/Las Vegas during the 2000-2001 academic school year filling in for faculty members on temporary performance leaves. Miss Wolf is currently on the voice faculty of Westminster Choir College/Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey where she has taught since 2001.
KEVIN LANGAN Bass. BM in Voice with High Distinction at Indiana University, MM in Voice with High Distinction at Indiana University. Major voice professor – Margaret Harshaw. Vocal Studies with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Auditions (1980), The San Francisco Opera Auditions (1980), Opera America Auditions (1981), Richard Tucker Foundation Grant Award (1983). Has been singing professionally for 29 years leading roles in many of the world’s leading opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, The San Francisco Opera, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Royal Flemish Opera, The Netherlands Opera, Geneva Opera, Opera de Lyon, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Vancouver Opera, San Diego Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Central City Opera, Baltimore Opera, Opera Colorado, Austin Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera, Omaha Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Co. of Philadelphia, Knoxville Opera, West Palm Beach Opera, Portland Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Greensboro Opera, Edmonton Opera, Calgary Opera, and Manitoba Opera.
With over 1200 career performances, he has performed over 80 different operatic roles. Those roles include Mephistopheles in Faust, Phillip II and Il Grand Inquisitore in Don Carlos, Sarastro in Die Zauberflote, Osmin in Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Seneca in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Leporello and Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Timur in Turandot, Ramfis in Aida, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Padre Guardiano in Forza del Destino, Pimen in Boris Godunov, Rocco in Fidelio, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Alvise in La Gioconda, Daland in Der Flieghende Holländer, Basilio in Barbiere di Siviglia, Colline in La Boheme, Wurm in Luisa Miller, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Henry VIII in Anna Bolena, and The Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance.
Orchestral appearances include The Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Houston, Oakland, Richmond, Santa Fe, New Jersey, The National Symphony (Wash. DC), and The Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, and Cincinnati May Festivals. He has appeared with these orchestras as bass soloist in such works as The Verdi and Mozart Requiems, Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Rossini Stabat Mater, The Messiah, and various concert versions of major operas.
Discography includes the Grammy nominated Le Nozze di Figaro (Teldec), and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline (Albany) recorded live at its world premiere with Santa Fe Opera.
DVD credits include the David Hockney production of Turandot with Eva Marton, Aida with Luciano Pavarotti, Samson et Dalilah with Placido Domingo, and Orlando Furioso with Marilyn Horne.
He has given solo recitals at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London, as well as Kurt Weill at Carnegie Hall in New York, and The Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco. He has also presented recital programs for the prestigious SilverSea Cruise Lines for their classically-themed cruises in the Caribbean andEurope.
Performed and recorded with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Harry Bickett, Richard Bonynge, James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoff von Dohnanyi, Niklaus Harnoncourt, Grahme Jenkins, Sir Charles MacKerras, John Mauceri, Nicholas McGegan, Eduardo Müller, John Nelson, Martin Pearlman, Sir John Pritchard, Eve Queler, Nicola Rescigno, Julius Rudel, Donald Runnicles, Gerard Schwartz, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Edo de Waart.
His academic teaching experience includes being a Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice at Montclair State University in New Jersey, Guest Visiting Voice Instructor at Westminster Choir College/Rider University, as well as an Associate Instructorship in Voice at Indiana University. He has presented Master Classes in Vocal Performance at Southern Methodist University, The University of Oklahoma/Norman, The Austin Lyric Opera Apprentice Program, The San Diego Opera Apprentice Program, and The Festival Lyrique at Belle-Ille (France) Young Artists Program. He has also given Individual Clinical Vocal Instruction at the prestigious Lyric Opera of Chicago Apprentice Program, and The Portland Opera Apprentice Program.
He has also developed a Seminar on “Financial and Professional Implications For The Professional Self-Employed Opera Singer” which he has given at The CoOPERative Program at Westminster Choir College/Rider University.
In 2007, bass JULIAN RODESCU has recently received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Sparafucile in Rigoletto, with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. "Theatrically, he inspired simultaneous fascination and repulsion while singing with the kind of bass-note buzz that made you wonder why he's not starring in Boris Godunov" wrote David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr. Rodescu also returned to Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 2006, where he was the Commendatore in Azio Corghi’s “Il Dissoluto Assolto,” having also performed its World Premiere in Lisbon.
Mr. Rodescu has been earning raves for his debuts in Madrid, Naples, Los Angeles, and Tel Aviv. “Julian Rodescu proved a perfect singer” wrote the Los Angeles Times of his singing with Simon Rattle and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “ In the Neapolitan press, “We tasted the vocal and theatrical art of Julian Rodescu, sumptuous interpreter, greatly outstanding, frankly reminiscent of other times”. Of his Madrid debut in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mzensk with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting, El Pais wrote “Special mention must be made of the basso profundo of Julian Rodescu, memorable as the High Priest, capturing tragic and comic at the same time, impeccable, beyond reproach.” Mr. Rodescu has recorded for EMI, RCA, Erato and Albany Records. Future engagements include appearances with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and his debut at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London.
Among important orchestral appearances, Mr. Rodescu performed Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia and at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony in Boston, Carnegie Hall and at Tanglewood, and took part in the World Premiere performances of Shostakovich’s Rayok with Maestro Rostropovich and the National Symphony in Washington and Carnegie Hall. In 1999, he sang and recorded Zemlinsky’s Der Traumgorge with James Conlon and the Koln Gurzenich-Orchester.
Following one performance as Sarastro in Mozart’s Magic Flute with New York City Opera, one reviewer wrote: “He has a huge bass voice that seems to resonate from 100 feet below the stage, without ever seeming to over-sing or be out of character”. Mr. Rodescu was invited back to City Opera, where he also took part in Verdi’s Rigoletto (Sparafucile). He has performed Sarastro with the Miami, Knoxville and Central City Operas. He made his debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in Bellini’s I Puritani, and his first Colline in Puccini’s La Boheme was deemed “a treat for his huge bass voice” by Opera News.
Mr. Rodescu made his European debut in Aachen, Germany where he performed Sarastro in Magic Flute and Shigolch in Lulu under the baton of Stefan Lano. He was Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma with Dayton Opera, and the Toronto Star praised him as a splendid Caronte in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. He has also received raves for his performances in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (incomparable fullness of tone and sensitivity to text) in London, and Verdi’s Aida with Opera Delaware.
Mr. Rodescu's students have performed leading roles with the San Francisco Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Wexford Festival, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Cleveland Opera, Atlanta Symphony and many more. He has given Master Classes at The Curtis Institute, Madrid's Teatro Real, Boston University, Universiy of Massachussetts, Bucknell University. He has a private studio in Philadelphia and teaches voice at Swarthmore College, where he also directed and produced a much acclaimed production of Mozart's Magic Flute. He serves on the Audition Panel and Board of Directors of Astral Artistic Services, where he is also Program Director.
Contralto AMY ZORN, is an adjunct assistant professor of voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Ms. Zorn earned her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Master of Music in Performance from Boston University. Ms. Zorn has sung under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Henry Lewis, John Harbison, Craig Smith and Yves Abel. She has been heard in the operatic roles of Carmen, Lucretia, Dido, Suzuki, Maurya, Principessa, the Old Lady, Dame Quickly, and Ulrica. Most recently she was engaged to perform the role of Auntie at the Tanglewood Music Festival’s historic revival of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. She has been heard as guest oratorio soloist at Harvard and Brandeis Universities, Ithaca College and with the Schubert Music Society of New York City. She served on the faculty of Ithaca College from 1990-95 and has been on the faculty at Westminster since 1996. Prior to her tenure as private voice instructor, Ms. Zorn was director of choral activities at The Packer Collegiate Institute, The Fieldston School (New York City), Beaver Country Day School and The Noble and Greenough School (Boston).
Pianist and vocal coach, DEBRA SCURTO-DAVIS, is a native of Newfoundland, Canada. Her educational credits include a B.M.E. from Evangel College and a M.M. in piano performance from Baylor University. Mrs. Scurto-Davis received her Specialist Degree in vocal coaching and accompanying (1991) from the University of Michigan where she studied with Martin Katz. From 1992 until 1994, she remained in Ann Arbor acting as a staff pianist for the University of Michigan Opera Theatre productions and as music director of Opera Workshop. She has served as coach and rehearsal pianist for the Des Moines Metro Opera and Sylvan Opera. Ms. Scurto-Davis spent the last 5 summers in Tuscany coaching students of The Florence Voice Seminar, and is pleased to have played a role in this year’s inaugural season of the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College.
At the University level, Ms. Scurto-Davis served on the faculty at Temple University (1995-2002), teaching vocal literature and diction, coaching main-stage productions, and serving as coach and accompanist for senior and graduate student vocal recitals. Ms. Scurto-Davis currently acts as coach and music director of opera productions at Swarthmore College. She is a faculty member of Westminster Choir College where she teaches diction classes and continues her role as coach and accompanist.
ALLISON VOTH is a well-known coach in New York and Boston. As répétiteur and/or diction coach she has worked with such companies as Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, Opera Providence, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Aperta, Verismo Opera of New Jersey, Boston Baroque and Opera North. Festivals include: Opera Unlimited, the Florence Vocal Seminar and the Athens Music Festival. Ms. Voth, fast becoming recognized for her supertitles, has written titles for Opera Boston, Boston Baroque, Granite State Opera, and Opera Providence, and Boston University 's Opera Institute. Ms.Voth is currently Principal Coach for Boston University's Opera Institute, and teaches English and French diction for both Boston University and The Boston Conservatory. As a champion of new music, Ms. Voth has performed and assisted in many premieres with Alea III, Collage New Music, The New Music Consort, The Group for Contemporary Players and the National Orchestral Association New Music Project. She is a specialist in the music and literature of Paul Bowles, and produced and performed a multi-media performance entitled, Paul Bowles: One Man, Two Voices at Merkin Hall, New York. The EOS Ensemble consequently invited her to partake in their Paul Bowles Festival in New York where she premiered a set of piano preludes. Ms. Voth can be heard on CRI recordings.
DANIELLE ORLANDO is currently the Principal Opera Coach at The Curtis Institute of Music and serves as Master Coach on the music faculty of The Academy of Vocal Arts.
Ms. Orlando has collaborated with renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti as accompanist, judge, and artistic coordinator for all of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competitions. She also spent nine seasons working with Gian Carlo Menotti for the Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy as an assistant conductor and coach, in addition to editing several of his compositions.
Ms. Orlando is associated with a long list of opera companies, festivals, and young artist programs which include the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Washington Opera (where she has collaborated with Placido Domingo), Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Company of Philadelphia (Artistic Administrator), Pittsburgh Opera, Portland Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Festival dei due Mondi in Charleston, South Carolina, American Institute for Music Studies in Graz, Austria, European Center for Vocal Arts in Belgium, the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera , workshops in Mexico (Curso Intensivo de Perfeccionamiento de Opera) and New Jersey Opera Theater.
Ms. Orlando began her piano studies at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and continued at the Eastman School of Music in New York. She earned a Master of Music in Piano Performance (summa cum lauda) at Temple University where she has been named to The Gallery of Success.
She regularly accompanies internationally recognized artists and has performed on Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Live by Request on A&E, the Rosie O’Donnell Show and Larry King Live accompanying celebrities Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, and Michael Bolton. Most recently Ms. Orlando accompanied tenor Marcello Giordani in recital at the Supreme Court of the United States.
MARTHA COLLINS made her directorial debut with the highly praised production of Floyd's Susannah for Opera Mozart in New Jersey, where she has directed The Elixir of Love and where she will direct Don GIovanni in the fall of 2003. She has directed Tosca and Lucia di Lamermoor with New Jersey Verismo Opera, and Il Tabarro and Amahl and th Night Visitors with Opera North in Philadelphia. She returns this fall to direct The Underground Railroad. Her teaching credits include Masterclasses in acting at Swarthmore College, the 'Acting for Singers' class at Manitoba University and the JSANO summer voice program a Northern College in Ontario. his fall she will direct three one-act operas at New York University, where she will also teach acting for singers. In January 2004, she will be the drama coach for Sarasota Opera's Apprentice Program.
Ms. Collins gained much acclaim in her native Canada both as concert and operatic performer. She has appeared with many opera companies including the Canadian Opera Company, Festival Ottawa, Calgary Opera, Prarie Opera, Opera Lyra and Toronto's Opera in Concert in such roles as Mimi in La Boheme, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, the Countess in Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Miss Jessel in Turn of he Screw, Alice Ford in Falstaff, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Galatea in Acis and Galatea, and the title role in Massenet's Sapho.
Her television appearances include Micaela in the controversial Pinitilie production of Carmen with the Vancouver Opera and she was chosen to perform for Prince Charles and Princess Diana a the opening gala of the World Expo in Vancouver, also televised.
She has been heard on CBC's Arts National in numerous recitals, as well as in oraorio and concerts with the Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary Symphonies and Ottawa's Thirteen Strings in such repertoire as The Messiah, Elijah by Mendelssohn, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Second Symphony, Barber's Knoxville, Benedicite by Vaughn Williams and excerpts from Alban Berg's Wozzeck.
Martha Collins was a finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where she represented Canada, and can be seen in Norman Jewison's film Moonstruck in the role of Mimi.
Conductor MARCO BALDERI has served as assistant to important conductors such as C. Abbado, R. Chailly, C.M. Giulini, H. von Karajan, J. Levine, Z. Metha, R. Muti, W. Sawallisch, at the most important European Theatres including the Teatro Comunale, Florence, the Salzburg Festival and the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
From 1992 to 1996 he was the Chorus Master at the Teatro Comunale, Florence, with which he carried out more than 270 productions including the Italian première of "Moses und Aaron" ( Schoenberg ) with Z. Metha, "The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" ( Shostakovich ) and "Fierrabras" ( Schubert ) with S. Bychkov.
His carrier as orchestral conductor was affirmed when he won the International Competitions of Salzburg, Besancon and Alessandria, begining an intense activity which has taken him to Austria, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Spain and Switzerland, conducting the following orchestras:
Radio France, NSO of Boston, the RAI Symphony Orchestras of Milan, Rome and Turin, the Swiss-Italian Radio-TV Orchestra, the Taiwan and Nijgata Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, The Theatre Orchestras of Cagliari, Roma, Bologna and Verona, the Moskow Radio-TV Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Vienna European Orchestra, the Bucharest Radio-TV Orchestra, the Choral and Orchestral Ensembles of the National Accademy ( S. Cecilia ) in Rome, the Padova and Veneto Chamber Orchestra, the Nantes and Toulon Symphony Orchestras, the Mediterranea Orchestra, the Baltic Philarmonic Orchestra, the Symhpnic Pro-Arte Orchestra, the Orchestra Internationale d'Italia, the Theatre Orchestra of Messina, the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, the Lucca Theatre Orchestra of Giglio, the Spanish Campordà Orchestra, the Nerliner deutches Oper Orchester, the St. Gellen Symphoniker Orkester, the Philarmonic Orchestra of Bucharest, the Niedersachsische Jugendsinfonieorchester of Germany, the Piemontese Regional Orchestra, the Lecce Symphonic Orchestra, ...
He also has an intense activity as pianist-conductor with concert tours in Spain, Taiwan, France, Japan, korea 8 concertos for piano and orchestra-Mozart ); numerous Lieder Recitals with Pietro Ballo, Josè Cura, Ghena Dimitrova, Barbara Frittoli, Nicolai Gedda, Giuseppe Giacomini, Nicola Martinucci, Mariana Nicolesco, Luciano Pavarotti, ... For twelve years he has been invited to Japan as Artistic Director of the Ongakoyoku Festival in Nijgata, and in this capacity he has directed the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago for two years, the Fiesolano Summer Festival in 1998 and the first San Severo Music Festival in Puglia. Recently he has been designated Artistic Director of the Verona Philarmonic Orchestra.
Of his latest engagements, the most important are his acclaimed conducting of Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, two triumphant concerts, respectively in the prestigeous Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow with the Russian National Orchestra and in Danzig ( Poland ) with the Baltic Philarmonic Orchestra; the conducting of Don Giovanni, Bucharest,14performances of Bohème at the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome, Il Matrimonio segreto, Toulon and Arlecchino-Gianni Schicchi- Don Giovanni, Messina.
SCOTT HOERL, administrator, is a native of Delaware. He majored in voice at the University of Delaware, the Vienna Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria and attended a summer program at the Britten/Pears School of Music in Aldeburgh, England.
Scott Hoerl is currently director of Westminster Conservatory of Music, with a student population of 2,700 students and over 130 faculty. In addition, he is director of Westminster Choir College’s Continuing Education Program, which offers courses for adults, as well as special summer residential programs for middle school and high school students.
NANCY FROYSLAND HOERL, coach and administrator, is an accomplished soprano, who has performed leading operatic roles in Austria, Minnesota, Pennsylavania, Maryland and Delaware. While studying lieder and opera at the Conservatory of music in Vienna, Austria, she created the lead role in Der Krach im Ofen , which premiered at the Theater an der Wien. A recepient of the International Professional Exchange, Ms. Hoerl presented a recital an all-American recital in St. Cecilia Hall at the University of Edinburgh. She was a founding member of the award-winning Grand Chamber Players, performing at the Grand Opera House in Wimington, Del. And is a frequent guest at the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, where she appears with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She appears regularly with the Westminster Community Orchestra. Ms. Hoerl presented a recital in Paris as part of the Atelier Series, and was the featured soprano soloist at the Moramus Singers Mozart Festival last June in Barbados. Ms. Hoerl is an assistant professor in voice at Westminster Choir College.
GIOVANNA PIERONI, our Italian teacher, was born in Pisa and has lived in Florence for 25 years. She has dedicated herself to teaching children for 15 years, then received her degree in the Italian Language and Literature. She has taught these disciplines for 11 years in Florence. At the Macchiavelli Institue in Florence, she got her degree in teaching Italian to foreigners. She is currently teaching Italian Literature at the Giuseppe Peano Institute in Florence.
