The CoOPERAtive Program’s faculty artists have been among some of the most sought-after performers, teachers, directors, conductors, and artistic administrators in the operatic world today.  

They have been regularly engaged at such opera companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, The Paris Opera, London’s Covent Garden, Milan’s La Scala, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Philadelphia, Sarasota Opera, and Washington National Opera, among others.

2026 Faculty

  • Michael Ching, Composer/Music Director
  • Mark Craig, Stage Director
    • Overheard has been commissioned by the Taos Opera Institute, Mark Craig General Director, for their 20th anniversary in 2028.
  • Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, Program Director
  • Nikolay Verevkin, Pianist
Biographies

Michael Ching is a composer, librettist, and songwriter. His 2013 opera, SPEED DATING TONIGHT! has been performed over 150 times since its 2013 premiere, making it one of the most popular operas of the 21st century. His work-in-progress, OVERHEARD, is his third project in the flexible, modular structure of SPEED DATING. Michael also writes works with traditional storytelling, such as his 2024 opera NOTES ON VIARDOT, which will be performed by Baylor University in November during the Texoma NATS conference. Michael is also known for his GIANNI SCHICCHI sequel, BUOSO'S GHOST, which has been performed by companies such as Florida Grand Opera, Detroit Opera, OperaDelaware, and McGill University.

Michael studied opera composition with Robert Ward at Duke University and Carlisle Floyd at the Houston Opera Studio. Michael had a thirty-year career as coach, conductor, and administrator with various opera companies, including eighteen years as Artistic Director of Opera Memphis where he conducted many productions.

Michael songs and arrangements, including his ARRANGEMENTS AND DERANGEMENTS OF SCHUBERT and ESSENTIALS (texts by Reg Huston), are published by E.C. Schirmer Classical, where he is also the opera and art song consultant. Michael spent nine years as composer-in-residence at Savannah Voice Festival and is now in that position at Taos Opera Institute.

Michael believes that melody, singing, and characterization have the utmost value in the lyric theater and that opera always has the potential to be loved by a wide group of audiences and performers. Michael affirms the collaborative nature of the operatic art and still learns from performers of all ages, experience, and training.

Dr. Mark Craig, Tenor, hails from Michigan, and assumed the position of General Director of the Taos Opera Institute of New Mexico in 2022. In addition to leading the Young Artist program, he stage-directs the Showcase performance each June and steers various related programming throughout the year. Craig also recently became the Director of Community Engagement and Development for Nouveau Productions, working exclusively with their clients, The American Pops Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and the Symphony of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale. He also served as the Education Director for Opera on the James, working with the Tyler Young Artists, directing and producing mainstage and outreach productions from 2017-2024. Concurrently, Craig served as the Instructor of Voice at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia from 2017-2024.

Craig graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s in Voice Performance and a Master’s in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in 2023. His most recent recital appearances include performances of Schubert’s epic song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin, and Fauré’s, La Bonne Chanson. In November of 2023 and April of 2024, Dr. Craig traveled to Germany where he performed a recital and presented lectures in a Festival honoring the Romantic composer, Carl Loewe (Halle and Löbejün).
 

2025 Faculty

Past faculty and Master Class presenters have included:

  • Rainier Armbrust
  • Christopher Arneson
  • Thomas Bagwell
  • Ann Baltz
  • Daniel Belcher
  • Kathleen Belcher
  • Sandra Bernhard
  • Deborah Birnbaum
  • Lydia Brown
  • Ennio Brugnolo
  • William Burden
  • Jay Carter
  • Audrey Chait
  • Pei Wen Chen
  • Amanda Consol
  • Steven Crawford
  • Margaret Cusak
  • Kristin Ditlow
  • Joan Dorneman
  • Matthew Epstein
  • Christopher Frisco
  • Brent Funderburk
  • Christine Goerke
  • Robin Guarino
  • William Hobbs
  • Chuck Hudson
  • Amy Hutchinson
  • Ellen Jackson
  • Warren Jones
  • Martin Katz
  • Kathleen Kelly
  • Hemdi Kfir
  • Yelena Kurdina
  • Tesia Kwarteng
  • Gina Lapinski
  • Anthony Manoli
  • Sean McCarther
  • James Mitchell
  • Matthew Owaza
  • J.J. Penna
  • Matthew Polenzani
  • Laura Brooks Rice
  • Craig Rutenberg
  • Debra Scurto-Davis
  • Ulrike Shapiro
  • Stephanie Sundine
  • Erika Switzer
  • Nova Thomas
  • Pierre Vallet
  • Laura Ward
  • Keith Wolfe
  • Brian Zeger
  • Bryan Hymel
  • Tory Browers
  • Irini Kyriakidou Hymel
  • Mark Moliterno
  • Debra Scurto-Davis
  • Laetitia Ruccolo
  • Anna Fré
  • Michelle Eugene
  • Cris Frisco
  • Julia Hanna
  • Jihye Park
  • Johnathon Pape
  • Darren Keith Woods
  • Margaret Cusack
  • Nikolay Verevkin
  • Ute Mehnert

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