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.
2027 Faculty
- Doug Biggs, Composer
- Judith Fein, Librettist
- Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, Program Director
Please check back as we will be announcing our Music Director and Stage Director soon.
2026 Faculty
- Susan Shiplett Ashbaker, Director
- Michael Ching, Composer/Librettist
- Max Brey, Conductor/Music Director
- Chad Sonka, Stage Director
- Nikolay Verevkin, Pianist
- Brandy Lee Hatcher, Production Stage Manager
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
- Miriam Charney
- 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
- Evan Mack
- Anthony Manoli
- Sean McCarther
- Josh McGuire
- 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
- Copeland Woodruff
- Darren Keith Woods
- Margaret Cusack
- Nikolay Verevkin
- Ute Mehnert