Kristopher Irmiter - Director of the Young Artist Program
The
Director of our Young Artists Program Bass-Baritone Kristopher Irmiter,
has performed in all 50 states and throughout Canada - a favourite with
more than 45 opera companies and numerous orchestras. He has garnered
praise from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times: “his
voice as notable for it’s security and tonal weight as for an abundant
variety of phrasing - excellent, richly expressive - alternately
stentorian and tender” with equal praise of his dramatic skills; “commanding
charismatic stage presence - enough talent to succeed on his acting
ability alone - powerful performance”. With 85 roles in his performed
repertoire, Mr. Irmiter has exhibited a vast range both vocally and
dramatically in performances with San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand
Opera, L’Opéra de Montreal, Houston Grand Opera,
Baltimore Opera, Atlanta Opera, Hawaii Opera, Utah Opera, Austin Lyric
Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa and Arizona Opera among others. We are pleased
that in addition to his administrative responsibilities, Mr Irmiter will
sing the role of the Bonze in our production of Madama Butterfly.
Upcoming performances
include return engagements with San Francisco Opera as Escamillo in
Carmen, Pittsburgh Opera as Lt. Redburn in Billy
Budd, Opera Carolina in the title role of Don Giovanni,
and Atlanta Opera as Rucker Lattimore in Cold Sassy Tree.
Mr. Irmiter will also debut with San Diego Opera in Peter
Grimes. The ‘05-’06 season included return engagements with
Florentine Opera as Don Pizarro in Fidelio and Opera
Columbus as Peter in Hansel & Gretel. He made his
debut with Arizona Opera in the title role of Der Fliegende
Hollander and also bowed as Figaro in Le Nozze di
Figaro with three companies: Toledo Opera, Manitoba Opera,
and Utah Festival Opera. In the previous season he debuted seven new
roles - Don Profundo in Il Viaggio a Reims with
Portland Opera, the title role in Der Fliegende Hollander
with Alaska Opera, the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann
with Opera Lyra Ottawa, and John Proctor in The Crucible
with Utah Festival Opera - and also appeared as Don Alfonso in
Cosi Fan Tutte with Utah Opera.
Phyllis Curtin - soprano & voice teacher
During a singing career that lasted nearly four decades, the
legendary American singer Phyllis Curtin enjoyed successes in a wide
variety of roles (Fiordiligi, Violetta, Salome) on the world’s greatest
opera stages (Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera). She was a
consummate artist who embraced concert and recital repertory as well,
championing new music and the works of American composers. Upon retiring
from singing she became a renowned and sought-after teacher, notably at
Yale and Boston Universities and at the Tanglewood Festival where
her distinguished association has lasted from her student days until the
present. One of her most rewarding and enduring creative relationships was
with American composer Carlisle Floyd for whom she sang the world
premieres of Wuthering Heights, The Passion of
Jonathan Wade, The Flower and the Hawk and, of course, his classic
opera Susannah.
Already a star
of the New York City Opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera
debut in 1961, soprano Phyllis Curtin is remembered both for her
creation of new parts (the title role of Carlisle Floyd's
Susannah, for example) and for her dedication to song
recitals. Her many students from Yale and Boston Universities
perpetuate her influence on the world of singing. Phyllis Curtin
taught at the Aspen School of Music and the Berkshire Music Center
in Tanglewood. After serving as professor of voice at the Yale
University School of Music (1974-1983), she was professor of voice
and dean of the school of the arts at Boston University (from 1983);
in 1992 she retired as its dean but continues to teach there.
Maestro Timothy Vernon - conductor
Maestro
Timothy Vernon is founding Artistic Director of Pacific
Opera Victoria and will conduct our production of Madama
Butterfly. He has led most of its seventy productions since
the company’s inception in 1980. Timothy Vernon is also music
director and principal conductor of Orchestra London, visiting
professor at the University of Western Ontario, and music advisor
for the Hamilton Philharmonic.
Maestro Vernon has conducted opera companies and orchestras in
Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg,
Windsor, London, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, and Halifax.
Of special note was his 2000 performance with the National Arts
Centre Orchestra, conducting Ben Heppner and Pinchas Zukerman in a
gala concert seen on CBC and filmed for worldwide television
distribution. Maestro Vernon also continues his association with the
Edmonton Symphony as music director for the annual Symphony
Under the Sky concerts.
Timothy Vernon studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller at the
Victoria School (now Conservatory) of Music, and then pursued
further studies in Europe, graduating from the Vienna Academy of
Music (now University for Music). Mr. Vernon returned to Canada in
1975, subsequently accepting posts as conductor and music director
of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Canadian
Opera Company's touring company, professor at McGill University,
music director of the McGill Symphony Orchestra, and associate
director of Opera McGill.
While at McGill, he led the McGill Symphony in a critically
acclaimed performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 5, released in
1997 as a CD on the Fonovox label. Maestro Vernon also conducted the
McGill Orchestra in acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln
Center, Roy Thomson Hall, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Le
Grand Théâtre de Québec, and Montréal's Place des Arts. The McGill
Orchestra's recording of Korngold's Symphony in F#, recorded
live in Carnegie Hall in 1990, was nominated for a Juno Award.
Brian Clay Luedloff - stage director
Mr.
Luedloff will be the stage director for our new production of
Madama Butterfly. He has served on the directing staff of
Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Washington National
Opera and Houston Grand Opera. He is presently the director of Opera
Theatre at the University of Northern Colorado.
This season he
directed Cavalleria Rusticana and Gianni Schicchi
for Connecticut Opera, as well as Le Nozze di Figaro for
University of Northern Colorado. Recent seasons have included Amahl
and the Night Visitors and Die Fledermaus for LyriCo,
the light opera company of St. Louis, where he was the founding artistic
director; l’Elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor
for Connecticut Opera; the musicals I Love You, You’re
Perfect, Now Change, and Romance/Romance, and
the comedy All in the Timing for the Opera House at
Boothbay Harbor, Maine; La Bohème
and The Thunder of Horses for Opera Theatre of St. Louis;
Lucia di Lammermoor and La Traviata for
St. Louis’ Union Avenue Opera Theatre; and The Barber of Seville,
The Daughter of the Regiment and Hänsel and Gretel
for Boston Lyric Opera New England. In 2005, Mr. Luedloff served as
Renata Scotto’s associate director for Madama Butterfly for
the Dallas Opera.
Mr. Luedloff made his
Off-Broadway directing debut with Don Thompson’s critically acclaimed
Tibet Does Not Exist; other New York credits include Carter
Allen Winkle’s In The Third Person, and a sell-out
Off-Off-Broadway revival of Martin Sherman’s Bent. While an
MFA Directing Fellow at Boston University’s School for the Arts, he taught
and directed in the School’s renowned Opera Institute and the Theatre Arts
Division.
Claude Corbeil - Bass-Baritone & voice teacher
Renowned bass-baritone Claude Corbeil performed on the operatic and
concert stages of the world for over 39 years. He became best known for
his portrayals of opera’s favorite comedic characters such as Leporello,
Basilio, Figaro, Sulpice, Don Alfonso, Dulcamara, Don Magnifico, Don
Pasquale, Gianni Schicchi and Falstaff. In total, Mr. Corbeil counts over
80 roles in his repertoire.
Mr. Corbeil sang in all the major opera houses and
festivals of the United States and Canada, and internationally in London’s
Covent Garden, Scottish National Opera, Welsh National Opera, throughout
France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South America and Israel.
He shared the stage with Jon Vickers, Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland,
Cornell MacNeil, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, James Morris, Monterrat
Caballe, and Frederica Von Stade. Conductors he worked with include Zubin
Mehta, Richard Bonynge, Wilfrid Pelletier, Charles Munch and Charles
Dutoit.
A frequent recitalist, Monsieur Corbeil gave concerts,
radio and television apperances throughout Canada. In acknowledgment of
his brilliant career, Claude Corbeil was inducted into the Canadian Music
Hall of Fame in December 1997. Retired now from the performing stage, Mr.
Corbeil teaches voice privately, gives Master Classes throughout North
America and in Mexico.
Emily Hamper - pianist & coach
Currently
based in Toronto, Emily Hamper has led an active international career for
over ten years. She will be our rehearsal and concert pianist in Vermont.
She is an alumna of the prestigious Merola Opera Program of the San
Francisco Opera. This season Ms. Hamper returns to the University of
Toronto as a guest coach for The Rape of Lucretia and debuts
this summer at the Green Mountain Opera Festival in Vermont. Previously
she was on the coaching staff at the University of Toronto's Opera
Division and of the International Opera Workshop in the Czech and Slovak
Republics. Currently, she is on the staff of the Canadian Vocal Arts
Institute under the leadership of Joan Dornemann. In 2002, Ms. Hamper
received a Merola Career Grant from the San Francisco Opera to train in
Munich. For four years she lived in Montreal where she coached and
performed with L'Opéra de Montréal, L'Université de Montréal, and the I
Musici Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Hamper has
accompanied master classes given by such renowned artists as Martin Isepp,
Joan Dornemann, Nancy Argenta, Russell Braun, Gerald Finley, Michael
Schade, César Ulloa, and the late Theodore Uppman. Over the years she has
worked with many notable conductors, including Raffi Armenian, Mario
Bernardi, Scott Bergeson, Bernard Labadie, Paul Nadler, and the late Georg
Tintner.
Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds
- pianist & coach
Mary
Jane Austin-Reynolds will be the pianist for the Young Artist Program. She
earned her bachelor's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she
studied under the famous Warren Jones, then pursued her graduate studies
in vocal coaching and accompanying, studying both art song and opera at
Duquesne University. Her opera studies have included working as an
accompanist and coach for six summers at the EPCASO opera program in
Oderzo, Italy. She is sought after as an accompanist for solo recitals
across the country and has performed as soloist with orchestra on numerous
occasions. She currently teaches private piano lessons and music theory at
the Monteverdi Music School in Montpelier and at Johnson State College and
is a regular pianist and vocal coach for the Vermont Opera Theater and
recent performances on Capitol City Concerts and Echo Valley Community
Arts. She is a much sought after accompanist and coach in Vermont and is
married to violist Paul Reynolds.
Taras
Kulish - Bass & Artistic Director
Mr
Kulish is a singer who possesses a large vocal and dramatic range.
He has
sung internationally with opera companies such as the Montreal Opera,
Aspen Opera Theatre, Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton and
Calgary Operas, Manitoba Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Opera Saskatchewan,
Orchestra London, Montreal Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, in the Czech
Republic as well as touring France and Belgium. In France and Belgium, he
sang the title role of Don Giovanni , directed by the famous
film director Gérard Corbiau (FARINELLI). This production was subsequently
broadcast worldwide on TV5 in 2003. His repertoire includes Figaro (Le
Nozze di Figaro), Leporello and the Don (Don Giovanni),
Don Magnifico (Cenerentola), The King (Aida),
Colline (La Bohème), Ferrando (Trovatore),
Basilio (Barber of Seville), Sparafucile (Rigoletto)
and many others. Mr Kulish is also a busy concert singer throughout North
America in the oratorio and recital repertoire. American Festival
performances include Ravinia’s Steans Institute, the Aspen Opera Theatre,
and the Tanglewood Music Festival where Taras sang in the anniversary
production of Peter Grimes
under maestro Seiji Ozawa.
This
season's engagements include a debut with Opera Ontario in the role of
Abimélech
in Samson et Dalilah,
returning to Vancouver
Opera as Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, and returning to
Calgary Opera as Zuniga in Carmen. In the fall of 2007 Taras
proudly returns to Opera Lyra Ottawa in his signature role of Leporello in
Don Giovanni.
Having studied
economics before pursuing his music studies, Mr. Kulish has a strong
passion for the administrative side of the arts. He is founding artistic
director of the Green Mountain Opera Festival and is extremely proud of
it.
