Katherine Ciesinski
Professor of Voice
KCiesinski@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1412
The New York Times has called Katherine Ciesinski “a singer of rare communicative presence, and a musician of discrimination and intelligence.” This accomplished American mezzo-soprano pursues a fully integrated career, exploring the world of today’s composers as well as the established classics of the lyric stage.
Major operatic credits include three Metropolitan Opera productions: Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle) and Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and most recently Comtesse de Coigny (Andrea Chenier); Cassandre (Les Troyens) at Covent Garden and Adalgisa (Norma) with Scottish Opera; Laura (La Gioconda), Waltraute (Ring cycle), and Dulcinée (Don Quichotte) with San Francisco Opera; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) and Hansel (Hansel und Gretel) with Dallas Opera; Kabanicha (Katya Kabanova), Mère Marie (Carmélites), Adelaide (Arabella), Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare) with Houston Grand Opera; Xerxes (title role), Diana (La Calisto), Herodias (Salome), Ottavia (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), and Countess Geschwitz in the American premiere of the completed three act version of Lulu with Santa Fe Opera. World premieres of Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Houston), Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers (Dallas), Maurice Ohana’s La Celestine (title role, Paris Opera), Girolamo Arrigo’s Il Ritorno di Casanova (Geneva), Param Vir’s Snatched by the Gods (Amsterdam and Munich) have been critically acclaimed, as have her Giulietta in Brussels, BrangŠne in Toronto, Judith in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Eboli in Madrid and La Favorite in Paris.
In the recent seasons she has performed the world premiere of The End of the Affair by Jake Heggie with Houston Grand Opera, which was broadcast nationally on NPR’s World of Opera. She has also appeared as Herodias in Salome (Fort Worth), Aunt Cecilia March in her sixth production of Mark Adamo’s delightful Little Women (Mexico City), as Effie Belle Tate in Carlisle Floyd’s masterpiece Cold Sassy Tree (Opera Omaha), and as the Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Opera Theater of Saint Louis and Hawaii Opera Theater). She sang song cycles of Prokofiev and Shostakovich in a multi-media concert entitled The St. Petersburg Legacy with Da Camera of Houston at the Bard Music Festival in New York and again in New Haven. She made her opera directing debut in 2007 with Handel’s Flavio for the Moores Opera Center / Ars Lyrica Houston and returned to direct Britten’s The Turn of the Screw in 2008. She will sing Aunt Cecilia March n her seventh production of Marc Adamo’s Little Women, for Delaware Opera in May of 2008.
Ms. Ciesinski has also performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Symphonies of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston and Toronto; and in Europe, with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, L’Orchestre de Paris, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. She has been heard in recital across the United States and in Paris, Cologne, Zurich, Milan and at the Aix-en-Provence, Geneva, Spoleto and Salzburg Festivals. Her contemporary chamber music activities have included performances at the Caramoor Festival, New York; Musica Festival, Strasbourg; Ars Musica Festival, Brussels; Festival d’Automne, Paris; Voix Nouvelles, Fondation Royaumont; Schlern International Festival in Italy, and with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris.
Katherine Ciesinski’s opera recordings include the title roles in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, conducted by Armin Jordan (Erato), Regina, with John Mauceri (London/Decca), Sapho, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling (Radio France), the role of Siegrune in Cleveland Orchestra’s Die Walküre, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi (London/Decca), and the role of Sonia in War and Peace, conducted by Msitislav Rostropovich (Erato). She received a Grammy nomination for her Paulina in The Queen of Spades with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony (BMG). Recent releases include Aunt Cecilia March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Ondine), Sofia Ivanova in Tod Machover’s Resurrection (Albany) and Alt Solistin in Kurt Weill’s Die Bürgschaft (EMI). Les Noces with Robert Craft and Pribaoutki with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (Music Masters), Carter’s Syringa (Bridge), along with world premiere recordings of Brian Ferneyhough’s On Stellar Magnitudes and Antoine Bonnet’s Nachtstrahl in Paris, number among her choral and chamber music releases. Lieder recordings include Rorem’s Women’s Voices (CRI), Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses (Columbia), and songs of Dvorak, Alma Mahler and Clara Schumann (Leonarda).
One of the few master performers to also become a master teacher, Ms. Ciesinski is a frequent clinician at the annual International Symposium on Care of the Professional Voice in Philadelphia. She created the Vocal Workshop for the annual International Composition Seminar at the Royaumont Foundation in France, and the vocal chamber institute Close Encounters for the Texas Music Festival. She continues to lecture in and serve on the steering committee for the University of Texas School of Public Health’s Healthcare and the Arts Series, and is on the international faculty of the Artescénica Encuentro Operistico in Mexico. Her recent students have achieved performing successes in Europe and South America, as well as in the apprentice programs of the Santa Fe, St Louis, Chicago Lyric, Seattle, Los Angeles, Central City, San Francisco, Orlando, Fort Worth, and Des Moines Metro Operas and serve on the faculties of Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, San Jose State, Sam Houston State, Houston Baptist, and Texas Southern Universities. Other former students are also active in a wide range of repertoire from early music to world premieres, with the Boston Early Music and Tanglewood Music Festivals as recent examples. She continues to act as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and is currently Professor of Music and the immediate past Chair of Voice Studies at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. She will join the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in August of 2008.
Associate Professor of Voice
kcowdrick@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1501
Trained as a speech and voice pathologist, Kathryn Cowdrick is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and received her master's degree cum laude in speech and voice pathology from Columbia University. She studied at Juilliard with the American Opera Center. She was honored with Penn State’s Outstanding Alumni Award from the School of Arts and Architecture in 2004. Miss Cowdrick teaches studio voice and graduate vocal pedagogy and is a contributor and adjudicator for Classical Singer Magazine. She frequently gives master classes on performance pedagogy and vocal health.
She began her career when awarded an Adler Fellowship with the San Francisco Opera and went on to appear in many roles with the company that include Meg Page in Falstaff, Paulina in Pique Dame, Siebel in Faust, and in their productions Die Walkure, Die Zauberflöte, , Il Ritorno di Ulysse, Romeo et Juliette, Manon , Der Rosenkavalier, Il Turco in Italia, and The Medium. She was well known for her elegant portrayals of Rossini heroines, and made her European debut at the Netherlandse Opera as Rosina in Dario Fo's controversial production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She went on to sing Rosina and the title roles in both L'Italiana Algeri,Le Comte Ory and La Cenerentola for companies that include Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera’s tour, the Merola program, Vancouver Opera, Cologne Opera, L'Opera de Marseilles, Chautauqua, Kentucky Opera, Utah Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Opera Memphis and New York City Opera.
Cowdrick can be heard as Charmian on the New World Record's 1984 Grammy Award winning recording of Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, recorded live at the Spoleto Festival where she also appeared in Ken Russell's televised production of Madama Butterfly. She performed Karolka in Jenufa with the Opera Orchestra of New York, which was recorded live from Carnegie Hall on Grammaphone Bis. She is featured on the Eastman Opera Theatre recording of Bon Appetit/This is the Rill- an operatic monologue by Lee Hoiby and Julia Child –for Albany Records. She also performed the piece for Julia Child’s induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
In addition to her teaching duties, she is in demand as one of today's foremost singing actresses, appearing in the Merry Wives of Windsor for Washington Opera, Return to Mecca for Wexford Festival Ireland, Sweeney Todd for the Princeton Festival and Augusta Opera, The Daughter of the Regiment for Kentucky and Arizona Opera, Eugene Onegin for Tulsa and Kentucky Opera, The Ballad of Baby Doe for Augusta Opera, Little Women and the Pirates of Penzance for Fort Worth Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte and A Little Night Music for Wildwood Festival ,Falstaff with Opera Illinois, Katya Kabanova for Los Angeles Opera and Postcard from Morocco for Opera Festival of NJ.
Appearances since 2002 include the title role in The Medium for Eastman Opera Theatre, The Mikado and Le Nozze di Figaro for New York City Opera and Opera New Jersey, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro Arizona and Utah Opera, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel for Augusta Opera, Berta for Florentine Opera's Il Barbiere di Siviglia , Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance for Lake George and Chautauqua Opera, the Marquise in Le Fille du Regiment for Kentucky , Arizona and Lake George Opera, Il Matrimonio Segreto, Gianni Schicci/Buoso’s Ghost , Candide and the professional premiere of Our Town for Lake George Opera, Madama Butterfly for Artpark and Mercury Opera Rochester, and the title role of Orfeo for Opera Memphis and Ballet.
Russell Miller (개인 렛슨선생 선택에서는 제외)
Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching and Repertoire
rmiller@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1495
Pianist Russell Miller has been a coach and teacher of vocal repertoire at Eastman since 1995. He has performed throughout the United States and abroad as soloist and chamber musician, including concert tours to Korea and Hong Kong with tenor Robert White and to Alaska and the former Soviet Union with cellist Stephen Kates. With violist Donald McInnes, he has recorded works of Hindemith and Loeffler on the Kleos Classics label. Notable collaborations include Schubert’s Winterreise with tenor Robert Swensen at the Pierpont Morgan Library, as well as recitals with Jan Opalach, Julia Broxholm, Lynn Blakeslee, Zvi Zeitlin, Susan Shafer, Todd Graber and Marilyn Horne. In October 2012, he was privileged to give the first North American performances of four newly-discovered songs of Claude Debussy with soprano Elizabeth Calleo as part of Eastman’s “Prismatic Debussy” festival organized by ESM Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Marie Rolf. For twelve years he was the musical director for the vocal quartet “SATB”, which performed a wide variety of repertoire from classical chamber pieces to Broadway.
A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Miller studied at the University of Southern California, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School, and holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan. His principal teachers have been Edith Knox, Brooks Smith, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Marshall Williamson, Margo Garrett, Martin Katz, Louis Nagel and Graham Johnson, with additional study in the Alexander Technique with Marilyn Barach. For twelve years he was a staff pianist and faculty member at the summer Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. He also served as pianist and harpsichordist for several professional opera companies, including the Florentine Opera of Milwaukee (Rossini’s La cenerentola and Verdi’s Aïda), Mercury Opera of Rochester (Mozart’s Don Giovanni) and several productions for Eastman Opera Theatre.
Besides his current appointment at Eastman, Dr. Miller has also held faculty positions at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Bowling Green State University, The Ohio State University and Oberlin College Conservatory, and has given master classes at Ithaca College, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the University of Missouri. Thanks to the generosity of ReachOut Kansas, Inc., he enjoys an ongoing relationship with the School of Music of the University of Kansas in Lawrence as a visiting vocal coach and teacher of collaborative piano. In recent summers, he has taught and performed at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI) in British Columbia, and at the International Conducting Workshop and Festival (ICWF) in the Czech Republic.
Jan Opalach
Assistant Professor of Voice
jopalach@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1607
TMr. Opalach is one of America's most versatile performers on the operatic and concert stage today.
He has been a principal artist of the New York City Opera since 1980. He recently had a major critical success singing the title role of G. Verdi’s Falstaff during the 2008 Spring season. Among the roles he has performed with the company are the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Wesener in A. Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten and the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen. He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera (War and Peace), Opera Theater of St. Louis (Nixon in China), Santa Fe Opera (La Boheme), Seattle Opera (Cosi fan tutte), Washington Opera (Cendrillon), Canadian Opera Company (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Netherlands Opera (L’italiana in Algeri), and Sweden's Drottningholm Royal Court Theater (L. Rossi’s Orfeo).
Among the many conductors with whom Mr. Opalach has collaborated are Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Sir Simon Rattle, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Edo de Waart and David Zinman.
He has won the prestigious Walter M. Naumburg Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, International Vocalisten Concours of s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, as well as a National Endowment for the Arts Soloist Recital Grant.
Robert Swensen
Associate Professor of Voice
rswensen@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1492
Robert Swensen received his BM from the University of Arizona and graduated MM cum laude from the University of Southern California. He went on to participate in the San Francisco Opera's Merola program and to have contracts with the Gaertnerplatz theatre in Munich, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He won first prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and presented his NY debut recital in 1987. He has received prizes in other contests that include the Premio Giuseppe Borgati Concorso, Italy, the ARD Munich Competition, Walter Naumberg competition, the S'Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, the Puccini Foundation and the George London Foundation.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut as George Brown in Boildieu's La Dame Blanche with Renee Fleming and Opera Orchestra of New York under the direction of Eve Queler. He also was a frequent soloist with the Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center appearing in the title role of Il Sogno di Scipione by Mozart. Mr. Swensen can also be seen in Oedipus Rex- both on a recording for RCA and in the film for PBS Great Performances Series created by Julie Taymor. He went on to perform the title role in that opera in productions in Montpellier, Naples and at the Epidarus Ampitheater in Greece with Gerard Depardieu. He appeared on Bavarian Television in both the St. John Passion with the Munich Collegium / Bayerische Rundfunk and Weinachts Oratorium with the Windsbacher Knabenchor under Hans-Friedrich Behringer and the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra. Other international performances include appearances in Rossini’s Mosé for the Teatro La Fenice, Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot for the Wexford Festival Ireland, Mozarts Die Entfuhrung aus den Serail for the Vienna State Opera, the title role in Stravinski’s Edipus Rex for the Teatro di San Carlos in Naples the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Antwerp Opera Belgium, Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pecheures de Perles for the Opera Comique in Paris, Gianetto in Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra in Palermo, the title role in Mozart’s Mitridate at the Tearo Regio Torino and Il Sogno di Scipione , Il Barbiere di Siviglia , Die Zauberflote, L'elisire d'amor for the Bayerische Staatsopera Munich. His concert appearances have included Carmina Burana for the Munich Festival, Elijah at the Herkulessaal Munich, The Creation at Teatro all Roma, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri for the Academie Santa Cecilia, Rome with Wolfgang Sawallish conducting, the Mozart Requiem in Cologne with Gary Bertini conducting and as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion at the Amsterdam Concertebouw Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conducting.
In the United States, Swensen has appeared in Cosi Fan Tutte for Santa Fe Opera and Opera Pacific, Turandot for Arizona and Kentucky Operas, Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the New York City Opera tour and in Don Giovanni and La Boheme for the San Francisco Opera's Western Opera tour. Other contracts include A Midsummer NIght's Dream, The Magic Flute, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Argento's Postcard from Morocco for the Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sweeney Todd for Augusta Opera, The Elixir of Love for Madison Opera and in the title role of the Stage Manager for Lake George Opera's professional premiere of Rorem's Our Town.
A very successful recording artist his extensive discography includes Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalilah and Stravinski's Oedipus Rex for Phillips, and Oedipus Rex for Great Performances on PBS, Schumann's Das Paradies und die Perifor Deutsche Grammophon, the title role in Haydn's Orfeo and the role of Duca D'Ottavio in Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni for L'orfeo records, St. Phar in Adam's Le Postillon de Longemeau and Graf Hugo in Spohr's Faust for Capriccio records, Orff's Trionfo d'Afrodite and Mendelssohn's Elijah for EMI records, the Opera Singer in Werner Eck's
Yolimba and the Bach St. John Passion for BMG/RCA and the tenor arias for the Bach Christmas Oratorio for Teldec . A passionate enthusiast of song literature, Mr. Swensen has recorded an album of songs by Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, Grieg and Alfven for Encore Records, Breath in a Ram’s Horn - Songs of Daniel Asia for Summit Records, Once in a Dream – Songs of Alfven, Grieg Sibelius and Rachmaninoff for Capriccio Records, Night and Dreams – Songs of Franz Schubert with James Day, guitar for ClearNote records and will soon be releasing a CD of Lieder by Schumann (Kernerliederand the Dichterliebe) partnered by pianist Paula Fan.
Swensen is devoted to the performance of lieder and has been featured often in the Faculty Artist Series of Eastman School as well as in numerous master class – recital series in the United States and in Europe. He presented a Schwabacher debut recital for the San Francisco Opera series and was a frequent guest of Herman Prey in the Schubertiade performances in both NYC and in Vienna.
Swensen was an Assistant professor of voice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music (1996-97) , an Associate professor of voice at the University of Arizona School of Music and Dance (1997-2001) and has been a member of the Eastman School of Music faculty since 2001. He is a frequent adjudicator for NATS, Concert Artist Guild, Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions and the Classical Singer Magazine convention where he has presented yearly master classes on the pedagogy involved in training of the young male voice.
Carol Webber
Professor of Voice
cwebber@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1502
BM, Oberlin Conservatory. Member of Bach Aria Group (1986-91); recordings on Musical Heritage. Twenty-five year performance career, contracts with Metropolitan Opera, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Miami, and numerous regional opera companies. Soloist with Houston, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Oregon, and Oakland symphonies among others. Opened 50th anniversary Tanglewood season with Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Frequent appearances in Merkin Hall's "Music Today" series, Alice Tully Hall, and 92nd St. Y. Former artist-in-residence at University of Washington and SUNY-Stony Brook. Master classes in Munich, Boston, Nova Scotia, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, North Carolina, the Mannes School, and on WQXR radio in New York City. Opening master class presenter, International Vocal Congress in Vancouver, B.C. Adjudicator, various vocal competitions. Faculty member, Oberlin Conservatory (1986-91); Eastman (1991-).
Benton Hess (개인 렛슨선생 선택에서는 제외)
Distinguished Professor of Voice
bhess@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1505
BM, graduate studies, New England Conservatory; conducting studies with Felix Wolfes and Boris Goldovsky; baroque performance practice with Daniel Pinkham; piano with Lucille Monaghan and Herman Godes; vocal diction with John Moriarty. Assistant Conductor, Opera Orchestra of New York (1976-2002). Conducting work with Arkansas Opera Theater, Augusta Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Minnesota Opera, New York Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of Rochester, Washington Summer Opera, numerous other companies. Private vocal coach in Boston and New York City with clients including Nicolai Gedda, Eleanor Steber, and Renee Fleming. Master classes in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Adjudicator for Metropolitan Opera regional auditions. Faculty member, Boston Conservatory of Music (1970-73); Boston University (1969-74); Hartt School of Music (1984-88); Mannes College of Music (1987-94); Rutgers University (1991-94); Marion Stedman Covington Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1994-2000); conductor and vocal coach, International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv (1994-2000); Musical Director, Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival, Urbania, Italy (2000-); Musical Director, Tacoma (WA) Opera (1996-); Visiting professor of vocal repertory, Eastman (1999-2000); faculty member, Eastman (2001-).
CHRISTINA BALSAM CURREN
Vocal Coach
Assistant Professor of German & German Lyric Diction
Affiliate Faculty, Voice and Opera
ccurren@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1125
Biography
Christina Balsam Curren, a native of California, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of California at Davis. She continued her studies in piano chamber music, vocal accompanying, opera coaching, German diction, early music performance practice, and voice at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, where she also taught for one year in the Opera School. This was followed by a seven-year engagement as repertory coach at the Niedersächsische Staatsoper in Hannover, Germany.
Professor Curren’s extensive freelance coaching, vocal and instrumental accompanying, and accompanying for diverse choral groups, opera workshops, and voice studios have spanned four decades and two continents. She has performed in various capacities and given classes in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, England, and the United States. Since 1989 Curren has taught at the Eastman School of Music, where she is Assistant Professor of German Lyric Diction and a vocal coach, and also teaches German language courses. Her special area of interest, and the main focus of her work with students, is the relationship of expressive language to communicative singing.
ALISON D’AMATO
Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching, part time
agdamato@florestanproject.org
Biography
Pianist Dr. Alison d’Amato is a dynamic and versatile musician, committed to performing and teaching in the full spectrum of collaborative musical genres. A valued member of several pioneering organizations, she is Artistic Co-Director of Florestan Recital Project (www.florestanproject.org) and co-founder of the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI, www.songinstitute.ca). Among her current initiatives is the Academy for Collaborative Performance, a new summer program with Florestan Recital Project that explores interdisciplinary collaborations and new approaches to the performer-audience relationship. In all these activities, Alison is dedicated to energizing the relationships and communication inherent in music.
As both a pianist and teacher, Alison has developed several projects that explore interdisciplinary collaborations among artists, including projects with musicologists, composers, writers, and dancers. In 2011, she co-created the Art Song Lab, a partnership between VISI and the Canadian Music Centre which presents new works in collaboration with composers, poets, and audiences. From 2007-2010 she coordinated Florestan Recital Project’s position of Musical-Artists-in-Residence at Dickinson College, which included a wide variety of concerts and classroom activities that engaged the entire college community in the richness of song repertoire. In 2011, she was part of a collaboration between Florestan and Maine State Ballet, presenting “The Poet’s Love,” a highly-acclaimed original presentation of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with choreography.
Alison has been a guest artist at The AmBul Festival (Sofia, Bulgaria), SOURCE Song Festival, Boston Conservatory, Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, SUNY Fredonia, and Dickinson College. In addition to traditional masterclasses in collaborative repertoire, Alison has shared classes with colleagues in Humanities, musicology, poetry, composition, and performance disciplines. From 2006-2011, she was Visiting Assistant Professor at University at Buffalo, working directly with colleagues to create and enhance collaborations and chamber activities in the music department. In 2011, she joined the faculty at Eastman School of Music as Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching.
Recent recording projects include the 2014 Naxos release of Music for Violin and Piano by Joseph Achron with violinist Michael Ludwig, and an ongoing project of Early Songs of Samuel Barber (Florestan Records). Alison has received rave reviews for her work with Toronto’s Opera In Concert as pianist and music director for Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux and Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, after her lauded 2006 music directorial debut with OIC in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmelites that featured soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. Upcoming recitals include “Samuel Barber in Words and Music” at the Schubert Club Museum (St. Paul, MN), concerts with the Buffalo Chamber Players, and recitals with soprano Tony Arnold, violinist Amy Glidden, and saxophonist Wildy Zumwalt.
Alison received the Grace B. Jackson Prize from Tanglewood Music Center in 2002 acknowledging her ‘extraordinary commitment of talent and energy.’ Alison attended Oberlin College and Conservatory, and earned a double Master of Music degree in solo and collaborative piano from Cleveland Institute of Music. In May 2007, she received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from New England Conservatory of Music.
ANTHONY DEAN GRIFFEY
Professor of Voice
tgriffey@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1503
Biography
Four-time Grammy Award-winning American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey has captured critical and popular acclaim on opera, concert and recital stages around the world. The combination of his beautiful and powerful lyric tenor voice, gift of dramatic interpretation and superb musicianship have earned him the highest praise from critics and audiences alike.
In a career spanning 20 years, Griffey has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Bastille, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, San Diego Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Opera Australia; as well as made operatic appearances at the Glyndebourne, Bregenz, Glimmerglass, Mostly Mozart, Saito Kinen and Aspen festivals.
With an operatic repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Britten, Griffey is best known for his interpretation of the title role in Peter Grimes, which he has sung all over the world. Of his first performance of the role at the Tanglewood Festival in 1996, Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe observed that “Griffey…boasts a lyric tenor voice of uncommon beauty of timbre, resourceful technique, genuine musical and dramatic imagination and superb English diction.” The New York Times proclaimed that in his most recent performance of the role at Carnegie Hall with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson, Griffey “again proved himself one of the most courageous actors in opera today.” His 2008 performance at the Met was broadcast in HD and has been released on DVD (a recording from his performance at Glyndebourne in 2001 has also been released on CD).
Another role in which Griffey has drawn singular acclaim is Lennie in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, which he has sung at the Glimmerglass Festival, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera (a performance of which was recorded for Albany Records- to date the only extant commercial recording of Floyd’s 1969 opera), San Diego Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Australia and the Bregenz Festival. Of his 1998 performances at New York City Opera, Newsday noted that “Griffey’s singing is as lordly as his character is dispossessed… Lennie’s curse is heavy-handedness – he crushes everything he loves – but Griffey touches soft, high notes with the gentlest caress.” For his 2011 performances in Australia (during which he performed in both Sydney and Melbourne) Griffey was presented with the Helpmann Award for Best Male Operatic Performance.
Other notable roles in Griffey’s repertoire are Jimmy in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera (for which he won two Grammy Awards following the release of the recording in 2009) and the Edinburgh Festival; Mitch in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire (which was composed specifically for him) at San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Washington National Opera; Sam Polk in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah (at the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Opera Philadelphia and Florentine Opera.
A celebrated concert performer, Griffey sings a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to Schoenberg, Janáček, Mahler and Stravinsky. He appears regularly with many distinguished international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Halle Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland at the Concertgebouw, and the NJK Symphony Orchestra and Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan. He has also appeared in the world’s most prominent festivals including the BBC Proms and the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Aspen Music, Edinburgh, Lanaudière, and Saito Kinen festivals. The list of acclaimed conductors he has worked with includes James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Donald Runnicles, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andre Previn, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, Michael Tilson Thomas, Edo de Waart, Mark Wigglesworth, Jaap van Zweden, and David Zinman.
An avid recitalist, Griffey made his Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall recital debut in 2004, where André Previn composed and dedicated a song cycle for him and accompanied him on the piano. Griffey has also been presented with his long-time pianist and collaborator Warren Jones by many prestigious recital series throughout the U.S. including San Francisco Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Schubert Club in Saint Paul, North Carolina School of the Arts, Music Academy of the West, Music for a Great Space in Greensboro, the George London Foundation, Old Dominion University and at the Cleveland Art Song, Ravinia and Marlboro festivals. In the spring of 2006 he had the distinction of being invited to perform a recital at the Supreme Court of the United States by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
A four time Grammy-winning recording artist, Mr. Griffey’s extensive DVD and compact disc recordings include the Metropolitan Opera’s Peter Grimes (EMI Classics) the Los Angeles Opera’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Euroarts), the Metropolitan Opera’s Tristan und Isolde (DG/Universal); the San Francisco Opera’s A Streetcar Named Desire (video on Image Entertainment and audio on DG), Taylor’s Peter Ibbetson with the Seattle Symphony (Naxos), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media), Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic (New York Philharmonic), and the Tonhalle Orchestra (RCA); Britten’s War Requiem with Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO); Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Seiji Ozawa (Philips); I Lombardi with James Levine (Decca/London); Amy Beach’s Cabildo (Delos); and Of Mice and Men with the Houston Grand Opera (Albany). He has also been featured as an Artist of the Week on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts. Mr. Griffey’s most recently collaborated with classical guitarist Joseph Pecoraro on a solo Christmas album entitled This Little Light that was released in October 2012 (Cgs Enterprises).
From 2009 to 2012 Griffey served as Professor of The Practice at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and from 2012 to 2014 he held the position of Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina – School of the Arts. He has given masterclasses all over the United States, including at Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Festival, where Griffey has also served on the voice faculty.
Griffey is a regular judge at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has also appeared on the judging panel for the Kneisel competition, Eleanor McCollum competition and the NATS National Students competition.
In addition to his degree from the Eastman School of Music, Griffey holds degrees from Wingate University and the Juilliard School, where he received the Advanced Certificate, and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program.
Active in many charitable efforts, Griffey serves on the boards of the Open Door Shelter for the homeless and the Mental Health Associates of the Triad in his hometown of High Point, N.C., raising money and giving benefit concerts for those causes. He is also on the advisory board for Glimmerglass Opera.
JONATHAN RETZLAFF
Associate Professor of Voice
jretzlaff@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1506
BiographyWorks / Publications
Following his New York debut recital of French mélodies at Carnegie Recital Hall, the lyric baritone Jonathan Retzlaff has championed the art of the song recital on prestigious concert series including the National Gallery of Art, and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; the A. I. Lack Music Master Series at the University of Houston, Texas; and the Bechstein Recital Series in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has also performed on the Community Concert Series under the auspices of Columbia Artists Management, on National Public Radio, and at colleges and universities spanning the country. Dr. Retzlaff was a semi-finalist in the Elly Ameling Lied Concours held in The Hague, The Netherlands and the Walter W. Naumburg Vocal Competition in New York.
Dr. Retzlaff’s extensive recital background is enhanced by a wide range of opera/operetta roles including, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Paquillo in La Perichole, Fredrik in A Little Night Music and the Marquis in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, among others. His current and former students have performed at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Opéra Bastille, Teatro La Fenice –Venice, Teatro Regio – Parma, Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, St. Louis Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Texas Chamber Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Ohio Light Opera, Astoria Music Festival, Amato Opera, Cantiamo Opera, Lincoln Center Summer Music Festival, Sarasota Opera, Berkshire Opera, Chicago Chamber Opera, Breckenridge Musical Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, Indianapolis Opera, Sacramento Opera, Connecticut Opera, the Spoleto Festival (USA).
His students have been winners of Regional, National and International voice competitions. Baritone Ben Edquist was winner of the 2014 Lotte Lenya International Voice Competition. His students have been admitted to graduate programs at The Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Indiana University at Bloomington, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. Dr. Retzlaff has served as a Master Teacher for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program, as an adjudicator for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, and as the Tennessee Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dr. Retzlaff was awarded the Blair School of Music’s 2011 Faculty Excellence Award. He is also the author of Exploring Art Song Lyrics, published by Oxford University Press in May 2012. Dr. Retzlaff holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Millikin University, the Master of Music degree from Wichita State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University.
