Salvatore Champagne
Associate Professor of Singing
Salvatore.Champagne@oberlin.edu
(440) 775-8175
Educational Background
•Bachelor of Music, Oberlin College, 1985
•Master of Music, Juilliard School, 1987
•Additional study at University of Indiana, Britten-Pears School, Mozarteum ㅋㅋㅋ
Opera Performances (partial listing):
Leading tenor with opera houses throughout Europe, among them:
•Bayerische Staatsopera •Opernhaus Zürich •Teatro Bellini •Opéra du Rhin •Bühnen der Stadt Köln
•Aalto-theater Essen •Staatstheater Darmstadt •Theater der Stadt Heidelberg •Bremer Theater •Landestheater Coburg
Concert Performances (partial listing):
Soloist with orchestras under such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, James Conlon, and Leonard Slatkin, including:
•Cologne Philharmonic •London Philharmonia •Concertgebouw
Awards and Honors:
•International Singing Competition, s'Hertogenbosch (Second Prize)
•Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, Helsinki (Second Prize)
Professional Affiliations:
•National Association of Teachers of Singing •College Music Society •Opera America
Recordings:
•Elias (Mendelssohn); Cologne Philharmonic, James Conlon, conductor (EMI, 1998)
Kendra Colton
Kendra.Colton@oberlin.edu
440) 775-8240
Educational Background
•Bachelor of Music, The Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1983)
•Master of Music (voice), University of Cincinnati (1985)
•Master of Music (piano), University of Cincinnati (1985)
•Additional studies at the Konservatorium und Musik Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland and the Hochschule für Musik, Vienna, Austria
Awards and Honors:
•Naumberg Competition, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists (Finalist) •Alfredo Kraus International Singing Concours (Second Place)
•New York Metropolitan Opera Auditions (First Place, Milwaukee and Cincinnati)
•National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Auditions (Third Place, National Finals) Concert Performances: (partial listing)
Noted soprano soloist with leading orchestras including the Boston, Houston, Indianapolis, National, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco symphonies, Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Premieres: (partial listing)
World premieres of John Harbison´s Aria (Song for a Rainy Day); Andy Vores´ Uncertainty is Beautiful and The Reckless Heart; Mass for a Sacred Place by Stephen Paulus; and Martin Boykan´s Sea Gardens.
Performed Oratorio, Opera, and Orchestral Works: (partial listing)
Operatic engagements have included Mozart´s Il Re Pastore (Aminta) for Boston Lyric Opera and Handel´s Tolomeo (Seleuce) at the International Handel Festival in
Göttingen, Germany. Performances of Bach´s B Minor Mass, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and Christmas Oratorio; Handel´s Messiah, Solomon, and Saul oratorios; Mass in C Minor and Requiem by Mozart; and Haydn´s Lord Nelson Mass.
Teaching Background
•Boston University
•Walnut Hill School for the perfoming arts
•Phillips Exeter Academy
•Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
Daune Mahy
Daune.Mahy@oberlin.edu
(440) 775-8212
Educational Background
•Doctor of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1978
•Master of Science, Westminster College
•Bachelor of Music, Westminster College
•Study with Roza, Berbie, Giardina, Harshaw, D'Angelo, Milanov, Bricht, Miller, Hodam and Davis; additional study, Hamburg Hochschule fur Musik and Academic d'Ete (Nice, France) Musik Seminar (Weimar), Centro Studi (Italy)
Performances:
Appearances with Buffalo Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Nebraska Sinfonia, Akron Symphony, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Toledo Choral Arts Society, Kentucky Opera, Opera Omaha, St. Louis Municipal Opera, John Kenly Players and Rome Festival Orchestra. Recitals in the U.S., Germany, Spain and Italy. Soloist, Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland. Louisville Bach Society.
Professional Affiliations:
Member, Bell'Arte Duo. General director, Nebraska Opera Ensemble; director, Oberlin-in-Italy; co-director, Oberlin Vocal Academy. Faculty, University of Nebraska, Omaha, 1974-80. NATS and Actors Equity.
Lorraine Manz
Lorraine.Manz@oberlin.edu
(440) 775-8209
Educational Background
•Bachelor of Arts, Kalamazoo College, 1975
•Master of Music, University Michigan Ann Arbor, 1977
•Additional studies as a doctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin
Teachers and Master Classes:
Elizabeth Mannion, Elisabeth Mosher, Jan DeGaetani, Adele Addision, Gerhard Hüsch, Gerard Souzay, Flor Wend, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Eugene Bossart, David Garvey
Performances:
Orchestral, oratorio, chamber music, recitals, operatic performaces, and appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, conductor; Lincoln Center, Aspen Music Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, Shreveport Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Walker Arts Center, the Bach Festival Society (Michigan), Round Top Festival, Santa Barbara Symphony, and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Tour of Japan, Hawaii, and Seattle with Inoue Chamber Ensemble. Member, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS); 2006 NATS Master Teacher. Former faculty member, St. Olaf College (1977-82), University of California (1987-93).
Marlene Rosen
Marlene.Rosen@oberlin.edu
(440) 775-8224
Educational Background
•D.Mus.Ed., Temple University, 1964
•M.M., University of Illinois, 1966.
•Additional study, Abbey de Royaumont (France). Study with Richard Miller, Helen Hodam, Margaret Hoswell, Dalton Baldwin, Hugues Cuenod, Yolanda Marculescu, Gerard Souzay and Paul Ulanovsky.
Prizes and Awards:
Winner, Rossana M. Enlow Award for Voice; Metropolitan Opera regional auditions.
Performances:
Soloist with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, Philadelphia Festival Orchestra, University of Evansville Oratorio Society, Canton Symphony and New Music Associates of Cleveland State University. Numerous premieres and performances throughout Midwest with the Plum Creek Chamber Ensemble, the Fischer Duo, and the Ensemble Pierrot. Ensembles in Germany, Holland, Turku Music Festival (Finland) and Beijing (China).
Professional Affiliations:
Former faculty member, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Wisconsin College/Conservatory of Music; Western Reserve Academy; University of Evansville (Indiana), Kenyon College and Eastman School of Music.
Recordings:
Recordings for Bayerische Rundfunk, Nurnberg.
Thomas Bandy
Opera Coach/Musical Coordinator of Opera Productions
E-mail: Thomas.Bandy@oberlin.edu
Office: Robertson 362
(440) 775-8446
Educational Background
BM, Furman University, 2001
BA, Furman University, 2001
MM, University Michigan Ann Arbor, 2007
DMA, University Michigan Ann Arbor, 2007
Thomas Bandy is currently an opera and vocal coach at the Oberlin Conservatoryof Music, where he teaches Italian and German lyric diction. From 2008 until 2011, he was assistant professor of vocal coaching at the University of Oklahoma, where he taught lyric diction and seminars on French mélodie. Bandy was Czech, Russian, and Italian coach at the summer Taos Opera Institute in New Mexico from 2009 until 2011.
During the 2007-2008 school year, he was an assistant professor of collaborative piano at the Oberlin Conservatory, where he directed the vocal and instrumental accompanying programs. During summer 2008, he was pianist and coach at the Richard Miller Vocal Arts Symposium at Oberlin. Bandy finished his doctoral studies in collaborative piano in 2007 at the University of Michigan with Martin Katz. He has played in the voice studios of Shirley Verrett and George Shirley, among many others.
Bandy is an active chamber musician and vocal coach in many languages as well, specializing in Russian and Czech diction and vocal literature. He graduated summa cum laude from Furman University, in South Carolina, in piano and philosophy.
Tim LeFebvre
Associate Professor of Singing
Tim LeFebvre, Associate Professor of Singing
From the subtle physical details of healthy singing to the emotive imagery that gives music meaning, Associate Professor of Singing Tim LeFebvre believes in guiding his students from many perspectives. "I think that one of the most important things when you're teaching voice is to find out how a student learns and then to move forward as a team."
E-mail: Timothy.LeFebvre@oberlin.edu
Office: Bibbins Hall 309
(440) 775-8213
Educational Background
Bachelor of Music, Carnegie Mellon University
Master of Music, Binghamton University
Nationally acclaimed baritone Timothy LeFebvre has wide-ranging experience from the operatic stage to the concert hall. Recent performances include Vaughan-Williams’ Five Mystical Songs and Dona nobis pacem with Berkshire Choral Festival, solo recitals at Carnegie Mellon University and the Townsend School of Music at Mercer University, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Pensacola Symphony and Oberlin Conservatory, Britten’s War Requiem with Jacksonville Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Westminster Choir College, and Mozart’s Requiem with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He has also recently given solo recitals at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and performed Elijah with New Dominion Chorale, Brahms’ Requiem with Hamilton College, Beethoven’s Mass in C with Wichita Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem with Susquehanna Valley Chorale, Brahms’ Requiem with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and Messiah with the Handel Choir of Baltimore.
LeFebvre has appeared in concert with the Jacksonville Symphony, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Wichita Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic, Rochester Bach Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, New Dominion Chorale, Williamsport Symphony, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Syracuse Chamber Music Society, the Skaneateles Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival. He has also appeared in concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall.
LeFebvre’s frequently performed opera roles include Rigoletto, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Germont (La Traviata), Count (Le nozze di Figaro), Falke (Die Fledermaus), Marcello and Shaunard (La Bohème), and Father (Hansel and Gretel). His operatic experience includes performances with Central City Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Sarasota Opera, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Syracuse Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh.
LeFebvre is associate professor of singing at Oberlin, where he teaches private voice and oratorio repertoire for singers, and coordinates the Freshman Voice Seminar. Prior to Oberlin, he was assistant professor of voice at Binghamton University and also taught at Cornell University, Syracuse University, Hamilton College, and Colgate University.
Tony Cho
Opera Coach
E-mail: tcho@oberlin.edu
Office: Robertson 162
(440) 775-8071
Educational Background
"BM (Piano Performance), Oklahoma State University (1998)
MM (Piano Performance), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (2000)
DMA (Piano Performance), University of Washington (2003)"
Pianist Tony Cho’s professional career as an assistant conductor and coach/pianist includes engagements with such companies as Aspen Opera Theater Center, Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Juilliard Opera Center, Long Beach Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Sarasota Opera, Tulsa Opera, Virginia Opera, and Opera Theatre of Lucca in Italy. He has also served as faculty coach/pianist at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Land of Enchantment Opera Institute, and Taos Opera Institute in New Mexico.
His substantial résumé includes a repertoire of more than 50 operas, including the world premiere of Guo Wenjing's Poet Li Bai; the American premieres of H.K. Gruber's Gloria: A Pig's Tale and K.A. Hartmann's Wachsfigurenkabinett; and the West Coast premieres of Shostakovich's Moscow, Cherrytown, and Wagner's Das Liebesverbot as a part of the Los Angeles Ring Festival. In addition to his hands-on work with the operatic productions, he has served as music director of Central City Opera's Opera à la carte, Glimmerglass Opera's American Young Artists Concert Tour, Hawaii Opera Theatre's Opera Residency, Virginia Opera's Spectrum Resident Artists, and as program and music director of Sarasota Opera's Studio Artists.
He has performed concerts in such notable venues as Weill Hall in New York City, Meany Hall in Seattle, Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Doris Duke Theatre at Honolulu Museum of Art, Zipper Hall in Los Angeles, and at many others in the United States and abroad. His performances have been featured live on KHPR in Honolulu and KVOD in Denver. He has also been a guest artist at many music festivals, including El Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Pianístas and the Italian Art Week Festival in Asunción, Paraguay.
A native of South Korea, Cho earned a doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance from the University of Washington, a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University with a minor in Spanish Literature. His primary teachers were Thomas Lanners, Frank Weinstock, Michael Chertock, and Craig Sheppard.
Prior to joining the opera faculty at Oberlin, Cho was a principal coach of University of Southern California’s Thornton Opera, a faculty vocal coach at Chapman University (2007-15), and an associate coach at the Juilliard School (2005-07).
Jonathon Field
Associate Professor of Opera Theater
Director of Opera Theater Productions
Associate Professor of Opera Theater, Director of Opera Theater Productions
"I would be the happiest if the students who graduate here are capable of acting with their voice very much the way a classical actor would do ... they can take the music and imbue with a level of emotionality and intelligence that makes it into a living breathing phrase."
E-mail: Jonathon.Field@oberlin.edu
Office: Bibbins 317
(440) 775-8206
Educational Background
Bachelor of Arts, University of Washington, 1973
Master of Fine Arts, University of Washington, 1977
Jonathon Field has become one of America’s more versatile and popular stage directors. A trailblazer in the world of opera, Field is fascinated with traditional as well as modern stage techniques. He has developed and used video-projected scenery for more than 25 years in productions that have been called “brilliant,” “dazzling” and “riveting.”
Field directed the American premiere of Lost Highway, an opera based on the David Lynch film that played to sold-out performances at the Miller Theater in New York. He directed the world premiere of the jazz opera Leave Me Alone in a partnership between Oberlin Conservatory and Real Time Opera, which was one of the first operas to broadcast live on the internet. His productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago of Trouble in Tahiti, Gianni Schicchi, The Old Maid and the Thief, and The Spanish Hour were successfully revived at the Illinois Humanities Festival. He directed touring productions of La Cenerentola and Die Fledermaus for San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theatre, which played in over 20 states. In recent years Field directed 10 productions with Arizona Opera, being deemed by the press “their most perceptive stage director.” From 2000 through 2006 he served as artistic director of Lyric Opera Cleveland, where he presented the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and the Ohio premieres of works by John Adams, Mark Adamo, and Philip Glass. Field received a Northern Ohio Live Award for his work on Don Giovanni in Cleveland, which was called “an electrifying production that has come to be the hallmark of Field’s tenure.”
Field has been praised for his international work as well, having directed The Riverboat Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and Suor Angelica and Menotti’s Amalia al Ballo at the Urbania Festival in Italy. He has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Teresa Zylis-Gara, Jerome Hines, Pablo Elvira, Giorgio Tozzi, and Angelina Reux. Field’s expertise extends from the avant-garde to musical comedy. In 1996, he introduced computer-generated scenery to the opera world in a production of Candide at West Bay Opera in Silicon Valley with assistance from Apple Inc. The press called the show “virtual Voltaire—the backgrounds are as varied as the story.” He pioneered the use of video-projected scenery in productions of The Turn of the Screw, Tales of Hoffmann, and Der Freischütz. In the realm of operetta and musical theatre, Field staged H.M.S. Pinafore for Opera Omaha, Trial by Jury for Lake George Opera, Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in Chicago, and Merry Widow and Countess Maritza in San Francisco. For the Oakland Symphony he translated and choreographed Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, using members of the Oakland Ballet.
Philip Highfill
Professor of Accompanying and Coaching
Director, Oberlin Arts & Sciences Orchestra
(On Leave 2015-16)
E-mail: Philip.Highfill@oberlin.edu
Office: Bibbins Hall 108
(440) 775-8226
Educational Background
BA, Yale University
MM, University of Illinois
Piano studies with Ylda Novik, Theodore Lettvin, Irwin Freundlich, and Donald Currier
Vocal accompanying studies with John Wustman
Winner of the Chopin Young Pianists Competition at age 16, Philip Highfill studied piano with Ylda Novik, Theodore Lettvin, Irwin Freundlich, and Donald Currier, accompanying with John Wustman, and conducting with Gustav Meier. He earned his B.A. from Yale College and M.M. from the University of Illinois.
His interest in the art song repertoire took him to Vienna as a Fulbright scholar, and he was active in the Austrian capital for a number of years as a concert accompanist, performing throughout Europe and the United States with many renowned singers, including Wolfgang Holzmair, Cesare Siepi, Rita Streich, Placido Domingo, Erie Mills, William Stone, Delores Ziegler, and Mary Ann Hart. As a coach at the San Francisco Opera, Mr. Highfill prepared productions starring Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Kiri te Kanawa, Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Berganza, Simon Estes, James King, and Ingvar Wixell. He has taught at the Tanglewood Music Center, the University of Tennessee, and Vienna's Hochschule für Musik; conducted for Summer Opera Theater of Washington and the Panamanian National Concert Association; and received research grants from the Joyce Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and H. H. Powers Fund.
At Oberlin, Mr. Highfill coaches singer-pianist duos, teaches surveys of the German Lied and French mélodie, organizes special projects on topics ranging from the songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf to the poetry of Mallarmé, and is music director of the Oberlin Arts and Sciences Orchestra. He has also guest conducted the Oberlin College Choir, Oberlin Choristers, Oberlin Opera Ensemble, Finney Ensemble, and Black River Singers.
When not making music or teaching, Mr. Highfill likes to get outdoors, and has hiked and climbed in the Andes, Himalayas, high Arctic islands, and many wilderness areas in North America. He is married to soprano Rochelle Travis.
Sally Stunkel
Associate Professor of Opera Theater
E-mail: Sally.Stunkel@oberlin.edu
Office: Robertson 173
(440) 775-8227
Educational Background
MFA (theater directing), Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music
A former singer and dancer, Sally Stunkel spent much of her life studying the acting techniques of Meisner, Chekhov, Stanislavski, and Morris. Her early training in theater took place at the Studio Theater in Washington, D.C. From this, she has become known as an acting teacher for singers and has brought these skills to her work with opera programs at the former St. Louis Conservatory of Music, the University of Tennessee, the University of the Pacific, Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and the University of Iowa.
She has worked with the apprentice programs at the Des Moines Opera, the Chautauqua Opera, Banff Center in Canada, Oberlin in Italy, the Bay View Music Festival, and as tenured faculty with the Aspen Music Festival. As a director, Stunkel has worked with Sacramento Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Skylight Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, Kentucky Opera, Opera Delaware, and others, with more than 100 productions to her credit as a director. With 15-plus years in dance training, she has also choreographed various operas.
Stunkel is a graduate of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. She won first place from the National Opera Association opera production competition for her productions of The Consul, The Marriage of Figaro, Serse, and Postcard from Morocco. She teaches acting and movement at Oberlin for the opera department and directs the winter term opera.
