2018 Master Classes
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John DeMain is an American conductor. In 2014 he completed his 20th season as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin. He is also artistic director of the Madison Opera. DeMain lives in Madison with his wife Barbara and their daughter Jennifer (b. 1992).He served as music director and principal conductor for Houston Grand Opera for eighteen years, and later as artistic and music director for the now-defunct Opera Pacific. DeMain has also been a guest conductor for Los Angeles Opera and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. From 1983-1992, he was music director of Opera Omaha.The conductor is respected for his work on new operas: he led the world premières of Leonard Bernstein's A Quiet Place (1983), John Adams's Nixon in China (1987), and Michael Tippett's New Year (1989). DeMain also conducted the United States première of Philip Glass's Akhnaten. His 1976 recording of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess for RCA Victor won a “Grammy” and remains a benchmark interpretation of this American masterpiece.
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Dominican conductor and composer seen internationally as one of the top rising Latin American artists, in both symphonic and opera fields. Aquino is enjoying a vibrant career after winning the prestigious Premio Soberano award as Successful Dominican Artist Abroad. For the 2017-2018 season he has been appointed Music Director for Winter Opera St. Louis in the United States of America. Other international activities includes Guest Conductor for the Philharmonishes Staatsorchester Mainz in Germany, Saarländisches Staatsorchester in Germany, National Symphony Orchestra of Panama and Camerata Washington Heights in New York. Aquino has been selected by the world famous Italian tenors “Il Volo” to conduct part of their Latin-American concert tour and is also Music Director of the Musica Sacra concert series in the Dominican Republic.
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Michael Ehrman
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Michael Ehrman is known for his productions in the both the academic and professional worlds in a career spanning forty years. He recently retired from his position as artist-in-residence and director of opera at Northwestern University. His direction there of the fully-staged Chicago premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking was honored and cited in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Classical Review “best of 2015” lists. He also received acclaim for his staging of the Chicago premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, the double-bill of William Bolcom’s Lucrezia and John Musto’s Bastianello (also local premieres), Musto and Mark Campbell’s Later the Same Evening, and a new version of L’incoronazione di Poppea. In 2013, Ehrman was named director of the prestigious Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artist Training Program at the Central City Opera, a company where he has staged 25 productions. He has directed over 150 operas and musicals for professional companies including Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Greater Miami Opera..He has made a specialty of staging American opera, including nine productions of The Ballad of Baby Doe (the 40th and 50th anniversary productions at Central City), nine stagings of Floyd’s Susannah, and numerous productions of Weill’s Street Scene and Ward’s The Crucible. At Central City, he staged Barber’s Vanessain 2005 and the premiere of Henry Mollicone’s Gabriel’s Daughter in 2003. His production of the musical Carnival at Light Opera Works was on the “ten best in Chicago” lists in 2005. Other musicals include The Sound of Musicand Camelot for Tulsa Opera and the Brevard Music Center.
Ehrman has balanced his professional career with teaching and directing at numerous universities, conservatories, and young artist programs, including the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, the New National Theater in Tokyo, Wolf Trap Opera and Chautauqua Opera, His has directed eight productions at Indiana University and also was guest director at Yale University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and University of Colorado-Boulder. In 2012, he made his debut at the Ravinia Festival with The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon and featuring Nathan Gunn as Papageno. His work with the Chicago Symphony includes Noye’s Fludde in 2006 and several educational touring shows for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
Ehrman has balanced his professional career with teaching and directing at numerous universities, conservatories, and young artist programs, including the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, the New National Theater in Tokyo, Wolf Trap Opera and Chautauqua Opera, His has directed eight productions at Indiana University and also was guest director at Yale University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and University of Colorado-Boulder. In 2012, he made his debut at the Ravinia Festival with The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon and featuring Nathan Gunn as Papageno. His work with the Chicago Symphony includes Noye’s Fludde in 2006 and several educational touring shows for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
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American soprano Alexandra LoBianco, whom the Seattle Times exclaimed, “gave a subtle but impassioned performance” as the title role in Aida at Seattle Opera, has established herself as a dramatic soprano of unequaled versatility, musicality and consistency. An international presence, Ms. LoBianco recently stepped in for an ailing colleague as Leonore in Fidelio for her debut with the Wiener Staatsoper while under contract for the title role in Turandot. Subsequent appearances with the Wiener Staatsoper included performances of Helmwige in Die Walküre, as well as the Brünnhilde, cover while on tour in Japan.
In the 2018/19 season, Alexandra LoBianco will return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for three projects: the covers of Brünnhilde in Siegfried, Chrysothemis in Elektra and performances of the Fourth Maid in Elektra. She will also join North Carolina Opera for the title role in Tosca. Symphonic projects include Senta in Der fliegende Holländer with Baltimore Concert Opera, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Madison Symphony, where she previously sang Rachmaninoff’s The Bells.
Operatic highlights of previous seasons have included the title roles of Aida and Tosca with Opera Colorado and Minnesota Opera, respectively, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw with The Dallas Opera, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with Florida Grand Opera, the prima donna in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera, and Helmwige with Lyric Opera of Chicago. At Des Moines Metro Opera, Ms. LoBianco has performed the title role in Turandot and Minnie in La fanciulla del West. Of her Turandot, Opera Today wrote, “Alexandra LoBianco is well remembered here for her feisty Minnie in a recent season. If Fanciulla is a Big Sing for the soprano, Princess Turandot is a Big Sing on Steroids… Ms. LoBianco is short of physical stature, but makes up for it with potent spinto vocalizing that has its own towering presence.”
Additional repertoire includes Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Leonora in Il trovatore, the title roles in Suor Angelica and Madama Butterfly, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mimi in La Bohème, Magda Sorel in The Consul and Brünnhilde in Jonathan Dove’s abridged Ring Cycle. A native of Saint Petersburg, Florida, Alexandra LoBianco received her education in voice, theater and clarinet, and currently resides in Chicago, where she trains the next generation of opera singers and advocates for music education.
In the 2018/19 season, Alexandra LoBianco will return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for three projects: the covers of Brünnhilde in Siegfried, Chrysothemis in Elektra and performances of the Fourth Maid in Elektra. She will also join North Carolina Opera for the title role in Tosca. Symphonic projects include Senta in Der fliegende Holländer with Baltimore Concert Opera, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Madison Symphony, where she previously sang Rachmaninoff’s The Bells.
Operatic highlights of previous seasons have included the title roles of Aida and Tosca with Opera Colorado and Minnesota Opera, respectively, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw with The Dallas Opera, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with Florida Grand Opera, the prima donna in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera, and Helmwige with Lyric Opera of Chicago. At Des Moines Metro Opera, Ms. LoBianco has performed the title role in Turandot and Minnie in La fanciulla del West. Of her Turandot, Opera Today wrote, “Alexandra LoBianco is well remembered here for her feisty Minnie in a recent season. If Fanciulla is a Big Sing for the soprano, Princess Turandot is a Big Sing on Steroids… Ms. LoBianco is short of physical stature, but makes up for it with potent spinto vocalizing that has its own towering presence.”
Additional repertoire includes Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Leonora in Il trovatore, the title roles in Suor Angelica and Madama Butterfly, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mimi in La Bohème, Magda Sorel in The Consul and Brünnhilde in Jonathan Dove’s abridged Ring Cycle. A native of Saint Petersburg, Florida, Alexandra LoBianco received her education in voice, theater and clarinet, and currently resides in Chicago, where she trains the next generation of opera singers and advocates for music education.
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American tenor Andrew Owens has quickly built a reputation as a promising singer of his generation, exhibiting a beautiful Italianate timbre, soaring top notes, and effortless agility. In the 2018-2019 season, Andrew Owens will make his Opera Philadelphia debut as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and his Canadian debut as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Manitoba Opera. He also returns to the Kammeroper Wien this Fall and will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
In the 2017-2018 season, Mr. Owens returned to Seattle Opera, first as Almaviva, then as Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict. He also performed in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Greensboro Opera, returned to Theater an der Wien for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and debuted at Cincinnati Opera as Lucano in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Concert highlights included tenor solos in Handel’s Messiah with the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon.
In 2016-2017, Andrew Owens returned to the Theater an der Wien as Mads in Werner Egk’s seldom-heard Peer Gynt. Other house and role debuts included the title role in Rossini’s rarity Aureliano in Palmira and Jacquino in Fidelio with the Caramoor Festival, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Arizona Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera San Antonio and Virginia Opera, I due Foscari with the Dutch Radio Filharmonisch Orkest at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and La mère coupable with On Site Opera in New York City. Concert highlights included an evening of music by Schubert and The Beatles with the New York Festival of Song in Moab, Utah and Kansas City, Missouri.
Mr. Owens is a graduate of the Junges Ensemble at the Theater an der Wien, where he performed Chevalier Léon in La mère coupable, Edoardo in La cambiale di matrimonio, Venditore di canzonette in Il Trittico, Der Pfeifer des Grafen in Mathis der Maler, Gérard in Le comte Ory, Erster Gefangener in Fidelio, Uldino in Attila, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Rodolfo in La Bohème Tito in La clemenza di Tito, Scitalce in Vinci’s Semiramide, Gastone in La Traviata, and Barbarigo in I due Foscari opposite Plácido Domingo.
Mr. Owens made his professional debut in the United States as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola with Opera Saratoga and with Greensboro Opera. At Theater Magdeburg, he performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Camille de Rosillon in Die lustige Witwe. At the Bayerische Staatsoper as part of the Opernstudio, Mr. Owens appeared as Wilhelm in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Mücke/Hahn/Specht in Das schlaue Füchslein, and the title role in Sigurd der Drachentöter. Other recent season work includes company and role debuts with Florida Grand Opera as Almaviva, a role he reprised later in the season for his company debut with North Carolina Opera. He made his company and role debut with Seattle Opera as Leicester in a new production of Maria Stuarda. He has also joined Dayton Opera in conjunction with the Dayton Philharmonic for a double-bill performance, pairing the world premiere of The Book Collector, with a staged version of Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Concert and symphonic engagements of past seasons include the tenor soloist in The Genius of Mozart at the National Concert Hall, Dublin with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Cleveland Orchestra, Lukas in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and First Japanese Envoy in Le Rossignol at the Salzburg Festival, as well as appearances in a Rossini gala concert at the Munich Opera Festival. He made his New York City recital debut with the New York Festival of Song in a program entitled Spanish Gold: Songs of the Iberian Peninsula at Merkin Hall.
Mr. Owens has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s most prestigious conductors and directors including James Conlon, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bertrand de Billy, Franz Welser-Möst, George Manahan, Antonello Manacorda, Will Crutchfield, Leo Hussein, Riccardo Frizza, Moshé Leiser, Patrice Caurier, Peter Konwitschny, Richard Jones, Keith Warner, David Bösch, Herbert Föttinger, and Damiano Michieletto.
Mr. Owens is an award recipient from the Marilyn Horne Foundation, won First Prize at the Mario Lanza Competition for Tenors in New York City, and is the only American singer to win the prestigious Zarzuela Award at the Francisco Viñas Competition. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Maryland Opera Studio. Other training programs included the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, Central City Opera, and Music Academy of the West. Mr. Owens is a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and has studied with Enrico di Giuseppe, Dominic Cossa, and currently with Salvatore Fisichella and Gioacchino Li Vigni. He is based in Chicago.
In the 2017-2018 season, Mr. Owens returned to Seattle Opera, first as Almaviva, then as Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict. He also performed in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Greensboro Opera, returned to Theater an der Wien for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and debuted at Cincinnati Opera as Lucano in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Concert highlights included tenor solos in Handel’s Messiah with the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon.
In 2016-2017, Andrew Owens returned to the Theater an der Wien as Mads in Werner Egk’s seldom-heard Peer Gynt. Other house and role debuts included the title role in Rossini’s rarity Aureliano in Palmira and Jacquino in Fidelio with the Caramoor Festival, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Arizona Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera San Antonio and Virginia Opera, I due Foscari with the Dutch Radio Filharmonisch Orkest at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and La mère coupable with On Site Opera in New York City. Concert highlights included an evening of music by Schubert and The Beatles with the New York Festival of Song in Moab, Utah and Kansas City, Missouri.
Mr. Owens is a graduate of the Junges Ensemble at the Theater an der Wien, where he performed Chevalier Léon in La mère coupable, Edoardo in La cambiale di matrimonio, Venditore di canzonette in Il Trittico, Der Pfeifer des Grafen in Mathis der Maler, Gérard in Le comte Ory, Erster Gefangener in Fidelio, Uldino in Attila, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Rodolfo in La Bohème Tito in La clemenza di Tito, Scitalce in Vinci’s Semiramide, Gastone in La Traviata, and Barbarigo in I due Foscari opposite Plácido Domingo.
Mr. Owens made his professional debut in the United States as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola with Opera Saratoga and with Greensboro Opera. At Theater Magdeburg, he performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Camille de Rosillon in Die lustige Witwe. At the Bayerische Staatsoper as part of the Opernstudio, Mr. Owens appeared as Wilhelm in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Mücke/Hahn/Specht in Das schlaue Füchslein, and the title role in Sigurd der Drachentöter. Other recent season work includes company and role debuts with Florida Grand Opera as Almaviva, a role he reprised later in the season for his company debut with North Carolina Opera. He made his company and role debut with Seattle Opera as Leicester in a new production of Maria Stuarda. He has also joined Dayton Opera in conjunction with the Dayton Philharmonic for a double-bill performance, pairing the world premiere of The Book Collector, with a staged version of Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Concert and symphonic engagements of past seasons include the tenor soloist in The Genius of Mozart at the National Concert Hall, Dublin with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Cleveland Orchestra, Lukas in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and First Japanese Envoy in Le Rossignol at the Salzburg Festival, as well as appearances in a Rossini gala concert at the Munich Opera Festival. He made his New York City recital debut with the New York Festival of Song in a program entitled Spanish Gold: Songs of the Iberian Peninsula at Merkin Hall.
Mr. Owens has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s most prestigious conductors and directors including James Conlon, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bertrand de Billy, Franz Welser-Möst, George Manahan, Antonello Manacorda, Will Crutchfield, Leo Hussein, Riccardo Frizza, Moshé Leiser, Patrice Caurier, Peter Konwitschny, Richard Jones, Keith Warner, David Bösch, Herbert Föttinger, and Damiano Michieletto.
Mr. Owens is an award recipient from the Marilyn Horne Foundation, won First Prize at the Mario Lanza Competition for Tenors in New York City, and is the only American singer to win the prestigious Zarzuela Award at the Francisco Viñas Competition. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Maryland Opera Studio. Other training programs included the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, Central City Opera, and Music Academy of the West. Mr. Owens is a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and has studied with Enrico di Giuseppe, Dominic Cossa, and currently with Salvatore Fisichella and Gioacchino Li Vigni. He is based in Chicago.
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Nicole Cabell, the 2005 Winner of the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff and Decca recording artist, is one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos of today. Her solo debut album, “Soprano” was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone and has received an incredible amount of critical acclaim and several prestigious awards, including the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique.
Ms. Cabell’s 2017-2018 season includes performances of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Flavia in Eliogabalo with the Dutch National Opera, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Micaela in Carmen with the Atlanta Opera. Ms. Cabell will also be heard in recital at the Frankfurt Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Harris Theater for Music in Dance in Chicago, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and in Louisville, Kentucky. In concert, Nicole Cabell will perform with the Lake Forest Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements include returns to London and Cincinnati and a debut in Pittsburgh.
Ms. Cabell’s 2016-2017 season featured her debut as Bess in Porgy in Bess with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances of Mimi in La Bohème with the Minnesota Opera and the Cincinnati Opera and of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Angers Nantes Opera in France. In concert, she sang Shéhérazade with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Nashville Symphony and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Oregon Bach Festival.
The 2015-2016 season included Ms. Cabell’s debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in the title role of Handel’s Alcina and returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Violetta in La Traviata, to the Atlanta Opera as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, to the Michigan Opera Theatre as Mimi in La Bohème and to the Cincinnati Opera in a new role: Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. On the concert stage, Ms. Cabell performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a solo recital in Baltimore.
Nicole Cabell’s 2014-2015 season included semi-staged concerts of Don Giovanni with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony, her Opéra National de Paris debut (and role debut) as Mimi in La Bohème and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with the Minnesota Opera as well as a return to Washington Concert Opera as Giulietta in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. In concert, she was heard with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5, with the Orchestre National de Lille in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, with the San Diego Symphony in Strauss’ Four Last Songs, with the London Symphony Orchestra in Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue, in a Puccini-Strauss gala concert in Hong-Kong, as Bess in an abridged version of Porgy and Bess at Ravinia with Bobby McFerrin, at the Oregon Bach Festival in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, at Bard’s Music Festival in Villa-Lobos’ Forest of the Amazon and at SUNY Potsdam in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.
In the previous season Nicole Cabell made some exciting role debuts: first as Violetta in La Traviata with Michigan Opera Theatre (seen again later in the season at the San Francisco Opera), then as Medora in Il Corsaro with Washington Concert Opera. She reprised the role of her triumphant San Francisco Opera debut: Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In concert, Ms. Cabell made her Paris debut in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, appeared several times in Spain, first with the Orquesta de Galicia in a Barber/Mahler program, then on tour with the RPO and Charles Dutoit in Poulenc’s Gloria. In London, she was heard with the RPO in the same Poulenc piece as well as with the BBC Orchestra, first in Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Keith Lockhart and later in Elgar’s The Apostles with Sir Andrew Davis. Further concert appearances included duke Ellington’s Sacred Music at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony and Charles Dutoit at Tanglewood, and finally in a Barber/Brahms program in Nashville with GianCarlo Guerrero. Nicole Cabell also appeared in recital in Chicago.
Awards include first place in both the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and the Women's Board of Chicago Vocal Competition. Nicole Cabell was a semi-finalist in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and earned first place in the American Opera Society competition in Chicago. She is the 2002 winner of the Union League's Rose M. Grundman Scholarship, and the 2002 Farwell Award with the Woman's Board of Chicago. Nicole Cabell holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music.
Ms. Cabell’s 2017-2018 season includes performances of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Flavia in Eliogabalo with the Dutch National Opera, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Micaela in Carmen with the Atlanta Opera. Ms. Cabell will also be heard in recital at the Frankfurt Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Harris Theater for Music in Dance in Chicago, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and in Louisville, Kentucky. In concert, Nicole Cabell will perform with the Lake Forest Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements include returns to London and Cincinnati and a debut in Pittsburgh.
Ms. Cabell’s 2016-2017 season featured her debut as Bess in Porgy in Bess with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances of Mimi in La Bohème with the Minnesota Opera and the Cincinnati Opera and of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Angers Nantes Opera in France. In concert, she sang Shéhérazade with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Nashville Symphony and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Oregon Bach Festival.
The 2015-2016 season included Ms. Cabell’s debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in the title role of Handel’s Alcina and returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Violetta in La Traviata, to the Atlanta Opera as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, to the Michigan Opera Theatre as Mimi in La Bohème and to the Cincinnati Opera in a new role: Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. On the concert stage, Ms. Cabell performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a solo recital in Baltimore.
Nicole Cabell’s 2014-2015 season included semi-staged concerts of Don Giovanni with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony, her Opéra National de Paris debut (and role debut) as Mimi in La Bohème and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with the Minnesota Opera as well as a return to Washington Concert Opera as Giulietta in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. In concert, she was heard with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5, with the Orchestre National de Lille in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, with the San Diego Symphony in Strauss’ Four Last Songs, with the London Symphony Orchestra in Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue, in a Puccini-Strauss gala concert in Hong-Kong, as Bess in an abridged version of Porgy and Bess at Ravinia with Bobby McFerrin, at the Oregon Bach Festival in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, at Bard’s Music Festival in Villa-Lobos’ Forest of the Amazon and at SUNY Potsdam in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.
In the previous season Nicole Cabell made some exciting role debuts: first as Violetta in La Traviata with Michigan Opera Theatre (seen again later in the season at the San Francisco Opera), then as Medora in Il Corsaro with Washington Concert Opera. She reprised the role of her triumphant San Francisco Opera debut: Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In concert, Ms. Cabell made her Paris debut in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, appeared several times in Spain, first with the Orquesta de Galicia in a Barber/Mahler program, then on tour with the RPO and Charles Dutoit in Poulenc’s Gloria. In London, she was heard with the RPO in the same Poulenc piece as well as with the BBC Orchestra, first in Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Keith Lockhart and later in Elgar’s The Apostles with Sir Andrew Davis. Further concert appearances included duke Ellington’s Sacred Music at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony and Charles Dutoit at Tanglewood, and finally in a Barber/Brahms program in Nashville with GianCarlo Guerrero. Nicole Cabell also appeared in recital in Chicago.
Awards include first place in both the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition and the Women's Board of Chicago Vocal Competition. Nicole Cabell was a semi-finalist in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and earned first place in the American Opera Society competition in Chicago. She is the 2002 winner of the Union League's Rose M. Grundman Scholarship, and the 2002 Farwell Award with the Woman's Board of Chicago. Nicole Cabell holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music.
Philip Pierce
Saturday | August 11, 2018 | 2pm
Josephinum Academy
1501 N Oakley Blvd, Chicago, IL 60622
Having developed a passion for opera at a young age, Mr. Pierce pursued professional studies in voice. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre, Speech and Dance from Brown University and his Master of Music Degree in Voice from the New England Conservatory. Mr. Pierce sang for over a decade as a professional tenor, performing with companies throughout North America such as Central City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Austin Lyric Opera and Dayton Opera. Amongst his most notable roles were Beppe (Pagliacci), Prunier (La Rondine), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the three tenor roles in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. After a successful career, Mr. Pierce decided to put his acquired knowledge of the opera industry to better use and transitioned from a solo career into the realm of artistic administration. Most recently Mr. Pierce served as the assistant to the Director of Opera at the Caramoor Music Festival in Katonah, NY. At Florida Grand Opera, Mr. Pierce is responsible for the overall supervision and logistics of the artistic department, including the casting process, rehearsal schedule, artistic budget, and contracting of artists. Mr. Pierce was born and raised in France, and has lived in Boston, MA, Cleveland, OH and New York, NY.
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Codrut Birsan
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Born in Brasov, Romania, Codrut Birsan began piano lessons at age 6.By age 17, he was one of the accompanists for Opera Brasov.Birsan began voice lessons at Brasov Conservatory as a teenager, then transferred to Bucharest University of Music where he studied with distinguished professor Georgeta Stoleriu. While a voice student at the Academy of Music in Bucharest, Birsan was also a piano accompanist for the Academy’s opera class.Birsan moved to the United States in 2005. He obtained a Master of Music degree in Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, while also collaborating as a vocal accompanist in that setting. Birsan has served as a piano accompanist/opera coach with the San Francisco Lyric Opera, the Livermoore Opera, BASOTI, and for the Opera Academy of California while also appearing as an improvisational classical pianist. In Madison, Birsan played for voice students at the University of Wisconsin and founded Candid Concert Opera (CCO). The mission of CCO is to broaden access to opera by removing both admission cost barriers and the “stuffiness” too often associated with the genre. In addition, this project gives young singers the opportunity to perform entire operatic roles. Birsan has continued to develop this company and works as musical director in the troupe’s performances, which to date include: “Die Fledermaus,” “Cosi fan Tutte,” “Elixir of Love,” “Don Pasquale,” “The Barber of Seville” etc.For the past few years, Birsan has focused on composition as well as performance. He was honored in 2010 with an International Emmy Award for his role in composing the score for The World According to Ion B., a documentary that originally aired on Romanian HBO. Birsan is a regular collaborator with the Chicago Lyric Opera. He has been the Music Director for the Lyric’s program “Opera in the Neighborhood” program, and most recently was the accompanist for Lyric Creative Consultant and world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming’s master class. Birsan also wears a number of hats as a musical instructor, ranging from “opera coach” to “piano teacher”