Faculty Bios
Codrut Birsan
Music Director
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”
Emanuele Andrizzi
Master Coach
Educated in the rich musical tradition of the Rome's Conservatory as a conductor, composer, and pianist, Mo Andrizzi has become a versatile musician with a vast experience in the symphonic and operatic repertoires and a passion for the many areas of the musical arts. As a conductor, he has worked with various symphonic and operatic companies. In the past several years, he has conducted at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Orchestra della Città di Ravenna, and Chicago Philharmonic, among others. He has also collaborated with important music festivals, including the Millennium Park and the Ravinia Festivals. Many international artists, including Ferruccio Furlanetto, Frederica Von Stade, Frank Almond, James Pellerite, and Joyce Castle have performed as soloists with Mo Andrizzi in concertos, operas, recitals, and recordings.
An active teacher and performer, Mo Andrizzi has worked since 2013 as the Conductor and Head of the Orchestral Program at the prestigious Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Mo Andrizzi is very passionate about his work with young musicians and has often collaborated with international artist programs, including the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Musica Lirica, and the Chicago Opera Theater Young Artist Program. In addition, he has guest conducted in various university music programs, such as at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, his Alma Mater, where he has conducted several operas, including a recent production of Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites, starring the celebrated American mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle. Mo Andrizzi has clinic-ed and worked with music programs both in the US and in Europe, and has conducted the Illinois All-State Orchestra. Previous positions include Music Director and Conductor of the Cervantes Orchestra, Assistant/Cover Conductor at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Assistant Conductor at the Los Angeles and Dallas Operas.
Mo Andrizzi is a recipient of the Honorable Mention Award at the International Competition for Conductors of Contemporary Music “4X4 Prize” and a winner of the “P. Barrasso” International Competition for Chamber Music. He has recorded for Albany Records.
Born in Rome, Italy, Mo Andrizzi received a Diploma in piano performance from the A. Casella Conservatory, graduated in both conducting and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, and earned a DMA in Conducting Performance at Northwestern University. After leaving his native country, he lived and worked in both Portugal and Spain, before moving to Chicago, where he currently resides with his wife and kids.
An active teacher and performer, Mo Andrizzi has worked since 2013 as the Conductor and Head of the Orchestral Program at the prestigious Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Mo Andrizzi is very passionate about his work with young musicians and has often collaborated with international artist programs, including the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Musica Lirica, and the Chicago Opera Theater Young Artist Program. In addition, he has guest conducted in various university music programs, such as at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, his Alma Mater, where he has conducted several operas, including a recent production of Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites, starring the celebrated American mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle. Mo Andrizzi has clinic-ed and worked with music programs both in the US and in Europe, and has conducted the Illinois All-State Orchestra. Previous positions include Music Director and Conductor of the Cervantes Orchestra, Assistant/Cover Conductor at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Assistant Conductor at the Los Angeles and Dallas Operas.
Mo Andrizzi is a recipient of the Honorable Mention Award at the International Competition for Conductors of Contemporary Music “4X4 Prize” and a winner of the “P. Barrasso” International Competition for Chamber Music. He has recorded for Albany Records.
Born in Rome, Italy, Mo Andrizzi received a Diploma in piano performance from the A. Casella Conservatory, graduated in both conducting and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, and earned a DMA in Conducting Performance at Northwestern University. After leaving his native country, he lived and worked in both Portugal and Spain, before moving to Chicago, where he currently resides with his wife and kids.
Yasuko Oura
Master Coach
Pianist Yasuko Oura has been praised for her sensibility and passion for collaborating with others. She has maintained a busy schedule of performing concerts and working for various opera companies while keeping an active teaching schedule. She is currently a lecturer of collaborative piano at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where she enjoys working with talented pianists as well as coaching chamber music. Also in demand as a vocal coach, she is on the music staff for Des Moines Metro Opera and will be returning for her eighth season this summer. She also regularly works for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater. She has played under many prominent conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Stephen Lord, and Jane Glover. Additionally, she was the principal production pianist and coach for Florentine Opera for seven years. Her other past affiliations include companies such as Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera, Toledo Opera, and AIMS in Graz, Austria.
Her 2017-2018 season begins with recitals with Susanna Phillips and Myles Mykkanen at Twickenham Festival. She will return as the official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District and the McCammon Vocal Competition in Fort Worth, TX, which will be followed by a recital with bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. On the opera front, she will be working for Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Il Pigmalione/Rita by Donizetti and returns to Des Moines Metro Opera for Rusalka.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Oura has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall. She is also the co-artistic director of Chamber Music at Bethany concert series where members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, four-time Grammy award winning group Eighth Blackbird, and other prominent musicians come together to perform chamber music. She has also been seen in performances for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, the Bel Canto Foundation, WFMT, and WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. She resides in Chicago, where she works with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.
Her 2017-2018 season begins with recitals with Susanna Phillips and Myles Mykkanen at Twickenham Festival. She will return as the official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District and the McCammon Vocal Competition in Fort Worth, TX, which will be followed by a recital with bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. On the opera front, she will be working for Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Il Pigmalione/Rita by Donizetti and returns to Des Moines Metro Opera for Rusalka.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Oura has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall. She is also the co-artistic director of Chamber Music at Bethany concert series where members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, four-time Grammy award winning group Eighth Blackbird, and other prominent musicians come together to perform chamber music. She has also been seen in performances for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, the Bel Canto Foundation, WFMT, and WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. She resides in Chicago, where she works with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra Chorus, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theater, Light Opera Works, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin District. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.
Elizabeth Byrne
Voice Teacher
Elizabeth Byrne has been seen as Senta in Der fliegende Hollander with Portland Opera, Arizona Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro James Levine. In operas from Wagner's Ring Cycle she has been seen as Brünnhilde in Siegfried with the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Brünnhilde in Die Walkre at the Austin Lyric Opera, Sieglinde Die Walkre in concert with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, as well as Gutrune and Gerhilde in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's first complete Ring Cycle conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Ms. Byrne has also covered the roles of both Brnnhilde in Die Walkre and Leonora in Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for San Francisco Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera she has been seen as The Duchess of Parma in Busoni's Doktor Faust and the Fourth Maid in Elektra and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago she performed the role of the Overseer in the Gtz Friedrich production of Elektra. Most recently Ms. Byrne was seen as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Indianapolis Opera, after previously having sung the Mother with the Phoenix Symphony.
An excellent musician, Ms. Byrne is noted for her performances of contemporary operas having sung the world premiere performances of the role of Blanca in James MacMillan's opera Ins de Castro at the Edinburgh Festival. The work was also performed in Glasgow and in Oporto, Portugal. Jonathan Moore directed the Scottish Opera production, which was broadcast on BBC-TV. In concert, Ms. Byrne has performed Mahler's Symphony No.8 at Royal Albert Hall and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14 at Canada's National Arts Centre. She made her Avery Fisher Hall debut performing Zemlinsky's rarely-heard Lyric Symphony with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra. She has performed the Verdi Requiem with the Alabama Symphony and the Greensboro Symphony, Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with the symphony orchestras of Utah, Seattle, Richmond, and South Bend Symphony.
Ms. Byrne has also covered the roles of both Brnnhilde in Die Walkre and Leonora in Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for San Francisco Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera she has been seen as The Duchess of Parma in Busoni's Doktor Faust and the Fourth Maid in Elektra and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago she performed the role of the Overseer in the Gtz Friedrich production of Elektra. Most recently Ms. Byrne was seen as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Indianapolis Opera, after previously having sung the Mother with the Phoenix Symphony.
An excellent musician, Ms. Byrne is noted for her performances of contemporary operas having sung the world premiere performances of the role of Blanca in James MacMillan's opera Ins de Castro at the Edinburgh Festival. The work was also performed in Glasgow and in Oporto, Portugal. Jonathan Moore directed the Scottish Opera production, which was broadcast on BBC-TV. In concert, Ms. Byrne has performed Mahler's Symphony No.8 at Royal Albert Hall and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14 at Canada's National Arts Centre. She made her Avery Fisher Hall debut performing Zemlinsky's rarely-heard Lyric Symphony with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra. She has performed the Verdi Requiem with the Alabama Symphony and the Greensboro Symphony, Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with the symphony orchestras of Utah, Seattle, Richmond, and South Bend Symphony.
Allan Glassman
Voice Teacher
Tenor Allan Glassman has thrilled audiences throughout America and Europe for decades with his vibrant timbre and committed interpretations of roles. Critics exclaim “his very presence on stage made those around him sound better.” A regular at The Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Glassman triumphed as Herod in a production of Salome and has since been heard in The Met’s production of Billy Budd as Red Whiskers; Die Frau ohne Schatten as The Hunchback Brother; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District as The Shabby Peasant; and in productions of Boris Godunov, The Great Gatsby, Carmen, Elektra, Káťa Kabanová, The Ghost of Versailles, Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, and Wozzeck.
Alexandra LoBianco
Voice Teacher
American Soprano Alexandra LoBianco is a consummate singing actress whom Opera Newsmpraised for possessing a “wonderful voice that should be heard in major houses.” She recently made her European stage debut in 2016 as Leonore in Fidelio with Wiener Staatsoper, and met with success as Turandot with Des Moines Metro Opera in the summer of 2017. Of her performance, 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. As she kept pouring out laser-focused riddles, rising in pitch as well as intensity, we sat wondering: ‘Where is all that glorious voice coming from?’”
Ms. LoBianco returns to Europe in the summer of 2018 to make her Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Gerhilde in Die Walküre under the baton of Kirill Petrenko. In the 2017-18 season, Ms. LoBianco makes her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Helmwige in Die Walküre, returns to Seattle Opera as Aida, and makes her title role debut in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera. Her engagements in the 2016-17 season included a tour of Japan with Wiener Staatsoper as Helmwige, and she debuted with Florida Grand Opera as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, as well as with Dallas Opera as Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.
In addition to performances of Fidelio with Wiener Staatsoper in the 2015-16 season, Ms. LoBianco sang Aida with Opera Colorado, Tosca with Minnesota Opera, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Il trovatore, as well as the roster of Santa Fe Opera for La fanciulla del West in the summer of 2016. Alexandra LoBianco has also sung Leonore and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with Madison Opera, Minnie in La fanciulla del West with Des Moines Metro Opera, Tosca with PORTopera Maine and Grand Rapids, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera, and Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with Opera Santa Barbara. With Union Avenue Opera she has performed Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung.
Ms. LoBianco has sung in recital in Zürich, Columbia College (SC), and performed as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Madison Symphony, as well as for Madison Opera’s summer concert series Opera in the Park. An advocate of music education, Ms. LoBianco is a respected vocal instructor who has mentored numerous students.
Ms. LoBianco returns to Europe in the summer of 2018 to make her Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Gerhilde in Die Walküre under the baton of Kirill Petrenko. In the 2017-18 season, Ms. LoBianco makes her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Helmwige in Die Walküre, returns to Seattle Opera as Aida, and makes her title role debut in Ariadne auf Naxos with Austin Opera. Her engagements in the 2016-17 season included a tour of Japan with Wiener Staatsoper as Helmwige, and she debuted with Florida Grand Opera as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, as well as with Dallas Opera as Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.
In addition to performances of Fidelio with Wiener Staatsoper in the 2015-16 season, Ms. LoBianco sang Aida with Opera Colorado, Tosca with Minnesota Opera, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Il trovatore, as well as the roster of Santa Fe Opera for La fanciulla del West in the summer of 2016. Alexandra LoBianco has also sung Leonore and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with Madison Opera, Minnie in La fanciulla del West with Des Moines Metro Opera, Tosca with PORTopera Maine and Grand Rapids, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera, and Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with Opera Santa Barbara. With Union Avenue Opera she has performed Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung.
Ms. LoBianco has sung in recital in Zürich, Columbia College (SC), and performed as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Madison Symphony, as well as for Madison Opera’s summer concert series Opera in the Park. An advocate of music education, Ms. LoBianco is a respected vocal instructor who has mentored numerous students.
Daniel Wachs
Conductor
Conductor Daniel Alfred Wachsemerged on the international scene following his debut with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg in November 2010, leading a world première by Toshio Hosokawa at the Grosses Festspielhaus. The Austrian press praised: “Engaging, rhythmically inspired, precise in its execution, the “Mambo” was equal to a performance by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra!”Wachs has guest conducted Orange County’s Pacific Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, the National Symphony Orchestra (as part of the National Conducting Institute), the Sarasota Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, the Oakland Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. Wachs has also served as assistant conductor at the Cincinnati Opera and for the French première of Bernstein’s Candide at the Théâtre du Châtelet, a Robert Carsen co-production with La Scala and the English National Opera. In 2015, Wachs made his debut on the acclaimed new music series Jacaranda: Music at the Edge in Santa Monica, conducting works by Weill and Stravinsky.
A pianist as well as a conductor, Wachs’ performance with the Minnesota Orchestra “proved a revelation, delivering a technically impeccable, emotionally powerful performance of two Mozart piano concertos and a pair of solo works,” raved the St. Paul Pioneer Press. With the encouragement of Zubin Mehta, Wachs began his studies with Enrique Barenboim in Tel Aviv before pursuing studies at the Zürich Academy and graduating from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. He has also participated at such festivals at Aspen, Tanglewood and Verbier. Wachs has also been entrusted with preparing orchestras for Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov, and has served as Assistant Conductor to Osmo Vänskä at the Minnesota Orchestra and at the National Orchestra of France under Kurt Masur. Additionally, he has served as cover conductor for the Houston Symphony and for the Rotterdam Philharmonic on tour.
Committed to the cause of music education, Wachs will conclude his ten-year tenure in 2019 as Music Director & Conductor of The Philharmonic Society’s Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra in Southern California. He is also Music Director of The Chapman Orchestra at Chapman University. Of a recent OCYSO performance, The Los Angeles Times states, “The performance was smashing thanks in no small part to the exceptionally well-practiced pre-professionals.” Both the OCYSO and The Chapman Orchestra were finalists for the 2012 American Prize in Orchestral Performance and OCYSO was the 2012 winner in the youth category. In May 2014, OCYSO was presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County to a sold-out Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in a performance that included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the West Coast Premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s “Frieze”. This concert was selected by both the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times as top picks during the 2013-2014 season and was later broadcast on PBS SoCal. The Orange County Register exclaimed: “Wachs guided the ensemble with energy, precision, and a welcome sense of clarity and poise. The performance wasn’t just good by standards for younger performers, but forceful and exuberant by any standard: genuinely inspiring, technically proficient, structurally sound. The combined choruses were a powerhouse.”During the 2015-16 Season, Wachs and OCYSO joined forces with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles, presenting the United States Premiere of Turnage’s “Passchendaele”, an OCYSO co-commission on the LA Phil’s Sounds About Town series on the stage of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert received ecstatic reviews from Musical America, the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. Wachs also led a joint concert with members of OCYSO and YMF at the acclaimed Sundays Live Series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He then took OCYSO on its second international tour with concerts throughout Spain in summer 2016.
Under Wachs’ leadership, The Chapman Orchestra completed a survey of Mahler song cycles with baritone Vladimir Chernov and initiated a partnership with LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. The Chapman Orchestra’s annual Holiday Wassail Concert continues to be distributed nationally on PBS. In Orange County, Wachs was featured in the January 2016 edition of Modern Luxury and selected as one of OC Metro’s 2014 “40 Under Forty” most impressive young professionals. Wachs’ expertise and experience in developing and infusing new life into education concerts has led to repeat engagements with the Monterey and Palm Beach Symphonies.
An accomplished opera conductor and collaborative pianist, Wachs has led Albert Herring, Suor Angelicaand Gianni SchicchiCosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Impresario, Amahl and the Night Visitors, acts from La Traviataand Die Fledermausand the operas La Divinaand Signor Delusoby Pasatieri. He has accompanied tenor William Burden in recital and recently made his debut on the LA Philharmonic Chamber Music Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall. For more information, please visit www.danielalfredwachs.com
A pianist as well as a conductor, Wachs’ performance with the Minnesota Orchestra “proved a revelation, delivering a technically impeccable, emotionally powerful performance of two Mozart piano concertos and a pair of solo works,” raved the St. Paul Pioneer Press. With the encouragement of Zubin Mehta, Wachs began his studies with Enrique Barenboim in Tel Aviv before pursuing studies at the Zürich Academy and graduating from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. He has also participated at such festivals at Aspen, Tanglewood and Verbier. Wachs has also been entrusted with preparing orchestras for Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov, and has served as Assistant Conductor to Osmo Vänskä at the Minnesota Orchestra and at the National Orchestra of France under Kurt Masur. Additionally, he has served as cover conductor for the Houston Symphony and for the Rotterdam Philharmonic on tour.
Committed to the cause of music education, Wachs will conclude his ten-year tenure in 2019 as Music Director & Conductor of The Philharmonic Society’s Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra in Southern California. He is also Music Director of The Chapman Orchestra at Chapman University. Of a recent OCYSO performance, The Los Angeles Times states, “The performance was smashing thanks in no small part to the exceptionally well-practiced pre-professionals.” Both the OCYSO and The Chapman Orchestra were finalists for the 2012 American Prize in Orchestral Performance and OCYSO was the 2012 winner in the youth category. In May 2014, OCYSO was presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County to a sold-out Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in a performance that included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the West Coast Premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s “Frieze”. This concert was selected by both the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times as top picks during the 2013-2014 season and was later broadcast on PBS SoCal. The Orange County Register exclaimed: “Wachs guided the ensemble with energy, precision, and a welcome sense of clarity and poise. The performance wasn’t just good by standards for younger performers, but forceful and exuberant by any standard: genuinely inspiring, technically proficient, structurally sound. The combined choruses were a powerhouse.”During the 2015-16 Season, Wachs and OCYSO joined forces with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles, presenting the United States Premiere of Turnage’s “Passchendaele”, an OCYSO co-commission on the LA Phil’s Sounds About Town series on the stage of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert received ecstatic reviews from Musical America, the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. Wachs also led a joint concert with members of OCYSO and YMF at the acclaimed Sundays Live Series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He then took OCYSO on its second international tour with concerts throughout Spain in summer 2016.
Under Wachs’ leadership, The Chapman Orchestra completed a survey of Mahler song cycles with baritone Vladimir Chernov and initiated a partnership with LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. The Chapman Orchestra’s annual Holiday Wassail Concert continues to be distributed nationally on PBS. In Orange County, Wachs was featured in the January 2016 edition of Modern Luxury and selected as one of OC Metro’s 2014 “40 Under Forty” most impressive young professionals. Wachs’ expertise and experience in developing and infusing new life into education concerts has led to repeat engagements with the Monterey and Palm Beach Symphonies.
An accomplished opera conductor and collaborative pianist, Wachs has led Albert Herring, Suor Angelicaand Gianni SchicchiCosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Impresario, Amahl and the Night Visitors, acts from La Traviataand Die Fledermausand the operas La Divinaand Signor Delusoby Pasatieri. He has accompanied tenor William Burden in recital and recently made his debut on the LA Philharmonic Chamber Music Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall. For more information, please visit www.danielalfredwachs.com
Michael Pecak
Polish-American pianist and conductor Michael Pecak has performed to great acclaim throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe on both modern and historical instruments. An insatiable curiosity about art and music has taken Michael down numerous paths in his career. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where he studied piano performance with Alan Chow and orchestra/opera conducting with Victor Yampolsky, Stephen Alltop, Mallory Thompson, and Julian Dawson. A Fulbright Fellowship enabled Michael to spend a year at the F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland, where he explored the music of 20th and 21st-century Polish composers. Building on this experience, Michael was subsequently named an Artist-in-Residence at the Polish Studies Center of Indiana University (Bloomington) where he also earned his Masters Degree in piano performance, studying with the renowned American pianist André Watts.
A chance encounter with famed fortepianist Malcolm Bilson inspired a turn from the new to the early. At Bilson’s invitation, Michael attended Cornell University as a Graduate Fellow for a concentrated year of study of historical pianos in solo and chamber-music settings. Michael completed a DMA in historical performance practices at McGill University (Montreal) in the class of distinguished fortepianist-scholar Tom Beghin. Michael is currently an Associate Researcher at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, Belgium, where he works as part of a team of specialists on a project about Beethoven's pianos, historical technologies, and performance aesthetics. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Royaumont Fondation in Paris, France where he has presented on the music of Chopin. As a fortepianist, Michael has performed in the Vancouver Early Music Festival, the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, and the Festival de Musique Montreal Baroque. His scholarly articles on the music of Beethoven and Chopin have been published by Keyboard Perspectives (of Cornell University) and the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw.
An ardent lover of opera and art-song, Michael has long enjoyed working with vocalists as accompanist, coach, and répétiteur. A regular collaborator with soprano Hannah De Priest, Michael has made a special project of Polish art songs by F. Chopin, his contemporaries, and his precursors. The duo’s upcoming performances in the Midwest include a program of works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Michael has worked as Assistant Conductor at the Miami Music Festival on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and La Rondine as well as Resident Vocal Coach at Chicago Summer Opera for The Turn of the Screw. Most recently, Michael was Assistant Conductor at Winter Opera St. Louis on their production of Bellini’s Norma. During the summer of 2019, Michael was named a Conducting Fellow at Opera Saratoga (NY) where he is Assistant Conductor on Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. He then returns to Chicago Summer Opera to conduct a production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
Based in his hometown of Chicago, Michael is on the music staff at Northwestern University Opera and teaches piano at the Northwestern University Music Academy. He writes about opera for the online blog Schmopera and coaches singers in the operatic and song repertoires. He is in demand as a guest conductor and is the Music Director of the Chicago City Wide Symphony Orchestra, the city’s longest-running community orchestra. When not performing or contemplating music, Michael is most likely tuning his own 18th-century Viennese fortepiano, a replica of Anton Walter (ca. 1795) by Chris Maene.
A chance encounter with famed fortepianist Malcolm Bilson inspired a turn from the new to the early. At Bilson’s invitation, Michael attended Cornell University as a Graduate Fellow for a concentrated year of study of historical pianos in solo and chamber-music settings. Michael completed a DMA in historical performance practices at McGill University (Montreal) in the class of distinguished fortepianist-scholar Tom Beghin. Michael is currently an Associate Researcher at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, Belgium, where he works as part of a team of specialists on a project about Beethoven's pianos, historical technologies, and performance aesthetics. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Royaumont Fondation in Paris, France where he has presented on the music of Chopin. As a fortepianist, Michael has performed in the Vancouver Early Music Festival, the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, and the Festival de Musique Montreal Baroque. His scholarly articles on the music of Beethoven and Chopin have been published by Keyboard Perspectives (of Cornell University) and the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw.
An ardent lover of opera and art-song, Michael has long enjoyed working with vocalists as accompanist, coach, and répétiteur. A regular collaborator with soprano Hannah De Priest, Michael has made a special project of Polish art songs by F. Chopin, his contemporaries, and his precursors. The duo’s upcoming performances in the Midwest include a program of works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Michael has worked as Assistant Conductor at the Miami Music Festival on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and La Rondine as well as Resident Vocal Coach at Chicago Summer Opera for The Turn of the Screw. Most recently, Michael was Assistant Conductor at Winter Opera St. Louis on their production of Bellini’s Norma. During the summer of 2019, Michael was named a Conducting Fellow at Opera Saratoga (NY) where he is Assistant Conductor on Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. He then returns to Chicago Summer Opera to conduct a production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
Based in his hometown of Chicago, Michael is on the music staff at Northwestern University Opera and teaches piano at the Northwestern University Music Academy. He writes about opera for the online blog Schmopera and coaches singers in the operatic and song repertoires. He is in demand as a guest conductor and is the Music Director of the Chicago City Wide Symphony Orchestra, the city’s longest-running community orchestra. When not performing or contemplating music, Michael is most likely tuning his own 18th-century Viennese fortepiano, a replica of Anton Walter (ca. 1795) by Chris Maene.
Corina Brenciu
Stage Director
After receiving her BS from the College of Fine Arts, she graduated The University of Music in Bucharest, obtaining her degree as Opera and Musical Theater Director. She became Assistant Professor at the same University.
During that time she also began a collaboration with opera theaters: "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Bucharest, Cluj, Iași and Chișinău (Republic of Moldova). On the stage of the Opera Studio at the University of Bucharest she staged "Gianni Schicchi" by G. Puccini, "Die Fledermaus" by J. Strauss, "Don Pasquale" by G. Donizetti, "Der Schauspieldirektor" by W. A. Mozart and "Suor Angelica" of G. Puccini.
She also collaborated with the Bucharest Operetta and Musical Theater for the musical "The Gondoliers" by Arthur Sullivan. She was also a personal assistant to the opera director Andrei Serban at the staging of G. Enesco's "Oedipe", a show presented at the George Enesco International Festival.
She is now based in Brussels and became a Belgian citizen.
Lately she started working as a personal assistant for her husband, the tenor Marius Brenciu, with whom she participated in the creation of the important titles in the big theaters of the world, "La Traviata" - G. Verdi (d: Zeffirelli, Hermann, Friederich), "Simon Boccanegra"- G. Verdi (d: Guth), "Otello" - G. Verdi (d: G. del Monaco), "La Bohème"- G. Puccini (d: Zeffirelli, Silverstein, Homoki, Joosten) and Puccini's "La Rondine" (d: Joël, Gallione), "Eugene Onegin"- P.I. Tchaikovsky (d: Garichot, Asagaroff, Richter, Warlikowski, Stein), "L’ Elisir D’Amore" - G.Donizetti (d: Nitzan), "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"- G. Rossini (d: Sagi), in the opera houses of Lyon, Lisbon, Vienna, Munich, Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Geneva, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Berlin, San Francisco, San Diego, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
During that time she also began a collaboration with opera theaters: "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Bucharest, Cluj, Iași and Chișinău (Republic of Moldova). On the stage of the Opera Studio at the University of Bucharest she staged "Gianni Schicchi" by G. Puccini, "Die Fledermaus" by J. Strauss, "Don Pasquale" by G. Donizetti, "Der Schauspieldirektor" by W. A. Mozart and "Suor Angelica" of G. Puccini.
She also collaborated with the Bucharest Operetta and Musical Theater for the musical "The Gondoliers" by Arthur Sullivan. She was also a personal assistant to the opera director Andrei Serban at the staging of G. Enesco's "Oedipe", a show presented at the George Enesco International Festival.
She is now based in Brussels and became a Belgian citizen.
Lately she started working as a personal assistant for her husband, the tenor Marius Brenciu, with whom she participated in the creation of the important titles in the big theaters of the world, "La Traviata" - G. Verdi (d: Zeffirelli, Hermann, Friederich), "Simon Boccanegra"- G. Verdi (d: Guth), "Otello" - G. Verdi (d: G. del Monaco), "La Bohème"- G. Puccini (d: Zeffirelli, Silverstein, Homoki, Joosten) and Puccini's "La Rondine" (d: Joël, Gallione), "Eugene Onegin"- P.I. Tchaikovsky (d: Garichot, Asagaroff, Richter, Warlikowski, Stein), "L’ Elisir D’Amore" - G.Donizetti (d: Nitzan), "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"- G. Rossini (d: Sagi), in the opera houses of Lyon, Lisbon, Vienna, Munich, Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Geneva, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Berlin, San Francisco, San Diego, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
Margaret Jumonville
Stage Director
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Margaret Jumonville is an opera and theater director based in Austin, Texas. She has been a Young Artist Director with Opera NEO (San Diego) and Opera Steamboat (Colorado). Directing credits include: La Clemenza di Tito and Così fan tutte for Butler Opera Center, Cavalleria Rusticana/Opera Steamboat, Golden: a new opera/Cohen New Works Festival; Suor Angelica/Butler Opera Center; Fairy Queen/Opera NEO. Assistant director: H.M.S. Pinafore and Ulysses/Opéra Louisiane, Alcina/Opera Steamboat, Don Giovanni/Opera NEO. A stage manager on the side, Margaret has stage managed opera and theater across the country, most recently in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Margaret holds degrees in music from the University of Notre Dame and Duquesne University and a Master’s in Opera Directing from UT Austin, where she is currently working on her DMA in Opera Directing, studying with Dr. Robert DeSimone.
J. Bradley Baker
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CJ Capen
Resident Coach
CJ CAPEN enjoys a distinguished career as conductor, pianist, organist, and educator.
He has been Staff Accompanist at Elon University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, Georgetown Chorale, Vienna Chorale Society, and currently the award-winning Voce Chamber Singers. He has given numerous recitals and benefit concerts in the greater D.C. area, lecture recitals as part of George Mason’s OLLI program, participated in Bennington Chamber Music Conference, and has given concerts internationally, most recently a China tour with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra flutist Lauren Sileo.
He has conducted Reston Chorale's Messiah Sing-Along, has been music director for productions of "Brigadoon" (Lerner & Loewe), "A Hand Of Bridge" (Samuel Barber), "Guys and Dolls" (Loesser), "Bye Bye Birdie" (Strouse), and "Company" (Sondheim), and will be music director for Opera Artist Institute's production of "Frida" (Robert Xavier Rodriguez) this summer. As an educator, he served as chorus teacher at Paul VI High School from 2003-2005, and again from 2014-2018, of which the choirs received excellent ratings and "Best All-Around Choir" at competition; he has been guest clinician for choral festivals, and helped to institute the Honors Ensemble at the Arlington Diocese Opening Liturgy.
He is Director of Music at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Reston, VA, where he conducts the Schola, Festival Choir & Orchestra, and oversees the other six ensembles. Their repertoire spans from the traditional to the more contemporary. They have toured France, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic under his direction, and this past year embarked on a recording project, “Rejoice! Sounds of the Season!” He is a lecturer on music in the Church, and in 2011, was a part of the National Pastoral Musicians Schola recording: ICEL chants of the New Roman Missal.
He received his Bachelor Fine Arts in Piano Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and his Master's in Piano Accompanying from University of North Carolina.
He is a member of NAfME, ACDA, NPM, DC’s Friday Morning Music Club, and remains active as educator, conductor, recitalist, accompanist and vocal coach.
He has been Staff Accompanist at Elon University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, Georgetown Chorale, Vienna Chorale Society, and currently the award-winning Voce Chamber Singers. He has given numerous recitals and benefit concerts in the greater D.C. area, lecture recitals as part of George Mason’s OLLI program, participated in Bennington Chamber Music Conference, and has given concerts internationally, most recently a China tour with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra flutist Lauren Sileo.
He has conducted Reston Chorale's Messiah Sing-Along, has been music director for productions of "Brigadoon" (Lerner & Loewe), "A Hand Of Bridge" (Samuel Barber), "Guys and Dolls" (Loesser), "Bye Bye Birdie" (Strouse), and "Company" (Sondheim), and will be music director for Opera Artist Institute's production of "Frida" (Robert Xavier Rodriguez) this summer. As an educator, he served as chorus teacher at Paul VI High School from 2003-2005, and again from 2014-2018, of which the choirs received excellent ratings and "Best All-Around Choir" at competition; he has been guest clinician for choral festivals, and helped to institute the Honors Ensemble at the Arlington Diocese Opening Liturgy.
He is Director of Music at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Reston, VA, where he conducts the Schola, Festival Choir & Orchestra, and oversees the other six ensembles. Their repertoire spans from the traditional to the more contemporary. They have toured France, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic under his direction, and this past year embarked on a recording project, “Rejoice! Sounds of the Season!” He is a lecturer on music in the Church, and in 2011, was a part of the National Pastoral Musicians Schola recording: ICEL chants of the New Roman Missal.
He received his Bachelor Fine Arts in Piano Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and his Master's in Piano Accompanying from University of North Carolina.
He is a member of NAfME, ACDA, NPM, DC’s Friday Morning Music Club, and remains active as educator, conductor, recitalist, accompanist and vocal coach.
Aviva Tu
Coach
MengChun Tu (Aviva) is from Taiwan and has a Bachelor Degree in Piano. She likes to be involved in collaborative music. Her music experience is very extensive, starting when she was 10 years old. Her music journey began at Shanghai Conservatory (China) because of the family influences where she studied 4 years of violin and 2 years of piano. She returned to Taiwan to pursue her piano major at National Dong Hwa University. Her success in violin competition made her professor recommend a double major. In her last year she was the concertmaster for the National Dong Hwa University Symphony Orchestra. She also played piano in Choir, bass in Big Band, and piano and percussion in Wind Band. She is currently studying for a Performance Diploma in Violin at Roosevelt University, Chicago. She works as an instrumental and vocal accompanist.
An Phan
Coach
An Phan is a classical pianist based in Chicago. Ms. Phan is a recipient of numerous awards from various competitions including the Avanti Future Stars Steinway Piano Competition, the Arizona State University Schimmel Young Artists Piano Competition, Arizona Music Fest, Musicians Club of Women and the Phoenix Youth Symphony Young Artist Guild Competition. She also received the Phoenix Youth Symphony Young Artist Scholarship from the Phoenix Youth Symphony, the Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship from the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago, and the Saul Dorfman Memorial Scholarship from the Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Ms. Phan has given performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the San Jose Performing Arts Center, and the Lied Center of Performing Arts. In the upcoming year Ms. Phan will be giving performances at the Chicago Multicultural Center. An has attended various music festivals around the nation including the International Institute of Young Musicians, Colburn International Beethoven Piano Festival, Lucile Evans Music Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival and the Adamant Music School. Phan has participated in masterclasses and studied with pianists including Alan Chow, Yoshikazu Nagai, Steven Spooner, Seta Tanyel, Gila Goldstein, and Andre Laplante. Ms. Phan is currently studying at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Dr. Ludmila Lazar. An Phan is currently a piano instructor at the Bach to Rock Northbrook music school and performs extensively as a soloist and collaborator.
Ms. Phan has given performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the San Jose Performing Arts Center, and the Lied Center of Performing Arts. In the upcoming year Ms. Phan will be giving performances at the Chicago Multicultural Center. An has attended various music festivals around the nation including the International Institute of Young Musicians, Colburn International Beethoven Piano Festival, Lucile Evans Music Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival and the Adamant Music School. Phan has participated in masterclasses and studied with pianists including Alan Chow, Yoshikazu Nagai, Steven Spooner, Seta Tanyel, Gila Goldstein, and Andre Laplante. Ms. Phan is currently studying at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Dr. Ludmila Lazar. An Phan is currently a piano instructor at the Bach to Rock Northbrook music school and performs extensively as a soloist and collaborator.