VOICE TEACHERS

Jennifer Aylmer - Soprano Jennifer Aylmer returned to both Portland Opera and Opera Theater of St. Louis this 2011-2012 season, and made her European debut with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano e Trento, Italy.  An especially sought-after performer of 20^th and 21^st century works, Ms. Aylmer has performed numerous world premieres, including her 2005 Metropolitan Opera debut as Bella Griffeths in An American Tragedy, and Amy in Little Women (HGO).  Other highlights in the opera arena include singing over 40 roles with such companies as New York City Opera, Portland Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Boston, Minnesota Opera, Orlando Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Kentucky Opera, Florentine Opera, and Nashville Opera.

Ms. Aylmer gave her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2001, and has been a featured soloist with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, NYFOS, National Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra.  Ms. Aylmer received her B.M. and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and her Masters of Vocal Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College.  She is an alumnus of the Juilliard Opera Center and HGO Studio Programs, and currently maintains a private voice studio in New York City.

Dr. Byron Jones - Washington DC area Tenor Byron Jones is well-known to audiences, having performed regularly for more than two decades in opera, concert, recital and intimate cabaret settings, in such venues as the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Opera House, and Millennium Stage, Lisner Auditorium, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and numerous regional theatres. A versatile artist, he continually seeks out new challenges. Jones has received critical praise for his warmth of tone and clear diction. He has performed with the Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera, Opera Vivente, and Florentine Opera. He remains active as a singer and stage director.  Dr. Jones is Associate Professor of Music (voice) at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA, where his activities include directing, teaching, and coordinating opera activities. A specialist in languages, especially French, he has given master classes for the Washington National Opera Institute for Young Singers and the American Singers Opera Project.  He holds degrees in French Language and Literature from the Universities of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Massachusetts-Amherst degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland-College Park (Maryland Opera Studio) and Shenandoah University.

Stephen Lusmann - Stephen Lusmann has enjoyed a successful international career singing leading baritone roles with major opera houses, including the Oper de Stadt Bonn, Opera de Monte Carlo, Stadttheater Luzern, Washington National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Glimmerglass Opera among many others. As an active concert soloist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and with numerous symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad. On recording, Mr. Lusmann may be heard in Richard Strauss' Der Friedenstag on the Koch International label, Operngala on Tonstudio AMOS, and on E. E. Cummings: An American Circus, songs of Logan Skelton on the Centaur Records label. He is Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan. His students are having great success performing professionally in opera, concert, musical theater, and young artist programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. They are also winning prestigious vocal competitions and are members of university voice faculties. He has been a member of the Seagle Music Colony faculty for seven years.

Dr. Craig Maddox - Dr. Craig Maddox, lyric baritone, is a fourth year Seagle Music Colony faculty member. He joined the Stetson University School of Music voice faculty in 1984. He holds a BM in Voice Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts, an MM in Voice Performance, an MM in Opera Directing, and a DM in Voice Performance from Florida State University. Dr. Maddox has appeared with such opera companies as Orlando Opera, Shreveport Opera and Mobile Opera. He also has experience in musical theatre, having performed leading roles in such shows as Brigadoon and Carousel. Dr. Maddox's academic passions include establishing Stetson's Hollis Voice Laboratory and expanding its Vocal Pedagogy program. A 26-year NATS member, he has served two terms as Florida NATS Governor. Former Maddox students are singing with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera and others. His students have won a number of major competitions since 2001, including: Met Auditions Grand Finals, Regionals and Districts; George London Foundation; Gerda Lissner Foundation, Liederkranz Foundation; Puccini Foundation; National Opera Association; Palm Beach Opera; Artist Series of Sarasota; and others.

COACH/ACCOMPANISTS

Tyson Deaton - Based in New York, Tyson Deaton has gained attention as one of the busiest young collaborative artists and coaches of opera and recital literature of this generation. He is sought out by singers and instrumentalists alike who represent some of the best talents of today. Most recently, he appeared in a recital with both singers and instrumentalists from the Metropolitan Opera. A former faculty member of the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, Mr. Deaton's various appointments have yielded productions garnering critical acclaim with Opera News, among many other professional publications. His 2007-08 season includes productions of Of Mice and Men and Angels in America with Fort Worth Opera, Carmina Burana with the Long Bay Symphony, in addition to Cosi Fan Tutte and La Rondine with Sarasota Opera. He returns to The Seagle Colony after a successful run of The Merry Widow in the 2007 season.

R. Jason Smith - R. Jason Smith returns to the Seagle Music Colony faculty for his eithth season in 2011. He'll be remembered by audiences as Music Director and pianist for Crazy for You, The Fantasticks, The Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Most Happy Fella, Guys & Dolls, and Carousel. He is currently staff coach/accompanist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Previous to this position he was Principal Coach for the Fort Worth Opera where his duties include being rehearsal accompanist for main stage productions as well as touring across the state of Texas with Children's Opera Theatre. Mr. Smith received a Master of Music degree in Opera Coaching from Florida State University after completing a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Utah. Other experience includes work as an apprentice coach/accompanist for Utah Opera.

Richard Williams - A member of the Seagle Music Colony for his 14th Season in 2011, Richard Williams is assisant professor of accompanying and coaching at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. At UMKC he serves as coordinator of accompanying activities and as faculty coach for the Middle-America Opera Apprentice program shared by the Conservatory and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He holds degrees in Liberal Arts and Piano Performance from the University of Akron and the Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois. He has appeared as accompnaist with opera performers Sandra Warfield and James King. He is the official pianist for the Kansas City District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and an official accompanist for the West Central Regional Auditions of the Music Teachers National Association. He is principal coach of the Conservatory Opera, a training program whose students are working as principals or apprentices with New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Central City and San Francisco Opera as well as other companies.

STAGE DIRECTORS

Heidi Lauren Duke - Director/choreographer Heidi Lauren Duke has staged work in seven states and four countries, working with singers from all over the world. Most recently Ms. Duke received rave reviews for her new productions of Falstaff and Don Pasquale, the former at Boston Opera Collaborative and the latter at Hubbard Hall Opera House in upstate New York. In 2010, she premiered her new opera-theatre piece, Lorca en Nueva York, for a full house in Barcelona, Spain, and revived her critically acclaimed production of Hansel & Gretel in Times Square, NYC. At Opera Shorts @ Carnegie Hall, she was chosen to stage premieres of music by Tania Leon and Patrick Soluri, and has twice served as Assistant Director at Michigan Opera Theatre on Bernard Uzan's Tosca and Rigoletto. Heidi Lauren served four seasons as Artistic Associate at Les Azuriales Opera Festival, in Cap-Ferrat, France, where she helped develop the Ozone Program for Young Artists. In New York, other recent productions include a chamber theatre adaptation of Madama Butterfly for Voice Afire; The Rape of Lucretia and l’enfant et les sortileges forProject Opera of Manhattan; Tosca and Aida for Opera of the Hamptons; and the new musical The Street. Heidi Lauren also helped launch Maestro Lorin Maazel’ s first opera production on his estate in Castleton, Virginia, which also performed at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Duke trained as a director, singer, dancer, and actor at University of Cincinnati and Vanderbilt University, where she was awarded the Martin Williams Award and the Theodore Presser Award. Apprenticeships include the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, and Opera North. Ms. Duke is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and is especially proud to serve as a Project Leader at Sing for Hope. www.heidilaurenduke.com

John de los Santos - John de los Santos is originally from San Antonio, where he was a principal member of the Alamo City Dance Company. After graduating from Texas Christian University, he became the resident choreographer for the Fort Worth Opera. His productions there have included Before Night Falls, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Frau Margot, Rigoletto, Salome, and La Traviata. He has also directed Carmen and The Mikado for Fort Worth as well. He has directed the Italienisches Liederbuch for Voces Intimae, The Tenderland and Così Fan Tutte for The Living Opera, and Ricky Ian Gordon's Orpheus & Euridice for Voices of Change. His work for Uptown Players includes his choreography for both the award-winning regional premiere of Altar Boyz and the American premiere of Closer to Heaven. In 2010 he choreographed Don Giovanni for the Dallas Opera, and will return there next season for Katya Kabanova. He has also served as an assistant/associate director for various productions with Austin Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Washington National Opera. He has served on the faculty of the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York, since 2005, where his productions have included Anything Goes, Crazy for You, The Medium, The Fantasticks, The Mikado, La Bohème, and Guys & Dolls. johndelossantos.com

Richard Kagey - Director of Productions - Richard Kagey has been Director of Productions at Seagle Music Colony for over thirty years, directing operas and musicals as diverse as Oklahoma! to 2006's world premiere of Morning Star by Ricky Ian Gordon. After spending numerous years on faculty at several colleges and universities, Mr. Kagey has begun freelance directing full time. He was involved with Pasatieri's opera Frau Margot from its inception, and directed the first workshop production at Seagle Music Colony during the summer of 2005. In the summer of 2007, he directed and was also set desginer for another Pasatieri premiere, Hotel Casablanca, for the San Francisco Opera Merola Program. The opera was a co-production with the University of Kentucky, where he also directed the piece. He is currently working extensively with Atlanta Opera and will direct Of Mice and Men during the 2008 Fort Worth Opera Festival. Other experience includes direction at regional theaters and opera companies across the country as well as several years as a press agent for Broadway theaters.

David Lefkowich - David Lefkowich is an accomplished stage director and fight choreographer. Recent projects included directing The Rake's Progress at La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium as well as directing Don Giovanniat the Ravinia Music Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and L'Histoire du Soldat with the Juilliard School, both with Maestro James Conlon conducting. David made his European directing debut with Le Portrait de Manon at the Gran Teatre Liceu in Barcelona, Spain. Other new productions included Romeo et Juliett (Minnesota Opera, Virginia Opera and Opera Tampa), La Traviata (Lake George Opera) and Le Portrait de Manon (Glimmerglass Opera). Upcoming directing includes The Marriage of Figaro at the Ravinia Music Festival and Tosca at Boston Lyric Opera.

Jeffrey McEvoy - Assistant Director - At home in concert, musical theater and operatic repertoire, American baritone, Dr. Jeffrey McEvoy, has been commended for his performances of French and Italian baritone roles as well as dramatic interpretation of twentieth century music.  Jeffrey holds his Doctorate of Musical Arts in vocal performance from the University of Kansas, Master of Music in Opera from Wichita State University and Bachelor of Art in music as well as Bachelor of Science in Biology from John Brown University.  He has been a Kansas City district winner and regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and first place winner in the Midwest District of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in both the Graduate and Senior Men divisions.  Jeffrey has previously taught at Wichita State University, the University of Kansas, Boston’s Walnut Hill School of the Arts and the summer Tanglewood Institute of Lenox, MA.  Jeffrey currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of voice at the University of Connecticut and serves as the resident director of the opera program.  Highlights of previous seasons include singing contracts with regional companies such as Connecticut Opera, Opera Boston, Kansas City Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera, Lake George Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Commonwealth Opera, and the Glens Falls Symphony.

Johnathon Pape - The dynamic and eclectic work of Johnathon Pape crosses many borders. He is a director, writer, teacher, coach, and frequent consultant for artistic projects spanning many disciplines.  As a director, his career spans theatre, musical theatre and opera, and he has staged a wide range of productions throughout the U.S. and abroad. Recent work includes Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for Tulsa Opera; La Fille du Régiment for Dayton Opera; Le Nozze di Figaro, The Secret Garden, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Lee Hoiby’s This Is The Rill Speaking (original cast recording on Albany Records) for Eastman Opera Theatre. Career highlights include the world premiere of Griffelkin by Lukas Foss for New York City Opera; the U.S. premiere of Daniel Catán’s La Hija da Rappaccini for San Diego Opera; the Los Angeles premiere of Richard Greenberg’s Eastern Standard; Terrence McNally’s Master Class for HaBimah, the National Theater of Israel; Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos for Tulsa Opera; Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney for an Irish Arts Festival; the Los Angeles premiere of Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart, about the women who served in Viet Nam—a special installation production mounted in the Los Angeles National Cemetery; Janáček’s Jenůfa for Portland Opera; and Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd for Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee. Pape is the Director of Opera Studies at The Boston Conservatory.