• Home
• Course description
• Media
• Public events
• Faculty
• Roundtables
• Repertoire
• Alumni
• Artistic collaborations
• Apply
• Contact

Faculty

Laurence Cummings

Guest Professor for Handel´s The Messiah

Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as conductor and harpsichord player. Music Director of the London Handel Festival since 1999, he has just completed his inaugural year in the same role at the Internationale Händel-Festpiele Göttingen, as well as acting as Music Director for Orquestra Barocca Casa da Musica Porto and as trustee of Handel House London. He has conducted productions for English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera and at the Linbury Theatre Covent Garden. Future plans include productions for Opernhaus Zurich, Opera de Lyon, and Glyndebourne Opera.

Michael Hofstetter

Guest Conductor for the Operagala with the Munich Radio Orchestra

Michael Hofstetter is lauded for his close collaborations with emerging artists and has lead various operas at the Munich Theaterakademie. His career demonstrates his amazingly versatility. He is conductor of the Stuttgart Chamberorchestra, head of the Ludwigsburger Festspiele, and has conducted at major opera houses world-wide, including Munich, Hamburg, Barcelona, Berlin and Houston. Mr. Hofstetter is also renowned as a baroque specialist.

Stephen King

Guest Professor for Voice

Stephen King is the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Voice and Chair of Vocal Studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. Additionally, he is Director of Vocal Instruction for the singers of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and is a member of the Artist Faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. An internationally recognized teacher, Stephen King’s students sing on the major operatic and concert stages of the world, and he is sought out for his expertise in training singers.

Denise Massé

Guest Professor for French Opera

On staff at the Metropolitan Opera and at The Juilliard School, Ms. Massé has worked with some of the leading musical institutions in the world, including the Berlin and Wiener Staatsopern, and the Paris Théatre des Champs Elysée. She has prepared singers for their recordings with Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and Warner Classics. Ms. Massé has worked with maestros such as Levine, Boulez, Maazel, Haitink and Barenboim, and singers Anna Netrebko and Rene Pape on their french repertoire at the Met and abroad.

Ann Murray

Guest Professor for Italian Opera & Handel

One of the preeminent singers of her generation, Ann Murray's operatic engagements have taken her to Hamburg, Dresden, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Zurich, Amsterdam, the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as well as regular appearances at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the English National Opera, Bavarian State Opera and Wiener Staatsoper. Her discography reflects not only her broad opera and recital repertoire but also many of her great operatic roles.

Dr. Eytan Pessen

Guest Professor for Audition Training

Eytan Pessen is the Artistic Director of the Semperoper in Dresden and was casting director at Stuttgart State Opera up to 2006. He is also an artistic consultant for "Ruhr 2010". As a pianist and accompanist he has appeared all over Europe and as vocal coach he teaches at the Bayerische Theaterakademie in München, the Scuola d'opera in Bologna and at the Frankfurt Opera.

Wolfram Rieger

Guest Professor for German Lieder

Prof. Wolfram Rieger was born in Waldsassen in Bavaria. First piano lessons with his parents and with Konrad Pfeiffer in Regensburg. Thereafter studied with Prof. Dr. Erik Werba and Prof. Helmut Deutsch at the Academy of Music in Munich. Masterclasses with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Prof. Hans Hotter and Prof. Dr. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Wolfram Rieger’s international concert career has taken him to almost every part of the world. Longtime accompanist for Brigitte Fassbaender, Juliane Banse, Barbara Bonney, Anja Harteros, Annette Dasch, Thomas Hampson, Olaf Bär, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Matthias Goerne, Christoph Prégardien, Thomas Quasthoff, Peter Schreier, Michael Schade and chamber music partner of the Cherubini Quartet, the Petersen Quartet and the Vogler Quartet. While still a student he accompanied the Lieder class and a few years later led his own Lieder class at the Academy of Music in Munich. Since 1998 Wolfram Rieger has been Professor of Lieder Interpretation at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin.

Lauren Schiff

Alexander Technique

Lauren Schiff is a faculty member at The Juilliard School and The Aspen Music Festival and School. She has also worked with the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. Ms. Schiff is an AMSAT Certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and has presented her work with musicians to Alexander Technique Teachers internationally, most recently at the International Congress for the Alexander Technique in Lugano, Switzerland, 2011.

Craig Terry

Guest Professor for American Song

A native of Tullahoma, Tennessee, pianist Craig Terry has launched an international career performing with some of the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Currently Mr. Terry is in his eighth season as Assistant Conductor at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and has recently been named Music Director of its Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. Previously, he served as Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera after joining its Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Mr. Terry has performed with such esteemed vocalists as Stephanie Blythe, Christine Brewer, Nicole Cabell, Sasha Cooke, Eric Cutler, Giuseppe Filianoti, Joseph Kaiser, Kate Lindsey, Danielle De Niese, Susanna Phillips, Patricia Racette, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Hugh Russell, Garrett Sorenson, and Amber Wagner.

Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Edith Wiens

Resident Professor for All Repertoire

After her long and illustrous career, Edith Wiens enjoys mentoring young singers. Many opera houses - such as the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York - have engaged her students, who are equally at home in the concert world. She is a faculty member of the Juilliard School in New York. She also gives masterclasses regularly at the Young Ensembles of the opera houses in Dresden, Frankfurt and Munich, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Prof. Wiens is the artistic director of the International Meistersinger Akademie, and during the entire residency, she will offer intensive training in interpretation, and vocal and artistic development.

Language Studies

Marianne Barrett

German Language and Diction

Marianne Barrett was born and educated in Germany. She grew up in Munich and studied German and English literature at the Ludwig-Maximiliansuniversität in Munich. She also attended the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where she was a voice major. After immigrating to the United States, she lived in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, where she taught at the University of New Mexico, sang in recitals and oratorios, and performed many mezzo roles with AOT. She was co-founder of the UNM German summer school in Taos and acted as co-director and language coordinator for many years. Since coming to New York, Ms. Barrett has taught German at Hunter College and Columbia University. She has been on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music since 1990 as German diction instructor/coach and language instructor. She holds the same position at Mannes College of Music and joined the faculty of The Juilliard School as German diction instructor/ coach in 2006. When her busy teaching schedule allows it, she coaches at the Metropolitan Opera (Magic Flute, Abduction from the Seraglio). She spends her summers coaching singers at Santa Fe Opera in their German opera productions (Magic Flute, Salome, Daphne). An important part of her work in Santa Fe is with the young artists in the apprentice program. Most recently, she coached Ariadne auf Naxos at the Metropolitan Opera and Wozzeck in Santa Fe in 2011, and in 2012 she coached the production of Arabella in Santa Fe. She has been appointed as German Diction Coach for Wagner's Ring Cycle at The Metropolitan Opera in 2013. She has worked on many full-scale opera productions in the three conservatories and for other opera organizations throughout the city, and is often asked to coach singers for Lied recitals or Oratorio. Ms. Barrett is an avid fan of Lieder, opera, chamber music, and her students.

Dr. Corradina Caporello

Italian Diction

Corradina Caporello, born in Rome, received a B.A. from Columbia University, an M.A. from Queens College, and a M.Ph. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has taught Italian language and literature at Columbia University, John Jay College, Queens College, Hofstra University, and Long Island University. Dr. Caporello, a member of the Italian Honor Society, trained with Evelina Colorni. She has coached Italian operas in the United States, Canada, Italy, Israel, and China and has taught master classes in Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, as well as in the United States. She has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 1984. Dr. Caporello joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995.

Dr. Loretta Trinei

Italian Diction

Loretta Trinei is a faculty member of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where she teaches all levels of Italian. She also coaches the singers of the Bavarian Theater Akademie in Italian repertoire.

Coaching Faculty

John Fisher

John Fisher was born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow University, the RAM, and the London Opera Centre. He joined the music staff of La Monnaie in Brussels, where he also became Music Director of the Opera Studio. He was also a member of the music staff of the Netherlands Opera and then moved to Milan as assistant to Claudio Abbado at Teatro alla Scala, where he became Head of Music and, subsequently, Artistic Administrator. From 1989 he was Artistic Director of Teatro La Fenice in Venice and in 1994 became Director of Vocal Productions and Executive Producer at Deutsche Grammophon in Hamburg. In 1997 he was appointed Director of Music Administration of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. From 2005 until 2010 he was CEO and Artistic Director of Welsh National Opera. John Fisher collaborated most closely throughout his career with Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti and James Levine. He was Head of Music for the Rossini Festival in Pesaro for a decade and prepared the casts for opera recordings for DECCA over many years. He worked closely with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle on several opera films for UNITEL films. John Fisher is an accomplished accompanist, harpsichordist, and conductor and is much sought after to give master classes around the world.

Tobias Truniger

Tobias Truniger is the artistic director of the Young Ensemble of the Munich State Opera. His mastery of style and language in all repertoire has made him a beloved coach of many young professionals. Tobias Truniger has played recitals with Edith Wiens and Angelika Kirchschlager, and has toured the US with Stefan Loges, the winner of the Young Concert Artists Song Competition.

Staff Pianists

Keuna Lee

Korean Pianist, Keun-A Lee, has been on the music staffs of New York City Opera, the Spoleto Music Festival, USA, The Gotham Chamber Opera, The Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. Recent engagements include New York Philharmonic Chamber music series, recitals for the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and recitals with the winners of Young Concert Artists and Concert Artist Guild. Ms. Lee received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Piano Performance at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea and then moved to New York to study with Margo Garrett, Jonathan Feldman and Brian Zeger before earning both a master’s degree and Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School. She also holds a Professional Studies Certificate in Vocal Accompanying from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Warren Jones. She recently finished her term with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera where she was employed in the production of The Bartered Bride mounted jointly by The Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School and conducted by James Levine.

Sophia Munoz

Born in Oklahoma, Sophia Munoz’ love of music had its first outlet when she was four years old and asked for piano lessons. Now, a graduate of Mannes College the New School for Music in piano performance (May 2012), she has returned to Mannes for her masters degree, which she is pursuing in collaborative piano. An avid chamber musician, repetiteur, and coach, Sophia has performed throughout the US, most recently as part of the YoungARTS’ Salute to the Presidential Scholars in the Arts at the Kennedy Center. She has attended numerous summer festivals and participated in masterclasses with artists such as Richard Goode, Margo Garrett, Vera Calabria, Vitaly Margulis, Eteri Anjerperidze, and Andrzej Jasinski. She is a piano student of Cristina Stanescu.

Nicholas Rimmer

Nicholas Rimmer was born in Wigan, England and began his musical training at the Royal Northern College of Music, going on to study in Cambridge, Hannover, Berlin and Cologne. He has appeared at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein and Ludwigsburg and he has given concerts and piano masterclasses in Nagoya, Japan. In 2011 he released his debut recording of solo piano works for MVH Music. His strong interest in the song repertoire has led him to important venues such as the Wigmore Hall. Since 2009 Nicholas Rimmer has taught as a junior fellow for piano and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover.

Jonathan Ware

In high demand as a chamber musician and Lied accompanist, pianist Jonathan Ware has recently appeared in venues including Alice Tully Hall, The Ravinia Festival, Carnegie’s Weill Hall and Wigmore Hall. Jonathan Ware has given recitals internationally and was awarded the prestigious Pianist's Prize at the 2011 Wigmore Hall Song Competition.