Esther Jane Hardenbergh: soprano, University of Miami Frost School of Music
Esther Jane Hardenbergh is associate professor and chair of the Department of Vocal Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music and program director for the Frost School of Music at Salzburg. Dr. Hardenbergh has toured professionally in the United States and Europe in opera, oratorio and recital. She regularly performs as a soloist with orchestras, conducts master classes and adjudicates. Her students perform on both classical and music theatre stages and have won competitions. Dr. Hardenbergh made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut as winner of the 1999 International Opera Singer Competition and is a respected interpreter of 19th century German Lieder and 20th century American Art Songs. Her operatic roles include Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Micaela (Carmen), Donna Elvira and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Marguerite (Faust) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). Hardenbergh holds degrees from the University of Richmond (BM, Education), Boston University (MM, Voice-Opera Performance) and a Doctorate in Music and Music Education, specializing in Vocal Pedagogy from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Margaret Astrup: soprano, Western Connecticut State University
Margaret Astrup enjoys a versatile career singing in styles ranging from contemporary opera, art song and chamber music to Bel Canto and Bach. She has performed in opera, oratorio and recitals in all the major NYC venues as well as throughout the tri-state area, the Midwest and in Europe. She has also performed in premieres of several chamber operas. Her recordings include songs by Otto Luening, Wm. Grant Still and Alec Wilder on Newport Classic labels as well as Cosmos Cantata by Seymour Barab for Kleos/Helicon Records and songs of Ruth Schonthal for Albany Records.  She has recently completed a recording with violinist Eric Lewis of folk songs settings from the British Isles by Holst, Vaughan Williams and Rebecca Clark that will be released by Centaur Records in 2011. Margaret Astrup teaches at Western Connecticut State University where she is Area Head of Vocal Studies and Opera.

Peter Atherton: bass-baritone, Chapman University
Peter Atherton has had the joy of performing over forty-five roles ranging from Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea to Frederick in A Little Night Music.  His operatic credits include performances with the Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Baltimore Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Wolf Trap Opera, Virginia Opera, San Francisco Opera Touring Division, Opera Atelier, Cairo Opera and the Operafestival of Rome and Verona.  He has performed with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Lucas Foss, James Conlon, Kurt Herbert Adler, David Effron and Myung-Whun Chung. In concert and oratorio he has performed to acclaim with numerous orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, L’Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Bach Cercle Genéve, International Chamber Ensemble Rome, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Orchestre de Belgique, Philadelphia Singers, San Diego Symphony, William Hall Chorale, Angeles Chorale and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Equally popular in recital, he has performed in Vienna, Zürich, Rome, Hannover, Basel, Geneva, New York, Houston, Miami, Palm Beach, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  Mr. Atherton’s versatility as a singing-actor enabled him to perform six different roles in The Phantom of the Opera in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.  He has also recorded a program of French Art Song for the Hannover Radio in Germany. Mr. Atherton holds the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The Juilliard School, Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Southern California, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles.  He has received numerous awards including Artist of the Year sponsored by The National Arts Club in New York City and a full scholarship to The International Academy for Soloists where he studied exclusively with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Mr. Atherton holds the Robert and Norma Lineberger Endowed Chair of Music at Chapman University and is Director of Operatic Studies and Associate Professor of Voice in the Conservatory of Music.  He is a member of the Artistic Board of Directors of Operafestival di Roma.  Mr. Atherton has served on the faculty at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles, Occidental College and at Operafestival di Roma and has presented master classes throughout North America.  His students have been admitted to prestigious graduate and apprentice programs across the country, with many performing professionally in Europe, the United States and Canada.

Clifford Billions: tenor, Cleveland Institute of Music
Clliford Bilions began his professional singing career in New York City in the Metropolitan Opera Studio. He also performed extensively in the New York City Opera Title III program, taking opera to schools throughout New York City and State. Mr. Billions sang at Carnegie Hall with the American Opera Society in Bellini’s La Straniera with Montserrat Caballe and in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots with Beverly Sills and Justino Diaz. In Germany, he was a leading tenor at the Darmstadt Opera and also sang at the Munich Festival. He has sung throughout the U.S. in opera, oratorio and recital, appearing in 30 leading opera roles such as Faust, Rodolfo, Tamino and Don Ottavio. He received a Master of Music degree in voice performance from Converse College School of Music, and has taught on the faculties of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria; the University of Alabama; the University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg; and the University of Akron, where he is now professor emeritus. He has given master classes in Taipei, Taiwan; at the national convention of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) in Los Angeles; and at numerous colleges, universities and state NATS chapters in America. His students perform at the Metropolitan and New York City Operas, and for major opera companies in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Detroit and Cleveland. His students are currently in European opera houses at Bonn and Graz and are making guest appearances at the Aix-en-Provence festival,

Lori Bade: mezzo, Louisiana State University
Lori Bade has served as Professor of Voice at LSU since 1993 and Area Coordinator for the Vocal Arts Area from 1999 - 2007. Dr. Bade is currently the Interim Director of Graduate Studies for the School of Music. She was recently selected as the recipient of the Nell S. And Boyd H. McMullan Distinguished Professorship in Music and, in 2007, received the LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award for outstanding teaching and research and/or service. In addition, she twice received the “Tiger Excellence in Teaching Award” by Louisiana State University (1997 and 2005) as well as the “Outstanding Young Graduate Award” from Texas Lutheran University (1996). As a performing artist, Ms. Bade brings a history of great successes from throughout the South, Southwest, Washington state and Europe. She has achieved critical acclaim for her “fine voice, well produced with even tone and vibrato…” as well as “pure vocal beauty, who has a resplendent, coppery instrument whose ripe ‘Earth Mother’ low register has no hint of growly chest tones.” She has appeared with numerous opera companies including the Austin Lyric, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Spokane, and Shreveport Opera. Ms. Bade has performed as mezzo soprano soloist singing major concert works of J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Duruflé, Handel, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Rutter, Tippett and Vaughan Williams with such orchestras as the Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Memphis, Virginia, Rapides, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Pensacola, University of Chicago, and Louisiana Philharmonic.

Deborah Massell: soprano, Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam
Hailed as “memorable” by The New York Times and “striking” by the San Francisco Chronicle, lyric soprano Deborah Massell has performed throughout Europe and North America in opera, concert and chamber music, appearing in leading roles including Pamina, Susanna, Despina, Zerlina, Euridice, Semele and Belinda, while also creating many world premieres. She has sung in acclaimed venues such as the Hamburg State Opera, the United Nations, Basel Opera, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 92nd St Y, and Town Hall; and festivals including the Vienna, St. Bart’s, Salzburg Mozarteum, Princeton, and Caramoor. She has worked with noted conductors, directors, and artists including Julius Rudel, René Jacobs, Lukas Foss, Peter Ustinov, Herbert Wernicke, Warren Jones, Brian Zeger, and Walter Berry, and studied vocal repertoire intensively with legendary performers and pedagogs Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gérard Souzay, Dalton Baldwin, Rosemarie Landry, Hugues Cuénod, Camilla Williams, Dr. Robert C. White, Ruth Falcon, and Judith Raskin. In master classes she has been coached by Nicolai Gedda, Georgio Tozzi, and Maureen Forrester. She has performed in educational outreach through the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Children’s Free Opera of New York (Orchestra of St. Luke’s), and the Mexico City Opera. Other orchestral appearances include with the North German Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra of Cologne, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Orchestra of Northern NY. In addition to recording for Austrian, German, and Swiss radio, Ms. Massell’s discography includes Gluck’s Echo et Narcisse (CD and video), the songs of Jacques Leguerney with Kurt Ollmann and Mary Dibbern in close collaboration with the composer, (both for Harmonia Mundi), the award winning video The Bald Soprano with the Center for Contemporary Opera in NYC, and she can also be seen on the classical music video for children, Ears Wide Open. She has had many works composed for her voice, including the parody “I Love Teaching Voice” by Ben Moore, published by Classical Vocal Reprints. Her diction mentors have been Nico Castel and Thomas Grubb and she is fluent in German and French with a strong working knowledge of Italian. Dr. Massell holds degrees from Hamilton College, The Mannes College of Music, and The University of Montreal. Dr. Massell is Associate Professor and has been on the voice faculty of SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music since 2000, teaching voice as well as German and Italian diction.

Frank Ragsdale: tenor, Oklahoma City University
Dr. Frank Wayne Ragsdale earned degrees from Atlantic Union College, The Longy School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Miami. Dr. Ragsdale has performed in opera, oratorio, musical theatre, and recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, and Central America where, for three consecutive years, he was invited by the U.S. Embassies of Costa Rica and Honduras to give recital tours and master classes with collaborative artist Thomas Enman. He has performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Cairo Opera House, Mechanics Hall, Notre Dame, San Marco di Venizia, and St. Martin-in-the-fields. Some of his operatic roles include “Rodolfo” from La Bohème, “Alfredo” from La Traviata, “Don Ottavio” from Don Giovanni, and “Tamino” from Die Zauberflöte. Some of his musical theatre roles include “Tony” from West Side Story, “Freddy” from My Fair Lady, and “Sam” from Street Scene. As well as performing, he has directed opera, musical theatre, and theatre. Dr. Ragsdale is on the voice faculties of Oklahoma City University and the University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg and is currently the NATS Texoma Region Auditions Chair.

Mary Schiller: soprano, Cleveland Institute of Music
Mary Schiller has appeared in more than 30 operas; in oratorio; and in recital performances in the U.S., France, and Germany, singing leading roles such as Violetta, Fiordiligi, and Susanna. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Ohio State University. Ms. Schiller received several grants for study in Germany, including the Fulbright, Martha Baird Rockefeller, Richard Wagner Society, and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, and received a fellowship to Tanglewood. She is a frequent adjudicator at major voice competitions and regularly gives master classes; she was also a master teacher at the Master Voice Teachers Conference at Westminster. Ms. Schiller has served on the faculties of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music; The University of Akron School of Music; the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria; the Accademia dell’Opera in Rimini, Italy; and the University of Miami Frost School of Music at Salzburg. She maintains a private voice studio in New York City. Her students perform with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and the Cleveland Opera. Her students have also participated in Houston Opera Studio, Lyric Opera of Chicago Center for American Artists, Santa Fe Opera, Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals. Ms. Schiller’s students have won the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award, George London Award, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Award, National Opera Association Competition, and ARIA. She was appointed to the CIM faculty in 2002 and currently serves as Head of the Voice Department.

Mary Dibbern: The Dallas Opera, The University of North Texas, Paris Opera
Mary Dibbern, collaborative pianist, is completing her first season as Music Director for Education and Family Programs with The Dallas Opera. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in Humanities-Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. In 2013, she will join the adjunct faculty of the University of North Texas to teach French Diction for Singers. Dibbern was a resident of Paris, France for 30 years, during which she worked at The Paris Opera, as well as all of the major French opera companies, and many European, Asian and North American venues, including Minnesota Opera where she was Head of Music from 2009-2012. She is an accomplished recital accompanist and master class teacher. Her recital recordings include Mélodies de Jacques Leguerney (Claves) which won the Grand Prix du Disque; Offenbach au Menu (Maguelone) and Mélodies de Jacques Leguerney, Vols. I and II (Harmonia Mundi France). Mary Dibbern is the author of six Performance Guides for Pendragon Press: Tales of Hoffmann, Carmen, Roméo et Juliette and Faust, Manon and Werther; as well as Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney: A Guide for Study and Performance written in collaboration with Carol Kimball and Patrick Choukroun.  Mary Dibbern has edited eight volumes of Leguerney’s mélodies for Editions Max Eschig and is the Editorial Consultant for the Leguerney Estate for new editions of the composers’ vocal and instrumental music. Her next publication with Pendragon Press will be a translation of the new biography of Jules Massenet by his great-niece, Anne Massenet.

Thomas Enman: Longy School of Music
Thomas Enman is the Music Director, Opera at Longy, B.M., U/Montana, M.M., Boston University. Piano with Rudolph Wendt, Bela Borzomenyi-Nagy. Music Director: OperaFest at Great Woods. Recitals with Donna Roll throughout the U.S. Recitals and masterclasses in Central America for the State Department. Former faculty: North Shore Center for the Arts, New England Conservatory. Adjunct faculty: Lesley College, U/Miami. Member: Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, CMS. Current President of Boston Chapter of NATS. Voice coach: U/Miami Frost School of Music Salzburg program.

Charles Koslowske: Oklahoma City University
Charles Koslowske brings more than a decade of vocal coaching and collaborative piano experience to his work at the Frost School of Music at Salzburg program.  He is currently vocal coach at Oklahoma City University. He made his New York debut in 2002 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and has been an official with the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions each year since 2001. He was the official accompanist of the Denver Lyric Opera Guild and the All-Colorado Opera Audition, and served as staff pianist at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in Salzburg. He has taught at University of Colorado and Colorado State University, specializing in graduate and advanced undergraduate singers. Most recently, he was lead coach for scenes and singers in Colorado State’s production of The Rape of Lucretia and Verdi’s Falstaff. Music theater credits include music director for works from Cats to Cabaret.  Koslowske has earned three degrees from University of Colorado-Boulder: Master of Music degrees in collaborative piano and in vocal performance and pedagogy, and Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. He has participated in vocal master classes with William Bolcom and Joan Morris, Helen Donath, Shirlee Emmons, Thomas Hampson, Marilyn Horne, Martin Isepp, Martin Katz, Marlena Malas, Ashley Putnam, Diana Soviero, and Frederica von Stade.

Francois Germain: Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam
Pianist Francois Germain has performed extensively in Europe, the United States and Canada as soloist and accompanist. Originally from Aix-en-Provence, France, he is the recipient of many awards, including first prizes in the Radio-France Competition, the Madeleine de Valmalète Competition and the Paul and Verna Gelinas Competition. He holds a bachelors degree in music from the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud, and a masters and doctorate degrees in piano performance from the University of Montreal. Recent performances include such venues as the Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg, the Galerie d’Art d’Outremont, Salle Claude Champagne (Montreal), Steinert Hall (Boston), Leakin Hall (Baltimore), and he has participated in festivals in Banff and the Centre d’Arts d’Orford. A native French and German speaker, he specializes in French melodie, lied and art song. He served from 2002-2007 at the University of Montreal as a vocal coach and assistant to Rosemarie Landry (a disciple of Pierre Bernac and Gerard Souzay) where he acquired a unique expertise in French lyric diction and style and has worked as a coach/repetiteur for the University of Miami Frost School of Music in Salzburg program as well as Operetta Belle Lurette in Québec. In addition to his performance activities, Dr. Germain holds a masters degree in political science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and was recently featured as guest speaker at a week long festival held in Montreal, Quebec, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich. His principal teachers include Marc Durand, Jean Saulnier, Bernard Flavigny and Clara Woringer-Kastler, and he has taken part in master classes with such greats as Thomas Grubb, Roger Vignoles, and Malcolm Martineau. He currently teaches piano, vocal coaching and opera at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam in Potsdam, New York.

Mutsumi Moteki: University of Colorado at Boulder
Since her college years in Tokyo, Japan, Mutsumi Moteki has been active as a vocal coach/collaborative pianist.  She received extensive training in this area at Westminster Choir College (under Glenn Parker and Dalton Baldwin) and University of Michigan (under Martin Katz) as well as prestigious summer programs such as Music Academy of the West, Steans Institute for Young Artists, Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, and Conservatoire de musique in Genève.  She is currently an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she teaches singing diction, vocal repertoire, and vocal accompanying, heads the musical staff of CU Opera, and works with the Collaborative Piano Faculty.  She performs regularly with singers such as Keri Rusthoi, Patrick Mason, and Irene Friedlob, and has appeared in recitals in Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, Macedonia, and Germany as well as in the U.S.A. Known for her effective and unique vocal coaching style, which promotes beautiful legato singing as well as detailed diction and interpretation, Dr. Moteki has been seen in master classes at many universities and college in the U.S.  In the spring of 2000 she taught 5 weeks at Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin, Germany, as an exchange vocal coach.  She also taught at Kobe College in Japan for a year as the Bryant Drake Guest Professor during the academic year 2002-2003.  In the summer she teaches vocal accompanying at University of Miami’s Salzburg Summer Program. As one of the pioneers among Asian vocal coach-pianists working in the U.S., Dr. Moteki holds a special place in this field.  In 2011 she gave a lecture/master class on “Singing in Italian” at the Italian Cultural Center in Tokyo, Japan, and gave a presentation about vocal coaching and a master class at the International Collaborative Piano Literature Symposium at the Tainan National University of Arts in Taiwan, where she also held a short residency as a master teacher.  Most recently she co-translated “The Complete Collaborator: the pianist as partner” by Martin Katz into Japanese, and the Japanese edition was published in the spring of 2012.

Gregory Thompson: Central State University
Dr. Gregory Thompson (Head of Staff Pianists) is Associate Professor of Piano at Central State University in Wilberforce, OH.  Prior to his appointment at Central State, Dr. Thompson was Acting Chair of the Department of Music and Fine Arts at Johnson C. Smith University.  He holds the B.A. degree in Piano Performance from Limestone College, the M.M. degree in Piano Performance from Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and the D.M.A. degree in Piano Performance from The University of South Carolina.  Dr. Thompson has done additional study in the United States and in Europe.  He has served as instructor of music at Morris College in Sumter, S.C., Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., and at Claflin University in Orangeburg, S.C.  He has also served as adjunct professor of piano at Charleston Southern University and Lecturer in Opera Coaching at the University of South Carolina.  Dr. Thompson has performed as pianist and accompanist both in the U.S. and abroad.  His performances have included solo recitals, orchestral performances, chamber recitals, and vocal and instrumental accompanying.  In the summer of 1998 he served as principal accompanist for Studio Lirico’s production of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ in Cortona.  Dr. Thompson is a member of MTNA, NCMTA, Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum, and is a member of the Board of Directors for Theater Charlotte.  While in Charlotte, he served as pianist/choral accompanist for Calvary Church of Charlotte, NC.