Faculty — Voice
Associate Professor of Music Voice Program Coordinator Voice Musical Theater 973-655-7927 oostings@mail.montclair.edu Tenor Stephen Oosting has been hailed as an interpreter of Britten and Bach, Strauss and Mozart, Puccini and Wagner. He has had a long career in opera, where he has sung more than forty leading roles, and in concert work, where he has appeared frequently as an oratorio soloist and recitalist. In addition he has been a frequent champion of new music premiering works for numerous composers. His concert appearances include those with the Aspen Festival, the Madeira Bach Festival, the Vermont Mozart Festival, the Basically Bach Festival, and with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony an the Rochester Philharmonic. He has recorded for RCA, Newport Classics, and the Albany labels (the first recording of the American composer Stephen Albert's orchestral song cycle Into Eclipse). He holds a doctorate and a performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master's from Michigan /state University. He is also the current NJ State Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Professor of Music Music History 973-655-7213 gallj@mail.montclair.edu Jeffrey Gall made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1988 - the first countertenor ever to sing at the Met. He sang Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare, and in 1994 returned to the Met for Britten's Death in Venice. He studied voice at the Yale School of Music with Blake Stern, and holds degrees in Slavic languages from Princeton and Yale Universities. He sang with such early music ensembles as the Waverly Consort and Pomerium Musices early in his career and then moved on to solo roles in Baroque and contemporary opera. He has sung principal roles at La Scala, Teatro San Carlo (Naples) and La Fenice in Italy; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Salle Garnier in France; the Monnaie in Brussels; the Netherlands Opera; the Cologne and Frankfurt Operas in Germany; the Canadian Opera, as well as the Spoleto, Edinburgh, Innsbruck, Halle, Schwetzingen, and Bordeaux Festivals. In the United States he has sung at the San Francisco, Chicago Lyric, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Boston Operas, and has made many concert appearances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington. He has recorded for CBS, Harmonia Mundi, Erato, Nonesuch, Titanic, and Smithsonian Records, and appears in the title role on the London video of Peter Sellars' production of Handel's Giulio Cesare. Prof. Gall has conducted clinics and master classes in both standard repertory and early-music techniques at music schools across the United States. In addition, he is a founding member of the Italian vocal ensemble Il Terzo Suono.
Assistant Professor Voice 973-655-6983 mccannl@mail.montclair.edu Soprano Lori McCann holds a B.M. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, M.A degree from San Diego State University, and D.M.A. and Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has performed extensively in the United States and abroad appearing in opera, oratorio, and recital. She has been featured with the Berliner Kammeroper and the Neue Opernbühne (Berlin, Germany) and with the Virginia Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, Whitewater Opera, Sorg opera, Shreveport Opera, and Pacific Chamber Opera in the U.S. Her roles have included the Governess (Turn of the Screw), Fulvia (Ezio, Händel), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Mimi (La Bohème), The Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen), Giulia (La scala di seta, Rossini), Iphigénie (Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck), Mary Warren (The Crucible, Ward), Jessie (Mahagonny-Songspiel, Weill), Second Lady (The Magic Flute), and Amor (Orfeo ed Eurydice, Gluck). Her repertoire includes Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem; Mozart's Requiem, Vesprae solemnes de confessore, and Regina Coeli; Händel's Messiah and L'allegro ed il pensieroso; Bach's Magnificat, Mass in B Minor, and St. Matthew Passion; and Debussy's La Demoiselle élue; as well as world premieres of oratorios and works by many other composers. She has taught throughout the world and maintained teaching studios in several metropolitan areas including San Diego, Cincinnati, New York City and Berlin. Prof. McCann is the current President of the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Singing Teacher’s Association.
Adjunct Professor Voice 973-655-7212 bernhardtv@mail.montclair.edu Valerie Bernhardt - Website New York based soprano Valerie Bernhardt is a 1991 graduate of the MSU music department. She holds two graduate degrees in voice from The Juilliard School, and has trained at the opera programs at Chautauqua, Aspen, the Pittsburgh Opera Center, and the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program. Her many opera and solo performances include Donizetti's Adelia with Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall; Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen with the New York City Opera; Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème with the Pittsburgh Opera and Boheme Opera of New Jersey; Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico; Hélène in Verdi's Jerusalem with the Opera Orchestra of New York; First Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the New York City Opera and Pittsburgh Opera; Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello and the title role of Anna Bolena, with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall; Mass in C Major and Choral Fantasy with the Summit Music Festival; Rutter’s Magnificat at the St. Louis Cathedral; Deborah Franklin in the premiere of Benjamin, a new work by composer John Carbon; and Electra in Mozart’s Idomeneo with Coro Lirico. She has distinguished herself in various competitions, most recently the 2007 Liederkranz Foundation Competition (Wagner Division) as well as the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Palm Beach Vocal Competition, and Opera at Florham Vocal Competition, and has won career grants from the Opera Index and Sullivan Foundations.
Adjunct Professor Voice 973-655-7212 ernestl@mail.montclair.edu Soprano Lorraine Ernest has been acclaimed by critics for her portrayal as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte in opera houses throughout the United States and Europe, Peter G. Davis of New York Magazine writes," Lorraine Ernest brought down the house with her spectacular arias." She has performed this signature role with New York City Opera Metropolitan Opera Company, Pittsburgh Opera, Washington National Opera, Denver Symphony Orchestra, and the Volksoper of Vienna, as well as with many other opera companies. Other roles include performances with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Elvira in L’italiana in Algeri, Washington National Opera as Cleopatra in Julius Caesar, alongside Placido Domingo and Mirelli Freni in Fedora, at Carnegie Hall as Mademoiselle Jouvenot in the Opera Orchestra of Orchestra of New York's concert-version of Adriana Lecouvreur, at the Los Angeles Opera as Princess Tatishchev alongside Placido Domingo in Nicholas and Alexandra. She performed first Violetta in La Traviata with Boheme Opera of New Jersey. She was the recipient and winner of awards from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Mathias Sullivan Foundation, Metropolitan Opera Nation Council finalist, George London Scholarship Winner, Liederkranz first place winner and Birgit Nilsson Competition finalist.
Adjunct Professor Voice 973-655-7212 gillisp@mail.montclair.edu Peter Gillis - Website A voice the Ottawa Citizen has called “golden,” Canadian tenor Peter Gillis holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. His performance history is extensive, including regular engagements at Italy’s Festival Dei Due Mondi, his Carnegie Hall debut with The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and appearances at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Opera. Among other venues have been the Opera Company of Boston, the Opera Orchestra of New York, Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theater, and the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, SC. Canadian performances have included several Celtic Colours International Festival appearances, concerts with Symphony Nova Scotia, and a national tour of Canada with folk luminary Rita MacNeil. Last season he debuted as Tom Rakewell in Opera Nova Scotia’s The Rake’s Progress. Dr. Gillis also holds degrees from Westminster Choir College and Indiana University at Bloomington. Part of the MSU faculty since 2004, he has taught at universities throughout the Metro New York area and maintains a private studio in Great Notch, NJ. Adjudicating activities have included the Nova Scotia Music Festival, the New Glasgow Music Festival, the New York Singing Teachers Association’s Young Professional Competition at Steinway Hall, and the Master Teachers Series at Dalhousie University and Acadia University.
Soyeon Kim Soyeon Kim has appeared as a solo and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Europe and Korea. In 2010, she performed at the Water for Haiti Benefit Concert at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, and has performed in many similar venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Sejong Center and ArKo Arts Theater in Seoul, Korea, the Croatian Music Institution in Zagreb, Croatia, Konzerthaus in Berlin and Gasteig in Munich, Germany. She has also performed in many chamber series including those sponsored by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Cathedral Saint John Divine, Trinity at One, and Music at Penn Alps. She has won awards in several competitions including First Prize and Best interpretation in the Liszt in William Garrison Piano Competition, Second Prize in the Artur Balsam Competition for Duos, and the New Triad Foundation Fellowship (New York City). She has participated in masterclasses with such artists as Marilyn Horne, Thomas Hampson, Anna Moffo, Dalton Baldwin, Glenn Dicterow and Edgar Meyer. She has received B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano performance from Seoul National University, and a M.M. degree and D.M.A. degree in accompanying from Manhattan School of Music.
Adjunct Professor Voice 973-655-7212 Siobhan Kolker - Website Siobhan Kolker’s career includes work in opera, musical theater, plays and staged readings, oratorio, song recital and musical comedy improv. New York credits include the New York International Fringe Festival, Verse Theatre Manhattan, One World Symphony and numerous readings of new musicals and plays. She has appeared in the Kennedy Center’s Sondheim Celebration (A Little Night Music; Merrily We Roll Along); performed with the Ohio Light Opera, Washington National Opera, and for ten seasons with the Baltimore Opera, where she appeared both on the mainstage and in their educational outreach program. Favorite theater roles include a critically acclaimed Julie (Carousel) in Maryland. She was also a member of D.C.’s musical comedy improv troupe, Now This! Leading operatic performances include the title role in Massenet's Chérubin, Serpina (La Serva Padrona), Diane (Actéon – Charpentier), Nancy (Albert Herring) and Meg Page (Falstaff), Venus (Orpheus in the Underworld), and Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw). She holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in Voice and History from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory. She is a member of the New York Singing Teachers Association, Actors Equity and the American Guild of Musical Artists. April Kuhr Christopher Larkin Adjunct Professor Vocal Coach 973-655-7212
Adjunct Professor Vocal Coach 973-655-7212 overtonl@mail.montclair.edu LeAnn Overton has enjoyed a busy freelance schedule since moving to New York in 1992. Currently on the faculties of the Cali School and the Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Overton has also served on the faculties of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Chautauqua Voice School, the New York Actor’s Studio, the Mannes School of Music, and the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. She has worked as a musical director/coach for several opera companies and summer festivals including Oberlin in Italy, Vocal Arts Symposium of Colorado Springs, Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, Cincinnati Opera, Tulsa Opera, and in NYC, Opera Northeast, West Side Opera and Brandenburg Opera. In addition to her coaching and teaching, Ms. Overton works at the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic as a surtitle operator. In the fall of 2005 she recorded the CD Race for the Sky with soprano Lisa Holsberg featuring the music of Richard Pearson Thomas. Ms. Overton has collaborated on several occasions with Alexander Technique Instructor Bill Connington on classes specifically for singers.
Helen Yu Park As a Juilliard graduate, Mezzo Soprano Helen Yu Park’s career was based in the United States for fourteen years performing a variety of mezzo roles in opera, oratorio and musical theatre with numerous companies across the country. Ms. Park’s singing has been described: “effortlessly generated the largest sounds on stage. The mezzo drought may be ending.” (New York Times), and performances of Lady Thiang in the King & I were described: “Helen Yu (Park) makes her rendition of Something Wonderful worth the price of admission.” (Boston Herald), “the King’s No.1 wife, walks away with the honors for singing as well as acting. This time it’s Helen Yu (Park)…” (Toronto Star). Ms. Park made her New York debut with the New York City Opera singing the role of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro followed by Rosina (Barber of Seville) and Suzuki (Butterfly). Metropolitan Opera debut followed in Wagner’s The Ring Cycle along with her Broadway debut as Lady Tiang in the show The King & I. Additional credits include singing Maddalenan (Rigoletto), Stephano (Romeo et Juliette), Flora (La Traviata), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Nancy (Albert Herring), Taven (Mireille), La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Lola (Cavalleria rusticana), Mallika (Lakme), Cenerentola, and Enrichetta in I Puritani.
Adjunct Professor Voice Musical Theatre 973-655-7212 prokopj@mail.montclair.edu Jan Prokop has sung to rave reviews throughout the United States, Europe, South America and the Middle East. Her performances have included concerts, oratorios, operas, musical theatre and cabaret. She has performed in cabaret with jazz pianist Frank Ponzio in Manhattan and released a CD of their performances called I Thought About You. Jan also maintains a private voice studio in Manhattan. Jan's concern about the state of the arts in our current educational climate led her to become a trustee of Arts Horizons, a non-profit organization that touches the lives of over 30,000 children each year by bringing the arts into schools in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. As a teacher and singer, Jan is deeply interested in the quality of the singing experience and vocal instruction. She is active with the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS-NYC), a professional organization that is dedicated to the highest standards of singing through excellence in teaching and the promotion of vocal education and research. After earning a Master of Music degree at the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, Jan received her Doctorate of Music from Indiana University.
Adjunct Professor Voice Musical Theatre 973-655-7212 riderm@mail.montclair.edu Michael C. Rider is a voice teacher, coach and performer with a specialty in music theater techniques and the development of the belt voice. His students have been seen in New York City on and off Broadway. His students also perform as leads in regional theatre companies around the country and have also been seen around the world in Wicked (Tokyo), Broadway Bound Revue (Beijing), Beauty and the Beast and Last Five Years (Hong Kong). He has also worked collaboratively at the piano with performers for cabarets at The Duplex and Don’t Tell Mama’s in NYC and at several venues in Hong Kong. He has served as a music theater clinician at the Beacon School in New York and for the North East Theatre Festival for the EDTA (Educational Drama Teachers Association). Michael has appeared on stage in both opera and oratorio works by Mozart, Britten, Rossini, Handel, Haydn and Puccini. He has appeared in Guys and Dolls, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Anything Goes, Brigadoon, Oliver!, and The Music Man. Michael is an alumnus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University (MM) and Penn State University (BM). He is also an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Music Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA), New York Singing Teachers Association (NYSTA) and the National Opera Association (NOA).
Adjunct Professor Voice 973-655-7212 rolwingj@mail.montclair.edu Award-winning soprano Julia Rolwing has been hailed for her lyricism and dramatic vocal thrust. Her operatic roles have included Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre, and Freia (Das Rheingold), the title roles of Verdi’s Aida, Puccini’s Tosca, Massenet’s Cendrillon (Cinderella), and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, along with Mozart’s Donna Anna (Don Giovanni)and Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Lady Billows in Albert Herring, and the Mother in both Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, the Straussian title roles of Ariadne auf Naxos and Arabella, along with Chrysothemis (Elektra), among others. Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Missa Solemnis, the Verdi and Duruflé Requiems, and the Dvorak and Rossini Stabat Maters. Julia is an avid recitalist who has performed numerous solo recitals across the country and throughout Austria. She holds top prizes from the Leiderkranz Foundation, the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC, Boston, and Northern California, and the Jüssi Björling Society. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy from Ohio State University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Miami.
Adjunct Professor Voice Musical Theatre 973-655-7212 samarasalles@mail.montclair.edu Stephanie Samaras is a pioneer in applying healthy classical technique to the training of voices in the pop field. Her lecture and video, Classical Training Applied to the Pop Voice, has been presented at the First International Congress of Voice Teachers in Strasbourg, France, and also at the National NATS convention in Los Angeles. Professionals from the world of Broadway - among them directors Tommy Tune and Jeff Calhoun, and the casting agencies of Hughes/Moss and Johnson/Liff - send singers to work with her. Her students have included Tony Award winner Scott Wise (who acknowledged Stephanie in his acceptance speech), Broadway performer Evan Pappas (star of My Favorite Year and Parade), Patrick Swayze and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, soap star Ricky Paull-Goldin (Another World, Days of Our Lives and also star of the Broadway revival of Grease!), Jennifer Garner (Ally McBeal and Alias), Vanessa Ferlitto (CSI New York), and others whose faces are familiar from the TV screen. She has also worked with Carol Leifer (comedienne and Seinfeld writer), Mark Weiner (Weinerville Cable TV), Hiram Kasten (Seinfeld character) and the late comedian Dennis Wolfberg.
Victoria Schwartzman George Spitzer
Adjunct Professor Voice (973) 655-7212 stewartpe@mail.montclair.edu Baritone Peter Stewart has created many new works in collaboration with composers. He has toured extensively in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson in Einstein on the Beach, Monsters of Grace, The White Raven, and La Belle et la Bete, and has joined the Philip Glass Ensemble at the keyboards in Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Anima Mundi. Mr. Stewart has also created roles and recorded many new operas for Gavin Bryars/Robert Wilson, Julius Hemphill, Anthony Braxton, Meredith Monk, Fred Ho, Harry Partch and Hans Werner Henze, among others.
Adjunct Professor Voice (973) 655-7212 swopea@mail.montclair.edu Soprano Anastasia Ellanna Swope's appearances have included recitals of art songs in New Jersey and Indiana, participation in a Women Composer's Symposium, and an performance on the High Mountain Orchestra's Hobart Manor Series. She collaborates regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in concert, performing a variety of repertoire from Britten to Vivaldi, from Fauré to Rutter. She has sung under the batons of Zdeneck Macal, Robert Spano, and Joseph Flummerfelt, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with pianist Ana Cervantes in the presentation of Braiding the Tresses: Weaving Poetry and Passion into Song, called "a superb recital, memorably flawless, and what an evening of art song should strive to be. . ." (Classical New Jersey). She initially pursued a major in classics at the University of the South, but her B.A. ultimately became a double degree in Latin and music. She holds a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, where she studied with Lindsey Christiansen and Glenn Parker.
Adjunct Professor Secondary Voice and Piano 973-655-7212 vanhovenv@mail.montclair.edu Valerie van Hoven has studied music at the Hartt Conservatory, and SUNY Purchase. Valerie earned a BA in music education from Montclair State University and a graduate certification from the American Center for the Alexander Technique. For nine years a music teacher in the Randolph, NJ public schools, she now operates her own studio in Denville, NJ where she teaches piano, voice, and the Alexander Technique. Valerie has given workshops in voice and the Alexander Technique at Wagner College on Staten Island, Montclair State University and has assisted workshops at the Juilliard School in NYC. She has appeared as Lorraine in Steppin' Out, Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella, and Eliza in My Fair Lady in regional theater. She has been involved in more that 40 shows as musical director and played piano in the orchestra for many others. Lars Woodul Lars Woodul’s acclaimed performances in classical and contemporary roles have included Mercutio (Romeo & Juliette) with Opera Northeast, Masetto (Don Giovanni) with Ft. Worth Opera, Germont (La Traviata) with Springfield Regional Opera; and Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera) and The Director (Les Mamelles de Tiresias) as a fellow at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute. He sang in Dellaira's The Secret Agent and as Dr. John Dee in the premier of Bruce Wolosoff’s Madimi with the Center for Contemporary Opera and as Horace Tabor (The Ballad of Baby Doe) with Chelsea Opera. He created the roles for the world premiers of Marc Blitzstein’s Sacco and Vanzetti with the White Barn Theater and David Soldier’s musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s A Soldier’s Story with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. He has performed solo recitals for the Trinity Wall Street Concerts at One series, sung in concerts at Merkin Hall, the Bohemians Club, and the New York Composers’ Concerts, toured North America with Karlsrud Concerts, and performed as a principal artist with the International Zarzuela Festival. He is a graduate of the Yale University School of Music and earned his D.M.A. degree at SUNY—Stony Brook. |
||||||||||||||||||||
