Faculty
Dr. SCOTT WRIGHT
General Artistic Director Mobile Opera - IPAI General Director Emeritus, Guest Judge, Master Clinician
Dr. Scott Wright, is the General & Artistic Director of Mobile Opera, a singer, conductor, composer, actor and an active supporter of the arts. For many years he has conducted theatrical productions and most recently served as Music Director/ Conductor for the LaGrange Lyric Theatre (GA), and as Resident Music Director/Conductor for the University of Mobile’s Alabama School of the Arts in opera and musical theater. He is the former conductor of the Baldwin Strings Orchestra and the Bay Area Strings Community Orchestra. He served as assistant conductor to the Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra, was principal guest conductor for the Eastern Shore Chamber Orchestra & Chorus and guest conductor for many others. As a singing actor, he has performed in more than sixty operas and operettas as well as numerous oratorio and concert presentations. He has performed as an actor in numerous roles such as Don Quixote/Cervantes in Man of La Mancha, Frederik in A Little Night Music, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Lancelot in Camelot, Jupiter/Amphytrion in Olympus On My Mind, Emile DeBecque in South Pacific, and Rip Van Winkle in the premiere of Fred Baldwin’s musical, RIP!. Dr. Wright is an active advocate for the arts. He is a past president of the Mobile Arts Council and is a member of the International Advisory Board of IPAI.
KIRSTIN CHáVEZ
International Mezzo Soprano and Artist in Residence
Mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chávez is considered one of the most riveting and significant young artists performing today. She is praised for her luscious and velvety tone that transcends classification, with its rich evenness in her lower register and the easy ripeness of the top. The combination of the dramatic intensity of her acting, along with her natural physical beauty, make her an arresting and unique presence on the operatic stage. During the 2010 - 11 season Ms. Chavez was heard as Maddalena in Rigoletto with The Metropolitan Opera and with the Dallas Opera, and as Carmen at the Arena di Verona in Italy and at Central City Opera. The 2011 – 2012 season includes leading the production of Dead Man Walking with Tulsa Opera, Baba the Turk in the Rake's Progress with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Carmen with the Graz Opera, among others.
Ms. Chávez has captured attention and acclaim in her signature roles and is now known as one of the definitive Carmens of the day, a role that she has performed with great success throughout the United States, and elsewhere in the world, including in Japan, China, Taiwan, Europe, and Australia. Opera News reported that her Carmen in Graz, Austria was “the Carmen of a lifetime. With her dark, generous mezzo, earthy eroticism, volcanic spontaneity and smoldering charisma, Chavez has it all, including a superb command of French and a sense of humor.” She has also been praised for her renditions of Rosina in il Barbiere di Siviglia (San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Orlando Opera), Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte (Orlando Opera, Connecticut Opera), Cenerentola in Cenerentola (Kentucky Opera, Fresno Opera), Desideria in The Saint of Bleecker Street (Central City Opera) and Maddalena in Rigoletto (San Diego Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia).
The mezzo-soprano sang the title role of Carmen with the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, at The New National Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, Manitoba Opera, Opera Carolina, and Opera New Jersey all during the 2009-2010 season. During the 2008-2009 season she was Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice (Metropolitan Opera), Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Opéra de Nice, France) the title role of Carmen (Staatsoper Hannover, Germany, and with the Opera Australia on tour in Taipei), Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte (Oper Graz in Austria), Maddalena in Rigoletto (San Diego Opera), and Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino (Caramoor Festival, NY). In addition, she joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for concert performances at the Meadow Brook Music Festival and she appeared with the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival in performances of Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo. Ms. Chávez has also performed regularly on the concert stage with works such as: Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Bach’s Magnificat, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and will add the Bach B Minor mass to her repertoire with performances in New Mexico in the spring of 2012.
Kirstin Chávez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but spent most of her formative years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where her parents worked as English and Music teachers. She received a Bachelor of Music degree, with Honors, from New Mexico State University, and a Master of Music degree, in Performance, and the Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music. After beginning an Artistic Residency with the Orlando Opera, Ms. Chávez won several major international competitions, including The Sullivan Foundation, The George London Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Opera Index Foundation, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (National Finalist).
MICHAEL BUNCHMAN
Director of Collaborative Piano, Coach, German Lied
Pianist Michael Bunchman maintains a fulfilling schedule as a collaborative pianist and chamber musician with both singers and instrumentalists throughout the United States. He is currently on faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi as the director of the Collaborative Piano Program, where he is honored to coach, teach and guide the next generation of collaborative pianists in both vocal and instrumental repertoire. He has given masterclasses at Texas Christian University, University of Texas at El Paso, Illinois State University and the University of Albany. Prior to working at the University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Bunchman served as coordinator of Collaborative Piano at Truman State University from 2015 to 2017.
Dr. Bunchman maintains an active performance schedule outside of his work in academia. He has spent five seasons as a principal coach and pianist at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, as well as appointments with the Natchez Festival of Music and Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra. His many collaborations with opera companies include Santa Barbara Opera, Opera Saratoga, the Princeton Festival and El Paso Opera. Also active as a concerto soloist, Dr. Bunchman has performed with the Ridgefield Symphony, the Breckenridge Music Festival, the Antara Ensemble in New York City, the Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra. He and wife, singer Jessica Medoff, have been invited to opera houses and theaters nationwide to perform their highly acclaimed cabaret show ‘The Truth About Love…and the Usual Lies”. Dr. Bunchman had the honor to be counted among the amazingly diverse and talented group of artists of A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Garrison Keillor, on their multi-city European cruise.
Dr. Bunchman holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin. He spent three summers at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival. His teachers have included Anne Epperson, Rick Rowley, Marian Hahn, Joseph Kalichstein, Antoinette Perry, Adrienne Sielaff and Doris Pridonoff-Lehnert.
ERIC GIBSON
International Stage Director - Stage Directing, Acting, Opera Scenes
Daniel Ley
Collaborative Pianist and Music Director for Musical Theatre
Eric Gibson is a stage director residing in Flagstaff, Arizona who feels equal comfort with opera and musical theatre, with a particular passion for educating young singers.
Gibson is the Director of Lyric Theatre at Northern Arizona University where he has staged productions of Signor Deluso, Il Campanello, Dido & Aeneas, Kiss me, Kate, Trouble in Tahiti, The Pirates of Penzance, The Magic Flute and the world premiere of Judith Cloud’s Beethoven’s Slippers.
Gibson served as the director of education for Tulsa Opera for three seasons and as artistic director of LOOK Musical Theatre in Tulsa where he directed original productions of Guys and Dolls, Die Fledermaus, The Pirates of Penzanze, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ernest in Love, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Naughty Marietta, Iolanthe, The Merry Widow, I Do! I Do!, South Pacific, The Sorcerer, Sweeney Todd, The Music Man, Trial by Jury, Candide, Into the Woods, My Fair Lady, The Gondoliers, Patience, Kiss me, Kate, The Boy Friend, The Light in the Piazza, Trouble in Tahiti, Evita, Gypsy, Avenue Q, Hello, Dolly!, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Side by Side by Sondheim. Two of these operettas, The Mikado and The Sorcerer, were co-productions with the OK Mozart International Festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Guest appearances to universities, directing original productions, include Die Fledermaus and Albert Herring for Bowling Green State University, The Toy Shop and Little Red Riding Hood for The University of Central Oklahoma, Dido and Aeneas, Gallantry and Signor Deluso for Baylor University, where he served as director of the opera program, and The Old Main and the Thief and Trial by Jury for The University of Kansas.
Professional engagements include staging productions of Die Fledermaus, Madame Butterfly and The Pirates of Penzance for Fargo-Moorhead Opera, The Barber of Seville for Opera Tampa and Mobile Opera, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore for Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, and L'Italiana in Algeri for Winter Opera.
Gibson received a bachelor of music education degree at the University of Michigan and his masters in the stage direction of opera from Indiana University. An avid pianist since his very early years, Gibson feels equal comfort both in the classical and Broadway styles and accompanies many of his artists at special events and cabarets.
Gibson has taught acting at the AIMS program in Graz, Austria for several seasons and is director of scenes for the Kashu-do Opera Studios in Harnosand, Sweden. Upcoming engagements include The Light in the Piazza at Northern Arizona University and Cosi fan tutte for Varna International in Bulgaria. His production of Die Zauberflöte recently won first prize in the National Opera Association production competition.
Daniel Ley is a music director, pianist, and conductor based in Shreveport, Louisiana. He has worked as conductor and music director for over 100 professional, academic, and amateur theatre productions. Daniel is the Director of Music Theatre at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He has a B.M. from Centenary College of Louisiana and a M.M from Northwestern State University
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Camilla Tilling
International Opera Soprano - Guest Artist
Praised for her “beguiling tone and unfailing musicality” (Gramophone, 2020), Swedish-native Camilla Tilling has been performing on the world’s leading opera, concert and recital stages for over two decades while building an impressive discography that includes Die Schöpfung with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Bernard Haitink, a portrait album of Gluck & Mozart Arias and numerous recitals on the BIS label dedicated to the Lieder of Schubert and Strauss, among others.
In the upcoming 2022/23 season, Tilling undertakes a typically varied schedule across Europe and North America including the premiere of Daniel Nelson’s Chaplin Songs with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Manze, Bill Barclay’s semi-staging of Grieg’s Peer Gynt with Cincinnati Symphony under Louis Langrée and a programme featuring Irgen-Jensens' Japanischer Frühling alongside Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with Christian Blex and the Karajan-Akademie of Berliner Philharmoniker. She joins Nathalie Stutzman and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Gianandrea Noseda and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Centre for Beethoven Symphony No.9 and David Danzmayr and Oregon Symphony Orchestra for Osvaldo Golijov Three Songs. A consummate recitalist, Camilla Tilling presents her new programme ‘Jenny Lind: Love and Lieder’ inspired by the Swedish Nightingale herself at Spivey Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, Gothenburg Opera and Schloss Elmau.
Early operatic roles such as Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) gave Tilling debuts at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro alla Scala and The Metropolitan Opera. Later highlights include the Governess (The Turn of the Screw) at Glyndebourne Festival, Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice) at Salzburg Mozartwoche, Donna Clara (Der Zwerg) at Bayerische Staatsoper, Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) at Covent Garden, l'Ange (Saint François d'Assise) for Dutch National Opera, both Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) at Royal Swedish Opera, and Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) at Teatro Real Madrid, Semperoper Dresden, Finnish National Opera and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The 2021/22 season saw her as Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue in a staging by Alex Ollé, conducted by Juanjo Mena at Madrid’s Teatro Real and as Puccini’s Suor Angelica at Royal Swedish Opera.
A prolific concert performer, highlights of recent seasons include Mahler Symphony No.4 under Gustavo Dudamel with both Het Concertgebouw Orkest and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with Esa-Pekka Salonen and London Philharmonia, Dutilleux’s Correspondances with Orchestre national de France/Omer Meir Welber and Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder with London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth.
Tilling was a soloist in Bernard Haitink’s historic final concert with Radio Filharmonish Orkest at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw after a long collaboration which included her first performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at Teatro alla Scala and she has toured extensively in Peter Sellar’s stagings of Bach’s St Matthew Passion and St John Passion with Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle.
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Mary Wilson
Voice Faculty, Classical Voice and Opera, Director of Teaching Fellowship Program, Master Clinician
Soprano MARY WILSON has been hailed as one of today's most exciting artists, receiving critical acclaim for a voice that is “lyrical and triumphant, a dazzling array of legato melodies and ornate coloratura” (San Francisco Chronicle). Opera News heralded her first solo recording, Mary Wilson Sings Handel, stating “Wilson’s luminous voice contains so much charisma,” they dubbed her recording one of their “Best of the Year.”
In consistent high demand on the concert stage, she has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Detroit Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, National Symphony of Costa Rica, Singapore Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Dayton Philharmonic, Boulder Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, IRIS Chamber Orchestra, VocalEssence, Berkshire Choral Festival, and at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. She has frequently worked with conductors Jeffrey Thomas, Nicholas McGegan, Martin Pearlman, Martin Haselböck, Robert Moody, Carl St. Clair, JoAnn Falletta, Giancarlo Guerrero, John Sinclair, Anton Armstrong, and Leonard Slatkin. With the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, she sang the World Premiere of the song cycle “Songs Old and New” written especially for her by Ned Rorem. She was named an Emerging Artist by Symphony Magazine in the publication’s first ever presentation of promising classical soloists on the rise.
An exciting interpreter of Baroque repertoire, “with a crystal clear and agile soprano voice perfectly suited to Handel's music” (Early Music America), she has repeatedly appeared with American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Musica Angelica, Boston Baroque, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Grand Rapids Bach Festival, Bach Society of St. Louis, Chatham Baroque, Musica Sacra Festival de Quito Ecuador, Baltimore Handel Choir, Florida Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Colorado Bach Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and the Carmel Bach Festival.
Equally at home on the opera stage, she is especially noted for her portrayals of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Susannah in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Gilda in Rigoletto. She has created leading roles in North American and World Premiere performances of Dove’s Flight, Glass’ Galileo Galilei, and Petitgirard’s Joseph Merrick dit L’Elephant Man. A National Finalist of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she has appeared with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Dayton Opera, Arizona Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Southwest, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Goodman Theatre.
She is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the new Bach Festival Society of Winter Park Oratorio Competition, starting in February 2024.
An accomplished pianist, Ms. Wilson holds vocal performance degrees from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is an Associate Professor of Voice and Vocal Area Coordinator at the University of Memphis, and resides in Bartlett, Tennessee, with her husband, son, and two dogs. www.MaryWilsonSoprano.com
Meredith Johnson
Voice Faculty, Classical and Music Theatre Voice, Master Clinician
In her career, Mississippi native Dr. Meredith Melvin Johnson, has coached collegiate level and professional singers in multiple genres as well as trained future music educators in diction, pedagogy, and literature. She frequently presents vocal seminars and workshops for singers and ensembles throughout the region. Her variety of performance credits and stage appearances inspire her students and encourage them to pursue a life-long cultivation of the art of singing, performing across genres with healthy vocal production regardless of style. Maintaining an active performer-teacher career is a vital part of her teaching philosophy.
Dr. Johnson specializes in both classical and belt techniques and is an active adjudicator and vocal clinician, offering workshops for choral groups, showchoirs, musical theatre students, and church ensembles. She maintains a thriving private studio catering to a wide variety of musical styles and is the creator of the online courses “Virtual Vocal Academy,” “Audition Bootcamp,” and “College Choir Audition Assistant.”
In her current role as a voice professor at The University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Johnson teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy courses and serves as vocal coach to the musical theatre productions. Previously, she served 9 years on the voice faculty at Jones College where she built a flourishing musical theatre workshop program producing large-scale musicals and student created productions.
As a performer, Johnson graced the stage in numerous musicals, operas, operettas, and concerts. Some of her favorite roles include Into the Woods (the Witch and Cinderella), Les Misérables (Fantine), The Drowsy Chaperone (Drowsy), La Bohème (Musetta), The Mikado (Katisha), Pirates of Penzance (Ruth), and Turandot (Liù). Her next appearance will be this summer during FESTIVALSOUTH in HubCity Players’ production of Beauty and the Beast.
Dr. Johnson graduated summa cum laude from William Carey University and holds a master of music and a doctor of musical arts in vocal performance and pedagogy from The University of Southern Mississippi. She resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with her husband, Tony and their spoiled pup GusGus.
Casting Director, Stage Entertainment Germany - Musical Theatre Auditions & Career Development, Master Clinician
Ralf Schädler is the Casting Director for Stage Entertainment and is a member of the Musical Theatre Intensives workshop faculty. With an international career as a performer, he is responsible for casting European productions for StageEntertainment including Sister Act, Wicked, Tarzan, The Buddy Holly Story and Lion King in a dozen European cities. Mr. Schädler is member of the IPAI Advisory Board works with IPAI Artists on career development, casting and musical theatre acting.
Opera and Collaborative Pianist in Residence
Mark Lawson was born in Mason City, Iowa. After a year at the Juilliard School, Mark was a student of George Katz at Drake University, Gary Graffman at the Manhattan School of Music, and Nelita True at the University of Maryland and the Eastman School of Music. After receiving his Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, Mark moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance pianist for three years before joining the Yale Opera as a pianist and coach. While at Yale, Mark learned German, and in 1997 he joined the music staff at the Aalto Theater in Essen, Germany. Two years later he auditioned in Munich at the Bavarian State Opera for Zubin Mehta, and from 1999 until 2017 was on the music staff there. In those eighteen years, he worked with all of the most famous singers in the world and many of the most famous conductors. In 2017 Mark left the Bavarian State Opera to have more time for freelance projects, and since then has divided his time between the Stopera in Amsterdam, the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he has a part time contract, and yearly productions at the Bavarian State Opera. In addition, he has worked regularly with the Young Singers Group at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Besides traveling with the Bavarian State Opera to Tokyo and Hong Kong, Mark has also worked at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, The New Israeli Opera, the Landestheater Salzburg, the National Theater in Prague, the Salzburg Festival, the Glyndbourne Festival, and the Bayreuth Festival.
Choreographer, dance teacher, yoga teacher and social worker. Training as a stage dancer at the Iwanson School, Academy for Contemporary Dance in Munich, Master of Arts in choreography at the Palucca School, University of Dance in Dresden, Bachelor of Arts in social education at the KSH Munich.
After a scholarship at the Marie Brolin Tani Danstheater in Arhus, Denmark and several study visits to New York, numerous engagements as a stage dancer in opera, film, television, musical and contemporary productions followed. Among others at the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals, at the Bavarian State Opera, at the Semperoper Dresden and at the Frankfurt Opera.
Since 2000 he has been a choreographer at various state and municipal theaters in Germany, Austria and France, including the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (Orpheus Illegal), the Residenztheater Munich (From the bourgeois heroic life), the Marstalltheater Munich (Mefistocks), the Schauburg Munich (guest bed ), at the Schauspielhaus Graz (Medea), at the Vienna Chamber Opera (Moscow Moscow), at the State Theaters in Kiel (Struwelpeter), Oldenburg (Hello Dolly) and Dortmund (Anatevka, The Seasons), at the City Theaters in Hildesheim (Hair), Ingolstadt ( La Cage Aux Folles), Trier (Into the Woods) and Hagen (Spring Awakening), at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (How to sucseed in business without really trying), at the Burgfestspiele Bad Vilbel (Evita) at the Landestheater Passau (Cardasfürstin, Manon, Ariodante) and Linz (Next to Normal), at the Opera National de Lorrain Nancy/France (merry widow), at the Semperoper Dresden (Wildschütz) and at the Frankfurt Opera (Martha). Numerous choreographies (Head Voice, Rent, Spring Awakening, Avenue Q) and teaching assignments in the period from 1998 to summer semester 2919 at the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding/University for Music and Theater in the Prinzregententheater in Munich.
Expansion of professional skills through a degree in social pedagogy in Munich. This has resulted in a number of projects, including at the TheaterAtelier Munich with people with mental illnesses, with young people aged 10 - 20 and with unaccompanied, underage refugees as part of the Future Campus educational program at the youth meeting center in Oberschleißheim.
Dennis had the honor of premiering in the first German production of [title of show] where he portrayed the role of HUNTER. Following which he played ROLF ISAAKSOHN in Neuköllner Oper Berlin’s award winning production of Stella.
Over the past 7 years Dennis has had the pleasure to portray leads on most major theatre stages in Germany from
Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern (JOE GILLIS in Sunset Boulevard) to Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater (BARRET in Titanic) to Komische Oper Berlin (RICHARD III in Schneewittchen und die 77 Zwerge).
Most recently Dennis Weissert could be seen entertaining audiences as CAMERON, the leading player of the Arise Grand Show at the iconic Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin, home of the largest theatre stage in the world, following a list of legendary performers including Louis Armstrong, Ute Lemper and Liza Minelli.
In 2023 he is performing the role of ARAMIS in 3 Musketeers at Staatstheater Augsburg as well as reprising his role of RIFF (West Side Story) at Landesbühnen Sachen.
To conclude the year he will be premiering Titanic at Theater Erfurt, this time in the role of the naval architect THOMAS ANDREWS.
In addition to his career as a Vocalist and Voiceover Artist, for years Dennis has been honing his craft as both a translator and songwriter. He is a certiefied syng: Trainer and is regularly recruited as vocal coach to both aspiring performers and seasoned artists teaching both classical and modern approaches to song interpretation.
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Patrick Schenk
German Agent - Guest Artist
Patrick Schenk absolvierte in den Jahren 2001-2005 das Studium im Fach Musical an der renommierten Folkwang-Universität in Essen, wo er u.a. bei Bruce Earnest im Fach Gesang ausgebildet wurde.
Danach folgten diverse Haupt- und Nebenrollen in Musicals in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, wie z.B. Tony in der West Side Story, Radames in Aida, Axel Staudach in Ich war noch niemals in New York, Petrus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Benvolio in Romeo und Julia, Bobby C in Saturday Night Fever, Sky in Mamma Mia, Marius in Les Miserables und viele mehr.
In den Jahren 2014 und 2015 übernahm Patrick die Künstlerische Leitung am Stage-Metronom Theater in Oberhausen. 2016 war er maßgeblich an der erfolgreichen Neuproduktion des Musicals „Ludwig²“ in Füssen beteiligt.
In den folgenden Jahren war Patrick Geschäftsführer des Musical-Start-Ups „Stuttgarter Off-Broadway Theatre Company“ und auch hier maßgeblich an der Produktion des Musicals Annie beteiligt.
Für das Opernstudio NRW war Patrick in der Spielzeit 2020/2021 tätig und hat u.a. das jährliche Opernstudio-Vorsingen organisiert.
Des Weiteren betreibt Patrick seit 2015 die Künstleragentur „art&weise“ und konnte sich in der Deutschen Theaterlandschaft als verlässlicher Ansprechpartner in Fragen rund um die Künstlervermittlung etablieren.
Matthew Oglesby
American Tenor - Voice
Mr. Oglesby was praised by Charles Ward from the Houston Chronicle as “a fearless tenor with great voice” for his portrayal of Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri. His extensive list of operatic roles include Camp Williams in Cold Sassy Tree, Uncle Vezzinet in the Italian Straw Hat, Governor in Candide, Basilio in La Nozze di Figaro, Borsa in Rigoletto and Gherrado in Gianni Schicchi. As a concert soloist Mr. Oglesby has performed the tenor solos in Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Requiem under the direction of internationally acclaimed conductor and composer Z. Randall Stroope. For these performances Dr. Stroope praised Mr. Oglesby saying “His lyric tenor voice carries quite easily above an orchestra and he brings a unique artistry to his performances. His musicianship and work with conductors is second to none” Mr. Oglesby also enjoys performing with the West Texas A&M University Orchestra where he has performed the role of Obadiah in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, as well as the tenor solos in Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In 2017 Mr. Oglesby performed with the Texas All-State Mixed Choir as the invited Tenor Soloist in the Lord Nelson Mass. In recital, Mr. Oglesby recently performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe at Lycoming College in 2018 an in 2017 presented for the Song Collaborators Consortia, along with composer Dr. BJ Brooks, on Dr. Brooks composition on the Goethe texts of the Harper Songs. In 2008 Mr. Oglesby was selected as one of twelve to participate in the prestigious National Association of Teachers of Singing intern program. During his time as an intern Mr. Oglesby participated in a documentary highlighting the Future Artist/Teachers of the next generation. Mr. Oglesby can be heard on the Premier Recording of Dominic Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming on the Newport Classics Label.
As a teacher of singing, Mr. Oglesby’s current and former students have performed on Broadway, and regional opera companies as well as National and International Tours. In competition, Mr. Oglesby’s students have won on regional and national levels.
Mr. Oglesby currently is the Coordinator of Vocal Studies at West Texas A&M University School of Music. Along with teaching at WTAMU he is also a sought after Master Class instructor, most recently, being invited to Houston Baptist University and Oklahoma State University as a Master Class Instructor as well as an Artist in Residence with Lycoming College in April 2018. As an adjudicator, Mr. Oglesby has adjudicated the National Prelims for National Association of Teachers of Singing in 2017 and 2018 as well as many semi-final and finals for regional NATS conferences. Mr. Oglesby has previously served as one of six Teaching Fellows with the International Performing Arts Institute in Kiefersfelden, Germany.
Mr. Oglesby earned his B Mus. from the University of Houston and an MA in vocal performance from West Texas A&M University. Mr. Oglesby has studied voice with Mr. Joseph Evans, Dr. Robert Hansen and Mila Gibson.