Guest Artists
International Mezzo Soprano - Master Clinician
Jennifer Larmore is an American mezzo-soprano, with a wide-ranging repertoire, having begun with the coloratura roles of the Baroque and bel canto then adding music from the Romantic and Contemporary periods.
She began her career at Opera de Nice in 1986 with Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and went on to sing at virtually every major opera house in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Paris Opera, Tokyo, Berlin Deutsche Oper, and London Covent Garden.
She is a two-time Grammy Award winner who has recorded widely for the Teldec, RCA, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Arabesque, Opera Rara, Bayer, Naive, Chandos, VAI and Cedille labels in over one hundred CDs to date as well as DVDs of “Countess Geschwitz” in Lulu, Jennifer Larmore in Performance for VAI, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Netherlands Opera), L'Italiana in Algeri (Opera de Paris), La Belle Hélène (Hamburg State Opera), Orlando Furioso (Opera de Paris) and Jenufa (Deutsche Oper Berlin). She has recorded two charming books on tape by Kim Maerkl entitled Mozart's Magical Night with Hélène Grimaud and the Bavarian State Orchestra and The King’s Daughter with story and music for flute and string orchestra by Kim Maerkl with the flute player Natalie Schwaabe.
With her frequent collaborator Antoine Palloc, she has made many International recital tours, including appearances in Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Vietnam, Vienna, London, San Juan, Prague, Melbourne, Brussels, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Sao Paolo, Athens and Copenhagen, as well as all the major American venues. Symphonic repertoire plays a large role in this mezzo’s career with the works of Mahler, Schoenberg, Mozart, de Falla, Debussy, Berlioz and Barber featuring prominently. Miss Larmore has enjoyed great collaborations with world orchestras under the direction of Muti, Lopez-Cobos, Bernstein, Runnicles, Sinopoli, Masur, von Dochnanyi, Jacobs, Mackerras, Spinosi, Abbado, Barenboim, Bonynge, Maazel, Osawa, Guidarini and Hengelbrock.
Jennifer’s repertoire has expanded to include new roles such as "Marie" in Berg's masterpiece Wozzeck, which she recently sang to great success at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Berg is now a specialty of Miss Larmore, with her having sung “Countess Geschwitz” in Berg's Lulu at Covent Garden in the Christof Loy production with Tony Pappano, then again in Madrid. At Paris Opera Bastille she sang in the Willy Decker production and, she reprised the role yet again in a new production of William Kentridge with Lothar Zagrosek conducting for the Nederlandse Opera, and at the Rome Opera. She has also become well known for "Kostelnička Buryjovka" in Janacek's Jenůfa which she performed with Donald Runnicles at Berlin Deutsche Oper. The DVD of this production was nominated for a Grammy. She reprised her "Kostelnička" in this same production for the New National Theater in Tokyo. “Lady Macbeth” in Verdi’s opera Macbeth is a role she debuted in a striking new production of Christof Loy at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, then in the Bob Wilson production in Bologna and Reggio Emilia. Her first “Eboli” was in the French version of Don Carlos at the Caramoor Music Festival in New York, with Will Crutchfield conducting, and she sang “Jocasta” in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at the Bard Festival. Adding to her growing list of new repertoire, Miss Larmore debuted the role of "Mère Marie" in Les dialogues des carmélites at the Caramoor Festival, New York. She went back to her roots with "Ottavia" in Monteverdi's l'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Theater an der Wien in October 2015 and returned there in December 2016 for her debut in the role of "Elvira" in Mozart's Don Giovanni.
Miss Larmore, in collaboration with the double bass player Davide Vittone, has created an ensemble called Jennifer Larmore and OpusFive. This a string quintet offering programs that are entertaining and varied with Songs and Arias, Cabaret/Operetta and Movies and Broadway. They have given concerts in Seville, Pamplona, Valencia, Las Palmas, Venice, Amiens, Olten, Aix en Provence, Dublin, and Paris. At the Magève Festival in August, 2018 they presented a World Premiere work by composer Scott Eyerly, called Creatures Great and Small on the theme of animals.
Throughout her career Jennifer Larmore has garnered awards and recognition. In 1994 Jennifer won the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. In 1996 she sang the Olympic Hymn at the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics in Atlanta. In 2002, “Madame” Larmore was awarded the Chevalier des arts et des lettres from the French government in recognition of her contributions to the world of music. In 2010 she was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in her home state of Georgia. In addition, to her many activities, travels, performances and causes, author Jennifer Larmore is working on books that will bring a wider public to the love of opera. Her new book "Una Voce" is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Lulu.com and explores the world and psychology of the performer: web site: jlarmorebook.com.
Miss Larmore is widely known for teaching and giving master classes and in 2018, she went to New York's Manhattan School of Music, Santiago, Chile, Luxembourg, Atlanta, and to the new Teatro Nuovo at Suny Purchase College, New York. She began the New Year 2019 with master classes for the Atlanta Opera and Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. In March Miss Larmore gives master classes and workshops at the École Normale and for the Philippe Jaroussky Academy in Paris.
The 2017 season saw Jennifer debut "Anna 1" in Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins for the Atlanta Opera, then return to Hamburg State Opera for the title role in La Belle Hélène. In 2018 she debuted the role of "La Dama" in Hindemith's Cardillac for the Maggio Musicale in Firenze, "Fidalma" In Il Matrimonio Segreto for Opera Köln, and "Marcellina" In Le Nozze di Figaro in Tokyo. Engagements in 2019 will include concerts in Grenoble, Olten and Magève with OpusFive and she will return to Opera Köln in the title role of a new production in her on-going collaboration with Doucet/Barbe of La Grand Duchesse de Gérolstein. In the next seasons exciting new debuts will include "Genevieve" in Pelleas et Melisande in Parma,Modena, Piacenza and "Herodias" in Salome for Atlanta Opera and at the New National Theater in Tokyo.
BARBARA DANIELS
International Soprano - Guest Clinician, IPAI Advisory Board
The internationally celebrated, Ohio born and educated, soprano began her career in Innsbruck, Austria with three roles, Fiordiligi, Rosalinde, and Violetta, which accompanied her through the ensemble years to Kassel, Köln, and in the case of the last two protagonists, to the New York Metropolitan Opera. Though she is probably best known in the beginning of her career for her interpretation of Musetta in "La Boheme", a role she recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon with Leonard Bernstein shortly before his death; she became just as well known internationally for other Puccini characterizations, such as Manon Lescaut, which she sang for the first time in the Kölner premier Production, at the Hamburger Staasoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and in the Robert Carsen premiere production for the Bastille Opera in Paris. Giorgetta debut followed in the Willi Decker realisation of "Il Trittico" conducted by James Conlon as well as the Harry Kupfer Production with Gerd Albrecht in Hamburg for German television. She undertook Tosca, which she sang for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Seattle, Cincinnati, Köln, and Sydney Operas. But especially her portrayal of Minnie in "La Fanciulla del West", sung for the first time in the new Giancarlo del Monaco production for the Metropolitan Opera with Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, and Leonard Slatkin, became her favorite Puccini role. The MET Production was filmed live by Deutschegrammphon and is available as DVD .
Never willing to compartmentalize herself as a singer devoted only to Puccini or other Verissmo composers, she instead maintained a rewardingly varied repertoire—including even early musical theater roles such as Aldonza ("Man from La Mancha") or Anita ("West Side Story") and muscial theater evenings for Austrian television with Dr. Marcel Prawy and baritone Sherrill Milnes. However, encouraged early on, especially in Köln by Sir John Pritchard in the famous Ponnelle Mozart Cycle, she sang Illia, Pamina, Fiordiligi, and Elvira. This opportunity kept her classic enough to tackle the title role in Michael Hampe’s filmed version of Handel’s "Aggrippina", "La Traviata" at the Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper---her first Marenka’s at the Chicago Lyric Opera in the Elijia Mojinski production; then her first "Jenufa" with Leonie Rysanek; followed by "Die Vier Letzten Lieder", as preparation for her first Marshallin. Then came the new production of "Fidelio" in Bonn, her first Leonore; also her first Senta with James Morris; and the title role of Magda in the new Chicago Lyric Opera production of Menotti’s "The Consul." The French repertoire served her well, though she sang few Michaela’s and Massenet Manon’s; she has continued to sing Marguerite in "Faust," last performed for live broadcast with Samuel Ramey, Neil Shicoff, and Charles Dutoit at the Metropolitan Opera. To round out her American hertiage, she undertook the roles of Mama Rose in the musical "Gypsy" in May 2000 and Dolly Levy in "Hello Dolly", at the request of, and to be directed by Frau Kammersängerin Brigitte Fassbaender in her first season as Opera Director in Innsbruck. Barbara then happily closed the chapter on her stage career and is now teaching voice at the Salzburg Mozarteum (Innsbruck branch) and the Tirol Landeskonservatorium.
Barbara has been married since 1976 to Karl Wiedner, french hornist with the Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra. Their daughter, Alexandra, has finished her graduate violin studies at the Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik and plays not only in the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestras, but is a standing member of the Mainzer Kammer-, Freiburger Bach-Orchestras, and the Marini Consortium.
DAWN PIERCE
Soprano - Master Clinician, Coach, IPAI Advisory Board
Mezzo-soprano Dawn Pierce is a native of Olean, New York, and currently an assistant professor of voice at Ithaca College. Praised as both an exceptional performer and an empowering teacher, Ms. Pierce is devoted to promoting a deeper understanding of artistry and self-expression. Reviewers laud her as “vocally impressive and dramatically convincing,” while students describe her teaching as “creative,” “energetic,” and “inspiring.”
On the operatic stage, she recently performed Olga in Eugene Onegin with Opera Carolina, Marthe in Faust withLyric Opera Baltimore, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Tampa, and Madelon and Bersi in Andrea Chenier with Nashville Opera. This summer she will sing the title role inCarmen at the Southern Illinois Music Festival. She earned a Performing Artist Certificate and a Master's in Opera Performance from the AJ Fletcher Opera Institute and holds Bachelor's degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College. In her free time,Dawn enjoys making jewelry, reading, dancing, pilates, and weight training.