Louisa Panou, Founder
Founder of Operafestival di Roma, Dr. Louisa Panou passed away in her home in Charlottesville, Virginia, on January 16, 2006. The cause was pancreatic cancer. Read more.

Francesco Carotenuto, Conductor
Having begun his professional career as a violinist with the “Virtuosi di Roma.” Maestro Carotenuto has since been internationally recognized for his conducting and compositional achievements. A protegèe of Franco Ferrara and Goffredo Petrassi, he holds degrees and honors from the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia, the Conservatory of Music in Rome and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. He founded the International Chamber Ensemble in 1980 and has created and conducted literally hundreds of concerts in the ensemble's 25 years of activity in Italy and around the world. He is frequently invited to appear as guest conductor with major symphonic and chamber orchestras throughout the world. He is a member of the faculty at the Conservatory of Music, Santa Cecilia in Rome where he is a Professor of Composition. He is also the master teacher of the "Young Conductors' Workshop," sponsored each year by the International Chamber Ensemble.

William Welty, Managing Director
Dr. Welty is a former Associate Dean of the Graduate Business Program at Pace University in New York City where he was for many years the Director of Executive Programs. He is now Professor Emeritus of Management at Pace University. A nationally known expert in case method teaching and environmental aspects of management, Dr. Welty is responsible for the administrative aspects of Operafestival di Roma and offers direction to participants interested in arts management.

Melanie Day, Artistic Director/Principal Coach
As a coach-accompanist, Ms. Day’s performances span from Boston’s Athenaeum to New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall to the French Embassy and The National Cathedral in Washington, DC to such international locations as Austria, Italy, Costa Rica and South America, where she completed a five-week concert/masterclass tour as a 1994 United States Artistic Ambassador. She holds Masters degrees in Piano and in Vocal Coaching/Accompanying from Boston University, and a Diploma from the Franz-Schubert Institut in Austria. She has served  on the faculty of Boston University's Opera Department, as coach and chorusmaster for Boston Concert Opera and coach for the Tanglewood Music Festival.  For two seasons Ms. Day was invited to teach lecture courses in affiliation with the Santa Fe Opera.  Ms. Day serves as Director of Opera Theatre VCU in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she also teaches History of the Art Song and serves as Vocal Coach. A frequent masterclass presenter, Ms. Day’s former students are now singing in opera houses throughout the world.

Marilee Mortarotti, Administrative Manager (Italy), Violin
Born and raised in a family of musicians in the San Francisco bay area, Marilee Mortarotti studied violin with her father until the age of 18 when, having moved to Rome for a year with her family, she was able to continue her musical studies at the Conservatorio of Music S. Cecilia. Ms. Mortarotti holds a BA in Music Performance and an MBA in Arts Administration from UCLA. She held administrative positions with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Opera, and the San Jose Symphony before moving to Italy and joining the International Chamber Ensemble as Administrative Director and violinist.

Roland Karnatz, Associate Managing Director, Technical Director
A faculty member at Longwood College in Virginia, Dr. Karnatz has recently completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Louisiana State University majoring in Clarinet Performance and minoring in Electro-acoustic Composition. His projects have involved collaboration with other arts, sound design for theatre, and recording. He has taught at both LSU and Virginia Commonwealth University as well as in his native Australia, and he has performed in Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, and the US. Roland is also a skilled driver with an encyclopedic knowledge of the many byways of metropolitan Rome.

Peter Atherton, Voice
Bass-baritone Peter Atherton has had the joy of performing over forty 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, as well as Operafestival di Roma. He has also performed six different roles in the Phantom of the Opera in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Juilliard School of Music, Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Southern California, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles. Currently he is Director of Operatic Studies and Professor of Voice at Chapman University.

Ivy Dale Austin, Costumer
Ms. Austin holds a BA in Theatre, with a concentration in Costuming from Bowling Green State University.  She has 33 years professional experience in design and production of costumes for Theatre, Dance, and Film.  These  include Theatre Virginia and Theatre IV, Richmond Ballet, VCU Opera and costumes for Royal Caribbean Productions.  Ms. Austin designed a new costume for Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and  worked as a costumer for Operafestival di Roma productions of Don Giovanni and Suor Angelica, 2007.  She is a partner in The Costume Shop, an independent production studio in Richmond, VA.

Judith Auer, Voice, Opera Scenes Director
Dr. Auer holds Masters degrees in French and Voice from Indiana University and a Doctorate in Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado. She has performed with the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice program, the Zurich International Opera Studio, the Stadttheater St. Gallen in Switzerland, and with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Dr. Auer served as Assistant Professor of voice and Director of Opera Theater for the University of Tulsa. In addition, for several years, she served as Director of the School of Music. She has staged scenes and opera productions for Tulsa Opera Apprentice program, the University of Kentucky, the Colorado Opera Troupe, Lyric Artists of the West and the Chongqing Opera Company in China. This Fall Dr. Auer will return to China and give vocal Masterclasses in Shanghai and for the Chongqing Opera. She currently resides in Boulder, Colorado where she maintains a private voice studio.

Robert Barefield, Voice
Baritone Robert Barefield is a frequent performer in opera, oratorio, and recital. He has performed with organizations throughout the United States and abroad, including the New Orleans Opera, the Arizona Opera, the Central City Opera, the Ohio Light Opera, Operafestival di Roma, and the Mississippi Symphony.  His roles have included Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Germont in La Traviata, Sid in Albert Herring, and John Proctor in Robert Ward's The Crucible.  As an oratorio soloist, Barefield has performed works by Orff, Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams and Handel.  An accomplished recitalist, Robert Barefield has presented programs throughout the United States and in Europe. His wide-ranging repertoire encompasses major works such as Schubert's Winterreise, and he has given multiple premiere performances of art songs by living composers.  He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a Corbett Opera Scholar.  He is a member of the voice faculty at Arizona State University.

Pamela Beasley, Voice
Soprano Pamela Beasley has sung in opera, oratorio, musical theater and recital engagements from Virginia to Texas, from the Gulf Coast to Carnegie Hall. She has appeared in numerous roles with Mobile Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Birmingham Civic Opera, Pensacola Opera, Southern Regional Opera and Maxwell Playhouse. A graduate of the University of Montevallo (BME) and Southwestern Seminary (MM), her teachers have included Benjamin Middaugh and Lynda Poston-Smith, and she has studied vocal pedagogy with James McKinney and Jeanette LoVetri. Her students have been winners at state and regional NATS auditions, and at district Metropolitan Opera auditions. Past teaching assignments have included faculty positions at Auburn University Montgomery, University of South Alabama, University of Mobile, and Liberty University, where she has taught solo vocal literature, vocal pedagogy, vocal diction, voice and opera workshop. An active performer and teacher, she has also served as Governor for AL-NATS and board member for VA-NATS, and currently teaches at the University of Virginia, and at Mary Baldwin College.

Giuliano Bisceglia, Violin
Born in Ascoli Piceno, Mr. Bisceglia holds conservatory degrees in both violin and viola and has studied with many recognized teachers such as Ferraris, Hurwitz and Levine. He was the winner of several national and international violin competitions including the “Francesco Tosti” in 1985, the “Citta` di Stresa” in 1986 and the “S. Carlo” in Naples in 1987. In addition to his position, held since 1998, as Associate Concertmaster of the International Chamber Ensemble, he has appeared as concertmaster/soloist with many of the most prestigious orchestras and concert organizations throughout Italy. He is also the violinist in “Cuartetango”, an extremely popular quartet dedicated to Italian-Argentinean music and with whom he has performed extensively in throughout the world and recorded numerous CDs. Mr. Bisceglia teaches violin at the Conservatory of Music in Salerno, Italy.

Mark Calkins, Voice

Tenor Mark Calkins has appeared in leading roles with opera companies throughout North America and Europe. His artistic specialty is the Rossini repertoire, and he has performed Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lindoro in La Italiana in Algeri, The Prince in La Cenerentola, The Count in Le Comte Ory and Oreste in Ermione in Opera houses around the world. He is a former member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s young artist development program, the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Mr. Calkins was featured as Cassio in Otello on an A&E nationwide production of Spotlight Colorado and starred in a National PBS Television broadcast and World Premiere of Robert Greenleaf’s Under the Arbor. Concert engagements include appearances in Europe’s Music festivals in Salzburg, Bregenz, Villach, Austria; Merano, Italy and Bremen, Germany with Roger Norrington conducting the London Classical Players in Rossini’s Stabat Mater. He has appeared throughout the U.S. in Broadway touring productions of Phantom of the Opera. Mark joined the faculty of St. Olaf College in 2005. He is a current recipient of the Ted & Roberta Mann Scholarship working toward his D.M.A. at the University of Minnesota. He also maintains a private studio of young professional singers and teaches master classes in performance at the pre-professional level across the country.

John Cuk, Accompanist, Choral Director
The Director of Choirs and Orchestra at Scarsdale High School in New York and a native of New York City, John earned his undergraduate degree from Manhattanville College, a Master’s in piano from the Manhattan School of Music and pursued graduate work at Westminster Choir College, Hartt School of Music, Central Connecticut State University and The Julliard School. Mr. Cuk is much in demand as a conductor, coach, pianist and recitalist. A distinguished accompanist and pianist, he has performed frequently with professional opera singers from the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera and instrumentalists in chamber music recitals. He has led choirs and orchestras in England, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Finland, Estonia and Poland as well as the United States. Active as a guest conductor and clinician, he has also prepared choirs for the Moscow State Ballet and the Purchase Symphony. In addition he is the Artistic Director of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Concert Series in Somers, New York.

Elizabeth Dodd, Voice, Opera Scenes Director
Elizabeth Dodd holds a MM in vocal performance from the University of Tulsa where she taught for 15 years. Currently she is assistant professor at the University of Evansville where she teaches Opera Workshop, Diction, Vocal Pedagogy, and Voice. She has studied German lied with Ely Ameling and Mozart opera with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She sings regularly in opera, operetta, and oratorio. Her students participate in major graduate schools, professional opera companies, and on Broadway. She has been a member of the Operafestival di Roma since 1998.

Antonio Fazzini—Stage Direction, Stage Movement, Italian Language
Born in Florence, Italy, Sgr. Fazzini obtained an Italian degree in Art history and was thereafter awarded a two year fellowship at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa where he studied singing with Aldo Reggioli, chamber Music with Marina Boesch, and Opera Buffa with Herbert Handt. He has sung with I Madrigalisti Fiorentini and The Jubilee Shouters. As an actor he was trained by Bob Marchese and Fiorenza Brogi, co-founders of the famous Gruppo della Rocca, one of the first Italian experiments in popular theatre. He was a student of Giorgio Albertazzi, one of the most eminent Italian actors. He has done many readings in museums and institutions in Italy, such as Galleria dell’Accademia , Casa Buonarroti, and Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. He has worked in television (RAI, the Italian State Television Network). He directed La Serva Padrona by Giovan Battista Pergolesi in the 2005 season of Operafestival di Roma.

Beverly Hay, Voice, Opera Scenes Director
Dr. Hay has performed as a soloist with major orchestras and conductors, has sung more than 20 leading operatic roles, and presented more than 40 entirely different recitals throughout the world. In 1991 she was invited to present a lecture on Mozart sopranos at the Bicenntennial Mozartkongress in Salzburg. She has taught voice at Southern Illinois University and Memphis State University and presently is the Daniel Professor of Voice at Converse College. Her new singing translation of Le nozze di Figaro is being performed this season by the Converse Opera Theater. She holds a BA and MM in Music from the University of South Carolina and a DM in Vocal Performance from Indiana University where she studied with Jean Deis, Martha Lipton, and John Wustman. Her students have performed in opera at the Metropolitan, La Scala, Paris, Hamburg, and Covent Garden, as well as the Santa Fe, Houston and Sarasota Apprentice programs.

Richard Harrell, Stage Director
Rick Harrell is Director of Opera Studies at the San Francisco Conservatory.  Previously, he was the administrative director of the Juilliard Opera, director of the San Francisco Opera Center, including the Merola Opera Program, and artistic advisor and head of faculty for the training program of the New National Theatre in Tokyo. He is an active regional stage director and has been a stage director, voice teacher, and guest master class instructor at universities and training programs including Yale, Indiana University, Chautauqua Institution, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Loyola University, Mannes School of Music, and the University of Florida. As well as being a frequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, his essays on artist training and the business of opera appear in many Opera America publications. As a vocalist Mr. Harrell has recorded with performed with Deutsche Grammaphon and he performed with various national and international opera companies and symphony orchestras.

Joseph Hopkins, Voice
Mr. Hopkins has concertized throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and Canada. His professional stage experience includes leading roles with the Dallas Lyric Opera, Operafestival di Roma, and Artist-in-residence at the Wildwood Opera Theatre and Performing Arts Center. Mr. Hopkins has performed as soloist at the Sacred Music Festival of Spain, the Festival of Majorca, and the International Choral Festival of Nis, Yugoslavia. Recent performances include Mozart's Requiem with the St. Petersburg State Orchestra and the State Orchestra of Russia in Moscow, the world premiere of Sydney Hodkinson's most recent cantata, recitals in England, and a performance tour with composer Richard Faith. He recently joined the Converse College faculty as Dean of the Petrie School of Music.

Matthew James, Voice
Dr. James, bass-baritone, completed his undergraduate training in Music at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, MO, and subsequently completed his masters and doctoral degrees at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has sung with the Des Moines Metro Opera and the National Opera Company, and has taught at Northern State University in South Dakota and the University of Tennessee. He is currently Chair of the Music Department at Walla Walla College and teaches voice and music theory. Dr. James has performed the roles of Sarastro, Basilio, and, most recently, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni for Operafestival di Roma.

Lisa Kinzer, Coach/Accompanist
Pianist Lisa Kinzer is Associate Professor and Chair of the Piano Area at Longwood University in Farmville, VA.  She earned her Bachelor of Music from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Master of Music from Louisiana State University, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Her teachers have included Clifton Matthews, Robert McDonald, Jack Guerry, and John Salmon.  She performs across the United States, playing both solo and collaborative recitals with her husband, saxophonist Charles Kinzer. A regular adjudicator for numerous piano competitions, including the Bartok/Kabalevsky International Piano Competition, Kinzer is a member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, CMS, MTNA, and VMTA.

Karen Knight, Assistant Director, Stage Movement, Voice
Ms. Knight has been a principal singer and actress for the Sight and Sound Millennium Theatres in Lancaster, PA for five years. She is currently the Vocal Music Specialist for the theater where she directs the music for the stage shows. Karen has also performed leading roles for the Spring Mountain Resort Theatre, the Soundstage Theater Company, Shenandoah Players, and the Mill Mountain Theater where she premiered the role of Lois in the original musical Soup. Soap, and Salvation. An accomplished director and choreographer, she founded Showstoppers, a Children's Musical Theater Workshop in Charlottesville, Va.

Noemi Lugo, Voice
Noemi Lugo, soprano, is a native of Caracas, Venezuela. She received a Vocal Performance Diploma from the José Angel Lamas National Conservatory of Music. While in Venezuela, she performed with major orchestras and choral organizations, soloing extensively throughout the country and Europe with Schola Cantorum de Caracas under the direction of Alberto Grau. She performed with the Opera Metropolitana de Caracas and Opera Teresa Carreflo, Madison Civic Opera, University of Wisconsin Opera, and University of Colorado Opera. Dr. Lugo’s operatic roles include Oscar in Ballo in Maschera, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Norma in Don Pasquale, Adina in L’Elisir d’amore, Susanna in La Nozze di Figaro, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Amelia in Amelia al Ballo.  She remains active, presenting many recitals and lecture recitals of Art Songs from Spain and Latin America. In January 2003, Dr. Lugo traveled to South East Asia to offer concerts in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong.  The summer of 2003 took her to Bolivia where she participated as a performer and scholar in the first “Songs Across The Americas Festival.” .Dr. Lugo has taught for the Kentucky Institute for International Studies and Middlebury College, She served as chair of the Vocal Area at the University of Kentucky’s School of Music from 1997 to 1999 and as Director of Latin American Studies Program from 2002 to 2004. She teaches a course for the Freshman Discovery Seminar on “Musical Understanding through Music.”

Tullia Maffei Lynch, Conversational Italian
grew up speaking Italian. Her parents are from the Italian Alps in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy. She has taught Italian in several high schools, has worked as a writer and translator for Banca della Svizzera Italiana in New York and was a radio broadcaster.  She currently teaches Italian courses at the University of Virginia’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies and organizes small group tours to Lake Garda and the Italian Alps where most of her extended family still lives. Tullia received a B.A. in French from Marymount Manhattan College and an MBA from Pace University.

Dennis Malfatti, Choir Director, Assistant Conductor
Mr. Malfatti holds a MM in conducting from the Pennsylvania State University and is completing his DMA in conducting from Louisiana State University. He is also an accomplished pianist and organist. He has conducted the L.S.U. Collegium Musicum, the St. Albans Chapel Choir, the Poly Prep Country Day School Choir, the Penn State Sinfonietta, and for the Bronx Opera Company. He is currently Director of Choral Activities at Longwood University in Virginia.

Susan Morton, Coach/Accompanist
An accomplished pianist, coach, and conductor, Ms. Morton is also a distinguished linguist, bilingual in Italian and fluent in French. This past season was her fifth as coach with Operafestival di Roma. She served for five years as coach for the New York City Opera. Other career highlights include Glimmerglass Opera, Sarasota Opera and many other regional American opera houses. She has taught at Manhattan School of Music, New Jersey City University, Westminster Choir College and Florida State University. She is an active recitalist with appearances in the New York area including the Naumburg Competition, and on tour in the western US and in the Caribbean Islands. She has lived and worked in Italy for many years, serving on the staff of other summer programs as well as studying in Milan and Florence. Her students have sung all over the US and in Europe. She leads masterclasses on musical style and language and teaches recitative seminars. She currently maintains a private studio in New York City.

Anthony Offerle, Voice
Dr. Offerle is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado where he studied with Carl Gerbrandt and Thomas Poole and a Dieterle Scholarship recipient at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Andrew White.   He is an active performer having sung with Cincinnati Opera, Columbia Symphony, Dayton Opera, Detroit Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has performed numerous roles throughout the world in the operatic, oratorio and musical theatre repertoire.  He has twice been a Metropolitan Opera regional finalist and was one of only ten Americans selected to compete in the Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition. Dr. Offerle teaches voice and is director of the opera program at the University of Florida-School of Music.

Todd Queen, Voice
Dr. Queen received his MM and DMA from Eastman School of Music and his BM from Brigham Young University. A tenor, he has sung with Lyric Opera of the West, Sacramento Opera, Opera Fort Collins, the Portland Opera Repertory Theatre, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently Artistic Director of Opera Fort Collins and is an Associate Professor of Voice at Colorado State University.

Antonio Ramous, Cello
Graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Music “S. Cecilia” in Rome and student of renowned cellist Nicola Sarpe, Mr. Ramous has won numerous solo competitions including the “Stresa” and the “Citta` di Genova”. He has served as Principal Cellist for the Alessandria Theatre Orchestra, for the National Orchestra of Cyprus and for the Lazio Regional Orchestra and has performed extensively in chamber ensembles such as the “Sestetto Italiano”,“Vox '900”, the Rubio Quartet and the St. Ivo Piano Quartet. He currently teaches chamber music at the Conservatory of Music in Vibo Valentia and serves as Principal Cellist with the International Chamber Ensemble, a position he has held since 1991.

Sam Savage, Voice
Dr. Savage is a tenor whose performance experience includes opera, oratorio, musical theatre, and recitals. He has appeared with the New York City Opera National Tour, the Virginia Opera, the Sarasota Opera, the Maryland Opera Studio, the Western Plains Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and Glimmerglass Opera. He has won the A. Eli and Esther Nisenfeld Award for Outstanding Tenor, the Virginia Music Teachers Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in the Richard Tauber International Competition for Tenors. Dr. Savage received his DMA degree from the University of Maryland and now teaches voice and vocal pedagogy at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has studied with the late Maestro Franco Corelli, as well as with Linda Mabbs and Kenneth Bowles.

James Smith-Parham, Accompanist/Coach, Voice
James has had a varied career singing opera, oratorio, musical theater, as well as conducting, teaching and coaching voice. He has sung with Virginia Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Memphis Opera and was assistant conductor of Opera Memphis and of  Southern Opera Theater and has done music direction for Hartford Opera Association's touring company.  Mr. Smith-Parham has sung under conductors Max Rudolph, Anton Guadagno, Michael Tilson Thomas, Richard Woitok, Peter Mark and Lucinda Carver and was a student of  the opera buffa legend, Italo Tajo, at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.. He has musically directed more than 20 musical theater/operetta productions in the Richmond area including Nunsense,  Pirates of Penzance, Mikado, and The Magic Flute. He has also directed the Opera Workshop for the University of Richmond.  Mr. Smith-Parham teaches on the voice faculties of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond .

Timothy Sparks, Voice
Mr. Sparks received his BM in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his MM with a Performer's Certificate in Voice from the Eastman School of Music. He has appeared with the Israel Vocal Arts Institute, The National Opera Company (A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute), The Opera Company of North Carolina, The Greensboro Opera Company, The Triangle Opera, The Brevard Music Center, and The Durham Savoyards, Limited. Equally comfortable in operatic roles, oratorio, or as a recitalist, Mr. Sparks is active as a soloist throughout North Carolina and the Southeast. He currently serves as Lecturer of Voice at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Dorothy Spence Smith, Costume Design
Ms. Smith holds a BA from Harvard University and an MA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Virginia. She has designed costumes for several colleges and professional theatres in Virginia, the Ashlawn-Highland Opera Festival, small films, and commercials. She teaches Costume Design at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. She has designed the costumes for Operafestival di Roma’s productions of The Merry Widow(1999), Don Giovanni (2002), Die Zauberflote (2004) , La serva padrona (2005), and Le nozze di Figaro (2005) .

Lou Szari, Lighting Designer.  He is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Virginia. He is the Head of the Lighting Design Program and he  supervises Theatre Education program. He holds two Masters degrees, Scene/Lighting Design from the University of Texas and Acting/Directing from Kent State University. In 1964 he represented the United States at the ‘Prague Czechoslovakia Quadrennial design exhibition. He has worked with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Company as a roadie, ran his own Design company in Boston designing Operas, musicals and straight plays. Professor Szari is one of the very few individuals to have ever achieved simultaneous professional membership in the Acting, Stagehand, and Design Theatrical unions.

Thomas Williams, Voice, Scenic Designer
Thomas A. Williams, bass-baritone, has performed with Operafestival di Roma in 1999, 2006 and 2007. Thom retired after the 2006-2007 academic year from Longwood University in Virginia where he was chair of vocal studies.  He has been the music director of Richmond Choral Society from 2002 to the present. He has performed widely in regional opera and musical theatre.  One of the highlights of his singing career was soloing with Robert Shaw in Schubert’s Mass in G, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Boito’s “Prologue in the Heavens” from Meiestofele, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. 

Leslie Winn, Costumer
Ms. Winn is a partner in The Costume Shop, an independent production studioin Richmond, Virginia.  She has over 30 years experience in the design and production of costumes for Theatre, Dance, and Film, including work for Royal Caribbean Productions, Richmond Ballet, and Theatre Virginia and Theatre IV.  She has served as costumer for Operafestival di Roma productions of Don Giovanni and Suor Angelica (2007).  Ms. Winn is a proud graduate of Virginia Tech.

Brenda Witmer, Voice
Ms. Witmer has performed an extensive range of music styles throughout the United States and Europe. She has recently performed as Lily in The Secret Garden, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, and as a soloist as part of the Cesky Krumlov Music Festival in the Czech Republic. A member of the College Music society and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, she was a recipient of the 1993 NATS Internship Award and is a frequent adjudicator of voice competitions. She presently teaches vocal performance at James Madison University.

Linda Zoolalian, Coach/Accompanist
Dr. Zoolalian earned her Bachelors in Piano Performance at New England Conservatory, and her Masters and Doctorate in Accompanying from the University of Southern California. She has participated as a pianist and accompanist with the Academy of the West and the Aspen Music Festival as well with the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She currently is a member of the piano faculty at Pasadena City College and also works as a vocal coach and pianist for the Opera Institute at California State University Long Beach.