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Apprentice Artist Program Staff
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Dugg McDonough, Co-Director of the James M. Collier Apprentice Artist Program Now in his 18th season as Co-Director of the program and his 21st season with the Company, Dugg is largely responsible for the success of DMMO’s James M. Collier Apprentice Artist Program. Formerly the Producer and Director of Opera Theater at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia, he has completed his eighth year as Artistic Director of LSU Opera at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. At LSU in 2009-2010, Dugg provided stage direction for Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and two L'Opera Lagniappe programs one entitled " The Twelfth Night Project," a staging of composer David Amram and librettist Joseph Papp's Shakespeare opera that was filmed for a video documentary. In the spring of 2007, he mounted the first new production in over 20 years of Carlisle Floyd’s Willie Stark (an event which produced the first commercial DVD of the opera). Dugg is active as a professional stage director and has worked with such companies as New York City Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, San Diego Opera, Greater Miami Opera (now Florida Grand Opera), and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the winter of 2004, Dugg traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he staged a new production of Tristan und Isolde that produced both an acclaimed CD recording and a PBS documentary. Recently, he directed new, fully-staged productions of Madama Butterfly and Turandot for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Gulf Coast Premiere of Gluck’s L’ile de Merlin ou le Monde Renversé for the New Orleans Opera Association/Music at Madewood. January of 2011 brings his Pensacola Opera directorial debut with Mark Adamo's Little Women. In the fall of 2006, Dugg became the first recipient of the Mary Barrett Fruehan Professorship in Opera at Louisiana State University. |
Lisa Hasson, Chorus Master for Le nozze di Figaro / Macbeth / Susannah and Co-Director of the AAP Lisa Hasson returns for her sixth season at DMMO where, in 2010, she will assume the duties of co-director of the James M. Collier Apprentice Artist Program. In great demand as a coach and repetiteur with opera companies throughout the United States, Lisa has worked for the following companies: Opera North, Indianapolis Opera, New Orleans Opera, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Nevada Opera, Knoxville Opera, Berkshire Opera, Opera Birmingham and Utah Festival Opera. From 2001 to 2003, Lisa was the music director for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis's Artist in Residence Program. From 2001-2006 she served on the music staff of Sarasota Opera. She has been a guest artist at Miami University, McGill University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, University of Kentucky and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Received her BMus from McGill University in Montreal. It is there that she also began studying opera coaching and accompanying under Dixie Ross Neill. Further studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the National Opera Studio in London. Lisa was recently made music director and principal coach of Kentucky Opera's Young Artist Program. |
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Linda Ade Brand, Stage Director in the Apprentice Artist Program |
Korey Barrett, Rehearsal Pianist for Macbeth/Musical Coach Korey Barrett is currently Assistant Professor/Vocal Coach at the University of Northern Iowa, and has also served as vocal coach on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma. Recent collegiate productions include The Crucible, Giulio Cesare, Prima Donna, Riders to the Sea and Die Zauberflöte. He has been on staff at the Ohio Light Opera and Opera North. Recent credits include coachng/accompanying for Minnesota Opera productions of Nixon in China, Maria Padilla, Orazi e Curiazi, Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Joseph Merrick the Elephant Man, The Kaiser from Atlantis, and Il Signor Bruschino; concerts and masterclasses in St. Petersburg, Russia; recitals with John Michael Moore, and a concert of Walküre excerpts. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music. |
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Richard Cordova, Assistant Conductor for Susannah/Musical Coach Richard made his professional debut in 1977 conducting the Scandinavian Premiere of Bernstein's Candide in Bergen, Norway, and has subsequently conducted productions for Oper der Stadt Bonn, Opera North (New Hampshire), Sarasota Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Long Beach Opera, Berkshire Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Baltimore Opera. As an accompanist and coach, he has collaborated with such artists as Martina Arroyo, Frederica von Stade, Renato Bruson, Florence Quivar and Julia Migenes, and has worked in this capacity for such organizations as the Istanbul Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tulsa Opera, New Orleans Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Chautauqua Opera, the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and Florida Grand Opera. Mr. Cordova has also served on the music staff of the Manhattan School of Music and Westminster Choir College. For the past seventeen years, he has toured internationally with various productions of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, conducting the work on four continents. He continues a nine-year association with the Sarasota Opera, having held various titles with organization including that of Program and Music Director for the Studio Artists. |
Michael Egel, Artistic Administrator / Stage Director In addition to serving as the Artistic Administrator/Education Director for DMMO, Michael will be serving as a stage director in the Apprentice Program. During the year, he works with the artists of the OPERA Iowa touring troupe and oversees the company's audition process. He has previously been on the administrative and directing staff at Opera Memphis and Natchez Opera and has served as an adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions and the National Opera Association. He has been a panelist for the NOA and OPERA America regarding career issues for young singers. Michael serves on the steering committee for OPERA America's Singer Training Forum and its revitalized efforts to address the issue of singer training through collaborations with opera companies and conservatories in America. |
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Elden Little, Rehearsal Pianist for Macbeth and Le nozze di Figaro / Musical Coach Returning for his fifth summer with Des Moines Metro Opera, pianist Elden Little works for the Austin Lyric Opera as a Pianist/Coach and Music Administrator. Additionally, he has served as rehearsal pianist for Opera Birmingham's productions of The Barber of Seville, La traviata and Le nozze di Figaro. He has played a wide repertoire ranging from baroque operas to contemporary works by composers such as Carlise Floyd, Philip Glass, Jake Heggie, and Andre Previn. As a collaborative pianist he was performed with numerous singers, most notably Donnie Ray Albert, Heather Buck, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Joseph Evans, Brenda Harris, Mary Jane Johnson, Louis Otey, Susanna Phillips, Marie Plette, Cindy Sadler and David Small. With the the Austin based choir Conspirare, he is heard as a featured soloist on their recording Through the Green Fuse available on the Clarion label. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in piano performance, and masters and doctorate degrees in applied piano from the University of Texas at Austin. |
| Yasuko Oura, Rehearsal Pianist for Susannah and Le nozze di Figaro; Musical Coach Yasuko Oura has received national recognition as a virtuoso collaborative pianist, with concert appearances in such notable venues as Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and Carnegie's Weill Hall. Also known as a noted vocal coach and repetiteur, she has worked with such distinguished conductors as Harry Bicket, Jane Glover, and John DeMain. Ms. Oura is on the music staff for Des Moines Metro Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the Florentine Opera, and Madison Opera. Past seasons include performances with singers such as Susanne Mentzer, Susanna Phillips, and David Cangelosi. She has served as music director of Intimate Opera, as an assistant music director for Light Opera Works, DuPage Opera Theater, Opera Moda, and da Corneto Opera. She currently resides in Chicago, where she is on the faculty of Roosevelt University. Ms. Oura has received fellowships to San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Opera Theater Center and Music Academy of the West. She holds degrees from Oberlin College and from the Juilliard School, where she was a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow. |
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A. Scott Parry, Co-Stage Director for Macbeth Scott returns to DMMO for his fourth season as a stage director within the Apprentice Artist Program and as co-director for Macbeth. A graduate and former faculty member at Indiana University with degrees in both Vocal Performance and Opera Stage Direction, he most recently directed Così fan tutte for the Peabody Conservatory and Sweeney Todd for Amherst College. Next season he will direct Le nozze di Figaro for Madison Opera and L'elisir d'amore for New York City Opera, where he is currently a Resident Stage Director. Scott has also been engaged by companies such as Chautauqua Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera to name only a few. As a composer, his theatre song cycle On the Impracticality… was recently premiered in NYC at the Singer's Forum and as a librettist, his adaptation of Beaumarchais' third Figaro play, La mère coupable, is currently being set to music. |
Andrew Ryker, Assisant Stage Director for Macbeth Andrew Ryker's productions have been seen with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New England Conservatory, Eastern Nazarene College, Millikin University, MetroWest Opera, Intermezzo Chamber Opera and Boston Opera Collaborative. He previously served on the directing staffs at Opera North and Opera New Jersey in addition to spending several years as a stage director at New England Conservatory and the Artistic Director of Boston Opera Collaborative. He recently accepted a faculty appointment at Drake University and has previously taught at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and Illinois Central College. Andrew received a master's degree from New England Conservatory and was the recipient of the Goldovsky Directing Internship at the Harrower Opera Workshop in Atlanta as well as a Young Artist at Opera North. He has been featured in the Boston Globe, The EDGE and Classical Singer Magazine. Andrew's production of Benjamin Britten's Curlew River was named Boston's "Best Staged Opera of the Year" by the Boston Pheonix. |
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Michael Sakir, Apprentice Music Coach / Associate Conductor Le nozze di Figaro and Macbeth , Chorus Rehearsal Pianist Twenty-five-year-old conductor Michael Sakir is becoming increasingly recognized as an exciting and versatile musician. He has conducted the Boston Opera Collaborative's critically-acclaimed productions of Bizet's Carmen and Mozart's The Magic Flute as well as productions with the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston Conservatory Opera Studio, Boston College High School, and French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. In June 2009, Michael participated in the Blue Danube International Opera Conducting with the Bulgarian State Opera Burgas. Currently, Michael serves as Music Director for the Des Moines Metro Opera's 2010 Opera Iowa Education Tour. A passionate advocate for new music, Michael is the Music Director of the Juventas New Music Ensemble, a Boston-based ensemble dedicated to performing works by composers under 35. He has collaborated with such distinguished living composers as Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Jonathan Harvey. He has also been selected as a finalist for the New World Symphony conducting fellowship and was a semi-finalist in the 2008 Young Musicians Foundation Music Director Search.Equally active as a collaborative pianist, Michael serves as a vocal coach and accompanist for The Boston Conservatory Opera and Vocal Departments. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Michael received Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano Performance and Music History in June 2006. He received a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from The Boston Conservatory in May 2009. |
Christine Seitz, Assistant Stage Director for Susannah Christine Seitz was the founding Opera Director for the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan, where she was Stage Director and Production Manager for festival productions from 1992 through 2002. Christine joined the faculty as Director of MU's Show-Me Opera at the University of Missouri in the fall of 2008, and she has presented productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi in the newly renovated Missouri Theatre in downtown Columbia. Previously, she was Director of the UNLV Opera Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she presented productions of Alcina, La bohème, Albert Herring, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, and Die Fledermaus. She has also directed a student outreach production of Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Florentine Opera, as well as productions for Luther College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and two productions for the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh, WI. Christine is also an established dramatic soprano, singing operatic roles throughout the United States and in Europe ranging from Brünnhilde to Lady Billows. She has performed with companies such as the Florentine Opera, Dallas Opera, Madison Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Central City Opera, Wuppertaler Bühnen and Stadttheatre Bern. She has also created surtitles for productions at the Florentine Opera, University of Wisconsin Opera and the Dubuque Symphony, as well as for her own productions. |
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