Michael SCHÜTZE

Michael Schütze is a much sought-after pianist and collaborative artist across Europe and in the United States. In his professional career he has appeared as accompanist for international stars such as renowned baritones Olaf Baer and Andreas Schmidt, most recently for René Pape as well as for singers of the younger generation such as mezzo-soprano Kathrin Goering (Opera Leipzig), tenor Timothy Oliver, baritone Christoph Pohl and Bass Georg Zeppenfeld of the Semperoper Dresden and tenor Manuel Günther from Bayrische Staatsoper Munich. He has regularly played for master classes given by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Andreas Scholl, Peter Schreier, Brigitte Fassbaender, Edith Mathis and Norman Shetler and cellist Peter Bruns.

Schütze studied piano performance and vocal accompaniment in Dresden, where he graduated with honors in 2001. As a soloist he performed with several orchestras in Germany. In 2001 and 2002 he was a vocal piano fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Playing for the National Polish Singing Competition in Duszninki Zdroj in 2002 was the beginning of regular invitations to serve as official accompanist at international competitions such as the Robert Schumann Competition, La Voce (Bavarian Radio), Competizione dellopera, DEBUT (Weikersheim) and the NATS (Los Angeles).

Schütze has played in concerts throughout Germany, Poland, France, Italy, Czech Republic and the U.S. as well as at Moscow’s New Opera. His appearances at festivals include the Festival Mitte Europa, Sommerfestival Schloss Gauting, Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival. On a regular base he is playing with orchestras such as Elblandphilharmonie and Sächsische

Schütze makes his home in Dresden and since 1999 has served on the faculty of the Dresden Hochschule für Musik teaching piano and vocal accompaniment. In 2011 he received a professorship. In addition, he became a faculty member at Dresden’s University for Church Musicians and of Kreismusikschule Dreiländereck where he teaches piano.

Schütze frequently teaches master classes in the United States at California State University Fullerton, the University of Delaware, Brigham Young University (Utah), Azusa Pacific University, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Vanguard University (California). In February of 2014, he held a DAAD guest professor position at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He also held an ERASMUS scholarship which took him to teach Masterclasses at Ionia University of Corfu.

In 2016 Schütze collaborated with alto Henriette Gödde when she won 1st prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition. Radio recordings of his work can be heard on the major German public stations MDR and RBB. A CD with Korean art songs performed in collaboration with soprano Yoora Lee-Hoff was released in 2018 on the GENUIN label.

Kerry JENNINGS

Kerry Jennings is an Associate Professor of Music and Director of Opera at Cal State Fullerton. His stage direction has recently been recognized with 1st and 2nd Place Awards in the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition with scenes from The Ballad of Baby Doe (2021) and Der Rosenkavalier (2020), as well as being named a national finalist for The American Prize in Collegiate Opera Direction for his production of Massenet’s Cendrillon. This year, scenes under his direction and featuring students from the CSUF Opera Program were chosen as national finalists in both the undergraduate and graduate divisions, as students performed scenes from La Rondine and Don Pasquale at the NOA national convention in Houston, TX. Additional directorial credits encompass works from Monteverdi to composers of the 21st Century and include highlights such as L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Dido and Aeneas, Cosí fan tutte, Hänsel und Gretel, La bella dormente nel bosco, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Old Maid and the Thief, Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, Sorry, Wrong Number, and The Cows of Apollo.

Last summer, Jennings joined the faculty of the International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy where he directed The Old Maid and the Thief. This summer he returns to ILA to direct Le nozze di Figaro in Charlotte, NC and Vicenza. Previously, he directed Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Austrian American Vocal Academy at the Kleines Theater in Salzburg.

Before turning to a concentration in directing, Jennings’ performance highlights included over forty lead and supporting roles comprised of early, standard, and contemporary repertoire, recently singing the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Sankt Anton, Austria. As a concert soloist, he has been heard in works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Händel, Haydn, Mozart, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Fonseco, Orff, Rorem, and others.

Noted for his “beautiful voice, great diction, and uncanny sense of style and phrasing,” Kerry’s recording In My Memory: American Songs and Song Cycles on Centaur Records was met with acclaim from both the composers and critics alike and features works by Libby Larsen, Tom Cipullo, Lori Laitman, and Richard Pearson Thomas. Libby Larsen has called Kerry’s recording of her cycle My Àntonia “the definitive reference performance for future performances.” He is also featured on David Arbury’s CD Alchemy and as tenor soloist on the Houston Camerata’s recording of Fonseca’s Missa Afro-Brasileira. He is currently working on his second solo disc of American Song Cycles. Jennings was a District Winner and Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Jennings is a member of several music organizations, including NATS, Opera America, The Recording Academy, The College Music Society, and NOA, where he is on his third cycle as a member of the Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition Committee.