Faculty Biographies

Eric Bubacz, tuba

Eric Bubacz has an extensive career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. He studied for three years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY before transferring to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he completed his Bachelor of Music. During the summers has attended several noted music festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where he was the first tubaist to win the Chamber Music Prize. As an orchestral player, Eric has been named Principal Tuba of the Haddonfield Symphony, the Canton Symphony, and the Reading Symphony (1996-present). He has also performed as an extra musician with the

Phillip O'Banion, percussion

Phillip O’Banion is Associate Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Temple University, and percussion coordinator for the Sewanee Music Center. As a performer, O’Banion appears regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other symphonic ensembles, new music groups, and theater productions. He serves as percussionist with Orchestra 2001 and Network for New Music. O’Banion has performed and conducted concerts presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and is a frequent collaborator with the Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group. O’Banion has been involved in the commission or premiere of many new solo and chamber music works to date, and endorses instruments by Pearl/Adams, Sabian, Evans, Vic Firth, and Grover Pro Percussion. He has served the Percussive Arts Society as symphonic

Ji Hye Jung, percussion

Ji Hye Jung is Associate Professor of Percussion at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and principal percussionist with the west coast-based chamber music ensemble Camerata Pacifica. An advocate for new music, she has commissioned works by Kevin Puts, Emma O’Halloran, Annika Scolofsky, Bora Yoon, Molly Herron, Christopher Theofanidis, Alejandro Viñao, Lukas Ligeti, Paul Lansky, Jason Treuting, Michael Torke, David Bruce, Huang Ruo, committee chair and a new music and literature reviewer, and appeared at multiple international conventions, as well as festivals in Europe and South America. O’Banion can be heard on recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label, including the 2022 GRAMMYwinning Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 of Florence Price. His solo album for percussion and electronics, Digital Divide, and his recording of Adam Silverman’s marimba concerto Carbon Paper and Nitrogen Ink are available through BCM+D records. As director of the Philadelphia Percussion + Piano Project, O’Banion leads exciting chamber music projects from the 20th and 21st centuries. The group’s recent releases include Radiant Outbursts: (In)Human Progress in 2020 and No Strings Attached: Percussion Music by Marc Mellits in 2021. and John Serry. Ms. Jung garnered consecutive first prizes at the 2006 Linz International Marimba Competition and the 2007 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition while completing a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. As an artist endorser, she proudly represents Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth sticks and mallets, and Zildjian cymbals.

Philadelphia Orchestra. Cleveland Orchestra, and the Cleveland Blossom Festival Band. From 20022005, Eric regularly acted as Principal Tuba of the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of his work with them include four European Tours, three performances at Carnegie Hall, and a performance at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II. Since moving to Atlanta in 2006, Eric has become an active teacher and performer throughout the Southeast, serving as an adjunct faculty member at a number of university programs and maintaining an active private studio. He has been the brass chamber music coordinator at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival since 2002.

Joseph Petrasek, percussion

Joseph Petrasek was appointed Principal Percussionist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2017, and Principal Percussionist of the Colorado Music Festival in 2019. Previously, he served as Associate Principal Percussionist of the Kansas City Symphony for 8 seasons, and as a percussion fellow in the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. Joseph has appeared as Guest Principal with the San Francisco Symphony, and has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland

Gaye LeBlanc, harp

Ms. Gaye LeBlanc, a Dallas native, is enjoying an active career as an orchestral harpist, free-lancer, teacher and class lecturer. She is currently principal harpist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Harp Instructor at the University of Oklahoma both since 1998. She has also taught harp at Oklahoma City University from 1998-2010 (OCU), University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and University of North Texas (UNT) from 2005-2006. Her orchestral experience includes having played principal harp with Fort Smith Symphony (AR) Tulsa Symphony and Opera, Lawton Philharmonic (OK) OK Mozart Festival with the NY Amici Orchestra and 10 years with the Arizona Music-fest with conductor, Robert

Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Petrasek is also on the percussion faculty at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Originally from Southern California, Joseph earned his bachelor's degree at UCLA studying under Mitchell Peters, former Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He went on to receive a master's degree at Temple University, studying with Philadelphia Orchestra percussionists Alan Abel and Angela Zator-Nelson.

Moody. Ms. LeBlanc regularly performs with touring Broadway show orchestras throughout the years and has backed a wide variety of artists including Ray Charles, Josh Groban, Ben Folds, Joshua Bell, YoYo Ma, Kristin Chenoweth, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, amongst others. A passionate teacher, Ms. LeBlanc has been building the OU studio from the ground up. She added Harp pedagogy and Orchestral literature as well as harp ensemble. Her education consists of starting the harp at the age of 20, after many years of piano, theory, organ and flute. She earned her BM in performance from the University of North Texas, MM from Southern Methodist University. his is her second summer at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

A New York concert by pianist Steven Beck was described as “exemplary” and “deeply satisfying” by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where his teachers were Seymour Lipkin, Peter Serkin and Bruce Brubaker. Mr. Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, and has toured Japan as soloist with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. He has also performed as soloist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theater, as well as on WNYC. He has performed as a musician with the New York City Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and as an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Orpheus. Mr. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of the Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas, for Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s “Double Concerto” on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as the Colorado College Summer Music Festival and the Sewanee Music Center.

Amy I-Lin Cheng, piano

Born in Taiwan, pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng has appeared in recitals and music festivals across the United States and around the world. Amy’s live performances have been heard on WGBH, KUCO, WHYY, La Radio Suisse Romande-Espace 2, and NPR in Houston. As a recording artist, Amy has recorded for Centaur, Albany, CDBaby and Naxos, with a recent release of the Piano Concerto by Vítězslava Kaprálová on Naxos. An avid chamber musician, Amy is the co-Artistic Director and pianist for the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series in Oklahoma City. She has toured with Duo

Clarion, Trio Solari, and the American Chamber Players. A dedicated teacher, Amy’s students have won awards at local, regional and national competitions, as well as college teaching positions in the US and abroad. Amy is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music (BM), Yale University School of Music (MM and Artist Diploma), and the New England Conservatory (DMA). Amy is an Assistant Professor Music in Piano and Piano Chamber Music Coordinator at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. She is also an artist-faculty at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

Jorge Variego, Composition Program Director

Jorge Variego was born in Rosario, Argentina. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and is currently on the Music Theory/Composition faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and is the director of the composition program at the Sewanee Music Center. His music can be heard in the Parma, Albany Records, CMMAS, Centaur and Naxos libraries. In 2018 his book on algorithmic composition was released by the National University of Quilmes, in Argentina. During that same year he received the support of the Swedish Arts Grants Committee to be resident composer at the Visby Centre for Composers and was guest lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in Spain. Among his recent research

Vincent Oppido, composition

A rising talent in Hollywood, Vincent Oppido’s music is “melodically classical yet unafraid to introduce new ideas” (Damon Lindelof). His music has been performed and recorded in Europe and Japan, and across the United States from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood scoring stages of Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures Studios. Oppido’s recent scoring credits include the indie films Alien Code (Archstone/ Sony Home Pictures – starring Kyle Gallner and Richard Schiff) and Watch the Sky (Breaking Glass Pictures – starring Renee O’Connor). He has also composed additional music for projects including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi Temple Challenge, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything: Reanimated History. Also endeavors, his book "Composing with Constraints” was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2023 he was the guest in many festivals, including the inaugural Festival de Música Algorítmica y Modular hosted by the Universidad Nacional de Musica de Perú, in Lima. Jorge is the founder director of the Domino Ensemble, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, commission, and performance of new music with improvisation. The group released its first album “Purple Ego” (Centaur) in 2019 and the EP “Drunken Raccoon” in 2020. He is also the founder director of the UT Electroacoustic Ensemble, a student group dedicated to free improvisation with electronic media and is member of the Society of Composers National Council. an orchestrator and conductor, Oppido has worked on projects such as Fortnite, Cobra Kai, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, and NBC’s Timeless. In addition to work in film and television, Oppido has received numerous commissions for the concert hall, garnering performances in such prestigious venues including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Symphony Hall in Boston, and Carnegie Hall. In December 2018 his work, Cosmic Escapades, was premiered by The United States Army Band at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Vincent studied composition and conducting at George Mason University with Mark Camphouse and Anthony Maiello. Oppido is represented by REJ Entertainment and is a member of ASCAP.

Eva Cappelletti Chao, musician's life coach

Violinist Eva Cappelletti Chao has enjoyed a diverse and engaging orchestral career for over three decades. She currently performs with the Baltimore Symphony, the orchestras at the Kennedy Center, and leads many chamber and choral ensembles in the Washington, DC area. During summer seasons, she is a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Jackson, Wyoming, and she is both Violin Faculty and the Performing Artists’ Life Coach in Residence at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee. Graduating Summa Cum Laude

Operafest Faculty

Mezzo-soprano and international voice teacher, Laura Brooks Rice has won acclaim on the opera and concert stage for her rich, warm voice, musicality, charm and sensitive acting ability. From 1985-2019 Miss Rice was on faculty at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where she was Professor of Voice. In addition to teaching private voice, she was the creator and director of the CoOPERAtive Program for 15 years, and taught courses in opera. Miss Rice has a private studio of professional singers who currently perform with many of the world’s opera houses and orchestras. She has been a vocal consultant to the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, was the voice teacher for the Cafritz Program with the Washington Opera, and is now in the same capacity for the Glynn Studio with Atlanta Opera. In the summers of 2012-2019 she was on the faculty the distinguished program IVAI in Montreal

Karma Camp, movement

Karma Camp has been on staff with the Washington Opera Cafritz Young Artist program for 9 years where she incorporates movement, pilates, yoga and breathing exercises designed to assist singers in placement and body structure for better singing support. She coaches using Leban and a series of physical formulas to help signers utilize the power of body performance. In addition, she is a renowned choreographer having staged over 150 productions including: The Kennedy Center Honors’s (honoring Justino Diaz), Broadway: The Graduate, New York City Philharmonic Gala; with a double degree in Psychology and Music, Eva Cappelletti Chao has studied the mind, neuroscience, and human potential for over 30 years. Alongside her meditation practice, Eva has studied Transpersonal Psychology at Naropa University, ‘The Work’ of Byron Katie through BK International, and ‘Inquiry-Based Coaching’ via Innerland Institute. Ms. Cappelletti Chao is an MBI Certified Life Coach and has worked with hundreds of classical musicians through individual coaching sessions and leading group coaching seminars and workshops. and of Virginia and New York. She has taught at Santa Fe Opera and at the Bel Canto Institute in San Miguel, Mexico. Miss Rice has been on the steering committee for the Singer Training Council under the auspices of Opera America. She has served as a judge on the panels of the National NATSAA Competition, Astral Artistic Services Annual Auditions and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.. In the 1992-93 season Miss Rice made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Wowkle in La Fanciulla del West. Following her debut in 1981 with the San Francisco Opera as Grimgerde in Die Walküre she has appeared with that company in several productions, performing such roles as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Varvara in Katya Kabanova and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. She has also performed with the Spoleto Festival (Italy) in Honneger’s King David.

Washington Nat’l Opera: The Magic Flute, Goya, Vanessa, Carmen (Lilas Pastia); Candide w/Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Wolf Trap Opera Company – Kurt Weill’s Street Scene; she has also coached/ staged a Lotte Lenya winner. National Symphony Orchestra – 5 productions with the late Marvin Hamlisch. Her abundance of work incudes more than 130 theatrical productions, 24 commercials, 2 films, 5 Disney Creative projects, 3 In Performance at the White House shows, and 8 specials for PBS. She is thrilled to return to Sewanee with her colleague and friend, Laura Brooks Rice.

Joshua Conyers, baritone

Grammy-nominated Baritone Joshua Conyers has been hailed by Opera News with “a deliciously honeyed baritone that would seduce anyone."Mr. Conyers, a native of Bronx, NY, is quickly being championed for his captivating performances as he continues to be recognized as one the promising young dramatic voices of today. For the 20222023 season, Mr. Conyers made his international debut performing Policeman 3/Congregant 3 in Jeanine Tesori’s and Tazwell Thompson’s Blue with the English National Opera (ENO), covered the role of Garby in Will Liverman and DJ King Rico’s The Factotum with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Reverend in Tesori’s Blue with Washington National Opera, and performed Reginald in Anthony Davis's X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with the Opera

Joan Dornemann

Joan Dornemann is one of the most highly respected opera coaches in the world today. In her position as Assistant Conductor with the Metropolitan Opera, she has prepared the most prominent international artists for their performances at the Met. She has worked with such singers as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Sherrill Milnes, Kiri Te Kanawa, Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Neil Shicoff, Juan Diego Flórez, and Anna Netrebko, among others. She has also collaborated with outstanding opera singers as an accompanist for many solo performances. Ms. Dornemann has been associated with the Gran Liceo in Barcelona, the Spoleto Festival, and the New York City Opera. At the Met she worked with such conductors as James Levine, James Conlon, and

Megan Gale, collaborative pianist

Born in Tokyo, Megan Gale grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington state. She holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Southern California and has done additional studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Music Academy of the West, and the Aspen Music Festival. Megan is sought after as a collaborative partner by an array of performers and has presented more than 400 recitals during her career. In Nashville she is currently on the faculty of the Blair School of Music at

Omaha, as well as Detroit Opera and Odyssey Opera. Mr. Conyers made a studio recording of the role Reginald in the 2023 Grammy-nominated X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). As a concert artist, Mr. Conyers made his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performing the Bass Soloist in Handel’s Messiah. Joshua performed the Baritone Soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall with the Cecilia Chorus of New York under the baton of Mark Shapiro, and made his Memphis Symphony Orchestra debut performing the Bass Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under the baton of Robert Moody in 2022. Joshua Conyers is currently on the voice faculty at the Eastman School of Music.

Carlos Kleiber. She prepared singers from the Kirov Opera for a recording of La Forza del destino and performances of Carmen and Aida under the baton of Valery Gergiev, and she was in charge of musical preparation for La Bohème and La Cenerentola at the Opéra de Paris. Ms. Dornemann was awarded an Emmy for her contribution to the highly acclaimed “Live from the Met” telecast of La Bohème with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto. She also teaches master classes throughout the world and is the author of Complete Preparation: A Guide to Auditioning for the Opera. She was honored by the city of Tel Aviv, which issued a commemorative stamp bearing her picture, and she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal.

Vanderbilt University as a collaborative pianist. She is also on the faculty of OperaFest at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Megan performs frequently with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra chamber music series as well as for their Accelerando program and is a member of the Alias Chamber Ensemble. She previously held positions at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, the Aspen Music Festival, the William Bennett Summer Flute Academy, and the Gateway Chamber Orchestra.

Patrick Hansen

Patrick Hansen is a professor at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and the Artistic Director of Opera McGill in Montreal, Canada. He is a faculty member with the Sewanee Music Festival and the Bel Canto in Tuscany programs, and serves on the board of directors for The Association for Opera in Canada and the Membership Committee for Opera America. Considered a leading progressive figure in opera, he is equally at home as a stage director, conductor, vocal coach, collaborative pianist, and artistic administrator who has spent the last forty years on the creative and producing teams for over 250 operas. He has worked throughout North America, including directing at the Kennedy Center,

Kathleen Kelly

Kathleen Kelly’s projects and repertoire are wideranging and diverse. From Mozart to commissioned works, she is both deeply experienced in the classical vocal canon and engaged in new creation. Recent notable projects include a recording with soprano Emily Albrink of four world premiere song cycles, leading the world premiere of Matt Bohler’s opera FAT PIG (composed for activist soprano Tracy Cox), and the filmed opera Interstate, composed by Kamala Sankaram, co-authored and performed by Kathleen and soprano Jennifer Cresswell, produced by

Elena Kholodova

Elena Kholodova is an internationally recognized collaborative pianist and vocal coach. Menton’s French magazine called her “the brilliant Russian pianist, who impressed the audience with the beauty of the sound and amazing technique”. Elena received DMA in Solo Performance from Voronezh State Academy of Arts (Russia) and an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the College-Conservatory of Music University of Cincinnati (USA). Elena Kholodova is a winner of prestigious competitions such as the V.Krainev Competition (Ukraine) and New Names Scholarship awards, Semi-Finalist of

Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Memphis, Eugene Opera, and for the Bulgarian premiere of Weill’s Street Scene. He has been on the music staffs of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tulsa Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Juilliard Opera Center, and is the former director of Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist Program and Music Director for Opera Festival of New Jersey. He is the assistant editor for G. Schirmer’s Opera Anthology series, and has produced, conducted and/or directed almost 100 operas at Opera McGill during the past sixteen seasons. He holds degrees from Simpson College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City and lives in his adopted province of Ontario, Canada.

Minnesota Opera, and now streaming on Marquee TV. Kathleen has appeared internationally as a pianist in collaboration with singers, including appearances at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Vienna’s Musikverein. She is a published poet and essayist, and has written several English adaptations of operas as well as several librettos. She has worked with many companies including the San Francisco, Metropolitan, Houston Grand, and Vienna State Operas, and she is regularly invited to speak and write on womens’ issues in the opera industry.

Prokofiev's competition (Russia). Also, she earned the title “The Best Accompanist" from several international vocal competitions. She has appeared as a collaborative artist in a substantial number of festivals, competitions, master-classes, and recitals in Russia, France, Finland, Germany, Norway, Great Britain, and the USA. She has been engaged with Festival of Music in Menton, Mikkeli Festival of Music, St. Petersburg Palaces’ Festival, Japan International Festival, White Night Festival, and opera productions at the Mariinskiy Theater, Cincinnati Opera, Atlanta Opera, Constella Festival and many others.

Dugg McDonough

Dugg McDonough, winner of The American Prize for Opera Directing, has created productions garnering 16 national awards over the past four years. In his 40-plus-year career that began as Assistant Director for The Santa Fe Opera’s American Premiere of the completed Lulu, McDonough has staged works from Monteverdi to contemporary premieres, working with companies including New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, New Orleans Opera Association, and many others, Theatre West Virginia, and Operafestival di Roma. A veteran mentor for emerging singer-actors, he was Co-Director of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Artist Program from 1993-2012, and his workshops, classes,

Jordan Schreiner, tenor

With his “sincere” acting and a voice “filled with passion”, tenor Jordan Marshall Schreiner is quickly making a name for himself in both romantic repertoire and new, dynamic roles. Equally at home on the concert stage, Mr. Schreiner has performed a number of concert works around the United States. Recent performances include Handel's Messiah as well as performances of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with the Catskill Choral Society and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Orcehstra of the Finger Lakes. Mr. Schreiner is poised to make his Alice Tully Hall debut as the tenor soloist in Haydn's Schöpfungsmesse with Maestro Patrick Gardner in the coming season. An avid teacher, Mr. Schreiner is the founder of Schreiner Voice Studio, a studio based in upstate NY that is quickly pushing the traditional boundaries of vocal pedagogy.

Xavier Suarez, collaborative pianist

Xavier Suarez is a pianist, vocal coach, piano teacher, YouTuber and founder of Teclado Music Institute. He is committed to bringing the joys of classical music to people of all ages and abilities through his work as a private piano teacher and recitalist. A sought-after collaborator, he works with numerous instrumentalists and singers across the United States. He was Music Director and Young Artist for Pensacola Opera in their 2016 season and collaborated at the 2013 Manhattan Summer and productions have taken him to universities including the University of Tennessee, University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, as well as the countries of Switzerland, Finland, and Japan. From 1985-2002, McDonough served as Director of Opera Theater for Temple University, and in 2002, he became the Fruehan Associate Professor of Opera and Artistic Director of the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera at Louisiana State University. At LSU, he has created the Collegiate Premieres of Little/Vavrek’s Dog Days, Puts/Campbell’s Elizabeth Cree, Heggie/Scheer’s Two Remain, Glass’s Orphée, and Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg. McDonough is a proud member of Marvel Arts Management. https://www.duggdirects.com

The Schreiner Voice Studio explores the ideals of the “wholistic musician” by teaching not only vocal technique, but by emphasizing the physical and mental well-being just as equally. Mr. Schreiner’s students have been linked to companies such as Seagle Music Colony, Teatro Nuovo, Nashville Opera, and Ohio Light Opera. Mr. Schreiner also recently completed a year as an adjunct voice professor at Mansfield University. Mr. Schreiner graduated from Binghamton Universitywith a degree in Opera Performance. While in Binghamton, Mr. Schreiner participated in a number of operas, concerts and events with the regional opera house, Tri-Cities Opera. In 2014, Mr. Schreiner graduated from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in Mansfield, PA with degrees in both Music Performance and Music Business: Management.

Voice Festival as vocal coach and keyboardist. For 6 years he served as the Organist/Pianist at Olivet Lutheran Church in Sylvania, Ohio. He has been a faculty member at Friends Music Camp, and accompanist for choirs at Bowling Green State University and Bowling Green High School in Ohio. Educated at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, Mr. Suarez holds a MM in Piano Performance under Dr. Garik Pedersen and a MM in Collaborative Piano under Martin Katz.

Jennifer Szeto, collaborative pianist

Canadian pianist Jennifer Szeto carves a dynamic path as a producer, performer, and pedagogue. Praised for “an immense sweetness and precision which seemed to be flawless” (L’Opéra) and “amazing versatility” (Opera Ramblings), Jennifer is a graduate of L’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship, Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, and the Merola Opera Program. She is a soughtafter collaborator for contemporary creation and founding Artistic Director of Musique 3 Femmes, a creation company which commissions and produces operas by female composers and librettists in

Canada. Recent premieres include: Keiko Devaux’s L’Écoute du perdu with Paramirabo and Le Vivier at Fonderie Darling (Montreal); INCONNU for UfaFabrik (Berlin); Triptyque with La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, with works by Sonia PaçoRocchia, Anna Pidgorna, Parisa Sabet; and Laurence Jobidon’s L’hiver attend beaucoup de moi with Opéra de Montréal. A passionate mentor and advocate for young artists, Jennifer begins her tenure at Opéra de Montréal in the 2023/24 season as the Director of the Atelier Lyrique, one of Canada's leading young artist training programs. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Association for Opera in Canada.

For full biographical information, please visit ssmf.sewanee.edu/people/faculty

JOHN KILKENNY, Executive Director

John Kilkenny is a percussionist, conductor, and artistic leader who is rewriting the rules of a classical music career. He joined the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 2011, became director in 2018, and now serves as the Executive and Artistic Director of the Sewanee Muic Center, responsible for programming the University Performing Arts Series, leading the summer festival, and developing programs in arts leadership. His tenure in Sewanee has resulted in multiple endowment gifts, numerous commissioning projects, and the addition of an online WinterFest, a fully realized composition program, and OperaFest Sewanee.

Hailed as a "particularly fine timpanist" by the Washington Post, John maintains a dynamic career as a soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. Recent concerto performances include the Philip Glass Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists, Michael Daugherty’s Raise the Roof concerto for timpani and his UFO percussion concerto, and Viet Cuong’s Re(NEW)al concerto for percussion quartet and orchestra. His orchestral work included regular engagements with virtually every symphony and opera company in the DC region for over 20 years. He now performs frequently in the recording studios of Nashville, and has begun contracting musicians for various projects in Washington DC.

From 2008-2022, John was associate professor and Director of Percussion Studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He also heald various administrative roles at Mason as well as a number of years as associate director of concert bands. Ensembles under his direction at Mason performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Virginia and New York Music Educators Conferences, the College Music Society Mid Atlantic and National Convention, and The Western International Band Conference. His percussion group also toured Costa Rica twice, and was scheduled for a March 2020 3-city tour of China. He is a contributor to You Can’t Teach Empty Chairs: Recruitment and Retention Strategies that Actually Work; published by GIA Publications.

John received his BM from The Juilliard School and an MM from Temple University. Starting in March 2022, John assumed the role of Executive Director of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera.

ADVISORY BOARD to the SEWANEE MUSIC CENTER

Timothy K. Adams, Jr.

Walter Bitner

Peter Bond

Natasha Farny

Andrew Flagel

Hollie Greenwood

Wesley Hornpetrie

Stephen Ray Miller

Terry Papillon

William Ransom

Laura Brooks Rice

Joshua Simonds

Lecolion Washington

Christine Wilson

Najib Wong

Sewanee Music Center Staff

Anna Burklin*

Manager of Marketing & Admissions

Jesse-Katharine Owens

Development & Community Relations Coordinator

Robert Esposito** Office Programs Specialist

Sewanee Summer Music Festival Seasonal Staff

Artistic Operations

Noah Van Deventer**

Sewanee Symphony Manager

Leilani Spurlock** Cumberland Orchestra Manager

Cassie Lear Student Chamber Coordinator

Grace Wipfli** OperaFest Program Cooordinator

Allison Giltinan Music Librarian

Brianna Hanson Digital Producer

Bruce Mangan** Director of Production

Lydia Sorenson** Production Assistant

Ava Neal Production Assistant

Siena Guadalupe Production Assistant

Residence Life

Matthew Flores Co-Director of Residence Life

Nicoletta Pignatello Co-Director of Residence Life

Olivia Stafford*** Conference Services Liaison

Aidan Osias*** Resident Assistant

Haven Sydney*** Resident Assistant

*University of the South Alumnus

**Sewanee Summer Music Festival Alumnus

***University of the South Student

Dr. Stephanie C. & Mr. Richard L. Boeth

Knowles & William R. Harper, Jr.

May F. Kamalick

Cheryl & Michael R. Hulsen

Leadership Circle

The Estate of Walter Nance

Director's Circle

John M. Kilkenny

Anne C. & R. Woodruff Deutsch

Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga

Truman and Ludmilla Bidwell

Benefactor

Ernest J. Moensch

Tansill & John S. Hille

Pamela & Greg Maloof

Arkansas Community Fdn Inc

Henrietta B. Croom

Joseph N. Pierce

Joyce Rabinowitz

Dr. Lane & Julian Price, Jr.

Andrea W. & Andrew Dixon Anonymous

Eva Cappelletti Chao

Gene H. Moon

Melissa & John C. Goodson

Sandra & Louis W. Rice III

Tracy D. Ward

John G. Bratton

Anna Elizabeth Burklin

Jason L. Allison

Patrick Wills

Aaron L. Hunt

Donna Shin

Natasha H. Farny

Andrew Swers Anonymous

Arnold I. Tillman

Hilary R. Dow Ward & Geoffrey H. Ward

Samuel Suggs

Sandra L. Carr

VFW Auxiliary Post No. 5863

Robert Tate

Brenda & William J. McNeiland

Emily L. Craine

Michelle Seibert

Diane Weibert

Jackie & Thomas C. Esposito

Jean Porte

Laura & Edward J. Crawford III

The Rev. Dr. Julia M. Gatta & Dr. John J. Gatta, Jr.

Bruce D. McMillan

Harriet Runkle

Supporter

The Rev. & Mrs. Raymond M. Gotko

Christin & Thomas M. Carlson

Amy T. Burns

Fidelity Investments Charitable Contributions

James M. Pierce

Jennifer & Jeremy Wenneker

John R. Furman

Friend

Jill & David H. Morgan

Joan Porte

Joshua L. Bynum

Karen B. Castille

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Patricia L. & Albert B. Boynton, Jr.

Peter C. Bond

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Lewistown Community Bank

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Mrs.&Mrs. Robert W. Cotter

Mr. Kory D. Vrieze

Rachel Lynch

Robert Ainsley

Sherrie Taylor

Dr. Joy McKee

Henley Supply, Inc.

Anna & William B. Davis

Monteagle S.S. Assembly

Laura Brooks Rice

Laurence R. Alvarez

Margaret & Robert A. Ayres

Patricia & Tommy Sipes

Susan L. D. Peek

Elise A. Kikis & Stephen R. Miller

Sue E. & Gus S. Hiller

Sarah & Donald Bryan Zimmerman

National Federation of Music Clubs

Sidney & H. David Hickey, Jr.

The Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Elenor L. Anderson III

Trudy & Joel L. Cunningham

Wanda S. Everett

Dugg McDonough

Judith A. Kilkenny

Sarah M. Hubbard

Betty P. & James Blythe, Jr.

Edith A. Bergay

Kathleen & David Kelley

Marian & Frank W. Shaffer

Nancy & Stephen W. Burnett

Robert Marion Wilbanks, Jr.

Sewanee Woman's Club

She-e Wu

Susan & Jack W. Steinmeyer

Sylvanie & George W. Poe

The Rev. Canon Robert Michael Owens

The Rev. Scott C. Lee

Timothy E. Pearson

Phebe Carter Hethcock

Named Chairs

The Martha McCrory Principal Cello Chair of the Cumberland Orchestra and Sewanee Symphony

Given by the family of Martha McCrory

The Dr. Stephanie Smith Principal Timpani Chair of the Sewanee Symphony

Given by Dr. Stephanie Smith

Tansill & John S. Hille Faculty Flute Chair

Given by Tansill & John S. Hille

Jaccqueline Avent SSMF Scholarship

Prize Fund established by Walter E. Nance, M.D. & Mayna Avent Nance

Blaffer SSMF Endowment funded by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation

The Frederick Hailey Croom, Jr. Cello Scholarship established by a gift of Dr. Henrietta Brown Croom in honor of her son

Dudley Fort SSMF Scholarship Fund established by

Endowments

Supporters

Special Scholarships

Bruce Dinkins Alumni Scholarship

Martha McCrory Memorial Fund

Rice Family Opera Scholarship

Martha McCrory Memorial Fund established through a bequest by Martha McCrory

Kathlyn B. Hays SSMF Scholarship Fund established through a bequest by Kathlyn Hays

Elmer & Katherine Ingram SSMF Scholarship Fund established through a bequest by Mr. & Mrs. Ingram

George & Mamie Neville SSMF Scholsrhip Fund established by Holton C. Rush in memory of George and Mamie Neville

David and Lorraine Schlatter SSMF Fund established by Mr. and Mrs. Schlatter

Dortha Skelton Violin Scholarship Fund established by a bequest of Dortha Skelton

Martha Clark Dugan SSMF Artist-inResidence Fund established by the family of Martha Clark Dugan to bring workd class artists to SSMF