Alumni:

Dorothy Bishop

Todd Boyce, baritone. In May 2004, Todd Boyce will be singing the role of “Der Pfleger” in Cleveland Orchestra’s concert production of Elektra by Richard Strauss at Severance Hall. Most recently, he performed the role of “Vicar” in an Oberlin Opera Theatre production of Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten. Last summer he performed his first operatic role in Urbania, Italy, as “Masetto” in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as part of the Oberlin in Italy program. This June, he returns to Urbania to perform “Guglielmo” in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.
Mr. Boyce is a first-prize winner in various vocal competitions such as NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), and The Cleveland Singers Club 2003 S. Livingston Mather Scholarship Competition. He has also sung in masterclasses with renowned coach, Dusi Mura, and professional accompanist/vocal coach, J.J. Penna. Currently, he studies with professor of singing, Marlene Rosen, at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Boyce is completing his third year as a vocal performance major at Oberlin where he frequently performs as a soloist. Past performances include: baritone soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Oberlin Orchestra and Musical Union, Gutav Mahler’s Um Mitternacht with the Oberlin Wind Ensemble, and bass soloist in various J.S. Bach cantatas with the Black River Singers. Mr. Boyce is also an avid recitalist having participated in Oberlin Conservatory recitals of Hugo Wolf songs, Johannes Brahms vocal quartets, and staged opera scenes from Cosi Fan Tutte and The Pearl Fishers
Festival edition: June 2003.
 

Amy Hymel Brownlow

Kristin Fogg Classroom Instructor, Kristin A. Fogg received her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University. She has performed throughout the United States and Italy and has sung with the New York Grand Opera and the Village Light Opera of Manhattan. Kristin has a diploma in Italian from the Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, Italy and has studied at Oberlin Conservatory and with faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music. Currently, she is faculty of the Bloomington dePaul School where she has designed and implemented a new music/arts curriculum.

Karyn Friedman

Lori Ann Fuller - Soprano - A native of Bossier City, Louisiana, soprano Lori Ann Fuller made her BBC Proms debut in August 2000 as Rose in a concert sequence of Kurt Weill's Street Scene, arranged by Symonette and Kowalke, with Barry Wordsworth conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra. Of her performance, Rick Jones reviewed, "Lori Ann Fuller sang willful Rose in a bright and thrilling soprano". (Evening Standard - August 8, 2000) She will make her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Rose in October 2001. Her castmates will include Catherine Malfitano, Dean Peterson, Gregory Turay, with director David Pountney and conductor Richard Buckley. In June 2001, she will sing Lauretta in Pine Mountain Music Festival's production of Gianni Schicchi by Puccini. Ms. Fuller's London debut was in January 2000 as Angela in Kurt Weill's Firebrand of Florence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, alongside Rodney Gilfry and Felicity Palmer, with Sir Andrew Davis conducting. Andrew Porter of the British publication Opera said of her performance, "Some [principals] broke free, to give communicative performances - notably... Lori Ann Fuller as Angela. [She] knew how to put numbers across" (Opera - April 2000) Ms. Fuller sang the roles of Madame Goldentrill and Mrs. Gobineau in the double bill of Mozart's Impresario and Menotti's The Medium with Portland Opera Repertory Theater in Portland, Maine, in July 2000, with conductor Tom Brooks and stage directors Sue Ellen Kuzma and Sharon Daniels. In June 1999, she sang the role of Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore in Sant'Angelo in Vado, Italy, through the Centro Studi Italiani, Urbania. Her soprano was described as having a "secure top and equally impressive pianissimo" (Il Nuovo Amico - July 11, 1999) Ms. Fuller is equally at home on the concert stage where she has performed as soprano soloist in various works including Stravinsky's Les Noces, Kodaly's Te Deum, Faure's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria, Brahm's Requiem, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and Bach's Cantata No.51. In November 2000, she was the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Jacksonville Symphony in conjunction with the Daytona Beach Symphonic Society and the Stetson University Choral Union, Duncan Couch conducting. Ms. Fuller has been honored in several voice competitions, including those associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Mobile Opera, and Shreveport Opera. Most recently she won awards in the Bel Canto Competition in Chicago and was the recipient of the 2000 Lynne Harvey Award through the Chicago Musicinas Club for Women. Lori Ann Fuller holds a Master of Music degree from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University.
Course for international opera singers in Urbania: 1999.

Jessica Jones - Soprano Jessica Jones, a native of Georgia, enters her third season with the Houston Grand Opera Studio and will perform as Micaela in Carmen and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Houston Grand Opera. In the 1999-2000 season, Ms. Jones covered the role of Love Simpson and performed as Myrtis in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree. During the 1998-1999 season, her first in the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she performed Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night Music, La Musica and Proserpina in Monteverdi's Orfeo, and created the role of Princess Natasha Rogozhinskaya for the world premiere of Tod Machover's Resurrection. In 1999 Ms. Jones made debuts with the Aspen Opera Theater as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Spokane Opera as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. A recipient of a 1999 Sullivan Foundation Award, she was also awarded first prize in the 1998 Jenny Lind Competition, which resulted in a summer recital tour in Sweden. Other awards include prizes in Opera Birmingham's annual competition, the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, the Mario Lanza Competition, the Rose Palmai-Tenser Scholarship Competition through the Mobile Opera Guild, the Music Teachers National Association competition, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. She was the recipient of the Lotte Lehmann Fellowship at the Music Academy of the West and has also been a participant at the Britten-Pears School in England, Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, Italy, the Tanglewood Music Festival and Interlochen Fine Arts Camp. She has been an ensemble member with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and attended the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival. Ms. Jones is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music with a Master of Music degree in Opera. Previously she attended the New England Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. While at Curtis, she performed as Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Elettra in Idomeneo, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore, the second woman in Dido and Aeneas and Bianca in La Rondine. She has worked with such noted conductors as Patrick Summers, John DeMain and Richard Bradshaw.
Course for international opera singers in Urbania: 1997.

Byungwoo Kim - Born in Pusan, south-Korea, baritone Byungwoo Kim, received his Bachelor’s of Music Degree from Kei-Myung Univeristy followed by his Master’s from Manhattan School of Music and Artist Diplomas in opera performance from both Mannes College of Music and University of Hartford.
Mr. Kim has been lavishly praised for his musicality and dramatic awareness on both the opera and recital stage. He was commended as Cat in Tanglewood Music Center’s production of RENARD as an EXCELLENT BARITONE (Boston globe). In the 2003-2004 season, Mr. Kim was heard as Don Giovanni in DON GIOVANNI, in Faure’s REQUIEM and Prince Tarquinious in THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA. He was also heard in performance with the New Haven Chorale Orchestra in Mozart’s C-Minor Mass at Woolsey Hall, Yale University. Mozart’s Requiem is on his schedule for Highland chorus and Mozart’s C-Minor Mass for the Peniel Concert Choir. After he made his New York debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, he actively sings in and around New York. Last December, he sang all of the Winterreise by Schubert at Central Presbyterian Church which was highly acclaimed.
In addition to Don Giovanni, his many operatic roles include Count Almaviva in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Harlekin in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, Marcello and Schaunard in LA BOHEME Mr. Kim won numerous awards from many organizations, including the First Prize at the Artist International Music Competition of Canada, the Mario Lanza Competition and Sullivan Matheus International Competition. He was a finalist in the Metropolitan Council National Eastern Region and was awarded Michael Sisca Opera Award from Mannes College of Music.

Christina Lamberti, soprano. Critics have called Christina Lamberti’s singing luscious, compelling, promising, eloquent, cavernous, formidable, dramatic, powerful, seamless, soulful, ravishing, and vivid. Her roles range from Leonora in Il trovatore (Singapore Lyric Opera) to the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride (San Francisco Opera Center). Most recently she covered Maria Guleghina in Tosca with the Houston Grand Opera.
Ms. Lamberti, of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, began her studies at Westminster Choir College where she appeared in productions of L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Bat), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mother), and Warren Martin's Cinderella (The Queen). At Duquesne University, she studied with Claudia Pinza and performed for three years in the EPCASO (Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera) program in Oderzo, Italy. She apprenticed at the Pittsburgh Opera Center under the direction of Tito Capobianco, singing Suzel in L’amico Fritz, Diana in Mollicone’s Emperor Norton, and the title role in Giovanna d’Arco. At Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts (1994-96), Ms. Lamberti portrayed Mimi in La Bohème, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. After her Opera Company of Philadelphia debut as the high priestess in Aida, she won an Adler Fellowship with the San Francisco Opera.
During her three years as an Adler Fellow, Ms. Lamberti sang the roles of Clotilde in Norma, Anna in Nabucco, the Newspaper Seller in Death in Venice, Fifth Maid in Elektra, and Fortuna in L'Incoronazione di Poppea for the San Francisco Opera. Covering Carol Vaness, she appeared as Elettra in the third act of Idomeneo. For the San Francisco Opera Center, in addition to Iphigénie, she sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. Ms. Lamberti made her Festival Opera debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and sang the Countess in Festival Opera’s 1999 production of Le nozze di Figaro.
Other notable recent performances include Britten’s Les illuminations with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (2002), a gala concert honoring Ezio Pinza at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall (2002), and a Verdi concert at the Academy of Vocal Arts (January 2003). Ms. Lamberti is committed to arts outreach, having sung approximately 200 concerts for educational and charitable causes. Her next engagement will be this summer (June 2004) covering the role of The Duchess of Parma in Doktor Faust for the San Francisco Opera.
Centro Studi Italiani, March 2003.
 

Esther Lee - Soprano Korean-Americn soprano Esther Oksorie Lee hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil. ms. Lee began her vocal training at the age of fifteen in Los Angeles. After three brief months of studying, she was the winner of the prestigious Spotlight Award and was selected from 800 high school students in the state of California to perform at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The Spotlight Award also made it financially possible for her to continue her studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. As an undergraduate, Ms. Lee performed with the Baroque Music Ensemble under Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Roles include Filide from Handel's "Aminata et Filide" and Morgana from Handel's "Alcina". A member of the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, she has performed scenes from Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" as Antonia under Maestro Bart Folse and Adele from Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" under Maestro Gary Wedow. Ms. Lee performed the principal role of Carolina in the school's full production of Cimarosa's "Ill Matrimonio Segreto" under Maestro Bart Folse. Recently, Ms. Lee was seen with the Singapore Symphony Orcehstra under the Baton of Maestro Bart Folse performing Orff's "Carmina Burana". She also represented Brazil in a concert for overseas Koreans in Seoul, performing with the Seoul Symphonia. This summer, she will be performing the roles of Madeline/Isabel from Mollicone's "A Face on the Barroom Floor" and the role of Ranchon in Herbert's "Naughty Marietta" with the Utah Opera Festival. Ms. Lee was also active in the Manhattan School of Music's Outreach Department. Performing widely for children in New York City schools, she was a cast member of "Discover Opera" and also wrote and performed several solo shows called "Singer's Introductions." These were opportuntiies for underprivileged children in New York's public schools to encounter music, especially opera. Her love for children has also led her to conduct the Hanmi Children's Choir in Los Angeles and currently the Riverdale Prebyterian Youth Choir in New York. Concert engagements outside of New York include several recitals in Italy, Brazil, and Mahler's Symphony No.4 under Maestro Glen Cortese in Germany. Master classes with various artists include Sherrill Milnes, Betty Allen, David Anglin, Stephanie Vlahos, Ubaldo Fabbri, Mikael Eliasena and Carol Morganit. Summer programs include the Aspen Summer Festival in 1993 (full scholarship), Centro Studi Italiani in Italy, and Altenburg Muski Festival in Germany (full scholarship). Esther Lee holds a Bachelor and Master's of Music from the Manhattan School of Music and is under the tutelage of Joan Patenaude-Yarnell in New York City.