SUSAN SCHROEDER COBB, PIANO. Dr. Susan Schroeder Cobb teaches studio piano, class piano, and piano pedagogy at Millikin University. She is past director of the Millikin Preparatory Department, a non-credit division of over 600 students. Professor Cobb received her DMA degree from University of Oklahoma and her MM and BM degrees in piano performance from the University of Illinois. An active solo and collaborative recitalist, she gave her first solo recital at the age of 12 and at age 13 she was concerto soloist with the Tri-City Symphony Orchestra of Rock Island, Moline, and Davenport. Dr. Cobb is currently Director of Bella Musica – Millikin in Italy, a chamber music program in Urbania, Italy, which combines intensive music and Italian coursework with cultural excursions. In the summer of 2006 she presented a faculty recital with vocal professors Daniel Carberg and Matthew Leese at Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania and served as vocal accompanist for weekly student recitals. In the summers of 2003 and 2004 Dr. Cobb was on the faculty of La Musica Lirica, an international opera festival in Urbania. As coordinator of the chamber music division she coached student ensembles; as pianist for faculty chamber ensembles she presented recitals in Urbania, Pergola, Urbino, and Piobbico. In 1999, in conjunction with a Millikin University fine arts exchange program, Dr. Cobb performed a solo recital at the Instituto Cultural Dominicano-Americano in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Dr. Cobb appears in the 2002 edition of Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She has been on the faculty of the Summer Sonatina International Piano Camp in Bennington, Vermont and the Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp at University of Illinois, most recently in 2005.

Festival editions: July 2003, July 2004, July 2006
 

Stephen Delaney. Irish/Australian pianist Stephen Delaney was born in Sydney, Australia. He completed a Bachelor of Music in performance at the University of Sydney studying under Neta Maughan and graduating with high distinction. He continued his studies in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst and later at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. He completed a diploma at the Conservatory specializing in accompaniment, again graduating with high distinction.
Upon the completion of his studies, Stephen Delaney became a member of the faculty at both the Vienna Conservatory of Music and at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, working as a vocal coach.
Stephen Delaney has been engaged to teach at various festivals and master classes including master classes with Gundula Janowitz at the Schubertiade Festival (Schwarzenberg, Austria), the Gutensteiner Cartusianer Festival (Gutenstein, Austria) and the Allegro Vivo Festival (Horn, Austria).
Stephen Delaney was also musical director of the Viennese theatre ensemble L.E.O. and has been responsible for the productions of Donizetti’s Rita, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, as well as the world premiere of three opera’s by Italian composer Marco Pontini, Der Gast, Der Bär und Die Schädlichkeit des Tabakrauchens and many music theatre productions. He has also assisted productions for the Wiener Taschenoper.
As specialist in the field of vocal accompaniment, Stephen Delaney has performed numerous vocal recitals with many well-known artists, including Gundula Janowitz, with whom he performed several song recitals in the season 2000 and 2001. He has participated in the Vienna Festival, the Banff Chamber Music Festival (Canada), the Royaumont Festival (France), La Strada Festival (Graz, Austria), Classics in the City Festival (Graz, Austria), for the Herbert von Karajan Center (Vienna, Austria) the Festivale di Musica Perugia (Italy), the Haydn Festival (Austria), for the Anglo-Suisse Artistic Foundation (Switzerland) and for the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival (Urbania, Italy). Stephen Delaney has appeared in both Austrian and Australian radio and on Austrian and German television, he has recorded with the University of Vienna Choir.
As well as song recitalist, Stephen Delaney is active as chamber musician and soloist and has appeared across Europe, Australia, North America and Japan.
Festival editions: February and August 2004.
 

Linda Hirt, Opera Coach and foreign language specialist At DePaul University in Chicago, made her New York Carnegie Recital hall accompanying debut under the auspices of the Concert Artist Guild. In addition to performances throughout the United States and in France, Belgium, Germany and Poland, she has concertized extensively in Italy as soloist and as accompanist for singers from prestigious programs such as Oberlin, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, etc. She has recorded for Vanguard Records and German national television and performed live on radio in New York and Chicago. A recipient of the Master of Music Degree "with high distinction" from Indiana University School of Music, her mentors included Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio and John Wustman, long-time accompanist to Luciano Pavarotti. In addition to her passion for the Italian Language, she taught a course on Bizet's opera Carmen in French at the Alliance Française de Chicago.
Festival editions: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
 

Jamie Johns, Pianist: Jamie Johns began his career in 1995 supervising and accompanying the Resident Artist program at Orlando Opera. Conducting highlights while in Orlando include Archy and Mehitabel and La Canterina, a one-act Haydn opera, on which Mr. Johns also served as stage director. He moved to Milwaukee in 1998, where he worked for a season at Skylight Opera Theatre as Resident Music Director, music directing And the World Goes Round, and later, The All Night Strut. From 1995-2000, Jamie spent his summers at Lyric Opera Cleveland making his conducting debut in 1997 with Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. In Cleveland, his hometown, he has also conducted The Marriage of Figaro (a personal favorite and dream-come-true), Jacques Brel... and Over the Moon. Currently Jamie freelances in Milwaukee, performing with such groups as Florentine Opera, Present Music, Madison Repertory Theatre, Bel Canto Chorus and Kenosha Symphony. This past year he worked as adjunct faculty at The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, preparing their opera scenes program.
Festival editions: July 2002, July 2003.
 

John Simmons (pianist/coach) has appeared in numerous recitals in Austria, Germany, Italy, Denmark and the U.S. His studies include a piano performance diploma from the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, where he was a student of Paul Badura-Skoda. He was a pianist/coach for the Opera House in Graz, Austria for two seasons and a teaching assistant at the Hochschule in Graz. After returning to the U.S., he received a Master's Degree from Peabody Conservatory in Piano Performance as a student of Yoheved Kaplinksy. Most recently, Mr. Simmons was appointed to the coaching staff of Long Island University at the C.W. Post campus. He continues to be pianist for the Amalfi Coast Summer Music Festival in Salerno, Italy, and is on the musical staff of AIMS in Graz, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Centro Studi Italiani (Urbania), and the CoOPERAtive. Previously, he was an associate coach at the Julliard Opera Center for three years. As a pianist/coach for "Elysium - Between Two Continents," Mr. Simmons recently gave the New York premiere of Viktor Ullman's Cornet, as well as his Weill Recital Hall debut and two concert tours of Germany, performing works of Pavel Haas and Viktor Ullman.
Centro Studi Italiani: August 1999.
 

Daniel Everitt Solberg has been heard as a piano performer and accompanist throughout the United States and Italy. At Millikin University Daniel studied with Dr. Ronald YaDeau. He has been a featured accompanist for musical groups at Millikin including Chamber Chorale, University Choir and One Voice, as well as La Musica Lirica, Millikin’s summer music program in Italy. He also performs independently at venues on and off campus in positions such as church choir director, organist, and orchestra director for musicals. Daniel is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Millikin’s honor society encouraging superior scholarship in all academic disciplines; Alpha Lambda Delta, a society that honors academic excellence during a student’s first year of college; the James Millikin Scholar program; and Pi Kappa Lambda, a society dedicated to excellence in music. Daniel accepted the title of Millikin University’s “Presser Scholar” during the 2001-2002 school year. As a JMS scholar under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Widenhofer, Daniel has completed an independent project involving a CD production of original pop compositions. Daniel graduated in May 2003 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Commercial Music.
Festival editions: July 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
 

Stephen Swedish, American pianist, has built an international reputation as an outstanding solo performer and a world-class collaborator and chamber music player. The Los Angeles Times, on the occasion of a recent performance, wrote: "It was aristocratic playing which reminded this listener of the legendary Dinu Lipatti." Stephen Swedish studied at Indiana University, where his major teacher was pianist Menahem Pressler, pianist of the celebrated Beaux Arts Trio. He has served on the artist-faculties of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Universities of Wisconsin and Maryland and others. He has also taught in Europe at the Conservatorio dall'Abaco in Verona, Italy, the International Haydn Festival at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria and the Oberlin-in-Italy program in partnership with the Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, Italy. Stephen Swedish has collaborated with artists such as cellist Janos Starker, violist William Primrose, violinist Josef Gingold, and soprano Eileen Farrell, as well as many others. Dr. Swedish is the pianist of the Kapell Piano Trio, and has performed as soloist with many of the world's great symphony orchestras. He has recorded on the RCA Red Seal, Mercury, and Gasparo record labels.
Festival editions: June 2000, July 2001.

Kris Verhelst, basso continuo, cembalo accompanist. She studied organ with Chris Dubois at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven.
Driven by a growing interest in historical instruments, she then studied harpsichord with Jos Van Immerseel at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp and obtained the Soloist Diploma in 1995. In 1983, Kris Verhelst was awarded first prize as organist in the music concourse for young artists organised by Pro Civitate and became laureate as harpsichordist of the Belgische Stichting Roeping in 1994.
As soloist and basso continuo player on both organ and harpsichord Kris Verhelst has built up an international reputation, performing regularly with renowned orchestras such as Anima Eterna, Collegium Vocale and with the chamber music ensembles More Maiorum, Fontainebleau, Oltremontano, La Sfera Armoniosa, and Ricercar Consort. Her discography includes a solo Cd with keyboard music by J.Bull, P.Cornet and P.Philips (Vanguard-Passacaille) and a recording of the Handel's recorder sonatas, together with recorder player Peter Van Heyghen (Accent).
Kris Verhelst is harpsichord teacher and accompanist at the Lemmensinstituut, Leuven.
Furthermore she is regularly invited to give masterclasses and to lead workshops, such as the annual keyboard course of the Ruckersgenootschap in Antwerp.
Festival edition: July 2004 (Opera Barocca).