A graduate of the “Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, Beatrice Benzi has been member of the Music Staff of TEATRO ALLA SCALA since 1991 as “maestro collaborator.”  She is a member of the Faculty of the “Accademia del Teatro alla Scala” where she trains young singers and pianists.

As collaborative pianist and music assistant, she has worked in numerous other Italian and international institutions such as the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the NHK and Bunka Kaikan Theatres in Tokyo, the Opera Theatre in Astana and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moskow.

Mrs. Benzi has had the honor of being the music assistant for Maestro Zubin Mehta for many years in some of his international engagements, such as the “Festival del Mediterranii” in Valencia, the Symphonic Season in Tel Aviv, in many of his productions at Teatro alla Scala and for the TV broadcast of Verdi’s Rigoletto with Placido Domingo.

With the actual Principal Conductor of La Scala, Riccardo Chailly, she has worked on several Decca recordings such as Rossini’s “Il Turco in Italia” with Mariella Devia, Rossini’s Cantatas in two volumes with Cecilia Bartoli, a “Pavarotti’s Greatest Hits” with Luciano Pavarotti, and to many productions like the 2017 Opening of the Opera Season of La Scala with Andrea Chénier, featuring Anna Netrebko.

During her career at La Scala, she has been collaborative pianist of renowned conductors (Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Myung Whun Chung, Daniel Oren, Valeri Gerghiev etc) and of the most famous singers and has performed as harpsichordist in productions of “Così fan Tutte” and “Il Viaggio a Rheims”.

As a recitalist, she has played for singers like Marcello Giordani, John Osborn and Lynette Tapia, Gregory Kunde, Chris Merritt, Luca Salsi and many others, in major concert halls like Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro dell’Opera in Florence, Opéra des Nations in Geneva, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro alla Scala, Auditorium Pedrotti in Pesaro during the Rossini Opera Festival, Sala Verdi of the Conservatory in Milan.

She is currently invited to teach Italian Repertoire  at the Premiereopera Foundation in New York, at the Belcanto in Tuscany Summer Program and at the University of Nevada for The Dolora Zajick “Institute for Young Dramatic Voices”.

John Parr is currently Head Coach at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Germany, where in addition to his work preparing singers and assisting conductors in preparing the productions he is also Musical Director of a series of song and poetry recitals, ‘Lieder und Dichter’  (Songs and Poets).   From 2000-2011 he was San Francisco Opera’s Head of Music Staff. He was a Master Coach for the  Merola Opera Program and works frequently with San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows as a guest teacher. Since the summer of 2018 he has been  Master Coach at the American Wagner Project in Reno, Nevada,  led by Luana DeVol, a division of the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices (IYDV).

A native of Birmingham, UK, Parr studied piano at the Royal Northern College of Music with Sulamita Aronovsky and musicology at Manchester University. He worked for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1985–88, touring with the company to Japan and Korea in 1986. He was engaged at Scottish Opera from 1988-90. In 1991 he joined the Lower Saxony State Opera in Hannover, Germany, where he was Head of Music Staff and Musical Assistant to Music directors George Alexander Albrecht, Christof Perick and Andreas Delfs, specializing in the Wagner and Strauss operas. During this time he developed an extensive series of Lieder Recitals and Chamber Music programs for the Opera, and also broadcast on SFB Radio Berlin and on NDR Television. With San Francisco Opera, Parr has developed and performed in numerous recital programs. He promoted his own series of recitals entitled ‘Basically British’ at Old First Concerts, and appeared many times with San Francisco performances and other promoters in the Bay  Area as a song accompanist and chamber musician. He has performed over 10 years for the Lieder Alive! recital series in San Francisco.

From 2002-2005 he worked as a coach at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, and has also given recitals in the Wagner Museum. From 2011 to 2014 he was Casting Director and Musical Assistant to the Music Director at the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe, Germany, where he also promoted and performed song and chamber music programs.

Recently at the Deutsche Oper he has been heavily involved in the preparation for  the new production of Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles and directed by Stephan Herheim.

Pianist, recitalist, coach, prompter and assistant conductor, Yelena Kurdina has been a specialist in Russian repertoire at The Metropolitan Opera for over 20 years. She became Placido Domingo’s private coach and has partnered with many of the most outstanding singers of our time. Ms. Kurdina has brought her distinguished musicianship to such renowned festivals and opera houses as the Opera National de Paris, Houston Grand Opera, Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla, Spain and Washington National Opera. She has been the assistant to conductors Seiji Ozawa, Vladimir Jurowski, Antonio Pappano, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Jiří Bělohlávek, Fabio Luisi among others – with whom she has worked on both Russian and Italian operas. Hailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Kurdina is a protégé of John Wustman – the “Dean of American accompanists” – with whom she studied at the University of Illinois. Devoted to working with young artists, she has been on the faculty of the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, and is a regular guest of the Domingo – Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington Opera and Domingo – Thornton Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera, SIVAM in Mexico City, and maintains a vibrant private studio in New York City.

A. Scott Parry’s direction has been hailed by Opera News as “marvelous,” “lively,” “imaginative,” and “spot-on,” with over 125 productions spanning an enormous range of repertoire, from Così fan tutte to West Side Story and La Gioconda to La Cage aux Folles. He conceived of, designed, and directed the world premières of I lavori d’amore persi, a pastiche of music theatre fragments by Claudio Monteverdi for the Bloomington Early Music Festival, as well as the modern absurdist opera The Pig, the Farmer, and the Artist by David Chesky at La Mama (Off-Broadway). Mr. Parry spent close to a decade on the directing staff of New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, has served on the Opera Faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington, and has been a Visiting Professor at the New England Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, and Amherst College. He also spent ten years as the Producing Artistic Director of Opera & Lyric Theatre at The Ohio State University and currently serves on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music as Director of Senior Opera Theatre and leads the Opera Workshop at NYU’s Steinhardt School. As a composer, he premiered his quartet theatre song cycle “On the Impracticality… of Love” at NYC’s Singer’s Forum and recently completed his libretto adaptation of La mère coupable (The Guilty Mother), the third “Figaro play” of Beaumarchais, which is currently being set to music. Mr. Parry is represented by Robert Gilder & Co. www.ascottparry.com

Fabio Sparvoli began his career as a Director in an experimental theatre in Rome, working with Mario Scaccia and Gianfranco Varetto.  In 1980, he began a long association with Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, becoming Assistant Director in 1982, a position he held until 1989. As Assistant Director, he mounted many shows, among them –  Arlecchino, Servant of Two Masters,  The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Tempest, and The Illusionist. In 1984 he began a collaboration with Roberto De Simone directing all his opera productions until 1995, including All’idea di quel metallo for the Rossini Opera Festival (1996) in Pesaro, La Cenerentola in Genova and a reprisal of Nabucco at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

 From 1999, directing took him to the Opera Festival in Wexford, the Teatro de la Maestranzi in Seville, the Opera di Roma, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Mikhailovsky in Saint Petersburg, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Lille Opera and at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile. In 2009 he directed Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at the Spalato Opera, followed by Madama Butterfly at the San Carlo in Naples and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Solis in Montevideo. Other highlights include L’elisir d’amore in Nice, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the International Opera Festival Alejandro Granada in Perù, and Don Pasquale at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago.

In 2013 he directed Napoli Milionaria by Nino Rota/Eduardo De Filippo, at the Teatro del Giglio in  Lucca, at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and the Teatro Verdi in Pisa and won the Abbiati  Prize  for his project  L.T.L opera studio. Elisir d’amore followed in Turin, as did the reprisal of Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, and Les Pecheurs de Perles in Parma and Modena. In  2015 he returned to Santiago for Cavalleria Rusticana e Pagliacci. Among his most recent projects are The Merry Widow at the Teatro del Giglio in  Lucca and the Teatro Verdi in Pisa and Les Pêcheurs de perles at the Florence Opera, and La Traviata at the National Centre for the performing Arts di Beijing (April 2016). In 2017, Fabio inaugurated the new theatre in Xi’An with the new production of Turandot.

“Then for Pavarotti Theatre in Modena he presented a new production of Rigoletto, in Turin another new production of Elisir d’Amore for Teatro Regio.  Recently he rearranged the work Napoli Milionaria by Nino Rota with booklet by Eduardo De Filippo for Teatro del Giglio in Lucca (Italy).  For teaching sector he will soon hold directing and interpreting courses in conservatories of Pesaro and Lecce (Italy).”

Dr. Monica A. Williams-McCullough, a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, joined the music faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2014 as an Adjunct Professor of Voice, receiving a full-time appointment in 2019. Currently, she is the Co-Coordinator of the Voice Division and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice. In 2018, she received UNLV’s College of Fine Arts Outstanding Part-Time Teacher of the Year Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Nevada Music Teachers Association. Her students are winners of regional and national voice competitions and attend summer festivals in Europe and the United States. Monica’s students have been accepted into Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices and several prestigious undergraduate and graduate voice programs, including the Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

Monica has performed on the operatic stage and has appeared often as a concert and chamber soloist. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Southern California. She continued her doctoral studies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Currently, Monica is the Director of the Intermediate Program, the Opera Discovery Program and serves on the Board of Directors for Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. She also is serving her third term as the Cal-Western Region Representative for the Student National Association of Teachers of Singing and recently completed two terms as the Nevada District Governor for the Cal-Western Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Luana DeVol is one of the world’s most successful dramatic sopranos, having sung major roles in the world’s major houses, including La Scala, Milan, Teatro de Liceu, Barcelona, the Wagner Festspiel Bayreuth, Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Metropolitan Opera, and New York among many others.  She was twice named Opernwelt’s “Singer of the Year.”  Since retiring from the stage, she gives Master Classes, maintains a private voice studio, and serves on the Panel of Experts for the New York-based “Career Bridges” for aspiring singers.  She has been appointed to lead the American Wagner Project, a program which is part of the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices founded by mezzo Dolora Zajick, and works with the Richard Wagner Society of Washington D.C. in presenting Master Classes and concerts.  She is an adjudicator/judge of voice competitions both in the US and abroad, most recently as Chairwoman of the Klaudia Taev International Voice Competition in Estonia.  As General Director of Opera Las Vegas she produced IL Barbiere di Seviglia, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, and Rigoletto.

John Treleaven

Heroic Tenor

‘John Treleaven has reached a level of role identification
which amazes, captivates, excites and inspires’

Thus the press described John Treleaven’s debut as Tristan in Amsterdam with Sir Simon Rattle, a role which he has personified worldwide in more than 100 performances on opera stages at the Hamburg State Opera, the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, the Frankfurt Opera, the Brisbane Festival, at the Teatro Verdi di Verona, the Teatro Regio di Torino, in Santiago de Chile, the Vienna State Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and the Opera House Zurich, in concert performances in Montreal, at the Luzern Festival with Maestro Claudio Abbado, as well as with the BBC Symphony Orchestra London with Donald Runnicles (published by Warner Music). He also repeatedly portrayed Tristan at the Bavarian State Opera Festival in Munich. 

One of the most sought-after Heldentenors on the international stage, Treleaven was acclaimed as Stolzing, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser in Munich, Toulouse and in Peter Konwitschny’s production at the Hamburg State Opera, at the Vienna State Opera, the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, in Gothenburg, Basel, Amsterdam, and Graz.

Siegfried in ‘Siegfried’ and ‘Götterdämmerung’  and Siegmund have taken him to Tokyo, Zurich, Helsinki, Barcelona (available as a DVD), Vienna, the Royal Opera House London, Chicago, Nice, Dresden and to the Lyric Opera Chicago.

John Treleaven studied in London at the College of Music with William Lloyd Webber, among others, and at the London Opera Centre, Covent Garden as well as in Naples under Maestro Campanino. At first he sang primarily in his home country at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish National Opera and the English National Opera, where he learned numerous roles such as the Prince in Rusalka, which is available on DVD. At the Edinburgh Festival he sang the role of Hans in The Bartered Bride, as well as Radames, Erik, Florestan and was heard in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. Further guest performances took him to the Adelaide Festival, the Taormina Festival, to Bologna, Amsterdam, Paris, New York …

In 1991 he made his celebrated German debut at the Mannheim National Theatre as Peter Grimes, a role he has since sung at the Hamburg State Opera, in Bremen, Frankfurt and Genoa, at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg (directed by Alfred Kirchner). His repertoire also includes roles such as Bacchus in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’, Canio in ‘I Pagliacci’, Calaf in ‘Turandot’, Dick Johnson in ‘La Fanciulla del West’ and Hermann in ‘Pique Dame’. At the Berlin State Opera he sang Pollione in ‘Norma’, at the Teatro Real Madrid he performed Menelas in ‘Die Ägyptische Helena’ and in Helsinki he sang the Emperor in ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’.

Recently, he portrayed Idomeneo in a production of the New National Theatre Tokyo, Pedro in ‘Tiefland’ at the Opera House Frankfurt and at the Zurich Opera House. He performed Parsifal at the Wagner Festival in Wells, Aeneas in ‘Les Troyens’ at the Karlsruhe State Theatre and Otello at the Eutin Festival and the Mannheim National Theatre.

John Treleaven proves his special affinity for ‘Wagner’s heroes’ in his solo recitals ‘Wagner’s heroes’ – excerpts from the Ring – and a ‘Wagner Portrait’ (Oehmsclassics – Ivan Anguélov conducting).

Since retiring from the operatic stage he has continued to pursue his concert career and is also involved in the promotion of the project “Son of Cornwall” a film/documentary of his life and work produced by his son Lawrence. The film has received wide credits, winning several awards.

Treleaven is widely recognised as a voice teacher and has given masterclasses at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Los Angeles University, Chicago Opera. In 2019 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of West London and last year he was also head of singing studies at the Musikhochschule Münster for a semester. In November this year he will join the adjudication panel of the Seoul International Singing Competition.

Earlier this year (2023) John was asked by the renowned Mezzo soprano Dolora Zajick to join the teaching faculty at the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices based in Reno, Nevada to which he will return in 2024.

Sarah Agler received her BA in violin performance from the University of Nevada at Reno and completed her MM in vocal performance at Indiana University. She has performed leading roles in opera, light opera and oratorios as well as on the concert stage as soloist with major orchestras. She sang Electra in the world premiere of The Cry of Clytaemnestra at Indiana University. Other roles she has performed include the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Susan B. in The Mother of Us All, Suor Angelica in Suor Angelica and Turandot in Turandot. She has performed with numerous opera companies, including the San Diego Opera, Long Beach Opera and the Nevada Opera Company. Ms. Agler has won several awards in different competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, the San Francisco Opera Auditions, the NATS and Fuchs Auditions. She has studied with several teachers and coaches, including Ted Puffer, Vera Scammon, Brian Balkwill, Gillian Cookson, Ernest St. John Metz, Michael Carson, Greg Buchalter and George Trovillo; she continues to study with Kathleen Darragh.

Badiene Magaziner, a highly sought out international voice teacher, holds a Master of Music Degree in Voice from  THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL, where she taught Voice for Dancers from 2016-2021.

Although Badiene’s career was in Opera and Broadway, she has become one of the foremost experts in teaching Pop, Rock, R&B, Jazz and Gospel, as well as Opera and Musical Theater and is recommended by New York’s top agents, managers and casting directors for her ability to immediately identify a problem and provide a healthy solution that works.

Her students, both children and adults, have appeared in numerous Broadway shows including DEAR EVAN HANSEN, (Michael Lee Brown, Evan) HAMILTON, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, (Aanlise Scarpaci, Lydia) MEAN GIRLS, WEST SIDE STORY, (Kevin Csolak, Ahab) MOULIN ROUGE. FROZEN, LION KING, ANASTASIA, A BRONX TALE,  (Chazz Palminteri,) FUN HOME,  (Tony Nominee Sydney Lucas) ANNIE, (Lilla Crawford) CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, (Ryan Sell) MATILDA, KINKY BOOTS, MISS SAIGON, SCHOOL OF ROCK, BILLY ELLIOT, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, PIPPIN, LES MISERABLES, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, NEWSIES.

Badiene’s students have also been featured Off Broadway, on National Tours and have appeared on the THE VOICE, (Allegra Miles,  Tyke James)  X-FACTOR,  (Bea Miller) AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, (Winner, Bianca Ryan) & AMERICAN IDOL.

Badiene was awarded a full scholarship to THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL, where she studied voice with Beverly Peck Johnson and starred in LA BOHEME and DON PASQUALE at The Juilliard Opera Theater. Upon graduation, Badiene was invited to star in numerous operas and operettas throughout Europe. She appeared as Fiordiligi in COSI FAN TUTTE, Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI with Benjamin Luxon and Nicolai Gedda, Eurydice in ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE, and alternately as Mimi and Musetta in LA BOHEME. Together with Jose Carreras and Katia Ricciarelli, Badiene sang Musetta in a gala performance of LA BOHEME.

In a string of highly acclaimed Washington Opera performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Badiene starred as Magda Sorel in GianCarlo Menotti’s THE CONSUL, having been chosen for the role by the composer.

Following the passing of her son, Badiene produced the ERIK’S WISH BENEFIT CONCERT in memory of Erik, to benefit children with cancer. She developed and conducted the Erik’s Wish Choir, a performance choir that performed with her in the show at many charity events. Badiene began producing concerts at the prestigious FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW to benefit various charities, including the MAKE – A -WISH Foundation.

The son of American composer John Jacob Niles and freelance journalist Rena L. Niles, John Edward Niles received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University (1967) and a Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati (1969). He was awarded grants from the American Symphony Orchestra League and the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation. An NDEA Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship took him to Hamburg, Germany to study advanced conducting. He has also studied with such notable conductors as Richard Lert, Haig Yaghijian, Hans Swarvosky, Erich Kunzel and John Nelson. Mr. Niles was the Music Director/Conductor of Opera Theatre of N. VA/Aurora Opera from 1981 to 2012. Engagements have taken him to the Ithaca (N.Y.) Opera Association, Salt City Playhouse (Syracuse, N.Y.), Bel Canto Opera (New York City), Virginia Opera (Norfolk), Cavalier Productions and COLVA Productions (Arlington, VA), JMJ Productions (Washington, D.C.), and European-American Productions (Hanover, Germany) and at the Auschwitz 50th Anniversary Memorial in Kracow, Poland. He was the Musical Director of Euro-Fest in Prague in July 2002. Currently, John Edward Niles is the Program Director Evelyn Lear & Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program, Wagner Society of Washington, DC and an Adjudicator for the Liederkranz Competition, Wagner Division since 2004.