Claudia Friedlander - The Singers Audition & Career Handbook

Argentinean baritone and Jette Parker Young Artist Germn E. Alcntara makes his Royal Opera debut in the 2018/2019 Season as Dancaro (Carmen) and will also sing Baron Douphol (La traviata), Wagner (Faust), Dumas (Andrea Chnier), and Morales (Carmen) for the company. His awards include Laureat in Queen Elizabeth Competition 2018, first prize in the Concurso Bach Joven in Paraguay, second prize in the Concurso para Jvenes Estudiantes de Canto Lirico in Buenos Aires, first prize in the Concours Lyrique International ad Alta Voce in Paris and the Priz Artifex Proart in the Concurso de Zarzuela de Valleseco.

Mr. Alcntara studied at the School of Music in Misiones, the National University of Cuyo-Mendoza, the Matrise de Notre-Dame de Paris (under Rosa Dominguez) and the Reina Sofa School of Music in Madrid (with Ryland Davies). He was a participant in Joyce DiDonatos 2018 master class series at Carnegie Hall.

Brian Asawa was a Japanese American countertenor. In 1991 he became the first countertenor to win both the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and an Adler Fellowship with the San Francisco Operas Merola Opera Program. He was also the first countertenor to win the Operalia competition. Mr. Asawa appeared on the stages of the worlds most celebrated opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the San Franciso Opera, Seattle Opera, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Paris Opera, and Opera Australia. He commissioned numerous works for the countertenor voice, including song cycles by Jake Heggie and Juliana Hall. His singing is featured in numerous opera recordings, including Farnace in Mitridate for Decca, Arsamene in Serse for Conifer and Oberon in A Midsummer Nights Dream for Philips with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis. Mr. Asawa was a passionate advocate for young opera singers, as evidenced by his generosity in contributing material to Carnegie Hall Musical Exchange. Throughout his career, Mr. Asawa was admired as a trailblazer for the countertenor voice and repertoire. He is credited with helping to expand casting and opportunities for the generation of countertenors who now grace our stages.

Brian August is the production stage manager for the Atlanta Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera. Additional engagements include Michigan Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera, New Orleans Opera, Central City Opera, among others. Upcoming engagements include returning to Des Moines Metro Opera for his ninth season and continuing at the Atlanta Opera, where he is currently in his fourth season. Additionally, he is on faculty at Kennesaw State University, where he teaches stage management. Brian is a graduate of the Boston University School of Theatre, with a BFA in stage management, cum laude.

Ann Baltz, founder and former artistic director of the OperaWorks training program, is recognized as one of the leading opera educators in America. Her holistic teaching method and use of musical improvisation in performer education frees musicians innate musical and dramatic talents.

She created the Arts for Social Awareness Project to produce musically improvised opera/theatre performance pieces that put a human face on social issues. She received an NAACP Theatre Awards nomination as best music director for The Discord Altar, addressing homelessness, and a Red Carpet Award from Women in Theatre for her outstanding achievements in theater in Los Angeles.

Her diverse professional background includes roles as assistant conductor, coach, and chorus master in productions with singers including Dame Joan Sutherland and James McCracken, and conductor Richard Bonynge. She served on the steering committee at OPERA Americas Singer Training Forum; and speaker at NOA and NATS national conventions.

Scott Barnes graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as the musical theater kid who knew all the soprano operatic rep. Scott has performed on Broadway and Off Broadway and around the country, sung on six of the Disney animated films (including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas), and starred in scores of television commercials. He is a two-time winner of the MAC award for NYC cabaret director of the year and has created acts for Bette Midler, Kathie Lee Gifford, Rita Moreno, and many other wonderful singers. He has produced and/or artistic-directed twenty-six CDs. Scott has written features for Opera News, including eleven cover articles as well as reviews and opinion pieces on operatic acting. After years in showbiz, Scott discovered a unique ability to help opera singers strategize for and enjoy auditions, and to broaden their dramatic imaginations to better inhabit songs, arias, and roles. He has taught audition and interpretation master classes at home and abroad. Scott adjudicates several of operas top singing competitions, including Gerda Lissner, Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari, Veronica Dunne (New York City and Wexford preliminaries), AVAs Giargiari, the Loren L. Zachary Society, and Opera at Florham.

Native New Yorker and soprano, Virginia Barney McAuliffe, was raised in London, England. She graduated with a bachelor of music in vocal performance from Boston University, where she studied in the studio of Jerrold Pope. Ms. Barney spent the three summers as a young artist at the Seagle Music Colony in upstate New York. There she performed the roles of Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Greta Fiorentino (Street Scene), Amy March (Little Women), and Mabel (Pirates of Penzance). She has also covered the roles of Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Despina (Cos fan tutte). Ms. Barney sang the role of Papagena (Die Zauberflte) with New York Opera Studio under the direction of Nico Castel.

During her time at Boston University, Ms. Barney appeared in Dido and Aeneas as Second Woman with Boston Universitys Opera Workshop, as well as Carolina in scenes from Il matrimonio segreto. She also participated in a weeklong residency with international tenor Francisco Arraiza, working specifically in bel canto repertoire. Ms. Barney is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Arts Camp and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

Julie Baron is the cofounder and managing director of YAP Tracker, the online audition management service for classical singers. Having left a career in technology solutions consulting and training to pursue her passion for the arts, Julie earned her master of music degree in vocal performance from Manhattan School of Music in 2004. She enjoyed a career as a mezzo-soprano singing with many companies throughout the United States and abroad, but her unusual affinity for both technology and the arts ultimately guided her to create the popular website. YAP Tracker was created in 2005 and quickly garnered tremendous acclaim for its comprehensive, worldwide list of opportunities and online application service, as well as its organizational features for singers, teachers, and company administrators alike.

Director Edward Berkeley is a long-term faculty member at Juilliard and is founding artistic director of the Willow Cabin Theater, where he directed the Tony- and Drama Desknominated play Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and others including Who Will Carry the Word? (best director). He teaches Shakespeare at both Circle in the Square Theater School and Pace University, and has also taught at the Metropolitan Operas Lindemann Young Artists Program, Princeton, Williams, and Carleton. Mr. Berkeley has directed productions at Juilliard, the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Houston Grand Opera, where he serves as the drama coach. He has also worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony. In addition, he directs opera for the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and as director of the Aspen Opera Center, he has directed both classics and new works. He recently directed