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The Emerging Artist Program successfully finished its second year. Artistic Director Taras Kulish and Bruce Stasyna, our new program director, believe in providing talented young singers an opportunity to enhance & perfect their skills by interacting with today's working professionals. What better way to learn than from people who are active in today's opera career. All of these elements proved extremely beneficial to the young singers attending our program this June.

The program enables singers under the age of 32 to hone their skills through coachings, master classes, and much needed performance experience, as well as open the door to widen a singer's all important contact base. Three key factors for success in this field are skills, experience and the people you meet!

We offer daily coachings with experienced coaches, master classes with renowned artists and yoga for singers classes, as well as several performance opportunities along side today's professional opera singers. This year's distinguished faculty included (see bios below):

BRUCE STASYNA, director of the program and head coach
SANFORD SYLVAN, international bass-baritone & voice teacher on staff at McGill University
FRANCIS GRAFFEO, conductor
RON LUCHSINGER, stage director
ESTHER GONTHIER, pianist/coach from the Montreal Opera
AARON MILLER, apprentice stage director

COST: For the singers invited to the program, there is NO cost to attend. We will provide accommodations but meals will be at the expense of the artist. Singers are responsible for their own travel to Vermont.

2009 application information will be available October 1st, 2008

The 2008 Emerging Artists were:

Julia Ebner, soprano (from Baldwinsville, NY)
Erica Miller, soprano (from Mount Holly, NJ)
Sarah Kraus, mezzo (from New York, NY)
Monique Pelletier, mezzo (from Burlington, VT)
David Menzies, tenor (from Montreal, QC)
Gary Kubert, baritone (from Greeley, CO)
Brian Wehrle, bass (from Montreal, QC)

2008 Participants

From left to right: Bruce Stasyna, Brian Wehrle, Gary Kubert, David Menzies, Aaron Miller, Taras Kulish,
Erica Miller, Sarah Kraus, Julia Ebner, Monique Pelletier

Artistic staff:

Bruce Stasyna - Director of the Emerging Artist Program
During 2008-2009, Mr. Stasyna returns to the Palm Beach Opera for his third season as Head Coach and Director of the Resident Artists Program. As Head of Music for the Minnesota Opera from 1999 to 2006, Mr. Stasyna prepared over thirty productions for such diverse conductors as Harry Bicket, Marco Guidarini and Antony Walker, working with notable artists including Bruce Ford, Suzanne Mentzer, James Morris and Sumi Jo. He also served as chorus master, assistant conductor, director of the Resident Artists Program, and principal keyboard for Minnesota Opera Orchestra.

Mr. Stasyna has been on the staff of the Wolf Trap Opera as chorus master, notably for the critically acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd and as guest artist on recital programs featuring Steven Blier. He has conducted at the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Lake George Opera Festival, Opera Roanoke and has enjoyed associations with the American Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the National Chorale and the Virginia Opera.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Stasyna has performed at the Dallas Art Museum, Avery Fisher Hall, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the Victoria International Festival and the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts. In addition to being an artist in residence at the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas at Austin and an Emory University Coca Cola Artist in Residence, he recently performed on the Southeastern Festival of Song’s Secrets of the Sea and Sky presented by the Berkshire Opera.  Mr. Stasyna is a consultant to the young artist program at the Sugar Creek Symphony and Song Festival. Upcoming engagements in 2008 include recitals in Singapore, Hong Kong Shanghai and Manila.
 
Sanford Sylvan - bass-baritone & voice teacher
American baritone Sanford Sylvan displays a remarkable range of vocal expression and communicative power. His career spans over 30 years and over many continents. He is presently professor of voice at McGill University and has served on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory.

In the realm of opera, Mr. Sylvan is an acclaimed Mozartean. His portrayals of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte have been seen internationally, including PBS "Great Performances". He has been much acclaimed for the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Glyndebourne Festival and with New York City Opera where he has performed in The Magic Flute, Ariodante, The Rape of Lucretia and most recently Handel's Semele. Sanford has become closely associated with the productions of renowned directors: Peter Sellars in works of John Adams, Mozart and Stravinsky; Robert Wilson in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts. Major composers have written for him: John Adams' Nixon In China (Chou En-Lai), the title role of The Death of Klinghoffer and The Wound Dresser; and numerous works of John Harbison. He was in the US premiere of The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies, the world premiere of Philip Glass' The Juniper Tree, and sang Sir Michael Tippett's The Ice Break at the BBC Proms, recorded for Virgin Classics. In 2004 he sang his first Wotan in Wagner's Die Walküre and sang the title role in the film of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer which received numerous international awards including a Grammy nomination. In 2005 he made an acclaimed Glimmerglass Opera debut as Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte.

Sanford Sylvan has performed with many of the leading orchestras of the world including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, Academy of Ancient Music, Melbourne Symphony, and Australian Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with such conductors as Simon Rattle, James Levine, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Herbert Blomstedt, Christopher Hogwood, Kent Nagano, Helmuth Rilling, Bruno Weil, Roger Norrington, and Edo De Waart. The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned Steven Stucky's American Muse for him, conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen. With Maestro Salonen and the LA Philharmonic he sang Haydn's Creation in their new Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2004. Recent performances include Schoenberg's Moses und Aron with the Boston Symphony under James Levine and Handel's Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony. In 2007 he sang the world premiere of Christopher Rouse's Requiem with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which was recorded for Telarc.

Sanford Sylvan's recordings are known throughout the world and appear on the Nonesuch, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Musicmasters, Bridge, Koch, Virgin Classics, New World and CRI labels. A Grammy and Emmy Award winner for his role in John Adams' Nixon In China, he has received Grammy nominations for his recording with David Breitman, L'Horizon Chimérique which features chanson of Gabriel Fauré, Beloved That Pilgrimage, a program of American songs with music by Barber, Copland and Chanler, and for John Adams' The Wound Dresser. A new recording of Bach with the Sarasa Ensemble was released in spring 2006.

Esther Gonthier - pianist/coach
Is recognized as one of the most versatile pianists in Canada. After receiving her training at University of Laval and University of Montreal, she perfected vocal coaching with Janine Reiss in France. For over 20 years she has led a very active career as a rehearsal pianist for opera companies as well as vocal coach for some of Canada’s leading singers. She is currently on staff at the Montreal Opera and the Montreal Conservatory of Music.

Esther has over 80 operas in her repertoire and is extremely in demand in the operatic world. She works regularly with the Montreal Opera, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Quebec City Opera, the Lanaudière International Festival, as well as the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal. World renown conductors include Jean-Claude Casadesus, Franz-Paul Decker, Rafaël Frübeck de Burgos, Eliahu Inbal, Michel Plasson and Kent Nagano. World renown singers she has worked with include Nancy Argenta, Juliana Banse, Mary Dunleavy, Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade.

As a solo pianist, Esther, was invited many times by the orchestra which plays for the Grands Ballets Canadiens for whom she performed in Les Quatre Tempéraments of Hindemith and La Table Verte of Cohen. In 2004, she performed the Premier Concerto for piano of Beethoven which was used for a ballet by Balanchine. She has performed in various recitals including the International Festival of the Domaine Forget, at the Historic Chapel of the Bon-Pasteur in Montreal, at the Orford Arts Centre as well as for the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.

Esther has been extensively recorded on CD as well as on radio. Recently, she participated in the recording of a concert version of the romantic opera Nelligan by André Gagnon. In 2005, she recorded a CD with the Quebec baritone Marc Boucher dedicated to the songs of Fauré.

Taras Kulish - Bass & Artistic Director
Mr Kulish is a singer who possesses a large vocal and dramatic range. He has sung internationally with opera companies such as the Montreal Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre, Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton and Calgary Operas, Manitoba Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Opera Saskatchewan, Orchestra London, Montreal Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, in the Czech Republic as well as touring France and Belgium. In France and Belgium, he sang the title role of Don Giovanni, directed by the famous film director Gérard Corbiau (FARINELLI). This production was subsequently broadcast worldwide on TV5 in 2003.

Taras' vast repertoire includes roles such as Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Leporello and the Don (Don Giovanni), Don Magnifico (Cenerentola), The King (Aida), Colline (La Bohème), Ferrando (Trovatore), Basilio (Barber of Seville), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and many others. Mr Kulish is also a busy concert singer throughout North America in the oratorio and recital repertoire. American Festival performances include Ravinia’s Steans Institute, the Aspen Opera Theatre, and the Tanglewood Music Festival where Taras sang in the anniversary production of Peter Grimes under maestro Seiji Ozawa.

Having studied economics before pursuing his music studies, Mr. Kulish has a strong passion for the administrative side of the arts. He is founding artistic director of the Green Mountain Opera Festival and is extremely proud of it.