Updated March 12, 2008.
July 9-12
MASTER CLASSES FOR SINGERS AND PIANISTS
Gabriele Lechner – Lyric dramatic Soprano.
Completed musical and vocal studies at Viennese Musikhochschule and in Italy. Performed for five years with Vienna
State Opera and Graz Opera; joined Zürich Opera in 1991 where she sang the major lyric dramatic roles of Verdi,
Puccini, Strauss, and Wagner. Performed over 26 of the leading roles in the operas of Gluck, Mozart, Weber, Meyerbeer,
Boito, Giordano, Offenbach, Schreker, Goldmark, and modern composers Henke and Reimann, among others. She has a vast
concert repertoire having appeared with the leading conductors of the day, and also appears often in solo concerts in
European countries. Currently Professor of Voice at Viennese University of Music and Dramatic Arts. She has judged
the Meistersinger Vocal Competition and is one of the favorite master class teachers at AIMS. Click
here to see and hear a video clip of her singing with Pavarotti.
July 8-11
TISCH-TALKS Chat around Roberta’s table at the Studentenheim.
July 9 LECTURE "Living and Singing in Europe"
Roberta Cunningham – Lyric and then spinto Soprano.
25 years as a leading soprano in Europe (Wien, München, Hildesheim, Münster, Rudolstadt, Stuttgart) following attending AIMS.
Taught voice in Berlin, Stuttgart and Münster. Tisch Talk is informal one-on-one Q&A, feedback, discussion of audition repertoire,
general singer advice, all about living in Europe, singing for a living, practical aspects of AIMS and Graz, pats on the back, hugs, jokes, etc.
July 18
LECTURE AND Q&A
Uwe Drechsel – Intendant, Hof (Germany) Opera.
In addition to being General Manager of Hof
Opera company, Hr. Drechsel is a stage director. He will give a special lecture on the opera scene in Germany today, offer current ideas and
opinions on what to sing, how to get a job, and advice on being hired as an American (foreigner) in German-speaking Europe and hear
selected singers who have finished their schooling and are singing professionally.
August TBA
AUDITIONS, LECTURES, ADVICE, Q&A
Clemens Anton Klug – Artists Agent
BA, MPh, Artists Agent, Rieder Classics, Vienna
Born, raised and schooled in Graz, associated with AIMS all his life. Completed studies in Musicology,
Roman Languages and Organ performance. Freelance journalist, narrator and musician. Since 2004,
works for Rieder Classics, a Vienna-based agency representing vocalists and instrumentalists.
Has established an international group of clients. Collaborates with artists such as singers Michèle Crider,
Elina Garanča and Peter Dvorský, and conductor Valery Gergiev and actress Vanessa Redgrave.
For his own festival, he reestablished legendary mezzo soprano Christa Ludwig for the first time as a reciter.
On his roster are several former AIMSers whom he represents in Austria and various European countries.
Neill Thornborrow – Opera Agent, Thornborrow Agency, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Born in England, Mr. Thornborrow has been in the music industry for many years. While in residence at AIMS, he will audition singers and give
lectures, offering both practical and timely advice about the music scene in Europe and aspects of managing a career in singing. Possessing a
very approachable manner, he will also conduct informal chats with small groups at a table in the dining hall of the school. His auditions are
designed for accomplished pre-professional singers and are open to all students as observers.
July 20-21
MASTER CLASSES FOR STUDENT PIANISTS AND SINGERS
VIENNESE LIEDER
Each student pianist will choose a singer and prepare two Lieder, NOT from a song cycle and without repetition among the pianists. Open to all students, faculty and the public.
Walter Moore – Collaborative Pianist/Lieder Authority.
Born in Berkeley, CA, majored in music at Stanford University and studied at Aspen School of Music in CO.
In 1963, awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Austria, where he specialized in vocal accompanying at the
Vienna Academy of Music and attended courses in Lieder interpretation at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
In 1965, joined coaching staff of the Vienna Academy and was promoted to full professor in 1984.
Mr. Moore has frequently presented courses in Lieder interpretation in Sweden, Finland, Japan, Hungary,
Venezuela and the United States. Taught at Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), San Francisco Conservatory of Music,
Centre Regional de la Voice in Royaumont (France) and was for many years assistant to Hans Hotter for
his master classes in Vienna, Grafenegg, Hohenems, Mainz, and Salzburg. Since 1978, Mr. Moore also teaches
a summer course, "Poetry and the Performance of the German Lied" sponsored by the Franz-Schubert-Institute
in Baden bei Wien, Austria.
July 25
MASTER CLASS FOR SINGERS AND PIANISTS
Michèle Crider – Dramatic Soprano.
One of today´s preeminent opera singers, Michèle Crider has made her mark on both the operatic
and concert stages of the world with an extensive repertoire. Her roles include Leonora
both in Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino, Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera, Elvira in
Ernani, the title roles in Aida, Luisa Miller, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Norma, Odabella
in Attila, Lucrezia in I due Foscari, Giselda in I Lombardi, Imogene in Il Pirata,
Margherita/Elena in Mefistofele, Elizabeth in Don Carlo and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. In 2008 she will add the title role of La Gioconda to this list.
Since 1991 Ms. Crider has performed regularly in the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in Convent Garden,
the MET in New York, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the Staatsoper Berlin, the State Opera Houses in Vienna, Munich, Berlin,
Dresden, Hamburg, the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, the Arena di Verona, Rome, Paris, Zürich, Barcelona and Madrid.
She has worked with today's greatest conductors including Riccardo
Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Nello Santi, Christoph von Dohnanyi,
Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Chailly and Colin Davis. She made her American
debut in 1996 as Aida at the San Diego Opera.
Ms. Crider's performances in the 2005-06 season included Tosca for the State Opera in
Berlin, her return to the MET in New York as Aida, Tosca in Zurich,
Santuzza at Hamburg State Opera, Madama Butterfly for the State Opera of Berlin, Aida
and Amelia at the German Opera in Berlin, Amelia at the Tel Aviv Opera and Cio-Cio San
in Madama Butterfly at the Vienna State Opera. In future seasons she will sing Tosca at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin and Vienna State Opera, Amelia and Odabella at the MET and Hamburg Opera House,
Aida at Aalto Opera House in Essen (Germany), Leonora (Il Trovatore)
and Gioconda in a new production of La Gioconda at Tel Aviv Opera.
Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven Symphonie 9, Bruckner Te Deum and Messe in F minor,
Mahler Symphonie 2, Strauss Vier Letze Lieder and Verdi Requiem.
(www.michele-crider.com)
August 15 MASTER CLASS FOR SINGERS
August 15-17 MASTER CLASSES FOR SINGERS July 8 - August 13 (presented once or twice weekly) THE HENRY PLEASANTS LECTURE SERIES Six "Lectures and Listening" featuring the Historic Singers Audio Library. July 14 - August 11 (4 pm Mondays and other times as announced in the Weekly Schedule) SPECIAL EVENTS LECTURES
Linda Watson – Soprano.
Ms. Watson is a native of San Francisco and studied at the New England Conservatory, Boston. Winning a number of fellowships,
she completed her studies in Vienna. Her European career began in Germany in Aachen; she was then engaged at Leigpzig.
Following this, she joined the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf) as a leading dramatic soprano.
Her debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1997 was in the role of Venus in Tannhäuser. She has sung with numerous
European and American opera companies and symphony orchestras. She began as a mezzosoprano and was heard in roles such
as Venus and as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. Watson's first soprano role was as Sieglinde in Die Walküre
in Essen. Other roles are Kundry, Isolde, Ariadne and Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio. She sang Leonore and Isolde in Japan with
the Bavarian State Opera. While in Tokyo, she also sang her first Walküre Brünnhilde. In 2005 she sang Ortrud in
Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival; in 2006, she sang Brünnhilde in the complete Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival; in 2007,
she sang in the complete ring cycle of the Washington Opera and Die Meistersinger at Bayreuth. With Los Angeles Opera, she
appeared in Die Frau ohne Schatten. A reviewer characterized her voice as having "a consistently beautiful, well-rounded tone
and a strong sense of line. The voice itself is rich and full and retains considerable warmth throughout the range. It doesn't
thin at the top or ever become shrill. She has more than enough volume to ride the orchestral climaxes without forcing. She has
a beautiful, easy attack on soft high notes and this made magic of the final words of the Liebestod." She has sung with eminent
conductors such as James Levine, Placido Domingo, Andrew Davis, Christian Thielemann and Kent Nagano, and appeared with orchestras
in Munich, Prague, Slovakia, Philadelphia, London and many other places.
Patricia Craig – Soprano.
Renown American operatic soprano and voice teacher at New England Conservatory of Music.
Her performing career spanned more than three decades of major roles in the leading opera houses of the world.
She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1978 as Marenka in The Bartered Bride under James Levine.
Met audiences heard her for the next 12 seasons in a variety of leading roles in operas including Madame Butterfly,
Dialogues of the Carmelites, La Bohéme, and Mahagonny. Craig, a specialist
in Puccini and Verdi heroines, her other operatic credits include performances with New York City Opera, Teatro la Fenice
(Venice, Italy), Festival of Two Worlds (Spoleto and Charleston), L‘Opera de Marseilles and the companies of
Cincinnati, Miami, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Concert performances include Tchaikovsky‘s Pique Dame
with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. In addition to her private voice studio and master classes in the U.S.
and abroad, her summer teaching includes AIMS and the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI), where she collaborated
for many years with her late husband, the world-famous Wagnerian tenor and voice teacher, Richard Cassilly. Craig serves
as Chairman, Board of Overseer's for Opera Boston, as advisor to Boston Lyric Opera and the Bel Canto Institute and is
a member of the AIMS Board of Directors. She is an adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera, Baltimore Opera, Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music and AIMS Meistersinger Competition. Craig gained her first critical vocal acclaim as a
winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Many of her students have gained recognition in this
competition; others are singing with major opera companies in the United States and abroad. Craig has studied and
collaborated with prominent artists including Donald Craig, Marenka Gurevitch, Magda Olivero, James de Blasis, Henry Lewis,
Jeffrey Tate, Diane Richardson, Joan Dorneman, Martin Katz, and Warren Jones.
"VOCAL ARTISTRY THROUGH THE CENTURIES"
Dean Southern – Lyric Baritone
BA, Luther College; MM (voice), U of Akron; MM (piano), U of Missouri; DMA (ABD) Cleveland Institute of Music. Currently Professor of Voice, Cleveland Institute of Music. Previously, Visiting Asst Prof of Voice and stage director of opera, U of Miami Frost School of Music (Coral Gables FL), Baldwin-Wallace College and U of Akron. Performance engagements include Festival of Two Worlds (Spoleto, Italy), Perugia (Italy) Chamber Orchestra, Weill Recital Hall - Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. He was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program and performed on two tours throughout the Southwest. As a director, he has staged numerous opera productions ranging from The Marriage of Figaro,
Don Giovanni and La finta giardiniera to modern works such as The Medium, The Telephone
and A Hand of Bridge.
Faculty and guest faculty present lectures and demonstrations of their special interests
and expertise.
