In 2011, AIMS will present the most outstanding line-up of stars ever offered.

Opera: Christa Ludwig, Linda Watson, Gabriele Lechner, Michèle Crider, Kathleen Kelly
Lieder:  Barbara Bonney, Bo Skovhus and Ulrich Eisenlohr

An unprecedented opportunity for AIMS participants!

Updated March 7, 2011.

July 6-8
MASTER CLASSES FOR SINGERS AND PIANISTS

Gabriele Lechner – Lyric dramatic Soprano
Prof. Lechner completed musical and vocal studies at Viennese Musikhochschule and in Italy. She was awarded the diploma summa cum laude in vocal training, lied and oratorio, and opera. She also won prizes in several competitions: Mario del Monaco (Italy), Opera en belcanto (Belgium), and Dr. Luis Segal Competition (Chile). She performed for five years with the Vienna State Opera and Graz Opera and then joined Zürich Opera (1991-2001) where she sang the major lyric dramatic roles of Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, and Wagner and performed over 26 leading roles in the operas of Gluck, Mozart, Weber, Meyerbeer, Boito, Giordano, Offenbach, Schreker, Goldmark, and modern composers Henke and Reimann, among others. She performed in almost every European country, Korea, Chile and participated in major international festivals such as Salzburger Festspiel, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Prague Spring Festival and Carinthischer Sommer. Her international career began in 1986 as Ameilia at Vienna State Opera with Luciano Pavarotti. She has a vast concert repertoire having appeared with the leading conductors of the day (She has worked with over 120 conductors!), and appears often in solo concerts in European countries. Many radio and television broadcasts and CD/DVD productions, including Ballo in Maschera with Pavarotti and Abbado, Tosca with Neil Shicoff, Hänsel and Gretel with Welser-Möst, have resulted from these artistic collaborations. Currently she is University Professor of Voice at Viennese U 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 for a video clip of her singing with Pavarotti. Gabriele Lechner’s homepage.

July 6-8
TISCH TALKS - Chat around Roberta’s table at the Studentenheim.
        LECTURE - Living and Singing in Europe

Roberta Cunningham – Lyric and then spinto Soprano.
After attending AIMS, lived and sang in Europe for 25 years (Wien, München, Hildesheim, Münster, Rudolstadt, Stuttgart). Taught voice in Berlin, Stuttgart and Münster. Tisch Talk is an informal one-on-one Q&A discussion about living in Europe, singing for a living, audition repertoire, general advice for singers, practical aspects of AIMS and Graz, pats on the back, etc. Her lecture will be presented twice.

July 9
LECTURE - The Story of Graz Told by a Graz Native
An oral history: as a child in Graz, a young man in World War II, and recent times.

Werner Haas, German Language
PhD, Karl-Franzens-U (Graz, Austria). Taught German at Akademisches Gymnasium in Graz; moved to USA. Taught at Springfield College; U of Massachusetts; Middlebury College; The Ohio State U; Distinguished Visiting Professor at USAF Academy (1967-1995). He is the author of Decu/Tuco (CAI) computer language programs, of Aus deutscher Geschichte; Bismarck; Die Deutschen und die Österreicher; Deutsch für alle; Sprechen wir darüber, Deutsch immer besser and German, a self-teaching guide, the textbook for the German Course at AIMS. Now Prof Emeritus of German at The Ohio State U.

July 9 - 19
Another Special Opportunity for AIMS 2011
Professional Photographs

Devon Cass, Professional Photographer
Devon Cass, whose professional photography studio in New York City has photographed many artists and celebrities, will be at AIMS for 10 days to take photos for your résumé and web site. Devon returns a second time after a very successful year at AIMS in 2010. See www.devoncass.com for examples of his amazing work. You will receive an email after you register detailing how to make an appointment to be photographed and the special rates offered to AIMS participants; a deposit is required.

July 11 - 22
MASTER CLASSES FOR SINGERS AND PRIVATE COACHING for the Dramatic Voice

Linda Watson – Dramatic Soprano
Linda Watson has gained international recognition as one of the most important Wagnerian artists of our time. Her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1998 as Kundry in Parsifal under Giuseppe Sinopoli was followed by prestigious invitations throughout the world. She has since appeared as Kundry, Isolde, Ortrud in Lohengrin, both Venus and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Brünnhilde in the Ring cycle all over the world. She interpreted Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and with the company in Japan, on both occasions under the baton of Music Director Zubin Mehta, who also conducted her Isolde at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Ms. Watson has appeared as Isolde in Prague, Bern, Florence and Düsseldorf. She made her debut with the Munich Philharmonic in 2000 singing Act 3 of Siegfried with Ben Heppner in concerts conducted by James Levine. She has collaborated with many other leading conductors including Valery Gergiev, Christian Thielemann, Antonio Pappano and Kent Nagano.

Born in San Francisco, Ms. Watson completed her initial studies at the New England Conservatory, after which she received numerous scholarships, including a Fulbright, which allowed her to continue her studies at the Vienna Conservatory. She started her operatic career in Aachen (Germany), after which she joined the Leipzig Opera in 1995. She began her career as a mezzosoprano and was heard in Leipzig in roles which included Venus in Tannhäuser and Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. She debuted at the Vienna State Opera as Venus in 1997.

Her first soprano role was Sieglinde in Die Walküre at Essen (Germany) Opera. She subsequently joined the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as leading dramatic soprano, adding Kundry, Isolde, Leonore (Fidelio) and Ariadne to her repertoire. Her first appearances in Amsterdam and Prague were as the Marschallin. She sang her first Ortrud in Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1999 and appeared in this role at the Bayreuth Festival in 2000 and 2001. Her first Siegfried Brünnhilde was at Bonn Opera. She performed Elisabeth in Tannhäuser for the first time in Toulouse in 2000. She made her Italian and Spanish stage debuts as Isolde in Florence and as Kundry in Madrid in 2001. She later repeated Kundry under Christian Thielemann at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. At Bayreuth she appeared as Kundry in 1998, followed by Ortrud there in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Beside appearing as Kundry in Madrid with Plàcido Domingo and a tour with the Bavarian State Opera to Japan as Isolde and Leonore in Fidelio in 2001, she made her Berlin Philharmonic debut in Parsifal under Claudio Abbado and her Netherlands Opera debut in a new production of Lohengrin. In 2002, she sang her first Die Walküre Brünnhilde in Tokyo. She repeated the role in Düsseldorf and subsequently at the Bayreuth Festival. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Kundry in 2003 under Valery Gergiev, Lohengrin in Bologna with Daniele Gatti, Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the Liceu; Kundry in Parsifal in a new production at the Wagner Festival in Seattle followed. She debuted at the Washington National Opera opposite Plàcido Domingo as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. She first sang the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten at Los Angeles Opera in 2004 and in that season also appeared in a complete Ring cycle with the Vienna State Opera, and in Ring performances as Brünnhilde at the De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Recent engagements include Kundry in Parsifal in Los Angeles, the Ring at the Thèâtre du Châtelet in Paris in the 2005/06 season and in 2006 as Brünnhilde in Bayreuth under the baton of Christian Thielemann. In 2007, she sang Ortrud at La Scala, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Washington, the Ring in Bayreuth, Tannhäuser in Tokyo, Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Los Angeles Opera, and the Dyer’s Wife at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. In 2009, she returned to Los Angeles Opera as Brünnhilde in the Company’s first staging of the Ring cycle and also repeated this role at the Bayreuth Festival in 2009 and 2010. She has the distinction of being the only leading soprano to sing at the Bayreuth Festival ten seasons in a row.

July 18
AUDITIONS, LECTURES, ADVICE, Q&A

Clemens Anton Klug – Artists Agent, Klug Artists, Graz
Born and schooled in Graz; associated with AIMS all his life. Completed BA and MPh studies in Musicology, Romance Languages and Organ performance. Freelance journalist, program annotator, narrator and musician. Since 2004, represents an international group of vocalists and instrumentalists. Collaborates with artists such as singers Michèle Crider, Elina Garanča and Peter Dvorský, conductor Valery Gergiev and actress Vanessa Redgrave. On his roster are several former AIMSers whom he represents in Austria and various European countries. For his own festival, he engaged legendary mezzosoprano Christa Ludwig for the first time as a reciter.

July 16
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, Gioconda, Norma and Manon Lescaut, 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 and Desdemona in Othello.

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 appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Orange, Ravenna and Edinburgh, at the Royal Albert Hall London, Carnegie Hall, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Savonlinna, the Salle Pleyel, Barbican Hall in London, and made a tour to Japan. 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.

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. Michèle has become a favorite master class teacher at AIMS, eliciting rave revues from both the singers and faculty. Michèle Crider’s homepage.

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July 19
Lied Master Class for Singers and Pianists

Ulrich Eisenlohr – Pianist/Collaborative Pianist - Lieder
Ulrich Eisenlohr studied piano with Rolf Hartmann at the conservatory of music in Heidelberg/Mannheim and Lieder under Konrad Richter at Stuttgart. Specialising in the areas of song accompaniment and chamber music, he began an extensive concert career with numerous instrumental and vocal partners in Europe, America and Japan, with appearances at the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Berlin Festival Weeks, the Kulturzentrum Gasteig in Munich, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Edinburgh Festival, the Frankfurt Festival, the Int’l Beethoven Festival Bonn and the Ludwigsburg Festival, among many others. His Lieder partners include Christian Elsner, Matthias Görne, Dietrich Henschel, Wolfgang Holzmair, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Christoph Pregardien, Detlef Roth, Sibylla Rubens, Roman Trekel, Rainer Trost, Iris Vermillion, Michael Volle, Ruth Ziesak.
Eisenlohr has also appeared in numerous broadcasts and recordings for leading record companies, of which several have been awarded major prizes, such as the German Record Critics’ Quarterly Award, a Grand Prix Int’l from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris and the Classical Internet Award. The recording of all Schubert songs, which he finished in 2009, has been an important focus of his artistic work, although his repertoire includes many other composers.
He has lectured at the conservatories of music in Frankfurt and Karlsruhe and since 1982 has directed a Lieder class at the Mannheim Musikhochschule. He has conducted master classes in Lied and chamber music in Europe and Japan, with Rudolph Piernay, Jard van Nes and Ruth Ziesak among others, and assisted at master courses with Hans Hotter, Christa Ludwig, Elsa Cavelti, Daniel Ferro and Geoffrey Parsons.

July 20
MASTER CLASS FOR SINGERS

Christa Ludwig – Mezzosoprano
The celebrated German mezzosoprano, Christa Ludwig, was a true child of the theatre. Her father, Anton Ludwig, was a tenor and an operatic administrator; her mother, the mezzosoprano Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig. Her mother was engaged at the Aachen Opera House during Herbert von Karajan’s period as conductor where she sang roles from Senta to Rezia to Azucena, from Ulrica to Elektra and Fidelio. At the age of 40 she gave up her career. Christa studied primarily with her mother, and also at Frankfurt am Main with Hüni-Mihacsek. Ms. Ludwig made her debut as Orlovsky at Frankfurt at the age of 18, where she sang until 1952. After appearances in Darmstadt from 1952 to 1954, she sang in 1954-1955 in Hannover. In 1955 she joined the Wiener Staatsoper where she became one of its principal artists and was made a Kammersängerin in 1962. She remained with the company for more than 30 years. In 1954 she appeared in Salzburg as Cherubino and returned there regularly until 1981.

Christa Ludwig’s American debut was in Chicago as Dorabella in 1959. In December 1959 she made her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Cherubino, and subsequently returned there regularly until 1990. Her repertory included all the mezzo roles and some dramatic soprano roles, including the Dyer&ruquo;s Wife, Judith, Leonora, Dido, Ortrud, Kundry, Marschallin, Charlotte (Werther), Waltraute, Fricka (Die Walküre), Lady Macbeth, Didon (Les Troyens) and Klytemnestra. In 1966 she sang Brangäne at the Bayreuth Festival and later there as Kundry. She appeared at Covent Garden in 1968-69 as Amneris, returning as Carmen. The three conductors who most influenced her were Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein. She also sang in Hamburg, San Francisco, Munich, La Scala and Paris.

In addition to her appearances as an opera singer, Christa Ludwig was one of the most superb Lieder and oratorio singers of her time. Her performances of Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler and Strauss Lieder were particularly noteworthy. She was also an excellent Bach singer and performed and recorded most of his major vocal works. In 1980 she received the Golden Ring of the Vienna State Opera, and in 1981 was made its honorary member. In 1989 she was honored by the French government as a Chevalier of the Lègion d’honneur and as a Commandeur de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres. In March 1993 Ms. Ludwig made her farewell appearances at the Met singing Fricka in Die Walküre and in a farewell Lieder tour in Europe and the USA. Her career closed with concert and operatic farewells in Vienna in 1994. Her biography, first published in German in 1994, was published in English as "In My Own Voice: Memoirs" in 2004 and is a fascinating read for the aspiring professional singer. Ludwig’s extraordinary vocal gifts and compelling musical integrity gained her a distinguished reputation as one of the outstanding operatic and concert artists of her day. Her recordings still stand as definitive readings of the repertoire.

July 25
Master Class for Singers and Pianists

Kathleen Kelly – Pianist, Opera Coach and Opera Administrator
A graduate of Arizona State U (BM and MM), Ms Kelly won a Fullbright scholarship to Germany, studying contemporary German piano music and then an apprenticeship at San Francisco Opera´s Merola Young Artist Program, after which she worked for the opera coaching singers. This led to a position at the Metropolitan Opera, where she specialized in the company´s German repertoire serving as assistant conductor, coach, and prompter from 1998 to 2006. During her time there, she assisted James Levine on major German pieces such as Berg´s Wozzeck and Lulu; Strauss´s Elektra; and Wagner´s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Der Ring des Nibelungen. Ms Kelly also assisted with Berlioz´s Les Troyens, the world premiere of Tobias Picker´s An American Tragedy, and the Met premieres of Schoenberg´s Moses und Aron and William Bolcom´s A View from the Bridge. She has coached under Andrew Davis, Donald Runnicles, Valery Gergiev, Charles Mackerras, and Patrick Summers. In 2005, she was invited by Maestro Summers, Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, to join him as head of the music staff and director of their Opera Studio. She made her conducting debut in that company´s critically acclaimed Basil Twist production of Hänsel und Gretel, which she led in her own arrangement for chamber ensemble. There she met Franz Welser-Möst, the famed European conductor who is now the Music Director of the Vienna Staatsoper. In 2010, he invited her to become Head of the Music Staff (Studienleiter) in Vienna where she oversees the day-to-day operations of the company´s singers and pianists.

August 2
MASTER CLASS FOR SINGERS

Barbara Bonney – Soprano
American-born (Montclair NJ) Barbara Bonney is one of the world’s most accomplished lyric sopranos. She leads the field in her chosen repertoire of roles by Mozart and Richard Strauss and is recognised as one of the finest Lieder and concert performers of her generation. Barbara Bonney sings with the world’s leading opera companies and her interpretations of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier under Sir Georg Solti and Carlos Kleiber have both been released on video, as has her performance of the role of Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) from La Scala, Milan. She is a regular guest with the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in Munich, Hamburg and Geneva.

In concert, Ms. Bonney has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa and Riccardo Muti, the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado (singing Mahler), Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Mahler 2) and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk with John Eliot Gardiner (Paradies und die Peri and Mahler 4). In the summer of 1995 she was in residence at Tanglewood and performed extensively with Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in addition to giving recitals and masterclasses. Her engagements have included Falstaff and L’elisir d’amore at the Met, Figaro and Der Rosenkavalier at Bastille Opera in Paris and many other opera houses of the world. She toured Japan with Ozawa and made a major European tour with the Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons.

Barbara Bonney is a prolific recording artist and her outstanding recordings have included many with Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Her most recent release with Gardiner on Deutsche Grammophon (Lehár's Die lustige Witwe) met with critical acclaim as have her recital discs of Lieder by Richard Strauss, Mozart, Wolf, Mendelssohn and Schubert, all accompanied by the late Geoffrey Parsons. In addition there are complete recordings of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte with both Harnoncourt and Östman, and Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel under Jeffrey Tate. Recent releases also include La Clemenza di Tito for Decca and Exsultate jubilate with Trevor Pinnock, plus Carmina Burana with André Previn for DGG. She continues her Lieder series with discs accompanied by Previn and Ashkenazy. In 2007, she was appointed professor of voice at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Barbara Bonney’s homepage.

July 16
AUDITIONS AND LECTURE - The German Opera System

Uwe Drechsel – Intendant, Hof Opera, Hof in Bavaria, Germany 
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.

July 8 - August 8  (presented once or twice weekly)
THE HENRY PLEASANTS LECTURE SERIES
  Vocal Artistry Through the Centuries
  Six Lectures and Listening featuring the Historic Singers Audio Library.

Dean Southern – Lyric Baritone
BA, Luther College; MM (voice), U of Akron; MM (piano), U of Missouri; DMA Cleveland Institute of Music. Currently Professor of Voice, U of Miami Frost School of Music (Coral Gables FL). Previously, 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 at 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.

MASTER CLASS FOR SINGERS AND ORCHESTRA MEMBERS

ARIA READING SESSION

Edoardo Müller and the AIMS Festival Orchestra

A master class with a master conductor designed for singers and orchestra players to gain experience singing with an orchestra and playing opera arias.  This session is always a highlight of the summer, and all attendees learn much from this once in a lifetime experience!

Edoardo Müller – Conductor.
Has conducted in all the major opera houses: Milano (opera, concert, ballet), Rome, Bologna, Venice, Naples, Bari, Catania, Genoa, Verona, Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Wiesbaden, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Caracas, Basel, Linz, Santiago, San Juan, Seattle, Washington, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Diego, Cincinnati, Metropolitan Opera. Recital accompanist for Tebaldi, Carreras, Bergonzi, Obrazotva, Caballe, Ricciarelli, and Bruson. Conducting faculty at Milano Conservatory; Director of the La Scala Young Artists Program. Master Classes for Curtis Institute, DePaul University, Metropolitan Opera Studio, Gent, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tel Aviv, AIMS in Graz. Founder of Alessandria Laboratory for Singers, Conductors, and Directors. Recently featured in Classical Singer magazine, "Conductor Edoardo Müller: A Singer‘s Best Friend". Quote: "Edoardo Müller loves singers. When you are on stage, he smiles at you as if you can do no wrong - and suddenly, he‘s right! Your voice floats out like never before and he beams his pleasure!"

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