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Who's Who at Chamber Opera Chicago
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Francis
Menotti (Stage Director) was born in Philadelphia
and studied at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. He perfected
his craft with Lee Strasberg in New York and began his
career with the American Shakespeare Festival in New York.
He has interpreted roles ranging from the opera works
of Gian Carlo Menotti
(and
is famous for his portrayal of Toby in The Medium)
to the narrator in both Beethoven’s Egmont in
the Alice Tully Hall in New York and Schoenberg’s Ode
to Napoleon at the Charleston Festival. Following in
the footsteps of his adoptive father, Gian Carlo, Francis
took over much of the responsibility for the Festival
of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy and became its Artistic
Director in 1999. The festival was revitalized thanks to
his artistic choices, and he has also made artistic contributions
to more than 52 other festivals throughout the United States,
Italy and Australia. In February 2007, he directed a critically
acclaimed production of The Medium with the Monte
Carlo Opera. Francis recently directed A Brilliant Life,
A Brilliant Night, Chamber Opera Chicago’s tribute
to his father which was reviewed as “one of the top
shows of the year!” (Oak Park Journal) He directed
Chamber Opera Chicago’s 2007 production of Amahl
and the Night Visitors and will return to direct the
production again this season. Francis will also direct COC’s
production of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, the
Chicago premiere of the opera with lyrics by Gian Carlo
Menotti, based on his father’s staging. |
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Victoria
Bond (Conductor) is also a composer who has written
for every medium including opera, orchestra, ballet, and
chamber music. Her work has been widely performed and recorded
in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Profiled
in the Wall Street Journal, on the NBC
Today Show, in People
magazine, and in the New York
Times, she has attracted the
kind of attention rarely focused on a classical musician.
Victoria’s conducting engagements have taken her to
China, Brazil and
Europe, and in the United States, she has led such prestigious
orchestras as the Houston, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo Symphonies.
The first woman to be awarded a doctorate in orchestral
conducting from the Juilliard School, Bond worked with Roger
Sessions, Pierre Boulez, Sixten Ehrling, Jean Morel, and
Herbert von Karajan. She has previously conducted Chamber
Opera Chicago’s productions of Carmen, A
Brilliant Life, A Brilliant Night: A Tribute to Gian Carlo
Menotti, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The
Consul, The Medium, and The Telephone.
In 2007, she conducted a recording of Menotti’s The
Old Maid and the Thief with members of the Dallas Opera
and Symphony. |
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Nyela
Basney (Conductor/Chorus
Master/Coach) Founder and Director of the international
chamber music festival in Italy, Orvieto Musica, Nyela is
also Artistic Director and Conductor of the Allegro Chorale
and Orchestra in Texas. She was recently Music Director of
the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale where she led Masterworks,
Pops, headliner, tiny tots, educational and run-out concerts.
Formerly Associate Conductor of the Shreveport Symphony
Orchestra, she has also guest conducted the Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony and the Virginia Symphony.
She was Assistant Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra
for three years, for whom she led concerts at Lincoln Center
featuring Peter Schickele. She is currently Associate Conductor
of El Paso Opera. Ms. Basney has also conducted Voices of
Change in Dallas, the Glens Falls Symphony in New York and
has served as cover conductor for John Nelson with the National
Symphony and for Andrew Litton at the Dallas Symphony. With
undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Eastman School
of Music, Nyela served as an Arts America Cultural Specialist
in Uruguay in 1993 for the United States Information Agency. |
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Rudy Hogenmiller (Stage
Director)
Chamber Opera Chicago is thrilled that
Mr. Hogenmiller will be directing his first production with
COC this season, Man of La Mancha. He has been the Light
Opera Works’ artistic director since 2005 and has
directed many productions for LOW, including South
Pacific,
The Mikado, The Merry Widow, Darling
of the Day and The
Sound of Music. A classic "triple threat," Rudy
won the role of Larry, the dance captain, in the Los Angeles
national company of A Chorus Line in 1977, working with
the legendary Michael Bennett. He later directed the groundbreaking
show at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, followed by Drury
Lane Evergreen Park in 1999 (where he also played Zach,
the director), and in 2004 at Theatre at the Center (again
appearing as Zach). For nearly 30 years Rudy has been an
actor, director and choreographer with such Chicago companies
as Marriott Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Evergreen
Park, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Pegasus Players and
Drury Lane Oakbrook. He toured the country and the world
with productions of A Chorus Line, Evita and The
Fantasticks.
He has been recognized with six Joseph Jefferson Awards
and 16 nominations for best direction and choreography in
Chicago. Rudy has been a member of the Society of Stage
Directors and Choreographers for more than 25 years. |
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Dame
Libby Komaiko (Choreographer)
is the Founder, Artistic Director, and Choreographer of
the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, Ensemble
Español Center for Spanish Dance and Music, the Ensemble
Español Spanish Dance Youth Company, and the American
Spanish Dance Festival, now celebrating their 32nd anniversary
season. Dame Libby was the first American artist in history
to be decorated with Spain’s highest honor, the Lazo
de Dama (Ribbon of the Dame) by the King of Spain for her
superlative work in spreading the cultural and artistic
values of Spain throughout the U.S. At the age of 18, she
was discovered by the legendary José Greco and danced
with his world famous Spanish Dance Company. She also performed
with Lola Montes and for theater, opera, television, film
and orchestra, including guest performances with Arthur
Fiedler and the Boston Pops and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In 1975 Dame Libby created and founded the Ensemble
Español,
a full company of 40 dancers and musicians for which she
has choreographed the majority of the company’s extensive
120+ repertoire. She is a professor of Dance in the Department
of Music and Dance at Northeastern Illinois University,
where the Ensemble Español has been in residence
for 32 years. Her numerous awards have included the coveted
Ruth Page Award in 2003 and the prestigious International
Latino Cultural Center Lifetime Achievement
Award, the Pepsi
Cola Hispanic Community Award, the esteemed Brightner
Award,
the Art of Ethnicity Award of Excellence/Master
Teacher by the Chicago Office of Fine Arts/Chicago Public Library,
and awards for choreography from the National Endowment
for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and Chicago Office
of Cultural Affairs. Recent collaborations with Chamber
Opera Chicago include Carmen, Te Amo:
A Musical Evening in Spain and Amahl
and the Night Visitors. |
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Paul
Lindblad (Children’s
Chorus Master) received his undergraduate degree
in Music Education and a Master's Degree in Church Music from
Concordia University, River Forest, IL. He has studied with
world-famous choral conductor Paul Christiansen and international
Kodály
music education specialist Katinka Daniel, and has done extensive
studies in organ performance, vocal technique, and conducting.
Mr. Lindblad is the Musical Director of the Paul
Lindblad Choristers, the Director of the Oak Park Concert
Chorale, Director of Liturgics at St. John Lutheran Church,
Forest Park, the music teacher at Walther Lutheran Academy
at Forest Park, and is the former Choirmaster at St. Gregory
Episcopal Boychoir School, Chicago. Paul was the Children’s
Chorus Master for last season’s production of Carmen and
will direct the children’s chorus in this year’s
productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors and Hansel
and Gretel. |
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John
Boesche (Projected Scene Design) was the
highly acclaimed scene designer for COC’s productions
of The Crucible, A Menotti
Tribute, and Te Amo. He has
also had his scenic and projection designs for theater
seen by Chicago audiences at the Chicago Shakespeare
Theater, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Marriott
Lincolnshire Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and others.
Broadway credits include The Glass
Menagerie at Roundabout
Theatre, directed by Frank Galati. Regionally his work
has been seen at Arizona Theatre Company, Asolo Theatre
(Sarasota), Denver Center Theatre Company, McCarter
Theatre (Princeton), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, New
York Shakespeare Festival (NYC), Seattle Repertory Theatre,
Shakespeare at the Folger (Washington D.C.), South Coast
Repertory (Costa Mesa), and Theater On The Square (San
Francisco), among others. Mr. Boesche received a Joseph
Jefferson Special Award for projection design in 2005.
Projection design accompanying the performance of music
includes the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Eos Orchestra
(New York), and the Ravinia Festival Chicago. Projection
designs for dance include Liz Lerman Dance Exchange,
Mordine and Company, and Lucky Plush dance, among others.
His designs for opera have been seen at Austin Lyric
Opera, Barbican Theatre Centre (London), Brooklyn Academy
of Music, Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Dallas Opera,
Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Lyon,
Opera Pacifica, Portland Opera, Salt Lake Opera, San
Francisco Opera, Theatre de la Monnaie (Brussels), Washington
Opera (D.C.), and Vancouver Opera, among others. In
addition to his work in theater, Mr. Boesche designs
media for his own gallery installations, history museums,
and outdoor events. |
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