Competition Judges

Final Competition Judges, March 3, 2012

Marc Astafan made his official debut on New Year’s Eve 1996 as director and choreographer of The Magic Flute at the Eugene Opera in Oregon.  Since then he has criss-crossed the United States directing productions. He made his New York debut with the Opera Orchestra of New York in 1999, again with The Magic Flute, on the site of the Egyptian Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  In 2000 Marc joined the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera as assistant director on ten productions. Career highlights include critically acclaimed productions of Tosca at Virginia Opera, Cendrillon and Rinaldo at Central City Opera, Romeo et Juliette at Syracuse Opera and La Cenerentola at Nevada Opera and La Calisto at The New England Conservatory. In 1994 Marc began a long association with Central City Opera in Colorado as an assistant director and was given his debut there with Tosca in 1998. Dedicated to the training of young opera artists since the beginning of his career, Marc has taught and directed the apprentice artists at The Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Central City Opera, and many others.

Margaret Lattimore Gramm-nominated Mezzo-Soprano has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Central City Opera, San Diego Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, and Netherlands Opera among others. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at age 24, Miss Lattimore became a member of the Lindemann Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program. In October of that same year, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Dorotea in Stiffelio with Placido Domingo. Other Metropolitan Opera roles have included Meg Page in Falstaff and Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby, both under the baton of the James Levine. Ms. Lattimore attended the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam where she studied with Patricia Misslin. She now resides with her husband and five year old son in New York.

Keith Miller  bass-baritone is a graduate of Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts who joined the Metropolitan Opera in 2006. He made his Met debut on opening night of Peter Gelb's first season as The Imperial Commissioner in Anthony Minghella's HD production of Madama Butterfly. Miller serves as the Crested Butte Music Festival's Director for Opera and its Opera Young Artist Program. He founded Puissance Training, a progressive new way of looking at opera today that focuses as much on the physical conditioning of singers as the vocal. He acts as a mentor at ArtsLEAF, a mentoring network for the arts. A native of Ovid, CO, Miller was a starting fullback at the University of Colorado, playing in the Fiesta and Cotton Bowls. In 1996, he carried the Olympic torch for the Atlanta Games along a portion of the old Pony Express trail. Miller played professional football for five years with the European and Arena Football Leagues.

 

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Preliminary Competition Judges, February 25, 2012

Nancy Gustafson an American opera singer was appointed artist-in-residence at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music in 2006. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1978 and her M.Mus. from Northwestern University. She has appeared in productions at venues both in the United States including the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera and in Europe including Milan's La Scala, London's Covent Garden, and the Paris Opera. She has performed in productions with Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and Joan Sutherland. In Vienna she was honored with the title Kammersängerin by the Vienna State Opera.

William Powers is currently Director of Administration and Artistic Operations at Pittsburgh Opera. He has served as Administrative Director for the Juilliard School’s Department of Vocal Arts and the Juilliard Opera Center. He joined the Metropolitan Opera’s Artistic Department as the Associate Administrator in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and served in the Met’s Rehearsal Department. He was General Director of the Berkshire Opera Company, and held posts of Production Manager at The Music Academy of the West and Administrator of the Aspen Opera Theater Center. Mr. Powers has judged for the Metropolitan National Council Auditions and has served on the Board of Directors of OPERA America. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Hamilton College and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

Stephen West a bass-baritone, has appeared with many of the finest opera companies in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Bayreuth, Salzburg and Santa Fe Festivals among many others. He has performed with leading symphony orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston, Atlanta, and Montreal symphonies, and the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood and the Hollywood Bowl. He has collaborated with many world-famous conductors, including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir Andrew Davis, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Charles MacKerras, Julius Rudel, Michael Gielen, and Richard Bonynge. Mr. West has studied extensively with world-renowned basses Hans Hotter and Jerome Hines. He holds the position of  Artist/Professor of Music in Voice in the School of Music, Theater and Dance at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

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Competition Accompanist:

James J. Myers is a pianist/harpsichordist, collaborative keyboardist, vocal coach, composer, and operatic musical director.

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Competiton Stand-In Judge:

John Baril A versatile conductor has led critically acclaimed performances of symphonic and choral music, ballet, opera, operetta and musical theater.  He has collaborated with such artists as conductor Stephen Lord, soprano/director Catherine Malfitano, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves among others. For the past twelve seasons, he has worked closely with the apprentice and studio artists in the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program at the Central City Opera Festival. This season he will be working with Opera Colorado as chorus master and is conducting The Marriage of Figaro.

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Past Judges

2011		PRELIMINARIES:		2004		PRELIMINARIES:
		Susanne Mentzer (Rice Univeristy)				Shannon Stoddard (Opera Omaha)
		Armen Guzelimian				Lynn Jemison-Keisker (Utah Festival Opera)
		Peter Somogyi (Arizona Opera)				Darren Keith Woods (Ft. Worth Opera)
		FINALS:				FINALS:
		Cynthia Lawrence (Univ. of Kentucky)				Richard Gaddes (Santa Fe Opera)
		Tim Noble (Indiana University)				Francis Graffeo (Knoxville Opera)
		Catherine Cook (San Francisco)				Karen Keltner (San Diego Opera)
2010		PRELIMINARIES:		2003		Nicoletta Ciliento (Italy)
		James McDonald				Peter Russell (Colorado)
		Pelham Pearce				Nora Sands (Austria)
		Brad Woolbright
				2002		Dr. Carol Kimball (Univ. of Nevada)
		FINALS:				Jonathan Pell (Dallas)
		James M. Keller
		Timothy O'Leary		2001		Jerome Pruitt (Univ. of Hartford)
		Carol Vaness				Thomas Smilie
2009		PRELIMINARIES:		2000		Peter Hemmings (Los Angeles)
		Mark Calkins (St. Olaf College, Minnesota)				Juliana Gondek (Los Angeles)
		Shirlee Emmons (New York City)
		Curt Peterson (St. Lake City, Utah)		1999		Richard Gaddes (Santa Fe)
						Regina Sarfaty Rickless (Santa Fe)
		FINALS:
		Michael Ballam (Utah Festival Opera, Logan, Utah)		1998		Michael Johnson (Univ. of Memphis)
		Daniel Biaggi (Palm Beach Opera, West Palm Beach, Florida)				Martha Longmire (kansas City)
		Katherine Ciesinski (Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York)
				1997		Dr. David Blackburn (Natchez)
						Dr. Judith Auer (Boulder)
2008		PRELIMINARIES:
		Anne Baltz		1996		Dr. David Blackburn (Natchez)
		Bruce Donnell				Robert McFarland (Philadelphia)
		Dennis C. Jackson
		FINALS:		1995		Shirlee Emmons (New York)
		Darren K. Woods				William Hicks (New York)
		Kathleen Kaun
		Timothy Noble		1994		Dr. David Blackburn (Natchez)
						William Fred Scott (Atlanta)
2007		PRELIMINARIES:
		Ann Baltz		1993		Richard Gaddes (St. Louis)
		Bruce Donnell
		Katherine Ciesinski		1992		John Moriarty (New England Conservatory)
		FINALS:		1991		Edward Purrington (Washington, D.C.)
		Sheri Greenwald
		Richard Cross		1990		Plato Karayanis (Dallas)
		Dr. David Blackburn
				1989		Marc  Scorca (Chicago)
2006		PRELIMINARIES:
		Darren K. Woods (Ft. Worth)		1988		Ian Campbell (San Diego)
		Doris Yarick Cross (New Haven)
		Dean Williamson (Seattle)		1987		Speight Jenkins (Seattle)
		FINALS:		1986		Richard Gaddes (St. Louis)
		Dona D. Vaughn (New York)
		Jonathan Pell (Dallas)		1985		Nora Sands Owen (Dallas)
		Roger Pines (Chicago)
2005		PRELIMINARIES:
		Paul B. Kilmer (St. Louis)
		Ashley Putnam (New York)
		Dona D. Vaughn (New York)
		FINALS:
		Katherine Ciesinski (Houston)
		Sherrill Milne (Illinois)