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In 1960, while still a student at Chicago Musical College, RICHARD BOLDREY began a long tenure as pianist for the Chicago Symphony Chorus, culminating in his being named the Assistant Conductor of the Chorus from 1972 to 1977. In 1964, he was pianist, organist, timpanist, and assistant conductor for the Robert Shaw Chorale on tours of the United States and South America. He has been pianist in several chamber groups, one of which played at Carnegie Hall, and in 1977 he soloed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three Bach Concertos under the baton of Carlo Maria Giulini. He was harpsichordist and organist with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque from 1977 to 1985. He has accompanied many singers in recital, including such world-renowned artists as Robert Merrill, June Anderson and Grace Bumbry. He has accompanied violinists and cellists on tours of Europe, Central America, and South America. He currently also serves as pianist for Kol Zimrah, the Chicago Master Singers, and the annual Innsbruck International Choral Festival. Mr. Boldrey has been involved in the opera world for about 25 years. He reestablished the Opera Workshop program at North Park College in 1976, and was a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago staff for 16 years: 1981-87 and from 1993 to 2003, serving as pianist, coach, and assistant conductor. He has been Music Director of several opera companies, several at universities, and most recently conducted
Lucia di Lammermoor for L’Opera Piccola in Chicago in 2002.
Since 1995, Mr. Boldrey has been a professor at Northwestern University, where he coaches singers, teaches foreign language diction courses, and specialized courses such as Recitative Singing and Translating Opera Librettos. He is the author of two books concerning opera: Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias and Guide to Operatic Duets, and has also written books and articles on Biblical studies, as well as a family history, The History of the Boldres in the United States. He resides in Morton Grove, Illinois with his wife, Polly Liontis, and their two children. |
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Mezzo-soprano KAREN BRUNSSEN received her bachelor of music from Luther College. She is the co-chair of Northwestern University's Department of Music Performance Studies. Her solo appearances have taken place with Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis, National, San Diego, Seattle, Milwaukee, Netherlands Radio, and Mexico City Symphony Orchestras. Her appearances include Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Opera, Music of the Baroque, Blossom Festival, Waterloo Festival, Grant Park Festival, Chicago Opera Theatre, Carmel Bach Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and Prague Autumn Festival. Her recordings include Telemann's Day of Judgment, Mozart's Mass in C Minor, and Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with Music of the Baroque. Her other recordings include Decca and Vox MMG. |
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MICHAEL LA TOUR, an MFA Directing graduate from The Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, has worked professionally as an actor, singer, dancer, mime, clown, designer, choreographer, director, and producer. He has directed for Kentucky Opera (La Boheme, Carmen) and for DuPage Opera Theatre (Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro in 2005). With Peter Amster, he has co-directed and choreographed Side By Side By Sondheim for Pegasus Players Theatre, M. Butterfly for Apple Tree (After Dark Award for his choreography), and The Magic Flute for the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, where he also staged The Marriage of Figaro and La Traviata with Richard Pearlman. Other directing and choreography credits include: Northwestern University (Dido and Aeneas, The Fairy Queen, The Telephone and Trouble in Tahiti), North Park University (The Dialogue of the Carmelites), original children's shows for Emerald City Theatre Company (Noah's Ark, Rumpelstiltzkin, Winnie the Pooh, and Aladdin), numerous musicals for Chicago area schools, as well as returning to Roosevelt for a Harold Arlen original musical revue called Over the Rainbow. Since 1975, he has directed, choreographed, and performed with his own musical production company touring over 40 countries worldwide. Before his move to Chicago, Michael was an ensemble member at the prestigious Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. While in L.A., he had the opportunity to create roles in seven original plays. One of these he also directed, receiving two LA Drama-Logue Awards (directing and set design). Among his film and TV credits are Beverly Hills 90210, Up All Night with Rhonda Sheer, The Death Gardener, Punishment Without Crime, Cafe L'Amore and the TV sitcom pilot Tapioca Cafe which he directed for 3 Circle Productions. |
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SHERRILL MILNES was born in Downer's Grove, Illinois, on January 10, 1935 to a dairy farmer and his wife. During his childhood, Milnes developed strong musical talents: in addition to possessing a remarkable voice, he was proficient on the piano, violin, viola, double bass, clarinet, and tuba. Although his interests did not always lean towards opera, he spent many hours singing to his father's cows, and once was found on a tractor practicing an operatic laugh. While in high school, Milnes planned to be an anaethesiologist, but later returned to music, studying music education at Drake University and Northwestern University, in hopes of becoming a teacher. His career as an opera singer did not materialize for several more years. He joined the Boris Goldovsky Opera Company in 1960 (he calls it the "luckiest possible beginning" to his career), and made his first important operatic debut four years later at the New York City Opera as Valentin in Gounod's Faust (a role which also served for his Metropolitan Opera debut the same year). His European debut occured later in 1964 at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, Italy -- he sang Figaro from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. However, it was his performance as Miller in Verdi's Louisa Miller in 1968 which catapulted him into international fame. Since then, he has been hailed as one of the greatest Verdian baritones of all time, and has been a favorite in New York, singing much of his repertoire exclusively at the Met. |
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DAN RATNER currently serves as Vice President of Sittercity and Chairman of the Nanotechnology Alliance. Prior to Sittercity, Dan was Executive Vice President and CTO of Driveitaway.com, an online automotive remarking company. Before Driveitaway, he was the co-founder and CTO of Wired Business, one of the first nationwide providers of DSL Internet access. He began his startup career as the founder and CEO of Snapdragon Technologies, an IT consulting firm specializing in information systems and strategies for clients nationwide, and worked before that for Zeller Research Ltd. as an electrical engineer and project manager doing projects for Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. government. Dan holds a B.A. degree in engineering and economics from Brown University and is a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University where he has lectured on nanotechnology at the Kellogg School of Business. He has also been a mentor for the Brown University Entrepreneurship Program, a speaker on nanotechnology at business conferences and trade events, and one of PhillyTech's "Thirty Under 30" entrepreneurs to watch in the Philadelphia area. |
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A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, MARIA SPACAGNA has sung with the Dallas Opera, the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Deutsche Opera in Berlin, and at La Scala, where she made her debut in the title role of Madame Butterfly as the first American ever to perform the role there. She has also sung the role at the Metropolitan Opera and in Berlin and Cologne. Additionally, she has sung the part of Liu in Puccini's Turandot at the Met. Her other notable roles include the title part in Verdi's Luisa Miller and Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, which she has also sung at the Met. Spacagna has also performed recitals. She is the artistic adviser to Rhode Island's Ocean State Lyric Opera. In 1999, she sang the role of Mimi in OSLO's production of La Bohème. |
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MARIA ZOUVES has been hailed by the Stuttgart Zeitung as a "beautiful, lyric voice" and "a not to be surpassed 'piano' in the high register." Opera News described her voice as "creamy." This Greek-American soprano shows great versatility in opera, concert stages, and cross-over, specializing in classical and popular Greek music. Ms. Zouves has sung leading roles with the Baltimore Opera, Memphis Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Orlando Opera, and the Florentine Opera. Zouves made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1997, singing in concerts four consecutive seasons, including the Rutter Requiem under the baton of John Rutter. She completed her debut solo recording of Greek songs entitled "With Flowers Crowned" on the VAI AUDIO label. Her extensive concert work includes performances with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Guild Series, the Austrian Consulate, and the Athenian Ball with Thannos Microutsikos (a gala telecast with the Bucharest Radio Orchestra), and in many concert halls throughout this country and abroad. Zouves was asked to sing in Athens in a command performance for the American and Greek ambassadors. She also works with young singers as a career liaison through her article, "A Conversation with…," featured in Classical Singer. She has taught workshops at Southern Illinois University, Drake University, International Vocal Arts Institute in Puerto Rico, and at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. She is an advocate of outreach, and in her work as opera director at Northwestern University, she founded their highly successful outreach program. Co-founding and directing V.O.I.C.Experience has enabled her to help numerous singers find their career paths. She and her husband Sherrill Milnes have a five-year-old son, Theophilos Zouves Milnes (Theo). |
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