Grand Prix judges 2022
Shawn Marie Jeffery is Managing Director of ADA Artists, and is stepping in for Ana de Archuleta as a Grand Prix Judge. Founded in 2004, ADA Artist Management has established itself as a leader in the music industry by being an artist-led and artist-focused firm. They represent a versatile and well-respected roster of opera artists, both emerging and seasoned professionals. She has been an integral part of the ADA team since 2005, bringing with her a wide array of performance, directorial, and administrative experience. Her work with ADA has taken her to companies throughout the US. Deeply dedicated to providing the next generation of artists with the tools to succeed, she often speaks with young artists sharing her insight on business and artistic trends within the industry in lecture and masterclass settings, having presented at the Atlanta Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Charlottesville Opera, Pensacola Opera, Opera Company of Middlebury, New England Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Seagle Music Colony, Spotlight on Opera, and others. She has served as as a judge for the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, Opera Connecticut’s American Opera Idol, and the AMICI Vocal Competition, and as a panelist for feedback auditions at the Classical Singer Convention. Shawn recently added the title of Executive Producer to her skillset, bringing several regional opera companies together to produce the World Premieres of The Trial of Susan B. Anthony, and most recently Unknown, a work which she also conceived, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. She made her directorial debut staging Christopher Theofanidis' Virtue for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and for Spotlight on Opera has directed Così fan tutte, as well as scenes programs, and the innovative Don Giovanni in Quarantine - a digital adaptation of Mozart’s opera done remotely during the early stages of the COVID pandemic. Previously, she held the position of Director of Education for Opera New Jersey, for whom she created and directed abridged versions of The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, La Cenerentola, and The Pirates of Penzance, which toured schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. During her career as a mezzo-soprano, Shawn performed throughout the United States. A recipient of the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor’s Award, she was well regarded for her keen dramatic abilities, and now shares her dramatic tools and insights into character development in private consultations and coachings through her studio “Stage and Self.”
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Dr. Leslie B. Dunner is currently conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. He is also interim artistic director of the South Shore Opera Company, where he has been music director since 2014, and resident conductor of New Jersey's Trilogy: An Opera Company since 2018. His stirring performances with the Long Beach Opera of Anthony Davis' historical work The Central Park Five received the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Dunner served as music director of the Joffrey Ballet and music director for the symphony orchestras of Annapolis, Dearborn, and Nova Scotia. He spent 11 seasons at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), first as assistant, then associate, and finally as resident conductor, while serving concurrently as music director of the DSO's youth orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra. Besides holding principal conducting positions at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Harlem Festival Orchestra, and Louisville Ballet, he undertook a season as interim music director of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Dunner's guest engagements with major orchestras include two years with the Chicago Symphony and five with the New York Philharmonic as cover conductor, where he also assisted during a four-week European tour. He has appeared with such distinguished ensembles as the Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, San Francisco, and Seattle Symphonies, the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as orchestras in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, and South Africa. An avid ballet conductor, Dunner has taken the podiums of the American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Michigan Opera Theatre, Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and South African Ballet Theatre, among others. In addition to his professional conducting work, Dr. Dunner is a dedicated music educator. He began his career in music education as assistant professor at Minnesota's Carleton College and has continued to lead youth orchestras throughout his career. The first American prize-winner in the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition, he is also a recipient of the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Award and the NAACP's James Weldon Johnson and Distinguished Achievement Awards. www.interlochen.org/person/leslie-dunnerWhen not conducting, Dr. Dunner continues to perform as a clarinetist.
Dunner's guest engagements with major orchestras include two years with the Chicago Symphony and five with the New York Philharmonic as cover conductor, where he also assisted during a four-week European tour. He has appeared with such distinguished ensembles as the Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, San Francisco, and Seattle Symphonies, the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as orchestras in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, and South Africa. An avid ballet conductor, Dunner has taken the podiums of the American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Michigan Opera Theatre, Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and South African Ballet Theatre, among others. In addition to his professional conducting work, Dr. Dunner is a dedicated music educator. He began his career in music education as assistant professor at Minnesota's Carleton College and has continued to lead youth orchestras throughout his career. The first American prize-winner in the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition, he is also a recipient of the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Award and the NAACP's James Weldon Johnson and Distinguished Achievement Awards. www.interlochen.org/person/leslie-dunnerWhen not conducting, Dr. Dunner continues to perform as a clarinetist.
Per Brevig Per Brevig was the principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 26 years. He was born in Norway and his first position in a symphony orchestra was with the Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic. After eight seasons with the orchestra, he came to New York to complete his education at Juilliard, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. While at Juilliard, he freelanced in New York City and upon auditioning for the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, became principal trombonist of his American Symphony Orchestra. In 1968, Brevig became principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; he held that position until 1994, at which time he left in order to embark on a full-time international conducting career. He was the music director and conductor of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra for nine years, during which time he kept his trombone teaching positions at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. Brevig was active as a member of the International Trombone Association (I.T.A.) since its inception and has performed numerous times at its festivals. Among the many pieces he performed was the premiere of Stjepan Sulek’s Sonata for trombone and piano (“Vox Gabrieli”), which has become a staple of the solo trombone repertoire. In 2016, the I.T.A. awarded Brevig a lifetime achievement award, the association’s highest honor. He was one of the first trombonists to give full-length recitals in New York and has concertized worldwide and given master classes in the U.S., Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Europe. Highlights of solo performances of trombone concertos took place at Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Brevig has studied medical problems faced by musicians and serves on the advisory boards of the journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists and the German publication Musikphysiologie und Musik Medizin. The founder and president of the Edvard Grieg Society since 1990, Brevig has led the society to produce recitals, chamber performances, radio broadcasts, and symposia at Columbia University as well as orchestra concerts at Lincoln Center that he has conducted. He is a member of the board of Musicians Club of New York.
Mark Cortale is celebrating his eleventh anniversary season as Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown, MA. Since 2011 he has presented artists that include Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, Megan Mullally and Christine Ebersole. In 2019, he co-produced the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get. He founded the international Broadway @ Concert Series featuring Seth Rudetsky as music director and host in Provincetown in 2011 and has presented these concerts at theatres that include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Broward Center, The Wallis, The Kimmel Center, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Huntington Theatre Company, The Herbst Theatre and the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Beginning in June of 2020 these concerts were offered virtually every Sunday during the pandemic as The Seth Concert Series in association with BroadwayWorld. Mark also founded the singing string quartet Well-Strung which debuted at Ars Nova and Joe's Pub in 2012. In 2020 he founded the developmental theatre lab New Works Provincetown. In conjunction with producing partners Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese, New Works Provincetown has commissioned three new full scale musicals to date: The Last Diva with a book by Jonathan Tolins, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, Maiden Voyage with book and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Carmel Dean and Love Is Strange based on the film by Ira Sachs, with a book by Craig Lucas, music by Cyndi Lauper, directed by Michael Greif. Info at markcortalepresents.com .
Michael Volpert serves as the Director of Artistic Planning for Orpheus. Founded in 1972, the Grammy award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has recorded over 70 albums on all major classical labels, toured to 46 countries across four continents, and collaborated with hundreds of world-class soloists. Orpheus’ 34 member musicians work together as a collective and rotate leadership roles for all works performed, giving flight to unconventional interpretations. This democratic structure also extends to organizational functions including programming and governance: the orchestra elects three members to Artistic Director positions and three to the Board of Trustees. An essential part of New York City’s cultural landscape, Orpheus presents annual series at Carnegie Hall. Orpheus tours to major international venues and has appeared regularly in Japan for 30 years; recent engagements include the Prague Spring and Dresden Music Festivals and a 12-concert tour of Asia. The orchestra’s extensive discography includes a June 2021 release on Nonesuch Records with pianist Brad Mehldau, and the monumental 55 CD box set of Orpheus’ complete recordings on Deutsche Grammophon released in August 2021. Orpheus has commissioned and premiered over 50 new works.
Orpheus shares its collaborative model through education and community engagement initiatives that promote equity and access to the arts for listeners of all ages around the world. These include programs for K-12 students, opportunities for emerging professional musicians, and a music and wellness program for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. Orpheus’ 2021-22 season features collaborations with violinist Pinchas Zukerman, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, violinist Vadim Gluzman, and pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. The orchestra will also premiere new works by Hannah Kendall, Aldo López-Gavilán, and Courtney Bryan. Orpheus’ 2021-22 touring schedule includes appearances in Japan, South Korea, and across the United States. Besides his position as Director of Artistic Planning at Orpheus, Mr. Volpert is also the Music Advisor for the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. He has served as VP of Artistic Operations at Symphony in C, a professional training orchestra in Camden, NJ, as well as Artistic Coordinator with the Detroit Symphony. He received his bachelor's in Bassoon Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and his Master's in Arts Administration at Columbia University. Michael is also currently the Personnel Manager of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Orpheus shares its collaborative model through education and community engagement initiatives that promote equity and access to the arts for listeners of all ages around the world. These include programs for K-12 students, opportunities for emerging professional musicians, and a music and wellness program for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. Orpheus’ 2021-22 season features collaborations with violinist Pinchas Zukerman, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, violinist Vadim Gluzman, and pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. The orchestra will also premiere new works by Hannah Kendall, Aldo López-Gavilán, and Courtney Bryan. Orpheus’ 2021-22 touring schedule includes appearances in Japan, South Korea, and across the United States. Besides his position as Director of Artistic Planning at Orpheus, Mr. Volpert is also the Music Advisor for the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. He has served as VP of Artistic Operations at Symphony in C, a professional training orchestra in Camden, NJ, as well as Artistic Coordinator with the Detroit Symphony. He received his bachelor's in Bassoon Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and his Master's in Arts Administration at Columbia University. Michael is also currently the Personnel Manager of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Stefania de Kenessey is a leading figure in contemporary classical music: “Shades of Light, Shades of Dark”, a CD of her compositions, received rave reviews as “fully worthy to share a program or disc with the masterpieces by Mozart or Brahms” (Fanfare). Honored repeatedly with awards from ASCAP, her music is performed nationally at; venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and throughout the world. Her output ranges from choral, vocal and operatic pieces to chamber and orchestral work, as well as scores for documentary films, theater and dance companies. Her opera adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s best-selling novel “Bonfire of the Vanities” premiered in NYC in 2015 to considerable acclaim: “melodically ingratiating…skillfully wrought…caustically witty” (Financial Times); “Stefania de Kenessey’s musical setting was, unlike a lot of contemporary opera, tuneful and grateful to the voice” (The Observer); “an enterprising opera company would do well to give de Kenessey’s opera a look” (Opera Magazine). She has written concertos for such virtuosos as Chris Gekker and Elizabeth Mann; she has had premieres with the Singapore Symphony, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and the Absolute Ensemble, conducted by Kristjan Jarvi. Active in the realm of opera, she has collaborated with Golden Fleece Chamber Opera as well as Underworld Productions. Her work can be heard on Center Stage Records as well as on the North/South, TCC, ERM, Opus One, Leonarda and Tugboat Music labels. Innova Records issued pianist Mary Kathleen Ernst’s solo recording of “Spontaneous D-Combustion” during the fall of 2013, and North/South released the first disc devoted excusively to de Kenessey’s vocal music, “Gotham Siren”, sung by soprano Adina Aaron, mezzo Adriana Zabala and baritone Christopheren Nomura. Ms. de Kenessey currently serves on the board of the Martina Arroyo Foundation and the International Alliance for Women in Music. She received her BA in music summa cum laude from Yale and her Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University, where she studied with Milton Babbitt. She is currently a professor of music at The New School and has served as the Dean of Eugene Lang College, its undergraduate division, as well as the Chair of the MA in Liberal Studies at the graduate level.