Summer 2014 Masterclasses

Age Nationality Sopranos CATHY-DI ZHANG 26 Australian HYESANG PARK 22 South Korean MARIE JAERMAN 25 Swiss NAOMI JOHNS 26 Australian RAQUEL GONZALEZ 23 American

Mezzo-sopranos ANGELA SIMKIN 28 British

Tenors THOMAS ELWIN 27 British FABIO ANTONIELLO 25 Swiss WILLIAM GOFORTH 23 American baritone HAOBIN WANG 25 Chinese TAKAOKI ONISHI 24 Japanese

Bass-baritone LANCELOT NOMURA 27 British Sopranos

Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang is a first year student on the Course at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is studying with Elizabeth Ritchie and Jonathan Papp. Her studies are supported by the Leverhulme Trust, Catherine Osborne, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Josephine Baker Trust. For RAO, she has performed the title role of Massenet’s and has also sung the roles of Wellgunde and Donna Elvira in scenes. Cathy-Di also completed her Masters at the Academy with Distinction and a Dip.RAM, where she performed the roles of Suzanna, Venere, Tatiana and Miss Jessel in scenes. CATHY - DI ZHANG In 2013, she completed the ENO Opera Works programme. Last Summer, Cathy participated in the Mozart Residency, Festival Aix-en-Provence where she performed Australia | 26 the roles of Contessa, Pamina, Donna Anna, Fiordiligi and First Lady in scenes. She has participated in masterclasses with Barbara Bonney, Ann Murray, Susan Bullock, Angelika Kirchschlager, Mark Shanahan, Edward Gardner and John Copley. In Australia, Cathy-Di sang the roles of Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and Lisa (La Sonnambula) for Pacific Opera. She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales. She also recently participated in The Solti Peretti Repetituers’ Masterclass at the Fondazione Cini in Venice and is very looking forward to returning to take part in the Singers Edition this Summer.

Soprano Hyesang Park, a native of South Korea, is pursuing a master of music degree at The Juilliard School. She made her debut as Violetta in La traviata with Korea National Opera, where she also performed in L’elisir d’amore. Ms. Park received support from and performed solos at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and Pony Chung Hall. She trained for two years at the Korea National Opera Young Artist Program, and has performed with several orchestras throughout Korea. Hyesang is the first place winner of both the Korea National Opera and Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Competitions, and was awarded the Minister for Culture prize HYESANG in Korea. She completed her bachelor of music degree in vocal performance at Seoul PARK National University in Korea. South Korea | 22 This season, Hyesang participated in a masterclass with Sir Richard Bonynge, and Ms. Rénee Fleming. Born in Lausanne to a family of musicians, soprano Marie Jaermann finishes her Masters degree at the Royal College of Music in London, studying with Sally Burgess and Simon Lepper. She will continue her studies at the RCM International Opera School from September 2014. Marie has been supported by the Leenaards, Dénéréaz, Colette Mosetti and Friedl Wald Foundations. She finished her Bachelor degree with Christian Immler at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne with a Best Recital Prize. She has been improving her vocal technique with Ioana Bentoiu in Lausanne. MARIE JAERMAN Marie has sung in many European countries, in Brazil and in Japan with conductors such as Michel Corboz, Guillaume Tourniaire and Sigiswald Kuijken. Switzerland | 25

Naomi Johns is an Australia based soprano who has performed with Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, state and regional companies and has also appeared on ABC national radio and television as a principle artist. She is the recipient of the Nelly Apt Award from The Australian Singing Competition as has been a finalist the Opera Foundation Australia’s Lady Fairfax Award and German Award. After returning from numerous summer programs overseas and in the United States last year, she was awarded the 2013 Bel Canto Award from the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Opera Foundation. NAOMI This past month she débuted the role of Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème for Opera JOHNS on the Avalon in Canada and will sing the title role of Rodelinda by Handel Australia | 26 in Melbourne at the end of the year with Maestro Bonynge conducting.

Soprano Raquel González from Lawrence, Kansas completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at The Juilliard School under Marlena Malas. At Juilliard, Raquel was seen as Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Arminda (La Finta Giardiniera), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), and The Rooster (Cunning Little Vixen). At The Chautauqua Institution she sang Donna Anna (), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), and Lauretta () and in August 2014 will return to sing the role of Magda in La Rondine. She has performed with The New York Philharmonic, the New York Festival of Song, and in concert with William Christie and Juilliard415. RAQUEL At Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Raquel will be singing First Lady (The Magic Flute) GONZALEZ in June 2014. She has been awarded prizes from the National USA | 23 Council Auditions, the Liederkranz Foundation and the Gerda Lissner Foundation. She is a Toulmin Scholar. MEZZO SOPRANO Originally from Lincoln, Angela Simkin was trained at the Royal Northern College of Music. She now studies with Tim Evans Jones at the Royal College of Music, where she is a member of the Benjamin Britten Opera School. She is a Britten Pears Young Artist and an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar, supported by a Joe Lassetter Award. Angela is also grateful to the Josephine Baker Trust, the Norrah Popple Award, The Musician’s Benevolent Fund, and the Mario Lanza Society. Most recently, Angela played Concéption (L’heure Espagnole) for the RCM International Opera School. Angela’s other operatic roles include, ‘Dirindina’ (Scarlatti) ANGELA for Woodhouse Festival Opera, Leila (Iolanthe), Edith (Pirates of Penzance), SIMKIN Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), and Hebe (HMS Pinafore) for Buxton G&S Opera Company. UK | 28 For Opera Della Luna, she has played Margaret in The Ghosts of Ruddigore (Sullivan), Ida/Dr Blind in (Strauss), and Valencienne in The Merry Widow (Lehar). She also played Queen Elizabeth I (Merrie England, by Edward German) for Opera South. In addition to this, Angela has worked with Grange Park Opera and Bampton Classical Opera. For English Touring Opera, she has covered the role of Nutrice (Monteverdi - L’Incoronazione di Poppea). For the London Handel Festival this year, Angela sang the role of Teseo in Arianna in Creta.

TENORS Thomas Elwin is part of an exciting new generation of British tenors. Born in London, Thomas began his musical education as a boy-chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where he also performed extensively as a soloist including at the Royal Festival Hall, on Classic FM and BBC Radio 3. As a Tenor Thomas undertook postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, completing the Opera Course in 2013 following which he joined the chorus of Glyndebourne for the summer festival 2013. Roles performed to date include Nemorino, Tamino and Ferrando. THOMAS ELWIN For the 2014/15 season Thomas will be joining the Opera Studio at Oper Stuttgart where he will perform roles including: Killian (Freischutz), Albaddo (Nabucco), UK | 27 Officer (Ariadne), Kuska (Khovanshchina) and understudy roles in La Traviata and Die Fledermaus. He continues to study in London with Gary Coward. Swiss Italian tenor Fabio Antoniello started performing with soprano Marie Jaermann at a young age. He continued professional vocal studies with Ioana Bentoiu, and with Ludmila Gogatcheva he studied piano at the Conservatoire of Lausanne, obtaining a certificate with honours. Alongside his vocal studies, he completed a Bachelor in Music in School at the HEMU of Lausanne, and in 2012 he obtained a diploma in singing with honours at the Institut de Ribaupierre. He is currently on the Master of Performance programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Within the opera worshops during his studies he has sung scenes as Don Ottavio FABIO (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan Tutte), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), ANTONIELLO Des Grieux (Manon), Prunier (La Rondine), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de Perles). Switzerland | 25 Fabio joined the vocal group Il Color Cantato and the vocal ensemble Euterpe in 2008, with which he has performed frequently in France and Switzerland on projects such as the Mozart Festival Euterpe. His repertoire ranges from Baroque to the romantic Italian music he particulary likes. He also enjoys German Lieder and French Melody and some of the Russian repertoire and operetta. Fabio formed a duo with the Munich pianist Julia Froschhammer and together they gave two recitals during the Saint-­Ursanne Piano Festival. He participated as a soloist in a project of Operetta with the Geneva Sinfonietta conducting by Benoît Willmann. He sings Schubert’s Mass in E flat major conducting by Christophe Gesseney and Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ conducting by Jan Dobrzelewski. Fabio has developed his skills with the bass-baritone Arkadius Burski and the Swiss mezzo-­soprano Brigitte Balleys and he is currently studying with the tenor Philip Doghan and the vocal coach Jonathan Papp. His is grateful for the Irène Dénéréaz award, which he has won several times, for Helen & Victor Barbour and Fundatia Cretoiu-­Tassian awards for his studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Apart from his singing, he served as organist in the catholic parishes of Lucens, Moudon and Ursy (Switzerland).

William Goforth, originally from Vancouver, Washington (USA), has been praised for his “light, clear tenor” (Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times). He is a recent graduate of St. Olaf College and currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School. This season, he appeared in concerts at Alice Tully Hall, Juilliard’s Focus Festival and a production of Eugene Onegin led by conductor Matthew Aucoin. At Juilliard he has coached with Brian Zeger, Steven Blier and Arlene Shrut, and is a student of Dr. Robert C. White. William studied at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and the Franz- WILLIAM Schubert-Institut with artists including Ian Bostridge, Elly Ameling, , GOFORTH and Helmut Deutsch. He often appears in recital with pianist Wenwen Du USA | 23 and as a guest soloist with Pink Martini. BARITONES Chinese baritone Haobin Wang started formal voice lessons when he was 18 years old. In 2007, he was admitted in Sichuan Conservatory of Music to study vocal performance. In his undergraduate career, he studied singing diligently, and took part in many performances and masterclasses. His performances, such as ‘ Top students concerts’ ‘Solo concerts’ had high popularity in Sichuan. He attended many vocal masterclasses, such as Chang Xu, Yu Chen, Helmut Deutch, Dennis O’Neill, and Brindley Sherratt. In 2012 Haobin was awarded a full scholarship by the Academy and transferred to London to study for his MA in vocal performance. In 2013, he was offered a place HAOBIN WANG in the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music. China | 25 A native of Tokyo, Japan, baritone Takaoki Onishi is quickly gaining recognition as one of the most talented singers of his generation. In just one year, he won the Top Prize in Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the First Prize in both the Opera Index, Inc. Vocal Competition and the Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. At Juilliard, he sang Blansac in LA SCALA DI SETA and Masetto in DON GIOVANNI. Most recently, he sang the title role in EUGENE ONEGIN at Juilliard and he also sang the role of Jesus in ST. MATTHEW PASSION at Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. Takaoki’s TAKAOKI performances in these two works was met with acclaim by both the public and press, ONISHI including the NY Times. Japan | 24 This summer, he has been invited to the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, to cover the role of Ford in FALSTAFF, conducted by Fabio Luisi.

BASS BARITONE Lancelot Nomura currently studies on the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music with Janice Chapman and Audrey Hyland. He was recently awarded the Opera Prize at the National Mozart Singing Competition and other recent operatic highlights include performing in Billy Budd with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and playing the roles of Zuniga in Bizet’s (Woodhouse Opera), Le Roi in Massenet’s Cendrillon (Royal Academy Opera), and Collatinus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Academy Opera). In the Summer 2014 season he will be playing the role of Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Westminster Opera). LANCELOT NOMURA Lancelot went to Rugby School where he held a Music Scholarship as a cellist, following which he completed his undergraduate studies at Oxford, where he was a Scholar at Christ UK | 27 Church College. After graduating he began a career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan. Lancelot is very grateful for the kind support of the Sainsbury’s Trust, Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund, the Josephine Baker Trust and the Seary Trust.