Faculty

Hugo Vera, Tenor

Clara Salomon, Soprano

Artistic Director
​Master Faculty ~ Voice & Stage Direction
Mr. Vera has performed 34 roles and 20 choral orchestral works with distinguished companies in the US as part of his musical and artistic development of the full lyric and spinto tenor repertoire.  In addition to The Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Vera has sung with Spoleto, New York City Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, and many others....
​Read full bio HERE


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Founder, Music Director,
& Program Manager ​(Voice Faculty)
Clara holds a master’s degree from Stanford University in Italian Literature where she created and taught an opera workshop course for the department of music, as well as a public speaking and body awareness seminar for professors and doctoral students. She has lectured on such subjects as verismo literature & opera, trauma and the voice, & breathing patterns as related to posture. She holds a graduate degree in vocal performance, and has worked as a vocal director for numerous university productions...
​Read full bio HERE

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Raffaele Cipriano, Conductor

Master Faculty ~  Orchestral Director
In Fall 2018, Maestro Cipriano joined the musical staff of Sarasota Opera as vocal coach and assistant/cover conductor for the Barber of Seville, Nabucco, and Turandot.  In  2016 he became the artistic and music director of the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, and he has also been conductor at the Olimpic Theatre in Vicenza, the Pollini Auditorium in Padova, and the St. Mark Cathedral in Venice.
​Read full bio HERE​

Kristin Roach, Conductor

Master Faculty ~ Conductor & Vocal Coach
Kristin Roach is in demand as a conductor, pianist, and vocal coach. She has prepared productions for the San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Utah Opera, Brevard Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, and many others. Music Director of Alamo City Opera, Music Director of Spotlight on Opera, and Lecturer in Opera at Texas State University, she has performed in thirty states, Canada, Japan, France, England, and the former Soviet Union.
​Read full bio HERE​

Marie Te Hapuku, Soprano

Master Faculty ~  Vocal Director

New Zealand Maori soprano Marie Te Hapuku joined the Metropolitan Opera artist roster in 2010 as immediate cover for Lina in Verdi's Stifelio. Her roles include Aida, Leonora, Amelia, Turandot, Tosca, Fiordiligi,  Maddalena, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, at principal theaters in Tokyo, Bercelona, Sydney, the United States, and New Zealand.
​Read full bio HERE

Jim Meredith, Vocal Coach

Master Faculty ~ Private Coaching, Masterclasses, Performance Pianist

As a solo pianist, vocal and instrumental accompanist, and conductor in America, Europe and Asia, Mr. Meredith's work has brought him to collaboration with Elly Ameling, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Eleanor Steber, and Gerald Moore.  He is a also frequent musical partner with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and just performed with her at Christmastime. 
Read full bio HERE
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Ricardo Cambri, Pianist

Master Faculty ~  Collaborative Pianist
A much-requested coach and accompanist, Ricardo is also the principal piano instructor at the Luigi Mancinelli School of Music in Orvieto. Riccardo has won a number of Italian Piano Competitions including the Torre Orsaia in 1993, San Gemini in 1994, the Genzano in Rome, 1995, and the San Giovanni Valdarno, 2001.
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​Read full bio HERE

Toomas Kaldaru

Master Faculty ~  Collaborative Pianist 
Toomas is an Estonian vocal coach based in Rome who has collaborated with  l'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino of Florence, the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome, NarniOpera, Kammeroper Köln (Germany), L'Opera di Shymkent (Kazakistan), the Teatro Comunale of Tartu (Estonia), Opernwerkstatt Rhein (Germania), among many others. An optimal and sensitive coach for our singers, he also boasts a professional operatic career as a lyric tenor...
​Read full bio HERE

Francesco Cocco, Stage Director

Stage Direction, Set Design & Lighting
Francesco has worked as set designer for both national and international opera productions (awarded the Dutch Opera Design Award in 2015), most notably the Prague Quadrennial in 2019. His approach as a stage director veers towards the contemporary and experiential. This year's production of Don Giovanni  will reveal the title character as a mythical figure in the form of psychological seducer, and one who ignites the auto-evolution of all the other characters. 
​Read full bio HERE
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Allison Price, Stage Director, Acting Instruction

Allison has been awarded the Kennedy Center SDC Directing Fellowship, the WildWind New Play Development Residency, the Stage Directors and Choreographer's National Directing Award (Kennedy Center), and the Kennedy Center Directing Fellowship. Allison first came to us as a directing intern, and her work as an apprentice directing Il giuoco del quadriglio was so highly esteemed by faculty, students, and audiences alike, that we couldn't wait to have her back as one of our two faculty stage directors.  ​​Read full bio HERE
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Marco Bellussi, Stage Director
​(2019 & future seasons)

Master Faculty ~  Theater & Stage Direction
Mr. Bellussi has directed operas at the Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Goldoni di Venezia, Biennale Musica, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, Teatro Comunale di Treviso, Mittelfest, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Palais des Beaux Arts in Bruxelles, among many others at grand opera houses both Italian and international.
​Read full bio HERE
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