CyberSing 2004 Winners

American Baritone Ari Harkov is currently studying with Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, in London, UK, with full funding from the Maguire Fellowship of New York. Ari spent two summers studying with Marlena and Spiro Malas at the Chautauqua School of Music Vocal Program, in NY, where he worked with such distinguished coaches and collaborators as Craig Rutenberg, Kenneth Merrill, Michael Eliasen, and Don St. Pierre. Fluent in Italian, the young baritone has lived and studied in Bologna, Italy, at the Scuola Novarcanto, under the tutelage of Giovanna Giovanninni, while also taking courses in Art History at the Università di Bologna.

This past summer Ari was a scholarship recipient at Songfest, an art-song course in Malibu, California, where he worked with Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, and composer-in-residence John Harbison.

He has also won the Rossini Award at the Orpheus National Music Competition and the Vassar College Concerto Competition.

Ari received his Bachelor's degree with General Honors and Departmental Honors in Art History from Vassar College, NY, in May 2004, with additional studies in Italian Language and Literature, Film, Africana Studies, Biology, Economics, History, Music History, Philosophy, and Religion. He was named an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and a Commended National Merit Scholar.

Canadian soprano Heather Newhouse began her vocal studies in Regina, Saskatchewan as a student of Diana Woolrich, and is currently in the final year of a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Western Ontario, where she studies with Kevin McMillan.

Heather has performed in Candide presented by UWOpera and in Le Nozze di Figaro presented by Opera Saskatchewan. She has also performed the role of Rowan in Britten's The Little Sweep presented by Regina Summer Stage.

In the 2003-2004 season, she sang as Adele in Die Fledermaus and the First Lady in Die Zauberflote for an Opera Gala, and sang the role of Emmie and understudied the role of Miss Wordsworth in Britten's Albert Herring, all presented by UWOpera.

In August of 2004, Heather travelled to Britain to perform a series of three recitals in venues associated with Henry VIII. This recital tour featured Libby Larsen's work "Try Me, Good King" which is based on the last letters and speeches of Henry VIII's first five queens. Also in August of 2004 she competed, as the Saskatchewan representative, at the Canadian National Music Festival in Prince Edward Island where she placed third.

Heather's pianist is Karen Klassen.

Corinne Schaefer is a graduate from Indiana University School of Music. She performs with Pacific Opera in NYC. Corinne recently participated in EPCASO (Enzio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera) in Italy. Her roles include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Beth in The Tenderlands, Marion in The Music Man, and Kate in Kiss Me Kate. Corinne has also performed a variety of concerts in both Bloomington, IN and New Jersey.

Pianists: Jean Barlow, pianist for the Libby Larson piece "I love you through the daytimes," has been a soloist and accompanist since she earned her Bachelor's in Music from Hunter College. In addition to accompaning and performing for Hunter College, Jean accompanied for the Amato Opera company in NYC. She is a well respected piano teacher and organist in New Jersey.

Mary Dee Freed-Solano, pianist, is a graduate of Indiana University. Mary Dee Freed has dedicated her life to coaching and acompanying and chamber music. She was the official accompanist for California State University, Chico, Department of Music, and she has worked under the advisorship of Don Stenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory; James Schwabaker of the San Francisco Opera; coach and conductor Monroe Kanouse of San Francisco Conservatory and Sacramento Lyric Opera; and she has been coached by Ned Rorem.

Kristin Ditlow is currently a second-year M. M. student at Westminster Choir College in the Vocal Accompanying and Coaching program. Miss Ditlow has been heard in recent seasons both in the United States and abroad as a soloist and collaborative pianist at the Finchcocks Piano Collection (Kent, England), the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia, PA) Allen Theatre (Cleveland, OH), Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center (NY), Seiji Osawa Hall at Tanglewood (Massachusetts), and the Teatro Communale in Casalmaggiore, Italy.

Recent honors include the Peggy Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center (2004) and the Princeton-Pettoranello Sister City Foundation Baccalaureate Grant.

With flautist Veronica Mascaro, she has given frequent performances of a variety of flute and piano repertoire. Their first CD, The Mouquet Collection, was recorded and released in 2003. Upcoming projects for Ditlow include another CD with Ms. Mascaro recording works of composer Robert Baksa, and further performances and research of the chamber music and art song of twentieth century Italian Composers.

Miss Ditlow is the founding pianist of the Mühlenberg Piano Quartet, which has been the recipient of several awards and grants including the 5-County Arts Foundation, the MTNA Young Artist Chamber Music Award (Pennsylvania and Eastern Region), and the Philadelphia Council for the Arts.

Ditlow holds a Bachelors' Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompanying). She is student of JJ Penna, Dalton Baldwin, and James Goldsworthy.

Heralded by The New York Times for her “tour-de-force performance” of Betty Olivero's Juego de Siempre with the New Juilliard Ensemble in 1999, Ms. Komar maintains a great interest in contemporary music. She can be heard as Agathe on the original cast recording of Philip Glass' Les Enfants Terribles on the Euphorbia label. This Philip Glass/Susan Marshall production included performances in Europe in the 1996-97 season, its New York premiere in the Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music, and performances throughout the United States, including the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. At the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1997, Ms. Komar performed the role of Maria Callas in the Houston Grand Opera/Banff Centre co-production of Michael Daugherty's opera, Jackie O. Other contemporary music concerts have included Milton Babbitt's Philomel at New York's Museum of Modern Art and Pierrot lunaire at Alice Tully Hall.

Ms. Komar incorporates her love for new music with her passion for the recital repertoire. In addition to numerous performances at The Juilliard School, she has given recitals at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Banff Center for the Arts. She is especially dedicated to new works and French mélodie on which she has worked intensely with Dalton Baldwin. On the recital stage, she has collaborated with such pianists as Kathleen Kelly, Bradley Moore, Dan Saunders, Timothy Long, David Zobel and Marie-France Lefebvre.

In 1998, Ms. Komar made her professional debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Siébel in the Colin Graham production of Faust. Her other operatic credits include the Grandmother and Mother in Opera Festival of New Jersey's Little Red Riding Hood, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Elle in L'Amour masqué, L'Enfant in L'Enfant et les sortilèges, Princesse Nicolette in L'Amour des trois oranges, and Polly Peachum in The Beggar's Opera.

Valerie Komar received the Liederkranz Foundation Scholarship Award in 2003 and is a both a 2002 and 2004 winner of the Lee Schaenen Vocal Competition. She was awarded The Riggio Award of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Connecticut District) in 1999. She holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she was a recipient of the Arline J. Smith and Bertha Levin Scholorships, a Lucrezia Bori Grant, and was selected as a Maxwell and Muriel Gluck Fellow. Ms. Komar earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Carnegie Mellon University where she minored in Jazz Studies.

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Shannah Tarvin-Pace won the Required Song Prize and the Marni Nixon and Paul Sperry Prize for the Best American Song Performance. You may listen to Shannah's prize winning performances: Required song "I love you through the daytimes" by Libby Larsen. You may download this recently commissioned song for $5 by clicking here First Song of Their Choice I thought once how Theocritus had sung Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Composer: Libby Larsen Second Song of Their Choice How do I love thee? Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Composer: Libby Larsen

Texas-born soprano, Shannah Tarvin-Pace is a versatile performer of opera, art song and oratorio repertoire. However, she unabashedly holds art song as her first love with her repertoire spanning from Purcell to Larsen with specific emphasis on the German Lied and repertoire of female composers.

She has most recently been seen on the opera stage in her performance of Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) with The New York Opera Forum. The soprano also turned out a splendid performance with the New York Chamber Sinfonia on their “Concert for Peace” when she stepped in for an ailing singer just hours before curtain.

Her operatic repertoire covers a rich array of soprano roles including Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier and Werther), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel). She also boasts a varied concert repertoire that includes Mozart's 'Coronation Mass', Vesperae solennes de confessore and Exsultate, jubilate K. 165, Handel's Messiah, the Poulenc and Vivaldi Glorias, J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and numerous cantatas, as well as Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem.

Ms. Tarvin-Pace earned both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from The University of North Texas where she was a recipient of the prestigious Winspear Opera Fellowship. She currently studies voice with Norma Newton in New York City.

Shannah's pianist is Arleen Shrut

A faculty member of the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Arlene is an admired keyboard performer hailed as a “strong and sensitive pianist” by the New York Times. She was honored in 2003 as the inaugural “Coach of the Year” in Classical Singer Magazine. Arlene has collaborated with such vocal artists as Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson and has recorded on the Dorian, Centaur, Orion, Summit and Albany Records labels. Among her credits is “Songs of Hugo Wolf”(with Daniel Lichti on Dorian CDs), which received a Canadian Grammy nomination.

Arlene often serves as official pianist for many of NY's top vocal events, and has performed in such venues as Weill (Carnegie) Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The National Gallery, The Phillips Collection and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. She has toured extensively in Europe and across North America.

Canadian Soprano, Rhonwen Derbez, received her Bachelor of Music degree in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia in her home town of Vancouver, B.C. During her studies there she was fortunate to have many performance opportunities, including several major operatic roles, at school and in professional theatres abroad. These roles have included Lauretta in Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” Gretel in “Hänsel and Gretel,” Adele in “Die Fledermaus” and the title role in “Cunning Little Vixen” in the Czech language, on tour in the Czech Republic.

Ms. Derbez has performed in many concerts in Canada, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic and has sung on recordings for national broadcast with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

From September 2002 to October 2004 Rhonwen lived in Paris, continuing to study voice, French mélodies and opera, as well as performing. During the summer of 2004 she accepted a scholarship to Centro Studi Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy, where she worked with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell of the Manhattan School of Music and Mikael Eliasen of the Curtis Institute. After two years filled with recitals and studies, Rhonwen has returned to Canada to continue her work.

Ms. Derbez also holds a Performer’s Certificate in Speech Arts and Drama from Trinity College London.

Rhonwen's pianist is Andrea Baiocchi

American pianist Andrea Baiocchi has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. A Fellow at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and First Prize winner of the 'National Career Award' by the National Society of Arts and Letters, Ms. Baiocchi was also named 'most promising pianist' by the Steinway Society of Chicago and First Prize winner of the Illinois State Music Teacher's Association Competition. Ms. Baiocchi has appeared in performance on Chicago Classical Radio (WNIB) and was recently interviewed on Deutsche Welle Radio, an international broadcasting service from Germany. Ms. Baiocchi has performed numerous solo and lieder concerts at Cité International des Arts and the American Church in Paris, was a guest artist at the Musica Viva Series in Illinois, and was a participant in many summer festivals including the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria, the Académie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel, the Académie Festival des Arcs, and at Gargenville France.  

In the summer of 2004, Ms. Baiocchi was invited by the German baritone Matthias Goerne to participate in masterclasses at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Lübeck, Germany. Ms. Baiocchi has also performed in masterclasses with Menahem Pressler, the renouned pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, Piotr Anderszewski, Helmut Deutsch, and Rudolf Jansen.

Ms. Baiocchi holds a Bachelors Degree and a Performer Diploma from Indiana University as well as a Performer's Certificate - the school's highest award. She was also a Dean's Award and Friends of Music scholarship recipient, a participant in the Auer Hall Honors Concerts, a participant in 'Benjamin Britten: a Festival of Song' and the Charles Ives Performance Workshop, and was a soloist in Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. In addition, she holds a Diplôme des Etudes Musicales from the Conservatoire National de Région Boulogne-Billancourt in France. Her principle mentors were Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Leonard Hokanson, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, and Evelyne Brancart. She also studied with Robert Tear, Elly Ameling, Emile Naoumoff, and Mauricio Fuks.

American soprano Risa Renae Harman has been acclaimed for her technical virtuosity and communication skills as an artist.

Among Miss Harman's recent engagements was a solo recital for the Trinity Church Concert Series in downtown New York. The New York Times proclaimed, “But she is that rare creature among singers, a really good recitalist…she seemed to have something to say in all five languages she was singing in.” For her debut with the Cathedral Choral Society in an all-Baroque program at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C The Washington Post described her voice as “luminous” and “outstanding” while The Cincinnati Enquirer observed that she “was a playful Zerbinetta with a big coloratura” in her debut in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with the Sorg Opera in Ohio. Her debut as Adele in Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera of Cleveland prompted The Cleveland Plain Dealer to remark that she “sparked the action with her vivid portrayal of Adele.”

Miss Harman toured North America with the New York City Opera National Company, and during the 1997-98 season she joined the roster of the New York City Opera. She collaborates regularly with the prestigious New York Festival of Song, appearing in their 10th Anniversary Gala at the 92nd Street Y and at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in a concert featuring her performance in the original version of Zerbinetta's aria from Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Her international credits include the Italian Festivals Da Bach a Bartok and Musica nei Chiostri. She has several operatic world premieres to her credit, including creating the roles of the Fair Witch in The Witch Boy by Tim Lloyd and Louise in William Schuman's A Question of Taste for Glimmerglass Opera, a portrayal The Wall Street Journal called "exciting.”

An Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan for the past several seasons, her performances have included Broadway and Opera favorites, and recitals that boasted such diverse repertoire as Mozart's Exultate, jubilate!, Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Czech composer Vítezslava Kaprálová's Navzdy, Op. 12 and Andre Previn's Four Songs for soprano, cello and piano.

In recital, Miss Harman has concertized throughout the Northeastern United States, Sweden and Austria where she earned a Diploma with Distinction from the Franz Schubert Institute. As a winner of the American Jenny Lind Competition, she made a concert tour of Sweden and appeared with Elisabeth Söderström in a gala benefit concert honoring Jenny Lind's birthday.

Equally at home on the concert stage, she has appeared as soloist at the Kennedy Center, with the Beethoven Society of New York, Orchestra New England, Greater Lansing Symphony, and the Bridgeport Symphony, among others.

Miss Harman is the recipient of numerous awards and career grants, including the Lee Schaenen Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, Shoshana Foundation, Palm Beach Opera, Lola Hayes Foundation, Liederkranz Foundation, YWCA Studio Club, Washington International and the D'Angelo Vocal Competition, where she was awarded the prize for best performance of a commissioned work.

Richard Mercier

Risa Renae's pianist is Richard Mercier who has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. A native of Connecticut, Dr. Mercier has taught at California State University and the Hartt School of Music, where he also served as opera coach and director, instrumental and vocal coach, and accompanist for faculty and guest artists. He is frequently called upon to adjudicate, lecture, and present Master Classes, and has served as Assistant Conductor at Central City Opera (Colorado) and as Minister of Music/Organist in churches in Connecticut and New York City.

Dr. Mercier has given the premier performance of many solo piano works by San Francisco Bay Area composers. Author of The Songs of Hans Pfitzner (Greenwood Press, 1998), Dr. Mercier is currently preparing The Songs of Max Reger. Richard Mercier earned a Doctorate in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, a Masters in Music from the Hartt School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Connecticut. During the summer of 1985 he attended the Franz Schubert Institute (Vienna, Austria) where he studied German Lieder with some of the most important singers and pianists of the post WWII music scene and earned a Cum Lauda Certificate for his performances. Dr. Mercier is currently Associate Professor of Music at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.

For three years now, Alexandra Ismer und Melanie Hirsch (mezzo-soprano) have been working together. They have appeared within the framework of numerous lieder concerts. As a Lied-Duo, both artists won a prize donated by the audience after the 3rd round at the "Internationaler Wettbewerb für Liedkunst 2004" in Stuttgart. All prizewinners participate in a CD-production with songs by Hanns Eisler for the Hugo-Wolf-Akademie in Stuttgart.

In 2002 Alexandra Ismer was a Bayreuth scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner association Eisenach.

Melanie Hirsch

The mezzo soprano Melanie Hirsch was born in Stuttgart, Germany. She studied voice with Prof. Markus Köhler at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, concurrently studying Jurisprudence (completing her first State Exam) at the University of Bielefeld. She won a prize at the "International Song Competition" sponsored by the Chamber Opera of Schloß Rheinsberg and at the "International Competition for the Art of the Lied" she, along with her pianist Alexandra Ismer, won the Audience Prize.

During 2004, in collaboration with the Capella Orlandi Bremen under the direction of Thomas Ihlenfeldt, she appeared in performances of various operas by the composer R. Keiser, singing among others, the rôle of Narcissus in "Claudius.“ She was also engaged by the Berliner Kammeroper for this rôle. Ms. Hirsch also appeared as Orfeo in Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice,“ and as Sesto in Handel's "Giulio Cesare“ at the Landestheater in Detmold. Presently she is performing Hänsel in "Hänsel und Gretel“ by Engelbert Humperdink in Detmold.

Under the auspices of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation, Melanie Hirsch is engaged as a soloist at Opernhaus Halle for two years, beginning with the 2004-2005 season. There she can be seen as Cupid in Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld“ and as Hermia in Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream”.

James N. Criss

Christine's pianist is James N. Criss who is from Fulton, IL. He has played the piano for more than 15 years, studying under Susan Dehority, Shawn Anton, and Pat Burr of the former Clinton (IA) Mount St. Clare College (now Franciscan University). He frequently plays at his church and other events in Chicago, but his primary focus on the piano is preparing for the Benefit Organization's annual fundraiser tour. Benefit is a not-for-profit organization he founded in the fall of 2003 to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through piano concerts.

James released his first CD this past summer, and is preparing to record another in February 2005. Last spring, Criss was interviewed and profiled by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) News and was a featured soloist at the 2004 UIC Scholarship Show.

He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is planning to begin his graduate thesis on “the similar structure, elements, and design of music and architecture” next fall. While continuing his position as an Assistant to the Dean of the Honors College at UIC this spring, Criss will begin instructing an original 200-level honors seminar on “Genuine Art Appreciation,” giving a condensed glimpse into the interdisciplinary nature of art forms and their effect on everyday life. He will be performing this spring in the Benefit 2005 Tour throughout Northern Illinois during February 2005. For more information about the tour, please visit Benefit's official website at http://benefitorg.org.