“ALL THINGS AUDITIONS”

Master Classes with

Josh Shaw, Shira Renee Thomas, Lucy Yates,

Thomas Michael Allen, Dr. Marc Callahan & Dr. Alexander Hahn

With Sky Lee, Collaborative Pianist

***

Saturday, November 11, 2023

10:00 am - 3:00 pm PDT

whittier college

13406 E. Philadelphia St., Whittier, CA 90602

NATS-LA Membership General Meeting will be held during our lunch break (12:00 - 1:30 PM)

SCHEDULE

10:00 AM - Check-in / Coffee

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM - Young Artist/Professional Auditions with Josh Shaw, Shira Renee Thomas and Lucy Yates

12:00 - 1:30 PM - Lunch break & NATS-LA General Meeting

1:30 - 3:00 PM - Collegiate Auditions with Thomas Michael Allen, Dr. Marc Callahan and Dr. Alexander Hahn

Panel of Masterclass Clinicians

morning Masterclass - for young artist/professional singers

Named as one of Musical America’s Top 30 Innovators in Classical Music, Josh Shaw is the Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Pacific Opera Project (POP), which has been described as "L.A.'s most exciting new opera company." Over the past twelve seasons, Shaw has directed over 50 productions at POP, including The Rake’s Progress, Ariadne auf Naxos, La Calisto, Tosca: A Moving Production; and La Boheme: AKA “The Hipsters”.  A frequent librettist for English updates, his Star Trek inspired Abduction from the Seraglio and Nintendo inspired Magic Flute AKA #SuperFlute have gained national attention and have been produced at multiple companies, shattering attendance records.

Since turning his attention to directing in 2011, Shaw has directed over 100 productions at companies including Opera Santa Barbara, New Orleans Opera, Opera Orlando, Festival Opera, Gulfshore Opera, Intermountain Opera, Salt Marsh Opera, Opera Neo, and Opera in the Heights. His Barber of Seville at Opera Santa Barbara was described as "riotously funny" and "thoroughly amusing from overture to final bow." His work as a director has been described as "brave and unflinching," "ingenious," "relentlessly and adorably rambunctious," and "with enough good comic ideas for at least three productions." As a producer, Shaw has been praised for his "supreme savvy" and "high level of production quality" with "the power to enthrall and captivate audiences."

Recent projects include a new English adaptation of Die Fledermaus at Gulfshore Opera, a ground-breaking production of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta starring “The Blind Soprano” Cristina Jones, and the US Premiere of Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte. One of the busiest directors during Covid, Shaw directed more than a dozen productions during the pandemic including US staged premieres of Gluck’s La Corona and Il Parnaso Confuso, a drive-in Don Pasquale for Opera Santa Barbara, and an updated Cosi– “Covid fan tutte” set in 2020. Other recent projects include productions of Don Giovanni, La Gazzetta (Rossini), La Traviata, Guillaume Tell, The Mikado, and Tabasco: A Burlesque Opera, a newly rediscovered operetta by G. W. Chadwick, last performed in 1894, which was described as "delightful, packed with humor, and a feast for all the senses" by The New Orleans Advocate. In addition to directing the production, Shaw also wrote a new book and additional lyrics for the project that celebrated the McIlhenney Company’s 150th anniversary. 

Beyond the rewrite of Tabasco, Shaw has written several English version libretti including a Wild West setting of Die Lustige Witwe, a contemporary setting of Die Schauspieldirektor, a production of Die Zauberflöte set in the world of 1990s video games, Covid fan tutte, a Star Trek inspired Abduction from the Seraglio, a 1930s Hollywood Fledermaus, and a groundbreaking production of Madama Butterfly sung in Japanese and English, a co-production of POP and Opera in Heights (Houston).

This season, Shaw directs Into the Woods for Intermountain Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Don Giovanni at Gulfshore Opera,  La Rondine at The Southern Illinois Music Festival, The Pirates of Penzance at POP, Falstaff at Salt Marsh Opera, and Tosca at Opera Orlando.

Shira Renee Thomas is General & Artistic Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA), currently in its 18th season, based in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. She has produced over 40 fully-staged productions, in addition to numerous concerts and other events, overseeing everything from auditions and casting, to audience development and marketing. VOPA has helped launch the careers of many singers who’ve gone on to perform at organizations such as English National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and San Francisco Opera, among others.

As a singer herself, Ms. Thomas has performed as a soloist alongside such superstars as Quinn Kelsey and Christian Van Horn, as well as renowned artists such as Nicole Cabell, Rodell Rosel, and Milena Kitic, to name a few. The Press Enterprise has noted her "...perfect intonation, elegant control, and artistic phrasing”, and Valley Scene Magazine described her as “…a voice that is as elegant as it is powerful”. Among the numerous awards earned by Ms. Thomas, she won 1st prize in the prestigious Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod Vocal Solo Competition in North Wales, which has hosted such competitors as Luciano Pavarotti and Bryn Terfel in past years.

Ms. Thomas is a passionate mental health advocate, and currently acts as a patient representative for Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles. She will soon be featured in CS Music (formerly Classical Singer Magazine), writing about her experience as an opera singer suffering with severe Depression and ultimately finding a combination of treatments that finally put her into remission. She aspires to provide resources and hope for others who suffer. 

This season Lucy Yates music directs two premieres: Carolina Uccelli's Emma di Resburgo for Teatro Nuovo in New York, and Alyssa Weinberg's ISOLA for Long Beach Opera. She made her Lincoln Center debut in 2022 as maestro al cembalo for Rossini's Maometto II. In 2020 she joined LA's The Industry on keyboards for Sweet Land (Du Yun/Raven Chacon) and was made a company member. In 2018 she made her conducting debut as maestro al cembalo at Seattle Opera with the "extremely inventive" O+E (Gluck/Calzabigi 1762 Orfeo ed Euridice), in an "elegantly poetic" English version she created for that production. In 2014 she made her Rossini Opera Festival debut as onstage continuo fortepianist and assistant conductor to Will Crutchfield in Mario Martone's staging of Aureliano in Palmira (DVD on ArtHaus Musik).

An internationally acclaimed soprano, Miss Yates sang roles including Violetta, Gilda, Rosina, Adina, Beatrice di Tenda, Nedda, and Fiordiligi, with directors such as Gian Carlo Menotti and Franco Zeffirelli. Her work in Italy led her to become a teacher and translator of Italian poetry; she is known for her verse translations and supertitles. She also gives master classes on Italian poetics, grammar, and diction, and writes synopses and articles for the Santa Fe Opera. She is Director of Language Studies at Teatro Nuovo and a Lecturer in Opera at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. She was recently named Italian Diction Coach to the Lindemann Young Artists of the Metropolitan Opera.

Panel of Masterclass Clinicians

Afternoon Masterclass - For Collegiate Singers

Lyric Tenor Thomas Michael Allen has enjoyed an international singing career that has spanned over two decades. Allen has performed at Théatre des Champs-Élyées in Paris, Zurich Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, La Monnaie in Brussels, Grand Théatre de Genève, Baden-Baden Easter Festival, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Monte Carlo, de Nederlandse Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival. He has been a soloist with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Academy for Ancient Music and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the baton of such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, William Christie, René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, Simone Young, Gary Bertini, Helmut Rilling, Christoph Eschenbach, and Kurt Masur. He has also worked with many prominent directors including Robert Carsen, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Nigel Lowrey, Dieter Dorn, Pierre Audi, Brigitte Fassbaender, Graham Vick, and Barrie Kosky.

Allen’s vast repertoire extends from the earliest operas of Monteverdi and Cavalli, through Mozart and Rossini, up to the works of contemporary composers such as Phillip Glass and Hans Werner Henze. He has performed nearly every oratorio in the standard repertoire and has dedicated himself to the art song repertoire, with two critically acclaimed solo CDs.

He appears on DVD alongside Cecilia Bartoli in Handel’s Semele (Decca) from the Zurich Opera, conducted by William Christie. Gramophone described Allen’s performance as Dante on the DVD of the world premiere of Jacob ter Veldhuis’s Paradiso (Chandos) as “stunning.” He can be heard on over 20 CD recordings and sang the title roles in Josef Myslivecek’s Medonte (Harmonia Mundi) and Monsigny’s Le Roi et le Fermier (Naxos). His second solo CD, Far Away (Capriccio), with pianist Charles Spencer was called “…a very fine recital disc well worth exploring” by Fanfare magazine.

Alongside his performing career, Thomas Michael Allen has taught singing at the Amsterdam Conservatory, the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute, and was a co-founder and faculty member of Body-Mind-Voice Berlin and Balance Arts Opera Berlin. He has given masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp and Rutgers University. His students have won prizes at many international competitions and regularly perform at the world’s greatest opera houses.

Hailed as "charming" (Opera News) and "commanding" (The Day Connecticut), with a voice that "trembled the foundations of the Warsaw Philharmonic" (Wielkanocny Festival LvB Czasopismo), Dr. Alexander Hahn’s performance career has taken him to prestigious venues across the globe. Dr. Hahn’s recent performances include his debut with the Beethoven Easter Festival of Warsaw as Pietro in Simon Boccanegra, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Bronx Opera, Claudius in Hamlet with Opera Ithaca, Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera Theater of Connecticut, and the bass-baritone soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with EOS Orchestra of Beijing in Beijing Concert Hall.

Dr. Hahn’s upcoming engagements for the 2023 season include his Wagnerian debut singing the role of Wotan in Las Vegas City Opera’s production of The Valkyries, a Lecture Recital in Vilnius, Lithuania at the 2023 College Music Society International Conference, and performances at the Fresno State Art Song Festival. Recent engagements include recitals with Constellations Chamber Concerts in the Washington D.C. region, a South-American solo recital debut in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia (postponed due to the pandemic), and a faculty-artist recital of German lieder at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany.

As an avid proponent of art song repertoire, Dr. Hahn has performed in recital halls across North America, including Schubert’s Winterreise in New York’s Staller Center, and in art song recitals in Chautauqua Opera’s Recital Series and Montreal Vocal Arts Institute’s Recital Series.

Dr. Hahn is also a nationally recognized lecturer and presenter specializing in the area of art song repertoire and pedagogy. Recent scholastic engagements include presentations and performances at the College Music Society and National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dr. Hahn is frequently invited to give workshops, recitals, lectures, and presentations to higher-education institutions, most recently at Point Loma Nazarene University, Chapman University, Fullerton College, and Grand Valley State University.

A former Paris Opera Competition Grand Finalist, Dr. Hahn’s commendations include awards and recognition from the Schuyler Career Bridges Organization, the Giulio Gari Foundation, the Heida Hermanns International Voice Competition, and the Yale School of Music.

Dr. Hahn is a graduate of the Yale School of Music, where he earned both a master’s degree in Music and an Artist Diploma as well as being awarded the David L. Kasdon Memorial Prize for the most outstanding singer in the School of Music. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Music from Mannes College of Music and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.

A native of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, bass-baritone Marc Callahan (Assistant Professor) received his Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College where he studied with the renowned pedagogue Richard Miller. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in vocal performance and opera direction from the same institution. Dr. Callahan was also the recipient of the Rotary Scholarship from the Cincinnati Chapter, which allowed him to travel to France, where he earned a Diplôme Supérieur d’Exécution de Chant from the École Normale de Musique de Paris and a Diplôme d’Artiste Lyrique from the Schola Cantorum. He studied French at the Institut de Touraine and French art song with mentor François Le Roux at the Académie Françis Poulenc. He was winner of the Prix Lili Boulanger at the Concours International d’Interprétation de la Mélodie Française and has sung a duo recital of French song alongside the legendary soprano June Anderson and pianists Noël Lee and Jeff Cohen. While at university, he apprenticed with the Central City Opera (where he was awarded the Studio Artist Award), Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Britten-Pears Academy and the Centre National d’Insertion Professionelle des Artistes Lyriques.

Dr. Callahan’s performance career has taken him around the world, singing at opera houses such as: The Royal Opera House, Santa Fe Opera, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Théâtre du Capitole, Opéra National de Lyon, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra Comique, Théâtre Royale de Versailles, Opéra de Marseille, Central City Opera, Dayton Opera, the Ohio Light Opera and Opera North (UK), among others. His repertoire includes: Don Giovanni, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), il Conte di Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Belcore (L’Elisir d’amore), Count Arnheim (The Bohemian Girl), Zar Peter (Zar und Zimmerman), Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette), Ramiro (L’Heure Espagnole), Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Sid (Albert Herring), Morales (Carmen), Pish-Tush (The Mikado), Samuel (Pirates of Penzance), Frédéric (Lakmé), Escamillo (Carmen), Passagallo (Opera Seria), Le Carnival (Le Carnival et la Folie), Artemidore (Armide), Bobinet (La Vie Parisienne), and Starveling (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). As a concert performer, he has sung Charpentier’s Leçons et Ténèbres with Les Arts Florissants, an evening of mélodie française with the London Song Festival, Haydn’s The Creation, Götterdämmerung with Midsummer Opera (London), a program of Henri Dutilleux mélodies (Radio France), Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, and as bass soloist in The Tempest with Les Ombres and the Opéra de Marseille. Opera magazine has reviewed him as “a powerful baritone, providing wickedly glamorous tone.” He has recorded with Virgin Classics, FRA Productions, Passavant, Radio France, and Newport Classics.

As an opera director, Dr. Callahan has received critical acclaim for his production of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, saying it was “designed and directed with jaw-dropping invention.” He has also assisted on Martin Duncan’s productions at the Royal Opera House, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Holland Festival (The Cure/The Corridor), acted as collaborateur artistique on Les Fiançailles au Couvent at the Théâtre du Capitole, provided research for Thomas de Mallet Burgess’s La Vestale for the Wexford Festival and observed Bijan Sheibani on The Virtue of Things for the Royal Opera House. Recent productions include Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Louis Aubert’s The Blue Forest (National Opera Association Prize Winner 2017) for Oregon State University’s opera program, where he was a Visiting Professor in Opera and Voice.

Collaborative Pianist

Increasingly sought-after as a musical partner, pianist Sky Haneul Lee is rapidly building a reputation as one of the most versatile and active collaborators in a wide range of opera, vocal, choral, orchestral, and instrumental music. 

Ms. Lee notably has worked with Long Beach Opera, Aspen Music Festival and School, Indianapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Musiktheater Bavaria in Germany, USC Thornton Opera, Opera UCLA, and Long Beach Camerata Singers. Recently, she worked as Music Director with Queens College Opera at The City University of New York and the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island.

As an extensive experience collaborator in vocal, strings, choral, and orchestral music, she is a freelance collaborator and staff pianist at USC Thornton School of Music, Opera UCLA, and World Mission University. Ms. Lee has partnered with many distinguished pedagogues and artists including soprano Renée Fleming, Betsy Bishop, Elizabeth Hynes, Carol Vaness, Shirley Close, Patricia Wise, Alice Hopper, tenor Thomas Allen, Carlos Montane, Brian Horne, Wolfgang Brendel, baritone Rod Gilfry, Stephen King, Kevin Short, violinist Mimi Zweig, Brenda Brenner, conductor Pierre Vallet, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Tram Sparks, and hornist Kristy Morrell. 

A prizewinner of the NSAL (National Society of Arts and Letters) Instrumental Music Competition and American Protégé Instrumental Competition of Romantic Music, Ms. Lee has performed throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, Prague, and her home country Korea. She studied Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and Piano Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. While earning a degree at IU, Ms. Lee served as an Associate Instructor and worked as a collaborative pianist at Indiana University String Academy and Indiana University CAP (College Audition Preparation) Program. She also received the Keyboard Collaborative Arts Ensemble Award, Keyboard Collaborative Arts Department Award, and Gwendolyn Koldofsky Scholarship while at USC. Her principal teachers are Alan L. Smith, Karen Shaw and Jun Kim, and her coaches/mentors include Brent McMunn, Myra Huang, Lisa Sylvester, Rakefet Hak, Cameron Stowe and Edmund Battersby. 

Currently, Sky resides in Los Angeles with her husband Thomas, daughter little Aria and mom Kelly, and she serves as a staff accompanist/vocal coach at Santa Monica College, and as a staff pianist at USC Thornton School of Music and at Opera UCLA, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as a collaborative pianist. She is also a staff pianist at World Mission University in Los Angeles and works at KAMA Choir, LAKMA Chorale, and The Way Church.