Our Professional Consultants List is in progress, please revisit the site periodically for updated information.
 

Richard Margison
Artistic Director/Voice

One of the most critically acclaimed singers on the international stage today, Canadian tenor Richard Margison has performed in many of the world's leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Théatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent Garden, the Sydney Opera and the Netherlands Opera.

Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, and Mahler all feature on Richard Margison's 2006-2007 calendar. He begins the season as Bacchus in the Teatro Real's production of Ariadne auf Naxos in Madrid and returns to Madrid in February for four performances of I Pagliacci. November will see him take on an unusual role - he will perform Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the composer's farewell to the joy and beauty of the world, to a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and performed by the National Ballet of Canada. Mr. Margison appears in Hamburg twice next season - the first time as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera and the second in concert performances of Norma with Edita Gruberova. Spring signals a return to the Metropolitan Opera for one of his signature roles - Calaf in Turandot. Mr. Margison completes his season with appearances at the Cincinnati Opera Summer Festival as Radamès in Verdi's Aida.

Richard Margison's 2005-2006 includes performances as Enzo in La Gioconda in Barcelona, Ricccardo in Verdi's great masterpiece Un Ballo in Maschera at the ROH Covent Garden, Florestan at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Radamès in the l'Opéra de Montréal's production of Aida. The season concludes in Cincinnati where he will appear in Un Ballo in Maschera.

The highlight of the 2004-2005 season was Richard Margison's performance as O'Brien in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden's premiere production of Lorin Maazel's 1984. The production will subsequently be seen at La Scala and other cities, yet to be confirmed. In that same season, Mr. Margison appeared as Manrico in Il Trovatore at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, Radamès at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Oviedo, Spain, in the title role in Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera and as Calaf in Barcelona.

Recent seasons have featured performances in the Washington Opera's production of Norma, productions of Turandot and Il Trovatore for the Canadian Opera Company, as Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West and Florestan in Fidelio for the Seattle Opera, and as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at the ROH Covent Garden as well as regular appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Aida, and Turandot. He also made a highly acclaimed appearance as Manrico in the San Francisco Opera production of Il Trovatore.

A much sought after concert artist, Mr. Margison took Toronto by storm in a concert at Roy Thomson Hall garnering such praise as "...it is an important experience to hear Margison live, simply to come into contact with the phsyical presence of the voice. It has both brass and beauty, and its power is so forceful and concentrated that you have to remind yourself that its source is a human throat..."(Globe and Mail). As well, he has appeared with with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and at the Ravinia Festival. He has also performed with Bryn Terfel at his opera gala at the Faenol Festival in Wales.

Mr. Margison's most recent releases are an all-Verdi recording on CBC Records and the highly acclaimed recording of Fidelio with Christine Brewer. He has also recorded Lanza (Warner Music), a recording made for the film on the life of Mario Lanza, in which he sings the title role. Other recordings include Verdi's Don Carlo with the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Bernard Haitink (Philips) and Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi (Deutsche Grammophon). He has made three recordings with Richard Bradshaw and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra: a solo album of French and Italian Arias (CBC Records), Rarities by Rossini and Verdi, with Gary Relyea (CBC Records) and Aria, une sélection de Radio-Canada with Anita Krause, Wendy Nielson and Gary Relyea (CBC Records). Richard Margison is also a featured artist on the Millennium Opera Gala recording released by CBC Records.

Richard Margison was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.

Valerie Kuinka
Artistic Director/Stage Director (La Bohème)

Having worked within the realm of alternative multi-disciplinary theatre to grand opera, Canadian director Valerie Kuinka brings a wealth of experience and unique creativity to her work. The list of highly accomplished artists with whom she has collaborated is extensive: Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Richard Margison, Jose Cura, Nathan Gunn, Matthew Polenzani, Veronica Tennant, Rex Harrington, Quartetto Gelato, Alannah Myles, Frank Moore, Shauna Rolston, to name but a few.

A stage director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for four seasons (2004 – 08), Valerie was on the stage directing team of the recent new production of Romeo et Juliette (2005 – 06) and its revival (2007 – 08) as well as the revivals of Samson et Dalilah (2004 – 05, 2005 – 06), Idomeneo (2006 – 07) and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (2006 – 07).

In 1997, Valerie established her own Toronto-based multi-disciplinary theatre company, COLLABORATIONS, and during its eight-year existence wrote, produced, directed, and often performed in 14 productions. “Kuinka has established no small reputation for creating exciting seamless theatrical collage” – Geoff Chapman (Toronto Star, 2003)

Valerie has also directed productions for Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Hamilton, Quartetto Gelato, International Vocal Arts Festival (Tel-Aviv), The Banff Centre, The Glenn Gould School (Toronto), Opera Mississauga, The Canadian Childrens’ Opera Chorus (Toronto), Opera York, ProVoce Studios and has assisted at the New York City Opera and the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp. She has also been on the faculty of the Vermont International Opera Festival and the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (Sulmona).

August, 2010, will mark the fourth season of The Highlands Opera Studio for Advanced Opera Studies in which she shares the duties of Artistic Director with her husband, operatic tenor Richard Margison.

Beginning her career as a classical violist, Valerie has been active as a chamber, orchestral, studio, and performance artist for over twenty years and was a member of the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada playing every position from section to principal before her retirement from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in June 2005.

Upcoming engagements for the current season include directing productions for the Opera de Quebec, Manitoba Opera, Opera Lyra, and Highlands Opera Studio.

Giselle Clarke
Stage Manager (La Bohème)

Giselle is thrilled to be back with Highlands Opera Studio! This is her third season with the company. Recent credits include: i think i can (LKTYP), ASM for A Raisin In the Sun (SoulPepper), Macbeth (Opera Lyra Ottawa), Die Fledermaus and La Boheme (Opera Hamilton) and The Africa Trilogy (Volcano Theatre for Luminato). She has been an ASM with Opera Hamilton for four seasons. Previously she was the Assistant Stage Manager on Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Lyra Ottawa and Anne of Green Gables: The Musical with the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. She has done two seasons at the Blyth Festival and has worked with such companies as Tapestry New Opera Works, Opera Atelier, CanStage, Tarragon Theatre and Factory Theatre. She has also toured Sweden with NorrDans, a modern dance company. Her next project includes Stage Managing Another Africa with CanStage and becoming a mother.

Timothy Vernon
Conductor (Falstaff)

As founding Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Victoria, Timothy Vernon has led most of its more than eighty productions since the company's inception in 1980.

These include the first staged Canadian presentations of Weber's Der Freischütz (1994), Montemezzi's L'Amore dei tre re (1996), Giannini's The Taming of the Shrew (2001), and Lee Hoiby's The Tempest (2004). In 2000, Mr. Vernon led his company in the world premiere of Erewhon by Louis Applebaum and Mavor Moore. In 2007 Mr. Vernon conducted the Canadian premiere of Richard Strauss' early twentieth century gem Daphne, using his own reduction of Strauss's orchestration. This historic production was recorded for broadcast by CBC, as was POV's 2008 Canadian premiere of Marc Blitzstein's Regina, the 2009 company premiere of Handel's Semele, and the 2010 Canadian stage premiere of Strauss's Capriccio, which also used Mr. Vernon's orchestral reduction of the score.

Other broadcasts have included the 1988 production of Fidelio for TV by PBS and CBC, as well as a Knowledge Network documentary of POV's 1992 production of The Abduction from the Seraglio. CBC Radio has broadcast POV productions of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1993) and Lee Hoiby's The Tempest.

As a result of Timothy Vernon's vision and his commitment to emerging Canadian artists, Pacific Opera Victoria has presented debut performances by such exceptional singers as Richard Margison, Paul Frey, Michael Schade, John Fanning, Barbara Livingston, Nathalie Paulin, and Julie Nesrallah, and showcased many more of Canada's finest opera singers.

A welcome figure on the podiums of Canada's most important orchestras and opera companies, Timothy Vernon is also Conductor Laureate of Orchestra London.

As artistic head of both Orchestra London and Pacific Opera Victoria, he fostered a partnership that resulted in a successful co-production of Puccini's Tosca in 2005 – London's first fully-staged professional opera. The two organizations subsequently joined forces again with co-productions of Rigoletto.(2006), Don Giovanni (2007), Madama Butterfly (2008), and, in 2009, The Magic Flute.

As a guest conductor, Maestro Vernon has led productions of Die Zauberflöte and Faust for Ottawa's Opera Lyra, as well as The Turn of the Screw for l'Opéra de Montréal. In March 2006 he performed Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Glenn Gould School. He recently conducted Don Giovanni for Edmonton Opera and as Artistic Advisor to the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, he led several of their performances. In 2007 he conducted Rigoletto for Calgary Opera and Madama Butterfly for Vermont's Green Mountain Festival.

Forthcoming engagements include l'Opéra de Montréal and Opera Hamilton. Mr. Vernon will spend the summers of 2011 and 2012 working in Italy.

He has conducted for opera companies and orchestras in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Windsor, London, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, and Halifax. Of special note was his 2000 performance with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducting Ben Heppner and Pinchas Zukerman in a gala concert seen on CBC and filmed for worldwide television distribution. Maestro Vernon has been associated with the Edmonton Symphony as conductor for the late summer 'Symphony Under the Sky' concerts and 'A Lighter Classical Christmas'.

Timothy Vernon grew up in Victoria. He studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller at the Victoria School (now Conservatory) of Music, then pursued further studies in Europe, graduating from the Vienna Academy of Music (now University for Music). Mr. Vernon returned to Canada in 1975, subsequently accepting posts as conductor and music director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, music director of the COC's touring company, professor at McGill University, music director of the McGill Symphony Orchestra, and associate director of Opera McGill.

While at McGill, he led the McGill Symphony in a critically acclaimed performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 5, released in 1997 as a CD on the Fonovox label. Rick Phillips of Classical Music Magazine praised both orchestra and conducting, noting, "It's a real triumph. It has every right to share shelf space with the celebrated readings of Bernstein, Karajan, Tennstedt and other giants of Mahler interpretations".
Maestro Vernon also conducted the McGill Orchestra in acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Roy Thomson Hall, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Le Grand Théâtre de Québec, and Montréal's Place des Arts. Broadcasts of Britten's War Requiem and Mahler's Symphony No. 9 were part of an ongoing association between the McGill Orchestra and CBC/Radio Canada brokered by Maestro Vernon during his professorship. The McGill Orchestra's recording of Korngold's Symphony in F#, recorded live in Carnegie Hall in 1990, was nominated for a Juno Award. The 1997 film McGill, Mahler, Montreal was broadcast nationally on Bravo and on CBC.

In February 2008, Mr. Vernon was presented with the Order of Canada, in recognition of his work in expanding professional opera in Canada and his commitment to young musicians. Timothy Vernon is also a recipient of Opera Canada's 2005 Ruby Award as Opera Builder -- a fitting recognition of his contribution to opera over more than a quarter century. He continues to bring to Pacific Opera Victoria a unique vision that has engaged the community and made POV a nationally recognized symbol of artistic excellence.

Joel Harder
Collaborative Piano

A versatile and accomplished musician, Canadian pianist Joel Harder is much in demand as an accompanist, vocal coach and chamber musician and has performed in venues throughout Canada, the United States, England and Austria. Equally at home in performance of chamber music, song and operatic repertoire, Mr. Harder has worked with such diverse and renowned artists as Stuart Hamilton, Stéphane Lemelin, Charles Owen, Robin Bowman, Iain Burnside and Graham Johnson. He is an alumnus of the Banff Centre for the Arts, a recipient of the Johann Strauss Foundation Award for study at the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria, and is an alumnus of the Tangelwood Music Centre as a piano fellow. Mr. Harder has worked with a number of distinguished conductors on operatic repertoire, including Maestros James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnanyi and Lorin Maazel. In May of 2010 he was featured as pianist and coach at the Cincinnati May Festival, and has just recently finished a session of work as pianist and coach at the Castleton Festival in Virginia.

Mr. Harder received a Bachelor degree from the University of Alberta, a Masters Degree from the University of Ottawa, and a post-graduate degree in Accompaniment from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. This autumn Mr. Harder will begin his second year as a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School under full scholarship, where he currently studies with Jonathan Feldman and Margo Garrett.

Melissa Stephens
Producer/Collaboarative Piano

Brahm Goldhamer
Collaborative Piano

Brahm Goldhamer is one of Toronto’s most experienced and respected accompanists and vocal coaches. He has performed across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, and is in great demand as recital collaborator with some of Canada’s most celebrated soloists. For the past twenty-seven years he has been a faculty member of the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Glenn Gould School, where in addition to his studio coaching, he is the founder and Artistic Director of the Opera Ensemble Program, a lecturer in Art Song and Operatic Repertoire, and a teacher of collaborative piano studies. His performances include work with Opera in Concert, Toronto Operetta Theatre, CBC’s Music Around Us, the Elora Festival, Debut Atlantic and Opera Anonymous. He was nominated for a Dora Award for Best Musical Direction following his work with Comus Music Theatre.

Mr. Goldhamer has worked in Italy since 1990 in a variety of educational settings. In the mid-nineties he directed operatic scenes for “ Oberlin at Casalmaggiore, ” with an international cast of students. This summer, Mr. Goldhamer is looking forward to his fourth season as a music director for the Highlands Opera Studio in Haliburton, Ontario, under Co-Artistic Directors Canadian tenor Richard Margison and New York Metropolitan Opera Director Valerie Kuinka. He is thrilled to be returning to Italy for his fourth season working as a music director with Northern Arizona’s International  Summer Opera program, “ Flagstaff in Fidenza, “ under artistic  director, Nando Schellen.

Christopher Mokrzewski
Collaborative Piano

Canadian pianist Christopher Mokrzewski occupies a unique niche between the solo and collaborative piano disciplines. He is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, where he served as apprentice vocal coach and répétiteur for the COC's mainstage performances of Don Giovanni, Fidelio, La Bohème and the Ensemble Studio production of Così fan tutte. He was also music director for the COC Ensemble Studio's Xstrata School Tour productions of The Barber of Seville and Isis and the Seven Scorpions, and coach/accompanist for an Ensemble Studio presentation of Trouble in Tahiti. Most recently he participated on the music staff for Opera Atelier's 2011 production of La clemenza di Tito as a coach and répétiteur and gave a well-received solo piano recital in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

Notable collaborations include an appearance with soprano Measha Brueggergosman and violinist Lara St. John at Roy Thomson Hall, a concert with tenor Richard Margison and soprano Lauren Margison at the Canadian Opera Company, live radio and television segments on CBC and Classical 96.3 FM with sopranos Simone Osborne and Shannon Mercer, a concert of lieder and art song with baritone Peter McGillivray, and a performance of Messiaen's Thème et variations with COC concertmaster Marie Bérard. He also participated as a faculty member at the Highlands Opera Studio summer program in 2010 under the artistic direction of Richard Margison and stage director Valerie Kuinka. Other credits include assistant conductor for La Cenerentola at the Bay View Music Festival, music director for Assassins at Eastman Opera Theatre, coach, accompanist, and assistant chorus master for Norma and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Mercury Opera Rochester, and coach for Cendrillon, L'étoile, L'enfant et les sortilèges, and Claudia Legare with Eastman Opera Theatre.

Mr. Mokrzewski holds bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from the prestigious Eastman School of Music, and is a graduate of the Vocal Piano Program at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where he studied with renowned vocal coach and collaborator Warren Jones. From a young age he enjoyed success as a solo pianist, performing his first concerto with symphony orchestra at the age of eleven, and winning first prizes at the Eastman School of Music International Young Artists Competition, the Milosz Magin International Piano Competition, and the Canadian Music Competition. This summer Mr. Mokrzewski will hold music staff positions at the Chautauqua Institute Summer Program and the Highlands Opera Studio.

Milos Repicky
Music

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and raised in France and Canada, Miloš Repický is on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, where he was recently heard playing the harpsichord continuo for Le Nozze di Figaro. At the Met, Mr. Repicky has prepared many other operas including From the House of the Dead, Fanciulla del West, Rusalka, The Queen of Spades, Otello, Macbeth, War and Peace, Hansel and Gretel, The Magic Flute and Jenůfa. Recently, Mr. Repický also prepared the Metropolitan Opera and Juilliard School landmark joint production of The Bartered Bride, conducted by James Levine.

In addition to the Met's radio and SIRIUS satellite broadcasts, his performances have been heard on NPR, New York's CUNY TV, WQXR radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was a featured performer on a multimedia DVD release of Pierrot Lunaire by Sundailtech Pictures and part of CBC television documentary as conductor of Tobin Stokes' opera The Vinedressers.

Mr. Repicky frequently collaborates with artists such as Michele Losier, Katherine Whyte and Sarah Heltzel. He has performed in recital for Regina Resnik Presents, Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Montreal's Jeunesses-Musicales, the Chicago Cultural Center and New York's Julian Autrey Song Foundation.

Mr. Repicky has worked as coach and instructor at Yale University's Opera Program, the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Manhattan School of Music and is on the faculty of the Chautauqua Institution voice program. He is also a mentor for ArtsLEAF, a web-based mentoring program designed to partner young artists with professional musicians working at the top of their field.

Timothy Noble
Voice

Baritone Timothy Noble has enjoyed an international career spanning forty-four years, performing leading roles at major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Dallas Opera, Canadian Opera Company, La Fenice in Venice, Italy, Netherlands Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival. In addition his directing credits include I Pagliacci and Tosca for Kentucky Opera, and Madama Butterfly for Columbus Opera. He has performed in concert with the London Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Ravinia Festival, to name a few. Professor Noble also toured with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians for seven years as soloist, rehearsal conductor, and arranger, appeared on Broadway, numerous television programs including the Ed Sullivan and Mike Douglas Shows, and received a Grammy nomination for his performance as “Harold Hill” on the Telarc recording of “The Music Man” with the Cincinnati Pops and Erich Kunzel conducting.

Professor Noble is now beginning his eleventh year at the Jacobs School of Music and was elevated to Distinguished Professor in 2004. He serves as vocal trainer/coach for the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble program, and is the founder and director of the Charley Creek Vocal Workshop held each June in Wabash, Indiana. Professor Noble is also in demand as an adjudicator and clinician throughout North America.

Noble’s students have won the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions at the District, Regional, Semi-final and Grand Finals, the Palm Beach Vocal Competition, the George London Competition, the Bel Canto Competition, the Orpheus Competition, and the Matinee Musicale Competition. During the summer of 2009 his student, Jordan Bisch, won the second prize of $20,000 at Placido Domingo’s Operalia International Competition.

Professor Noble’s students hold or have held positions with virtually every young artist program in North America, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera Merola and Adler programs, and Santa Fe Opera. His students have gone on to appear in major roles with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Omaha, Indianapolis Opera, Sarasota Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and Virginia Opera.

Christiane Riel
Voice

Montreal native Christiane Riel is recognized for the beauty of her voice, the generosity of her interpretations and her dramatic prowess as a singing actress. The most demanding roles of the soprano repertoire including the heroines of Puccini, Verdi, and those of the French romantic repertoire encompass the very heart of her career. After a triumphant debut as Antonia in THE TALES OF HOFFMANN with the Canadian Opera Company, and, particularly, when she stepped in at short notice to perform the role of Elisabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlos at the COC, she began drawing the attention of the Canadian press. Since then, Ms Riel has enjoyed an international career with performances throughout Canada, United-States and Australia in such roles as The Countess in THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI, Micaëla in CARMEN, Marguerite in FAUST, The Governess in THE TURN OF THE SCREW, Desdemona in OTELLO, Hanna Glawary in THE MERRY WIDOW, Rosalinda in DIE FLEDERMAUS, Mimì in LA BOHEME, Liù in TURANDOT, and Nedda in I PAGLIACCI to name but a few. She recently added to her repertoire the title roles in Puccini’s TOSCA and MANON LESCAUT garnering warm applause and kudos for her poignant portrayals.

It is especially for her interpretation of Cio-Cio-San in MADAMA BUTTERFLY that Christiane has earned the widest acclaim performing this role in eighteen different productions for such companies as San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company, West Australia Opera and for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Each performance has launched staggering ovations from the audience and rave reviews from the critics.

Since 1997, despite her professional engagements and desiring to transmit her extensive knowledge of the voice, Christiane has devoted significant time to vocal instruction in her own studio. Amongst her students are beginners as well as young professionals and university graduates seeking to perfect their art. Furthermore, she has given master classes at several Universities, Conservatories and opera companies’ young artists programs. Also, she acted, on numerous occasions, as a jury member evaluating examinations, competitions, grants and bursaries and, as an advisor, participated in various forums discussing the future and viability of opera throughout Canada. This year she taught voice at Wilfrid-Laurier University and more recently for Opera Nuova. She is excited to join this September the vocal department of the faculty of music at UWO.

Christiane has successfully completed with excellence her Graduate Diploma in Management of Cultural Organizations from HEC University, Montreal. This additional perspective coupled with her extensive performing and teaching experience has given her a substantive comprehension and appreciation of the lyric arts.

Alexander Neef
Professional Development

German born Alexander Neef, appointed General Director of the COC in June 2008, has worked with some of the most prestigious arts organizations in the world. His career as an artistic administrator has taken him from the Salzburg Festival, to the RuhrTriennale in Germany, Opéra national de Paris (ONP) and New York City Opera, to leading the COC. The Director of Casting for ONP since August 2004, Mr. Neef functioned as one of Gérard Mortier’s closest collaborators and was instrumental in the production of over 80 operas. He was also responsible for contracting the conductors for the ballet performances and concerts in both the Palais Garnier and Bastille opera houses. In addition to his role at ONP, in March 2007, Mr. Neef joined Gérard Mortier in New York as Mortier prepared for his tenure at New York City Opera. Previously, Mr. Neef was responsible for all the programming at the RuhrTriennale, a three-year, multi-disciplinary festival in the Ruhr region of Germany. He was charged each year with preparing opera, theatre, and dance productions as well as concerts and events. Prior to his tenure at the RuhrTriennale, he spent two seasons at the Salzburg Festival in an artistic administration position. Mr. Neef has a master of arts from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen where he studied Latin Philology and Modern History.

Bruce Zemsky
Professional Development

David Speers
Professional Development

David Speers has been the General Director of Opera Hamilton since 2004. His previous positions include ten years as the General and Artistic Director of the Calgary Opera and five years in the same role with the Arizona Opera.

Mr. Speers is widely recognized for his ability to discover emerging young talent and his skills in assembling strong ensemble casts.

A native of Edmonton, Mr. Speers received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music from the University of Alberta where he was the recipient of the University of Alberta’s Graduate Award in Music. He pursued post-graduate studies in Orchestral Conducting at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City and received additional training at the Tanglewood Festival and the Aspen Music Festival.
David Speers was the Chairman of The Professional Opera Companies of Canada in 1988 and from 1993-1998, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Opera America from 1995-2001. He has received awards from The Canada Council, Alberta Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts (U.S.). In 2000, Mr. Speers was named 'Arizona Arts Person of the Year' by the Tucson Citizen.

At the podium, David Speers has conducted more than 50 opera productions and made numerous appearances with symphony orchestras throughout Canada and the U.S. In addition to his responsibilities as General Director of Opera Hamilton, Mr.Speers continues his freelance conducting career. Following an engagement with the Toronto Operetta Theatre conducting The Mikado in April of 2008, he returned to the company in February of 2009 to conduct the Canadian premiere of Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker’s Holiday.

David Speers resides in Ancaster, Ontario with his wife and their two children.

David Briskin
Professional Development

A conductor renowned for the versatility of his repertoire and the depth of his musical interpretations, David Briskin joined The National Ballet of Canada as Music Director and Principal Conductor in 2006. One of the leading ballet conductors of his generation, Mr. Briskin served as Conductor with American Ballet Theatre for seven years, leading performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York’s City Center and in major opera houses throughout the world.

Highly in demand as a guest conductor, he appears regularly with New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet and has conducted for Houston Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, as well as the companies of Martha Graham and Paul Taylor, among others. He served as Conductor of The Juilliard School’s Dance Division for 12 years.

Equally at home on the concert stage and in the opera house, Mr. Briskin has conducted symphony orchestras and opera productions throughout Europe, Asia and North America. He has appeared with the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore and Indianapolis symphony orchestras, among others, as well as such opera companies as Calgary, Manitoba, Opera Carolina and Lake George. He also served for six years as the Music Director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra, conducting annual performances of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall. In 2008, Mr. Briskin was appointed Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and Conductor of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Raised outside of Boston, David Briskin attended the Indiana University School of Music and received a Bachelor of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master’s degree from Queens College, City University of New York.