One of the greatest strengths of a summer opera program is the faculty, comprised of singers with international careers who are passionate about developing the artists of tomorrow.
Luis Ledesma
Baritone Luis Ledesma has established a reputation as a "rich and well controlled baritone (Opera News). He frequently portrays the heroes and villains of Puccini, Verdi and the bel canto masters as well as roles in recent new works in Spanish including Florencia en el Amazonas and El pasado nunca se termina. His operatic and concert career has advanced in Europe, the United States and South America and includes theaters such as Teatro alla Scala (Luisa Fernanda), the Liceu in Barcelona (Alphonse in La favorite, Riccardo in I puritani and Marcello in La bohème), Klangbogen Festival in Vienna (Leoncavallo's La bohème), Wexford Festival (Don Pasquale), Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Escamillo), Semperoper in Dresden (Marcello), several roles for Köln Oper (including Don Carlo and Germont), Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia), Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Marcello, Germont, and Escamillo ), Macau Festival (Sharpless), Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos (Marcello), Graz Oper (Escamillo), L’opera de Montreal (Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West), Manitoba Opera (Escamillo), Opera Lyra Ottawa (Tonio), the Philadelphia Orchestra (Marcello in a concert version of La boheme and Beethoven Nine) and the Savonlinna Opera Festival (Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and Escamillo), Bucharest National Opera (Scarpia) and Hungarian State Opera (Alfio and Tonio).
In the United States, Mr. Ledesma has sung with many companies, including Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Washington Opera, New York City Opera, Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, Anchorage Opera, Santo Domingo, Madison Opera, Nashville Opera, Portland Opera, Indianapolis and Connecticut Opera, Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Carolina, Memphis Opera, San Antonio Opera, New Jersey Opera, Minnesota Opera, Florentine Opera, and Hawaii Opera. He also sang two tours with Andrea Bocelli, performing in famous venues such as Madison Square Garden, Hollywood Bowl, Hard Rock Café in Hollywood, Florida, and the Auditorio Nacional Mexico City.
Mr. Ledesma made his Carnegie Hall debut in the Faure Requiem and returned for Dvorak’s Te Deum. He has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Mann Music Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra and with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has performed a variety of orchestral repertoire including Mozart's Coronation Mass, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Louisville Orchestra, a series of Christmas concerts in Hannover with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and a Verdi concert presented in Die Alte Opera Frankfurt. He also performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the Filarmonica de Jalisco and Gala concerts with Tampa Opera and with Festival Cultural Zacatecas, and a solo with Festival Classique des Hautes-Laurentides in Mont-Tremblant, Canada. His concert performances include La bohème (Marcello) at the Vail Festival and the Mann Music Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah in Spain with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Asturias.
Danielle Orlando
Danielle Orlando is an accompanist to international opera singers and a vocal coach and artistic consultant to prestigious musical organizations throughout the world. She has appeared with esteemed singers in such venues as the Phillips Collection, Théatre du Châtelet, and Carnegie Hall; and for the United States Supreme Court, the Schubert Club, Vocal Arts D.C., Music at the Morgan Library, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and many many more. She also appears in the documentary The Audition. Ms. Orlando has performed recitals for the Harriman-Jewell Series and has appeared at the Florida Opera and Astoria Music festivals, Festival Castell de Peralada (Spain), and Festival International Hautes-Laurentides (Canada).
Ms. Orlando served as accompanist, judge, and artistic coordinator for the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competitions and worked with Gian Carlo Menotti at the Festival dei Due Mondi for nine seasons. She was the artistic administrator and head of music staff for the Opera Company of Philadelphia and has served on the music staffs of the Metropolitan, Washington National, and San Francisco operas; Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; Dresden Semperoper; and Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Ms. Orlando is a guest judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a guest coach for the Domingo-Cafritz and Palm Beach young artist programs. Recent residencies include Curtis Summerfest, the University of Tennessee—Knoxville, and the Peking University Academy of Opera in Beijing. She lead master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Summer 2018.
Ms. Orlando holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Temple University, where she studied with Harvey Wedeen and Lambert Orkis. She also studied at the Eastman School of Music with David Burge. Ms. Orlando joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986, and is also master coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts.
Teri Bickham
Soprano/Vocal Coach Theresa “Teri” Bickham has been praised for her “expressive legato line” and “fine piano nuances.” She made her European debut singing scenes from La Traviata under the direction of Maestro Eduardo Müller. Dr. Bickham has performed with opera companies throughout the United States including Houston Grand Opera, Opera New Jersey, Opera in the Heights, Loudoun Lyric Opera, and Opera Camerata of Washington. She has performed a diverse repertory of operatic roles that include a specialization in Mozart heroines (Donna Anna, La Contessa, Fiordiligi), Italian opera (Adina, Violetta, Musetta), German operetta (Rosalinde), and contemporary American opera (A Bird in Your Ear, The Beautiful Bridegroom.)
Dr. Bickham is a frequent guest artist in the United States and Europe. Recent concert appearances include works by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Rossini, Orff, Vaughn Williams and numerous orchestral pops performances. In competition, Dr. Bickham was an international semi-finalist in the Concorso Lirico Internazionale per Cantanti lirici Rosa Ponselle in Caiazzo, Italy. She has also been the winner of national and regional competitions including: The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions-Mid-Atlantic Regional Finalist, Palm Beach Opera Semi-Finalist, Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Finalist, MD/DC National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston.
An avid recitalist, Dr. Bickham has performed recital tours in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Washington, and Washington DC. Her passion for art song has led to diverse programs specializing in music by underrepresented composers and poets, repertoire written for specific voices, and the exploration of the performer’s role in the creation of music. These programs led to the release of her first album, The Human Heart, by Albany Records in 2021.
Dr. Bickham’s performance experience has culminated in her passion for training young professionals. Her students have been recognized for their polished performances and exemplary teaching. Former students have attended prestigious schools that include The Juilliard School, Indiana University, the University of Maryland, the University of Tennessee, the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, Boston Conservatory, and Roosevelt University. In addition, they have won prizes with the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Annapolis Opera, the National Society of Arts and Letters, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Classical Singer competitions. Many students are performing professionally with such companies as The Metropolitan Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Marilyn Horne: The Song Continues Masterclass Series at Carnegie Hall, Annapolis Opera, Knoxville Opera, New York Lyric Opera, Disney Cruise Lines, and Creativiva Entertainment.
Dr. Bickham holds degrees from the University of Maryland College Park (DMA), the University of Houston (MM), and Towson University (BM) and received additional training as a young artist at Opera New Jersey and AIMS in Graz. She had the privilege to teach at Towson University and University of North Carolina Greensboro before joining the faculty of The University of Maryland College Park School of Music in 2023.
Juan Antonio Santoyo
Mexican Pianist, composer, vocal coach and Orchestra conductor. Born in 1970, he graduated from the National School of Music of the National University of México; studied also under American pianist Elizabeth Howard and the renowned German teacher Edith Picht-Axenfeld (hence his proficiency in both German and English).
His qualities as a performer lent him part in every domain of mexican artistic life, exploring, since his professional debut at age 14, a vast repertoire for solo piano; of Lied and vocal music in all its forms as well as the works for piano and orchestra.
He toured extensively and successfully in all México, Europe, Cuba and the USA, and his 7 album recordings for the major label Urtext Digital Classics cover an extended style range, going from the Mexican baroque to the Bolero-Jazz.
His life in the chamber music world has been both intense and prolific; having performed with legends such as Luciano Pavarotti and the Vienna Boys Choir, but also with many virtuosi of younger generations: Irasema Terrazas, Juan del Bosco, Javier Bonet Giuliano Sommerhalder and fellow Oaxaca-born Faustino Díaz. With an average of 60 yearly public appearances, he is one of the most active artist of his generation.
Violetta Zabbi
A native of Odessa, Ukraine, Violetta Zabbi is an accomplished pianist, conductor and coach. She received her BM and MM in "Piano Performance" and PhD in “ Musicology” from Odessa State Academy of Music.
Dr. Zabbi has been involved in over 100 different opera projects while living in New York for the past 27 years. She is currently on the faculties of Adelphi University (Director of Opera Workshop), Hofstra University, CUNY Brooklyn College ( Music Director Opera Workshop) and Queens College, NY. Dr. Zabbi is currently music director and conductor with Vocal Productions NYC, Slope Opera (Brooklyn, NY), New York Opera Theater, and Delaware Valley Opera. She appears as a pianist and coach with Long Island Lyric Opera, Regina Opera, Hofstra University, New Camerata Opera, Opera Manhattan Repertoire and the American Opera Project. Dr. Zabbi frequently appears in recitals both as a soloist and in collaboration where her playing has been described as “the image of joy and passion.”
For the past 20 seasons she has performed with DCINY International at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. Additionally, Dr. Zabbi serves as festival faculty at the following intensive programs: UArtist Music (Kiev, Ukraine), International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia (Morelia, Mexico), Oyster Bay Music Festival (NY), and the Queens College Summer Vocal Institute (NYC).
In addition to her career as vocal coach, Dr. Zabbi served as a Piano Professor and later Vice President of Long Island Conservatory from 1998 to 2011 where she had great success teaching Piano Performance in all levels. Her students were passing all NYSSMA levels, participating and winning local and international competitions.
In 2022, Dr. Zabbi served as Judge at the CT MTNA competition.