Chicago NATS
is a Chapter of
The National Association of
Teachers of Singing
Chicago NATS
is a Chapter of
The National Association of
Teachers of Singing
2011/2012 Board Members
David Hoffman, Vice President
Mark Crayton, VP of Competitions
Tracey Ford, Membership Secretary
Matthew Ellenwood, Treasurer
Matthew Chellis
Robert Heitzinger
Sarah McIntyre
Patrice Michaels
Annie Picard
Angela Presutti
Jo Rodenburg
Click on a name to jump to their biography.
Victoria Holland, President
Soprano Victoria Holland's extensive and diverse performances have
been well received in such venues as Chicago's Fourth Presbyterian
Church Recital Series, Il Conservatorio di Parma in Italy, Chicago's
Symphony Hall, the Ravinia Festival's Martin Theater, and broadcast
live on Chicago's classical radio station WFMT. Ms. Holland has
performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Memphis Symphony,
Elgin Symphony, DuPage Symphony, Chicago Baroque Ensemble, the
Storiori Ensemble, the Amadeus Consort, DuPage Opera, and Main
Street Opera in Arlington Heights. An active oratorio soloist, she
has performed the Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio, Janacek's Glagolitic
Mass, Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, the Brahms Requiem,
Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Händel's Messiah and Judas
Maccabaeus, Haydn's Creation, Bach's Mass in B-minor and Magnificat,
the Fauré Requiem and Vivaldi's Gloria. Favorite operatic roles
include the Contessa in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Aldeburgh
Festival, England) and a recital version of the role of Ellen Orford
in Britten's Peter Grimes (Lutkin Hall, Evanston). In the areas of
musical theater and popular music, Ms. Holland has performed with
jazz pianist Chris White, the John Blegen Quartet, and with noted
jazz violinist James Sanders. She also performs regularly with The
Opera Divas throughout the Chicago area. Ms. Holland holds a
doctoral degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern
University and teaches voice in Evanston. Visit her website for
more information: www.victoriaholland.info.
David Hoffman, Vice President
David Hoffman has performed in opera, oratorio and recital throughout the Midwest as well as Lake Placid, Norfolk and Baltimore. He sang the role of the Seeker in the European premier of University of Michigan Composer Stephen Rush's vidGod in Tubingen, Germany. Other highlights include roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, The Girl on the Train, The Telephone, Oklahoma!, Kiss Me Kate and Evita.
Here in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus and
Opera Interalia. He has performed with the Chicago Folks Operetta and Da Corneto Opera Company.
In addition to performing, Dr. Hoffman is on the faculty of Lake Forest College
and the Old Town School of Folk Music and teaches privately in Chicago. In Ohio he was on the faculties of Hiram College, Cuyahoga Community College
and the Beck Center for the Arts. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan.
Mark Crayton, Vice President of Competitions
Countertenor MARK CRAYTON is hailed by critics and
audiences for the pure beauty of his voice, his expressive and
insightful interpretations, and his natural musicality. Winner of the
Classical Singer International Vocal Competition, Mr. Crayton performs
on concert stages and in opera houses throughout the United States and
Europe, and his extensive repertoire includes many diverse works. Mr.
Crayton created the role of the "First Minstrel" in The Holland
Festival's production of Peter Onnes opera/theatre piece Pantagruel
et Gargantua. In 2002-2003, Mark Crayton was invited by the composer
Philip Glass and the Tony Award director Mary Zimmerman to sing in the
world premiere performances of Glass' opera Galileo Galilei in
Chicago, New York City and London.
In addition, Mark Crayton was chosen by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb to sing the role of Louis Perch in their new musical called The Visit starring Chita Rivera. Recent seasons have included performances at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Opera Theatre of St. Louis (American Premier of Goehr's Arianna), Seattle Opera (Handel's Giulio Cesare), San Diego Opera (Handel's Giulio Cesare), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Handel's Partenope), and the Kennedy Center. Equally at home on the recital and concert stage, Mr. Crayton has performed on Chicago's Jewel Box and Dame Myra Hess series as well as recitals with Ars Musica Chicago, at Washington, D.C.'s Phillip's Collection, at Weill Hall in New York City, as well as Amstelrande in Amsterdam and Grovesnor Chapel in London. Mr. Crayton has been a return guest artist every summer with the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra at Oberlin Conservatory's Baroque Performance Institute since 1993.
Mr. Crayton has appeared with the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis
Symphony, Sarasota Symphony, Fargo Symphony, Sheboygan Symphony,
Milwaukee Symphony, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, Chicago Baroque
Ensemble, Ensemble Voltaire, La Pettite Bande, the Netherlands
Kammerkoor, El Ayre Español, as well as many others. Mark Crayton has
developed quite a reputation for his interpretation of Bernstein's Chichester
Psalms, which he has performed 162 times. This past season's Chicago
appearances included Ulnufo in Handel's Rodelina as part of
Handel Week, appearances with Haydn by the Lake as well as a new project
of music based on the writings of Henry VIII and his wives with Yasuko
Oura, piano and Susanna Phillips, soprano, at Roosevelt University's
Ganz Hall. Outside of Chicago, Mr. Crayton sang recitals in London, New
York City, and Washington D.C. as well as presenting masterclasses here
in the United States as well as Europe. On a CD for the Centaur label,
the beauty of Mark Crayton's voice, with the Chicago Baroque Ensemble,
can be heard singing songs by Phillipp Heinrich Erlebach. For more
information concerning Mr. Crayton's career and current season, please
visit www.markcrayton.com.
Tracey Ford, Membership Secretary
Tracey
Ford is an active teacher and performer throughout metropolitan Chicago.
In 2008,
she received her D.M.A. in Vocal Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois
where she was a recipient of a Graduate Fellowship in Music. Tracey has performed in recital,
oratorio and opera including the roles: “Gretel” in Hansel and Gretel and “Concepción” in
L'heure Espagñole, “Guilietta” in I Capuleti ed I Montecchi, “Erste Dame” in Die Zauberflöte,
“Lola” in Gallantry and various roles in The Fairy Queen, L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Suor
Angelica. In 2001, she was selected to perform at the Austrian American Mozart Academy
and in 2007, presented a series of organ and voice recitals in Poland and Sweden with
organist, Johnny Kash. Tracey serves as a private voice instructor at the Hinsdale Center for
the Arts, Maine West High School and Elk Grove Village High School. Since 2009, she has been an adjunct instructor at Joliet Junior College where she teaches Music Appreciation and Applied Voice.
Matthew Ellenwood, Treasurer
Mathew served as the vocal coach, and
assistant conductor of the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus for 10 years. He is
the Artistic Director of Terra Mysterium Performance Troupe. Matthew has
served as the musical director and conductor for several companies in
Chicago including: American Theatre Company, New Tuners Music Theatre
Workshop at the Theatre Building Chicago, Transplant Theatre company at
the Athenaeum, and Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana. He has
presented voice and musical theater technique workshops for diverse
institutions such as Lookinglass Theater Company, the Village Players,
and Dominican University. Matthew has played harpsichord with the
Chicago Sinfonietta at the Symphony Center, and is currently studying
Celtic harp. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois
Wesleyan University, and his Masters degree in vocal performance and
pedagogy from Northwestern University.
Matthew Chellis, Board Member
Tenor, Matthew
Chellis has performed with New York City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Teatro
Colon de Bogoto, Shreveport Opera, Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera
de Quebec, Calgary Opera, Atlanta Opera, Utah Opera, Dallas Opera,
Washington Opera Lake George Opera, Opera New Jersey, Tulsa Opera among
others. He has also had an equally successful concert career
having sung with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, the National Symphony
Orchestra, Masterwork Chorus at Carnegie Hall among others. He has been
with Roosevelt College since 2007.
Robert Heitzinger, Board Member
Robert
Heitzinger, baritone, is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at
Northeastern Illinois University. He holds the Doctor of Music degree
from Northwestern University, where he taught for over 10 years. Robert
has performed around the world in concert and operatic venues, including
the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Sinfonietta at Orchestra Hall in
Chicago and at the Festival de Musica de Canarias in the Canary
Islands, the Grant Park Symphony, Light Opera Works, the
Cincinnati Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, and the Milwaukee Florentine
Opera. Other credits include the Broadway production and the National
and European tours of the Tony award winning musical "Evita", "She
Always Said, Pablo" directed by Frank Galati, at the Kennedy Center and
the Goodman Theatre, "Forbidden Broadway" at the Gaslight Club
and many other musical theatre credits in the Chicago area. He is also a
studio musician and spent several delightful holiday seasons touring
with the Perry Como Christmas Show. He is an experienced clinician,
giving master classes for CCNATS, Music in the Marche (Piobbico, Italy)
and several locations in China, among others.
Sarah McIntyre, Board Member
Sarah McIntyre, soprano, most recently
portrayed Jane Bennett in the Chicago Premiere of Jacob and Baker’s:
Pride & Prejudice. Other credits include: Hansel & Gretel (Dew Fairy);
Carmen (Frasquita); Vanessa and Amahl & the Night Visitors with Chamber
Opera Chicago; Mitislav the Modern (Jou Jou) with Chicago Folks
Operetta; the title role of Zaide with the Amadeus Opern Ensemble in
Salzburg, Austria; Carmen (Frasquita) with Lexington Opera, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (Helena) and L’elisir d’amore with Sugar Creek Symphony
and Song; Die Fledermaus (Adele) with Belmont Opera Theatre; (Sister
Catherine) Dialogues of the Carmelites with Converse Opera Theatre; Old
Maid & the Thief (Miss Pinkerton), Die Zabuerflöte, and Felice in Test
Tube, at which time, she was the first to sing the fully staged role of
Milton Granger's Opera.
Sarah has appeared as a soloist on the Chicago Lyric Opera Guild Concert
Series; and Northbrook Parisian Salon Series; with the Greensboro
Oratorio Society, Metropolis Symphony, Calumet Chamber Musicians,
Omnitones Chamber Ensemble, Chicago Chamber Ensemble and the Lira
Ensemble. In 2008, she appeared at Orchestra Hall as a guest soloist for
the annual Rush Medical Center Fundraiser.
Sarah holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Pedagogy & Performance
from Belmont University and Bachelor of Music in Performance from
Samford University. In addition to her university education, she has
been chosen to participate in numerous opera programs including the
International Vocal Arts Institute in San Juan Puerto Rico and Sherrill
Milnes’ VOICExperience.
Sarah maintains a private teaching studio at the historic Fine Arts
Building and is a teaching artist for the Chicago Lyric Opera’s "OperaKids!"
program. She is the director of the Vocal Arts Intensive summer music
program as well as the children’s choir director for Sherwood Community
Music School at Columbia College. Sarah is a recent recipient of the
NATS Independent Teacher Fellowship.
More information can be found at
www.fineartsvoice.com.
Patrice Michaels, Board Member
Ms.
Michaels has sung with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Opera, the
Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Minnesota Orchestras,
the Maryland Handel Festival, New York’s Concert Royal, Chicago’s Music
of the Baroque and the Maverick Festival. She has two dozen critically
acclaimed recordings on Cedille, Albany and other labels. Patrice
teaches master classes at schools such as the University of Tel Aviv,
ISA Havana (Cuba), The Hartt School of Music, and Dreyfoos High School
for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. Professor of Music for
Lawrence University’s Conservatory for 17 years, she now teaches at the
University of Chicago, Merit School of Music and Music Institute of
Chicago.
www.patricemichaels.com
www.divasofmozartsday.com
Annie Picard, Board Member
Lyric soprano Annie Picard is a soloist,
chamber musician, and voice teacher whose musical achievements have been
widely recognized and rewarded. A multiple award-winner for her work
both performing on the stage and teaching in the studio, Annie is
equally at home in the realm of opera, oratorio, art song, and chamber
music. She has performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre
Saint Louis, Du Page Opera Theatre, and Illinois Opera Theatre, and has
sung on concerts throughout the United States, including appearances
with John Wustman for his Schubert Lieder recital series. Annie’s great
passion is performing art song and chamber music, and she enjoys being
musically adventuresome, dedicating herself to creating recitals that
explore widely varying themes and genres. Her repertoire ranges from
lute songs by John Dowland to Dominick Argento’s Letters from Composers,
and she is as compelling in French, Italian, German and Russian as she
is in English. Born in Montreal, and raised outside St. Louis, Annie
received a Bachelor of Music as a Curator Scholar from the University of
Missouri at Columbia; a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the New
England Conservatory in Boston, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the
University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Her teachers include voice
with Costanza Cuccaro, Susan Clickner and Nicholas Di Virgilio; coaching
with George Darden, Margo Garrett, Louis Krasner, Eric Dalheim and John
Wustman; opera with John Moriarty and Robert De Simone. Annie Picard
joined the music faculties of North Park University and Moraine Valley
Community College in 1998. Her unique teaching style strikes a balance
between the pedagogical and the “natural”: she instills in her students
a thorough understanding of the technical aspects of singing, but with
equal emphasis on the kinetic, and on singing freely, both bodily and in
expression.
Angela Presutti, Board Member
Angela Presutti has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a soloist, small ensemble member and chorister. She has been a soloist with many other orchestras and choruses including Grant Park of Chicago, Bel Canto of Milwaukee, The Park Ridge Civic, Salt Creek Sinfonietta and The Naples Philharmonic. Ms. Presutti has also recorded "Cats", "Les Miserable" and "The Phantom of the Opera" for Lakeshore Records. She received her musical training at The University of Illinois and Roosevelt University where she graduated with honors. She has also studied opera at The International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy and artsong with Elly Ameling at the Britten-Pears School in England. She has been a winner at the Bel Canto Competition, a finalist at The Palm Beach Opera Competition, a three time regional finalist at the N.A.T.S. Artist Awards Competition and a semi-finalist at the Oratorio Society of New York Competition. Highlights of her solo career include "Serenade to Music" with Sir Andrew Davis, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Duain Wolf, "Bachianas No. 5" with the cellists of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "Moses and Aron" with Pierre Boulez, "Carmina Burana" with Grammy winning conductor Vance George and an Andrews Sisters Tribute with Erich Kunzel and Doc Severinsen. Since 1998, Angela has been performing with guitarist and husband Ron Korbitz. Their work together has included concerts and recitals for some of Chicago's most prestigious performing arts series including The Chicago Classical Guitar Society, Unity Temple, Fourth Presbyterian, Dame Myra Hess and several live broadcasts on WFMT. They have also released their debut CD "Love does not Like Delays." Ms. Presutti is highly regarded as an adjudicator and clinician for organizations such as I.G.S.M.A., I.H.S.A. and N.A.T.S. She also maintains a successful private studio and is an Associate Professor of voice at VanderCook College of Music.
Jo Rodenburg, Board Member
Mezzo-soprano Jo Rodenburg's career in music spans
over 30 years, with performances in opera, oratorio and song
literature. Her operatic credits include Bizet's sultry "Carmen" and
her interpretation of that role garnered praise for her "physical
athleticism" and "a voice of stunning beauty." As Prince Orlofsky, she
was hailed as a "quiet riot" by the Chicago Tribune, who also took in
her performance at last season's Handel Week production of "Rodelinda" (Eduige)
and cited her "big, dark, contralto-ish mezzo." on the concert stage she
has appeared with Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works by Pergolesi,
Corigliano and David Byrne. In New York, Ms. Rodenburg was honored to
share program billing with Jose Ferrer in "L'histoire du soldats" and "Pierrot
Lunaire." She has appeared in concert with numerous regional companies
in music from early Baroque to Contemporary music, but is especially
recognized for her affinity for German song literature and concert
music. During a concert tour featuring songs of Strauss, Brahms and
American folk music, Ms. Rodenburg’s singing was characterized by the
German press as "warm, lustrous and heart-rendingly beautiful."
Ms. Rodenburg has enjoyed working with talented young singers for 20 years. She teaches in Chicago at the historic Fine Arts Building and also at her home in Frankfort. She received her formal education at the Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory.