Faculty 

Clara Salomon, Soprano

Founder &  Creative Director.
Faculty - Diction, Wellness, Posture, Italian Language, Technique, Meditation
Clara holds a master’s degree from Stanford University in Italian literature where she created and taught an opera workshop course for the department of music, as well as a public speaking and body awareness seminar for professors and doctoral students. She has lectured on such subjects as verismo literature & opera, trauma and the voice, & breathing patterns as related to posture. She holds a graduate degree in vocal performance, and has worked as a vocal director for numerous university productions...
​Read full bio HERE

Raffaele Cipriano, Conductor

Master Faculty ~  Orchestral Director
In Fall 2018, Maestro Cipriano joined the musical staff of Sarasota Opera as vocal coach and assistant/cover conductor for the Barber of Seville, Nabucco, and Turandot.  In  2016 he became the artistic and music director of the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, and he has also been conductor at the Olimpic Theatre in Vicenza, the Pollini Auditorium in Padova, and the St. Mark Cathedral in Venice.
​Read full bio HERE​

Kristin Roach, Conductor

Master Faculty ~ Conductor & Vocal Coach
Kristin Roach is in demand as a conductor, pianist, and vocal coach. She has prepared productions for the San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Utah Opera, Brevard Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, and many others. Music Director of Alamo City Opera, Music Director of Spotlight on Opera, and Lecturer in Opera at Texas State University, she has performed in thirty states, Canada, Japan, France, England, and the former Soviet Union.
​Read full bio HERE​

Marie Te Hapuku, Soprano

Master Faculty ~  Vocal Director

New Zealand Maori soprano Marie Te Hapuku joined the Metropolitan Opera artist roster in 2010 as immediate cover for Lina in Verdi's Stifelio. Her roles include Aida, Leonora, Amelia, Turandot, Tosca, Fiordiligi,  Maddalena, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, at principal theaters in Tokyo, Bercelona, Sydney, the United States, and New Zealand.
​Read full bio HERE

Francesco Cocco
Stage Director, Acting Instruction

Allison has been awarded the Kennedy Center SDC Directing Fellowship, the WildWind New Play Development Residency, the Stage Directors and Choreographer's National Directing Award (Kennedy Center), and the Kennedy Center Directing Fellowship. Allison first came to us as an intern, and her work as an apprentice director for Il giuoco del quadriglio was so highly esteemed by faculty, students, and audiences alike, that we couldn't wait to hire her as full stage director for our most important annual production.  ​​Read full bio HERE​

Jim Meredith
Collaborative Pianist & Vocal Coach

One of the San Francisco Bay Area's most well rounded musicians, James Meredith conducts the country's acclaimed Sonos Handbell Ensemble. This group's nationally recognized CDs have been played by classical music stations throughout the US. The San Francisco Examiner called it "sensational." A recording for a video shown in Bose Corporation stores around the world, demonstrating surround sound speaker systems, included artists such as Yo Yo Ma and the Cinncinati Pops. A native of North Carolina, Mr. Meredith received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Tulane University. He is a musical partner with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. As a solo pianist, vocal and instrumental accompanist and conductor in America, Europe and Asia, his work has brought him into contact with such artists as Elly Ameling, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Eleanor Steber, Gerald Moore for whom he has played masterclasses. For four summers he was pianist Dalton Baldwin's assistant in art song in masterclasses at the French Conservatory in Nice. Concerts with Ms. Von Stade included two appearances on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," each reaching a National Public Radio audience of over two million listeners and two concerts with Sonos in a premiere of Libby Larsen’s “Hell’s Belles.” He has been conductor of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, was on the faculty of Merritt College, taught masterclasses at Holy Names College, was Festival Opera chorus master, taught Art Song masterclasses at San Jose State University and has been on the voice/piano faculty of the award-winning Young Musicians Choral Orchestra for 17 years where his students have won many competitions and been accepted at major US universities and conservatories.