Elective Instructors
2006-2007 Season

Voice
Rachel Calloway
Cathy Lawrence
Jeanette LoVetri
Lori McAnn
Christine Reimer
Michelle Rosen

Piano
Matthew Brady
Denise Ivanoff
Julia Seo

Other
Josh Mease, Guitar
Dr. Gloria Cooper, Jazz Improvisation

Jeannette LoVetri (voice), creator of Somatic Voicework™ and The LoVetri Method, is a pioneer and recognized expert in the field of healthy vocal training for all styles of non-classical music and has been teaching since 1971. LoVetri has taught throughout the USA, and in Europe, Australia and South America. She is a consultant in the retraining of injured voices for several of New York's largest hospitals. Her students perform leading roles on Broadway and in all major venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City. She teaches on the Voice faculty of the Steinhardt School of Education of New York University and Columbia Teacher's College of Columbia University. She is also on the Scientific Advisory Board and Faculty of the Voice Foundation, is past president of the New York Singing Teachers‚ Association and secretary of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing. She has participated in voice research with the world's leading voice scientists, is author of many articles on CCM vocal production and is a respected authority in vocal acoustics and physiologic register differences in CCM. She has been the Singing Specialist with the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus since its inception in 1991.

Christine Reimer (voice) has brought her versatile mezzo-soprano voice to a wide variety of venues. In addition to performing with opera companies in both New York and San Francisco, her career has also taken her to Ireland, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. She made her international debut in Ireland as Madame Dufresne in the Wexford Opera Company's production of Leoncavallo's Zaza. She has also appeared as a featured soloist in Graz, Austria with the Graz Festival Orchestra and spent three months performing in Interlaken, Switzerland as a soloist in a Broadway revue. In the United States she has performed with The Buffalo Philharmonic, Marin Opera, Oakland Opera, Opera Northeast, Liederkranz Opera, Regina Opera and the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, singing Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Siebel in Faust, Melissa in Princess Ida and the title role in Carmen. In October 2002, she had the privilege of creating the role of Mamba Jamba in a preview performance of a new opera entitled LOST, by Jessica Wing and Kirk Bromley. She was also a featured soloist in a presentation of new operas produced by Raw Impressions Musical Theater and was a semi-finalist in the 2002 International Opera Singers Competition held by the Center for Contemporary Opera. Soon after completing her Bachelor in Music in Piano Performance at San Francisco State University, Ms. Reimer performed lead roles with Oakland Opera, Marin Opera, West Bay Opera, Pocket Opera, Berkeley Opera and The Lamplighters and shared the stage with Metropolitan Opera stars Jerome Hines and William Lewis. She also worked with the San Francisco Opera Company both as a chorister and covering roles in their productions of Die Fraue Ohne Schatten and Parsifal. Ms. Reimer is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Rachel Calloway (musical theater) received her BA from Julliard and her MA from the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed at the New York Philharmonic’s gala concert of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, and was a semifinalist in the Center for Contemporary Opera’s 2005 competition. Rachel has sung at the White House as a Presidential Scholar, at the Kennedy Center, at Alice Tully Hall, and made her professional operatic debut with the Central City Opera in Denver last year.

Dr. Gloria Cooper (jazz voice) is an experienced jazz vocalist and pianist who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Missouri and received an Ed. D. in Music and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1992. Currently, she teaches at Long Island University in Brooklyn where she is an Associate Professor of music. Cooper is active as a performer, educator, and clinician and has performed throughout the United States and Japan. She has also accompanied many singers including Meredith d'Ambrosio, Giacomo Gates, and Gloria Lynne.

Denise Ivanoff (piano) is the owner of Ivanotes Music Studio, located in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where she teaches all levels of piano and beginning voice and provides vocal coaching to singers of all levels of advancement. As a soloist, Ms. Ivanoff has performed in venues throughout Texas, California New Orleans and at the Bösendorfer-Saal in Vienna. Ms. Ivanoff also has extensive experience accompanying singers and instrumentalists on both piano and harpsichord, and has rehearsed and directed student opera scenes at the Baylor Opera Theatre. Ms. Ivanoff is active in the New York State Music Teachers Association (NYSMTA) as a member of the Executive Board and as the Newsletter Editor. In 2006, Ms. Ivanoff was selected to represent New York State at the Annual Music Teachers' National Association Leadership Summit in Cincinnati. Prior to moving to New York, Ms. Ivanoff taught and coached in Texas, running successful private studio and building the adult and pre-college music education program at McLennan Community College. Ms. Ivanoff holds Bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and Master’s (with distinction) Degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Baylor University, is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the Music Honors Society, and has participated at the New Orleans Piano Institute and the Aspen Music Festival.

Cathy Lawrence (voice) has served on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, and has taught voice since 1979. Cathy also leads a Teen Arts Summer Program in Albany, NY annually. Operatic roles include the Countess, Traviata, Pamina, and Donna Anna, and she has sung with the Connecticut Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Long Beach opera and the Amato Opera. She has also been a featured soloist with the Mannes Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony. Cathy is also active in the musical theater community, where she has had roles including Julie in Carousel and Marian in The Music Mann. Cathy received her BA from Rutgers University and her MM from Mannes College of Music.

Lori McCann (voice) pursues an active career both in the United States and abroad, appearing in opera, oratorio and recital. She is a regularly featured performer with the Berliner Kammeroper and the Neue Opernbühne, both of Berlin, Germany. Dr. McCann's repertoire is wide and varied, ranging from Baroque opera to an outdoor performance-art multi-media piece which was performed on the site of a strip mine in former East Germany. She received critical acclaim for her European operatic debut in the role of Fulvia in Händel's Ezio and for her interpretation of the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with the Neue Opernbühne, which was performed both in Berlin and at the Festival de Otoño in Madrid, Spain. In the U.S. she has appeared in leading roles with the Chautauqua Opera, Whitewater Opera, Shreveport Opera and Pacific Chamber Opera, and is scheduled to make her debut with Virginia Opera as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in 1999. In solo concert performance she has performed with the Ensemble Oriol of Berlin Germany, the Göttinger Symphony, the Graz Festival Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony, the La Jolla Civic Orchestra, the Ashland Symphony, the Adrian Symphony, Catskill Symphony, and the Choral Societies of Cincinnati and Akron Ohio among others. Dr. McCann has been the recipient of many awards, including National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, first place in the Opera Columbus competition, and the Virginia Hawk Young Artist Awards in San Diego. She was a winner of the Friedrich Shorr Memorial Performance Prize in Voice, and a semi-finalist in the Belvedere International Singing Competition in Vienna, Austria. Additionally, she placed third and fourth respectively, in the Birmingham Opera Theater Competition and the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria. In 1996 she served as a judge for the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. McCann previously held the position of Director of Voice and Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Professor McCann received her B.M. from the University Wisconsin, her M.A. from San Diego State University, and her D.M.A. & Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music.

Josh Mease (guitar) attended Houstong, TX's High School for the Performing Arts, where he began studying and performing jazz guitar around the region. He received a scholarship to attend the New School's prestigious Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, from which he recently graduated. Josh is active as a performer around New York City, and has been featured at venues including The Living Room and Rockwood Music Hall. His latest self-titled album has been receiving press attention all along the East Coast.

Michelle Rosen (voice) has starred as Christine in Phantom of the Opera both overseas (the Lloyd Webber version) and in national productions (the Kopit/Yeston version), and recently added the flinty but big hearted character of Katharine Hartgrove from Letters From the Front to her repertoire. During the Letters from the Front 1998 Mediterranean and 1999 Stateside tours, during which she portrayed Katharine Hartgrove, Michelle received heartfelt accolades from military personnel who had the pleasure of seeing her perform. "Michelle has an extraordinary way of making the audience feel the emotions she is trying to express," wrote an audience member in Vicenza, Italy. Michelle has also starred in national tours of Carousel, The Mikado, and Pirates of Penzance. An accomplished vocalist, she has also appeared in numerous New York operas and musical theatre productions in New York City and throughout the country.

Julia (Kyung Hwa) Seo (piano), born in Korea, has established herself as a performer of consummate artistry and virtuosity. Acclaimed as “a poised, young, gifted pianist” by the Chosun Daily, Ms. Seo has performed throughout North America as a sought after soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. She has performed at venues including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Outdoor Theatre, Stude Concert Hall, and Roussel Hall. She has also appeared at The Chamber Society of Lincoln Center and The New York Yamaha Artists Service Incorporation Concert Series. Jinyong Chun of The Korea Times has written, “Seo’s performance displayed an intellectual grasp wedded to an innate talent.” Her performances have been broadcasted on KHOU, WVUE and KRIV, and has performed with the Southwestern University Orchestra and the New Orleans Civic Symphony Orchestra, which was been released on The Larry Phillips' Electric Ear Studio label. Ms. Seo holds Bachelor of Music degree (summa cum laude) from University of Houston, a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, and is currently pursuing Master of Education degree from Columbia University.

Elective Instructors 2006-2007 Season

Elective Instructors
2006-2007 Season