SYLVIA ANDERSON, FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC AND GENERAL DIRECTOR

Former international mezzo and dramatic Soprano, has sung over 80 different opera characters during her long career. Among her favorites are Octavian in "Der Rosenkavallier," "Carmen," the Countess in "Figaro, "Fiordiligi, "Tosca," Elisabeth in "Tannhaeuser," "Arabella" and "Salome," She spanned three continents during her career, singing at San Francisco Opera, Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, New York City Opera, Berlin and Hamburg Staatsopern and many others. She sang at the Bayreuth Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Festival of Greek Tragedy in Athens, and performed and recorded many contemporary works. For the last 20 years Miss Anderson has dedicated her expertise to training young aspiring singers in voice and opera. From her position as Professor of Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory, she founded BASOTI in 1992 and has led it through 20 years of successful training and opera productions. She has now created a new direction for BASOTI and is very excited to bring in 'cutting-edge' insights in self-mastery, overcoming fear, and finding your true voice.

MATTHIAS KUNTZSCH, MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR

Born in Germany, the revered conductor of symphony and opera returns for his 18th year as Music Director and Conductor of BASOTI, using his singing diction expertise and expert musicianship to coach singers to become adept in pronunciation of texts and in the phrasing of their singing roles. leading conductor of German and Italian repertoire, and dedicated teacher/conductor of Mozart. Previous positions: Principal Conductor, Munich National Theater, Hamburg State Opera, National Theater Mannheim General Music Director, Lubeck Opera and Philharmonic, and Saarbrücken State Opera and Symphony. Noted Wagnerian conductor (Tristan und Isolde), Paris, Trieste, Teheran, others. Guest conductor, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Symphony, Utah Symphony orchestras (Mozart, Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss). Has conducted with Opera Colorado, Utah, and Vancouver Operas (Fidelio, Macbeth, Flying Dutchman, Carmen, Magic Flute, Die Fledermaus) and Manon Lescaut at West Bay Opera. Has been the Music Director of BASOTI since its inception.

ROD GOMEZ, STAGE DIRECTOR

Rod Gomez has served as faculty or associate faculty member of BASOTI, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Holy Names College and Summer Music West International, directing opera, operetta and musical theater. He also serves as Artistic Advisor and Resident Stage Director for New York’s One World Symphony and has directed numerous productions for the company including Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro and Suor Angelica, among others. Recent New York-area productions include Chelsea Opera’s I Pagliacci (the direction of which the New York Times praised as “endearingly homey”), Giulio Cesare with the Opera Company of Brooklyn, West Side Story with New Jersey Concert Opera and the American premiere. A San Francisco critic writes: "A stunning end of season...complex web of moods skillfully realized...the director was Rod Gomez, who seems to have a special skill...Gomez deserves much credit as the enabler of this experience." San Francisco Examiner July, 2010.

ROSS HALPER, STAGE DIRECTOR

Tenor/director Ross Halper has been called "Opera’s mad genius" by conductor Kent Nagano, "Our modern Schikaneder" by the late, great lyric tenor Leopold Simoneau. With a repertoire of 300 roles, he has sung under solo contracts with LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Long Beach Opera, San Jose Opera, Carmel Bach Festival, and many others. Ross has summed up these experiences in a unique staged recital, GODS AND GOBLINS, as presented by Columbia Artists’ Community Concerts. Ross’ comic acting creations in television commercials have been seen internationally. He toured the world in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Ross’ many opera translations have been sung around the nation. Besides serving as director in residence at North Bay Opera in Fairfield, he has directed for Eugene Opera, Opera Idaho, Pacific Repertory Opera (San Luis Obispo), and many others. Has taught opera acting and directed at BASOTI San Francisco, Mannes College NYC, UC Berkeley and Calpoly.

ALEXANDER KATSMAN, Conductor

An alumnus of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Mr. Katsman received his M.M. from St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory and his B.M. cum laude from Mussorgsky College of Music in St.Petersburg, Russia. Since his arrival in the United States, Alexander has been sought after as a conductor and collaborative pianist. He conducted for Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, Martinez Opera, Bayshore Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera, Solo Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Diablo Light Opera, and also at CalState University East Bay and Diablo Valley College. His conducting credits include over 60 opera, operetta, and musical theater productions., For the past 15 years Mr. Katsman served on conducting faculty of Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute. He was also an Artistic Director for the Alexander Vocal Series, premier vocal recital series in Piedmont, California. Alexander is currently the Artistic Director and Conductor for Livermore Valley Opera.

HECTOR CORREA, Stage Director and Audition Teacher

Hector Correa is a San Francisco director and actor who is widely considered one of the most inventive and groundbreaking members of his generation. Mr. Correa has acted numerous Shakespeare roles, contemporary roles in the Bay Area and L.A., and was the Artistic Director of the Pacific Alliance Repertory Theater in Santa Rosa for many years. Mr. Corriea will spend his 8th season at BASOTI this year.

CHIP GRANT, Conductor and Coach

CHIP GRANT earned his Master of Music degree in conducting at New England Conservatory in Boston. While there he conducted Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat with dancers from the Boston Ballet and traveled to Rome to be assistant conductor with Opera Festival di Roma in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. In the summer of 1996 Mr. Grant moved to San Francisco and began singing baritone with Volti, a professional chamber ensemble that specializes in performing 20th/21st century compositions. With Volti he conducted performances of Virgil Thompson’s Four Saints in Three Acts. Chip served as Chorusmaster with San Francisco Lyric Opera for six seasons. He is now Artistic Director of the Urban Opera.

MICHAEL MOHAMMED, Stage Director and Choreographer

MICHAEL MOHAMMED studied classical ballet at Dance Theater of Harlem and Evansville Dance Theater and modern techniques at Alvin Ailey School, Barnard College, and Joan Peters Dance Company. He holds degrees from Columbia University in Music, History and Sociology and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance. Michael performs regularly in opera, concert, and theater. He is currently stage director and choreographer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he heads the Opera and Musical Theater Programs. Affiliations have included the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco, Symphony, Jarvis Conservatory, Livermore Valley Opera, Guggenheim Entertainment and the Mendocino Music Festival. His production of Wilde Boys at the New Conservatory Theater won the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Production. He has worked as Assistant Director at Opera Memphis and Berkeley Opera. He has created original works for dance companies as well as solo works for an array of artists Michael Mohammed has been a regular at BASOTI since 2000.

CONDUCTOR

Lloyd Arriola is a highly experienced pianist and conductor who has worked in a variety of musical genres on an international scale. He has conducted West Side Story in the Semper Oper Dresden and Matsumoto Performing Arts Center of Japan, and the national tour of Philip David Stern’s Scrooge–The Musical. Lloyd can also be heard on the recording of Allen and Wallace Shawn’s “play-opera” The Music Teacher, on Bridge Records. As a teenager growing up in San Francisco, California, Lloyd began his career as a conductor for a local performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia Goes to the Ball. He has continued to music direct and conduct operas ranging from Julius Caesar to La Boheme to La Serva Padrona and I Can’t Stand Wagner. Recently Lloyd was one of the pianists for the world premiere of the two piano version of William Bolcom’s opera A View from the Bridge with Vertical Player Repertory theatre. Lloyd Arriola studied at The Peabody Institute and at The Juilliard School, where he received his training from Yoheved Kaplinsky. Lloyd received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano from Juilliard in 2002, the first person of Filipino descent to receive his doctoral degree from that institution. He currently serves on the faculty of the Riverdale Country School as their Pianist-in-Residence, and is former faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, William Paterson University, and Montclair State University. Lloyd lives in New York City.

MaryAnne Stanislaw, Stage Director

Dramatic mezzo-soprano, MaryAnne Stanislaw, was born in Hong Kong to American parents. Most of her early years were spent in Hong Kong and Bangkok, Thailand. After being educated in England, Germany and Switzerland, she returned to the United States, where she currently resides. Her native fluency in several languages enables her to bring an understanding to her performance that is truly moving. Her most recent opera performances include: Santuzza – Cavalleria Rusticana, Azucena - Il Trovatore, Principessa – Suor Angelica, Rebecca Nurse - The Crucible, Madame Larina - Eugene Onegin, Erda - Das Rheingold (Condensed Ring), Gertrude - Romeo et Juliette, Gertrude (Mother) - Hansel and Gretel, and Mamma Lucia - Cavalleria Rusticana. Ms. Stanislaw is also a sought- after concert performer in the San Francisco Bay Area. MaryAnne works with young singers in both vocal instruction and dramatic coaching. Recently she formed an opera company and has been directing opera performances, most recently Suor Angelica. Her passion is teaching young singers how to sing correctly with a healthy technique to ensure vocal longevity.