SYLVIA ANDERSON, SOPRANO
San Francisco Conservatory
Since 1990 on the voice faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, dramatic soprano and mezzo soprano, Sylvia Anderson, has taught at the Conservatory of the Saarland, Germany, for five years before coming to the U.S. Her students appear on the stages of numerous opera companies in many parts of the world including the Frankfurt Opera, Munich Opera, Berlin Opera, Opera Lyon, Operas Marseille and Bordeaux, the Saarbruecken Opera, Teatro Verdi Trieste, the Zuerich Opera as well as the San Francisco Opera, the Portland Opera and many others. She established BASOTI in 1992 to respond to a need for more training of students before they venture out into careers.
During a 35 year operatic career, David Bender has sung over 45 leading tenor roles including those with the San Francisco Opera, and the Seattle Opera Company, as well as an international career with opera companies in Germany, Austria, and England and Switzerland.
As tenor soloist in concert and oratorio he sang compositions written for him by Roy Harris, Richard Yardumian, Gian Carlo Menotti and Paul Allen Levi.
David is a graduate of Columbia University where he majored in American History and Music Performance. He has received teaching fellowships at the University of Colorado, and the University of California. He is former Professor of Voice at New York University and at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna.
Mr. Bender is Artistic Director of Career Bridges, NYC.
American mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook has excelled in a wide range of roles with leading companies throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera and the Houston Grand Opera. Ms. Cook was a former Merola participant and Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera, where she continues to be a frequent presence. She has performed more than 45 roles to date with the company, including Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and La Frugola in Il tabarro. Ms. Cook is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she won the Norman Triegle Award in opera and the same year was a Metropolitan National Council Winner. Ms. Cook’s students have been winners in many vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, and are chosen to participate in many apprentice programs throughout the country. In addition to maintaining a full voice studio, she holds annual audition workshops in the Bay Area and teaches Audition Workshop for Singers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
San Francisco Conservatory
Metropolitan Opera: Marjenka in The Bartered Bride under James Levine, Butterfly, Mimi, The New Prioress in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Jenny in Mahagonny. Puccini specialist. Leading soprano for 12 years, New York City Opera. Other career highlights: Manon Lescaut (Venice), Butterfly (Marseille), Lisa in Pique Dame (Festival of Two Worlds, Spoleto and Charleston), Violetta in La Traviata (Cincinnati, New York City Opera), Leonore in Il Trovatore (Cincinnati). Since 1990, voice faculty, New England Conservatory of Music. Since 2010 on the voice faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has been on the BASOTI faculty since 1993.
San Francisco Conservatory
Coloratura soprano Pamela Fry has been on the San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty since 1989. She served as departmental co-chair from 2001 to 2006 and as chair of the department from 2006 to 2010. Her students have been national finalists in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; they perform with New York City Opera, Portland Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, in Europe and on Broadway, as well as numerous apprentice programs. Ms. Fry earned a B.M. from the University of Iowa and an M.M. in opera theater and voice from the Manhattan School of Music. As a soloist she has appeared with the Fremont-Newark Symphony, Artea Symphony and West Bay Opera. Versatile in many idioms, her oratorio repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Respighi’s Lauda per la Natività del Signor. Ms. Fry has taught classical and musical theater technique and vocal rehabilitation in the Bay Area for over 30 years.
San Francisco Conservatory
Jane Randolph's 25 years of experience teaching voice to students has led her across North America: from L'Atelier de L'Opéra de Montréal and L'Université de Montréal to establishing private studios in San Diego, San Francisco and New York. Her students have sung in major national and international opera companies and have been winners of countless prestigious competitions, such as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the San Francisco Opera Auditions and the Operalia-Domingo Competition. After completing her studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of California at Los Angeles and the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany, Ms. Randolph spent four seasons as a coloratura soprano at the Staatstheater in Luzern, Switzerland. She subsequently enjoyed an extensive career in opera, recital and oratorio in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Ms. Randolph is renowned for her commitment to her students as well as her passion for the art of singing.
