MUSIC IN THE MARCHE 2012 FACULTY
Pianist and coach Jeffrey Peterson has appeared in recitals and master classes on five continents, with such important operatic artists asMartina Arroyo, James King, and Teresa Kubiak, in venues as far-reaching as Hoam Hall in Seoul, the Marian Anderson Festival and Competition, and Manaus, Brazil. He has appeared at art song festivals in Cleveland and Delaware, and the Blossom Festival, and been part of cultural exchange cruises to Greece, Turkey, and South America. His performances have been broadcast on public radio stations in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and New Mexico, as well as on WFMT in Chicago.
Dr. Peterson has taught at Indiana University, the University of Illinois, the University of Akron, and most recently served on the Opera Studies Faculty at Northwestern University for five years. While at Indiana University he helped design and teach a course in operatic role preparation, which continues to be one of the most popular offerings in that school’s vocal curriculum. He is a member of NATS, the Chicago Singing Teachers Guild, Phi Kappa Phi, and the College Music Society.
Jeffrey Peterson earned the doctorate in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying at the University of Illinois, where he was the assistant to renowned pianist and coach John Wustman. He was also a recipient of the Nancy Kennedy Wustman Award in Vocal Coaching, established in memory of Mr. Wustman’s late wife. Dr. Peterson has taught at several summer programs, including the Corso Estivo per Cantanti Giovani and The Italian Operatic Experience, both in Urbania, Italy; the New York Vocal Institute, of which he was co-director, and is currently in charge of Music in the Marche, a program in Piobbico, Italy, which he founded and for which he is also artistic director. He is beginning his first year as Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Coaching at the Baylor University School of Music in the fall of 2010.
Rebecca Wascoe, voiceAdditionally, Wascoe
has twice been a winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Awards, and has placed
in the Sigma Alpha Iota Graduate Performance Awards, she was also a Finalist in
Charles A. Lynam and the Opera Company of the Quad Cities Competitions. She has
been recognized as a finalist or semi-finalist in many other international
competitions, including Merola, the Marguerite McCammon, the Dallas Opera
Guild, Opera Birmingham, Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Competition, and the
Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. She is a recipient of the Sigma Alpha
Iota Doctoral Grant, and continues to present recitals throughout the United
States . Current projects include a CD of sacred music by Mississippi composer,
Len Bobo available through APAD Recordings, and a commissioned song cycle based
upon the life of Mary Magdalene by American composer, Libby Larsen, which is
scheduled to be premiered in the spring of 2012. She was recently
featured on the International Music Foundation’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial
Recital Series, which was broadcast live n WFMT Chicago. Upcoming concerts
include a recital in Urbania , Italy in the summer of 2012, as well as being
featured on the Altier Recital Series in Paris in the fall of 2013.
Additionally, Dr.
Wascoe will join the faculty of Musiche in the Marche , an opera training
program in the summer of 2012. Upcoming presentations include a featured
presentation at the National Opera Association’s national conference in
January, as well as the International Arts and Humanities conference in
Honolulu , Hawaii .
Rebecca’s vocal training began
in her home state of Texas , where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Musical
Theatre from the University of Texas in Arlington . She also holds a Master’s
Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas , where she
studied with Lynn Eustis, Harold Heiberg, and Jeannine Crader. Her Doctorate in
Vocal Performance and Literature was attained from the University of Illinois
in 2008, where she studied with Sylvia Stone, Jeffrey Peterson, Julie Gunn and
Thomas Schleis. Dr. Wascoe continues her vocal studies with John Wustman and
Inci Bashar. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at
Mississippi State University .
Stephen Lusmann is Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance and is also a member of the voice faculty at the Seagle Music Colony. His students are having great success performing professionally in opera, concert, musical theater, and young artist programs. They are also winning prestigious vocal competitions and teaching in elementary, secondary and higher education.
Mark Clark, opera scenes director
Mark Ross Clark has a unique career that has been “synergized” from his background as director, performer, and most importantly- teacher of young singing actors. He has directed opera and young singers in Brazil, England, Italy, Germany, and most recently this year young artists in the National Theatre of Taiwan. His production of Susannah for the University of North Carolina-Greensboro won a national award from the National Opera Association, and he has guest-directed for many other U.S. regional opera companies and universities-most notably eight productions for the renowned Indiana University Opera Theatre, where he also taught the graduate and undergraduate opera workshop classes for nine years. Clark has a doctorate degree in opera production, a hybrid degree of courses in music and opera history, drama, and dance from the University of Washington in Seattle. He was a soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale on tour for five years, and was a contract singer for the Giessen Stadttheater in Germany 1984-1987. Dr. Clark is the author of two books for the young singer-actor: Singing, Acting, and Movement in Opera and Guide to the Operatic Aria Repertoire (Indiana University Press). He has presented his Singer-getic® workshops at universities and NATS regional conventions in 15 states, in Germany and Italy, and continues a full schedule of interactive workshops, directing, and writing.
Alessandra Visconti, vocal coach and diction classes
Alessandra Visconti has been a member of various early music ensembles in the U.S. and in Europe and has performed music from the middle ages to the baroque in England, Holland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Japan. She has recorded with Dorian records and the Archiv label of Deutsche Grammophon and in 1998 she sang on the album “Creator of the Stars” which was honored with a Grammy nomination. She combines her interest in music and language by coaching singers in Italian and English diction, and serves on the coaching staff at Chicago Opera Theater and the Ryan Center for Young Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She lives in Evanston where she directs an ensemble at the Music Institute of Chicago and teaches Italian at Northwestern University.
