Teaching Artists

  • A native of Osaka, Japan, Akiko Hosaki is acclaimed for her sensitive playing, and one of the most sought-after collaborative pianist and vocal coach in the New York – New Jersey area. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor and the pianist coordinator of the University Accompanist Program at Westminster Choir College & School of Performing Arts of Rider University, and a staff member at the College of New Jersey and Bard Conservatory.

    Brought to the US by Dalton Baldwin, legendary collaborative pianist, she was his assistant at Académie internationale d'été de Nice since 2013 until his passing in 2019, and at Mozarteum Sommerakademie in 2017 and 2018. She has collaborated with opera companies, such as Castleton Festival, New Jersey State Opera, Opera North, Opera New Jersey, Boheme Opera, and Princeton Festival Opera. She also enjoys collaborating with instrumentalists, and frequently performs in chamber music concerts and the keyboard/basso continuo in orchestras.

    She holds degrees from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan, Westminster Choir College, and

    University of Minnesota.

  • Japanese American mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone is a native of Tokyo who grew up in Germany and the U.S. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since performed in many operas and concerts throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Her recent engagements include Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer with Opera Maine and alto soloist in Verdi’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall with Masterwork Chorus. Her first solo CD ‘Songs of Japonisme’ was released in 2021. She graduated from the New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music and her DMA from Rutgers University, where she received the Irene Alm Memorial Award. She is an associate professor of voice at Florida State University and an artist faculty at the Lunigiana International Music Festival and Sicily International Voice Festival in Italy. www.sahokotimpone.com

  • Praised for her outstanding artistry, “vocal beauty of high technical caliber,” “vocal flare and flamenco abandon,” and “gifted storytell[ing],” mezzo-soprano Maya Sypert (formerly Maya Hoover) has appeared on stages throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and China. Her engagements include concerts with renowned soprano Sumi Jo and the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra; Fauré Requiem (Morris Choral Society, New Jersey); Brahms Alto Rhapsody (Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado); Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (GPO, HSO, and Bellingham Festival of Music); Verdi Requiem (Tuscia Operafestival, Italy); Mozart Requiem (HSO; Orquesta Sinfónico de Trujillo, Perú; Honolulu and Kona, Hawai‘i); Handel Messiah (Maui Chamber Orchestra); Falla El sombrero de tres picos (HSO); The Magic Flute (Second Lady) and Il Trovatore (Inez) with Hawai‘i Opera Theatre; Madama Butterfly (Suzuki) with Opera Ft. Collins; Carmen (Mercédès) at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center (NJ); and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Chamber Music Hawai‘i) in a production staged by Henry Akina. In 2018, she was the featured artist for the Art Song Preservation Society of New York’s summer festival at the Manhattan School of Music in a program of all Latin American art songs with her musical partner of more than 24 years, pianist José Meléndez. Last season she was presented in a livestream recital with pianist Jonathan Korth, and created the role of Linda Morales in Hawaii Opera Theatre’s digital world premiere of Hometown to the World by Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed.

    Other highlights include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (HSO, Bellingham Festival of Music); Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos (HSO); Mary in Der fliegende Holländer (HOT); Verdi’s Requiem (Tuscia Operafestival, Viterbo, Italy); Respighi’s Il tramonto and Simon Sargon’s Shemà (Chamber Music Hawai‘i); and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Chamber Music Hawai‘i), in a production staged by Henry Akina. Other international appearances include Festival Mozart y Beethoven, Festival Internacional Bach, and Festimúsica Internacional (Peru); Songs Across the Americas Festival (Bolivia); Bellingham Festival of Music; Bloomington Early Music Festival; Escuela de Artes Musicales, Universidad de Costa Rica; Auditorio Fabio Lozano (Bogotá, Colombia); and Teatro Municipal (Trujillo, Peru).

    As a recitalist, she has performed regularly with José Meléndez for two decades in innovative programs frequently highlighting Latin American, Spanish, and other outstanding lesser-known works. She holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Education from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Italian Language and Literature from Binghamton University. She has studied with Mary Burgess, Laura Brooks Rice, Patricia Havranek, Virginia Zeani, and currently studies with Andrea DelGiudice. Her publications have appeared in Classical Singer, The Mentoring Connection, Philosophy of Music Education Review, and Choral Journal, and her book Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano (Indiana University Press) was released in March 2010. In August 2007, she joined the distinguished faculty of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she serves as Professor of Music with a world-class faculty.

  • Pianist José Meléndez is in demand as a vocal coach, conductor, and collaborative artist. His professional engagements have taken him to Europe, South and Central America, Asia, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and throughout the mainland United States. He is committed to the artistic development of young and emerging singers, and has been associated with numerous young artist programs, competitions, and training centers. He holds a full-time position at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where he is Assistant to the Music Director, Orchestra Librarian, and part of the music staff. He serves as Assistant Conductor, Collaborative Pianist, and Vocal Coach for various AVA productions and events, and he is also the Music Director of Concert Operetta Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to the performance of operetta in concert.

    Mr. Meléndez has held professional positions with Glimmerglass Opera (Principal Coach), Opera Company of Philadelphia, Hawaii Opera Theatre (Chorus Master, Repetiteur, Studio Artist Coach), Ocean City (NJ) Pops Orchestra (Conductor), Connecticut Grand Opera, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater (Conductor), Westminster Opera Theater (Music Director), Indianapolis Opera, and Opera de Puerto Rico. He worked with Opera New Jersey for over a decade as Assistant Conductor and Principal Coach, and as Music Director of the Young Artist Program. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as a solo pianist in a recital with pianist José Ramos Santana in May of 2011.

    He continues his role as Principal Coach and Pianist for the Puerto Rico Metropolitan Council District and Regional Auditions, a position he has held for over 20 years. He has worked with the Castleton Music Festival (C.A.T.S. Principal Coach), Curtis Institute of Music (Music staff), L’Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice (France), Casals Festival (Puerto Rico), Culturarte (Puerto Rico), Francisco Viñas International Voice Competition (Barcelona), and Operalia, Plácido Domingo’s World Opera Competition.

    As a collaborative pianist, Mr. Meléndez is known for his colorful and sensitive playing, as well as his innovative programming. He has enjoyed a partnership with mezzo-soprano Maya Hoover for 19 years. They are known for their programs of all Latin American art song, and for their carefully crafted recitals featuring lesser-known repertoire, which often include new arrangements written by Mr. Meléndez. Mr. Meléndez is a frequent guest artist at the University of Hawaii, where he has presented master classes on the art of collaboration and has played for several seasons on the Music at Mãnoa concert series. He has served on the faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and in summer 2014, he joined the Music Staff of Seagle Music Colony as Coach for their Young Artist Studio. This summer 2016, Mr. Meléndez joined: Opera Company of Middlebury as Principal Coach/Assistant Conductor, and as music staff at Opera Saratoga for their production of Daniel Catan’s Il Postino.

    José Meléndez holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico and a Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying and Coaching from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he studied with Dalton Baldwin, José Ramos Santana, and J.J. Penna.

  • Since her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013, Laetitia Grimaldi has sung in many renowned halls, opera stages and international festivals worldwide: the Kennedy Center (USA), Shanghai & Forbidden City Concert Halls (China), Festival Pitic (Mexico), Festival Musica Classica (Canada), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Ravinia Festival (USA), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (France) and the Melbourne Festival (Australia).

    "A SINGER WHO COULD STEP ONTO ANY PROFESSIONAL STAGE" CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    In 2017 Laetitia Grimaldi was awarded the first prize in three international competitions:

    1st prize-GrandPrix at the Concours International de Mélodies Françaises in Montreal, Canada,

    the 1st prize at the Concours International Robert Massard in Bordeaux, France as well as the

    1st Prize at the Concours International Pro Musicis in Paris.

    Born in France, Laetitia Grimaldi spent her childhood in Lisbon and London. After beginning her vocal studies with Teresa Berganza, she continued her education with Lorraine Nubar in New York City, first at the Manhattan School of Music, followed by a Master degree from the Juilliard School, New York. She has received mentorship with some of the world's leading artists, including Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Alfred Brendel, Ileana Cotrubas, Thomas Quasthoff, François le Roux and Dalton Baldwin. In 2016, Laetitia Grimaldi changed to soprano under the mentorship of the German baritone, Matthias Goerne.

    "LAETITIA GRIMALDI’S SPITFIRE SOPRANO LIT UP THE HALL" WASHINGTON CLASSICAL

    Laetitia Grimaldi has had the privilege to work with conductors and artists such as William Christie, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Vlad Iftinka, Antoine Glatard, Jorge Parodi, Ryan Brown, Anne Manson and Carlos Miguel Prieto, Pablo Sainz Villegas, Malcolm Martineau and Ammiel Bushakevitz.

    In October 2018 Naxos released a DVD of the opera Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de L’amour in which Laetitia Grimaldi performs the title role. Her first solo album, Ombres (French woman composers) with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz was released in January 2022 by the legendary Swedish label, BIS Records.

    She has performed extensive recital tours in China, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, the USA and throughout Europe as well as performances with orchestras in Montreal, Brasilia, Cape Town and the Château de Versailles.

    Recent performances include recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall and Berlin's Konzerthaus as well as a gala performance together with Joseph Celleja and Placido Domingo.

  • Born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in South Africa, Ammiel Bushakevitz began playing piano at the age of four. A citizen of the Israel, the USA and South Africa, he is based in Berlin and Paris, performing in venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Shanghai’s Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Konzerthaus. He appears at the festivals of Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Bayreuth, Lucerne, Cape Town, Milan, Heidelberg, Vancouver, Tel-Aviv, Melbourne, Beijing and Montreal; the Festival Pontino di Latina in Rome, the Casals Festival in Spain and the Schubertiades of Schwarzenberg, Hohenems, Vilabertran and Jerusalem.

    Ammiel studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig and the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique in Paris, under Phillip Moll, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alfred Brendel. Ammiel is one of the leading vocal accompanists of his generation, have worked closely with such singers as the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza, Thomas Hampson, Dame Felicity Lott, Nadine Sierra, Barbara Bonney and Brigitte Fassbaender.

    He is a top prize-winner at numerous international competitions, including the Wigmore Hall Competition in London, the Schubert Competition in Stuttgart, the Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, the Hugo Wolf Competition in Stuttgart, the Prix International Pro Musicis in Paris as well as the Concours Léopold Bellan. He is especially noted for his interpretation of the works of Franz Schubert, for which he received the 2011 International Schubert Institute Award in Vienna.

    Ammiel records for leading international music labels, including Harmonia Mundi (France), Pentatone (Holland), BIS (Sweden), Alpha (France), Hänssler (Germany), SOLFA (Spain), Berlin Classics and Deutsche Grammophon (Germany).

    Passionate about education, Ammiel has presented masterclasses at the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the Sichuan Conservatory (China), the Beijing National Opera, the Victoria University National School of Music (New Zealand), the University of Colorado (USA), the Heidelberg International Lied Centre (Germany) and the Jerusalem Music Academy (Israel). He dedicates time to mentoring aspiring young musicians in developing countries, and has offered music workshops and benefit concerts in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, China, Mexico, Brazil and Morocco.

    Ammiel is an alumnus of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), a member of the Société des Arts Sciences et Lettres de Paris, a member of the International Hugo Wolf Academy and an honorary member of the International Richard Wagner Society. In 2014 Ammiel was named Edison Fellow of the British Library, London. In addition to his performing career, he is artistic director of the International Arts Association, Les Voix d’Orphée, in Paris, France.

  • Lauded by The New York Times as a “terrific singer” with a “deep, rich timbre” and the San Francisco Chronicle as an “opera powerhouse” with a “weighty and forthright” sound, Sidney Outlaw was the Grand Prize winner of the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballe in 2010 and continues to delight audiences in the U.S. and abroad with his rich and versatile baritone and engaging stage presence. A graduate of the Merola Opera Program and the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, this rising American baritone from Brevard, North Carolina recently added a GRAMMY nomination to his list of accomplishments for the Naxos Records recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1922 opera trilogy, L’Orestie d’Eschyle in which he sang the role of Apollo.

    Last season for Mr. Outlaw included his Dandini in La Cenerentola with Greensboro Opera, appearances with the Charlotte Symphony, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music and Colour of Music Festivals, his Spoleto Festival debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess, and Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park. The 2016-2017 season includes Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Madison Opera, Vaugh Williams’ Dona nobis pacem with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, a recital with Warren Jones, and a return to the New York Philharmonic.

    Mr. Outlaw has been a featured recitalist with Warren Jones at Carnegie Hall and performed Elijah with the New York Choral Society. He traveled to Guinea as an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department, where he performed a program of American music in honor of Black History Month and in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King.

    Mr. Outlaw made his English National Opera debut in the 2011-12 season as Rambo in The Death of Klinghoffer and joined the Metropolitan Opera roster in 2014-2015 also for The Death of Klinghoffer. Recent engagements include Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero with the New York Philharmonic, Schaunard in La bohème with the Ash Lawn Festival, and Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with North Carolina Opera. Other mainstage roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Atlanta Opera, the title role in Moses with the American Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm in Malcolm X at New York City Opera, Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly at Opera on the James, the cover of Dandini in La Cenerentola with Florida Grand Opera, Ariodante in Handel’s Xerxes and Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the International Vocal Arts Institute, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and a sensational international debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, in both Germany and Israel.

    A sought-after concert singer and recitalist, Mr. Outlaw made his Schwabacher Recital debut at the San Francisco Opera center with pianist John Churchwell and collaborates regularly with renowned pianists Warren Jones, Carol Wong, Steven Blier, and Michael Barrett. His concert and recital appearances include debuts of renowned works at major concert halls: Haydn’s The Creation and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Avery Fisher Hall, Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with Music Academy of the West and “Wednesday At One” at Alice Tully Hall, John Stevens in the world premiere concert of H. Leslie Adam’s opera Blake at the prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, and the world premiere of Wayne Oquin’s A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., commissioned by The Juilliard School.

    Mr. Outlaw won 2nd Prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s International Competition, 2nd Prize in the 2011 Gerda Lissner Foundation Awards, National semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, semi- finalist in the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition, finalist in both Concours International Musical de Montreal and George London Foundation, and grand prize in the Florida Grand Opera/YPO Vocal Competition. He holds a Bachelor in Music Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Vocal Performance from The Julliard School. Professor Outlaw is currently a member of the voice faculty at Ithaca College and for the Opera Institute at The Brevard Music Center Festival. He was a voice faculty member at The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College CUNY from 2014- 2021

  • Tenor Nils Neubert was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, and maintains careers as a performer, coach, educator, scholar, and administrator in the United States and abroad. He is a sought-after interpreter of song, oratorio, opera, and chamber music, and has appeared as a soloist and small ensemble singer throughout North America and Europe.

    Nils Neubert teaches German diction and repertoire at the Manhattan School of Music (since 2015) and the Juilliard School (since 2013) and served as German coach at the Music Academy of the West for seven summers (2016–2022). He joined the Glimmerglass Festival and the Wolf Trap Opera Company in that same capacity during 2020 and 2022, respectively, as well as the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera in 2022, where he also began coaching for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in 2023. Previously, he taught at the Mannes College of Music (2014–2022), William Paterson University (2010–2016), Kaufman Music Center, and the Music Conservatory of Westchester, as well as the Summit Music Festival and Potomac Vocal Institute (USA), the International Academy of Music (Italy), and the Puigcerdà and Burgos International Music Festivals (Spain). He has done German and Latin language preparation for soloists, opera and choral ensembles, conductors, actors, and record producers/engineers; was a regular guest instructor for the Potomac Vocal Institute in Washington, D.C.; and has led master classes, workshops, and residencies across the United States, as well as in Europe and Canada. In 2023, he helped prepare performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Musica Sacra and the New York Philharmonic.

    Publications as author or contributor include chapters, articles, translations, reviews, liner notes, and educational sound materials in the fields of musicology, music education, language diction, voice pedagogy, musical performance/interpretation/analysis, and exile studies with Bärenreiter, Brill, Henle, Nimbus Records, Oxford University Press, Rowman & Littlefield, the Journal of Singing, the Papers of the International Concertina Association, Music Education Research, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal. His dissertation on the song composer Max Kowalski (1882–1956) was nominated for the Barry S. Brook Award. He can be heard on Voices in the Wilderness: Music of the Ephrata Cloister (Christopher Dylan Herbert [dir./prod.], Bright Shiny Things, 2020).

    As of the 2023–24 academic year, Nils Neubert holds a full-time appointment in Vocal Arts at the Manhattan School of Music. He is also the current president of NATS-NYC (2022–2024) and has served on the University Faculty Senate at the New School (2017–2020).

  • Mark Markham’s remarkable journey in music began with his debut in 1980 as a soloist with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, where he played Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” He pursued his musical studies under the tutelage of prominent pianist Ann Schein (a former student of the legendary Arthur Rubinstein) at the Peabody Conservatory, earning Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees. Remarkably, he was invited to join the faculty before graduating and taught for a decade. As the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award from The John Hopkins University, he opened the 2017-18 season with a solo recital of the Peabody Conservatory, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Peabody-Hopkins union.

    Today, Mark Markham resides in Baltimore, Maryland, where his legacy as a pianist, educator, and cultural ambassador continues to inspire and elevate the world of music. His journey is marked by a tireless commitment to the art form and an enduring dedication to sharing the beauty of music with audiences and aspiring musicians alike.

    Site: markmarkhampianist.com

  • Neil Semer is an internationally recognized teacher of singing whose students sing leading and featured roles in the most important opera houses around the world and star in Broadway productions.

    He .teaches voice and gives workshops around the world. His main voice studio is in New York where he works with high level performers in classical, musical theatre and contemporary styles of music. He teaches also in Toronto, London, Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and throughout Germany. In July-August 2021 he will lead the 24th annual Neil Semer Summer Vocal Institutes in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland.

    His teaching combines principles of Bel Canto, scientific understanding of vocal function and most importantly, emotional connection to music. Focus is on coordination of the heart, mind and body.

    He has taught for the Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Cologne Opera, Hawaiian Opera and Norwegian Opera and the Broadway productions of Miss Saigon and Bombay Dreams.

    Masterclasses given around the world include the 5th International Congress of Voice Teachers in Helsinki, the first three Annual International Classical Singer Conventions, the Royal Academy of Music and the Association of English Singers and Speakers in London, Danish Actors Association, the Icelandic Voice Teachers Association, two National Conventions of the National Association of German Singing Teachers (Hamburg and Wurzburg), the Leipzig, Hannover and Wurzburg Hochschules, Swiss Voice Teachers Association in Zurich, Australian NATS Chapters in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, the Melba Trust, the Queensland and Newcastle Conservatoriums, two Canadian Voice Care Foundation Symposia in Toronto and Banff, NATS National Convention in Seattle, NATS Winter and Summer Workshops in Miami, Princeton, Minneapolis and New York, NATS New England, Mid-Atlantic and Central Regional Conferences, NATS Chapters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Wisconsin, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Michigan and Miami, the Art Song Preservation Society (ASPS) and innumerable universities. In July 2004, he was the keynote speaker and master teacher for the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Convention in Sydney.

    He is currently on the faculty of Brooklyn College and has also been a faculty member at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Austria, New England and Boston Conservatories, NYU and Barnard College.

    Graduate of Manhattan School of Music.

  • Joan Dornemann, Artistic Director and Assistant Conductor, is one of the most highly respected opera coaches in the world today. In her position as Assistant Conductor with the Metropolitan Opera, she has prepared the most prominent international artists for their performances at the Met. She has worked with such singers as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Sherrill Milnes, Kiri Te Kanawa, Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Neil Shicoff, Juan Diego Flórez, and Anna Netrebko, among others. She has also collaborated with outstanding opera singers as an accompanist for many solo performances. Ms. Dornemann has been associated with the Gran Liceo in Barcelona, the Spoleto Festival, and the New York City Opera. At the Met she worked with such conductors as James Levine, James Conlon, and Carlos Kleiber. She prepared singers from the Kirov Opera for a recording of La Forza del destino and performances of Carmen and Aida under the baton of Valery Gergiev, and she was in charge of musical preparation for La Bohème and La Cenerentola at the Opéra de Paris. Ms. Dornemann was awarded an Emmy for her contribution to the highly acclaimed “Live from the Met” telecast of La Bohème with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto. She also teaches master classes throughout the world and is the author of Complete Preparation: A Guide to Auditioning for the Opera. She was honored by the city of Tel Aviv, which issued a commemorative stamp bearing her picture, and she received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal.