top of page

Faculty

2522488_edited.jpg

Vladimir Chernov, Founder

Internationally renowned baritone VLADIMIR CHERNOV, has sung over 40 leading roles and has appeared at nearly every major international theater  including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Teatro Colon, Paris Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Vienna Staatsoper. He has worked with many of today's great opera conductors  such as Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, and Seiji Ozawa.

His U.S. debut was at Los Angeles Opera in the 1989-90 season as Posa in Verdi's Don Carlo, opposite Plácido Domingo. Mr. Chernov's most requested roles include Germont in La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Eugene Onegin, Miller in Luisa Miller, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Prince Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades. Mr. Chernov is now a professor of vocal studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

IMG_8207_Facetune_15-12-2018-23-17-32_JP.webp

Olga Toporkova, Co-Founder

OLGA TOPORKOVA is a world-class expert on Bel Canto vocal technique. She has devoted her life to studying the mechanism of the human voice. She is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where she studied opera  performance and dramatic acting. Mrs. Toporkova teaches in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and Payerbach. Her students have won or have been finalists in major international competitions including Cardiff Singer of the World, Operalia, the Loren L. Zachary Competition, Deborah Voigt Vero Beach International Competition, Giulio Gari Foundation, and many more.

IMG_1027 (2)_JPG.webp

Anne Englebert, Movement and Posturology Coach

ANNE ENGLEBERT, physical therapist by training, specializes in work on movement and on dynamic posturology, both of which harmonize and balance the body. Mrs. Englebert has worked with singers and artists for many years, and has created the workshops "The Scales of the Body" and "Gesture and Sound." Through her work, she explores music, dance, and voice in the various courses and techniques of communication. Mrs. Englebert has also worked for eight years as a Stage Director and Screenwriter with Philharmonic Orchestras Liege and Monaco. She is involved in contemporary creation (music, visual arts and dance) with the Art Season of "Ars Musica." She holds courses at the Music colleges of Brussels, Liege, Mons, and Wallonia, and holds Workshops for musicians every year at the Music Festival in Fort-Mahon (France) and Dinant (Belgium).

photo_2020-02-12_23-48-40.webp

Junghyun Elisabeth Lee, Collaborative Pianist

JUNGHYUN ELISABETH LEE is a highly accomplished pianist hailing from Seoul, Korea. She holds degrees in Concert Piano from Seoul National University (SNU), and multiple degrees in Vocal Arts and Opera Accompaniment from der Musik und Kunst-Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (MUK) and der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW). Ms. Lee has been a pianist with the city choir, national choir, opera choir in Korea, where she has participated in operas & operettas including L'elisir d'amore, La Traviata, Carmen, Lohengrin, Rugalda, Mefistofele, Madama Butterfly, Faust, Orfeo ed Euridice, Le nozze di Figaro, Turandot, Die Bat, as well as the Orff Carmina Burana, Verdi Requiem, Brahms A German Requiem, Bach Christmas Oratorio, and Mendelssohn Elias. She has also been a guest accompanist at the MUK & MDW for Les Jumeaux de Bergame, The Magic Flute, and more.

Past Guest Faculty

IMG_DB13FBCCF4AF-1_edited.jpg
Svetlana Smirnova
Collaborative Pianist,
Coach
img_portrait_edited.jpg
Karl Absenger
Stage Director
IMG_7844_JPG.webp
Leonard Prinsloo
Stage Director
Paolo.jpg
Paolo Baiocco
Stage Director,
Acting Coach
catherine-miller.jpeg
Catherine Miller
Coach
photo_2020-02-12_23-48-40.webp
Junghyun Elisabeth Lee 
Collaborative Pianist
105734596_4150108211695994_5492376429806944834_n_edited.jpg
Barbara Burger
Diction Coach
IMG_0C0236A25301-1.jpeg
Nina Uhari
Collaborative Pianist
Coach
340px-Tito_Capobianco_(1999).jpg
Tito Capobianco
Stage Director,
Acting Coach
bottom of page