BARRY ALEXANDER

As a lyric baritone, Barry Alexander has earned a reputation for being as much at home with the coloratura literature of Gluck and Rossini, as the more dramatic works of Puccini and Verdi. He has been hailed by L’Orient-Le Jour as “a singer of great style and feeling,” while Dean Nolan pronounces his performances as being “of the highest type, strong and virile.” Mark Lipson is quoted as saying that “a seemingly impossible combination of talents have made Barry Alexander ‘the Great.’ ”

Mr. Alexander holds degrees from Princeton University and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Having made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in 1991 with works by Gluck and Mozart, that same year he also auditioned for the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and became one of only two Americans ever asked to sing with the company.

Turning his attention to more entrepreneurial pursuits in recent years, he has founded Alexander & Associates, a public relations firm specializing in publicity for classical music artists. Last year he also launched the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition, which has been designed as an entrée into the world of opera and song performance for those seriously interested in a professional career, culminating in a Carnegie Hall debut.

With constant invitations for concerts in throughout the world, Mr. Alexander has done much to both rejuvenate and expand interest in the recital format, and to reinforce its intrinsic value as a unique musical and cultural experience for both performers and audiences.

Mr. Alexander believes that it is the obligation of a teacher to maximize the unique talent of each student, and fundamental to great singing technique is the understanding that the body is the instrument, rather than the voice. “The hardest part of any vocal pedagogy for most students,” says Mr. Alexander, “is the realization that the voice is always its most beautiful when the body, not the voice, is doing the work.”

COSMO BUONO

Cosmo Buono first came to international prominence with the Bradshaw & Buono piano team.  Specialists in literature written for one piano four hands, and two pianos, the artists did much to restore awareness of rare works written by Chopin, Liszt, Rossini, and Schubert. By continuing a tradition of distinguished piano duos begun with Liszt-Chopin and Debussy-Casella, they played in major capitals and festivals throughout the world including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Mostly Mozart Festival, all while creating a discography that includes Grammy-nominated recordings. 

A native of New Jersey, Mr. Buono completed his musical studies at New York University, Bard College, and The Juilliard School. As a soloist he has been heard in North America, Europe, and Japan, including performances with the Munich Philharmonic and the Danish State Radio Orchestra.

In addition to performing, Mr. Buono has distinguished himself as one of the foremost teachers of the Leschetizky Method in the United States. Leschetizky was known for producing pianists capable of a resonant, almost voice-like quality on the piano, and it is that same technique which is part of Mr. Buono’s overall pedagogy. Advocating rich, expressive playing, he discourages students from note-perfect performances that lack enthusiasm, in favor of a complete understanding and communication of the musical idiom of the composer.

Mr. Buono continues to direct the Bradshaw & Buono Conservatory, while supervising music schools in Italy and Japan.  He is Artistic Director of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and a frequent collaborator with vocalists and instrumentalists for recitals.  He also serves as Executive Director of the International Academy of Arts and Sciences in Closter, New Jersey.

ANN CRAVERO

An active mezzo-soprano recitalist and soloist, Ann Cravero made her Carnegie Hall debut at the inaugural 2008 Winners’ Recital of the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition. She has performed in master classes with Frederica von Stade and Michèle Crider, and coached with mezzo-soprano, Rinat Shaham. She frequently performs new music, and has debuted works in the United States and Severino, Italy. She has also been heard in the Austrian Contemporary Music Festival held at Clapp Hall in Iowa City. Likewise, her doctoral thesis, Contemporary Opera Scenes for Countertenor: A Stage Director's Guide, includes new research and commentary based on operatic works by Paul Barker, David Johnson, Jeffrey Lependorf, Stewart Wallace, and one of the foremost composers of countertenor repertoire, Geoffrey Burgon. She has performed the roles of Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), the Second Lady (The Magic Flute), La Mère d’Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffman), Phoebe (Yeoman of the Guard) and The Duchess (Gondoliers).

Also assuming the role of opera director, Dr. Cravero most recently directed Die Fledermaus, The Pirates of Penzance, and Copland's The Tender Land, with the Drake Opera Theatre, Britten's The Little Sweep with the City Opera Company of the Quad Cities, as well as producing and directing the one-act opera Fortune's Favorites at the University of Iowa. Dr. Cravero holds a Doctor of Musical Arts, and Master’s degree from the University of Iowa, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Bradley University. Dr. Cravero is Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at Drake University.

YELENA DOF-DONSKAYA

Soprano Yelena Dof-Donskaya enjoys a distinguished international career ranging from her native Moscow, to capitals in Eastern and Western Europe, Israel and the United States. A pupil of the great Russian operatic soprano Zara Dolukhanova, Ms. Dof-Donskaya has a degree in Choral Conducting from the Ippolitov-Ivanov Musical College, and a degree in Voice from the Gnessin Institute, Moscow.  She has also studied at the Accademia d’Arte Lirica in Italy under Sergio Segalini, and taken master classes with Giuseppe di Stefano. 

Among many artistic accomplishments, she has participated in the Institute of Vocal Arts Metropolitan Opera-New Israeli Opera Program, a joint venture taking place in New York and Tel Aviv, which resulted in performances with Fiorenza Cossoto, Ghena Dimitrova, Louis Quilico, and Virgnia Zeani, as well as special collaborations with the Joan Dornemann, the renown vocal coach of the Metropolitan Opera.  She has toured internationally with performances in opera, oratorio and chamber music and includes among her repertoire the leading soprano roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Francesca da Rimini, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, and Die Zauberflöte, in addition to lieder, chansons, and Jewish music.  Ms. Dof-Donskaya has appeared in concert with the Moscow Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvenskiy and with the USSR Cinematography Orchestra, conducted by Emin Khachaturian. She has also appeared as a soloist with the State Chamber Choir of the USSR on tours of Western Europe, Turkey and Canada.  

A laureate of the Glinka Competitions in Baku and Riga and the Competition of Musicians in Natania, Israel, she has also sung in concerts organized by the Government of Israel in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Victory in World War II, and the State Funeral in Memory of Yitzhak Rabin, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Israeli Army at the Philharmonic in Tel-Aviv. Her discography includes Schubert’s Mass in G Major, and Vaughn Williams Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, under the baton of G. Rozhdestvenskiy; the soprano solo in Schnittke's Concerto for Choir; Sergey Prokofiev's Three Songs of Ophelia with E. Khachaturian; and Tarnapolskiy’s operetta Three Graces, also conducted by Rozhdestvenskiy. Ms. Dof-Donskaya has made her home in the United States for the last eleven years, where she performs extensively as a recitalist and guest artist.

DEIRDRE McARDLE-MANNING 

Founder of Maine’s Winter Harbor Music Festival, Deirdre McArdle Manning is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included noted flutists Catherine Curran, Francis Blaisdell, Andrew Lolya and Julius Baker. 

Her formal solo debut was made in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, where New York Times critic Tim Page called her a “virtuosic flutist with an unusually rich and lustrous tone.” Her European debut was made at Wigmore Hall at the South Bank Centre in London, where the Cadenza Society dubbed her “America’s answer to James Galway.”  

As a chamber music player, Ms. McArdle-Manning has performed with members of the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the American Symphony. She spent many years as a freelance orchestral player in Manhattan, most notably at the New York City Opera and the New York City Ballet.  Currently, she is principal flutist with the Orchestra of the 92ndStreet Y. 

Among the artists who have been her students are Lady Jeanne Galway, Heather Holden, (winner of the Haynes International Flute Competition), Alaunde Copley-Woods, and Nora Lee Garcia. A faculty member of the Long Island Conservatory, SUNY Old Westbury, Ms. McArdle-Manning has served on the flute and chamber music faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Bowdoin College. Composers David Loeb, Elliott Schwartz, Phillip Thomas and Daniel Paget have honored her with dedications of new compositions.

GOHEI NISHIKAWA

A native of Osaka, Japan, Gohei Nishikawa enjoys an international career as a teacher, accompanist, and solo pianist. He is a graduate of the Osaka College of Music, where he majored in Piano Performance.

Coming to the United States in 2000, he began piano studies with Cosmo Buono and the late David Bradshaw, making his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall, and his debut at Carnegie Hall in 2001. Mr. Nishikawa is also a Professor of Piano at the Greenwich International Conservatory of Music, and returned to Japan last year to accompany soprano Asako Tamura for her recital tour.

MATTIA OMETTO

Mattia Ometto came to the attention of the European musical public with his astonishing recital debut over a decade ago. He has performed at venues such as the Gran Teatro la Fenice, Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, Palazzo Cusani and Sala Puccini in Milan, the Teatro Marcello and Villa Torlonia in Rome. His recent appearances include a Paris debut at the Théâtre du Rond Point des Champs Elysées, and Carnegie Hall, as part of the Second Annual ABC Gala. In addition to teaching piano at the Alexander and Buono Festival, where he also serves as Associate Director, he conducts master classes annually at the Accademia Filarmonica di Camposampiero.

Earlier this year Mr. Ometto was chosen by the Ivory Classics Foundation to participate in the Earl Wild Teaching Scholarship, which resulted in his working with the American virtuoso in Palm Springs, California. He was recently the subject of an hour-long program on the Italian network radio program Radioclassica, which featured him in an interview and live performance, as well as a television interview on Telechiara. He has recently signed as an artist with OnClassical records, and will be releasing a CD of works by Liszt later this year. Mr. Ometto studies in Paris with Aldo Ciccolini, who describes Ometto as “a pianist with a marvelous sensitivity, one of those artists that have the ability to make the audience understand what having talent means.”

YEUNG YU

Dr. Yeung Yu is an active soloist and has performed internationally in the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Mainland China, and on collaborative events with Ohio Metropolitan Orchestra. He records under the China Contemporary Recording Company label.

Dr. Yu received his D.M.A from University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music, and his M.M from Texas State University, School of Music, and Professional Diploma from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He also holds a B.A. from Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing China. While pursuing his degree, Dr. Yu studied under Professor Wang Mei Ling, Li Hui Li, Yin Shi Zhen, Zhou Guang Ren, Gabriel Kwok, Timothy Woolsey, Russell Reipe, James Tocco and Joel Hoffman. He has won First Prize at the Graves Piano Competition, and was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award from Shen Zhen Youth Piano and Steinway Piano Competitions.

A frequent adjudicator for various piano competitions in China and the United States, he previously served on the faculty at Shen Zhen Art School, and is currently on the piano faculty of Central Conservatory of Music, Piano Academy at Gulangyu in China.