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My Studio
ZOE BAND BM2
Growing up in Toronto, Canada, Zoe Band started singing at the age of seven. She studied with Norma Tetreau and Elizabeth Pomes of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Karen Rymal of York University, and Jean McPhail of The University of Toronto. She has appeared in Come Into the Parlor television series as a guest artist, performed in the showcase and lobby concerts at the Royal Conservatory of Music, participated in festivals such as the Kiwanis Music Festival and the Peel Music Festival and has been a finalist at the Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincial Finals many times. In the summer of 2007 she attended the Oberlin Conservatory Vocal Academy for High School Students program and in the summer of 2008 attended and performed in The Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy. Currently Zoe is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University studying with Steven Rainbolt.
STEPHANIE KRUSKOL MM1
Stephanie Kruskol is a native of Londonderry, New Hampshire. She started voice lessons at the age of eleven, with Peggo Horstmann-Hodes at the Concord Community Music School in Concord, New Hampshire. In 1997 she participated in the National Festival for the Arts in Philadelphia, singing in the children's choir under the direction of Henry Leck. The following summer included a tour of Salzburg and Vienna with the Operafest Classical Singers and performing in the children's chorus of I Pagliacci. At age 12, she was cast as Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden at the Papermill Theatre in Lincoln, NH. Ruth Bossie of the Littleton Courier wrote, "It is easy to fall in love with Stephanie Kruskol, who in her role as Mary is a total delight... she perfectly captures Mary's willful, headstrong, irrepressible personality." Through this intensive, fourteen-performance production, she decided that performance would be her career path.
Since then, she has sung solo vocals for television ads for Public Service of New Hampshire, received third place in Division I of the NATS NH Song Adjudications in 2004, second place in 2005, and third place in Division II in 2006. She participated in a six-week summer program in 2004 at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied voice with Stephen Totter. She transferred to Peabody after a year at Plymouth State University, where she majored in Voice Performance and Pedagogy in the studio of Dr. Kathleen Arecchi. She is making her debut with the Peabody Opera as Flora in this fall's production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, and is in the studio of Steven Rainbolt.
STEPHANIE MILLER GPD1
A lyric soprano from Washington D.C., Stephanie Miller is in her first year of the Master of Music program at the Peabody Institute. She recently graduated cum laude from Kenyon College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Drama. While at Kenyon, Stephanie was an active participant in several dramatic productions while also studying voice under Dione Bennett. In 2006, she was awarded the Thomas B. and Mary M. Greenslade Award in Music Performance by the Music Department for her her Junior Recital, and in 2007 she completed her senior exercise in Music with a full solo recital including music from Bach, Handel, Mozart, Brahms, Verdi and others. In addition to her solo performances, Stephanie also performed with The Kenyon College Chamber Singers and was the Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem performed by the Knox County Symphony.
CARMEN SCHMIDT MM1
Carmen Schmidt is a soprano who has sung professionally with Washington Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Washington Concert Opera and Washington Concert Chorale and Baltimore Opera. Winner of the Distinguished Young Artist Award of Northern Virginia Opera Theater, Carmen has sung four leading roles with their company, including the premiere of Hull's Nancy in the title role. She has performed as soloist with orchestra two Puccini operas, Suor Angelica (title role) and Mimi in La Boheme with Lancaster Opera in Pennsylvania, and several sacred works, include Faure's Requiem in Florence, Italy and Mozart's Requiem. Her past first place awards include National Society of Art and Letters, Washington's Friday Morning Music Club, State and Regional (Southeastern division as well as Baltimore Washington) NATS. Carmen Schmidt has premiered and recorded several contemporary chamber works and operas. She performs regularly in the Baltimore Washington area with friend and teacher, pianist Susan Ricci Rogel. Ms. Schmidt's professional affiliations include Amierican Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and Music Teachers Association (MTA). Carmen resides in Anne Arundel County with her husband, and a houseful of four-footed friends where she maintains a private voice studio as she pursues her Master's degree at Peabody Conservatory in Voice and Pedagogy in Baritone, Steven Rainbolt's studio.
ANDREW SPADY MM1
Andrew Spady has recently been recognized for his “pleasant tenor voice and sensitivity to musical line.” During the 2009/10 season, Andrew performed the roles of #6 (Prince) in Transformations with the Peabody Chamber Opera and Prince Charmant in Viardot’s Cendrillon with Poe Town Opera, a performance for which he was praised as a “charming” performer who “sounded good, looked good, and was worth the ticket” [Maria D’Isidoro]. He also appeared with the CHANDOS Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and presented a recital of Italian art song and arias for the Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild About Omaha” weekend.
Andrew has performed with the Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha Chorus, Omaha Chamber Singers, Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Lincoln-based early music vocal ensemble, Dulces Voces. Operatic roles include Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi and Donald in Gallantry. Solo credits include Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor and world premieres of Anna Lackaff’s “Ave Maria,” Tyler White’s De profundis and Gabriel Ian Gould’s Avraham Avinu. Andrew has also appeared as a visiting artist for the Nebraska Wesleyan University Opera Theatre, Brownville Concert Series, York (Nebraska) Fine Arts Council, Lincoln Sacred Arts Council Oratorio Festival and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral of Omaha.
Andrew has studied with Jana Holzmeier, Boyd Bacon, Richard Grace and vocal coaches Robert Muckenfuss, J. Gawf, Edward Polochick, André Thomas and John Bennett. He has also participated in master classes with Scott McCoy and Adria Firestone. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Nebraska Wesleyan University. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance at The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where he studies with Steven Rainbolt.
Andrew’s upcoming engagements for the 2010/11 season include Fauré mélodies and Lowell Liebermann’s song cycle, Night Songs, with the Baltimore Vocal Arts Foundation, Handel’s Messiah with the CHANDOS Orchestra in Alexandria, Virginia, and a cabaret performance with Figaro Project at Germano’s Trattoria in Baltimore. Andrew will also perform the role of Dylan in the world premiere of Paul Mathew’s opera, Piecing It Apart, with Figaro Project in April 2011.
JOCELYN CLAIRE THOMAS, GPD2
Jocelyn Claire Thomas is a second year Graduate Performance Diploma student of Steven Rainbolt at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. Originally from Columbia, Missouri, Ms. Thomas grew up singing in the church, both in choirs and as a frequent soloist. She began studying piano at the age of six, and flute at age eleven. In high school, while participating in chorus and orchestra, Jocelyn made a deal with her jazz band director, that she would pick up the bari. sax. if he would arrange jazz tunes for her to perform with the band. In summer of 2002, Jocelyn attended the Interlochen summer program for voice, and decided to pursue a career in music.
Ms. Thomas received her Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory in 2007, where she studied with Professor Gerald Crawford. Having also obtained minors in Music Theory and Music Education, Jocelyn enjoys teaching voice, piano, and flute lessons to students of all ages. Ms. Thomas also served as director of the children's choir at the First Church of Oberlin, from 2004-2007. During her time at Oberlin, Ms. Thomas participated in master classes with many esteemed artists, including Julianne Baird and Marilyn Horne. In summer of 2006, Ms. Thomas attended the Oberlin in Italy opera program where she sang in the chorus of Bellini's La Sonnambula.
Roles performed by Ms. Thomas thus far at Peabody include “La Soeur Jumelle” in Milhaud's Les Malheurs d'Orphee, “2nd Knaben” in Mozart's The Magic Flute, and “Frau K.” in Melissa Shiflett's new opera Dora. In December of 2009 Ms. Thomas appeared as the soprano soloist in Bach's Magnificat, performed with the Peabody-Hopkins Chorus and Peabody Concert Orchestra. She is also the recipient of the George Woodhead Prize in Voice (2009), as well as a Graduate Assistantship in Voice (2010-2011). Upcoming roles include “Gretel” in Hansel and Gretel with Peabody Opera Outreach, “Soprano Capulet” in Romeo et Juliette with the Chesapeake Chamber Opera, “La Bergère / La Chouette” in L'enfant et les sortilèges with Peabody Opera, and “Clotilde” in Norma with the Repertory Opera Theater of Washington. Ms. Thomas is an avid reader, enjoys yoga and loves to travel!
