The Dream Seminar Creators
Composer: Ellen Lindquist (USA)
Discovery of unique sound-worlds through collaboration is central in much of her work; several of her projects involve dance, theater, poetry, and performance art. Commissions range from solo and chamber pieces to choral and orchestral works; her work is published by Marimba Productions, Inc. and Apple Mountain Music Press. She was a co-founder of the Musicians' Alliance for Peace (MAP), and co-organized MAP's annual Music for Peace Project, a global network of concerts for peace. During the years 2004-2007, 350 concerts dedicated to peace were performed in 30 countries. As a pianist, Ellen has performed as chamber musician and accompanist in the US, Canada, and Europe.
Director: Pat Diamond (USA)
Pat directs both operas and plays.
Opera: Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Janá´cek's The Diary of One Who Vanished (Aspen Music Festival); Turandot (Madison Opera); Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (Sarasota Opera), Don Giovanni (Sarasota and Théâtre Municipal Castres), Susa's Transformations and Puccini's La bohème (Maryland Opera Studio), and Mozart's Cosí fan tutte at The University of Michigan. He recently directed a new production of Moniuszko's Polish opera Halka in Polish in Sarasota. It is the first production of the opera to grace American stages in over fifty years.
Upcoming: a multimedia Dido and Aeneus with the Sybarite Quintet in New York.
Plays: New York: Roberto Aguirre - Sacasa's Bloody Mary (The Thursday Problem), Eric Sander's Oblivia (Working Man's Clothes), Rey Pamatmat's HIGH/ LIMBO/ HIGH (Queer @HERE) and Beautiful Day (Mabou Mines and Ma-Yi), Aury Wallington's The Virgin of the Vieux-Carre (One Festival), Kathryn Walat's Connecticut (New Georges), and Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (Cyclops Productions).
Regional: Romeo and Juliet (Baltimore Shakespeare Festival) Yale: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's The Mystery Plays, Calderòn's The Great Magician, Twelfth Night, Rey Pamatmat's New, Kathryn Walat's Know Dog. Originally born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pat makes his home in New York now. He is adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland's School of Music, and the Director of the Yale Summer Drama Program. He holds a BA in Theatre from Tufts University and an MFA in Directing form the Yale School of Drama.
http://www.patrickdiamond.com/
Music Director: Timothy G. Long (USA)
Mr. Long served as assistant conductor to Robert Spano at the Brooklyn Philharmonic where he served as a cover conductor and conducted the orchestra for their 9/11 Memorial Concert in October of 2001. He was also an associate conductor at New York City Opera for two years. Bridge Records recently released Mr. Long's first recording as conductor and pianist, The Music Teacher, a play/opera by Wallace and Allen Shawn. He is a member of the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma. During the 2007-08 season his operatic conducting engagements included Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Don Pasquale at Opera Colorado, Madame Butterfly at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Ariadne auf Naxos at Wolf Trap Opera.
http://www.funkhouserartists.com/Timothy_Long
Set Designer: Henny Linn Kjellberg (Sweden)
Henny Linn Kjellberg, is trained as ceramic artist but has concentrated on collaborating with the performing arts scene. Various projects have used her installation art and ceramic objects as set design and costume in order to cross boundaries between art forms and widen the concept of stage design.
Costume Designer: Camille Assaf (USA/France)
Camille Assaf is a Franco-American designer, who designs costumes and sets for theater, dance and opera.
Since receiving her MFA in 2004, Camille has lived in New York City, and worked both in and outside the United States. In New York, she recently designed Dixie's Tupperware Party, directed by Alex Timbers at Ars Nova, along with Catherine Filloux's new play Lemkin's House, directed by Jean Randich, first at the 78th st. Theater Lab, and then remounted at the Mc Ginn/Cazale space by Vital theater company. Her work was also seen at the Joyce Theater in three new ballets by Eliot Feld (Rumors, Backchat and Patootie), and in the New York City Ballet's reprise of Mr. Feld's Backchat. Camille has been a company member of Moving Theater since 2004. She co-designed costumes for the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, with a small team of designers lead by director Eiko Ishioka and director Zhang Yimou.
Movement Choreographer: Helena Högberg (Sweden)
Lighting: Torkel Skjaerven (Norway)
Videographer: Brian Hedden (USA)
Oboe/English Horn: Laura Karney (USA)
Laura began study of the oboe at age 10 before moving to the Eastman School of Music to work with the renowned oboist Richard Killmer. In 2002, she moved to New York to perform with the SEM Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound and the Peconic Chamber Orchestra. Laura is a founding member of the multimedia chamber ensemble, Ardesco (www.ardesco.org) whose last show was a collaboration with Sumi-e artist Sung-Sook Setton. She currently resides in Germany where she studies with Nicholas Daniel.
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Christa Van Alstine (Canada)
Christa Van Alstine performs with a wide variety of groups in New York City including The Talea Ensemble, Mantra Percussion, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Camerata Nocturna, Da Capo Opera Orchestra, Ensemble Inc., Contemporary Chamber Players, pop singer Erin Hall, and has performed at international music festivals including Darmstadt (Germany), Impuls (Austria), soundXis (Canada), Moving Sounds (New York City) and the 12 Nights (Miami). She frequently premieres solo and chamber pieces and has recorded with the Argento Ensemble, pop singer Erin Hall and indie rock band Hi Red Center. Before moving to New York, Christa was a clarinetist with The National Academy Orchestra of Canada, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra. She teaches clarinet at The United Nations School and clarinet and chamber music at The Stony Brook School.
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet Robert Ek (Sweden)
Since 1999, Robert has been working for Swedish orchestras as principal clarinetist in Västerås Sinfonietta, Nordiska Kammarorkestern and Nordiska Kammarensemblen. He is a member of the ensemble, Musica Mobile. As a soloist, Robert has performed with Nordiska Kammarorkestern and collaborated with pianists Bengt-Ake Lundin and Staffan Sandström. He has also premiered solo pieces by Jesper Nordin and Ray Naessen.
Flute/Alto Flute: Malin Trast (Sweden)
Malin currently is a member of the Vestmanniaensemblen.
http://www.myspace.com/malintrast
Horn: Angela Wilmot (USA)
An active performer, Ms. Wilmot has performed as soloist and ensemble musician in the US, Europe and Canada. As an orchestral musician, she has recently appeared with the Richmond Symphony, Ash Lawn Opera, Virginia Consort, Charlottesville Oratorio Society, Caramoor Opera, Berkshire Opera Company, Albany Symphony, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Philomusica of Chicago tour to Provence, Choral Symphony Society, and Broadway shows. As a chamber musician and soloist, she has appeared with the Sibelious Society of New York at Saint Peter's Church, Lincoln Center Institute, Glassfarm Concerts and Forecast Music. She has also been heard on broadcasts of PBS's Live from Lincoln Center and The Reading Rainbow. Angela holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the Juilliard School.
Trombone: Benjamin Lanz (USA)
Ben Lanz currently plays with Sufjan Stevens and The National. He has commissioned solo and small ensemble pieces for trombone, which has led to truly exciting music and welcome additions to the instrument's literature. He holds degrees from Purchase College (BM) and Stony Brook University (MM and DMA).
http://www.myspace.com/benjaminhoferlanz
Violin: Aaron Packard (USA)
Aaron has served as concertmaster in the orchestras at Roundtop Festival in Texas, Oberlin College Conservatory, and the All-New England Festival. He was onstage violinist (fiddler) in the Oberlin production of Copland's The Tender Land, and has been impressing his family for years with his ultra-fast performances of Devil's Dream. He has degrees from Oberlin College and SUNY Stony Brook.
Bass: Felix Pastor (Spain)
Felix Pastor is a composer/performer from Barcelona, Spain. He has composed and performed in a variety of settings from film scoring to jazz to experimental music. Berklee College of Music (BA), NYU-Steinhardt School of Education (MA) and SUNY-Stony Brook (PhD).
http://www.myspace.com/felixpastor
Harp: Nicolas Tulliez (France)
Born and raised in Paris, Nicolas Tulliez holds a Bachelor of Music from the Juilliard School, an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and a Master of Music from Yale University. His teachers include Pierre Jamet, Nancy Allen and Judy Loman. After spending three years as solo Harpist of the Luxembourg Philharmonic, he has been with the Basel Sinfonie Orchester for the past five years and was just appointed solo harp of the orchestre philharmonique de radio france. Winner of many competitions and scholarships, he has performed as a soloist in Europe, USA, and Canada. Since 1998 he has played with Trio Nobis. He is very active in the new music scene and has premiered and recorded many new pieces. Nicolas has recorded for EMI, CBC, Skarbo, Maguelone, and recently released his Lutoslawski double concerto with the National Polish Radio Orchestra for Naxos.
Piano: Laura Barger (USA)
Laura Barger has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician at the The Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), the Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, Bang on a Can Institute at Mass MOCA, The Banff Centre, The Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance, and throughout the New York area. She performs regularly with Yarn/Wire, and has also appeared with Ensemble, Inc., Argento Ensemble, Talujon Percussion, and the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players. Laura holds performance degrees from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (BM) and Stony Brook University (MM & DMA).
Percussion: Michael McCurdy (USA)
Michael McCurdy performs nationally and internationally with Hi Red Center, Mantra Percussion, and Skogensemble, and at festivals including the Society of Composers, SEAMUS, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, the Sparks Festival of Electronic Music, the Bang on a Can Marathon and the Festival of New American Music. In New York, Michael collaborates with many musicians, including Ricardo Gallo, Peter Evans, Tom Blancarte, Dither, Erin Hall, and Vintage Fire.
Michael is a champion of new music - commissioning, premiering and recording works by established composers such as Michael Gordon, Gavin Bryars, Richard Felciano, Michael Fiday, Annie Gosfield, Karen Tanaka, and Ushio Torikai. Michael has also developed relationships with many young composers to commission and perform new works. Most of these collaborations have blended music with dance, and music with text and theatre - many of these efforts have combined music with electronics or interactive computer.
Michael completed a doctorate in percussion performance at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2006. His teachers over his career have included Nick Petrella, Steve Schick, Dan Kennedy, Raymond DesRoches, and Eduardo Leandro. Michael is endorsed by Sabian cymbals.
http://www.myspace.com/mccurdymike
Soprano Vocalist: Kathleen Flynn (Canada)
Kathleen Flynn has performed a repertoire spanning five centuries and in locales ranging from Japan to Aldeburgh, England. A Sullivan Foundation award winner, Ms. Flynn has sung under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, Julius Rudel, Robert Spano, Christopher Hogwood, Mario Bernardi and Jane Glover. She has performed with Chicago Opera Theater, at the National Arts Center of Ottawa with the Winnipeg Ballet, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Juilliard Theater and The Kennedy Center. She is an accomplished recitalist singing at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Lincoln Center Theater, the Tanglewood Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Flynn is a graduate of the University of Toronto, The Juilliard School and received her doctorate at Stony Brook University. Recent engagements included Elvira in Don Giovanni in Castres, France, La Messagiera in Orfeo with Stony Brook Opera for the four hundredth anniversary of the work, Winterreise in Malaga and Ribadeo, Spain, a recording of Barber's A Hand of Bridge with the Moscow Radio Orchestra and her Carnegie Hall debut in Handel's Messiah.
Bass Vocalist: Michael Douglas Jones (USA)
Michael won the prestigious Jessie award for "outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role" for his creation of the Marquis in 120 Songs for the Marquis de Sade (Hannan) in the world premiere co-produced by Modern Baroque Opera and Vancouver New Music. He has sung with New York City Opera, Sarastoa Opera, The Florentine Opera, Memphis Opera, Welsh National Opera, Piteå Kammaroper, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Banff Arts Centre.
