MARYLAND OPERA STUDIO FACULTY

American conductor, coach, pianist and administrator J. Bradley Baker enjoys a versatile career both in and out of the concert hall, currently serving as Director of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland; Principal Coach on the Music Staff of The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York; and Co-Founding Executive & Music Director of Music On Site in Wichita, Kansas.

In addition to his ongoing work with Maryland Opera Studio, The Glimmerglass Festival, and Music On Site, Baker has worked on operatic productions with Opera Naples, Wichita Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Orange County, Opera Arlington, Landlocked Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, Opera Seme, Natchez Festival of Music, Opera Birmingham, LOLA-Austin, Franco-American Vocal Academy, Tabor College Opera, and the University of Alabama Opera Theatre. Baker has collaborated with many noted international opera artists, including Samuel Ramey, Greer Grimsley, Jill Grove, Eve Gigliotti, Michelle Bradley, Michael Sylvester, Yongzhou Yu and Issachah Savage.

Dedicated to training the next generation of opera artists and bringing opera to new audiences, Baker is the Executive and Music Director of Music On Site, Inc. (MOSI), an opera company in Central Kansas that he co-founded with his wife, opera singer and stage director Jen Stephenson. MOSI’s mission is to increase the accessibility of opera by producing engaging performances at low or no cost for underserved communities and providing high quality training and opportunities for promising emerging and early-career opera artists. Since 2016, Music On Site has performed for more than 20,000 individuals through its free-admission performances of professional opera productions throughout Central Kansas, particularly focusing their efforts on rural locations with limited or no access to the arts. Since its first production in 2017 featuring six singing-actors, Music On Site’s Winter Opera Festival has grown to be one of the largest opera festivals in the country, welcoming more than 150 artists annually, including pianists, conductors, stage directors, orchestral musicians and production interns. Alumni of Music On Site have continued on to success at such prestigious programs as the Merola Opera Program, The Glimmerglass Festival, Wolf Trap, Des Moines Metro Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Scottish Opera, Houston Grand Opera and HGO Studio, The Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, Utah Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, among many others. More information on Music On Site can be found at www.musiconsite.org. 

As a collaborative pianist and chamber musician, Baker has presented nearly 300 collaborative recitals throughout the United States, Canada, France, and Italy, and has performed at many international and national conferences and festivals, including those of the International Double Reed Society, International Women’s Brass Conference, National Trumpet Competition, Hot Springs Music Festival, North American Viola Institute, Ad Astra Music Festival, National Opera Association, ClarinetFest, CollabFest, College Music Society, National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors, Music Teachers National Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Chamber music coaches include Elizabeth DeMio, Anita Pontremoli, Virginia Weckstrom, Paul Kantor, Yi-Fang Huang and Cleveland Quartet founding member Peter Salaff. From 2016 to 2021, Baker was the principal pianist and celesta for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (KS). Prior to his appointment in Wichita Symphony, Baker also held orchestral keyboard roles at Hot Springs Music Festival (AR), Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra (AL) and Cleveland Institute of Music (OH).

An avid scholar and academic in service to the musical community, Dr. Baker currently serves as Co-Chair of the Pianists and Conductors Committee for the National Opera Association. His research has been presented multiple times at the national conference of the National Opera Association, at Collabfest, and he has coauthored articles featured in the NATS Journal of Singing and NOA Now. From 2029–2021, Baker served as President of the Kansas Music Teachers Association and was awarded the 2021 KMTA Service Award for his years of service to the organization. Valued for his contributions to student learning, Baker was awarded the university-wide Outstanding Junior Faculty Award during his second year of employment at Tarleton State University (TX), and he has been invited to present masterclasses at many music schools through the US, including The University of North Texas, Baylor University, The University of Colorado at Boulder, The University of Arkansas, Kansas State University, The University of Missouri and Florida State University, among others.

Steven Bailey is a pianist of wide-ranging versatility. He has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist and collaborative musician in repertoire from the Baroque era through the present.

Mr. Bailey has appeared in concert with singers such as Deborah Voigt, Frederica von Stade, Susanne Mentzer, Elsa van den Heever, Christine Brewer and Thomas Moser. He has performed as concerto soloist with Symphony Parnassus, Diablo Valley Symphony, UC-Davis Symphony and other orchestras and has regularly been featured in America on Bach Soloists performances as guest soloist and continuo organist. Recent engagements have found him in Abu Dhabi, New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, as well as solo performances in San Francisco for the Wagner and Liszt Societies. His acclaimed solo recording “The Art of the Opera Transcription” includes seven virtuosic arrangements by Franz Liszt.

He often collaborates with composers, including Jake Heggie, David Conte, Elinor Armer, John Corigliano, Mark Adamo and Vartan Aghababian, in premieres and performances of their music. He is a co-founder of the vocal chamber music ensemble CMASH and is featured with CMASH soprano Ann Moss on her CDs “Currents” and “Love Life”, both recorded at Skywalker Sound and produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Leslie Ann Jones.

Mr. Bailey was musical director for San Francisco Parlor Opera’s productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Così fan Tutte, Gounod’s Faust, Puccini’s Tosca and Floyd’s Susannah. He was also a long-time faculty member of the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute.

Mr. Bailey holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Boston University. He was previously Principal Coach for the Voice Department at San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he taught for 28 years. He now joins the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park as Principal Coach of the Maryland Opera Studio.

Corinne Hayes is a stage director and educator, and has recently been named Director of Acting for the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland; in Spring 2023, she leads a new production of Don Giovanni in collaboration with the Maryland Opera Studio and the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. In addition to her role at the university, Corinne serves as Artistic Advisor for DC-based opera theater company IN Series, where she works closely with Artistic Director Timothy Nelson; with IN Series, Corinne conceived and directed a virtual production of Melissa Dunphy’s The Gonzales Cantata, directed the world premiere of ZAVALA-ZAVALA and has served as Creative Producer on Black Flute, BOHEME in the Heights and OTHELLO/DESDEMONA. Corinne’s long association with Washington National Opera includes serving as Assistant Director to Francesca Zambello (Candide, The Little Prince) and E. Loren Meeker (Don Giovanni).

In recent seasons, Corinne has created new productions for Miami Music Festival, Opera Mississippi and Winter Opera St. Louis; beyond the rehearsal hall, Corinne has presented courses and lectures at the University of Maryland, Temple University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Webster University. As an assistant and associate director, Corinne is honored to have worked with such notable artists as Ken Cazan at Central City Opera, James Darrah at Opera Philadelphia and Tito Capobianco at Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia.

Soprano Theresa “Teri” Bickham has been praised for her “expressive legato line” and “fine piano nuances.” She made her European debut singing scenes from La Traviata under the direction of Maestro Eduardo Müller. Dr. Bickham has performed with opera companies throughout the United States including Houston Grand Opera, Opera New Jersey, Opera in the Heights, Loudoun Lyric Opera and Opera Camerata of Washington. She has performed a diverse repertory of operatic roles that include a specialization in Mozart heroines (Donna Anna, La Countessa, Fiordiligi), Italian opera (Adina, Violetta, Musetta), German operetta (Rosalinde, Hanna Glawari) and contemporary American opera (A Bird in Your Ear, The Beautiful Bridegroom.)

Dr. Bickham is a frequent guest artist in the United States and Europe. Recent concert appearances include works by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Rossini, Orff, Vaughn Williams and numerous orchestral pops performances. In competition, Dr. Bickham was an international semi-finalist in the Concorso Lirico Internazionale per Cantanti lirici Rosa Ponselle in Caiazzo, Italy. She has also been the winner of national and regional competitions including: The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions-Mid-Atlantic Regional Finalist, Palm Beach Opera Semi-Finalist, Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Finalist, MD/DC National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston.

An avid recitalist, Dr. Bickham has performed recital tours in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Washington and Washington DC. Her passion for art song has led to diverse programs specializing in music by underrepresented composers and poets, repertoire written for specific voices, and the exploration of the performer’s role in the creation of music. These programs led to the release of her first album, “Voices of Women,” by Albany Records in 2021.

Dr. Bickham’s performance experience has culminated in her passion for training young professionals. Her students have been recognized for their polished performances and exemplary teaching. Former students have attended prestigious schools that include The Juilliard School, Indiana University, the University of Maryland, the University of Tennessee, the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, Boston Conservatory and Roosevelt University. In addition, they have won prizes with the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Annapolis Opera, the National Society of Arts and Letters, National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Classical Singer competitions. Many students are performing professionally with such companies as The Metropolitan Opera,
Opera Theater of St. Louis, Marilyn Horne: The Song Continues Masterclass Series at Carnegie Hall, Annapolis Opera, Knoxville Opera, New York Lyric Opera, Disney Cruise Lines and Creativiva Entertainment.

Dr. Bickham is proud of the many music educators that she has taught. Her former students are passionate, respected, and impactful educators throughout Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and other areas in the United States.

Dr. Bickham holds degrees from the University of Maryland College Park (DMA), the University of Houston (MM) and Towson University (BM) and received additional training as a young artist at Opera New Jersey and AIMS in Graz. She had the privilege to teach at Towson University and University of North Carolina Greensboro before joining the faculty of The University of Maryland College Park School of Music in 2023.

Versatile American bass-baritone Kevin Short is thrilling audiences around the globe in a wide range of repertoire ranging from the depths of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Monteverdi’s L’Coronazione di Poppea to Verdi’s Attila, Carmen’s Escamillo and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer.

A sampling of his North America appearances include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sarasota Opera Company, Spoleto Opera Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Opera de las Americas.

His European and Asian credits include appearances with multiple opera companies, orchestras, and festivals. A few of which include Paris’ Opera Comique, Welsh National Opera, Kazan State Theater-Russia, Theatre Caen, Grand Theatre du Luxembourg, Oper der Stadt Köln, Stadttheater Stuttgart, Theater Aachen, Theater Basel, Theater Bern, Theater St. Gallen, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Savonlinna Festival-Finland; Bregenzer Festspiele-Austria, Baden-Baden Festspiele-Germany, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence-France, Festival Montpellier-France, l’Opéra de Rouen-France, l’Opéra de Reims-France, Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan and festivals in Beijing, China; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Granada, Valencia, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Kevin also enjoys an active concert and recital schedule and has worked with the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Handel and Haydn Orchestra-Boston, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Filharmonisch Orkest, Swiss and Italian RAI Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Marseille Philharmonie, Gulbenkian Orchestra-Lisbon, Portugal, Parma Reggio Emilia Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic, Thüringen Symphony Orchestra-Germany, Jena Symphony-Germany,Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Russia, Omsk Philharmonic-Russia, Siberian State Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Hiroshima Symphony, the Kazan Symphony for the opening of the Universiade Games in Kazan, Russia, and the Winter Olympics Festival Orchestra for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Kevin received his training at Morgan State University, B.S., the Curtis Institute of Music, M.M., and the Juilliard School of Music’s American Opera Center.  While attending these institutions he was a prize winner in numerous competitions and garnered many awards. A few highlights include the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Internazionale Concorso per Voce Verdiane, the Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, the Bruce Yarnell Competition for Basses and Baritones, the Liederkranz Competition, and awards from the Sullivan Foundation, Opera Index, Shoshana Foundation, and the George London Foundation.

Described as “magnanimous and powerful”, soprano Natalie Conte is an award-winning performer of opera, art song, and oratorio. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 singing the soprano solo in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. She won first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Competition, which featured her as a recitalist across the country. She also won the Maryland Lyric Opera Competition, after which she worked with Aprile Millo. Additionally, she won the Vocal Arts D.C. Discovery Art Song Competition which featured her as a recitalist throughout Washington D.C. in such venues as the Kennedy Center and the Phillips Collection. She has sung in works with the IN Series, Maryland Opera, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, New Dominion Chorale and the Russian Chamber Art Society, among others. Beyond the local stage, Natalie has performed in her hometown Detroit, Michigan as well as internationally in Italy, Spain and Russia. Natalie has had the honor of working in master classes with such renowned singers as Marilyn Horne, Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes. Natalie has performed as a member of the ensemble with both the Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. She is thrilled to return to the Russian Chamber Art Society in a concert of Rimsky-Korsakov and Medtner songs in 2025 as well as make her debut with Winter Opera St. Louis in the title role of Donizetti’s opera Anna Bolena.

Countertenor John Holiday has performed at world-renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican Center and the Philharmonie de Paris. His career highlights include a tour with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and the world premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s We Shall Not Be Moved with Opera Philadelphia and the Dutch National Opera. In 2021, he curated The John Holiday Experience (JHE) to showcase his affinity and talent for many different genres from pop and jazz, to R&B.

Mr. Holiday joined the Des Moines Metro Opera for their 50th Anniversary Season in Summer 2022 as Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His appearance as a featured artist with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles in August marked the start of his 2022- 23 season, which will also include Holiday’s debut as the title role in a new imagining of Broschi’s Idaspe with Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh and his return to the Metropolitan Opera for the highly-anticipated stage premiere of Kevin Puts’ The Hours.

The 2021-22 season was filled with many exciting debuts for Holiday, beginning with his debut at the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel in an all-Gershwin program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; followed by his Metropolitan Opera debut in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice as Orpheus’s Double under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin; as well as his debut with the New York Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Jeannette Sorrell; and capping off the season with his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Barrie Kosky’s production of Agrippina in the role of Nerone. Holiday also released three pop singles -“Alive in Me”, “Waste Mine" and “Love Finds A Way”.

Holiday has also received numerous accolades, such as the 2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award; the 2014 Richard Tucker Foundation’s Sara Tucker award; first place at the 2013 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, the 2012 Sullivan Foundation, the 2011 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition; and third place winner in the 2014 OPERALIA competition. 

Naomi Jacobson holds a master’s degree in acting from Temple University and has been a professional actress and teacher for the last 30 years. An award-winning actress, she’s performed in classics and numerous world premieres in theatres all over the country. Credits include the Shakespeare Theatre Company (affiliated artist), Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre (company member), Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre and Theater J, as well as Center Stage, Arizona Theatre Company, the Guthrie Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory, Delaware Theatre Co and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. She’s taught in the Maryland Opera Studio for the last 20 years and locally at George Washington University, Catholic University, Theatre Lab and Shakespeare Theatre Company. A professional public speaking coach, she also teaches voiceover technique for EDGE Studio out of NYC and spearheads the Actors Arena through Arena Stage, continuing education for professional actors. Her TV/Film work includes Homicide, Her Father’s Eyes for A&E, narration for PBS, NPR, Discovery Channel and Smithsonian, along with audio books for Harvard University Press. Jacobson has received three Helen Hayes Awards along with 16 nominations, a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship (with Lynn Redgrave), the Anderson-Hopkins Award for Excellence in Theatre and an Individual Artist Grant from the D.C. Arts Commission for her work as an actress.

Mark Jaster studied with 20th-century masters Marcel Marceau and Etienne Decroux.  He served as teaching assistant to Mr. Marceau and teaches frequently in artist residencies, theatres, and dance programs. Movement consultant credits include Center Stage, Ford's Theatre, Round House Theatre, Adventure Theater, and Constellation Theatre.  Jaster has had a long career touring solo mime shows to countless venues, including Wolftrap’s Theater-in-the-Woods, the Philadelphia International Children’s Festival, The Cincinnati Playhouse, and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  He has appeared many times for over 30 years with the Washington and Cambridge Christmas Revels, as Herr Drosselmeyer in the Maryland Youth Ballet's Nutcracker, and as A Fool Named ‘O’ at The Maryland Renaissance Festival.  From 1996-2016 Mark performed as “Dr. Baldy” at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC with The Big Apple Circus' Clown Care Program. Since 2006, he has co-directed Happenstance Theater with Sabrina Mandell, devising and appearing in critically acclaimed collaborative, original works of "Visual, Poetic Theater." In 2016 he won the Helen Hayes/Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance in Impossible! A Happenstance Circus.

Sarah Beth Oppenheim comes from: 38 dance studios, 4 particular kitchens, and 2 synagogues from the Wild Wild West, skyscrapered NYC, trampoline sidewalks of Berlin and begrudgingly beautiful sunsets over the Potomac. She likes to use scraps, abandoned tools and painters tape to cut and paste curious inquisitions into everything from pelvis-motored site-specific choreography to burritos. She believes in deepest plie to bend traditions, antiracist pedagogy to bend academia and dance as an everything salve. As an Artist Mom, she mines, swaps and alchemically mixes choreographic research, community engagement and arts & crafts between stage, studio, classroom and nursery. Work/love currently supports her as a Teaching Artist at Dance Place, Adjunct Professor at AU and UMD and BlackLight Summit Mentorship & Education Coordinator. Her most rewarding artistic moments are spent dreaming up risky-lush, razor-sharp, hypermagicalrealism with the dancers of Heart Stück Bernie

David Lefkowich is an accomplished stage director, choreographer and fight director who has enjoyed success with different companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatre alla Scala, Gran Teatre Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium, San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Colorado, New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera.  Lefkowich is a guest artist and performs master classes at several Young Artist programs and universities including the San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellowship Program and Merola Opera Program, Atelier Lyrique at L’Opéra de Montréal, Indiana University, the Juilliard School, McGill School of Music and Ithaca College.  A graduate from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Theatre, Lefkowich has a certificate from École Jacques-Lecoq in Paris, France.  Lefkowich also serves as the Artistic Director of Out of the Box Opera in Minneapolis, MN, a company dedicated to creating high-quality operatic experiences in site-specific locations.

Diana Bradley, M.Ed., has been a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique since 1979. Her training includes a 13-year apprenticeship with Marjorie Barstow, an innovative first generation teacher, trained directly by F.M. Alexander. She has a 10-year background in modern dance and 16 years of training in Aikido, a Japanese martial art in which she holds a 3rd-degree black belt.

A founding member of Alexander Technique International (ATI), she has traveled to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii presenting workshops. In various capacities, Diana has taught performing artists at The Baltimore School for the Arts, University of Maryland, Catholic University and Arena Stage. She has been the guest clinician at the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Festivals and at the International Congress of Carollonneurs. Recently she completed a two-year training in Gestalt Therapy at the Washington Center for Consciousness Studies.